Cards & Crafts & More, Oh My!

Our Prayers are with you! Masculine Card.....

2011-08-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hi All, I don't know about you, but I have a really hard time coming up with Masculine cards and gifts. It's easy for me to add flowers and bows and make it girly, but a masculine card...Yikes!

I have a sick cousin, he has been struggling with blackouts for a while now and they just don't know for sure what is wrong with him. He also owns a farm that is not doing well, so they are having to sell their farm and move into town. I made this card, tile and box for him. Please tell me what you think???

I made a card, a tile and a box to hold the tile. I just love this paper, the greens and browns are so rich...these pictures don't do it justice. On the card, I used my cuttlebug to make the brown paper with the writing on it...I started out with ivory paper and then ran it through the cuttlebug, then inked it with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distressed Inks. The colors match really well. The bird cage is a stamp from the Gina K Springtime Stamp collection. The green ribbon is also from that collection.

Here is the inside of the card. The sentiment is from a file of tile layouts that I bought from Vinyl Ready Designs.

The box is a envelopbox that I made with a 11 x 11 inches piece of heavy cardstock. I wrapped the tile in tissue paper and inserted it in the envelopbox. It fits perfectly.

Finally, I broke out my very neglected Cricut and cut the sentiment in black vinyl. The letters were very thin and it was really hard to get the vinyl to stay on the mat so that I could put it on transfer paper before putting on the tile. I love how these tiles look! I will be making more of these as the holiday get closer. Wishing you all a wonderful week. Please keep my cousin in your prayers! Hugs, Teresa.

Wine Cork Wreath

2011-07-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

I saw a Cork Wreath on a website a long time ago and thought I would like to try making one. My friend asked me to make one for her and I wasn't sure it would come out very good. I read online that you need between 300 and 400 wine corks! Wow that is a ton of corks. Never fear, I just happen to have that many corks. What started out as Tuesday night wine tasting with 3 of my bff's has turned into Tuesday night dinner and wine drinking!! So here is my attempt at a wine cork wreath...

Of course it has to have grapes! And I am sure you will notice that they are red grapes. We are definitely red wine snobs.

Okay so we also like a little champagne on occasion.

Unfortunately we ran out of corks! Oh well...maybe we should do Tuesday and Friday night wine tasting! Sounds good to me.

College Graduation!! YOU DID IT!

2011-06-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

My beautiful niece Rebecca just graduated from California State University of Monterey Bay. I am so very proud of her!! Everyone in the family took the trip up to Monterey to see my niece graduate..it is 5 hour drive from Southern California...a lot of it along the beach, it was so very beautiful.

Here is Rebecca with my sister, Kelly, her husband, Chuck and my other niece, Jessica. It was a cool summer day in Monterey. We were all freezing!

Here is a picture of Rebecca with her cousins...my son is the youngest...the one in back with the hat on backwards. Since this picture was taken, he has grown 4 inches!! I think he is almost 6 feet tall at 16 years old!

We stayed at the Portola Spa and Resort in town..wow what a beautiful hotel, right on the water in the middle of Monterey. So after the graduation, we all went back to my hotel room and celebrated! This is the banner I made with Graduation Tilda. Sorry the pictures are dark, it was hard to get good pictures in the room.

The banner says "Congrats Rebecca". I used beautiful pink and green designer paper along with pink and green ribbons to tie the pennants together. I would love to give credit for the pennant to the designer, but I am so very sorry to the incredibly talented and creative lady that allowed me to download the templates...I can't find a link to her blog!! If anyone recognizes the pennants, please send me the link so I can give her credit. Special thanks to her!!

I used lots of bling, the scrolls at the bottom of each pennant is pink and green gems and the pink and green letter is the glitter paper I got at Walmart. Everything matched so perfectly.

Here's Tilda....I colored her with my copic markers and it matches the paper and flowers so well don't you think? The flowers are all from Wild Orchid, what can I say, they have such beautiful flowers.

I used my Spellbinder dies to cut out the Tilda. I also outlined my Tilda with a lite gray to make her stand out.

My niece was so excited...we celebrated with Famous Cupcakes and Sparkling Apple Cider! Yummy. Thanks for stopping by!!

Father's Day Gift Card

2011-06-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

I joined a new group on Paper Craft Planet and am so excited about all the new challenges and inspiration. I love making 3D projects and Adele at AR Creations has some beautiful templates. Adele posted a tutorial on making a card that looks like a men's suit. My version is much larger, my son wanted to put a couple of things inside for his Dad. What do you think?

The shirt slides into the jacket, or the button opens with velcro..my son wrote a note to his dad on the shirt.

I used a piece of 12 x 12 designer paper that is black and white from the glitter stack. Hard to see, but the silver lines are glitter. I used a button off of an old jacket of mine that I have had in my sewing box forever.

I rounded the bottom of the jacket and the bottom of the shirt by placing a bowl unside down on the paper and drawing a curved line. It worked really good. The tie was cut by hand..surprising it is so straight.

Hope you enjoy this project as much as I enjoyed making it!!

Hugs, Teresa

Couple of Cute Hanglar Cards

2011-04-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

I just love the fact that hAnglar and stAnglar stamps are now available worldwide....yeah!!! Here are two cards I recently finished for friends.
The first one is a baby card I did for one of the guys in our office. He and his wife just recently had a beautiful baby girl.

Next a co-worker asked me to make a birthday card for her grandson. I don't usually do many boy cards, so here is what I came up with.

Thanks for stopping by!! Hugs, Teresa

New Card and Mini Purse for my Friend's 50th Bday!!

2010-11-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

Here is my Black and White Easel Card and Mini Purse that I made for my friend's 50th Birthday. The Purse was the perfect size for a beautiful sparkly necklace from Brighton.
You can buy a copy of this template from Creations by AR... CLICK HERE. She has some beautiful templates. I downloaded the template, imported into Sure Cuts a Lot and then cut!!! It was so easy.

I just love this beautiful black and white damask paper. All of the black accents have been run through my cuttlebug with the swirls folder. The great part about this purse template, is it comes with the little coin purse and the inside pocket. Since my black and white paper was only one sided, I cut another template of the purse from another color and lined the purse.

I tucked a Starbucks gift card in the interior pocket and of course a shiny new coin in the coin purse. I was told when you give a purse (cloth or paper) you should always insert a new coin in the purse so that the receiver of the gift will always have money in their purse. Hopefully it is not all coins, they get kind of heavy!! LOL. The brads are pearl bards that I got at Michaels and the tiny pearls are from Martha Stewart.

The flowers are from Wild Orchid, the pearls are pearl flourishes are from Michaels and the Can Can Girl is named Babette from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps, you can get her HERE
I used Copic markers, Just Rite Stamps and lots of crystal glitter for her skirt.

Since I was mailing this gift to my friend, I wanted to have an envelope to put the card in, but since it had flowers, there was no way to fit it. I just made up my own template for this box. I used acetate and sandwiched it between the black paper and the black and white paper so that it did not show on the inside. I think it came out beautiful!! I hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs, Teresa

CHRISTMAS "BLOG CANDY" GIVEAWAY

2010-11-10T15:54:00.000-08:00

Tis' the season to be giving!! Melanie and I are giving away some

Christmas Blog Candy to help put everyone in the Holiday mood!

HERE IS WHAT YOU GET:

1 K & Company Designer Pad (4.75 x 6.75)

10 Sheets of Designer paper (6 x 6)

1 pack of K & Company Christmas Tags

1 spool of red ribbon

1 container of red glitter glue

1 pack of five adhesive ornaments

1 pack of mixed Christmas Embellishments

1 Large Snowflake clear stamp

2 Small Snowflake clear stamps

1 Snowman clear stamp

1 "Let it Snow!" saying stamp

1 "Noel" saying stamp

1 "Merry Christmas" saving stamp

1 MAGNOLIA "FIR" stamp

from Merry Little Christmas 2010 Collection

AND THAT IS NOT ALL!!

You will also get 1 more "SURPRISE" Magnolia Tilda Stamp

From the Merry Little Christmas 2010 Collection

Not shown in picture.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS..............

1. Become a follower of this Blog if you aren't already

2. Become a follower of Melanie's blog http://onceuponacricut.blogspot.com/

3. IF YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER ALREADY, become a member of our Magnolia Yahoo group and post a picture of one of your holiday cards in the group Photo Album called "Holiday Card Pics". http://groups.yahoo.com/group/magnoliacardandkitswaps/photos/album/0/list

"SECOND ENTRY OPPORTUNITY"

Once you become a member, refer someone to our group and if they become a member and mention your name when they sign up, you get a 2nd entry in the contest.

4. Leave a comment on Melanie's blog with your email address as well.

The winner will be chosen on November 30th! The winner is to email Melanie with their address by December 2nd or a new winner will be chosen.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Hugs, Teresa

Thank you Gift for Friend.

2010-11-08T14:16:00.000-08:00

Today I have a new card and a Tile with vinyl to share with you. Just recently my 94 year old grandmother passed away. We are a very close family and we also have a very close church family. For my grandmother's memorial, we had over 120 people attend. My sister, Kelly, ran most of the service. I ready a poem that my grandmother said she tried to live her life by called "Today" and told a few stories. But what really made the service was my sister's friend from church, Delores. She sang "Amazing Grace" which was one of my grandmother's favorite songs, of course, I sat there with tears running down my cheeks like most of the other people sitting there. Delores has an amazing voice! I hope she likes the card and the tile.

I used a 9 x 13 tile and I just happen to purchase this really nice rod iron easel at Michael's, the saying says it all. I had a few problems with the vinyl, I think it was the font I used. All in all, it took me about 1 hour start to finish on this project.

I then created this Shy Tilda easel card (yes, as a few of you said, I am addicted to easel cards now!) and a box with a window. The box was cut on the circut also. I am sure you can see my BIG mistake, I decided I didn't want the acetate to show on the back of the box lid, so I cut a frame from the cardstock that I used for the card. After I had sandwiched the acetate between the lid and the cardstock, I turned it over only to notice that I put it on upside down...I tried to peel it off, but darn if that score tape does work like cement!! This was my last sheet of this paper, so I had to leave it. Oh well..I guess she will know it is handmade!

Here is the card that is inside the box. I just love this Shy Tilda, she is colored with Copic markers and is on a oval that is run through my cuttlebug. The beautiful lace is from a card kit I got from Peggy Biggs (This lace is so pretty!) and the flowers, leaves and crystal stems are from Wild Orchid.

The cardstock is from K and Company. The Thank you is from the Justrite Stampers.

Here is the inside, this sentiment is from Justrite Stampers Friendship collection. Kiss your family today and tell them how much you love them. We were lucky to be able to say goodbye to Grandma before you passed. She will be missed, but I know she is in a better place. Thanks for stopping by.

My First Easel Card

2010-10-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

So here is my very first Easel Card. It was so fun to make. This card is for a card swap, I so hope Elaine likes it! Of course I had to incorporate my favorite color, Purple. I don't know the name of this Tilda, I call her Tilda with wine and basket.

This is not the greatest picture, but you can see that I have added glossy accents to the wine bottle to make it look like a glass bottle. Does anyone else have this stamp? Just wondering what that is behind the wine bottle? Is it a wing?

I used flowers, leaves and bling embellishments from Wild Orchids...I love that site!! The paper is from a stack of paper I purchased at Walmart. It is their exclusive paper.

The saying is from JustRite Stampers Friendship nested sentiments. I think this one is so very touching. The flower border is punched from a Martha Stewart punch I got with my 50% coupon at Michaels. Thanks for stopping by. Hugs, Teresa

Sweet Blog Candy

2010-10-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Check out the sweet blog candy that Maria is giving away on her Blog!! I am just so in love with hAngler and stAngler stamps...I hope I win!!

Here is the link to her blog:

http://mariasstudio.blogspot.com/2010/10/thanksgiving-sweet-candy.html

AUTUMN CARD SWAP

2010-09-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

Well, here is my first Autumn Card...I had a really hard time getting this card completed. I am all about pinks/purples and blues, so coming up with a card for the Autumn Theme was hard. I hope you like what I came up with????

Here is Paris Tilda that I colored with orange and brown copics. I also used my cricut machine to cut the leave border from the new Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Cartridge...yes I did say Seasonal Cake Cartridge, you should see all the wonderful borders she has included in this cartridge. I used SCAL to cut the lattice fence, scalloped oval and the vintage tag...I cut all of these svg files from files made by the wonderful Penny Duncan!!! She rocks. I also used my vintage ink on the edges of the cardstock and the leaves to give it that older look.

Thanks for looking...

CARD SWAP

2010-07-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

I have a new card to share today. I held off on posting it until I was sure it made it's way to my card swap partner!! This cute Tilda is holding a key that I used glossy accents on. It is hard to see it in the picture, but it looks really glossy!

The word "Believe" is embossed with Martha Stewart Lime Green embossing powder. I have only starting embossing. How do you keep the powder from sticking to the rest of the card??? I did emboss it before I but the paper on the card, but there were a few flakes of powder that would not come off...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I just love this paper. Thanks for stopping by!! Love your comments. T-

hAnglar & stAnglar Stamp!!!

2010-07-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

Well I just had to have these new stamps!!! I love gardening and love flowers...can't tell from the papers on most of my cards.

Here is a card I did for my mom's birthday. She is always there for my sisters and I...what a strong lady.

I struggled a little with the masking and embossing, this is my first time, I used the Martha Stewart Embossing kit which I bought 1/2 price at Michael's. I guess I will be watching more videos on masking, she is barely sitting on the edge of the pot.

Colored with Copics, inked the sides of all pages with Distressed Inks and used BoBunny paper.

Here is the inside...

Thanks for stopping by...wishing you a crafty day!!
Hugs, Teresa

Graduation Card and Mini Suitcase

2010-07-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday!! This is a card I made for my friend's daughter that just graduated High School in Arizona. I borrowed the template for the mini suitcase from Suzanne Dean (Thanks Suzanne your creations are amazing!! I am also taking her beginners copic class...I still need lots of practice, but love these colors!)

Inside the mini suitcase is a Target gift card. It fits just perfectly.

Here is a close-up of the mini suitcase. I used scor-tape to put the suitcase together so I know it will stay together!! (Thanks Diane)

The outside of the card is embellished with flowers and butterflies from Wild Orchid Crafts. The paper is stuff I have in my stash. Most likely K & Company paper, but I don't know for sure.

Here is the inside. Hope you enjoy. I loved making this gift. I will be making more of these mini suitcases....I just love them. Thanks for stopping by. Hugs, Teresa

Birthday Card - My First Requested Card

2010-07-08T16:12:00.001-07:00

I was so honor to have a co-worker ask me to make a birthday card for her sister. She said that her sister loves fairytales...princesses...girly type of cards. Here is the card I came up with:

I just love this K and Company paper. Since I am limited in my copic selection, this paper goes great!! I used SCAL with my cricut to cut the ovals, ribbon from Michael's $1 bin, my martha stewart lacey border punch and beautiful Wild Orchids Flowers. I also used lots of martha stewart cotton candy glitter for her undershirt. I love bling!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Get Well Gift and Card

2010-06-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

One of the guys in my office has a 13 year old daughter that has been sick for over 3 months. They first thought it was mono, but now the doctor is saying it is some kind of infection due to dental work she had done. She now has to be on IV medication for the next 6 weeks and they may have to do a heart valve replacement due to damage to her heart. I feel so bad for the family. Here is the card I made her.. I hope she likes it!

Altered Gift Bag

2010-06-01T09:04:00.001-07:00

My mom called and asked if I could do something to the gift bag that she got for a wedding shower. She couldn't find one that had a wedding theme... the bag needed to be extra large because she got them bath towels and kitchen towels. Once I saw the bag, I knew what I wanted to do.....I had purchased the wedding magnolia's for my friend's wedding and knew the stamp would be the perfect addition to the gift bag!
I can't believe how well the paper matched the bag and bow...the pink paper is from Gina K and the aqua paper
is from scrap paper I had on hand. I put crystal stickles on her dress and added a flower stamp with aqua ink to make the paper match the gift bag. You can't tell from the picture, but I used glossy accents to make her shoes look patent leather. I then added a three roses and a few little pearls for the finishing touch.

Thank you Gift.

2010-05-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

THANKS PATTY!!

Just a small Thank You Gift for the Boy Scout merit badge counselor who is helping my son and a couple of others boys past the Swimming Merit badge. These counselors donate their time and expertise in helping boys pass the requirements for different merit badges.

I downloaded this box file from someones website....it was a free scut file, I love how it cut out, it was so easy. Of course, I forgot to write down who I got the file from, so if there is anyone out there that knows whose file this is, I would love to know and thank them personally!! THANKS JOANNE FOR THE REMINDER..I FOUND THE BOX AT http://mycricutscrapbooking.com/2010/05/19/square-box-with-fancy-window/. I love this site, Beth is amazingly talented and shares such great files!

Tulle Tilda is colored with copic markers, her dress is R83, R85, her under skirt and belt are Martha Stewart fine glitter and her booties are C5. The paper is paper that I had in my stock...the bottom of the box is glitter paper, the pictures don't do it justice! Thanks for stopping by. Hugs Teresa.

Mother's Day Cards

2010-05-12T12:48:00.001-07:00

Well it took me forever to get these cards done, but I had them ready around midnight Saturday night..yikes Mother's day was only a few hours away. We spent a special day at my mom's house with my grandmother who is 93 years old, both my sisters and their family and my son. It was a beautiful day.

Here is the card for my grandmother.

Here is the card my sister and I made for my mom. My sister who has never used a copic marker before colored Tilda! She did a great job. I have been watching videos and taking notes on how to do it and she just asked for a few tips and picked up the pen and did her first Tilda! Great job Danna!

The next two cards are cards I did for my sisters.

Thanks for dropping by! Please let me know what you think.

Wedding Gift

2010-03-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this special gift I made for my friend's wedding last weekend. She and I are both in the Magnolia-licious yahoo group. I was inspired by the Fairytale Edition of the Magnolia magazine. My friend's wedding was black,white and red. She was so surprised, she picked it up off the gift table and came over to me to tell me how much she loved it!! I used my cricut to cut the 3 hearts, the tag, and the top and bottom rounds. I adhered everything with Scor tape. I was one of the lucky ones to get the bride and groom stamp before Diane sold out!! So thank you Diane. I also purchased the magnolia flowers from Diane, they are amazing. I hope you enjoy.

FIRST MAGNOLIA CARD!!

2010-03-16T17:19:00.001-07:00

Okay so I finally finished my March Mingle card. I was having a terrible time deciding just what to do. So Lillian I hope you like it. Shabby Tilda is sitting on a cupcake and is surrounded by a cute saying that I got from Regina Easter at the Cutting Cafe (I love her cut files and sayings!!). Since I only have 16 copics right now, I am limited on coloring. I will be starting my Suzanne Dean Copic Color classes this week..I am so excited!! Please let me know what you think of my first attempt at my newest love, Magnolia Stamps!!

Tuesday Girls Night Wine Club - Birthday Card

2010-03-16T17:11:00.001-07:00

Tonight is Tuesday Girls Night Wine Club...I get together with 3 of my friends and we do dinner and wine tasting...okay so we really do wine drinking, but it sounds better to say wine tasting. We always have a good time, sometimes we play games, but mostly just hang out and talk. Tonight is Sheryl's Birthday, so we are celebrating...maybe an extra bottle of wine tonight! This is a card that I made for her. I used by cricut to cut out the scalloped oval on the front and the scalloped frame on the inside. The girl is from Charmed Cards.com.

My second card, using Copics and my Cricut!!

2010-02-21T20:07:00.001-08:00

This is a Thank you card for my friend, Tammy who lives in Vancouver, Washington. She and my friend, Lisa bought me a Coach purse for my 50th Birthday. I have been so blessed by having them in my life. They have always been there for me. By the way...I am just learning to use my copic pens, so this picture is my first attempt. I look forward to more practice. By the way I cut the flowers on my cricut using Sure Cuts Alot. If you are interested in the cutting file for the flowers, I got it from maryrudakas@yahoo.com, she has some great svg files. Thanks Mary!! Also the girl is from Charmed Cards and Crafts.com.

2010-02-21T19:58:00.000-08:00

Wow the big 5 0...Yikes! Well my son convinced me that we had to have a Birthday Cake for my birthday. He has been bugging me about tasting fondant! We watch way too many Food Network shows and he keeps seeing fondant being rolled out and put on the cakes. So the day before my Birthday, we headed out to Kake Kreations in Canoga Park and bought their white cake mix, buttercream frosting mix, purple fondant and a couple of gum paste flowers. Well this is the first time that I have made a cake without eggs. The cake smelled amazing. We invited my sister and her daughter over to help finish the cake...good thing, we needed my sister to roll out the fondant, she is so much stronger than I am! Well we stayed up until midnight finishing the cake, but it was well worth it. The whole family loved it!!

First Card!

2010-02-21T19:56:00.000-08:00

My Very First Card!!

2010-02-21T19:45:00.000-08:00

Finally after having my cricut for more than a year, I finally finished my first card. I have made several things with my cricut...just not cards. We refinished my sister's cabinets in her bathroom and added vinyl to the cabinets to make them look new and updated. I have also done some glass etching, made a few vinyl signs, made a vinyl tinkerbell with a saying in a picture frame for my niece and tons more.

Anyway, here is the card I made for my best friend, Lisa! She and my other friend Tammy, bought me a Coach purse for my 50th bday. Wow what a gift, I still can't believe it!! I love my new purse and love my friends for thinking of me. Here is the thank card I sent Lisa