Thursday, October 31, 2013

today is the day ......

Happy Halloween everyone !!!

If your kids are like mine - they've been waiting for today for weeks.  The house has been decorated and so has the yard ..... classroom treat bags are on their way to school and they are counting the hours until tonight - i can't wait either :))

I wanted to share a fun little Halloween card using the David Tutera Celebrate card making system with you .... everyone needs to have this in their stash for fun, fast cards !!!


I started with a black A6 card base and ran it through my big shot using a chevron embossing folder by Darice (love this one :))

The orange cardstock by Core'dinations is a Step 2 layer that comes pre-embossed.  I lightly sanded off the top to show the lighter color inner core and make the design really stand out.


I embossed a piece of purple cardstock from a Step 2 layer pack using my dotted embossing folder by Darice and lightly sanded this piece BEFORE i punched out the circles  - this is WAY easier to do before punching :))

I raised my purple circle using 3D foam and then added a Step 3 chipboard embellishment and sentiment sticker too - quick, easy and super cute !!

Come on back tomorrow for some fun Halloween photos from our house :))

TFL ..... Talk soon.




Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Halloween Banner

Phewffff !!  This has been a BUSY last week around here ..... We had a birthday party weekend, horses, hockey, new furniture building and a bathroom renovation on top of the usual school days too !!

BUT ..... i did manage to create a fun project to add to our Halloween decor around the house.

When we looked at buying our new/old house this fireplace was a big selling feature for us - BUT it needed a mantle.  It's being built as I post this and I can't wait ...... until then I tacked this fun new Halloween banner where it will be !!!


Core Couture Cardstock by Core'dinations is a BIG fave of mine and was perfect for these fun pumpkins, bats and ghostsand also added in a bit of Spotted Jillian Dot too ...... I ran these through my Silhouette to cut the fun cartoon like shapes.



Once I had them cut I ran them through my laminating machine and then precision cut around them again.  I added some fun googly eyes and a little bit o' twine too !!


Once I had all the pieces just the way I wanted them, I punched small holes in either side and strung black, white and orange twine through to hang my banner ..... the kids were thrilled and I am excited to add this to our Halloween decorations each year !!

TFL ..... Talk soon.


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Bella Blvd. Subway Art

I've been meaning to share this project with you for a little while now ..... It was featured on the Bella Blvd. Blog last month and was so fun to create .....

I've always been drawn to the look of subway art but haven't jumped into creating my own until now.  We recently moved to a new town and my son just started attending a private school.  Yes, uniforms and the whole bit – he LOVES it.  His teacher is fantastic and we've spent time at all the 'start of school' assembly's.  What I've observed in these first days is just how much the students, staff and families come together to create a community that loves this school.


I wanted to give Alex's teacher a gift and after seeing how she interacts with the children, I thought this would be a great addition to her classroom.

I started with a simple white frame and used the larger white background that came with it as my base.  I cut a piece of the Freestyle Sophisticates to 8 1/2 x 11", sanded the edges and adhered it centered on my base.



I began with chip alphas in the center using the school's abreviated name, QMS.  I wanted to show that it starts with the school and then all the other words and sentiments are built from there.  I used words that they teach every day such as inspire, educate, learn, service, support, participate and community. I especially love that there was a tab to add to the top that says 'Dream Big' ….. every child needs to hear this over and over !!


The new Bella collections had perfect pieces to mix in with the High Five alphas as stickers that say things such as 'good friends always know what to say' and 'this day is totally awesome' were a wonderful addition to this project.


I love how it all came together ..... and am thinking I need to create one for each of my kids.  How cute would that be for their rooms ?!?  So fun ....

TFL ..... Talk soon.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

... just a little burlap bag

I have always loved the look of burlap on pretty much anything home décor and craft related so when I got a whole package of it from the David Tutera Wedding Collection I couldn't wait to add it into my Core'dinations projects.

This was a fun, quick and easy addition to the Fall / Thanksgiving décor I created for our Thanksgiving weekend (it was October 14th in Canada :)



I cut a piece of burlap approx. 5 x 12" and folded it in half.  I ran it through my sewing machine on each side INSIDE OUT and then turned it 'right side out' again :))

I pulled a few strand of the burlap off the top to fray it a bit and then tied it using natural colored twine.

The Core'dinations Tags are SUPER and something that everyone should have in their stash.  They come in several shapes and I love that I can just easily throw them into my typewriter to personalize them however I want !!

I added a few die cut leaves to the tag and bag and it's ready for some fun fall treats … 


Supplies:
  • Fashion Tag Small Ivory
  • Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Shattered Collection No. 7-S (orange)
  • Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic Collection No. 6 (yellow)
  • Signature Series Darks Grphic 45 – Dark Cashmere (brown)
  • David Tutera Wedding Collection Burlap
  • David Tutera twine (comes in embellishment pkgs.)
  • Sand It Gadget

TFL ..... Talk soon.



Wednesday, October 16, 2013

'Thankful' Home Decor

In our new/old house we have this fantastic brick fireplace that we painted and i am LOVING decorating it so far .....

..... I found this fantastic fall 'quote' while browsing the Silhouette online store and it gave me an idea. I pulled out my Core'dinations and got to 'work' .....


I took a basic white frame and removed the glass.  I added a piece of Jillian Vanilla Crème cardstock behind the white mat that the frame came with.

I put the frame and matting back together and worked on the piece so that I knew I had all the bits where I wanted them.  Using a piece of orange carstock from the Shattered Collection, I cut this phrase using my Silhouette. (love this)…..



I used (4) different pieces of cardstock to cut all these great leaves from my Silhouette as well. I used my embossing folders and Big Shot to add a bit of pattern to a couple of leaves and lightly sanded off the top to show a bit more interest !!


The David Tutera Wedding Collection has some AMAZING pieces and I am in absolute LOVE with this burlap.  I cut several strips and pulled the 'string's top and bottom so it frayed slightly.  Then I got out my hot glue gun and adhered it to the bottom edge of the frame.  I wanted to ruffle it up a bit so I could add a few more Core'dinations cardstock 'fallen' leaves …… I love how this all came together and it looks fantastic by the fireplace too !!!

Check back tomorrow for a fun fall treat bag .......

TFL ..... Talk soon.



Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Thanksgiving recap .....

Happy 'belated' Thanksgiving everyone !!  Our family flew out to Calgary for the long weekend to meet my new nephew, celebrate Emma's 13th birthday and eat turkey with family and friends on the prairies ...... so I took a blogging break too :))

We had a fantastic weekend and LOTS of laughs.  It was so great to catch up with those that we don't see nearly as often as we'd like !!

I created a fun 'thankful for' message for the dinner table using some of my fave Core'dinations cardstock and thought I'd share it with you today ....


 I am loving my Silhouette more and more these days and I knew I wanted a tiny box to sit at each place setting.  I found this great cut file by Lori Whitlock and started cutting.  I used some brown cardstock for the base of several and also cut a few boxes using my fave white spotted cardstock too.


These were really easy to put together and I love the look of the embossed Core'dinations cardstock.  It adds some great depth to the project.

As cute as the boxes were, I wanted a sweet embellishment for the top so again using my Silhouette, I cut out an adorable mini sunflower !!  It was cut to be held together in the center by a brad but I wanted it a bit more 3 dimensional than that so I layered the two petal pieces with 3D foam and added a button with twine in the center.



I finished each box off with a mini tag from the David Tutera Celebrate collection.  These little tags are adorable and were the perfect size for everyone's names.  I mixed white with a few of the pearl finish tags and tucked them under the 'petal' of the flowers.

I was so excited to fill each box with a little note about what I am thankful for with each person…….everyone LOVED reading their note and there was even a tear or two - LOVE that !!

These can be used for ANY occasion and I think I may even whip up some for the Christmas table too .....

I have a fun fall home decor project for you tomorrow so come on back :))

TFL ..... Talk soon.




Thursday, October 10, 2013

Workshop and a layout ......

Good Morning and happy Thursday !!

This past week kept me busy busy busy ..... I taught a super fun (20) Layout Workshop last weekend at Scrapbookin' Adventures' 7th Anniversary Event.  What a great time ..... so many ladies, so many laughs and lots of money raised for BC Crop for Kids benefitting BC Children's Hospital !!!


The girls sharing some layouts and showing the cash they raised - $877.00 to be exact !!!

.... and this is one of the (20) layouts that I taught .... i know that it's getting cold but i still LOVE this fun collection by Bella Blvd. and it was perfect for these honeymoon pics of Scott's brother and his new wife :))


I hope you're having a great day where ever you are .....

This weekend is Thanksgiving weekend up here in Canada and I have some SUPER sweet projects using the fabulous Core'dinations to share with you ...... so come on back tomorrow and check them out !!!

TFL ..... Talk soon.

Saturday, October 05, 2013

Happy World Cardmaking Day

Today is the day and if you've been spending any time online today you've seen some BEAUTIFUL cards !!!

I hope you checked out the Core'dinations Blog  ...... LOTS of good times over there :))

....... and of course Bella Blvd. always gets in on the fun.......

I am busy teaching a SUPER fun layout workshop today BUT ..... I wanted to share a few Christmas cards with you in honor of this special day for us crafty girls :))


I used the fun new holiday collection by American Crafts 'Pepermint Express' - LOVE it .... too cute !!


I added some fun sequins from Studio Calico onto these ones ......


...... and this one was super fun and easy too !!  I punch a scalloped square from the front of the card and then adhered a piece of peppermint patterned paper on the INSIDE so it would show through :))  I added a die cut over the space on the front and added a sentiment stamp to finish it off !!!

I hope that you got some time to get crafty this weekend ..... 

TFL ..... Talk soon.

Thursday, October 03, 2013

a couple of cards .....

With 'World Cardmaking Day' this SATURDAY I thought I'd share a few cards to get the party started :))

I've been lucky to get to stay on designing with the David Tutera Celebrate team a little longer and today I wanted to share with you some of the GREAT new pieces to this super quick and easy card making system !!

What I love the MOST about this collection is that it is all Core'dinations cardstock !!  Of course I'm a huge fan ;)) so getting to work with their product on 2 teams is the 
best .....


For these 2 cards I wanted to showcase the pearl card bases ..... if you look at the close up pics you will see the fantastic shimmer to this cardstock - LOVE ......

I used a Step 2 die cut layer in yellow on top of the gold card base and love how they compliment each other ..... the cool thing about the new Step 3 embellishment packs is that they come with CHIPBOARD !!!  Yep - you heard me ..... fantastic coordinating chip shapes come with several sheets of die cuts and stickers too !!!  


The kraft flourish and the 'hello' are both from the die cut sheets AND ... the punch perfectly easily from the sheet - no worries about tearing your shapes girls !!!

David Tutera is best known for his Wedding Decor so I added these sweet little pearls to the center of several of the flowers :))

For my next card I really wanted white on white but with a bit of dimension ..... so I started with my white pearl card base and then added die cut butterflies from the Glitter Silk sheet of embellishments ...... 


i LOVE that Core'dinations chose to include a sheet using this super fun cardstock.  The texture of the Glitter Silk is fantastic and you can see in the close up just how sparkly it really is .....


Again for this one I added adhesive backed pearls in the center of the butterflies and finished the card off with a Step 3 sentiment sticker .....

If you are wanting a quick and easy way to always have sweet cards on hand, check out this card making system .... you'll love it !!

TFL ..... Talk soon.


Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Another Bella project .....

Whooo Hoo OCTOBER !! Closer to Christmas ;))  

I am FINALLY starting to settle into our new/old house a little more every day and part of that has kept me away from this computer a bit lately so i am SORRY that i have not been sharing like I usually do .... BUT, i promise that is changing TODAY !!!

I have LOTS and LOTS of projects and layouts and cards that I want to share with you and am starting with a project that I created for Bella Blvd. in August and haven't gotten on here (oooops)


I'm always looking for different ways to use everyday items so when I saw this wooden serving tray at our local market I knew I could have some fun with it !!

I started by painting it with black chalkboard paint.  It took a few coats but was dry and ready to work on in about 4 hours.  

NOTE: it takes about 3 days for chalkboard paint to fully set before you can write on it with chalk :))



I started by adding the white hooks to the bottom.  This tray was made from bamboo and was quite soft so instead of screwing the hooks through, I simply adhered them with my hot glue gun.  Because I was only adding jewellery to the hooks, the glue would hold just fine.

I covered some mini clothes pins with designer tapes and wrapped a few coordinating colors around the handles too.


I then chose a few patterned papers, cut them into squares and ran them through my laminating machine.  I trimmed off the excess and then punched tiny holes in each for the earrings (love these) ….. Because the earrings are so light the clothespins hold them up no problem. I added a bit of embellishment to a couple of the clothespins and a few cute cuts just because :))


I am a huge fan of the High Five Alphabet stickers, especially the tiny typewriter ones, so I labeled a few of the hooks to give Emma an idea of what to hang where.

Of course I had to make good use of the chalkboard paint so I added a couple of fun messages to her and then surprised her with a few new pieces of jewellery for her board – she absolutely LOVES it !!!
  

I have a great David Tutera Celebrate by Core'dinations project for you tomorrow so make sure to come on back - honestly I promise ;))

TFL ..... Talk soon.