Spring Forward

Addiction alert.  I have fallen in love with Adhesive Springs.  It began with this post and continues today with my second entry for Heart2Heart: Spring Forward. 

Don't laugh, but I literally was awake tossing with a new idea using the same concept as the butterfly wings.

This was a little trickier because the flowers didn't just secure themselves like the butterfly wings did.  I used a hefty amount of liquid glass on the middle flower and am praying it stays secure.
The paper colors are Smoothie, Cranberry, and Olive.  The flowers were sponged with Tulip over Smoothie and Barn Red over Cranberry.  The leaves are Olive over Olive.  I do have one small tip for you about those leaves.  They are much easier to sponge if you do it before you attach them to the card.  Go ahead...ask me how I know. 

I used flowersoft in the middle of the flowers. (They might also have been easier to do if I'd added the flowersoft before adhering them to the spring, but I was SO DARN EXCITED to get them into that spring and see if it would work.)

The sentiment is from Springtime (retired) and was cut with the Artiste Cricut cartridge then trimmed down to fit under the flowers.

I have had the flower packet since 2001.  Yep...for twelve years...just waiting for the right idea.  I think I got it!!  Since I don't think they will actually grow, I decided to glue it inside the pocket, but this would be an easy way to send someone fresh seeds.

I am also linking my post to the fabulous Tamytha's blog because she's giving away blog candy and I want me some of that action!!

Hopefully this means I will be able to sleep tonight, especially since we have to go to bed an hour early to Spring Forward!

Until next time,
Becca




Spirelli CAS

Oh boy, did I have fun with this one!  Operation Write Home is one of my favorite causes, and they had this fun Spirelli tutorial up a few days ago.  I combined this technique with a couple other challenges: Less is More: Colour Challenge and CAS(E) This Sketch: #18.

Are those cute, or what?  Because my ridges weren't deep, I used thread.  Yee!  You are going to see more of this, I guarantee it.

Until next time,
Becca

Color Dare Blues

Color My Heart this week is challenging us to use two different paper packets.  I thought this was going to be easy.  Ummm...nope.  I had a terrible time with this, and I'm not even sure I like the end result.

I used Stella (retired) and Avonlea (current).  Now that I look at it in a picture, I'm thinking part of the problem would be solved if I used the Avonlea Teal as the blue banner.  What I love is the pop of red.  Stamps used were Pirouette, Universal Background, and Friendship (sentiment, retired).  Accessories were the velvet rub ons, red glitter gel, and clear embossing powder.

(Update:  I found a scrap of Avonlea Teal.  It was about three inches long, so I cut it to squeeze under the circle.  Better?)

Now, in case you don't like these, maybe you'll like this next one instead...

Of course, since it's the second picture, blogger won't let me enlarge it.  The teal strip is Avonlea again, the rest of it is an old, old pack the name of which I can't remember.  What I do remember is Orchid Bouquet.  I like it even better than the pop of red on the first card, but the paper is so old, some of you weren't even born when it retired.  The stamp set is Pair-A-Phrase (retired). 

Well, that's it.  I'm not thrilled but I'm out of time.

Until next time,
Becca

Birthday Butterfly

Once in a very great while, I come up with an idea all on my own.  Please mark your calendars because today was that day.  I was admiring all the folks who used the Adhesive Springs for Heart2Heart: Spring Forward and trying to come up with a creative way to use mine.  Voila!

 



This was pretty labor intensive, so I have a bunch of pictures to show you how I did it.  First, the multicolor butterfly was done using reinkers and baby wipes.

In case you can't read the colors, that's Smoothie, Honey, and Twilight.  I didn't bother getting the dots right next to each other. Even with giving them a bit of space in between, by the time I stamped a few times rotating my stamp just a smidge in between, the image was colored.  This picture was taken after I had stamped the butterfly four times.

Before I stamped the butterfly from Find Your Style (retired) on the bottom piece, I wiped off the antennae.  I stamped a second time after inking only the antennae in Twilight.  I then stamped the body of the butterfly on a scratch piece in Twilight to use on the top piece after everything was assembled.  Then I cut the Adhesive Springs to mimic the shape of the butterfly wing and affixed them.

This next picture is to show you how I created the layers, but you don't want to do this quite yet.

Here's why...

As you add each layer, you want to make sure the center part stays down.  I used a combination of double sided sticky tape and Liquid Glass .  The sticky tape helps keep things in place while the Liquid Glass dries.  Do one layer at a time unless you have superpowers to get that line of Liquid Glass just right.  On the last layer, I added a couple dabs of Liquid Glass to the Adhesive Springs for good measure.

Once all the layers are down, add the Twilight colored body and patiently hold everything in place until it's dry enough to not pop back up.  I added a final touch of Liquid Glass to the body to give it some extra shine. 

I really wished I had the A Tree stamp set to use the sentiment "Fluttering by to say..." and add "Happy Birthday" inside.  It's on the way, but I have to get this out in the mail before my box of goodies arrives.  Instead, I used Card Chatter-Birthday.

Because this card has a lot of weight on the front, I decorated the inside.

It's not fancy, but it added a little structure so the card doesn't tip over at a light breeze.

Yep, pretty darn proud of myself.  As always, if you have any questions, feel free to  leave them in the comment section and come back to see my answer.

Until next time,
Becca

Argyle Patchwork

This week's dare over at Color My Heart is Lagoon, Outdoor Denim, and Pear.  It took me longer to photograph than to make these cards, and the Pear color still looks like it's nauseous...trust me, these cards are much cuter in person.

I used Cricut Craft Room to "weld" four argyle (1.75 inches) patterns from Artiste (p.75) together.  The total length of the strips came to just about 7.5 inches, which you will need for the angled "thanks" card only. I then cut one each from Lagoon, Outdoor Denim, and Pear.  After gluing the full strips into place, I glued the fill in pieces.  (I highly recommend the small tip glue stick for this project.)  For the two word balloon cards (Artiste coordinating stamp set, Word Balloons), I stamped in Outdoor Denim then sponged both Lagoon and Pear over the top of "hello" and pear around the edge of "thanks."  The sentiment on the birthday card comes from Card Chatter-Birthday.

For the Lagoon strip down the side of the "hello" card, I simply used the leftover piece from the Cricut cut, trimmed it to 5.5, and wedged it against the Pear argyle cut.  This one is my favorite of the three.

I am so disappointed in how these photographed.  They are really, really cute in person.

Really!

Until next time,
Becca

Caffeine Rules

I have a prayer system.  Certain things remind me of certain people. Coffee reminds me of Karen, so I pray for her while I make my husband's morning coffee.  When I won the Mojo Monday #279 contest for this card, I chose "Better With You" as my free stamp set. I thought it only appropriate the first card I made with it be for her:

The layout is loosely based off Mojo Monday #281 and the touch of silver comes from CAS-ual Friday: Hi Ho Silver challenge.

Until next time,
Becca

Sunset Biker

My daughter has been married for three-and-a-half years. Her husband is a motor bike enthusiast. He follows the sport, rides them, and even repairs them for a living. But when their car finally gave up the ghost (and he'd been working to keep it running using his considerable mechanical skill), he traded in his motorbike to get her a new car. Yep, he's a good one.

His birthday isn't until April, but an idea came to me after browsing this post. I've combined it with this week's Color My Heart dare: Sunset, Honey, and Buttercup, CASology: Flame, and Heart2Heart: Clean & Simple.

The stamp set is Born to Ride.  Can you guess why I used it???

The sunset effect was done using two different techniques. The first was watercoloring. I squeezed the lid into the Sunset ink pad, picked up the excess ink, and brushed it on the white square working it down about a third of the paper. I then squeezed the Honey ink pad, and brushed the middle third, and finished with the Buttercup ink for the bottom third.  When it was dry, I put it under a book overnight to straighten out the paper.

Before quitting for the night, I colored two brass brads with a black Copic marker and let them set overnight, too.

The next day, I used sponge daubers in Sunset across just the top and Honey along the left side. I stamped the bike in the lightest corner of color making sure to go off the edges.

I used a 1/2 inch circle punch to create the notches and then foam mounted it onto a square piece of linen cut 1/4 inch larger. Since the inked paper was still a bit warbled, there is a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of foam mounting tape under the colored piece. I used a pen to mark the center of the notched out areas, punched a small hole, and pushed the black brads through.

To make sure the edges under the brads stayed flush to the card base, I used super strong double sided tape. I've long ago thrown out the box it came in, but I got it at Hobby Lobby or Michael's.

Who's the greatest mother-in-law of all time?  Yeah, baby!

Until next time,
Becca