My new favorite craft... Altered Picture Frames

I have very recently found a love for using my sentiments in picture frames, and making the frames eye-catching and fun.  I gave a way quite a few as Christmas gifts, and I am still enjoying them quite a bit, so here goes.  

I used the DCWV Lace & Linen stack, and I inked the edges with embossing ink, and then shook gold powder around the edges of the paper and heated the powder for that nice shiney look.  The leaves and balls are from the clearance sales from the end of the season, and the rose, well I made that myself... between pinterest, google, and youtube, it seems I can do anything.  (I might try my hand at building houses next week ;)  Anyway... enough rambling.  I am going to enter this little beauty into, not a challenge really, but a DT call, at Anything Goes Challenge Blog.  I am also going to enter it over at Word Art Wednesday, I already entered another project over there today, but since that is where I got my fabulous free word-art, I decided I would link up just so anyone stopping by would know where it came from.  Thanks for stopping by, it makes my day knowing that people like the things that come from my heart.

Card for my faithful, inspiring friend

I made this card to send to my friend who has gone to live several hundred miles away from home for 18 months. I am inspired by the faith that she shows in being willing to go so far to serve God in this way.  When I read this quote, I knew that it was perfect for the card I had been planning to make for her.  The background is from the Luxury Stack from DCWV, the ribbon is Basic Grey, and the embossing is from a Tim Holtz folder.  The word art comes from Word Art Wednesday I am entering this card into the challenge there, they have free word art with their challenge every week, and it is one of my favorite go-to sites.  I am entering in the White and Gold challenge at Twist of Faith Cards, and the Anything Goes challenge at Card Crafter's Circle.

Altered picture frame

 I had time yesterday to make one last present, then I had to figure if it isn't done, then it just wasn't meant to be. I started with a 9X9 frame and took the glass out, I  used paper from Coral Couture from DCWV for the base. The sentiment that I stamped says Love is the master key which opens the gates of happiness, 

 The key and keyhole came from my stash, the package long gone, so I am not sure where I got them. I got the silver roses off of a pair of earrings from the dollar store, and the little bouquet was made from flowers that I already had, and the leaves and purple accents came from the clearance at JoAnns. 

 I am entering this into a  couple of challenges today

Paper Crafting Journey 

Anything Goes

 

Anything But a Card

Favorite Project from 2012 / Anything Goes

Christmas tree - shaped card

I used the Christmas Cheer cartridge, and the Christmas cartridge to make this, the paper is from Basic Grey and the bling... well those tiny things are so slippery, the rest of them fell all over my craft room floor and I'm thinkin' that maybe they were meant for someone with more graceful fingers than mine.

Challenges

 Fantabulous Cricut - Shaped Card

Celebrate the Occasion - Christmas Anything Goes

Die Cuttin' Divas - More Holiday Spirit

Joy

Christmas cards are probably one of my very favorite things to make, and I only have a few more to go :).  I used black embossing powder on the stamp (I am pretty sure it's Stampin' Up) and colored in the leaves and berries with markers, the tree has been with me so long I am not really sure where it came from, but I sure do like it!  The challenges that I am entering with this card are  

Anything Goes - Delightful Challenges      

Red and Green - By LORI Designs Challenge 

Christmas with Old/Forgotten Embellishments - Belli Challenge

Merry Christmas!

I made this easel card following following the sketch challenge at Christmas Challenges, I picked sketch #40. I used the Figgy Pudding paper pack from Basic Grey and some stamps from my stash that I suspect are Stampin' Up.  I am giving this to a special friend of mine, she's kind of like a second mom, I can always call with strange questions and emergency babysitting requests and she never says no :).  I am also entering the Christmas challenge at Hanna and Friends, and Paper Crafting Journeys Anything Goes challenge.

Oh the weather outside...

I am not a fan of snow, nice to look at but I am not going out in it.  So instead I watched from my window and got inspired instead, this stamp is part of a set from an estate sale, so I don't actually know who makes it, I dry embossed the paper with my cuttlebug snow folder, and added snowflakes from the dollar store, with some good old generic bling to make it exciting, then since it was still missing something I went to my ribbon stash to see what looked snowy and interesting.

I am entering this fabulous little guy into a few challenges today

Shopping Our Stash - Winter, No Holidays

Raise the Bar - Let it Snow

The House That Stamps Built - 2 or more shades of blue

Christmas!

I made this card for another one of my many sisters, I had this stamp from an estate sale that I went to last year and I've been waiting for a chance to use it.  I heat embossed it, and added glitter before I dried it.  

Challenges 

Make My Monday - Christmas Bingo

The Shabby Tea Room - Shabby Chic Holiday

Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes

Christmas card for my sister

 So glad I have so many sisters, who would I make all of these cards for? I've wanted to try my hand at doing a Christmas card with non-traditional colors for the longest time, but I just couldn't seem to get my mojo going, so it was off to the challenge blogs to get me going :)

The challenges that caught my attention:

The Shabby Tea Room - Pink, Aqua, and white with glitter

Perfect Sentiments - Anything goes, with Christmas

Lil' Red Wagon - Pink Themed Card

More and more Christmas!

I just love Christmas, and I have missed blogging, so I might just be a little blog happy right now :).  I made this to give to my sister... I have 7 sisters, so I have lots to make, I cut up a pair of jingle bell earrings and tied them with some rafia, got my new DCWV Christmas stack, and embossed my Merry Christmas stamp... then I went in to my back yard to search for the perfect little twig to tie my jingle bells to, and a happy little card was created.  I am entering the December Celebrations challenge at Card Crafters Circle, and the All about Christmas/Hannukah challenge at Use it Tuesday, and finally the Sentimentally Yours challenge at Shopping Our Stash.

The First Noel...

I have had this stamp for quite a while but just hadn't really decided what I wanted to use it for, but then I saw my handy dandy heat embosser and knew just what I wanted to make.  This is actually a card that I made for a friend to give to someone, but I liked it so much I think I might make another one to give out myself.  The paper is DCWV and I used bronze embossing powder from  .

I am entering this card into a couple of challenges, so here goes.

Twist of Faith - Inspired by a carol
Anything Goes - Traditional Christmas colors
Cute Card Thursday - Red and Green

Oh how I love making gifts at Christmas time!

Tonight I thought I'd make a little something to give as a Christmas gift, so I am entering it in the challenge at Stamptacular Sunday, I thought it would fit in pretty well with the pile on the embellishments challenge at Pile It On, and I also decided that the tag that I stamped on qualified for the Tags challenge over at Come and Get it Challenges, and last but certainly not least a color challenge from allsorts, White, Gold and 1 other color (pink for me :)) And so with that, I will leave you happily crafting a beautiful Christmas for all of your loved ones. God Bless

Sunday's Obituary - Uncle Walter

 One of the reasons that Uncle Walter is one of my favorite relatives, even though I never met him, is that he wrote his own obituary. For some reason that has always made me smile.  My dad grew up farming with Uncle Walter, and I heard stories about him for years before I fell in love with family history. When I saw the Sunday's Obituary prompt on geneabloggers I knew exactly who I wanted to scrapbook!

My long hiatus is over!

After almost 8 months I am finally glad to be back, all work and no play made me awfully grumpy.  I decided to try something different today, so I altered a picture frame for a challenge over at Word Art Wednesday, Deuteronomy 16:17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.

Sympathy Card

I had a relative pass away this month, sympathy cards are always my biggest challenge, so I did my best and here it is.  I did a 6X6 Easel card, the branch is from the Pagoda cartidge, the Bird is from Animal Kingdom, and the sentiment came from Wild Card.

Thank You card

I made this card for my neighbor, she is always doing wonderful things and pretending she doesn't know who did them... So I decided to send an anonymous thank you card, because I am sure that I am not the only person she does wonderful things for.

Recipe

Plain white cardstock

Tim Holtz embossing folder

Stamp from Stampin' Up

Color Box ink

Bling and Ribbon from my stash

Challenges: Paper Pretties - Thank You & Party Time Tuesdays - Monochromatic

I don't remember getting older, how did she?

This LO is of my daughter, it seems like just yesterday she was a baby, and now she's so grown up. It reminds me of a song from Fiddler on the Roof, but you definitely don't want to hear me sing it, so I will tell you about my project.  

 

I started with a challenge from Colorful Creations (White with just one other color) and found this picture, and the LO kind of created itself. I used the Favorite Things challenge at Totally Paper Crafts to inspire the embossing on the sentiment (favorite #1) The glimmer mist on the rosebuds (favorite #2) The rosebuds are from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge incidentally. And the #3 favorite, is that I love the shadow feature on my computer, I use it all the time to print and then color in the words with gel pen (that's how I did this sentiment). The Hotshot Craft Blog challenge was Ribbons, .so I gave it a shot, and they were a must keep. And finally Really Reasonable Ribbon had a "Green" challenge too, and since my sheer ribbon just happens to be sold there, I had to enter one last challenge.

My favorite leprechaun

 I just got my Peachy Keen stamps in the mail yesterday, I have wanted these FOREVER... WOO HOO!  So, on to my card. This is for a friend who happens to be both Irish, and African American, so I thought, who says leprechauns are white with red hair anyway? :) Hopefully my bloggy friends will appreciate it as much as he did.  

I used a Kraft cardstock base, the background paper is from the Lemon Flower Stack and the leprechaun is from the Dress Up Paper Dolls cart. Theface is from Peachy Keen Retro Stamps, and the sentiment inside is from 2 different stamps, I taped off 1/2 and stamped the first part, then did the same to the other stamp.  They are both Stampabilities.  The hinges were snuck out of my husbands garage late last night (I was like a ninja, only older).

I used several challenges for inspiration so here goes...

Peachy Keen - Anything Goes

Paper Pretties - Masculine Card

Cards for Men - Sketch

Card Crafters Circle - Orange and Green

Clear it Out - You make me smile & Use something not normally found in your craftroom.

Is it just luck?

This picture is one of my absolute favorites, I couldn't have taken this on purpose if I had tried.  I didn't even know that I had it until I was downloading my pictures.  So in honor of St. Patricks day, I decided to do my page with a Luck theme.

Recipe:

Words - Basketball Cartridge

Paper - Dots, Stripes & Plaids by DCWV

Basketball stickers - Jolee's

White gel pen for stitching

    

Challenges

Do You Stack Up - Go Green

Getting Scrappy Challenge - Color me Lucky

Wedding Wednesday

This is the wedding photo of my husbands Third Great Grandfather, I love old pictures, and this paper from DCWVs Coral Couture Stack was so beautiful that I decided that I didn't want to add much to the page so I matted the picture and added some journaling and decided that it was perfect that way.  Otto Henry Wolff was named after Otto von Bismark who was a family friend of his father, so my husbands family loves the telegram from Otto von Bismark, saying that he was honored, it makes us all feel very prestigious, (or not :).  This picture was taken 13, Sep 1909, when he married his second wife Emma Dockendorf. 

I used the geneabloggers prompt, Wedding Wednesday

and am entering the following challenges:

Paper-Crafting Journey - Anything Goes

Scrapalicious USA - Anything Goes

Birthday card for my sister.

Front  

Inside

My "baby" sister just turned 30, so I think I must be growing up...

I used the Lemon Flower Stack from DCWV, I embossed with the Polka Dots cuttlebug folder. The cupcake is from my Sweet Treats cart,and I used purple glitter glue to fill in the dots. Happy Birthday came from a cartridge which shall remain a mystery until I remember which one it was (Arghh) and I covered it with glimmer mist before I put it on.  The ribbon is BUY-THE-SPOOL, and the sentiment inside was from the dollar stamp bin at Micheal's, but I used my cool new ink brush markers. I stitched the inside with purple gel pen.



Challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut Blog - The color green
Allways something creative - Birthday
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Pile It On - Spots or Stripes or Both
Polka Doodles - Polkadots, Stripes or Both

Those Places Thursday: Köln, Prußia - Grand Cathedral

This is the Grand Cathedral in Köln, Germany.  My husbands most elusive ancestor was an altar boy here in the 1840's and I am not the first to look for him, but I do intend to be the last. It is my quest to find the sneaky bugger, and find whether I really am married to the descendant of some long lost German royal person... Wouldn't it be fabulous if my girls really were princesses? 

For my scrapbooking friends...

I used DCWV's Rustic Stack for the paper, the Bible is from my Inspired Heart cartridge, the ribbon and bling were from my stash, and the journaling was printed from my computer, and filled in with blue gel pen.

Challenges:

Getting Scrappy Challenge - For the Love of Bling 

The Pink Elephant - Print It

Card, Psalm 119:105

I haven't been in my craft room for days, so I decided that I'd better get in here and do something creative before my brain caught fire from all of the reality going on around me. :)

Front

Inside

I used DCWV and Basic Grey
paper, the lamp came from the
Heritage cartridge, and I used
gold glitter glue to light it up, the
stamp inside was TPC,
I embossed the front with a Tim
Holtz folder and used Basic
Grey ribbon on the inside. The
scripture/sentiment was printed
from my computer, I loved the
way the image at Word Art
Wednesday looked, but I
decided to go with the KJV of
the verse this time. I finished off
by inking everything with dark
brown ink from Color Box.

Challenges:

Word Art Wednesday - Psalm 119:105

Totally Paper Crafts - Ribbon

Hiding in My Craft Room - Glitter

Allsorts - Anything Goes

The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - Anything Goes

Relationships

Love, connections, relationships.  I have to admit that I am fascinated by the many meanings that the word LOVE can have, this LO is inspired by all of those meanings... romance, parents, grandparents, friends, and siblings.  

I used the Home Accents cartridge for the flourishes, the key stamp is from TCP Studio, I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder for the paper under the stamp, the sentiment and paper are both DCWV. The flowers and brads are Basic Grey, everything was inked in dark brown and I used a white gel pen for the stitching.

Here is the sentiment close up.

I loved how the embossing turned out.

I am entering this LO into 2 challenges

LMLC - All you need is Love

&

Die Cuttin' Diva's - Color challenge, red, pink, white, black (use at least 2)

Valentine for my mom

 This is for my mother, her favorite color in the world is purple, so of course her valentine had to be purple too. I just happen to have the best mother on the planet, so I really hope she likes this, fortunately, she's a mom... so even if I had used a box of crayons she would love it :)

Front

I just picked up The Chateau Lavender stack from DCWV and I thought it would work perfectly for the card that I wanted to make.  I kept it pretty simple, the paper was so beautiful I just added the stamp on the front, the little metal heart used to be a locket, but I broke it in half and took the loop off, I love how it turned out.

Inside

For the inside I used pale yellow cardstock and lined the bottom and the left with sheer yellow ribbon, then I cut out part of the same paper I had used on the front, I inked it and put it on top of the ribbon, then I added the bow, using the same ribbon I had put under the flowers.

I am entering this card into these challenges

Lil' Red Wagon - Cupid's Arrow

Cooking it up with Katie - A Spooled Metal Sentiment

Scrap-Creations - Valentines

Lexie's Creations - LOVE

Valentine

 I made this card to send to one of my sisters, I have 7 of them (sisters I mean) so I am trying to do something different for each of them, so my creative mojo is being tested this week.

Front

I used my Love Struck 2010 cartridge, and my gypsy to weld it,
The paper is basic grey, the embossing is Tim Holtz andthe sentiment came from a stamp that I borrowed from a friend.
The ribbon, bling, and flourish rub-on are all from my stash, and the stamp inside is from TPC Studio.

Inside

The challenges that I am entering with this card are:
Fantabulous Cricut - Use hearts
Truly Madly Crafty - Ribbon and Bling
Colour Create - Light and Dark Browns with White and/or Cream

Party Time Tuesdays - Valentines

Cicero

 Cicero here is my little brothers' biological Great Great Grandfather, I love to scrapbook ancestors, it seems to make them so much more real for me.

I am entering this LO into 2 challenges

Ribbon Carousel - Anything goes

Craft Us Crazy - Anything goes

Recipe:

Paper - Heirlooms stack from DCWV

Cartridges - Heritage, Gypsy Wanderings, & ZooBaloo

Metal Frame - Making Memories

Good Times

This LO is for my daughter, I don't know if she will get it, if she does I don't know if she will keep it, on the off chance you still look at my blog once in a while, I love you Mia. 

This sketch is from the LMLC challenge blog,  I am not entering since I am not using a digital image, but the sketch was fabulous so I decided to use it anyway.

the paper is Making Memories and DCWV

I used my Forever Young cart for the flowers.

I am entering this LO into the Anything Goes challenge at Die Cuttin Divas

Rootstech 2012... Finally!

Just a note to my bloggy friends who also happen to scrap-book their ancestors, the long awaited family history technology expo is finally here it starts tomorrow, but it's not too late to get into many of the classes, and it is always fun to just go look.  (P.S. and looking is free!)  It is in Salt Lake City, Utah at the expo center downtown, if you need more info, just follow this link and it will take you where you need to go.  

And if you don't already know, I will be facilitating one of the "unconferencing sessions" Friday at 5:30, and would love to see you.

The many faces of Mia

This is a 2 page 8 1/2 X 11 LO that I did of my 16 y/o daughter, she always makes the most amazing faces, when she was young my little sisters would get her to make all sorts of expressions just for fun, I think by now it is habit, but we think she is fabulous.

I am entering this LO into 2 challenges today

Cooking With Cricut, the challenge was Anything BUT a card with Yellow & Polka Dots

Paper Take Weekly's challenge was to highlight something on your project

 

I used the Nifty Fifties Cartridge for the font, and the paper came from the Lemon Stack by DCWV.  All of the letters are covered in silver glitter glue, I am not sure why it didn't show up very well in the pics, but it looks pretty cool in person. 

Tranquility

I have resolved to use my embellishments that have been sitting in my stash being ignored, so this card was the result of a need to use this fabulous little fan.

 The sketch came from the Mojo Monday sketch challenge, the idea of using a different color scheme than I would normally use for this stamp set came from the Non-traditional Colors challenge at Ribbon Carousel, and the matching challenge at Paper and Such, last but certainly not least the challenge at Shopping Our Stash was to use blue as the main color for your project.

Recipe: 

Paper: Making Memories

Stamps: Stampin' Up

Everything else was just hiding around my craftroom just waiting to be used :)

Be Strong

I am entering this card into several challenges 

Word Art Wednesday had the wonderful scripture for their challenge

 Shabby Tea Room (Sparkly and Bright)

Die Cuttin Diva's (Buttons, Bows, or Bling)

I have to give a special Thanks to the ladies at  Word Art Wednesday , although I made this card for someone else, this scripture was something that I needed very much this week.  Thank you for the wonderful challenges that you have.

Recipe:

Paper: Basic Grey, Sugared collection

Embossing: Tim Holtz

Flowers: Making Memories