Swap cards ll

These are my last 2 swaps for July.


This card was for the Express Yourself swap..........


....... and this card was for the 3 layer swap. This card is 5"x 7", much larger than I usually do but I wanted to use this image from Rubbernecker and it is rather large for my usual size cards.

Swap Cards & Miniatures

Well the Tour De France is over and my daughter who was visiting has gone home so it is now back to normal. The only cards I have made recently are for swaps so I will share these for now.



This card was for the sketch challenge swap on Crafty Card Creators This is small fun swap group and the only group where I participate in swaps.



This is the card I made for the ribbon card swap. I signed up for 4 swaps and I will share the others tomorrow.

I have had lots of people wanting to see more of my miniatures so if you would like to see more you can see them HERE They are all miniatures I have made except the cards and the grandchildren.

Frugal Friday

I am back with a Frugal Friday card! The sentiment is from the My Sentiments Exactly special limited time offer of over 100 unmounted stamps for $24.99 or on Ebay for a Buy It Now price of $21.21 until the 26th. A very frugal deal! The flower stamp is from a clear $1 set from Michaels. I chose the scrap first and then colored the flower to match with Prismacolor pencils and OMS.

Paper roses

Wow! Thanks for all the interest in the flowers! Phyllis asked to see more and Kanan asked how I made the roses and so I am going to attempt to explain it.

Keep in mind that these are in 1 inch = 1 foot scale, The whole arrangement is only about 1 3/4" tall including the vase and the roses are only about 5/16" across. Of course you can make then bigger by using a larger circle punch and thicker wire. The finished size of your rose will depend on the size of the circle punch you use.

SUPPLIES

Paper (you can use regular copy paper I used japanese crepe paper but it is hard to find and expensive)

Round hole punch (I used a regular office hole punch)

Fine pointed tweezers

Paper or cloth covered wire (I used 32 gauge paper covered wire which is hard to find)

Acrylic paint

Matte medium (Paper has a 'memory' meaning that however much you shape it will eventually go back to it's original form which is flat! Humidity makes it go quicker so the matte medium is essential to make the petals hold their shape)

Markers or dye ink pad(I used Marvy markers)

Soft pad and large ball stylus for shaping. (I use a piece of a cheap place mat. You can use a mouse pad or a piece of fun foam but these are a bit too soft)

Tacky glue (I use Crafters PickThe Ultimate)

Finishing spray

PREP

Thin your paint with a drop of water and paint the paper on both sides in the color of your choice and let it dry. When paper is dry spread a thin coat of matte medium over both sides and let dry.

Cut the wire into the length you want for the stem and seal the ends with glue so that the paper or cloth doesn't come off the wire.

ASSEMBLY

1. When the paper is dry punch out the petals, about 16 for each rose. Using a marker or ink pad and paint brush a shade darker than your paint shade a roughly U shape on one side of the petal. (This step is optional)

2. Transfer the petals to the shaping pad and with a ball stylus gently curve the petals with a circular motion.

3. The cupped side goes towards the stem with all the petals. Pick up one petal with tweezers and using a pin or toothpick put a dot of glue on one side of the petal and glue it to the tip of a stem. Wrap the petal around the stem using a dot of glue to hold it in place. Pick up another petal and put a tiny dot of glue on the bottom of the petal and glue it to the stem right under the wrapped petal. Add 2 more petals overlapping each other. Continue adding petals making sure the next round of petals covers the gap in the previous row. When all the petals are attached set aside to dry.

Once the petal are dry use tweezers to gently bend the tips outward. Do this for all the petals. Spray with a finish to hold it all together and your rose is done. If you try this I would love to see what you do with your finished flowers!

Made from paper but not a card.

I have been MIA for a while, sorry. I have been busy making card sets for my daughter but they are almost identical to what I have shown you so I haven't taken pictures. I have also made cards for swaps but I can't show them as they haven't been mailed yet.

I used to make and sell miniatures, mostly flowers, at shows around the country.My first digital camera was a Sony Mavica that used floppies. It took great pictures and had a 10x zoom which was great for taking pictures of my miniatures. Tonight I looked through some of the old floppies to see what was there and I found this pic of an arrangement I made and sold a few years ago.

I really didn't want to sell this arrangement as it took a loooong time to make. I had the picture on my website as an example of a custom arrangement but without a price. I had an enquiry from a lady who wanted to buy it. I really didn't want to make another one so I told her it was $300 thinking that would put her off. She bought it along with a whole bunch of other arrangements so now all I have is a picture! The whole thing is 3 inches tall and the flowers are all made of paper.

Pink flowers and Swiss Dots

For this card I used a portion of a corner stencil and hand embossed the corners of the yellow mat. The oval is cut and embossed it with a Nestability die and the Cuttlebug. I used a Cuttlebug swiss dot folder and sponged with green chalk ink for the backing mat. The 3d flower sheet can be found HERE.

Quick and easy 3D

Sorry I have been MIA lately. I have been making sets of cards to sell to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and they are not much different from what I have posted here already so I had nothing new to share. I have also been watching Le Tour de France. Go Lance Go! The race still has over 2 weeks to go so my blogging will be sporadic until the race is over! Going to France and watching the race in person is on my 'Bucket List' LOL


I call this type of card a 'cheater' card because it is so quick and easy to make with little or no effort! I found a picture on the web and made sure it was in the public domain 'cos I don't want to be in trouble with copyrights!

I opened the picture in Paint Shop Pro and made it the size I wanted. With the freehand point to point selection tool I drew the largest diamond shape where I wanted it and copied and pasted it as a new image. Then I went to SELECTIONS/ MODIFY/CONTRACT and contracted the selection by 25 and again copied and pasted as a new image. I repeated this until I had 5 diamond shapes. Then I went to FILE/PRINT LAYOUT and dragged all 6 images onto the layout template and printed them.

You can do this with any shape you like and it is quick and easy to do. You can download a 30 day trial version of PSP HERE

All that was left to do then was cut them out and assemble them on the card.

Another Blue Bird

I posted a card made with this decoupage sheet on the 30th June. This time I used a different stencil but the same decoupage sheet. This bird is facing the way it comes on the sheet but the last one I reversed in Paintshop Pro so that the bird would be facing into the card.

Yellow Daisies

I am still in a dry embossing and 3D decoupage mode. For this card I used an Anja Style Corner 2 stencil by Marianne Design. You can find it HERE You can find the decoupage sheet HERE I colored the half-pearls with a Copic marker but any permanent marker like a Sharpie will do.

Initial Pop-Up

This pop up card is for a lady named Vangie at the request of my oldest daughter. Vangie also rides for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team In Training. Her favorite color is pink. Vangie has a pink bike and a pink helmet and even wears a pink jersey when she isn't wearing the team colors of purple and green. A PINK girl after my own heart!

3D Roses

Another month has gone by, where does the time go? The heat continues here in South Texas with the temperatures still reaching triple digits every day. We broke many records in the month of June with the highest temp being 104F. Although we are used to hot summers these temps are usually reached at the end of July and August so I am not looking forward to the next couple of months except for the fact that my youngest daughter is coming to visit from California.
If you have looked at my comments she is the one who signs herself 'your favorite child' That is wishful thinking on her part. I have 3 children and I don't play favorites!



My card for today is another using stencils and 3D decoupage. I love roses but they would not survive this heat so I cannot grow them. You can find the free decoupage sheet HERE