Happy Easter from the bunnies & chicks...

I must admit that I came across both these projects in a long ago surfing expedition in the wee hours of the morning.  I forgot to mark where I'd found them, but luckily drew some crazy sketches at that hour of the morning.  With sketches in hand, I went to my die box and pulled out what I thought would work.  After a few minor hiccups, these are the results.  I just love them and thought I'd share them with you.

I was originally going to teach these down the Cape, but we had to cancel the event.  Maybe next year!

You can probably guess the dies used are a series of hearts, ovals, and round dies.  If put together correctly, this is the result.  A little inking here and there and some use with my fine line  pen, and we had some cute expressions on the little darlins'.  I thought the bunny ones could be used for baby cards as well and perhaps the chicks and egg card could be used for a Mom-to-be (maybe even for twins or triplets -- heaven forbid!).  So enjoy!

Ciao for now!

Ciao Bella!

Pesky little birdie

He's baaaack!  My little birdie from Memory Box is out on a limb.  I needed to make a quick card for my son's birthday and, bless those dies, they rescued me faster than you can say 'die cut'.  I'm rather proud of this card -- the ONLY reason is that it was a simple card and we all know I don't know how to DO simple.  It's not that I don't like 'simple' -- but I have a really hard time "dumbing it down" if you know what I mean.  I always look at a card and think "it needs more or I'll tweak it this way".  Then after 3 hours I just MIGHT have a finished card!   Here's my card and I used the new background text paper from Papertrey Ink, did some edge tearing and using a finger dauber, I started with Vintage Photo around the edges and then finished it with Dark Walnut.  I then lightly drew more ink into the entire layer to dull the beige background a bit.  All that was left was to adhere the die cuts (Reedbird and Woodland Branch) to the page, wrap some raffia around it and stickle the branches.  I also did some outlining of the bird with a white opaque pen.  Easy peasy!  Who knows, with a little practice, I just might get better at simple cards.

Here's the birthday card.  You'll note that the sentiment is a wee bit blurry and I was counting on my son's not having his glasses on -- shhhh!  he'll never notice the blur!

I might add that he never mentioned the blurred sentiment -- he did, however laugh his head off at his birthday present.  I got him a t-shirt that says "I pick things up, then put them down." (I love that commercial!)  We had a lot of laughs over that one.  

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment.  Ciao for now!

Ciao Bella!

Off to Pennsylvania...

Yep, I'm on the road again!  I have a vendor show with my Craft-Dee BowZ this weekend and this could be the start of something really big.  So wish me luck.

One of the trades I made with the show's principals is a free booth in return for my teaching a class.  So I was blessed to be able to combine JustRite Stamps, Spellbinder Dies and Webster's Pages in the following projects.  I hope they like them.

Webster's Pages has an interesting and eclectic look to them.  My challenge was to keep the ephemera to a minimum since they don't send you any of that stuff (yes, a little hard to believe, but true).  All they send is the stamps, dies and paper.  So I had to get creative in other ways.  One thing I did do was use an embossing plate of all sea shells for the background.  The way I got around this was to prep that layer of this card with the embossing plate, plus I did all the stamping of the seashells leaving it for them to simply cut out and glitter.  This card is ultra simple in that it is just edging with ink and layering the pieces.

The second card was a simple layering and cutting as well.  Again, all the stamping is done for them and it's a matter of edging with ink and cutting out some shapes.  You may make note of the cute little bow on the lobster.  Well, heck!  I gotta get Craft-Dee BowZ in there somehow!

Well, that's it.  It should be fun.  Ciao for now!

Ciao Bella!