The Last Hurrah...

Well, it's been a roller coaster ride this past week with 5 classes in as many days.  I am plumb tired.  I have one more class this week at the Scrapbook Cupboard (it's full as they all have been) and my LAST class forever at the store will be next Monday (big sad sigh!).  Since I just got the product to work with, I had to throw something together really fast in order to advertise this class.

The product I'm using is a new set of heart dies from Cheery Lynn Designs and it was worth the wait.  I just wish I'd had more time to put something together and not be rushed.  I really have lots of ideas for these dies, but time has been my enemy with all these classes and late product arrival.  So, without further ado, here are the two cards I put together.  How fitting that they are hearts as my heart will miss my students in a very big way.  We've had 8 years together and have had more fun than I can ever tell you.

This first card is a cupboard fold (how appropriate) to which I added some designer panels to jazz it up and then edged them using a gold leaf pen.  I then put a very different twist on the smallest of the heart dies and created this flower and decided to push it toward the holiday look.  The large white heart is the largest of the dies and after cutting it out, I ran it through a holly leaf embossing folder and edged it in gold leaf.  Next was die cutting the hearts for the petals and constructing it in a flower shape.  It went a lot faster than I thought.  A few die cut holly leaves, a little glitter and it was done!

The second card was based solely on this beautiful designer paper.  It just begged me to use it.  So I constructed this card using the various dies in the set.  I knew I wanted to use silver mirror paper, but gee, I seem to have run out of it.  What do to?  Aha!  Go grab the tin foil, glue it to a piece of cardstock and die cut the heart.  It worked great and continued the inspiration for the remainder of the card.  I topped the entire image off with a triple-loop silver bow made with my E-Z BowZ of course!

Well, if you haven't signed up for this class, you'd better pick up the phone!  It's bound to be a full and fun last night for me and my students.  

That's it for now -- all but the crying part, that is.  Ciao for now!

Ciao Bella!

Learning to say goodbye...

Many of you know that I have been teaching at the Scrapbook Cupboard for about 6 years and many of you know that the store is closing  at the end of this month.  Bev has valiantly struggled to keep the store afloat in these hard economic times and we managed to help keep it going for another year as Kim and I pulled together for her.  I hate change as I'm sure many of you do so it is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to Bev, my fellow teachers and, most of all, my students.  I have so enjoyed our times together.   We've had many a wacky class -- those that I lose total control over especially.  I don't know what you guys do to me, but it turns into a lunatic night of good-hearted insults and crazy stories and many laughs.  I've wondered some times how we ever managed to complete our projects.  I love you all.

So, to change this from maudlin to upbeat, you need to know that Kim and I are trying to work something out where we can continue to instruct you in the world of rubber and mixed media.  For those of you who do not know, Kim and I established a separate website last year when Bev was originally closing her doors.  It's where we plan to keep you updated on our next move.  So put www.kdcraftyconcepts.blogspot.com into your blog lists and become "Followers" so that you'll be first to know what's happening in Kim and Donna land.  We may have a few surprises for you and that's all I'll say right now.

We're also on FB, so you can Friend us there and catch up on all things K&D.
Ciao for now!

Ciao Bella!

I LOVE Memory Box Dies!

I have been having more fun than a barrel of proverbial monkeys with these dies.  I have a few new ones on order and I can't wait to get them!  I got some really cool Fall ones and some Christmas ones as well.  Okay, okay, here you go.  This die is called Pristine Border and I've probably just hit the tip of the iceberg on how to use it.

Here's one I just did for a very quick card using Harvest Berries from Papertrey Ink and the Pristine Border.

Now, most of you know how I'm always complaining that I just can't seem to put a simple card together.  I don't think it gets any easier than this!  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

This second card using Pristine Border and a stamp from Penny Black was a bit more detailed, but "uber" simple nonetheless.  See what you think.  You can click on any card to make it bigger to see the detail.

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's post -- please drop me a line -- I'd love to hear from you!

Ciao for now!

Ciao Bella!

Butterfly Award...

Oh, my goodness!  I just got awarded the Butterfly Award by my dear friend Barb Bruder over at Art and Soul Creations.  I never even heard of it, but I LOVE IT!!  Thanks Barb, and definitely right back at you.  For the uninitiated, here's what it looks like and the series of questions that go with it.

As part of this award I have to answer the following 12 questions and pass this on to 5 people. Here are the answers to my questions: 

Name your favorite color? 
Blue, pink, purple - Oooh don't make me choose!  I love them all!

Name your favorite song?
The Prayer- by Josh Grobin & Celine Dion


Name your favoirte dessert?
Creme Brulee (but that's only at the top of my list)


What wizzes you off at the moment? 
Blatant fraud.  (don't ask!)

Your favorite pet? 
Gabby, my sweet kitty

Black or white? 
Black is slimming, my dear
Your biggest fear? 
Bridges -- HATE THEM!

Best feature? 
Sense of humor

Everyday attitude? 
People pleaser (only cuz I want to!)

What is perfection? 
A day with my kids

Guilty pleasure? 
chocolate - is there anything else?

When you're upset? You REALLY don't want to know!

So now I pass this on to you, dear blogger friend.  Some of you may not even know who I am, but I am a definite fan of yours!


Barb
Julie
Becca
Dawn
Shona

Ciao for now.

Ciao Bella!

Just checking in!

No card pics today.  But I do have a short tale to tell.  I had signed up to do the convention in Troy, NY this past weekend with my E-Z BowZ, so we left on to set up for the show.  All went well and we had a slow, but steady stream of people stopping by the booth -- be sure to pop over to the E-Z BowZ blog for a lookie-loo.  Well, as you know, Irene hit with a vengeance and day two of the show got cancelled (ugh!).  So what do three women do while holed up in their hotel room weathering the storm?  Here's one pic of my friend, Chris.

We actually got to spend an entire day doing NOTHING!  My other friend, Regina, was also with us.  After spending a weekend with them, I've decided that we have gone totally techno -- they both have iPads, I have a Kindle, two of us have cell phones and between the 3 of us there were more darn rechargers in that hotel room -- it looked like a room full of snakes!  So we played Words with Friends, and 7 Little Words, watched TV, called our loved ones from time to time and then ran next door in the wind and rain to a sports bar to grab a bite to eat.  When was the last time I did absolutely nothing??!!

On Saturday morning we got up early as we had seen a fabulous looking diner on the way to the convention center.  I just HAD to take pictures of it for my favorite granddaughter.  I think she'll get a kick out of it.  Here they are:

And, yes, the clock is right -- it's 7:10 a.m. when we were there!

I was so impressed with the pristine look of this fabulous diner.  It was a jewel!  And the food was to die for!  I got a bowl of oatmeal that you could have floated a small yacht in.  Mmmm!

And here's a foggy view from our hotel parking lot.  The hotel sat on a knoll looking down into the valley and across to Renssalear I think.  This is just outside of Albany.  Can you see the pockets of mist here and there?  And you can barely make out the city through the haze.

We had a great time in spite of Irene, but it's really great to be home again.  Thanks for stopping by!

Ciao for now.

Ciao Bella!

M'Lady's Slipper

Hi Ciao Bella followers!  Wow!  I don't know where I've been this past month, but I hope I had fun wherever it was!  I can't believe it's been this long since I've posted anything.  I must have been busy (and I hope I figure out what it was.).  So, my apologies to m'ladies and here's a set of cards to go along with that apology.

We've been using quite a bit of the micro fine glitter at the store and I had to run a few more of these classes to keep people happy.  Not that it was a drudge -- believe me, I loooove working with this product by Elizabeth Crafts.  It's the smoooooothest, finest glitter anywhere.  There's a certain technique involved when doing these cards and it involves very wide tape, transfer tape, peel-offs and, of course, glitter.  Here's a look at both the cards:

For those of you who are not familiar with this technique, it's called Burnished Velvet.  I always get a kick out of my students when they start to burnish the glitter and you always get the same reaction:  "oooh!  look at that sparkle!".  While it's a bit time consuming to do the larger image, it's still a really fun project to do because it's like a puzzle revealing itself one piece at a time, but unlike a puzzle, you have complete control over what goes where.  It is such a fun techique!  The purple card was done using one of the smaller images in the peel-off package.  Here I used a square scalloped (Spellbinders) backing to show it off and I used the same technique using my wide tape and the Glitter Ritz glitter.  It was topped off with a lovley quadruple loop bow made on my Craft-Dee BowZ bow maker which you will find on my other blog.

Here's a close-up of the larger "slipper".  Hopefully, you can see how fine the glitter is and how it sparkles in a "hushed" way, so to speak.  You'll notice how I left a lot of the black peel-off in place to mimic patent leather.  Click on either image for a close-up.

Well, I hope you'll forgive me for my lapse in time and that you have enjoyed these cards.

Ciao for now!

Ciao Bella!

Playing catch up!

Hi there!  Sorry, but I've been a wee bit busy catching up on life after CHA.  I think I'm ready for the next round!  I had a class and a demo to do this past week and another demo tomorrow in RI, so for me, this is catching up!

First, let me tell you that I was published in the new issue of Vamp Stamp News.  They were looking for techniques using mostly solid stamps.  Mine is on page 11 in the center if you care to charge out the door looking for an issue (LOL).  Actually, if you click on the link above, you'll see my card in the "blinker" at the right hand side of their main page.  It was fun to do.

I thought I'd share a few more pics from CHA that you might enjoy.  It will be a hodgepodge of different vendors and I'll try and be as accurate as I can so that you can do some web searching on your own.

First, let's start off with more Spellbinders.  These are really cute (and big dies!).

Then we're off to Heartfelt Creations.  Oh, boy!  They had some unbelievable "stuff" there!  This little basket is their newest die and you can actually make a stand-alone basket with it.

And then there's some of Heartfelt's  flower dies

Then these last few are from Just Rite.  Oh, Lordy, I could have spent the day in their booth!  

Well, that's it for CHA!  Hope some of these cards teased the creativity in you.  

I'll try and be back a lot sooner with some other stuff I have going on here.  Until then, ciao for now!

Ciao Bella!