Oh My~ These are Pretty!

Hello all~ Although you have all seen hand dyed seam binding done before, and even I have done it a few times, I thought I would show you my latest batch. They came out so pretty, it can become addicting!

Isnt it beautiful?? This time I just used reinkers from Stampin Up to dye with. They did a good job. The colors dried quite a bit lighter than they looked when wet. And they all have a bit of a variegated tone to them. It makes them look vintagey- (if thats a word?).

The colors I used are (clockwise from upper left) Pixie Pink, Summer Sun,Tangerine Tango, Ballet Blue,Certainly Celery, Melon Mambo, and the little piece is Soft Sky.

 My only other supplies were the beige craft mat, but you can use wax paper if you dont have a mat, a spray bottle with plain water, and a pair of latex gloves. Plus of course some white seam binding.
Cut a length of ribbon you desire, mist it with water, place a few drops on your craft mat along with a drop or two or three of ink, smoosh it around with your gloved hand, and then add the ribbon. Rub it around in the dye till it all looks covered. Next step is to crush the ribbon in your hand to give it that crinkled, old look, and lay out to air dry. You can speed that up with a heat gun if you want to.
And thats it!!! Look forward to seeing these ribbons on future creations! Its a great way to use up reinkers that you may not have the ink pad to anymore.
Many thanks for stopping by...

Yay!! Its Friday!

Happy Friday everyone- even thought it is Friday the Thirteenth. Alot has been going on around here this week- except for stamping. Its Spring break week, so we have been doing some family things. For one, Theresa Lauren is getting a new room. She will be moving across the hall to her brothers room. He lives in NYC and she has had her eye on that room for some time. She picked out a really pretty, bright pink. Her old room is lavendar. Here is a preview:

Her Dad even worked on Easter to get this done soon!

Next up- haircut time. Anyone who knows TT, knows she does not like having her hair touched in any way. So the beauty parlor has never been her favorite place. Since her haircut is pretty straighforward, I thought I would do it myself. We set up a chair in the driveway, wet down her hair, and put on a cape just the hairdressers. It went very well, and I saved $15.00. Theresa got a new summer look, and a chocolate milkshake out of the deal. Winners all around.

I think she looks great!
We also went to the Circus, but Ill save that for tomorrow!
Many thanks for sropping by...

Jacquelines Birthday Card

Another birthday card, and all for the same family! This time the card is for my niece Jackie. She turned 10 this weekend~ OMG!!!! She is adorable and gets prettier each time I see her. So I chose a beautiful little fairy for her card.

See what I mean? This card is so pretty in real life. Her wings are colored in and then sprinkled with glitter. This is a digi image from A Day For Daisies. They have a wonderful selction of line drawn girly type of images. Right up my alley!!

Sentiment is again from MFT. I am lovin the big sizes of these sentiments. The paper is from a new collection in a pad from Me and My Big Ideas. I do not see a name on the pad, other than the company name, but I just purchased it in April from either Michaels or A.C.Moore. I liked the paper so much I did not want to cover most of it with the image, so that is why I mounted the image on a pink piece of cardstock and then carefully trimmed around it. Popped it up and it looks great!
The ribbon is Martha Stewart, and the punch I used is from Stampin Up.

The inside was kept clean and simple, again with MFT sentiments. The fairy was colored with Copics. Button was in my stash.
Many thanks for stopping by...

Little Boys Birthday Card

Todays post shows another birthday card, this one for my nephew who is about to turn seven!! Like most kids his age, he loves Angry Birds, so I decided to make him one for his card.

Looks pretty angry to me!

There are many versions of this guy on just about everyones blog, so I looked at some of them, and came up with my version. He is a big bird, as I wanted him to be the focal point of the card without other distractions. Little boys dont want the bows and glitter anyhow.
He is made with punches and nestabilities. I just kinda eyeballed it for size, and made some adjustments along the way. Here is some of what I did.

I cut 2 large circles, one in SU Real Red, and the other in a beige/kraft type of color.

Then put the red one back into the Big Shot, and with the same circle, cut off a portion on the bottom. This can also be done with punches, but your bird wont be as big. I glued the beige and red pieces together.

These are many- but not all - of the punches I used. I took some red scrap, (the piece I cut off the bottom) and cut a heart for his little feathers. I cut the heart all the way on the left of the punch.
The I cut 2 white circles- that is a 1 inch punch, for his eyes.With the little orange punch I cut 2 black circles for his pupils. I also cut 2 black pieces from the Modern Label punch for his eyebrows.

I cut 2 squares from School Bus Yellow (retired) CS. they are about an inch and inch and a half? Cut both of these on the diagonal, and thats how his beak is made.

Here are the 2 Modern Label punched pieces. I had to trim about 1/4 of them off.

I chalked the edges of the red pieces and the yellow beak in their respective colors. You dont want to see a whole lot of color, just a bit of definition.

Here are the 2 I made before they were cards. I think the top one looks a little more angry-LOL!!

I took some blue patterned paper for the sky, and lastly, used a MFT Grass Die and cut out 3 strips of green grass. They are staggered and popped up to look a little more like a "lawn".

The inside of the card has its own strip of green grass. The sentiments are from MFT. Sorry I cut it off a bit. But the card reads, "Its your big day", stamped on an angle, and "Happy Birthday". Both are stamped in "Pacific Point" SU ink.
Many thanks for stopping by to see my version of the famous bird. Hope you liked it. MaryBeth, I hope you dont see this till after Mathews party. HaHa.

My Brother In Laws Birthday Card

AsI metioned in the previous post, I am a bit behind, so some posts may be out of order. Here comes one. My Brother In Law John had a birthday the end of February. I kind of struggle with Masculine cards, as I love bows, flowers and ruffles. And pink, and glitter. But having said that~ I think this one came out pretty good.  I was quite pleased at the end result.

The stamp set is a retired Stampin Up set that I really like. Its called "Set Sail" and I think it was first released in 2004? I did not even know about SU then. I purchased this one on Ebay years later.

This is the inside of the card. The row of boats is from the same set. The sentiments on the front and inside the card are from a current SU set called "Perfectly Penned". I love the font they used on this set. There are 4 sentiments in the set.

The papers are from my scrap drawers. There is always some awesome paper in there. That must come from my hoarding tendencies. I love paper and hate to get rid of any. I liked the card so much, I made this one. Almost the same, but the image and background is straight compared to the above version, where its tilted. I used green twine, and Chocolate Chip ink form SU.
Many thanks for stopping by...

I'M FALLING BEHIND!!

I am falling behind on my blog posting~ so sorry. So I think some of my posts may not end up in the correct order.
for instance, we will start todays with some St. Partricks Day photos. Hope you all enjoyed your day!

Bob and TT always take a picture with green beer every year. She gets a big kick out of that!
And Kody wanted in also~ Dont worry- no pomeranians were harmed in the making of this photo! LOL. He's also showing off his brand new summer haircut. He went to a local "Fur Stylist" and is looking Oh So Handsome!

Next up is a quick card I had to make to send to a cousin far away. (NY really). I went into my scrap drawers, which are my fav places to look for paper lately, and came up with the papers shown. I then started to create my card from there. It was easy peasy and looks so cute and the colors are all about the spring!
The ice cream cone is from the Sweet As Can Be set from PTI.  I used assorted stamp pads , most of them from Stampin Up. The sentiments are from My Favorite Things. I love the big size of the words. So many of my sentiment sets are teeny~ not this one.

Scallop edge courtesy of my SU punch. The little party hat on the envelope is an old Hampton Art stamp that also says happy birthday on it. I colored in the hat with SU markers and purposely did not color in the words, as I did not want them on the front of the envelope. This is the easier way to do it rather than using a stamp pad.
Many thanks for stopping by...

Theresa Lauren is 18???

Yes, its true. My sweet, tiny little girl is now a lovely young lady of 18!!! Cant believe it. She has accomplished quite a bit in her years so far, and of course has gone above and beyond- her extra chromosone is just another small part of her makeup. Like her haircolor, or sweet smile, or stubborness.
Enough of me, here are some photos of her day. We had gone shopping like we always do after school, and she picked out some cd's and clothes. Then we went to eat out at Cracker Barrell. She loves the Sirloin Steak dinner there. Then we came home where a homemade chocolate cake was waiting for her.

Getting ready to make her wish!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Dad needed to help her open some big packages. This one turned out to be a Conair Foot massager. She loves doing manicures, and now pedicures too~

This big package arrived the next day. None of us had any idea what was inside.

OMG!!! April sent her a life size Justin Bieber!! She was (and still is) beyond excited!! This is the perfect gift!

We stood him up right away and she and Michael posed with him.

After deciding that he would stand in our family room, where she could gaze at him all day long, she needed to give him a hug~ too adorable!

Many thanks for stopping by...
Next up will be the thank you cards Im making for her gifts.