12th day of Christmas

Today was gingerbread house day with three more grandchildren. The youngest licked his fingers a few times after all that's what taste testing is all about.

Applying colored sugar takes a steady hand and a gentle shaking motion.

Concentration is very important.

Sometimes too much sugar causes funny faces.

Those aren't puffy cheeks! A teddy graham jumped into his mouth. Mmmm good.

The finished houses were works of art.

The youngest wanted to play with the toys not pose for another photo! I can't blame them...decorating houses is hard work.

This house is very artistic and colorful. I love the wreath over the door. There is even a door knob and the decorative colored balls at the peak of the house were placed there one at a time. Wow now that's attention to details.

This is today's card:

See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

11th day of Christmas

I just got home from the cookie exchange. Chocolate Chip, Peppermint Bark, Spritz, Cracker Candy, Pizzelles, Peanut Butter Balls, Lemon Wreaths, Rugelach, Truffles and Raspberry Jelly Bars were a few of the many cookie that we exchanged. I haven't even seen this many different cookies in a bakery! It was a delight for the sweet tooth in each of us.



Here is the card for today.

One Nestability die and Vintage Photo dye ink were used on this card. A green ribbon, a red Christmas tree brad and three gold pearls added a little bling. This card is fairly simple but there is beauty in simplicity. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

10th day of Christmas

Only two weeks left to finish the Christmas shopping. This weekend I'll be attending a Christmas cookie exchange at my daughters home on Saturday and the next round of Gingerbread houses on Sunday. The two youngest grandchildren and their older sister will be decorating houses so this is going to be fun! Lots of finger licking with the little ones.

This is the card for today:

Sizzix embossing folder, EK Success edge punch and Vintage Photo dye ink were used on this card. The image was highlighted with a Sakura Stardust pen. A gold metallic pen was applied to the edges of the papers. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

9th day of Christmas

This card used the same image as in the 4th day of Christmas. This image was printed on white cardstock instead of ivory and the background is green rather than red. Same image but a different outcome just by changing the colors.

Nestability deckled edge die, Cuttlebug folder, and Stazon opaque Cotton White ink pad were used to create this card. I didn't use much "bling" on this card. I did highlight the image with a Sakura Stardust pen. The center of the metal star was filled with Stickles, the corners of the green background were rounded and all the edges were highlighted with a gold metallic pen. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

8th day of Christmas

Today's Christmas song is "Angels we have heard on high". So in honor of Angels here is an angelic card.

Two of the same size scalloped Nestability dies were used, one for the photo and one for mauve cardstock. The mauve piece was offset from the picture and about 1/3 of it was cut off. The small snowflakes are from a Fiskar corner punch. Instead of using this punch to make a decorative corner it was used only for the snowflakes that are left over after punching the corner. A larger white charm has a bow on top tied with some silver thread. Vintage photo was sponged around the picture and was then detailed on the edges with a gold metallic pen. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

7th day of Christmas

Today would be a good day for a sleigh ride since we have plenty of snow. Get blankets to keep warm and after the ride some hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Personally I like the hot chocolate and marshmallow part the best. I am not a "snow" person.

You know how I love "bling" so can you find it on this card?

Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestability dies, deckle edge scissors, and Vintage Photo dye ink were used on this card. The background has Vintage Photo sponged over the raised areas. The remaining pieces have Vintage Photo sponged on the edges of the paper. The edges of the paper were highlighted with a gold metallic pen. Hint the "bling" is in the bottom right side under Christmas Greetings. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

6th day of Christmas

Lots of snow! The almanac predicted cold but not much snow this winter. Well if this is a precursor of things to come...we're in big trouble. Not only is it cold but we have about 16" of snow. So much for the almanacs predictions.

I have been listening to Christmas songs the last few days. This song is on "repeat" in my head...."I'll have a blue Christmas without you...." so today's card is blue. A welcome break from the traditional red and green.

The mother in me wants to know "Where are your gloves?" It is clearly snowing in this photo but her hands are bare.

Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestabilities die, and Fiskar corner punch were used to create this card. I sponged Stazon opaque cotton white over the raised design in the blue background and Vintage Photo on the edges of the remaining pieces. In honor of "bling" (that I truly love using), I put three pearls on the top right corner and three on the bottom left corner. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

5th day of Christmas

Today was a great day because four of my grandchildren came over to decorate gingerbread houses. They are so inventive and their house reflect their creativity. Each one had an idea to try on his or her house and were willing to share that idea with everyone. They were able to "CASE" each other. Here is how the houses looked before they started decorating.

The geniuses at work:

They were encouraged to taste test everything! Licking fingers was one of the best ways to be sure that the frosting was tasty.

Concentration helped get the snow on the roof to look perfect. The snow looks just like that on the toop of my house today!

Sometimes they used a butter knife instead of fingers and if the frosting got on the fingers all the better to lick off!

Adding snow to the green roof with a peppermint walkway. How cool is that!

The completed housing project:

There is a "ham" in every family and and it was difficult to get them to be smile for a picture so the in the next photo they didn't have to be serious and they weren't!!

Here is the card for the fifth day of Christmas:

See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

4th day of Christmas

Today is day four of the Vintage Christmas card series. Three weeks from now the hustle and bustle will be all over and the bills will start arriving. I hope you have all of your Christmas cards made and most of your shopping done. I started wrapping today so that I could take inventory of what I bought and who else I need to buy for. Tomorrow is gingerbread house day and four of my grandchildren will be coming over to decorate. They will each have a house to decorate. The remaining grandchildren will be decorating next Sunday. I love to see how creative they are.

Here is the card for today.

Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestabilities, Tim Holtz music stamp, Vintage Photo dye ink were all used on this card. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

3rd day of Christmas

Day number three and a third card. This image is from the Vintage Christmas Card book and CD sold at Dover Publishing.

All papers were sponged with a Vintage Photo dye ink pad. Background was created with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, image was cut with a deckled oval Nestability die, layered on top of another green paper cut with a Nestability die. The scalloped border at the bottom was made with a Martha Stewart edger punch. Gold pearls were added for a little "bling". See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

2nd day of Christmas

This is the card for the second day of Christmas. The image is from the same CD as in the previous post. I'm really lovin' this vintage look.

The holly leaves in the corners were from a Sizzix die. The embossed background is a Sizzix embossing folder. I sponged Vintage Photo dye ink around the edges of the photo to give it a more antique look. The background has Vintage Photo dye sponged over the entire surface of the raised image. Rhinestones in center of the holly for a little bling. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

1st day of Christms

"Everything old is new again". Vintage seems to be very popular this year. So my contribution to this new fad, will be one vintage Christmas card a day for the next 12 days. I bought a vintage book and CD from Dover Publishing and the images on these cards are from the CD.

1st day of Christmas:

This definitely a jolly ol' Santa and a very angelic little girl. The background papers were from a K and Company pad. The rectangular image was cut with a Nestability die and a corner punch was used to soften the shape. The scallop behind the image is cut with a Nestability die. The green paper was scalloped with an EK success edge punch. A Sakura stardust pen was used to add highlights to the image. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Birthdays and Glossy Cardstock

My granddaughter created another birthday cake. This was for my husband's birthday. He loves western movies, especially the old black and white movies. So this is the cake she made in his honor.

The hat is molded rice krispie treats covered with fondant. The sheriff badge is rolled fondant.

Here is another view that shows the movie reel. She drew circles on waxed paper, then filled the circles with melted chocolate. When the chocolate set she used these for the top and bottom of the reel. The circles on top of the reel were white chocolate melts. The film cascading around the cake was rolled fondant that was painted with black food coloring.

It was difficult to put candles on this cake so I made some cupcakes. My husband and my 2 youngest grandsons are in this next picture and the oldest is helping blow out the candles. I guess there were too many candles for my husband to blow out by himself. Isn't this a great picture? Lots of hot air!

This next post shows a technique with glossy card stock, white embossing powder and Adirondack dye inks. If you're in a hurry this is the technique to do. It makes a quick but elegant card.

The Hero Arts stamp was embossed with white embossing powder and place about 1" above the bottom edge of the cardstock. Using a make-up wedge I lightly swirled Conch Shell, Peach Bellini and Beach Glass Adirondack dye inks over the entire surface. Don't overlap the inks because they will get muddy in color. Light color inks are the best when you try this for the first time. I used a soft tissue to wipe off the embossed image to remove any ink residue. A few pearls in the center of the flowers add a little elegance to these cards. The verse, butterfly and dragon flies were stamped with dye ink. Since this is glossy cardstock be careful when you stamp the black, the cardstock is slippery and it takes a minute or two for the ink to dry. If you're in a hurry you can heat set the black.

The next photo shows one card with darker dye inks and on the other card I used gold alcohol ink with blender added to the felt.

The darker dye inks can be blotchy so swirl very lightly and test on scrap paper before applying to the glossy cardstock. Try it...you'll like it! Leave me a comment after you try it.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Holiday Set

I thought I would share a photo of the entire set of 10 cards made with stickers, ribbon and brads that were bought at Hobby Lobby.

Here is photo #1:

This is photo #2:

This next photo shows the verses on the inside of the cards:

Have you started your Christmas cards? Perhaps this will inspire you to get creative.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Holidays 9 & 10

On these last two cards I have used the remaining 5 stickers. It is amazing what you can create with stickers, ribbon, brads, Nestabilities and Cuttlebug embossing folders. I didn't use a single stamp on the outside of these cards.

This is card #9:

If you are looking for the stickers they are the 2 holly leaves on the top corners of the card.

Card #10:

That completes the set of 10 cards. Remember all those stickers you just had to buy? Well get them out and start creating. I stamped verses on the inside of the cards and will post a photo next time.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Holiday 7 & 8

I have used 18 different stickers on the last 6 cards. Cards 7 & 8 use 2 more stickers, one for the tree and one for the gingerbread man.

Here is card #7:

I inked the raised image of the Cuttlebug folder with dye ink before I embossed it. After embossing the house and trees were green and recessed (debossed). I used the debossed side of the dotted swiss Cuttlebug folder to match the debossed house.

Card #8:

A Cuttlebug wreath folder was used to embossed the "whitewashed " cardstock. After sanding the leafy raised areas, I applied red colored pencil to the poinsettias. I used a craft knife to cut out the center of the wreath.

There are 5 stickers left and two more cards that I will post tomorrow.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Holidays 5 & 6

A jolly Santa and a snowman are cards 5 & 6. It was really fun trying to find different layouts to compliment the stickers. I didn't want to add too many embellishments so I tried to stick with the ribbon and brads that I purchased at Hobby Lobby. A few pearls were added for a little more "bling" without taking away from the simplicity of the card.

This is card #5:

The Snowman is card #6:

More cards tomorrow. If you have any questions leave a comment or e-mail me. Are you in the holiday mood yet?

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Holidays 3 & 4

As promised here are two more cards that I created with the package of stickers that I bought at Hobby Lobby. I tried to use the same Cuttlebug embossing folders and Nestabilities on most of the cards.

Here is card #3:

Card #4:

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

Holidays

I noticed that the store have all of their Christmas merchandise displayed. Christmas may not be in the air but it is definitely in the stores! The displays inspired me to create some early Christmas cards. While at Hobby Lobby I bought a package of Christmas stickers, brads and 2 rolls of ribbon.

There was a definite "country/vintage" feel to these stickers so I chose to use kraft paper for most of the cards. The red on the stickers was closer to a brick color not the traditional bright red you associate with Christmas. The greens were also muted. I used cardstock colors that closely matched the hues in the stickers.

I was able to make 10 cards with the package of stickers. Here is card #1:

Here is card #2:

I will post 2 cards every day. Stop by tomorrow and see the next two cards. If you like what you see please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

An "Inky" Thanksgiving

These are cards I made with an Inky Antics clear rubber stamp set. This year I used this set for all of my Thanksgiving cards. I get bored doing the same card over and over again so I usually pick a stamp or stamp set for each holiday and make many different variations with the same stamp. I like to be able to change the appearance of my cards by using different papers and layouts. All the cards were colored with Prisma colored pencils and Gamsol. The "Inky" website has great directions for blending colored pencils with Gamsol. Check it out!

When I was growing up I was told "you never mix patterns on the clothes you are wearing". If you had a solid color skirt or pants you could wear a patterned top...but never mix plaids with stripes or flowers or paisley. I have noticed that many cards incorporate many patterns on one card. Keeping this in mind this is my attempt at mixing patterns. ENJOY!

Here are four of the cards:

A leaf shaped button, regular button, leaf punch, ribbon, twine, patterned papers and Nestabilities enabled me to get a different look on each card. I love adding embellishments ...I think that is when a card really comes to life.

Here are four different versions:

More patterned papers, ribbons buttons, twine, brads, leaf punch, embossing powder and of course Nestabilities all helped to create different layouts.

Whenever I show someone a card they always open it up to see what's inside so...here are a few insides:

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

STAMP OASIS @ SCS Flower City Gathering

Last Saturday, October 2, 2010, I participated in the Flower City Gathering in Rochester New York. It was a day full of stamping, friends, food and fun! I got this marvelous stamp in my "goodie bag". It is called "Spooky Tree" a Stamp Oasis stamp courtesy of Rubbernecker Stamps. Thanks to the wonderful people at Rubbernecker Stamps I was able to create this Halloween card.

Opalite ink pads using the direct to paper technique were applied to black cardstock. It is hard to photograph the sparkle that these ink pads add to dark cardstock. In the photo below you can see a few different shades of color on the background and a little of the sparkle.

I used Versamark and Egyptian Gold to emboss the "Spooky Tree". Isn't this the greatest Halloween tree you have ever seen! A Terra Cotta ink pad was streaked over a piece of gold stardream paper and was used for the moon which had been cut out with a craft knife. Several layers of tissue paper were used to die cut the Sizzix ghost. The bats (on the same die) were cut out of white stardream paper.

A glue stick was used only on the head of the ghost so that the layers appear to float.

Check out Rubbernecker Stamps to see the other stamps that they have. I think you will love what you see. I visited their site and have a list of stamps that I want to order.

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.