A Hollyhock Thank You

Here is Hollyhock Thank You card and this design comes thank's to one of my crafty card ladies....

This Hollyhock came in one long flower and would barely fit on the card. So on of my clever ladies (Thank's Ruth) came up with another idea. She simply cut the leave part and two of the flowers on the bottom off. Yes, she just did it! She cleaned both flowers up by separating them and getting rid of excess paper parts.

Thank's to this clever cutting, the flower was now just the right size to fit on the card. She adhered the big flower part with thin foam dots, then arranged the leave part the same way, just butting the two pieces up. The two extra flowers were also adhered with thin foam dots and they are used to "cover up" the seam between the top and bottom. Great Idea Ruth!

If you work with items like this or where they are just to big for your project, think out side box. Don't be afraid to cut them apart and create something different or just use part of it.

No matter what project you are working on, once all parts are together, lay them down and dry fit them together. Stay back and see if you like the design. Move things around and see what else might please your eyes, then take out the glue.... It's like measure twice, cut once!  

Mega Meet 2014

Hello crafting friends,

just a reminder that the Mega Meet 2014 will start tomorrow in Novi, MI.

Mega Meet 

May 8th until 10th

This year I have two classes on my list and I will let you know how they turned out, so keep following my blog.

I'll hope to see you there...I'll be at the show on Thursday and Friday and if you like to catch up with me...contact me 

Hope to see you there and have fun exploring :-)

A Poppy Flower Thank You

Here is another of these wonderful flowers, a Poppy Flower with a little bee buzzing around it.

Assembly is the same as with the previous cards. Also this is flower was originally situated on the edge of my botanical paper. This means, the poppy seed and the leave on the left were cut off. We took advantage of it by placing the flower right to the edge of the left side of the embossing background.
We also had an extra leave that we used to extend the greenery on the bottom. It was adhered flat to the card base, tucked lightly under the main flower. Can you tell which leave I am talking about?

In this particular card we raised the tag with some thin foam dots as well. Make sure when you arrange items that they overlap a little in some places. This give your card more flow and looks more natural too.
Place the little bee with a foam dot and decide if and were you would put the bling....

Stay tune, there are more....

Happy Birthday with Daffodil Flowers

This is another sample of the botanical flower paper I had. Daffodils are just the right spring flowers. 

The pieces used here are the same as mentioned in the first card (Happy Birthday with Alium Flowers). The arrangement is a little bit different due to the shape of the flowers.

In this detailed look you can see that I cut the flowers by leaving a little rim around everything. The background of the original paper was a light green. This makes the flowers and leave pop out a little more. I did cut in between leave, but not everywhere.

Using your craft knife takes a little practice. If you have never tried it before, make sure to follow these little tips:

- have a self-healing cutting mat to protect your surface

- your craft knife should have a nice sharp blade in it

- practice on a piece of scrap paper first

- hold your knife steady and carefully cut along the object

- turn your paper often so cutting along sides will be comfortable for you

It will not be easy at first, but practice will make it easier over time.

Look out for more flowers ....  

Happy Birthday with Alium Flowers

Do you have design papers laying around where you don't know what to do with? They are so pretty, but they don't work on pages or hard to use on cards too? Well, I had like three sheets of a wonderful botanical flower garden that I love, but it was one of these kinds....so pretty, but what to do with them? 

Not good for a scrapbook page. Cutting them up to use as background on cards wouldn't work either, since I might cut the flowers in half or risk to have to much scrap material. So what to do? 

While I was playing around with my new Anna Griffin embossing folders I had an idea: "Why not cutting each of these beautiful flowers out and use them individually on my cards....perfect! Out comes the craft knife and in no time all flowers were cut out including the little critters. Since I planed to used them in my card class, I encountered another problem. I don't have enough flowers to make one card for all, so everyone of my ladies had to deal with different flower type (you will see more in the next few days). Some of the flowers were running of the edge of the paper, so they had a little flat leave on one side, but that's not a problem. You just place the this flower either to the right or left of your card to make it flush with the edge...this makes for some need designs and it was fun in class. Everyone got to play around with the items given before adhering them.

The base for all this cards is 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" colonial white cardstock. I run a piece of the same cardstock (5 1/4"x 4") through the embossing machine. Two strips of green cardstock were embossed with a matching design folder. The tag was cut out with Spellbinders in two sizes, the bigger one in green, the smaller one in white. We stamped a sentiment on the white tag and adhered it to the green.   


All flower cards are assembled in this way: Adhere white embossed cardstock in the center of the base. Adhere green strip to the left side about 1/2" off the edge. The second green strip is adhered at the bottom also about 1/2" of the edge. All strips are only as long as the white embossing piece. In some cards we adhered the second strip over the flower, depending on the layout preference. 
The flowers are adhered with foam dots, but not your regular once. These are special once that are thinner so the piece is not getting to bulky. Arrange and adhere tag piece. The little critters are also adhered with thin foam dots. A sparkle finishes the card of.

Stay tuned for more flowers cards to come....

Good things will come, if you just believe

This is card number 3 from the April card class. I used our Close To My Heart "Skylark" paper line for it. I love the greens and blues/ turquoise in this pack. So how did we made this card?

Card base is made from white cardstock and measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4". The fold on this card is at the top.

All pieces of this card were sponged around the edges with Chocolate Ink from Close To My Heart before adhered to the card.

Three stripes of "Skylark" paper were cut and adhered to the front. Start by laying the stripes on the front and see how much space is in between each strip and on the outside. I always start with the side pieces first. Make sure that they are evenly spaced from the top and bottom and the one side. The middle piece goes in last and is simply centered between the other two.

We stamped the sentiment "Good things ..." on a strip of kraft cardstock to the left. Adhere strip about an 1 1/4" from the bottom.   

Round edges of the green square and adhere to card as seen in the picture.

 The embellishment is made up from three elements. One is a punched out label from "Skylark" paper. Second is a punched out scallop circle from kraft cardstock with a flower stamped on. For the third item we stamped the flower onto "Skylark" paper and cut it out. To assemble: Cut label in half and adhere each piece to the side of the green square. The label just barely hangs over the square. The kraft scallop circle is placed in the middle on top of the label pieces. Finally the flower is raised with a foam dot form the circle. A rhinestone finishes this card off.

The fourth card will come in a variety of options, so hang on to see them too...

Thinking of you

I know you are waiting for the April card class samples and I apologize for being late. Well here they are...

As so often with card designs, sometimes the more simple once turn out the be a great one. Simple colors and a few embellishments, that's all you need for this card.

A piece of design paper 4x 5 1/4 for the background. The sentiment portion is assembled with a piece of gray, chocolate brown and white cardstock piece, all adhered together and placed with foam dots on the card base.


The flowers were stamped, colored in light green and embellished with some pearls, then cut out. I bend the pedals upward a bit and adhered them to the card.

Stay tuned for more cards to come ....  

A Wonder of Nature

I thought I share this wonderful surprise I had today with you. I came home around lunch and was so amazed about what I saw in our backyard. We have hear they are around here at some of the lake, but until today we never saw one.

Well I can say we had one in our backyard today and it was awesome. To bad it was raining. Hopefully he comes back...maybe he was looking for some new real estate? This will make us happy, but not the geese...oh would that be nice :-)

Oh, you are wondering who my visitor was? Well check this out...

A great day.....have a wonderful weekend

Boys Layout from Timberline Paper

This is the last of the three layouts that I created for the scrapbooking event.
I used the wonderful Timberline paper pack. This paper is ideal for all the men in your life or for some wonderful outdoor moments to share.

This set comes like the other two sets with all the papers pre-cut, all the embellishments you can see and even the extra photo flaps. Yes, all included. Instructions and sketches will explain how to assemble the set. You can find the layout also in the Close To My Heart book "Make it from Your Heart - Volume 1". Start by assembling your first page, then lay the base of the second page side by side with the first one. Now line up your wood-grain border with the first one and continue to adhere from there. This will make sure both of your layouts will match up in the scrapbook.

You might have noticed by now that this layout looks a lot like the Smilles-layout that I introduced a couple of days ago.... and you are right. It is the same sketch, the same elements, just in a different way assembled. I switched both sides and placed the paper strips here on top as a header. I also changed the picture size to larger photos instead of the smaller once.

Isn't it amazing how the same sketch and lead to two completely different layouts?

 Well, you might say, "but now I can only place two big photos in the middle and three small once on the side...oh no, look closer what I did...

Each 4x6 photo has a clear plastic flap adhered on the sides that can flip either to the left or right. This gives you the option to place another 4x6 or even two other 4x6 pictures in the same layout. You can also use the inside of the flap for hidden journaling or to keep tickets or other memorable items in it.

 Again, instructions on how to cut your sheet protector so you can pull the flap through and be able to open the flaps without pulling the page out of the protector are on the instruction sheet.

Never-the-less, here is a quick trick to add them to your page. Assemble the page completely, without the flaps. Place your pages into the page protectors and lay them on a flat surface. Now take the flaps, bend the part with the adhesive strip back so it is tuck away behind the front photo. Pull off the adhesive protector and stick the flap directly to your page protector above the photo on your layout. The adhesive on these flaps from Close To My Heart is very strong and can be used on the outside of a page protector without a problem.

These little fun flaps come in different sizes:

4x6, 6x12, 4x12, 8x12, 6x6 and also in 2x2, 3x3, 3x4 and 4x4

If you like to know more about them, how to use them or with any other question, please contact me.
You can also check sizes an prices on my website.

 I hope you liked these fun page layouts and I will promise, I will bring more in the next few months. This layout as well as the other two are still available in a limited number, so if you would like a set to work on it at home, please contact me right away before they are sold out ....