Exciting news!

I'm so excited to announce that I have been selected to be a design team member for Bird's SVGs! You can read more about it here.

I have been following Bird's Cards for years and have always loved her designs. In addition, I have appreciated her generosity in designing hundreds of free svg files for her friends and followers. When Bird opened her SVG shop last Fall, I got straight to shopping!

If you've never visited Bird's store, you really should check it out. Look at the lovely Nature's Bounty kit which Bird released last night (shown below). As if paper crafting isn't enough, one of my other hobbies is genealogy, and my great-grandfather was a dairy man. I'm really looking forward to making the milk can very soon and personalizing it to include this family information.  

Nature's Bounty

The very first kit Bird released in her new store was the free Birdhouse Collection which includes several cards, a tag and a 3D birdhouse! I think it's so cute and plan to make the 3D birdhouse with a Christmas theme this year. 

Birdhouse Collection

Thanks for stopping by to share my happy news and please follow my blog or stop by often to see what new projects I'll be posting.  And special thanks to Bird for inviting me to join her design team - this made my whole month!

Oh say can you SEA...

I just fell in love with the Waving Flag Bag in the new Happy 4th SVG kit from SVG Cuts!  I considered making it in the traditional red, white and blue colors, but for me the 4th of July was often celebrated on the New England seaside and I've always had a love of the beach and could just picture this flag with a bit of an ocean theme.  

When flipping through my paper stash, I came across an older K&Company stack by Tim Coffey called Travel which is loaded with wonderful designs, so I picked a few to represent the red, white and blue and went from there. I inked the panels using Distress inks in Antique Linen, Iced Spruce and Fired Brick.  

I also dug into my Tim Holtz die inventory to create the starfish 'stars' for my beachy flag. These are from the Sand & Sea dies, Bigz and Movers & Shapers.  I tried to keep the color light so it would show up against the relatively light blue background. I rubbed the stars with a little Distress Stickles in Scattered Straw.  It looks a lot like sand in person.

As usual I spent more time on paper selection than actually building the project. This is a super easy project to do and makes such a nice seasonal decor piece.  

Happy 4th of July!  

Rocket Lantern

...and the rocket's red glare....

  

Okay, well maybe more than just red glare! I only made one rocket (so far), but I was having a good time taking pictures of it every time the tealight changed color, so figured I'd just share all of the colorful pics. 

Here's a closer look at my Rocket Lantern from Dreaming Tree's Stars and Stripes Forever bundle. It's just one of three illuminating projects just in time for the 4th of July. 

I didn't really do anything to change this one very much from the original by Dreaming Tree...why mess with perfection?  I did use silver glitter paper for the nose cone and base, but other than that, I kept it pretty simple.  

This could be so cute for New Year's Eve too, don't you think?  Maybe done in black, silver and gold instead?  The sky's the limit (pun intended).  

Thanks for stopping by! 

Sunflower-ish Tealight

Just a really quick post to show you what I did with the free Gerbera Daisy Tea Light from Dreaming Tree.  

For some reason I was thinking of how cool these would look in some fall colors, and decided to make this into a sunflower of sorts.  Or maybe a black-eyed susan?  Either way, the sequins in the center reflect the tealight flame a bit and make this extra sparkly which always makes me happy. I think a glittered center would be cool too.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Fire & Dragonfly Lantern

It's a bit of an overcast day today, so I thought I'd light up my lanterns for their moment in the front of the camera!

Both of these are from the new Summer Nights and Flights bundle by Dreaming Tree. I actually had the same Violet Leaf stack of DCWV paper and so I made my first lantern (the one on the right) to look almost exactly like the one that Dreaming Tree shows on their website. 

I made a second lantern for a neighbor who just returned from a few months in China and who brought me back the gift of a beautiful silk scarf. To me this lantern has somewhat of a pagoda feel, so I made one in green and gold to use as a thank you for the scarf.  I used paper from the same stack, although this time it's metallic gold flowers on a green background.  

I embossed the gold panels with a Cuttlebug Oriental Weave embossing folder which seemed to make them super shiny with all the extra facets to reflect light.

I also added a gold glitter ball on top as shown in the assembly video, but rather than paint mine with glitter paint, I covered it in quick dry glue and sprinkled Martha Stewart ultrafine glitter on it and then let it dry for a few hours before gluing it on top with some Glossy Accents.

BONUS!  Dreaming Tree just added some FREE Autumn Nights and Frights panels for this lantern so it can be used for Halloween too!  Now I can't wait to make the spooky version!

I hope my neighbor enjoys the lantern. Thanks for stopping by to check them out!  

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I may receive a commission.  I only participate in affiliate programs for products or services that I personally use and recommend.  

Route 66 Box Card

With Father's Day coming up, I was excited to make a few of the newest designs from SVGCuts. This one is the Route 66 box card from the Travel the World kit.

I altered mine slightly to include a fun piece of Tim Holtz ephemera which is a fuel calculator of sorts. It seemed to go well with the classic styling of the car.

I also made the car yellow to match a classic car owned by the recipient:

Lightly glittered black paper made for some realistic looking 'asphalt' flaps!

  

Last but not least, I had some fun street sign paper in my stash to make the envelope as shown in the background below.  I love how this whole project turned out and I can't wait to give it to the recipient!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dreaming Tree Blog Hop Winner! Is it you?

Congratulations to  

Laney H. 

who was the winner of the $10 Dreaming Tree gift certificate from this stop on the blog hop!

Laney, I've emailed you information about how to claim your gift certificate. 

And just because the giveaway has ended doesn't mean that you can't still check out all of the fabulous projects from the hop. Maybe you left a winning comment on another hop stop!

Don't forget to visit DreamingTree to see the latest designs and free downloads too. There are so many great projects just waiting to be made!

Here were the other stops on the hop in case you missed them:

1.  DezinesbyEM

2.  Misfit Crafter

3.  Just Yolie            

5.  Izbzee

6.  Oh So Many Crafts

7.  Sweet Love Canada

8.  The Non-Crafty Crafter

9.  Scrappy Coyote

10.  2 Debs Crafting

Star Spangled Basket - Dreaming Tree Blog Hop

Welcome to the blog hop featuring Dreaming Tree SVG files!  Leave a comment below for your chance to win a $10 Dreaming Tree gift certificate.

I always try to switch out my home decor a bit to match the seasons and holidays. In recent years, I've created a lot of my own pieces using my Cricut and SVG files I've purchased.  This time of year, I break out the red, white and blue for the summer holidays, Memorial Day through Labor Day.

I was inspired to create this Star Spangled Summer arrangement using the Blossom Basket from the Daffodilly Spring bundle as the base.

I used the optional plain exterior panels (in the extras folder) and embossed them with a basket weave pattern. I just discovered these amazing embossing folders from We R Memory Keepers. They are called Next Level Embossing Folders and they have such great detailed impressions.  I'll be shopping for more of these soon. I was experimenting with them on some scraps while trying to decide which one to use:

I added some star and flourish cutouts to the blue base trim that I found in the O Christmas Tree bundle on the Star Gift Box lid and front panel.

Some clear crystal gems and pearl bling around the blue basket trim added a nice contrast with a bit of sparkle and shine. I just love bling!

Using the rosette from the bottom of the Umbrella Egg in the Daffodilly Spring bundle along with the dimensional star from the Star Gift Box, I added some ribbon to a bamboo skewer (as shown in the assembly video tutorial for the Hearts Bouquet, Hugs N Kisses bundle) and created a spangled star of my own!  A few silver sequins around the edges of the star really make this shine.

I made a few more of the dimensional stars from the Star Gift Box in different sizes to add to the arrangement and created the Star Spangled Summer sentiment using my Make-the Cut software.

With some glittery pipe cleaners I created a little firework explosion on a stick in red, blue and silver. I used some of the same pipe cleaners and coiled them around a pencil to make some sparkly squiggles (technical term!) to add to the basket.

I enjoy seeing this new addition to my summer decor every time I walk past it!

Thank you for participating in the June Blog Hop Featuring Dreaming Tree SVG Files. To enter for your chance to receive a Dreaming Tree Gift Certificate you must leave a comment.  The more blogs you visit and comment on, the more chances you have to win! Contest runs from 06/10/2016 12:00 AM EST to 06/13/2016 11:59 PM EST. 1 winner will be awarded from each blog and 1 grand prize winner will be awarded based on all comments from all blogs. Winners will be posted by June 15, 2016. Please check back to see if you are a winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please continue the hop by visiting the next crafter on the list!

1.  DezinesbyEM

2.  Misfit Crafter

3.  Just Yolie

you are here!       4.  A Thing for Paper                             

5.  Izbzee

6.  Oh So Many Crafts

7.  Sweet Love Canada

8.  The Non-Crafty Crafter

9.  Scrappy Coyote

10.  2 Debs Crafting

Last but not certainly not least, don't forget to stop by the Dreaming Tree website to check out their fabulous free files and sign up for their newsletter which will keep you in the know!

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I may receive a commission.  I only participate in affiliate programs for products or services that I personally use and recommend.  

Get Well Mailbox Bouquet

Here's just a quick post to show the Mailbox Bouquet card from Dreaming Tree that I made for a friend who was in the hospital. She loves bright colors, particularly pink and purple, so that's what I primarily used for her card.

I love how the colors, particularly the green, pop against the black mailbox background.  She's also a fan of black and red, so the black mailbox base with the glittery red flag were just right for this project.

For the mailbox side panels, I stamped a pretty floral pattern in Versamark ink and dusted it with gold Perfect Pearls powder.  What an easy way to create customized shimmery cardstock in whatever pattern or color you choose.

Thanks for stopping by!


This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I may receive a commission.  I only participate in affiliate programs for products or services that I personally use and recommend.  

12 TAGS OF 2016: May edition

Wow, I really waited until the last minute to finish this one up. May has been a busy month!  
Tim's original tag can be found here, and this is my take on this month's technique remix.  

I saw a photo on Instagram the other day of some beautiful pink roses with the most lovely blue sky behind them and I was smitten!  That is where my color inspiration came from.

There was a small when I went to grab my texture paste and found it all dried up. OH NO!  I think I must have put the cap on crooked the last time I used it. Boo!

I was thinking about what I could use in place of texture paste and remembered thinking how clever Paula Cheney was in a recent blog post.  She applied collage medium through a stencil for just the right amount and to very cool effect.  I figured why the heck not, and did the same with some matte collage medium.  It turned out to be another layer of resist on the tag, but I was happy to have a solution of sorts and wanted to try Paula's technique anyway!  You can see where I added some numbers on the right side and the bubbles on the left and bottom.

Last but not least, I sure did have fun with the tiny tattered floral die this month.  I ordered it for myself early in May since for some reason I didn't already have it.  I proceeded to use it on two other projects before I even got around to putting them on this month's tag.

I had some tag backgrounds that I made previously and didn't love, so I used them to cut out some of the flowers.  I think they add a neat, colorful effect.  I did the same thing with the leaves.

You can see some of the other tiny tattered florals on my fairy cottage post.  And here's a picture of how I used them in yet another other project:

I think the tiny roses cut out in green look just like succulents when added to a miniature terracotta flower pot. I can tell I'll be putting this die set to very good use.

Thanks so much for stopping by!