Here is my design for this week's BBTB2 Challenge. It is the purse cut from the Paisley cartrdige. I cut out 2 shapes from a blueish-gray cardstock and used them to create a gift bag. I inked all the edges with light blue ink. The inside which makes the "bag" to hold a small gift is just white paper, and actually connects the front of the gift bag to the back of the gift bag. The printed paper on the front and back is an embossed cardstock from K & Co. The felt flower is from Michael's dollar bin, and the other flowers at the top are from the Bride's line of confetti. I Stickled their centers with pink and added some to the felt flower. The button is vintage from my grammy. I tied some ribbon to the handles and bunched up some tissue paper in the bag. I cut it out to fit to page so it's about 10.5 inches large, which is a good sized gift bag. Check out the other designers ideas at BBTB2...those girls ROCK!
Miles of Smiles,
This last Easter card is a little more "religious" so I wanted to highlight it. I stamped the Alleluia background in brown onto the gold cardstock card. Trimmed a rectangle of lavender overlapped by a subtle pink and green printed paper which I corner punched and added lavender pearls. I stamped the cross in brown onto cream cardstock, cut out and adhered with foam dots. I highlighted the swirls in the cross image with a glitter pen. I added pansy flowers and glittered their centers with yellow Stickles. I highlighted the lavender cardstock by edging it with the glitter pen also, then I stamped Alleluia in black ink.
Here are two thank you cards I made recently. I like the background paper that looks like notebook paper. I border punched the edges, added tags, ribbons, flowers, rhinestones and punched leaves. I also used my glitter pen to highlight the birds feathers. The sentiment is a rub-on.
Miles of Smiles,
This is my latest project for BBTB2. The challenge was to use Technique Tuesday stamps and the flourish cut from Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. I made a sort of "vignette" in a jar lid. I cut out the 3D trees from Winter Woodland and embossed them with the spiderweb Cuttlebug folder. I added a sprig of a crystal twig, and some other fern & leaf sprigs. I stamped and embossed 2 deer images on pink cardstock, and cut them out. I chalked them, added Stickles and a rhinestone eye to each one. I then stamped the mushrooms from the stamp set and added Stickles to them. I stamped the little flowers, chalked them, cut them out, stickled the centers and glued them onto the leaf sprigs. The flourishes were inked with brown and added to the base and to the frame over the trees. I added the pink flowers with stickled centers. For filler in the bottom of the jar lid, I cut super thin strips of cream cardstock and sort of fashioned a nest from it. I wanted it to have a "woodsy" look but not feel too wintery. I think the pink and light green and cream colors really give it a spring flavor. The stamp set from Technique Tuesday is sooo adorable! Go check out the other designer's creations at BBTB2! Miles of Smiles,
Ah...Cadbury Mini Eggs. They are just little chocolate eggs dropped from Heaven! I wait all year for the Mini Eggs to fill the store shelves with their chocolatey goodness in the spring. Joy! It's probably a good thing they are only released once a year cuz I'd weigh 500 pounds if they were available on a daily basis. I chow them down, but I take my time, in a way, because I don't just chew them up...I suck on them. I suck on them until their beautifully fragile sugar shells dissolve, and then I let the shouldn't-be-legal creamy chocolate melt in my mouth. Oh pure, sweet, edible satisfaction. I eat one at a time, which I also like to believe makes them last longer. But I swear, they are like some kind of "cadbury drug" because once I get that first taste of heaven from a purple bag, I cannot stop! Does anyone else have this difficulty with the Mini Eggs?? When the bag is sadly emptied, I wonder how long it will be until my next fix! They are just Mini Eggs for goodness sake! But for me, it's like catnip. Gimme more, and don't ever let the purpley bag of goodness run dry.....until Easter is over and I begin the year long vigil for their much awaited return the following spring. {sigh} See how I'm rambling? The "cadbury drug" makes me do that... Please leave a comment to let me know it's not just me...that I'm not the only one Mad-for-Mini-Eggs!
Miles of Chocolatey Smiles,
Here's a pic of a quick little project I threw together the other day. I needed something I could hang in my office and see birthdays and anniversaries at a glance. I started with a 12x12 piece of chipboard and covered it with a neutral cardstock on each side. I cut 12 pieces of patterned paper into 4 x6 rectangles and inked the edges. I attached them to the chipboard piece, added buttons and attached spring clips. I created a calendar for each month and printed them out on vellum. I wanted the calendar pages to be removable in case I need to add birthdays or anniversaries; I can just update it and print it out again. I can also clip up finished cards waiting to be mailed. I punched holes in the top, tied ribbon through, and hung it on my wall. If I had put more thought into it, I would have added a cute border punched edge, but like I said, I threw it together pretty quickly.
As you are probably aware, with all my card making, scrapbooking, and other projects I love using border punches in my designs. Recently, one of my favorite Fiskars border punches died. I had it for a while, but one day while I was trying to punch a border for some gingerbread on one of my swap houses, the punch lever broke off. It was upsetting because I really wanted to use that punch and I loved that punch. Since I needed it immediately, I thought Michael's would do an even exchange for me, but of course not! Of course all they care about now is a receipt. It's really frustrating dealing with Michael's associates anymore because apparantly customer service is not one of their top priorities. They make you feel very insignificant and like they are "doing you a favor" for what they should be doing right in the first place--customer service. Ridiculous! But it got me thinking...how long am I supposed to hang on to a Michael's receipt for??? For as long as I own the item? Well then what happens after, say 30 days, or 60 days, or a year?? Let's say I still have the receipt, won't they then look at the date on the receipt and refuse to help me? Or make me pay some ridiculous "restocking" fee?? (Don't get me started on that! If you are returning/exchanging product that is damaged, why should you get charged a fee for that?? They aren't going to put it back on the shelf. Should you be penalized for a defective product??) It's just wrong and many of us are complaining about it. Thank goodness Hobby Lobby is moving into town! Anyway, back to Fiskars....I got the 800 number off the back of a punch hanging on the shelf and went out to my car and called them. I spoke with a real live person quickly and she was actually polite and helpful. She told me what I needed to do, which was send an e-mail to the warrantee department with a photo of the defective product and my information. About 2 weeks later, my replacement punch arrived in the mail! I didn't have to spend money to send back the defective one...I didn't get hassled...I didn't have to send any money for the new one...I didn't have to wait forever. It was such a pleasant experience. And it makes me confident in purchasing other Fiskars products, just knowing they actually understand customer service and how far that goes. Look at me, I'm actually blogging about this...that's how much of a positive impact it made on me. In a world where customer service and it's true meaning seems to be hanging on by a thread, I will enthusiastically grasp those threads wherever I find them and send my business (i.e. my hard earned money) to them! And it's a relief to know that not all companies are becoming so difficult to do business with that you want to run in the other direction. Have you received good service somewhere? Or just the opposite? Comment here and let us know!Miles of Smiles,
So I found out yesterday that I was selected to be a Designer for Above Rubies Studio. Yay! Hooray! I'm so excited. I'm sure it will be a fun and creative journey! I don't have all the details yet but whatever it is, I'm sure it will be great. Megan has such a fun website. Go check out some of her awesome videos...Above Rubies Studio.
Here is my design for this week's BBTB2 Challenge. It is the purse cut from the Paisley cartrdige. I cut out 2 shapes from a blueish-gray cardstock and used them to create a gift bag. I inked all the edges with light blue ink. The inside which makes the "bag" to hold a small gift is just white paper, and actually connects the front of the gift bag to the back of the gift bag. The printed paper on the front and back is an embossed cardstock from K & Co. The felt flower is from Michael's dollar bin, and the other flowers at the top are from the Bride's line of confetti. I Stickled their centers with pink and added some to the felt flower. The button is vintage from my grammy. I tied some ribbon to the handles and bunched up some tissue paper in the bag. I cut it out to fit to page so it's about 10.5 inches large, which is a good sized gift bag. Check out the other designers ideas at BBTB2...those girls ROCK!
