Sketch Challenge for Scraps 2 Treasures

   I am sharing a project I did for a group called http://scraps-2-treasures.blogspot.com/2014/02/meet-me-mondaymarsha-clark-sims.html. I was sent a sketch, and this being
February, the month of love, I decided this sketch called for a Valentines Card.
The sketch is as follows:

   I like to first gather supplies.

I chose an easel card for this sketch. I cut a strip of 12 x 6 paper for the base of my card and a 6 x 6 of the same color for the front of my card. I also cut a base of pink of 5 1/2 by 5 1/2. The pink is what I used to attach all of my design to.

I used my score board and scored the 12 x 6 in base at the 6 inch mark and the 3 inch mark. This is what make the easel card.

I then glued my two patterned strips down according to the sketch. I laid out the doily where I wanted it to be and scored across it with my score board, making the cut easy for follow. After gluing down the doily, I went around the card base with twine and glued it to the back part of the pink base. I tied some more twine into a bow, glued it down and added a button on top to match the sketch.
The rest are things I added to complete my card.
A stamped on colored image. I also cut out a darker pink paper to match the size of stamped image.

Time to put the card together. I centered the pink base and glued it on top of the cream base. Take the 12 x 6 cream base and add glue to the 3 x 6 fold all the way around to attach the card front.

Let the glue dry. Now is the part that holds the easel. You must use something that raises to catch the edge of the card to rest on. I used layered stickers. I start by lifting the card into the easel and I put the center sticker where I wanted the easel to rest. I filled in on either side with the rest of the sticker sentiment.

This is my finished card. I hope you enjoyed my tutorial!!

 

 

Valentine Heart Box

I made this box for a swap and I am entering in a contest for http://miriamscraftingblog.com/.../miriams-crafting-blog... and I am in love with it! I always make things to give away that I would love to keep.

To me, it's the little details that make a project complete. This was just a plain chipboard box I bought from Hobby Lobby. I painted it Antique Pink and then took a paper towel and brushed over the pink with a metallic copper. It made it look very rustic. Next I made the roses. I use Co-ordinations card stock with the solid color core.
To make the roses, I used a flower punch. Each rose has 4 flower punches. First, I distressed the edges with my sanding tool and then I used a very small dowel rod to roll the petals, glue and shape into a rose as I go. I will do a tutorial on those later. At my local Scrapbooking Store, I bought those little sprigs of baby's breathe and cut them apart to place within the roses, it gave the roses that very vintage look.
The crown is a drawer pull. It just really screamed to be a part of this box!! For the center medallion, it was just a metal embellishment I had. I cut an oval out of Graphic 45 paper and glued it to the center. I then added the chain. I glued the medallion directly to the box, and let the chain hang free from around the crown.
I hope you like my project of the week. And if you had not noticed, I use a great deal of Graphic 45 papers! I just love the look and how versatile they are. For a link to their site go to: http://g45papers.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Graphic45

When you go to look around their beautiful site, tell them that I sent you from my blog. Well, on to more projects! I hope you enjoyed this Valentine!!

Goals

  I am not going to set New Years "Resolutions", more like goals. My goals for this year include blogging more, to let people see my work, maybe to be inspired by the things I make. I am hoping to post a blog post once a week, but don't hold me to it. Life gets busy, things come up, and there isn't a person that doesn't know about that, but it is my goal!
   I also have a goal of becoming a design team member. To me, this is a step in the business world of crafting and scrapbooking. I love to do these things and would love to make money doing it. The old "nose to the grindstone" doesn't exactly thrill me at my age. I've been a waitress, a cook, a retail worker, a factory worker, but none of them made me happy.
   So I guess my final goal for my life this year is to do things that make me happy! Sounds simple, right? Sometimes, it's just not that easy, sometimes need outweighs want and the need for a paycheck may send me back into that dog eat dog world of earning a paycheck, but for now, I am doing research and looking into all of my options to do what makes me happy while earning a paycheck!
   I will leave you with some things I have made this year and I hope I inspire at least one person to step outside of their comfort zone and try to achieve a crafty goal this year!!

   This is an altered canvas I made for a swap using Graphic 45 "Ladies Diary" paper. I just love the way it turned out. I handmade all of the roses on this canvas I love using lace and netting, especially the birdcage netting with the more vintage things I do.

This is another canvas using Graphic 45 "Couture" line. Again, I handmade the roses and filled in with greenery. I used more bling and less lace because this image just seemed more uptown to me!

     A little while back, a Facebook group I belong to had their one year birthday! We signed up to participate in a birthday exchange, and I received the name of a lady that wanted a sketch book and loved Vintage.
     At first, I was going to have my daughter draw something on the first page, because trust me, I can not draw or sketch anything! I may be creative, but somewhere along the line, that part skipped me. The more I thought about it, looking at this sketchbook, I thought, well, I can always decorate the front of it.
    I found the Vintage type images online. I sprayed them with a mist to make them look aged, I hand made the flowers and just played around with where I wanted everything to go before I glued it all down. I think it turned out very well, considering I hadn't ever done any thing like this before.
     I did realize that in doing this sketchbook cover that I love vintage! It doesn't have to be my design for every thing I do, but I do find myself going towards vintage more and more, it really makes me happy to create something like this sketchbook cover. I felt like it was finished, most things I keep looking at and thinking, what can I add to make this look better. The lady that received this loved it, and I was so grateful that she did. Sometimes, what we think will be a treasure turns out to be someone else's trash because they just don't care for it.
     Oh, and in case you are wondering, I never did have my daughter put a drawing on the first page of this book, to me, it was perfect just the way it was.

Today is the day!

Today is the day I start my blog on craft things I make and about my life. I have wanted to start a blog for sometime, but I have always put it off.
A little bit about me....I am 46 years old and married to the most wonderful man, Randy, that lets me craft all I want! He comments and is interested in the things I make!! It's not often you find a man like that! We have  three children. Sara is 20 and is going to Eastern Illinois University where she is studying Phycology and Criminology. Her passion is Color Guard. She spins flags, riffles, sabers, and dances for EUI Panther Marching Band, Blue Horizon Winter Guard, and is currently in Wisconsin with the Pioneer Drum Corps for Drum Corp International.
Randy and I also have 17 year old twins, Elizabeth and Andrew, who will be turning 18 in about 11 days. YIKES!! They will both be Seniors in High School next year. Andrew goes to a technical school of a morning for auto technician and plans to follow that career path. I am so glad he has found something he loves to do and is really good at to follow as a career. Beth worked this past year in a doggy salon through school and really liked it, but I don't know if that is the career she would like, time will tell, but she's very artistic and creative so I am sure she will figure out what she wants to do.
I know this isn't a long post, but for my first one, it will get me started because today is the day!!