A Dozen, Thank Yous!

Well, as previously said my mom has been sick with blood clots.  So since she is not allowed to do anything strenous, I called a lady in her church to have the people make meals for my parents.  Because of that, I figured that my Mom would need to give Thank You cards to those people for being a blessing to them.  So this is why, I made 12 of them for her.  I made them so that not all are "Thank You" cards, just in case she has a few extras left over. I started making them at 4:30am and finished them up at around 7:30am.  I have never tried to "mass produce" the same card before...which is really hard for me to do! LOL  I love to make all my cards different, and these are not.  It is either the color or the stamp or the ribbon that is different. When I finished them, I put them into a nice "windowed" box, and put a ribbon and some store bought flowers on the cover, just to pretty it up!

I used:
Gypsy Wanderings Cartridge for the Sentiment box
DCWV pre-made cards
Ribbons from my stash (recycled from packages)
Plastic rinestones
Martha Stewart corner punch
Stamps from my stash (One is from Stampin Up and the other I am not sure!)

Thanks for taking a look, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

A Twisted Thank You!

My Mom has been in the hospital for a few days, as you can read from the earlier post.  She is now home but still is not out of the woods just yet.  She still has a clot in her leg and now one in her lungs.  Scary, I know!  But I have faith in God that He will protect her and heal her. 
Anyways, I made this twisted easel card for a lady who attends my parents church and is their neighbor.  My parents have kinda "adopted" her as a daughter, and she considers my parents like they are her "adopted" parents.  Well, every time I needed something for their church to do, like call the prayer chain, make meals for them...she has taken care of that for me.  She is such a blessing to my parents and to me.  The thing is that about a year ago she lost her sister to a blood clot in her leg.  So she was such a blessing to us all in many different ways.  Thank You, Pam!  So I decided that she needed a card to let her know how much she was a blessing to us as a family.  So here is her card!  I just love the red, black and white combination!  Such a striking contrast.  The twisted easel card is so very easy to make!  Not a whole lot of a difference in making the front, the inside is different and small, but that is fine. Saying thank you, is never enough, so a simple small card is perfect. 

I used: 
Red & Black Cardstock
DCWV, The Luxury Stack (I LOVE this paper)
Black ribbon from my stash
My velum flowers using the Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch
Gypsy Wanderings Cartridge for the Sentiment box

Thanks for stopping, and I hope you have great day, today!

It's Not A Picnic

Well, this card is for my Mom who is in the Hospital with a blood clot in her leg.  She is in a lot of pain from it.  She is also struggling with disappointment.  You see, she was supposed to be at my sister's home 6 hours away, getting a cake made for my niece who is graduating this weekend.  Let's just say that the open house has been postponed due to multiple sicknesses in the family.  So my Mom is really discouraged.  And since my Mom is my number one fan/enabler of my cards and paper crafts, I naturally had to make her a card, to hopefully cheer her up a little.  Hopefully, she doesn't freak out about the ants.  LOL  We hope and pray that she will be able to come home today or tomorrow.  Well, we will just keep praying for her to have a quick recovery from all of this so that she can travel in a few weeks. 

I used:
Cuttlebug folder
Papers from my stash
Kate's ABCs Cartridge: frame for the sentiment
Stretch Your Imagination Cartridge:Watermelon
Red ink pad
White Ribbon
Ant stickers from EK Success from Micheal's years ago
The picnic basket is from my computer scrapbook program, I cut it out of a picture
The sentiment is computer generate,also.

Well, thanks for stopping by and I hope your day is wonderful!

A LEGO Thank You!

My 12 year old son made a "deal" with his grandparents, that if he could get half of the money to purchase a LARGE Lego set, they would provide the other half.  Well, after drooling over the Lego catalogue since Christmas time, he finally reached his goal.  So off to the Lego store we went with his grandparents.  We had never been to a Lego store before, so this was a field trip for all of us.  Boy was that alot of fun!  He was so overwhelmed with all of the Legos yet in shock that he was buying the set that he has wanted for so long.  This set was intended for the ages of 16+, and yet we knew he could do it.  Well, with little sleep that night, (due to excitement) he got up at 8:30am and began working on this 1,204 piece set.  With just a few bathroom breaks and a forced lunch break (not with the Legos), he completed it in approximately 8 hours.  He is so proud of himself and so very thankful that his grandparents helped him with the money that he has yet to take it back apart and has it on display on his dresser in his room.  Even about a week later, he says to me, "I still can't believe that I have that set and have it completed."  So wonderful that he is that thankful.  Well, after almost tears of joy and excitement that he got it, I told him he needed to make a card and send it to his grandparents.  So he designed his card on my Gypsy and cut it out on the Cricut, and inked the edges of the papers(with a little guidance) and this is what he came up with! So enjoy the pictures of his accomplishment and his card.  I think he did a great job, both on the Legos and on the card.  

We used:

Plantain Schoolhouse Cartridge

Red Card stock

Striped paper from my stash

Blue Ribbon from my stash

Black and brown ink pads for the edges and dots

Dot Cuttlebug folder

Pop dots

 Lego store display

 More store display

My boy hard at work in his room

 One rocket completed

All done!  Look at the pride on his face!

 Hard at work making the card!

All done!

Well, thanks for stopping by to read his story and seeing what even a little boy can boy with both Legos and cards!  I hope you have a wonderful day!

 

Father's Day...Stepper Box

Well, once again I am not following the rules of the "traditional" card for Father's Day.  I wanted to do something unique again for this holiday, just the same as I did for Mother's Day.  But, knowing that the men in my life, aren't quite as appreciative of the "crafty" things I had to go with something less elaborate.  Well have you heard of the old saying "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach"?  Well, this was my inspiration for their "Card".  I saw this card, on lots of other blogs and pictures, but no really clear instructions.  Most were either not in English measurements or just plain confusing or not clear on measurements or scoring or what to do with what paper...Soooo, I did some research and comparing and started out with a little from this site and a little from another site and Waaalaaaa!  This is what I came up with.  Not bad if I do say so myself!  Well, once I had a template, I made this one.  It was not hard at all.  I was trying to keep the design simple yet very nice for these wonderful Dad's in my life.

I used:
K&Company Designer Paper: Amy butler
Gray, bright blue, lime green cardstock from Michael's
Potpourri Basket Cartridge
Blackletter Cartridge
Martha Stewart Punch (Can't remember the name) for the scollop boarder on the lid
Father's Day Stamp from my stash
Silver Ribbon from Michael's (Christmas)
Plastic Rhinestones
Metallic Dots from Joann's

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. 

Thanks for looking and I hope you have a very wonderful day.

Easel Card for a guy!

This was my first easel card that I have made to give away.  I have made several for practice but never have I given one away.  I made this card for a man in our church who loves the Lord and has such a great walk relationship with Him.  Awhile back he expressed that he was a little discouraged...so I thought that a card with a few words of encouragement in it would help.  Also, he told us(my family and I) about an amazing experience he had with a butterfly.  Later he told me that everytime that he sees a butterfly that it is his reminder that God loves him.  Isn't that so neat!  Well this is what I came up with. 

I used:
Once Upon A Child Cart.
Cardstock
Blue stamp pad
Tim Holtz Distress ink:  Coruroy
Velum paper for the flowers
Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch
Stampin up Stamp (butterfly is cut out from the actual picture in the stamp)
Stampin up water color pencils & blending pen
Dark brown "string" from my stash

I hope you like what you see!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Sweet Baby Girl!

I am sooooo excited, I just got my Kate's ABC's Cartridge!  Wooohooo!  Then I didn't know who to make a card for that would be so girly, then my friend had her baby girl!  And I said, "Perfect"!  Now I have someone that would appreciate a girly look of a card.  So this is what I came up with using my new cart.  I think it turned out very cute.

I used:
Kate's ABC's Cartridge
A Child's Year Cartridge
Pink Ink Pad
Tim Holtz Distress Ink:  Brushed Cordouroy
Velum Papers for flowers
Stickles
Pink Brads
Pink Sheer Ribbon from my stash
Pink and brown Card stock
The floral paper is from a pre-made card that I liked the paper so much that I had to use for this card.

Well, thanks for taking time to look at my card, and may you have a wonderful day!

Why is it called an exploding box?

Here is a  quick video of the exploding box being opened and why it is called that.  Just in case any of you have never seen or heard of them.  Enjoy my VERY short clip of it! 

Now, I hope you understand why it is called that! 

Thanks for watching and have a great day!

Reveal #2 Exploding Box

Now this box was for my wonderful Mother-in-Law.  I used different papers and colors and different embellishments.  I also used a slightly different approach to the lid on her box, in its size.  I absolutely love how hers turned out, too!  They both were so totally different yet so beautiful.  I will defiantly be doing more of these and maybe with some small family photos the next time. 

I used:
K&Company Paper: Life's Journey
Cartridges I used:  A Child's Year, Blackletter, Gypsy Wanderings, Sweet Treats
Recollections Pearl Stickers the cream color and the turquoise blue
Tim Holtz Distress Ink:  Brushed Corduroy
Silver Stickles for on the roses

Stampin Up stamp for the butterflies and then cut out and colored with water color pencils, and the blended with a blending pen
Pop Dots
Two different kinds of  ribbon that I have had from years ago
Overhead projector sheets/Acetate sheets for the floating butterflies
Lots of ATG glue
Mother's Day stamp from Hobby Lobby
Tattered Angeles Glimmer Mist: Mustard Seed
Mother's day quotes/poems
Loads of time and love put into this box.  I really enjoyed doing this one too.  Lots of time squeezed in between class in school and whatever little chance I got.  Alot of time but the end result was so worth it.  And the Ooooo's and Ahhhhh's made even better!
Well, here are the pictures of my Mother-in-Law's beautiful box.

Outer Layer

Outer Layer



Middle Layer

Middle layer 

 Center layer is similar to my previous one so this is the only difference other than the poetry!

 Center layer completely assembled with handmade flowers and leaves and hand stamped and colored and cut out butterflies.

The outside with the lid 

Up close to the lid with the velvet bow, handmade flowers and butterflies and leaves.

Both boxes completed and together!

This is my wonderful Mother-in-law opening hers!  I think she liked it!  It was so much fun to wait, and the anticipation of waiting was so worth it!  I love both the Moms in my life they are both so special to me, so they deserve something special.  So this was my labor of love!  I don't know what I will do to top this for next year, though.  I better start looking and learning something new!  LOL

Well, thanks for looking and being patient and waiting for the reveal.  I hope you enjoyed seeing the results of the boxes.  Stop by again sometime soon.  I hope you have a wonderful day!



The Reveal #1 Exploding/Magic Boxes

Well, I hope that any of you that are moms had a very wonderful Mother's Day!  I know I did!  We celebrated Mother's day and my oldest daughter's 14th birthday all in the same day.  So it was a very busy day!  It was a very great day with family and most importantly, our moms!

These are the pictures of MY Mom's Exploding box, (or also known as Magic Boxes).  It turned out amazing!  I was so pleased and excited to share it with my mom...for the past week or so, when I was on the phone with her I wanted to tell her what I was doing and when she came over I wanted to show it to her, too.  Well the day finally came and I finally got to share and show it to her.  I think it turned out amazing!  I sometimes still can't believe that I made this box.  Thanks to my Cricut it made it so easy! It was very time consuming, but oh so rewarding to wait and give it to her. 

I used:
K&Company: Hannah Scrap Pad, double sided paper
Cartridges used:  Blackletter, Inde Art, Plantin SchoolBook, A Child's Year
Potpourri Basket
Gold Stickles for on the roses
Stamin Up stamp for the butterflies and then cut out and colored with water color pencils, and the blended with a blending pen
"Rhinestones"
Pop Dots
Two different kinds of burgundy ribbon that I have had from years ago
Overhead projector sheets/Acetate sheets
Lots of ATG glue
Mother's Day stamp from Hobby Lobby
Cuttlebug and I can't remember which folder I used.
Jim Holtz Distress Ink:  Brushed corduroy
Tattered Angeles Glimmer Mist:  Mustard Seed
Lots of time and LOVE!  I can't remember all the details but if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  I will do my best to answer it for you. 
Well as promised here is my pictures of my mom's completed box.

 This is the outside of the box, before opened to reveal the contents.

The top of the lid

As you open it, this is what it looks like to look down in it.  Cool!

The inside, showing you the contents and layering and pop dotting and the Acetate strips to make the butterflies fly! 

The top layer, seeing all of the pictures and poems about moms

Layer #1 Up close of the Child's Year Cart. cuts & Glimmer Mist

Layer # 1 More of the Child's Year cart. cuts

Layer #2/middle layer All about the heart

More hearts from layer #2/middle layer

Layer #3 Layering and inking and pop dots...

 More of Layer #3 Ribbon and layering and pop dots and rhinestones...

Up close of the handmade roses!

And my wonderful Mom's reaction to it when she opened it!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Well, that is what hers looked like!  I hope you enjoyed the reaveal as much as I did!  Thanks for stopping by and looking at what I have done.  Have a very wonderful day!