Easter Poem

Here is the poem I found on the internet and used on the cards if anyone wants to use it for last minute Easter cards...

When Easter comes... so does spring,
bringing new life to the world.
The butterfly adorns the fields
gracefully moving among flowers so bold.

The beautiful flowers paint the mind
with their amazing fragrance.
As the birds prepare their nest,
they harmonize in song
celebrating joys of spring and new life.

Just as the spring rains
bring new life to trees and plants,
so did Christ's tears water our soul
giving us life through his death.

We call his act of love "Easter".

Have a Blessed Easter!

Easter Cards Go Digital

Digi stamps are such a rave right now in the stamping world. Many folks are coming up with some awesome designs. I created these cards using digi images from Sketching Stamper. I just love flowers so I bought two of her sets and two individual images.


DAFFODIL EASTER


Card Size: 5 1/2 inch square

The first card is created with the Daffodils image (some inspiration came from sketching stamper's sample on her blog here). Of course, hers came out much more elegant than mine. These flowers just scream Spring to me. This was perfect for an Easter card. It's been a long winter for all us Minnesotans so I wish old man winte would take a break and send out the Spring Fairies (ok, I've watched the movie Tinkerbell way too much - LOL!). I was originally going to layer the flowers for a 3D effect, but I was getting frustrated with the coloring so I went with my all time fave technique, cracked glass. I added some bling with some mini clear decorative accents aka skittles aka dew drops and some glue glitter.

For the inside of the card, I added an Easter poem as well as the same image on cardstock but smaller in size which you can see in the third picture above. This card is going to my hubby's parents. Easter is such a big holiday in there house and we will be missing lots of good food and the traditional flying of the kite (weather permitting).


EASTER EGG WITH PRIMROSES


Card Size: 6 x 5 1/2 inch square

When I saw this other sample from sketching stamper's blog here, I really wanted to create a card with this particular image. Now, even with some patterned paper already chosen for the project, I had a hard time figuring out how I could paper piece or color or how to even make it into a card, but in the end, I divided and conquered! I really like how this one came out. I originally wanted to make an oval card, but wasn't working too well, but kept the size of the printed egg and this is how it turned out (thus the odd size of the card). I really love the bright colors of the flowers and love the complimentary purple cuttlebugged paper piece. I also layered the middle piece twice. For the first layer, I cut out the entire flower bouquet and for the second layer, I only cut out the middle attached flowers (you can see a close-up above). After finishing the card, then I was trying to figure out where to attach the sentiment (computer generated). I finally decided on a place. I added some glitter glue on some of the flowers and sentiment for the final touches.

For the inside the card, I computer generated the poem as in the first card and printed out a lillies as the focal point. I colored in the image, distressed the edges, and added more glitter glue (I love this stuff).

I know the recommended coloring medium for digi images are copics or prismacolor pencils, but since I don't have either of those, I colored with the images with an aquapainter. It works quite well. After printing, I heat set the ink with my embossing gun and after each color added, I heat set every time so that the ink doesn't smear too much. I found that as long as you don't have your brush too wet and don't brush over the lines too much that the ink barely smears (very minor). And if you are mixing colors together, you can't even tell. The more coloring area the image has the better if you are to use the watercoloring method. I think if you have an image with delicate details, you would have to emboss the image so that the ink doesn't run. Now, I jsut read on Pink Petticoat that there is a spray fixative you can buy to set the ink, but I wouldn't know where to buy one here in the US. I also read recently in Memory Makers magazine (May/June issue) that they carry this special product called Strap-N-Tap Perfect printing pouch in their store. It normally retails for $9.95, but currently on sale for $6.95. This is what is says in the description:

This ravioli-shaped pouch eliminates smearing and bleeding and stops ink from resisting on vellum, shiny papers, textured cardstock, and more. It contains an acid-free, talc-free powder that is applied to the paper surface before printing with your inkjet printer or using markers, gel pens and dye stamping inks.

This product might be a great find...will have to post on this at a later date.

I am going to try to work on more cards this week. It's such a good feeling when my son asks me to make him a card for Easter - this just means that how much he appreciates my work. How sweet! I will be working with digi stamps from Mel from stampztoomuch (she is offering some cute bunnies to play with). So stay tuned...

stamps: no stamps used - digi stamps from sketching stamper paper: white/yellow/purple cs ink: antique linen distress ink, garden green, old olive, pretty in pink, pink passion, yoyo yellow, only orange, taken with teal accessories: clear mini decorative accents, aquapainter, scotch foam mounting tape, ultra thick embossing enamel, sponge for distressing, sewing machine, heat gun, glitter glue, cuttlebug heart blocks and swiss dots embossing folders, yellow and purple wide grossgrain ribbon

Crochet Fleurettes

Ok, someone started a thread on SCS about crochet fleurettes and everyone has been generously sharing tips and tutorials. I learned to crochet in Home Economics in elementary school in the Philippines. Yes, they teach that kind of stuff there at an early age. I had to make a complete set of doilies or something like that (well, I kind of cheated and my aunts helped me finish my project because I was too clumsy with the yarn and needle). My late grandmother's hobby and passion was crocheting doilies and blankets. She also taught me a thing or two. After this project, I don't think I tried to pick up a needle and thread for a while until I started my internship for college. My internship was in Pennsylvania and luckily my "honorary aunt" lived close by and I decided to take on crocheting again as a hobby since she was a big crochet-er (is that even a word?) herself. I bought a needle and some yarn...then when I was done with college, I started a career so the whole crocheting thing was put aside again. Until now...

Well, on to the flowers...

I used this diagram from mypicot.com to make the large flower. I only made two layers because otherwise it would be too bulky to put on a project. Maybe too large for a card. Mypicot has a great list of stitch symbols and how to crochet each one so it was a breeze once I got the hang of the stitches again. This one took a while because I had to figure out how to layer the bottom petals and with some patience and research, I found a great tutorial with pics and shows to layer underneath the first layer.

Here is the diagram for the large flower: Irish Flower

Here is the link on how to layer a flower: Layering Flower Technique

Another gal on SCS posted a link of a video tutorial on how to make 5 petal flower (small enough to embellish your cards and even make into barrettes. This is the easiest flower I have ever crocheted. I made about 4 of them within 30 mins.

Here is the link to the video tutorial for the small flower: 5 petal flower

Check out the rest of the tutorials on Little Birdie Secrets...they have some other ones I want to try at a later date. I still have to conquer my crochet rave right now.

ETA: For all of the flowers, I used a size 5 needle and not sure what size thread. I've had this yarn since college - yikes *wince*.

Free Inkadinkado Stamps...They're Here!

I received my free stamps from Inkadinkado last week on either Thursday or Friday - can't remember and finally took a picture of them today. I sent in 3 cards and got 3 wooden stamps back. They are actually pretty nice. They seem to be new releases and one of them retails for at least $13 so Inkadinkado have been pretty generous to us stampers who managed to send in cards for their gallery. My cards aren't in the gallery yet, but hopefully they will show up soon. I am sure they have a whole bunch to upload once the contest is over. I believe it ends on April 15 (packages must be postmarked by this date to qualify).

So here are the Inka beauties that I will have to play with soon...

OMG! I won, I won...the March Sheetload Shoutout

Woo Hoo! I got an email from Alicia this past Saturday that I won the March Sheetload shoutout. Up for grabs were fiskars punches: crest or apron lace and the winner gets to choose one. I chose the Apron Lace since I tend to make more girly cards/projects. I can't wait to play with my new toy!

Make sure to post on your blog for a chance to win for the April Sheetload Shoutout...

April Shout Out to Sheetload of Cards

April 2009 Issue

Here's another shoutout to Sheetload of Cards for the month of April. The Greeting Farm is the sponsor for this month. Up for grabs are some Greeting Farm goodies which they haven't revealed yet (maybe a surprise package of goods???). I don't own any of their images yet, but plan to experiment with their downloads at a later date. They offer such adorable images of Anya and Ian.

Looks like the Sheetload team has a triple challenge up their sleeves. This will be triple the fun creating a card for this month. Here is link: The ShortCuts - SheetLoad of Cards - Cuttlebug Challenge Blog Intersite Challenge!!!

If you have never visited Sheetload of Cards before, this is a good time to start. Every month, Sheetload of Cards publishes a downloadable ezine (in .pdf form) full of inspiring ideas and interpretations for a monthly sketch from their talented group of DT gals. Every month, you will see various sponsors for the sketches as well as challenges for blog candy.

So, what you are waiting for????!!!! Sign-up now for a sheetload of goodness and inspiration!Click on the link to check out the April 2009 issue. Happy Stamping!

Squigglefly's 1st Blog Hop

Downloadable images or digital stamps are so the in thing right now... and Squigglefly offers some of cutest images and for an affordable price. Make sure to hop on over to see Squigglefly's newest images and to check out their new design team. Hop on over to each design team's blog to check out their awesome cards as well as blog candy. You have until this Sunday to comment on all of the blogs.

Meet the Squigglefly Design Team and Blog Hop

ETA: There are some designers who don't have a link to their blogs yet so it would be better to click on the links on each of the dt blogs.

Here is a link to Squigglefly to check out their awesome downloadable digital stamps. Make sure to sign-up for the newsletter while you are there!