Lots of Pictures with a little bit of Everything

Ok, where to start! It was a busy weekend & I have a lot to share with you!

This past weekend my cousin Lana got married!! They had a BEAUTIFUL wedding and I am so happy for Lana & Swanny (Jeff)!! Here are some pictures from the wedding and the dance.


Lana and her Dad, my uncle John~Who gives this woman~
I LOVE the back of her dress--it was Gorgeous!!The Vows~
This is the country church where I went when I was little. I have always loved the alter!
The First Dance~Father and Daughter Dance~It was a mix of emotions both happy and sad. I'm sure some of you remember me talking about baby Alex, Lana and Swanny are Alex's Mommy and Daddy and last June little Alex passed away. I know Lana and Swanny miss there little Angel Alex so much!! We all do!! My aunt, Lana's mom asked if I could paint something for out at the cemetery for Alex. She had a double heart with silk flowers and had a little saying she wanted painted on there. Here is a picture of what I painted.Lana and Swanny had no idea that I was doing this, it was a special surprise for them. I have to share this other little bit with you--After we got to the reception the maid of honor and the best man both talked and thanked everyone for coming. Amber who was Lana's maid of honor told us that she had been praying and praying that the sun would come out on Saturday, even if only for a little bit. It has been really cold here with a mix of rain and snow, but prayers were answered on Saturday afternoon!! Lana and Swanny wanted to go out to the cemetery to be with Alex just for a few minutes and as they were walking out there the sun came out and stayed out for about five minutes before going behind the clouds again. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place!! Alex was dancing with her Mommy and Daddy.

I also have some creative inspiration to share with you! I made two wedding cards for Lana and Swanny, one from us and one for my Mom and Dad to give them.

Here is the card that was from my Mom and Dad.~The heart shapes are Spellbinders Heart Nestabilities (scalloped and classic) and the flowers were done using the Flower Creations die. I love making three dimensional flowers!! I also used the Copic ABS and Sketch Markers for coloring all of the die cuts. The flowers started out as just plain white CS.

Here is a close up of the flowers.~
Here is the card that was from us.~To make the cake I used the Spellbinders Square Nestabilities. I also stamped a lace image on the squares using Brilliance-Moonlight White ink and added some pearl trim on the edges. For the topper I used a tiny piece of tulle and little loops of white satin ribbon along with three tiny flowers from the Flower Creations die. All of the stamps are from CTMH. For a little touch of bling I added some red stickles.

How many of you have a teenage son with longer hair? Do you wonder if they will ever cut it? I know I have thought that many times over the past few years!! Well Guess WHAT?? On Saturday totally out of tin air Dusty said he wanted a haircut!! I about fell over--REALLY!! He has had longer hair for about four years!! I didn't know if he would actually go through with it or not but he did!!

Before~ Ready, Set, CUT!!!
OMGosh LOOK at ALL that HAIR!!WOW LOOK at ME!!
Here's one more. I can't believe how much older he looks!! Now that's scary for a mom!!He loves the haircut and actually said he wished he would have listen to us and gotten a haircut a long time ago!! He must be growing up (a little) seeing as we are getting smarter. you know how the saying goes the older you get the smarter your parents become. *wink*

Thanks so much for stopping by today!! If you like the wedding card with the three dimensional flowers check back soon, I am going to do a tutorial on them.

I hope you have a Wonderful Week!!

Smile!
Heidi

A NEW Technique! Adhesive Masking

Do you love the sparkle glitter adds to your projects? If so you will LOVE this technique!! I am a total glitter junkie and one night while I was playing around with my Spellbinders dies I came up with a New Technique!! The Technique is called Adhesive Masking. I am very excited about this technique and would love to share it with all of you! I took a lot of pictures while I was doing this technique. I don't know about you but I am a very visual person and I love to be able to see lots of pictures.

To start with this is what you will need.~

Supplies~
Spellbinders-Wizard Die Cutting and Embossing Tool or another die cutting system.
Spellbinders Dies-*this is an important note--Spellbinders dies are the only dies that are cut all the way through allowing you to also be able to use them as a stencil.
Xyron-any size machine *don't worry if you don't have a xyron!! You can also use sticker paper or any kind of paper with an adhesive backing.
White Cardstock
Assortment of Glitter-*ultra fine glitter works the best, it will get into all of the tiny spaces.

As you are going through the steps you can also click on each image to enlarge if you would like to.

Step 1
Take a piece of cardstock and run it through the xyron. If you don't have a xyron and you are using sticker or another adhesive paper you can skip steps 1 and 2.Step 2
Remove the clear covering from the cardstock.
Step 3
For placing your paper onto the die you want to make sure the side with the adhesive is down. If you used the xyron one side will be the cardstock and the other side will be the glossy paper with the adhesive from the xyron. Put the glossy side facing down onto the die.

Glossy---->Glossy facing down onto the die---->Step 4
Layer the mats and run it through the Wizard.
White Mat
Spacer Plate
Die (cut side or ridges up)
Cardstock
White Mat
Step 5
Once the shape is cut remove the piece from the die.Step 6
Peel off the backing to expose the adhesive. Once you have done this place the die cut back into the die with the adhesive facing down.
Step 7
Now for the messy but FUN part!! Time to add the glitter. While adding the glitter it helps to kind of rub it in with your fingers. Once all of the adhesive is covered with glitter then tap off all of the excess glitter. Step 8
Very carefully remove the die cut from the die. The best way to do this is to have the die on the table and pull the die cut up. This way if some tiny pieces of glitter come of they will fall down instead of getting on the the exposed adhesive.Step 9
Now you will add your second color of glitter.This is what your finished piece will look like. Isn't that cool!! Here are a few other pieces I have done using the Adhesive Masking Technique.
There are soooo many possibilities with the Adhesive Masking Technique!! I hope you have enjoyed the tutorial! I would love to hear what you think about the technique and if you give it a try please post a picture to your blog or a gallery and then leave me a link. I would love to see your creations!!

Have a wonderful day!!
Smiles!
Heidi

Keeping My Spellbinders Dies Organzied

I have received several emails from people asking how I store my Spellbinders dies. I know some people keep them in the containers they are sold in, others have filing systems and some keep them in various containers. I wanted to find a way for storing them so at a quick glance I could pick out the one I wanted. I also wanted to see an example of what the die cuts looked like once they were cut, embossed and stenciled. I decided to use CD cases to store the dies. Here is what I have come up with that works wonderfully for me.I get a pack of CD's from Walmart and take the guts out (the part that holds the CD), they snap out very easy. Then I add magnets with an adhesive backing which hold the dies in place. Like I said I also wanted to see the die cut so this is what I did for the front of the CD case.I cut a piece of black CS to fit on the inside of the case and then once I had all of the pieces cut, embossed and stenciled I glued them down to the black CS. I also added labels with the name and number of the dies. Another helpful thing I added to the label was MSS=Matching Stamp Set for the dies that have coordinating stamp sets.

I know this can take a little time to do but it is well worth it! This might also be helpful if you decide to store your dies the same way. First cut and emboss everything leaving the CS inside the die like this--->Once you have everything cut then do your inking. This will save you so much time!!Here is how I store the CD cases. These container will hold 25 CS's very nicely and you can stack them.I hope this is helpful and has maybe given you some ideas for storing your Spellbinders dies. Thank you so much for stopping by!! I hope you have a wonderful Spring day and I hope you have some sunshine in your part of the world.

Smiles!
Heidi

New Design Work

I am so happy I can share some of my Spellbinders DT projects with you! I want to start out by showing you my favorite piece that I designed for the Spellbinders Gallery. This is a LO that I did using some photographs of a friends daughter. My wonderful and longtime friend Kelli Dietrich is a photographer and when I seen these pictures of her daughter I fell in love with them and just knew I had to do a LO!

If you get a chance you should check out Kelli's website, God Inspired Photography. She has many beautiful pictures on her website!!To start out I used a piece of Designer Paper from Fancy Pants. It was a medium blue color but I wanted to soften it up just a bit and add a little white and lavender to it. First I used some Copic markers along with the ABS (airbrush system) to add some lavender colors. Then I took some Gesso and using an old gift card I swiped the gesso onto most of the paper going in all different directions. The gesso pulled up some of the color from the Copic markers and did a little blending on its own. After the paper was dry then I lightly added a little more color with the Copic markers and the ABS.
*Tip~If you haven't ever used gesso before you will want to know the drying time will depend on how thick you apply it. For something like the LO you want to apply it very thin. You can also sand gesso to get a more distressed look. Drying time for this piece was about 10 minutes. If you don't want to wait you can also use a blow dryer for faster drying time.
The flourish chipboard is from Fancy Pants. I used ColorBox Chalk inks and then covered the entire piece with Ranger Crackle Accents. When it was dry I went over the piece with a darker ink to further show the detail of the crackle. I used Spellbinders Wizard-Embossing and Die Cutting Tool and Spellbinders Flower Creations 3 die to make the dimensional flowers. I also added some doodles using the Doodle Parts die. The sentiment was printed out with the computer and then I used the Scallop and Classic Oval Nestabilities to cut and emboss. The Font set is also from Spellbinders and it is called Mystic. The word GIRLS was done using metal embellishments. Also if you click of the images to enlarge you will see more detail and you might notice that the lace is glittery. To do this it is best to work on wax paper, I applied a glue adhesive to the lace, move to a clean piece of wax paper and then added the glitter. Carefully tap off the excess glitter and lay flat to dry on the wax paper.
If I can go back to the flowers for a moment, I cut out several flower pieces and then used the Copic ABS and markers to add the color to the flowers. I stacked them using foam tape and then added stickles to each flower.The picture were also altered on the computer using Adobe Photoshop Elements. The pictures were originally in color. I changed them into B & W and then I added the blue color to the dress. The flourishes, flowers and lace trim on the photos are rub-ons from Fancy Pants and they were applied using the Wizard, yet another get technique that can be achieved with the Wizard!

Supplies~
Spellbinders~Wizard Die Cutting and Embossing Tool, Mystic Font,Classic Oval Lg Nestabilities, Classicl Oval Scalloped Oval, Lg Nestabilities, Flower Creations 3, Doodle Parts
Cardstock~ Prism-Prismatic-Iced Yellow Y003-D, Perfect Baby Blue B253-D, Majestic Purple Light V101-D, Herbal Garden Light G049-D, Fancy Pants-DP Floral Chic-Merriment #864
Ink~ClearSnap-ColorBox Chalk Ink-Lavender, Ice Blue, Lime Pastel
Copic~Copic Sketch Markers-Y00, V04, G24, B00, ABS
Other~Fancy Pants-Chipboard-Flourishes, Rub-ons, Sparkle N Sprinkle-Sparkling Snow Glitter, USArt Quest Inc-Duo Embellishing Adhesive, Beacon Adhesives-Fabri-Tac, Kokuyo-Dot-n-Roller Adhesive, Daler-Rowney-Acrylic Gesso Blanc, JoAnn Fabrics-Lace, Rhinestones, Metal Letters, Ranger-Crackle Accents, Stickles-Lime Green, Diamond, Waterfall, Amethyst, 3M-Foam Tape, Xyron-Create a Sticker, Wax paper and Old Gift Card

If you would like to see more designs using Spellbinders products check out the Spellbinders Gallery---->HERE. All of the wonderful ladies from the Spellbinders DT have have been working on projects so if you have a little time please check out the gallery to see many more beautiful designs!! Also while you are there don't forget to check out Our Design Team and get to know a little about each of us from our bios.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you are having a WONDERFUL week!!

Smiles!
Heidi

Thank You!!

Hello! I just wanted to say thank you so much to all of my wonderful blogging friends for all of your kind words, thoughts and prayers. I am finally feeling better!! On top of all of the other stuff I ended up with the flu too! I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to start feeling better again-lol! Luckily I was the only one in the house that got really sick. Eric ended up with a bad cold for a few days but the kids didn't get it *knocking on wood*.

Today I have a card to share with you that I made awhile back for Eric, for his birthday and I keep forgetting to post it. I took three pictures of the card all at different angles, because depending on how you look at it you see a different picture.

This is a front view of the card~
1st angle~
2nd angle~
Do you see two ships? I thought this was so neat! The picture of the ship is a printout and then you do an accordion fold. I printed this one out on vellum and then added some color to the back using Copic markers. I found the pattern for the ship at Circle of Crafters, if you haven't ever been to the website you should check it out, they have lots of fun ideas!

Thanks you so much for stopping by and I hope you are having a wonderful week!! Please check back soon, I will be posting some of my new Spellbinders designs that I have been secretly working on. *wink*

Smiles!
Heidi

Excellent Blogger

Corie-Creations by Corie-nominated me for the Excellent Blogger Award -- a HUGE THANKS to you Corie!!
Now it is my turn to pass it on and nominate other bloggers that inspire me & who have not gotten this award yet. . Here are some ladies that I have been inspired by:

Ema-http://ema-gination.blogspot.com/
Linda-http://lindaduke.typepad.com/lindas_works_of_heart/
Wendy-http://wickedlywonderfulcreations.blogspot.com/
Dana-http://kismetartlife.blogspot.com/
Dawn-http://dailyscrappinspiration.blogspot.com/
Elaine-http://elainescreations.blogspot.com/
Kathy-http://kathatstamps.blogspot.com/
Lynn-http://lwdesigns.blogspot.com/
Maren-http://zanynotcrazy.blogspot.com/
Sue-http://www.stampndaly.com/

All of these ladies do some amazing design work, I hope you will check out their blogs! I am inspired by so many talented people, nature, music, everyday life and my wonderful family!! If you have not been nominated yet consider yourself officially nominated. *wink*

I hope you are having a terrific day and can take a little time to create. Thanks for stopping by!!
Smiles!
Heidi

NEW Spellbinders Dies and more CHA Art

New Spellbinders Dies!! I know so many of you absolutely love Spellbinders Nestabilites and now there is even more to love with the NEW Megabilities Nestabilities!! These dies are huge and they will give your creativity endless possibilities! You can make larger cards, tiny cards, books, labels, cards with fun folds and the list can go on and on.

The dies come in two sets, one with a straight edge and the other has a scallop edge.I used the new Megabilities Nestabilities dies for one of my designs for CHA. I made a small wall hanging using the largest straight edge die.

You can click on the image to enlarge~
Here is a close-up of the flower and you can also click on the image to enlarge~The size of the wall hanging without the beaded fringe (just the metal piece) is about 6 1/4 inches long. All of the coloring was done using Copic markers. A little technique that I love to do with the Copic markers is once you are done coloring lightly spritz with rubbing alcohol. The inks will dance around blending together and leave you with a beautiful background.

You can click the image to enlarge~
Here is a close up of the flower and you can also click the image to enlarge~Supplies~
Spellbinders-Wizard Universal Die Cutting and Embossing Tool, Magabilities Nestabilities, Nestabilities Classic Square Sm, Font-Mystic, Flower Creations 2, Flower Creations 3
Amaco-Art Emboss Foil
Copic-Sketch Markers, Spica Glitter Pens, Multiliner Pen
Glue Dots-Glue Dots
Prism-CS- White, Nautical Light Blue, Spring Willow Medium
Other Materials-CreateForLess-Chipboard, Swarovski-AB Crystals, Hirschberg Schutz & Co.-Style-a-bility Beaded Fringe, Xyron-Create a Sticker, Beacon Adhesive-Fabri-tac, Locktite-Silicone Adhesive, My Stash-Blue Cord, Fairy Charm, Plastic Leaf, Spray Bottle w/ Rubbing Alcohol, Metallic Paint Pen, Silver Eyelets, Eyelet Setter


Here is another card that I designed for CHA. We (Spellbinders DT) were given a challenge to design a card using the Nestabilities in a different way. I used two square Nestabilites to create a scallop frame and I also used a small scallop oval to create the frosting for the cupcake. The little foil cup was also made using a die. I used part of the Architecture Columns die to make the foil cup.

You can click on the image to enlarge~Supplies~
Spellbinders-Wizard Universal Die Cutting and Embossing Tool, Nestabilities-Classic Scallop Square Sm, Classic Square Sm, Classic Scallop Oval Lg, Shapeabilities-Architecture Columns, Font-Mystic
Prism-CS-Frost Pink, Classic Red
Fancy Pants-DP-Crush
Copic-Sketch Markers, Spica Glitter Pens
Amaco-Art Emboss Foils
Creative Impressions-Ribbon, Glitter Brad
Lockhart Stamp Co.-3 Cupcakes Stamp #2034
Glue Dots-mini glue dots
Other Materials-Neenah-CS, Brilliance-Graphite Black Ink, Marvy-Liquid Appliqué, JoAnn Fabrics-Rhinestone, Black Wire, 2 way Glue Pen, Loctite-Silicone Adhesive, Fiskars-Filigree Texture Plate, 1/8" Punch, 3M-Foam Tape, My Stash-Rubbing Alcohol, Spray Bottle

I wanted to say Thank You so much for all of the great emails and wonderful comments about my Teacup Cafe' LO!! I really appreciate all your kind words!!

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a Fantastic week!!
Smiles!
Heidi

CHA-W 2008 Art

I am back home from CHA in Anaheim, CA and I can say it was truly an amazing experience!! This was my first CHA so I didn't really have any idea how HUGE it was and what to expect. I went with Spellbinders and several of the ladies from the DT. It was a lot of work, setting up & taking down the booth, helping in a class, doing demos and make-n-takes but it was worth every second!! I met soooo many wonderful, amazing and talented people!! I met some of the "Dirty Dozen" girls from SCS, Ellen Hutson, Tim Holtz and Suze Weinberg just to name a few. I seen tons and tons of beautiful design work, the booths were just unbelievable. But I have to say Spellbinders booth was so Beautiful, Elegant and Magical all wrapped up into one stunning display!!

I have a few pictures to share with you from Spellbinders Booth, two of my art designs for CHA and a couple of favorites. *wink*

Spellbinders Huge banner above the booth~
Click picture to enlarge~
Spellbinders Booth~ It's so beautiful & elegant!!
Click picture to enlarge~
The EXCALIBUR!!!~ This little beauty is going to be a MUST have!!!~
Click picture to enlarge~ Just a Note~This is the prototype for the Xcalibur, a motorized (electric) die cutting & embossing machine. It cuts and embosses beautifully with the touch of one button (Yes-Just ONE button!) and it is soooo quiet you can be using it and talking on the phone at the same time! No more ratcheting! The Xcalibur will be great for anyone who may have issues with strength due to carpel tunnel or arthritis or if you are a late night crafter (like myself) & just want a very quiet machine that will do all the work with the touch of a button and not wake up the whole house! While at CHA people had a chance to see demos with the Xcalibur and then Spellbinders asked for their opinion by filling out a survey and in return they were given a Spellbinders T-Shirt. How great is that-a company that cares and wants to make the best machine possible for their customers!! So like I said this is just the prototype and there will be a few changes-the color is going to be a little brighter (wine and black) and it will have black flourishes and swirls. Doesn't that sound pretty? The target price point is around $129.99 -could be a little more or less and it will be available for ordering at the summer CHA. I also wanted to mention because several people have asked, the Xcalibur will not replace the Wizard. I believe that the Wizard will be my go to machine for all of the tougher jobs-smashing bottle caps, charms and setting eyelets. The Wizard is that machine that you can run the kitchen sink through (j/k), it's the machine that will push the limits!!

How about some art? Would you like to see a couple designs that I made for CHA?

Here is my all time favorite piece! Teacup Cafe` Scrapbook LO~
Click the picture to enlarge~
This is a teacup collection that was my Great Grandma's and now I have it displayed in my home. I will be honest it took awhile to do this LO but it was so much fun and I love the outcome! I wanted the LO to look as if you were outside of the cafe` looking in the window.

Supplies~
Spellbinders Dies-S4 111 Nestabilities Classic Scallop Oval Lg, S4 110 Nestabilities Classic Oval Lg, S4 137 Nestabilities Heart Scallop, L2 10 Mystic (font), S4 118 Coffee & Tea, S3 144 Tea Time, S3 145 Decorative Elements 1, S3 019 Illumination Charm 1
Prism-Prismatics-Tawny Light, Vanilla Cream, Suede Brown Medium, Herbal Garden Medium, Twilight Medium, Majestic Purple Light
Fancy Pants-DP Floral Chic-Fabulous #860, Blue Lace Trim
Copic Markers-Copic Sketch Markers-YR24, E15, V01, B21, B23, E27, E00, G40, G24, R81, Rv17, Airbrush System, Multiliner-Black
Inspired Crafts Products-Paper Glide
Glue Dots-Glue Dots 1/2", 3/16"
Kokuyo-Dot n Roll Adhesive
Creative Impressions-Yellow Brads, Blossoms & Leaves Felt Flowers
ClearSnap-Colorbox Ink-Chestnut Roan, Dark Moss
Ranger-Tim Holtz Distress Ink-Frayed Burlap
Fiskars-Wood Grain Texture Plate
Beacon Adhesives-Fabri-Tac
Other-Elmer's Glue, Foam Tape, Transparency, Red Line Sticky Strip Tape

Here is one of the cards I designed for CHA-Pure Joy~
Click the picture to enlarge~I used Copic markers for coloring in the stamped images. I love being able to blend the colors!! I wish you could see this card IRL, I used the Spica glitter pens and it sparkles!!

Supples~
Spellbinders-S4 118 Coffee & Tea, S4 121 Doodle Parts, S4 109 Flower Creations 3, S4 123 Shapeabilities Flying Beauties
Fancy Pants-Floral Chic-My Sweetie #861 DP, Simply Stated Stamps #892
Prism-Prismatics Black
Glue Dots-3/16"
Copic-Spica Glitter Pen 10 Black, Sketch Markers-0, BV000, V17, B21, BV04, B23, GB45, Y00, Y19, Yr04, G40, G24, G28, C1, Air Brush System
Neenah-Solar White CS
Tsukineko-Brilliance Graphite Black Ink Pad
Other-Red Line Sticky Strip Adhesive

A couple of my favorite photos~While at CHA I had the pleasure of meeting Ellen Hutson, she is so wonderful, the sweetest lady and very talented!! (L-->R) Donya, Ellen, Me & Wendy It was so mush fun talking with Ellen, be sure to check out her blog.

Pinch me!! I still can't believe this next picture!! Woo-Hoo-the one and only Tim Holtz!! Stacey Caron (owner of Spellbinders) knew that I really wanted to meet Tim, so she introduced us and then my sweet friend Holly (from the DT) took the picture of us. How sweeeeet is that!!!!
Thanks so much for stopping by today and be sure to check back soon, I will be posting more pictures and art from CHA. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!

Smiles!
Heidi