Scrapbooking

Welcome to another fun blog hop being hosted by members of StampTV's Center Stage Alumni. This time around, the hop is based on a Color Challenge ! Challenge: Create a card or project with the following color combination a Red, White and Blue. We've come together to share with you our version of this color combo, but to kick it off, here's a sample from Betty Neville. Such a beauty - don't you agree?! Would love to see what you do with this color combo and make sure to leave a comment as you hop along because on Tuesday morning (June 25), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs and that person will receive a huge grab bag of fabulous Gina K. Designs Stamps! Are you ready to start the hop? Here's a list of all those participating: Vicki Dutcher Lori McAree Linda Payne Kay Simmons Karen Knegten Joy Hadden Geri Utterback Betty Neville Hope you'll be able to join us ~ just create a card or project using the color combination and add it to StampTV's gallery and then come back here and post a link to it so we can all check it out!

A little break from our Etching Blog Hop with Armour Etch here. My friend Carmi Cimicata (the Resin Blog lady) has got me into trouble again. This time her little surprise blog hop included some great products from Dazzle It! The players each received a spool of Dazzle It Lovely Knots Cord, A Kumihimo Findings Kit, and a copy of the book Lovely Knots – An Introduction to Chinese Knotting by Fernando DaSilva.  Wow! The goodies in the envelope. Of course I started by looking through the book…”piece of cake,” I decided…Ha…hahaha…hahahahaha… can you hear the hysteria? Chinese knotting is very much like Origami. It looks super easy, and I’ll tell you Fernando DaSilva’s instructions are beautifully photographed, step-by-step, and crystal clear. And, well, it’s not as easy as it looks! As one girl in the blog hop said,”I clearly have no Chinese blood and there were no sailors in my family.”  But persistence paid off, and on my 10th try my Pippa Knot was, I thought, pretty darn good. (ok, it’s a little loose and Ancient Chinese people are probably spinning in their graves in frustration, but it looks a lot better than the first 9 tries! One problem was that I made the top loop do double duty and hold my bezel.) I put a Double Button Knot on top of the Pippa for stability. Very Messy Pippa Knot by Laura Weed I will whisper to you the secret – it’s glue on the back of the knot – I used Beacon Adhesive’s Quick Grip to secure the knot. DaSilva also uses it in his book on a few of the projects. Quick Grip holds my knot in place. Do not look at the back of my double button knot where the cords cross. That’s a no-no. Then I used some Single Button Knots to act as spacers to secure some beads. My beads came from my local Michaels Store. Single button knots make great spacers! Of course there has to be stamping! I used Stampendous’ Charm Collection Perfectly Clear Stamps (available at Michaels Stores) to create a tiny collage for my Lisa Pavelka Bevel (yep, Michaels again!). I glued it into the bezel with Elmer’s Glue then sealed it with more Elmer’s. I added some Green Glass Glitter and some Silver Glass Glitter with glue to the collage, then I used EnviroTex Jewelry Resin (you guessed it, Michaels Stores)  over the collage to finish my pendant. Charm Collection Pendant I finished my piece with a couple of Sliding Button Knots instead of a clasp. These knots allow the piece to slide larger or smaller so the necklace can go over my head. Sliding Button Knots And  TaDa! A really fun necklace I’ll wear again and again! I wouldn’t have thought of trying it, but now that I have, I recommend it highly! It’s pretty astonishing that all of this is one piece of cord! Chinese Charm by Laura Weed Product wise, this cord was beautiful to work with and stood up to my tying, loosening, tying, loosening, tying, loosening, fixing, fixing, fixing just beautifully.  The cord also comes in the most genius packaging ever. The top of the spool literally folds up so you can use the cord, then folds down to keep it clean, free from unraveling, and safe from cats!! The book is full of very clear directions beautifully photographed, and I think it would be a valuable resource in any crafter’s library. At some point in any craft one of these knots would be the perfect finishing touch. The bracelet findings are beautiful, and I can’t wait to use them on another project. Thanks, Carmi, for yet another challenge!! Carmi’s got the links for the entire Blog Hop up over on the Dazzle It Blog. Do go see the creations the other crafters have made. I was impressed at how easily some of them took to this craft. They made amazing pieces of jewelry! If you’d like to know more about the extremely ancient art of Chinese Knotting, visit the Chinese Knotting website – they have a gallery of unbelievable im

I'm pretty sure that I've shared this never fail orange cake recipe on my blog before, but somebody asked for the link on instagram yesterday and I can't find it in my archives, so decided to repost it. This is a beautifully moist cake and seriously delicious. Ingredients: 90 grams butter - melted 1 cup sugar 1 cup self raising flour 2 eggs 1/2 cup milk finely grated orange rind from one orange. Method: Pop all the ingredients into a bowl and beat well.   Cook in moderate oven (180 degrees) for about 35 - 40 minutes. Icing: 1 cup icing sugar 1 tablespoon butter Juice from the orange - drizzle in (and mix) until you have the correct consistency 

When I left yesterday I was waiting for the glue to cure and was figuring out what type of hanger I wanted to use for this plaque. Vintage Bottle Cap Plaque Since it's for my son (who is 20) I thought it would be appropriate to use a bit of faux rusty wire for a more masculine look. I just don't think he'd get into fancy fibers, ribbon or raffia's - LOL!! So I cut off about 4' of wire from the spool, doubled it up and started off by threading it through all of the holes at the top of the plaque. In the corners I sort of knotted up the wire to give it a used look... I knotted each corner a bit different for a more authentic look. I also added a few kinks, twists and knots in the upper portion of the wire and "tied" the ends together at the top. And here's how the plaque turned out! a better look at the hanger... So there you go ~ I hung it up in my sons room already. The guys (dh & 2 boys) are out baling hay so I'll be excited to see if he notices it when he gets home and his reaction. I sure hope he likes it :) P.S... I bought my Loctite Go2Glue @ Wal-Mart but I think it's ava. most anywhere. You'll want to look in the Super Glue area. Mind you this is not super glue and will not stick instantly which is why I used it....set up time 30 - 60 minutes open time, 24 hour cure time... I've read some negative reviews on-line because of this but these time frames are stated right on the bottle.

I know many sectors of the economy have started to recover but the craft industry still isn't back to what it used to be. With so many store closings and web-sites shutting down I was so sad today when I read this e-mail from Blockhead Stamps.... Starting today - Clearance Sale on Everything 35% Off Blockheads is closing down its craft supply business after 12 years of online sales. We will continue to carry clear envelopes, coasters and the Blockheads line of stamps in half sheets and quarter sheets.Starting today we offer 35% off anything sitewide. Take advantage of our need to clear out stock and stock up on anything you might need.As with all fast and furious sales, two things to bear in mind:1. No returns or refunds, sales are final.2. Please pay attention to the product details link under an item where you can find out how much we have of something - we will try to keep the inventory as up to date as possible.**** We do our best to get things off the site as they sell out but a person needs to sleep, so we will do our utmost to keep the inventory accurate - if we sell out of something before we can get it off the site, we will notify you of any problems with your order and appreciate your patience and understanding should something not be available.Happy Shopping!

One of the best purchases I have made in my lifetime has been my Die Cutting Machines and some dies because I have saved so much money (well, you know what I mean) by making my own cards like these baby girl card ideas! Doing this has given me a creative outlet in my cards and scrapbook layouts and have the capability to make original cards for others.  I love that and I know that all of you do too, since we share the same passion! I made these cards mainly with Spellbinders dies and my brand new, pretty blue Sizzix Big Shot machine! I love the new face lift on it! Both cards were easy enough for a beginner and  a lot of fun to put together! It is so fun  making cards for new mommies and their babies! They are excited about every thing-including the cards! BTW- I kept the wax paper that I used to cut the butterfly out on it to soften the color of the card stock and it gave the embossed parts a naturally frosted look. Products: S5-165 Spellbinders Butterfly Corner S5-182 Spellbinders A2 Scalloped Basics One S5-143 Spellbinders Jewel Flowers and Flourishes S5-172 Spellbinders A2 Curved Matting Basics B 6044 Want2Scrap Baby Bling Silver Rhinestones First Edition Spring Drop 6×6 paper Ink, wax, paper, card stock Adhesive Products: S5-131 Spellbinders A2 Matting Basics A S5-135 Spellbinders A2 Fancy Ribbon Threader S5-158 Spellbinders Timeless Rectangles First Edition Hide A Way 6×6 paper 89377 American Crafts Solid Grosgrain Ribbon Fiskars Stamp sentiment AF214  Hero Arts Hero Hues Mid-tone Shadow Ink Cup O Joe Card stock Adhesive You don’t have to have a lot of fancy dies to create fun cards, just get creative with what you have! Thanks & Happy Scrappin’! Carrie

These are some lovely Free Vintage Images of some Flowers! These Dogwood Flowers are from an Antique Garden Catalog in my collection. I just love Dogwood Trees, this year we planted both a Pink one and a White one in our yard. I think the flowers are so pretty and I love the shape of [...]The post Free Vintage Images – Dogwood Flowers – 2 colors appeared first on The Graphics Fairy.

Hello and welcome to the Whimsy Stamps June Release Sneak Peak Blog Hop! Today the Whimsy DT and our June Special Guest, Gina, are kicking off our June release by sharing sneak peeks of some of the brand new Wee Stamps, Kenny K and Momas Collection stamps that will be available to buy from the Whimsy Stamps store TOMORROW! For those of you who are new to Whimsy Stamps, we hold a 3-day new release event each month: a Sneak Peek Blog Hop on the day before the release (today), a Release Day Blog Hop on release day (tomorrow), and finally a Review Day Blog Hop the day after the release. Each blog hop has a prize of 2 new release stamps hidden somewhere along the way and you have 24hrs to enter each prize draw! To be entered into today's blog hop prize draw, be sure to leave a comment on ALL of the DT's posts listed below by 12.00PM EST tomorrow. All winners will be announced on the Whimsy blog on Friday. To take a peek at today's fabulous new release creations, please click on the links below... Ann Vento Bev Rochester Debbie Eastman Heidy Blom Iris Wiechmann Jacque Beddingfield Mariska van der Veer Gina Landis (June Special Guest) For today's hop, I've used Wee Stamps' Sweet Sparkle, a sentiment from the Sun, Moon, and Stars set, along with the matching Sun, Moon, and Stars die set. Don’t forget to stop by the Whimsy blog again tomorrow for the full reveal of our brand new release and to take part in our New Release Blog Hop! Thanks so much for stopping by and happy hopping!

You have until Wednesday night to enter my Inspired By Challenge.For once I didn't go with the colors ;) I was inspired by the sketch on this one. I used my Kate & Co Oxford Collection by My Mind's Eye, aSRM Sticker, some Studio Calico Veneer and finally some Divine Twine.

Silverware Kitchen Art Project Before photo of Veggie Crate Today I’m sharing this great looking Silverware Kitchen Art Piece, that was submitted by Liz via my new Submission Page! Liz used the Vintage Fork Knife Spoon Image, and decoupaged them onto an old Veggie Crate that she found at the grocery store. What a great [...]The post Silverware Kitchen Art – Reader Featured Project appeared first on The Graphics Fairy.