Christmas Traditions

Earlier in the month I taught My Heritage Scrapbooking Workshop...The topic of discussion was the importance of Family Traditions. We all have traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation and these traditions do evolve and change.

This year I had to change a family tradition...I figure about the middle of March I might be over the trauma I have been going through with this change of tradition.

 I grew up with a live Christmas tree and when I got married we continued the tradition...only my darling husband and I went out in the woods (with permit in hand) and cut down our Christmas Tree.

It became our tradition. 

 This year the tradition changed...we purchased an artificial Christmas Tree. I was about in tears over the whole ordeal. An artificial tree does not have the same look, feel or fragrance as a real tree. It doesn't even decorate the same! I reminded myself that I'm a floral designer and It's my job to make botanical look good. We did get the tree up (2 days before Christmas) and it looks...Okay. But I don't think I will ever it comfortable with the idea of an artificial tree. Hopeful I won't break into tears next year when we pull it out of the box. Oh great...now I need to find a place to store the darn thing!

Chocolate Birthday Cake

The focus of this "Fall" Birthday Card is CAKE...not just any cake, a chocolate birthday cake. Decorated with creamy frosting and loaded with candles...

Seriously how can you celebrate a Birthday with out a cake? Cupcakes would work...they're small so you can get a way with eating a couple...after all its a Birthday, go for it!

And if it's your Birthday you are celebrating with a cake is even better...

you get to have any of the cake that's leftover for a late night snack...maybe with a big glass of milk!

Happy 4th of July

Hooray for the red, white and blue!

Lily of the Valley, Mr. Selfridge and black dresses...

I worked on this card while "Mr. Selfridge" was airing on PBS. The program had more story lines then a Soap Opera. The first couple of weeks I was having a hard time of keeping track of who was who at Selfridge's store...every one dressed in black...very professional. 

 The logo for the perfume line that Mr Selfridge had created for the store...that "anyone could afford" was Lily of the Valley. Probable a very abundant flower in the English country side...

Those delicate little white fragrant bell shaped flowers have a marvelous vintage look.

I wonder if you can still find the Lily of the Valley cologne at Selfridges in London...or do they only carry the modern designer brands?

Have a Star-Spangled Day

Happy Birthday U.S.A!

What the heck happened to JUNE?

I had big plans for June. It was going to be my catch up month. All the projects that I haven't had time for since the first of the year were placed on a list and titled "JUNE LIST"

I don't know what the heck happened to June, but we now have three days left in the month, there is no way the "JUNE LIST" is going to be completed. 

What do you do with a "JUNE LIST" and you run out of JUNE...take a marker, cross out  JUNE and write in JULY. I now have a "JULY LIST" to remind me of all the projects I haven't had time for since the first of the year.

Happy Valentine's Day, Happy Birthday Arizona, Happy Tuesday

I had planned to post a vintage Valentine's Day and a souvenir Arizona postcard in honor of...Valentine's Day and Arizona's Centennial which both  are on February 14th,  to celebrate the days occasions. Instead I'm going to share the Valentine card  my Tucson sister made and sent to me. It combined both celebrations... 

  For those of you not familiar with the Arizona State flag there is a  copper color star in the center of the flag...for Valentine's Day TS replaced it with a heart...very clever!

I've been creating!

I have been hiding out in my "wizard's room" playing with distress ink, vintage images and glue. 

It's the time of year that I have family and friends birthdays, one after another for the next 3 1/2 months. Once I get the creativity going I don't dare stop for fear of loosing the "mojo".

When it comes to cards for "guys" I get a total design block...for some reason it's just harder to come up with ideas for the men in my life. 

I was pretty happy with the San Francisco card for my DS, could I get that lucky again for my DB?

YUP...I pulled together some "ice cream" ephemera to go along with this old photo of my uncle,as a young boy, licking  ice cream off a dasher that had just come out of a hand crank ice cream freezer. The wording in red reads "RESERVED for personal use only".

Say something nice...

My mom recently turned 80...she would be okay with me telling you her age. For her birthday she sent  out a letter reminding all of her kids, grand kids and great grand kids that she was turning 80. She told us we didn't need to throw her a party, but she did ask all of us to make her a homemade birthday card...the kind we use to make in kindergarten...folded piece of paper, crayons, stick figures, she wanted us to write something nice about her, something we would tell someone about her or something we had done with her...we were not to obsess about the card.

Of course we all obsessed about making the card, some of us got done early, some of us are still working on the cards. That's okay, mom likes to celebrate her birthday all month long. 

She has been enjoying all the cards made by her kids, grand kids and great grand kids. Some extend family and friends had heard about the letter and wanted to get in on the fun too.

Why am I telling you all this? One of my siblings asked me if I was going to blog the card I made for mom...I hadn't plan on it...but then again "things" to blog are few and far between. I usually make her a red, white and blue patriotic looking card for her birthday  ( see the 4th of July post), but this year I designed a card "that says something nice...something I would tell someone about her."

 The front of the card reads: "I color outside the lines...with my left hand". The inside reads "Thank you Mom for teaching me everything I know about being creative" ( And yes...that's me sitting in the chair" ) 

 Happy 80th Birthday!

Happy 4th of July

HOT PINK with ZEBRA STRIPES

Did you know that HOT PINK with a ZEBRA print is the "in" thing right now?

I had no clue!

I needed to make a card for my neighbor's daughter...I asked  her mom what kind of things she liked..."HOT PINK with ZEBRA print."  So I went off looking for something  HOT PINK with ZEBRA  print. The first few places I looked I had zero luck. Then I found the mother load. I found HOT PINK with ZEBRA, patterned paper, 1 1/2 inch ribbon and  some flower embellishments...so many choices! I decided using all three would be overkill. I selected one and headed off to play.

I printed off a cool vintage image, added some polka dot ribbon  (I didn't want to over do the HOT PINK with ZEBRA print), some fairy wings...If you are going to be using HOT PINK with ZEBRA stripes you have to do a over the top card...and that always calls for Fairy Wings!

I added a bit of Stickle and of course Hot Pink Zebra stripe flower embellishments...

With a large hot pink rhinestone in the center of the flower. (trust me, in real life the flower is HOT PINK)

I was having so much fun playing, I made a few extra. My Tucson Sister took one to give to her youngest daughter that just passed her cosmetology boards...Way to go Maddie!!!

Ooooh Chocolate!

I couldn't resist this Hot Pink and Chocolate Brown patterned paper with the "Milk Chocolate" labels. I added a creamy yellow doily and some brown sequin trim...a few green ribbon roses along with a vintage Cadbury Chocolate ad, with a lovely young girl, to create this yummy card.

Happy Mother's Day

Victorian Scraps, butterfly wings and Stickles...

I had planned to use flower Victorian Scrap (die cut) images in my tag class. I printed off a collage sheet of the flowers, cut them out with finger nail scissors to get in all the little nooks and crannies and tried to come up with a design idea. In the end I went a whole other way with the tags. Which left me the Victorian flower scraps to use in making cards. The Victorian Scarps are resting on this young girl wearing a bonnet, along with a punched tissue paper flower with a beaded center, purple Stickles, butterfly wings and a few paper flowers in her bonnet.

Exhausting Work

I have been creating!

In case you haven't heard Scrapbook Barn now has a Boutique. Just as you walk in the door there is a display of wonderful one of a kind projects designed by local crafters and artist. I brought in some of my cards and a couple of mini album to sell.

Which brings me back to...I'VE BEEN CREATING! I locked myself in my wizards room and pulled out a few of my "someday" projects to add to the boutique.

Remember the "head" for my shopping trip to Savers a while back?

It was transformed into this wild woman...

A rhinestone and glittered scrapbookers treasure chest to store supplies, sewing notions, old photos or a stash of chocolate.

Ooh-la-la...a girly girl pink and green mini album.

And of course a few more cards.

Who would have thought all this designing could be so exhausting!?!

Just in time...

Easter cards were made and in the mail...it came down to the last possible moment, but I got it done. I didn't make as many cards this year...because I started them so late.
I used the Karen Foster Easter paper...if you saw the paper you know how cool it was. The image of the girl in the Easter Bonnet is from Suzee Que (Flickr) and I think the chicks are from Dover.

I got a phone call earlier in the week asking me if I could come and help design at a flower shop for the Easter holiday...so I have been playing with flowers.

Have a wonderful Easter!

First Valentine

I got my first Valentine card in the mail today. This is from my Flagstaff Sister. It's kinda hard to see from the photo...there are red heart watermarks on the red background...

Pretty cool hun... Thank you FS!

January Birthdays

I have a few family birthdays in the month of January. The card I sent out started with this image Suzee Que shared on Flickr.
The background patterned paper in this card is so old I have no idea which company it comes from...the edges were rubbed with an aqua color ink pad...
a flourish stamp in black was used on 2 corners.
7 Gypsies made the aqua patterned paper behind the image. The edges were highlighted with "Black Soot" distress ink. I cut around the image of the princess...and embellished her with the magic pen...princess's need a lot of bling!

The card is embellished with 3 flowers...two Prima flowers layered...highlighted with magic pen and a 7 Gypsies brad in the center. I gathered butterscotch color lace with a thread and needle to create a flower...the center is a "Pearl" from Kaiser Scrapbook. The bottom flower is cut from lace. So Happy Birthday to all those January birthdays out there.

Let's see...Valentines Day is 2 weeks away...so you know what kind of cards I will be making next!

#3...Ooooo CHOCOLATE!

After covering the 8 tags of LOVE with the K&Company embossed paper...Cut and Paste Chocolate Lovers...I had the decadent chocolate desserts remaining. What was I going to do with those? Now if it had been the actual desserts there would be no question...I firmly believe life is short...eat dessert first! But when they are about one inch square, and made of paper...I had to come up with another idea...a card...how about a collage...yea, that's the ticket...a chocolate collage card! I started with the Pink Pasilee "Love Potion" tiny white hearts patterned paper...then added a layer of the reverse side, red with the lacy print. The edges were distressed with "Tattered Rose" ink. I played around with the placement of the chocolate images until I found the right "look"...the dessert dishes were embellished with the MAGIC PEN. I used one of the Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Cut...Pink Pasilee green glitter brad...the red flower is cut from Mystic Paper lace.

That's my 3 design team projects...now for the big question...which is your favorite...dark chocolate OR milk chocolate?

The first of three...

This time I made three projects with my Mystic Paper Design Team kit...
This card is made from the reverse side of the tiny off white hearts Pink Paislee Love Potion patterned paper. When we picked this paper out for the kit I really didn't pay much attention to the opposite side...this red with the "lacey" print screamed Valentines Day. I cut a heart shape out of the MF "Paige" patterned paper...and outlined it with Stickels...lace was gathered and adhered on back the heart. The pink flowers are made from pink lace found off the "ribbon wall" at Mystic Paper and a red glittery brads are from Pink Paislee's Bella Brads...all topped off with a Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Cuts.
I have two other projects to share with you...
while you are waiting...click on over to Sheri, Jenna and Holly's blogs and check out the fun projects they created.