Hey - a great FREE OFFER!   No kidding, if you would like to try digi-scrapbooking, digi-designing for cards, tags, ....all the wonderful print services that STAMPIN' UP! has to offer - then try the 30 day FREE Trial of My Digital Studio!   It can't hurt to try!


If you have hesitated to try digital design software, then like most of us, you're in good company. And in equal good company, you'll discover that you can begin with some simple projects and take it from there!  If I can do it - so can you!  


Besides the software, Stampin' Up! provides great printing services and a wholesome selection of products such as bound books - such as custom photo albums - think of designing your own WEDDING ALBUM, uh-huh! 
And try calendars!  There are many projects and products waiting for you! 


GIVE IT A TRY - GO TO LINKS ON THE RIGHT SIDE AND CLICK!  


Happy Digi-designs!  
Taylor
*

Awww......!

Best part is they are over 100 years old!  AMAZING!


My own Aunt Elsie has turned 98 recently, bless her!  And we can secretly hope she makes 100, its only a natural desire on our part - and I don't want to think of her gone, as she represents the last of my older generation.  She's my Dad's sister and sister to 3, and a relative to many. She has outlived some of her younger relations including 2 nephews and unfortunately one very much younger great-neice.  But she just talked with me on Valentines - alert and charming!  This means we've been blessed to have been able to chat as long as I can remember and my own children have had her to inspire them. 
So I guess too that hearing the oldest lady on our planet died recently at the young age of 127!  Like I didn't even think that was possible!  I know several people in their late nineties - and they all share a wonderful spirit - very inspiring to know them. 


Well, here are a couple of charming ladies as you can see that have been featured for the mere fact they've passed 100 and still work at what keeps them going - and look how lovely they are!

Sally Gordon - HERE is her details

Lovely Lady in Hat celebrate 101 - see her inspiring story

at French Garden House by Tara Frey

I guess I could of called this  "Fantastic Ladies in Fabulous Hats!"....which totally reminds me of another elderly relation, Great Aunt Bessy was from my 'second family' - really friends who helped look after me when my DAD was away in military service.  She would come strolling down in her sweet walking pace wearing: a massive and over-the-top decorated hat and matching rattan handbag!  OMG - her hat was something to behold - started out a simple straw floppy hat to which she added more flowers, ribbon and thingy-a-bobs than you think you could imagine- and some trim around the edges to boot!  Floppy to keep the sun off your face [they knew back then to do that!] and she'd wear a floral dress, belted neatly and oodles of beaded necklaces, and large clip-on earrings. She'd carry a tortoise-shell handled, straw tote with thickly stitched yarn flowers!  And sensible walking shoes! 

Best part - she had the sweetest disposition you'd evah lay eyes on!  And it showed because along with all that dressing up - she'd be wearing a beautiful smile...and at no-one in particular, just happy to be out and smiling at the world!

 When she would bend down to plant a kiss on me, you knew you'd been kissed [with the ruby coloured kiss on your cheek to prove it, lol] and the rose or lavender scent of perfume stayed with you.........awh, what is it with these grand old ladies!

Yes, I could take a lesson from them - I think we tend to worry about too much - and care a little too hard about our appearances when the real trick is to be happy and flaunt everything you've got from the exquisite to the obsurd....and live it up a little!   

Gooood Morning!!!


Have you ever had an item kicking around your closet forever - and you don't seem to get around to crafting with it like you planned the first day?  YUP - we all know that feeling!  Well, here's one of mine {trust me I have many}.....its a wood heart and I can't even tell you where I got it, its been that long!  


Well - I dragged it out to the craft table and there it sat for a few weeks!  I stared at it - it stared back.  It was touch and go there for awhile!  Finally, I felt enough guilt to decide to work it!  


Then I had fun - lol!   So now I am feeling the love with this on my wall right this minute!  

Challenge Entry:  

Challenge 56: With All My Heart .....

Decorate a Wood Carft Item
Supplies:
paintable wood craft item [preferably with drilled holes - but you can improvise]
craft paint, [colour, and a white paint]
paint brush, 
fine grit sandpaper or sanding tool {in a pinch, a foot spa sander, or nail sander}
background rubber stamp [ex) script, text, floral, hearts,etc)
stamping waterproof ink [Stampin' Up! Basic Grey or Basic Black]
hanging material [ribbon, wire, twine, etc.]
Decorative Cardstock [ plain for flower, designer paper for banner]
Punch - for flower [example uses SCALLOPED FLOWER punch]
gem or pearl embellishment
stickles or glitter glue [ Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Diamonds]
thick glue dots
glue 


Instructions
PAINT YOUR WOOD CRAFT ITEM
Paint your wood craft item {my example, the heart} in the colour of choice {mine is lt. blue} and let dry; lightly sand when dry - then repeat the same again. 
Take a saucer or small foil tray and dab some white paint into it and add 2 or 3 drops of water and mix. Now you have a ' white wash '.  Paint on this white wash over your painted/sanded wood item.  The streaks are a good thing!  But not wide streaks - blend a little.  Do this until your piece is more white than the previous colour.  When dry sand lightly. You can sand till the wood shows through on the edges if you like - if you don't like, then just sand so the wood feels smooth. [note- paint 'lifts' the fibers of the wood, it swells it a bit which is why we sand!]


STAMP AWAY!


Now that your piece is painted and prepared - STAMP IT!  Take your background rubber stamp, and your ink pad and stamp the entire surface well. NOTE - this is going to work the 'first time' - so practice on paper first to see how well you stamp a large stamp. 
 When ready, place it over your painted craft item and stamp the design onto it.  This took 3 trys for me - as my heart is wider than my stamp and I stamped the center first, then added the remaining side areas.


OK - if you feel you screwed up - or don't like the look of the stamp, just RE-PAINT and start again! 


But you like it, so moving on......
Make your embellishment/ FOCAL POINT
A hand-made PUNCH FLOWER is a cool thing these days - they are in every craft project!  You could also use a bought flower to save time!  
Making a Punch Flower
Punch out several Flower shapes in one or two colours of sturdy weight cardstock. [Stampin' Up! cardstock is sturdy at an average 80 lb weight.]  NOTE: you can crumple the cardstock to make forming the flower easier and it gives that shabby chic look!    
Next - leave one flower shape intact. That is your foundation piece. After that, take a scissor and snip out a section of one shape and roll the flower like you are making a cone shape - bring the two cut sides together and overlap one section over the opposite side. Glue together and hold till the glue works. You could use a clip to help.  
Then snip out 2 sections of the next flower shape and repeat - this time the gap is wider where you cut away the section but requires you to do the same thing - bring the cut edges together, and glue overlapping them so it looks like a complete shape once more. 
Then 3 sections on the next one....and so on, till you are done with the punched flower shapes. 


When you are finished preparing each of the flower's sections - bend the petals back a little - this takes a little patience {as if the last section didn't,lol}.....but it is possible to bend those back. I use something round like a pen to roll the petals against - and I hold them over my finger while I work the next section. Do your best - and little tears only make it more 'hand-made', so don't sweat it! 
NOW - ASSEMBLE YOUR FLOWER - by gluing the smallest section into the next larger section!  Flatten the tip of the bottom of your flower a bit, and glue into place. Keep building your flower this way till you are ready to glue it to the flat foundation flower shape.  And your are DONE!  CONGRATS!  


TO FINISH - I added the flower to a banner strip I made from decorative paper. But before I glued the flower on, I added thick glue dots to the back of the banner, the entire length. This allows for it to float above the painted wood piece!  Now glue on the flower and when dry, add your decorative piece to the finished wood piece.


TO HANG - add ribbon such as my example. I tied 2 pieces of ribbon, 7 inches each by tying a knot first at one end and inserting the ribbon into the holes leaving the knot to be on the front!  Then I stitched the two remaining ends together.  You can also do this with one long piece of ribbon - about 14 inches long. Or use twine, wire, etc.
 Add beads too!  Anything you wish to decorate - use your own ideas!

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY! 

HAPPY CRAFTING! 

*Hi Crafters!


Just revisited my ELEBRATION stamp - my physician has recently been granted the gift of a newborn grandson and since I was scheduled for an appointment, I brought along a Valentine card for the little fella!  As a boy, I wanted this to be sweet but not too  pink and here is what I came up with......and it was well-received!

Card Front

Ooops!  I added a small red bow over the pink scallop trim before I left and forgot to take a picture!  Oy! So picture this with a  red bow - blogging is sometimes on the fly if you know what I mean, lol! 

I used our new HEARTS FRAMELITS to quickly cut those hearts!  Then I embossed with our Texture Embossing Folders - of which we have many....check out our catalogue!  Here I have used Perfect Polka Dots and Stripes 

Heart Framelits - NEW PRODUCT!!!

See Occasions Mini Catalogue

AND now onto the inside where you'll see the same little cute elephant as I used 

in a birthday card not long ago!  Isn't he a sweetie with his little cake and all!  

To make this a Valentine Card and not a birthday one, I covered the candle with

a punched out Heart {use Small Heart Punch}.....and the balloons with more hearts {Heart to Heart Punch}........works like a charm!

He's been coloured with our chalks and markers, and I couldn't help but draw little hearts

floating off into the air!  TOTAL FUN making this!!

ELEBRATION STAMP 

 sold as a single in the A la Carte section of the 

Idea Book and Catalogue from Stampin' Up!

Its a coincidence that both these cards are for boys!   But you can see the 

versatility of this stamp!  Use your own imagination to change this up! 

Sweet craftin'!

TAYLOR

*

Crafter-mornings!   I am doing a quck post tonight before heading to bed....read on about my adventure crafting with some fab girls!  I'll follow up with that tomorrow once I get my zzzzzz's in, LOL! 

UPDATE:  I wanted to express my thanks to Amy who allowed me to come 

to craft with a group of beautiful young Moms at a local YWCA center! 

It was a total kick and I now remember why I feel tired - I'm so older now, lol!!! 

Anyways they were adorable and great to see people try new things! Thanks to the girls!!

1.

2.

1. Letter Templates cut out and glued to card base. 2. Now dressed up and what a lovely difference!

This project can be found at Splitcoaststampers under ' WORD CARD ' 

Leave a space to tuck a precious photo!

....or a symbol of LOVE! 

I was given a challenge by someone to create a ' black ' card of substantial size!


I chose to design it by working the opposite of symmetrical and that has led me to this card!  

Layering lots of scalloped circles topped with a 'Love Bird' 

CLICK ON PHOTOS

Here is where I chose NOT to follow a predictable pattern!  

The tiny flowers has one that sits in a place of its own while colours change eradically ending with 2 in sparkly black HEARTS!   Even the way I positioned the ribbon is 'off'....the point of this card is to think differently about composition while balancing the parts into one pretty effect! 

I used our HELLO FRIEND Stamp Set and our HEAT'n' SET to 

add SILVER GLITTER.  Heat 'n' Set allows you to stamp the image and then you 

heat the spot up to get it all "gooey" - then toss on your glitter!  Voila!

But its a delicate matter - so allow it to dry before brushing off the excess - or be very

careful to tap off the excess glitter - you know what I mean?  Hey, we all go 

through the glitter learning curve, lol! 

Well I LOVE IT - hope you think of trying an edgier colour for VALENTINE'S CARDS! 

YOURS TRULY

TAYLOR

oxox

 * You will enjoy this class so much I guarantee!  You will be making a beautiful gift set which will delight and impress whom ever you give it to !!!

*WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
To do a version of  the ' One Sheet Wonder ' technique combined with the ' 2 Step Stamping ' technique.  This is really the fun part because I designed the class so you will first take a plain white sheet of cardstock and transform it into a lush colourful garden of flowers using our awesome GREENHOUSE GARDEN Stamp Set !

By creating a sheet of your own pattern, you will see the possibilities are endless when you think of all the stamps you can use to design with this technique!  And its also a great way to learn COLOUR COMBINATIONS.


Then we use the newly-formed FLORAL PATTERN into 5 PROJECTS!!   That is why they call this the ONE SHEET WONDER!  [in the expanded version, you can make 11 projects]


TWO CARDS!  You will make quick, easy cards and you will learn how to make a BOX using my own personally designed TEMPLATE.  You will make a sweet TAG with a twist!  And finally,  turn any modestly priced candle jar into a sweet personalized GIFT!  It fits into the box - so you will be able to give a nice all-occasion gift which includes the CANDLE, BOX and CARD!


Plus receive INSTRUCTIONS BOOKLET.


Summary: class includes 2 cards, 1 box, 1 candle gift, 1 tag, Instruction Booklet and the left-over pieces to take home. 


WHEN, WHERE


March 15 - 7 pm   and  March 25 - 11 am.    Location: 1680 Ellesmere Road, Toronto. [near Ellesmere and McCowan Roads] 


COST  Early Bird $20 till Feb 26th.    Regular $25 beginning Feb 27 .   Please RVSP so materials can be cut for you. 
FREE CLASS with a $60 Stampin' Up! Order AND qualify for a FREE SALE-A-BRATION Item! 
How awesome is that!   


CONTACT ME to reserve a place.   Email = craftroomafternoons@gmail.com 


Thank You !