April Blog Waltz

Welcome to the April WMS Blog Waltz! :) If you happened upon my blog, you should check out all the festivities at the WMS forum! All the DT members participating may have some flowers hidden in our photos! Collect them all and you might win a fun little prize!

This month we were to focus on the theme of mothers so I have a fun little card you can send your Mom any time of the year.

I decided to merge Spring Baskets and Roses in Bloom, my favorite floral set of all time (well, as of now... you never know what Claire has up here sleeve!)

The roses and leaves are embossed with white embossing powder. After I did that, I decided the roses didn't stand out enough. Instead of coloring, I applied some light cream ink with a paper towel to give it a softer look and let the roses pop just a bit more. It's funny, after trying multiple sponging products, I've discovered paper towels work the best for me when applying ink to a project. (Although I only buy these really expensive cloth feeling paper towels -- got hooked on them and now no other paper towel is good enough... so I'm probably not really saving any money. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm killing more trees and spending more money than if I just used a sponge)

The sentiment comes from Spring Baskets -- I love intermingling my sets and this sentiment fit the area I had left the best. I didn't think ahead when I started the card -- none of the sentiments I wanted really fit in the area I had left. So I just went sentiment hunting through my other sets.

Thanks for waltzing by!

Stamps: (sentiment from Spring Baskets, flowers and leaf from Roses in Bloom) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper, Ink, Ribbon: PTI
Border Punch: (Apron Lace) Fiskars

My First Bike

My first bike was a perfect pink bike with training wheels.

It had little pink tassles and a little white wicker basket.

We lived in an apartment building at that time so my bike was stored in the bike rack downstairs in the parking garage. After just a week, someone stole my bike's pink tassles and my white wicker basket.

Very devastating for a 5 year old.

So here's a card in memory of my bike with tassles and a white wicker basket. To whoever stole my basket, I hope it went to a good little girl.

I adore bike stamps. And this one from Hero Arts is my fave -- perhaps because it has a cute little basket.

The sky was sponged with some spring rain ink. I cut 2 random curves and created some clouds with my corner rounder. Moved my two little post-its around randomly and sponged. Fun effect. :)

The grass is stamped and embossed with clear embossing powder.

I placed some buttons on the wheels and stuck a gem over the middle. Gems are over the flowers in the basket as well.

A little ribbon, a little border punching, and I called it a day.

Happy Spring everyone! :)

Friends Forever

I shop when I'm sad and lonely. Online, in stores, in the sun, in the rain...

But I got a new cardi. The new cardi makes me happy. :)

You know what else makes me happy? Packages!

I FINALLY got my Swaping Sisters package and I tore it open as I knew Steph had sent us fabulous wood paper. I've been itching to get my hands on some.

She gave us a sketch to work with. I kinda followed it... if you squint and twist your head.

This whole card was born out of my desire to die cut the wood paper.

The wood went through the cuttlebug just dandy! Although next time I'd put the wood face down rather than upwards. I think the embossing should be on the wood side -- duh Belinda.

I got some 'new to me' Hero Arts stamps. Blame it on another "I'm sad and lonely" day. So what do you do with new stamps? You get them inky!

Some ruffles to match the owls and sponged with a little red ink.

Can't wait to play with the wood paper some more! :)

Check out what everyone else did with the wood paper:
Steph
Laurie
Ren-Yi

Happy Birthday

I need a new sewing machine. I've sworn at mine enough I think.

I even resorted to hitting it today. At least there's not Sewing Machine Services or something like that...

I have to take it apart every time I switch the settings. It's getting ridiculous.

Any suggestions for a new machine? I do dabble in real sewing as well as mainly using it for cards -- so a simple mini one isn't enough.

Ok, enough of my woes. Let's move onto cards.

Simple. But that's the joy of Free Spirit - Boy and Free Spirit Sentiments from WMS. You can do simple so easily. And with the stamps in the set, it's so easy to do so. :)

Imagine it in different colors... still the same idea yet it could bring a whole new spin to it. :)

And now yours truly must hand hem the husband's pants. I HATE hand hemming. At least there's TV to keep me company.

Why can't boys hand hem themselves?

Too Long NC!

I miss NC -

I miss the containment area for relocated yankees.

I miss Bo-Jangles, I miss sweet tea, I miss the taco truck and even though it appeared after I left, I miss the Korean BBQ truck. I miss a lot of food things...

I also miss my favorite crafting buddies, the easy access to scrappy stores and crops. I really miss the crops.

Although luckily, everyone has been posting about the pollen issues so luckily for me, my NC-sickness has subsided a little -- the one thing I don't miss is having my black car look like a bumble bee.

So I have a card dedicated to everyone and everything I love about NC.

I extended the legs of the little birdie with my black pen. I like that the long legs and the sentiment of "It's been too long" mish just like that. Stamped the sentiment on vellum so you could still see the legs.

It has truly been too long, NC.

Then again, I really missed MN for awhile and I got over it. I really missed PA and I got over it (doesn't help that I moved back). I missed IL for the longest time and I got over that too. Such is my life.

I wonder what the next place I'll "miss" will be.

Dude Its Your Day

I love the weather right now. Sun and warmth makes me a happy girl! So much so that I've been out and about and not crafting.

Now that the weather is nicer, I swear I am in a dire need of a vacation. Actually, I could have used a vacation for awhile. Alas...

Just wanted to share another card using Free Spirit - Boy and Free Spirit Sentiments from WMS. :) Lots of fun to play with! The background is stamped with the wavey stamp just using the straight part of the image.

WMS April Waltz

If you are just starting this waltz, please begin at Claire’s Blog and follow the “dance card” as you waltz your way through. Be sure to stop by everyone's blog -- as usual there are prizes to be won! Make sure to leave comments by 11:59 EST on Sunday for a chance to win.

As some of you recall, my husband is becoming Dr. Hubs in May. With this new salutation, I am hoping to not be the "sugar momma" anymore. So we begin with a graduation card.

Simple and to the point. A little color, a little cut out hat and some stars. I colored over the stars with my clear glaze pen -- much quicker to dry than glossy accents and a fun, simple touch.

A little sewing, a little swearing at my very poorly calibrated sewing machine. One day... I will definitely get a new machine. Or find someone to service my gazillion year old machine. Or convince my hubs to buy me a super nice one - and a hemming foot so I can better fix his pants.

I know you guys have seen this image used already but I wanted to show it in a different light. I love this for guy cards but you can also make Halloween cards. Doesn't it look so spooky and mischievous?

So its a little early for Halloween perhaps but there's more than one way to use that awesome circle graphic image. I wasn't going to share this yet but I decided that its never too early for Halloween, just like its never too early for Christmas! *Smile*

Waltz over to Jennifer for some more crafty goodness!