Autumn Blessings Crop

Welcome to the Autumn Blessings Blog Hop!

We're hopping around the web in celebration of our blessings at this beautiful time of year! Thank you for joining us and we hope you leave with a bit of inspiration and maybe a new friend or two! After the blog hop, please be sure to stop by the Cardmaker Cardswap Forum to join in for several days of challenges for creating and fun!

You should have arrived here from Lora's blog, aren't her projects the best? She has such a versatile style, clean and simple, with just the right touches of embellishment to set off whatever project she is making perfectly! If you didn't land here from Lora's blog, please click on over to visit her so that you don't miss any of the great things we have in store for you!

I have a life filled with many blessings...don't we all? Today I would like to express my gratitude for my friends. I have such lovely friends in my life, so many people who have helped me to become the person that I am today. Friends who encourage me to overcome struggles that I have, friends who applaud my accomplishments, good friends who compliment me on improvements that I make and great friends who comfort me in my times of need. I am so grateful for the love that each of them shares with me in different ways. I hope that each of you take some time today to thank a special friend that you have in your life.

Thank you for sharing that special thought with me.

Now, on to my project! I wanted a quick project that would give me (or whomever I give it to) a quick pick-me-up whenever I saw it.

I chose to make a bookmark. You will not believe how easy this was to make! I am looking forward to making several more as gifts for my friends this holiday season, after all, doesn't everyone need another bookmark?



It reads, "experience is not what happens to you. it's what you do with what happens to you."

I used:
cream canvas,
stamps (Tim Holtz),
three layers of cardstock (Bazzil, Co'ordinations, Reminisce),
ink (Distress Ink, Memento Ink),
sewing machine,
other (adhesive, 1/16" hole punch, fiber).

Cut the canvas to 1 3/4" x 6 3/4" and stamp with Distress ink for background. Use darker contrast ink to stamp main sentiment. Use adhesive to hold canvas in place on one or two layers of cardstock and stitch canvas around edges. Adhere final cardstock as backing to cover stitching. Punch hole at top and insert fiber.

Thanks for stopping by my little blog, your next stop is Judy's blog, and I know that you will enjoy what she has in store for you. Not only is she an exceptionally talented cardmaker, with a superb sense of design, she colors her images beautifully (a talent that I have yet to master), and her altered art projects are simply divine!

Here is the full list of blog participants, in case you get lost along the way:

Lora
Meredith <--- You are here
Judy L
Golda
Ana
Traci
Angelina
SusieQ
Tina
Ivanka
Jane

I See Pumpkins!

The progressive challenge image over at Designed2Delight for this week is a stitched pumpkin, and it is so cute!

I printed it off and colored it with pencils...I even went for some shading to add dimension...didn't turn out too bad!



I did put a wooden button over the image where it had three buttons...it just looked cleaner to me.

I pulled out a fall themed mat stack for papers, and colored the bling with a permanent marker to get it orange, finished it off with some ribbon, and done!

I haven't decided on a sentiment yet...maybe just a 'thinking of you' to send in the next couple of months, although it could certainly be a nice Thanksgiving card as well...we'll see.

Enjoy,

Meredith

Wedding Inspiration

This has definitely been the summer of weddings around here! In the past three months we have received invitation after invitation...its been exciting! Unless I know the couple exceptionally well, I prefer to give a gift card...which means a handmade card to put it in, of course!

With all the gift giving and reception attending, my stash of ready congratulations cards is perilously low! So I got to work with an idea or two that I had...and here is the result!

At the Designed2Delight blog they have a weekly Designer's Challenge, this week it is to make a card using predominately pink and black...and the lightbulb went off!

I found the perfect stamp in the D2D store, that's the beauty of digital stamps...find, purchase, download and print...then get creating!

For both of my cards I kept the image simple...it is such a lovely collage on its own, I didn't want to distract from it. No coloring, just printed on colored cardstock.



I found a compimentary embossing folder for the background and inked the edges and raised pattern, then added some ribbon and a flower from stash...



The stick pin is from a recent swap, isn't it the perfect match? Most of the wedding cards I give are hand carried (instead of mailed) so I'm not worried about it getting smashed.



The second card got a bit more involved. I cased a card that I received in a swap a while ago...I'd never seen anything like it, and have intended to duplicate it for the longest time...I finally did tonight!

Here is the front view of the card as it is closed, you'd never know how much is in here!



I thought that I'd record the steps here...so if you want to make one too, you can!

Supplies needed:

• cardstock and patterned paper
  


• elastic thread



• 1/16" hole punch



• strong adhesive
  


• focal image
  


• strong adhesive



• embellishments as desired

1) Cut your base cardstock to 5 1/2" x 11"

2) Score your base cardstock at 2", 3 3/4", 7 1/4" and 9"

3) Fold the 3 3/4" and 7 1/4" scores toward eachother, the middle of the card and fold the 2" and 9" scores to the outside of the card, have a look at this picture to get a better idea...you end up with a card sized 4" x 5 1/2"



4) Add your patterned paper strips to the front (cut at 1 3/4" x 5 1/4") and inside (3 1/4" x 5 1/4") of the card

I have to share, my patterned paper started out like this...



but I didn't want the white on this card, so I used my pink ink and a foam sponge to color it!

5) Punch a hole on each 'inside' fold, knot one end of the elastic and thread it through, check to make sure that your knot is bigger than the hole! Double knot if necessary...

6) Thread it through the second hole, leaving approximately 3 1/2" inside the card (the width of the card back), knot the other side.

7) Put some strong glue on the knots, and let dry

8) For the center suspension, make sure that it is about 2" high, and no more than 2 3/4" wide, any wider, and you will not be able to close the card

9) Make the suspension several layers, and use a strong glue to sandwich the final layer between the rest, let it dry

10) Attatch your focal image to the front, and embellish the card as you like

As you open the card, the suspension comes forward and hangs...so intricate!



I couldn't leave the envelopes alone...but I wasn't sure what to do with them until I saw the negative from the bird punch that I used



I took that negative and sponged some pink ink through it, using it as a stencil...I'm so pleased with how it came out!



I'm definitely going to take a look at my punches again with fresh eyes...maybe you'll see more of this on some cards soon!

Enjoy,

Meredith

Summer's End Blog Hop

Hello and Welcome!

I'm so glad you joined us on the Cardswaps Summer's End blog hop!

You should have come here from Ashley. If not, be sure to start at Lora's blog so you don't miss any of the great projects!

At the end of the hop, be sure to hop on over to the forum for more fun, games, challenges and...PRIZES!!!

The crop will be going on from August 10th - August 13th, 2011 and you have until 11:59pm CST August 16th, 2011 to get your projects uploaded.

But enough about that...you're here to hop along and get inspired, right?

The theme of our crop and blog hop is Summer's End.

We have hostesses that are going to help you spell out SUMMERS END in products, techniques, embellishments or anyway they can.

My assigned letter was M.
There are so many ways to use M! Masking, Monograms, Marigolds, Monsters...in the end, I decided to use a Mouse!

This is a digital stamp from Designed2Delight...who happens to have a challenge going on right now where if you use this stamp (which you can get for free!) you will be emailed another stamp!

Oh, and the D2D blog has another weekly challenge...this week's is to add bling to your card...and what goes better on a birthday card than gems and glitter?

Your next stop on the hop is Ana! Hop on over and see what fabulousness she has for you!

In case you get lost along the way, here are all the hostesses for the blog hop...

• 
  
  
  S Lora


• 
  
  U Jane
  M Ashley


• 
  
  M Meredith <--- you are here


• 
  
  E Ana


• 
  
  R SusieQ


• 
  
  S Tina


• 
  
  E Angelina


• 
  
  N Jeanette


• 
  
  D Golda

Orange You Glad Its Summer?

What a blast this card was to make! The challenge over at the Do You Stack Up? blog is to use the color orange...and I just happen to have a son who loves that color...so I am definitely stocked up!

One of the sponsors of this challenge is Karen's Doodles and as I was wandering through the shop when I found this adorable monkey image...for free!!!

I'm catching up on some cards for birthdays...so that's what I made!



I colored the image with my Prismacolor pencils and inked the edges of all the ivory cardstock with a Dew Drop ink pad. The patterned paper is from a K & Co. pack and I printed the sentiments on my computer. The ribbon is from The Paper Studio.

Another z-fold...this one is a bit different from the first, in that the 'folded' part is cut smaller and put on a base of flat cardstock...although I've seen it put on the front of a card as well...clever if you want more writing space!



I ended up putting some ribbon to the side, because I read my score-board incorrectly and scored the first line too soon. Instead of the z-fold being symmetrical it ended up uneven...but I decided that I liked it so just left it that way.



And like I wrote, I'm late sending it for a birthday...here's what I put inside...



Isn't this little monkey just the cutest? Click on over to Karen's Doodles to pick it up for yourself!



Enjoy,

Meredith

Big Blooms

What an adorable image to work with from the Designed 2 Delight progressive challenge this week!

We were sent one image from the Big Blooms set, which you can purchase in the store if you want.

Take time to see how many different ways the cardmakers have been using this...so clever!

I took the flower image into Word and combined it with some a little poem that I found...unfortunately, I'm behind on some birthday cards that I wanted to send...do you think they'll forgive me if I send a card this cute?



I used cardstock from stash...and patterned paper from K & Co. The digital stamp from Designed 2 Delight was partially colored with Prismacolor pencils and cording is from stash as well.

This was my first try at a z-fold card...too easy, just cut a 4 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock and score at 5 1/2" and 8 1/4". I'll be using this more often for sure...there are so many different ways to extend shapes and embellishments off the edge!

This is the view from the top...so you can see the 'z' part...



And a few other views...





Here is the cute poem...modified a bit from this website...



Enjoy,

Meredith

Summer Days progressive challenge

I had a lot of fun coloring the image from this weeks Designed 2 Delight progressive challenge. Is this not a cute, cute bear? You can pick yours up in the store and join in over at the blog any time!

I think I'll use this one for a special friend who could probably use a pick-me-up about now...



I'm still working on learning how to shade...doing better...but have a ways to go...



Enjoy,

Meredith