Tealight luminary

I am being featured as a guest designer on Leeanne's blog, ArtfulDelight .  She has designed and released a new stamp set called Sunny Days and it is a great little set.  It is a photopolymer clear set, making it very easy to position and stamp with.

This is the first project I made.  It is a tealight  luminary and each panel measures 2 1/2 X 3 1/2.  I made it this size so that I could make one using only one piece of cs.  Also, that is the size that would fit over the little glass container that holds the tealight. The sentiment also fits well at this size.  I used my nestabilities and scor-pal to create the panels.  Notice the 1/4 inch flap at the bottom for the tape to hold everything together.

Next, I used this as a template to cut and stamp my vellum. I stamped the vellum with black ink and colored the backside with prismacolor pencils. Just a note- because I made the vellum one piece so that it would look good on the inside of the luminary, I had to cut the vellum a tiny bit smaller the long way and score it carefully so that it would fit inside the black outer layer.I then taped the two pieces together at the top and bottom with scor-tape.  I used my nesties again to cut the four red frames and adhered them around the openings. I then taped the flap and had my little openended box.    The last step was to stamp the sentiment 4 times on black cs with gold embossing powder and cut out the piece to measure 1/2" by 10" and tape this around the bottom.

And I was done.  I hope you like this little project and go to check out Leeanne's blog.  There are some more great ideas posted there, using this set.

I will post more of the things I made as Leeanne puts them on her blog.

Bye for now and Happy Day.

Theresa in Kitimat            

Finally home

Well, I am finally home, after almost a month in Alberta.  Left 20+ degree weather and have been enduring torrential rains since I got home.  Lucky me.  And the weather is still great in Alberta.  I should have stayed for another week or so.  I have not crafted anything since I got home.  I have been busy unpacking, doing laundry and cleaning up the mess (only dirty dishes) left by my ds who lives with me (when the mood strikes).
My trip to Alberta was very productive.  My siblings and I emptied out my Dad's house, washed walls and painted the whole house, getting it ready to rent or sell.  My Dad (91 years old) is now living in a continuing care facility for dementia patients.  I went to see him every couple days that I was there but it was very difficult.  Sometimes he knew me, and sometimes he didn't.  We would have conversations that may have been based on events that happened, but were so convoluted in his mind that I had trouble following what he was saying sometimes.  He also has a lot of trouble verbalizing what he want to say and so gets quite frustrated.  Anyway, one of the main things I got out of our visits, other than just being with him, is that I now understand why my sister and brother do not go to visit him very often.  I truly understand.
Another thing that I know is that I have to declutter.  I really do not want my kids to have to go through the experience of having to say "Should we keep this or just junk it?"  Sometimes it is hard to junk sentimental things.  ( I have started taking digital pictures of stuff that is important to me but no one else, and then throwing the thing away.)

I experienced some wonderful benefits from my trip.
Bought lots of neat crafting stuff.  One store I visited was having a sale of 50% off all their cuttlebug and sizzix products.  Dropped a couple hundred there. Visited a Michaels that was having a 40% off on all punches, including Martha Stewart.  There went another hundred or so.  Visited some Dollarama stores that have bling for $1.00.  Love my bling.

I also got to spend some time with my niece, who was staying at my Dad's house.  that was where I stayed too.  She is 18 and sort of at loose ends.  We had some great talks.  I hope she finds her way.

I took some great pictures.  Here is one of them.  This sunset was taken from my Dad's front step. My sister wants to buy the property.  I hope that happens because I would hate to lose this to someone else.
Another great thing that happened was that I got a new fur friend. Here is a picture of him, Razzle, and his sister, Lila, who I brought home for my Grandaughter.  (Mom and Dad approved before I brought her home. lol)  Razzle is the furry one in the back. 

Here is another pic of him.

And here is a pic of my dog that is really enjoying having a new friend.

Oh, house training is a blast, NOT.
I guess that probably is more than any of you ever wanted to know but it has been a bit cathartic for me.  I tried to keep a journal once.  Couldn't do it.  Funny, how I can write things here for everyone to see but not on a piece of paper.
So, I am sorry this is a long post without any creative input on my part.  Now that my house is in order (sort of), I am planning on spending most of tomorrow in my rubber room and hopefully, will have some new crafting ideas for you.
Thanks for reading, if you got this far.
Leave me a comment if you think I am crazy for venting on my blog.  'Cause, I guess, that is what this whole post is about.
Bye for now and I hope I will have something more creative for you tomorrow.
Good wishes to all.
Theresa in Kitimat.

Latest card

I want to share a picture of a card I just finished for a friend's hubby who is celebrating his 70th birthday.  This is a 3-D card that I made with a sheet I had saved, made by Worm Goddess.  I have been looking for her email addy to get permisson to post the pic and link to her site but can not find it.

So I will post anyway and if anyone knows her, can you please email me with her addy.  Thanks.
Here is a link to her photo bucket site, if any of you make 3-D cards.  They are a lot of fun to make and usually turn out to be something special.  I love making them.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.
Take care.
Theresa in Kitimat

OWH Sat. Googlie Challenge

This is a card I made for the OWH Saturday googlie eyes challenge.  Well, actually, I made it for my nephew who's birthday was on September 1 and it fit the challenge.  The sentiment is computer generated and the inside of the card says "I did, and I am sorry".  The owl is a clear stamp and I am sorry I don't know who made it. I used my cuttle bug for the details on the left hand side.

If you are like me, you always need these belated kind of cards.  For all the cards I have in my stash, it seems like there is never the perfect one for the person I want to give a card to.  So it is a mad scramble at the last minute to make a card.  Is it a stamper thing?

That's it for now.  I hope everyone's weekend is going well.
Thanks for stopping by.
Happy day.
Theresa in Kitimat

Purse tutorial

I have been looking all over for a pattern for a purse that would hold about 6 cards.  Not being able to find one, I made my own pattern and this is what I came up with.  These pictures show the purse closed, open and the little tag I made to go on it.  The size of the finished purse is 6" X  4 3/4 X 1" and it will hold 6 cards and envelopes.

My friend had seen a faux leather gift card wallet I had made for my Grandson and she said "Oh, can you make me a purse?"  I just laughed, but my mind started working and I thought I would make her a purse for her birthday and include 6 hand created cards to go in it.

I am so happy with the way it turned out.

The actual purse is one piece of black paper, 8" X 12".  Because I wanted it to be faux leather, I used a cuttlebug folder which is limited in size, so I had to piece the brown "leather" over the black.  I hid the seams with 3/4" black straps.  They go all the way around the purse.  They are pieced as well because I don't have paper long enough.  Same with the handle.  The "leather" was made by running the pieces of brown paper through the cuttlebug and heat embossing with Versamark and clear ep.  The center part of the flap was made with a Nestabilities label die.  A Stampin Up top note die would work as well.  I used  gold brads to secure the handle and the little closure tabs.  The tabs are little 3/4" pieces of cardstock that I folded in half for strength.  I used my corner rounder for the front flap and the black straps.

This is the little tag that I made to go with the purse.  It is made from the same brown cardstock.  I printed the words from my computer and then cut it out with a small Nestabilities label one die and then clear embossed it.  I wrote a little birthday greeting on the back.

This is the template I made.  It is only 1/2 size in the drawing but all the measurements are there. I cut all the solid lines and used my Scor Pal to score the dashed lines.  The side flaps fold in and are taped together with Score Tape.  I used a lot of Score Tape on this project to adhere the "leather" pieces to the black base. 

Well, that is it for tonight.  I hope this little tutorial is clear (first one you know) and you try making a purse.  It was a lot of fun to make, but I think next time, I will just make it out of card stock and embellish it with stamps.  All the piecing was quite fiddly.  Anything for a friend though.

Happy day to you all.

Theresa in Kitimat

Awesome blog candy Last day

I just saw that Stacy is giving away some awesome blog candy, but today (Aug 23) is the last day.

Check out her site.

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LNS Challenge 83

Here is a card I made for the Late Night Stampers Challenge 83- use your stamp in another way other than the obvious intended use. I used Pocket Silhouettes from the current Stampin Up catalogue. The ink and paper colors are Real Red and Wild Wasabi. I punched out a 1" post-it note circle for the mask and just stamped around it. Added a retired Christmas sentiment, non SU ribbon and bling and it was done.

This is not my original idea but cased from a card made by Ali Watson.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy day.

Theresa

Treat box

Well, the wedding is over. The relatives have all gone home and I have my house to myself again. Time to play and that is what I did yesterday afternoon. I made a treat box for the challenge on Kim Score's Paper Punch Addiction blog.

I made the box out of a plastic vellum type paper. I cut a piece 5" X 6.5" and made 6 scores along the 6.5" side at 1" intervals. I used my bone folder to make nice creases and then used score tape on the 1/2" flap to seal it all together. This gave me a hexagon shaped tube.

For the bottom, I cut 2 hexagons that measure 2" from point to point and each side was 1". I punched out 6 one inch circles and scored and folded them in half. I taped 1/2 of each circle to each side of the hexagon and them taped the second hexagon on top. I folded up the half circles and secured them with score tape and a ribbon to the bottom of the tube. The top was made the same way.

I then used various punches to make the flowers. The flower on the top was made with Stampin up scallop punch. I used glue dots and Crystal Effects to glue the flowers to the tube. A bit of bling for the flower centers and it was done.

I hope you like what I made.
Thanks for stopping by and Happy day to you.

Theresa in Kitimat

One more card for today. This card was made when I first started stamping, many years ago. I had few stamps and few supplies. The stamp is from Penny Black, I think. I only had access to white and a few pastel colors for cardstock. The balloons were colored with markers and each cut out separately and were raised with foam tape. The layers were made with copy paper that I colored the edges with with markers. I ended up making over 20 of these cards, 6 for a swap, 12, I sold to an online friend for birthday invitations and a few for birthdays. It doesn't show in the picture, but there are six colored layers all mounted on a white cs base. I am so glad today to be able to get just about any color paper and cardstock.

Now I am off to finish my place cards.

Happy day to you.

Theresa

This is a card I made for my grandson and submitted to the LNS challenge. The earth is a retired Stampin Up image and the lady alien is from Old Island Stamp Company. Her planet is some background paper I made using spray web and glitter.

Well, I think I picked a bad time to start my blog. I have been crazy, busy with last minute details for my son's wedding next week. Right now I am working on over 100 place cards. Should be done today. I will post a pic when they are done.

I do want to post some pics of the cards I submitted to the Late Night Stampers yahoo group for Challenge 81-circles.

These are cards I made some time ago. No time right now to make new ones.

This card uses all Stampin up product, except for the ribbon.

I am still reading lots of the "help" answers so that I can learn how to do things on the blog.

Interesting journey.

First thing I will try is to upload an image. Here goes.

This is the wedding invitation that I made for my daughter's wedding. Very simple but took a lot of work. I used a Stampin Up folder and inked up the raised part of the folder. That meant masking evey panel so no ink got on the background. I used flat pearls on some of the flower centers. It doesn't show on the picture but the blue panel is mounted on a 5 x 7 white cardstock base.

Well, that was easy. Now I think I will try to link another site. This is my picture trail site that contains some of the cards I have made in the past. Plus wedding pics.

That is it for now. I have to check if the link works.

Happy Day

Theresa

Well, I have finally started a blog. I hope to share my love for stamping and paper crafts. I would like to think that I would post daily, but I know that is not going to happen. Life often gets in the way of our good intentions.

I have been stamping for about 13 years. It all started with one Christmas stamp from PSX. I was going to make my own Christmas cards and save a lot of money. What a joke that was. So now, after a few thousand stamps, countless reams of cardstock and lots of bells and whistles that go along with everything, I consider myself a fairly seasoned stamper. As for saving money, I could buy a lifetime supply (for several people) of Hallmark cards for what I have spent on my little money saving scheme.

I have been busy the last while making wedding invites, place cards, waterbottle labels, thankyou cards etc. for 2 of my children. My daughter was married in June and my son is getting married in 2 weeks. It has been a busy summer. Thank goodness I retired in May. I figured this would be the perfect time because I would have enough to do that I would not miss my job and all the great people that I worked with. And so far, that has been the case. Not sure what will happen after all the wedding excitement is over.

Now, with this first post under my belt, I am off to learn a little about blogging and how I can customise my pages. I will post some pictures of the wedding invitations sometime later today.

Happy Day to you all.
Theresa in Kitimat