Moooo...

Over at CDAC one of the Challenges is Seasonal Fun. What that means is to show what's happening in your neck of the woods during that three month period, April-June. Well for me it's birthday's galore. My sister's whose you've already seen, my Dad's which you will see tomorrow, and my precious daughter Jen. She turns 20 this month! Gosh time goes by fast.

Every year I try to give her a funny card and a serious card. So today I'm showing you the funny card. I've used an image by one of my DT cohorts. Her name is Pattie Gomez and her store is called Pattie's Creations Digital Images. The image is Mr. Bull. She used to get so embarrassed when I would hug and kiss on her in public. I'm sure those of you that are mother's of older kids can relate! It's just so funny...but as they grow up that changes and they come around full circle and appreciate the love you show. So her card is full of kisses.

The front is made with Pattie's Image and a Create with TLC Sentiment. The paper I created in a word document, not exactly sure why I did it there but I couldn't convert it so if you'd like it just e-mail me at hrspecdeb@yahoo.com and I'll get it right out to you! Enter Smooch Paper in the subject line. The ribbon I picked up at Target.

Inside I used the same paper I made and the image of Patties, uncolored and small  The sentiment is another TLC creation. The card base is brown Recollections CS.

I think she'll get a kick out of the card, now to figure out what I want to do for her serious one!

Love ya,
~Deb~

Freebie Alert!

Just a quick freebie word art for all my lovely followers! This will only be up for 3 days and then it's going in the vault, get it while you can!

 Love ya,
~Deb~

Another Video Tutorial and a Freebie

Do you have a ton of scraps? Do you use them to stamp on and attach to cards? Do you tear them as elements? Or do you just plain throw them away? Well I have a little tip that I use mine for and I thought I'd share a video on it. Many of you may already know this technique but if you don't, you'll be glad you watched. Another way to use scraps!

So what did you think of this tip? This will probably only work with ink jet printers as one of my readers pointed out!

I also have a freebie for you. another image from one of my books, this time I didn't have to do much manipulating to get it correct, thank goodness! Hope you can use it.

Love ya,

~Deb~

Freebie PD Image

I didn't get any projects done yesterday as it took almost the whole day to do our taxes...yuck! But it's done for another year so today I can play! In the mean time, I found this awesome stamp in the public Domain and thought I'd share. I didn't want to leave you with nothing! You are all to special for that. So here you go, hope you can use it.

Hard to believe postage was only 3 cents in the US a little over 50 years ago. When you look at it like that postage rates haven't changed very fast have they?

Happy Crafting Weekend to you all...Love ya,
~Deb~

A Vintage Valentine Freebie

Being in bed so much has left me lots of time to explore since I can't create. I found this wonderful image in the public domain and wanted to share it with you for any last minute Valentines you might have. It was published in 1887 and was for, of all things, a tobacco company. I'm not sure I get the connection but the image is awesome! Hope you enjoy it and if you make anything with it please link it up in my side bar so we can all come see what you made!

Enjoy!

Love ya,
~Deb~

I Love You Fairy Much and a Freebie

I found this little cutie at Whimsie Doodles. I couldn't wait to use her for Valentine's Day. So here's what I made with her:

Supplies:

Recollections Purple Shimmer, All Seasons, and Regular colored CS
Michael's Pink Pearls
Sizzix  Postcard Embossing Folder
White feathers from my stash
Whimsie Doodles Digi Stamp
Font by Phantomhive Company (you can find it here)

And here's the freebie -

And I love you all "FAIRY MUCH"!!!
~Deb~

Odd Little Man But Oh So Fun!

Just before the our vacation, the kids (I call them kids but really they are adults and about to be married!) went shopping and came home with the CUTEST sunglasses! We all tried them on and took pictures then Jen put together a collage.

Clockwise from left Ryan (the fiance') Jen ( the daughter), Me, and my husband Paul. Aren't the glasses funny? We were cracking stupid mustache jokes, which by the way can be spelled mustache or moustache depending on the dictionary you use (strange I know).

Right around the same time the wonderful Karen - the Graphics Fairy put up this odd little man on her blog. He fit the bill for the perfect mustache card. So I added a sentiment that I found on Fontspace called Chaplin Type. The font has mustaches too! And away I went on an idea for the card. I finished it last night.

Two styles of mustaches - I like the one on the left the best.






















I also made a book mark for the top, I didn't like the card with just the mustache so I thought the nose
 thing would make it stand out more. I literally flooded the glasses with glossy accents. I think I used a good 1/4 of a bottle and unfortunately I ended up with bubbles but it still looks cool. I'm thinking I should have used my DecoArt glass texture but I didn't think I could get the shape I needed with that medium.

And the question is....

Ha! Do you think he's sexy? I can't help but laugh he's so funny looking. What could  be more appropriate? You can see the stick I inserted through the top for the book mark and I used a bit of gold Washi Tape to hold it flat.

So that's my "moustachetic" adventures in sunglasses and odd little men.

Here's the image with the sentiment in it with permission form Karen, be sure to use the link above to check out all her other great images.

Love ya much!
~Deb~

First Valentines Day Cards for Me and a Freebie for You

It's getting close to Valentines Day and I hadn't made a single card. Being busy with the trip put me a tad behind so I decided I better get some made. You know me, I usually try to make two of everything and this was no exception.

I had bought some Doodlebug Design window cards a while back. The pack had multiple colors in them so I pulled out a pink and red. I embossed the front panel with a Cuttlebug folder from the Love's in the air collection and then lightly sanded to get a little white showing through.

I added some paper on the inside from Recollections All Seasons pad to peek through the window, and made some punched hearts also out of Recollections paper which I layered and added some pink pearls. On the top of the card I placed a bit of Paper Studio ribbon with  a button and bakers twine.

Next I took a Sassy Studio Designs eye image and layered over the iris to make part of the sentiment, popped it up on dots and then created the bottom sentiment (it's your freebie at the bottom). I would love to share the eye with you but I have to get permission from SSD first so we'll see.

All in all a pretty simple card but cute I think.

Now for the freebie, enjoy and please leave a comment if you grab it!

Love ya,
~Deb~

Word for the Year 2013

New Years resolutions never seem to work for me. I make a resolution and then don't follow through. This year I'm making it simple and using the word of the year idea instead. My word for 2013 will be HEAL. Heal myself, my family, my work, and hopefully the world since it needs a LOT of healing.

For those of you who have followed me since the beginning you probably already know that I had an extremely rough year in 2012. I've done a lot of healing and growing already but I feel like I have more to do. So everyday I will look at the word which I hung on my office wall and remember to try to heal, to try to let things go, to live as if I am happy and that mindset will make me happy. I have so much to be grateful for and I include all of you in that healing, growing, grateful circle. Thank you for all the encouragement and fabulous comments.

My family has gone through some changes as well. My son decided to go live with his Dad and that has taken some major healing for all of us left behind. We deal with that in our own ways but slowly we are all healing.

Work was a major healing point in 2012. I left a job in which I loved what I did but the environment was toxic. This blog and crafting became my healing venue. I hope to inspire others with it, and learn from others to make my art better. My plans were to open a digi store and start an Internet business of event planning. That may not happen as my husband has been layed off and I may have to look for a "real" job in order to pay the bills so this will be an area in which we need to heal in 2013.

The world...wow. There is so much hatred and anger out there and while I may not be able to heal it personally, I can pray every day that things will get better. No more shootings, no more bickering and stand offs in the US government, no more discrimination, no more hunger, the list can go on forever so simply put NO MORE! I am going to pray that peace and happiness fills every ones hearts and maybe that will help start healing the world.

I apologize for such a downer blog post but you all know now why I have been spotty with my blogging lately. I cherish each and every one of you and together we can make this world a better place! So let's begin 2013 in a happier place by celebrating each others talent! Here's a digi signifying healing and I challenge you to design something with it and link your creation here. There's a linky tool in the side bar, please use it. I need some inspiration from you and this is a fun way to give it to each other!

 

Love ya,

~Deb~

Happy New Year and a Freebie!

Well it's 2013, we aren't falling off the "fiscal cliff" and we survived the end of the world according to the Mayans. I say we have cause to celebrate! Here's hoping that everyone has a healthy and prosperous new year with lots of inspiration for our art!!!

In celebration of the new year, but also to celebrate all my faithful follower's and new friends, here's a freebie created just for you. It's a sketch that Jen (my daughter) drew... hope you like it and please leave her some love in the comments section.

 

Love ya,

~Deb~

A Christmas Gift for You

Merry Christmas to all you fellow crafter's. This has been a very tough year for me but I am so grateful for what the Lord has given me. I have found my way through the dark times and am now enjoying life more than I have in a long time. To end this year I want to thank God for blessing us, and thank all of you for reading my blog and giving me encouragement with my projects. The best way I know how to do that is to give something back. I hope it's meaningful to you and you enjoy using it.

 

As usual, click to enlarge then left click to save.

 

May your Christmas be filled with joy in abundance and your New Year be peaceful, filled with blessings and happiness.

 

Love ya,

~Deb~

Free Paper

I told you about my daughter's soon to be MIL in a previous post here. Well she generously offered a couple of papers to give away today. The first is a Christmas paper using some Outlaw by Design elements. The other two are masculine papers that she was playing with for a project I was doing. Enjoy, and if you've finished all your Christmas cards for this year, save it for next year!

Remember, she'll do any custom paper for you including your own personal pics, or tell her your theme and she'll be creative, for $1.50. Just e-mail me the info for your request if your interested.

 

As always, click to enlarge then right click to save.

 

Love ya,

~Deb~

Decoupage Nativity & a Freebie

I found this over at Free Craft Downloads and thought it was so pretty. It's a bit fussy to cut out each piece but hey that's what daughters still living at home at the age of 19 are for right?

After she cut them out for me I decoupaged each with Mod Podge and then waited for them to dry...an hour later, I layered them with pop dots and then mounted the whole thing on background paper.

Let me tell you ab it about the background paper. It started out as a background from Auntie Social called Nativity. In the right hand corner where three Kings/Wisemen. I loved the background but my image already had them on it so I needed them removed. I'm not stealing if I give credit right? So I called on my crafty partner in crime, my daughters future MIL and asked for help. She does amazing work and can fix almost any image for me. She's going to be my literal business partner in Feb. when we get the store up. So I asked her to make the background usable by removing the kings. I guess I could have covered them up with the other image but I'm neurotic at times and wanted it perfect.

The cross will be a freebie for you if you read all the way to the end.

Here you can see the image popped up, It's hard to get a clear picture of decoupage because no matter how you turn the camera you get a glare. You get the idea though.

 

Inside, I used an image from Inkgenious. I found it through Carmen over at Beyond the Fringe Crafts. She does these great blog tours that she calls sleigh rides and she manages to find the coolest stuff! There's a funny story behind how I got the art so ask Carmen all about it when you visit.

 

I screwed up on the size and made it about 1/2" to big for my envelopes so I had to make my own. UGH! One more thing on my to do list before the show. What did I expect on almost no sleep though.

Back to my friend who did the background. She will do a custom background with images of your choosing or just give her what your looking for and she'll find and create the paper for you. She charges $1.50 for a custom paper. Not a bad price. Email me with the information and I'll pass it on to her and send you an invoice after you approve it. Easy Peasy and totally custom. You can even use your own personal pictures, how cool is that?

Now for the freebie, enjoy!

Love ya,
~Deb~

Free Gift Tag For You!

Hi Everyone,

I was goofing around with gift tags this morning and created one that I thought you might like. It was made using Graphics Fairy and Dover Publishing images. I plan to layer it, decoupaging the layers and adding ribbon and other embellishments. Hope you can use it too!

 

You know the drill I'm sure but just in case, click to enlarge then right click to save.

Love ya!
~Deb~

Life is Beautiful!

Nothing more to say other than enjoy!

 

Click to enlarge and right click to save. Don't forget to comment and tell me what you think of it! Hugs for everyone.

Love ya,
~Deb~

Freebie Word Art!

Just a quick freebie for you. After all the looking around at blogs I've done today, I thought this was kind of appropriate. Enjoy!

 

Click to enlarge, right click to save.

 

Love ya,

~Deb~

Thanksgivig Fortune Cookies and Tutorial

I'm back! I started these last night and have completed them through out today in between other things. I want to share with you that the fortune cookies are not my idea, I actually found something similar on Kind Over Matter. The link is a tutorial on how to make them. So I needed something to put them in if I was going to give them out. So here is a picture tutorial on how I made the containers:

Preview

 

1. Supplies: 8x8 squares of burlap, previously made fortune cookies, bakers twine, cups,(not shown - glue of choice, rubber bands, scissors)

2. 9oz plastic cups/tumblers

3. put some glue on the bottom of the cup

4. Place a square of burlap on top of glue and press down, let dry

5. Put stripes of glue all over outer sides of cup

6. Pull burlap up an smooth into glue folding as necessary. Place a rubber band around it until dry.

 

 

7. Cut off the excess to give a round look to the burlap on the cup. DO NOT THROW AWAY! Tie your bakers twine around the top of the cup. Shred the cut pieces of burlap by pulling it apart.

8. Form a half of a paper towel into a ball and place in bottom of cup, place shredded burlap on top to cover towel.

9. Color in your image of choice ( I used an image from Karen's Doodles and then colored it in paint. I wanted a rustic but whimsical look so I didn't completely fill it in as you can see in the snippet). Fussy cut it.

10. Place your cut out image in the back and place your desired number of fortune cookies in each.

 16 finished cups.

 

I've included the "fortunes" I used. Some were reworded from those on the Kind Over Matter site and some where inspirational quotes I found in a book or online. Feel free to use them or write your own!

 

 

I actually have two sets, if you'd like the second sheet just email me and I'll get it right out to you.

 

Love ya,

~Deb~

 

 

 

 

 

Please Pray

Good Morning Everyone,

One of my followers has had a tragedy this week. I will not release her name as I haven't asked her for permission but I wanted to do something for her. Her family home has burned nearly to the ground. From what she has told me everyone survived including the dog which is wonderful. It is however an awful time of year to have such a thing happen. Not only is it right before the biggest holidays of the year but it is also her birthday on Thanksgiving day. The most tragic thing is that this same event happened to their home in October of 1967 and they were not as lucky. One family member perished in that fire.

I am asking all my fabulous followers to say an extra prayer of thanks that her family has survived and that she may be blessed with a speedy recovery from this tragedy. I know you all join me in wishing her a happy birthday, a peaceful Thanksgiving, a warm Christmas, and a better 2013!

In her honor I am offering this image to you free. It is a collaborative image using a freebie from Digital Two for Tuesday which you can find here if you want it with out the frame and words. Each time you use it, please say a little prayer for them and thank God for your own health and safety.

 

GOD BLESS YOU MY FRIENDS!

 

Love ya,

~Deb~

 

 

 

Another Birthday Gift for YOU!

Enjoy the freebie in several colors! Please leave a comment if you grab it.

 

 

 

Love ya,

~Deb~

 

 

Happy Bithday to ME but You Get the Present!

It's my birthday! Another year older and hopefully wiser LOL. This last year has brought many changes to my life. I'm on a completely different path than I thought I would be but it's turning out to be great!

Eventually I plan to have digi stamps available for purchase. We're working on that and it's not going as quickly as I had hoped. I will tell you that what we have put together so far we think is fantastic. We still have to digitize most of them as they are in sketch form. I hope you enjoy this "preview" of things to come. It will only be available until midnight Friday Nov 16th (CST) and then it's coming down to be put in the shop later. It has not been fully digitized but I think it's still usable for now.  Enjoy this gift!

IMAGE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

 

So happy birthday from me to all of YOU!

Love ya,
~Deb~