Fun Keychain

Things have been so busy around here. I took some time today, though, to make a couple of key chains for my daughter and I. 

Since these are the first ones that I have done, I learned a few things. I'll be able to improve them as I do more later, but I can say that I really love these little things. I look forward to doing more and to doing some different designs.  The "Plain Jane" design for this was a free design to try. I added the "I love horses" in the middle.  If you're interested in trying these designs in your embroidery machine, go to http://www.thebeanstitch.com/ .

Card for a Cowboy

A friend of ours had a horrible wreck in North Dakota on Christmas day. I wanted to make a card to let him and his wife know that we're thinking of them. Making cards for men is usually a difficult process for me, but thankfully, he's a cowboy (yeah, a real one!). I can totally handle that. 

I used an old set from Clear Dollar Stamps for this card. 

The sentiment speaks of our love for horses. I used a Spellbinders' die to do the edges of the sentiment layer. Then, I used the airbrush to age and 'burn' the edges.

Hemp twine was perfect to use for my rope. I had to make sure I kept my coils even or Joe might fuss at me! LOL! I used glue dots to hold the 'rope' on. 

Oh ... the image was colored with my Copics .... surprised?? Haha

If you get a chance to pray, please pray for healing for our friend Cowboy Joe. He has a long road ahead of him, and he will appreciate the prayers.

Hope all of you had a great Friday. Have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

~*Shell*~

Sharing

Just thought I'd share a card that I made for my cousin's birthday.

The image layer is from SU and is colored with Copics. The blue around the die cut was done with the air brush system. The ribbon was recycled .... it was, originally, on a fat quarter bundle. :) I just ironed it out and used it.

Hope she liked it and had a great day. :) 

Have a wonderful Monday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!

~*Shell*~

Happy Baby Shower!

Babies are such sweet gifts from God, and it's such fun to celebrate those beautiful gifts with new parents. Friends of ours at church are having their first baby - a girl - in January. Their shower was today, so I can finally share the card and gift with you.

 First, I'm going to share the gift my daughter did for them.....

She sewed a sweet little taggie for little Chloe to carry around. This was definitely not the first one she sewed, but it was the first one she pinned herself. That's very difficult, and she did a great job. We repinned it to get it all straight, but I was so proud of her for trying and for doing a good job.

This is the finished taggie that Jaydin made. She did such a good job. It's so cute!!!!

I found this little fox online, and she totally matches the fox on the shower invitations. So ... I converted it to a .pes file and made baby Chloe a bib. I used pastel/muted colors for this since the pink was so light.

The taggie that I created is a full yard and has her name and the little fox on it. I hope that little Miss Chloe gets lots of use from it and loves it as much as Jaydin has always loved hers.

Using the same fox, I created the card. I don't have a picture, but I made a bigger fox to put on the gift bag. I added the bow and flower on the bag, too.

Tomorrow, I'll show a card that I made for my cousin's birthday.

Hope all of you have a blessed Sunday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!

~*Shell*~

Spare Time

Wow... got a little extra time today. The princess had to go up to the Haven to work on a project for school today, so I went up to keep her company (and help when needed). I chose to spend my spare time up there coloring. :) 

Isn't he cute? I enjoyed coloring him. When I was done, I airbrushed the background lightly and made a CAS card. Certainly not a really involved card, but it does make me smile.

Copics were used to color the image and the Copic airbrush system (with compressor) was used to do the background.

Hope you're creating out there wherever you are!

Have a wonderful Monday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

~*Shell*~

Some Sassy Coloring

I have been in the Haven twice this week! I haven't finished a card, but I did color an amazingly precious image and have worked on a new prayer journal for myself. I made a new prayer journal for my son's girlfriend, as well. 

This little image is just too fun to color and sooooo cute!! 

I'd love to know what you think. I really enjoyed putting color on this image. She's just so sassy! I haven't decided what kind of card I'm going to make with it, yet. I hope to do that next week.... or maybe tomorrow. We'll see! :) 

Hope you're creating!!

Have a wonderful Friday evening and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!

~*Shell*~

Birthday Pony

Goodness .... it has been a LONG time, hasn't it? I've simply not had any time to craft at all. This weekend, though, we needed a card for  a birthday party my daughter was attending. Here's what I came up with.

I used SU's Pretty Pony set because the child is a horse lover. The butterfly and flowers were cut from dies made by Your Next Stamp. The pony was colored using Copics.... naturally. 

She seemed to like it. :) I hope that she did.

Felt good to create for a little while. Hope I can do it again soon.

Have a beautiful Monday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

~*Shell*~

Chipboard Journal .... Last Page

 I finished my chipboard journal today. I love how the last page turned out. It's all about my love of sewing. Now, I have a wonderful little journal showing 8 beautiful blessings from the Lord.

Totally love the little sewing die. The sewing stamp set was perfect for this, as well.

I know you're shocked, but I colored using Copics. :) 

Have a marvelous Monday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!

~*Shell*~

365 Project - Day 30

I won this super cute set from the Your Next Stamp blog hop a few weeks ago.  I couldn't wait to play with it.  As I worked with it, I was reminded of the many friends I've met through the barn.  So, this one is for them.  I'm very thankful for them and the love of horses that we all share.

Yep ... this pretty much says it all ... "Barn to be wild."  Ha!!

We just need a horse with his head over that fence, huh?? :) 

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Thursday, and that you have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

~*Shell*~

Rock Stars

Today, I made a rock star card for a very special young man.  This will be going out to him this week to encourage him to continue working toward regaining strength and motor skills.

This is a set from Clear Dollar Stamps and it's colored with Copics.  On top of the Copics, I used the Glitter Spica on the blue part of the drums.  The brown layer is embossed with a music folder, and baker's twine was added to the bottom for embellishment.  I wanted to keep it very masculine.

Have a wonderful Saturday night and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!! :) 

~*Shell*~

Day 17 Project

My day 17 project... another page of the chipboard journal.

Everyone needs a set of Quackers in their lives.  No, I didn't say they need Quacks.  I said that they need Quack-ers. :) Mine is on Splitcoaststampers, and I'm happy to say that they have been friends of mine since 2004..... wow ... 10 years.  It's amazing how people can become friends through the internet.  We've been through a lot of good and bad.  I'm glad that we've all been through it together.  I'm very thankful for each of them.

So, today, my chipboard journal page was inspired by the Quackers. 

I think there are only 2 more pages in this journal for me to complete.  Hmmm ... I wonder what my 'go-to' project is going to be once those are done! :) Sketches?  Photography? We'll see.

Live the life, and live it well. 

~*Shell*~

Day 16 ..... Whimsy Chipboard Journal Page

I'm sharing my day 16 project today.  

I love being silly, and I love whimsy.  I'm so glad that God gave us the ability and freedom to laugh and be silly.  How wonderful it is to be able to express that joy and delight ... and to share it with others.

I focused this page of my chipboard journal around whimsy.  Every page I do in this journal has at least one butterfly.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 - ....a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance....

I hope this page expresses joy and whimsy.  I love the bright and cheerful feel of it.

Have a wonderful Thursday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

~*Shell*~

Ooh La La!

The princess had a slumber party this past weekend, and the theme was Paris/French poodle.  We needed a card, and this Mimi set worked perfectly.

It is colored with ... yeah, you already know .... Copics.  The tag up on the top was airbrushed and then sprayed with glitter spray, but you can't really see it on here.  The background of the Eiffel Tower was also airbrushed.  

Hopefully, Miss Madeline liked her gift and card. :) 

I have also completed 2 weeks with my 365 Project.  You can find that on my other blog, Live the Life, if you'd like to see it.

Have a wonderful Monday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow. 

~*Shell*~

My New Project

Today, I'm sharing a post from my other blog, Live the Life.  Since January 1, I have been doing one project each day.  Some projects are photography, and others are sketches.  I've had a variety of mediums so far.  The goal, however, is to do one creative project every day.  Each project is based on a central theme or subject.  Mine is My Awesome God.  This is my post on that blog today....

"Create in me a pure heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

 

 

My favorite chapter in the Bible is Psalm 51. It's a beautiful plea by David for redemption and salvation. I believe that we should all pray this chapter from time to time. What a change in our lives we could have by truly praying it from our hearts.

 

 

Today's project is based on Psalm 51 and the change that the verses seek. I started a chipboard journal today. The first page is done and is the day 7 project. 

I'm not sure what kind of project tomorrow holds.  It's a Wednesday, and we'll be out and about a lot of the day.

Live the life, and live it well.

~*Shell*~

Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas Eve!! :)  

I wanted to share the Christmas cards I made this year for my stamping friends.  

This was the first one and it turned out just a little different from the others.  I really liked these cards.  They were cute, but simple to put together.

Since I couldn't get one of these out to all of you, I want to use this post to wish each of you a Merry Christmas filled with the joy that only the Savior can bring.  

Going to spend Christmas Eve at my church. :)  That service is my very favorite of the year.

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

~*Shell*~

Birthday Challenge

 I just love this little Fhiona.  Her windy fall  scene is just precious and perfect for our recent weather.  So, using this adorable stamp, I created this card for a special friend/family member in NJ.  

There may be a little too much orange on this, but, over all, I really like it.

I embossed the background layer with some swirling leaves and added some pearls as the centers to some of the flowers on the border die cut.

I totally love the corner die.  It just wraps around the image so well and adds so much.

Fhiona is colored with Copics and the background was airbrushed.  The sentiment layer was, also, airbrushed.

The inspiration for this card was from the Your Next Stamp Challenge.  I chose the sketch for inspiration.

Have a beautiful day! :) 

~*Shell*~

A Little Bit of Crafting....

Creation time!!  Yippee!  I didn't get to create much during October. Well, at least not with paper.  I did a lot of fabric work and even made a ship costume for .... a horse. Yep.  My daughter was a pirate and needed the horse she was riding to be a ship.  That took quite a bit of time.  But ... she and Sly won 1st place! :)

This card was suppose to be to the recipient yesterday, but that just didn't happen.  Hopefully, she will still like it when it gets there this week.

It's a simple card, but I worked hard on the airbrushed background.  I love the effect the airbrush has. It's so smooth.  

The stamps were all from SU.  They certainly gave the effect that I wanted.  The silhouette of the flowers along with the background just work well together, I think.

I hope all of you are having a great Saturday.  It's really hard for me to believe that it's already November.  At least, I get an extra hour of sleep tonight. :)

~*Shell*~

Need a Little Pick Up

Tomorrow, we are attending a 90th birthday party for a very sweet man, the father of one of our closest friends.  It's been a while since I've needed a masculine card, so this one was both a bit of a challenge and a refreshing change.

The little pick-up truck is an old SU stamp, but it's just great for guy cards.  The background paper is embossed with gears, and the little banner used the same folder.  I directly inked the raised parts of the gears on the banner to bring out the detail.  I distressed the edges of the background with the airbrush.

The banner looked pretty empty, but then, I remembered the keys that I have stashed away.  I picked a small, light one, and it works perfectly for the embellishment here.

The blue and brown background colors on the image layer were done with the airbrush.  I colored the truck first and then, masked it to airbrush over and around it. The truck layer was cut out using a Spellbinder's die.

The small 'pearls' at the bottom were white originally.  The airbrush was used to change them to a dark brown.  What a difference it made.  I love how these turned out.  Hemp twine was also used to embellish the card.

No challenge for this one....just a fun card to create.  I hope that he really likes his card.

Have a peaceful Friday evening and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!

~*Shell*~

Day Dreaming ....

Had time to create today.  I only got one card done, but I really like how it turned out.  Because I only worked on one card, I just did one challenge.  It's for the Your Next Stamp challenge, and I turned the sketch a bit to make it work with the image.

I used the Dreaming of You set (Your Next Stamp) and colored with Copics (of course!).  The butterfly is part of the spring die set from Your Next Stamp, as well as the kite, and individual flowers.  

The background on the image layer was done with the airbrush.  I'm getting more control of it and I was pleased with the effect I got after practicing a bit.  The banner on the side was embossed with flowers, and then, the raised areas were inked with white craft ink.

Your Next Stamp - sketch

Hope you're having a great week!  The weekend is on it's way ... but it looks like there's a hurricane heading our way.  Guess we'll have some rain. :)  My garden could use it.

Enjoy your Thursday night and have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

~*Shell*~

Cute Little Pouch Tutorial

After creating my little taggie owl yesterday, I worked on some little denim pouches.  These are great to use for any little things - spools, buttons, bobbins, crayons, etc - and SO easy to make.

Aren't they cute?!

So, ready to make your own?? 

Supplies - 

old pair of jeans (actually, only one leg of the jeans)

scissors/rotary cutter

sewing machine

iron

thread

Step 1 - cut the leg of the jeans to the size that you'd like to use.  

This one is about 7 inches tall.  I used a pair of my daughter's old jeans, so it is fairly narrow - about 6 inches.  

Cut both ends fairly straight.

Step 2 - sew the bottom closed.

Stitch the bottom closed.  I just used a regular straight stitch.

Step 3 - stitch another seam right next to the last one.

This is to reinforce the seam since it's denim and will have things inside.

Step 4 - iron the seam open.

This is kind of hard with the denim seams, but it helps with the next step.

Step 5 - iron a small crease into the corners to use as a guide for sewing the boxed corners. 

This just assists in keeping the right shape when you sew it.

Step 6 - sew the boxed corners

Sew across the corner - try to make the distance from the corner even on each side.  Do this on both sides.

Step 7 -  flip right side out.

After boxing the corners (like in picture above), flip the pouch so that the right side is facing out.

  

Step 8 - fold down the top to make a cuff.

You can cuff it to the inside to finish the top if you wish.  I like the unfinished denim edge showing.

Step 9 - embellish.

Add some cute flowers or buttons to embellish your pouch.

And ... you're done!

This is a very easy project ... easy enough that my 8 year old made one by herself.

Please let me know what you think of these little pouches and of the tutorial.  Let me know if you have questions or suggestions!

Have a wonderful Wednesday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!

~*Shell*~