Chavez Designs

Look Who's Turning 5

2012-01-08T22:46:00.000-08:00

Hey there!

We went to a party today for little Ms. M who turned 5 today. She is one of my best friend's daughters and so cute! I love that she is bilingual in English and Spanish and she has the cutest voice.

This card combines some of my favorite things:

Using my Silhouette SD to cut the number 5
A cute heart
My iPhone and the Instagram App
Some great Papertrey Ink stamps
My Corner Chomper

Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Card Collage

2011-12-28T09:43:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a great holiday weekend. Here are several designs of our photo Christmas card I created this year. All of the cards use the Holiday Photo Finishers from Papertrey Ink and the coordinating metal dies. The design is based on a design Dawn McVey created for the Holiday Card Boot Camp class I took last month.

The cards with the thicker embellishments were hand-delivered since mailing them would be harder and more expensive.

Christmas day was spent at my parent's house in Taos, New Mexico. It was fun and filled with lots of family, gifts, extremely delicious food, and fun.

One thing I noticed is my family is definitely an Apple family. Between us, my parents, some siblings, nieces, and cousin, here's a photo we took of the Apple devices at the festivities. Notice all the iPads, iPhones, iPods, and MacBooks. Almost every niece owns an Apple product. The photo doesn't include every Apple product there (AppleTV, and a Mac in the living room).

The only hitch in the day was I ruined the Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls recipe. I started out scalding twice the amount of milk that the recipe called for. When I added the initial 8 cups of flour I realized my mistake. I still haven't made the cinnamon rolls, but I plan to go to the grocery store today to buy more yeast.

A 3D Christmas Tree Tag

2011-12-24T11:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas Eve! I'm drinking some eggnog and eating my favorite Danish butter cookies. I wish it was snowing outside, but it's sunny and cold here in Northern New Mexico.

Here's a tag I actually made over a year ago when I was visiting Ericka last year. She had this great Martha Stewart tree paper punch. I punched out 3 trees from Basic Grey paper and scored the trees in half before adhering them to each other. I wish I more time this fall to make more tags like this. I added some ribbon and some more Basic Grey paper to a die cut tag.

I gave this tag to our dentist and her staff with a large jar of mixed nuts and cranberries I bought at Target; easy and simple!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm still not done wrapping gifts, so I better get busy.

Turkish Lentil Soup and a Tag

2011-12-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

Reminder: I have a giveway going on. See here.

Last year when I visited my friend, Ericka, in Seattle, she served me the most delicious Turkish lentil soup. I think I ate it at 3 different meals. I loved it!

I made a batch the night before the last day of school and I got the idea to give the principal a large Mason jar full of soup as a gift. He is a vegetarian, so this recipe was perfect since you can use water or broth.

I used Papertrey Ink stamps, paper, and a doily metal die to make a quick gift tag to make the packaging. This particular doily die looks like a snow flake to me, so I thought it was perfect.

Thanks for stopping by. If you make this soup, let me know what you think.

I'm Giving Away a $25 Kiva Gift Card

2011-12-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

To celebrate the holidays and the fact that today my family and I made our 100th loan on Kiva.org, I'd like to give away a $25 gift card to Kiva to any of my readers (US or international).

What is Kiva? It's my favorite micro-lending website. You can choose to loan $25 to entrepreneur(s) anywhere in the world.

I first heard about Kiva on Oprah's show back in June of 2007. I've been making micro-loans through Kiva ever since. Kiva has an extremely high success rate of people paying back their loans. When the money is paid back, you can reloan the money or withdraw the money from Kiva. In the 100 loans my family and I have made, only 2 entrepreneurs have only partially paid back the $25 each; that's an amazing number.

What do you have to do? Just enter a comment below before Saturday, December 31th at 11:59 PM PST.

I'll use my version of Random.org (my son, Kalino) to pick a winner on Sunday. The gift card will be emailed to the winner. Good luck!

With Sympathy

2011-12-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

I got the sad news earlier this week that my ex-boss, Fred, passed away right before Thanksgiving from a heart attack. He was the best manager I've ever had. He gave me a lot of independence, but was there for me if I needed his help. He was great!

He and his wife moved out of the Bay Area about 10 years ago and were living in Oklahoma. I made this card for his wife, Gail.

The card was made with a background stamp from Hero Arts that I stamped using VersaMark ink. I love this background stamp! The large sentiment stamp is also from Hero Arts. I bought the gorgeous canvas butterfly at Michael's. I can't remember who makes it.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Sweet Treats Gift Tag

2011-12-11T20:16:00.001-08:00

Here's a gift tag I made using a tag from the office supply store, some Stampin Up scraps of patterned paper, and a Papertrey Ink stamp. I also used the Papertrey Ink metal die for the leaves and some felt finished off with some red buttons.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Happy Birthday Tag

2011-12-02T22:56:00.000-08:00

(Edited to Add: I already posted this tag in October; sorry!)
Long time no see! Sorry for the lack of blog posts. There were none in November; oh my...that's never happened before. Nadja, this blog post is for you! Thanks for reminding me that it was Halloween since my last post.

I find it hard to purge smaller pieces of paper, so I find a perfect way to use up scraps is to create gift tags. The kraft tag was cut with my Silhouette SD digital cutter. How many of you have purchased the new Silhouette Cameo? Lucky!

The papers, stamps, and button are all from Papertrey Ink. The baker's twine is from The Twinery.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hello there...Happy Halloween!

Here are some cards I created for PSA Essentials earlier this year. Thanks for stopping by!

Canvas Covered Chipboard - Make It Monday #34 Challenge

2011-10-02T22:45:00.000-07:00

I'm back today to finally participate in a Papertrey Ink Make It Monday challenge. This week we were challenged to create our own chipboard accents. I LOVE creating my own chipboard. I do it all the time.

I used the Fillable Frames #4 die to cut some kraft cardstock 5 times. I also used the die to cut some canvas.

I stamped the canvas with the stamps from Fillable Frames #4 set using Chestnut Roan chalk ink. I glued the layers together and punched holes with the Crop-a-Dile. I attached the chipboard to the card front with linen thread.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Tag

2011-10-01T23:22:00.000-07:00

Happy World Card Making Day! Hope you were able to get some crafting done. Recently, I've been making a lot of tags because they are a perfect way to use of bits and pieces of paper.

The tag was cut with my Silhouette SD. The papers are from Papertrey Ink and the stamp is also from the Birthday Bash Sentiments.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Belated Birthday

2011-09-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Here's a quick card from the same Silhouette design I used on a card a few weeks ago. My mom's birthday was a week ago, and I haven't sent her a card yet. I may send her this one if I don't finish the one I already started in my studio.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday

2011-09-06T23:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, hope you are doing well in your part of the world.

Here's a simple card I made a few weeks ago when my friend Ericka was visiting. This card was made with these Hero Arts stamps: Life of the Party Words and Hip Hip Hurray. I love the quality of Hero Arts stamps!

I added a Prima flower and colored the sentiment with Copic markers.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday

2011-08-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had so much fun since one of my best friends, Ericka, was in town for the weekend. We made cards and tags for hours on end. We stayed up way past midnight. I moved a lot of the crafting stuff to the dining room table (which I added both leafs to) so we had space to work.

Here's one of the cards I made using the Little Labels stamps and die from Papertrey Ink.

I also used my Silhouette SD to cut this design. I couldn't resist adding some baker's twine too. Thanks for stopping by; have a good one!

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3/14/11

2011-08-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Here's another thank you card I made a while back.

The stamp is Technique Tuesday from the A Million and One by Ali Edwards. I love her handwriting! The gorgeous papers and ribbon are all from Stampin' Up. The pearls are from Want 2 Scrap.

This card uses the same papers and stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thank You, Chau

2011-08-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

Hi there! I've got so many cards to show you, but I've made so little time to actually post them on this blog. We'll here's a thank you card I made in June for my good friend, Chau.

I love this patterned paper from Crate Paper...love it! I cut the "thank you" with my Silhouette digital cutter. Have you heard that Silhouette is releasing a larger machine that cuts 12" paper called the Silhouette Cameo? It's set to start selling in October.

I added a button in the corner that is threaded with a tiny piece of cardstock. That's it...super simple.

Have a great day in your part of the world!

Have a Delicious Day

2011-07-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm a little sad that Summer Card Camp 2011 is ending this week; it's been a great class. This week these are the colors we are working with.

For my card, I used one of Kristina's sketches. I love using geometric shapes and repetition in my designs.

I stamped various images from the Yummy Treats set by Hero Arts using VersaMark ink and I heat embossed them with white embossing powder. I used a 3/4" square punch to punch our various parts of the images. I also used a VersaMark pen to darken areas on the cakes and cupcakes.

Finally, I added some Diamond Sparkles by PSX and mounted the images with foam tape. I also added a little bling around the sentiment.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Yummy Treats (Hero Arts)

Paper: Simply Chartreuse, white (Papertrey Ink), Taken with Teal, Tempting Turqoise, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up)

Ink: VersaMark, Taken with Teal

Tools: 3/4" square punch (EK Success)

Other: white embossing powder, VersaMark Pen, rhinestones (Michael's), Diamond Sparles (PSX)

PSA Essentials & Helmar USA

2011-07-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

Hope you are having a great weekend. The weather this week in Northern California was nice and cool. I didn't turn on the central air conditioning the entire week; it was heavenly!

Here's a card I made for PSA Essentials using their Rosettas set of stamps (my favorite). This past week PSA Essentials partnered with Helmar USA adhesives to showcase both companies' products.

This card started with this card design I cut out using black cardstock and my Silhouette digital cutter.

I stamped the Rosettas designs on white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them in with Copic markers. I glued the white cardstock inside the cutout panels of the black card. I finished the design by adding gems to the flowers with Helmar 450 Quick Dry glue. I finished the card with some faux stitching.

PSA Essentials YouTube Video Contest

During the month of July, PSA Essentials is having a YouTube video contest that is open to USA and Canadian residents 17 years and older. You could win $200 worth of PSA Essentials products. See details here.

Thanks for stopping by!

You Make Me Smile!

2011-07-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hi there! It's already week 3 of the Summer Card Camp 2011. These are the colors I used this week.

My card design started when I saw new Amy Tangerine American Crafts designs in the Silhouette Studio Store. I love this camera. I decided to make a camera-shaped card.

My inspiration was a woodgrain camera like this one. All the cardstock and patterned paper is from Stampin' Up. I used a piece of vellum where the flash is located.

I stamped a Papertrey Ink woodgrain stamp on the lens and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. The red heart is a Stampin' Up stamp that I also heat embossed.

The sentiment comes from Lawn Fawn and I stamped it with Chocolate Chip ink.

I added some American Crafts brads and some baker's twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday

2011-07-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Today I'm posting a card for week 2 of Summer Card Camp. Here are the colors this week that I'm working with.

For my card I used this large Hero Arts background stamp and I heat embossed it on kraft cardstock with white embossing powder. (This stamp happens to be the Stamp of the Week on the Hero Arts website.)

I then stamped the same background stamp on the colored cardstock and also heat embossed them with white embossing powder. I cut out different words and added them to the card base with dimensional tape.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy 4th of July and More PSA Essentials Info

2011-07-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

It's the tail-end of our long holiday weekend here in the states. It's been a little too warm for me. Thank goodness for central air conditioning and a cooler evening today!

Here's a card I made for PSA Essentials. It uses patriotic colors, but it is a masculine card to welcome a baby boy. The stamps come from the Country Home and Carriage stamp sets.

This card was published on page 49 of the July 2011 issue of CardMaker Magazine. I just downloaded the online version of the magazine, since I hadn't seen the published card.

PSA Essentials Design Team

PSA Essentials is taking applications for the new design team. Are you interested? Find out all the information you need here.

PSA Essentials YouTube Video Contest

PSA Essentials is also having a YouTube video contest that is open to USA and Canadian residents 17 years and older. You could win $200 worth of PSA Essentials products. See details here.

Have a good one!

Card for Jessica

2011-06-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hi there! I'm participating in Kristina and Jennifer's

Summer Card Camp 2011. This is the color combo for this first week.

My Sweetie asked me to make a card for Jessica, his former manager and mentor, who is leaving the company. Since a group of engineers are going to sign the card, I made it larger than a standard A2 card size.

The stamps are from Lawn Fawn (Jessie's ABCs and Lunar Lights) and Papertrey Ink (Polka Dot Basics).

The lanterns are paper pieced with papers from Stampin' Up and Papertrey Ink. I added Diamond Glaze to each lantern to give it shine before adding them to the card with mounting tape. I also added baker's twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Lucia - June Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

2011-06-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

Hi there! I wanted to join the Papertrey Ink June Blog Hop today. I was in such a rush earlier that I had to photograph my card on the dashboard of the card while we drove to drop off the Little Guy at a party and meet up with Lucia. The card was inspired by this beautiful image. I loved the stripes of color and choose to use that as my main inspiration.

I made this card for Lucia, one of my favorite people. Her birthday is today. She is my husband's first cousin, but I love her like a sister. Such a sweetie!

I used the Birthday Bash Sentiments stamp set for the sentiment and the butterfly image comes from the Butterfly Wishes
stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great one.

Anthonette

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

2011-06-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

I hope your day is going well. You're going to see a lot of thank you cards on my site. I made 18 of them a few weeks ago to thank the wonderful parents and staff who made my birthday celebration very special. Here is one of them.

The stamp is Technique Tuesday from the A Million and One by Ali Edwards. I love her handwriting! The gorgeous papers and ribbon are all from Stampin' Up. The pearls are from Want 2 Scrap.

The Little Guy is waiting for me. We are going to watch a movie before bedtime. I love Netflix! We are going to watch Free Willy. Good night!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. This is the Father's Day card I made for my sweet dad in New Mexico.

It started with a sentiment design from the Silhouette Studio store. I love welded-type words. The papers are from Love Letter Designer Series Paper by Stampin' Up. I used a white gel pen to add faux stitching to the sentiment. The heart and the sentiment are popped up on dimensional tape. I also added faux stitching around the heart with a black Copic pen.

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to the Want 2 Scrap & PSA Essentials Blog Hop

2011-06-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Welcome to my site. Today, PSA Essentials and Want 2 Scrap have teamed up for a blog hop. To start off, go to the Want2Scrap blog. There is a giveway, so continue reading.

If you are following the blog hop, you arrived from Elise Durenberger's blog (Mama Cow Creations; cute blog name).

Here's the card I made using pink pearls from Want 2 Scrap and a cupcake stamp from PSA Essentials. Pearls are a perfect way to add a great detail to a simple card. This card is an early birthday card for Lauren who will turn 8 next month. She along with her parents are visiting us from Texas right now.

A few days ago, I introduced her to stamping. We were using some Hello Kitty designs from PSA Essentials. What 7 year old girl doesn't love Hello Kitty? I told her I also had cupcake stamps, so this card will be an early surprise for her.

You can purchase products from Want 2 Scrap here. Want2Scrap is giving 30% OFF your entire purchase 6/13 – 6/23. I discovered them last year when I attended the CHA Supershow. I bought several packs of their embellishments.

To purchase PSA Essentials, go here. The Paper Clique is giving 30% off all PSA Essentials products from 6/13 – 6/23. The coupon code at check out is SAVE ONPSA.

The Big Giveaway:

PSA Essentials is giving away: 1 stamper, 1 Peel & Stick packs of winners choice
Want2Scrap is giving away a $35 gift certificate to their store!
Dates of entry for the giveaway are 6/13 - 6/15
Be a follower of PSA Stamp Camp Blog & Comment – 1 entry
Be a follower of Want2Scrap Blog & comment - 1 entry
Winner will be chosen on 6/16 and announced on Facebook

You next stop of the blog hop is Jeanne Streiff's blog (Inky Paws). Have a great day!

Best Wishes Pennie!

2011-06-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

I'm hoping you're having a great day in your part of the world. Yesterday we had a little party at school for a teacher that is transfering to a different school.

This card started with some beautiful Crate Paper. I just added coordinating buttons from Papertrey Ink and stamped the sentiment using Jessie's ABCs from Lawn Fawn.

We have friends visiting from Texas and are off to the Monterey area for a day of fun. Adios!

The Twinery and PSA Essentials Blog Hop Continues

2011-06-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning dearies! Today we start a week-long blog hop to showcase The Twinery and PSA Essentials products.

If you following our blog hop, your hopping over from Monika Wright's blog (I Love it All). My goodness, that girl is super talented! If you didn't come from Monika's blog, start your blog hopping at The Twinery here.

There are giveaways and several chances to win this week, so you don't want to miss a thing.

Those of you frequent visitors to my blog know that I LOVE baker's twine. I can't get enough of it.

On the first card I used Lemondrop twine from The Twinery and the Love stamp from the Love Birds set by PSA Essentials. I cut a design from the Silhouette Studio and added baker's twine to the rays.

On the second card, I used Pink Sorbet twine and the Love sentiment from the Love Birds set.

Buy The Twinery's twine and PSA Essentials Peel & Stick products at a discount this week during the blog hop. Here are the details:

The Twinery: Purchase here and enter the coupon code PSAHOP15 for 15% off any order from June 6 through June 10th.

PSA Essentials: Purchase at The Letter Tree here and get 30% off all PSA Essentials products from June 6 through June 10th. No coupon code needed; products are already marked down 30%.

The Big Giveaway:

Dates of entry are 6/6 at 12:01 AM EST to SUNDAY 6/12 at 11:59 EST.
PSA Essentials is giving away: 1 stamper, 3 Peel & Stick packs of winner's choice
The Letter Tree is giving away 1 monogrammed tote bag - image is attached
The Twinery is giving away Six spools of twine of winner's choice ($84 value)
Conditions to enter the giveaway:Follow the PSA Stamp Camp Blog – 1 entry
Follow The Twinery Blog – 1 entry
Like PSA Essentials on Facebook – 1 entry
Like The Twinery on Facebook – 1 entry
Winner will be chosen on 6/13 and announced on Facebook on both Twinery & PSA Essentials pages

Today, my blog is the last stop on the blog hop. The blog hopping will start again tomorrow morning at 8AM EST at Jen Carter's blog. See you then!

Maker Faire This Weekend

2011-05-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you in the Bay Area, don't forget that Maker Faire is this weekend in San Mateo. The guys and I LOVE this event. It is like Disneyland for geeks. I remember it being referred to as "Burning Man meets Martha Stewart". It's hard to define, but check out this video for a preview of the makers that will be there.

Mama You Are Simply the Best

2011-05-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here's the Mother's Day card I designed for my Mother-in-law. She actually received it on time since yesterday was the 10th and that is the traditional Mexican Mother's Day.

The card is clean and simple and I used stamps from Mama=love by Technique Tuesday and Bannerific from Lawn Fawn. I did paper piecing for the birds and the banner. All the papers are from Crate Paper.

Well, I've got to run. I'm working at school the rest of the day. Have a good one!

Love You Mom

2011-05-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I hope all you moms had a great Mother's Day yesterday. I had a very relaxing day with the guys. They served me a yummy veggie omelet in bed. Very nice. I finally got to see "Eat Pray Love" on Netflix (I'm very behind on movie watching).

The Little Guy started with a fever yesterday, so I have him home today. I hope he's better tomorrow since he has state testing that continues this week.

This card is still on it's way to my mom in New Mexico. I've never made her a long & skinny card before. Angie Tieman always rocks these skinny (and all other) cards, so I was inspired by her style.

The stamps are from the Mama=love set from Technique Tuesday and the Love You Much set from Stampin' Up. The impression plate is from Papertrey Ink. The papers are all from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks a Bunch!

2011-04-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hope you're having a great weekend. I'm happy my little family is back together again. My husband was working in Florida all week, and he flew home this afternoon.

Here's some cards I made for Administrative Professionals Day this week. We celebrated Angie and Patti in the front office at school.

I customized their cards with alphabet stamps from Lawn Fawn. The sentiments are heat embossed. I was inspired by the flower bouquets I received last week for being named Volunteer of the Year at Kalino's school. I received 5 bouquets of flowers! Five! I've never received so many flowers at one time. I created the flower bouquets by taking some Prima Flowers and added a burlap circle underneath. I added baker's twine to secure the burlap. The bouquets were attached to the card with Extreme Adhesive Squares. I distressed the Crate Paper edges and did some faux stitching.

Thanks for stopping by!

PSA Essentials Will Appear on HSN Tomorrow Morning

2011-04-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know that Libby will be appearing on the Home Shopping Network again starting tomorrow (Tuesday, April 26th) morning at 6AM EST. She will appear again at 11AM EST.

She said that specific times are 6:50 and 11:35 AM. Here are the details on the PSA Essentials blog.

To One of My Favorite Peeps

2011-04-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! I made this card for Kalino. He looks forward to the Easter scavenger hunt I do each year for him. I haven't created the 12 clues yet and it's already after lunch time; behind schedule!

The weather is nice, so I was going to do the scavenger hunt outside, but late last night I heard some loud noise outside my studio window. Sure enough, I'm guessing it was raccoons that broke into the vent to get into the crawl space under the house. We're not going near that open vent; darn raccoons!

I bought these cute stamps at the A Muse store in Seattle last November. I couldn't resist them.

Well, I've got to run.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Peep, Favorite Peeps (A Muse)

Paper: white textured, Crushed Curry (Stampin' Up)

Ink: Basic Black, Daffodil Delight (Stampin' Up), VersaMark (Tsukineko)

Tools: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Silhouette digital cutter with label design

Other: baker's twine (House of 3 Pink Paislee), foam tape (3M)

Egg Heart Card

2011-04-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a final Easter card I designed for my PSA Essentials monthly assignment. This is my favorite of the bunch I've been showing you this week.

I stamped the egg shaped repeatedly on white cardstock. Using Copic markers, I colored in the eggs. I cut the eggs out and layered them on a heart-shaped piece of chipboard that I made. I added Diamond Glaze to the entire heart and let it dry overnight. It came out looking so nice and shiny. This would actually make a cute piece of jewelry. You could glue the heart to a pin back.

Here's a closeup of the yummy heart. Have a good one!

Card Ingredients

Finished Size: 4.25” x 4.25”

Stamps: Topiary (PSA Essentials)

Paper: Melon Mambo - textured (Stampin’ Up), white & Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Tools: Martha Stewart Scoring Board, Silhouette digital cutter with label design, Heart punch (Stampin’ Up), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Copic markers (Y35, RV13, BG02, YG13, YG11, BV04, YR04), foam tape (3M), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Lemon Tart ribbon (Papertrey Ink), silver thread (from Peru), Diamond Glaze (JudiKins)

Card Instructions

Make card from cardstock and round corners.
Use a digital cutter to cut fancy label shape. Tie some ribbon around the front of the card and attach the fancy label.
Stamp egg image repeatedly on white cardstock and color with various Copic markers. Cut out egg designs.
Punch large heart shape 4 times and glue layers together to create your own chipboard.
Glue the eggs to the heart by overlapping to cover the chipboard. Trim off the excess.
Pour Diamond Glaze onto the surface of the chipboard heart and allow to dry overnight.

Tip: Don’t shake the Diamond Glaze bottle; it will create air bubbles.

Stamp sentiment on card and attach heart.

Happy Easter Basket and a Giveaway at the PSA Essentials Blog

2011-04-22T00:56:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, Happy Earth Day! Today, several of my Easter cards are featured on the PSA Essentials blog. You have a chance (more if you spread the word) to win the Topiary set of stamps. Go here to enter before Easter Sunday ends EST.

Here's one of the cards. The bottom on the basket is a recycled Starbucks coffee jacket. I love incorporating recycled items when I can. The handle of the basket is the circular stamp that comes with the stamp set.

Here's a closeup of the basket. I used Diamond Glaze on the eggs to give them a glossy shine. I also added some "grass" to the basket with some JudiKins Speckles.

Don't forget to enter to win on the PSA Essentials blog. Have a great day!

Card Ingredients

Card Finished Size: 4.25” x 5.5”

Stamps: Topiary (PSA Essentials)

Paper: kraft (Stampin’ Up), white (Papertrey Ink), coffee jacket (Starbucks)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Tools: Martha Stewart Scoring Board, 1¾“ circle punch (Stampin’ Up), scalloped scallop edge punch (EK Success)

Other: baker’s twine (Divine Twine), foam tape (3M), Copic markers (BV05, YR04, RV13), Diamond Glaze (JudiKins), Spring Meadow Speckles (JudiKins), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

Card Instructions

Make card from cardstock.
Stamp egg image repeatedly on white cardstock and color with various Copic markers. Cut out egg designs.
Pour Diamond Glaze onto the surface of the eggs and dry thoroughly.

Tip: Don’t shake the Diamond Glaze bottle; it will create air bubbles.

Trim a corrugated coffee jacket to resemble the bottom of a basket. Tie some baker’s twine around the basket.
Stamp the round border design on kraft cardstock and punch out with circle punch. Cut inside design to create a handle. Adhere to create basket shape.
Punch out scalloped cardstock. Cover with adhesive and add grass Speckles. Add to basket.
Stamp sentiment on card front.
Adhere dry eggs, grass, and basket to card front with dimensional adhesive.

Happy Easter Bunnies

2011-04-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

This Easter card coordinates with the tag I posted yesterday. I just love those little bunnies!

Well, I've got to run. Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients

Finished Size: 4.25” x 5.5”

Stamps: Little Bunny, Topiary (PSA Essentials)

Paper: White, Summer Sunrise, & Hawaiian Shores patterned paper (Papertrey Ink), Gable Green (Stampin’ Up)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Cool Caribbean (Stampin’ Up), VersaMark (Tsukineko)

Tools: Big Shot with Limitless Labels metal die (Papertrey Ink), Scalloped Scallop punch (EK Success), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Copic marker (YR32), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Hawaiian Shores ribbon (Papertrey Ink), rhinestones (Michael’s), sponge

Card Instructions

Make card from cardstock.
Use die cutting machine to cut tag. Stamp circle design on “sun” with watermark ink.
Stamp bunnies on white cardstock and color with Copic marker. Cut out bunnies.
Punch out scalloped green cardstock. Use scissors to create the look of grass.
Use a scallop circle and blue ink to sponge clouds on the card front.
Adhere patterned paper to the bottom of the card front and round the bottom corners.
Adhere sun, grass, and bunnies to the card front.
Add ribbon and rhinestones.
Stamp Happy Easter sentiment.

Happy Easter Tag

2011-04-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

Hi dearies! I'm still in vacation mode, even though vacation has been over for several days. Maui, I miss you! I've got several Easter projects to post this week, so let's get started.

Here's a closeup of the tag. This tag would be cute on an Easter basket. I used PSA Essentials Little Bunny set for the bunny image and the Topiary set for the sentiment.

Have a great day!

Tag Ingredients

Finished Size: 3.75” x 2.75”

Stamps: Little Bunny, Topiary (PSA Essentials)

Paper: White, Summer Sunrise, & Hawaiian Shores patterned paper (Papertrey Ink), Gable Green (Stampin’ Up)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Tools: Big Shot with Mat Stack 5 metal die (Papertrey Ink), Scalloped Scallop punch (EK Success), Crop-a-Dile (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Copic marker (YR32), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Hawaiian Shores ribbon (Papertrey Ink), rhinestones (Michael’s), baker’s twine (Etsy)

Tag Instructions

Use die cutting machine to cut tag from 3 colors of paper. Trim and piece together to form one tag.
Stamp bunnies on white cardstock and color with Copic marker. Cut out bunnies.
Punch out scalloped green cardstock. Use scissors to create the look of grass.
Adhere grass and bunnies to the tag.
Add ribbon and rhinestones.
Stamp Happy Easter sentiment.
Punch hole in tag and add an eyelet. Add baker’s twine to the eyelet.

10 Years Ago Today...

2011-04-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

... I married this sweet man on a beach here in Maui in 2001. Can I just say, eloping was one of the best decisions ever! No stress and no major expense.

We are celebrating our 10th anniversary here in our favorite place. Besides being married here, we gave our son a Hawaiian name; that's how much we love Maui! I was 6 months pregnant when we vacationed here in 2003 as our last celebration before becoming parents. Leaving the Kahului airport, we finalized Kalino as the choice for the Little Guy. Kalino means "bright one".

I intended to make an anniversary card for my husband using this picture, but I ran out of time.

Yesterday I was totally thrilled to finally meet Jen Tapler! We started blogging at the same time 3 years ago. I've known who she was since then. I got to see her very nice studio space. We went to lunch at Flatbread Company in Paia. Awesome pizza, salad, and the best sugar cane root beer. I had a lot of fun talking with her.

Thanks for stopping by!

Our View of Paradise This Week

2011-04-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

We flew to Maui yesterday. Here's our view for the coming week. I love this place! I first visited Maui over 20 years ago and fell in love with it. It's been 4 years since our last visit and I've missed it.

As I type, there's a gecko on the wall behind the TV. Kalino is not thrilled and wants it out now, but we're trying to explain that the gecko just wants to find a meal. It will leave on it's own to find food outside.

I'm having lunch tomorrow with Jen Tapler. We've been blogging friends for about 3 years. We've talked on the phone before, but I look forward to actually meeting her.

Last week I found out I have a first cousin that lives on Maui. He's flying back from New Mexico tomorrow, so I'm going to give him a call and make time to see him.

While waiting for our luggage at the baggage claim, a little kid next to me turned around. I recognized him! He said "Hi, Mrs. Chavez". He's a first grader at Kalino's school! I volunteer in the library when he comes in each week. I met his mom and aunt. During their layover in Honolulu they also saw a 2nd grade teacher from our school. Small world, isn't it?

I wish you well in your part of the world. Later!

Happy Botday!

2011-04-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

I love robots! It could be the influence of my 7-year old on me, but I can't resist a cute robot. My nephew Stephen turned 6 this past weekend and had an awesome Star Wars-themed party. I decorated his gift bag and created this matching gift tag. The stamps are the Best Bots set from Stampin' Up.

I cut the tag with my Silhouette digital cutter and adhered different Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo Robot paper to it. On the tag and gift bag I stamped the robots and colored them with Copic markers. I layered their torsos on with foam tape to add some dimension.

The white paper I used on the gift bag was totally wrong for coloring with Copic markers. It was matte kromekote paper instead of a Copic-friendly paper.

I added some cool masculine brads and some baker's twine (you know how I LOVE baker's twine). That's it.

We're getting ready to go on Spring Break, so I'm busy, busy, busy. Later!

Happy 6th Birthday, Alexa!

2011-04-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

Happy end of the week, everyone! I made this card for my niece, Alexa, who turned 6 a few weeks ago. Sadly, I didn't mail the card in time (bad Auntie!). I used to be more organized with my time and mailing cards early enough. I need a stamp set that is geared towards belated birthday wishes....yes, indeed!

I helped at school all day, so it was fun hearing 2nd graders try out their April Fools tactics on me during lunch. It was mainly them telling me jokes; such a cute age!

I used my Silhouette digital cutter to cut the number 6 using the Bodoni XT font. The patterned paper I cut is from Papertrey Ink. I stamped the background stamp with VersaMark ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Have a good weekend!

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Big Birthday Wishes (Papertrey Ink), Life of the Party Words (Hero Arts), Life of the Party (Hero Arts) <---Thanks, Jennifer McGuire!

Paper: So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up), By the Numbers Patterned Paper (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko), Black (Memories)
Tools: Silhouette, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Heat tool
Other: Bling (Heidi Swapp & Michael's), clear embossing powder, foam tape (3M), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Copic Markers

Messy Crafters Anonymous

2011-03-31T17:43:00.000-07:00

Is there such a group (Messy Crafters Anonymous) and is there a 12-step program for us? I loved Kristina's latest blog post about real crafters making real messes. I definitely can make a big mess in a short time. Do I love the mess? Definitely not! Do I save too many scraps? Yes. I clean up and put things away once I can't stand it anymore and I can't find basic tools. My crafting time is very limited, so putting things away and tidying up are not on the top of my To Do list most days.

Here is my desk right now. I'm not even showing you the floor, sister, but I think you get the picture. Haha!

Are you going to show your crafting space?

Happy Birthday, Esther!

2011-03-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

(Sorry, the photos disappeared, so I'm re-posting this blog entry.)
The busy birthday month continues in my family. Today is my sister, Esther's birthday. Here's the card I made for her. The stamps are from Hero Arts. Loved this birthday set. You can never have enough birthday sentiments and images. I dry embossed the cardstock with an embossing folder from Papertrey Ink. I had finished the card, when I accidently smudged the Stickles glitter glue on the card. To minimize my mistake, I scraped away the glitter and rubbed a white ink on the card front. I can still see the mistake, but hopefully you can't.

I popped up the cake with dimension adhesive. I used a Copic marker to highlight some of the details on the cake. The papers are all from Stampin' Up.

Right now I'm listening to music from Aston. They are a classical group from Australia that re-do current songs, like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Coldplay. Check out this site. I'm addicted to their music! They also have YouTube videos here.

Well, I've got to run to school right now. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday, Ericka!

2011-03-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't created a card for a Papertrey Ink Blog Hop in quite a while, but I didn't want to miss this one. Our challenge was to use embroidery floss in a fun and inventive way. I used Dawn's Delightful Doilies stamps to create some flowers and I used embroidery floss by adding a lot of French knots.

Today is my friend Ericka's birthday, so I made this card for her. She won't receive it in time, but I'll send her the link.

The sketch for my design comes from Clean & Simple sketch #132.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good day.

Card Ingredients (all from Papertrey Ink except where noted)

Stamps: Delightful Doilies, Fillable Frames #4

Paper: Hawaiian Shores, White, Pure Poppy

Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko), Memories Black, Hawaiian Shores, Hibiscus Burst

Tools: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Lemon Tart ribbon, embroidery floss (DMC), foam tape (3M), Copic markers (Y35, BG02)

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

2011-03-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my parent's 48th wedding anniversary. Here's the card I made for them. I used some beautiful stamps from Hero Arts. The Delicate Blossoms set is one of the gifts I received from Jennifer McGuire and Hero Arts for the sewing project I helped with in January. Thanks, Jennifer and Hero Arts!

Speaking of anniversary, I forgot about my blog's anniversary. I've been blogging since March 13th, 2008. Three years have gone by quickly.

I embossed the Delicate Blossoms with white embossing powder. I used a Copic marker to outline the flowers. I loved when Nichole Heady outlined floral images with a Copic marker. I love the dimension it adds.

That's it, my dears! Thanks for stopping by.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Delicate Blossoms, Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts)

Paper: white, Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink), Crushed Curry - textured (Stampin' Up)

Ink: VersaMark, Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)

Tools: Heat tool

Other: white embossing powder, Copic Marker, button (Papertrey Ink), white gel pen (Sakura)

A Teri Anderson Inspired Card

2011-03-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

"Meet today's card." Those are the words Teri Anderson uses in her blog posts to introduce her creations. Here's a card totally inspired by an awesome card she made in this blog post. Like Teri, I love baker's twine.

On Saturday I was able to see Teri in person again. She was at the local Scrapbook Expo teaching classes for Technique Tuesday. Teri introduced me to Lisa (Paper Grace Designs). Lisa and I shopped the Expo together. We were both at the CHA Supershow over a year ago and met the same people, but didn't meet each other until Saturday.

I started with a piece of matboard and covered the entire surface (and part of the back) with double-sided tape. I trimmed lengths of baker's twine and attached them to the matboard. I finished off the card with the happy birthday sentiment and some bling. I'm sending this card to my niece.

Here' s a picture of the 3 of us Teri posted on Twitter.

Have a good one!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: none

Paper: textured paper from my stash, matboard

Ink: none

Tools: Scoring Board (Martha Stewart)

Other: baker's twine (Etsy, Divine Twine, House of Three - Pink Paislee), pearls & bling (Prima), double-sided tape, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, felt sentiment (Making Memories)

Sending Smiles Across the Miles

2011-03-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

Hope you are doing well in your part of the world. It's been super rainy and cold in my part of country. Here's a fun card I made for my sweet Aunt Ruby in New Mexico. She's not doing well; Parkinson's disease has taken a huge toll on her body.

Here are some previous cards I made for her: here and here. I know she loves receiving cards, so I want to brighten up her day.

This stripes are washi tapes that I've collected. I love washi tape! I love that it is repositionable. The stamp is from Lawn Fawn. The card is very simple. I added Diamond Glaze to the airplane.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Hello Friend (Lawn Fawn)

Paper: Aqua Mist & white (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Memories Black

Other: Diamond Glaze (JudiKins), foam tape (3M), washi tapes (The Tinted Mint and Amuse), Copic marker

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T00:43:00.000-07:00

I hope you're having a great day. Today PSA Essentials is hosting a St. Patrick's Day blog hop. Start hopping here for a chance to win some PSA Essentials stamps.

Have a great day!

Look Who's Turning 5

2011-03-12T13:26:00.000-08:00

I hope your Saturday is going well. The guys and I got up early to have breakfast at IHOP. Besides eggs, I ordered the Nutella crepes with bananas. Wow, very sweet and good. My mom used to make crepes years ago. I should get her recipe.

I've been reading and watching the news coverage about the earthquake devastation in Japan. My hearts go out to everyone affected. I'm amazed at the sheer power of this event. For the tsunami to reach my part of California is incredible.

On a happier note, here's a card I made for my niece, Saharra, who turned 5 last week.

The papers and stamps are all from Papertrey Ink. I love their new doily metal dies. So cool! I used my Silhouette digital cutter to cut the number 5. The font I used was BodoniXT. You can download it for free here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Big Birthday Wishes (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Plum Puddding, Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, By the Numbers patterned paper (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Early Expresso (Stampin' Up)

Tools: Big Shot with Doily Details Collection and Mat Stack 5 metals dies, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Aqua Mist ribbon (Papertrey Ink), foam tape (3M)

Celebrating 64

2011-03-08T12:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my father-in-law's 64th birthday. This is the card designed for him. Inside the card I stamped "Feliz Cumpleanos".

I'm loving the Big Birthday Wishes set from Papertrey Ink. I had to order it. I love their new metal dies for the numbers, but I didn't order them. I decided to use my Silhouette digital cutter instead. I searched for a font that looked very similar to the font of the Papertrey Ink number dies. I found that BodoniXT is a very close match (not for the number 6, but it's close for the other numbers). You can download it for free here.

On the kraft cardstock I used the numbers impression plate, but you barely see that detail in the photo.

Card Ingredients
Stamps (all Papertrey Ink): Big Birthday Wishes, Background Basics: Woodrain

Paper: Kraft, Certainly celery (Stampin' Up), By the Numbers patterned paper (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up)
Tools: Big Shot with the By the Numbers Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: baker's twine (Etsy), foam tape (3M)

Happy Birthday, Rekha!

2011-03-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

Hi there, it's me again. There were several birthdays this weekend and today is my father-in-law's birthday. Last night I went to a birthday dinner for my dear friend, Rekha. Here's the card I made for her.

The card contains new goodies from Papertrey Ink.

I've got more birthday cards to show you soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients (all Papertrey Ink unless noted)

Stamps: Delightful Doilies, Big Birthday Wishes

Paper: Harvest Gold, white

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Old Olive (Stampin' Up), Memories Black, Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush

Tools: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Glue Dots, foam tape (3M), buttons

Thank You

2011-02-20T20:44:00.000-08:00

Hi there! Did you notice that I blogged every single day this week? That never happens, but I thought I would give it a shot. I did it!

I made this card last week for a very sweet teacher at school who left us a table of goodies on Valentine's Day in our Parent Involvement Center. We are spoiled at school; teachers and staff are very welcoming. I need to make more cards to have on hand to thank them for their acts of kindness.

This card is also for the Papertrey Ink Make It Mondays #2: Vellum Sentiment Strip challenge. I stamped the thank you sentiment on vellum and embossed it with white embossing powder. I wrapped the edges of the vellum around the pink patterned paper. With a craft knife, I cut tiny slits into the pink paper to add the ribbon. I added the pink layer to the card base with dimensional adhesive.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Big & Bold Wishes (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: white (Papertrey Ink), Dear Lizzy Enchanted paper (American Crafts), vellum (The Paper Palette)
Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Tools: heat tool, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)
Other: Whisper White ribbon (Stampin' Up), foam tape (3M), white embossing powder, vellum adhesive (Scotch)
Card Size: 5.5" square

Another Fan of Baker's Twine

2011-02-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

This morning I got an email from Grace at Sense and Simplicity. She was creating a blog post about bakers's twine and she asked if she could include this card in her blog post. Here's her blog post: Pining for Twine. Thanks, Grace!

Happiness is Being Loved

2011-02-18T21:32:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy it's Friday. The Little Guy doesn't have school next week, so I look forward to some free time.

Here's the the last card I made for the PSA Essentials Love Blog Hop last week. This card features ribbons from Reasonable Ribbons, bling from Prima, and the stamps from PSA Essentials.

Have a good weekend!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Smirk Kiss Me Now (PSA Essentials)

Paper: kraft (CA Paper Goods), white (Papertrey Ink), Chocolate Chip (Stampin’ Up)

Ink: Espresso Brown (PSA Essentials)

Tools: 1” circle punch (Stampin’ Up), 1 1/16” circle punch (Marvy), 1.75” circle punch (Stampin’ Up)

Other: ribbons (Reasonable Ribbons), foam tape (3M), pearls (Prima), 450 Quick Dry Adhesive (Helmar)

Pink Heart Love

2011-02-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a card I really enjoyed making. It's full of flower goodies from Prima Marketing. I really love the Restoration paper collection from Crate Paper. I colored the ribbon with a Yellow Copic marker in order for it to coordinate with the card.

Gotto run! It's raining like crazy here and I have to take the older car in for a smog check.

Stamps: Love Birds (PSA Essentials)

Paper: Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink), doily (recycled item from my garage), Restoration paper collection (Crate Paper)

Ink: Memento Rick Cocoa (Tsukineko)

Tools: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: 450 Quick Dry Adhesive (Helmar), pink flowers (Prima), Copic Marker (RV13 & Y21), ribbon (Reasonable Ribbon)

Instructions

Make card from cardstock. Adhere patterned paper and round the bottom corners.
Hand sketch a larger heart from cardstock & glue flowers to it (remove wire stems from flowers first).
Use a Copic marker to dye ribbon if it doesn’t match with your project. Simply “color” on top of the ribbon and allow it to dry.
Trim the edges from a doily and glue to a cardstock scrap.
Tie ribbon bow around front flap.
Stamp sentiment and color heart with Copic marker.
Attach large heart to card front.

Butterfly Love

2011-02-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

Hi there!

Here's another card I made for the PSA Essentials Love Blog Hop last week. I loved using all the Prima goodies I received (Prima Marketing was part of the blog hop). The card started with a Lemon Tart card base from Papertrey Ink. I rubbed Fresh Snow ink on the edges of the card. I found a little bag of doilies in the garage when we cleaned up a few weeks ago, so I used one here. I added the Prima pearls next. I used some new Helmar adhesive (I wasn't familiar with this Australian company before) to attach the butterflies to the card. I stamped the sentiment on another doily, so the papers would match (even though they don't seem to match in my photo). I used a punch to cut out the sentiment and added heavier cardstock behind the doily before adding it to the card.

I kept the Little Guy home again today since he still had a fever last night. This kid normally plays with Legos every single day! He didn't touch them yesterday. He took a long nap and then fell asleep in my arms for a bit too. I'm hoping he's better today so he can go back to school tomorrow.

Hope you're doing well in your part of the world. Adios!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Love Birds (PSA Essentials)

Paper: Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink), doilies (recycled item from my garage)

Ink: Espresso Brown (PSA Essentials), Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink)

Tools: Modern Label punch (Stampin’ Up)
Other: Zapdots (Helmar), butterflies (Prima), pearls (Prima), 450 Quick Dry Adhesive (Helmar)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

2011-02-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

I have a sick kid home from school today with a fever and a sore throat, but I wanted to post this card. Today is my dad's birthday. This card didn't get to him in time, so I wanted to show it here.

The sentiment is a combination of a Stampin' Up stamp and alphabet stamps from Lawn Fawn. I did add a comma after "happy birthday", but I took this photo before doing that addition.

Thanks for stopping by and I'm hoping you manage to stay healthy during this cold and flu season.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes (Stampin' Up), Just My Type, Jessie's ABCs (Lawn Fawn)

Paper: white, kraft (CA Paper Goods)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Tools: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Colored Pencils, Diamond Glaze (JudiKins), foam tape (3M)

A Baker's Twine Heart

2011-02-14T16:29:00.000-08:00

I wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day!

I love baker's twine! I'm sure you've noticed. I could use it on every project. I searched the Silhouette Studio store to find a design where I could wrap a lot of baker's twine on a heart shape.

The pre-printed card base is from A Muse. I picked it up on my travels to Seattle in November. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

I found this heart in the Silhouette Studio store and downloaded it. I only cut the outer layer. I threaded the baker's twine on a needle and threaded a double strand of twine into each hole. I added some mini beads to the card base and rounded the corners of the card.

I mailed this card to my parents.

Tip: To make mailing this type of "bumpy" card easier, you can insert the card into the envelope inside out. The recipient might think "what the heck?" when they open the envelope, but you can warn them ahead of time. You can also cover the card with a sheet of cardstock before inserting it into the envelope.

Have a great one and thanks for stopping by!

Red Rose Heart-Shaped Flower

2011-02-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

Hi there! If you are interested in winning over $500 of product, please go to the 1st Annual Love Blog Hop at PSA Stamp Camp today!

Here's one of the 4 cards I made for the PSA Essentials Blog Hop. A few weeks ago, I was sent a box with so many lovely products to work with: Prima Marketing flowers, Helmar adhesives, and ribbons from Reasonable Ribbons. My goodness, does Prima make the most gorgeous flowers! I punched out a red heart shape and glued red roses to the cardstock (I first trimmed off the wire stems). The ribbons I had been sent were all brown, taupe, and tan colored, so I used a green Copic marker to dye the ribbon a green color. It worked! I had never tried doing that before. I stamped the PSA image and then added some Diamond Glaze to the heart for some added interest.

Click here to go to the Blog Hop today. Have a great weekend!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Bouquet Toss (PSA Essentials)

Paper: white (Papertrey Ink), Real Red (Stampin’ Up), Garden Variety paper (Cosmo Cricket)

Ink: Holiday Red, Espresso Brown (PSA Essentials)

Tools: Large Heart Punch (Stampin’ Up), Tim Holtz Distressing Tool (Tonic)

Other: Diamond Glaze (JudiKins), gold cording (from Peru), Painterly Petals Floral Embellishments (Prima), ribbon (Reasonable Ribbons)

XOXO Love

2011-02-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! It's been a bit of a bad morning. This morning I noticed the freezer door of the refrigerator we have in the garage was open. I'll have to throw out all the food it contained. Ugh! When I was walking Kalino to school, he tripped and fell scraping his cute forehead, nose, and knee. Oh my! There was very minimal blood, but the poor kid was scared. He's always afraid he's going to die when he gets injured. I had to assure him he was fine. We walked back home to clean him up. He's resting upstairs.

Well after all that drama, here's a card I made for PSA Essentials to celebrate love and Valentine's Day. I wish I would've trimmed the edges of that nice ribbon (it bugs me now!).

This card uses stamps from the Bouquet Toss set.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Bouquet Toss (PSA Essentials)
Paper (all Stampin' Up): Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, patterned paper
Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Tools: Scoring Board (Martha Stewart), 1.75" circle punch (Stampin' Up), 2" circle punch (Fiskars), Heat tool, Corner Rounder (We R Memory Keepers)
Other: Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, foam tape (3M), white embossing powder, Red/Cream ribbon (Stampin' Up), rhinestone frame (Heidi Swapp)

An Early Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

Hi my dears, I thought I'd post this card really quick. I created it 3 months ago (yikes) duirng my trip to Seattle!

We'll I'm going to be like Teri Anderson when she says "meet today's card".

We'll I've got to run. Adios!

Hero Arts Video For Those of Us Who Did Some Sewing

2011-02-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

Today was an exciting day. I stayed up until 2 AM to see Libby from PSA Essentials on the Home Shopping Network. I didn't need to stay up, because TiVo was recording the show, but I wanted to see it live. Libby was also on again at 10 AM my time. It was a thrill to see some of my work on TV. More about that tomorrow.

Another reason it was an exciting day was this video I just saw on YouTube. Jennifer McGuire and Sally Traidman from Hero Arts made a video to thank those of us who did sewing for them in the last 2 weeks. So sweet!

Plus, when I was up late last night, I was browsing pictures on Flickr from the trade show when I saw this picture. Jennifer seems to be wearing one of the flowers I made! I can't be positive, but that is the same fabric I sewed. I don't know how many other people were sewing that particular color of fabric.

Fun, fun, fun!

Made Some Stamped Flower Pins for Hero Arts

2011-01-31T00:01:00.000-08:00

These fabric flowers started from a simple Tweet that Jennifer McGuire posted a few weeks ago:

"All you Hero Arts fans - can any of you sew? Reply if you do. Thanks!"

I replied to tell her I knew how to sew (thanks for teaching me at a young age, Mom!). A few days later, I got an email from Jennifer asking for my mailing address so she could FedEx a box with all the supplies to make these amazing flowers. Hero Arts needed hundreds of these to give away at their booth during CHA.

I had seen this video from Sally Traidman several months ago so I knew I had a great tutorial to follow. These flowers are also on the cover of the current Hero Arts catalog and their website.

Sure enough, I quickly received the box with a lot of stamps (Three Leaves, Large Flower, Striped Flower and many more), batting, red and green fabric, paper flowers, buttons, thread, embroidery thread, fabric glue, pin backs, and white felt. I offered to make 50 flowers. They needed a quick turn-around on this project. I landed up FedExing 49 of them to Jennifer's hotel at CHA in LA. I lost track of the 50th one; I found it later. For 5 of the flowers, I stamped on the reverse side of the red fabric to get a different look. That's the flower in the center of my collage.

Here's how the back of the flower looks. I glued the pin back to the felt circle and I also stitched it to make sure it stays secure.

Here's a picture of one of the flowers on me. This was such a fun project. When I was sewing the third flower, my sewing machine started acting up. I wasted a whole afternoon and evening troubleshooting everything (needle size, tension, upper and lower threading, bobbin). I even added drops of machine oil into the bobbin area for maintenance. I almost put my hands up in the air to give up, but I was persistent. I finally beat the sewing machine into submission. :-)

Thanks, Jennifer and Hero Arts!

Parents-To-Bee Invitation

2011-01-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

Hi my dears, here's an invitation I made for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's baby shower last week. This invitation is actually a hybrid of a free bridal shower invitation download that I added stamping and cardstock to. I only made 4 of these invites since we used Evite to invite everyone to the shower. I made these for people who don't use email everyday.

I downloaded the invitation from Download & Print. Using Microsoft Word, I updated the text and printed it out on brochure paper. Since the invitation had a honey comb pattern, I used the bee image from Papertrey Ink's Baby Button Bits set. I used a black Copic marker to draw lines on a yellow button. I added a narrow strip of black cardstock to the invitation and a layer of black cardstock to make the invitation have more weight. I rounded all the corners with my Corner Chomper.

That's it! Simple right? Have a good one. I'll be back tomorrow.

Invitation Ingredients

Stamps: Baby Button Bits (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: brochure paper (HP), Basic Black (Stampin' Up)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Tools: Computer, Microsoft Word, printer, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Copic markers, lemon tart button (Papertrey Ink), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Glue Dots

Paper Rosette Flower Arrangement Using Lawn Fawn Stamps

2011-01-26T16:08:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, we had a baby shower for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. My new niece, Sabina, is due in a few weeks. I did a few stamping projects for the shower, including this paper rosette (or paper medallion) flower arrangement. In my rush, I didn't get enough pictures and I didn't notice that one flower is turned around.

I used Lawn Fawn stamps Bannerific and Jessie's ABCs on the vase and flowers. I mainly used paper from the Dear Lizzy Enchanted collection and some older Chloe's Closet paper for the paper rosettes. I would definitely recommend you use a tool like the Martha Stewart Scoring Board for scoring all the papers.

There are several tutorials out there on how to make these paper rosettes. If you've never tried making these, here's just one from Martha Stewart.

Ingredients:

Stamps: Bannerific, Jessie's ABCs (Lawn Fawn)

Paper: Dear Lizzy Enchanted (American Crafts), Chloe's Closet (Making Memories), white (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Tools: Martha Stewart Scoring Board, Big Shot with Mat Stack 5 metal die ( Papertrey Ink), 3/4" circle punch (Stampin' Up), 1" circle punch (Stampin' Up)

Other: heart doily (Target), buttons (Papertrey Ink & Making Memories), glue gun, foam tape (3M), bamboo skewers, vase, paper grass, rhinestones (Michael's), Copic marker, redline tape

CPS Card Sketch #202

2011-01-24T19:17:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, this week PSA Essentials is a sponsor on the Card Positioning Systems blog. Here's a card I created for CPS Sketch #202.

The card starts with a stamp from the Frenchie stamp set by PSA Essentials. The next major component is the embossed background on the card. That is a Texturz Plate from Stampin' Up. I also die cut some black felt with a Limitless Layers die from Papertrey Ink.

Well, thanks for stopping by! If you have a chance, please participate in the CPS sketch challenge.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Frenchie (PSA Essentials)
Paper: white, melon berry, summer sunrise (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: black (PSA Essentials)
Tools: Big Shot with Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plate from Stampin' Up, Limitless Layers die (Papertrey Ink), 1.75" circle punch (Stampin' Up)
Other: Basic Black satin ribbon (Stampin' Up), white gel pen (Sakura), felt (Papertrey Ink), gems (Heidi Swapp)

Happy Birthday, Nico!

2011-01-15T19:10:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the 8th birthday party for one of Kalino's best friends and classmates, Nico. I made this card for him.

I've been so sleep-deprived this week from working really hard in the studio, that I actually took a nap earlier. I rarely take a nap. I'm happy it's a 3-day weekend here.

This card is super simple and uses two designs I cut with my Silhouette machine: the happy birthday circle tag and the number 8. I can't remember the font I used for the 8. I trimmed off the tag holder part of the circle. For a finishing touch, I added a small star.

Just to remind you, you really get your value from the Silhouette machine because you can cut fonts you already have on your computer. Normally, I don't cut Papertrey Ink paper with my machine, since it is a heavier cardstock, but the machine easily cut the number 8 (it's a simple design). The kraft cardstock is a lighter weight cardstock, so the Silhouette easily cuts this intricate design.

I have some cool projects I'm working on this week. One of them involves stamps, ink, fabric, sewing, and batting (all on the same project). I'll let you know more later. Thanks for stopping by! Have a good one.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: none

Paper: Orange Burst, Simply Chartreuse, & Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink), Kraft (SU!)

Ink: none

Tools: Star punch (SU!), Silhouette cutter, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: white gel pen (Sakura), foam tape (3M)

Love, Love, and More Love

2011-01-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a great weekend. I spent what felt like most of the day on Saturday taking down our Christmas tree and packing up all Christmas related items. The Little Guy was extremely sad. If it was up to him, the tree and decorations would stay up all year.

Here's a card I designed for PSA Essentials using the Bouquet Toss stamp set. I stamped the image many times using Tuxedo Black Memento ink. Without paying attention to staying in the lines, I colored the hearts with different Copic markers. I cut out each heart and adhered each to a white card base. For added interest, I covered one of the hearts with Crystal Effects and let it dry overnight.

Here's a closeup to show how I used Crystal Effects on one of the hearts and some dimensional adhesive to lift the heart off the card.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Bouquet Toss (PSA Essentials)
Paper: white (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukinenko)
Tools: Scoring Board (Martha Stewart)
Other: Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Copic markers, foam tape (3M), Diamond Glaze (JudiKins)

Instructions

Create a 4.25" x 5.5" card base.
Repeatedly stamp the heart on a separate pieces of white cardstock. Use Memento ink since it will not smear with you color in with Copic markers.
Color hearts with various Copic markers.
Trim out each heart.
Use Diamond Glaze on one heart and set aside for dry completely.
Arrange hearts on card and attach to the card base.
For texture, use dimensional adhesive to attach the one heart.

Joy Peace Love

2011-01-05T22:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a holiday card I never posted. I designed it for PSA Essentials a few months. It uses the Treeo stamp set and it includes a die cut of wood veneer. I found this wood veneer paper at Michael's for a really inexpensive price. I love the wood veneer, but after working with it, I found I'm allergic to it; makes my arms itch like crazy.

Please add the PSA Essentials blog (PSA Stamp Camp) to your list of blogs you check-out. Become a follower on Twitter and Facebook too. Libby is hosting inspiration challenges and having frequent giveaways.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Treeo (PSA Essentials)
Paper: Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up), white
Ink: Turquoise (PSA Essentials)
Tools: Scoring Board (Martha Stewart), 1/2" circle punch (Stampin' Up), Big Shot with Papertrey Ink die, Crop-a-Dile (We R Memory Keepers)
Other: Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Tempting Turquoise ribbon (Stampin' Up), Build-a-brad kit (Stampin' Up), foam tape (3M), wood veneer paper (Michael's)

Bridal Shower

2011-01-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, here's a simple card using an A Muse notecard and stamps. I made this in Seattle when I visited Ericka.

I used Copic markers to color the image and a little bit of Stickles. I added some pink/white baker's twine to finish it off. Simple!

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T15:32:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, I want to wish you a very happy new year! Thanks for visiting my little blog over the last 2.5 years. Thanks for your sweet comments and the inspiration you provide to me. I love how blogging has changed my life. I've gotten to know so many of you around the world. I've been lucky to actually meet several of you in real life, which has been a complete thrill.

Let me tell you the tale of my annual Christmas card that became this Happy New Year card instead. I struggled with the design this year and ran behind schedule. I stamped several "Merry Christmas" and "Feliz Navidad" cards, but then had to switch to making them "Happy New Year" cards instead, since they would not be sent out before Christmas. Several items were pre-determined: I was using this Simply Chartreuse and Plum Pudding paper from Papertrey Ink and the patterned paper from them as well. I also had some patterned paper from Stampin' Up. I loved this swirl background stamp from Hero Arts that I bought when I was in Seattle last month. I wanted to use baker's twine. I wanted the cards to be relatively flat, so they wouldn't cost extra postage. Normally, I'll make about 4 different designs for the card. This year, I had many more variations of the design! Come on, Anthonette, make up your mind!!!

Here's a photo collage of the variations of the design in making the 50 cards.

Next year, I'm going to order a pre-made photo card and then just embellish it slightly. I totally LOVED this card that Kim Hughes ordered from Snapfish and then embellished with baker's twine, buttons, and some cardstock leaves.

Have a good one!

Feliz Navidad!

2010-12-25T15:33:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone, Feliz Navidad to those of you who celebrate! Hope you had a happy & blessed Christmas. I'm lounging around & taking it easy. I thought I'd try blogging from my iPhone, since I've never done it before. I couldn't publish this post from my iPhone because there was a problem with the photo, so I still haven't blogged from my phone.

Here's a picture of our tree. I used the Hipstamic app on my iPhone for the picture.

The Little Guy had fun tracking Santa last night on NORAD's Santa website. He loved all his gifts (mainly Legos). He's been a really good kid.

This morning I baked Pioneer Woman's recipe for cinnamon rolls; oh my...delicious! Did you see her recently on the Today Show making this recipe? I'm going to make them every Christmas morning from now on; they are that good.

Have a good one!

And the Winner of the $25 Kiva Gift Card....

2010-12-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

... is Sarah Martina Parker! I emailed you your $25 Kiva Gift Card.

This morning bright and early I drove to a new Target store near me. To show you how much I don't shop, the store has been open since mid-October and this was my first time visiting. Since I was sleep-deprived, I decided to get in line for a non-fat peppermint mocha caffeine boost at the Starbucks located in the store. Three people were ahead of me. The woman paying for her coffee announced that she was buying drinks for the 3 of us in line behind her; how incredibly sweet is that? This is the first time I've received a random act of kindness like this. It totally made my day and I actually enjoyed shopping. I was there for 2 hours. The store was very empty, which made it even nicer.

Go out and have a great day and be inspired to create your own random act of kindness!

Matching Card & Gift Card Holder

2010-12-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

Hey there! It's been a busy couple of days. I've been creating our annual photo Christmas card. Instead of Christmas cards, my cards will arrive closer to New Years...sigh. I'll post it here in a couple of days.

Before I forget, please go to this post and add your name for some blog candy. Deadline is tonight!

Here's a card and matching gift card holder that I designed for PSA Essentials. The stamps come from a set called Smirk Happy Holidays. The designer paper comes Stampin' Up. The gift card holder template comes from Kristina Werner.

Thanks for stopping by!

SMIRK COUPLE CARD Ingredients

Stamps: Smirk Happy Holidays (PSA Essentials)Paper (all from Stampin' Up): Jolly Holiday designer series paper, Very Vanilla, Kraft, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive Ink: Cabernet (PSA Essentials)
Tools: 1.75" circle punch (Stampin' Up), 2" circle punch (Fiskars), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)
Other: Baker's twine (Etsy), rhinestone (Michael's), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, foam tape (3M), Copic markers, Old Olive buttons (Stampin' Up), white gel pen (Sakura)

SMIRK COUPLE GIFT CARD HOLDER Ingredients
Stamps: Smirk Happy Holidays (PSA Essentials)
Paper (all from Stampin' Up): Jolly Holiday designer series paper, Very Vanilla, Kraft, Cherry Cobbler Ink: Cabernet (PSA Essentials)
Tools: 1 1/16" circle punch (EK Success), 1.25" circle punch (All Night Media)
Other: Old Olive ribbon (Stampin' Up), rhinestone (Michael's), gift card template (Kristina Werner), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, foam tape (3M), Copic marker, brads (Making Memories), Velcro

Want a $25 Kiva Gift Card?

2010-12-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

In the holiday spirit, I'd like to give away a $25 gift card to Kiva to any of my readers (US or international). What is Kiva? It's my favorite micro-lending website. You can choose to loan $25 to entrepreneur(s) anywhere in the world. Here's a video from Kiva to explain how Kiva works:

How Kiva Works from Kiva Microfunds on Vimeo.

Fellow paper crafter, Savitri Wilder, also makes loans through Kiva.

This year, Oprah chose Kiva as one of her "Favorite Things 2010". I first heard about Kiva on Oprah's show back in June of 2007. I've been making micro-loans through Kiva ever since. Kiva has an extremely high success rate of people paying back their loans. When the money is paid back, you can reloan the money or withdraw the money from Kiva. In the 66 loans my family and I have made, only 2 entrepreneurs have only partially paid back the $25 each; that's an amazing number.

What do you have to do? Just enter a comment below before Monday, December 20th at 11:59 PM PST. I'll use my version of Random.org (my son, Kalino) to pick a winner on Tuesday. The gift card will be emailed to the winner. Good luck!

A Gift Tag & Some Gift Card Holders

2010-12-14T22:40:00.000-08:00

Wow, the hours each day pass by too quick! I started this blog post this morning and it's already after 10 PM. Yikes!

Instead of finishing this blog post, I was a regular Martha Stewart in the kitchen today (well, not really..you'll see why in a second). I baked a raspberry cheesecake for Sweetie's party at work tomorrow. It's almost done. It's chillin' so I can add the raspberry layer before the night is done. I roasted eggplant and red, green, and yellow bell peppers. I burned the eggplant! What a waste. I didn't burn the peppers. I made what I call a Martha Stewart pressed sandwich. I'll have to give you the recipe here at another time. It's yummy!

Today, this tag and some gift card holders I created for PSA Essentials were featured on their blog today.

Here's a gift card holder that I cut using my Silhouette cutter. The reindeer stamp comes from a set called Smirk Merry Christmas.

Here's how the gift card holder looks on the inside.

This next gift card holder is from a template from Kristina Werner. Love this template! I've used before (here and here). The reindeer stamp is from another Smirk set called Smirk Happy Holidays.

Here's a view of the inside. Go forth my dears and make some gift card holders and tags!

There are several ways to win some PSA Essentials products. You have until tomorrow night (Wed, December 15th @ 11:59 PM EST) to enter this giveway. Paper Crafts Magazine and PSA Essentials also have a giveaway on their Facebook pages, but you have to hurry!

Well, I've got to get to bed early. I'll be on an all-day field trip tomorrow with Kalino and his classmates. Later!

PAPER PINWHEEL TAGMaterials UsedStamps: Christmas Tree (PSA Essentials)
Paper: Kraft (CA Paper Goods), Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up), patterned paper (Stampin' Up) Ink: Hunter (PSA Essentials)
Tools: Silhouette digital cutter and tag design, Tim Holtz Paper Distresser (Tonic Studios), Crop-a-Dile (We R Memory Keepers), 1" circle punch (Stampin' Up), 1 1/16" circle punch (EK Sucess), 1.75" circle punch (Stampin' Up), Scoring Board (Martha Stewart)
Other: foam tape (3M), ribbon (Stampin' Up), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, button (Papertrey Ink), baker's twine (Etsy), Copic marker, Zots adhesive

MERRY CHRISTMAS - TREE GIFT CARD HOLDER Materials Used
Stamps: Smirk Merry Christmas (PSA Essentials)Paper (all by Stampin' Up): Jolly Holiday designer series paper, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Cabernet (PSA Essentials), Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
Tools: Silhouette digital and giftcard design, 1.75" Circle punch (Stampin' Up), 1.25" circle punch (All Night Media), Scoring Board (Martha Stewart)
Other: Tombow Mono Metal Liquid Glue, baker's twine (Etsy), red rhinestone (Michael's)

REINDEER GIFT CARD HOLDERMaterials Used
Stamps: Smirk Happy Holidays (PSA Essentials)
Paper: patterned paper (American Crafts), white (Papertrey Ink), Kraft (Stampin' Up) Ink: Black (PSA Essentials)
Tools 1 1/16" circle punch (EK Success), 1.25" circle punch (All Night Media)
Other: baker's twine (Etsy), rhinestone (Michael's), gift card template (Kristina Werner), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, foam tape (3M), Copic marker, brads (Making Memories), Velcro

Congrats Melisa & Andy!

2010-12-12T16:46:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, hope had a great weekend. Here's a tag I designed for a wedding that took place today at a local winery. Angie, one of our school secretaries is the mother of the groom. I previously created these tags for Angie's mom.

You can see the other tags in the background. I created a little over 100 tags for their wedding favor containers. In Stampin' Up colors, Melisa's colors were Elegant Eggplant and Rose Red. She also had a gray/silver color in her wedding decor, so I heat embossed the small silver heart. The shape of the tag is a Silhouette Studio tag design that I modified. (That's what I love most about Silhouette Studio, you can easily modify or delete features from any design.)

I cut the bottom portion of the tag from Whisper White cardstock using the Silhouette cutter. I stamped a portion of the Medallion stamp using Elegant Eggplant ink on white paper and glued it to the Elegant Eggplant tag. I cut a 3/8" strip of textured Rose Red paper and glued it to the middle of the tag. The text was created using Microsoft Word and a font called Marriage Script that I got it here. I cut the half circles using a paper trimmer and a 1.75" circle punch. I then glued the half circles to the tag. The finishing touch was Love heart that was attached using some foam tape.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tag Ingredients (all Stampin' Up except where noted)

Stamps: Medallion, I Heart Hearts

Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red (Textured), Whisper White

Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Silver Encore Ultimate Metallic Ink (Tsukineko)

Tools: Silhouette cutter, Small Heart punch, Tonic Guillotine cutter

1.75" circle punch

Other: Marriage Script font (free-fonts.com), clear embossing powder, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, foam tape (3M), Microsoft Word

Happy Holidays - A 3D Tree

2010-12-08T22:56:00.000-08:00

Hello dear readers. Happy Hannukah to those of you celebrating the last day of Hannukah today. I am not ready for Christmas. There...I said it! I'm tired of always being behind schedule when it comes to this time of year. I've shopped for myself (do you do the same?). I have this new sweet machine! But when it comes to shopping for my family, I'm way behind schedule. I haven't started making the 65 copies our annual Christmas card. I designed this one, but I haven't finalized the design. Well, enough of my blabbing.

This is a 4.25" square card I made when I visited Ericka in Seattle last month. We worked till all hours of the night in her studio.

I loved Ericka's selection of paper punches! I had fun using this large tree punch made by EK Success. I punched 4 trees and then scored them in half verically. I glued each half to the half of the next tree. I love that the tree folds down pretty flat for mailing purposes. I added a rhinestone to the tree top and baker's twine to finish it off. The border stamp around the square patterned paper is from a Fiskars stamp set called Layer Away Dots. I'm not sure what company make the Happy Holidays stamp. I think the paper is from Memory Box; I'm too tired to go downstairs and check. Hehe!

Thanks for stopping by.

A Hambly Make-n-Take .....From Last Year!

2010-12-05T14:51:00.000-08:00

This summer I found the make-n-take I made at Hambly Studios last December! I wondered where it was. The card and envelope were in the glove compartment of one of our cars. The card is a postcard-style card made from an awesome overlay. The sentiment is a rub-on.

Part of the make-n-take was to also create an envelope liner with their awesome paper.

If you are in the Santa Clara, CA area, there is a Holiday Open Studio event at the Hambly Studios on Tuesday, December 7th. Details here. I'm planning to go.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas & a PSA Essentials Giveaway

2010-12-03T18:23:00.000-08:00

I completely neglected my blog for a week. Between Thanksgiving and design deadlines, it's been hectic. Sorry! Today, a few of my cards I designed for PSA Essentials were featured on their blog.

Here is my favorite card from that bunch. This card combines two of my favorites: photo cards and my cute son! I've been designing photo cards each Christmas since the Little Guy was born 7 years ago. This picture was taken at Legoland this summer. This kid loves Legos, so it was easy to get some great natural smiles.

The card is simple, except for all the paper piecing on this tiny Snoopy image. I used a glitter pen to give the string of lights some sparkle.

I think it's so cool that PSA Essentials has licensed classic Peanuts images, like this one of Snoopy.

Do you want to win over $150 of PSA Essentials products? All the details are at the PSA Stamp Camp blog. The deadline is Wednesday, December 15, 2010, at 11:59 PM, EST.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Peanuts Christmas Wishes (PSA Essentials)
Paper: Real Red (Stampin' Up), white, Pacific Point (Stampin' Up), HP Photo paper
Ink: Black (PSA Essentials)
Tools: Scoring Board (Martha Stewart), 1.75" circle punch (Stampin' Up), 1.25" circle punch (All Night Media)
Other: Copic markers, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Red/White ribbon (Stampin' Up), white gel pen (Sakura), blue rhinestones (Martha Stewart), foam tape (3M), glitter pen (Sakura), small scissors

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T04:00:00.000-08:00

To all my American friends and family, Happy Thanksgiving (Feliz Día de Gracias)!

This little Pilgrim-inspired creation was a make-n-take I got to create at the A Muse store when I visited Seattle 3 weeks ago. Wouldn't this design make a cute place setting card?

This week, I've already done some prep work for the Thanksgiving meal. Yesterday I picked up my already-cooked turkey from Boston Market. I hate handling raw meat, especially a large turkey. This is the second year where I've left the job of baking the turkey to the professionals.

I love the pumpkin pies from Costco, so I didn't bake my own. I thought I was smart by showing up right after they opened the store on Tuesday. Everyone one else had the same idea. Yikes, it was extremely busy! I had to park far away. I was glad to get out of there. I hate shopping, especially for food. I wish I had an assistant who could do all my shopping.

Last night, I made Pioneer Woman's mashed potato recipe. So good! Did you see Ree on Bobby Flay's Throwdown show last week? She beat him and these mashed potatoes are a big reason why. They have butter, cream cheese, and half & half. Awesome!

I also made a cranberry orange walnut relish from this recipe. I was going to make my mom's recipe, but I decided to try this new one. I like it when I sampled it.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Raspberry Cheesecake Recipe You Will Love

2010-11-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hi! If you are ever in need of a good cheesecake recipe, here is a good one. I took this picture with my phone last week. I accidently left the cheesecake in the oven a couple of minutes too long, so my graham cracker crust was a little darker than usual. This cheesecake is actually baked twice. It is completely cooled in the refrigerator between bakings. The cheesecake layer is baked first for 35 minutes and then the sour cream layer is added on later and baked again for 5 minutes. This recipe is not quick and easy, but it's well worth it.

Last week on Twitter, I mentioned I was in the process of making this recipe. Sarah Martina Parker asked for the recipe. Between the cheesecake layer and raspberry topping, there is a sour cream layer. I'll I can say is yum!

I've made this recipe since about 1995. I got it from a online newsgroup at my previous job. It was published in the Lewiston Morning Tribune in 1994. I've never been to Idaho, but thank you Idaho newspaper! The modifications I've made to the recipe are to use low-fat cream cheese, light sour cream, vanilla paste, and Splenda.

RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE

My friends and family love the taste of this cheesecake. I always use low fat cream cheese and sour cream. I regularly use Splenda instead of sugar. I like using vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract; I like seeing the bits of vanilla bean.

Makes: 12 slices minimum; more when cut smaller

Preparation Time: At least 1 hour

Need: 10-inch springform pan

Bake Time: 35 minutes, plus second baking for 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust:	2 Tablespoons sugar or Splenda 1½ Cups graham cracker crumbs 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
First Layer:	3 8-ounce packages low-fat cream cheese 3 eggs 1 Cup sugar or Splenda 1 Tablespoon vanilla paste (sometimes available @ Trader Joe’s) or vanilla extract
Second Layer:	1 pint light sour cream 3 Tablespoons sugar or Splenda 1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)
Topping:	1 10-ounce package frozen raspberries, unsweetened 2 Tablespoons sugar or Splenda 1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Mix crushed graham crackers, sugar, & melted butter. Pat onto bottom only of large, deep, springform pan.
Let the light cream cheese soften in a bowl at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Mix together the light cream cheese, eggs, sugar, & vanilla paste until smooth and pour into pan.
Bake 35 minutes.
Remove from oven and refrigerate at least 45 minutes to stop cooking action.
Mix together light sour cream, sugar, and vanilla paste until smooth and spread over cooled cheesecake. Bake 5 additional minutes at 350 degrees.
Refrigerate until cool.
To make topping, cook frozen raspberries with sugar and cornstarch over medium heat, stirring until thickened. Cool and add to the top of the cheesecake.
Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

Note: To save time, I make the sour cream layer and raspberry topping a day ahead of time.

Enjoy!

Anthonette Chavez

Anthonette@gmail.com

Baby Card

2010-11-21T17:24:00.000-08:00

Hi there! Hope your weekend has been good. We had an awesome impromptu dinner at a friend's house last night: enchiladas (Michoacan style), carnitas, mashed Peruvian beans, Mexican rice, and a great pumpkin cake for dessert. {Burp!}

So on to the card. I made this simple card for a baby shower at school this week. The stamps used (Jessie's ABCs and Bannerific) are from Lawn Fawn. The stamps are awesome! I love how it's easy to line up the alphabet stamps. I also love that they included multiples of the same letter; very practical.

The patterned paper I used has texture. You can sort of see the glossy areas in this photo.

For the baby shower this week, I made a Raspberry Cheesecake that my friends love. I will provide the recipe tomorrow.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Jessie's ABCs & Bannerific (Lawn Fawn)

Paper: White (Papertrey Ink), All About Boys patterned paper (DCWV)

Ink: Basic Black (Stampin' Up)

Tools: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: foam tape (3M), buttons (Stampin' UP), baker's twine (Etsy)

Hello Kitty Gift Bag & Matching Tag

2010-11-16T12:03:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! I have so many projects to show you in the next weeks. Here's a gift bag and gift tag I made for PSA Essentials using their Hello Kitty Reindeer Games set of Peel & Stick stamps. I'd like to encourage you to check-out the PSA Stamp Camp blog and become a follower. Each week, Libby posts items from the design team members. Today, she posted my gift bag.

Here's a closer look at the tag. I found this gift bag in an expensive pack at Michael's. I loved the mustard color. It goes very well with my favorite Crushed Curry paper from Stampin' Up.

For those of you asking, PSA Essentials products are available online at places like FineStationery.com, CambriaCove.com, and Expressionery.com. They are also available in stores like Papyrus. For a complete list of stores, check here.

Have a great day!

Hello Kitty Gift Bag & Tag Ingedients
Stamps: Hello Kitty - Reindeer Games (PSA Essentials)
Paper (all Stampin' Up): Very Vanilla, Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, patterned paper
Ink: Grapefruit (PSA Essentials)
Tools: 1 1/16" circle punch (EK Success), 1.25" circle punch (All Night Media), 2" circle punch (Fiskars), Crop-a-Dile (We R Memory Keepers)
Other: gift bag (Michael's), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, pink lace, foam tape (3M), Silver thread, eyelet (Making Memories), Copic markers, glitter pen (Sakura), button (Papertrey Ink)

Coordinated Letter Box Set

2010-11-14T19:48:00.000-08:00

This is the lovely letter box set of cards and goodies I made during the second class last Saturday at the A Muse Art Stamps store. The amazing Julie Ebersole was the teacher.

We made:

the box
dividers for the interior of the box
4 notecards
decorated Post-It note pad
sleeve for postage stamps
decorated metal paper clips

All the paper was already cut and scored by Her Royal Rubberness herself. LOL! I got to use a Slice machine for the first time to cut the bird and branch silhouette for the outside of the box.

I love Julie's design style. I loved her use of the silver washi tape on the upper right-hand corner of the notecard. Silver washi tape is yummy!

We did have some excitement during the class. I man walked in through the back door of the A Muse shop (I didn't see this happen) and landed up in the owner's office. From the corner of my eye, I could see a man that kept peeking out of the office. I didn't know this was the owner's office, and the man, I assumed he worked for A Muse. Well....he didn't! The owner walked into her office and did a big step back when she met up with him. He claims he was moving and was looking for boxes. Ya...right! She asked him to leave. Luckily, nothing was missing from her office.

Thanks for stopping by!

Seattle Was a Blast!

2010-11-12T19:03:00.000-08:00

Hola! I had the best time in Seattle last weekend. It was my first trip there. Loved it! From the moment Ericka picked me up at the airport, until I flew out on Sunday evening, we were shopping at craft stores, talking about stamping, taking stamping classes, or actually stamping. On Friday night (actually, Saturday morning) we were up until 3AM! We were in her studio working away.

We had to be up early on Saturday because we had 2 classes at A Muse Art Stamps store taught by the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G Julie Ebersole. Her Royal Ruberness did not disappoint. She is so fun! These had to be my favorite classes ever. I can't remember enjoying a class so much.

Here are the cards we made during the first class. They are all fun and they are all very "Julie". I LOVE Julie Ebersole's design style!

Well, the guys and I are going to dinner right now. I'll post the projects from the 2nd class tomorrow.

Have a great one and thanks for stopping by!

How To Videos From PSA Essentials

2010-11-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hey there! Just a quick blog post since I'm running late to help set up the book fair at school. I'm pretty excited because I'm flying out tomorrow morning to Seattle...just me! While I'm going to miss my 2 favorite guys, I'm visiting one of my best friends, Ericka. Ericka has been inviting us to Seattle for years, but this is my first trip to the city. On Saturday morning, we are taking two A Muse Artstamps classes from Her Royal Rubberness (love that nickname), Julie Ebersole. It will be a thrill to meet her. I've admired her work (and sense of humor) for quite some time, so I can't wait. Besides the classes, there will be sightseeing, shopping, making cards in Ericka's studio, and meeting some of her friends.

Before I go, I wanted to let you know about some great videos that Libby at PSA Essentials created:

Adios!

Last-Minute Halloween Project

2010-11-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Sorry for posting these several days late.

I decided to make these last Thursday night around 10 PM. I needed them for the Little Guy's classmates the following day. My Costco had a large pack of mini-playing cards in the Halloween section. I decided to give them to his classmates, instead of candy. Kids get too much candy on Halloween anyway. These were the leftovers I handed out to little ones on Halloween night. I also handed out candy.

These were simple and I was able to make them pretty fast.

The stamps are from two PSA Essentials stamp sets: Hello Kitty Trick or Treat and UBU Happy Halloween.

Treat Cover Ingredients

Stamps: Hello Kitty Trick or Treat, UBU Happy Halloween (PSA Essentials)

Paper: white (Papertrey Ink), Basic Black (SU!)

Ink: black, orange/black (PSA Essentials)

Tools: 1.75" circle punch (SU!), 2" circle punch (Fiskars)

Other: Copic markers, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

UR Glamtastic

2010-10-29T23:13:00.000-07:00

Yay, it's the weekend! I am t-i-r-e-d. This morning was filled with Halloween activities at school. The Little Guy loved every minute of it. I wish I had a Halloween costume, but I couldn't think of anything to wear. I need to start planning earlier next year.

My card today uses a set from the PSA Essentials called Fashionista from Kyla May's artwork line called Smirk. She creates very cute artwork.

Speaking of fashion, I haven't watched the finale of Project Runway, but I happened to hear that Gretchen won. I wanted Mondo to win; I love his style and ability to combine textile patterns.

Have a good one!

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Fashionista - Smirk (PSA Essentials)
Paper: Real red die cute flower (Stampin' Up), Crushed Curry - textured (Stampin' Up), Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink), Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Black (PSA Essentials), Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
Tools: Scoring Board (Martha Stewart), Circle Cutter (Martha Stewart), 2" circle punch (Fiskars), Big Shot with Sizzix Harlequin Embossing Plate (Stampin' Up)
Other: Copics, Diamond Sparkles (PSX), chipboard (Maya Road), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Red/White baker's twine (Annie42.Etsy.com), buttons (Papertrey Ink), clear adhesive dots (Zots), Scotch tape (3M), 1/16" punch (Fiskars)

Susan G. Komen Gift Trio

2010-10-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hey there! Today is my first day posting projects done with PSA Essential stamps. I submitted these projects last month to get considered for the design team. Libby asked me to create October projects for breast cancer awareness month. I decided to create a gift trio to give someone if they were doing a Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure walk.

I used the stamps from the Dare to Dream and Frenchie sets. I created a card, decorated a water bottle, and a Tic Tac container.

My family has been hit hard with cancer and breast cancer in particular. I've had 3 aunts (my dad's sister and my mom's youngest sisters) affected by breast cancer.

My Aunt Christine (pictured above on the left) passed away 4 months ago from complications of an aggresive type of breast cancer called Inflammatory Breast Cancer. My aunts, mom, sisters, and cousins do annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Walks in New Mexico. My Aunt Christine and Aunt Pauline are pictured here at a walk in June 2006.

Here's a picture from a few weeks ago of my Aunt Pauline (a 10-year survivor), my mom, my cousin Maya (my late aunt's daughter), my sister Leonel, my sister Esther, and my cute niece Alexa.

This photo of Maya's back brought tears to my eyes and still does everytime I see it. My 15-year old cousin Maya did the walk in memory of her mom. Let's all do our part to fund breast cancer research and to be proactive about our own health. Get your mammograms, ladies and also be aware about Inflammatory Breast Cancer, which is not detected by a mammogram.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to help the Little Guy with his homework and to bake some cookies.

Happy 50th Birthday - A Trio of Cards

2010-10-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry dearies, I've actually been super busy in my little studio, but I wanted to make time to post some cards I made over a week ago. My friend Rekha asked me to make a card for her sister's 50th birthday. I actually made 3 cards for her to choose from.

This first card is my favorite and Rekha's as well. I like the Crushed Curry color with the Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry patterned paper. I used my Silhouette to cut the Happy Birthday sentiment. Probably the hardest part of this card was adding the dimensional adhesive behind the sentiment. I like the faux stitching around the edges and the rounded corners.

This next card is a 4.25 inch circular card. I cut the numbers with the Silhouette using some American Crafts paper. You can't see the details, but the chocolate chip paper is embossed with a woodgrain pattern. The heart stamp is from Stampin' Up and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. The numbers are mounted on the card with dimensional tape.

This last card is super simple and my least favorite of the trio I'm showing you today. I guess I don't like the rounded corners on top. Again I used my Silhouette to cut the Happy Birthday banner. I ran the Crushed Curry layer through the Big Shot with an impressions plate from Papertrey Ink. I rubbed some Fresh Snow ink on the embossed layer to add some dimension. The banner is on a layer of vellum.
I added some faux stitching and some purple half pearls.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!