Hooray! I’m back!  For those that don’t know, my FIL lost his footing on an ice patch and fractured his hip at the end of January.  Nadya and I spent 3 weeks in Oklahoma cheering him up and helping to get him settled in rehab.  He’s doing well, and should be coming home soon!  We actually arrived home ourselves late Wednesday – but have had a full schedule between dental visits, gymnastics, and laundry/unpacking.  I managed to squeeze in a little creative time while visiting my Nana (we stopped to visit her for a couple of days on the way home) and again this morning.

I used all sorts of fabulous products to create this fun and easy project!  

     Whew – I told you I used lots of products! Now, let’s get to the goodies! For this basket, I used the basket base SVG file from SVG Cuts Easter Egg Treat Bags kit, sized to 10.5 and cut on my Nana’s Cricut Expression with SCAL. These bags are SUPER easy to put together!  The designer eggs are digital stamps from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff – Cute Easter set.  I opened them in Photoshop and “colored” them using styles from Bannerwoman  (Easter Egg – retired).  The detail work I also did in Photoshop using Jodiann’s Robot Gold styles – I adjusted the pattern size and bevels a bit since I was working with fine detail lines and fills.  Then I printed them out on SU Whisper White CS as I really wanted a smooth and bright finish, trimmed, and adhered them to my bag.The coordinating card was also super-easy to make!   As before, the designer eggs are digital stamps from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff – Cute Easter set.  I opened them in Photoshop and “colored” them using styles from Bannerwoman  (Easter Egg – retired).  The detail work and sentiment  were done in Photoshop, this time using Jodiann’s Robot Princess styles – I love the versatility of her styles!  For the sentiment I added a color overlay to one of the Robot Princess styles – I am quite please with the end result.  The sentiment layer is edged with an EK Success punch and matted with a bit of bluish glitter CS from DCWV – one of my many mat stacks.  I used the same punch to edge it as well. The card base is from my stash and happened to coordinate perfectly with the yellow CS Nana and I used to cut the treat bag.

That’s all from me – at least for today.  We’re having a guy come out to give us an estimate on pruning our Mulberry trees – they’re getting a bit out of hand! Then Nadya and I are off to do our grocery shopping, and have a picnic at the park with one of the local Meet-Up groups – that is if the weather cooperates!  Have a great Monday and following week!  Be sure to stop by Lindsay’s blog – she usually has fabulous eye candy and treats on Mondays, plus links to one of her DT groups creations.

Kristine, the creative mind behind Designs by Kristine, has released a stunning new kit – I LOVE LOVE LOVE the papers and flowers in this kit!

Since I”m fortunate enough to be on her DT, I was able to play a bit early.  My DH asked me to make a sympathy card for a friend who suddenly lost her husband.   I immediately knew I wanted to use one of the wonderful papers from this kit!   My card base is textured white Bazzill CS (6×6).  I printed the fabulous purple DP from Lindsay’s Beginning – I love the subtle coloration and florals – and embossed it with an SU texture plate and my Big Shot.  I used an EK Success punch to create the scallop edge.  The Iris is from a retires SU set – Still Life Stems.  I colored directly on the stamp with my SU markers and then “huffed” before stamping onto Whisper White CS.  I typically use Georgia Pacific or Staples CS for my digi-images, but I wanted the extra crispness that the vivid white SU CS offered.  The image and glitter CS (DCWV) mat were trimmed with my Long Rectangle and Scallop Nestabilites.  I added a bit of Almost Amethyst and Lovely Lilac inks with a sponge dauber to give subtle color to the glittered CS mat.  The narrow organdy ribbon is from my stash.  After adhering everything together, I stamped the sentiment (SU) twice – first with Silver MetalExtra ink (Clearsnap) and then with Vintage Violet (SU) to give an embossed effect.  I added the adhesive pearls from Michaels for a bit of dimension and elegance. I continued the theme on the inside by reprinting the DP from Lindsay’s Beginning with a verse I found on the internet.  The verse reads:  

Although we know at such a time there’s little we can say. We want to let you know that you are in our thoughts today.

My DH was then able to personalize his message. I found my 6×6 envelopes weren’t large enough, so I used a sheet of 12×12 paper and created an envelope for the card too.

Since I was in a card making mood, and this kit is so stunning, I have a little goodie for.  I have created 2 printable (4.5×5.5) cards for you (with Kristine’s permission).  I didn’t add a sentiment, so you can personalize the cards to suit your needs.  You can print them one a single sheet of 8.5×11 paper using a borderless setting and then stamp your sentiment or open them in your favorite editing software and type your sentiment before printing. I hope you enjoy them! If you like what you see, please send your friends to my blog to download for themselves.  Thanks!

That’s all from me.  Mondays are errand running/grocery days, so we’ll be busy busy today!  Be sure to check out Lindsay’s Beginning and the rest of goodies at Kristine’s store (and her blog – I’ve hears there might be goodies there too) and then head over to the DSO store too – the Designers have a released a new Collab Kit – with a twist! You won’t be disappointed!  

It’s Thursday – which means gymnastics for my little one and a new project for Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff! Lindsay has some awesome new Houndstooth papers in her My Grafico store (and they’re on-sale right now!!), as well as some cute Princess stamps.  However, I have once again, used her Love Grows Here set along with Jodiann’s Gelly Hearts and Mini Stripes Light styles to create 4 cute little cards.

Using Lindsay’s Multi-Bracket Paper SVG freebie as a starting point, I experimented in Inkscape until I created Multi-Bracket card base and mat SVG files – definitely a bit of a learning curve, but completely doable! Then I turned to my trusty Photoshop and with the help of Jodiann’s styles, created 5 different papers that I printed out and then using SCAL cut the card bases and mats – I used 5.5 inches as the height for me card base and 5.15 inches for the height of the mat.. Then, using Photoshop again, I selected and printed the stamps from Love Grows Here.

I must admit, I’m rather pleased with the way they turned out – though my fingers were getting a little tired – thankfully I have really good, sharp scissors!  The birds are colored with Copics and Bic Mark-Its; the hearts have a generous coating of red stickles on them, and the the stitching was drawn in with a Blue Spica pen. The sheer organdy ribbon is from my stash. The heart paper is one I created and the card base is from my stash. This was one of my DH’s favorites. This little guy was colored with Bic Mark-Its with a touch of Spica Yellow glitter pen added to his wing and Cool Grey 1 Copic for shadow. Since Lindsay is sponsoring this week’s challenge over at Tuesday Morning Sketches, I used Melissa’s fabulous sketch to guide my layout. I used Bazzill CS and an EK Success Punch to create the image mat.  The card mat is one of my creations; the base is Bazzill textured CS.  The flowers are from Prima (checkout my friend Suzanne’s store – Crafting Connection, for awesome deals on Prima) and the pearls are from Michaels. This was DH’s other favorite!

Yes, once again, I HAD to use the fabulous cupcakes in the Love Grows Here set.  I colored the cupcakes with Copics, Mark-Its, and Spica pens – I used a white gel pen for accent.  The small cupcake sprinkles are coated with Red Stickles while the large sprinkles are Dew Drops from Crafting Connection.  I added ribbon from my stash to the card mat (another of my papers).  The card base is SU.Last but not least, I used the doily heart from Love Grows Here.  I colored the heart with Copics and punched the holes in the lace with my Fiskars hand punch.  The flowers are Prima and the pearls are MS.  Both the card mat and base were created by me.

That’s about it from me, but before you head over to Lindsay’s blog to check our her fab project and goodies – as well as the links to the other DT creations, I have a surprise for you!  I’m giving away the card base and mat SVG cutting files and 4 layered, printable cards – you can get them here.  If you like them, please leave a comment and send your friends to my blog – don’t share the links directly – thanks!

Have a fabulous Thursday!