Paris in Bloom

Well...this is the last card in the "Gardening for Small Spaces" series and I feel like I ended with the best one! I didn't plan it that way, but when I finished this card last night and showed it to my hubby, he said it was his favorite and asked "can I touch it?"
I didn't have a plan or vision when I started making this one, I was just playing...and it just evolved. I guess that is the beauty of creating art.
The background paper is K&CO -Que Sera Sera In Bloom (thus the title of this one) I only had 1 sheet of it-so I hope I can find more because I love it! Thanks for visiting...I would love to hear what you have thought of this series now that it is complete.

Fall Flowers

I wanted to show you what the stamped image looks like before I add the flowers.
At this point I have stamped the leaves & colored them in. I also used chalk pastels to add shading around the leaves, so the background is not white (water color paper)I distressed the edges but have not yet sponged the edges.
Before I started this card, I knew I wanted to use fall colors because I am sure ready for some fall weather- It has just been so hot for so long! This is the 7th card in my "Gardening for Small Spaces" series, so that means there is only one left in this serires. However you could literally make hundreds of flower cards with this stamp set by interchanging flowers & colors...there is no end! You can click on the picture for a larger image.
I am looking forward to the Creating Keepsakes Convention that is coming to San Marcos,TX September 18th-19th If any of yall are also going I would love to hear from you!
Thanks for stopping by!

Beauty is God's handwriting

Continuing on with my series "Gardening for Small Spaces" this is the 6th card I have made using this stamp set. These Geranium's use the mini flower punch which is tiny flower and you use a bunch of them! I used my tweezers to pick them up, add glue & put them in place. The quote is from last year's Stampin' Up catalog, it was a level 1 hostess set. I distressed the edges & sponged using distress ink's in fired brick, tea dye, and antique linen.
I remember that my mom used to have potted Geranium's lined up in the window seal of the big picture window in the front of the house, and I remember walking by and catching the scent of them....so this card reminds me of...and makes me miss my Mom.

Love Simply....Simply Love

I am back to the series of "Gardening for Small Places" This is #5 in a series of 8. This is a stamp set that I will defiantly get my money's worth out of! By now you all know I love making flower cards & these are great because the flowers are little and fit so perfectly on to a standard A-2 card. They are dimensional, but not too raised up either so you can mail them easier.
I hand wrote the sentiment on to the card, but want to have this sentiment made into a stamp...along with several other things on my list.

Watercolored Magnolia

I took a break from my series of 8 to make a sympathy card. My friend Patsy has passed away but will not be forgotten. She was a talented artist & did every craft imaginable. This is a close up before it was made into the card. I wish that the colors on this showed up better in the pictures, because you can't tell that there was a light blue background washed in. This is the stamp I used, by auntieamy.com - They are foam mounted so they cling to acrylic blocks. I used mary Le Plume markers in Brownish grey & Laurel green to ink the stamp, then stamp onto water color paper. I also use the inks from the markers to watercolor in the image. My finished card is 5 1/2 X 5 1/2 and I used papers from K&Co for matting.

Minature Magnolia

Here is #4 in the series of "Gardening for Small Spaces" I am loving these stamps & these smaller flowers so much that I am going to teach a class where you will make all 4 of these cards! That's right...this card plus the cards in the 3 previous posts. (the sunflowers, lillie's, roses, & magnolia) This class is Limited to 7 students only, and will be on Sunday Sept. 20th at the Scrapbook Haus in New Braunfels, TX. I love hearing from you, so feel free to e-mail me or just leave a comment if you want more info about upcoming classes.

Petite Roses

These little Roses are number 3 in the series of 8 from the "Gardening for Small Spaces" stamp set. You can see from this and the previous 2 posts, that the flowers are placed on top of the stamped leaves. I love combining stamping with making flowers, and I really love how these little roses turned out...but they are a little tedious to make.

Mini Lillie's

I don't know why it is that everything in miniature is cuter, but it just is. With no exception to that rule, these little Lillie's turned out cute(if I do say so myself) they are a little tedious to make, but not too hard. I hope the colors show up good-you can click on the picture for a larger image.
This is the second, in the series of 8, from the "Gardening for Small Spaces" set, by Susan Tierney Cockburn.

Summer Sunflowers

I recently purchased a set of stamps by Susan Tierney Cockburn called "Gardening for Small Spaces." In this set there are 8 different leaf scape's designed for you to add you punched flowers on top. It also comes with instructions to make the correct flowers to go with each of the leaf scape's. This is the first card I made using this set. I did a lot of distressing on the edges & sponging using distress inks. I will be making, and posting the next 7 until I have used all the stamps in this set. I really love to combine stamping with making flowers, it is the best of both worlds!

May your day Bloom...

I made this card for my dear friend Linda's Birthday. I didn't photograph the inside but the rest of the sentiment(by Endless Creations)is on the inside. The full phrase is "May your day bloom with wonderful surprises!" The flower is made from petals I punched from coffee filters,then colored with diluted glimmer mist. The Paper is from Basic Grey Lemonade. I just had my sewing machine cleaned & oiled & tension adjusted , so I couldn't resist sewing on this....I am a little out of practice with the sewing so don't look too close!

Purse-onality

Here are a few little purses I made for gifts. They are simply cut using a die-cut machine, then decorated with some flowers that I made.

I can't believe how fast time is flying by, and we still are having extremely hot & dry weather and it seems to drain me of all my energy. Thanks for your encouraging comments...they really keep me going!

More of the same

I feel like this is a little bit like "same song, second verse" because this flower is made, exactly like the light yellow one in my last post, just in blue. I am really liking how these flowers turned out, but still have more ideas in my head to try out....so I am keeping this short & sweet and I am off to experiment, I mean create!

Making ideas into reality

Sometimes I have ideas for flowers floating around in my head for days...or even weeks before I actually sit down to try it. It's a nice when it turns out pretty close to how I saw it in my head. On this flower I used some stringy yarn, and a glass bead in the center. After I made the flower....now what? All I know is that I want it to be the focal point of my card.
I used "core'dinations" color core cardstock. It's black on one side & yellow on the other side. I ran it through the cuttlebug, using an embossing folder,then sanded lightly for the yellow to come through. I added some crochet trim that just happened to match the flower perfectly, and a strip I cut from Basic Grey's Urban Prairie paper. It still needed something...so I added the pink ribbon & bow to make it complete.

Polka Dot & Pink Flowers Purse

This little purse is a stamp by Shirley Rainmann 2005-Make an Impression.
I was experimenting...trying to get the look of "Paper Toling" that Jerri Kay Jimenez recently showed us on her blog. Click here to see hers.
The purse is made from watercolor paper (I like the heaviness of it) I embossed the image in black, then watercolored in the flowers & leaves. Then I punched out flowers & outlined them with a black marker & shaded them with pastels. I shaped the flowers then covered them with Diamond Glaze and added a pink rhinestone in the centers. I hope you cas see how glossy or lacquered they look!
It really turned out better than I expected and I wanna do some more flowers like this!

Tiger Lilly Frame

I will be teaching a class on these flowers in New Braunfels, Tx on Aug 16th, so I made this for the class sample. I have been trying to find more projects to put flowers on, other than cards, so this time I used an unfinished wood frame. I just love these warm colors & this picture of my daughter seemed perfect for it.

Hope you have a great weekend, I am teaching classes today & tomorrow so I will be busy...but I hope to have some new flowers to show you soon!

Summertime Daisies

This image is a self cling rubber stamp by Magenta that I found at the show I went to in Grapevine last weekend. I stamped it onto watercolor paper using Marvy markers, then water colored the image. Then I stamped the flowers on white card stock with the same marker, water colored them (hardly any water on brush) then cut out. I shaped the cut out flowers then attatched on top using a brad, then I used Stickles on the brad & dots on the water colored image.
The finished card is 5 1/2 X 5 1/2

And the Winner is.....

I just got home from out of town, and the first thing I did (even before I unpacked) was to get everyone who left comments for the blog candy,entered the correct number of times. Then I drew out the winner! And the lucky winner is....Marga! Marga, please contact me by e-mail at LLELSIK@AOL.COM so I can get your address! Thank you to all who left comments! I will defiantly do more giveaways in the future!

I found some great stamps at the convention, I also picked up some of the New Frameabilities & Shapeabilities from Spellbinders, some new punches, and some beautiful designer papers. So now I have to find some time to play & create...so I should have something new to show you soon!

Birthday Butterfly with Coffee filter flower

My friend Yuki (who has every die cut imaginable) was sweet enough to let me use them to cut several things before she leaves for 2 months on an extended vacation. I will miss her! So I cut some purses & some butterfly's- Not really knowing what I would make with them at the time. I just picked some pretty papers that I had brought with me. So the other night I started playing & this is what I ended up with.
I actually used scissors & trimmed the butterfly into this shape (it was a little too big before) I made the flower from coffee filters & used glimmer mist in Scarlet watered down to get the color. The paper for the butterfly is Basic Grey's new Lemonade (dandelion) the stripes are fancypants (lovebird). I actually used my sewing machine on this one, you can see it a little in the close up. I am leaving tomorrow morning to Grapevine, TX for "Heirloom's Rubber Stamp & Paper Art Festival" I can't wait! Hopefully I will see lots of new things & come back with lots of ideas.


Don't forget my Blog Candy Giveaway! Just leave your comment in the post below titled "Blog Candy Giveaway" by Sunday July 19.

Purse Album

I found the chipboard album at Michael's in the $1.00 bin...and thought of my sister who has a purse addiction (Gotta luv her) anyway...she is gonna be a grandma soon, so I made this for her. My idea is to take sepia toned pictures of the new baby girl to add to these pages. Since it stands alone, you can use it almost like a frame.


Every page is different (I didn't photograph all of them) On some I left more space for the photo. I plan to personalize it for her before giving it to her. let's hope she doesn't look here & ruin the surprise!

Now that I made one of these, I think I'm hooked! And I want one to keep for myself!
This one was made using papers for K&Co. I also used some ribbon flowers I bought pre made in a pkg at JoAnn's Fabric's. I used nestabilites & some punches & a lot of ribbons.

Don't forget the blog candy giveaway! Leave a comment on the post below (titles blog candy giveaway) to be entered to win.

Blog Candy Give Away

I was in a rush to get this posted so the picture is horrible, but the goodies I am gonna give away are GREAT! I have been amazed at how my little blog has grown and evolved over the all most 7 months since I started it. I really think that getting so many hits, reading your comments and seeing that I have followers are what have not only kept me blogging, but striving to create new things, mostly flowers...I know....but that seems to be what has attracted the most attention....and since I am still like the little kid, who is the youngest of 9....I strive for attention!
So as a thank you to all who visit my little blog, I am giving away a bag full of goodies!
Just leave me a comment ON THIS POST telling me what you like seeing on my blog for a chance to win. If you have a blog & post it on your blog, you get 2 chances to win.(Just let me know that you have posted it so I know to enter your name twice) If you sign up to follow my blog, that gives you another chance to win.(If you all ready follow let me know in your comment so I can also enter your name twice) If you do all 3, then you get 3 chances -I hope that made sense- deadline to enter is Sunday July 19th.

P.S. The goodies include a Mini Craft Caddie, 2 clear stamp sets, 1 flower punch, 1 Luxury stack designer paper~48 pgs 8x8,ribbons & embelishments, and a few other suprises including a hand made 3-D flower card or two!

Oh Cindy at Papers, Pads andPictures has blog candy too