How It All Started....Baby In A Crib Card and More

I finally have a couple of new cards. The one card was so much work, but it was also so much fun. Every now and then I need to make cards I place up for donations as this helps to keep me in supplies and doing the things I do to help others. I hope you all will enjoy them. The Baby In A Crib Card turned out so cool! I'm also adding a new Swing Card for those who make a donation. I appreciate the support I've been shown and I hope these cards will bring you lots of crafty fun  .

What a week! As usual, I keep many irons in the fire and often find myself getting lost as I go from one project to another. This being said; I can't resist a challenge. I have a dear friend who likes to test me in a good way. Every now and then she will find something on the internet (usually Pinterest....she's addicted!...lol....sorry Patty, but you admitted it...lol) Patty sent me a picture of a card she wanted me to make as challenge for making cutting files. I enjoy a good challenge and seem to make time for them. Insomnia has really helped  me to keep up and get a few fun things done that I haven't had the time for.

Her challenge was the cutest little bear in a bed. I love paper piecing, bears, and dimensional cards so I took on this challenge and am glad to say it was successful. Of course, this made me think of other things to make. I haven't designed any new cards in a while. Since the design of the Bear was a challenge card made from a photo I'm not sure if I can share this or not.

With baby showers and new baby arrivals coming up soon, my mind went to baby things and I created the Baby In A Crib card. It is so... cute! My dear husband it so sweet. He told me he can hardly wait to bring it to work to show the ladies. I spent more time on making this card than any card I've ever made. I couldn't stop thinking of things. This card comes with all sorts of goodies. I made bibs for them head bands, mobile, bottles, bears, hats and made sure to make the babies in three different skin tone colors using a skin tone color chart.

When I made the very first Baby In A Crib card my always thinking husband thought it would be cut if the baby would move in the crib. I loved his idea! So I added a homemade Wobbler. You should see how adorable this little baby looks wobbling in its crib. I wish I would have made a video. If I get the time, I just might have to make one.

Some time ago I made a video showing how to make the homemade Wobblers then I remembered it was one of the videos I deleted by accident. Good news! I found another YouTube tutorial by Charming Custom Crafts and she has a great tutorial. I do mine a little differently. After I loop the wire and leave a little bit of wire on both ends to poke through the holes I bend them flat, tape over it then glue another circle on top to cover the wire. If you would like to take a look at this video you can take a look here -----> Homemade Wobbler Tutorial

Below are some photos (I still wish I could take better photos) of the Baby In A Crib, and Swing Card 2014. These are the cards I will email to those who make a donation. The Baby In A Crib is in Studio V2, Studio V3, and .svg format. I totally forgot to convert the Swing Card 2014. Oh, I almost forgot! The Baby In A Crib card comes with a cutting file envelope for mailing and giving. The nice thing about this card is that it folds flat. I did make the mobile a little too high, but it fit in the envelope I made so all is well. The first card I made will probably just sit around. After seeing this baby with the Wobbler I wouldn't want to give it to anyone any other way. Did I say it is so....Cute!...lol Thank for looking and again, thank you for your kindness and support.

Update: I took the time to make a video. Of course, I'm not too good at making videos either...lol

Challenge Card

Hurry! Hurry! Hear All About It..... Newspaper Trinket Box and Candy Dish

Lately, I haven't had a lot of time to craft as much as I like, but this weekend we had two of our wonderful grandchildren. Our granddaughter loves to make things so I decided we would try our hands at making some recycled newspaper projects. We decided on making a trinket box (this is what my granddaughter wanted) and I made a candy dish. She loves her blinged up trinket box and really enjoyed painting it up with the Ink Splash watercolor wash. She had a hard time making the rolls so the grandma (me).... lol had to make all of them and do the rolling to make the base, lid, and circles. She helped with the gluing and picking out the embellishments. I hot glued the embellishments and at the age of six she didn't need to use the glue gun even though she wanted to try.Not on my watch; I've burned myself one too many times to let her use the glue gun. :)

Here are some pictures of the end results. The supplies and directions are below. My granddaughter is so proud of her trinket box. She said she was going to sleep with it.

Here are the supplies you need.

1. Several about three packets of the lovely fliers they insert inside your newspaper.Fold over into thirds and cut. The strips will be about 10 inches in length and 3 inches wide. They don't have to be perfect.

2. A 12 inch wooden skewer and a marker with a large barrel or something similar. You'll be using these to roll the newspaper.

3. A fast drying glue. I used Allen's Turbo Tacky Glue

4. Gloss-Lustre' Modge Podge

5. Optional: Krylon Triple Thick Glaze

6. Thick rubber band

Start on the lower left corner of the strip of newspaper and rolling with the skewer. When you get to the end you dab a bit of glue to hold the strip closed and you will now have a tubular piece. Roll enough of these to make the base the size you want it to be. I used about 30 for the candy dish base.

After you have all of the strips rolled begin flattening them out with your hand or a rolling pin. My hands got tired and I learned the rolling pin was easier.

Roll the flattened pieces on the skewer. Make sure to roll it fairly tight. When you get towards the end, add a dab of glue to the next tubular piece and insert it in the end of the one you just rolled. Keep on doing this until you reach the base size you would like. ** Hint: Have a rubber band handy. If you need to leave your project or use your hands for something else the rubber band will hold the circular base together until you are ready to glue it.

Once you have glued the end of your base set it aside and begin rolling the edge pieces. Depending on which one you like. If you like the large holes in the candy dish you will use the wide barrel of the marker. The bottom pieces are smaller and use two strips rolled together and the top circles use 3 pieces. If you like the tight rolls like the ones in the trinket box you use a skewer to roll these to the size you want.

After you have made your circular rolls you can now glue the to the edges of the base. You will need to make 2 rolls as shown in the pictures.

Now it's time to make the lid. You will do this in the same manner as the base. Every now and then check it to see how much you need by holding it over the opening and see how it will fit. You will be shaping the piece so you need to remember to allow room make the lid. After you have the size you need, you can begin shaping it. Be careful and gentle as you shape the lid. You do this by gently pushing up the center and working your way down. If you've ever quilled you'll understand how easily this is done. It's really easy, even if you haven't quilled, you just need to take it slow.

After the lid is finished, you will want to brush the Mod Podge on the inside and let it dry a little while, then paint the top of the lid and the dish. If you want to use a watercolor wash do not Mod Podge until after you paint. My granddaughters trinket box is painted and the candy dish is not painted. Please don't place the lid on the dishes until it is thoroughly dry and no longer has a tacky feel to it. If you dish continues to feel tacky spray it with the Krylon triple Thick Glaze.

These are quite lovely, but they are time consuming. When I make more of them, I'll make some of the rolled trips while watching T.V. and have piles of them ready for the next dish.

I hope everyone will get the time to make these. They look really nice and can be quite decorative.

Tutorial and Cutting Files Share for an Indian Wedding Invitation

Good day to all. Today, I wanted to share a video tutorial on how to make cards with a sketched intricate design. I was asked to make this video from a nice lady named Shehnaz. She sent me a link so I could see some pictures of traditional Indian wedding invitations. I was so anxious to make one. At first, I went about the hard way of doing things, then I discovered an easier way and wanted to share it with others. I made about three different designs and cut them all out. The pictures below are one of them with a different design than I used in the video. This design was the hard way....lol It took me forever to get it designed then a light went on. I now can share a much easier and faster way to create this lovely card. The pictures just don't do it any justice. The gold gel pen I used looks silver in the picture and it is really a lovely gold. I'm not much of a photographer, but try to share pictures of finished projects to give everyone an idea of what their own creations can look like.

If by chance you don't want to go through the time to make one of these I'm sharing the cutting file. It is in Studio V3 format. Here is the link to download this file: Indian Wedding Invitation Download and Indian Wedding Invitation V2  If you get the chance to make one I would love to see how your card turned out and learn about your experience. You can always email me by using the "Email Me" link on the right hand side of my blog page. Happy Crafting Everyone!

Update: Several people  have requested the link to where they can download the font I used in the video so I wanted to post this update. It can be downloaded from Dafont and they have other nice decorative fonts you may want to check out while you're there. Here is the link: Vintage Decorative Signs There are many free decorative fonts at Dafont and other font sites. I have several and just love the things we can do with them in the Studio program.