About Me

I'm married to a sweet and wonderful guy. Finally finished college but can't seem to find a job in a lab, I'm a Microbiology major. Hope to get a good job and be able to start a family. I love to craft, especially with paper products. I've recently started an etsy store, dreamer633.etsy.com. I like to try new products and techniques.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Newest Knitted Hat!


In between working on a calendar layout swap I've been knitting hats, this one is intended as a Christmas gift for my hubby's 95 year old grandmother, she loves hats! It is knitted on a knifty knitter with YarnBee's Cameo Bulky black yarn, very soft and silky but fibrous. I wanted to add a brim but the material wouldn't let me, made it difficult to see the loops.

New Hobby!


Well, I'm one of those people that like variety with everything. I can't eat the same thing over and over and I can't do the same thing over and over, lol. I love scrapbooking and working with paper but I decided that I needed to pick up a different craft for variety. I've read and seen so many cute projects using the knifty knitter (another provocraft item :)) that I decided to give it a try. I picked up the set of looms at Walmart and in my spare time (between work, scrapbooking and being with my husband) I made my husband a camo beanie. It took about 3 1/2 to 4 hours but I'm very pleased with it, he even said he'll wear it! I'm currently working on a black hat for my grandmother, she is a hat lady!

Friday, November 19, 2010

New ATC Back!!!!


I'm excited, I've been looking on ebay for a stamp that I liked for the back of my ATCs and finally found one. It is actually a lot of 2, but I really like one, the other is ok. I received them in the middle of doing my vintage ATCs and started using them for the last 2 groups. Here is a picture of what they will look like, I used Tim Holtz's Fire Brick Distress ink for this one. It is so pretty, with a fairy woman and flowers!

Groups 2 and 6 of the Vintage Xmas ATC Swap


Here are my next 2 atcs for the Christmas Vintage ATC Swap on the cricut MB. The first one is for group 2, I chose the song "Winter Wonderland" which coincendantly is also the name of the ATC! I used a light blue glitter paper for my border and printed a vintage photo of birds (maybe robins?) on an icy wooden fence. The picture is bordered with holly and mistletoe and the phrase "A Merry Christmas" is on the photo. I added red microbeads to the bottom bunch of holly berries and clear microbeads to the fence post, to simulate ice. It is hard to see in the picture but it really glistens like ice! I also added a dark ribbon and a silver button that I also decorated with red microbeads.\
The second ATC is for group 6 and I used the song "Let it Snow". This ATC is titled, "Winter's Child". I embossed some black cardstock with the snowflake cuttlebug folder and popped a vintage image of a beautiful girl in the snow. I then added some I-rock heat set embellishments in pink, green and blue around the picture.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Vintage Christmas ATCs


I've joined GrammaP's Vintage Christmas ATC swap on the Cricut MB. Each group has 2 christmas songs, and you have to create an atc based on words from the song, a memory, etc.
For group one I chose the song "Jolly Old St Nick" and tried a new technique. I bought one of Ranger's watermark resist ink pads and a pretty stamp I had seen at HL of a vintage santa. I stamped the vintage santa on white, glossy cardstock and then sprayed Olive Green glimmermist onto the stamped image. The stamped image resisted the ink and I was left with a green atc with the white santa showing through. This was not as easy as it sounds because I tried 3 different ways to make the resist work with various inks and had little luck until I tried the glimmer mist. I added the red, gold and green beads because their colors and shape made me think of vintage christmas ornaments. I called this ATC "Kris Kringle".

For group 5 I chose the song "Mistletoe and Holly" and printed a vintage picture of a bell with mistletoe and berries that has "A Merry Christmas" printed on it. For the background paper, I again tried a new technique. I read in an idea book that you can take paint sample chips from Home Depot or Lowes and use them for ATCs. So, I went shopping, lol. I found some really pretty 3 tiered red paint chips and cut them so that the lines were diagonal, I wanted the suggestion of candy canes. I cut out the bell image and popped it on the background with foam dots. I also added a gold ribbon at the top of the bell for some pizzazz. Then I added some bottle green skittles at the top for an accent. This ATC was named "Mistletoe Christmas".

Sunday, October 10, 2010

By the Number ATCS



I joined JeanP's by the number ATC swap on the cricut board. Each person chose a number between 1-25 and then were assigned a theme based on that number. My themes were innocence, patriotic, playing the melody and bon voyage. I had a hard time at first coming up with my ideas. I never like to do the expected, although sometimes I do (lol). When I think of innocence I think of sweet children and cute animals but that was too generic so I googled innocence images to see what would come up, nothing. Then I googled the word innocence and found the song, "Innocence" by Averil Lavigne. I think of pink as an innocent color so the concept for my "Innocence" ATC was born. I used pink background paper with music notes and added an image of Avril Lavigne with the chorus from her song. I also added pink, frilly ribbon to her image and 3 small pink pearls.

I decided to find songs for all of my themes after I did Innocence so for Patriotic I used the song "Angel Flight" by Radney Foster for my inspiration. This song is in tribute to all members of the US military, especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. If you haven't listened to it I would look it up on youtube, it will bring you to tears. I printed a photo image of a C-130, the types of planes used and popped it up on a background of white feathers. I added a tag at the bottom "Angel Flight" held on by blue brads. At the top I adhered a silver dog tag with the word Remember written on it. The background paper is some patriotic paper I found that has the statue of liberty, let freedom ring, flags, etc on it.

For playing the melody I decided to use the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band. I found an image online of the devil laying the golden fiddle at Johnny's feet and thought it was perfect. The background paper is orange with smoky gray tendrils throughout. I added a popped sticker of a fiddle and bow to complete the look.

For Bon Voyage, I again went outside the box. I know that "bon voyage" is french for good journey, my friend (meant to be a long journey) but I didn't want to do anything travel related. I found the song, "The Long Goodbye" by Brooks and Dunn and decided this would work. I wanted to emphasize the broken heart and the distance between 2 people who fall out of a relationship. The background paper is from DCWV photo stack, featuring raindrops but I thought it could also be tears. I added a broken heart image from the Indie Art cart and placed over all alpha beads spelling out "Au revoir mon ami" which is french for goodbye my friend.

This was fun but challenging! I can't wait to see everyone elses ATCs!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Last Home Sweet Home ATC


This is the last one I needed to make. This wasn't my original idea but I think it's probably my favorite of all 4. The card base is Bazill orange and layered over that is a black and white image that I found on the internet. The image consists of a log cabin in the woods, very peaceful and serene. I added ribbon featuring leaves in fall colors and then added a key shaped brad on top of the ribbon. I've titled this ATC "Key to Peace". This is a title that lets the holder decide what it means because it can mean many things. For me it means that being in lovely and serene surroundings is the definition of peace.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Texas ATC


This is my 3rd atc for kopperheads home sweet home swap on the cricut board. No Texan can talk about home without mentioning Texas, it just isn't done! The tag is actually a stamp that I colored with pencils and then I cut the frame around it from Destinations. I tried to go with Texas colors of red, white, blue (I used cream instead of white) but still make it look rustic/country. Simple but heartfelt, hence the name "Where the Heart Is".

Monday, September 6, 2010

Cricut MB Home ATCs


Ok, I apologize, I've been MIA for a while now. I've actually been doing lots of scrapbooking, card making and atc making but just haven't taken the time to scan pictures and post to my blog. These ATCs are for kopperhead's Home Sweet Home ATC swap on the cricut messageboard. The first one is of a robin and its nest, I stamped and colored the robin using prismacolors. The branch is from gyspy wanderings (I cut it into pieces) and the nest is from Sugar and Spice. I stamped clouds and then chalked over them with blue chalk. I've titled this atc, appropriately, "Robin's Home".

The second atc is also for kopperhead's home sweet home swap. I can just imagine what you are thinking, "How does this fit into the home sweet home theme?". Well, maybe the title will explain. I've titled it "In His Arms". For me, just being with my husband is home, no matter where we are. This is a simple yet glitzy atc. I printed a silhouette of a couple dancing on pale blue paper, layered it onto sapphire blue glitter paper and layered that onto black cardstock. Then to jazz it up I added 3 blue rhinestone accents and a button covered with glossy accents and turquoise microbeads.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Bird ATC


Well,
I finished my bird atc. I love cardinals, they are my favorite song bird so I knew right away that I would do something featuring cardinals for my bird atc. My MIL is in the process of starting a photography business and is always snapping pictures. This particular picture was too gorgeous for me to pass up! I love the way the male and female are lined up with each other. If you can only imagine how this looks as an 11x17, too beautiful for words! I wanted to keep the focal point the pic, so I didn't do much embellishing but I love the clean lines this atc has! I did add a sky blue banner across the right corner which reads "In love, there is harmony" printed on my computer in italics and I attached it using red brads. I matted the photo in red and brown and really like how the combination works together with the photo. I've titled this atc "Soul Mates".

Monday, July 19, 2010

Sea Life ATC


Well, it took me about 2 weeks of planning, buying, implementing, etc. but I finally finished my sea life atc. This is based off the gel card on splitcoaststampers, altered to fit an atc. I cut the turtle and sea weed off the cartridge Life's a Beach, adhered them to light blue cardstock. Then I made my gel bags and covered with a dark turquoise frame featuring an oval cutout. I couldn't find the frame I wanted to use so designed one on my gypsy, boy does that thing come in handy! These are actually very heavy feeling! And the title? "Turtle Crossing".

Sunday, June 27, 2010

2nd Butterfly ATC


This is the ATC for my butterfly group B on the cricut MB. I did the butterflies like I did the chili peppers on the christmas card below. But this time the colors I used were raspberry, pool, stream, and wild plum. Each ATC is unique but the same, but I didn't want to show all of them so here is an example. You can't really tell from the picture but these are really like a mini framed picture. There is the butterflies on acetate and framing the acetate is light pink and dark purple cardstock. I used foam dimensional adhesive to give the appearance of a true frame. I thought they needed something more so I added colored and shaped rhinesones. 2 diagonal corners have 3 different flower rhinestones in matching shades, I varied the color on the ATCS, this was is lavendar and clear. Then to tie the rhinestones with the butterflies I added two mini rhinestone butterflies, again the colors are varied on the ATCs but in the example they are pink and blue. The background cardstock behind the acetate is a soft raspberry pink. Hope you guys like this, it took me a lot of work to make the frames. I used my gypsy but I'm still not very good with it, although I've had it for a while. I used gypsy wanderings and just used a basic postage stamp cut and put in a rectangle in the center to produce the frame, it was an interesting experiment! Oh, and by the way I've decided to call this ATC "Kaleidoscope Butterflies"!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Wildlife ATC


This ATC is for the wildlife group in my cricut MB ATC swap. I love owls and knew right away that I wanted to do an owl for my wildlife ATC. This pic is one I found browsing the internet, I couldn't believe how gorgeous he looked! I layered the pic on light yellow cardstock which is then layered onto dark brown cardstock. I have these beautiful leaf shaped yellow rhinestones and adhered one to the top middle. Then there are 2 buttons on top, adhered and covered the middles with Ranger's Glossy Accents. I then poured copper microbeads onto the buttons. If you look closely, especially when its right in front of you, there are actually 2 owls on the ATC. The owl in the pic and the owl I inadverently made with the buttons and leaf rhinestone (yes, you do have to use your imagination!). I've titled this ATC "Silent Sentry". For me, titling is an important part of the process and it actually took me a long time to come up with one I liked!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

LSS Card Swap


Ok,so for this card swap we had to make 6 cards any size, any style but they had to have a vellum or acetate overlay. I like vellum don't get me wrong but it can be a pain to work with so I went with acetate. I've had this set of stamps from Deadbeat Designs since last year and have never used them, they are some I bought to make Christmas cards with this year.

The first stamp is a chili pepper bunch with a bow. I stamped the peppers onto acetate with black Stazon. Then I flipped the acetate over and used Ranger alcohol inks to color it in. I'm don't have a lot of experience using alcohol inks on acetate, I couldn't keep the colors from blending into one shade but it still looks pretty. I used Red pepper, butterscotch, terra cota, eggplant and cranberry on the peppers. I used meadow, lettuce and bottle on the bow.

I then cut out some corners using my corner punch, it cuts 2 differnt types of corners per punch. Cut them out in 2 different but coordinating shades of green and applied the layered corners with a red brad to opposite corners. Not only did the corners "spice" up the card but it helped me anchor the acetate to the craft paper. I then stamped the greeting stamp that goes with the pepper stamp, "Seasoned Greetings" on the inside. The inside of the card is a soft tan color.

I know its too soon for Christmas cards but I've really been wanting to use these stamps and this card swap seemed like a good way to start! I'll post the cards I receive when I get them back.

Butterfly ATC


This is the ATC for group 1A of my animal/insect themed ATC swap on the cricut MB. I call it "Primary Butterfly" and if you know anything about color theory you should be able to figure out why!

I adhered a blue butterfly from the floral dept onto a 5 layer red flower (cut from Accent Essentials cartridge)with yellow flowersoft in the middle. The grass is from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge. Everything is layered onto a bright yellow background, which is then layered onto black. This was a lot of fun to create and I've already started designing the butterfly ATC for group 1B!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Cricut MB Tag Swap


Well, I've finished my tags for the tag swap on the cricut MB. I signed up for 2 christmas and 1 vintage spot. The first image is the vintage, I took a page from a dictionary, inked around the edges with vintage linen from Tim Holtz's Distress inks and adhered it to thin chipboard. Then I stamped the dress form onto cream colored cardstock and cut out the image and adhered it to the dictionary page with foam dots. I then added metal corners (they are antique brass and have a vintage look) and adhered the whole thing to a shipping tag from Office Depot.

The second image is for my Christmas 1 group. I sprayed then entire tag with Olive Green Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels and then used their winter trees glimmer screen and sprayed the entire tag again with Candy Apple Red. To help emphasize the tree shape I then traced around it with gold stickles.

The last image is for my second Christmas group. For this I sprayed the entire tag with Electric Blue Smooch Spritz. I then cut out some snowflakes on my cricut from Graphically Speaking. Each snowflake was then covered in silver stickles. Once the stickles dried I applied Ranger Glossy Accents and then adhered them to the tag. Hopefully everyone likes them, these were either completely new or almost new techniques that I used!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

US Virgin Island ATC


Well, it didn't take me long to come up with my USVI ATC, thank goodness! The wording is printed on green vellum, took forever for it to dry. I really liked the pic I found but thought something more was needed yet I really didn't want to detract from the pic. I went to Walmart (only place near me open with scrapbooking supplies :)) and looked all over and finally came to the bead area. I found these pretty green and brown beads that I decided were perfect! The clear green makes me think of sea glass and the brown beads have faint lines which suggest shells to me. So, here it is! In case you're wondering how the beads are attached I used the Bazzill N Stitchez method, pierced the paper, ran the floss through and then threaded the bead onto the floss, definitely something I'm gonna have to do more of!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Vacation ATC ~ Vegas


Well, after enjoying the vintage ATC swap so much I went ahead and joined TexasTam's Vacation ATC swap on the cricut MB. I signed up for Vegas, b/c that's where we were last October and the U.S. Virgin Islands because that's where we honeymooned. I've been stewing over the Vegas ATC forever it seems! I knew what I wanted the look to be but couldn't pull it together. Well, here it is! I used the crystal brads to give that sparkle that Vegas is known for. The die at the bottom left corner is actually 3 dimensional it projects so high that when placing these in the card sleeve I had to put it in upside down! I actually had to buy 4 sticker packs to get the right amount of red dice, there was only 3 to a pack! But hey, I really wanted the look of the red foil which I know the foil is hard to see in the pic but its there, I promise!

I've got to start thinking about US Virgin Islands now, have some ideas but nothing finalized.

Cardswap Cards



Well, these are the cards I got back from the card swap. It's interesting that so many people chose the exact same paper when there were easily 20 different types to choose from! There are 4 patriotic cards, 1 beautiful hello card (pic does not do it justice at all) and 1 friend card. The friend card is similiar to the one I did, but different paper (same color scheme!).

Sunday, May 9, 2010

LSS Card Swap

Every 2 weeks my local scrapbook store (LSS) hosts a card swap. We are given certain items we have to use or a theme or a combo of both. For this swap we had to use some paper from Best Creation. There were a lot to choose from but I chose this really pretty, summery paper which featured large pink, green and orange flowers with blue and purple accents. The flowers have glitter and some swiss dot embossing, just gorgeous paper!




I cut out some A2 sized card fronts from the paper, then I stamped {Friends} on a coordinating piece of green cardstock. I adhered the card front to some coordinating pink cardstock. On the inside of the card is a stamped saying that reads "friends are the family you pick yourself". The stamps are from Limited Edition, I got them at Big Lots for only $1!

For the swaps, each time we have to make 6 A2 sized cards without envelopes. I usually make 7 or 8 because we don't get back one of our own and I like to keep one as a prototype for future cards. I love doing these card swaps for 2 reasons, its local so no shipping! and I have received some really gorgeous cards. I'll post some pics in a week or so when I receive the cards!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

I'm Back!


Well, I set up this blog and then abandoned it, maybe I'll use it more if I use it for my cricut needs! I need a place to post pics so I figured this would work. The 2 items above are vintage ATC's I designed for a swap on the cricut message board, hopefully everyone likes them! I've never made an ATC before and I've never done anything vintage either!

Followers