Saturday, July 31, 2021

613 Avenue Create Guest Designer - Paper Shelter Autumn Breeze


Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.– F. Scott Fitzgerald


The Paper Shelter Autumn Breeze digi, Copic markers, Cricut Design Studio
cutting and writing, white gel pen, dragonfly die, small gems

Hey there,

I'm thrilled to be a Guest Designer this month for the fabulous 613 Avenue Create Challenge!  Autumn is  my absolute favorite season and our theme for August is to create a fall project using a choice of four gorgeous color palettes.  I love the cool slate blue colors combined with the warm autumn yellows and oranges in palette #2.  I think the contrast is so crisp and fresh for my breezy scene. 


                                       

This gorgeous digital stamp by The Paper Shelter has some amazing detail for Copic coloring.  I was delighted to find a leaf frame in Cricut Design Studio to border my fall scene.  I used digital paper for  both my leaves and the cloudy sky.  My sentiment was created in Cricut Design Studio.  

Be sure to hop on over to the 613 Avenue blog and see which of the four fall palettes speaks to you.  Their challenges are always friendly and fun!


Thanks for visiting.
Go forth and enjoy the lovely shades of autumn.
Nancy
 Playing along with:

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Honey Bees and Flowers, Please - Gorjuss Girls Bee-Loved Stamp

For so work the honey bees, creatures that by a rule in nature, teach the 
act of order to a peopled kingdom.   William Shakespeare


Hey there,


Some of my favorite stamp images are Gorjuss Girl images from Santoro.  They can be a little hard to find, but I recently purchased this cling stamp on the internet and couldn't wait to color her cuteness and create a card.  She measures about 3" x 6" and fits nicely on a 4" by 8 1/2" tag card base (slimline) that will fit into an A-10 envelope.

The beautiful lacy tag die cuts I used for my background are from Tattered Lace.  I sponged the top panel with pink chalks to add some color and depth.  I dotted my sweet little bee's wings with a white gel pen and her skirt with yellow Nuvo Drops.  The flower on her waist has a little pink gem in the center.  I used the cutting and writing features in Cricut Design Studio to create the tag card base and sentiment.  The back layer looks a little orange in this photo, but it's actually metallic gold card stock. 


These adorable Gorjuss Girls come without faces and I find it fun to add a little personality by creating a face with my Copics.  I think they're super cute either way...I'm just used to coloring facial features so it comes natural to me.

Thanks for visiting.
Go forth and "bee blessed" on this beautiful summer day.
Nancy
Playing along with:

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Discovering the Forgotten Fleur Lady - Julia Spiri Digi

 Expect the unexpected.  Life is full of wonderful things just waiting to surprise you.


                                                         
Hey there,

If you have an urge to organize your craft area on a lazy hot summer day, I say go for it!  I've been sorting my stash for a few weeks now, waiting for my eye surgery to heal, and my new HD eyes are spying some surprising abandoned treasures.  While sifting through some long forgotten unfinished projects, I found this Julia Spiri gem called Fleur.  I'm guessing I probably wasn't happy with something about my coloring...the flashy hair maybe?  But you know how that goes...put your unworthy project aside for a while and when you return to it,  the flaws don't look quite so glaring.   


I thoroughly enjoyed putting together this fun quick card with all my time consuming coloring already accomplished.  I created the frame in Cricut Design Space, cut it out on my Maker  and attached it to a  5 1/2 inch square z-fold card base.  I lined the front panel with a gold leafing pen and attached it to my frame with mounting tape.  I found the beautiful pearl studded fabric flower in my stash and added coordinating pearls to the frame  I'll attach a sentiment when I choose my recipient.  I get so excited when I find unexpected surprises in my happy hub!

Thanks for visiting.
Go forth and find a treasure in an unexpected place.
Nancy
Playing along with:


Thursday, July 8, 2021

Stamplistic Caprice Stamp and Layering Dies - Lacy Paper Butterfly Perfection

Live your life like a butterfly....take a rest sometimes but never forget to fly.  



Hey there,

Look what I've been up to while letting my eyes rest from cataract surgery.  I had my second eye done a couple of days ago so I chose to work on this terrific project that doesn't take as much precision as Copic coloring, but the results are just as rewarding. Apparently, I'm a superstar patient,  with 20/20 vision in both eyes one day after surgery. My doctor referred to me as "awesome" more than once, but the sweet lady next to me in surgery was 90 years old, so I'm thinking my relative "youth" might be a factor.  I'll still need readers, but I'll see much better for my coloring, so I'm really stoked about that.



During my eye-healing downtime, I've been doing tons of organizing in my craft room.  I was elated when I came across a fabulous Stamplistic butterfly stamp and matching dies that I purchased a couple of years ago at Stamp Expo.  I felt so ambitious and productive while stamping, die cutting and assembling these gorgeous lacy embellishments for future cards. I stamped and embossed the large butterfly in gold several times on a variety of papers.  I used the smaller dies to cut wings in graduated layers (including vellum) to create beautiful detail on my butterflies.  I spent a very blissful and therapeutic day after surgery gluing bling to my creations.         



The result is a big bowl of delicious color and texture to pop onto my art when it needs a  jolt of pizzazz...and happy, healing HD peepers.   


Thanks for visiting.
Go forth and lose yourself in your favorite healing pastime. 
Nancy

Friday, July 2, 2021

Floral Style Succulent Centerpiece _ Handmade By My Resident Florist

Home is where love resides, memories are created,
friends always belong, and laughter never ends. 



Hey there,

I'm happily, though impatiently, in the middle of cataract surgery...one eye done and the other one coming up next week.  It's a challenge having my new lens performing at 20/20 and my old lens still creating a blurry haze.  But when all the fuss is over, my sight will be much improved and I'm looking forward to needing only reading glasses for close work. Hallelujah!!! In the meantime, all creativity hasn't halted in our household.  My brilliant hubby, who was a talented florist when I met him, accepted my honey-do challenge to create this gorgeous centerpiece for our dining room table.



I'm not a lover of silk flowers, so when I saw these synthetic succulents artistically arranged in my favorite designer furniture store, I thought they offered a more modern and elegant version of an old favorite.  I have managed to keep several real plants alive in my home, some of them quite humungous, so I think I deserve some greenery that blooms beautifully with only an occasional dusting. And these luscious succulents look right at home in my new Southern Utah dining room. I still crack up over the old Red Green quote, "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.”  I lucked out on both counts. 

Thanks for visiting,
Go forth and create beauty to match your surroundings.
Nancy