If at first you don't succed....

HI all,

OK so I tried again at the techniques taught and I think I did better at least I like the way it turned out. I haven't done my cards yet for day two we are off to the pumpkin farm to get our pumpkins for tomorrow. Here they are and I hope you like them as well. Till later when I have had a chance to make the card for today's lesson. Thanks for stopping by..

First day!!!

Hi all,
So today was the first day of the online card class and I have to say... I have a lot to learn. I honestly haven't done to many cards in quite a while so more or less I would say practice, practice, practice. Once again very informative and we made a small card suitable for a tag on a gift and a card that you could easily replicate. The tip on the last was really great and I could see having them in a book so If I needed inspiration I could go and look. I think with this idea you could do it with more than just Christmas cards. If you were a little low on creativity that day you could open your book and look at your "samples" and that might jump start your creativity. Anyhoo this is my tag card. We learned a bit about copic coloring of which I really know nothing and can see that although I love the look, this is something I really need to practice at. My Husband liked it so maybe I will be trying harder this year to make my presents look nice. Maybe if my mom comes for Christmas she can help me in the area because I REALLY need help at that. The next card was one that could be easily replicated and yep I struggled a bit with this one too. I like how it turned out and I could replicate this one I'm sure but I really need to make a sample of my ink colors so I can choose those much easier. The color combos is tough for me I can put colors together alright but I think the samples might help me be less indecisive. Honestly I hardly ever use ink as focal point so again something I need to practice at to get better. All and all a great first day and I am sure if I stick with it and practice I will get better and be able to make my decisions much quicker with the final result being a stunning card or I can hope that is the way it will be. Thanks for joining me on this journey, If you so desire you can still join the rest of us and maybe you can help this poor girl. The online card classes are super! Thanks again for stopping by. Blessings, Sharalyn
 

Getting Ready!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Yesterday and today I have been getting ready for my online card class Kristina Werner and Jennifer McGuire teach. So in prep I finally got all my to do projects all done. Snowflakes for a customer and bird cage ornaments I had wanted to do for a few of the girls at church. I got my desk all cleaned up and my Christmas cards are almost done for the most part. I just need to stamp the inside with a greeting which I have not decided what to do yet. I finally got almost all my pkg sent that I needed to send too. Plus I got all my winter clothes out and put away my summer clothes. I felt like I accomplished a lot. I had made this card a few nights ago but then went to a friends house for a get together and forgot it there so I couldn't photograph it. So here it is. I used the Hero Arts premade snow white card as my base and spritzed it with Silver smooch spray then glued my cut out from the silhouette store on and added some red pearls from Michaels. I poked holes around the branch and used Honeydew twine from the Twinery to make the bow. The stamp is from Hero Arts. A clear set I bought last year when I took this class. The set is called A Very Merry Christmas.  There you have it another what I call clean and simple Christmas card.. or rather it won't take you days to get a lot of them done if ya have a long card list. I am sure I will have more posts with cards in them in the next few days so stay tuned. If you are so inspired come and join the fun! The class is open to all and your always able to access the class long after it is over. Go at your own pace and don't feel you have to purchase the class list. It will be fun to see what they do this time I hear that it is going to be more fun than last year. Thank you for joining me on this fine Sunday. Blessings, Sharalyn

Clean and Simple Christmas Card.

Good morning everyone!

Yesterday I had a not so great day with my hands and wrists, nothing to be concerned about just part of being a cashier for lots of years. Anyway I saw the Kristina Werner had done the very first Christmas card for her series she does every year. I was so excited to see it. It really does help me get in the mood and I love the music she plays with it and if we're lucky we get to hear Mannie in the background her kitty! I am a cat lover from way back and so  love to hear dear Mannie in the background. So the card she did inspired me to finally get around to making my own card this year. Usually I do all different which can mean different costs for mailing so I really tired to apply what I had learned from the two classes I have taken from Kristina and made a clean and simple Christmas card. I knew when I saw her first card I wanted to do a tag like card. So here it is.
Many of you know I finally got the Silhouette Cameo I really wanted so this was a tag I bought off the site and the mittens are a Stampin up stamp and punch set. so cute. I loved the little reindeer that came in the set too. The saying is one I bought the last time I took the holiday boot camp class from Hero Arts Called a very Merry Christmas. I used Neenah Desert Storm card stock for the tag and Stampin Up's Cherry cobber ink and card stock. I used Crumb cake for the kraft color on the mittens and tied it all together with a little bit of May Arts twine that I got from Simon Says Stamp. I did order Crumb cake envelopes and twine from Stampin up today to finish it off. I only had a small amount of the twine from May Arts and I needed more stamp cleaner and oh my a new heat gun because I have to shake mine to get it to work. So there you have it my Christmas card. Simple, Clean and oh so easy to reproduce.. best part my machine did most of the work. Oh I love that silly machine~ anyway have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

puturkey time!

Hello all,
It has been a hard day so far as we had to put one of our kitties to sleep so I write this to leave the sadness behind and press ahead.
When the Autumn challenge was done last month someone had submitted an adorable idea. They had made a turkey using the pumpkin but left the body as a pumpkin. I thought it was so cute so I had to do my own take on it and here he is. I started by cutting the Ghost pumpkin from the Pick a Pumpkin SVG Kit Mary did. The sizes I cut were as follows.

Pumpkin 1,2 and 3 are cut at:w 5.444 h 5.250
Pumpkin 4 is cut at w 5.348 h 3.012
Accents are cut at w 5.444 h 4.085
Make the body as you would make a pumpkin then I inked the edges of the pumpkin body with Stampin up's pumpkin colored ink, really i did. LOL then I took the accents and used my Martha Stewart scoring board and scored lines straight down to make it look like a pumpkin and of course inked it with the pumpkin ink as well. I used leaf #2 for the tail feathers from Harvest Country Home SVG Collection and the maple leaf from Autumn Elements SVG Collection for the wings.The colors I used were Mustard, Apricot, and Pomegranate. Leaves were cut at W 2.65 x H 4.242 I hot glued them on the back and bent them as I felt they needed to give the effect of the tail feathers.  The wings were cut  at W 2.116 x H 2.190.  The feathers around the neck are cut at W1.421 x H 1.359. I used coffee AC card stock for the wings and the neck feathers  I used pomegranate AC card stock for the neck. The stem from the pumpkin and is cut at W 5.615 x H 2.315. The head is the acorn from Acorn Autumn SVG Kit and is cut at W 5.615 x H 2.315 The Lid and panels are cut at W 4.084 x H 2.030.  Accents for the acorn body are cut at W 2.464 x H 3.593. I used Lady bug AC card stock for that as it reminded me of Mary's turkey neck in her Thanksgiving Dinner SVG Kit. I embossed the accents for the bottom of the acorn through the tiny bubbles embossing folder to give it the bumpy affect. Assemble the acorn and the top.  I saved the stem from the lady bug color as I used that for the waddle. I trimmed off a bit and glued it underneath bending it down for the affect.
To make the  beak I cut triangles by hand and played with it till I got the look I wanted the hot glued it into place. I added black pearls to make the eyes and it is done. Thank you to the gal that made one for the challenge it was a great idea and I loved it. I only wish I could remember you name so I could give you credit for the idea. Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my blog. Have a great day and Happy Craftin' Y'all!
Blessings, Sharalyn

 SVG Cuts Kits and Collections  Used:
 Pick a Pumpkin SVG Kit
 Acorn Autumn SVG Kit
 Harvest Country Home SVG Collection
 Autumn Elements SVG Collection

SVG Kit Mentioned by not used:
 Thanksgiving Dinner SVG Kit

All Hallow's Play

Good morning all,
It is a lovely October first in the high desert. I am excited to feel the crisp in the air for now I am happy that it is just cooler. We have had some brutal heat this summer.
I am sure most of you know how much I love SVG CUTS. They have had contests to recreate or create something completely new for some time now and I that is just part of the fun on this page. Seeing the amazing projects people come up with encourages me to be more creative in the things I a make. You have to use the files that are allowed and basic shapes only. If you want more info go to their Facebook page and click on the challenge.  So with that in mind I will tell you how I made this creation and hope that it encourages you to challenge yourself to be more creative.   I will share a few giggles along the way as my husband was "very encouraging in my idea" LOL.I started by making the cauldrons orange to make them look like the pumpkins and since I wanted them to be vintage I inked the edges with a brown ink pad


Cut the cauldron at:
Base I used three at this size:
 w.7.209 H.4.360
  Accents: w.7.649 h 3.43
  Tabs:w 7.966 h 1.980
  Bottom: w 9.076 h 2.910
I am not sure what the larger one was cut at as I had cut that for something else and didn't use it. finished size is about 4 inches tall so I would say that is up to you. 
Ink all the edges of your accents and the sides of the base and top of the base of the cauldron.
The faces came from Midnight Jamboree in the extras file and were imported and cut at the size they import. I used tiny bubbles embossing folder for the middle part that is orange on the faces to give it texture and I inked them with the brown ink pad.
So I started assembling this creation with the three pumpkins teetering on one another but of course it was to heavy and my hubby comes in and says How are your going to counter the weight? that isn't going to work, to which he got a look that said you can leave now your not encouraging me. I put a half of a skewer stick in the bottom of the first pumpkin gluing it in place to keep the second pumpkin at the angle I wanted, then added beans to weight it down. I used hot glue to assemble it. While making this I listened to Pandora radio and chose swing music as my get in the mood music, and hubby comes in and says What  are you listening to? My reply.. You know you married your mother so just leave now OK? he does shaking his head..
The flourishes were from Gothic Flourishes I used 15 and 9 and these are the sizes I used.
flourish 15: w 4.986 h 3.883   Flourish 9: w 4.115 h 1.815
                w 3.975 h 4.992                     w 2.660 h 3.637
                w 5.419 h 7.077                      w 4.109 h 1.858
                w 4.988 h 4.095
I used Thyme colored ink from stampin up to ink the edges it is discontinued and was given to me by a friend but really is my fave for edging greenery this color. I can't tell you how many I used or which was where but just use your creative eye to get the look you want. I also wanted  the flourishes on the bottom to look like arms so I was quite happy when my daughter said it looked like that with much nervousness in her voice. The fence was cut from the extras file from Midnight Jamboree and was cut at: w 3.054 h 2.623 I cut three of those for sturdiness and glued them all together. The step that the fence is glued to use from Elmhurst Hallow from the haunted mansion and was cut at w 11.00 h 3.122  I inked the fence with copper ink and then added tiny brads in metallic colors to give it an old fence look. The kitties were cut at: w 8.120 h 4.752  and   w 2.480 h .173
Larger kitty was and extra I had cut for something else so sorry no idea again. I cut three of them and sandwiched card stock vellum I had inked yellow in between layers to make the kitty's faces show better, then hot glued them in place. The spiders were from Gothic Flourishes also and I used my designer software from silhouette to cut off the web. I cut several using coffee colored paper and used my white gel pen and a fine black marker to make eyes, but before the eyes I ran all those through the tiny bubbles embossing folder. I bent the ends over to glue them to the edges. The moon face was cut at w.300 h 3.00 and also came from Midnight Jamboree kit.  The candy corn was the last thing I made and added and again I was asked how I was going to counter the weight.. Mr. Skeptical thought I was adding to much weight. I used a rounded triangle from the shapes menu and made three sizes then glued them to each other and inked the edges with a brown ink pad then hot glued that to floral wire to give it the spilling affect. I covered the beans and stick with orange tissue paper and some flourishes on the sticks. I did bend leaves and spider threads here and there to give it more affect. I have a tool I love it is McGill flower shaping tools. Anyway I think that is everything I have decided to add this to the challenge for Anything but a card as well. As always happy crafting and I would love to see your take on my creation. Here is a link that will take you to the svg cuts page have a browse around and see if you find anything you just love. Mary and Leo are terrific. 
Thanks for stopping by Sharalyn 

Kits and collections Used: 
Party On Elm Street SVG Kit 
  Midnight Jamboree SVG Kit