More than a simple Gift

Good MorningY'all,

Today I am bringing another Bendi card to you and I hope you like it. I love seeing what others do with these and how their creative minds work. My mind, as late has been cluttered with other things and I thank the person who gave me these cards very much. We all need others to come along side us and lift us up once in a while. It has helped me find my creative place again when I found it very difficult to create.

I wasn't going to do another blended background but couldn't find something in my stash that I just loved.  I made another blended background using Tim Holtz Distress inks, added white dots and some "shooting starts". I added  a few clear glitter dots and spritzed it with perfect pearls again. I will list the colors I used in my supplies list at the bottom of this post. I wanted the moon to look a bit silvery, well I sort of achieved that. I used a piece of card stock vellum sponged the back of it with Stampin' Up going grey and shimmered the front with Wink of Stella Pen and some Star Dust Stickles. I adhered the vellum once it dried to the back of the background then glued the background into place.

I wanted the trees and the house to have more dimension so I added the extra trees and made another house cutting off the roof and embossing the body of the house with Tim Holtz Bricked emboss folder. The trees and the house can be found in the extras file. The trees were smudged with a q-tip and white ink to give a snow effect. I learned that from Sandy Allnock. She did that on a card and I thought it was so cool. Learning techniques from others can feed your creativity so watch those videos of others making their card and take classes when you can.

I added star dust stickles to portions of the card to give it some sparkle. While I loved the simplicity of this card, I of course had to add my own touch. I decided the snowflakes needed some holes so I added some to the Silent Night banner by using a 5 sided octagon W0.079 x 0.083 H. I angled them in various directions to add interest then selected the entire snowflake and right clicked then chose "make compound path".

After I thought I had completed the card, I felt it needed something off the left side so using the extra snowflakes I made some holes in those as well. I used a 5 sided octagon measuring W 0.149 x 0.151 H. I angled those and then added a center 6 sided octagon W 0.156 x 0.167 H.  It still needed a bit more to my eye so I added another 6 sided octagon to each tip of the snowflake and the size for that was W 0.093 x 0.100 H. I did not get a few centered properly but I have since fixed that on my design. Again select the entire snowflake, right click and "make a compound path". I cut mine snowflakes at two sizes W 1.197 x 1.101 H and W 0.962 x 0.885 H. I adhered them using the Kool Tak clear squares and then added star dust stickels to those as well.

That is my Silent Night bendi card and if you can stand one more post about the bendi cards I will make the last one and post it as well. Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my blog. Again many thanks to the person who gave me the card kit, it has helped in more ways than you can imagine. From my heart to yours I thank you.  I hope you have a lovely day and Happy Craftin' Y'all!
Blessings, Sharalyn

 Dreaming Tree SVG Kits Used:
Christmas Bendi Cards

Supplies Used:
Bazzill Card Stock: White, Fairytale
Recollections Black Card Stock
Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Black Soot.
Tim Holtz round blending tool.
Post it labeling tape( to hold the card in place while blending)
Saukura White gel pen, Clear glitter pen
Zig: clear Wink of Stella Pen
Stampin' Up: Card Stock Vellum, Going Grey Ink
ColorBox Frost White Pigment Ink
Makeup q- tips
Ranger Star Dust Stickles
Kool Tack Clear 3d foam pads
Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive
Silhouette Cameo

Blending Bendi Christmas Card

Morning Y'all!

I am hoping November brings us our cool temperatures and I am able to craft full time again. Life has been a bit crazy!
Today I am bringing to you a lovely card from Dreaming Tree, called a Bendi Card. Honestly I had no idea what that was, I guess I have been caught up in my own little world but I love the concept of it. The idea is the front is bent and held into place with the slots so the card can stand.  The Believe card from this collection was so cute and of course I had to add my touch to it. So here it is and I hope you like it.

When I saw this card I knew I wanted to do a blended background for the sky. Using Tim Holtz Inks I blended broken china, seedless grape, chipped sapphire and black soot. Go light on the last one and just around the top of the card to add that dark sky look.
Then I spritzed the paper with perfect pearls and water and dried with my heat tool.
The paper may curl a bit but if you use your heat tool you can get it back into shape. It helps to put a paper over your ink blending and something heavy like books or something to flatten it a bit while you work on the rest of the card.
Note: I did not blend all the way down the card but checked to see where the trees would cover and stopped just below it.

The trees looked great but I thought that some green needed to show through so I added a few strokes of my YG63 Copic pen. Then to add a some sparkle to the snow, I added Star Dust Stickles. I used this glitter glue a lot on this card, using it around the fence on the snow bank on the snow man and adding squiggles to the snow for a moon glistening affect.

The paper Collection I used was Simple Stories Cozy Christmas. This is a paper pack from last year but I just loved it and really haven't bought anything new yet this year. I used the brown on the fence because to me fences are brown. The holy is a patterned green paper from this pack as well as the berries. I added Glossy accents to the berries for shine. Set aside to dry while you work on the rest of the card.

 I wanted the lead reindeer to have a red nose so using xmas red stickles I added it to the nose and then to Santa's hat as well. I used Ranger White Enamel for the tip and around the cuff of the hat for the fur. I then added tips and swirls of a Clear Wink of Stella pen to the sleigh and reindeer at their feet.

  From this paper pack I found a nice paper that worked well for the moon to have a glow affect. A small scrap was  adhered to the back of the card then the blended background was glued into place. The trees were adhered then more squiggles of Star dust stickles. Make sure you give these extra touches time to dry before you glue them into place.

I found the arms in the extras file and using the same paper I used for the fence I cut out the arms and glued them into place. The hat and the scarf just didn't seem right to make them both red although I liked it. I made the scarf green and the hat black adding some stickles to the hat brim and the top.

I used 3d glue dots for the believe, sleigh, snow drift and the berries on the holly.
The enamel dots were from this collection as well.

I really liked the clean look of this card as Leo and Kyle showed it but for me it needed a little more bling. It is just my take on it and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks so much for stopping my and reading my blog. It has been a challenge typing this while a young kitten disconnects your extra monitor cord and runs on the key board and such but I am so thankful to have a kitty again. Thanks again and Happy Craftin' Y'all!
Blessings, Sharalyn

Dreaming Tree svg  Kits Used:
Christmas Bendi Cards

Supplies Used:
Bazzill  Card Stock: White
Neenah Solar White Card Stock (sky)
American Craft Card Stock: Black
Simple Stories: Cozy Christmas Collection
Simple Stories Enamel dots
Ranger Stickles: Star Dust, Xmas Red
Ranger Enamel Accents: White
Ranger Glossy Accents
Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Broken China, Seedless Grape, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot.
Tim Holtz: round blending tools
Zig: Clear Wink of Stella Pen
Sakura White Gel Pen
YG63 Copic Pen
kool tak clear foam pads
Scotch Quick Dry Adheisive
Silhouette Cameo Cutting Machine

Pumpkin Smile Card

Mornin' Y'all!

I apologize for not posting for so long but my kitty I had of 7 yrs passed away from early feline kidney disease. I was  to sad to even think about crafting.
Now we are in the process of adopting a new baby, a boy this time whom my husband has named Opie. We are thrilled to have the pitter patter of little kitty feet again.
 
When I saw the newest kit, Barn Party SVG Kit, I just knew I wanted to make the card for Mark's mom. We have had an event filled summer. Mark's mom broke her hip and though she has had a partial hip replacement, at 95 she knew she just couldn't live alone anymore. She has moved to a senior assisted living physicality only 5 min. away from my sister in law in San Dimas California. Not having her so close anymore I wanted to make this Halloween card for her. This card is just to cute for words but of course I had to add my own twist to it. I hope you enjoy it. Please read the instructions before you cut anything.

I started with the Barn Party SVG Kit and opened the Haunted Barn svg, where I imported the corn_stalks svg to my virtual mat.  Using my knife, I cut off the bottom portion of the corn stalks. I sized the cut corn stalks to W 4.910 x 1.397 H. Resize your trim  pieces by reducing the height  a bit.  I took off 0.125 from the height. Use your calculator to figure out what you need to enter in the height measurement. The orange trim was sized to W 4.500 x 1.056 H. Now you do the purple trim using this method. You will need to uncheck the Lock Aspect box to keep the proper width.  Make sure you release compound path and un- group your score lines first. Then once you have played around a bit to just miss those cut lines you can  weld the corn stalks to the edges of your trim pieces. Make a duplicate of your cornstalks before you do this. I have learned that when I don't make a duplicate I am always sorry. If you find you don't need it you can always delete it when your card is completed.  Regroup your cut lines to the corn trim and cut as usual.
 If you do not shorten the length of the trim it will be to long for the card. I will list the colors of card stock I used at the bottom of this post. I used my Forest Branches Cuttlebug embossing folder to add texture to the corn stalks and inked them with Tim Holtz Rusty Hinges and Gathered Twigs ink. Slightly curl the stalks with a pen or a wooden dowel.  
Note: I did have to move two of the cut lines just slightly to keep from cutting into my corn stalk.


To cover the fringe on the top of the card I drew a rectangle W 4.502 x 1.086 H. I ungrouped and released compound path on black 1. Holding down the shift key select each cut line and group them. Then duplicate the cut lines and place in the same place on your rectangle as on the card base. Group those to your rectangle and move aside. Regroup all the cut lines, score lines and cut outs. Sometimes getting the compound path back can be difficult so just regrouping will give you back all the cuts without the headaches.
I cut my card base using Truffle Bazzill card stock and used Echo Park The Story of Fall Collection to make my card. When I find a collection I really like I try to buy the 6x6 pad and the 12 x 12 collection. The smaller scale of the 6x6 pad works great for cards and if you need a smaller pattern for an area on your 3D project you will be thrilled you have it. I used the edge of one of the papers to add the flowers to the top trim.( the rectangle you made with the cut lines) I assembled the card body then cut my pumpkins out.

The pumpkins were cut using American Craft Carrot card stock. I darkened the faces first with Tim Holtz Spiced Marmalade, then darkened the lines of the pumpkins with my Stampin' write Dusty Durango marker. I also added a few extra lines around the mouth and eyebrow's on some. I cut the white, using Sunflower AC card stock because I wanted them to look like they were glowing, then decided I wanted to darken it as well using a Crushed Curry Stampin write pen. I added black pearls from Michaels for the eyes. The pumpkins were adhered to their spots and the glowing affect was enhanced with a clear Zig Wink of Stella pen.

The Stars on the card also benefited from the Crushed Curry Stampin' write pen and the Zig Wink of Stella pen. I added a couple of enamel dots from Echo Parks The Story of Fall Collection. The panels_black were cut from Truffle Bazzill card stock and embossed with Echo Park Falling Leaves embossing folder. I added Cappuccino twine bows, from The Twinery to the edges of the pennants on the sides like Mary did on her card.

That was how I made this card. I like the way it turned out so I will be making another and sending to my mom and dad as well. All in all this is a wonderful new kit from Mary who is very talented, but you don't have to take my word for it. Just click on the links below and you will see for yourself the wonderful kits and collections that are available. Thank you so much for reading my blog and for understanding my absence. I am sure I will have many stories about Opie as we have not had a kitten for 7 yrs.  Have a wonderful day and Happy Craftin' Y'all! Blessings Sharalyn

Stay tuned I will be making the Barn in a non scary form as well. So much to play with in this wonderful kit! A special note of thanks to Katie Smiley for "missing me" it touched my heart greatly. Thank you Katie! I missed you all as well.

SVG Kits Used:
Barn Party SVG Kit

Supplies Used:
Echo Park The Story of Fall Collection: 6x6 pad
Echo Park The Story of Fall: Enamel Dots
Echo Park The Story of Fall Collection: Falling Leaves Emboss Folder
Bazzill Card Stock: Truffle, Pollen
American Craft Card Stock: Sunflower, Carrot
The Twinery: Cappuccino Twine
Cuttlebug: Forest Branches Embossing Folder
Zig: Wink of Stella Clear Pen
Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Gathered Twigs, Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge
Stampin' write: Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry
Recollections: Small Black Pearls
Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive
Silhouette America: Cameo Cutting Machine