Snowflake Tutorial

I recently was asked by Tammy of Midwest Craft Connection to do a guest posting tutorial for her website.

Needless to say I was completely honored! Thank you Tammy!

So here it is...

Today I'm going to show you how I make beaded snowflakes. 

 First start with silvertone 28 gauge wire and clear or silver beads.

 I do not bother to measure the length of wire I use. I simply strand a ton onto the spool of wire. For each loop of beads on the snowflake it ranges from 3/4" to 1".

                                     After I decide on the amount of beads I start to form a loop.

Then I twist the wire to my desired length.

The next length must be longer. Form another loop.

And twist the wire until you get back to the first one. Then you start the process over.

Alternate longer and shorter lengths. Now you can see the snowflake coming together.

Alright so now we have a snowflake. Trim the ends so that you have 2 lengths of longer wire left

In this picture you can see I stamped Peace onto navy cardstock. Position your snowflake where you want it. Then using a needle punch a couple of holes into the cardstock, very close to the center of the snowflake.

Now you can thread the extra length of wire through the cardstock to the back.

Tape the wire down flat into place.

Tadaa! You have the beginning of a snowflake card!

The next step is to adhere the card front to the cardstock. I softened the edges with some white craft ink.

 The snowflakes are so pretty on their own. Love them on my Christmas tree every year!

I hope you will check out her site midwestcraftconnection.com!

I'm linking this to a few sites Tatertots & Jello, Passionately Artistic, Creative Card Crew, Party Time Tuesdays, Heart Song Inspirations, Make It Monday and Stamps R Us.

Papercraft Star Challenge 60

I created this card a while back as my application for the Papercraft Star Design Team. It was a challenge for me since Steampunk is not my normal style. It's always fun for me to play with new forms of art and I really liked the way it turned out. And even more Thrilled they liked it too!!!

I started by taking black cardstock and spraying it with silver Glimmer Mist. Over that is a layer of gold shimmer paper that was aged with ink. The next layer was made by scanning a sheet of rub-ons from 7 Gypsies called "Time" and printing on cream cardstock. By doing that it allowed me to color the images and ink it all up. In various places I rubbed metallic paste added a bunch of vintage watch faces, a few random metal findings and a few square bronze brads.

I put Liquid Glass over elements like the watch faces, gears and hourglass for more definition. It is such a great medium to create "glass" or to use as glue.

Our generous sponsor The House Across The Bay has some FABULOUS digital designs and there is a special offer on Papercraft Star for Rilly's shop. You'll have to go check out all the other designers amazing projects!

                         Here's the Picture Inspiration for the Papercraft Star Challenge 60 Steampunk.

I hope you will come play along in this challenge!

Supplies

Paper: Gold Shimmer, True Black and Vintage Cream cardstock from Papertrey Ink

Ink: Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo from Papertrey Ink, Brown Versa Color, metallic rub-on paste found at Gina K Designs

Copic Markers E33, E55, E57, E59

Miscellaneous: Vintage watch faces, random metal findings, brass square brads, Liquid Glass from Close To My Heart,

Rub-ons by 7Gypsies "Time" and silver Glimmer Mist

Cake Decorating Class

Today I wrapped up the Wilton Course 2 Flowers Class. I'm so happy to know how to make those beautiful roses.

I made a ton of them out of Royal Icing. Not my favorite. I prefer the buttercream icing.

I was thrilled to learn how to make the Basket Weave pattern!

The next class is learning about fondant. I can hardly wait to take that one too!

I think I've perfected my cream cheese frosting. Lemme tell you it is fabulous!

It will make a ton of icing, enough to heavily frost a layered cake and decorate all pretty.

It takes 2 packages of cream cheese, 1 cup of butter ( I prefer Fleishmans Olive Oil Butter) 2 pounds powedered sugar and a splash of vanilla extract. Blend till smooth. Add a bit more powdered sugar to make stiffer if making flowers or other decorations. Seriuosly crazy good!!!

Papercraft Star News!!!

Today I'm super excited to announce I am a new member of the Design Team for Papercraft Star!!!

I am joining the ranks of some FABULOUS and amazing crafters. Jan of Chai Tea N Me is our Administrator, Tracy of I Wanna Build A Memory is a Senior Designer and DT Coordinator, Regan of Emora Designs is a Senior Designer, Kim of Paper Loves Glue is a Senior Designer and Anitra of  Stamping While They Sleep is also the newest Designer.

Whoo Hoo!!!

These ladies are always so kind and encouraging. They have truly made it a pleasure to play along in all the challenges at Papercraft Star! I know you will have fun too!

This week's challenge is Back To School. I hope you will come over and play along with us! :)

Next week you will see Anitra and I posting for the first time as Designers! So exciting!!!

For my project today I made a simple Smile card featuring a report card from The House Across The Bay. Rilly is the Etsy shop owner that generously sponsor's Papercraft Star. There are so many Fabulous digital designs in her shop.

Please stop by and show all the ladies some love!

Kindest regards,

Jennifer

You Color My World

Parker and I were playing with watercolors the other day. I decided that I would cut his painting and emboss it so that I could make cards for his grandparents. I adhered them to plain cardstock from Papertrey Ink. It is the best heavy weight cardstock available! I think each card is so beautiful as is, it will be quite lovely with a simple sentiment too. Perhaps I'll punch a couple of scalloped circles and stamp

"for you" or something. I guess I'll decide once I'm ready to mail his art :)

Altered Book Page

I am so excited about getting my first stamp from Stampotique that I had to immediately use it. Her name is Linda. There are so many creepy cool images that are made by the artists Daniel Torrente &Jill Penney. Parker LOVES Halloween! His love of Halloween makes me feel like a little kid again too! I used the stamp in my County Living Happy Halloween book, it's the first page before the table of contents. I think the scene is just perfect and that her hand looks like it is pushing the gate open. I'm entering this into the Stampotique Designer's Blog Challenge.

Words Of Wisdom

Today's post is all about this little man, my son Parker. He turned 5 back in May and has just started kindergarten. My baby is getting so big!

Yesterday I decided to make a book of quotes from him. Some times the things he says is so funny, or completely out of the blue. It makes you wonder, Where did that come from?

As we were driving home from grocery shopping he said, "I think we are God's action heroes."

Wow! What a statement!

After he said that I thought I  really need to write all these things down he says before I can't remember them. So this project I'm about to show will be a work in progress. I know he will say many more things over years to come that I will want to remember when I'm 80 and when he has children of his own.

About six months ago I was trying to rush him out of the house so I could get him to daycare before I went to work. He slowed me rushing him by asking "Mommy is God real?" I thought for a moment then responded "Well Parker sometimes there are things that are real that we can not always see. For example we know we need air to breathe, but we can not see it." Then after thinking about that for a moment he responded to me, "So is it God in the Easter Bunny costume then?"

Really how cute is that!!! It caught me so off guard, here I was trying to push him out the door and then he says something so random that I just want to stop the world from moving so I can hug and kiss on him!

So here is my little book, All about Parker.

I just love the metal F plate. I don't know where you can find them. I bought it recently at my local winery Beachaven. It's made by Ganz. Ganz is a company that mostly sells gift ware. It was meant to go on things like a candle holder or a bottle. I love it when I find something neat that I know I will use in my paper crafts instead of what it was originally designed for. I decided to use the twill measuring tape as the ribbon to tie the book closed. To me it was symbolizing growth. The patterned transparency embellishment is from a collection called Lucky Me by Little Yellow Bicycle. It's discreetly glued down with Liquid Glue from

Close To My Heart.

My favorite thing Parker still says is "It makes my heart happy."

Here's the back of the book. I'm not sure how it will end, but I think the last page will be a handwritten note.

A note to remind him just how much he is loved.

One of my favorite company's is Pink Paislee! I used their canvas 6x6 album to make Parker's book.

I used Mod Podge to glue the patterned paper to a piece of chipboard. I wanted this piece strong to be able to glue the twill behind it.

Ok so any suggestions on something to use for the action hero? :)

I'm linking this to Papercraft Star, Charisma Cards, AIFactory, Passionately Artistic, Tatertots and Jello, Joyful Stamper, Simply Create, Crazy Amigos, KB Challenges and One Stitch At A Time.

Poppy Love

As soon as I saw this painting I had to take the class at Swirlzart. It's called Poppy Love.

For You

On half the card I used the Damask embossing folder from Stampin' Up! I colored the raised design with a gray marker. The other side I colored yellow and stamped for you. I gathered and attached the ribbon on the card with Scor-tape. The yellow flower is a digital image from House Across the Bay called Spring Squares. I cut it out and covered it in Liquid Glass and popped it up with foam tape. My inspiration for this card came from Papercraft Star challenge 56.