Try It Out Tuesday #17 - Mother's Day

I don't know of a day that goes by that us mothers don't need our own little bit of whimsy to get us through the day. That and every now and then, a margarita!

With it being Tuesday, that means Try It Out Tuesday over at Follow Your Heart, Susana of Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, blog for me and my designing sisters! Suzanne, our ever talented lead designing guru, challenged us with creating a Mother's Day card and a gift packet. I thought about my Tiffany and Jennifer since this is their first Mother's Day, thanks so much to Allie and Emma!

Fairy Kids with Birds from IBFS was perfect because it had two sweeties on it and they are playing with a hummingbird, my favorite of all feathered creatures! I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored them with copics. I highlighted them with Shimmerz and I may have gone a bit overboard, but to me, there's never too much shimmer or glitz! I used some Kaisercraft Pearls in the corners and Prima flowers with what else - stickles! I ran the background paper through my cuttlebug and love the added texture I got from them. The ribbon is from my stash.



This circular tin is actually Pomegranate flavor salt for margaritas and I loved the tin so much that I had to cover it! I love Sassafras and think she's perfect for the outside! I used nestabilities to cut her out and colored her with Prisma color pencils and OMS. I used stickles and Shimmerz on her and love the delicate tone it set for her. I added some Bella Baubles to break up the circles going on and added a ribbon. I love how she came out.

Make sure you stop over at Follow Your Heart and take a look at the gorgeous cards and gift packs my designing sisters came up with. I work with some of the most talented crafters out there and am proud every week to present Susana's works for you.

I'll be back to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day before Sunday, but don't forget to make something for a mother. Let's honor them this one day out of the year.

Card Ingredients:

Fairy Kids with Birds by IBFS, Kaisercraft Pearls, Copics, Shimmerz, Stickles, Prima Flowers, ribon, Cuttlebug dotted swiss and folage embossing folders, Sassafras by Faerie Song Art, Bella Baubles, Prisma color pencils, OMS, ribbon, nestabilities, Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black

Miss Bryony and Miss Willow

This will be a bit quick, but I wanted to get these sweeties up. I've had Bryony since before Thanksgiving and have just had the guts to attempt to present her. I saw her sweet little face and fell in love! She's just sitting there, sweet as can be, keeping watch over her domain. I see a sweet, strong, silent nature to her and she so reminds me of my great niece, Madeline. She's quiet because she can't get a word in edgewise with our Paige, but she's very strong in her will and personality. I wouldn't try and take one of Madeline's toys no more than I would try with one of Bryony's mushrooms!

She's stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with my copics. I used this gorgeous paper from the Fantasy Paper pack from Dovecraft (Exclusively sold at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design!), outlined a bit of it with my Spica Glitter pen and used some Bella Baubles on the corners. I wanted to give her a softness so I rounded a couple of Bryony's corners. The ribbon is of my own making - using my copics on white satin ribbon! Suzanne, you'd be proud of me! I made my own ribbon when I was working with Cindy Lawrence at Stamp New England and loved the effect it had. Plus I get whatever color I want that way! And Christine, I popped her wings up!



Miss Willow kept calling out to me and I found this paper and knew it had found it's place on this card! I love the red and yellow on the blue background. So soft and delicate, but not fragile colors. Willow Kneeling is from the Spring Whiff of Joy Collection and her face so reminds me of one of the kids here at school. I love this kid and she's the sweetest thing. I'm thinking about giving her this card just because every time I look at it, I think of her. I colored her with my copics and cut her out with my oval nestibilities. I used my dotted swiss cuttlebug embossing folder and SU ticket punch for the corners and added some baubles in the corner and some ribbon and a hatpin. I adore her!

Hope you enjoy these two as much as I enjoyed presenting them. I'm off to finish up some scheduling and then to work for a while at the bowling alley. I'm off to get a new cell phone, a Blackberry so I can text. My kids say my old Razor has to go! Hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll be back tomorrow with another card. . I think I feel a Bella or Hanna or Shy Bear coming on!
Card Ingredients:

Bryony from Faerie Song Art, Bella Baubles, Fantasy Paper from Dovecraft, copics, nestibilities, ribbon, hatpin, Atyou Spica Glitter pen in clear, stickles, SU ticket punch.

Try It Out Tuesday #9 - Lark

The more I do sketches, the more I love them. Suzanne, our ever talented Design Team Leader for Susana's Custom Art and Card Design has given us a beauty to work with. I'm trying to put my own spin on the sketches and take a little bit of creativity in them so I turned the sketch. Bear with me and I'll get there!


Faeries, to me, are those magical beings that are all around and make all things possible. They protect us against the big, mean dragon and all the fire it can blow our way. Lark is such a delicate looking faerie but don't underestimate her. She can slay anything that crosses her path.

I stamped her on GinaK's Luxury white card stock and colored her with copics. I highlighted her with shimmers and stickles. The swirls and flowers are from a Hello Kitty Sizzix die and I adore the metallic brads. the paper is from Once Upon a Time by DCWV and I made the hatpin. I love the amber color.

Speaking of our Design Team, I've got tons of news to tell there. Aud has graciously agreed to join us as a permanent Design Team Member and I'm so excited to introduce you to Karolyn Loncon who has agreed to be one of our Guest Designers. Welcome Aud and Karolyn I'm so glad to be creating with you both! Make sure that you check out our Follow Your Heart Design Team blog and see what my other team mates have come up with and their interpretation of Suzanne's sketch. Don't forget about the Guest Design Team Member Call that Suzanne is having. You can see all the details on the store blog. We'd love to have you create and design with us!

Card Ingredients:
Lark by Faerie Art Song, Iced Lavender and Pixie Wing Shimmerz, Metallic Dew Drops, Stickles, Once Upon a Time paper by DCWV, nestabilities, Hello Kitty Sizzix die cut, Blue Moon heart charm, ribbon, hatpin.

Candle Making

One good thing about a snow day is that I get to stay home and stamp! One thing I love to do with my stamping is to create beautiful candles. When Susana's Design Team started doing tutorials for the store's blog, Follow Your Heart, I knew what I wanted to do mine on! When I saw these lovely candles on other people's sites and blogs, I was intimidated about doing them. Jacqui from the PCP Whiff of Joy group put up a tutorial that made it look so easy, I had to try it for myself. It was so much easier than it looked and I fell in love with my new technique. I want everyone to try them! They're so much fun and who doesn't love candles?



The supplies I used were:
White Pillar Candle
White Tissue paper (like what you wrap shirts or blouses inside boxes in)
Stamp
Ink
Color Medium (I used copics and Prismacolor markers)
scissors
Cut-Rite or kitchen wax paper
Embossing or Heating Tool
Embellishments like ribbon, Shimmerz, Stickles, Glitter Hearts, Bella Baubles, whatever you want to decorate your candle with.



1. Stamp your image onto the tissue paper and color with your favorite medium. Make sure that you have something behind your image because your inks will bleed through a bit.



2. Cut the excess tissue paper off. You don't have to trim it just to the outline because the tissue paper will blend into the candle with heating.



3. Center and place your colored image on your candle.



4. Place your wax paper for your image and pull it tight so that the entire image is flat against the candle.



5. Using your embossing tool, heat over your stamped image. Just like heat embossing, you'll be able to see the image as it melts into the candle. That's just so cool! After you've heated the entire image, carefully pull the wax paper off.



6. Here's what your candle looks like before you've added some finishing touches to it.



I colored her with some Pink Poinsettia Shimmerz, added some stickles, a glitter dot, Bella Baubles and some ribbon. I think she's just adorable!



I hope you will give it a try! You can made any type of candles you want for any occasion. Add whatever embellishments you'd like and make it your own. Personalize it. Everyone loves something that was made just for them.

Give it a try! After you do, leave us a link of direct us to where you've posted your candle. We'd love to see your work!

Candle Ingredients: Hearts and Hugs, Ruby Slippers, Tiara, and Grape Stickles, Pink Poinsettia Shimmers, Glitter Hearts, Bella Baubles, Ribbon, Pillar Candle, Rite-Cut Wax Paper, scissors, glue.