Card Making Magic

 I have quite a few birthdays, weddings, wedding showers, baby showers to attend this month and so I decided I better get busy and start making cards, I will have to create a total of 10 cards! I'm sure I will fun doing it, either way I wanted to make each one unique and decided to venture out of the typical fold over card. My first card will be a recessed window card and splitcoaststampers did all the guesswork for me! I think I will be adding a piece of acetate to the front of card and add some floaties to make a sort of snowball effect!

At the bottom of this post I have also included a video if you prefer that.

*to find more card making ideas follow the link above and click the "resources" tab.

Recessed Window

by Lynn Mercurio

Create a beautiful recessed window for your main image.

Supplies

• One piece of 5 1/4" x 10 1/2" cardstock, folded in half
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Craft Knife
• Bone Folder and/or other scoring tool
• Patterned Paper
• Adhesive Permanent and repositionable
• Supplies to finish your card

Step-by-Step

1. Step 1

   Use a ruler to measure an outside square 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" on your card front. Trace lightly with a pencil.
   
   Measure in 1/4" and trace another square within the first square. As a last step, trace an "X" from outside corner to outside corner.
   
   Note:
   Here, the window was placed slightly higher than center to allow ample room at the bottom for the sentiment. Placement of the window depends on your final design.
   

2. Step 2

   Using a craft knife and ruler, cut from outside corner to outside corner, creating an "X" opening.
   

3. Step 3

   Using a scoring tool, to score both the inside and outside squares.
   

4. Step 4

   Turn your project over, and use a bone folder to burnish the "X" outward using the outer scored lines.
   

5. Step 5

   Burnish the X inward using the inner scored lines.
   

6. Step 6

   Turn your project over to the front - it should look like this.
   

7. Step 7

   (Skip to Step 14 if you aren't covering the front of your project with patterned paper.)
   
   Trim patterned paper a bit smaller than the front of your card ( here, 5" x 5") and use repositionable adhesive to secure it to the front.
   
   Note:
   If you don’t have repositionable adhesive or tape, take a piece of regular tape and rub it on your clothes to remove some of the stickiness. Make a loop and use this as your repositionable adhesive.
   

8. Step 8

   Flip the project over and use a pencil to trace around the square on the backside of the patterned paper.
   
   Remove from the front of your card after tracing
   

9. Step 9

   Cut out your square from patterned paper as shown.
   

10. Step 10

    Adhere patterned paper to the front of the project with permanent adhesive.
    

11. Step 11

    Using the square removed from the patterned paper as your guide, cut TWO pieces of complimentary paper to use for the background of therecessed window and for the backside of the window (on the inside of your card).
    

12. Step 12

    Apply permanent adhesive to the four flaps and press background paper into place.
    

13. Step 13

    Your project should look like this from the inside of the card.
    

14. Step 14

    Apply the second piece of complimentary paper from Step 11 to the backside of the recessed window.
    

15. Step 15

    Add a focal image and embellish as desired.
    

16. Step 16

    Finished card.
    
    NOTE:
    The finished card measures 5-1/4" X 5-1/4" and, because of its recessed window, will require special packaging if you intend to mail it. The best way to mail would be to package in an acrylic box or something similar with tissue paper placed around the inside of the card around the recessed window to prevent it being crushed. Better yet, hand-deliver your gift to a friend or family.
    

Picnic Adventure

You can turn a typical picnic at the park day into a mini explorer day!!!

Is that a treasure map?

Yes it is! Go here to get or make your own.

After we ate lunch we looked at the bushed and there was something there...We walked over and Gavin couldn't believe it it was a treasure map!!!!

We followed the map...

First to a bush..then to the swings

then down the slide

then to the "sandbox"

AND THEN...we found the X

He dug...

and found

Bones?! A Dinosaur!!!!

Here it is all put together!

It was a fun, fun, day with my sister and her son (my gorgeous "big" man) Gavin!

Vinyl fun!!!

So I have made a few things using vinyl. They are all very simple.

I love framed stuff. I buy all my frames at the goodwill. The one below was a really ugly dark brown frame I sanded down and spray painted for a smooth finish.

What I did:

1. Painted the ugly ol'frame
2. I choose scrapbook paper I liked and used it a a back ground. I couldn't find one with a continuous pattern. When you need more than  one sheet you'll want to use a pattern  you can seamlessly stick near each other. Stripes work perfectly.
3. I taped the paper to the old picture that was in the frame.
4. Can you the etched VG? I did this using Armour Etch. I cut of a large "VG" onto contact paper using my cricut and a program called Sure Cuts a Lot. 
5. Next I peel out the "VG" letters so that I was left with a stencil. I used another LARGE piece of contact paper and transferred it to the FRONT side of the glass. I smoothed out any air bubbles and
   thickly "painted" in the letters with the Etching cream. After about 10 minutes I washed it off.
6. Lastly, I cut out the name, transferred it and put the whole thing together.  

What I did:

1. Sanded and painted an old frame...again
2.  I cut patterned paper in various shades of green into 2 X 2 squares.
3. I got out my handy dandy fat paintbrush and brushed Modge Podge (decoupage glue) on a small section of glass, covered the section with paper and then went over it again with modge podge. I did this until the whole frame was covered.
4. Once it was dry I cut out my vinyl letter using my cricut and transferred it and put it all together!

 What I did:

1. Choose a tile. (above is granite under $4)

2. Buy 1 metal "Shingle" about $80

3. Buy a stand strong enough for your tile.

4. Pick the letter for you title, cut it out on your Cricut.

5. Transfer your vinyl.

6. Adhere the metal with either super glue or 527 glue.

{Tutorial} Making and Fruit (Edible) Arrangment

I love the Edible Arrangement company, I love the fact that it looks like a flower arrangement only it gets puts to a tastefully good use! The only problem is the price, they can get $$$$. Making them unfortunately isn't "cheap" either, it really depends on the season on the fruits you want to include.

 

When picking fruit for the arrangement pick fruits that won't brown when exposed, bananas and apples are a great example of this. BUT if you have to have them coat them in chocolate, candy, caramel, anything as long as it protect the fruit from the oxygen.

 

What you'll need

food prep gloves

paring knife

Your favorite knife

*Garden sheers (don't use your actual garden seers, buy a new pair and keep it for kitchen use)

cutting board

cookie cutters

wooden skewers ( I like the skinner ones)

container (vase, cup, bucket...)

Kale

cabbage

fruits

*Potato wavy cutter (mine is by pampered chef)

*not necessary but extremely handy

 

READY!!!!

1.) First wash and prepare your container, wash your fruit, cabbage, kale... (DUH)         

2.) Take your cabbage and trim the sides so that it will fit VERY TIGHTLY inside you container.        

  

3.) Stuff Kale in all the voids so the you have a nice green border                                                              `

 

 

 4.) Cut up all of your fruit. You don't have to peel the pineapple, just cut it into 1/2 - 3/4 thick slices. Do this with the Fruit you want to cut with the the cookie cutters. The cantaloupe, watermelon, or any other fruit you will cut in wedges go ahead and do that now. If you are going to dip any fruit in chocolate do it now put it on a skewer put in onto Styrofoam or an extra vase with the left over cabbage and put it in the fridge to harden.

 

Sometimes you'll need to trace the cookie to get a clean "hairless" cut.

Not shown: grapes are awesome to string on a stick for decor

5.) Decide how high you want your arrangement to go and what your center will be. The higher the more fruit you'll need.

 

 

 6.) Start working from the center out. if you don't the skewers will start to bump into each other making very difficult to push in. As you get closer to the edge trim down the sticks with the sheers so you can get a much fruit in the little "cracks" as possible.

7.) When you have decided you are happy with your arrangement. Add Kale to the open areas to hide the skewers. Some you will need to use another skewer to push down.  Voila! you're done, unless you want to bag it!

 

 



Cakes that Wendy and I have made!

My sister and I have toyed with the idea of starting a business. Our cakes stared off a little goofy but with practice are getting better...

My lovely Sister Wendy made this for my sister Evy and me. Evy and I have the same birthday and we are not twins!!!

 This was my first cake, not made for a Wilton class. It was for a family member who lives about 1 hour away so I was nervous about transporting a whipped cream cake in the heat all the way there...When we go there we realized we had forgotten the meringue powder...moral  of the story

DON'T FORGET THE MERINGUE POWDER!!!! your cake will melt!

This beauty was a Quinceamera cake for my lovely cousin. The first ever Topsy turvy cake. TIP: Freeze the cake, it makes it easier to carve.

This is a wedding cake we made for a friend's wedding...I need to work more with fondant...

This baby is my favorite cake! We got the design from the Wilton 2011 idea book. We made this the same day as the wedding cake...never again. Our oven simply isn't enough.

My wonderful husband graduated with a master and to celebrate his achievement we had a party! This cake is mostly buttercream with only the black being buttercream fondant.

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!!

Cute, Right? These adorable little things I found on a the Tip Junkie site. I wanted to make these for my husbands graduation party, but looking around they panned out to about a dollar a piece, just for the clear tube! Finally I came across the Culinary Direct website where the price is little less than .50 per container. They are a bulk order so the minimun would be 100. If you don't need a ton I suggest rounding up some girlfriends and splitting the cost.

Finally...

Can it be?!?! I have a blog and it seems to be up and running, it is still not exactly how I want it, but at least I am not totally embarrassed by it. Here I hope to share with you some of the crafts I have done, I am not particularly good at any one thing, but I do okay in many different area...enjoy!