Fun Spring Wreath

I saw someone make a wreath similar to this on a FaceBook group.  I fell in love with it and had to make myself one.  Then of course my mom, my sister, my daughter-in-law, my daughter, and my niece all needed one lol.  That was a lot and I am hoping my oldest doesn't think she needs one for her birthday because I don't want to make any more.

I started by cutting out the flowers.  I used the Fresh Blossoms Smooth Cardstock pack from Walmart.  Worked perfect for these flowers.  Good weight.  The flower pattern is from the Silhouette Design Store, Design ID #178393.  It took some maneuvering but I was able to get 8 flowers on my mat. 
After getting them all cut out I took my thingy (have no idea what it is called but you can see it in the picture below) and added some dimension to the first 3 petals and the center before rolling them.  It is not necessary but I wanted to make sure the outer petals curved and lay a little better.

The next step is to roll all of them up.  This takes some time.  I used my Cricut Quilling Pen that came in a die set I have.  I have heard others saying they used a bobby pin to roll them or rolled them by hand.  The quilling pen was actually quite easy and fast.

After rolling all of the flowers I used my hot glue gun and applied glue to the center of the flower.  Believe me I burn myself a lot doing this.  Be forewarned!

Hold them in place until the glue cools.

 They are so pretty when you have them all rolled.

Next comes the wreath.  I just used a 12" green foam floral wreath from Walmart. It was just a couple dollars.  I got a big bag of spanish moss.  After making all of these I kinda wish I had tried using sheet moss to see if it would be easier to wrap the wreath.  With this moss I tried to make thick strands then wrapped and glued.  It isn't easy.  This is where the burnt fingers came in.  I used a hot melt glue gun and it made the moss smoke a bit.  I just blew on it and it would quit smoking when cool.

Next came gluing on all the flowers.  I just placed them on however I liked from the center front top to center front bottom.  I just made sure mine didn't have same colors next to each other.  You can put them on however you would like.  The one I made for my daughter is actually rainbow order.  It turned out great.  

Just apply hot glue on the bottom of the finished flower and hold into place until cool.  I pushed pretty good to make sure it held to the wreath and not just the moss.  That way I knew it wasn't coming off.  I offset each flower so they fit together nicely.

To finish it up I used some wide ribbon I got clearance after Christmas.  Works perfect for this.  I just measured how long I wanted it and put a bow in it then hung it up with a command hook.  Love the way it turned out.

Edit:  Here is the link to download the file with all 8 on the mat.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gn2qq4GLbV3nxi59_X1lr4DCLmEDNaFb/view?usp=sharing

Supplies

(Affiliate links used when possible, at no extra cost to you.  For more info see Affiliate Links disclaimer above in sidebar.)

ConsumerCrafts.com links:
Floral Wreath
Spanish Moss
Quilling Tool
12x12 Cardstock
Hot Glue Gun
Command Hook

Amazon links:



Walmart.com links

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

I have a couple cards to share with you.  The first one is the one I made for my eldest daughter.  I absolutely love the way it turned out.  I decided to add this to the Simon Says Stamp weekly Monday challenge also.  This week was Ombre.  Who doesn't love ombre!?

For the first one I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the word "Daughter".
On the background I stamped a really fine detail design.  It has some wispy lines with butterflies.  It is an old stamp but any fine detail, not too busy stamp will work.  I then embossed it with clear powder.  I then used abandoned coral Distress Oxide and blend it on the background working from the bottom and fading out to the top.
The stamp set is Friendly Florals from Neat & Tangled.  I love all the images in this one.  To finish it off I added some sparkle with Nuvo aqua Shimmer Pen.  Gotta have that sparkle.  Popped up the panel with some 3M foam take, added some rhinestones and gold enamel dots and it was done.

Close up

The other card for today is the one I made for my mom.  This one was a little more work. I saw one that I believe was from the MFT blog.  It was a tri-fold that fit together around each other.  I figured what better than making a wreath that did that.  It has to be done just right to close it though so a bit of a hassle but so worth it haha.

This stamp set is same as the previous card.  I just can't get enough of it. I water colored this one though.  I use my Canson watercolor paper and my Prima watercolors.  I love the way it turned out.  Used a little bit of shimmer pen and some glossy accents on the flowers and added a couple rhinestones to finish it off.

This photo shows how it opens up.

Inside (lol I just had to do it)

Also playing along with:

http://paruscardmakingchallenges.blogspot.in/2018/05/may-2018-challenge.html

http://watercoolerchallenges.blogspot.in/2018/05/wwc169-charlottes-all-about-occasions.html

Supplies

(Affiliate links used when possible, at no extra cost to you.  For more info see Affiliate Links disclaimer above in sidebar.)

 

Distress Oxide Inks - Scrapbook.com, Createforless.com, Scrapbookpal.com

Ranger Blending Tool - Scrapbook.com, CreateforLess.com, Scrapbookpal.com

TouchNew Markers - Ali Express

Glossy Accents - Scrapbook.com  CreateforLess  Scrapbookpal.com 

Prima Water Color - Scrapbook.com

Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen Scrapbook.com Scrapbookpal.com Tonic Studios

Tiddly Inks Blog Hop

I am super excited that Tiddly Inks is doing a blog hop.

They have invited anyone that is interested to join in on this.
Please head over and check out all the links  for the others that have also contributed.

I figured I would use this card from the blog hop to also do the Color Throwdown.  The card I am doing is a wedding card and figured these colors would be perfect for it.  The theme for the blog hop is spring, so pastels and wedding!... what better fits a spring theme. :) 

My card is for my nephew who is getting married today.  It is a little froo froo which is definitely outside my card making style.  I usually do way more clean and simple. I also don't usually use so much glitter and bling lol.  This may be simple for others though haha.

I used the Kiss Me digital stamp from Tiddly Inks.  The sentiment is just printed using the font.  I colored up the image using my TouchFive markers.  They are great.  I have never used Copics so I don't know how they compare but I have some Spectrum Noir and I feel they are the same.  I can't really tell a difference.  The nibs from Spectrum Noir might be a bit softer though.  I have picked these because I buy the Shinhan TouchTwin refills for them since they use the same color numbering. I also have bought the replacement brush nibs and replaced the chisel end with the brush nib.  They are sooo soft and flexible.  They work great!  But... back to my card.  I will list the colors below that were used.  I added sparkle to everything with my Wink of Stella glitter pen. 

See... lots of sparkle!

Thanks so much for taking a look.  If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments section below.  Have a great day!


Supplies
(Affiliate links used when possible, at no extra cost to you.  For more info see Affiliate Links disclaimer above in sidebar.)

TouchFive Marker colors:
167 Pale Green Light
47 Grass Green
172 Spectrum Green
43 Deep Olive Green
95 Burn Sienna
96 Mohagony
97 Rose Beige
145 Pale Lavendar
146 Mauve Shadow
83 Lavendar
CG 0.5
BG 1
CG 2

Wink of Stella - Scrapbook.com  or Scrapbookpal.com
Sequins -  AliExpress
Digital Stamp - Tiddly Inks

Some past cards

I just wanted to share some past cards I have made.  I hadn't done a lot of crafting for quite a while and then decided to get things going again.  The pictures aren't great because I was just snapping photos just for me and not for a blog :)

Hope you enjoy.


This is a card I made for my brother-in-laws birthday.  I used distress inks for the background and Silhouette images for the other items.  I can't remember the stamp set used though.

This next one is a card I made for a baby shower.  I found the image on Pinterest.  I couldn't ever find who created it though.  If you know please comment below so I can give credit.  I used my Prima watercolors to paint the image.  Love how this one turned out.

This one is one I made for my son-in-law's birthday.  He likes dragons so I went with this image from How to Train Your Dragon.  Love that show.  I also found this one online and was not able to track down the artist.  Very good image.  I used my TouchNew alcohol markers to color it.  

This one is an anniversary gift for my son and daughter-in-law.  I used my Silhouette to trace the image and cut it out.  I think it is super cute.

This is just a little St. Patrick's Day decoration I made.  It is a Snap Dragon Snippets design I got from the Silhouette store.  Design id #75648

I made this shaker tag for my for my soon to be neice-in-law.  I made her a wreath with these flowers for her bridal shower gift and used some of the leftover flowers for the tag.  I think it is beautiful.

The tag was a basic on from Silhouette Design Store.  The flower is also from Silhouette Design Store.  Rolled Rosette Design ID #178393.  I will have a tutorial on the wreath in the next few days.

Last but not least are my Easter cards I made for my kids.  The stamp set is Ewe are Awesome from  Clearly Besotted.  I cut the words with my Silhouette.  That was not so much fun trying to cut such thin letters.  I wish I had a die for that haha.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my past creations and look forward to have you enjoy my future creations!

DIY Alcohol Inks

I have seen a lot of YouTube videos on making alcohol inks and decided to give it a try.  I made a mess but they turned out great!

I looked all over for containers.  I didn't want to pay very much in case it didn't work out.  I saw, in the videos, they bought travel size containers at the dollar store.  The ones they got were a package of 3 for a dollar.  My store didn't have those and the ones at Walmart were a dollar each.  I figured the point of making them myself was to save money.  After searching all over Walmart I finally ended up in the party section.  I decided on the bubbles. There were 8 2oz. bottles for 3 bucks!  That was a great deal!  I got bubbles and little containers :).  I saved the bubbles in a different container for my grandsons.  I figure it was a win win lol.  I looked online at Walmart.com but they didn't have these.  Just pick them up in the party section where they have all the kid's party supplies.

I also picked up some Sharpies from Walmart. 

I wasn't as lucky to get the metallic marker though.  I used 2 markers per bottle.  I tried previously and used one marker for 2 oz of alcohol and it wasn't bright enough for me.  You could try it and see if it is something you like.  I just wanted mine more saturated.  

Next thing you need is some rubbing alcohol.  I got 91% because that is what others have used.  The first one I tried I used 70%.  I also saw a comment from someone on a video that they used 50%. The 50% comment said it dried slower so it was easier for them to play with.  I am not sure if it makes a difference on the percentage.  Might just be personal preference.

You will also need some needle nose pliers, gloves, razer blade or exacto knife.

To start with use the pliers and pull the nib out of the sharpie.  Stick it in the empty bottle.  Next you are going to use the pliers and grab the marker where the color meets the gray part of the marker.  Wiggle back and forth until it comes apart.  It will be a little hard.  If you can't get it then squeeze really hard and wiggle it comes off easier.  

Next take the ink thingy out.  You will want gloves for this.  For safety purposes use the needle nose pliers to hold the ink thing and then use the razor to cut down the center to expose the middle fluff.  Don't squeeze too hard or you will squeeze the ink out.  After doing mine I was thinking it would be easier to cut it open in something bigger that you could also mix the alcohol in.  That way you wouldn't waste any of the ink.  If you do it that way you could put the ink in and the alcohol, mix it up and pour into the bottle.  The way I did it was open the ink thingy and stick it in the bottle.  I actually used 2 sharpies per bottle.  I then filled it with the alcohol to the top.  Put the lid on and just shake every once in a while.  

I had it sit for a few hours before I tested it out.  It turned out amazing!

I wasn't trying to create anything.  Just testing the colors.

I just plan on leaving the ink thingy in the bottles.  I figure no need to take them out.  

You might want to make sure you wear gloves if you don't want to mess up your manicure lol.

Here is a breakdown for cost comparison.

Supplies used:

Sharpies - $6.46 x2 if using 2 per bottle.

Bubble bottles - $2.97

91% alcohol 32oz - $2.50  (I only used half the bottle so you could get by with a 16 oz bottle.)

Gloves - didn't use and my manicure hates me now

Needle nose pliers - already had

Total cost of supplies was 18.39

Right now the inks are on sale at Joann.com for 5.99 for a package of 3.  They are 0.5 ounces each.  Normally they are $11.99 but you can always find a 40% off coupon with them.  That would make them $7.19.  At the sale price they would be almost $2.00 each.  With just a coupon they would be $2.40 per 0.5 oz bottle.  

Now for the math on the homemade ones.

There were 8 2oz bottles.   $18.39/8=$2.29  Already you can see it is way cheaper for the DIY.

But... continuing on.  There are 4 half ounces per bottle so the math would be $2.29/4=$0.57

WOW!  DIY is 57 cents per 0.5 oz.  Ranger is $2.00 per 0.5 oz at the better price.  

I found a Pinata brand on sale at Joann.com but it is still $1.79.  I don't think we will find a better price than $0.57.  I would say it is worth it to me.

Hope you try it out and enjoy!

A Little Prickly

I absolutely love these cacti stamps so I decided to use them for an anniversary card for my bff.

I used my Reeves colored pencils for coloring in the cactus.  I stamped with Versafine Oxyx black ink on Neenah Desert Storm card stock, then mounted on 110# Simon Says Stamp white card stock.  The congratulations sentiment on the front is from the Simon Says Stamp set called Congratulations.  I used my Shinhan TouchTwin brush marker WG5 to add a shadow around the sentiment.

For the inside I printed the sentiment.  I used Brusher font.  Love it! 

My friend told me her husband laughed at the sentiment.  He knows he is prickly ;)

Hope you enjoyed.  Now get busy crafting!

Links for products used.

I don't remember who my stamp set is from but My Favorite Things has a super cute cactus stamp set here.  You can also grab some of their cardstock here.

Other products used can be picked up at Amazon.