Thank you on Memorial Day

Anita here saying hello on this Memorial Day.  I know that Memorial Day typically makes me think of summer, and after this winter I am so ready for summer.  But the meaning behind Memorial Day is to remember those soldiers who gave their lives so that we could enjoy our freedom and this upcoming summer.  So I wanted to make a combat boot thank you card to thank all of those who gave their lives for us.  I hope that you had a great weekend and a take a moment to remember those soldiers.

I used a Silhouette cut file to create the boot and used Cappuccino and Solid Cappuccino to create the boot laces and a bow at the top.  One of the things I love about The Twinery twine is the availability of so many colors to match the project you are working on.  

That's it for me today.  I hope that you all have a great long weekend and a wonderful start to your summer.

Hugs,

Anita

Showering you with Love

Hop on over to the CardMaker Blog to see my DT post for today.
Hugs,

Pretty Pink Posh Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog and the Pretty Pink Posh and CardMaker Magazine blog hop.  You should have arrived here from Sarah Ashley's blog.  The link is below.  If you didn't come that way, you should start at the beginning because there is a lot of great crafty projects along the way and a prize to be won.

Blog Hop List

CardMaker: http://www.cardmakermagazine.com/blog/ < - - - - - - - the hop beginning

Lisa Lahiff: http://www.lisascreativeniche.blogspot.com/

Patti Gilliam: http://cherisheachpreciousday.blogspot.com/

AJ Otto: http://thewillowgarden.blogspot.com/

Sarah Ashley Posch: http://thirdsisterhandmade.blogspot.com/

Anita Mulcahey: http://happypapercrafthappenings.blogspot.com/  <  - - - - - - - - - - You are here

Lois Bak: http://clownmomcreations.blogspot.com/ < - - - - - - - - - You are going here next

Pretty Pink Posh: http://prettypinkposh.com/blog

 My son just graduated from Northeastern University in Boston and his school colors are red, white and black.  I used my Silhouette to create the card front with the words cut out.  I adore shaker cards and thought this would be something different for him.  I used the Sparkling Clear sequins and Silver Confetti along with a touch of glitter from Melissa Frances.  I finished off my card with some twine from The Twinery and some enamel dots from Doodlebug.

Here is a bright and cheery card that I made using Pretty Pink Posh's Stitched Banner Duo and Stitched Labels 1.  I love how bright and fun these Doodlebug papers are and they are perfect with these fabulous dies.  I also used three different colors/types of sequins on my card.  Sequins make me happy.

This is my final project for today's hop and I created a gift box and made a shaker out of a lei cut file from Silhouette,  The springtime mix of sequins has a lovely white flower in it which gave me the idea to make a flower shaped shaker.  Shakers are not just for cards and you can use them on so many things.

Thanks for looking at my projects and be sure to hop along and comment at Pretty Pink Posh for a chance to win some goodies.

Pretty Pink Posh will be hosting a giveaway on their blog on Monday, 5/18/15. The list of what is included in the giveaway is listed below. Here is a link to the blog: http://prettypinkposh.com/blog

Description of giveaway

Stitched Borders 1 die cuts
Stitched Banner Duo 2 die cuts
6mm Sparkling Clear sequins
6mm Marigold sequins
6mm Espresso sequins
6mm Mossy Green sequins
6mm Pink Peonies sequins
Silver Confetti
Silver Star Confetti

Project Materials:

Pretty Pink Posh Items:

Watermelon Sequins 4mm

Lilac Garden Flowers Sequins

Springtime Mix Sequins 6mm

Sparkling Clear Sequins 6mm

Silver Confetti 6mm

Stiched Banner Duo 

Stitched Labels 1

Doodlebug Hello Sunshine Paper Pack

Doodlebug Enamel Dots

The Twinery twine

Sizzix Big Kick

Silhouette Cameo

Bazzill Cardstock

Grosgrain Ribbon from stash

Silhouette Cut Files:

#60294 Congrats Grad Phrase by Kolette Hall

#12700 Flower Lei by Jamie Koay

#27691 3d Scalloped Circle Gift Box by Samantha Walker

#25278 Thank You Phrase by Kristen Magee

Hugs,

So Lucky to be Their Mom

Hey fellow lovers of all things The Twinery:
Anita here with a post today for Mother’s Day featuring three lovely twine colors that I used to make a woven flower to jazz up my layout and give it more dimension.  I love being a Mom and my son is about to move to Ohio, we live in MA and I am so happy for him but sad that I will miss him.  I am going to put this layout above my desk so I can see his smiling face whenever I am missing him.

I used Solid Maraschino and Midnight Blue and Marigold and my Clover Flower Loom to make the flower.  Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Hugs,

The Twinery Shop

Graduation Banner Tutorial

Hi Everyone:

Happy Saturday.  I am here with a tutorial on how to make the most of your cutting mats when you are making a lot of cuts for one design.  I created this graduation banner for my son who is graduating from Northeastern University on 5/7/15.  We are so proud of how hard he has worked to be a mechanical engineer.

This Spring Banner pattern by Doohikey Designs comes with wonderful, easy to follow directions and allows you to either cut the paper to use as a template and/or use fabric to be cut in your machine.  I decided to cut out a full sheet of templates and then traced that shape onto the back of my fabric.  I then cut the banner pieces out with pinking shears.

I knew that I wanted to make several different sizes of the graduation caps and the stars that are part of Jamie Cripps' 3D Grad Envelope Bag and I wanted to fill my cutting mat so as to not waste paper.  The original cut file is below.  I ungrouped them and got rid of the envelope and band.  I copied the star and grad cap and pasted them onto my mat. 

  I then resized one set of them and grouped all four together.

Next I copied the grouped set and pasted it on my mat until I filled it up.

I wanted to plenty of black and red stars and grad caps to choose from to embellish my project.  There are so many things that you can do with your cutting system and these very versatile cut files from DigiPlayground. 

I mixed paper and fabric with my banner because it only needs to look nice for his party.  I fell in love with this font set called Squeeze Me from Rivka Wilkins.  You can find the link for it below. 

I laid everything out first to see how it would look and then used foam tape and fabric glue to adhere the parts of my banner.

This was a fun and easy project and I know my son will love the personalized grad banner.

Hugs,

Anita

Project Cut Files:

Spring Banner by Shari for Doohikey Designs

3 D Grad Envelope Bag by Jamie Cripps

Squeeze Me by Rivka Wilkins

Die Storage System

Hi:

Anita here with my system for die storage.  I have picked up bits and pieces to make up this system as I perused blogs and Pinterest.  I can always find what I am looking for with this system and I don't lose any of the smaller pieces.  My post is on the CardMaker Blog today.

I bought kitchen bins from Amazon.com and you can find the link and current price below.  They measure 10X6X3" which is perfect for fitting the envelopes.  The bins come in a longer length as well.  This was the size that fits perfectly on my craft shelf.

I bought Memorex CD/DVD keepers plastic sleeves in a 50 pack for my smaller dies. They came from Amazon as well with the link below. 

These envelopes are so nice and sturdy and you can clearly see what the die set is.  I also took a photo of the back so that you could see how nicely they close as well.

There are some dies that don't fit in this envelope or have coordinating stamp sets so I needed a larger envelope as well.  I bought Avery Elle Stamp & Die Storage Pockets which you can find the link to below as well.

I used project life 4X6" cards and my label maker to label each set.  You can use whatever size 4X6" paper you like.  It will take some work to get it set up, but it will be so pretty and organized when you are done.  Happy organizing.

Hugs,

Anita

Project Supplies:

Avery Elle Stamp & Die Storage Pockets #SS-25 25 pack for $9.00

 Amazon.com

Memorex CD/DVD Keepers Plastic Sleeves 50 pack for $9.94

InterDesign Kitchen Bin, 10-Inch by 6-Inch by 3-Inch, Clear $9.99

Project Life by Becky Higgins 4X6" cards

Happy Day Watercoloring

Anita here with a fun water coloring technique that is so pretty for those spring and summer cards.

Here are the supplies that you are going to need for this project.  The embossing powder is white.

Here is the image before embossing and after.  You are going to want to make sure that your VersaMark or other embossing ink pad is juicy enough to pick up all the details in your stamp.

The white embossing really pops on the kraft paper but any dark color would also work really well.  You want to choose a stamp set that has spaces that are not embossed that you will be able to add color into.

I used an aqua painter but a regular paint brush and a cup of water will work just as well.  You are going to want to paint a thin layer of white watercolor over the whole image.

Next you are going to add color. This photo was taken when the paint was still wet.  You can apply color and then move the color by adding some more water to your paint brush.  You need to be careful with this paper though because it is not watercolor paper and it might start to break down with too much water.  You could also certainly use watercolor paper which I have used previously as well.

Here is a cropped photo close up of the flower painting.  Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Hugs,

Anita

Supplies Used:  Stampendous Daily Thanks stamp set, Bazzill kraft and white papers, American Crafts, Dear Lizzy Serendipity patterned papers 6X6 pad, Versamark and Memento ink, Stampin' Up white embossing powder, Michael's watercolor paint set, aqua painter