Spellbinders 2012 DT Retreat

I spent a few days last week at the Spellbinders 2012 Design Team Retreat in Phoenix.  We had so much fun!!! What an awesome group of ladies!!!  So talented and so nice!!!  Miss them all!

Donna Salazar taught a class using her Spellbinders S5-085 Mixed Media Elements  and S5-086 Bitty Blossoms die template sets.  Looks like I'm the only one who didn't hold up my creation!!!

We're all dressed in black because it was photo day.

Here's my project!  Donna shared lots of tips for making the Bitty Blossoms.  Fun to play!

Here's a silly photo of my roommate, Teresa Horner, and me!

Heidi Van Laar was my table mate!  We sat next to each other for our class sessions.

Christine Emberson, Teresa, myself, and Iwona Estera out for dinner.

Back to reality......work and projects due!  Plus we're celebrating my dad's 85th birthday this weekend so family is coming on Thursday.  That means a bit of house cleaning, too!  Hoping for lots of creative inspiration to get my scrapbook page done in the next 2 nights!!! 

Thanks for stopping!

hugs,

judy

Happy St. Pat's Day!

A bit o'luck to you!

I've been way too busy with lots of different things in my life lately.......as you can tell as I haven't posted in a while!!!   No time to create somthing just for my blog.....  So I came across this card that I made several years ago.  It's probably the only St. Pat's day card I've ever made!!! 

The message is still good!!!!    

The shamrocks are made with Spellbinders S4-136 Classic Heart.  I used the smallest heart and cut 4 for each shamrock.  You can find my original post of this card and all the details here.

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May the sun always shine on your windowpane, May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain,
May the hand of a friend always be near you, May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you!

Have a wonderful day!
-judy

A Little Art Book

Hello blogger friends!!!
Today, I have a mini book to share.

This little book had its start at CHA.  Whenever there was a tiny lull in booth traffic, I would try some of the new die templates that I hadn't tried at home.  I had been wanting to put together an art doll from Spellbinders S5-087 Mix'd Media Playtime ever since I saw the set!  So I started with her and then decided to put her on a mini book.  
Although the supplies were limited in the booth, there were a few unique products to try.  One was Engraving Art Board from Royal Langnickel.  That's what I used for the doll  cut with Spellbinders S5-087 Mix'd Media Playtime, "create" cut with S5-084 Girlie Grunge Labels, and small star cut with  S5-089 Home Sweet Home.  This product has a black coating over a metallic layer. It cuts and embosses beautifully.  A little sanding reveals the metallic color on all the embossed areas!  So easy!  I used copper but it also comes in gold and silver and several other colors.
The other product I tried was actual thin wood with a paper backing. I don't remember where this came from.  Margie was so kind to tell me the wood paper is from Creative Imaginations!This cut well, too!  I used it for the outer frame of the front cover and the back.  The wood grain isn't too obvious on the front since I added ink to it.  

Here you can see the grain on the back cover.  I think it would take Distress inks beautifully.  I only had pigment ink which is more opaque and didn't really stain the wood as I wanted.  

The top edge was cut with a new die template from Spellbinders S4-359 Office Supplies designed by Becky Fleck.  (My last post used the postage looking shape also from that set.)  This die template cuts the holes and irregular edge on one side.  I used it to cut off one end of the covers and pages that were cut with Spellbinders S5-077 Labels Twenty Five.  I used a piece of copper wire from Artistic Wire to weave through the holes.  It's not a very flexible hinge but I had to improvise!  Besides, I like wire especially copper wire!  Julianna was so kind as to let me have a piece!!!  The front cover is actually a frame cut with #4 and 5 Labels Twenty Five.  I cut a piece of DP to fit  behind. 

That's as much as I got done at CHA.  I added the ART tiles, little black star, gear and verse at home. 

The Scrabble like tiles were cut from black Shrink Plastic with copper StazOn inked through the die template.  Those pieces are also from Spellbinders S5-087 Mix'd Media Playtime.  Love how well the copper ink shows up after shrinking them!

The verse is a rubber stamp I've had in my collection a long time.  It's by Wordsworth.  I stamped it on glossy white paper with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink.  Then I cut it with the rectangular shape from S5-098 Jewel Stones.  Perfect size for this verse!  I inked it with some Distress inks....not sure what colors I used!

The little gear was leftover from some other project.  It was cut from copper color Craft Foil with  one of the gears from S5-048 Sprightly Sprockets.  I inked it with Archival Jet Black ink and then sanded it.

There are only 2 pages in this book.  I've inked them to match the cover.  As yet, I haven't added anything to the pages.  I really should add some inspiring verses or some journaling!

Thanks for stopping!  I hope you've enjoyed your visit! 

Happy creating!

-judy

A Fun Birthday Card

Here's a card I created for the March PageMaps newsletter. 

This card features the postage shape from a new Spellbinders set designed by Becky Fleck called S4-359 Office Supplies. Each month Becky is releasing a new set.  Office Supplies was released for February.   A new set was just released for March.  You can see it on the PageMaps or Spellbinders websites. 

If you'd like to see the March newsletter with more cards and scrapbook pages, click here.  Many of the Spellbinders DT created cards for the newsletter.

For this card, I used paper from Echo Park's Little Boy Collection except for one of the solid colors which is from the Little Girl collection.  The little stars were cut with a die template from Spellbinders S5-089 Home Sweet Home.  I love to sand the edges to bring out the white paper core. 

The pennant is from Spellbinders S5-029 Nested Lacey Pennants.  The birthday greeting is from Flourishes Birthday Pennants.  I stamped it with Ranger Denim ink and clear embossed it.  I've added a little knot of floss to the pennant and each star.

This was a fun card to put together!  I never work from a sketch so it was a new challenge.  It's certainly easier to just pick out the papers and then follow the sketch!   Of course, I did agonize over it a bit!!!  That's just me!

Have a super day! 
-judy

Winter is back

After a day of rain (yes, rain in Minnesota in February!!!) on Tuesday, winter returned! Our trees are covered with ice. Some roads are, too!
I snapped a few photos with my phone.....all unedited.

Branches of this rose bush bend to the ground with all the snow and ice.

....a snowy swing

A snowy garden!

Trees around the garden and weathervane garden art....

Another garden and trees.
It's pretty But i'm hoping for sun and warm temps to melt it all soon! Especially to clear up the roads.
Happy Creating!
Judy