Ornaments and Tags and Cards Oh My!

I am having a Christmas Ornament and Tags class and a Simple But Sweet Christmas card class at Anna Bearden's house on Saturday, December 3rd. The tags and ornaments will be at 10 am and the cards will be at 1:00 pm.

I hope you'll join us for the fun!

The ornament above is a two sided, 5 point star. It also closes into a small 1 1/2 square. You really need to see this in person to appreciate how cute the design is.

Here's another of the ornaments we'll be making using the Creative Memories Cricut Cartridge "Reminisce." I added some bling so it'll sparkle on the tree, it really is fun and easy to make.

Here's a super cute tag for gifts. It would make any present that much more special to give.

Lastly, I'll share one of the Simple But Sweet cards we'll be making from the Creative Memories "Noel" abc and sticker packs. The cards will practically make themselves. Please call Anna or send her an email and we'll see you on the 3rd.

I pray that all of my dear friends and family have a blessed Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family and friends and the feasting.

Hugs and blessings,

Lorelei

Cards to Share!

 First I have to say that the week totally got away from me and when I come to this sharing place with you I see that the whole month has gotten away!

The card above is made with a Lockhart stamp. I love this image! I'm sure by now you know how much I love fall! I used Prisma pencils and odorless Tupenoid to ger the rich color in the pumpkin and vines. The sentiment is was also Lockhart. The background paper is Graphic 45. 

 

This card was made as a sympathy card, but could also be used as an anniversary card. I used what I learned in Jennifer McGuire's Summer Boot camp and stamped the Hero Arts Lotus image with a Ranger Paint Dauber in Pearl. After letting that dry, I went in with Tattered Rose Distress Ink using an applicator and them followed up with Antique Linen Distress Ink. The image is from Stampin' Up and is bundled in a symapathy kit.

Today is Day 2 of my friend Mel and I making Christmas Cards together. We are having such fun sharing inpiration and giggles.

Blessings on your day,

Lorelei



You're the Best!!

A not-so-Halloween card that I sent to Chris and Nathan. I am not a real Halloweeny person so I used the opportunity to encourage them in the paths they've chosen. I also have to confess that being a Fall girl, I must embrace any and all things Fall!!

The papers are from Creative Imaginations, the border punch is Fiskars, the twine is Doodlebug and the stamp is a Hero Arts freebie.

You are my besties too! I hope you enjoy your Halloween, especially if you're still dressing your kids for the big day and taking them out trick or treating. If you're staying home, maybe something pumkin, like cookies or quick bread,  or my favorite: Candy Corn, peanuts and M&Ms!!

Enjoy the Fall!

Lorelei



Spark and Echo are coming to Grants Pass!!

In promotion of their debut album to be released this Fall (produced by Jay Foote-Welcome Wagon), Spark and Echo the Band will be touring the West Coast from November 2-26. We are thrilled to host them in a Grants Pass addition to their tour at Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church on November 9th at 7:00 pm. Our church is located at 230 Buysman Way, Grants Pass, 541-479-7929.
Hear duo Jonathon Roberts and Emily Clare Zempel play original art songs and piano rock featuring beautiful vocal harmonies, baritone ukulele, clarinet, and Emily’s trusty steed, Boris the Bassoon.
A free will offering will be taken to help Spark and Echo with the expenses of their entertainment. Please consider joining us for this very special event.

Open House at Anna's

There is going to be an Open House at Anna Bearden's house on Saturday, Nov. 5 from 10 am to 4 pm. I'll be teaching a card class and there's going to be lots of other GREAT things going on. There will be cropping of course, and Holly's goat soap and lotions, Pampered Chef, jewelry, candles, and more!!

Please come and kick off the Holiday season with some fabulous inspiration!!

Here are some of the cards for the class.

The theme of the cards is encouragement and they can be used for many different events, birthday, travel blessings, thinking of you and even a Christmas card!! More (Christmas cards to follow in another class. So stay tuned!)

We'd love to see you and I think you'll have a fabulous time!

Blessings to all,

Lorelei

It's been a long time since you've seen any layouts!

This is a layout that I made for Got Sketch Express 2 with Valerie Salmon. It's an online class where Valerie provides a sketch and some samples.  With my pictures and papers, I created this layout which is somewhat similar to the sketch. The patterned paper is BoBunny. The pictures are my Uncle Wilse's 80th birthday. The fish at the bottom is his pet catfish that lives in his pond. Uncle Wilse feeds him every day! (It reminds me of that Betty White movie.)

These two layouts I created while taking a class with Big Pictures classses (Bigpictureclasses.com) with May Flaum and Nic Howard. This is also an online class using sketches and samples that are provided by these two super talented women. This class has videos and techniques so I learn new stuff. I even sewed on these two pages!!  I used Stella Rose papers by My Minds Eye on the above layout and Creative Memories on the layout below to capture our memories of a tour we were blessed to take with Brady Adams. Brady is a real active man in making our community a better place to live by inspiring artists to make fun art pieces that are placed around our town.  

I have been making lots of cards too. So I'll be sharing those real soon. Until we meet again may God richly bless you,

Lorelei

Organization - That is the Key!! (or a key anyway)

I have been involved in the long process of organizing my studio. This organizational project has been ongoing and may not be done yet. I may never be done. You see, I'm always looking for ways to make distractions minimal. I will accomplish this goal if I have everything close at hand. Close isn't actually a very difficult prospect as the area I have to work is very small at 9 x 11! I have 4 bookshelves that are a huge help to me and I actually scrapbook on a small 4' plastic table! (I'm looking to change that soon.) So I want to share some parts of the process that are working very well for me.

This is not an original idea. I found this idea somewhere, on a blog or in a magazine. It is  the BEST way to store punches. This is a shoe organizer that I hung on the inside of the closet door. I can see EVERY punch I have instantly! "But I don't have that many punches," you say. Think about the possibility of this working for inks, stamps, embellishments!! I think it is a fabulous storage device.

Next I wanted to share my organization on the shelves. I wanted to have the studio be an ultra enjoyable place where I would want to spend LOTS of time. My husband and I love to travel so that theme seemed like the easiest to go with. There are lots of items that support the travel theme at Ross, Fred Meyer, Craft Warehouse, all around!! So in the hat box is my Cuttle Bug dies and embossing folders, the Paris suitcase holds all of my flowers and related ephermera. The shelf above that is for displaying mini albums I've made and the shelf above that is for my inks and applicators. My inks fit VERY nicely in another suitcase box I picked up at Michaels.

When I look around the studio, I love that my tools, papers and embellishments are nice and tucked away and look tidy. This has helped my productivity and my sense of creativity. I have freedom to be make cards and pages because there is no time wasted looking for what I need. 

I hope this has inspired you to:

1. Set aside a space to create (when the boys little I used a space in the living room!)

2. Pick a theme to work with so that you can have a decorative space as well as functional.

3. Work with your space and arrange your supplies so that you can be your most efficient self.

4. Put things away when you finishe using them. This accomplishes two very obvious outcomes; First you can find what you are looking and second your space looks inviting for you to come back to.

You will be more creative when the space you create in is inviting.

Hugs,

Lorelei

Fall is Coming

Isn't it funny how excited we are to have fall weather? I would love it if this, my hands down favorite season, lasted much longer. Fall is everything I love! The food, the colors, pumpkins, leaves and acorns, the clothes and the crafty feeling I get when the weather is cooler.

 I have a fun fall card to share today that I made following the Hero Arts video of the week found  on their blog here. I used BoBunny paper for the text and the leaves were stamped with a Hero Arts stamp in Barn Door, Wild Honey and Scattered Straw Distress Inks. I sprayed the images with a mist of water and heat them with my heat tool.  I touched the outside edges of the leaves with Vintage Photo Distress Ink after cutting them out and painted them with Distress Crackle Paint in Rock Candy, from Ranger. They almost look real, don't they?

This card is made from Jennifer Maguire Inspiration. The image is a Hero Arts stamp (hmmm, I'm seeing a pattern here) on watercolor paper and heat embossed in white embossing powder. The next step is to put Distress Ink directly onto the paper in two colors (I used Broken China and Wild Honey) and then spraying Glimmer Mist in Marshmallow heavily over the inking. This causes a beautiful, shimmery, water color effect. I am going to make more cards like this because it very easy and has such a lovely look.

I hope your having a crafty day and are enjoying the beautiful fall weather!

Hugs, Lorelei

Getting All Inked UP

Guess what? I'm a Fall girl. SHOCKER!!

 I love fall food, fall desserts (ooops back to food again), fall clothes, fall leaves, fall cards.... I could go on. Oh I forgot to say I just LOVE fall weather!! It's starting to be cooler in the evenings and mornings and I just love that.

I'm also just loving the Inspiration Showcase class I'm taking. Yesterday we worked on dry embossing techniques. I'll be sharing what I made with this technique soon. I have lots of embossing envelopes for my Cuttlebug but haven't used them much. After yesterday, Lookout world! I am loving the inking over (and under) dry embossing.

The card above is my favorite from the class so far. Nicole Magourik made a card similar to this and of course, being the Fall girl that I am, I just had to try my hand at my version of the card.

What do you think? You can make this card too. Here's how:

Stamp a big swirl (used Hero Arts Bold Flourish) or full card size stamp over book text with Versamark and heat emboss that with white embossing powder. Then ink up your piece with Tumbled Glass and Scattered Straw Distress Ranger Inks (did I mention that I love these inks?). Finish the edges off with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and spray Tattered Angels Marshmallow or similar mica based spray over the whole piece to get a little sparkle.

The flower is made by stamping the same flower 3 times with Versamark ink and embossing with white embossing powder and then cutting the flowers out and crumpling them up and layering them on top of each other.  An old Marvy punch I have was perfect for the leaves. I used a clear embossing pen by Ranger to draw the leaf lines and then embossed that with white embossing powder. Put it all together over a bow made of cord and add some rhinestones and pearls and wahlah!!

If you haven't already, get your Ranger Distress Inks out and play with them. The backgrounds you can make to enhance your cards will made you smile. Jennifer Maguire says she buys very little colored cardstock because she can always change white cardstock into the perfect color for her project!

I'm loving life, hope you are too.

Lorelei 

  

Inspiration Showcase

Seriously, who is your favorite cardmaker?  Of course it's Jennifer Maguire! Who else has the energy and  talent she does?  I love Nicole Magourik and Kristina Werner and others but Jennifer has the style that most often matches my tastes.  Her latest on-line class called Inspiration Showcase is packed full of inspirational goodness and beautiful card ideas and I'm only on Day Two!! The card above is a sympathy card I made for my husband's brother's in-laws. The technique here is stamping with paint and then applying ink to the the card and going back over it with a baby wipe to get the paint to show through. I love the softness of the imperfections of the stamped image. I also love using my favorite inks: Ranger Distress Inks. My new favorite color is Wild Honey!! What not green??? Not this time.

This card uses the same background technique as the card above but I added the panel on top with foam tape. On the panel I used Distress Inks over a white embossed image from Magenta.  The white embossing also resists the Distress Inks. This card is the beginning of my Thanksgiving stash for those members of our church who can no longer join us on Sunday.

Inspiration Showcase is the best class ever. It is so packed with wonderful, fun techniques all while using my favorite products. What more could a girl who has a passion for cardmaking ask for?

I hope you'll stay tuned, I know I'll have more to share with you shortly. I hope you're having a blessed week and can find the time to do what you love most!

Lorelei