Projects 127-129: Jade Cluster Necklaces March 16, 2011

These next three necklaces were all made with the same basic design, but with different colors of jade gemstones and then different crystal or metal spacer beads.  I especially love the flower toggle clasps used on two of these…It just gives the projects a more vintage feel….

The only downfall to these necklaces is that since these are all gemstone and real crystal they are very heavy, but then again, you won’t have to worry about losing it, because if it fell off you would definitely feel it 🙂

I made these back in November…

Projects 127-129: Jade Cluster Necklaces

127 of 365: Purple Jade Cluster Necklace with Crystal Accent

 

128: Christmas Jade Necklace

129. Green Jade and Copper Cluster Necklace

These were really fun to make….now I just need to find events to wear all this stuff to…..

Don’t go away, there is a ton more to see in this marathon project posting session I’m on 🙂

CraftyBetty

Projects 115-118 of 365: Snow Swirled and Delightful Decorations Cards December 21, 2010

Hi all,

I’ve got some more Christmas cards for you…..Can you believe Christmas is just a few short days away!!!  I’ve barely started my Christmas shopping…LOL…..good thing I always give out a lot of handmade gifts….

On another note….. I just got braces on my teeth last week.  I had no idea the pain people really go through with these things!!!  I was expecting the teeth to be sore, no surprise there, but I had no idea how badly these things tear up the insides of your cheeks!!!  This is insanity-level pain, and I only have the top ones on right now (won’t be getting the bottom ones for another 3 months because they have to move the top ones a bit to get the lower ones to fit.).  And I also love how they wait to spring on the list of foods you can’t eat until they already have these torture devices on….. There are TONS of healthy foods on the list of things you can not eat…. so I better stock up on the vitamins.  Can’t have (or at least have to be very very careful with) raw vegetables, whole apples, nuts, popcorn, etc…..I know its logical, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it 🙂   On the other hand….On the suggested list are ice cream, cake, brownies, pudding….Doesn’t it sound like a license to go junk food crazy???  🙂

On to the cards….  All of these cards are pretty quick to finish, so if you still need to make more cards before Christmas hop to it, and try these on for size…

Project 115 of 365: Delights of the Season

115 of 365: Delights of the Season

Not much explanation needed for this one, just a simple card pieced together, but don’t you just love that ornament punch.  I could not have been happier than when I saw that Stampin Up had made two more stamp sets to use with this punch (Contempo Christmas and Tags Til Christmas), and they are both MUST HAVE sets!!!  (please ignore the sloppy glue marks on this one…..this was one of the earlier versions when I was experimenting with what to do with the strings on the ornaments….tiny glue dots are much less noticeable than using actual glue…)

Stamp Sets:  Delightful Decorations, Many Merry Messages

Project 116 of 365: Decorate with Joy

 

 

 

 

116 of 365: Decorate with Joy

 

Stamps Used: Delightful Decorations

Project 117 of 365: Snow Swirled Resist

117 of 365: Snow Swirled Resist

This card happened because I had seen a really similar card online somewhere last year, but I didn’t have the really pretty patterned paper that they had used on the bottom of the card….So I did what I do best….I improvised and made my own patterned paper.  I started with a plain old sheet of whisper white card stock.  Then I used my versamark glue pad to randomly stamp the snowflakes from the Snow Swirled Stamp Set all over my 12×12 sheet of cardstock.  I then sprinkled it with Iridescent Ice Emboss Powder and used my heat gun to emboss it.  After that I used a sponge dauber and Soft Suede Ink to rub all over the paper.  In person this really looks so much more beautiful and sparkly than in the picture.  It actually looks quite suede like from the rubbing of the ink across the paper and purposely applying the ink uneven.  This is one of those projects where it pays off to be sloppy 🙂  (this technique is called Emboss Resist.)

Stamps Used:  Snow Swirled, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Project 118 of 365:  Snow Swirled Navy

 

 

118 of 365: Snow Swirled Navy

 

Ask anyone who has ever done a Christmas card class and they will likely tell you that I am obsessed with heat embossing.  I just love the effect, the smooth raised texture of the ink.  It just looks so classy and professional.  And running a close second to heat embossing would be using any of the emboss folders or texture plates in my Sizzix Big Shot.  “Texture, Texture, Texture” is my motto and I can’t get enough of it when I’m making cards!!  Seriously, all these texture effects are soooooo easy and so much cheaper than the been-there-done-that patterned paper that everyone has.  So don’t be intimidated by that heat gun, give it a shot, you will be hooked just like me.

If you are wondering how I got the tree and the greeting lined up so straight…..check out the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig (yes, that ‘s its real name.)  If you are a perfectionist this will be your best friend!!

Stamps Used:  Snow Swirled

Hope you guys are more prepared than I am for Christmas day 🙂

Stop Back Soon For More Fun!!!

StampinBetty

Projects 112-114 of 365: Christmas Cards for Elizabeth Residences December 13, 2010

I always enjoy doing card classes for the ladies (and a few gentlemen) at Elizabeth Residences, an assisted living facility about 45 minutes from my home.  I was so excited to be invited to do another class with them, as it has been several months since I have been back….

Then the morning of the class (last Thursday) I got the dreaded news that my grandmother (from Arkansas) had passed away over night.  I had just returned from flying out to see her and be with my mother after “Granny” had had a stroke the prior week.  I so hoped she would recover, as I hadn’t spent nearly as much time with her over the years as I had wished I had.  There was so much lost time that needed to be made up for from when my brother and I were children and custody cases led to our father taking us so far away from so much of our family.  In recent years as all the true stories of those dark days come to the surface I’ve been trying and promising to spend more time with this whole HALF of my family.  Its just so hard to accept that where I thought I still had several years its already too late.  I will always regret waiting too long.  I will always be sorry for not trying harder to visit like I said I would.  On the rare occasions that I did get to spend time with them it was so special for me, and it was a beginning to filling in that hole in my gut from wondering “who am I.”  Visiting down there always feels like its the place I am supposed to be.  There are people who look like me, and like the same things I like.  It feels like I place I could call home.

This year has been so tough…I lost both of my grandmothers in the past 5 months, and a long line of other misfortunes this year.  So All I can say is that I have no doubt that next year will be a better year.

….Anyways….I still went and held the card class, as I already had everything all planned and packed up ready to go…and I knew it would take my mind off things for a little while, since I couldn’t go back to Arkansas  any way….there was a huge winter storm on its way in….

Here are the three cards I had everyone make:

Projects 112-114 of 365: Christmas Cards for Elizabeth Residences

112 of 365: Simple Santa

 

The Simple Santa card is cased from a card by J. Belanger on SplitCoast Stampers

113 of 365: Blue Christmas

 

 

114 of 365: Ornamental Season

 

The Ornamental Season card is cased from a card by Marie Shaughnessy from SplitCoast Stampers.

Stamp Sets Used:

• Many Merry Messages
• Snow Swirled
• Tags Til Christmas
• Lovely as a Tree
• Christmas Punch
• Serene Snowflakes

 

Thanks for stopping by….be back soon!

StampinBetty