The Twinery: February Project with a Video Tutorial!

Frames on cards are all the rage right now, aren't they? Well, so is twine. Why not combine the two? In this post, I will show you how to create easy twine frames for your cards without using adhesive! All you have to do is twist and stitch. Are you ready? First, watch this video and then I'll show you two variations of the card I made in the video.

For my first card, shown at the very top of this post, both the sentiment and the image are in the centre so I simply tied the loose ends of the twine into a bow in the centre after stitching. I thought the sentiment looked fabulous on its own so I took a photo of it to show you what the card looked like before I attached the heart with foam dimensionals.

Here's the card again after I attached the heart. I love both versions equally.

This second card is another variation on the twine frame where the sentiment sits in the opening. This is typical of most frames you see on cards. Here, I ended the twine frames with little bows. By twisting two different colours of twine to create the frame, you will always end up with interesting little bows!

So what do you think? Just imagine all the colour possibilities! I haven't tried more than two colours yet but I think I will. I have other variations in my head and I'll be sharing those with you at a later date. Let me know if you decide to give this a try!

Sources for Friendship card: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Unity February 2011 Kit of the Month - The Best is Yet To Be; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Copics; The Twinery baker's twine in Pink Sorbet and Blossom; Gutermann thread; sewing machine

Sources for I've Loved You card: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Unity February 2011 Kit of the Month - The Best is Yet To Be; SU Pink Pirouette & Rose Red inks; The Twinery baker's twine in Pink Sorbet and Blossom; Gutermann thread; sewing machine

Pink Cat Studio ~ Feb 24th Digi Release!

Welcome to one of the most anticipated Pink Cat Studio digi releases ever! This post is filled with gnomey goodness so make yourself comfy and enjoy. I went with a modern folk theme for my cards this week to show you that you don't have to stick to gnomey themes with these images. They are so cute, they will work with just about anything!

First up is a card using the little girl from the gnome family, Lulibell. I love her with the little deer! I paired her up with one of my favourite sentiments from Unity's One of a Kind. Gnomes are funky, aren't they? LOL Then I embellished this card with stickers from Echo Park's A Walk in the Park Collection. I popped Lulibell on to the card base with foam adhesive and rounded one corner of the card.

Next up is a card using the little boy from the gnome family, Finnbert. Don't you just love the names Melissa has given these gnomes? I paired him up with a sentiment from Unity's Boys Will Be Boys and the 'caution' part gave me the idea of pairing up black and yellow baker's twine from The Twinery. My son was driving me batty the day I made this and his craziness inspired this background.

After I popped Finnbert on to the card base with foam adhesive, I felt that the card needed an anchor so I die cut some patterned paper from Echo Park's A Walk in the Park Collection with the notebook edge die from My Favorite Things, something I hadn't used yet.

Finally, here are the parents (who could also double-up as grandparents), Ninbert and Gladibell! I thought I'd use them to make a cute little anniversary card. Aren't they adorable? I can see them welcoming you to a new home, to the neighbourhood, just to say hello and thanks... pretty much anything! Who knew gnomes could be so versatile, eh? :)

Oh my, this release was so fun to colour and all of these gnomey images just make me smile. Imagine all the sentiments you could pair with them! I hope you've been inspired. If not, or if you need more inspiration, just head on over to the Pink Cat Studio Blog or click on the DT links on my sidebar. Have a wonderful day!

Sources for Lulibell card: Gina K Designs pure luxury kraft & 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Lulibell & Deer; Unity+Melody Ross One of a Kind; Copics; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Tempting Turquoise ink; Echo Park A Walk in the Park Collection Element Stickers; EK Success 1-3/8" circle punch; Stampin' Dimensionals

Sources for Finnbert card: Gina K Designs pure luxury kraft cardstock & 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Echo Park A Walk in the Park Collection Element Cards (reverse side); Pink Cat Studio Finnbert & Deer; Unity+Echo Park Boys Will be Boys; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Wild Wasabi ink; Copics; SU paper piercer; SU silver brads; The Twinery baker's twine in Lemondrop & Charcoal; My Favorite Things Notebook Edge die; QuicKutz Epic Six; Stampin' Dimensionals

Sources for Ninbert and Gladibell card: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Gnome Couple; Verve Text Objects; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Copics; Stampin' Dimensionals

Where there is LOVE

This afternoon, while I was "sublicating" (making cards to submit for publication - yes, I made that up) another happy accident occurred and I whipped up this quick card by repeating the accident. Do you remember what happened the last time I had a creative accident? :) That's right, I made this card, then this one and my first ever video tutorial! Today's card features a sentiment from Verve's Text Objects, a set I bought months ago but hadn't inked up yet. It was time to give it some love. Oh, and of course there's the awesome charcoal baker's twine from The Twinery!!

Enjoy the rest of your day and be sure to stop by tomorrow for an incredibly gnomey Pink Cat Studio digi release! Click HERE or on the blinkie for contest details. Trust me, you will want these digis!!

Sources: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Verve Text Objects; SU Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise & Wild Wasabi; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; The Twinery baker's twine in Charcoal

Let's Hang Out

I was playing with my Unity stamps last night and came up with this simple one-layer card using a previously uninked image and sentiment from Nothing But Blue Skies. I wasn't a Kit Club member when this kit was released but I bought it when it was on sale. In January, Rachel Bogner started a Neglected Unity Challenge to encourage Unity fans to use up all their stamps which is a great idea! You can find the thread in the Unity forum HERE.

Sources: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Unity February 2010 Kit of the Month - Nothing But Blue Skies; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Copics; atyou Spica Glitter pen

Paris... washi tape style

Hello, friends! It's Family Day here in Ontario and a few other provinces in Canada. I hope you're enjoying your Monday wherever you are and whatever you're doing today! It snowed last night and it's very cold today so it's a great day to stay inside and craft.

I made this card for the Moxie Fab World Challenge: Get Daring with Decorative Tape. I bought a lot of washi tape a few months ago and hoarded it but now I'm determined to use it. I've made a few cards I can't show you yet but I'm no longer afraid of using up my washi tape. I'm actually discarding sections that I don't want to get to parts of the tape that I want to show!

I used some Paris washi tape to create a background on vellum cardstock. Then I die cut and stitched it on to the shaped card base. I stamped the Eiffel Tower and sentiment from Unity's When I Am With You. I also made two masks for the Eiffel Tower so I could use the Hearts of Old background on the flourish and Eiffel Tower in two different colours. Then I cut out the Eiffel Tower and added Honeydew baker's twine from The Twinery. I added rhinestones and popped the image and sentiment on to the card base with dimensionals.

The great thing about washi tape is that it's repositionable so you can always undo your mistakes. ;) Have you tried it yet? With all the pretty colours and patterns available, I guarantee you'll be addicted!

Sources: SU Old Olive cardstock; Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; SU vellum cardstock; Unity September 2010 Kit of the Month - When I Am With You; Unity Hearts of Old; SU Old Olive ink; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; Ranger Antique Linen Distress ink; Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eight; QuicKutz Epic Six; Mark's Coup de Coeur Collection (Paris Map Monuments) washi tape from Pretty Tape; SU Basic Rhinestones; The Twinery baker's twine in Honeydew; Stampin' Dimensionals; Gutermann white thread; sewing machine

Unity FWF Blog Hop {Feb 18th}

Happy Friday and welcome to another Friends With Flair blog hop with Unity! You'll want to start at the Unity Blog for a list of today's participants. One blog will have the FWF blinkie and, if you leave a comment there, you could win 25 random Unity stamps!

My card is a one-layer that uses three previously uninked stamps from the November 2010 Kit of the Month, Picture Perfect. This kit arrived just as I was preparing to be the Guest Designer for Unity in December so I didn't have the chance to use it much.

First, I stamped the empty frames and sentiment on to the card base. Then I created a mask for the frames. I used the birds from the tree image to fill in the frames and coloured everything with Copics. It wasn't easy trying to centre the birds in the frames but I did manage to capture all or part of every single bird from the tree. LOL Some of the portraits are quite whimsical, aren't they? The last step was to add a tiny twine bow in charcoal.

Your next blog along this hop is She!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Sources: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Unity November 2010 Kit of the Month - Picture Perfect; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Copics; The Twinery baker's twine in Charcoal

Pink Cat Studio ~ Feb 17th Digi Release!

Welcome to the next Pink Cat Studio fairytale release! If you're a big fan of colouring, we have a couple of surprises for you today! As you can see, we're celebrating the story of Rapunzel. Lily's long, luscious locks and Billy's steed aside, the wannabe architect in me just loves the tall tower! I'm not going to lie. It took a long time to colour but I had fun and it was extremely satisfying!

I always start with the flesh tones so that means Lily's face and arms, and Billy's hands and nose. I can't help but giggle when I look at this digi of Billy reaching up. Melissa somehow always manages to capture fine details in cute. She's an amazing artist!

Then I coloured in the hair and Lily's braid was so much fun to colour! Next were the flowers in her hair, the one in the bird's mouth and all the flowers in the bushes.

After that, I coloured in Lily's dress, the birds themselves and the bushes but not necessarily in that order.

Then I moved to Billy. Look at those cute hands! LOL And, of course, the fact that you can only see his nose makes it even funnier. ;) I wanted to tie in the colours from the tower image to Billy so I made his cloak purple to match the birds and his puffy shirt and pants to match Lily's golden hair. The pin that holds the feather is red to match the flowers.

Here's a photo from the top of the tower to give the impression of height. The tower itself was the last to be coloured. Rather than using one of the digi sentiments (which are always free), I used an impression plate with text for the storybook feel. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Thanks for enjoying today's release with me! As always, there is plenty of inspiration on the Pink Cat Studio Blog or on the DT blogs whose links are on my sidebar. Be sure to swing by again next Thursday for the best Pink Cat Studio digi release ever. ;)

Sources: SU Basic Grey cardstock; Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Lily as Rapunzel; Pink Cat Studio Rapunzel's Prince; Copics; Papertrey Ink Book It impression plate; QuicKutz Epic Six; Stampin' Dimensionals

Valentine RAKs

Hello! I hope you're all having a great week so far! It's quite warm in Toronto today and it feels a lot like spring. Today, I'm sharing three of the gifts I received on Valentine's Day, in the order I received them.

First up is the card my husband made me. He used Pink Cat Studio's Dacty Holding a Heart, some Tim Holtz tissue tape and a Hero Arts sentiment. I think it's such a cool card but how could I not? ;) After I read his card, he said asked me if I made the connection between the postage stamps on the tissue tape and the sentiment. LOL

Next up are photos of Lexy's two cuties wearing the necklaces I made! I'm happy to report that they were a huge hit.

And Lindsey used all sorts of Unity goodness to create shimmery heart balloons tied with cord. I love the way she punched out a hole for the sentiment to sit on the card base.

Thank you for these wonderful gifts that make me smile! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day, too! See you tomorrow for the Pink Cat Studio Rapunzel Release!!

Valentine's Day Blog Hop

Hello and Happy Valentine's Day!!! Welcome to today's Valentine's Day Blog Hop organized by the amazing Taylor Usry! You should've arrived from my incredible Pink Cat Studio design teammate Patty Tanúz's blog. If not, you will want to start at Taylor's blog to get all the details as well as a complete list of participants and prizes. Both the Pink Cat Studio design team as well as Amber Ink alumnae were invited so I made both a Pink Cat Studio card as well as an Amber Ink card.

My first card features Cupid Billy from the set Lily & Billy Sweethearts. The three hearts are from the same set and the sentiment is a partial from Lily at the Beach. I stamped Billy at the top and then slightly rotated him as I restamped him down the left side. I added the hearts as if someone standing below was hit by the cupid's arrow. I coloured the images with Copic markers and added clear Spica to Billy's wings and blossom Spica all the hearts.

This second card features the blowfish from Can I Keep Him?!! and a sentiment from Rockin' It Unity Style. The blowfish's tail and fins reminded me of hearts which is why I chose this particular image and colours. The stitched frame is Amber Ink iPaper and it's backed by washi tape. I've been looking for new ways to incorporate my washi tape and I'm really pleased with the way this turned out. I started by using my paper trimmer to create the iPaper frame and then mapped out where the washi tape would begin and end. I tore four pieces and adhered it to the card base. Then I adhered the frame and stamped the sentiment and blowfish, colouring it with Copics. The last step was to stitch around the frame with red thread.

You have until Thursday, February 17th at 6:00pm EST to comment and be eligible for prizes! The prizes are hidden on various blogs on this hop and the winners will be chosen via Random.org. The more love you leave, the better your chances of winning and if my blog happens to have a winner then I will make an announcement here on Friday. The following is only a third of all the fabulous prizes you could win! You can find the complete list of prizes on Taylor's blog.

$10 gift certificate

Meaning of Love Digi Stamp Set

$20 gift certificate

$10 gift certificate

One person will receive Timeless Love;
Two people will receive five digis of their choice

Five digis of winner's choice to one winner

Four cling rubber stamps from new release to one winner

Your next stop on this Valentine's Day Blog Hop
is another one of my Pink Cat Studio design teammates,
the super talented Jane Matsumoto!

Sources for Sending You Some Love: SU Real Red cardstock; Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Lily & Billy Sweethearts; Pink Cat Studio Lily at the Beach; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Copics; atyou Spica Clear & Blossom glitter pens

Sources for I Adore You: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Amber Ink Bubble Fizz-White iPaper; Amber Ink Can I Keep Him?!!; Unity March 2010 Kit of the Month - Rockin' It Unity Style; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Brilliant Blue ink; Copics; Craft Y+L Oldbook washi tape purchased from PrettyTape; Gutermann red thread; sewing machine

Reviving Old Favourites

There are a million versions of today's projects but I wanted to show you mine to give you a break from paper crafts. ;)

First up, this post by Jennifer Hagfeldt reminded me that I had a huge bag of broken crayons in the cupboard and it was time to bake them. My son just loves to break crayons. I even bought him the chunky triangular ones as well as the chubby pip squeaks pencil crayons but he still manages to break them all. He even likes to peel the paper off!

I used a very simple recipe. First, I preheated the oven at 200F and broke the crayons into slightly smaller pieces so they would melt more easily. Then I used an X-acto knife to slice the papers open which made it easier for me to peel them off. I arranged the pieces into a muffin pan lined with a bit of olive oil. I put the crayons in the oven for five to eight minutes and once they had cooled, they popped right out.

I thought some of them turned out like beautiful galaxies and didn't really want to use them at first. I'm just happy that my son loves stacking them and colouring with them. He can't break them but he occasionally throws them which could be dangerous. LOL My husband asked me why I didn't make each one a different solid colour instead of mixing the colours all together. Well, that wouldn't have been very interesting, would it? :Þ

Next up is a little sewing project. My son loves this firetruck shirt but now it's too small and it's also stained with everything imaginable. Sometimes I wonder why they would even make a boy's shirt in white. LOL For the first two years of my son's life, he was outfitted in Carter's thanks to my sister and a few trips to the U.S. Carter's doesn't exist in Canada but I sure wish it did! They have the cutest baby clothing by far and the quality is amazing, too. Baby Gap, Gymboree and Children's Place don't even come close.

I bought a new grey shirt, cut out the embroidered image from the old shirt, pinned it in place and stitched it on. Now my son has a "new" favourite shirt!

At the peak of my son's obsession with this shirt, he wanted to wear it every day. He didn't give me that much trouble when I put something else on him but whenever it was my husband's turn, he would flat out refuse to wear anything but this. My sister has sent him two other "big boy" shirts with firetrucks on them but they aren't cute like this one. I wonder how long it will be before my son figures out that I can renew all of his other favourites!

I was never one to appreciate flowers. I don't mean that I don't enjoy flowers in their natural state, in gardens. It's just that I always thought they were a waste of money to buy in a bouquet but that changed in the new year. Last month, I told my husband that I'd like to start receiving flowers. It's really hard to surprise me so he can't give me flowers on special occasions. Last month, he bought me some red gerbera daisies and last night, he came home with these pink ones. Gerbera daisies are both his mother's and my favourite flower. In the morning, we asked our son if he liked the pretty flowers and he said, yes. Then we asked him what colour they were and he said, "Cici!" Cici is a pink car in the Roary the Racing Car series. Then he asked, "Where Roary flower go?" LOL Roary is red like the gerbera daisies I received last month. Isn't it cute how he associates his colours?

I'll be back tomorrow for Taylor Usry's BIG Valentine's Day Blog Hop! There are 50 participants plus 20 sponsors and prizes to be won! You will have until Thursday this week to complete the hop for your chance to win. The more comments you leave, the better your chances of winning!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll see you tomorrow!