That Time I Made a Flower Pail Box Card

25 06 2021

One of my favorite things to do is play with paper. I like making it dimensional with color and design. I’m not skilled enough to design something that will be 3D once all the pieces are assembled, so luckily there are places like

SVG Cuts who has some amazing files to play with. I worked with this one, Flower Pail Box Card for this project. If you don’t already know, one of the great things about box cards, is that they fold flat-ish for mailing, then they can be popped open for display, like you see here 🙂 At the tallest point, this card is about 9 inches, and about 3 inches across when open. When folded flat, it’s about 4 inches across the bottom.

The leaves and flowers were cut out of white paper. Then I used markers and pencils to color them. Yes, I could have made this project easier and less time consuming by just cutting them out on colored card stock, but like I said, I like to add dimension through color 🙂

After I cut out and colored everything, I assembled it. I have a nice envelope and I’ll design an address “label”, print it, then cut it out so the card can be sent.

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXOXO





Paper Orchid Shadow Box – I got to play a little!

13 01 2020

I used to play with paper and make things on an almost daily basis. But then our lives went down a different path and the time and the emotional availability wasn’t there. My creativity flows best when my mind and shoulders aren’t weighed down.

But every now and then, like a snow day :D, I get a chance to play. And that day was yesterday 🙂

I made the 3D Orchid Shadow Box, found here, in the Silhouette Store.

I really like how mine turned out, BUT it is modified from the original, and here’s why: I didn’t read the directions ahead of time. So, a caution to all you paper crafters out there – if there are directions somewhere, take a quick peek before you start, just to make sure ;D

Because I didn’t, my project couldn’t be displayed like the example. But it still works. So, if you want to make this project, too, here’s the blog with the directions lol.

I cut mine out of white card stock and colored the flower parts using copics and colored pencils. I was then able to nest all the boxes, instead of having two separate shadow boxes – this is an example of how mistakes can be springboards for other ideas 🙂

I also added a back, because I could lol.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

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That Time the Therapists Did Their Jobs Well and We Had to Say Good-bye…AGAIN

22 08 2019

Isaac has been in therapy since he was 3 months old. First with CMH, then transferred to First Steps (our state’s early intervention program) for physical therapy when he was 4 months old.

At 15 months old, he was diagnosed with a profound speech delay and a speech therapist was added to our weekly First Steps therapy session.

At 22 months, he was diagnosed with Autism. The next week, a special instructor was added to our sessions to help address the autistic needs we were encountering.

Last year we lost out physical therapist because Isaac had finally caught up in that area.

Today, we said good-bye to our remaining therapists. In our state, the early intervention program works with qualifying children until they’re 3. At that time, if help is still needed, the school district takes over – which is the case with our son.

I wanted to make something meaningful for them, to show my gratitude. My son is in such a good spot and has made up so much ground because of these hardworking ladies.

Here are their gifts.

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This is for our speech therapist. The first time Isaac really started participating in imaginative play, they were having a “tea party.” I wanted to commemorate that and create something that brought her back to that memory.

The next gift set was for our special instructor. This woman was described to me as magical, and they weren’t lying! She came into our lives at a time when we needed a little magic, so I made her a Mary Poppins set.

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Thanks for stopping by

xoxo





That Time I Made a Topiary Out of Paper

22 03 2019

As mentioned in a few posts before, the autism center my boys use is amazing. Most of the work on this project was done there. I cut out everything at home, then colored, shaped, and assembled most of it at the center. The topiary is from the kit Thank You For the Music at SVG cuts.

This is kind of picture intensive, so please be patient with me. There were a lot of components.

I took pictures of some of the process. I’m always amazed I can start with flat pieces of paper and make something substantial and dimensional. So I included pics for other people who might feel the same way 🙂

First, the focal points – the flowers. There’s two types. The main flowers and the fillers. Each main flower has 5 parts. I cut them out of blue paper, then added white to the centers, dark blue to the edges, then blended with a shade of blue somewhere between the color of the paper and the dark blue. I believe there were 32 big flowers.

I wanted a fuller topiary, so I used more filler flowers than called for. I used the same process of coloring them as I did for the blue flowers, just different colors.

 

I also wanted to add clovers and leaves to the base. The clovers are from the Springtime Box Cards kit at SVG Cuts. The leaves are from the pumpkin in the Harvest Sunset Kit, also from SVG Cuts.

I started with white paper  and colored the clovers and leaves the colors I needed them. I used a mix of ink and colored pencils.

 

 

And I just HAD to have a hummingbird. And wouldn’t you know it, SVG Cuts has one or those, too! This one is from their Hummingbird Box Card. Instead of cutting out different colors of paper, I cut all the pieces out in white, then colored the individual pieces before assembling. I made a mirror copy that I used to sandwich a wire between so I could make it hover by the topiary.

 

 

So those are the elements 🙂 Here’s some pics of the finished product. Thanks to my daughter who helped me get the pics 🙂

The clover.

 

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The topiary and the hummingbird.

Craft Project 3

The whole topiary

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And the card. I used a kit in my Craft Artist collection and designed this card. The flowers weren’t colored, which I LOVE because it allows me to color them 🙂 I used a combination of copics and colored pencils for the flowers on the card.

Craft Project 6





Valentine’s Day Clock

22 03 2019

So this is a little late, but if you read the previous post, you’ll understand why 🙂

My husband and I have a running joke about when it’s time to leave work. He’s a great worker and has pulled all nighters before, when necessary. He also works with people from different time zones. This means that sometimes he’s on a call or working on a project for someone after our “office hours” are over either because the job has to be finished, or he loses track of time.

So I made him a clock. And a card, because Valentine’s Day.

And of course, it’s out of paper 🙂

Front view

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Side (my husband used to live in France, so I wanted to incorporate that)

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The clock file is from Dreaming Tree. I blinged out the 5 as a reminder to my husband that I miss him and it’s time to come home 😉

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxoxo

 





That Time the Physical Therapist Did Her Job Too Well

4 09 2018

and now we have to say good bye.

At four months of age, our youngest started receiving physical therapy in our home through our state’s early intervention program. His muscles were so tight, we had to physically bend him to help him sit on our laps.

In the early weeks of his prenatal development, a part of his brain didn’t form quite right. When the neurologist told us about the finding on the MRI, she couldn’t tell us how or if that damage would affect him.

What we learned is that he needed help meeting EVERY milestone. Rolling. Sitting. Crawling. Walking.

Everything. We’re still working on speech.

BUT, he hit every single one, just in his own time, and not too far out of the normal range. But he was resistant  to them all. Our best guess is that the challenges are a combination of the brain abnormality and our autism diagnosis. But you can’t tell how much work it took to get him to this point because he overcame all of those challenges and most of his success is because of a WONDERFUL physical therapist.

She’s the one that first saw and noted the autism red flags. And when my son needed a break from the PT, she addressed some of those issues. She wrote letters outlining the team’s concerns over these red flags. These letters were so helpful in a number of areas, but especially in his autism diagnosis.

He’s 28 months now…she’s been part of our family for the last 24 months. For two years she showed up each week and worked with him. She explained things to me so I could help him. She found just the right mixture of concern and calm. She listened when I was worried and cheered with us when we saw progress. I think she may have been almost as eager as we were about the adoption 🙂

For two years, my son was her son for an hour a week. I couldn’t have asked for a better woman to work with him.

But now, it’s time for her to go help another little one. So I made her a dozen roses and a card as an inadequate thank you. It took a week, but it was well worth the time.

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I cut the roses out of white paper. I used ink and a water brush to watercolor the rose pieces before I put them together. What you can’t see, is that I sprayed them with glimmer mist to give them a little sparkle.

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I happen to know she likes humming birds, so I included a little tiny one on this card and used a sketch pen for the greeting.

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Thanks for stopping by.

xoxo





I Still Play With Paper, Too

30 07 2018

I posted a lot of vinyl projects today, but I still play with paper, too 🙂 Here’s a gift set of cards all tucked away in a cute little purse bag.

Craft Project 8

My husband needed to congratulate a friend of his on a pretty big accomplishment, so I made this for him to use.

Craft Project 6

both 3D projects are from SVG Cuts.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo





I Made a Thing!

27 07 2018

Holy cow! No posts for like a month+ and now there’s two! And this post is about a 3D project!

If you don’t know – I LOVE 3D paper projects. But they take more time than cards, and I just don’t have a ton of time these days. But for my parents, I stayed up until 3am working on this and I love how it turned out.

We just wrapped up an annual reunion. The tradition is about 30 years old. Each family (there are 10 kids in my mom’s family) takes turns hosting and planning. This year, it was my parents’ turn. It’s a lot of hard work and I wanted something special to thank them with. So I made this and filled it with chocolate 🙂 And yes, they are avid RV-ers, so this was perfect for them 🙂 The file is from SVG Cuts.

 

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Social Worker Appreciation Month – Have You Thanked One?

7 03 2018

Social work is a hard and often thankless job. The hours are long and the pay is low, but it’s some of the most important work out there. It takes someone special to do this kind of job.

We have been SO BLESSED to have THE SAME caseworker for the baby’s case the ENTIRE time. If you haven’t been in this world, let me tell you, this is HIGHLY unusual. Our case is almost 2 years old and our worker has been a stabilizing part of it. She made a tough, scary situation easier.

To thank her and show her our appreciation, I made a few things.

Here’s everything together. I made the boxes and bags, too, using my WRMK Template Studio 🙂

Up close of the shirt. I found the saying on Pinterest and designed something in Silhouette Studio to fit my needs. I use Siser glitter HTV in mint and now I think I’m in love with the sparkly htv 🙂

I used the same htv on the mug. Also a saying I found on Pinterest that I put into Silhouette Studio and played around with. I even got to use the conical warp tool!

I used my mug press attachment for the first time and I’m kind of in love with that, too! I do wish I’d made it a little smaller, but it’s a live and learn thing I guess 🙂

The mug says: You can’t fix crazy. All you can do is document it.

This card though.

It should have been easier.

I inked the flower stamp in different colors using a stamp positioning tool. But the effect was a little washed out. I did pick lightish colors though. So I grabbed my markers and inked up select areas of the stamp and stamped again.

I still wasn’t happy, so I got out my prismacolor pencils and added details and colors by hand until I was happy. And I LOVED how it turned out BUT I felt like there was too much white space. Hence the bricks.

I used my Cameo’s pixscan feature to cut out a mask for the stamped image. Then I ran some paper and a metal die through my Evolution Advanced die cutter to make a brick stencil. I masked off the flower and inked up the background. But it was a little, eh. So I got out my pencils and enhanced the bricks. Then I felt it competed too much with the flower. That’s the image you see right below.

So I did some fussy cutting (one of my least favorite things to do) to rescue the flower. Then used some other metal dies and an embossing folder to come up with what you see below. I was finally happy with it and called it a night. You can see the finished version below the bricked version 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, the flowers on the are mine because my husband’s awesome 😉

Xoxo





Because Ovens are Dangerous, I Made an Apple Pie Out of Paper

24 11 2017

Because I have no business baking. I have scars from different baking attempts.

Paper cuts don’t scar, so when I found this cute apple pie box, I went for it 🙂

I had to redo the rose. I wasn’t happy with the first one. This one turned out better 🙂 I used copics and prismacolor pencils on it to give it a bit more dimension. And the lattice work was embossed with an embossing folder 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

Xoxo

Link to the project here