Y'all Ready for Another Challenge?

Yup, it is that time of month again at Fred She Said!
This month's Challenge is to Make Something 3-D for a Loved One. Just remember though, that you MUST use a Fred She Said image Somewhere on the card for it it qualify in the Challenge! If you don't have one, not to worry! There are PLENTY of Freebies here! Come and Play with us for the chance to win a $20 Gift Certificate at the Fred She Said Store!  Enter your project on Mr. Linkey in this month's Challenge post on the Fred She Said Challenge Blog.  Don't have a Blog?  Not to worry.  You can still entere!  Follow the directions for emailing a picture of your entry to Tracey.


Now, on to my project for today!

I have chosen to use an old Crayola Box and do a bit of Alteration to it.  I have used paper from a "petite fleurs" patterned paper that Tracey designed and it can be found here as a FREEBIE.  It took me 5 sheets to fully cover the box.  I then took a 5 x 7" Photo Mat and covered it with Gold Vellum and mounted it on the box lid with foam tape.  Then came the flowers from the Lovely Blossom & Butterfly Coloured Decoupage Kit (I used the blue set to follow the Blue Theme I have going here)  I cut the main image out with the Mega Curved Rectangle Nestabilies and then layered all the pieces with foam tape and glue for a more "real" look.  Added some 1/2 pearls to the centers of the flowers and some ribbon and bling to the box lid as well as a "tie down" made from buttons, embroidery thread and cloisoné beads, and the box is done.  Buttons on the bottom of the box work as feet to keep the paper from wearing.

This box, along with a pair of earrings I put inside will be going to my oldest daughter on Monday.  I don't get to see her very often as we don't live in the same town and neither of us drive.  Her favorite color is Blue...I found this out at Easter...the last time I saw her, when I gave her a pair of my Tatted Earrings...in purple...lol  I was duely informed that I need to "keep up Mom"  lol   So, I hope this is enough Blue for her...lol

Circular "Lace" Tutorial

As requested, I have made a Tutorail for you on how I made the Circular Lace in my card Here.  Not much for me to "say" as the pictures say it all, so here is the Tut.  Hope you have fun!

Mobile Card Display

Have you ever wanted to have some kind of Display that you could carry your cards in?  One that you could just open and show your cards to potential customers?  Well, I have.  I've been carrying them around for years in boxes and people interested in my cards had to sort through the cards in the boxes to find what they were looking for.  Well NO longer!  I have had this Artist Portfolio for years (literally!)  I got it when I went to college, right out of High School...and I'm NOT telling you how long ago THAT was!  lol  Well, all it was being used for was to store my College Portfolio in that I never take anywhere, so I had this BRILLIANT idea to use it as a Mobile Card Display!  I went to Home Depot and bought 2 Ceiling Tiles.  I cut them to fit inside the Portfolio.  I spray painted 1 of them black and glued it to both sides of the Portfolio with Construction Adhesive.  The other one I left plain, but glued both halves back to back.  I thne covered the raw edges on this one with some very wide binding (Quilt Binding) using a very tacky glue (Aleene's Jewel-It)  Now it was ready for my cards!  Granted, I can't take EVERY single card I  have made, but I can take a good representation of what I have done and keep swapping them out for different ones, depending on the time of year.
Now for the pictures of my Mobile Display.

Here it is, Closed.  I know it is kind of "ratty" looking, but Hey, what do you expect for being as old as it is?  lol  It will get the job done and that is what counts, right?

Here is the Mobile Display opened up flat.

Opened Tented for better viewing.

One side of the Display.

The other side of the Display.

Here is one side of the Extra Display.  Can you see the Binding around the edges here?

The other side of the Extra Display.

Here is the Mobile Display, ready to close and go out "on the road"

I would LOVE to hear YOUR ideas!

Our 4th Fred She Said Blog Hop....come and join the fun!

Welcome to our FOURTH Fred She Said blog hop!!! If you just happened to drop by my blog and you are not aware of this wonderful event taking place, please go back to the Fred She Said  blog and start your hop!

No Special Code words this time...This time, you must comment on everyone's blog in the hop, then follow the instructions at the end of the blog hop, at the Challenge blog, to make your entry and your name will go in for a draw for a $20 Gift Certificate for the Fred She Said Store!

Here are my Fred She Said creations for this Hop.  Something "Old" and something "New"
For the "Old", I have used the Fred's Flowersv3 - Blue Blossoms Kit.  I used Photoshop to make the outside "frame" really dimensional without having to do any actual physical layering with the paper.  The Blue Round Frame is cut with the Nestabilites dies and the "lace" (both green and black) is cut using the Martha Stewart edging punch, trimming it to curve around the outside of the circle for the black and trimming off just the top "rick-rack" for the green.  The small white flowers are made with a small punch that I have and small pearls.  I added a few bits of "fern" punched with another Martha Stewart punch under the flowers and some 1/2 pearls to the flowers to finish them.

And, for a bit of a "play" on designs here.....For the "New" card, I used an image that is just being released today called  The Old Truck.  I have used the Rusty Red version.  It also comes in a Red, Brown, Blue and Un-colored versions.  I cut the image out with the Mega Rectangle Nestabilities Die and then distressed the edge.  Layered on Watercolor paper that has been spritzed with Walnut Ink and Salt.  Some Buttons, Ribbon a Tatted Flower and a paper flower all work to finish off this card.

Here is a list of the blog hoppers in case you lose your way:

FRED SHE SAID blog

~SHELLY

~MICHELLE 

~CAROL L. (You are Here)

~DARSIE B. 

~JUDY 

~CAROL H.

~LORA

~SONYA

~DEANNE

~FRED SHE SAID CHALLENGE BLOG

This blog hop will run from today, April 15th until April 22nd . On the 22nd, the winner will be announced on the Fred She Said blog .

Thank-you for taking the time to play along. Now, to continue the blog hop, please visit DARSIE B.

When you are finished hopping, why not check out the Fred She Said Store!

AND, if you haven't stopped by the Fred She Said Challenge Blog and played along with us this month, there is STILL time to join in on the fun!  Come on over and have some fun!  Spring is Here!

Spring is Really Here! Yeah!

I'm getting a bit of a slow start going this month.  Sorry about that...sigh. 
I am still in Spring Mode, even though the Weatherman is calling for some of the OTHER nasty 4 letter word over the next few days! :-O  Doesn't he know that it is April and that it is April SHOWERS that bring May Flowers, not that other stuff?  lol
Today's card is made using Spring Flowers with Bonus PP Frame by Fred She Said.  The Blue and Yellow papers it is matted on are some sampled of Hand Made Papers that I have.  All the shapes were cut with the Nestabilities Labels 1 die.
I know some people have said they have problems with getting the Paper Pricking and the image centered right, so I thought I'd share with you a little "trick" I have discovered.  Now, this ONLY works if you are doing Paper Pricking, not Stitching.  It makes the holes larger, which you do not want for Stitching!  If your Paper Pricking pattern is printed out on the Front side, don't worry about it...there is a way to make that work for you without a total headache!  Go ahead and Prick the pattern, from Front to Back.  You don't have to prick the pattern all the way through, just make sure that you "break" the paper with your tool.  After you have done the whole pattern, turn the piece over and use a Spoon or other smooth tool and Flatten all the little holes back up.  (yes, really!)  Now, with your work still facing Down, Prick the pattern again...this time fully!  Go ahead and peek...you will see that all the little ridges are now in the Front!  Might take you twice as long to prick it, but Oh, the headache you save yourself trying to center something from the back!
Ok, now on to the coloring of my card....
I cut out an extra frame so I had a Mask and then used Sky Blue on the inside around the Daffodil.  Added just a touch of Heliotrope to just the corners.  Then I used Lime and Green on the outside portion, highlighing the pricking on this section with the Green.  All the inks used were Color Box Inks.  I used some Metallic Chalks (verrrry old...sorry, no longer available) to highlight the pricking on the inside, then went around the frame with a Gold Marker.  The Daffodill is then colored with Prismacolor Color Pencils and Dry Blended.  This is then layered on the card with some foam pads for more dimension.  Peel-offs and some 1/2 pearls added to the corners of the inside frame and the peel-offs finish of this card.

Here is a Closeup of the Detail on the Paper Pricking.