Crepe Paper dabbling.....

I don't know how it started, but I have begun dabbling with Crepe Paper!

I had been seeing some amazing flowers posted on Instagram made from crepe, although, I did not recognized them as crepe because they looked picked from the garden! I found a lovely lady, Quynh from Pinkandposey.com who made the prettiest Coral Charm Peonies. Since I was travelling to Seattle, WA and Portland, OR in June, I asked if she ever gave private crepe flower making lessons. She said "yes"....I was so thrilled and she lived just outside Seattle, right where we were staying.

So I asked a lot of questions and was not very comfortable making the flower or really understanding any of what was going on. With Quynh's help I completed one Coral Charm Peony and she sent me on with supplies to make many more and another 2 flowers started. I got home days later and felt overwhelmed. I finished the 2nd flower, then made the 3rd flower. I was not really happy with what I did on my own. I decided to tackle something easier to see if this crepe dabble was all a bust!

I had ordered some crepe paper packages from Lia Griffith and visited her site at LiaGriffith.com for some additional instructions I could look at several times. I decided to try something easy and made this Poinsettia. I LOVED it and it gave me the confidence to start making other flowers. I will show you those flowers here off and on or you can also check them out on Instagram!

Supplies  used:
Lia Griffith Heavy Crepe Paper
retired Close To My Heart Glitter
Floral Wire
Alene's tacky glue

Just Treats in September!

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New Beginnings!

Well, life has been busy this year. I have let my blog go, but am changing things up now and going to be using it more frequently with all sorts of different projects.

You will continue to see my Close To My Heart creations. I will also start sharing some other art/craft endeavours, such as my new found love of making crepe paper flowers. I have also been making some sweet fabric bird pins and cat nipz mats and toys.

I will be sharing all of them here and continue to do so on my other social media accounts:

https://www.instagram.com/ballisticdesign/

https://www.facebook.com/nancy.ball.710

I will also be listing some of these creations on my etsy shop here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BallisticDesigns

I hope to see you soon!

So, let's go.....here is a card made with NEW Close To My Heart products. The stamp set is, Bunches of Love.

I stamped with Versamark ink then embossed with Black embossing powder. I stamped with Raspberry and Willow inks to fill in the flowers. I used some Heather ink for the spots around the flowers. I also used my water brush to spread some of the colour from the leaves out.

The sentiment I stamped with black ink then covered with Liquid Glass. You can't tell, but the sentiment pieces are popped up on foam tape for a little added dimension.

All supplies are Close To My Heart.

Stamp: Bunches of Love

Ink: Versamark; Willow; Raspberry; Heather

Embellishments: Liquid Glass; Black Embossing Powder

A good HEART!

More flowers.....no surprise for me. These flowers are part of the wonderful multi-layer stamping set, Beautiful Friendship - Scrapbooking.

I random stamped just the accents of the 2 largest flowers and stamped the centres like they were flowers! I used Raspberry; Blush; Tangerine; and Canary inks. The leaves I stamped in Sweet leaf ink and the sentiment in Black. I added a faux bow with this sweet Peacock Stitched Ribbon. I matted the stamped piece and polka dotted Beautiful Friendship paper with Sapphire cardstock. The sentiment is from set, Inspire.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted.
Stamp: Beautiful Friendship - Scrapbooking; Inspire
Paper: Beautiful Friendship
Cardstock: Sapphire; White Daisy
Ink: Blush; Canary; Raspberry; Sweet Leaf; Tangerine
Embellishments: Peacock Stitched Ribbon
Other: MFTstamps Cross Stitched Die-namics

Beautiful Friendship

Well, I have been terrible at blog posting! I am really efficient at Instagram posting.....gotta get myself back on track! So here is the first card I made with product from our current Seasonal Expressions. I love flowers, so that is what I always gravitate to first.

The lovely polka dot paper is from Beautiful Friendship and the stamped images are from Documented - Cardmaking. I love this flower, so I used inks to watercolour it with. After it was dry, I coloured away with my Bashful Shimmer pen. The ink colours for the flower are Lemon and Blossom. The leaf was done with Heather. I used Sapphire cardstock for the mats. I also added a Black line around the patterned paper and stamped piece with my Black Journaling pen.

All supplies are Close To My Heart.
Stamps: Documented - Cardmaking
Paper: Beautiful Friendship
Cardstock: Sapphire; White Daisy
Ink: Lemon; Blossom; Heather; Black; Bashful Shimmer; Black Journaling pen

Chelsea Gardens ROCKS

One of my all time favourite Close To My Heart paper packs, Chelsea Gardens, will retire soon. I have used it for so many projects and can barely get enough of it. I'm sure an all time favourite Sweet Leaf is in large part due to this love.

This is Chelsea Gardens patterned paper and the coordinating cardmaking stamp set that is another favourite. I stamped and cut flowers and leaf stem then used my CTMH inks as watercolours to fill them in. I used Glacier ink to create the patterned background. 

A little technique here, I used the back side of the small flower and stamped with Glacier ink. Then, I used the flower image and stamped over top of the shape, for a coloured image. I cut the oval and scalloped shapes from our Art Philosophy Cricut cart. I stamped the sentiment with one of our sweet M sized stamp sets, Happy Birthday.

All supplies are Close To My Heart.
Paper: Chelsea Gardens
Stamp: Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking; Happy Birthday
Cardstock: Sweet Leaf; Glacier; Heather; White Daisy
Ink: Glacier; Sweet Leaf; Lagoon; Black; Black Journaling Pen
Tools: Cricut Art Philosophy

It's almost time to say Goodbye.....

Our Spring Seasonal Expressions will be replaced by our Summer one, on May 1st. I will miss this one greatly, as it has been one of my all time favourites. I especially loved all of the greenery. This card came from Sunny Thoughts, our February stamp of the month.

I started with Heather cardstock and added some Chelsea Gardens patterned paper. Then on Pewter cardstock, I added my stamped piece. I stamped the vine with Juniper; Sweet Leaf; and Flaxen inks. I stamped the sentiment from our "Inspire" stamp set with Black ink. I added Peacock Stitched Ribbon; Clear Sparkles; and Black Journaling pen lines to finish this card.

All supplies are Close To My Heart.
Stamps: Inspire; Sunny Thoughts
Paper: Chelsea Gardens
Cardstock: Heather; Pewter; White Daisy
Ink: Flaxen; Sweet Leaf; Juniper; Black; Black Journaling pen
Embellishments: Peacock Stitched Ribbon; Clear Sparkles