Playing in the Kitchen

Good Morning,

I took a little break today from stitching and am playing in my kitchen. You may remember my soap making adventures in the past. In the last 6 months or so I started making salves and lotions. I came across one that I really like. In fact, both my husband and my 89 year old dad love it and use it daily. So I thought I’d show you a few photos. 

A few of the supplies I needed  to make this salve. 

Here we have my mix of natural oils with some beeswax melting on the stove.

Birds Eye view. Lol

The beeswax has melted and the essential oils have been prepared to go into the oils as soon as they’ve cooled down a bit. Some essential oils will cause the natural oils to harden quickly. 

Here they’ve just been poured into tins…..

And this is how they look almost hardened.

Just a little disclaimer, I am not a doctor or pharmacist. In no way am I giving you any kind of medical advice. I’m just a gal playing with the natural things God has provided. I have to say though…my joints and muscles thank me for it! So does my family and it’s 100% natural. 

Soon I’ll have to infuse some more oils. I make them from dandelions, cayenne, chamomile and other herbs and flowers.  It has honestly been kind of fun and I’m always looking for new recipes.

So what have you been up to? Anything interesting?

Blessings,

C~ 

Feature Post: Gelli Feathers

Hello,

How is your 2020 summer going? Here in the 'Loops it is really heating up with temperatures of 40C (104F), which is about normal for this time of year. I am enjoying our first summer with a central air system. Good Lord, what a treat that is. Hoo boy -- heaven!

I've been looking around and found a post by Birgit Koopsen, who is a Gelli print artist. She decided to do Gelli Feathers and I fell in love with them. My post today is a link to her video of how to gelli print feathers. 

You know, I don't have a gelli plate but am seriously considering getting one. I love these feathers and think they'd be great on cards amongst other things. So many craft ideas, so little time!

Enjoy the video and thanks to Birgit for sharing this fantastic tutorial. Birgit has a blog as well named 

Birgit Koopsen. Just click on her name to see it.

Thanks for stopping by on this hot summery day,

Blessings, 

Carmen

Quickie Cards

I haven't had time to make a lot of cards lately, and the ones I make seem to be real quickies, so I haven't posted many of them. Then I thought that you probably have to make quick cards sometimes too...so here are a few I've made in the last week. They're not my best work, but they say I care. 

This first one is for my son. It's an extremely easy card. I used the ready made cards and envelopes from Michael's.

 (I usually buy a package of black cards and envelopes, and the cardstock set.  I have the off-white too, but find that I rarely use it). 

Basically, I cut a piece of Black and a piece of designer cardstock for the background.

Then I added this little car from the "A Proper Gentleman" paper stack. I may have placed it on the background a little too quickly! Lol...

I wrote "Happy Birthday" on it. I only have 1 or 2 good birthday stamps and I'm bored with them.

I thought I'd show you the inside. I covered the more personal sentiment, but wanted to show you that sometimes I add little sayings, words of encouragement, or whatever around the edge of the inset. My sons probably go "oh mom!!" but I can't help myself. Forever a mom of little boys, I guess. 

Here's another simple card I made up. This one I used some little houses I made up a while back. I thought I had shown you these, but I guess not. They were a fun project.

The background of the houses was overspray from other projects. They were shiny at first, but it's dulled a bit. Still cute though. I just drew all over them and literally played. So fun. 

In keeping with that theme, I decided to use black cardstock and a white pen and drew up the card. I hope she likes it. 

Then there's a little card I made for my grandson. He's just turning 3, so I wasn't too worried about detail. I used an SVG cut from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs, whose cute little designs are adorable and completely affordable. I hope you'll check them out. I fussy cut them out because my cutter isn't working with my laptop right now. It was also a very quick card. 

It's hard to see here but I carefully rubbed on some light blue chalk for the sky. 

This set is called "Little Buggers." 

I drew in some grass. 

And I used pop dots for the glass jar. 

Now to send it all away. I have a gift for him, blankets for the other kids and a little bit of Valentine candy. Nothing too much, but something to let them know we love them. :-)

Well, that's it for today. The skies are still a bit somber, and the snow is on the ground, although melting - ever so slowly. Lol. The sooner spring is here, the better in my opinion. 

Have a good day~

Blessings,

Carmen

Quick Cards and Vintage/Steampunk MM Art Pieces.

I had some birthdays coming up in January. These cards came together very quickly and were easy to make. I have decided that there's value in making quick cards for those who don't have enough love for handmade items to keep them. They still get a nice handmade card, but I haven't spend hours on it! It's a win - win situation!

This card was made with Bo Bunny Enchanted Collection. The Orange papers came from MME Haunted. I had some little frames that I haven't used, so I decided to use one for the sentiment, just for something different.  I was in a hurry so I just wrote the sentiment in by hand. As you can see, I also put some flags on the envelope. The extra little touches make it look like a little more thought was put into it.

This next card is for a grandson in his tweens. It's another quick card I threw together. I used Bo Bunny Timepiece Collection for all the papers.

The little timepiece in the corner came from B'Sue Boutiques. It's actually a vintage jewelry supply type of place, but they had some neat stuff and some of it would make up great steampunk or mixed media art.  I'm only sharing because I like this stuff and I thought maybe you'd be interested in it too. Check it out...

I love these little bottles with dice in them!! Great on a little necklace, or ?

The middle timepiece is the one I used on the card above.

The spinners spin!

The little compasses move! The clock is actually a button.

So you can get an idea of the size....I bought these some time ago, but I'm sure she'll have a lot of them in her shop today as these things are timeless. 

That's all for today. 

Blessings,

Carmen

Barnemix is Mixing Up Some Fun! Check it Out!

Hi there!

Sometime ago I was asked to sponsor a few images for a Norwegian website called Barnemix. To my utter delight, the projects were posted this week, and they are Fa-Bu-Lous!!

The first image was Garden Girl which was made up into an I Love You Card by Anita Saeterdal. I just love what she has done with this image. The flowers, the ribbon and the colors she's used. It's beautiful!! 

Next up is my snooty little gal "Walking the Dog" image. I love the fact that there's a notepad included with this image, and I love the stripes and the purple. It's wonderful! This one was made by Nikki for Barnemix, but she also has a blog called Nikki's Handmade Emporium. Check her out! 

Nikki also did up one of my Vintage Car digitals. Love it!! 

Next is another "Garden Girl." Yes, I'm going to have to work on the names of my digitals...I'm just not good at that. 

Now I absolutely love what Linda Heskestad has done with this image because she's used it for a mixed media project. 

Look at all that wonderful texture in the background! I love that she added the sprinkles of water for the flowers. 

That's not the best part though. The best part is that she's done up a Video Tutorial for you all! How great is that? 

Also, I have kept my Christmas Digi Stamps in limbo for a while. I went into the shop, shook them off and renewed them. There's lots of them there....check out my Etsy Shop. 

Well, that's all for today ladies! I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Special thanks to Anne Lise Johannessen for allowing me to be a Sponsor this month on her wonderful site. Please check out Barnemix and see what they're up to! Maybe you'll even pick up some Norwegian! :) 

Blessings,

Carmen

A Proverbs 31 Woman

So, I hate to start with the weather, but what's the weather like at your place? This about sums up what we've been having-----

I know that soon it'll be so-o-o-o HOT here that I'll be melting, so I won't complain too loudly! 

What do you do on a rainy, snowy day? Make cards. Of course!!

It all started with a drawing. She kind of looks like a Zombie, doesn't she? Not my intent! BTW, if you like the final result, you could use the second image as a template, just print it onto cardstock.

UPDATE: New template!! 

I cut her out, I also cut the panels of her dress out using the numbers as a guide. I just cut around the nose. I liked that better.

Then I used it as a template to cut out some designer papers using the Fairy Belle Collection from Prima that came with the Simply Cards and Scrapbooking Magazine I ordered from the UK. These papers are just delicious!! Beautiful soft hues with gorgeous designs. Really, really pretty!

So here it is all cut out and glued into place. I found some cardstock for the face and arm and traced the original template I made onto it. 

I lengthened her arm quite a bit from the original template. The butterfly on her hand was from another page in the same collection. 

I just love this Scripture. "She is clothed in strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future." Proverbs 31:25. 

I believe all women were meant reflect this. Strength, dignity, laughter, no fear of what's coming. It's beautiful! It's how women were meant to be. I love it.

I added some pearls to the waist, and once I glued the head in place, I added some hair and a flower.

I glued some butterflies here & there and used some stickles on them. 

This is the completed card. I wanted to keep it fairly simple, because the person I made it for likes a cleaner look.

But then I realized I had to add something a little blingy. (The last photo was taken at night with artificial light...so it's a bit darker, but you get the idea.)

Ahhh, that's better. :)

Hope you like her as much as I do.

Gail from I Like Paper did an awesome job with this tag she made using my template! I like how something can look so different depending on the creativity within. Love it!

Thanks for visiting and remember: 

You are a woman who is clothed with strength and dignity, and you laugh without fear of the future! 

Proverbs 31:25

Blessings,

Carmen

Free Digital Inchie Sketches

Does it seem to anyone else that time is just flying by? I thought things were supposed to slow down as you got a little...ummm....more experienced. Not so, apparently! Happy end of May! Unbelievable....

Well, it's been a long, long, long while since I did up any digital images. I just got busy and they are time consuming to make. So, I woke up at 4:30 this morning...tossed around for a half hour and got up. Suddenly I had some extra time! 

I had inchies in mind at the time and I am just loving the mixed media art I'm seeing everywhere right now. So here's what I made.

It was fun to get back in the saddle. It's amazing how much you forget if you don't keep at things! 

I hope you can use these! 

Blessings,

Carmen

Turn Canvas into a Card!

Good Morning!!

Well, I'm still on a blog break...but I thought I'd break it up with a post. I know...I'm unconventional.

I do know that a blog break means no posting...but perhaps I don't play by the rules as much as I like to tell myself I do. Lol....Seriously though, I am re-thinking my life a bit, but I still wanted to pop in and say hi! :)

So here's some of what I've been working on. 

This is a card....well, sort of....

"True Beauty Lies Within"

.....and there's a beauty!!

A couple of close ups...I apologize for picture quality. I'm going to need a new camera soon.

This is the inside left of the card. A 3-D garden!

The top view...

This is my own creation I call it a 'Canvas Card'.

I also made an envelope that it fit into perfectly, but I forgot to take a picture of it!! Sheesh.

It's really quite easy to make an envelope for this 6X6 canvas...maybe I'll do a tutorial if there's enough interest.

So what else have I been doing? I just HAD to make these!! 

Aren't they the cutest little baby shoes you've ever seen in your LIFE??? Seriously!!

I know...odd color for a baby shoe...but I like it!

Pretty pink ones!

These are kind of a dusty rose...

They call these Mary Jane Slippers...I call them 'Lisa Simpsons'. :-)

I'm going to make more....lots more!! I love making baby shoes!

I also crocheted wrist warmers, adorable adult slippers, and a really cool slouchy newsboy hat...but maybe I'll show those another time.

I posted some links on my FB Page to some interesting craft tutorials:

Feather printing

Transferring designs onto wood

Working mini blinds for a card. 

Thanks for stopping by! See you in a while..

Carmen