You are here: Home / Archives for Winter

Captured Memories

A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.
    ~ Eudora Welty
     

If you've followed along with me this week (God love ya), you've probably figured out I love to collect vintage treasures.

Here's why.

I promise, this picture wasn't altered – no sepia photo filters or Instagram effects. This is the real deal, and there's no denying – I am vintage. (But, I am NOT an antique.)

That's my brother, my adorable twin sister and me at our front door in Indiana in 1960. I love that Mom and Dad posed us with Christmas bells to play along with the snowman on the door.

Back in the late 1950's my Dad considered leaving the teaching profession to become a photographer. He used to say that If my Uncle Delbert had agreed to be his partner, he would have opened a photo shop. Fortunately for a lot of young people, Dad stayed a teacher and school administrator, but we still have some fun pictures of us all at this age.

And Mom was the best. She put everything in photo albums long before scrapbooking became a big industry. She had an album just dedicated to our family Christmases. She wrote the year on the back of the picture or cut out an old Christmas card and labeled the picture in her own handwriting. I'm so fortunate my parents cared enough to capture great memories like this one.

Here's the inside of the card.

 

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for another My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch (MFTWSC102). For my last official act as a guest designer for My Favorite Things, I get to help reveal the new sketch – it's a great one.

I hope you'll join us. The other designers already have their projects up, so you can get some wonderful inspiration at the My Favorite Things Forum. Upload your card into the Splitcoast Stampers gallery using the week's keyword, MFTWSC102, to be included in the weekly drawing for a gift certificate.

I used the new My Favorite Things "Accent It – Cute Cameras" Die-namics to make the little camera out of Kraft paper. I sponged it with a little distress ink, put some ephemera behind it, and then added a little clear lacquer adhesive on the lens for a glassy look.

Here are the rest of the ingredients – including some Brand Spankin' New products released this month from My Favorite Things and another vintage find – Jingle Bells.

 

Pin It
Share
December 12, 2012 | Filed Under: Card Gallery, Christmas, Laina Lamb Design, My Favorite Things, Winter | 6 Comments

Warm Wishes

May you have warm words on a cold evening,
a full moon on a dark night
and a smooth road all the way to your door.
   ~ Irish Blessing

All the teasing is over . . . because after a week of taunting you with all the new products being released at My Favorite Things, they're finally here. All of the new stamps and Die-namics are now available at the My Favorite Things Boutique!

Thank you, thank you to everyone who visited me this past week and especially to all of you who left such sweet comments. It's been a blast hanging out with the My Favorite Things team – they are the best of the best – and so are all of you!

Earlier today I showed you how you could use the Snowflake Doily Die-namic to make a window in a box or use it as an embellishment to alter a vintage canning jar, coffee cup, pillow box, or coaster.

So . . . without further delay . . . as promised, my final suggestions for crazy fun things you can do with the new Snowflake Doily Die-namic.

You can make the Snowflake Doily really pop with beads, rhinestones or pearls. I put some metal nail-head stickers on the points of the snowflake that coordinated with buttons the little Pure Innocence girl's coat.

I paper pierced the center of the snowflake (i.e., poked holes in it) using as my guide a very sophisticated and expensive tool (not!): Plastic Canvas. You can usually find sheets of this plastic canvas in different shapes at the big craft stores near the yarn.

And, lastly, you can use the Snowflake Doily to add some charm to your Christmas presents.

This Cosmo Cricket paper, Dear Mr. Claus, is one of my favs. I love its vintage feel. A new, tiny fabric shop in my town is carrying the same Cosmo Cricket line in Fabric. Shut the Front Door! It's so fun. I love making bows out of fabric strips – so, there you have it. I just may not let anyone open this present so I can keep admiring the wrapping and how nicely it coordinates with my card.

But, the gift needs a tag, and I promised to show you a trick with the new Postage Stamp Stax.

I cut this image out of the Cosmo Cricket paper and wanted to frame it with the Postage Stamp Stax Die-namic. This set has six nesting dies. The 1-1/2" wide by 1-1/8" long die was too small. The 2-1/4" wide by 1-5/8 " long had the right height, but it was too long.

So, I cut out the 2-1/4" wide by 1-5/8" wide die. Then, I put the cut paper back into the die but slid it up just one notch, like this. I taped it into place so it would stay put in the die cut machine.

Here's how it looks on the other side:

 

After it goes through the die cut machine, it looks like this.

Its the same width, but now it's shorter.

You can use this technique to trim your postage stamp size down a "notch" or two, or three horizontally or vertically . . . to just about any postage stamp size you need.

Here are the Copic markers I used, a fun vintage find I added as an embellishment to the card and package (love these flea market finds), and the rest of the toys from My Favorite Things I used to create this card and gift package.

Thanks again for letting me be a part of all the festivities surrounding this new release. It's been a blast.

Hugs,

Pin It
Share
December 11, 2012 | Filed Under: Card Gallery, Christmas, My Favorite Things, Pure Innocence, Winter Tagged With: | 50 Comments

Snowflake Kisses

If kisses were snowflakes,
I'd send you a blizzard.
   ~ Love Doctor pick-up line

It's too soon to shop, but it's the perfect time for Window Shopping.

Now that we've teased and tempted you all week long, it's almost time to shop for your favorite Brand Spankin' New products from My Favorite Things. But first… it's time for our Die-namics Feature and Pre-Release Pep Rally! The designers and I are taking an in-depth look at this month's Die-namics while re-visiting the amazing sets being released tonight.

I don't want you to miss a thing.

  • There are so many fabulous new toys this month – seriously, my favorite release Evah – that you might want a "cheat sheet" to keep track of it all. Now, if I were you, I'd just stick a stamp on this list and send it straight to Santa. Head over to the My Favorite Things Blog to print out a shopping list with all the newest products.
  • While you're grabbing your cheat sheet, you can visit all the amazing designers to see what crazy things they're doing with the new releases.
  • You don't want to be fashionably late for the New Release Party. It's on for tonight, from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM EST, HERE in the My Favorite Things Forum.
  • The party ends with a bang because all the new stamp sets and Die-namics go on sale right at 10:00 PM. You'll find all the newest products HERE at release time.
  • Shop quickly, not only because the new products sell out fast, but also because you want to come right back to the My Favorite Things blog and join the designers' blog hop. Oh yes, darlings, we've saved even more tantalizing projects.

I'm playing with the new Snowflake Doily Die-Namic because, Jeez Louize, there are so many things you can do with this puppy.

MFT Snowflake Doily Die-naic

I also used a lot of the new Postage Stamp Stax to make fun tags with Cosmo Cricket papers ("Dear Mr. Claus"). Later tonight, I'm going to show you how you can make he Postage Stamp Stax work for just about image size.

Remember this ornament from Saturday, when we were featuring the new Who's That Girl Snowman set?

My Favorite Things Who's That Girl Ornament

Run a box through your die-cut machine with the Snowflake Doily Die-namic, glue a transparency sheet to the inside, and, presto, chango – you can transform this

into the perfect box for a snowman ornament.

 

Or you can transform this . . .

into popcorn take-out.

 

 

The Snowflake Doily makes a great embellishment to just about anything – like a vintage canning jar filled with licorice.

Twiz the Season . . .

Make three things coordinate into a gift set by embellishing them all with felt cut-outs of the Snowflake Doily,

A reusable, to-go coffee cup . . .

A kraft pillow box . . .

round cork coasters and scrapbooking brads . . .

Become a gift set for a coffee drinker.

 

I had more ideas for this Snowflake Doily than I had time to implement, so here are a couple of other ideas for you.

  1. Turn it into a bag topper by folding it over a brown lunch bag or glassine bag like the two bags in this post.
  2. Sting several together to make a garland for your fireplace.
  3. Oh yeah . . . use it to embellish a card or scrapbook page. It's a perfect backdrop for the Who's That Girl stamps, like this one.

Come back at 10:00 PM EST tonight and, believe it or not, I'll show you a couple of more ideas for the Snowflake Doily Die-namic. Yep, I saved the best for last.

Meanwhile, here are some of the toys I used to make today's projects. Don't you just love what you can do with just paper and string, oh, and a really cool Die-namic.

    Pin It
    Share
    December 10, 2012 | Filed Under: Card Gallery, Christmas, My Favorite Things, Winter | 28 Comments
    «Older Posts