Tag: brendawalton

Christmas Correspondence with Brenda Walton Dies and Stamps!

UPDATED ON 11-9-15 ** BLOG PRIZE WINNER IS NANCY FAITH! YAY! Nancy – email me your address if we haven't yet connected! Thanks for the nice comments everyone!

Hello crafty pals! I'm here with another vintage inspired project that I made for Brenda Walton Studio! I used the fun and versatile Sizzix Mini Correspondence dies along with the Brenda Walton Carte Postale Stamp Set to make a trio of pretty mini notes sure to brighten anyone's holiday! These little cards and envelopes have so many uses – you can put them on a present as a tag, tuck a note inside a food gift, or even hang them on the tree as ornaments. The shapes are classic and simple — you make them your own by choosing papers and pretty embellishments!

I used the awesome paper collection called Holiday Style from October Afternoon, along with some vintage-y items in my Christmas stash! The die set comes with a library pocket, a mini envelope and a coin pocket envelope, along with three different shaped notes that fit inside.

It brings the entire project together when you use papers from the same paper pack, as I did here. I used only papers from my pad, and then used two neutrals – kraft and cream. For my stamping I used brown ink and linen ink instead of black. This also adds a vintage feel.

I punched a heart out of red cardstock and tucked it inside this library pocket note!

For the mini envelope, I cut it out of the red words paper. Then I cut a second one out of the holly paper and used it as a liner for the envelope! Looks so pretty – combining all these patterns together!

PRIZE ALERT!!!!

Leave me a comment below with your fun and fab idea for this die set….and I'll randomly draw a winner for their own Mini Correspondence Die! YIPPPEEEEE! Thank you to Brenda Walton and Sizzix for the great prizes!

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope I've inspired you to get a start on some holiday crafting. It's never to early to panic, I mean start! LOL. Have a wonderful day! XO

November 5, 2015
Halloween Medallion with Brenda Walton Dies!

Hello creative friends! I have such a fun project to share today! It's my first official Halloween project for 2015! Yay! My super sweet, amazing and talented friend, Brenda Walton, has asked me to create some projects to showcase her awesome craft dies! So I'll be creating some Fall and Winter projects over the next couple of months and I could not be more happy about this! I'll be using the Brenda Walton dies from Sizzix and we are going to have big fun! The Brenda Walton style is pretty and whimsical and nostalgic in all the right ways, and it's a style I have long admired and used in my own crafting.

I love anything that is retro/old fashioned Halloween! Glitter and pom poms and rosettes and cute figurines. Love it all. My goal with today's project was to create a new piece that has that retro feeling. My finished item is a wall hanging that you can hang on the front door or use as interior decor for the holiday. Here it is on my front door!

For the base of the piece I used the Brenda Walton Large Medallion Die and cut eight pieces out. Then I folded each one along the creases. There are diamond shaped cut outs in the folds and I like it when the diamonds are at the top of the creases. I used some cool Halloween paper with cool script and big spiders on it! Here are my pieces ready to assemble.

After I glued the eight pieces together I made my medallion and secured it with a scallop circle on the top and the bottom (made with a craft punch). For this step I use hot glue and put a lot of it on both the bottom and the top. The scalloped circles hide the glue, and give you a nice smooth base to attache your other goodies.

After I made my main piece….I thought hmmmm…how can we add some orange!? So I cut out six medallion dies with orange harlequin paper (From an old Brenda Walton paper pad!) I cut 2 and a half inches off the bottom of each of the pieces and that made a smaller medallion. I glued it onto the first one as you see here.

I die cut several of the Brenda Walton Celestial Stars Dies out of black paper and then covered them in dream black sparkly glitter. Spooky and pretty at the same time! This was the best part! (But there is currently black glitter everywhere in our house! LOL) I made some of the smaller size star and then one of the medium sized star which. If you glue two of the medium stars together it will make a 3-D star. The die set has three sizes.

To attach my stars to my project I first glued them onto some long straight pins. I used glossy accents for this step. Then you can attach the stars and they look like they're floating on the project.

In my stash I found an awesome spider web doily (I think from Michael's) and some pretty silver paper. The Happy Halloween stamp is from a Hero Arts clear stamp set. The banner is hand cut. In this photo you can see that I gently sponged the edges of my medallion pieces with jet black ink. I added some hanging paper flags on the bottom.

I cut a scalloped circle from silver paper and mounted it over the spider web doily. Then I used the center label piece from the Brenda Walton Trophy Die set. It comes with an embossing folder for this very awesome effect! The numbers are from the Brenda Walton Numbers and Dies Thinlits set. Of course I made them from black paper!

Please click here to see the entire Brenda Walton die collection from Sizzix!

There are new dies about to be released next month and you can see those too!

Thank you for spending some time with me today. I hope you'll make a fun Halloween medallion too! Or a Christmas one… Hmmm, the ideas are flowing! See you soon! XO

September 8, 2015
Poinsettias in August? Yes!

Hello crafty pals! What's up with you? Happy August! Yes, I said August! Yikes. I was out doing errands yesterday and stopped in at Michael's and it was FULL ON HALLOWEEN already! I am so not ready for that. Lots of cool stuff, though! I got what I needed and ran out of there in holiday denial. NO….I will not process Halloween yet!

I'm still in Summer crafting mode! The project I'm sharing with you today shows you a way to use your craft stash in a totally different mode. I took the beautiful Poinsettia Swirls Dies (Sizzix by Brenda Walton) and made tropical flowers out of them! Something about the shape of the flowers made me think…. "Hmmm, I bet I could make this look kind of cool with some pretty bright colors." I'm always looking for new ways to use what I already have. This is the perfect example of that – Poinsettias in August! What do you have in your craft room that you can put a different spin on?

Here's my bright and sunshiney card for today….

The papers I used are from the Lawn Fawn Let's Polka paper set. I used the 12 x 12 version for a bigger scale on my patterned dots. First I cut out all of my die cut pieces from the Poinsettia Swirls Die Set. Then I embossed a sheet of white paper using the Chateau Damask and Veranda embossing folder set.

In this photo you can see the beautiful pattern of the embossing. I gently edged all my cut out pieces with some Corduroy Distress Ink and a sponge. Even on bright colors, just the tiniest bit of brown gives contrast and makes the edges stand out. I also inked around the white layer.

When I assembled the flowers, I put foam tape between the layers and then gently rounded the petals upwards to give dimension off the page. I added pretty enamel dots as accents.

I added the Thinking of You sentiment, stamped in Corduroy ink, so that this card could be for any purpose.

I hope I've sparked your imagination today, and maybe got you to think outside the box a little bit! Enjoy your craft supplies and get crafty! Hope your day is awesome! XOXO

August 4, 2015
4th of July Treat Bags! Happy Summer!

Happy 4th of July Weekend! I get tomorrow (Friday) off work, so it's almost the start of a lovely Summer long weekend for me! How about you? What are your plans? I hope you have a wonderful time – whatever it is that you end up doing. I would love to barbeque and hang out and just enjoy the sunshine. We don't have any real firm plans, and I kind of like it that way. Life has been kinda hectic, so whenever I can grab some quiet time – I do!

I have a really fun project today – I made some treat bags using the amazing Sweet Treat Bag die from my friend Brenda Walton (by Sizzix)! This die has matching movers and shapers to cut out a window in the front. LOVE. I used some vintage Americana type papers and went to town! I filled them with cheery Hershey's Kisses of course!

I cut out some ovals with a punch and stamped in nice deep red for my titles… The I lightly inked the edges of the ovals with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

This totes adorbs pinwheel die is from The Cats Pajamas Rubber Stamps. It's soooo cute! I love to make little pinwheels using double sided papers. The are too fabulous. To add to the vintage vibe I used glittery brads for the centers of my pinwheels. I added a little banner made with silver glitter paper underneath the pinwheel.

I used acetate sheets to cover my windows before assembling the bags. The bags come in two pieces and they are super easy to put together. This is such a great project for any occasion. I really had fun mixing and matching patterns….

And THIS happened!!! I was one of the winners for the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015 contest for my June coffee tag! Yeah!

July 2, 2015
A thoughtful thank you card….

Hi peeps! Happy Easter Week! Hope this week has been a good one for you! Thank you so much for the amazing response to my last blog post! I'm just over the moon about that opportunity and I'm so glad you liked the first project in my series! XO I'm just waiting for Mermaid Lagoon to arrive so I can make a new project!

Today I'm sharing a happy, bright and cheery Thank You card I made for my friend Brenda. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I posted THIS POST? Well, of course I had to make a handmade thank you card to send along. What more perfect thing to use than Brenda's new Floral Wreath Dies? This card was super fabulous to make – so fun to combine different Spring colors and play around with the layout until I got it just how I wanted it. This set of dies has 23 different shapes so you can really have a blast…and this card would look completely different in Fall colors…. Gets me thinking….

You're probably going to want to bust out the tweezers for this one! Each piece is so perfect together with the other pieces. I really like this. After much playing, I chose a light pink, dark pink and yellow color combo for my flowers.

I used a lot of foam squares for this project! I hand wrote my message for a personal touch, inside the light pink banner.

This kind of gets you in the mood for Easter right? I'll be back on Sunday with an Easter card and some good wishes of the season. Until then, take care crafty friends!

April 3, 2015
Brenda Walton Butterfly fold card…and a magical afternoon!

Yeah! I have something really cool to share today! Remember back when I posted that the lovely Brenda Walton featured one of my projects on her blog? Well, she and I got to emailing back and forth and she invited me to a lovely and magical afternoon at her home for a calligraphy lesson and lunch with her friends! OH my stars! She is really just as sweet and lovely as you imagine she would be. The most gracious and lovely hostess. So talented and generous with her time and her guidance. But, the very best part is her laugh and her smile. I love a girl who laughs all the time – don't you? Yes, I'm pretty much gushing, but I loved spending the day in her beautiful studio and home. It felt like some kind of crafty dream – the kind you don't want to wake up from!

I wanted to be a good guest and I wanted to hand-make her something. So, I made her a butterfly card using one of her amazing Sizzix dies, and brought her a little gift too. I'm sharing the card today, and a few photos from the event on Saturday. How lucky am I to have received such a nice invitation?? VERY.

Here is the card I made… The butterfly wings join together in the center and there are separate pieces for the top layer of wings. LOVE.

I used some letter stamps and Corduroy Distress Ink to put her name on a little banner. I coated the wings with some antique glass glitter I had in my stash. The pretty patterned paper is from Authentique.

I wrapped some pretty ribbon around the back and attached it under the wings in the front.

In this shot, you can see how the card folds together. Inside is a tiny flat note! Before I put the glitter on the wings, I sponged some distress ink around the edges.

Sorry with the photos….I love doing these glamour close up shots! 🙂

Below are a few photos that capture the mood and spirit of the day! First up, a wide shot of Brenda's amaaaaaazing studio! High ceilings with tons of natural light, and beautiful objets everywhere you turn! A feast for the eyes…

Brenda and her lovely and kind husband Doug.

That ceiling!!!

I adore this photo because it captures Brenda perfectly! I love a gal who will stand on her desk to take a photo!

Here we are all enjoying a beautiful lunch of soup, salad and quiche…followed by a big giant chocolate cake! Everyone was so lovely and fun. It was cool to hang out with a group of women who all grew up in my town. Often I am surrounded by people from all different places – but it was really nice to share stories with the knowledge of our shared history. Shared places and people…. I hope I get to hang out with them again.

Here is Brenda giving us a Calligraphy lesson after lunch. Can you see me reflected in the glass door? LOL. I am totally blown away by how effortless she makes it look to do calligraphy. True art.

So, me?? Not so great at this!! I gave it a really good try! I press very hard when I write and I'm very linear… I wish I could be good at this! Here is my practice paper.

One of the ladies had brought this pretty velvet bunny as a present for Brenda…

This paint palette could tell a million stories, don't you think? What a beautiful thing….

Love in a pail!

Thank you for letting me share with you today! Thanks for coming by to see me! Hope you are having a lovely weekend – and best wishes for a good week ahead. XOXOXO

March 8, 2015