On Display-Tags

Somehow I found time in between a Dickens of a Christmas, birthdays, Christmas programs and work to create these two lovely tags.  Im still holding onto the Christmas one even though it belongs on a teachers gift.  I have it tucked into a lovely Christmas vignette.  Tied the tag up with some lovely red velvet trim and added some pink ribbon as a band around the tag to pull out some of the pink in both collections   

I used paper from October Afternoon Holiday Style, Crate Paper Peppermint Collection and some vintage music paper.  Distressed the edges with some Tim Holtz inks, snow tex and fine silver German glitter glass.  I also used my favorite Deco Art glitter paint.  Its a favorite product of mine, gives a nice vintage effect to your work.  I added snow tex to the red Prima flower and holly leaves I purchased at Hobby Lobby.  I added the glitter glass onto the snow tex while it was wet.

I

Now that Tim Holzt has created the Small Easel die, its easy for us to turn our work into displays, which is what I did with both the Christmas tag and the birthday tag below.  

This tag was created for my mother i law.  She can display it o her desk.  I used the October Afternoon Farmhouse collection.  I also added some prima flowers and seam binding.  

I hope this Christmas you find some time in between your Christmas celebrations to make something lovely for either yourself or a gift.  Who wouldn't want to display such lovely little things?

Vintage Style Christmas Card

I'm back.  Took a self imposed vacation from blogging to take care of holiday preparations, (Halloween and Thanksgiving) work, kids, etc.  The above photo is of one of a set of vintage Christmas mugs and pitcher I recently scored at a local antique booth.  I went out that day with a goal of finding a holiday mug and pitcher set, ice skates for our front door and a Christmas tin....got all three.  It was a great day!!  I have done very little crafting since before Halloween except for some small projects I made for a Secret Santa package I had due. 

Yesterday I got to play all day and made this Christmas card below for a friend.  OA finally released a couple new collections.  One is their Christmas collection, Holiday Style.  I used a couple pieces from the  Miscellany pack that corresponds with the collection.  

If you would like to see what comes in the OA Holiday Style Miscellany Pack, watch my video below.  I also discuss what I used to make this card.

Thanks for stopping by~

Tashia Boyd

Halloween Card - If The Broom Fits

Bwahahahahah.....it's my favorite time of year where I can design cards
with a dark flare and I wont be judged as being emo!  It's also the time of year I can use

fibers in my work and not feel itchy.  Fibers and summer or spring just don't mix.
This is a hybrid card, digital design mixed with hand stamping and mixed media elements.
This has to be one of my favorite cards I have done lately.

Products:  Paper Studio blank card, InkaDinkaDo Damask stamp, Oxford Impression pumpkin stamp, fibers from Etsy, Seam Binding, black and white twine from Divine Twine, my own Script Scallop Trim (available in my Etsy shop), Happy Halloween banner designed by me.

Chat later friends - Tashia Boyd

Vintage Halloween Rolodex Card

Had some spare time this week to put together a few Rolodex cards for a swap I joined.  I recently joined http://yourpaperpantry.ning.com and found a group to swap with.  I figured this would be fun for me as I love office supplies!  We had to create 5 cards with very little embellishment; Removable contact info on the back and each card must have a tab.  Easy enough for me.  

In addition to the cards I decorated some glassine bags to go with each card. 

This was fun because it was completely just for giggles...not for sale or for a birthday.  I did do a video and its currently uploading so go check it out...if you're still up at 1am central time because that's when its slated to premier...if YouTube doesn't have some kind of error uploading!!!  

Chat later...must get my beauty rest.

T-

Boarding Pass Travel Scrapbook

I have tried to upload a video on this travel scrapbook, however, youtube is giving me fits with my videos (because my videos are large files and HD)...not sure whats going on......FRUSTRATING.  I have wasted 3 of my precious days trying to load videos and it just doesn't work.  :(  I'll just keep trying!

I got the October Afternoon "Boarding Pass" paper collection maybe the first of August and I received the Tim Holtz binder rings several months ago, whenever they came out.  This project seemed the perfect fit for the binder rings, which I have to confess are awesome!  They just take a little pre-planning but well worth it in the end as you will see they give your books a really great finished end results.  This book is not for keeps, most likely will go in the shop for a savvy traveler!  Enjoy the picture show!

 

C.A.S. vs. Shabby Chic-Whats Ur Style?

Here I have created 2 very different cards.  One is in the clean and simple (C.A.S.) format and the other in the shabby chic format.  What's my style she asked.  I replied...edgy, playful, distressed, clean...I don't know!!!  My style changes every minute really.  I've been making cards most my life so I have learned to adapt my style to fit most anybody and any occasion.  

Both cards are for birthdays and are CG.  I did add the Dymo Caption banner "Enjoy The Journey", glitter and twine to the CAS card (the bicycle card).  On the shabby chic "Fierce" card I added some scallop trim I cut and some strips of fabric, some twin, glass glitter and bling....and because I try to incorporate a star somewhere on my cards, I used my fav star punch!

I hope you enjoyed my card share!

Victorian Birthday Card for Grandmother

Just completed this lovely Birthday card for my husbands grandmother.  She loves all things Victorian.  I did something I haven't done in a while...got my Cricut out [gasp]!  I'm way to lazy to fussy cut the Victorian bird with flourish so I had my Cricut do the fussy cutting for me.  I would say this step would be for the advanced Cricut user who knows their way around the SCAL program.  It's one of my favorite things to do with my Cricut...fussy cutting.  

I better run...have a wedding to do!  I'm doing the flowers (real ones)...scarrrrry!  All I can say is that if the flowers make it by the end of the evening....here's my card.  If they die...I don't know who the heck did the flowers.  Take care loves!

Life, Lick It!

CHA Summer 2011 Sneak Peek - October Afternoon

October Afternoon-Sasparilla: I have always been drawn to vintage western so I hope they keep with that theme.  If they keep the cartoon kid in the collection , then I would have to give it ♥♥♥♥.  I would give the collection 5 hearts but they may stick that cartoon kid in and that would throw the whole line off for me.  

I'm Your Huckleberry!

This is my favorite image for my soldered charms.

Pink Paislee CHA Summer 2011 Sneak

Pink Paislee-Phantom:  Luv it..has a lovely adult vibe, not kid themed.  They actually used lime green instead of just orange like the rest of the new sneaks...refreshing change.  ♥♥♥♥

CHA Summer 2011 Sneak Peek Reveiw

I had a chance to take a peek at the available sneaks and have to say I (and I speak only for myself because I am the master of my opinion) was mostly underwhelmed by most of the papers this year.  I listed only the ones I felt I liked the most.   Anything not listed I probably wont be buying.  Just a disclaimer, I don't work for these companies.  

My Mind's Eye-Mischievous:  Black/White/Splash of color (my favorite combo which you will see throughout this post that I picked several collections with this theme). ♥♥♥
Canvas Corp-Halloween:  Kraft/Blk/Wht/Orange ♥♥♥♥

Echo Park-Apothecary Emporium:  Kraft/Blk/Cream/Orange/Patterns/Text. This is my favorite Halloween collection and will buy this collection. ♥♥♥♥♥ 

Prima-Printery:  Blk/Cream/Vintage/Word Art/Text; Whats not to love?  ♥♥♥♥ 

Webster Pages-Western Romance:  This is going to be a fun paper to play with...not to mention its pretty.  ♥♥♥♥

Little Yellow Bicycle-Wonder & Wishes:  It has Pottery Barn written all over it.  ♥♥♥

Jillibean Soup-Homemade 6 Bean Soup:  Okay, I don't like the collection as a whole.  I like certain papers and I will buy those papers from this collection.  ♥♥
Jillibean Soup-Sweet & Sour Soup:  Same as 6 Bean Soup...not a fan of the whole collection but will buy single sheets of my fav papers. ♥♥

Crate Paper:  (Random and Peppermint Collections) (Farmhouse Collection) All three collections have me in their pockets!  Crate has been hitting the mark with me lately.  The clean, bold colors and hint of old school and vintage gets me over every time!  ♥♥♥♥♥....and no I don't work for Crate...I work for myself.

That's it for now.  If anymore sneaks come out, I'll let you know what I think.

Life, Lick It!

Gypsy Wagon Die Cut Dimensions

Gypsy Wagon Die Cuts are In The House

Bittersweet Moments

Finally, I have a moment to blog about nothing. :~  We did our annual week long vacation at the lake. The weather wasn't the best and Wyatt got sick mid week and ended up taking him to a rural MD's office. The best thing with cloudy rainy weather, you don't come home with sun burns! Even though the weather was drab, we still had a blast!  The boys are growing up so fast...maybe too fast, for me anyway.  These last two weeks have had several bittersweet moments for this mommy!  Parker turned 7 while on vacation and got up on two skis and can now swim independently.  Wyatt, my 3.5 yr old, finally put the poop in the pot while on vacation and for the first time slept in super hero big boy pants last night!  My close friends and family know this has been a long journey for us, putting the poop in the pot!  We started potty training when he turned 2!  This past weekend Wyatt started swimming independently as well.  While all these wonderful accomplishments bring me much joy, they are also a little sad.  Parker will start second grade the first of August and Wyatt will start school then as well.  Wyatt has never been to school so I will be for the first time in 7 years without a child in the house!  Oh, don't worry, I'll still have my job, working from home of course.  I don't know if I will cry or do cartwheels when I come home from dropping them off at school.  I might realize that silence makes me sad.  Well, I guess I will continue to enjoy the last month of summer vacation with the boys, laughing and crying.  

Life, Lick It!

Junque In My Trunk: June

So these are some of my Patina Elements.  These are ready to wear elements.  That means they are sealed, the color will not rub off or come off it gotten wet.  Great for jewelry or any mixed media project!

Lets see, what else, OHH.  Another Mugshot card for my son.  He's turning 7...EEEK!

I used the "Toy Box" paper collection from Crate Paper.  I'm not going into detail on all the stuff used.  It's the same concept as the last girl mugshot card you can find in a couple posts back.  The tag slides out and insert mugshot!

My niece will be turning 7 two days after my son.  My gift to her is this super chic necklace I made.  I hand stamped her nickname on a small metal tag, made the flower charm and did a white wash shabby chic effect on the ballerina charm (sealed of course).  The necklace ties in the back with pretty pink seam binding.  I made her a keepsake gift box with my totally fabulous star!  Hope she likes it.

This should wrap it up for now.  Will post my handmade cupcake toppers for my son's Indiana Jones theme in a couple of weeks.    Hope ya'll are having a super hot summer!!!

Live Life Beautifully!

Easter 2011 Layout

Simple layout where the picture is worth a thousand words.  I love this background paper, "Spring Fever" by Fancypants Designs, it coordinated well with the theme.  First I did a dry brush of white paint, and placed my photo and did a very rough sketch box drawing around the photo.  The trim is royal blue velvet torn into trim and crumpled slightly for added interest.  Because the blue is so heavy, I had to balance that out with a piece of blue distressed ephemera and a piece of black and white gingham paper layered with Prima bling.  Yet, this  still didn't seem like enough for me, so I added a drop of yellow with a resin flower. Perfect! No, not perfect yet.  Now my layout seemed top heavy so I added a white wood element which I distressed a bit with some black Gilders Paste to the bottom of the layout.   Now its perfect!  I love this layout and will frame it to be hung on the wall.  

Thanks for stopping in to take a peek of my layout...live life beautifully...period, the end.

Packaging 101 - Pick Me

Packaging is key for selling a product.  It has to catch the consumers eye and stand out.  For example, take Publix Grocery Store and Kroger Grocery store.  Both sell store brand products.   Both are cheap.  One brand is eye catching and the other is not. Speaking for myself, I prefer to buy Publix brand rather than Kroger brand.  Why?  Because I find Publix packaging far more pleasing to my eye than Kroger. It is simple, white background, black text and one color object, all centered on the package.  Simple, crisp and clean. If this card above was sitting on a shelf with a different color banner and keepsake sticker, you most likely would have passed it up because it would have blended in with all the other colored cards, correct?  The key to making sure your card stands out of the millions of other cards is having a color that pops off the card.  In this instance, it would be white.  White...crisp, clean...draws the eye to the card, easier to read.  Far to often I find myself in the card isle, dazed and confused.  I cant see the cards because they all blend together.  Test it out.  Go to the card isle and see which cards your drawn to.  I can bet, its the simple cards...crisp, clean, easy to read.  I hope this tip is helpful.