emerald, meet copper

Happy Holidays!

I have been anxiously awaiting a package today. And, it finally arrived--my copy of the Winter 2010 issue of Stringing magazine! It's loaded with wonderful designs for gifts or wearing to holiday parties along with lots of info on the latest in beading trends, as usual. And...I have a necklace design published in it! It's a mix of brushed copper beads and three different types and shapes of glass beads--clear green ovals, patterned rounds and bumpy mottled green pearls. I love to mix up textures and shapes in a design. It makes it so much more interesting!

Here's the page in the magazine. I'm in great company here--Denise Yezbak Moore's fleurs nouveau necklace is beside mine. Visit her blog to see more of her amazing jewelry.

This is an exciting way to end the year for me. Here's wishing you all good things and the best in the New Year!

And, of course,

Happy Crafting!

Terry

Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop - Bookmark

Hi Crafters!

This is the last week of our Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop and I want to thank Sizzix, Eileen Hull, Brenda Pinnick, Karen Burniston and Jen Goode for setting up this fabulous round of designing fun! These products are so versatile and the ideas and designs produced by this group of designers are astounding. I learned so much!

This week we're working with another of Eileen Hull's dies - Treat Bag Toppers. This is what I received:

This is a great assortment of pieces and the nice thing about them is that there are so many possibilities. Yes, you can use them to top a bag, but what about a place card with the large piece or labels for your holiday buffet or gift tags for goodies for the neighbors? The mind boggles! Well, at least my mind did! But, I'm easily boggled this time of year with shopping and shipping and baking and decorating.

So, after some thought, the idea light flickered on and I came up with this idea - a bookmark! It's quick and easy to make and perfect for the last minute when you need a craft for the kids to make or a quick gift for a friend.

You can dress it up or down with the styles of ribbon, paper, paint or glitter that you have on hand. The small bag topper piece folds over the book page or it can rest on the top of the book. I painted the pieces with a paint marker, added the lettering with a black permanent pen, cut two pieces of ribbon and glued them under the inside of the top piece. Then I glued the pieces on the ribbon. You could also stamp the lettering or use stickers.

Thanks to all of you who stopped by on the blog hop, made comments and signed up as followers! I truly appreciate your support and want to wish you the happiest of holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop Week 6: Wish Book

Hi crafters!

This week on the blog hop we are working with another Sizzix die from Brenda Pinnick - the Album, Brackets, Bigz XL Die (#656053). Along with the die cuts in cardstock, I received some cut from Xotic Felt(TM) and Brenda's fabric in fabulous colors.

I put some of the die cuts together to make a small album that I'm calling a Wish Book. I've been dreaming of going to Hawaii for some time now. With the winter weather, a warm tropical climate sounds especially nice. I'd also like to return to Italy one of these days. One trip there just wasn't enough.

To make the album, I found pictures of these locales in a travel magazine and glued them to my pages. I left frames empty for my own photos. The frames are painted, covered with felt or with the fabric. Double Sided tape from Scotch(R) holds it together. The front is covered with the felt and a few of the leftover flowers from Brenda's Beauty Bloom Flower Die. I had trim from a previous project and some glittered florettes (Dazzlers(TM) by Petaloo) that I glued over the felt flowers. Then I tied it together with a scrap of ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by on the blog hop! Keep on hoppin'!

Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop Week 5: Christmas Gift Card

Hi everyone!

Here's the project for this week's Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop - a Christmas Gift Card. The die cut we are working with this week is from Karen Burniston. It is a pop-up gift card holder with a "for you" phrase on it, and, for me, it is the perfect item for this time of year. My family gives each other a lot of gift cards for Christmas, so I really need fifteen or twenty of these! Maybe Santa will bring me a Sizzix Big Shot Pro die cutting machine for Christmas! I've been good!

To create this card, I used a card, cardstock and chipboard embellishments from Die Cuts With a View. These are last year's Holiday Collection that I purchased intending to make homemade cards last year. Right!

I love the color combinations on the cards and cardstock and found one pattern that matched the gray color of my die cut. Other than the tape to hold the card together and a piece of ribbon, I used a Gelly Roll Stardust Clear glitter pen (a gift from the Sakura folks) to add a little sparkle to the edges of the cardstock. Since I don't have a Sizzix die cutting machine, I traced and cut out the red frame and other colored cardstock for the inside of the card. I don't regularly work with cards and scrapbooking materials, but I found this pop-up assembly easy and fun to do. You can find the instructions here.

Here's the finished card:

This nifty pop-up makes giving a gift card fun for the giver and the receiver! I can see more card-making in my future!

Happy crafting and Happy Hopping along the blog trail!

Terry

Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop Delay

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
Sorry to post late, but we were out of town visiting family a few days longer than I anticipated! I hope to have my post up tomorrow. In the meantime, hop along to see all the other fabulous designs!