Think Spring please

Hi all!  Wow, what a weekend.  This should have been posted already, but things were crazy here.  My granddaughter brought me a puppy she found and Burger HATED it.  I spent a lot of time keeping those two apart and then finally found one of our local animal ladies that would take the sweet thing.  Long story short, it will be heading to a Labrador rescue center up north.  Then I had some junkie knocking on my door at 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning, and right after that the next door neighbor's car was stolen.  Same guy or one working with him I assume. A lot of missing shut-eye between that and talking to local law enforcement.    This really freaked me out and I am now  armed with pepper spray and big metal bar.  Use your imagination............ :-(
On a happier note, Squigglefly released some truly adorable images on Saturday and this is the one I got to work with.  Isn't that penguin the cutest?  I have another Chinese character one that I just did not have time to work up, but am hoping to correct that sometime this week.  Gotta run.  It's mort week and I have to be there at 8 o'clock.  There oughtta to be a law..... :-)    Thanks for stopping by!    

Paper "stained glass" tutorial

Hi!  Thanks for stopping by today.  This Silhouette Sunday will be a tutorial for a "stained glass" technique using your SD or Cameo.  First, just let me say this is my very first tutorial so please bear with me and please be kind!  :-)  Let's get started.

First choose a file with a lot of cut-out pieces.  Frames work great and that is what I am using for this tutorial.   I used a frame for my Hungry Dog post on February 16th and from that frame I was inspired for this technique.

Once you have your file up on the the design board in Studio adjust it to your desired finished size.  Next decide how many colors you want to use and choose your papers accordingly.
The next step is to cut the exact same file as many times as the colors you have chosen for your design.  Six colors?  Cut six designs, all the same size.

Choose what color you want to be the main frame and weed.  Weed the other frames as well.  These weeded pieces will be used for the different elements inside the edges of your frame. Save them someplace safe where they will not get knocked around and lost.  I find it is easiest to place the weeded pieces inside a shallow pan  or in a box lid in a pattern loosely matching the design pattern.  I say loosely because it does not have to be exact.  The idea is to have them in enough order so that you can choose the right piece for the right cut out. Believe it nor not, even mirrored images can be a tiny bit off in size and if you get a piece meant for the right side in the left hole and vice versa it might not fit properly.  Back and front orientation is important, too.  You can save the extra frames for another project or use them to make additional "stained glass" because you will have enough pieces left to do that if you wish.

Glue the frame piece onto your card front or your scrapbook page or make a backing for the frame that has no cutouts (do a trace and offset in Studio if you choose this last option) and carefully glue your frame to it.


Once you have all the colors weeded and in approximate order the fun begins.  Now you get to pick and choose from among the different colors placing them in whatever color order you wish inside the frame.
Once you have your pieces in the colors you want in the places you want, remove each piece one by one adding glue to the back of each piece and placing back inside the frame.

You can even take this one step further.  Before you glue the pieces into the frame, run the tip of a black Copic, Letroset, or other marker around the cut edges of the main frame and then around each individual weeded element.  This gives a thin black line that mimics the leaded edge around each piece of real stained glass.

 Using black card stock for the frame gives you a  another option for the "leaded" frame.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and are inspired to try it.  Have a wonderful week!
Hugs, Shawna 

TGIF I say,

TGIF!!!! It's been a very busy (work-wise), very emotional (family-wise) week for me.  It's back to the vet for Toonie Mae this afternoon and I am dreading the outcome, but I also know that I will do whatever is the best decision for HER.  So, I wanted to make a very quick post and give you a sneak peek on what's in store IN THE STORE :-) at Squigglefly tomorrow.  Both of these images were drawn by Diane Carubia.  First up is "Kitty Cuddle."  How sweet is that image?  The second one is titled "Friends Forever" and I can think of several people to whom this would apply in my world. Thanks for stopping by today!!!!  It makes my day to know you take time out of your busy schedule to read my little blog.  Hugs, Shawna

I see where I need to touch up a few areas on Kitty Cuddle. Sorry, I have to be in too big of a hurry.  And unfortunately you can't see the Glass Effects I used on his precious little nose.

Hungry Dog

I love this image.  Except for the pugged nose and ears being a bit more rounded, this little guy looks remarkably like my little Toonie Mae Hound Princess Dog of Burney.  My Bostahuahua (Boston terrier and chihuahua cross). She is the sweetest little dog you could ever imagine.  Like all my dogs have been, she is a rescue animal and although she was not physically abused in the sense we all think of, she was raised in a cage and fed an inappropriate diet.  Her owner was very ill and could not take care of her properly and when he died little Toonie was taken to the sheriff's office compound to be taken down the hill to the animal shelter. Taking her in was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
She used to look like this digital chubster until she got diabetes via two horrible rounds of very painful pancreatitis. She is thin now, on a special diet, and receives two injections of insulin a day.  She is also blind.  As cute and funny as this digital image is, I do not recommend feeding your doggies an over abundance of food, and never give them people food.  The effects of this are horrible on our canine babies. Sorry, but I just had to say that.  Toonie Mae is just about at the end of her life from this horrible disease and I knew when I was given this image to work with, it was for a reason.
So, after getting that off my chest I must say that Eszster Csokas is a very talented artist and her images are truly works of art. I have loved every one of the images she has drawn for Squigglefly, I truly treasure it.

  

Burger sends a Valentine

Oh yes, Burgie has a girlfriend.  He met her online.  Her name is Riley and she is a foxy little wire hair.  He's head over heels and he begged me to make her a Valentine.  So what's a mom to do?  Make that Valentine of course!  So Riley, darlin', enjoy your Valentine from the handsome and goofy Burgie.  It's in the mail and on its way to you. You can't see it in this photo, but Riley's name is all glittery.
All elements (not the bow) cut with the Silhouette Cameo.

Notice the muddy paw print?  That's Burgie's actual signature :-)

It's time for Holley's Hobbyists to strut their stuff

Hi everyone!  Today is the day for the Design Team to show off their creations on the Squigglefly blogspot and kick off the new challenge..  The assignment is HEARTS.  A heart-shaped card, heart DP, a heart somewhere on the card.  You get the idea.  I chose to use an older Squigglefly image the "Sewing Machine" by Nina Brackett (the image is retired now, so if you love it your are out of luck :-(    ......and add the "I Love to Sew" image from the new 3-image set by Diane Knott.  Inside it says "Sew (so), I am sewing (sowing) birthday wishes to you!" Pretty bad when you have to explain the sentiment. LOL! I hope you will join in the challenge.
I also wanted to let you know that Squigglefly is welcoming new artist Linda Birkinshaw. I already have her "Valentine Pup" on my wishlist.  It is so adorable.  I hope you checked out all the new releases last Saturday.  Great images!!!!  Thanks for stopping by!  Hugs, Shawna

And now there's an anniversary coming up

for one of my clients and her husband.  Married on Valentine's Day ----- how romantic is that?  I chose Lynne Stansbery's "Here's to Anything" digi stamp from Squigglfly. I  knew the second I saw it that it would be perfect for the card I had in mind for my friend and her husband. The "envelope" that holds the card is a Silhouette cutting file and I backed it with some gorgeous rose DP and added two heart brads and a bow to hold it together.  The inside of the envelope is lined with another heart that I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.  The card itself is three graduated sizes of hearts  -- so easy to size and cut with the Silhouette Cameo.  The Squigglefly image was colored with Copics and the "champagne" is Stickles.  I added some "pearls" to rim the first heart --- it was the final touch I was searching for.  Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a wonderful week!

Wedding bells

are ringing for a sweet couple at my church and I wanted to personalize something for them.  I have found many fabulous ideas but decided that I wanted to go with a combination of glass etching and vinyl on a picture frame. Over the hill I went to where they have frames for sale and found a really nice frame that would work perfectly for what I wanted to do.  I got it home only to find out that instead of glass it was a sheet of plastic.  I was not deterred by this, thinking this powerful stuff that could etch glass would surely etch plastic.  I cut the stencils with the Cameo and applied then to the sheet of plastic and waited the appropriate amount of time and then rinsed the etching cream off.  It didn't work.  Who knew?  Certainly not me.  But on the positive side, neither did it leave the plastic one iota the worse for wear.  So on to Plan B which really wasn't Plan B at all, but rather the result of "Now what". Over the hill is 50 miles away and I did not have time to make another trip, so  I decided to go ahead and use the mat that came with the frame (Plan A called for it's disposal and thankfully I hadn't chucked it).  The mat has four openings for 4 x 6 photos and I started at the top with the bride and groom's family name, thinking an engagement snapshot or wedding photo would look good at the top. For the second opening I used the groom's name for a single photo of  just him. Same for the bride with the third opening. For the fourth and final slot I put the date of the wedding thinking a shot of them leaving on their honeymoon or another wedding photo would be nice here.  Along the bottom  of the mat I put "and they lived happily ever after". All lettering was cut from vinyl using my Silhouette Cameo.  I really enjoyed making this for them.  I hope they like it.
Thank you so much for stopping by today.  Hugs, Shawna