Thursday, December 29, 2011

Paper Scrap/Crafting Club

Club info as follows:
3rd Sunday of the month from 11 to 1 p.m. (subject to change)
First meeting Jan. 15th
Gingham Button 2
5 Utility Drive #21
Palm Coast
Phone# 446-5825
Membership is free, but space is limited. Seating is limited to 12, who must place a reservation in advance each month…first come first serve.
A craft project will be taught for those interested. Some supplies such as Graphic 45 paper (I love) must be ordered at the store in advance, but substitutions can be made to members’ choice. You may choose to do your own layouts, cards, projects etc. or take the lesson given.
What I hope in the future is a rotation of members teaching or showing new techniques in paper crafting each month. Members can learn from others in the group and enjoy friendship with like minded individuals.
My plan for our first meeting is to teach a mini album using a set of 8 lunch bags, which can be bought in large packages at a dollar store or grocery (I like the AJM brand)
This album can be used for photos or as a recipe treasury. Examples are currently on display at the Gingham Buttons 2 store.
Suggested supply list for each type of album are as follows:
General supplies:
8 matching lunch bags (I like the AJM brand)
Red double sided super tape
T. Holtz Tiny Attacher or stapler
Glue runner or glider
Splat Mat
Pop dots
Paper Trimmer
Scissors
Chipboard cut for covers (cut by store owner)
Supplies to Make ABC Primer Photo Book:
Graphic 45 pages:
An ABC Primer
Happy Go Lucky
School Days
Building Blocks
Calico Kids
and
Red cardstock
Black cardstock
Suggested supplies used for Recipe Treasury:
Nana’s Kitchen
Nook & Pantry
From My Kitchen (Cricut Cartridge)
Recipe cards
Looking forward to seeing all of you!
Carla Brooke

Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas thank you!

What a wonderful evening Sandy and I spent with our family and some new friends! We so enjoyed the gifts we received and watching our family open ours' given to them. Our grandchildren are our greatest family treasure!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas! I am so thankful for all of you in our blogging community and those taking their creative journey and sharing with others!! I hope you have a peaceful, happy holiday with your family and friends!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

"Curtain Call," Altered Canvas Holiday Gift

Well, no surprises, I love working with Graphic 45 paper. Their illustrations of the 20s and 30s are a treasured history of the era. Each page is so well done, making it so hard to take a scissor to them. Once I do, the pleasure is all mine, to work on.
"Curtain Call" is no exception. Here you see an altered canvas with pictures of my husband's parents. My husband followed in his father's footsteps becoming a cameraman and I know my husband will flip when he see this canvas...his holiday gift! "Yes," paste was used to adhere the paper to the canvas and 450 Quick Dry Adhesive was used to glue the Tim Holtz film and canister lid down.
Following this altered  canvas, I worked on a wonderful wood cigar box, which is a tribute to early film actress Clara Bow. For the first time I used Mod Podge to adhere the paper pieces to the wooden box. It worked nicely brushed on with a sponge brush. My husband drilled the hole for the Tim Holtz pull and I stained the wood balls (one side is flat) and glued these onto the box bottom with E-6000. I look forward to working with these and more Graphic 45 pages in the future.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

"The Nutcracker"

Do you love the ballet? Are you looking for a wonderful holiday show experience? You need to see "The Nutcracker!" If the "Dance Alive" professional dance company comes to a venue near you, it's a must see show. This innovative company comes to town before the show and auditions local young dance talent to fill in spots within "The Nutcracker." Those chosen practice their dances within their dance studios coming together the day before the performance to be directed by the pros from "Dance Alive" in rehearsal. The day of the show is another rehearsal and then comes the evening performance. Each local talent takes their place and helps to put on a wonderful creative experience for all to watch and enjoy. My granddaughter loved the experience and my husband and I enjoyed watching her and the whole show! What a super early Christmas gift!



Monday, November 28, 2011

Last Night at the Club!

Ok, so I went to my usual karoake hang out to be with my friends last night. I brought some of my latest crafting work with me....I do love to show off! Well, I showed some really nice friends of mine my new altered vintage cigar box and matching cookbook and introduced it as a recipe treasury to be handed down in the family. The next thing I knew was, it was sold! A friend bought it for her mom, who was sitting next to her! Now, isn't that the coolest thing?








Friday, November 25, 2011

Pirate Holiday Bazaar, December 3rd

Come to the Pirate Holiday Bazaar at Matanzas High School In Palm Coast, Fl., Dec. 3rd from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. I will be displaying my handcrafted decor and lovely greeting cards. My handmade Xmas cards are really nice this year. You can check out my art work at:
www.carlasgreetingcards.com
Carla's Greeting Cards in Flagler County, Fl.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Altered Lace Trimmed Cigar Box

I left Michaels recently in order to be more available to take care of my grandchildren. The year I spent working for Michaels, opened my eyes to new techniques, which I put to use each day that I spend in my art studio.
First I fell in love with doing altered canvases using scrap papers and trimmings. I was looking for more uses for my collection of scrapbook paper and discovered altered cigar boxes. These decorative boxes of wood or cardboard can be seen on a variety of online sites. So, I went out to the garage and there on the shelf was an old wooden cigar box, that I had brought from New York, 13 year ago when moving to Florida.

I cleaned the box up and took the hinges off. I painted the box first with light pink acrylic paint, followed by Tim Holtz Distress Crackle paint and followed that with white acrylic paint. Each layer had to dry before the next was applied. I put the hinges back when the box was dry. Then the fun began with paper, flowers, bling, glitz, lace and beads. My husband assisted me with adding the Tim Holtz knob to the box top for the pull.

Just a note here, the music note printed paper is from Recollections. Be sure to place patterns or words on the paper in the correct way "up" when looking at the project. Since it is a one sided paper, I glued two sheets together using "Yes" Paste by Gane Brothers, so that when I curled the paper the opposite side would be deorative. I also ink every edge of paper for a more professional finish.
I love how the old cream lace trim blends with the crackle paint and the old knob! The Tim Holtz feet were glued on with E6000 and make this box really special!

Monday, October 31, 2011

Vintage Photos on Altered Canvases

I am always on the look out for new projects and products. Some of the neatest projects I have discovered online recently use products and papers produced by Graphic 45. Well, unfortunately Michaels doesn't carry that brand and so I went on a hunt for these unusual paper stacks. I found a few at Hobby Lobby and since I couldn't decide which to buy, I bought two. After all I had two 40% coupons and my hubby was with me! I bought "Communique" and "Playtimes Past" home to play with. these have wonderful vintage color printed pages.

I began using "Communique" and paired it up with old family photos. I used some sheets as background and others I cut shapes from and combined with flowers, stickers and die cuts to glue in place on 12" x 12" canvases. The canvases were on clearance at Michaels!




Some supplies I used were Americana acrylic paint on the canvas, "Yes Paste" spread with a plastic knife on the back on the paper background, Tombow glue runner and Zig 2 Way glue.

I'm looking forward to collecting more paper stacks from Graphic 45 and turning them into Altered canvases and more!


Monday, October 24, 2011

Sand Sculpting Fest


It was time to take a road trip! Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida was hosting the International Sand Sculpting Festival from October 14 thru the 23. We took it in the last day and enjoyed looking over some amazing, awe-inspiring works of art.
This year's theme was "Travelers." The artists interpretations were many, from personal journeys, cultural legends to historical treks and time travel. These brilliant, temporary masterpieces took 1,000 tons of sand and well over 2,000 hours of work.
You won't be able to experience this again here in Viera, Florida till next year, so check out a few of my husband Sandy's great shots.







Saturday, October 15, 2011

Wreath Christmas Card


Earlier this year I bought my Cricut Gypsy and while setting it up downloading from Provo Craft, I received some free files. One of these was Christmas. I love designing this year's holiday cards using the many images on this wonderful free file. Today I'll show you how I designed a simple wreath card.
First cut a green wreath and a red bow. I took a green brush marker and added scalloped lines to represent holly leaves. 
 A hole punch is great for Christmas ornaments and red berries were added with a red fine point marker.



 
A while gelly roll medium tip marker works well to add snow to the wreath.
Place the finished wreath on foam dots for depth on a brick printed paper.
I added white card stock paper embossed with the divine swirl Cuttlebug folder as snow (rip the edge for snow detail) against the brick wall. 
 
Adhere to the front of a white card and you have a great looking holiday card! Have a creative day!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Family Altered Canvas

A few weeks ago I discovered wooden words, covered in colorful prints, in a dollar bin at Michaels. These are a good size and quality to be a focal point on a canvas. My daughter-in-law's mom loves the color green, so that was my choice, a plaid with some green. I got some 12"x12" canvases on sale and painted one navy blue. Two 5"x7" canvas boards were painted green.


I made a flower from Recollections "Floral Embellishments" and adhered each of my items to the navy canvaswith Glossy Accents a product by Inkssentials. My daughter-in-law's mom can adhere any pictures of the family on those two green panels and show off, what a wonderful family we have. I really enjoy finding new ways to use the many diffwerent size canvas that are available. Have fun!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Party Invitation



For years I have been seeing my friends on Sundays at a local restaurant, where people take turns performing karaoke. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, enjoying a celebration cake and get our sing on. Yes, I sing karaoke. No, I’m not good at it, but it’s fun!

This year’s going to be a bit different for my birthday in October. My friend wanted to have a party and since my special day is early in October, “It’s My Party!”
So, to help out, I decided to offer my skills to make the birthday invitations.
Here is the recipe:
White card
Green card stock
Beige card stock
Blue card stock
Cuttlebug fold “Allegro”
Cricut cartridge “Celebrations,” Page 125 in the manuel
“It’s a part” cut at 2 ½”, cut with a shadow of the same size
Archival ink
Stampendous stamp N159 Orchid invite

Monday, September 19, 2011

Donate Holiday Cards to Our Service Men and Women!

Did you know 50% of our troops go with out a Christmas greeting? I'm on a mission, Michaels Craft Store's and EK Success have teamed up to get 170K of handmade or (not) Christmas Cards to send to our Troops.
I have placed a basket in the classroom at Michael's in Palm Coast, Fl. for anyone who would like to help us reach our goal. We are asking for a Christmas card/with envelope and if you would write a Christmas greeting or a word of thanks it would go a long way. I need these by the end of Oct. You can take a card making class at Michaels or donate one or more of your own designs. 
A great project for a girl/boy scout troop, book club, bunco group, women's group, Sunday school class and more. Drop off at Michael's Palm Coast, Fl. by Oct. 31. All faith are welcome!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

9/11/2001 - We Will Never Forget

No, we will not forget!
We moved to Florida in August of 1998 from New York. But New Yorkers we will always be! 
That morning I was sleeping late, but the phone rang. My friend Vickie called and said turn on the TV and I saw the second plane hit the building. I knew right away this wasn't an accident, we were under attack! But what do we do now? I had an appointment to work on the planning of the local art fest. I got up, dressed and got moving. At the appointed time the meeting was held, we weren't sure if the art fest should go along as planned. We called our contacts with the armed services bands that were to give concerts during the festival weekend event. They said to hold the fest as usual and go a head with the plans. It was only weeks away. 
We held the art fest, people arrived in good numbers, service bands played and throughout the fest grounds you could hear recorded patriotic music. My husband had loaned his Lee Greenwood tape and all day you could hear "God Bless the USA."

The story my husband made the online local paper. You can go to:
http://www.news-journalonline.com/reports/community/in-your-own-words/2011/09/10/sandy-brooke-palm-coast.html

Friday, September 9, 2011

Garden Fence Card



So sorry, I haven’t been around much lately. I’ve been getting ready for the 2 hours Open House tomorrow at Michaels from 1 to 3 p.m. I’ll be at the Palm Coast, Fl. Store, but all Michaels are hosting this event.
I really love my new Cricut Lite cartridge “Bloom” and decided to make some more flowery cards.

So how about your garden variety wooden garden gate? Here it is cut at 3” in wood grain with a brown shadow behind it. That shadow, the green flower stems and pink flowers were all cut at 3”. Next, I cut a pale blue paper at 5 ¾” x 4 ¼” for background. I glued the flowers and stems to the gate with Zig glue and the gate to the blue background with Tombow adhesive. The same adhesive was used to glue the gate and background to the front of the card. Lastly I cut the little butterfly at 2”. The butterfly is the first cut of the birdcage #3. After gluing all the parts to the butterfly, I used foam pop dots on the back and adhered it to the top of the fence. It’s perfect! You can add happy birthday or happy anniversary and the card would really make someone’s day!

Happy Crafting!