Let your creativity grow!

Happy Birthday Miles!

My one and only child Miles will turn 3 on Monday, June 30th!  We're celebrating his birthday on Sunday with family and then on Monday, we're just going to have a little bbq with our little family and then in August we're going to Discovery Kingdom formerly Marine World.  So it should be a lot of fun!  I have this wonderful picture of Miles after he caught his first fish.  Of course, my husband took the picture and it turned out so beautiful!

Miles now has a haircut cause some of my customers thought he was a girl!!  I'm like what???  He's trying to be an asian Jonas Brothers groupie.  Anyway.. I got offended and had his haircut last week.

More dragonfly cards!

I finally finished my dragonfly cards on Friday!  woohoo!  I thought I would never get this done in time for the class on Sunday, June 29th. 

I'm really happy with the way these turned out.. so pretty and simple!  This first card is stamped with a big background stamp by Hero arts.  I stamped it in lime pastel and put little pearls on the tips of leaves.  I then stamped a dragonfly by rubber soul and sentiment is by A Muse.  I punched three gold brads to finish off the card.

This next card reminds of a panoramic asian picture that you would see hanging in an upscale sushi bar or something.  I stamped a dragonfly set by Kodomo Inc.  This set entails everything you see on this card.  The flowers are two separate stamps that I stamped in Kodomo's rainbow pads.  I then randomly stamped a small dragonfly on top of vellum and held it together on the cardstock with two brads.  So pretty!

This next card I punched out 4 holes and stamped a dragonfly by A Muse art stamps into 3 holes and the sentiment in the 4th hole.  This card was quick and easy!

This last card is sitting the wrong way... I'm so computer illiterate that I don't know how to change the flower to be upright.  oh well.. just tilt your head to the right or do a quick cartwheel and freeze when your hands hit the floor.. you'll see a better shot.  My husband is visiting his friends and I have time to post now, so this will have to do.  Anyway.. this one is my favorite card!  This big beautiful flower is one of my favorites from Hero arts.  I stamped it onto glossy paper and did a chalk resist method with it.. cut it out and used crystal stickles around the border.  I then used lime stickles to make and stem and punched out a bunch of dragonflys and leaves!  ENJOY!

Dragonfly

It's summer.. and it's the season of dragonflies.  My boutique logo is a dragonfly.  Many people don't know this, but my husband is the year of the dragon, and I wanted his image somehow embedded in the name of my company because he is, afterall, my best friend and the world's greatest man... so instead of using a fire breathing dragon -- I used a dragonfly, it definitely goes better with the paper garden atmosphere.

We have a class next on Sunday, June 29th from 5pm-7pm... we'll be making 6 beautiful cards.  Here are two of them.

This first card is using some circles by Hero arts, impress rubberstamps and printworks.  I randomly stamped them on "putty" cardstock and then stamped Memory box' dragonfly in the center and used black stickles for the wings.  I cut a small strip of chocolate cardstock at the end and tied some ribbon.  As you know... most of my samples are used with stickles glitter glue and ribbon.. these are two must haves for me.

This next card is one of my favorites.. I really love these two blossom stamps by impression obsession and I've used them on different cards that I've made for the asian classes.  The branches are stamped in dark brown and the other branch (outlined) is stamped in staz-on black onto "kiwi" vellum.  Isn't is it so pretty?  The sentiment is by A Muse... and the lovely cluster of dragonflies is by impression obsession.  So simple.   

I have 4 more cards to create.. we hope you can join us for our class.. and don't forget, we still have openings for Julie Ebersole's holiday christmas card classes on Monday, July 7th!!  Call the boutique if you're interested at 916-487-2737

Japanese spruce wood book

I love making books and booking binding... now, I love making books with Japanese spruce wood.  It's very light and very easy to cut and even ink!  I made this book with the help of Kelley and Laurie the other day with coin envelopes.  We'll be doing this same book in our class.  Hope you can join us.

I used the orchid stamp by Hero arts and stamped it once and inked the spruce wood using kodomo incs.  rainbow pads.  I then took a bunch of different washi paper designs and used them for the folds of the envelope as well as the binding. 

Here's a look at the inside.. isn't it cool?  I have to come up with more ways to use the spruce wood.  I just love it!  Hope you can join us for our first class!!!  The stamps used for this book were the "mon" blossom symbols clear set by kodomo inc.

By the way.. I  never posted the last cupcake card I made for our class last Sunday.  Here it is!  It was a full class and we had lots of fun!  Thanks everyone for taking the class!  This set of stamps is a clear set by fiskars.  The cupcake is by rubbersoul.

Asian cards con't

Here's another card I made for the upcoming asian card class.. I especially love this one because it's fast and easy to make.. there's no drying time too cause i didn't even put glitter on it.. is that a shocker or what?

This is a set of 4 asian backgrounds by kodomo inc.  I just stamped each background on different colored papers and used the 4th one for the bottom.  So pretty!  I have more fun stuff to show tonight!

Asian cards

Here's my latest version of more asian cards for our class that's coming up!  Hope you can join us this week!  My post will be short and sweet..I'm so burnt out!  I need sleep!  We had our annual art fiesta this weekend and we had some long extended hours at the store and it was a skorcher on Sunday with highs in the 90's.  Then I had a full cupcake class Sunday evening, so I'm ready for some zzzzzz's!

This first card is made with blocks of color.  I used a dragonfly stamp by hanko designs and the lucky cat by kodomo.  Sentiment is by A Muse.

This next card is by a stamp by Hanko as well.  I just stamped it in burgandy and then put the pieces through my corrugator to make it look like a tatami screen.

I love the simplicity of this last card.  I just used the bamboo stamp by hero arts and stamped it in black and then used a "chop" sign and stamped it in red.  This bamboo stamp automatically shades a few of the branches.  It's really cool!

I have three more designs to go!  I will post them as soon as I'm done making them this week! Enjoy!

Summer classes!

We have our newsletter for July, August & September 2008 now available on line at

www.papergardenboutique.com

please download our fabulous classes!  You can also get a hard copy in our store.  And don't forget we still have class openings for the Fab Julie Ebersole of A Muse art stamps still available.  Get your Holiday card ideas early.. she's teaching three wonderful classes on Monday, July 7th during Amuseapalooza.  For more information on Amuseapalooza go to;  www.amuseapalooza.typepad.com

Icing on the cupcake!

Here are more cupcake cards I was able to make today-- 1 more to go before the class on Sunday.  Whew!

This is my favorite card.  We just got a shipment of the new clear stamp sets by Fiskars and this set contains a bunch of intricate filigree and damask designs.  So pretty.. I love all of the stamps in this collection.  I stamped the filigree in color box chalk ice blue and then stamped the cupcakes by Impress onto an oval punch out.  I then used baby blue liquid pearls and used red stickles for the cherry on top.  I used a silver pen to make the cupcake holders.  So elegant!  I then took a small piece of ribbon and put a glue dot on the back and then used crystal stickles and used it to outline the oval as well as dotting the ribbon.  I like to outline stuff in stickles.  I think it really makes your cards and invitations come alive!

This next card is a new stamp by Karen Lockhart designs.  It's a rose cupcake.  The sentiment is by impression obsession.  I stamped the bottom of the cupcake onto pretty little papers by A Muse and colored it in orange and then cut it out to give it some dimension.

This next card is made with cupcakes by Hero arts clear "sweets" clear set.  I stamped them out three times and colored them differently.  The sentiment is by A Muse.  I used pinks and green for this card... again, I like to glitter the edges of my cardstocks.  I also like to use cupcakes in different ways, it's fun to give them a different look using damask backgrounds and flourishes.  Bon apetite!

New cupcake designs!

This new stamp is by American Art Stamps.  I love how whimsical it looks.  It reminds me of an illustrator named Laura Stoddart from England who used to create fun papers for Kate Spade --the famous purse designer.  I have Kate Spade's daily planner and kept the images and cut them up to make magnets.  So fun.  I cut out a scalloped awning to use as a window awning so it looks like star and hearts are hanging down.  This card is the second of 6 fun designs we'll make in our cupcake class coming this Sunday from 5pm-7pm.  We hope to see you there!

mmmmmmm...cupcakes!

We have a lot of fun events going on at the Paper Garden this week!  On Tuesday from 11:30am-1:30pm, we have a free make and take.  I still have to figure out the card!  I'm going to get to it on Monday. 

Then on Friday, we have our aloha cardmaking class!  On Saturday, we have our second Saturday make and take along with the art fiesta happening at our shopping center.  So fun!

Then on Sunday, we have a cupcake card making class.. so far, I made one card!

This stamp is the new cupcake image by Just johanna.  I just punched out a bunch of 5/8" circles and stacked them.  It's a great way to use up your scraps.  I edged the paper in lime pastel color box chalk ink to make some of the colors stand out!  Then I blinged up the entire card with prisma glitter.

By the way, my girlfriend Kathy Kilbane now has a blogsite.  Please check it out.. it's a lot of fun!  www.kabobbingcards.blogspot.com

Leave a comment and she'll be your best friend!