Spring Card

Hi there,
Are you enjoying spring? I know a lot of people are, especially those who had a lot of snow during winter. Where we live, at this time of the year, we see baby rabbits, baby Sandhill Cranes, eagles, and a lot of other animals. Spring means new life, and it's so inspiring. The card I'm posting today was inspired by spring.

Supplies used
Paper: Rose pink, white and olive green cardstock
Tools: Sizzix cutting/ embossing machine, embossing folder, Spellbinders oval decorative die
Stamp: Cherry blossoms
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Embellishments: Pink and white bakers twine

I hope you enjoy the card. Please leave a comment letting me know what you would use this card for.

Thank you for stopping by, and have a very blessed spring.

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Die-cut Flowers Card

Hi everybody,
In my last post I showed you a card I made with my Cricut  .Today I'm posting a card that has the same style - die cut roses - but made with a die by Sizzix . So, if you don't have a Cricut Explore YET, you can always work with your embossing/cutting machine. Let's see the card?

Material used
Tools: Big Shot cutting/embossing machine, Detailed Floral Thinlits Dies, Magnetic platform and precision base plate
Paper: Red and white cardstock 
Stamp: Happy Birthday (Sizzix Happy Birthday To You thinlits with stamps)
Black ink
Embellishments: Red ribbon and bow, pearl and red gemstones
                                                              
Then you ask me, but what if I'm not a card maker? It's ok, you can find this card, and the one from my previous post at Paper Creations, etc shop

  
Thank you so much for stopping by, and may God bless you and yours.

Happy Crafting,

This post has affiliate links. When you click on them and make a purchase, I make a few bucks. Thank you so much.
   

Thankful

Today is my birthday, and I've been mentally making a "list" of what I'm thankful for. Well, the list is too long. God has blessed me in so many ways, not only in the past year, but throughout my whole life. He has given me all the reasons to be thankful, and my 55th birthday is just one of them. So, to celebrate with gratitude, I'm posting a 'THANK YOU' card with envelope, but of course you can make this card for pretty much any occasion.

 Material used:
Tools: Cricut Explore Air, Sizzix Bigshot cutting/ embossing machine, tag die (Avery Elle Beautiful Bow set)
Paper: Antique rose, white cardstock
Stamp: Thanks a million (Fiskars "Many Thanks" set)
Ink: black
Embellishment: Green bow 

 Envelope material used:
Tools: Envelope punch board (We R Memory Keepers), heat gun
Stamp: bow, "enjoy",  and mini tag ( Avery Elle Beautiful Bow set) 
Ink: Versamark clear, green embossing powder

 I like to do something special on my envelopes too, and I love this bow stamp to decorate the envelopes.

THANK you for stopping by, you too are another reason for my gratitude. May God bless you.

This post has affiliate links. When you click on them and purchase, I make a few bucks. Thank you so much.

Mrs. Claus in July Dress Card with Free Template

Hi there. Last week I had a baby shower to attend, and I made a little dress card to go with the gift. I liked that so much, that I decided to make a Mrs. Claus dress card for the Christmas in July series. So I created a template and made, not one, but three cards. And today I'm sharing them and the template with you, just to thank you for stopping by.

As you can see the style is the same, I just changed the apron a little bit.
Supplies used
Paper: White and red cardstock
Tools: cutting/embossing machine, polka-dots, and falling snow embossing folders, crochet hook size G (4.25mm), 1.5" circle punch, snowflakes border punch
Embellishments: fuzzy yarn, poinsettias stickers, red glitter glue, white ribbon and bow, self-adhesive pearls

Here is the template. Just right click on the image and save in your computer. Then choose the size you want, and print on a cardboard. To make the red front of the dress, print a second image on red cardstock and cut in half.

 Here is another dress card made with the same template. This time without the apron.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I hope you check out my shop on etsy.com too. God bless you, and have fun crafting.

Vanías Reed   

DIY Any Season, Inexpensive, and Easy Wreath + Bow tutorial

Hello. Who is enjoying the cooler weather? I know I would, if we had any. But it is still pretty warm here. That, though, does not stop me from decorating my home with fall colors, and changing my screen saver to a fall one. I just love the gorgeous yellow, orange, and rusty red colors found in this season. Besides, it reminds me that CHRISTmas is around the corner. Yoo-hoo!! This year my family and I are also celebrating the 1st year in our new home, and that's why I decided to make the wreaths for our front door. They were not difficult to make, so I decided to share the tutorial with you.

 

Supplies you will need

I bought the vines at Michaels with my coupons, of course.  Here is the link with the tutorial for the bow. You can find the leaf garland at the dollar stores. The apple branches with flowers are from Southern Hospitality, but you can use different fruit and/or flowers depending on which season you will be using your wreath. And I'm pretty sure you have a glue gun, and glue stickers. If not, you can find them anywhere, even Walmart,  for a very reasonable price.
Glue the leaf garland on the vine first (I needed 2 for each wreath). I took some leaves out of the garland and glued them where I wanted them to stay. Glue the fruit branch, then glue the bow. Voilà, your wreath is ready. It can't get easier than that, and you can make one for each season or different holidays. 

Thank you for stopping by

God bless you, and Happy Fall,

Vanías Reed   

No-bake Dessert

We are going to make a brief pause on Christmas cards because I need to post this recipe, as I promised on my Facebook page. I made it for 4th of July. You can decorate it the way you want, even with Christmas eatable decorations. ;) But first let me tell you a little bit about this delicious Brazilian dessert. The name in Portuguese is Pavê (Trifle) .
Pavê resembles a tiramisu, but ... much better! It is a wonderful no-bake layered dessert made with different types of creams and cookies, or biscuits. The most common one is made with Lady Fingers and white cream. The recipe I'm posting today is my creation, and, therefore, made with chocolate. Yep, I confess, I am a chocoholic. (smile). But doesn't everything taste better with chocolate anyway? (bigger smile).

Ingredients
3 packages Tea Biscuits (you can use Graham Crackers, if you prefer)
1 can sweet condensed milk 
3 tbsp Nesquick
1 can table cream (you'll find table cream at the international aisle of your grocery store)
1/2 cup milk 
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup sugar (optional)
2 8oz containers Whip Cream
Fresh fruit (I used raspberries and blueberries to make the flag), or any decoration of your choice.


In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine Nesquick, butter, and sweet condensed milk. Cook in medium heat stirring constantly until it thickens and loosens from the bottom of the pan (about 10 minutes). Turn off heat. Add table cream. Mix very well until you have a smooth (almost liquid) cream. 
Put milk in a deep dish (add sugar to the milk if you like your desserts very sweet). One by one, deep the biscuits in the milk and arrange them in a 9"x 13" baking pan. Cover the biscuit layer with chocolate cream. Repeat this process 2 more times. Spread whip cream on top, decorate, put in refrigerator at least for 2 hours before serving. Enjoy!

Let me know in a comment how your dessert turned out. Please post a picture of it on my Facebook page.

Thank you for stopping by. May God bless you and yours,

Vanías Reed  

Mother's Day Card with Crochet Applique

Didn't we celebrate Christmas yesterday? hahahahaha. I cannot believe Mother's Day is just around the corner. Is it me or time is REALLY flying by? Wow! Anyway, here is an idea of a card for your Mom or someone you know who is a mom. What makes this card different is the crochet applique.

Supplies used
Paper: Cream, light green, brown and bright pink cardstock, roses scrapbook paper (The Paper Studios)
Tools: label punch, computer and printer
Embellishments: Crochet basket (find both the pattern and the applique here) , paper roses, aqua green ribbon and bow, brown self-stick pearls
This card can be made for several other occasions too, like birthday, Easter, spring, get well... the possibilities are almost endless. So, go ahead, make somebody's day by giving them something especially handmade by you. 

Thank you for stopping by, and may the grace of God reach your heart today.

Vanías Reed    

Transform a Note Card

If you follow this blog and/or my Facebook page, you know by now that I am all pro-recycling. For instance, the other day, cleaning up and organizing a drawer which cleaning was way overdue, I found some cute note cards that I bought before I started making my own cards (THAT tell you how overdue the cleaning and organizing were - smile). I looked at those cards and thought, "I can embellish these blank cards, and turn them into something with a little more 'pzazz', (word chosen by my 9-year-old son - LOL). So here is how I transformed a blank note card into a thank you card. 

How I did it
Paper: White and black cardstock
Tools: Cutting/embossing machine, medium rectangle decorative die (Spellbinders), 3D foam glue dots
Stamp: Thanks 

Embellishments: small pink pearls, swirl stickers.

As you can see in this picture, I used the black cardstock to make the back of my label.

 Thanks again for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful week.

God bless you,

Vanías Reed  

Card With Velum Flowers

My mother is turning 90 next month, and I wanted to make a very special card for her. So when I saw this technique that is used to make flowers out of velum paper,  I knew this was what I wanted to use on her card. Here it is. 

The word 'Feliz' means happy in Portuguese

Supplies needed for this card

Paper: Pink, leaf green and white cardstock, clear velum paper

Tools: cutting/ embossing machine, lace border embossing folder, precision scissors, embossing heat tool, embossing powder (I used white and peach), fine point gel pens (pink and leaf green), round corner punch, 3D very small foam mounting circles

Stamp: flowers (I used the rose with a bud)

Ink: Embossing tinted stamp pad, yellow stamp marker)

Embellishment: Leaf green ribbon and bow with white 'sewing' lines, small black glittered letters, numbers and flowers, tiny pearls,

To make the velum flowers, stamp your flowers on velum paper using embossing tinted (mine is a very light pink) ink. Sprinkle with embossing powder covering the flowers completely (I used white powder for my pink rose, and peach powder for my yellow rose). Turn the velum paper up side down over your powder saver, or a white sheet of paper, to get rid of the excess powder. Using an embossing heat tool, dry the powder very well.

Using a fine point gel pen, color your flower gently making sure you don't color the embossing powder. If you want, you can use only the stamp marker. I like to use the gel pen first for a sparkling effect. Cut the flowers carefully with a precision pair of scissors. Use the foam mounting circles to adhere the flower to your card. A white background will accent the velum better.

 

There you have it. Beautiful velum flowers that can also be used on a card for Mother's Day.

Thank you for stopping by. Have a blessed crafting time.

Vanias Reed   

Easter Egg in a Bowl

I can't believe how time is going by fast. Wasn't it Christmas yesterday? Now Easter is almost here, already? (smile). Anyway, today I'm posting another Brazilian recipe. This time it is a delicious "Easter Egg" with a twist. It's a dessert to be served cold that I translated from this website. Here it is.

Ingredients

• 3 cans of sweet condensed milk
• 2 tbsp of starch
• 2 cans of milk (use the empty sweet condensed milk cans)
• 6 egg yolks
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1 can of table cream
• 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of chopped cashew nuts (I like walnuts or pecans better)
• 2 cups of milk chocolate chips.

• In a medium size pan cook, in medium heat, the sweet condensed milk, the starch dissolved in the milk, and the egg yolks stirring constantly until a thick cream forms (about 1 ½ minute)
• Turn off heat. Add vanilla to the mix and set aside to cool down. Add the table cream to the cool mix. Set 1/3 of the mix aside
• Mix the semi-sweet chocolate to the other 2/3 of the mix. The chocolate should melt.
• Place one layer of the chocolate cream in the bottom of glass baking pan. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Take it out of the refrigerator and cover with a layer of the white cream.
• Sprinkle with the chopped cashew nut and put back in the refrigerator for 10 more minutes. Take it out of the refrigerator, and cover with second layer of chocolate cream.

·         In a separate bowl, melt the milk chocolate. Cover the dessert with a layer of this chocolate.

·         Put dessert in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving it.

  Thank you for stopping by. God bless you.

Vanías Reed    

Purple

I can't believe Easter is almost here. Time goes by so fast, doesn't it? I'm not complaining because I start my countdown to Christmas on December 26 ( Do I need to say it is my favorite time of the year? -smile). So, anyway, here is my last Easter card for this year. Don't worry, I'm not going to start posting Christmas cards yet. Well, maybe in July. (wink and smile)

 Paper: dark and light purple, and white cardstock (Paper Studio)
Tools: embossing/cutting machine, glue runner, scissors, ruler, craft knife and self-healing mat.
Stamp: Happy Easter (Stampabillities)
Embellishments: green ribbon, pearls, die-cut purple flowers, green gemstones, leaves and flowers stickers.
Extras: computer and printer
 

Inside

 You still have time to make an Easter Card for someone.

Happy Easter!

Vanias Reed