maria's craft room

Featuring Fran...and we made our decision

Hi everyone!  Tonight's featured card comes from my friend and crafting mentor, Fran.  Isn't it gorgeous?  She made the heart tags herself using her MM tag maker.  I'm particularly fond of the way she used the magic mesh.  Ahhhh...texture!  I visited with her this afternoon and we shared our latest and greatest news with each other.  She knew before I did that I'd put too much on my plate today to be able to create something to share with you tonight and so she offered me complete access to her card stash.  I felt like the proverbial kid in the candy store!   I hope you like it as much as I do. I make cards but Fran's an artist.

The husband and I agonized over the decision of which dog to adopt.  After being assured by the rescue organization that they already had multiple other families ready to adopt whichever dog we didn't, we decided to adopt the girl.  In the end, both were fabulous dogs, but she just slightly edged out the boy as far as fitting into our family's lifestyle.  She's small at just 54 pounds, calm, intelligent and affectionate.  Just look at this picture.  When she came over last night she literally made herself right at home.  And captured my heart.  Now if only we could come up with a name for her!!!  Her track name (she's a southern girl from Birmingham, Alabama) is Fuzzface Nickel.  Ummm.  We're not keeping that.  I'm hoping that something comes to mind when she joins us tomorrow.  Any suggestions?  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

{Fran's Card} Supplies Include:  white craft ink, DCWV papers and cardstock, Making Memories tag frames, Making Memories brads, Prima blossoms, SU white magic mesh

 

A Mish Imitation And A Card From Fran!

Hello and happy Saturday night!  Hope your weekend is progressing well.  Not a whole lot going on around here besides just appreciating the beautiful weather.  We've been walking, walking and yes, walking!  I also spent some time today re-creating a few fabulous cards designed by Michelle Wooderson (this is one of my imitations).  I usually do my own designing, but her quilt cards really spoke to me and I just had to make a few for my stash.  The base is old olive, the blocks were created by punching 3/4" squares from retired SU papers and I mounted and stitched them to some Papertrey select white cardstock.  The sentiment is from Papertrey's Quilter's Sampler Sentiment set and was inked in dark chocolate.  Yum.  Chocolate.  I digress...

 

 

I found this BEAUTIFUL anniversary card from Fran in my mailbox yesterday.  How clever is her design??!!?  And see the ribbon?  It's silk.  And she lined the inside of the card with white stock for contrast.  As usual, I didn't make it halfway up the driveway before I had the envelope open and the card in my hands.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...M

Supplies: (Quilt card)

Ink:  Papertrey's dark chocolate

Cardstock:  Papertrey select white; SU old olive and retired paper Petals and Paisleys

Stamps:  Papertrey's Quilter's Sampler sentiments

Other:  Foof-a-la buttons, linen thread, Papertrey dotted satin sweet blush ribbon, CM 3/4" square punch, sewing machine

Fran's Nugget Tin Birthday Gift

Hi everyone!  Happy Saturday Night to you!  with I could have come up with a better post title for this entry.  It certainly deserves it!  This is what Fran did with a nugget tin and my birthday gift.  Isn't it pretty?  And so clever...I'll explain in a bit.  She presented it to me yesterday when she and Liz and I were out for my birthday luncheon together.  We went to the cutest old Italian restaurant in town and had so much fun!  They serve something I've never seen anywhere else:  fried hot pepper strips.  Diners should definitely not attempt to eat these unless they are in possession of a full glass of iced beverage and a basket of bread and butter.  See, some of the peppers are hot hot hot while others are simply delicious.  It's a bit of a gamble and always fun. This was what was on the bottom.  You think it's a card until you detach it and flip it over.  And once you see the flip side you can guess what was hidden inside each of the paper tubes inside the tin.  A little something to put towards cabinets for underneath my new workspace!  You'll never guess how Fran perfectly curled the papers to fit in the tin, so I'll just tell you.  See, Fran has a kitchen cart in her studio and the cart has a dowel on one side for holding a roll of paper towels.  And that's what she used to form the rolls.  Four of them fit perfectly inside the tin.  Since it was my birthday celebration we ordered dessert.  Cannolis!  Oh they were

delicious!  Real ricotta cheese, mini chocolate chips and a crunchy shell.  Liz had never had one before.  I couldn't believe it!  But I forget that not everyone is Italian and not everyone eats dessert at every possible opportunity.  Oops.  So here's your tip for the day:  try a cannoli.  And not one of those pudding-y ones.  That's not a real cannoli.  You want one made with sweetened ricotta cheese.  It's like a little piece of chocolate chip cheesecake.  But better!  Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...M

Cutest Aunt Card Ever?

So guess what was in my mailbox yesterday?  Another card from Fran!!!  I think that this is probably the cutest aunt card of all time.  I love the colors, the math, the integration of the patterned paper, the painted chipboard...everything!   And besides the lovely note inside there was a postscript:  "It's almost crabs on the deck time."  Whoo hoo!

And guess what?  Fran almost always lines her envelopes and adds a decorative medallion to the flap of the envelope.  Here's what the envelope looked like after I opened it:

Doesn't it inspire you to line your envelopes, too?

Until next time...M

RAK from Fran

Another gorgeous card from Fran arrived yesterday.  This time I made it inside the house before I opened it!  The textures, the colors, the layering...what's not to like?  My favorite part (besides the color combination) is how she stamped the floral design on top of the patterned cardstock.   Have I ever told you about Fran's crafting space?  She has her own studio on the back of her house and it has windows on two sides and enjoys gorgeous views of her backyard.  And she named the studio and even put the name up on the wall using wooden letters.  It's called La La Land.  So when I say Fran's off in La La Land I mean it...literally.


Until next time...M