Lots of cool links this week, techniques, print outs and more!

Hope you are having a good start to your week.  I wanted to post this morning but blogger was having "issues" and the blog was not loading, it looks like the problems have been resolved and everything is back to normal, thankfully : )

While most of the country is experiencing extreme cold, here in CA we have been treated to a number of earthquakes over the last few days.  I did feel one of them, but not the others.  The largest one was in Eureka, CA, which is hundreds of miles from here (and a cute place to visit if you are ever in Northern CA). 

I do hope that the cold weather many of you are having to deal with is coming to a close, not sure how I would deal with some of the extremes that has been settling on many of you (I have never even driven in snow, let alone lived anywhere that gets much colder then the low 30's).  Anyhow, at least January is slowly moving along and soon we can all marvel at the wonder of spring : )

Now, how about some links?  I have all my links saved by date to make sure that I don't double post the cool stuff I find (storing things by subject did not seem to work too well.)  Because I save everything by date most of the links for that date are a collection of cool things rather then one particular theme.  Today I am sharing some neat links I found in December, so sit back, and surf away.

Home Management Printable Notebook:  I LOVED these pages, and can imagine what a great gift this could be for someone, print out these pages, bind them all up and decorate away.  One can never have enough ways to be organized (now if I only USED these pages, that would be "organized.")

Kaiser Craft Magazines:  WOW!  Tons of FREE PDF magazines here, you will have to take some time here as there is just so much to savor.  All of the magazines focus on scrapbooking, however with some creativity many of the ideas can also be used for cardmaking. 

Hand Sewn Basket:  Really cute idea from Martha Stewart, and these would be great decorated for Valentine's Day.

Create a Scene Stamps:  Adorable stamps that you can use to create a beach scene!  I like the "Master" set that has lots of beach sand, grasses and more.  And the prices are good too.

Make your own embellishments:  A huge list of embellishments you can make yourself for your projects.  Some of these are simple, like how to make a sticker match your project, and many are amazing, like how to make your own epoxy sticker.  So many techniques here, save the link for future use.


Stamps that coordinate with your Spellbinders:  I have to get some of these stamps!  They have been created to fit with your nesties, and the stamps add a whole other dimension to your projects.  I love how the stamps fit inside the shapes adding another border to the nestie shape.

That is it for this week, next week I am going to have a tutorial for you just in time for some Valentine's Day projects.

Have a great week everyone. 

How to make your own flower embellishments

How about some links that show you how to make your own flowered embellishments? Interested? Then keep reading : )

Some of the best tutorials on making paper flowers for cards are on the blog Mainly Flowers, you are not going to believe the flowers this lady makes. Start with the "No Tools Lily," she has templates for leaves and petals, and a number of no tool flowers you can make (and they are amazing!) For the flowers she makes using specific tools, she even has a post on substitute tools you can use . Make sure you book mark her site because she has some great ideas and techniques. And her cards are just beautiful.

Want to make your own flowered embellishments for your cards with a computer? Visit this neat site, Little Big Tree, and download their free Demo software. Really cool images in the Demo, and you get an idea of how you can use their program to make some home made wonderful flower embellishments. The program allows you to change the size, color, hue and more of the image, you will have a ball printing out their Demo stuff, I am seriously thinking of ordering the program so I can have all of the images : )

You can also use your punches to create flowers, check out Scrap Jazz for some inspiration, and also take a peek at Lauren M's blog, she takes you step by step on how to make some amazing flowers, and also features a link to a book on making flower embellishments.

One last idea: If you have shopped at the dollar store you know they carry silk flowers. You can purchase a few of them and then separate the flowers from the stems, use the flowers on the card. You will also be surprised at how many flowers you get for a dollar. Add a "center" with a bead, a button, jewel, use your imagination and explore all the possibilities.

I will keep searching for the other sites, but the links provided tonight should give you a good start. If you have a technique for making flowers, or a link to a good tutorial, please leave a comment and I will update this post.

Have a great Monday (tomorrow there will be little time for stamping around here...sigh), and stamp a few for me : )