Candice Windham Design Studio

Isn't it funny how things happen that you never expect? After much rattling of paper (Translation: destroying half of a parent sheet), I found this guy in my studio one morning. He was wedged between the wall and a file cabinet where I store large pieces of paper and mat board. I have no idea how he got in. He had to come through a door opening in my studio or else he managed to disguise himself and walk straight through the living, kitchen and dining room, then hop down two steps to get to his destination. I can't imagine that I left a sliding glass door open long enough for him to crawl in then hide. None the less, he managed it somehow. I wish I had snapped a photo when I first found him, rather than in the flower bed that I placed him in at the front of our house. He was very big, probably 5-6" wide and 7-8" long. If I had placed him in the back yard, the dogs would have had a field day with their new "toy". Here's how I made this digital scrapbook ...

Our friends Wayne and Janet are now very proud grandparents. Their first grandchild, Anabelle, was born today to son Adam and daughter-in-love Amy. Those of you who know me well, know that I am the world's worst procrastinator. Well, maybe not the worst, but close. I had planned to have this ready and ship it a month ago. I shipped it off today, so at least it will arrive before her first birthday! This project is designed to hold all of those precious baby firsts: First booties, first pacifier, first bib, etc. Anything that won't fit in a scrapbook can fit in here. Janet told me a very sweet story about how they chose the name for the new little girl. When Amy was a child, her parents divorced. She had a rag doll similar to Raggedy Ann, but this one had blond hair and her name was Anabelle. Anabelle got Amy through some really tough times, so I wanted to add an image of what I thought Anabelle would look like. Here's how I made this. Supplies • Patterned scrapbook paper,12...

These are the last two tags I made for our River City Stampers' tag challenge. These were both so easy and will look great on gift bags. I plan to use these with solid color bags so that they will stand out. Here's how I made them: Button Tag Supplies Small manilla tag (1 1/4" x 3") Stamp Pads (Stampin'Up!® Pink Passion and Old Olive) Swirl stamp Viva Décor Pearl Pen (Ice White) Assorted Buttons Embroidery Floss, Ivory Green Ribbon, 8" (Offray) Sponge Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive Directions 1. Sponge pink ink on tag. Sponge edges with olive green ink and stamp swirl in olive green. 2. Tie floss through buttons and adhere buttons to tag. Note: This is one of my pet peeves. Buttons should have something to anchor them to the piece, otherwise they look as though you could pick up the tag and spill them everywhere. If you don't want to add floss, thread or string, at least draw a line between the holes with a marker. Now I'll get down from my soapbox! 3. Add Pe...

Don't you just love the convenience of gift cards? They are always the perfect fit, the recipient gets exactly what he/she wants and the shopping is easy. I pick my gift cards up when doing my grocery shopping, so I am saving the gas I would use for a trip to the mall and the environment, plus they count as double points toward my 10¢ a gallon gas discount! A gift for my friend and a gift for me! It doesn't get any better. There's only one problem. What fun is giving a gift when there is no surprise on the opening? Of course, you can always put them in the envelope with a birthday card or actually find a box the right size and wrap it, but I love using this little gift box by Sizzix. Eileen Hull designed this Scoreboard die and also shared the technique I used. The Duetica Lettering Arts Studio makes creating the tags so simple, and you know that the possibility of someone else having the exact same tag is very slim, since you can select each individual letter. I will be t...

Can you believe I'm posting twice in one day? Even twice in 2 hours? There must be a star in the east, because this is definitely a miracle. I had the honor of recently being selected for the Duetica Lettering Arts Studio Design Team. If you aren't familiar with Duetica, it's time to get acquainted. The system allows you to virtually create your own designs in your headlines. Each font has a multitude of designs for each letter so you can mix and match to your heart's content. Check them out at www.duetica.com. The price is so reasonable and comes with five font families. You can also add additional fonts for a low price. My project for today is a digital scrapbook page. I have tons of layouts using all the traditional papers, inks, embellishments, etc. They take up a 5' shelf in one of my bookcases. If I keep going at this rate, I'll have to build a 1,000 square foot addition to my home just to house them. Something's gotta give! I have done digital scrapbo...

Here are two more tags for the River City Stampers' May challenge using pink and green. When I sat down to do these tags, I decided that I would use some materials I had not used in a long time, if ever. It's amazing what you can find in your stash. Lots of embellishments, lots of bling and lots of what-was-I-thinking-when-I-laid-out-good-money-for-this? items. The first is made using the clear embossing technique as well as my oh-yes-I-meant-to-do-that technique. You will need: • Manilla tag • Versamark embossing ink pad • • Clear embossing powder Cameo coral, Olive Green and More Mustard dye inks (Stampin'Up!®) • Sponge • Heat tool • Flower and sentiment stamps • Pink and green rhinestones • Flower punch (Stampin'Up!®) • Viva Décor Pearl Pen, Cream • Leaf charm • Beacon 3-in-1 adhesive Directions: 1. Stamp and emboss flowers randomly on tag but not on lower edge. Sponge all three ink colors over top of embossing on entire tag and wipe with a paper towel to reveal em...

I belong to a group of mixed media artists in Memphis, Tennessee, the River City Stampers. This group has so much talent, and we cover a lot of different artists' media, with members teaching a new technique or project each month. We also have swaps and challenges, which is what I want to discuss today. Our challenge for May is to create tags using the colors pink and green. Other colors can be added as long as the two main colors are included. This made me combine colors I never would have before. I tend to get into phases of using the same colors over and over for months, even years, before going on to something different. My career as a graphic designer is mapped out in more than 30 years of two-color jobs featuring brown/blue, brown/green, teal/purple, teal/brown and purple/green with bursts of full-color jobs in between. Of course, I had to slip in the company colors, red, blue and yellow, at times, but you can pretty well tell the decade something I designed was printed accor...

Please forgive me for not having my Designer Crafts Connection posting up! Go ahead and hop through the other designers' work for a real trea. Just click forward or backward on the button at left. I will have something up in a few days, but please know that I have a very good reason for not having my post up. Can you say "tight deadline"? Have a great week!