Sunday, August 21, 2011

Lots Done This Weekend!


Hi Friends,

The mojo is up and running at full throttle this weekend!  Got a lot of card-making done and played around with lots of ideas I've had in my head.  Mostly vintage and retro styles, which I think is where the motivation is coming from.  It seems to be quite trendy these days, awash with samples on Pinterest (yay!), so there's lots of inspiration all over the internet.

Here's a quick tour of my weekend accomplishments...

The ornament pictured up top is a case of this week's FS on SCS, Korin (aka Sweetn SassyStamps).  I cased her "Poinsettia Nestabilities Ornament" but used a fan fold flower as my white layer and die cut the flower.  The poinsettia die cut is from an awesome set by "Marianne Design Creatables" that I picked up this Summer at the rubber stamp show.  (Best time to shop for holiday goodies!).

The ornament project got me going on fan fold flowers (again, I know, obsessed), so I followed my mojo and went with it.  I used the same basic design, but this time I used my SU! Bird Builder punch and layered the bird onto the base of the flower instead of a poinsettia.  A little bling for the birds' eyes and a bit of doodling and these were ready for frames.  I adhered them to $1 ornamental frames I picked up at Michaels awhile back.  The DP is Graphic 45.




 Side view of the frames.








These next two cards are inspired by that retro trend, which I love.  I dunno why.  I just do, maybe the cheery colors?  Any how, here's a couple cards that I made...



This image is Purple Onion Designs (love) which I stamped 3 times on Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe DP.  I cut out the flowers, spritzed with water, scrunched up, dried with my heat gun, opened them back up, then layered and tied them together with a button. I added scraps of papers to the bottom and a punched border and coordinating chipboard piece across the top.  Doodled everything (ha ha!) and layered it onto a torn-away dictionary page.







This next card is my fav!  "Almost last, but not least!"  I received some retro chipboard pieces free in the mail last week that I had to play with. They're from "Designs by J. Ellory LTD" called "Nana Loves".  Be sure to visit Jennifer's blog -- you'll love her work!!  There was about 50 pieces in all, and each of them so so cute, I love them all!  They came free with a quarterly craft mag I get that comes from the UK.  You'll be able to see the whole set I received and the magazine issue on her blog.



The DP is Emma's Shoppe and another dictionary page.  I also used a Maya Road chipboard frame that I painted with TH Crackle Paint in Walnut.  No stamping but of course, some doodling!









Finally, the last card is a vintage style card.  I just wanted to use this "Daisies" set that I've had forever and never used.  It's a set by Sheena Douglas who is really a painter.  Her work is amazing and she's now designing stamps so I had to jump on these.


I stamped the Sheena Daisy onto a dictionary page, brushed a very light blue copic over the petals, then added some Craft Lounge Sparkly Fluff in Coffee Bean Brown to the center for texture and a bit of sparkle!  I layered it onto a scrap wood grain-patterned paper (unknown source) and tried to create a look of a hanging sign on a fence. 

Whew!  I told you I got a lot done...and there was actually more but now I'm out of blogging stamina! 

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Ice Cream Cone Celebration!

Hi Friends!

I'm hosting the Inspiration Challenge on SCS this week!  Come and join me!!   The webstore is Patina , and I chose this "Celebration Platter" as my inspiration piece.

The triple scoop cone was made with a Sizzix die and the colors were intended to mimic the colors of the platter. I used the "Simple Stories: Designer Cardstock Paper Pack - Life Documented" collection.  It comes with coordinating letter stickers that I used along with some Paper Studio fibers to create the bunting.

I went to an antique store near my office this week and found some old, and very cheap, vintage books to use in my card making.  So on this card, I used a page from one of the books to make the scalloped border and one of the "scoops". I doodled around all the pieces, added some faux stitch markings and sponged the edges with black Chalk ink.

Come join in the Inspiration Challenge this week!!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Monday, August 15, 2011

In a World Where Butterflies are Bigger Than Birds!

Hi All,

This is a birthday gift for my sister Judy!  I enjoyed embellishing this thing so much!!  And I also liked that it allowed me to use up some of my stash that is overflowing in my craft room!

I found these fun metal birdcages awhile back at Michael's for $1.00!  (Kicking myself for not getting all of the ones they had!!)  The little doors open, and they are all different.


To start, I went out back and grabbed a branch that had been trimmed away from our tree last Fall, to use inside the cage.




I gathered up my faux flowers that I hoard store when I find them on sale because "I might need them some day".  {Oy!!}  Also had some charms, little birds and butterflies that were perfect for this project too.


Then, with my trusty, amazing E600 (awesome) glue, I proceeded to transform the little red cage into a gift that is suitable for my sister's birthday gift!!



The following are pics of the progress as the embellishing ensued!
Here I trimmed down my twig for the cage and then glued the bird on to it with E600 (awesome) glue.
I strung a couple of charms onto piece of craft wire and twist-tied it to the inside of the top of the cage.












Some of the flowers I strung through the bars of the cage and some of them I glued on with E600 (awesome) glue.
I also twist-tied these glass flowers that come on wires (that I've had since time began) around the bottom of the cage.  Used one of them to help secure the twig to the inside of the cage too.
A look inside the cage after gluing some flowers to the twig, then inserting it inside. I used E600 (awesome) glue around the contact points (where the twig came in contact with the cage) to stabilize the twig.
I left part of my twig sticking outside the cage so I was able to add another bird and more flowers!

These are the butterflies I added to the top.  (Pretend you don't notice that they're bigger than the birds!! LOL!)
A look from the top with the doors and top open.
Back side.


Random photo (because it's "my" blog hee hee ) of my little guy, Charlie!
And there you have it!  Fun, girly and ready for gift-giving!!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Fun Flowers

 Hi Friends,

Very fun things came in the mail last week!!  I did some shopping on eBay for some new (to me) dies from Sizzix and Cuttlebug and ordered some Purple Onion Designs stamps designed by the most amazing Stephanie Ackerman, my new hero and muse. She's a Christian, a blogger and an extremely gifted artist -- my 3 favorite qualities in a person!!  ;)  Check out her blog "Homegrown Hospitality" and you'll see why I gush!  (By the way, I found her via Pinterest  -- you should know by now how much I love that place!  PM if you want an invite or more info!!  I want that for you!!)

I made these cards this morning for the Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoast.  Whoa.  It's all about buttons, be still my heart!!  The webstore is Blumenthal Lansing.  I was inspired by the "Fabric Sensations" section and it caused me to pull out my vast collection of fabric brads!!  Yay!!

I started by attaching the sheet of rubber from Stephanie's "Pot a Flower" set to my large Rock-a-Block.  I didn't cut the stamps apart yet since I knew I'd be using them for paper piecing today.  And because I used the Rock-a-Block, I didn't have to add any cushioning to the rubber! Awesomeness! (I just use my ATG tape for the adhesive for my blocks, I don't buy any special adhesive, FYI.)





I stamped the set onto 3 different Basic Grey DPs.








These are the pieces I cut out.





Next I assembled several of the pieces and adhered them to the background paper (Emma's Shoppe by Crate Paper).  I added my Basic Grey Stitched brads to the centers of each flower.



To finish, I sponged Tim Holtz Distress ink in "Tea Dye" and doodled around the edges.  I layered the finished pieces onto SU! Early Espresso and then onto a Very Vanilla card base.  The final cards are 6-1/4" x 3-1/4". 










Here you can see how I used my pen to add the doodling where the stitch marks got cut off while I was cutting out my pieces. 










TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

A Masculine Not-a-Card!

Hi Friends,

Here's an easy project I thought I'd share.  I had to get something done for my college-bound nephew's birthday by Friday, Aug. 5, so of course on Thursday night (the 4th) I sat down to create something!! 

I've made business card holders before out of cassette tape holders, but it's really not a gift for a non-working college student, so I decided to take the same idea and make a little desk-top cork board instead.  That way he can use it to pin reminders, small photos, tickets etc. that he wants to keep on top of anything else that might be laying on the desk. 

It's super simple, and I missed taking some step photos, but hopefully you can get the gist of how to make it yourself with what I have here.  Just email me if you have any questions!!

Also, since I didn't have time to run out to the office supply store to get map pins (which would work better for this project), I used the push pins I have here at home.  Oh well, next time...


First thing to do with your empty cassette tape holder is open it up to the inside and snip off the two wheel holder things...they stick up into the holder to hold the cassette tape in place.  I used a button shanker tool and they popped off just like button shanks, easy peasy.




There was a little bit of bumpy part left on it but I knew I'd be covering that up so I moved on to the next step.








I cut a cork tile I had (not sure why I had it - ha ha!!) to fit inside the lid -- 4" x 2-1/2".









Next I cut a piece of DP 6"x 4", scored it at 3/4" and 5" so it would wrap around the lid completely.








I folded it over at the 3/4" score and adhered it to the top end and  wrapped it around the lid.






Then I just tucked the excess DP into the turned up lip part. (Sorry, no technical terms allowed!!) and adhered that end to the inside.


Next, I adhered the cork board piece to the inside and then stamped a "To Do" sentiment along the rim.







For the other lid, I did basically the same thing. I measured and cut two pieces of DP to cover the inside and outside of the other lid. The inside piece was 4" x 2-1/2" and the outside piece was 4" x 2-3/4".

And that's the basics.  I added minimal embellishments to the outside (stickers) since it's for a boy! 

The tiny notebook papers inside are just some that I cut into little squares and clipped together with a mini-binder clip.  I dropped 3 push pins into a little plastic baggie and tucked them all inside.  (The push pins sort of bulge in the closed box, so I would definitely get some map pins for this project!)



Hope you can try this -- it's really easy!  So hang onto those old cassette tape boxes!!



TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

A Bird in a Cage

Hi Friends,

The Dirty Dozen gals over on SCS get together (virtually) once a year to host a two-week long event featuring 35 different challenges.  35 Dirty Dozen alumni issue the challenges -- its always fun to see some of the retired DD gals resurface!  And it's a blast contemplating all the different challenges and trying to figure out how many you can combine onto one card!!  So here's my attempt at a few of the challenges:

This first card is for the following challenges:

DTGD11Understandblue - paint (TH White acrylic dauber paint)
DTGD11Kittie 747 - handmade paper flower (paper-pieced flowers)
DTGD11Cmf1216 - distressing
DTGD11lisahenke - polkadot
DTGD11Knightrone - 3 types of embellishments (buttons, ribbon, pearl pen)
DTGD11va.sunshine - handmade flower

And this 2nd card is for these challenges:

DTGD11Chupa - Sketch
DTGD11juliemlacey - kraft CS
DTGD11Cmf1216 - distressing
DTGD11lisahenke - polkadot
DTGD11Knightrone - 3 types of embellishments (faux jewels, ribbon, chipboard, primas)
DTGD11TexasGrammy - piercing (hard to see in photo, pierced the edge of the dp)
DTGD11Jami - black accents (panel layer, bird and flower are black)
I'm in the middle of one more... stay tuned!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Kowabunga!

It's the weekend!  Woot!

So, I'm hosting the Inspiration Challenge over on SCS this weekend and found a fabulous website via Pinterest -- and if you haven't started surfing the web via Pinterest you are SO missing out!!  Seriously!!  Do it NOW!!  

Anyhow, the website I chose to go with this week is "Modern Lola". 


I chose this very simple inspiration piece as my jumping off point:  "Multidot napkins". 

I replicated the dots using similar colors punched from cardstock with a 1-1/4" circle punch, adhered them to a square 4-1/4" piece of white cardstock, stamped the sentiment, rounded the corners, then ran it through my BigShot with a textured EF.  I stamped my dog image on another piece of white CS, fussy cut him out, then popped him up onto the card.  I layered the finished card onto a black panel and rose card base!  Done!




The image and sentiment are by Cats Pajamas and I used Copics to color the pup's swim trunks.  I painted on "3-D Galaxy Gloss" after I popped it for some extra shine.

Hope you'll come join me this weekend over on SCS!  I'd love to see you there!!


TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!