Waltzingmouse May Release - Sneak Peek Day #1 - Tag Collection 1

I'm excited to say that Claire is releasing a fun Waltzingmouse stamp set and some new dies on May 3rd - and today the Design Team is showing a sneak peek of the stamp set called Tag Collection 1.  I've used one of the tag stamps and sentiments from this sweet little set.

For my project, I dressed up a white dotted kraft bag.  I white embossed the Christmas tag from the Tag Collection 1 set on a piece of kraft card stock and layered it to a piece of red card stock.  (Some of you may recognize the Santa Silhouette on this tag from the WMS previously released set Santa's Coming to Town! It's a great vintage Santa smoking his pipe!)  The sentiment is a little tongue in cheek!

I also used the Simple Sprigs Dies (coming out with this release!) to cut the greenery and berries that I slipped behind the tag - I white embossed the stampings on green and red card stock - I just LOVE  the Simple Sprig stamp set - and now the die makes it SO easy to cut it out!  I pretended it was a holly branch for this application! - it works don't you think?!

I stamped one of the sentiments from the Tag Collection on the bottom corner using glitter enamel dots to highlight it.

To hold the bag closed - I used a horizontal slot punch to slip the ribbon through after folding over the top of the bag.  My knot came out so perfect - I don't think I will ever open the bag to fill it with a gift as I'll never get that knot tied so nicely again!  There's also a shot of the handle from the back.

Here are the links to the rest of the WMS Design Team Participating in todays Sneak Peek - please visit them for more inspiration with this new stamp set!

Anya Schrier
Edna Morrisedie
Jeanne Jachna
Jen Cuthbertson 
Julia Aston - Me!
Karin Åkesdotter
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Renee Lynch
Teresa Kline
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan

I'll be back tomorrow with a sneak peek at a wonderful new tag die!

Stamps:  Tag Collection 1 - Waltzingmouse
Paper:  Kraft, Pure Poppy,  New Leaf - PTI
Ink:  Versamark, Archival Garden Gate and Jet Black
Accessories:  red gross grain ribbon - Michaels, New Sprigs Die - Waltzingmouse, tiny twinkles - Taylored Expressions, kraft/white dots bag - Impress,  horizontal slot punch - SU, foam dots, enamel dot.

eclectic Paperie Post - Best Day Ever Frame

Today I'm posting over on the eclectic Paperie Blog.  

Where I made this:  a plain wooden frame from Michaels and a photo of my newborn grandniece, Madelyn Margaret printed on a piece of canvas ......

into this:

You'll find lots of pictures and a description of the steps I took in making this over at the eclectic Paperie Blog - I'd love if you'd take a look over there!   Thanks so much!

Stamps:  Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi - Forever Art, The Beauty of Art, Sentimental Art.
Paper:  Coredinations Ranger Distress Pink,  Sticky Back Canvas - Claudine Helmuth
Ink:  Archival Garden Gate, Ranger Distress Scattered Straw and Worn Lipstick, Archival Cornflower Reinker. Ranger Distress Stains Worn Lipstick, Tumbled Glass and Scattered straw.
Accessories:  Wooden Frame - Michaels, Prima Flowers Princess, Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste, Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stencils - Check Mate, Create A Wreath, Dots and Stripes,  Ranger Distress Paints Scattered Straw, Spun Sugar, Adirondack Snow Cap Distress Paint, Black Soot Ranger Distress Marker, Perfect Pearl Mist/Perfect Pearl, Fancy Pants Best Day Ever Wooden Phrase, Tim Holtz Ideology Industrious Borders, Gesso Liquitex

Joy to the World - Sweet Pea

I have several DT posts coming up this week so I wanted to sneak these two challenge cards in before I ran out of posting time!

When I saw this Festive Friday Challenge 

 I knew that I'd pull out my sweet little star die  and this wonderful digital wood grain DP from  the Etsy Shop - All About Scrapping, that I won for a card I entered into a Stamplorations Challenge.  The sentiment from Verve seemed perfect for it - stamped directly on the paper in Archival Jet Black Ink.

I'm also linking this to Jingle Belles - to use at least 3 layers -  I know this card looks pretty CAS but there ARE 3 layers on it!

For my second card -  I needed a baby card for the baby shop that buys cards from me.  I've made cards with this peapod stamp and buttons before and the owner said they are quite popular and so she wanted more.  

I used my Stitched Mat Rectangle and Circle dies for the panels - the pea pod stamp is from Baby Button Bits by PTI.  I used the large green circle panel to suggest a pea in keeping with the theme! (I tried a half circle first but it just didn't look right to me!)

My design was inspired by the CAS-ual Friday's challenge - Three Things (to use three of something on just one third of the card front)

I used three buttons, 3 colors (2 shades of green and yellow (buttons)), and 3 layers - and the pea pod itself is on approximately just 1/3rd of the card!

I'll be back tomorrow with a Mixed Media Post for the eclectic Paperie Blog - I hope you'll stop by to check it out!

Joy to the World

Stamps:  Joy to the World/Plain Jane - Verve

Paper:  red Bazzill, white - PTI, woodgrain Digital DP from the Brown Grunge Texture Set - All About Scrapping Etsy Shop.

Ink:  Archival Jet Black

Accessories:  Star die - Savvy Stamps/Ellen Hutson, thick foam dots.

Little Sweet Pea

Stamps:  Baby Button Bits - PTI

Paper:  White, Limeaide Ice - PTI

Ink:  Archival Leaf Green and Jet Black

Accessories:  Stitched Mat Rectangle and Circle dies - Lil' Inker Designs, vintage buttons - PTI, foam dots, Glossy Accents (as adhesive for the buttons)

Find Joy in the Ordinary - A Vintage Journey Challenge

I'm excited to be sharing a tag I made for a new mixed media challenge blog I found - A Vintage Journey.

These are the Challenge #4 instructions 

Spring Flowers

We want to see your makes adorned with spring flowers.

You might want to use stamps,  handmade flowers from dies, ideology blooms 

or bought blooms as long as they have been stamped, made or altered 

using a Tim technique or product.

They don't have to be actual spring flowers but let's see the colours of spring!

 I started out my tag by dragging a piece of Specialty Stamping Paper through a puddle of Rubbing Alcohol mixed with a drop of each of three Archival Reinkers - Orange Blossom, Cornflower Blue and Leaf Green.  I forgot to take a picture of the actual piece I used but here is another piece I made using the same 'puddle' of colors, just so you get the idea.

I dried it with my heat gun and cut it with Tim Holtz Alteration Tag & Bookplate die.
I stamped the bird and Fig #'s from Stampers Anonymous Classics #16 Set in Archival Black.  I stamped the building/text stamp from the same set in Archival Tree Branch.

The feather is from the Stampers Anonymous Bird Feather set and the flower is from Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi The Beauty of Art Set - both stamped in Archival Tree Branch.  I colored both the bird and flower with Ranger Distress Markers

I added the Remnant Rubs - Botanical - spread your wings, take flight, and find the joy in the ordinary - the little bee on the flower is also a Remnant Rub.  I sponged the edges with both Scattered Straw and Frayed Burlap Ranger Distress Inks - it only created a subtle shading since this specialty paper is shiny and doesn't absorb the ink as much as cardstock would.

To finish off the edges - I added Industrious Stickers Borders to the top and bottom after I inked them by first rubbing the Archival Leaf Green ink pad over them and drying it with my hot gun- then inking a little more with Archival Orange Blossom.  

 I also layered the tag to a piece of black cardstock to clean up the back and make the tag a little firmer.  I rubbed the wrinkled seam tapes with Ranger Distress Frayed Burlap to grunge them up a bit!

I'm just starting to get into Mixed Media and I'm not comfortable yet with adding layers and layers (and maybe I never will be?!) - so this is still pretty clean and flat - but I'm happy with my Spring Flower Tag!  I love just looking at it - which is how art should be right?

I'm also entering my tag in the Inspiration Emporium Blog challenge -  A Few of my Favorite things -  (that would be birds and flowers for me!)

Stamps:  Stampers Anonymous- Classics #16 and Bird Feather, Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi The Beauty of Art.

Paper:  Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper, True Black - Papertrey Ink

Ink:  Archival ink Leaf Green, Jet Black, Orange Blossom and Tree Branch, Archival Reinkers Orange Blossom, Cornflower Blue and Leaf Green, Ranger Distress Scattered Straw and Frayed Burlap.

Accessories:  Tag and Bookplate Die - Tim Holtz Alterations, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, heat gun, rubbing alcohol - CVS, Remnant Rubs/Botanicals and Industrious Stickers/Borders - Tim Holtz Ideology, Ranger Distress Markers - Spiced Marmelade, Iced Spruce, Shabby Shutters and Weathered Wood.

April PTI Blog Hop - Embroidery

I'm late to the party - the week just got away from me - but I really wanted to participate in the April 2014 PTI Blog Hop

The theme this month is embroidery

Not only was I late -  but then it took me 2 hours to finally get this simple design done!  It went through 5 renditions - I started out wanting to use my new button stacks dies - but nothing was working the way I wanted it.  And finally - I ended up using two very old PTI sets -  the sentiment is from In Bloom and the flowers are from Little Lady!

I also used the Make It Monday technique of water splatter over ink - and I love how it came out - I was going for the look of aged linen and I think I got it -  I sponged Pumice Stone ink over Fine Linen cardstock then splattered water over it, blotted the extra water up and went over it with my hot gun.

I was going for this kind of embroidery look  

Pinterest Source

Now I'm off to check out all the embroidered loveliness linked up over at Nichole's blog! And I'm also off to eat a late supper!  (have to get that stamping done before cooking!)

Stamps:  In Bloom, Little Lady - PTI

Paper:  white, Fine Linen - PTI

Ink:  Archival Jet Black, Ranger Distress Pumice Stone, Worn Lipstick, Dusty Concord, Mustard Seed

Accessories:  water, heat gun.

Fusion Card Challenge - April 24th

I'm so excited - it's Thursday and time for a new Fusion Challenge!  I am in awe of how many of you participate in the challenges every other week -  I get such inspiration from everyone's take on it!  So here we are with a brand new challenge!  How bright and colorful is this?!

I just had to go literal with my card - since I purchased SO many of these colored straws from Michaels  after seeing Kelly's post of her picture ornaments here. (at $1 a pack, how could I leave them there??!  I haven't made the ornaments - yet....but I have all my supplies ready for when the spirit moves me!)  I used the Stripes Horizontal Cover Plate from PTI for the panel and cut the straws to fit inside each cut out accept for one - where I popped up the cut out piece stamped with the sentiment from Woot Woot by Cas-ual Friday Stamps.

I popped up the die cut panel with lots of foam tape and adhered the straws with ScorTape to be sure they'd stay stuck! You can see the raised panel and dimension the straws give the card from this side angle.  I refrained from adding any sequins or enamel dots - as I think this would be great as a guy card.

How are you inspired by this week's Fusion Challenge?  I can't wait to see your cards linked up in the Fusion Gallery!

I hope you will check out all of the DT's blogs linked below for some serious inspiration!

Betty J
Cathy Weber 
Dannielle Robeson
Deepti
Jeanne Jachna
Julia Aston - me!
Katie Brooks
Kelly Griglione
Kimberly Wiener 

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan 

Michelle Williams

Michelle Lupton

Sindhu
Stephanie Severin

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Cut it Up -  a birthday card and use at least one die cut

Keep it Simple - Bright Sparks 

Less is More - Makes me smile (the colorful straws!)

Seize the Birthday -  anything goes.

Stamps:  Woot Woot - Casual Fridays

Paper:  White - PTI

Ink:  Archival Watering Can

Accessories:  straws - Michaels, Stripes Horizontal Cover plate die - PTI, Scor Tape, foam tape 

Monday Noel

Today I have a card that combines two of my favorite Monday Challenges.

First -  Merry Monday  was to use a Christmas word and decorate each letter

  I die cut the "noel' from PTI block letters and decorated them with tiny twinkles from Taylored Expressions

I used red sparkle card stock for the base, layering a striped and black piece die cut with Mega Mat stack layers.  I punched the drippy snow/icicles out of watercolor paper so it has some texture and popped it up on foam dots across the panel.  I adhered the letters along the top edge of the drippy snow.

and the Cure for the Monday Blues challenge was this photo inspiration.  I was inspired by the red/black/white colors, the striped mug, the black frame and chair for my card design.

 I'll be back on Thursday with my card for the new Fusion Card Challenge 

and on April 30th I'll be starting 3 days of sneak peeks for the May Waltzingmouse release along with the rest of the WMS Design Team - fun stuff coming!

Paper:  white, True Black - PTI, watercolor paper - Ranger, glitter red - Michaels, DP - Sn@p/Simple Stories.
Accessories:  drip punch - Martha Stewart, Tiny Twinkles - Taylored Expressions, Block Alphabet die and Mega Stack 3 Dies - PTI, Glue N Seal - Ranger, foam dots, Zig Glue Pen

Cheer Up Buttercup

Well - it's Monday once again - I hope everyone had a lovely weekend!  We had some sunshine but it was rather cool (50's) and the nights have still been COLD (30's)!   Today is the running of the Boston Marathon - and I work at a hospital right near the finish line.  I decided to take the day off, rather than be in the middle of all the crowds honoring the anniversary of last year's tragedy.

For today's card - I used some new things and some old things on my card -  

The  new thing is the fun background stamp from WPlus9 Borders and Backgrounds set - it's a strip of dots and when you stamp them repeatedly, it looks like rain falling, doesn't it?!  The old thing is the umbrella and sentiment stamps from Scattered Showers from Papertrey Ink.  I stamped the dotted umbrella in Mustard Seed Distress Ink onto Harvest Gold card stock - then stamped the outline stamp over the dotted stamping, cut it out and layered it onto the panel with foam dots. I love this sentiment - it cheers me up just reading it for some reason!  I cut my panel with a stitched mat rectangle die and layered it over a piece of Washi tape adhered onto the card base.  I made my own enamel dots by baking Perler beads which I showed on this post.

I'm linking this card to two challenges:

My design was inspired by Seize the Sketch

And the Card Concept challenge is to use an umbrella - my card is Clean and Layering

Stamps:  Scattered Showers - PTI, Borders and Backgrounds - WPlus9.
Paper:  White, Harvest Gold - PTI
Ink:  Ranger Distress Mustard Seed and Tumbled Glass, Archival Garden Gate
Accessories:  foam dots, washi tape - Michaels, enamel dots - home made from Perler Beads.

He is Risen!

Wishing all the Christian's in the world celebrating the Risen Lord today -  a very Blessed Easter!  I'll be at church in the morning - then spending the afternoon with my family for Easter Dinner. 

"They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus"  Luke 24:2-3

"The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said."  Matthew 28:5-6

" Don't be alarmed", he said.  "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He has risen: He is not here."  Mark 16:6

Happy Easter, Bunny!

One final bunny card - using my brand new Lil' Inker Designs Bunnies and Bows dies (SO cute!) - along with the ever present Stitched Mat Rectangle and with the addition of a Stitched Mat Circle today!

I die cut 2 stitched mat rectangles - one in vintage cream and one in Berry Sorbet - then I cut them into uneven strips and pieced them back together alternating the colors.

My card was inspired by the Cure for the Monday Blues challenge

I was inspired by the bunnies, the little vase of tiny blooms and the little drink bottles with striped colors.  This photo sure does cure the Monday Blues!

Wishing everyone who celebrates - a most Blessed Easter!

Stamps:  Happy Easter, Bunny - Penny Black, little blooms - from Fresh Cut Florals set - WPlus9
Paper:  white, Vintage Cream, Berry Sorbet - PTI
Ink:  Archival Jet Black, Adirondack Salmon and Mountain Rose.
Accessories:  Stitched Mat Rectangles and Circles, bunny and bow dies - Lil' Inker Designs,  black rhinestone - Kaiser, foam dots, 1 1/4" circle punch - EK Success.

What Feelings Sound Like and Spring in the Woods

Today I have two creations to share -  one very clean and simple and the other a more detailed shadow box!

My card base and layered panel are Ranger Watercolor Paper.  I brushed on Ranger Distress Stains for my background and stamped the sentiment from Serendipity Stamps over the colors using Archival Watering Can Ink.

I'm linking this card to Cas-ology Cue Card NOTE

and Just Us Girls Water Colored Background (mine is actually Distress Stains - but they are brushed on and I did use watercolor paper (?!?)

I made my next project for a friend at work who asked me to make a special card for her mother's 80th birthday which is in July.  Her mother loves feeding the birds and being outdoors - she's an LL Bean kind of girl!

So after pondering what I might make for her - I remembered I had purchased this tree shadow box cut file from the Silhouette Shop. So I quickly cut it out with my Silhouette Cameo after deciding the colors for each layer and before assembling it I had to think about what I would add to it.  I decided the woods needed some sun, birds, grass and leaves!  The sun is made from Sunshine dies - large and small by Lil' Inker Designs.

The perfect day stamp is from the Sentimental Art set from Study 490 Wendy Vecchi.

The blue birds are from the Mini Bird and Cage die from Tim Holtz Alterations. The grass die  and sentiment banner are from My Favorite Things.  Happy Birthday and Mom are from Women of Life by Papertrey Ink.  I added green sequin 'leaves' to some of the branches.

I added a die cut Tim Holtz small easel cut from grunge board to the back so the box will stand up.

My friend said her mother will LOVE this shadow box -and will most likely place it on her kitchen windowsill where she can look at it every day!  It's nice to know that the receiver will appreciate the art we create isn't it?!

I'm entering my spring woods scene in a new challenge I just discovered -  Art With Heart Challenge - April Showers/Spring Theme

 Music card:
Stamps:  Music is what - Serendipity Stamps
Paper:  Watercolor paper - Ranger
Ink:  Archival Watering Can
Accessories:  Ranger Distress Stains - Worn Lipstick, Tumbled Glass, Scattered Straw

Woods Shadow Box:
Stamps:  Sentimental Art - Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi, Women of Life - PTI
Paper:  Ideology Grunge Board, Coredinations Canves Texture Ice Cream, Ranger Distress Coredinations blue and green, Simply Chartreuse , Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold and Blueberry Sky - PTI.
Ink:  Archival Watering Can
Accessories:  Fresh Cut Grass and Dimensional Banners Dies - MFT, Curly Label Punch - SU, Mini Bird and Cage  and small easel die- Tim Holtz Alterations, 1" circle punch - EK Success, Tiny Twinkles - Taylored Expressions, Lucky Blend sequins - Avery Elle, foam dots, ScorTape.

Make It Monday - Easter Tag Cards

Today I have something I made for the PTI Make It Monday Challenge - Heat Embossing on die cuts.  I needed 3 special Easter Cards for my grand nephews and niece and when I saw that Erin used the Special Delivery stamps, Sentiments and dies for her sample - I knew I wanted to design something with that set - seeing as I just had to have that set - and then never used it - until today!

I made Tags for the kidlettes - and used a really long piece of twine on them - so they could wear them like necklaces if they so desired - or they could hang them from a lamp or something.   

I like to try and use ALL PTI products when I participate in the PTI challenges, but I thought I didn't have any Easter stamps to use even though I have a plethora of PTI stamp sets!!??!!  

So I went to the PTI shop and typed in SENTIMENTS in the search box to see if I could find a set with Happy Easter in it  -  and Limitless Labels was one of the sets that came up - (an older PTI set which I happen to have!) and lo and behold - the set contained happy EASTER AND a little egg!  

Then I checked my Tiny Treats Valentine's set because I knew that had a lot of little animals in it - and sure enough - there was the little bunny with a heart cottontail, sweet as you please in the set!

And did you notice the cool little blue and pink 'enamel' dots on my tags?  I made them myself (!) - out of Perler Beads  -  which I had never heard of (not having young kids doing crafts in my home anymore).  I came across a tutorial in blog land on how to make dots out of them.  I found this package of them at Michaels for $5.99.

Basically -  you heat your oven to 325 degrees F,  place a piece of parchment paper on a small baking sheet (I used a pizza pan!), stand up the pieces on end - leaving enough space between them so they don't melt together, and cook for 35 minutes!  It doesn't smell at all (sometimes when you melt plastic in the oven it stinks!) and they come out perfectly round!

Here they are all standing up on their ends before going in the oven.  Here's a link to the tutorial I found by Katie Gehring

Here they are after 35 minutes in the oven - perfectly round shaped little 'enamel' dots! (you[ll notice two of my orange ones were too close together and they merged!)

and here they are taken off the parchment - Gosh -  just looking at these makes me happy!!

The beads that are in two colors - the light blue and light pink in my package shown above - melt down to look like little flowers or pinwheels - those are the ones I used on my tags today.

 

I'm also entering these in the Curtain Call Challenge - Confetti Crush

 

 You never know when you are going to find something fun and new out there!

Stamps:  Special Delivery, Special Delivery Sentiments, Tiny Treats Valentines, Limitless Labels - Papertrey Ink.
Paper:  Sweet Blush, SPring Rain, Harvest Gold - PTI
Ink:  Versamark, Hibiscus Burst, Spring Rain - PTI
Accessories:  Perler Beads (to make enamel dots) - Michaels, Ocean and Blossom Twine - The Twinery, Ranger Distress Marker - Spun Sugar, Word Window Punch - SU, Tag Sale Die #3 - PTI, white embossing powder, Special Deliver Die - PTI, heat gun.