A Stylish Birthday

A friend at work asked me to make a special birthday card for her sister who is a "fashionista!"  I thought it would be fun to use my Tim Holtz dress form die on a piece of honeycomb paper to make it 3 dimensional.  I was going to just put it on a card front - but then found this cute  bureau side step tutorial in a pile of things I've printed off on one of the tables in my craft room (when I was cleaning!) and thought it would be the perfect thing to highlight the dress form!  The basic side step tutorial can also be found on Split Coast here.

I inked all the edges of the card, drawers, sentiment labels and dress form with Antique Linen Distress Ink.  I added pieces of Melange Tissue Wrap to two of the step and tied two colors of wrinkled seam tape around the waist of the dress form to add a splash of color to the card.

I stamped the sentiments on die cut Sentiment Strips from MFT.

I put clear tape along the seam in the back of the honeycomb to hold it open - this looks good even from the back doesn't it?!  I stamped a birthday verse here and my friend can also write a note to her sister here.

I stamped the birthday girl's name on a hand made label (the bottom end was made with the SU Curly Label Punch) and tied it onto the neck of the dress form using a piece of twine.

I'm linking my birthday card to Seize the Birthday -  optional toppings: use twine or string.

 And to Virginia's View - Die Cut challenge

Stamps:  Cornish Heritage Farms - Birthday Centers
Paper:  White - PTI, Tissue Wrap Melange - Idea-ology/Ranger, Honeycomb paper - Inky Antics
Ink:  Archival Jet Black, Ranger Distress Antique Linen.
Accessories:  Wrinkled Seam Tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, Square Gems - Joann's (old!), curly label and modern square label punches - SU, twine from stash, ScorTape, Dies - sentiment strips - MFT, dress form from Sewing Room die - Tim Holtz Alterations.

Fusion Card Challenge - February 13th

It's Thursday again - and time for a new Fusion Challenge.  Let's take a look!  We've gone all springy with the butterflies in the inspiration photo!

I was inspired to create my birthday card using both the photo and the sketch this week.  I'm trying to use 'stuff' I already have in my craft room - and this butterfly paper by Basic Grey needed to come off the shelf!

The 'birthday' die is from PTI and I was able to manipulate it into a fun curve since some of the letters are only connected by a small piece.  The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch that I covered with Glossy Accents to give it a nice shine.   I wasn't sure what color to pull from the DP for my butterfly - so I also punched a grey and a black one.  Since I chose the Terrecotta Tile color for the front - I used the other two butterflies on the inside of my card.

Here are links to the rest of the Design Team - please visit them to see their Fusion Inspired cards!

Betty J
Cathy Weber 
Dannielle Robeson
Deepti
Geri Freeman
Julia Aston - Me!
Katie Brooks
Kelly Griglione
Kimberly Wiener 

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan 

Michelle Williams

Michelle Lupton

Sindhu
Stephanie Severin

We hope you will join us by making an inspired card and linking it over at Fusion!

Stamps: Happy - partial stamping of Happy Birthday stamp - Amuse,  inside Birthday Centers - Cornish Heritage Farms.

Paper:  Vintage Cream, Terrecotta Tile - PTI, Basic Grey - SU, DP Basic Grey Ambrosia

Ink:  Archival Jet Black

Accessories:  Wonderful Words - Birthday die - PTI, winter blend sequins - Avery Elle, Glossy Accents - Ranger, Herringbone Embossing Folder - Provo Craft. Butterfly punch - Martha Stewart. 

She Art - I am perfect just the way I am.

 

 I am so excited to share with you today - my She Art creation!   I've been eyeing Christy Tomlinson's on line video classes for quite some time - and a few weeks ago she had a half price sale - and I jumped at it!  (sorry the sale is now over!)  You can read about her She Art here

The focus of this particular class of Christy's  is on the 'She' - promoting self worth and self affirmation, self love and acceptance of who you are -  all in the context of learning techniques for using all kinds of mixed media!

There is so much 'stuff' on my creation - I'm just going to show you close ups and then list the supplies at the bottom!  There are 3 weeks of classes with the She Art Workshop that you just go into and watch at your own pace - you have a year to access them on line - so I have two more "she's" to go - designing the 'she' a little differently in each class and learning more mixed media techniques.  I'll share those when I've completed them!

I was nervous about getting her hair to look good -  but with Christy's instructions I was able to do it!

I used some roller wheel stamps that I've had from Stampin'Up for YEARS sitting in a drawer - so happy to have a use for them -  see the stars above -  that's from one of them.  Christy loves using the roller stamps.  The text under her dress in the right corner below is another one.  You put stuff on and then it seems you cover most of it up with whatever you do next!  But you can always add something on again as well!

I also used rub ons - see the little white lace at the bottom of the dress - and you can see one at the neck of the dress above  as well.  Below you can see the red where I sprayed the Pomegranate Glimmer Mist.

I used a 9"x12" canvas for my She Art - Christy favors 6"x12 - but Michaels didn't carry that size - you can really use any size you want and just adjust your 'She'!  You don't even have to use a canvas - you can create on a journal page or just card stock.

 I'm really thrilled with my first attempt at such a grand mixed media project!  I highly recommend any of Christy's workshops!

I hope you can stop by tomorrow -  I will be posting Day 1 of the Waltzingmouse August Release Sneak Peeks!   You won't want to miss it!

Stamps:  Text and Stars roller stamps - SU, Sentiment words - Dylusions The Right Words, Fishnet background distressed grid - Cornish Heritage Farms.
Paper:  Paper dolls collage paper - Pink Paislee and Tim Holtz Ideology Tissue Wrap Terminology (as a base on the canvas adhered with Mod Podge), dress - Scarlet Letter/Basic Grey,  text page from a book for head, arms and legs.
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Frayed Burlap - used on sides and edges and over raised circles.
Accessories:  Stencils - Concentric Circles/MFT,  Liquitex light modeling paste, Matt Mod Podge, acrylic paints - School Bus Yellow/Folk Art, Summer Haze/Martha Stewart, skin flesh tone/Ceramcoat,, Burnt Sienna/Galleria (for hair),   Tattered Angel Pomegranate glimmer mist, Sharpie fine tip pen - for outlining and doodling, Glue and Seal/Ranger, crocheted flower from stash, blue brad from stash, Doodle Art Stitches Rubons/Christy Tomlinson, heart rhinestones - Michaels, foam flower - Taylored Expressions, Perfect Pearl Mist - Ranger.

Three for the Dirty Dare

Saturday started a full week of Dare to Get Dirty challenges over at Split Coast -  you have to be a member of the Fan Club to see and participate in the challenges so I can't tell you why I made the following cards (!) but I can tell you how I made them!  There will be at least 5 challenges a day all week - so I don't think I'll be doing them all - but here are 3 of the 5 that I've done so far.

For this pretty little 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" Thank You card I used stamps from Waltzingmouse -  the flower, leaves and sentiment are from Camellia and the gingham stamp is from Gingham and Co.  The bloom is popped up on foam dots and I added 2 dew drops

My next card is, oddly enough, a Halloween Card!   I was initially going to make a lovely summer flower - but when I decided to use the Tattered flower die by Tim Holtz I felt I had to make it more grunge - and then chose some cool Halloween papers for the flower and the background.  So here it is!  The sentiment is from the Hocus Pocus set by Waltzingmouse.

And for my last card today -  I have a 5" x 5" wedding card.  I embossed the panel with a Sizzix Clock Works embossing folder and layered a glitter gold die cut clock face using the Tim Holtz Alterations weathered clock die.  The sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms.

 

Hope to see you Monday night at the Waltzingmouse Blog for the Pajama Party event!

Thanks Card
Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Camellia and Gingham & Company
Paper: white - PTI
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Salty Ocean, Picked Raspberry, Peeled Paint
Accessories: foam dots, camellia cut files - Waltzingmouse, dew drops. 

Happy Haunting
Stamps: Hocus Pocus - Waltzingmouse
Paper: rustic white - PTI, DP - Authentique/Enchanted
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: foam tape, rhinestones - Kaiser, tattered flower die - Tim Holtz Alterations 

Forever Begins Now Card
Stamps: Wedding Centers set - Cornish Heritage Farms (retired)
Paper: vintage Cream - PTI, glitter gold - Michaels
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: glue pen, foam dots, weathered clock die - Tim Holtz Alterations, flower brad - Making Memories, clock works embossing folder - Provo Craft

A Cat with a Wish

I made today's card using this week's Cas(e) this Sketch.

I've been dying to use this little cat die that I bought over a year ago - I used it here instead of the bird shown on the sketch sample.  My little kitty is sitting on the windowsill of a small gothic window - and the sentiment is cut with a ribbon banner die from Spellbinders.

Today is the 3rd day of my week vacation - we're going to sleep in a little - (we usually get up at 5:30 am so 8 am is late to us!) then we'll putter around the house a bit.  We have prepaid movie tix to see the Lone Ranger at 12:50 - so that will be the event of the day - we also plan to take a ride on the bike path here in town in the early evening when it's a little cooler!

Stamps:  Birthday Centers - Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper:  White, Vintage Cream, Spring Rain - PTI
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories:  glue pen, foam dots,  sitting cat and small gothic window dies - Poppy Stamps. ribbon banners die - Spellbinders.

Keep Calm and Craft On

I am struggling with the new Mixed Media Color challenges that Mona and Sue are running every other Friday -  I love the idea of using all kinds of paints, sprays and pastes on projects -  but it is not yet coming naturally to me -  I think, when I sit down,  I'm trying to copy examples I have seen - and, of course, when it's not natural, it doesn't come out well!!

After several false starts -  I pushed everything off my work table and started again. The hardest thing for me is to wait for the different mediums to dry - as I usually only have a little time for stamping/crafting between work, church and keeping up the garden!   I need to learn to set aside more small pieces of time so the layers can dry!

For this week - the colors to use were yellow, pink and peach.

So - starting with a piece of colored card stock and adding one element at a time I finally created this mixed media piece.  I used acrylic paint and Walnut Ink spray for my two media elements.

I brushed pink acrylic paint over the peachy card stock, then added the dots using bubble wrap with yellow acrylic paint.  I stamped the grid in the corner with black ink as well as the sentiments.  I die cut the Keep Calm stampings with Labels 20 Nestabilities and sponged it before taking it out of the die.  Then I sprayed the whole thing with Cherry blossom Walnut Ink.

 It's a 6x6 piece - and it sort of speaks to my creative issues in learning a new craft!   I will hang this over my work table to remind myself to keep calm and just let the creative juices flow where they will!!

The Keep Calm stamps are from We are Memory Keepers - the sentiments are from Clearly Sentimental  about Art by MFT.

I think with each project, this Mixed Media craft will come easier to me - and until I find 'my' style - I will just KEEP CALM AND CRAFT ON!

I'm also entering this in the Blogger's Challenge - to create your own background!

Stamps:  Keep Calm - Clear Stamps, Clearly Sentimental Art - MFT, Distressed Grid - Cornish Heritage Farms.
Paper:  Summer Sunrise - PTI, DP Sidewalks 8x8 pad October Afternoon.
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Wild Honey
Accessories: Acrylic Paints - Hydrangea Pink/Ceramacoat, Jonquil - Martha Stewart.  Cherry Blossom Walnut Ink - Tsukineko, bubble wrap, Labels 20 Nestability.

Inspired by Curiosity

Stef showed us the webstore Curiosity Shoppe for The Inspiration Challenge on Split Coast this week. I was so inspired that I made three cards! My first inspiration was this pretty apron with the tan silhouettes of mushrooms. I really liked the colors on this.And here is the card I made.
I stamped the mushrooms with bleach instead of ink (moisten a paper towel on a plastic dish with bleach to use as an inkpad - be sure to wash off your stamp immediately after stamping) I stitched around the distressed edges and added a ribbon. This fun sentiment is from Rosie's Road Show - a new stamp company to me - they are very similar to the Amuse style of stamp.

Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms: Forest Friendzy, Sentiment: Rosie's Roadshow
Paper: Ripe Avocado: PTI, Blue Bayou: SU
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Ripe Avodado: PTI
Accessories: Bleach, Janome Sewing Machine, Distresser: Heidi Swapp

My second inspiration came from this clean and simple journal cover. This is the no layer card I created
I stamped the scrolly foliage and sentiment (both by Papertree Ink) directly on the card. Clean and Simple!

Stamps: With Sympathy, Fresh Alphabet: PTI
Paper: White: PTI
Ink: Wild Wasabi: SU, Memento Tuxedo Black

And my third inspiration was this cute little wallet with the shamrocks.I made this card with Waltzingmouse Stamp sets Irish Blessings (the sentiment), Celtic Heritage (the shamrocks) and Half Baked (the heart)

I used the script cuttlebug folder on the brown panel and the canvas background stamp by Stampin Up on the base card to mimic the canvas material of the wallet. I used a heart instead of a ladybug.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!! We're off today to take my son's fiance, April, out to dinner for her birthday!

Stamps: Irish Blessings, Celtic Heritage, Half Baked: Waltzingmouse Stamps, Canvas BG: SU
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Chocolate Chip: SU
Ink: Handsome Hunter, So Saffron: SU, Memento Tuxedo Black, Pure Poppy: PTI
Accessories: dark chocolate twill: PTI, circle punch, distresser: Heidi Swapp, Cuttlebug Script folder, sponge, foam dimensionals

A Knight at the Castle

Aren't these castles just the cutest things??? You can find Claire Brennan's tutorial for them here. They are about 12" in height including the flag pole!

I made this one using the fun Basic Grey Lime Rickey/Liquid Candy designer paper for the castle panels. The base is a green Bazzill card stock. The knight is from Lizzie Anne Designs and the trees and sentiment are from two different Cornish Heritage Farms sets - Making the Grade and Forest Friendzy. I adhered a tree on each side of the castle as well as a hedgehog or mushroom.

These are all the stampings I used on the castle and the card below.

Here is a card I made to go along with the castle - using the same stamps. I used the Forest Branches Cuttlebug folder on the back panel and a Labels Four Nestability to cut the piece of designer paper. All the images are colored with Copics. I used the small oval Stampin Up punch for the sentiment on the castle. For the card sentiment I juse used the corner rounder on one end and cut out a triangle on the other end. Everything is popped up on foam dimensionals.

I made this second castle a little more sedate. I thought it would be a fun Welcome to your New Home gift with some treats tucked inside. The sentiment is from Amuse and says "May your house always be too small to hold all your friends." Irish Proverb

This designer paper is Basic Grey Porcelain/bellamy. The base of the castle is Certainly Celery by Stampin Up. The chipboard trees are from Maya Road.

On this castle I used the Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug folder on the roof piece and inked it with white chalk ink as suggested by Claire in her tutorial. The flag is just a strip of designer paper curled and glued around a toothpick with a triangle cut out of the end.

And here is the coordinating card I made for this castle.
The uses for this cute castle are limitless - wouldn't it be fun in pink and purples with a princess stamp for a little girls b'day? And they aren't as hard to make as they look - Claire goes through each step with pictures and written descriptions. I made one up with computer paper first just to be sure I understood each step - that way I didn't waste good card stock in the learning process!

Thought you might like to see a few pics of our vacation: Here is a side view of my SIL's cottage in the woods from the driveway.

and here is the front view - we can see a little bit of Merry Meeting Lake through the trees - which is behind me as I'm taking this pic - the cottage is across the street from the lake but we have a right-of-way where we can access it. Here is Kent on the lake - and you can see the front of my kayak - we were out for two hours on this day - and just after we got back and up to the cottage we had a downpour! Rain can come quickly when you are in between the mountains here.And here's me! The water was pretty calm going down but on our way back we were heading into the wind - and we really had to paddle!

This is one of our cats, Boo, sitting on the favorite pet sofa by the picture window - watching Kent as he makes his way to the door!

Thanks for coming by today!

My Buddy

Quick note: I'm so excited! just found out I got honorable mention for my Papertrey Star Box seen in the post below - check it out on Nichole's blog!!!

Ok, back to earth now ----- This is a two-fer card today - it covers two challenges - the Split Coast CAS (Clean and Simple) challenge - and the Doubledog Dare Challenge I do with some SCS friends (see my side bar for the team names!)

For the CAS challenge we had a sketch to follow . I made my front panel larger than the sketch but used the same number of layers. I stamped my Cornish Heritage Farms toy soldier right on the Cosmo Cricket designer paper. I stamped the sentiment from The Greeting Farm (it's on sale check it out!) on a piece of silver card stock and punched it with the Stampin Up Key Tag punch - looks just like a dog tag doesn't it!! The chain is from Michaels.

Anne (jdmommy) issued the Doubledog Dare challenge this week to make a kids card. I know my son always loved to play 'Army' when he was little - and when he grew up he signed up to serve! (thanks Josh!) I think this would be a fun birthday card for a young soldier! You are welcome to join in on the DDC challenges - just use the keyword DDC when you upload your card on Splite Coast - Beverly even created a Doubledog Dare challenge thread in the forums for us. You can see all the DDC cards here.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Stamps: soldier: Cornish Heritage Farms, My Buddy: Pup Star - the Greeting Farm
Paper: Aqua Mist: PTI, Tangerine Tango: SU, DP Cosmo cricket Lil Man: Mischievious Max, Silver card stock: Canford Card
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Ripe avocado: PTI
Accessories: key tag punch: SU, edge distresser: Heidi Swapp, Crop a Dile, Silver eyelet, chain: Tandy Leather - Michaels, foam dimensionals.

Cute as a Dinosaur

Today's CAS (clean and simple) challenge on Split Coast was an inspiration challenge and Jen had us browse through the JC Penny Kids Bedding web site.

My card was inspired by this kids dinosaur bedding set. Of course I had to use the Basic Grey Arcaic/Dino designer paper on this. The cute cut out dino and fun sentiment are from the Cornish Heritage Farm set called Little Boy. Both are popped up on foam dimensionals.

The scrolly edge was punched with an EK Success punch.

I appreciate your coming by today!

Stamps: Little Boy - Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Always Artichoke: SU, DP Basic Grey Archaic/Dino
Ink: memento tuxedo black
Accessories: Copics: YG03, E13, Y38, scrolly edge punch: EK success, word window punch: SU, foam dimensionals

Hey Dude! Inspired ATC's

As I was looking through the Frenchbull Website for the Inspiration Challenge on Split Coast - I found these Kids Mini Notebooks and knew that my Doodle Factory Stamps would be perfect for this.I made 4 ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) for this challenge. Starting with a 2.5 x 3.5 white panel, I added the designer papers, stamped Yapples, Zot, Skoober, and Mimo on colored card stock - colored them a little with Copics and attached them with foam dimensionals.The sentiments are from Cornish Heritage Farms Little Guy set. I used the Stampin Up large oval punch. I sponged the edges of the sentiment and the cards with So Saffron Ink, punched the corners and added little gold stickers.


Thanks for stopping by today!

Stamps: Doodle Factory Creatures: Starving Artists, Cornish Heritage Farms: Little Guy
Paper: Artist Trading Cards: Hampton Arts, Basic Black: SU, New Leaf, Spring Rain, Berry Sorget, Summer Sunrise: PTI, DP Urban Prairie Basic Grey Paper pad
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, So Saffron: SU
Accessories: gold rhinestone stickers, foam dimensionals, corner punch, oval punch: SU, copics

A Clean Dump Truck

Today's CAS (clean and simple) challenge on Split Coast was to choose something from the Robeeze catalogue for inspiration. Here are the boys slippers that caught my eye because I had a similar dump truck stamp! Aren't they cute?!I made two narrow cards (2.5 x 5) to replicate the 'pair' of slippers. I debated using the ribbon on a boys card but figured it was a bright enough orange to be masculine and I thought the black thread through the middle sort of looked like a highway dividing line?!? I sponged the edges of the cards and the image panels with Creamy Caramel ink. The truck is Inkadinkado and the sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms (Little Boy/Little Guy). On the inside I stamped this cute sentiment by Inkadinkado. I love these little kid quotes!


Thanks for dropping by today!

Stamps: Truck: Inkadinkado, Sentiment: Cornish Heritage Farms- Little Boy
Paper: Creamy Caramel: SU, white: PTI
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Creamy Caramel: SU
Accessories: orange grosgrain ribbon: Michaels, sponge, copics, Prismacolor markers, key tag punch: SU, corner rounder

Lesson 3: God the Protector

We are at Lesson #3 of Patter's His Holy Name Challenges - Patter gives us a different Biblical attribute of God every other Sunday and we are to find a Bible passage that illustrates the attribute for us.

This week the attribute was "Protector" and I was inspired by Psalm 5:11. I made a recessed frame for my verse using the instructions for the Try A New Techniqe on Split Coast this week. I don't know if you can tell from the picture -but the verse is recessed about 1/4" behind the page.

First I stamped the Trees Backgrounder stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms on my 6x6 panel - then I made a 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" cut into my page and made a recessed frame as per the instructions in the forum. I framed the outside with chocolate chip card stock strips that I had embossed with the Distressed Stripes cuttlebug folder before cutting. I used trees on my page today as I thought they illustrated well the words 'take refuge' and 'spread your protection' from this Psalm. Many animals seek protection and refuge in the trees - as we seek the same in God.

You can see Patter's Holy Name Challenge thread here. I used Prima Artful Leaves behind my titles as well as ferns and oak leaves punched with Martha Stewart punches.

And here is my page hanging on the wonderful wooden stand that DH made for me!

You can join the His Holy Name Challenge at any time - if this is something that speaks to you - please come along with us! (see my side bar for a link to Patter's blog)

Thank you for coming by today!

Stamps: Trees Backgrounder: Cornish Heritage Farms, Snap Stamps: Karen Foster
Paper: appricot appeal, chocolate chip, certainly celery, soft sky: SU
Ink: Landscape: Palette, Dark Chocolate: PTI, choc Chip: SU
Accessories: sponte, fern punch, oak leaf punch & butterfly punch: Martha Stewart, oval punch & Word punch: SU, computer generated verse, Avery address label, distressed stripes Cuttlebug folder, Prima Artful Leaves, Adhesive Gems: K&Co