Mr & Mrs

Hi everyone - it's been a while since I posted!  Everything's good - I've just been really busy getting ready for a couple of DT postings, helping with our church lobster roll sale this week, going to church for Ash Wednesday - and, of course, working full time!    NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN THE DAY!!

I do have a little bag to share that a co-worker asked me to make for a friend who had recently married.  I used my favorite little canvas bag from Pouch Mart, hand sewing a little ribbon along the top and adding a stamped tag tied with wrinkled seam tape and a little heart key charm.

 

The stamps are Love and Marriage from PTI as well as the Tag.  I attached the tag to the bag with a little pearl stick pin.

 

 She wanted to put a gift card inside - so I made a little card to hold it using the new Gift Card it Dies from Waltzingmouse.

Did you know the Waltzingmouse Pajama Party is coming on March 10th?  That's part of what I've been working on -  check out all the challenges here - so you'll be ready to link your projects on the 10th.

And - I'll be posting an adorable new spring template from Creations by AR on Tuesday, March 11th so I hope you'll check that out as well!

Stamps:  Love & Marriage - PTI

Paper:  Vintage Cream - PTI

Ink: Ranger Distress Tumbled Glass, Festive Berries

Accessories:  canvas bag - Pouchmart.com, foam dots, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, Gift Card It Dies - Waltzingmouse, Corner Rounder - Zutter, key charm - Mark's Finest Papers, Tag Sale #3 die - PTI.

Fusion Card Challenge - February 27th

I have two posts today -  if you are looking for my Waltzingmouse Day 3 Sneak Peek - please scroll down to the next post!
It's Thursday and time once again for a Fusion Card Challenge -  It's exciting to see how many of you find the challenges inspiring and link up your projects over at the challenge blog!  Here's today's challenge.

For my project today, I took my inspiration from the photo -  the bag, the linens, the colors and the teacups!

This canvas bag  from Pouch Mart is 5" x 6" -  the perfect size for giving small gifts or treats.  I stamped this wonderful Eleanor Roosevelt quote and the teacup directly onto the bag with Archival Jet Black Ink.  The stamps are from two Waltzingmouse sets - Afternoon Tea and Afternoon Tea Sentiments.  I colored the teacup with Gelatos mixed with water using a small paint brush. (I put a cardstock panel inside the bag just in case the colors bled through.)  I hand sewed the lace and buttons onto the bag.  I stamped the tea tag, cut it out, stapled a piece of twine to it and adhered it to the bag with a foam dot - adhering the end of the twine on the teacup with Glue N Seal.  To finish it off, I added gold Tiny Twinkles around the rim and on the sentiment.

Now I just have to fill it with some teabags and biscotti - and I'll be ready with a gift for someone who needs a lift!

So, what inspires you the most this week??  The photo or the sketch??

Winners: Will be chosen by all of our teammates in two weeks! We each will choose one favorite! The winners will be announced at 4am (PST) on 3/13/14!! Please check the linky for the days left to play with us!

Here are links to the Design Team for some great inspiration for you - 

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

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan 

Michelle Williams

Michelle Lupton

Sindhu
Stephanie Severin

I'm linking my bag to the Eclectic Paperies Blog Challenge -  do something with a bag.

I'm also linking to this week's ColourQ 

Stamps:  Afternoon Tea, Afternoon Tea Sentiments - Waltzingmouse

Paper:  Summer Sunrise - PTI

Ink:  Archival Jet Black

Accessories:  Glue N Seal - Ranger, lace- Ellen Hutson, Gold and Snow Cone Gelatos - Faber Castel, stapler, foam tape, 5"x6" canvas bag - Pouch Mart.com 

Love in a Bag

I've got two more Valentine's to share with you today (still building up my stash for the Valentine Sale at my church).  One's a treat bag and one is a card.

I made my card using the sketch for a new challenge I just found -  Stamplorations -  they have bi-weekly sketch challenges and a monthly challenge.

I used two different tags and a love word die from PTI.  The white tag is embossed with the Hugs and Kisses Coverup from MFT.  Here is the challenge sketch.

My next project is a Valentine Treat bag

I used a pretty 4"x5" organza bag from Pouch Mart.  The doily was made using an Eyelet Circle Nestability.  I stamped and cut out the heart from My Heart by WMS.  The sentiment is from Sweethearts by WMS stamped on a stitched flag die from Lil' Inker Designs.

I'm entering my little treat bag in two challenges:

Waltzingmouse Fanatics - to use Fabric (I used an organza bag)

Curtain Call - Love Letter Inspiration photo (inspired by the doily and heart packaging)

Love Card

Paper:  White, Pure Poppy, True Black - PTI

Accessories:  Tag Sale #8, Tag Sale #5 dies, Wonderful Words - Love die - PTI,  Hugs and Kisses Cover up die - MFT, foam dots, Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye, Herringbone Embossing Folder - Provo Craft, glue pen.

Sweets for My Sweet Bag

Stamps:  heart from My Heart, Sweets for my Sweet from Sweethearts - Waltzingmouse

Ink:  Ranger Distress Barn Door, Archival Jet Black

Paper:  white, Pure Poppy - PTI

Accessories:  bag - Pouch Mart, Eyelet Circles Nestability - Spellbinders, Stitched Sentiment flag die - Lil' Inker Designs, foam dots, rhinestones - Michaels.

PTI Dec Blog Hop - Tied Up with String

Happy day after Christmas everyone - are you out shopping all the sales?? -  I'm back at work for a couple of days and then off for New Year's week - whoo hoo!!

Today I'm participating in the Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop  The challenge is "Tied up With String"

For my project - I decorated a white 6" x 8" mesh net bag from Pouch Mart with a tag and twine for a new home gift.

I used two dies - Tag Sale #5 and the house die from Boards and Beams - embossing the house stamp from Boards and Beams in white on kraft card stock.  I tied the tag onto the bag by simply looping the twine through the holes in the mesh.

That gave me the idea to add a little texture to the plain white net bag by tying twine knots randomly on the front of the bag.

Since the bag is see-through - the lovely gold and silver scented candle I placed inside is shown off quite nicely!

If you'd like to be inspired by all kinds of ways to use string - check out the PTI blog hop here where everyone is linking up their projects!

Stamps:  Boards and Beams - PTI

Paper:  white, Kraft - PTI

Ink:  Versamark, Ranger Distress Frayed Burlap

Accessories:  net bag - Pouch Mart, white embossing powder, heat gun, Dies - Tag Sale #5, Boards and Beams - PTI, foam dots, black/kraft twine - Timeless Twine, Cappuccino Twine - the Twinery

A Waltzingmouse Christmas - Day 4 - Christmas Decorations

Welcome to Day 4 - the final day of A Waltzingmouse Christmas!   Claire's assignment for us today is to create some Christmas Decorations to inspire you using any of our favorite Waltzingmouse stamps!

I took a plain 5"x6" burlap stocking from Pouch Mart and dressed it for Christmas with a simple wide bow tied around the top and die cut stamped holly from Festive Foliage and a tag tucked around the bow - and I just love how it came out!

 I tied on two rusted jingle bells and wrapped a piece of gold cord around the knot of the bow letting the ends hang. The stamps on the tag are from Festive Foliage and Santa's Coming to Town.

 This would look so pretty hanging on a mantel or off a little shelf OR as a small gift packaging!  And when you shake it - it jingles - just like Christmas!    I'm  entering this in the Cas-ology Cue card - Bell challenge.

My next project is a little 4"x4" framed canvas that I got at Joann's.   First I dry brushed the canvas with milk chocolate and grey wolf acrylic paints - just kind of streaky coverage so some of the canvas still showed through.After it dried - I brushed the whole canvas with Matte Mod Podge.

First I adhered the lace along the bottom.  Then I die cut 3 mistletoes from olive felt using Claire's new die.  I die cut the berries from off white felt.  I stamped the felt with the mistletoe stamp from Festive Foliage using Archival coffee ink.  I layered the mistletoe over each other using foam dots, adhered the berries with glue and attached the bow over the stems.

I stamped 'kisses' 3 times on a sentiment strip and added Tiny Twinkles to the dot the 'i's' and also to the berries.  You can barely see it in the pic - but I stamped some pine needles from one of the pine branch stamps from Festive Foliage in green over the 'kisses' sentiment.  I also brushed the edges with acrylic paint.

 Here's a side view so you can see the depth of the little canvas (1/2").  I got the little wooden easel at Joann's.

 Here is the little canvas on my dining room wall

and here it is on my bookcase - a pretty little decoration that you could actually leave up all winter if you wanted!

I can't wait to see what kind of Christmas/Holiday decorations the other DT members made - let's go see, shall we?  here are their links:

Anya Schrier 

 Becca Feeken 

 Edna Morrisedie 

 Iwona Palamountain 

 Jeanne Jachna 

 Jen Cuthbertson 

 Jennifer Holmes 

 Julia Aston - Me!

 Teresa Kline  

Karin Åkesdotter  

Kelly Schirmer 

 Kim Duran 

 Lynn Mercurio 

 Renee Lynch 

 Sandie Dunne 

 Tosha Leyendekker 

 Claire Brennan - owner

Stocking:
Stamps:  Festive Foliage and Santa's Coming to Town - Waltzingmouse
Paper:  Oatmeal - WPlus9, kraft - PTI
Ink:  Memento Cottage Ivy and Rhubarb Stalk
Accessories:  burlap stocking - Pouchmart, rusted bells - from a wreath kit/Michaels, gold cord from stash, scallop edge tag die - older Spellbinders, holly die - Waltzingmouse, ribbon - May Arts

Mistletoe Canvas
Stamps:  Festive Foliage
Paper:  Vintage Cream - PTI
Ink:  Archival Coffee, Memento New Sprout.
Accessories:  olive & cream felt - Joann Fabrics, Tiny Twinkles - Taylored Expressions, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, glue pen, milk chocolate acrylic paint - Americana, Grey Wolf Acrylic paint - Martha Stewart, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, Dienamics Sentiment Strip - MFT, mistletoe die - Waltzingmouse.
 

A Banner Halloween!

Well, actually -  it's a banner FOR Halloween!  

I recently received these cool burlap triangle banners from Pouch Mart to play with (they send me things and I make things with them and post them - pretty cool deal!)

So I took three of the banners and decorated them with triangles of patterned paper layered to black card stock.  I used the same Bloomers ribbon across the top of all three.  I die cut ghosts and bats - adding rhinestone eyes to them

The letters are Black Glitter Thickers.  

I die cut the dangling spider from Memory Box and just put a dab of glue on the banner ties and attached the web piece -  they look so real don't they??!! Yuck!

I tied black and orange wrinkled seam tape around the knots where I tied the banners together.  I let the banner rope ties just hang down for added 'spooky' effect!

I hung this in my dining room window to take the picture since I had hooks there already from some previous drapes and I think I'll leave it there since it looks so spooky cute!

Well, cancel that -  I just sold this at my church fair - and  I miss it hanging on my window already!  Guess I'll have to whip up another one!

Paper:  True Black, white, Patterned paper - Text Style Hocus Pocus - PaperTrey Ink
Accessories:  banners - Pouch Mart.com, brown rose ribbon- Bloomers/Websters Pages,  rhinestones - Kaiser Craft, black glitter letters - Thickers/American Crafts, thick foam dots, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, Scor Tape, dangling spider die - Memory Box, bat and ghost dies - older Sizzix dies.

The Stars are Brightly Shining

I've been creating so many Halloween crafts and cards -  I just had to move onto Christmas with today's creation.

It's a little purple jute gift bag (3  x 5")  from Pouch Mart (it's a lovely deep purple color - but looks kind of navy here for some reason?), decorated simply with die cut stars of brushed silver card stock.  I added a tag with a silver embossed sentiment from Verve hung with a key chain looped through the bag ties.  I die cut the tag with a Half and Half die from PTI - I trimmed off the edges a bit to fit the sentiment.

I'm entering this in the Cas-ual Fridays challenge - tags and bags

Of course- I still have some fun Halloween stuff to post -  that will come in a day or so - but today was a nice break from orange and black!!

Stamps:  Verve - Peace on Earth
Paper:  White - PTI, Brushed Silver - SU
Ink:  Versamark, Archival Jet Black
Accessories:  purple muslin bag - Pouch Mart.com, Star Nestabilities, Silver sticky half pearls - Michaels, foam dots, Glue n Seal - Ranger, key chain - Tandy Leather, Modern Label Punch - SU, Half and Half Die Collection - PTI, silver embossing powder, heat gun.

Thank You to a Sweet Friend

Today I'm sharing a little linen bag I decorated with dog buttons, lace and a pretty tag.

I made this for my stamping/blogging friend Mona to thank her for a kindness.  The linen bag is from Pouch Mart and the little wooden dog buttons are from Craftpon.com Etsy Shop.  Mona has two sweet little Westies so I knew she'd appreciate these buttons! 

I made the tag using a die from PTI that I colored using a stencil and a blue gelato - with water and a paint brush, I brushed directly on the gelato and then painted over the stencil.  I inked the stamps (that Mona just happened to have designed!!) using Ranger Distress markers - inking directly onto the stamps - spritzing with water and stamping on die cuts of the flower, leaves and stamen. I layered the flower pieces with foam dots.

 

I hand sewed the lace to the top of the bag and the buttons to the bottom. 

Kent and I are on vacation this week -  we'll be spending a couple of days in VT visiting his brother and sister-in-law and another day we will have his sister down from NH for a visit.  The weather here is suddenly beautiful summer -  hot sun and cool breeze with a clear blue sky - hope it stays this way!

Before I go -  I just have to share some pics of a hawk that was in my backyard this morning  - sitting on a rock, pretty as you please, and then flying to the top of my bird feeder -  I zoomed in with my camera from my porch across the yard - so the pics are rather blurry -  but he was a giant bird and I had to get a picture of him. 

Hawks attack from the sky and are only on the ground as they eat their kill - so I don't know why he was standing here on the rock - I didn't see any feathers around him (from a kill!) and he didn't appear to be injured - you can see a gray and a black squirrel happily eating birdseed on the ground to the left of him (!) I guess they were too big for him to eat.  Maybe he had just had a kill in the woods behind my house and he was just resting a minute to digest??!!

Then he flew up to the top of the feeders - he's so big he couldn't keep his balance up there - you can see his blurred tail as he tried to balance!  He's looking straight at me!  I don't know yet what kind of hawk he is - he's much bigger than the ones we occasionally  see in our yard.  We have a great bird book and I'll ask Kent to help me compare this pic to the hawks in the book.

Needless to say -  there were NO birds at my feeder until he had been gone for a good 10 minutes!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Stamps: flower, leaves, stampin and sweet friend from Tropical Sensations set, thank you from Apple for You - MFT
Paper: white - PTI, tempting turquoise - SU, watercolor paper pad - Canson
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black 
Accessories: snow cone gelato - Faber Castell, paint brush, water, foam dots, wrinkled seam tape, Petal Pattern Stencil - MFT, Mini Mister - Ranger, Tag Sale die #3 - PTI, flower dies - MFT, linen bag - Pouch Mart.com, Lace - Ellen Hutson, wooden dog buttons - Craftpon.com Etsy Shop.

Mixed Media Baby Boy

I'm so excited to share my mixed media baby boy gift bag with you today!

I made it using the colors for the Mixed Media Color Challenge -  blue, turquoise and a neutral

My hairdresser is having her 2nd child in Sept - and my last appointment with her before she goes on maternity leave is in August.  I wanted to give her a little something for her new baby boy -  she has a 4 year old daughter, Amya, so I know she could use something in boy colors!

I made this cute little 'nest' to put on the bag using blue and brown  felt rick rack and a thin strip of burlap.  I adhered a blue heart with a sequin to the nest.

Here's a pic of how I made the nest - braiding the 3 pieces together.  I adhered the braided piece to a felt circle starting at the center and wrapping it around, gluing here and there as I went.  For my little nest I made the strips 10" long and I cut a 1 " circle for the felt base.

I found instructions for this sweet nest on Melissa Phillips blog here:

For my bag - I used black acrylic paint on the Mini Chicken Wire stencil and black ink for the sentiments.

I lightly sprayed Cornflower Walnut Ink over the whole bag, tag and stork that was stamped on a piece of sticky back canvas.  I attached the tag to the bag with a brad.

I brushed Snow Cone Gellato mixed with water over the Mini Hexagon Stencil for the blue at the bottom of the bag. 

And here are the cute sock booties and bibs that I rolled up and put in this sweet gift bag.

The linen bag measures 6" x 10" -  I think she'll like this -  She'll certainly not receive another gift bag like it!

 I'm also entering this in the Just Us Girls challenge this week - Mixed Media.

Today is the 4th day of our week vacation -  Kent and I are heading off to the Museum of Russian Icons  in Clinton, MA - where they are having a special exhibit of Matryoshka - Russian Nesting dolls - this month. It's been so hot out we are trying to find things to do indoors!

Stamps:  Cornish Heritage Farms - Baby Love
Paper:  Tempting Turquoise - SU
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories:  linen bag - Pouch Mart.com, felt rick rack - Ofray  (Michaels),  burlap - JoAnns, blue felt - Michaels, scallop heart Nestability, mini hexagon and mini chick wire stencils - The Crafters Workshop, Copics B21, Y21, Fabric Fusion Adhesive - Aleene's, tag die - Tag Sale #3 - PTI, Corn Flower Walnut Ink Spray - Tsukineko,  Natural sticky back canvas - Claudine Helmuth's Studio Ranger, black acrylic paint - Ceramcoat, blue sequins from stash.