Puffin Sympathy

Hello friends -  It's good to be back stamping -  many of you know from my Face Book Page- that my dear sister, Marcia,  passed away on April 26th, suddenly and unexpectedly after a fall.  She was just 66 (her birthday was the day before she passed) and in good health - so it was quite a shock.    I want to thank you for all of your kind thoughts and prayers during this difficult time for me.  I received many beautiful sympathy cards from you and it has meant so much.  
I have had a few posts here on the blog but they were all pre-posts - done before I lost Marcia.  For the past two weeks I just haven't had the concentration or inspiration to create - but today I was finally able to make a card -  and oddly enough - it became a sympathy card!

I made the card for the Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers where we were to choose a color palette from a Pinterest page.  I was inspired by this Puffin panel.

Three shades of gray, a green and a peachy/pink.  I used stamps from Spring Woods from PTI with the coordinating Dies.  The panels are cut with Wonky Stitches dies from Avery Elle.  
(I won a $50 gift certificate from Ellen Hutson from the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and the Wonky dies are one of the things I purchased!)

This photo of my sister was taken at Easter this year -  who would have thought she would be gone a few weeks later.   Love you Marcia - and I'll miss you forever!

Stamps: Spring Woods - PTI
Paper: white, soft stone - PTI
Ink: Sweet Blush, Smokey Shadow, Soft Stone, Simply Chartreuse - PTI
Accessories: Dies - Spring Woods/PTI, Wonky Stitches/Avery Elle, foam dots, Lucky Blend Sequins - Avery Elle, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Fusion Card Challenge - May 12 - Port O'Call Polaroid

We're getting close to Memorial Day here in the USA so today's Fusion Card Challenge photo may inspire you in that direction!

I was inspired by the colors and the nautical theme in the photo this week.  I adhered two strips of different Washi tape along the bottom.  The rope frame, anchor and ships wheel are all layered with foam dots.

The sweet silver stars and blue sequins are from a package called Nautical Sparkle from Neat and Tangled.

 So please come and join us over at the Fusion Card Challenge - be inspired by the photo or the sketch - or do a FUSION and combine the two!   You'll find the challenge details and some pretty awesome inspiration from the Design Team here! 

Stamps:  Ocean Bound - Waltzingmouse
Paper:  White, Enchanted Evening - PTI
Ink:  True Black, Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy - PTI
Accessories:  Nautical Sparkle - Lucy Cards, Dies - Ocean Bound/Ship - Waltzingmouse, washi tape, Foam dots.

A Vintage Journey - May Challenge - Sew Special

The May challenge is up at A Vintage Journey.  Jenny is our hostess this month and this is her challenge: Sew Special  "Add fabric to your entry in some way, be it felt, burlap, ribbon or cloth and if you're really being brave maybe include a touch of real or faux stitching!  We are looking forward to seeing what ideas you have to incorporate this sew special theme in your vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journaling; industrial or steampunk projects."  

 I decided to make my project in an actual sewing theme.  I made a Needle Book.

I used ribbon, lace, felt and I hand sewed a stitch to adhere the button! 

I die cut the inside page piece of Eileen Hull's Sizzix Passport Die (the section on the left of the die), once out of  the new Sizzix Black Paper Leather and once out of tan felt for the inside page.

I embossed the Paper Leather piece with Tim's Springtime Background embossing folder.  Embossing the front and the back of the cover.  Then I sponged over the embossing to highlight it with Ranger Distress Paint in Picket Fence and Cracked Pistachio. I took a photo with one side not sponged yet so you could see how the embossing looks before I added the paint.

To decorate the cover of the Needle Book, I stamped a sentiment from Quilter's Sampler set by PTI onto a Pocket Card that I trimmed down to fit the sentiment.  I sponged the edges with Ranger Distress Ground Espresso.  I cut a piece of Lace Trimmings to fit along the top of the cover and sponged that in Ground Espresso as well.  I wanted to make a tab of some sort to close my Needle Book and thought this Half and Half die from PTI would work well (I've hardly used it until now!).  I cut it out of the Paper Leather and left it plain to contrast with the cover.  I found a sweet little dragonfly button in my button box that I thought would look perfect on the tab.

 I found this little scissors charm in my stash and embossed it using Wendy Vecchi Archival Tree Branch Ink and Watering Can Embossing Powder.

Here's a close up of the scissors on the Needle Book.  I tied a piece of wrinkled seam tape through the loop on the scissors and glued it to the Pocket Card.  I added a strip of Sketch Book Tissue Tape behind the Pocket Card.

I trimmed down the length of the tab, measuring how much I wanted to fold up onto the front -  and stapled the straight edge onto the back of the Needle Book to be sure it would be held on nice and strong.  I stamped TO: and FROM: on a Vial Label and stuck it onto the tab.

I put sticky backed Velcro on the tab and Needle Book to hold it closed. 

Here's how the tab looks closed.  I stitched the button onto the Paper Leather to hold it in place securely through openings and closing of the Needle Book!

 And finally -  here is the felt piece bound inside the cover with a piece of wrinkled seam tape tied in a bow along the outside seam - holding some safety pins, a threaded needle and some hemming pins with lots of space for more items!  The felt nicely hides the staples I used on the back of the tab too!

This is the first time I've used the new Sizzix Paper Leather - I purchased a sample back of black, white and tan to try it out - and it really worked well for this project.  It makes my little Needle Book feel soft and supple - it would have been quite stiff with plain cardstock.  And it took the embossing quite nicely! The book measures 4 3/4" x 3 1/4"

So - what inspires you with our Sew Special theme this month??  I can't wait to see what you link up over at the A Vintage Journey blog.  You also must check out what the rest of the Creative Guides have 'sewn up' for your inspiration as well!

I'm also linking my project to:
Anything But Cute - Celebrate Your Style

Stamps:  Quilter's sampler - Papertrey Ink, To and From: from Season of Love - Tags - Waltzingmouse.
Paper:  Black Paper Leather Sheet - Sizzix
Ink:  Ranger Distress Ground Espresso, Wendy Vecchi Archival Tree Branch, True Black - PTI
Accessories:  Springtime Background and Borders Embossing Folder - Tim Holtz/Sizzix, tan felt - Joann, Ranger Distress Paint Picket Fence and Cracked Pistachio, Idea-ology Pocket Cards, Trimmings-Lace, Sketchbook Tissue Tape, Vial Labels,  Small Attacher - Ranger, Book/Passport Die - Eileen Hull/Sizzix, Half and Half Die - PTI, scissors charm - Karen Foster, Velcro - Scotch,  Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, heat tool, sponge, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy shop.

Anything but Cute - First Anniversary - Celebrate Your Style - Guest Designer!

I was surprised,  honored and scared thrilled when Pamellia e-mailed me and informed me that I had been voted one of their favourite artists of the year and asked if I would like to be a Guest Designer for the Anything But Cute First Anniversary challenge - Celebrate Your Style.

  I am rather new to Mixed Media and tend to be clean and simple in my designs.  I absolutely LOVE books - reading them, holding them, shopping in book stores for them and making them! So I created a little 4" x 5" x 1 1/2" book for my project today.

 It all started with Eileen Hull's Passport Die from Sizzix.  I cut it out of Little Sizzles Black Matboard.  Then I die cut the same pieces (covers and binding edge) out of Natural Sticky Backed Canvas and adhered the canvas to the front of the black pieces.

 Next I stenciled the covers with two Stencil Girl Stencils using WV Black Embossing paste.  I used Talaya, Goddess of Rain stencil on the front cover.

and Eve, A Modern Woman stencil on the back cover

The next two steps I forgot to take photos of.  After the embossing paste dried, I painted over the covers with Black Acrylic Paint.  

(I learned this black cover technique (without the crackle) in a Wonderlust Class led by Kate Crane - see that book here)  

When that dried I covered both covers with Deco Art One Step Crackle and they ended up like this.

I just LOVE the subtleness and texture of the embossed stenciling when it's all black.

I cleaned the stencils by putting them on a piece of computer paper and wiping off the embossing paste with a baby wipe -  and look what I ended up with!   I've saved this to perhaps use on a journaling project some day!

I wanted the book binding piece to be a different color than the covers so I painted it with Nutmeg Folk Art Antiquing Medium.  When that dried I added a coat of the DecoArt One Step Crackle.

Now onto the pages for my little book.

I die cut the pages out of white cardstock using the same Passport Die and sprayed them with a variety of Ranger Distress Spray Stains - mixing Salty Ocean, Tea Dye, Carved Pumpkin and Wilted Violet.  These 3 pages fold in the middle (see the holes for threading them into the book in the centers?) and create 6 pages or 12 surfaces - as I sprayed them on both sides. You could add at least twice this amount of pages to the book if you wanted.

Then I gathered several stamp sets from a variety of designers and started stamping.  Here's how they looked before I bound them. 

I later added Small Talk stickers to many of them - you'll see them in photos below.

On these two pages I used stamps Rusty Cog, Scale, and Vintage Clock from Finnabair/Prima, Let the adventure Begin and circle stamps from Eclecticia3 Everything Art, She believed she could from Scribbly Women/Dina Wakley, Impression Obsession/Birds on Trees and Handwritten Thoughts -Tim Holtz/SA.

Don't forget to Fly and Flowers Collect Moments mug are Finnabair/Prima, Use Your Wings from Dina Wakely Scribbly Insects,  blocked sentiment from Dyan Reaveley The Right Words,  Stay Kind from Handwritten Quotes by Dina Wakley, lace and bodice stamp from Eclectica3 Everything Art CCA01/Paperartsy

Butterfly and oval shapes from Eclectica3 Everything Art CCA02 from Paperartsy, sentiment "Adopt the pace of nature - her secret is patience." Emerson, from One with Nature/Simon Says Stamp, Industrial Lamps from Indigo Blu, You radiate beauty from Face in the Crowd/Dina Wakley.

Woman and You Are Enough from Face in the Crowd/Dina Wakley,  Stay Strong from Handwritten Quotes/Dina Wakley, lace from Eclectica3 Everything Art CCA01/Paperartsy

I wanted to be able to tie my little book shut - so I added a piece of Idea-ology Trimmimgs Lace. First I glued the edge of a spray-stained piece of cardstock (I used on the inside of the covers)  onto the edge of the binding piece.  Then I glued the lace over the liner and adhered the cover over that (being sure I had the designs right side up as I added each cover!).

A little tricky to explain but hopefully you get the idea from the photos.  Here's one cover together with the lace going over the binding.

And repeated the process with the other cover.

I used clothespins to hold the edges while the glue dried.

Then I tied each signature into the book using Jute String in the colors of the stains I used on my pages. 

 The Passport Die instructions show to adhere the overlapping edge of the binding over the cover - but I didn't want to cover any of my stencil - so I adhered it under my cover pieces.

I tied each piece of Jute String in a double knot and added my initials using Idea-ology Type Charms.

Here are photos of the pages in the book - where you will see  I added some Small Talk Stickers to some of the pages.   

My overall theme in images and sentiments is affirmation and being positive, strong women as we go through life.  The sentiment across the butterfly stamp says "be where you want to be"

Here, you can also see the result of adhering the edge of the binding piece inside the cover - it covered some of my stamping (I should have stamped on it after putting it all together!) - I added a little strip of spray-stained cardstock on top of the edge so it blended in with the inside cover a little better!

Small Talk sticker - today is full of possibilities.  

I drew around each sticker with a black Stabilo pencil and then rubbed over it with a wet finger to smudge.

Small Talk sticker - everything has beauty

Small Talk stickers - we are fearless, independent and original.

Small Talk Stickers - leave a little sparkle wherever you go.

Small Talk Stickers - be your beautiful self,  fall in love with as many things as possible.  I added the sentiment "Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air."- Emerson from One with Nature/Simon Says Stamp on the last page.

 So I hope you have enjoyed seeing my little Mixed Media Book.  

Please join us in the Anything But Cute special First Anniversary challenge and Celebrate YOUR style!  You'll find the challenge, all the details and some very inspiring projects from the Design team here.

And I wish to express again - my appreciation and thanks for being invited to be one of the Guest DT's for this auspicious occasion!!  Thank you Pamellia and the rest of the team!!


I'm also linking my project to the following challenges:
STAMPlorations - Stencil Sunday

Country View Challenges - Use a Stencil

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Stencils

 

Stamps:  Handwritten Thoughts - Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous, Industrial Lamps - Indigo Blu, One with Nature - Simon Says Stamp, The Right Words - Dyan Reaveley/Dylusions, Birds on Trees - Impression Obsession, Don't Forget to Fly, Collect Moments mug, clock face, Rusty Cog, scale face - Finnabair/Prima,  Handwritten Quotes, Scribbly Women, Face in the Crowd, Scribbly Insects - Dina Wakley, Eclectica3 Everything Art EEA01 and EEAO2 - PaperArtsy.

Paper:  white - PTI, Little Sizzles Black Matboard - Sizzix, Sticky Back Canvas - Ranger.

Ink:  Ranger Distress Ground Espresso (sponged over covers and pages)  and Black Soot (sponged over binding)

Accessories:  Passport Die - Eileen  Hull/Sizzix, Wendy Vecchi Black Embossing Paste, palette knife, One Step Crackle - DecoArt, Nutmeg Folk Art Antiquing Medium, Large eye embossing needle, Idea-ology Trimmings Lace, Jute String, Type Charms, Small Talk Stickers, Ranger Distress Spray Stains Salty Ocean, Tea Dye, Carved Pumpkin, Wilted Violet, Zutter corner rounder, Talaya and Eve Stencils - Stencil Girl,