WOYWW 278

It's been a busy day so one of my first projects is the last to be tidied (ish) up. This week's Make It Monday is Mason Jar Stamping. I cut the stamp out of fun foam and put some Club Stamp Mount It Glue (it stays tacky after it dries like Aleene's Tack It Over and Over which I also use). It's the little blue thing on my Versamark Inkpad. I stuck it on my finger so I could get the ink firmly on the glass over all the glass designs. All I have to do is find the handspun I want (I moved it last year apparently lol) and make the decorations on sticks. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

I accidentally printed too many copies of this bunch of Witch's Fingers Grapes, but photo extras have become my new canvas. I used the new Tim Holtz Alphanumerics to cut out the word "grapes" and the Papertrey Ink's embroidery border die to practice some cross stitching (aka analog pixelating). It will probably come as no surprise that my favorite line from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (movie) is when one of the grandparents says "I like grapes."

On the home front, (touch wood), no more problems with my hand. And a dream of 40 years is about to come true. I will be the proud owner of a Walking or Great Wheel next week. Now I just have to find a place to put it and brace myself to have people over. I'm not called Auntie Social for nothing lol.

For more crafty sight-seeing, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander.

Update: A walking wheel is a spinster thing : D. It's the sort of wheel that has a spindle (like Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on). The wheel is turned with a hand (unlike flyer wheels where you sit and treadle the wheel while you are sitting). And by spinster, I mean a woman who spins (yarn or thread, not a stationary bicycle). There are a lot of these around, but many of them are missing parts, or the wheel is warped. This is a video I found on YouTube, she's really skilled : ).

updated again I've been a spinster since 1978, I have an Ashford Traditional wheel, a Lendrum and a Haldane, all flyer wheels, a charka and a varying quantity of spindles. But this will be my first Great Wheel : D.

Sizzix challenge

My take on the Sizzix Challenge.

 After embossing cardstock with the Sizzix Stripes Texture Fade Embossing Folder, I inked the raised stripes with Mown Lawn Distress Ink, and cut off some of the stripes to use as stems. I sprayed some tissue paper with Dylusions Crushed Grapes Ink Spray, crumpled it together and taped it to the stem with Tim Holtz Washi Tape to make the flowers, tying them together with a piece of cotton twine. The background is embossed with Tim Holtz Alterations Book Cover #2 Embossing Folder. The reflected window is picked up with the top of the Sunshine Window die. I used a few sequins to pick up the baby's breath element.

The inspiration.

Sizzix Products Used:
Stripes embossing folder from the Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folders 2PK - Harlequin & Stripes Set.
Sunshine Window die (curved top of the die-cut)
Tim Holtz Alterations Book Cover #2 Embossing Folder.

Other Materials: 

Tissue paper sprayed with Dylusions Crushed Grapes ink spray

Tim Holtz Washi Tape

Nicole's Spangles 10 mm White Iris sequins 
Tombow Multi Glue 
Diamond Stickles 
Mowed Lawn Distress Ink

 

Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. My inspiration is the 1983 National Coffee Association Coffee Achiever commercial. The slogan was "Coffee gives you the Serenity to Dream it, and the Vitality to do it!. Starring a who's who of 1983 celebrities including David Bowie and Cicely Tyson.

Fine pigment brown marker used to draw the frame and write the sentiment. The images are all from Crafty Secrets Coffee & Tea stamp set, stamped with Papertrey Ink's Dark Chocolate. The frame is stamped with Pure Poppy and is from Stampology.

The happy bean is stamped on the inside.

Flutterby

Simon Says Anything Goes. It's a spinner card with a butterfly made of three layers of tissue paper cut with the butterfly die from Pretty Peonies, stamped with the matching image in Soft Stone.

I cut a small piece of plastic packaging, folded it in half and matched it up with the butterfly layers. Then poked a whole and inserted a brad.

Then I put the brad through a paper layer of the top of the spinner element. I used the cut out of the spinner line to trace the space and wrote "flutter" in pencil several times. Then traced over it with a fine line pigment marker, then erased the pencil lines. I cut the spinner element twice and glued all the parts together. The top mat is attached with a single layer of foam tape.

Finishing Touch

Simon Says Finishing Touch. I used Simply Chartreuse cardstock (Papertrey Ink), some gold acrylic craft paint. Applied Wild Honey Distress Stain through Tim Holtz'  Dot Fade Stencil. The stamps are from Club Scrap's Solstice kit.

This is an interactive piece for someone going through chemo. The iron filings are in an Impression Obsession Shake It Square Pouch. It makes the lightest weight iron filing card I've made so far. Place the pouch face down, add some iron filings, remove the adhesive cover, add a solid line of glossy accents. Put a light weight on the back cover and wait until it has dried (I learned this the hard way). If you have spilled any iron filings wrap a magnet in a coffee filter and then pick up all the iron filings. Open the iron filings container hold the coffee filter over it, and remove the magnet. The iron filings drop effortlessly into the container. Much much easier then trying to remove the iron filings from the magnet. Trust me. I learned this the hard way too.

I used 2.5" square die from Spellbinders to cut the opening for the pouch. It's a snug fit, but can be opened a little more if desired with the edge of a scissor. Run a line of Glossy Accents around the edge of the Shake-It Pouch and put the cover over it, running a finger around the edge of the opening.

I stamped the Solstice image again on a scrap of cardstock and used glossy accents to attach it to the top of a very strong magnet (the weak magnets barely move the iron filings. After it dries I cut off the excess cardstock. Be prepared for your scissors to stick to the magnet while you cut lol.

Butterflies in the Sky . . .

I gave myself the Reading Rainbow theme song earworm. Make It Monday #181: Paper Casting. I started with one of the reading circle stamps and the open book stamps. Then I put down one layer of toilet paper and a circle of butterfly sequins around the circle stamp. Then another 7 layers of toilet paper. After it was dry I lightly stamped the image.

Simon Says Anything Goes : ).

Double Shaker Card

This shaker card has two separate windows. One for the acetate sheet stamped with buildings from City Scene. The second window has sequins. The windows are made with the rectangle dies for the Make It Market kit: Shakers & Sprinkles. The monster is embossed with Zing!Opaque White Embossing Powder. The patterned paper is from DCWV Indian Summer paper pad. The cardstock is Vintage Cream. The patterned paper frame is inlaid to the card front.

Simon Says Anything Goes : ).

Paper Casting

Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #181: Paper Casting. I inked the flower from Rosie Posie with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink before I did the paper casting. When it had dried, I painted the flower center, the background and the foliage. It's stitched to two sheets of tissue paper with hemp jewelry twine. The background is Melon Berry patterned paper.

True Black cardstock makes the frame. The support is cut with Tim Holtz' Small Easel Die. Simon Says Anything Goes : ).

Papertrey Ink September 2014 Blog Hop

It's Papertrey Ink's September 2014 blog hop.

This month's inspiration.

I chose Smokey Shadow, Autumn Rose and Ripe Avocado as my colors.

And this sketch. I stamped the Smokey Shadow mat with the knit background stamp from Waltzingmouse's Faux Fun and Versamark Ink. The Buttons are cut with Buttoned Up #1 with Autumn Rose cardstock and embossed with clear embossing powder and tied with handspun silk embroidery thread. A little piece of foam tape pops up one of them.The leaves are from Make It Market Co. Beautiful Brushstrokes using Ripe Avocado cardstock and stamped with Versamark. The sentiment is from Say It With Style and painted in with a little Autumn Rose ink mixed with a little water. The cardbase and banner are Stamper's Select White.

Iron Filings

Also known as Eileen Fahleens since Princess Judy Palmer told me about them back in WOYWW Week 268. The easiest method I've found so far is to use these Shake It Pouches by Impression Obsession. And if you have the square set from Spellbinders, one of them fits it almost exactly (varies with the paper/cardstock. This is thicker cardsotck, so I opened it a smidge with the edge of a scissor. The magnet will stick to even a tiny group of iron filings. A really strong magnet is worth the extra cost, the average dollar stores set will not be very much fun at all.

The Shake It Pouches come with adhesive, but Iron Fillings are heavy and tenacious so I use Glossy Accents as a seal instead. Patience is required. Put the pouch upside down, pour in some filings, apply Glossy Accents, apply background cardstock, press the edges together (without picking it up). Set it aside to dry. Really dry lol. Make a cover mat, or cut a window in the card front. The pouches make a much lighter card than making a well out of cardstock.

UPDATED to add: I had no luck just "substituting" iron filings for shaker card ingredients because they are really heavy in comparison and very very small. So the adhesive sheets just didn't work for me. They need to be sealed in with something like Glossy Accents and then make sure there are no gaps : ).

And if you spill any iron filings, wrap the magnet in a coffee filter before you use it to pick them up. then hold it over the jar and remove the magnet. The iron filings fall neatly into the jar without having to be wrestled off the magnet.

These pictures were taken while the card was lying flat on the desk. Fresh from the salon monster.

Bearded Monster.

Rapunzel Monster.

WOYWW 277

I've been busy, but I re-charge by stamping out sets in various places, Get Well, Encouragement, Miscellaneous, etc. I love love love the Tim Holtz grid blocks. I've also made a big dent in my stack of unmounted stamps, I believe I'm down to five. I've also been peeling foam backing off a lot of ones I did years ago and replacing it with Aleene's Tack It Over & Over glue.

I had a bit of a scare on Friday, my right hand decided not to co-operate for about a minute.Which required a trip to the hospital for a couple of scans. They aren't sure what happened. I decided not to let that put me off crafting though, and I came up with the following cards earlier this week.

Puppet in a card. With a tutorial on how I change a stationary image into a moveable one. I was especially pleased with this one.

Eileen Fahleens aka Iron Filings. Another favorite with handy dandy construction hints. They both went into my slew of monsters gift bag for one of my friends.

To see more crafty spaces, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander at crafty desks around the world.

It's a Bird! It's a Plane!

It's Super Monster! Simon Says Rock the Technique, and this is one of my favorites. Converting a stationary stamped image into an moveable one. The card is made with Papertrey Ink cardstock. Stamper's Select White for the A2 base. Blueberry Sky for the mat, die cut with the cloud from the Stamp-a-faire 2014 1980's mini kit. One cloud is painted with Picket Fence Distress Paint. The shrub pieces are all hand cut. The large part of the shrub is glued directly to the card.  The other two are attached with foam tape. The gnome is a brad from Eyelet Outlet.

It's also a puppet.

The dimension of the shrubbery hides the puppet slot. I sprayed her with Dylusions Spray after all the pieces were cut.

The foam channels are three pieces high. There is a stopper and two sides.

Stamp your image several times.  And start cutting rounded pieces.  It's better to start with too much on the piece as it can always be trimmed later.

I use a paper piercer to pivot the pieces and swivel marking where the cuts will go.

Poke holes where the brads will go (I used Tim Holtz Mini Brads).

Paper Weaving

A tag with paper weaving.  The Papertrey Ink Make It Monday#180: Paper Weaving and Simon Says Tag It.

I wanted to use the border cut and a double layered in my weaving, so the rest of the strips I chose were softer hues cardstock and white vellum. I taped all the ends to a piece of Classic Kraft cardstock and then started to weave. The side to side pieces were all the same cardstock and I didn't have a lot of it so I stitched every thing down.

Since the challenge at Simon Says is Tag, I used my 1/2" side of the Corner Chompers and a standard hole punch and voila a tag.

I was heavily influenced by Melissa Phillips post on layering with vellum for the focal point, using two layers of purple vellum over the Classic Kraft cardstock die cut with Papertrey Ink's Limitless Labels 2 1/4 square die set and inked with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. The square is edged with Dusty Concord Distress Ink, edged with paper piercing and stamped with a two part stamp from Papertrey Ink's A Little Inspiration stamp set (in Seedless Preserves and Dusty Concord). With a few Mirror Stars from Tim Holtz' Ideology. The bow is Papertrey Ink silk ribbon dyed with Seedless Preserves spritzed with water on my craft mat.

Kick Ass Gift Bag Tutorial

I'm really quite pleased with the gift bag. In this case it's a brown paper lunch bag. Fold the bottom of the bag so it looks like an upside down "y" (so the front and back are both the same).  With a fold (vary the fold height with content), measure paper to the width of the bag and up to the fold line (repeat for back). Then measure paper for the fold. I used my ATG to adhere all the pieces.

A closeup of the badge (another tutorial on badge making will follow soon). Additional things can be pinned to the ribbon tails if you've a mind to do so. The stamps are from two of Kelly Purkey's Simon Exclusives, F Bomb and Like a Boss. The rosette is from the Tim Holtz Rosette die.

I'm not sure why the pin-back photographed so curvy, but take my word for it that it is actually straight. I used an standard hole punch to allow the ends to go through the top of the back easily.

Here's my favorite practical bit, a pocket for the card.  Just make a pocket using your favorite technique and attach it to the back. Keeps the card with the gift easy peasy (lemon squeezey).

WOYWW 276

I'm working on a new iron filings project, this time with shaker pouches from Impression Obsession. I bumped the pouch slightly and iron filings stuck to the adhesive they come with, but Glossy Accents sealed them in impressively. In the back are two "Badges of Encouragement".

Someone had mentioned they wished they could see some of the kinetic things in action. I'm trying to work out how to film some of the cards, but in the meantime Eileen Fahleens is in the house.  The sound isn't a loud as it seems in the video, but it is noticeable.

I've worked out a way to make mouths from a circle die cut/punch easy peasy.There is also a link to the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes theme song at the post lol.

I won a free set of stamps from Waltingmouse with a random drawn comment. I chose Off Beat Backgrounds, what a hoot! I made this background with the grid stamp in seafoam and the dots in Shaded Lilac.

To see more crafty spaces, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander  : ).

No One Expects

Killer Tomatoes! Traditionalists may think "No One Expects" should always be followed by "the Spanish Inquisition" (Monty Pytyhon skit). What can I say? I'm a rebel : ).

This week's CASology cue card is Three. One of my favorite movies is Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (I even have a special edition DVD with a packet of Killer Tomato seeds).  The tomatoes are Punny Produce: Tomatoes by WPlus9, colored with Memento Dual Markers (Lady Bug and Bamboo Leaves, with Summer Sky for the shading at the bottom of the card. I gave one of them Googly Eyes.

I had an epiphany when I was figuring out the mouths.  I used a 1/2 in circle punch. cut off part of the bottom, and then cut the negatives of teeth. It's best with paper or very thin cardstock.

 

If you're curious about the movie, the theme song has been posted on You Tube : D.

Feel Better Soon

Simon Says Make your own background.  The background is stamped with Off Beat Backgrounds from Waltzingmouse (which I won in a random draw for commenting!) First I stamped the grid pattern with Sea Foam Marvy Heritage. Then I stamped over that with the dots with Shaded Lilac Distress Ink.

The hydrangea from the Because I Care Stampin' Up stamp set is painted with Mowed Grass and Shaded Lilac Distress Inks and then fussy cut.

I used Jade Velvet Ribbon with 0.25 Score Tape. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Inside & Out: Well Wishes stamp set stamped with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.

Badges of Encouragement

Simon Says Stamp with Simon Say Stamp Stamps or Simon Exclusives. I combined stamps from two Kelly Purkey Simon Exclusives (F Bomb and Like A Boss) to make Badges of Encouragement.

For a friend who's fighting cancer, I added "cancer" with a Sharpie. The "like a boss" sentiment has an asterisk before it, but I just wiped that clean after I inked it. The other is for a friend studying for her big nursing test. It'll go on the outside of her gift bag. Safety pins will be attached to the back. The rosette is made with the Tim Holtz Rosette die.

I used CTMH's Petal Ink and Memento Tuxedo Ink.

updated to add

I think this is the easiest, most secure paper pin back I've done yet. Mark the high parts of the pin back on the cardstock and use a hole punch. Put the pinback through the holes. Apply Glossy Accents to the pinback and the cardstock press down firmly, burnishing right up to the pinback edges.