Krafty Badges and an Embellishment

OK, I must admit, every time I think badges that line from Blazing Saddles pops into my head. But I do need these stinkin' badges. I found medium (22mm) Badge Daddies for the i-Top at Michaels when I was looking for a consolation purchase because there wasn't a speck of glow-in-the-dark glitter to be found.  They were only available in medium, which was the only punch I didn't have for the i-Top, so I had to buy that too.

I used kraft paper as the base for everything. The snowflake is from an unknown punch (it has a yellow glitter housing) with faux stitching with a 01 micro pigma pen and embellished with antique linen distress stickles. The I be-leaf in you is stamped with a leaf from Falling Leaves stamp set from Papertrey Ink.

The flower embellishement is made from a cut-out from each size of the i-Top punches with a small brad holding them all together. The paint is yellow fabric paint from Plaid.

Have you seen my camera? lol

OK, four days ago I knew where my camera was. Then I disconnected it from the computer so I could reharge it, only I got distracted and put it down somewhere... So now I have no idea where it is and I have to take pictures of the cards I made for Playing with Serenade with Flowerdisco and friends. So if you see it, let me know lol.

Playing with Serenade by Flowerdisco and Friends - Week 3

Hello everyone! It's week 3 of Playing with Serenade by Flowerdisco and Friends.

This week I did a simple card with image no. 21. I got to use more scraps for the image (mostly K&Co.), and used all 4 layers. The card is an A2 made from Papertrey Ink's Spring Moss cardstock which I had stamped with a stamp from the Four of a Kind stamp set (it really is a favorite) using Versamark.

 Be sure to check out what everyone else made!

1. Abby- http://www.scrapbookaholic.blogspot.com/

2. Agnes- http://flowerdiscosscraphut.blogspot.com//
3. Gaby- http://scrapabookaholic.blogspot.com/
4. Helen- http://craftingcricutmom.blogspot.com/
5. Jessica- http://luvcraftingwithcricut.blogspot.com//
6. Melissa- http://melissaward72.blogspot.com//

What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday

Okay, this is chaotic, even for me lol. Out of deference to those with delicate sensibilities, I've kept the picture smaller. Of course if you want to see it up close, you can just click on it. The remote is for my CD player. At the moment I'm listening to an audio book. I'm still sad I finished The Graveyard by Neil Gaiman, but didn't want to listen to it twice back to back lol.

About the pink mystery paint last week, the color was an unintended red herring.  It's chalkboard paint. But... I forgot to buy regular chalk so I could test it out in a card setting.  And I spent the last two days mostly looking for my Martha Stewart foils and getting distracted by all the other things I found instead (see picture above lol), so that project got put on a back burner.

I also moved a lovely box with little shelves off one desk to another space close enough to put heavily stickled items safely away from the perils of gravity or forgetfulness. I was reminded to do this by my stickles chart with the three smooshed lines (icicle, crystal and diamond) where I dropped my pen when I was taking the cap off.  Did I mention Grace is one of my nicknames?  The chart is really handy for deciding which "clear" stickles to use and what they all look like out of the bottle.

In the Cricut realm of  my existence this week, I've been using my Superman cartridge a lot. Only with a twist, that I can't show it to you yet.  You can see my test boxes (the grey ones) from the Happy Hauntings cartridge. After I figure out all the bits, I'll make them in Lovely Halloween colors. I love the takeout box with the hand coming out of the graveyard, but I think it needs to be cut from a stiffer cardstock as the hand is very floppy after it goes through the slot!

It's also week three of Playing with Serenade by Flowerdisco and Friends which is in a separate post after this one, should you care to check it out. Thanks for looking!

WOYWW is a blog hop hosted by Julia at The Stamping Ground, and this, I believe, is week 69. So hop over if you want to see how more crafty people house work and join in  :D.

One Beautiful Blog Award

I was deeply honored to be passed this award from Audrey from Cute and Some. She makes such beautiful projects. The conditions for accepting the award are to pass it on to 15 other deserving bloggers. This is always the toughest part of blog awards for me, once I learned out to post the picture that is lol.  I scooped these up with a net from an ocean of wonderful blogs:

1. Royal Things
2. Beeing Creative and Feeling Cherry
3. Stamping Ground
4. Sweet Violets Paperie
5. A Frayed of Fibers
6. Little Imperfections
7. Flip Flops and Pop Tarts
8. SquirrelyArt
9. Sunshine reflections
10. JoZart
11. Impressionable Art
12. My Time to Craft
13. An Unhurried Life
14. Mom with Paper
15. mix me up!

September Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

The challenge for Papertrey Ink's September Blog Hop was to create a project with a learned stamping skill.

One of my favorite skills (I really can't pick just one!) is using watercolor crayons instead of an inkpad. I learned this as part of the February 2010 Castaway Club Scrap kit. I used  a little spray bottle to spritz the stamp with water, then colored with the watercolor crayons, then stamp. Easy Peasy. I like to use different colors, in this case two greens on the leaves. The flowers didn't pop enough, so I went back and colored directly on the card and then used an aqua brush.  If it's really wet you can use a heat gun to speed up the drying.
When it had dried I drew a thin frame around it free-hand. I discovered that if I do this on a non-stick mat, I can hold the pen in one place and just slide the card. This eliminates the need to pick the pen up in the middle of a line.

Ingredients:
Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream cardstock
Papertrey Ink Four of a Kind stamp set
01 micron pigment black ink pen
small spray bottle with water
watercolor crayons, I used Faber-Castell

I have to say my favorite stamping tip came from my oldest younger sister who convinced me to go to CHA. When we were in the Papertrey Ink booth she said, "Buy Papertrey Ink stamps" lol. OK, she didn't have to twist my rubber arm much :D.

Cricut Lite Botanicals Cards

I love this cart! So since I was lucky enough to be sent as part of a Giveaway on Everyday Cricut, how better to thank Joy and Melanie than with cards made with it :D.

The first card I made using the the butterfly card and the third flower cut in the fourth row. I used Diamond Stickles in the flower centers and Antique Linen Distress Stickles on the butterfly. 

The second card I made to have a bit of a "reveal" when it opened, a little faux stitching with a micron pigma 01 and some Diamond Stickles. I really need to get a flower frog to photograph closed cards lol.

Both card bases were made from Papertrey Ink cardstock, and are a little smaller than a regular A2 because they were cut out with the Cricut. The "You Inspire Me" sentiment comes from Papertrey Ink's  Embellishments stamps set released last month, and the "Thank you" comes from Papertrey Ink's Year of Flowers: Lily of the Valley stamp set.