Simple Thank You Card

Made an A2 sized card base and covered most of the front with patterned paper. The flowers are made with handcut circles distressed on the edges with an open pair of scissors with a button in the center. Viva Decor Glitter Liner substituted for thread on the buttons and was used to highlight points on the patterned paper. Finished off with a sentiment stamped with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink from the Club Ruby Designers stamp set included in the (January?) kit. I used corner chompers to round all the edges.

Embellishment as Journaling Tag

I told you I was having way too much fun with the skew button on the Gypsy :D. I used the Shadow as the upright and the colored pumpkin as the shadow sort of a play on how the world turned upside down when Trick or Treating for the first time. I used the Shadow as a journaling tag and distressed the edges with the blade of an open pair of scissors.  The colored pumpkin was lined twice with an ultra fine line black pen. The cut is from the Mini Monsters cartridge. I used a large house cut (from the Don Juan cartridge) to convey the sense of going door to door since I didn't have a picture of that. I used the Signo Uniball Gel Pen for the journaling.

The house is outlined in Viva Decor's Hematite Glitter Liner applied thick enough that it has some depth to it. It is also applied around the photo mat but flattened out so it is almost transparent. I used more writing to ground the images to the base of the background.  I used the hide contour button to hide the eye cuts since I was using a googly eye and a Custom Eye. This picture existed as a Polaroid, and with the aid of Photoshop Elements I was able to make a larger picture and correct the color loss that was going on with the original.

A side note: I use the clear packaging the letters came in to put the letters on first and hold them against the different papers without risk of them sticking to it. Also gives me a sense of size and a chance to make sure all the letters I need will be there.

Put a New Skew on Your Embellishments

Hello everyone! It's time for my guest spot at TheBugBytes :D. I recently discovered my skew button on the Gypsy and what fun I've been having (okay maybe I need to get out a little more, but I sure am having fun in my craftroom).

Basically the skew button can be used to make awesome shadows out of die cuts that don't have awesome shadows. Or if you want an oval and all you have are circles, but today it's about adding a shadow. The shadows can also be used as a journaling mat, but this time it's just decoration.

And it's easy peasy (lemon squeezy). For this embellishment I used the monster from B is for Boy and put two base images and one layer on the screen. Than I highlighted one base image and turned the skew button to -130 and then rotated to 30.00. The rotating just made it easier to cut and have the pattern cut in the direction I felt the shadow should be.

And the monster's eyes are customized to match the shadow. This is also easy peasy (lemon squeezy).

All you need are some clear plastic domes (aka skittles). I found these in the candle department at Michael's and it's a large bag for about $6.00, and I think I used a coupon. They are labelled Decorative Accents. To make customized eyes, just use a regular hole punch and cut out some holes saving the little circles. These fit under the skittles perfectly. 

Then just use a black marker or Sharpie in the little bubble at the bottom.

Put a drop of Glossy Accents or other clear drying glue on the circle than pop the flat side of the skittle on top of the circle and let dry. Of course you can also make them without the dots for regular embellishing.

WOYWW 96

Things have been galloping out of the drawer on back to my craft table lol. But there isn't much I can show you here. I haven't used a single stamp all week though, and I'm starting to go through withdrawals lol. There will be a post another post today from my Guest Designer spot at TheBugBytes about making shadows with the Gypsy and a quick way to make eyes for embellishments. I'm not sure why the turntable looks so askew in the picture though lol.

I've also been working like mad on submissions for a design team. The problem is winnowing it down to three projects. For these projects I've been digging through old photographs and it occurs to me how much digital photography has changed the way I scrapbook. I can scan those Polaroids and old photographs and fearlessly cut, glue and embellish the digital prints. I can print photographs out at 3 am if I have a mind to do so. Now I just need to start weeding through the 89,000 jpegs on my computer lol.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, then head on over to Julia's Stamping Ground and take a gander. Better yet, snap a picture and join in the fun :D.

WOYW?W 95

(Early) April Fool's Day!!

Just in case you were thinking some combination of "ahhh, that's better" or "Whhhhhhhhhhattttttttt the heck!!!" or "ninja cleaning fairies have attacked!" everything is in a nice big BIG drawer waiting to be returned.

It's been a very hectic few weeks, but it's good to be back in WOYWWland. I've missed you all :D.

BTW I'm giving away a bit of blog candy over here. So if you have an interest in a sampling of handspun embroidery thread, scoot over to the March Papertrey Ink Blog Hop referenced in the sentence before this one.

If  you are wondering "what's all this WOYWW?", scuttle over to Julia Dunnit's Stamping Ground and have a gander, or better yet, join in :D.

Blog Award

Thank you Mary from Scrapbooking Grandma Crafts for the Stylish blogger Award! Here's the list to accept this award: thank the person you gave it to you, share 8 things about yourself, and pass the award on to 8 individuals.

8 (random) Things About Me

1.  I love puns, the worse they are, the better I like them.
2. One of my favorite shows is the Amazing Race, vicarious travel to far flung locations without the shots or airport screenings.
3. Planting peas on St. Patrick's Day seems simple enough, but I've not managed to do it yet lol.
4. I ruined Snow White for DD by explaining how Snow White could have said no to the poison apple since it was clear she didn't want to eat it. I always thought Mulan was a much better role model lol.
5. My favorite dwarf (from Disney's Snow White) is Grumpy.
6. The best present I've ever gotten is my hamster Neptune.
7. I really enjoy solar cooking, but not so much a fan of regular cooking.
8. I recently found out the dog we adopted looks a lot like one of DD's favorite book characters when she was very young, Stellaluna (a bat).

8 Blog Recipients

Mom with Paper

My Paper Passion

Where Can I Buy Time

A Day in the Life of a Craft Fairy

Little Imperfections 

The Paper Farm 

Mix Me Up

According to Dawn

March Papertrey Ink Blog Hop (with a side helping of blog candy)

The challenge for this month's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop was to use embroidery floss in our project.  I used some two-toned handspun embroidery thread made with white corriedale wool and some unidentified dyEd wool curls.

My project is a little piece for home decor (approximately 4.25" squarish). I made the basic house embellishment a couple of weeks ago and there it sat much as it was pictured in that post (Tim Holtz Townscape On The Edge Die used to make a mask spritzed with Adirondack New Lettuce). For this project I lined the edges of the houses with a black pigma micron pen and added a little stick figure in one of the windows. I made the banner out of some K&Co. scraps from another project with the help of a lovely very tiny hole punch I've owned for about 15 years and have no idea of the brand. The cardstock is PTI Vintage Cream and a mat of True Black. I used the tiny hearts from Wonderfully Whimsical for the smoke and Wild Honey Distress Ink.

The blog candy I'm offering is a sampling of my handspun embroidery thread. All you have to do for a chance to win this is leave a comment saying something like, "I'd really love some thread", or "me, me", or "yes please". That way people who really don't care for handspun embroidery thread or spin their own won't have to chance winning just to leave a comment :D.

Added: You can leave a comment for a chance to win this sample until April 23, 2011. The blog candy winner will be drawn April 24, 2011 and posted April 25.