Bits of Sparkle

This Wednesday Simon Says Make It Sparkle. So out comes the Diamond Stickles. The "U" is from a Martha Stewart alphabet stamp set stamped in Papertrey Ink Ocean Tides. "Miss" comes from Paper Tray stamp set. And a little watercolor to ground everything.

 And I love to do variations.

Wishing You a Simply Magical Day

For this shaker card I punched a matching hole in the card base so the sentiment stamped on the window is more visible. Since the new challenge at Simon Says is Spots and Dots, I thought this card fit the bill with the round window and sequins.

 The unicorn stamp actually has it standing on a cloud but I had to cut it off to fit better in the window. I used lots of Stickles which adds a little extra weight and lots of extra sparkle.

The foam tape was two layers high to give a little more depth to the shaker. That meant there was twice as much adhesive for them to stick on. I covered the inside edge with Stickles to add a little extra sparkle and to cover the stickiness. I also added a few dots on the the inside of the window. The front window is cut from "clear cardstock", the back window is from clamshell packaging because it is a bit sturdier.

Just a mention that when cutting foam tape I am so grateful to have a pair of Tim Holtz non-stick scissors.

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White and Hawaiian Shores.
Stamps: Taylored Expressions Simply Magical
Sparkles: Stickles, Darice 8mm Crystal sequins, Holograpic Paper scrap Martha Stewart punch.
Patterned Paper: K & Co. Happy Trails

Make It Monday #107: Clear Card & Copic Coloring Basics

I've been wanting to make a clear card for a while, so Papertrey Ink's Clear Card & Copic Coloring Make It Monday was great timing. I made an A2 clear card base. Stamped the front with the Friendship Jar, with the label die and a little labels hello friend greeting. The butterflies are from We R Memory Keepers and Martha Stewart and colored on the back with Memento Marker Bahama Blue.

Happy Spring is stamped behind the label so it shows up when the card is opened on a folded Melonberry patterned paper (which unfolds to allow a message to be written, but kept out of view until this is opened). And on the back a scrap of K&Co. paper is adhered so give another mat and keep the adhesive out of view.

Spinning is my Cup of Tea.

I love twofers. This Wool and Spindle gift basket is an entry in the Papertrey Ink's 6th Anniversary Favorite Project Contest and will also be my contribution to the spinning guild's annual auction. It's based on Melisa Phillips' Berry Basket.project. To give the berry basket a bit more stability, I folded in the first pair of flaps on the bottom and then put glue on the underside of them before folding the remaining pair.

I believe it was Ashley Cannon Newell who said she used her finger for tiny stamps. It was an especially useful technique to stamp the curved sides of the spindle whorl.

Gift Basket contents: Romney wool roving (nothing to do with the former Gov. of MA, it's a breed of sheep with awesome fleece). Toy Wheel spindle stamped with the tiny bee in Papertrey Ink's Tag-It #3 stamp set.

Berry Basket Materials:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Hawaiian Shores, Kraft, Vintage Cream Poppy Red.
Dies: Berry Basket, Simply Jane, Teacup Die.
Punch: Martha Stewart.

WOYWW 105, the week after.

I'm in the middle of labeling all my distress inks. I saw some on desks done in a similar manner. Very handy and saves a lot of going through stacks one at a time lol. The green string and beads is a little necklace I made a while ago, that wandered back to the desk lol.

There's a lot of talk about Smash books by K&Co., which I don't have, but I did find this lovely stamp. I've yet to master the art of stamping it without getting the left edge of it stamping as well, but it's fun and anarchy sheep doesn't mind :D.

I think I made 5 things before I decided which would be my PiF (pay it forward) for the 104th WOYWW, including one that demanded to be sent to Julia Dunnit lol (which I'll post after I've had word it's been received). I was tickled pink that I got to send my PiF to Elizabeth and Bleubeard, and especially pleased she really liked it :D. (I have something to make for Bleubeard, but it might take me a little while).

Finally I decided this little piece of sea glass (collected in Rockport, Mass) and wrapped in handspun wool embroidery thread (wrapping was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be) would do the trick :D. I love how the thread is visible on the other side (in real life, harder to show in a photograph). I took the photograph on a kraft glassine envelope. Truly a wonder this stuff :D. I confess I'm also partial to regular glassine and wax paper lol.

I thought it appropriate to send a card along with my PiF. Actually the entire card was made with things that had been on my desk (some longer then others, some actually made their way into storage tins lol), and as it was a WOYWW event card, that seemed the height of appropriateness to me :D. And also because it was a WOYWW card, I wrote a long list about what everything was from on the back lol.

With the beachy feeling of sea glass, I turned my Tim Holtz townscape shared in an earlier WOYWW into a beach town. Papertrey Ink kraft cardstock makes the edge stand up even after being sea punched (Martha Stewart). The fleur de lis border is from Octoberish 2009 when I got my Gypsy at the launch and I was madly testing the two cartridges that came pre-loaded on it and couldn't bear to toss perfectly good embellishments just because I didn't know what to do with them lol. I also bundled up a few things that had been on my desk as goodies, Papertrey Ink buttons, a bit of film strip (also by Tim Holtz), a sheep I stamped and cut out, sheep from my Imagine, etc.

It also gave me a chance to use my tiny tiny Tim Holtz brads which I didn't realize, until I used them, had screw heads punched in the top (philipsheads and slots!). So crafty, that Mr. Holtz lol.
If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, or if you are just curious to see what other crafty folks have on their desks, head over to the Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, join in :D.

Beachy Ornament Souvenir Second Set

I made a second set from a different trip. It needed a different box so I could easily sort out which souvenir was which because not everyone went on both trips.

I can't stress how much I love Inkessentials Glossy Accents for sealing the little holes in the ornament topper. Trust me, you need to seal them or you'll be saying as I did, why is there sand all over the table? I just put a little over each hole and you really have to know it is there to see it. Sand weighs a lot, so a little bit of sand in each ornament is all you need. Plus this way you can sort of shake it like a snow globe (again important to seal up the top). The sand also makes it not a typical Christmas Ball in that you can set it down and it doesn't roll. It could of course be batted about by cats if they gave it a go.

It's lovely to see how different sands look up close. Oh to have some of the lovely black sand from Ms. Dunnit's recent vacation lol.

Learning my lesson from the first set of boxes, I scoured the local Hobby Lobby for six identical sheets of sturdier cardstock. I found the kraft cardstock was my best bet, and decided to just punch a little border with this EK Success beach punch. Wonderful except there was a little glitch in it that prevented the paper from cutting clean away so it had to be wrestled after each cut. At the end of the second strip I realized I had a Martha Stewart beach edge punch that might have been a little easier to use. See what happens when you put things away? I abandoned the idea of using a different ornament so I could use the same Gypsy file for the box (one of the boxes from the Cricut Wrap It Up cartridge).

Think Pink

I made this card to for the Cricut Circle Think Pink Challenge. The card base is made with Papertrey Ink Fine Linen cardstock.  The butterflies are Papertrey Ink Hibiscus Burst cardstock made with a Martha Stewart punch. The two Cricut cuts are the scallop border from Plantin Schoolbook and the negative from Serenade image 35. The flourishes are stamped on the kraft paper with a stamp from the Papertrey Ink Embellishments stamp set (also used for the sentiment). I used Crystal Stickles for the butterfly bodies. I drew the frame, the leaves and outlined the tree with a Micron pigma black 01 pen.

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.