WOYWW 106 - ! Gorgeous PiF and Creative Chaos Abounds... No Really lol

Usually I start with my crafty spaces, but this week I'm showing the gorgeous PiF I received from Helen. It's a large tag and it is stunning! Sometimes it's near the computer and sometimes it's in the craftroom (set aside from the fray). If you haven't done a PiF before, I highly recommend it!!

Now if you are of delicate sensibilities and you find chaos (creative or no) paralyzing... look away... look away now!

Here is my desk this morning testing the earthly bonds of gravity lol. Front and center is a pinwheel I cut on my Cricut with the Mother's Day 2010 cartridge. I love a really free spinning pinwheel and have discovered that if some substantial cardstock is glued to the back it gives a nice solid framework to the whole thing. Another tip, eyelets. The jar is my water jar for washing out paint brushes, notice the lid? That lid has saved my bacon on more than one occasion lol. Balancing on top of the paint jar, are my labeled Distress Inks. I left part of the label white to show the ink against the white and then wrote across in black ink (so I can see at a glance if I like the color against black ink writing). And on top of the labelled Distress Inks are two more of the Maze Books (seriously, I'm addicted).

Joann's online was having a brilliant sale on all things Tim Holtz, so I picked up some Distress Inks I didn't have (to the left under the strip), and those ball feet for boxes. Upper left is a picture of DD waiting to be put on a scrapbook page. It's the reason to go to Disney World, the smiling, brilliantly happy child on the Dumbo ride. When I took the picture I had no idea it was the shot most often taken lol. But it is a brilliant picture of her :D.

The strip thing is another flash of inspiration. Put down a line of tombow glue and let dry (so it's tacky) and now it's perfect for decorating those clear half dome candle accents which we call skittles. Which reminds me, I found some diamond (as in argyle) shaped ones, but they are buried in there somewhere.  The plastic bag to the right is to keep the moisture in a brick of paper clay. So much fun to be had, but it really is time for a clearing... only I have to not get distracted... wish me luck lol. *looking for harness and safety helmet*

Now if you are wondering what's all this WOYWW then, head over to Julia's and have a gander, better yet, snap a picture and join in the fun. Honestly, could your desk be more ... creatively chaotic ... than mine???? LOL

Banner Day with Blog Candy

Blog Candy

I've decided to do my first ever blog candy giveaway to go with my first ever banner. The blog candy will be a Cricut Sans Serif Solutions cartridge I picked up at Walmart on clearance.  The cartridge is retired, but very useful as it is plain enough you can do almost anything with it by your choice of paper, embellishments, etc. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before the end of  Monday, August 23 (EDT). I will pick the winner at random on Tuesday, August 24.

Banner Day

I made my first banner for my niece's graduation (a while ago). I used my intrepid Gypsy. Now that the layers are working more reliably (touch wood), I used a different layer for each section of the banner. I then wrote the number of sheets I would need for each layer in the layer name. I also took my Gypsy to the store with me as a shopping aid :D. 

Layers;
Pennant
Toile Ovals glued to Pennant
Letter/Image centered over Toile Ovals using Dimensional dots
Stickles inside the letters and the graduation caps, add some subtle, but lovely, sparkle.

Cartridges:
Pennants:  Mother's Day 2010
Letters: Jasmine, Oval Feature
Oval Background:  Jasmine, Oval Feature. the 8th image on the 4th row with the inner cut hidden.
Mortarboard: A Child's Year, Icon Feature

Materials:
Pink Cardstock for 21 Pennants (I cut a few extras for safety and gave my niece one with a graduation cap on it so she could scrap it.
Black Cardstock for the letters
Black and White Toile for the letter/image background
Stardust Stickles
Dimensional dots or foam tape
Ribbon, 10 yards of Pink Organza from Hobby Lobby on sale! It was enough to string both sections and have a bow at each end.

What I learned about making banners! If you are making a large banner, find the middle of the ribbon and mark it with something like a safety pin. String from the middle out. Make sure you have the pattern you want in mind as you do this lol. (I chose ribbon behind pennant). As you string, if you put the next pennant face down on the pennant you are about to put the ribbon through the 2nd hole it can cut your string time in half.

Originally I was looking for a floral print to make the pennant with, but I could only find what I wanted in paper. When I decided to go with a solid pennant, I added two extra to the layer going upside down. If  you use the file with patterned cardstock, you might want to delete the two "upside down" pennants. You can download the file here.