I just couldn't wait for the new cuttlebug folders!

I've pre-ordered the rose and carnation quilling set for the cuttlebug. But I just couldn't wait, so I made these.

I used my Gypsy and made some variations. Going from top clockwise, I used rows 5, 6 and 2.  The main difference between row 2 and 3 is the width of the quilling band (I know almost nothing about quilling so I have no idea if that's the correct term).

It's very important that you use a thin paper for these to work. This is definitely a project that will not work with cardstock. You can download the file here. Because there is a lot of welding, it is a lot faster to cut if you delete the cuts you aren't working with. If you want to try them all just realize it's going to take about 10 minutes for the "cut" icon to appear on your gypsy after you hit the cut button.

The last tip I have is these are lot easier to make with a quilling pen (it has a little notch for the paper to fit into. I got one at Hobby Lobby for $3.99. I tried wrapping around skewers, pins, piercing pins, but it just slipped too much for me. Let me know what you make!  : )

I'm a Guest Designer!

Ok, I might be a little superstitious, but I didn't want to say anything until I saw it for myself. I am a guest designer on Above Rubies Studio's Gypsy A to Z DVD.  I admit, I totally skipped to the guest designer gallery just to check. BTW, if you order now you get a free Tipsy for the Gypsy, be sure to check your envelope for it lol.

My cute as a button mat is featured in it's basic form.

Then I cut it out of fancier paper and used it in a layout and it became what I call my momma bird layout.

The cut file is available here. Ok, now I can settle in and watch the entire DVD : D.

Let's Get Organized, Organized...

Just so you know I'm singing this to the tune of "Let's Get Physical" as sung by Olivia Newton John. If you aren't old enough to remember it, well, it's probably on youtube, and take this virtual towel to dry off behind your ears, you young whippersnapper lol.

I've been working hard on re-organizing the Craft Room. I have a large piece of heavy-duty plywood held up with two saw-horses and covered with a vinyl tablecloth. The trouble is, the vinyl was too thin (dollarstore) and the saw-horses have a very wide, but stable stance. I found some saw-horses at Sears on sale last year ($12 for two capable of holding 500 pounds). So I cleaned off the table and that's when I realized the new saw-horses are 3 inches taller than the ones I have now. And the ones I have now are exactly the right height to match the work surface the expression is on. And if I use the taller ones, I'm soooo going to look like Edith Ann (reference for younger folk, a Laugh-In 5 year-old character played by Lily Tomlin). So it was a lot of work for keeping it pretty much the same lol.

I did move one saw-horse in so the revolving paint holder can be directly over the saw-horse. And I did replace the dollar store table cloth with some vinyl I bought in the Hobby Lobby home decor fabric section. However, before I thought to take a picture of my new clean work surface, I started a project from Club Scrap (The Academy Club Stamp project to be exact). And while I was waiting for the ink to dry I started sorting through my scrap bin. And then I found a smaller container that was full of cuts I made with my expression, and I was sorting those.

Academy Club Stamp project from Club Scrap.

All those paper cuts were stored in the small metal container to the right. Notice my scrap paper bin aka miscellaneous paper cuts sorting surface is carefully balanced on my craft-cleaning baby wipes. And notice all the space in the table background lol.
But then I remembered DD had found my glass-headed pins. And I transformed my ribbon tree from this . . .

So in summary, new tablecloth, better support to work on, 1 project sorted, 1 boxful of possible embellishments examined, and one very neatly organized ribbon tree.

The ribbon tree is made with a "clock face" from the woody section of a craft store (I think this one is sold at AC Moore and Hobby Lobby). Then I took a long dowel that fit the pre-filled hole in the clock face and stacked ribbons on it.

Spring is here. . .

. . . So it's time to start getting ready for Christmas lol. I've been reorganizing the craft room and oh my the things I've found.

I made this ornament last Christmas using Joys of the Season, but by the time all the stickles dried, the season had passed. I used marker to outline all the interior cuts and then used stickles. But seriously, *this* year, I'm going to get sooooooo much done before Christmas. The ribbon is a thin, wired "crystal" from the bargain bin at Michael's. I just glued it on both sides of the shadow cut and then glued polar bears (one on each side) over the ribbon.

New Blog!

I started a garden blog, hop over if you are interested : ). Crafty stuff will still be here.

Mirror, Mirror

We have a couple of very dark rooms in our house. So, I'm experimenting with some mirrors from the dollar store as a way to add some light with a bit of decoration without having a plain mirror which catches every movement.

 

I washed the mirror with a baby wipe and put a vinyl cut of the dream cloud from Home Decor. After I washed off the etching cream, but before I took off the vinyl, I used some blue alcohol ink to add a little color.

 I used an alcohol pad to clean this mirror before I put on the vinyl. The birds are from Indie Art. I'm really liking how this one turned out!.

This is what 211 cards looks like. I made 214, but I gave 3 away already lol. I made these during the 8 week Pro Scrapbookers League (TM) at Club Scrap. There was one woman on my team who made 400 cards in the last week alone. Color me impressed!! It was a nice competition in that we were all in awe of the woman who made 400, but the contest was about doing what we could do and no one was made to feel badly for their contributions.

The two main criteria were that at least 50% Club Scrap elements had to be used and the cards had to be good enough for the maker to sign their name to and give to family and friends. There was a different challenge each week ranging from using stencils to art mediums. But for me, a dyed-in-the-wool process person, to make that much product left me feeling like I had met my personal goal. It gave me a chance to make my own cards but without the time to overthink every element. During the last week I didn't even go to my usual online haunts lol.

Some of the cards will be boxed as gifts, some of them will be boxed as donations to a few organizations that need cards, and some I'll be keeping for future use.