Happy Birthday

Simon Says Finishing Touch. The finishing touches on this card are extra layers of Distress Inks to add dimension to the giraffe and under the sentiment.

The giraffe and birthday hat are from Alley Way Party Animal. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things Life's Direction stamped with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. The giraffe is colored with Scattered Straw and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks smushed on the craft mat and spritzed with water and painted over the image. The birthday hat is colored with Peacock Feather and Peel Paint Distress Markers with a dot of Glossy Accents at the top. Both the images are fussy cut. The pattern paper is both sides of Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue Corner Boutique. 

Virginia's View Challenge #8 is Clean and Simple.

squeal

As soon as I saw the sketch for this week's Paper Smooches  SPARKS challenge, I kept thinking of the hamster from Party Posse rolling down the slopes.  I drew out the lines and stamped the little "speed cloud" from Party Posse, then painted it in with Papertrey Ink Fine Linen smushed on the craft mat and spritzed with water. The Hamster is stamped on some scrap paper and fussy cut

WOYWW 278

It's been a busy day so one of my first projects is the last to be tidied (ish) up. This week's Make It Monday is Mason Jar Stamping. I cut the stamp out of fun foam and put some Club Stamp Mount It Glue (it stays tacky after it dries like Aleene's Tack It Over and Over which I also use). It's the little blue thing on my Versamark Inkpad. I stuck it on my finger so I could get the ink firmly on the glass over all the glass designs. All I have to do is find the handspun I want (I moved it last year apparently lol) and make the decorations on sticks. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

I accidentally printed too many copies of this bunch of Witch's Fingers Grapes, but photo extras have become my new canvas. I used the new Tim Holtz Alphanumerics to cut out the word "grapes" and the Papertrey Ink's embroidery border die to practice some cross stitching (aka analog pixelating). It will probably come as no surprise that my favorite line from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (movie) is when one of the grandparents says "I like grapes."

On the home front, (touch wood), no more problems with my hand. And a dream of 40 years is about to come true. I will be the proud owner of a Walking or Great Wheel next week. Now I just have to find a place to put it and brace myself to have people over. I'm not called Auntie Social for nothing lol.

For more crafty sight-seeing, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander.

Update: A walking wheel is a spinster thing : D. It's the sort of wheel that has a spindle (like Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on). The wheel is turned with a hand (unlike flyer wheels where you sit and treadle the wheel while you are sitting). And by spinster, I mean a woman who spins (yarn or thread, not a stationary bicycle). There are a lot of these around, but many of them are missing parts, or the wheel is warped. This is a video I found on YouTube, she's really skilled : ).

updated again I've been a spinster since 1978, I have an Ashford Traditional wheel, a Lendrum and a Haldane, all flyer wheels, a charka and a varying quantity of spindles. But this will be my first Great Wheel : D.

Sizzix challenge

My take on the Sizzix Challenge.

 After embossing cardstock with the Sizzix Stripes Texture Fade Embossing Folder, I inked the raised stripes with Mown Lawn Distress Ink, and cut off some of the stripes to use as stems. I sprayed some tissue paper with Dylusions Crushed Grapes Ink Spray, crumpled it together and taped it to the stem with Tim Holtz Washi Tape to make the flowers, tying them together with a piece of cotton twine. The background is embossed with Tim Holtz Alterations Book Cover #2 Embossing Folder. The reflected window is picked up with the top of the Sunshine Window die. I used a few sequins to pick up the baby's breath element.

The inspiration.

Sizzix Products Used:
Stripes embossing folder from the Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folders 2PK - Harlequin & Stripes Set.
Sunshine Window die (curved top of the die-cut)
Tim Holtz Alterations Book Cover #2 Embossing Folder.

Other Materials: 

Tissue paper sprayed with Dylusions Crushed Grapes ink spray

Tim Holtz Washi Tape

Nicole's Spangles 10 mm White Iris sequins 
Tombow Multi Glue 
Diamond Stickles 
Mowed Lawn Distress Ink

 

Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. My inspiration is the 1983 National Coffee Association Coffee Achiever commercial. The slogan was "Coffee gives you the Serenity to Dream it, and the Vitality to do it!. Starring a who's who of 1983 celebrities including David Bowie and Cicely Tyson.

Fine pigment brown marker used to draw the frame and write the sentiment. The images are all from Crafty Secrets Coffee & Tea stamp set, stamped with Papertrey Ink's Dark Chocolate. The frame is stamped with Pure Poppy and is from Stampology.

The happy bean is stamped on the inside.

Flutterby

Simon Says Anything Goes. It's a spinner card with a butterfly made of three layers of tissue paper cut with the butterfly die from Pretty Peonies, stamped with the matching image in Soft Stone.

I cut a small piece of plastic packaging, folded it in half and matched it up with the butterfly layers. Then poked a whole and inserted a brad.

Then I put the brad through a paper layer of the top of the spinner element. I used the cut out of the spinner line to trace the space and wrote "flutter" in pencil several times. Then traced over it with a fine line pigment marker, then erased the pencil lines. I cut the spinner element twice and glued all the parts together. The top mat is attached with a single layer of foam tape.

Finishing Touch

Simon Says Finishing Touch. I used Simply Chartreuse cardstock (Papertrey Ink), some gold acrylic craft paint. Applied Wild Honey Distress Stain through Tim Holtz'  Dot Fade Stencil. The stamps are from Club Scrap's Solstice kit.

This is an interactive piece for someone going through chemo. The iron filings are in an Impression Obsession Shake It Square Pouch. It makes the lightest weight iron filing card I've made so far. Place the pouch face down, add some iron filings, remove the adhesive cover, add a solid line of glossy accents. Put a light weight on the back cover and wait until it has dried (I learned this the hard way). If you have spilled any iron filings wrap a magnet in a coffee filter and then pick up all the iron filings. Open the iron filings container hold the coffee filter over it, and remove the magnet. The iron filings drop effortlessly into the container. Much much easier then trying to remove the iron filings from the magnet. Trust me. I learned this the hard way too.

I used 2.5" square die from Spellbinders to cut the opening for the pouch. It's a snug fit, but can be opened a little more if desired with the edge of a scissor. Run a line of Glossy Accents around the edge of the Shake-It Pouch and put the cover over it, running a finger around the edge of the opening.

I stamped the Solstice image again on a scrap of cardstock and used glossy accents to attach it to the top of a very strong magnet (the weak magnets barely move the iron filings. After it dries I cut off the excess cardstock. Be prepared for your scissors to stick to the magnet while you cut lol.