Now For Something Altered

On Monday, I attended an altered item workshop arranged here in my condo complex by a friend. The instructor was the Artsy Fartsy Fairy, aka Shirley Seay.

As you can see, we turned a wooden bird house from Michaels into a wonderful illuminated Christmas decoration.

We used decoupage to apply DP to the bird house. Shirley allowed us to choose from her extensive stash of papers which means two things; first, every one had a unique house, and second, I have no idea whose papers I used. Sorry about that. I love the papers I picked out, and I wish I did know whose they are so that I could get more.

This little guy is too darned cute.

This, for me, was the most time consuming part of the day. Once I had all the paper adhered and a second coat of Mod Podge applied and dried, I chose from Shirley's huge selection of embellishments. I decided to go for the 'less is more policy'. I kept it down to a snowman, and tree, a dove, a star, and a bit of gold rick rack for the roof lines, all of which I attached using tacky glue and super glue. We all put some feet on the bottom of the house. (The main reason for the feet is to allow clearance for the cord from the light.)

Finally, I applied a clear-drying glue to the roof and a couple of other surfaces, and sprinkled mica flakes over everything. Shirley's husband had pre drilled a hole in the bottom of each house, and she supplied us with a light kit that we could put into the bottom to light up the inside. I just love the results.

All lit up and glowing.

I know that Shirley took lots of pictures so if you want to see all the finished houses, check out her blog as linked above.

Now the only thing remaining is to figure out how to take this all the way back to Alberta in one piece. Even though we are driving back, this will still be pretty tricky. Wish me luck.

glittery snowflakes

 Well, our time in sunny AZ is starting to wind down and I have already begun to pack up my supplies in anticipation of our departure. So what I have for you today is on of my Christmas cards that I am mailing out to friends this year, an easel card.

I began with a white card base that is 5x5". I then cut a 5 1/4" square of the K&Co glitter c/s and rounded the corners. The snowflake was die cut using the snowflakes #2 die from SU, and white c/s. 

The beautiful border was created with the 'around-the-page' punch set, Large double arches, by MS, and a 6" square of white c/s.

The mirror snowflake embellishment is by recollections from Michaels. I added a rhinestone with crystal effects.                                                            

Inside, I attached a band of glitter that was punched with the same double arch punch. Then I adhered another mirror snowflake and rhinestone.                     As you can see, I made this style in all three colours of glitter paper included in this wonderful K&Co pad of papers

To all my American friends...

I want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. And to all my fellow Canadians who celebrated Thanksgiving in October, it is always appropriate to remember how blessed we are.

I enjoyed making this card with all my wonderful new products from HFC. I started with a rust coloured card base and stamped on it with brown ink and the Elegant Autumn Swirl stamp. I used a q-tip to apply gold Inka Gold (IG) to the leaves in the swirls. Using the Open Falling Leaves stamp set on the same rust paper, I stamped the maple leaf twice with the brown ink, applied copper  and green IG and hand cut them. I stamped three elm leaves on green c/s and applied the IG (gold and green) and three oak leaves on light gold c/s and applied green and copper IG; I hand cut these leaves as well. Finally I stamped the autumn swirl on the light gold as well as five of the small oak leaves. After slowly hand cutting all of these out, I applied the copper IG to the small individual leaves which I then adhered to the swirl leaves.

Finally I traced the largest labels 18 die on the light gold c/s and cut it, then sponged on some IG (copper). I did the same thing to a small rectangle after which I stamped (in brown ink) the greeting from the autumn swirl set.

I used glue dots to attach the cut swirl to the label die and pop dots to raise and attach the oak leaves. The leaves were adhered to the upper right and lower left corners with a combination of glue dots and pop dots. Finally, I attached the label with pop dots.

I should add that I am not really sure what brand of card stock I used - it was in the stash. The brown ink is Memento.

I hope you all have a wonderful day, whether it is a normal Thursday or a special holiday celebration. And I hope no one gets harmed in the Black Friday crush.

BYOB

BYOB stands for Bring Your Own Background. Today I started with a piece of plain ivory c/s and created my own designer paper to go with the beautiful ornament stamp by HFC. I knew I wanted the main colours to be pale pink and burgundy, and that I would be using gold EP but I do not have any ink here in the burgundy range so I had to add brown to the colour scheme.

I sponged some pale pink versamagic ink onto the c/s, then randomly stamped brown ink onto the following stamps; pinebranches are from Stamp-a-mania; 'Joy' is from a Stampendous jumbo set, and words and scroll are from a set by Cloud 9. Joy, as you can see, was stamped in versamark (not brown) and embossed with gold EP.

I matted this collaged layer with some wonderful crinkled paper by HOTP. Because I tend to be very stingy with these expensive papers, I cut a rectangle from the middle before mounting the DP on it. I added a 3/4" strip of burgundy velvet paper by The Paper Company . Then I adhered the whole thing to an ivory card base.


Now it was time to make the ornaments. I stamped all three with versamark on ivory c/s and heat embossed with gold. Then I sponged the same pale pink ink onto them, avoiding the poinsettias on the two largest. I coloured the poinsettia on the middle one with a burgundy marker. I remembered about this as a source of ink after I had finished the b/g paper. The ornaments were all hand cut and set aside.

I stamped the two middle poinsettias (from HFC's petite poinsettia stamp set) on the velvet paper with versamark ink and embossed with gold. I was a little leery about how this would work but it came out just fine. After more hand cutting the blossoms, I attached them to the largest ornament with glue dots. This ornament was then put on the card with dimensionals.


The inside is another 3/4" strip of velvet paper and the two smaller ornaments.

The final step was some dots in the centre of the velvet poinsettia on the front with cream coloured Viva pearl pen, and a small bow made from a scrap in my stash.

I am quite pleased with the outcome. It is exactly what I had in mind. I think I will be leaving this card at the here condo for our friends who arrive from Germany in December for a stay.

Fran-taging Fun

Well, the class I took yesterday at Stamp Works in Chandler was great fun. The teacher, Jennifer Dove, is on the design team for Stampendous and she introduced us to the new Fran-tage Essentials. These products give your work a real Wow result.

The first card was stamped with versamark ink and heat embossed with bark coloured EP. (Sorry, I don't know the brands on many of the products we used.) I used a white pencil crayon to highlight the flowers in the embossed image then cut around the outside edge of the image with scissors. Holding the card flat, sprinkle some of the granules of Chunky white embossing enamel randomly on top. Use the heat tool from underneath the surface to melt these granules. This method allows you to adhere EP without any type of adhesive product, but only works through one layer of c/s. Be careful not to burn the c/s or the previous embossing.

I did the shaped sentiment banner in a similar manner, and attached it with glue dots. I added some clear c/s to the card front so that it would sit properly, and attached some dotted DP to the inside of the card. The ribbon was wrapped around a piece of c/s of the same width  and attached to the front this is a method that allows you to attach ribbon to a single layer card without it showing on the inside of the card. Add a small knot of the ribbon to the tag with a glue dot.

For the second card, we again stamped and embossed the image (which I know is a Stampedous stamp because I bought one after the class!). We sprayed the image layer and the card front with water and dropped instant coffee granules (brand unknown!) on. The granules dissolve in the water and dry created a great aged look. Next, I tore around the image and then began apply the EP. I chose the aged copper embossing enamel and created a puddle applying the heat from underneath, then while it was still hot, dropped pieces of the tea stained mica fragments into the puddle. A bit more heat ensures they stay in place. I did this in opposite corners of the image, then added some more of the embossing enamel around all the edges. Finally, I tore some thin cork to create a mat, inked the edged with dark brown ink, and put the layers together.

 

 

These wonderful Fran-tage products come in a wide range of colours. I love the results using them and left a bit of money behind at the store after the class. I will be using them lots over the next little while.

Peace & Joy - Clean & Simple

This is a  quick card that is great for making multiple quantities of and also great for mailing.

The card base (5 1/4" square) is textured olive c/s, and the strip of DP is from a package of retired paper. I used smooth white c/s and the snowflakes #2  die and attached the snowflake to the DP with a red brad before adhering the strip to the card.

More white c/s stock and another retired product, a sizzlet that actually says 'peace&joy&love&hope' (I think) but I only die cut the first half. I added the little knot of narrow red grosgrain ribbon and used Tombo glue to attach the words.

All products are Stampin'Up!

Easy peasy. Well I am off to a card class in Chandler today so I have to get going. It is a long haul over there for 9 am. Thanks for stopping by.

Last minute do over.

Today I am once more creating die cuts without a die cutting machine. I seriously thought about purchasing a second one on sale for 40% off yesterday at Joann but managed to hold myself back. After all, it is only a couple of weeks until I am back home in my well equipped craft room. Of course, that means I will also be back in the snow - not my favourite compromise.

Today I began with one of Just Rite's newest stamp sets; Kaleidoscope Medallions. I stamped one of the motifs in brown ink on Core Dinations Merry c/s ( both the outer ring and the inner motif. Then I cut around this image with scissors. I also stamper just the inner section of the same set of images on CD Sandstorm c/s with the same brown ink and, when it dried, I used two Marvy markers to colour the image. Again I cut the circle by hand. The last stamping was one of the inner sentiments from Just Rite's 'You are my Anchor' with brown ink on Sandstorm c/s. To get the circle size I needed here, I centered the label die from SB's Parisian Accents over the words and traced the inside opening. Once more, I fussy cut the circle.

The next step was to create my die. I used the largest die from the Parisian Motifs set, tracing it on Sandstorm c/s. Then I did my fake die cut thing. Remember, if you are ever in a position to need to try doing this, to place the right side of the c/s against the cutting edge side of the die. I marked where I wanted some holes to make the die cut look a little lacy, and used a Fiskars' 1/8" circle punch. Using the brown ink pad, I sponged around the die cut and the two Sandstorm circles.

The card base is 5 7/8" square. The printed paper is from my scrap stash so I regret to say I don't know whose it was. The lace is from Joann. I used glue dots to hold the lace on, and to hold the die cut to the lace. Finally, I used dimensionals for the center of the largest motif and doubled up on the dimensionals for the label.

Well I am off like a terd of hurtles this morning. Diffucult day planned with my 'acquisitions' cohort beginning with breakfast out. Then tonight, company for a barbeque. Another tough day in paradise. Sucks to be in Alberta right now.

Post Script - as I was loading the pics, I decided the card did not look quite finished. So I set everything aside to go for breakfast and shopping. I just now finished the touch ups and here is what I added:
     -Stamped 3 smallest blossoms from HFC petite poinsettia set with brown ink on ivory c/s. Fussy cut them, sponged them twice (first with brown ink, then with old gold Inka Gold. Hand cut a small circle of some scrap burgundy velvet paper and shaped the blossoms and circle with the stylus. Attached everything with glue dots.
     -Added some gold satin ribbon (from Michaels) at the top of the lace.

Now it looks finished!!