Part One - An Online Class

I am taking an online class by Kate Crane over at The Kathryn Wheel

It's called "Journal Soup" and I just took the first lesson and it's fantastic! I love Kate's style and esthetic and It's so awesome to learn from her 

The lesson is only 10.00 and I love that she is using the same recipe card tray that I use. I store my 4x6 postcards in this tray and she uses this class to create 4x6 journal cards

Here is my first card from my first portion of the class

So good, right? There is a little pocket that I can store misc strips of paper in that I want to use later.

I really love the outcome of this one and cannot wait to start the next postcard!! YAY!!

Thanks for coming by and be sure to check out Kate's class

Monochromatic - Poochas Gracias

Good day to you all and thanks again for coming by the blog

Again it's Wednesday, time for another Stampotique project, woohoo!!!

This week's challenge on the Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog, our talented Tanja is asking us to do something Monochrome, this means all the same color but maybe different shades of that color

Monochrome is tough for me because I like working in many different colors and shades so this will be a fun challenge

I decided to use the following Stampotique stamps in my greeting card

Poochas Gracias - By Carol's Collection

Give The Dog A Bone - By Maryse Carrier

Here is a sneak peak of what I have created

Stop by the Designer's Blog to see the rest of the card

Thanks for coming by, cheers!!

A Jar Of Luck - DIY Shamrocks

As some of you know Amy Bowerman over at Plucking Daisies is holding an Inspiration Team call for Eileen Hull's Designs for Sizzix

I'm a huge fan of Eileen's Artist Trading Blocks and I think all of her dies are really awesome so I just had to apply. 

I don't have any of Eileen's Dies (shame!) so I went to my local craft store and bought one. They didn't have many to choose from so I will be getting more online but the one I bought it just awesome.

The die I bought is called Create A Flower and it kind of looks like little bows when you cut it. 

I first cut one out of decorative paper so I could get the hang of how the die works and how to put them together. Here is what I came up with to start

(how cute would this flower be on the front of a journal? Or gift?

I puffed out my flower by using a stick inside each petal and poofing them out, this way my flower looks 3 deminsional 

So after I made this flower, I got an idea... St. Patrick's Day is coming and I figured I'd use the die to make some lucky shamrock's. Then I though, why not make a bouquet?

I took some green paper and stamped onto it to create a design and then made the petals from the small and medium sizes on the die

I then wrapped each petal around my finger to give it shape

I then took a sewing needle and some ribbon and threaded each petal to create my shamrock. I added a brad after the ribbon was threaded

I took some popsicle sticks and wrapped green wash tape around them and hot glued them to the back of each of my shamrocks

I used an old jar that I had laying around and some fabric and added my shamrock's

I also added some lace, ribbon and a button to the tie around my jar. 

Whalla!! A bouquet of Luck!!! 

I hope that you have enjoyed my tutorial. I just love this die, it's so fun and versatile and I love flowers so it's a win/win!!

Thanks for stopping by

Cheers!

Layers and Layers Journal Page

This journal page has taken on a life of it's own over the passed few weeks. I have been working on it here and there and then setting it aside while I do something else. 

I started out with this two page spread by adding paint to the background and then adding some decorative tape and some painters tape. I'm going to take the painters tape off later

I then adding some stamping here and there with different colors of archival ink and Tim Holtz stamps

I then used Wendy Vecchi black embossing paste and a stencil and went over some of the page with that

I set the page aside to dry and came back to it in a few days

Next I tore the painters tape off

I then added some torn pieces of book pages and painted onto those with more acrylic paint

I added some cardboard circles that I painted and stamped onto

I then used some Claudine Hellmuth Blank Canvas white paint and another stencil

This is my two page spread thus far

(somehow my lighting wasn't so great sorry for that)

At this point I was stumped, what to do, what to do

I had just gotten some Dyan Reaveley stamps and I have some of her old stamps that I just love, so I decided to go with those

I also added some wash tape and a Tim Holtz quote

This page has many elements and a lot going on but I really like how it has turned out.

Have a wonderful day all and thanks for coming by

Cheers!

Tim Holtz Tags February 2014

Over at Tim Holtz's website here:

2014 Tag Feb

He is doing the tags of 2014 and I am making postcards each month from them.

This month Tim used a wide variety of products to create a wonderful Valentine's Day tag and I wanted to do something similar but without the Valentine's Day undertones.

I usually make two postcards, one for a friend and one for me to keep. 

I used a few of Tim's other stencils for the background, I just love that shatter stencil, so cool

Instead of applying distress glitter to a heart, I cut out some tattered flowers from grungeboard and used two colors of distress glitter

I used a different sentiment from the same stamp set 

Here are my finished postcards:

I really like how they came out, so like Tim's but yet so different. 

I hope you will give the Tags a go too, they are really fun

Thanks for coming by and cheers to you!!

Using Acetate on a Postcard

Happy Wednesday all!! Thanks for stopping by today. It's my turn over at the Stampotique Designer's Blog

Make sure to hop over if you have some time and take a look

This week over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog our lovely Corrie has challenge us to use Acetate in our projects. 

Acetate is simply that clear packaging material that companies use to package their products. Most of Tim Holtz Dies, embellishments or Sizzix Dies come packaged in acetate, I save all of mine so that I can use it in my crafts

For this challenge I'm using Stampotique Stamps:

Footprints - By Carol's Collection

Bard - By Amy Wilson Wellenstein

I decided to make a postcard and I backed this one with some grunge board because I wanted to use fabric and do some sewing onto this one

For the front of my postcard I used brown card stock and some stencils and archival ink 

I then cut out my fabric with a Stampin Up Sizzix Die 

I sewed this onto my background with my sewing machine

I then created my wings for my bard by using the acetate and alcohol inks. Simply stamp your wings with archival ink, cut them out and dab different colors of alcohol ink onto them

I then glued them together, this way they will stand up

I stamped my bard onto watercolor paper and colored him with Distress Markers, cut him out and glued my wings behind him

I created my heart with leftover acetate and just drew it and cut it out

I added some wash tape, gems and my phrase

Take a look 

Thanks again for stopping by, hope you like my Bard postcard

Have a great day

CHEERS!!

Making ATCs with Gelli Print Backgrounds

Hello all, today I got a wonderful goodie package from my friend Terri Richardson. I always love getting packages from her, she sends me the most wonderful art and little trinkets. In this package she sent me some ATC backgrounds and this particular one caught my eye.

I don't know how she created the background but I could picture it with Kira Nicholas' stamp

Waving Spotted Monster

I have some people that I want to send an ATC to so I decided to create two more of my own as well.

I have some gelli print background that I made awhile back and I use them when I see the need. I decided to grab some up and cut them down to ATC size. These are the two I ended up with

I also wanted to make my own wash tape with some gelli prints so I cut some to the size I wanted and wrote the word Hello on it

My friend Terri also sent me this wonderful homemade stencil and I used it on one of my background along with some archival ink

I just love this stencil, it's my new favorite!

I added some doodles with a white paint pen and a black pitt pen

I stamped my monster onto some white card stock and colored him with copic markers

Here are my finished ATCs

These will be going to a new home next week. I hope you have a happy day and thanks once again for stopping by

Cheers!!