Just playin' around...

Thought I'd dabble in my embossing powders again today.

My day's not complete until I plug in the heat gun!

Believe it or not, I painstakingly tinted the ribbon to match the large pink flower!

Why do our photos do this to us?  

With the outside temperatures well over 100, I do my flower-gazing indoors!

This card is entered into the challenges at:

The Shabby Tea Room (inspiration photo)
Sentimental Sundays (Posies and Sentiment)

DYSU is Under The Sea!

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps
* $10 Gift Certificate 



The Stamping Boutique
* Winner’s Choice of 3 Digis

Melonheadz -  http://melonheadzillustrating.blogspot.com/
* $15 Gift Certificate
 

Challenge #74...

I used the Melonheadz "Mermaid" image,

and had so much fun making this cute little card!

You might say her little starfish lost its' "charm" when I lopped off the ring and chose not to use it as a charm but as a hair barrette!

I have really gotten to where I love working with these step cards! It gives a nice perspective when you want to highlight a particular element.

My netting was a combination of

May Arts green mesh and a white veggie bag from the grocery store! LOL!

The "sand" is Stampendous "Crushed Glass Glitter" in Gold and Fresh Green.

The sparkle on the mermaid is simply Stickles.

The image is colored with Copics, and the background is embossed with

Cuttlebug, "Swiss Dots".

That pretty much wraps it up!

Have a great day!

Jan

Hey, Friend!

Welcome to the next stop of your hop at

Waltzing Mouse!

The challenge this month is to use felt or cozy fabrics!

If you've gotten here by other means due to the challenge at
Stampendous,
Thank You and please enjoy my project!

Sentiments are by Stampendous

Dotted frame is Waltzing Mouse, Vintage Labels

I decided to recycle something from my stash of boxes, containers,

and objects that I have hoarded for the last 2 years. 

After pulling out the only felt shapes I own (Heartfelt, CTMH) , I recalled having an empty Close To My Heart kit box from back in the early days of my scrapping!

It was perfect for decorating and using as a future gift box!

I'm always looking for a clever way to give something special that's a bit different from the everyday.

I stamped and heat embossed the label from the "Vintage Labels" set, and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the coordinating Labels 18...easy!

The Close To My Heart punch-out felt pieces made it pretty easy, too!

This was as simple as just a card to make, and it will be such a fun gift to give!

What shall I fill it with?  The options are many!

 I made the little matching gift card, adding the felt and embossing.

Thanks for taking the time to hop today!

And before you hop on, please remember Claire in your prayers, and send her strength to continue all the wonderful accomplishments she's had thus far.   
Please show your appreciation to ALL the women in your lives, today and everyday;
mothers, daughters, family, friends, neighbors,...
We tend to take them for granted,
assuming that they are doing what they do because it is expected of them.  
We are strong when we need to be strong,
and tender when the situation requires it.
Love each other.

Cardstock:  Bazzill
Stamps:  Waltzing Mouse (Vintage Labels),
Stampendous (Happy Messages, Sunny Flowers)
Die:  Spellbinders Nesties, Labels 18
Embossing powders: Stampendous

Also entered into the challenge at
Stampendous Impressions (Gift Box and card)

A little birdie told me....

I was so excited to see the Design Team's theme this week!

BIRDS!

Enter and you could win:

Meljen's Designs - http://www.meljensdesigns.com/
* Winner Choice of 4 Images



Robyn's Fetish - http://robynsfetish.com
* Winner’s Choice of 5 Digital Stamps


Little Claire's Designs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Love in the Spring"

I had been working on this project for my submission to

Stampendous Impressions (May challenge - a gift item)
for over a week, and knew it would be great to post it here for my

 "Do You Stack Up?"  
friends, too!

I decided to take pictures as I went along as a type of photo tutorial...and to give a tip or two on what to do and NOT to do!

Now, let's begin...

I started with this simple metal bird cage I have used a a photo backdrop
for a long time.

It seriously needed a facelift!

I wanted to give a vintage, old look to the papers on the bottom of the cage (twigs),

so I spritzed some old music sheets with a variety of colors of glimmer-type mists.

After letting several layers of the color dry thoroughly,

 I ran them through our paper shredder.

(I use it more as a scrap tool than to shred bank statements!)

 I also misted the silk ivy vines just to give them a hint of shimmer.

A tiny bit of moss gives the "female bird" something soft
for her and her eggs to rest on.

The next step has a warning included...lol!

Plastic "eggs" can NOT be heat embossed!

They looked adorable until they started collapsing on themselves. 
Kind of hilarious, and sad at the same time....
Next time, I may choose to go with wooden eggs...
But, I didn't have the energy to run out to my local craft store, so I needed to come up with a simpler solution...using the plastic ones....

This didn't stop me from using my favorite "go-to" bird egg finish...
Stampendous, Shabby Blue Embossing Powder.
I simply covered them with glue and sprinkled the perfectly colored powder all over the eggs and let them dry. A spritz of matte sealer, and they're good to go!
Still the perfect "bird egg blue"!

Oh, wait, the fun's not over!
If you've read along this far, thank you so very much!
For the record, this IS the longest post I've ever put together!

Next, I stamped two copies of the bird from Stampendous "Jumbo Songbird" rubber stamp onto a fine cream muslin and layered it with some batting.  Then, I sewed around the shapes and cut them out, producing two cute, PUFFY little birds as blank canvases.



What is terrific is that fabric heat embosses quite well!
A teensy bit of glue to hold the embossing glitters in place and hitting it with a heat gun is so easy!
Stays right where you want it, and will NEVER rub off!
They HAD to have some tiny rhinestone eyes, too!

I frayed and inked the edges of the birds to give them an even more rustic appearance.
A little Stampendous, Powder Blue Fran'tage Color Fragments
sprinkled into the "nest",
and then I assembled the cage.  (Eggs, Birds, Ivy...)

As the finishing touch, I added the Prima flowers to match the hues of my mother's  sofa and a splash of color to the project!

Ta-da!

Hopefully, this is going on my mother's end table in her livingroom.
She loves all things "country", and especially, birds.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Stampendous, "Jumbo Songbird"
Embossing Powder: Stampendous

This project is also being entered in the challenge at
LESSology (Birds of a Feather)

Again, thanks for all of your patience and reading through this post!

Kathy's got a giveway!

Kathy, at "The Daily Marker" , has a wonderful give-away from Simon Says Stamps!

If you like vintage, and are looking for an easy gift box,

check it out!

Simply leave a comment and post on your own blog, FB, or Twitter!

While you're there, peruse Kathy's past projects and become a follower, if you're not already!

Show and Tell at DoodleDragon!

The team at Doodle Dragon is at it again!

With so many terrific images to pick from,

it's easy to create some fun cards for Summer!

My grandson will be resuming his swim lessons in a few weeks,

and he loves getting my Dustin Pike cards!

I'm not sure what level comes next in his class, but after dolphin,

it MAY very well be"Torpedo"! LOL!

As for me, I don't swim. Never did learn, so it's all very impressive....

I colored and cut TWO of the gator images so that I could layer one curved and have it hovering over the bottom one.  Also, the areas of his jaw and "hands" are underwater, and therefore cut off of the top image.  Much harder to see the added dimension in the photos than IRL!

I also had an excuse to use some of my little metal flipflop charms!

Also, spritzed him with "Goose Bumps" to give him the look of a toy rubber raft.

(Thanks, Jenn!)

Perhaps this photo helps....

I love his little patch and the air valve.

Have a great week,

and thanks for looking! 

Your comments always make my day!

~Jan~

Thinking of You!

Hello! 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

It's much too hot to do anything outdoors here in Phoenix in the afternoon,

so I am staying comfy in my A/C!

I was playing with my beads today and decided to make this cute little butterfly

pin for a card!

I pulled out an old Nikki Sivils paper pack,

and decided that this paper was perfect!

 I fussy cut and popped up one cloud and wrapped the sentiment

onto the flower stem with some twine!

The Unity butterfly stamp and the sentiment were both heat embossed with

Stampendous', Dark Bark detail embossing powder!

It's the best for capturing every tiny element of your stamped images!

Products that enabled me:

Unity, "Bevy of Butterflies" stamps

Nikki Sivils, "Willow Bee" papers

The Twinery, black and white twine

Stampendous Embossing Powder

Beads,  JoAnn's

This card is entered in the monthly challenge at:

Unity Stamp Company (Stripes)



Doodle Dragon Challenge time!

It's that time again,

and it's a sketch challenge!

I love the funny images Dustin Pike comes up with!

This one really felt perfect for the HOT days we've been having in Phoenix! 

The day I made this card, it was 106 degrees, 
with little sign of it getting much cooler. 
We have forest fires burning everywhere!

So, on a lighter note, here's how OUR summer Bar-B-Q usually ends up!

No, just kidding!

I colored the image with Copics, except for the apron. (which is paper pieced) Then fussy-cut and popped it up. Last, added a bit of Glossy Accents and Stickles.

The DP is Echo Park, This and That, "Charming".

I wanted some flies for the elements on the side, but didn't have anything that fit the bill.  So, I made my own... hey, I tried.

Again, I love these images and it's always fun to send these to folks!
I get the best compliments when I use a Doodle Dragon image!

Check them out here!   You can get a slew of them for very little money!

(Yes, slew is a word...LOL!)

Have a terrific weekend!

Jan

Home Sweet Home

The inspiration for this little card came from the sketch challenge at

DCWV Diary!

Here's the sketch:

Now, let me explain. I have been trying very hard to follow the sketch but NOT to use the elements that are so obvious in the sketch.  In this case, it would have been  simple to throw a large, single flower on the card with some twine.

Here's what I chose to do:

First off, I flipped the sketch on its' side.

Rather than a flower or a one-dimensional object, I used yellow netting and made a small "scrubby" like those we use in the kitchen.  For the banner pieces, or "leaves" (whatever someone may see in the sketch), I decided to place a folded kitchen "towel" over the laundry lines.

I found DCWV papers that resembled retro wallpaper for the chevron cuts.

The little clothespin was just for fun!

I love taking a sketch and making something rather UNEXPECTED with it!

Supplies:

Papers; DCWV, Celebration

Cord; Simplicity, Twisted Cord

Clothespin; Darice

Cloth; An actual cut-up kitchen towel!



DYSU Challenge #72-Landscapes!

Copic Marker Scrapbooking 6 copic ciao marker (North/South America), Martha Stewart punch (rest of the world)  Pink Cat Studio Winner’s Choice of 5 Digis The Ribbon Reel £10 Gift Voucher

I used the landscape image from Copic Marker Scrapbooking,

"Emerald City".

The glitter card base is American Crafts, and the Oz characters are Graphic 45 stamps.

I hadn't had a reason to use them yet.

Emerald City gets its' sparkle from Lime Green Stickles.

Everything is colored with Copics.

I tried to come up with a small poppy flower, and my MS punch is all I had. I wanted SOME sort of red/orange flowers for the field. 

(My first attempt at "dotting" them on ended up in the trash.)

Inside of card:

Please forgive the photo.  The card wouldn't sit up straight, and rather than grab a frog, I tried to take it "as is". The sentiment box IS stright and even...lol!

I had a good time putting this one together!

It really took me outside of my comfort zone.

Please check out the rest of the Design Team's projects!

And, as always, lots of prizes up for grabs!

Also, speaking of prizes, I am in real need for some VINTAGE "Alice" stamps!

 In an effort to win some, I've entered this card in the challenge at:

The Altered Alice (anything goes)

Join in!