Busy Week making teacher and staff appreciation gifts.

This week was teacher and staff appreciation week at our school.  I made all the teachers cards (which I forgot to take a picture of) and handed those out on Tuesday.  Tomorrow (Friday) we are celebrating our staff.  For this celebration I created a bottle hanger on my gypsy using the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge and the George cartridge.  I am so happy with the results. 

I used a door hanger from TBBM and hid the oval circle cut out and placed a circle cut out from GBS and welded a rectangle to the bottom of the hanger to score and fold up making a pocket.  In the pocket I have a cereal bar and a drink mix to add to the water.  To decorate the pocket, I used the owl from Create a Critter and the "Thanks So Much" sentiment from the Stamping cartridge.  I made 42 of these :)

Thanks for stopping by and I will post my Mother's Day card this weekend.

Winner from Artsy Addicts Blog Hop!!!

The winner of the stampology stamps from the Artsy Addicts Blog Hop is........

MIRIAM  who wrote "beautiful, love it!"  congratulations Miriam and I hope you enjoy your stamps.  Please send me an address so I can mail these out to you...

Welcome to:

Artsy Addicts First Blog Hop

So many techniques !! and so little time so we simply picked our favorites and you will get to see them all on this hop.

If you just came from http://www.flora-creativescrappin.blogspot.com/ you are on the right track!  If not, you will want go back to the beginning at Angee's blog (http://www.angeeleebutler.com/), to check out all the techniques being shared along the hop.

Now for my technique!

Marion Smith intrigued me with her alcohol ink on acetate video where she created acetate butterflies.  I decided to try this on a larger scale and created a 9X12 acetate overlay for one of my favorite pictures of my daughter. 

Materials needed are:
Alcohol inks (I used three colors)
Blending tool
Blending Medium
9X12 Acetate Sheet
Stamps
Staz on black ink
12X12 piece of cardstock
favorite picture
Bling and embellishments

Place felt on your blending tool and add desired alcohol ink color to the felt in desired amounts.  The more color you add, the darker the coloring will be.  On a covered work surface and starting off the page, blend ink by rubbing tool in circular motion around the edges of acetate and moving to the center of page  This will place the darker coloring around the outer edge.  Add more ink to felt as needed. 

To blend colors more and make intersting designs in your ink, sqeeze small amounts of blending medium on acetate.  You may use your blending tool to blend colors together more.  To create the areas of really intense color, I simply used the tip of the alcohol ink bottle as a pen and "drew" on the acetate.  Be careful to use light pressure.  If you do not like the way the colors are blending, you can simply clean off acetate with the blending medium and begin again.

I love this stained glass effect!

I then wanted to "erase" an area of ink in the area I wanted to place my picture. Blending medium was applied to a felt pad and I simply wiped the alcohol ink away to provide a clear space for the picture to show through.

Then it was time to grab my favorite stamps and my Staz On Jet Black ink pad.  I stamped the images directly on the acetate being very careful not to let them slide under too much pressure. 

The following pictures are simply showing the stamped fairies, mushrooms, dragonflies, and butterflies.

After I completed my stamping, I then began putting my 12X12 layout together.  I added the matted picture first and then added bling and embellishments to complete the project. 

I have also included the acetate butterflies I made to add as bling.  These were made using Marion Smith's technique and you can locate the video for this on her blog.

I love these bubble stickers :)

Love metal embellies as well....

 

 The finished product.  My lighting is horrible and this doesn't do it justice.  I truly loved the way it looked finished. I of course had to use my cricut for the bee and the knock knock title....

The picture below shows the inks a little better. 

I hope you enjoyed my technique.  Please become a follower if you like what you see.  I will be giving away a stamp set to a lucky visitor who leaves a comment and becomes a follower.  I will draw the winner on Sunday.  Please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you if you win!  Thanks for stopping by and

Your next stop is Heidi at http://www.gothamcitystampers.com/. 

Enjoy the rest of the hop! 

TAX DAY BLUES BLOG HOP!!

Welcome to the Tax Day Blues Blog Hop!!! Below is a list of the bloggers participating in the hop, in case you get lost along the way. I am your 6th hop, if you came from: Elaine, Expressions by Elaine, you are on the right track! If not, please go back to Angie, at Tuttle Time to start the Hop at the beginning!  Here is the  entire list.

1. Angie, TuttleTime, http://atuttletime.blogspot.com/
2. Ellen, Craft Monkey, http://cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com/
3. Tristan, Tristan’s Time4Craftin, http://tristans-time-4-craftin.blogspot.com/
4. Tammy, Nesting Pretty, http://nestingpretty.blogspot.com/
5. Elaine, Expressions by Elaine, http://ExpressionsByElaine.blogspot.com/
6. Angelia, http://angeliaspapercrafts.blogspot.com/ (FB: Angelia Upchurch)  YOU ARE HERE!!!!
7. Belinda, Bee’s Hive of Drama, http://www.beeshiveofdrama.blogspot.com/
8. Mary, http://marebearscraps.blogspot.com/
9. Wendy, http://gilbyscraftster.blogspot.com/
10. Jackie, http://mybasketofscraps.blogspot.com/
11. Jill, http://thescrapoholic.blogspot.com/
12. Leah, http://www.leahscarddesigns.com/
14. Mary J., http://maryjaminski.blogspot.com/
15. Tiffany, http://mysweetlemonadedreams.blogspot.com/
16. http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/

Now for my project!  I had read and heard of using a lit candle held close to white cardstock to color and distress paper with the soot.  Since this was a new technique for me I thought I would try it for this hop. 

I held the paper over the top of the birthday candle really close (be careful not to set the paper on fire -- yes I really did so I am speaking from experience hee hee).  The outcome is pictured below:



Once you have the layer of soot that you like, you stamp an uninked image into the soot to create a negative image.  I used Tim Holtz stamps, pictured below:

You must spray the negative image with spray sealer and let it dry completely before creating your card.  Below is my finished card!

The paper stack is DCWV Tradewinds collection as well as navy blue and black cardstock.  The card is an 8X3 1/2 inch top folded card.  The patterned paper is cut to 7 5/8 X 3 1/8 inches.  The white cardstock with the negative image stamped into the soot is cut at 5 1/2 X 2 3/4 inches.

I also added Navy blue and Chocolate Brown sheer ribbon with a small key attached to the tied knot.  The life's journey metal embellishment is threaded onto the navy blue ribbon.  There are also negative images inside the card.  Below is a close up of the saying stamped in soot and located on the left hand side of the inside of the card.

I hope you enjoyed my project!

I will be adding blog candy this weekend so come back for another project and some candy!   If you like this project, and want to see more like this please become a follower.

Thanks  for stopping by.
Your next stop is: Belinda, Bee’s Hive of Drama, http://www.beeshiveofdrama.blogspot.com/
***************************



April Card Exchange

Here is the latest card I made for the Tuttle Monthly Card Exchange.  The ladies in this exchange are so talented and all the cards are simply beautiful!  I can' wait to open the package and often stalk my mailbox when I know they have been mailed out.   Thanks Angie for organizing this wonderful monthly exchange!

Paper is DCWV and I used my texture boutique with the swiss dots folder to emboss the background paper.  I used a border embossing folder for the flower border on the light blue cardstock.  The butterfly is three dimensional and the stamp is a stampabilities stamp.  Simply love making cards and any excuse to emboss or use my Cricut!

Monthly Card Exchange

Wow!  It has been an incredibly long time since my last post.  Below is a picture of the card I made for last month's card exchange.  I love my Gypsy and being able to complete the design and then layering multiple pieces to cut out the pieces.   The bee is from the Serenade cartridge and the paper is DCWV. 

This week I will be posting information about a blog hop that I will be in along with some blog candy that I will give away during the Tax Day Blues Hop.  Stay Tuned!

Wedding 12X12 Framed Layout

This is my hubby's Valentine's Day gift from me.  I made it instead of making a card.   I am so happy with the way it turned out.  Hobby Lobby had the 12X12 Scrapbook frame on sale for 50%.  I created a layout with DCWV Black Current paper stack.  The love ticket was cut on my Cricut and then also written on using my cricut pen.  The flowers and bling flourish were Prima.  The letter blocks were sent to me by Mariam for winning her blog hop drawing (thanks Mariam for all the goodies)!  I will add more pictures to show more of the layered details.  I inked with Tim Holtz distress ink the tag and smaller circle to make them appear aged.

On the pink ribbon is a wedding ring bling piece also from Mariam's bag of goodies! The heart on top of the flower is acetate.  I used flat back pearl in both white and charcoal to bling up the heart cutout.  Pictures are framed in acetate frames that have silver edgings.

This saying was perfect for my layout.  I wrote our names and and our wedding date as well on the circle.  I think these would be PERFECT for wedding gifts!  I will post the altered mailbox and mini's that I made for my daughter tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by! 

I hope your Valentine's Day is filled with love...

Valentine's Card for Card Swap

A vintage Valentine's Day print takes centerstage on the front of the card I created for the Valentine's Day card swap.  This is the first card swap I have participated in and I am loving it as much as the tag swaps.  My next step is to complete a challenge.  Hmmmmm....

Motorcycle Albums

This year, for Christmas, I created mini albums for some of my family members who "Live to Ride".  It was tough to find motorcycle themed items where I live, but I am very excited how these albums turned out.  This pink, black and silver album was for my sister-in-law. 

The pictures for this album were added later :)  The belly band actually holds tags that also held pictures and journaling spots.  She seemed to love this album when she opened it. I definitely enjoyed making it!

This album was made for my mother-in-law and her boyfriend.  They also enjoy riding their "bike"  Both albums were placed inside altered boxes that were decorated with matching paper. 

This album contained pockets instead of the belly band to place the tags for pictures and journaling.  They also seemed to enjoy their album.

January Tag Swap with KinderStampo

Above is my tag for the January Tag Swap with KinderStampO.  I throughly enjoyed designing this on my new Gypsy.  I welded a postage stamp window and bird cage cut from some of my favorite Cricut cartridges.  All cuts were made with my Cricut E -- which I love to play with.  The tag is kind of window with another smaller tag tucked into the "window" pocket.   I do not own any Peachy Keen stamps (although I would LOVE too!), so I simply drew a PKlike face on the bird.  I hope you like them!  I will be shipping them out in the morning..