Thinking of You...

I haven't played along with the Stampotique Designers Challenge in quite a while so today was the day.  The challenge is to use Purple/Pink with Black. 

A very dear friend just found out that her mom has advanced cancer.  I feel so sad for her.  One can never be prepared for that kind of news, but I hope I can offer a little solace by letting her know I'm there for her and I care.

Twelve Tags - February

I love Tim Holtz's style - vintage-y and grungy with a little bling and pizzazz.  While I loved following his 12 Tags of Christmas series that is such a busy time of year that I didn't get a chance to play along.  His new format, a tag a month, is a perfect shift.  Here's what Tim did for February:

I tweaked it as best I could with the supplies I have to come up with this:

Tell me you can see the inspiration.  :)  Instead of stamping and embossing with a coordinating folder I heat embossed a really cool vintagey pencil background image.  The inks I used to color the tag are Barn Door, Worn Lipstick, Walnut Stain and Pumice Stone.  My local search for seam binding to stain has been unsuccessful so I tore some cotton fabric and stained that.  Worked pretty well, I think.  Here's a close up of the bottom part:

Thanks for stopping by!



Playing with Pretty Paper to Produce a Pyramid

What is it about the letter P that makes it fun to say?  As I started writing this post about my latest project I couldn't help but throw all those P words in there.  ANYWAY ... my Facebook followers have already seen this but if you missed it I recently created this paper wonder for a challenge going on at my local scrapbooking store, Urban Scrapbooker. 

Every month Brooke sells a monthly kit loaded with paper and embellishments and challenges us to come up with something unique and wonderful.  I have never participated but have wanted to and I was especially intrigued by the February kit she chose - Authentique's Gathering line.  This line is not something I would normally choose - I'm not a big orange and floral fan - but I was tempted by those lucious rubenesque poppies. (Can poppies be rubenesque?  I don't know.)  Wanting to do something other than a scrapbook layout, I decided to tweak the traditional and go for a pyramid box with a mini album nestled inside.  My apologies for some of these photos - should have taken them all at the same time.

Here is the the box closed.  I took some pictures and let the box sit on my mantle for a couple of days to see how I liked it.  I decided to add some flat teal marbles as feet on the bottom - just what the doctor ordered.  Lots of fun little details - added some pearls, glitter, watch parts, beads and irididescent mist to glam it up a bit.

When the little triangle on top is lifted off the sides fall open to reveal a triangular accordion mini album sitting on the bottom.  I haven't added any pictures yet, but there's room on both sides for the pages for a little something.  I decorated the box sides with stamps, die cuts and glitter as well. 

Thanks for looking at my little project.  I really enjoyed making this and it came together really quickly.  Try one!

Mischief is Afoot!

I'm starting to think about St. Patrick's Day.  I love it.  WAY back I had ancestors living in County Cork, Ireland so I heartily embrace this holiday (Alright...reality check.  Even without the speck of Irish blood I'd probably embrace it anyway).  In addition to having green food and throwing back a pint of suds we are visited by mischievous leprechauns on St. Patrick's Eve.  We always wake up to things being all topsy turvy and out of place.  The first time this happened the kids were really little and it was so cute watching them race around to see what those leprechauns had gotten into.  Here's a scrapbook layout a did (be kind...this was quite a while ago!) documenting their mischief.

As I was thinking about St. Pat's I decided to throw a little green cheer into the shop.  These simple yet bling-y Shamrock Tags are perfect for hanging on treat bags or marking a mischievous leprechaun spot.  They'd also be great attached to some twine or ribbon for a festive garland.

Do you have any St. Patrick's Day traditions?  I'd love to hear about them.  Top o' the day to ya'!

Win some, Lose Some

Long time, no see.  My studio (I like to call it that though in reality it's a tiny room in my home.) has not seen much creative activity of late.  Don't get me wrong.  I've been busy.  A quick Girls Weekend with my mom and sisters in Palm Desert was fabulous - gorgeous weather and excellent company.  I came home to several orders for Mario and Perry invites in the shop.  These little babies are a smidge labor intensive meaning no time to play around this week.  This morning however I decided to get out the goodies and play a bit.  Who would guess that all of this

led to a simple little tag?  I know, crazy, right?  Believe it or not all of this stuff is really on there. I made this for the Grungy Monday Challenge over at Studio L3.  Their challenges involve creating something Tim Holtz-inspired (check out Tim's blog- great tutorials) using his products and/or techniques and Simon Says Stamp is the sponsor.  Ready?  Here's what I came up with (click on the picture to see it better) ...

 

Here's a little Top Tip Tuesday Tip:  See that ribbony business on top?  I've been eyeballing the beautiful, scrunchy, colored seam binding that so many have been using on their projects and wanting to give a go at dying my own.  Since I couldn't find seam binding I used bias tape instead.  It's not the same thing.  It takes color nicely but that cool, crinkly effect?  Nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.  Lesson learned.

Time to get back to work on shop stuff.  Thanks for taking a peek and Happy Sunday!

I love the little monsters

I teach at a preschool 4 days a week.  It's a blast.  The little kidlets certainly keep me on my toes and it never ceases to amaze and delight me when they discover some new and amazing thing or reach some new milestone.  As I was packing up this box of invitations for one of my customers this morning I was thinking about my little preschool monsters.  I wonder what mischief we'll get into today.  :)

Paper Bag Puppet Cards are the best sellers in my Etsy shop; especially the Mario bunch.

Hmmmm...makes me think today would be a good day to make some paper bag puppets with my little monsters...

Shot Through the Heart...

... and you're to blame, darlin', you give lo-o-ove a bad name.

Hands down Halloween is my favorite holiday.  Every year it tugs at my heart a little to pack away the ghoulish and creepy stamps and papers that I have lovingly collected.  Imagine my surprise and delight to find the Haunted Design House blog where a weekly challenge is posted.  Creepy is good.  I like that.

This week's challenge is Shot Through the Heart.  Here's my take on it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Share the Love with Etsy

Busy, busy week.  So busy, in fact, that I haven't had a chance to play around with paper OR ink OR scissors. Bummer.

I did want to check in ever-so-quickly to share a card that I made for Etsy's annual Share the Love Event.  The quickie spiel is that Etsy coordinates with Citymeals on Wheels to get Valentines to the elderly participating in the program. So on Feb 14th not only will they receive a hot meal and an encouraging word but also a handmade Valentine with a little 'wishing you well' message on the inside. 

If you'd like to participate by sending this card you can purchase it from the shop for only $2.50 and not only will I write your message inside BUT I will also slap a stamp on it and send it on its merry way.  If you'd rather make or buy a different card by all means please do.  No need to be involved with Etsy in any way; it's all about brightening up the day for some people who are having a rough time.

Just keep in mind that cards have to be RECEIVED by Etsy by Feb. 7th.  No time to waste - hurry!

Updated to Add:  I made a bunch of these little minis to send too!

Thanks and Happy Friday!