Opening Ceremonies Today!

As mentioned in an earlier post I am quite the fan of the Olympics.  We'll all be gathering around the TV tonight to watch the Opening Ceremonies and gearing up to cheer on the red, white & blue.  If I get my act together I may even be able to kill two birds with one stone and get some crafty stuff done while I'm watching.  Then again, that might require me to be super-organized.  Given my Procrastination Goddess title this may not work out.

First off for me will be cheering for the US Womens' Soccer team.  Several of the players play for our local Women Sounders team.  Can't wait to watch them this weekend as I had to miss the first game.  What about you?  Are you ready for some sporty action or would you rather the whole thing just be over with.  No worries.  I won't hold it against you.  ;)

Neon is in the House!

Better yet...in the Attic!  I just listed these bright, fun cupcake tags in my Etsy shop.

These would be a great addition to a birthday present, your homemade goodies, a hostess gift, or a scrapbook page.  Check them out HERE.

I've also added some fun speech bubble embellishements that are perfect for smash books or lunch box notes or cupcake toppers or... (you get the idea).

You can see them HERE and HERE.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a spectacular day!

Paper Posies

I love using recycled items and am especially drawn to projects that use old books.  I originally saw this idea on Pinterest and thought they'd be pretty in my workspace.  I grabbed an old copy of the USA Hockey Official Rules of Ice Hockey (my husband is a coach - this is not something I would casually peruse on long summer afternoons).  It struck me as kinda funny to use hockey pages for pretty flowers; I'm quirky that way.   I had some old floral wire and floral tape laying around and then hot glued some buttons in the centers.

Here are my pretty posies:

I also made the following card for the CASual Fridays Back in Black challenge. 

I've had the alterations texture fades sitting around unused and yesterday I stumbled across a video of Tim Holtz demonstrating them.  It had never occured to me to use the sticky back canvas squares I had purchased for a home decor project.  I ran the canvas through my Big Shot with the sunburst texture fade then inked it up with some Distress Inks and roughed up the edges a bit.  I wanted to keep the black background but create a subtle mat so I cut a black mat and misted it with gold glimmer mist to make it stand out just a smidge.  "Happy Trails" is also embossed in gold.  The final touch was to dry emboss a wavy line for the horse and cowboy to gallop along.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look and my creative endeavors today.

Are you a Tricker or a Treater?

I'm starting to gear up to get some Halloween happiness for my Etsy shop.  Halloween is my favorite holiday - hands down.  My work space has been cleared and I'm ready to pull out all of my Halloween goodies - stamps, papers, ribbon.  Visions of bats, ghosts, spiders and witches are filling my head.  Bits of green, black, purple and orange will soon be scattered about and I've already listed some items in the shop.  Here is a sampling:

Adorn your Sweet Treats with these fun, hand-stamped Sweet Treat tags.  Don't worry...these spiders won't bite.

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!  These Halloween-hued scalloped circles can be used many different ways:  tie with string for a treat bag tag, sprinkle down the middle of the table, or tape onto a toothpick for cupcake toppers.

When I made these zombie-esque tags I actually had Frankenstein's daughter in mind.  Each one is hand-stamped and then colored with vibrantly-colored copic markers that coordinate with the color of the cardstock base. 

Trick or Treat Gift Tags will look great dangling from packages or hung on old, gnarly branches for Halloween decor.

I'm still enjoying summer - the sun is actually peeking out today in Seattle, but Halloween will be on our doorstep before you know it.

Have a splendid day!

London 2012!

I'm already getting Olympics fever.  We are counting down the days until the Opening Ceremonies.

I have always loved watching the Olympics.  The first one I can recall is the 1972 Summer Olympics watching US gymnast Cathy Rigby with her little ponytails.  I was a geeky little 8-year-old taking gymastics at the local YMCA and was so sad that my mom cut my hair too short to wear the same little ponytails.  I was convinced that I could be just like her and be in the Olympics some day.  My athletic career took a turn the next year when I started synchronized swimming.  I competed for many years but it wasn't an Olympic sport until my synchro days were over.  The sport has changed SO much since I was in it and it's amazing to me what the swimmers do now.  Their athleticism is masked so beautifully by their technical skills.  The idea that anything is possible if you work hard enough for it still inspires me and as much as I regret the commercialization I like to hear the back stories of the athletes and see them working toward that often-elusive Gold Medal.

I have brainwashed my youngest into being just as enthusiastic as I am.  (My older kids are teenagers and "have better things to do"...LOL).  We're getting our red, white & blue out and I made this to hang over the TV while we cheer on Team USA to victory. 

I masked the letters and sprayed them with red glimmer mist.  Then I inked up my fingers with diluted Faded Jeans Distress Ink and spritzed it over the top (note to self:  next time spritz in a box.  I had blue droplets ALL OVER my desk and everything on it).  That wasn't quite enough so I dabbed on some red Barn Door Distress Ink and a bit more of the Faded Jeans.  After I pulled off the masks I outlined in red to make the letters stand out.

The rosettes were easy to make by just accordion folding strips of paper and gluing in the middle.  A little patterned paper, buttons and ribbon and we've got an embellishment.

I found a picture of the 2012 Gold Medal online and printed a couple out.  A little spray of gold glimmer mist over the top makes them shine.  I'm convinced this will give our athletes that little edge.  Go Team USA!

9 more days...

Psst...Here's the Scoop...

Did I get your attention?

I don't really have any juicy news.  But here's a new card.  I have no clue where the inspiration for this card came from.  We've had thunderstorms today (love it!) - very uncharacteristic for the Seattle area.  Maybe that's what led me to using my cloud dies for a double scoop ice cream cone.  It is summer after all.

I made this for the CASual Fridays Let's Strip challenge.  I know what you're thinking.  Let's not go there.  Instead picture me reaching into my drawer that houses pink and red paper scraps.  Oh...the card...here 'tis:

I glued itty bits of assorted pink paper scraps to a piece of cardstock and cut them out with my Memory Box cloud die (same for the double scoop of green polka dot paper).  The cone part is kraft paper that I cut to shape and embossed.  Distress Ink around all the edges and a few strategically placed foam dots finished off my ice cream cone.  A bit of twine and a stamped sentiment and we've got a card!

Thanks for taking a peek.  :)

Hey, Super Star

I was so busy for a while with end of school stuff and Etsy orders that I didn't get much of a chance to just play.  Now that things have calmed down a bit I'm back to dinkin' around with stamps and ink.

This card is for a couple of challenges:  Top Tip Tuesday's Masculine theme and CASual Friday's Text theme. 

When I think of guy cards I automatically reach for kraft and think stars.  I know...not very original but it's just the way my brain works.  This probably looks more complicated than it is; it came together very quickly. 

•  I cut the stars from a book page that had been colored with Distress Inks.  A couple of scores later I had 3D stars and added a dot of Stickles in the center of each.
• I stamped the star border and sentiment directly on the kraft base and colored a couple of letters with watercolor pencils.
• A strip of washi tape and another block of book text complete the right side and the strip of wood grain on the bottom was left over from another project.
• The red strip tied with hemp string slips over the card to keep it closed  (it's a lopsided gate-fold card).

TOP TIP:  Use watercolor pencils to add color on a kraft base.  The color will really stand out.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Summer!

Doing a little more dabbling today with paper, ink & stamps.  This one is for the Tuesday Trigger challenge over at Moxie Fab World.  This is the inspiration:

First I was thinking of doing some kind of banner thingie - those triangles were calling my name.  But then I thought about a card I saw this morning (which of course I can't find now) during my daily blog crawl.  It had the word "birthday" repeatedly stamped down the left side of the card and then "happy" on a banner stretching across the top - hard to describe but really great design and in bright, happy colors. 

I used both of these as inspiration - the colors from the image above and the repetitive words from the card I came across to come up with this one:

The "happy" stamp is from the Stampin Up "Happy Everything" set  I bought a long time ago - great purchase.  I'm constantly reaching for stamps from this set.  "Summer" is from a Doodlebug alphabet set - great font.  The bakers twine is canteloupe from Divine Twine.  A bit o' bling in the shape of orange Stickles tops it off (can you see them on the sun?).

I really like the happy, summery colors of this and think I'll be sending it to my mom tomorrow to brighten her day, too.

Thanks for stopping by.

Food Fresh Challenge

Paper Smooches is a company that offers cute and punny stamps.  I don't have any of their stamps yet (my wish list is ever-growing though) but was able to play along with the Sparks challenge this week since they generously offer quite a few digital freebies.

When I saw this berry stamp and sentiment I thought it was perfect for the Food Fresh challenge as well as the Stamp It! Love Card Challenge at Moxie Fab World.

I printed out the large berry several times and colored the layers using Copics (BV00, BV02, BV04).  Then I cut parts of the berry and popped up bits of it using foam dots.  I really had to resist the urge to add purple Stickles to it and opted for a little color removal with the blending pen instead.  The stem and leaves were printed on green polka dot patterned paper which were also highlighted with Copics (YG63, YG11).  I opted for a woodgrain embossed background (looking out my window at the blackberry bushes attempting to take over my backyard I can just make out those woody stems) rather than a plain lavendar.

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome Baby Mini Album

I just finished packing up a mini labor of love.  One of my customers requested a Baby's First Year Mini Album for her little boy.  She wanted one based on the design of this one in my Etsy shop, but with brighter colors.  This is what I came up with (beware - photo heavy!):

I had a blast creating this and have so many ideas floating around my noggin for more. 

In other news we had a wonderful 4th of July celebrating with my sister and her family.  The grey and drizzly skies of the past few weeks brightened miraculously to make a perfect day for a summer celebration and we had a great time playing badminton, grilling up some goodies and watching a traditional fireworks display over Commencement Bay.  Couldn't ask for a better 4th.  I hope yours was wonderful as well.

Cheers!

DIY Garden Markers

I love to grow herbs and other plants that produce edible goodies.  I saw these on Pinterest and knew I had to make some.  My mom and sisters have quite the green thumbs as well so I made some extras to share the love.

These were super easy to make.  I bought some Fimo and rolled it into logs.  I flattened the top a smidge with my fingers and then stamped the herb name with alphabet stamps and Staz-On black ink.  A little cooking in the oven and they are good to go.

My mom's should arrive in the mail today.  Hope she likes them!