A recycling project - settle in, long post ahead!

I don't know about you, but I've been eyeing everyday items lately. Usually I make cards, but this box seemed the perfect size for 'extras'. Originally it was the box for my Xyron Cheetah refill - now it's an excellent looking addition to my organizational products! lol Well, what I *wish* were my organizational products! ;)

Unfortunately I didn't start with a plan (hint: start with a plan!) so I did twice the work that was needed. It took me quite a while to fit together basic white card stock to cover all of the name brand stuff - my box was black, blue & orange but you can get the basic idea here. I thought I would cover it with thinner paper (stamped, of course!) and was worried that the colors would show through and make everything look wonky. Since the box wasn't exactly square (hey, it was stored for quite a while!) it was a task of monumental proportions to cover all the important bits. Of course I decided to cover it with a thick scrapbook paper after all that work. Of course I did. :roll eyes: I went to work and covered it again, this time trying to do an even better job. There were some flubs, but they're hardly noticeable now. :)

Once it was covered and glued down (and dried, again) I used my Tim Holtz flourish mask & added some new glittery VersaMark - but the sparkle wasn't enough! Perfect Pearls to the rescue! So, gold PP were dusted over the versamark - you can't even tell it started as the champagne color.

Here's a better shot of the gold (from head on you can barely tell they're there, even IRL). Yes, I did use the mask on everything except the bottom. You have to love the shimmer of perfect pearls! lol That, and I love the flourish mask to death....

Ah, do you see that gorgeous flower? I have a confession to make about that flower. I saw a video recently, in the last week I think, that showed how to make this flower. While I would love to share that video with you (and give credit, of course) I CAN'T FIND IT! I have searched through all of my history for the last three weeks; nothing. I went and searched through COTW (and got a little distracted); nada. I went through my Google Reader; zip. I know it was a post by a woman whose friend made her a quick video of how to do it (so the friend did the vid, not the poster) and I *think* she was from somewhere in Europe?! If this rings a bell for anyone, *at all*, please let me know!

So, I'll try to give you the basics that I followed. Using a large piece of white tissue paper I cut a bunch of circles using my Cuttlebug with a circle Nestie. And I do mean a *bunch*. I think there are 17 layers of circles in that flower! Because I wanted a close color match I chose to spray Walnut Ink (Tsukineko) on my craft mat and lay all the circles down. Then I spritzed with water and more ink until I liked the base color. While they were still (very) wet I pounced them with my Peony Scarlet Red Starburst Stain. (This came from Lindy's Stamp Gang - if you like Glimmer Mist, you will LOVE these - trust me!) I spritzed more water and pounced more color all over (all the circles were overlapping) then spritzed with more water & let them dry overnight. You can get a little bit of an idea of the glimmer of the SS in the pic.

The next day I folded the dried circles in half and stapled them in about the center of the circle (right next to the fold). Well, two of the circles were folded in quarters and stapled at the point - for the center. Then I just opened and stacked them up, using glue dots since they were handy. I checked every now and then to make sure everything looked good and spaced the bottom circles accordingly. Yes, I built it from the top down - easier to make sure you're still looking flower-like instead of blob-like! :) Finally I added the top two (mushed up next to each other) and did a little gentle scrunching. Ta Dah! It really takes much longer to write it out than to actually do it!

A little brown ribbon and a large brownish eyelet later and I was all finished. I think I'll do it again - perhaps in blue? What do you think? Like it?

As always, I appreciate your visit!

Another newsprint reveal and something entirely different!

Last time I showed you a newsprint reveal card that I made for a friend. I've made another card using the same technique, this time with a more Asian flair. Of course I *know* that I have an Asian newspaper here somewhere... maybe when I find it I'll redo this card on that paper.

This time I've used a mix of Distress Inks (Fired Brick and Dried Marigold) for a different look. You can still see the newsprint through the ink, but you could still faintly see it through the black too. I was a little irritated to notice that on the back side of my newspaper was a giant block of green - yes, that's what you see showing through on parts of the image. Guess I need to check the backs more carefully!

I stamped the background bamboo with black versafine. I guess I still haven't figured out that it doesn't dry well on coated paper! lol It doesn't look *bad*, you just have to be super careful not to smudge! :)

Ok, now on to the totally *different* project! :) Originally I made several of these tiles for a card. The card was only large enough for one - what to do with the rest?? Do something new, of course! :)

The tiles are originally chipboard squares that were painted with gesso. I added soft touches of ink and rub on's over that. A touch of radiant pearls (only in the flowers) completed the coloring. Finally I went over everything with a coat of glossy gel medium. Once that was dry I added the pearls, edged the squares with krylon pens and coated everything with Glossy Accents. These babies shine!

I still felt that they needed a little extra something (heh, when don't I feel that?!). Martha Steward butterfly punch to the rescue! I had some leftover paper that I had experimented on just waiting for that punch. Again, the paper was coated with gesso, inked with dye ink & 'finger painted' with clear gel medium. The punch had no difficulty cutting this thicker paper & the butterflies are a little more sturdy. They, too, needed something more - so a couple of spots of stickles went on the wings for bling.

I attached all three squares to sheer ribbon (actually a light orchid color) and then to a second sheer ribbon in white. More sticky back half pearls completed the front. And yes, that ribbon is folded over to make it possible to hang it. Although I will reconfigure that if I ever do another - make it easier to hang. You almost have to have a tiny little hanger to hang this one - but the friend I gave it to has plenty of wire and ingenuity! :) (Hi Chica!!)

To finish off the back I used some gold c/s and covered all the icky looking marks that showed where I attached the ribbons! lol Gotta make every angle look good, right? I didn't take a pic of the back, though. Wasn't all *that* cool looking! :)

Here's a final look at it - from a slightly different angle. This one really shows off that Glossy Accents shine to perfection.

Hope you enjoyed your visit! Come back soon for another 'altered' project!

Something funny!

I'm a member of Technique Junkies, but rarely make enough time to play with all of the great techies that come in the newsletter. Last time there was a technique called Newsprint Reveal which really called to me. It took me a while to find the right stamp, and once I did I had to find the right sentiment.

All I can say is - I think this is *funny*!!

And I can't possibly wait till I can give it to my friend. She has the same sense of humor... what?!? We're both funny! :D

I blinged up the background paper (GCD Studios, I believe) with a glitter pen on the flowers. Otherwise, I think it's pretty self explanatory. Inkadinkado birds, sentiment from River City Rubber Works, Versamark & clear ep and Black Soot distress ink. Quite the short supply list! lol

As always, if you've a question, let me know! :)

Thanks for dropping by!

Something sweet for a wedding/anniversary

Hello again! I thought I'd drop in and show you something soft and sweet. I think it would be perfect for a wedding card, but in this instance it's for an anniversary card. A couple that I've known for a long time is celebrating their 10th anniversary (Happy Anniversary Chris & Olina!!) this weekend. It's amazing how fast the time has gone.... Dh & I were barely dating when we attended their wedding, it seems like that's much to long ago to be real! :)

**I would like to take a moment to hopefully connect with GoTink who left me a comment on my previous post. If you're out there, reading this, please either drop me an email or go check the comments from that post. I tried to answer your question clearly, but if you need more info I can try again. Unfortunately, I couldn't get your email from your Blogger profile!**

As simple as this appears it did take a good amount of planning and work. First I stamped & embossed the wedding couple on a greenish vellum. I painted the brides dress, veil & flowers with Twinkling H2O's but couldn't ever get it to shine just right for the camera. The frame was cut and embossed with oval nesties then wrapped with sheer white ribbon. Because I couldn't figure out how to attach the vellum to the frame attractively, I ran it through the Xyron and stuck it down to the panel then lined up the frame over it. The ribbon tabs are about an inch long - they only go around the edges of the panel so that they wouldn't show under the vellum.

Once everything was stuck down I felt like there was something missing. So I used the ticket corner punch from SU! on the silver panel and glued that to the green base. Some sticky back pearls were added, but it *still* needed something. I finally decided to add the flowers around the bottom of the frame (spritzed, of course, with some Pearl Glimmer Mist) and put more pearls in the centers.

I thought about adding a sentiment on the front (I have a lovely 'Congratulations' stamp that would've fit perfectly) but decided that the sentiment on the inside was lovely on it's own. It says 'You are two people who could do anything together.'. Isn't that perfect?? :)

Hope you enjoy it, too! Perhaps it will inspire you - isn't wedding season just around the corner?!

Thanks for stopping by!

The muse returns!

I don't know where she went, but she came back with a vengeance! lol

This card has amazing amounts of work put into it - literally days. Oh, not days on end, but a little here and a little there until I had been working on it almost a week! Can I possibly be the only one that works on stuff that long?

The main panel is done with the Joseph's Coat technique. I did add a little twist - some pearl glimmer mist was spritzed and allowed to pool (and dry) before stamping the Tim Holtz image. Even after brayering the black over the image you can still see streaks of shimmer - it's very cool IRL.

Let's see. The background panel was brayered with the same ink (Hydrangea pad from Ranger) then glued to a Hambly screen print sheet. I embossed that with a cuttlebug folder (not that you can see that texture in the pic, sorry!) and added the corner pieces (also CB). The tags were cut from a sheet of that gesso background blitz from a few posts ago, then edged with black and stamped on.

I think the tags were the hardest part of the whole thing. I had an awful time finding words to stamp on them. I wanted something meaningful, but they also had to be the right size. Finally I chose 'Art', 'Soul' and 'Love' - aren't these important to everyone? :) I also stamped some flourishes around the words - I just couldn't do without! Even though the ribbon on the tags looks black and white (which is how it started out) I colored the white portion with a Sky Copic marker. It actually matches the background colors quite well.

I hope you enjoy it, and thanks for coming to visit!

A little something distressed

I thought I'd drop in real quickly tonight and post my latest creation. Sadly, it *is* my latest creation! lol Apparently I've got a block that just won't quit, everything goes into the circular file. (sigh)

Ah well, I was pleased with how this one turned out. There was a great video on the Hero Arts blog that inspired me to pull out my Distress Inks and play with them. I haven't done this sort of distress in far too long!

I think it's pretty self explanatory, brown & green on the bottom tag, green & blue on the middle tag and blue with a little green on the top one. I did rub some stickles on the flower head - yummy little glimmer! The only thing you might not be able to really see is the little heart charm. Originally it was a pewter/silver color - but since that wasn't what I wanted I attacked it with dark brown (Espresso?) alcohol ink. Now it looks just right!

Thanks for visiting! Send me some good crafty vibes, will ya? :D