Inspired by a gorgeous card!

I finally managed to get my hands on some seam binding.  Seems like practically everyone is using it these days - tying bows, double bows, dyeing it, scrunching it....  It was absolutely impossible to find locally so I broke down & ordered a roll of white from EBay figuring that I could dye my own.  Guess what?  It takes color *beautifully*! :D
About a month ago I saw a card done by Jennifer over at Our Change of Art that really stuck with me.  I loved the bright pop of color(s) against the white background and the cut out was inspired!  I went in the opposite direction (inspiration isn't the same as CASE, lol) with black instead of white, thick instead of thin, horizontal instead of vertical, more instead of less... well, let's just say I "made it my own"! :D

There are several things that just don't show up well in the picture.  First, all those ribbon strips *sparkle*!  I used a generous mix of Starburst Stains, Glimmer Mist, Perfect Pearls mist and Color Wash sprays.  I had to get creative with the orange ribbon, but I had at least two values of each of the other colors. (that's why it looks dark and light on each ribbon - it's by design, not poor camera lighting!)  IRL you can see the shimmer from nearly every angle - not so much in the pic.  There was no real technique here, basically I just spritzed and dragged the ribbon through then scrunched and let them dry.  Easy but I had VERY colorful hands for a few days. ;)  To finish them I cut a piece of white cardstock to size, ran it through the Xyron and adhered the ribbon in layers.  I trimmed the ends and taped them down with scotch tape then added some foam tape to the back for height.
The butterfly (Rubber Cottage) is another thing that looks much, much better IRL.  I stamped the image in black then cut it out using a craft knife and a lot of patience.  (A lot of patience, this is my 3rd attempt.)  Once I cut the interior sections I ran it through the Xyron and attached two layers of Sunkissed Fantasy Film to the back.  The film is a yellow/golden color with purple overtones.  And although you can't see it in the pic I spritzed the butterfly with a golden Glimmer Mist as well.  The body was painted with a gray/purple Starburst Spray.  Finally I outlined the black portions with a black Spica pen.  It completely bums me out that you can see the film but *none* of the sparkle! :(
The ribbon panel was popped up on the black card and the butterfly was adhered with Glue Lines (just like glue dots, but and inch long so they're manageable) along the body and part of the wing.  As a final touch I added dots of Stickles to the wings over the film, but it didn't stick well after drying.  I imagine they're falling like rain by now! :)
Thanks for dropping by!  Hope to see you again soon!

It's time for a little reflection

Mostly because it's my birthday today! :)
At just over half way through the year (and how did *that* happen, anyway?) I took a little while to reflect on the things that I wanted to do this year.  Just to take stock.  So far, I think I've done OK.  Not great, there are some spots that could use some improvement, but there have been some personal goals that I made definite strides toward.  As long as I'm moving forward, it's still good - right? :)
One of the things that I haven't been so good at is posting as often as I wanted to.  Now, I could give you the whole song and dance, but it seems unimportant.  *You* didn't come here for that!  I had to look down my sidebar and remind myself Blog Without Obligation!  After all, I do this for fun! :)
Just a few days ago I received a goody from my good blogging friend Lauren.  Yup, I won the blog candy!  I must say, I've been drooling over her cute Ami's since the beginning - so of course I fell in love with this adorable little guy and whined so much that Lauren took pity on me and sent me a beginners set of fabulous stuff to try my hand at it. (note to self: stick to stamping)  Let's just say that the results were, um, not pretty!
The other cool thing was that the annual stamping show (the "biggest" one, but that isn't saying much) came last weekend.  Just in time for me to pick up a few cool things.  I only bought one new stamp (bummer!) but loved it so much that I made a card right away.  Here, lookee:

It's a bit hard to tell in this pic, but the purple stamped panels (Lost Coast) were popped up and then the blue panel was double popped up. (Is that how you'd say it?)  I used a ton of coloring mediums on these - Distress Inks, Copics, Smooch, Starburst Stains, white chalk pen, white gel pen, black and white Enamel Accents, Glossy Accents... you name it!  Unfortunately, the white circles in the pic just look like glaring white circles.  IRL some of them are soft (chalk pen) and some are shiny (smooch) and a very few are opaque (gel pen).  On top of that, some of the circles were colored with Starburst Stains (which have mica and dye) and look AMAZING in person - but here they just look black. *sigh*
Same thing with some of the circles on the purple panels. *double sigh*
Anyway, I just want to say thanks today and everyday.
Thanks for dropping by.  Thanks for commenting.  And thanks for letting me share what I love to do... with you!

She's done... and she's gorgeous!

I think I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was working on something special that I couldn't show you yet. Well, the time has come! :D

First, let me say that I've been hunting this stamp for a long time. I saw it (on a post to the TJ group) and just fell in love. Unfortunately, the company in question wasn't producing them any more. What's worse is that I found out in May or June that they had sold the entire line to a company that isn't (even now!) on the internet. Oy! Anyway, a couple of weeks ago was the annual stamping show that I always attend (birthday money! woo hoo!). This year it was a little farther away - and I was hesitant to go that far. Thank heavens I did! The new company (Stamp On It) that owns the Nicole Croy line was there - and I finally got my stamp! :D

First let's take a look at the actual panel with the Nicole Croy stamp: (sorry about the acrylic blocks in the pictures, it just couldn't stand by itself)

There is an awful lot of stuff going on here! The first thing to note is that this was done on a piece of sticky back canvas. I'm really impressed with this stuff - it never lost it's sticky (and I abused it horribly!). The woman was stamped with Brilliance black on a piece of canvas about 8" by 4". Once dry, I went to town with just about every liquid medium I have - there are colorwash sprays from Zia, Glimmer mists, Starbursts and Memories mists. It literally took me a week (or more) to get the colors the way I wanted them. I sprayed and blotted, painted with color and just water, sprayed some more and let dry, blotted with bleach water... it was truly crazy. The canvas held up beautifully through the whole thing.

Once I was happy with the color I started adding the 'extras'. Out came some Tim stamps (the birds, the edges & some flourishes) and Distress Ink. I didn't use black because I was afraid of the whole thing getting too dark - so the birds are Chipped Sapphire and everything else was either Pumice Stone, Frayed Burlap or Vintage Photo. At the bottom I also used some other grungy/flourishy stamps from Stempelglede - but by then in was *very* hard to see them!

At that point I realized that it was almost impossible to read the sentiment. After painting the edges with glittery stuff, you couldn't really see the black ink. I liked the way it looked around the edges but had to do something for the words. Sharpie to the rescue! Yup, I used a black sharpie and went over all the letters. :) (and the outline of the woman)

I had been working with the wings (separate, but meant to work with this stamp) on another little piece of canvas at the same time - but I wasn't liking the results. Instead I used Tim's wings (just masked off one side & then the other) and white Lumiere paint. I did have to stamp them twice - they're very detailed - and I didn't get great coverage even then. In then end though, I really like the final look.

The last thing I did was put the canvas on a piece of backing from a paper stack to give it strength. Once that was cut to size I edged the whole thing with black satin ribbon (and double sided sticky tape).

Since the whole piece was much to big for a card, and I didn't want it to get damaged, I decided to frame it. I found a frame at Michael's (half off coupons rock!) and altered the backing board. You can see that I used a feather stamp (from Stamp A Mania) with versamark randomly on the black backing. Then I dusted a couple of colors of Perfect Pearls over them. I randomly stamped the feather some more and added the other two colors from the set on the 'top' images. If you could see it in person, you would be able to tell that there is a bronze color, a purplish color, a blue and a green all mixed together - very shimmery and pretty. (and if you look closely you can see my pencil marks for centering the angel piece. ;) whoops!)

For the final picture - here it is all in one piece! I *love* the way this came together! The woman, the sentiment, the birds, the wings... it just speaks to me. She has been framed, but I couldn't seem to get a good picture - just imagine another thin line of black around the outside (it's a very simple frame). I've just been sitting and admiring her since I finished - don't tell me I'm the only one who ever does that!
The only problem I have left is... where should I hang her? :D

Thanks for dropping by!

Er... steampunk?

Have you ever had one of those days that what's in your head refuses to come out? You know, the kind of day where you start with an idea (and even a specific person in mind) and end up somewhere so different that you're left wondering 'What the...?'
I *had* that day! :D
Just so you can get an idea of how not even close I was - picture me sitting with some grunge letters and wings (covered with shiny pink paper) and a circle card that I'd covered with a gorgeous misty purple scrap paper. With flowers. And glitter.


This is where I ended up:

Yeah. Um....
This doesn't even bear the slightest resemblance to what I *thought* I was doing. Heh.
I started by laying down some of the text papers that Lauren sent me (Hi Lauren! Are you proud of me?!) in a very random fashion. (Yes, this was supposed to be a part of the original card.) The first thing I did was spritz the whole sheet with Moon Shadow Mist in Tawny Turquoise from Lindy's Stamp Gang. After that was dry, I stamped the sentiment from River City Rubber Works in Chipped Sapphire DI (and then went over it with a fine point black pen - but only in the center of the letters). I cut the piece down & rounded the corners, then inked up the edges with more DI. Down one edge I ruffled some tape - it almost looks like masking tape but it's really made for scrapbooks - and stapled it in place with Tim's stapler. It was at this point that I could tell there was no use fightin' it! :D
The other portion of the text paper piece was embossed with the Clockworks folder from Cuttlebug. The raised portions were lightly rubbed with both Chipped Sapphire & Black DI, then had a little silver Krylon pen applied (and buffed with an inky cloth -it was too bright & shiny otherwise). This piece was stapled on to a piece of black c/s which was then adhered to the black card. The sentiment piece is popped up on some black foam dimensionals that I got from TexasJodyLynn over at Confessions of a Ribbon Addict (which are awesome - go buy some!). The final step was to outline the base card with the same silver pen. Oh, wait, the *actual* final step was to add some Rock Candy Distress Stickles to parts of the gears! A girl's gotta have bling! :)
So. Not at all what I expected.
But I think I love it all the more for it's surprise appearance!
Thanks for dropping by!

Another TJ techie

Holy moly! Stop the presses! I believe I've actually been well for almost a week! :D Funny how you take it for granted when you feel well, but when you have a rough winter/spring it means *so much* to feel healthy. It sure does feel good to be at 100%!
Since I've felt better I've been diving into some of the TJ techniques - some for challenges, others just for fun. This particular one is an older technique called Stenciled Collage. I had never tried it before, but it was enough fun that I'll be doing it again!
Generally speaking you use a stencil and white ink over a background piece (mine happens to be a piece that I covered with glimmer mist, starburst stain & distress ink with perfect pearls) then stamp in a similar color as the background (Majestic Blue VersaFine in this case). I was very pleased with how well the stamped portion came out - but I'm not in love with the card. I'm not exactly sure what, but something is missing. Perhaps it's the fiber? Dunno. You can get the idea of how the color/glimmer went in streaks across the paper (my own idea, even!) *and* you can see some of the glimmer from the VersaMark Frost I rubbed on the raised portion of the background paper. The light was *perfect* for taking this picture! :D
Anyway, thanks for dropping by! Hopefully I'll get good sunlight tomorrow & will be able to post the second version with this stamp (but not the same technique!).

An altered tin

Ok, I'll admit it. I don't do very many altered projects. Mostly because I have *no* idea what to do with them when they're done. Nor do I have space in which to keep them! :) Plus I HATE to dust.
Every once in a while I get bitten by the bug of altering. I fight it, really I do, but it sneaks up on me and I end up altering like a madwoman (while muttering in my head). Really, I can only keep so many, and friends and family only *want* so many before they start avoiding you - especially when you're carrying something! lol
I digress. (an aftereffect of altering, I swear)
I saw this adorable little tin last time I was at Archiver's and it ended up in my basket before I could say no. What's a girl to do?
First I decided to cover all that white. After much rummaging I found some brown mulberry paper that looked fabulous pounced with my Mission Bells Brown Starburst Stain. I let it dry and covered the edges of the top and the base of the tin. Then some delicious green paper from GCD and a little red from Basic Grey. I used nesties for the oval & ribbon tag - everything else was cut by hand.
The silver edges seemed to stick out too much so I ran my Pale Gold Krylon pen around any silver edges I could see (and some edges of the paper). I used some white rubons that my friend got for me some time ago (sorry, don't know where they're from). Brown ribbon (also from that same trip to Archiver's) tied the ribbon tag on to the front. (anyone got pointers for getting those on - easily?)
But it was still missing something. More ribbon! :)
As you can see, I went a little wild with the ribbon at that point.
All of those pieces were tied to a length of the original brown ribbon (what?? I have a lot of ribbon!) then glued down. No, I don't imagine that they're on there permanently, but it should hold up to casual use.
So. Now what? What do *you* do with all those nifty altered items? Any ideas will be gratefully considered! :)
Thanks for dropping by!

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!