Blessed is the Season

Hello there...again! I'm back to post another Christmas creation for a Flourishes challenge, but before I tell you about this really fun creation I've made, I wanted to thank Linda, over at Paper Boutique, for featuring my Prickley Pear Poinsettia candle in her Fab Five Friday today. Thanks, Linda! You made my day!!!

Okay, now on to my challenge entry. This project is for Flourishes Just Show Me! Challenge. To play, you scroll through Flourishes Tutorial Library HERE. Once you find a technique or project that you’d like to give a try, have some creative fun and make it! Well, let me tell you, they have some fantastic ideas in their library. I looked through it for quite a while--not because I couldn't find anything, but because I couldn't decide which one to try first! I ended up chosing a technique and a project: the Out of the Box technique, and Beate's Genie Bag project. I had a little trouble with the Out of the Box technique and ended up using my Curvy Cutter instead of a die, but the Genie Bag was so much fun to make! I'll be making this again!

Here's a photo of the back:

A couple of close ups:

I used these colors for the flowers:

About the color of this bag...I did begin with the idea that it would be a Christmas bag, and originally the layer behind the sentiment was green. But, I just didn't like the way it looked. The green seemed to take away from the stamped image, so I changed the die cut to black. Now, even though I think of this as being for Christmas, I suppose, even with this particular sentiment, it could easily pass as an Easter bag, too. 

So, I'm off to get my last post of the day written. See you again, real soon. ;)

Thanks for stopping by...again!

 

Stamps: Paperwhites (Flourishes); Joy (Michaels)
Paper: Watercolor Bouquet Bouquet (K&Co); Shimmer Stack (DCWV)
Ink: Copic Markers; Distress Ink
Dies: Ironwork Motifs, Parisian Accents, Parisian Motifs, Classic Circles Lg (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Ribbon (Michaels); Curvy Cutter (EK Success); paper lunch bag; Perfect Pearls Mist; Stickles; Enamel Accents (Inkksentials); foam dots
Size: Standard lunch bag trimmed to 4.5" tall (5" x 4.5")

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Prickley Pear Poinsettia

Hi Friends! Well, today is my first official post as the Guest Designer for the Prickley Pear Rubber Stamp Design Team! I've been so excited to get started! But, first let me tell you, PPRS stamps are so fab! They stamp crisp and clear, and there are so many images to choose from. There is everything from elegant to whimsical. And, many of the clear acrylic sets even have dies to match, also. You really should visit the store to see for yourself. It's amazing!

For my first PPRS project, I created a stamped candle. This was a fun one, and so much easier than I anticipated.

There are several video tutorials out there on how to do this, and I noticed that there were slight variations in each one that I watched. Here's how I made this one:

Stamp the Poinsettia image on tissue paper using black ink.
Color the image as desired. I used colored pencils and Gamsol. Whatever you use, be gentle--the tissue paper tears easily.
Cut the image out leaving a small border.
Place the image where desired on the candle, then cover with a layer of plastic wrap. It should be tight--I held mine on the back side of the candle. Be sure to get all the wrinkles out--they will show up later if you don't. :)
Using your heat gun, heat the image. Keep the heat gun moving so the candle will melt evenly. The goal is to melt the wax just enough so that it will absorb into the tissue paper, leaving a thin layer of wax on top of the tissue paper. Once the paper has absorbed the wax, remove the plastic wrap and decorate the candle as desired.

For this candle, I added yellow Stickles to the center of the flowers, put a Parisian Accent strip around the bottom and a red gingham ribbon on top of that, then hot-glued a bow to the ribbon. To finish it off, I placed red rhinestones on the ribbon, all the way around the candle.

See...isn't that easy? Every Christmas I think I'm going to make something for gifts, but it always ends up that I don't have time. This year, I think I can do it with this project. Fast, easy, and fun!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have yourself a fantastic week!

 

Stamps: Poinsettia (PPRS)
Paper: Tissue Paper
Ink: Memento
Dies: Parisian Accents (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Colored Pencils (Prismacolor); ribbon (Offray); Stickles; rhinestones; 6" white candle, plastic wrap
Size: 6" candle

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Blue Willow Anniversary Challenge

Hello Friends! I've been working on a unique challenge the past few days and I'm finally ready to share it with you.

One of my dearest friends is celebrating her ninth anniversary soon. She and her husband always try to incorporate the traditional anniversary gifts into their anniversary somehow and she asked me to do that in an anniversary card for her. The traditional gifts for the 9th year are willow and pottery, with leather as the modern gift. I also discovered that Lapis Lazuli is also a modern jewel for this anniversary. So, I took this as my personal challenge. Honestly, I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but I'm pleased with the finished card.

I tried several different sketches, and settled on the Viva la Verve September 2011 Week 1 sketch for this card. The Blue Willow Inn Restaurant is near here, and I think they are going to go there for an anniversary dinner, and the Blue Willow china pattern is usually blue and white, so blue was a natural color. As it's for a man, I used browns, too. I found the Blue Willow plate stamp at Hanko Designs. I stamped the plate, cut it out, then covered it in Glossy Accents to give it a ceramic look. It is mounted to a Parisian Accent medallion that I sprayed with a Perfect Pearls mist to give it a metallic look. That covered the willow and pottery elements of the challenge. For leather, I used suede cording behind the plate and a leather button on each of the sentiment panels. The buttons were originally very shiny and dark, so I just sanded them until most of that was gone and they were good to go. These were the smallest leather buttons I could find, so I added the bit of twine to them so they wouldn't look like giant blobs just stuck on the card. I used a gold opaque calligraphy pen to edge the white accent panels behind the sentiments. For the Lapis Lazuli I colored two light blue rhinestones with a dark blue Copic and adhered them to the center panel.

I love the bg paper I used on this card. It's a digital image from www.lostandtaken.com, the Vandelay Premier set. I think it's a photo of a cracked and stained road. Nice "man" paper, I think. ;) 

Did you know there is a legend behind the Blue Willow pattern? I didn't. But, it's very romantic, so I typed a shortened version and printed it in blue on white paper and inked the edges, then adhered it to more of that man-paper. When you open the card, it's on the top half.

The bottom half of the inside is a simple sentiment that I created in Word and printed on white paper. The stamp, which came with the plate stamp, is of the doves in the Blue Willow pattern. I inked the edges of this panel heavily, adhered it to another Lost and Taken image from the New Grunge set, then adhered those to navy cardstock. I'm glad she's not going to be mailing this card--all that cardstock made for a heavy card!

This was one of the toughest challenges I've ever worked on, and it really stretched my imagination, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Jessica and Mike, I'd say something like, "You're the most perfect couple I've ever known," but I wouldn't want to jinx you, or anything *~D , so I'll just say "Happy Anniversary!" You are a fabulous couple!!!

Before you go, check out my new blog badge over in my side bar. Doesn't it look nice sitting over there? I was in the top four for The Beauty of CAS Bring Back Beautiful challenge with my Peas to Meet You card. 

Also, Linda, over at Paper Boutique gave me another shout out in her Fab Five Friday for my Tomato Soup card! Thanks, again, Linda!

And, thank YOU for stopping by today. Have a fantastic week!

 

Stamps: Blue Willow Plate & Doves (Kodomo Inc); Quietfire
Paper: Bazzill Basics; Vandelay Premier & New Grunge (Lost and Taken)

Ink: Colorbox; Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Calligraphy Pen (Marvy); Copic marker

Dies: Parisian Accents, Classic Ovals Lg, Labels Thirteen (Spellbinders); Curvy Bookplate Die (Verve)

Accessories: 1-3/4" circle punch (EK Success); ribbon (Offray); rhinestones; household twine; Glossy Accents; Perfect Pearls; leather buttons (LaMode); suede cording (Darice); foam dots

Size: 3.5" x 6.5"

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Tomato Soup

Good Morning to you! I hope your week is a good one so far. 

Before I tell you about today's card, a quick Thank You to Lydia (Understandblue at Splitcoaststampers) for posting my Spooky Tree Halloween card on Facebook yesterday. It generated 1,500 views to that particular card in just one day! Wow! I didn't even know that was possible. 8~D

I made today's card using the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #133. It follows the sketch fairly closely, except that I put copper brads at both ends of the rickrack, and where 3 small embellies would be in the upper left corner, I used a Leafy Sprig die cut, and I put a smaller one in the lower right corner to balance it out. They look a little bit like tomato leaves when they are cut without using the coordinating stamp, don't they?

I'm also playing along with the Flourishes Bring Back Beauty Challenge #14. This month's theme is "The Beauty of Color," and the challenge is to make a monochromatic card. I couldn't begin to tell you what the color of my card is, but since it features tomatoes, I'm calling it tomato soup. Even the rickrack looks like it's been colored with tomato soup. Okay, I know that the leaves are green, but I couldn't find a way around that. :D  I was a little bit concerned that I wouldn't be able to do this stamp justice because of all the red I would be using, but it turned out okay. I did have to use yellow and white colored pencils with mineral spirits to highlight the bumps on the tops of the tomatoes. I never seem to leave enough room for highlights when I'm using Copics.

For the inside of my card, I stamped the tomato image in Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. I stamped off onto scrap paper one time before stamping my card so the image would be light enough to be able to write a message over it. I love the look of this stamp--even when it's left plain it's beautiful.  

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!!!

Challenges:

Flourishes Bring Back Beauty Challenge #14: The Beauty of Color

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #133

Stamps: Italian Garden, Garden Fresh (Flourishes)
Paper: The Breathe Paper Collection (Prima)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Memento; Staz-On; Copic markers
Dies: Std Circles Lg; Lotus Pendant (Spellbinders); Leafy Sprigs (Verve)
Accessories: Diamonds in Diamonds embossing folder (Sizzix); rickrack (Fancy Pants Designs); antique copper brads (Making Memories); colored pencils; sewing thread; Corner Chomper
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Ink Up Inventory

Hi friends! I don't have a challenge card to share with you today (I have several to make, but just haven't made them yet). ;) Instead, I made the cutest little inventory notebook for my purse.

For awhile now I've carried a spiral notepad around that has lists in it of dies, Copics, embossing folders, ink, etc. that I already have, so I won't buy duplicates. You may have something similar. Well, it worked great until the amount of room I left for each category filled up. (Who knew you needed so much stuff to make all these little cards!) 8~D Since my current notebook is a spiral, I couldn't add or rearrange pages, so now things are scattered throughout the book, and there's very little organization. I saw this video yesterday at The Paper Boutique for making a refillable notebook out of index cards and it looked like the perfect solution. (Linda has lots of other great tutorials on her blog, too.)

This was easy peasy to make, and so much fun! You can watch Linda's video for instructions, but if you have any specific questions about mine, just ask, and I'll get back to you with the details. 

Oh, one more thing I like about this book is that you can type your inventory in Word, stick the cards in your printer, and out come nice, neat lists of everything. And when you need to update the lists, if you've saved the information, all you have to do is add in your new goodies, print out a new card, and toss the old one.

I'm off to get my lists typed up right now! 

Hope you had a great day today. Thanks for stopping by!

 

Stamps: Cover text created in Word, printed onto a transparency and rubbed on. Tab text made with a label maker.
Paper: Bright Blossom Stack (S.E.I.); 3x5 index cards
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Dies:  Labels Sixteen, Parisian Accents (Spellbinders); File Tabs (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Accessories: Chip board; Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper; Crop-A-Dile II; rhinestones, 1" notebook ring, label maker, sanding block & sandpaper
Size: Cover: 3.25" x 5.25"; Index cards: 3" x 5"; Tabbed dividers: 3" x 5.5"

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