Let it Snow!

Hello friends! Today I have another Christmas/Winter wall hanging. I think I'm enjoying these decorative projects more all the time. I keep thinking of more ideas I can do. One day my walls will be filled with 'stuff'. :^). I'm submitting this project for the following challenges:

• The 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style Week 11
• Raise the Bar #86 - It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
• Quirky Crafts Challenges #25 - Snow
• Crazy for Challenges #116 - Let's Go to the Movies (Frosty the Snowman)
• City Crafter Challenge #86 - Home for the Holidays (a project to decorate the home or with a home on it)

You can find Linda's week 11 tag for the Funkie Junkie Challenge HERE. I'm not posting a pic of the tag anymore because for some reason a lot of the commenters that visit my blog seem to think I made the tag (even though I always say it's Linda's tag). I am no where near Linda's level in my work, so to avoid the confusion I'll just link to her tag from now on.

In Linda's tag, I was inspired by snowflakes, the book page background, the Snowflakes on the Edge die and the square fragment. I had a hard time coming up with an idea for my project until I saw tag 4 in Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas series. I was inspired by the snowman (I can't believe this is the first snowman project I've made so far this year!) and the color. I really wanted to do something different. It seems like almost everything I've been making lately has been some shade of brown. I really do like color! :^).

For the base of my wall hanging I used a page from a children's board book. It was already the perfect shape and has a good weight for this type of project. I covered it with a book page, then brushed on a thin layer of white paint. I stamped snowflakes on it with Versamark and clear embossed them. I don't have any Distress Inks in the right colors of blue, and I don't own any Distress Stains so I sponged on a couple different colors of blue paint then dabbed on some white. I wiped the paint off the snowflakes with a damp paper towel. I was very pleased with the way it turned out. I misted the base with some homemade glimmer spray. I mixed a cream color metallic paint with some white Perfect Pearls. I love how it added shimmer without adding color. Unfortunately, I don't think you can see it in the photo. I edged the base with Faded Jeans Distress Ink.

I'm not making tags for Tim's series, but I am checking them out every day. I love the techniques and designs - both his and the participants. I wish my brain worked like his. I don't know how he comes up with this stuff!

I loved the crackle snowman on tag #4 and I just bought some Rock Candy Distress Crackle so I was anxious to try it out. LOVE IT!!! I'm definitely going to have to get a bigger jar of that stuff. I don't own any of Mr. Holtz's dies (I buy very few dies except basic shapes), so I found a piece of clipart I like online, printed it out the size I wanted and traced it only chipboard and cut it out. I painted it white and crackled it. I brushed on some blue paint, misted it with water, and wiped it off so it just highlighted the cracks. I edged him with some Faded Jeans Distress Ink. I added a couple pieces of ribbon and a ribbon tied button for his scarf and added some silver leaves and a rhinestone to embellish his hat.

Of course I don't own a Snowflakes on the Edge die either so I just made my own. I cut a strip and punched the snowflakes out of a light weight box. I think it had sweetener packets in it. I wanted something heavier than cardstock, but not as heavy as chipboard. I used deckle edge scissors to trim one side of the strip and arranged the snowflakes on the back side. I painted everything white, then crackled it and added the blue like I did on the snowman. This piece didn't crackle as well as the snowman, so I think I didn't brush on quite enough of the distress crackle.

I used a little square charm that I had since I don't have any of the fragments like Linda used on her tag. I tried to use the Alcohol Ink resist that Tim used on another of his tags, but it just didn't work for me. So I added the little punched snowflakes and blue rhinestones on top of the alcohol ink background. The snowflakes are leftovers from my snowflake border punch. I knew those would come in handy one day. I save everything.

Finally I added some corrugated paper snowflakes, button, rhinestones, big ric-rak and pearls. Lots of pearls. I think I went overboard on the pearls. LOL!

I think that's it. I only have two more projects to make for the Funkie Junkie challenge so I think I'll make it by the deadline of December 15th. Yea!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Oh My Stars!

I think this is one of the most fun projects I've done for awhile. It took me several hours because I just kind of made it up as I went along. I'm really getting into these wall hangings and other non-card projects.

I am submitting this ornament/wall hanging for the following three challenges:

1. 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style - Week 9

2. Simon Says Stamp and Show - Stars

3. Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Matthew 6: 25-34/Birds

Linda's inspiration tag for the Funkie Junkie challenge is shown below. I was inspired by the theme, corrugated cardboard and the music paper. As you can see I totally CASEd Linda's music paper stars except that I used a primitive star die instead of a regular one and I wrapped them with gold cord instead of white. I was also inspired by a star wall hanging I saw online a couple of weeks or so ago that had paper rosettes on it. Unfortunately, I didn't make note of where I saw it so I can't give credit to the artist. I need to be better about that.

For the ornament base I cut a 6" star from a corrugated cardboard box. I peeled the paper off one side and sanded off the little stuck pieces. I painted it with a couple of coats of gesso and then dry brushed some antique gold acrylic paint. The bottom rosette is made from music paper and the top is made from vellum. I used border punches on both before folding. I sprayed the top one with homemade glimmer spray. I stamped the music on the button with StazOn.

For the little tag, I stamped the holly with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. After that was dry I stamped the music background with Versamark and embossed with clear. I sponged on Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. I added the little snowflake, some gold cord, the sentiment (computer generated) and a bow.

The Vintage Holly image is from Stampabilities. I stamped it three times, then cut it apart since it was very long. My original plan was to not color the holly, but it needed something to make it stand out, so I tinted it with pastels. The little bird nestled in the holly above the rosette is from Paper Studio. I stamped him with Versafine Vintage Sepia and tinted lightly with pastels.

The little metal word tag on the right side was originally copper so I rubbed it with some antique gold rub n buff and attached it to the center star.

I think that about covers it. Thanks for stopping by!

Beaded Christmas Tree

This little piece is my submission for week 3 of the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style challenge. I'm also submitting it for Lora's Just Bead It challenge on the CardSwaps online fall crop. I haven't decided exactly what I want to do with it yet. I'll probably make a Christmas tree ornament out of it, but for now it's just a little 4x4 piece of art. It didn't turn out exactly like I saw it in my head, but I like it okay.

Linda's inspiration tag for week 3 appears below.

My piece was inspired by the stamped word background (most of mine got covered up), the chain and the metal tag. Also, it's hard to tell, but the tree is made of a sort of music paper. It's a scrap piece of music theme Club Scrap cardstock that I found. I cut it with my scalloped circle nesties and cut them in quarters to make the tree.

That's about it for this one. Thanks for stopping by!

Noel Wall Hanging

Here's one I've been working on for a little while - my first piece of wall art! I made this for the Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style challenge and it is based on week #5's inspiration tag. I am also submitting it to Lessology Challenge #4: Wall Art.

Linda's inspiration tag for Week 5 appears below. The inspirations from her tag for my piece were the gold embossed lettering, the mix of elegance and homespun (burlap with gold, etc.) and the Perfect Distress technique used on the background.

I have a Noel stamp from Inkadinkado that is very similar to the Joy stamp Linda used on her tag. I stamped it on black and embossed in gold, then cut the letters apart using one for each panel. For my burlap piece I made a simple Christmas tree. I stamped flourishes, text and snowflakes on the background of each panel using Frayed Burlap Distress ink. I guess technically my technique isn't Perfect Distress because I used Gold Interference PearlEx powder instead of Perfect Pearls, but the effect is the same. Unfortunately you can't see a lot of the background. As usual, I managed to cover most of it up. You can see close-ups of each of the four panels at the end of this post.

The Lessology challenge has only been around a couple of months and this is my first submission. This challenge is for altered items and has a requirement of using at least one recycled/upcycled item in each creation. The theme for challenge 4 is wall art and I used two different recycled items. I cut the four background panels and the swirls around the snowflake/flower on the "L" panel from a cereal box. I painted it with antique white acrylic paint then did a little distressing with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and some homemade glimmer spray.

The metal mat around the angel image and the center of the flower on the 'O' panel, the three little diamonds on the "E" panel and the center of the snowflake/flower on the 'L' panel are made from a soda can. I cut the can open, embossed it with my Tapestry Cuttlebug folder and colored it with Pitch Black Alcohol ink. I used a tiny flower die and a tiny square die from Spellbinders to cut the shapes, then I rubbed them with Antique Gold Rub-n-Buff. For the flower centers, I used my paper piercer to poke holes into the points of each petal. I love using jewelry findings for flower centers and decoration, but I don't have a lot of them and can't buy as many as I would like. I thought this might be a cool way to get a similar look and stretch the crafting dollars a little farther. I do like how they came out and am looking forward to trying some other ideas that I have with the soda cans.

Close ups of each of the four panels of the wall hanging appear below. This was a really fun project and I will definitely be making more wall art. Thanks for stopping by!

Altered Book Calendar Februrary 2012

I am participating in The Craft Barn's 12 Week Calendar Challenge. Each week has a different theme and each day one member of the design team posts their take on the theme. You can make one calendar creating a month each week or you can create multiple calendars with the full year on each one. I have decided to make my calendar in an altered children's board book. This is my first altered book project and so far it's a lot of fun - but very time consuming.

I was not able to complete my January page in time to meet the challenge deadline last week, so I'm starting with February. I decided to get that month done so I could try to meet the deadline this week. I'll go back and finish my January page and post it later.

This week's challenge was to use the color red and heat embossing. I painted the page with dark red acrylic paint. I stamped the background of the page with a script stamp and attempted to emboss it in cream. That was a disaster. I don't know if it was because I was stamping on a painted surface or because the page wasn't laying flat, but I could not get a good stamp anywhere. I tried to fill in thinking it would just end up adding to the distressed look anyway, but it just was a mess. Fortunately most of the mess got covered up with everything else. I had no way to salvage it other than to just trash it and I didn't want to do that. Lesson learned. I also embossed the same script on the little pocket. That turned out much better. The frame behind the calendar is a piece of chipboard cut with my Labels Nestie. I inked the edges and embossed them in gold. I also embossed the wings on the heart.

The tag in the pocket is to write important dates, such as birthdays. I also thought I could tuck little notes or appointment cards, etc. in the pocket.

Thanks for looking!

Cupcake Box - Simon Says and Whiff of Joy Challenges

I found this cute little cupcake box template a few days ago through Mel Stampz blog. Mel has an awesome blog with lots of tutorials, templates and generally cool info. Some information comes from her and some are links that she gives to other Web sites and blogs. She has a whole page of links for cup cakes - cards, recipes, boxes, etc. This template I got from Sharon's blog, which was linked on that page. It looks like a miniature Chinese take out container and is perfect for one cupcake or muffin. There's even a little insert that goes inside to hold the cupcake in place.

I made the little box for this week's Simon Says Challenge - Anything BUT a Card. Since I used Henry Celebrating Mouse and it's pink and brown - it also qualifies for the Whiff of Joy challenge. As usual, things did not go as planned. I think I have a hard time visualizing how big things really are. I intended to put Henry on the side of the box, then tie the ribbon on top with a little tag that said Happy Birthday, but Henry is way too big to fit right on the side of the box, so he got made into a tag and tied on top. I used a pattern cardstock for this box, but you can also use plain and stamp on it or embellish as you like. I was just trying to keep it easy for myself and I have tons of pattern cardstock that I got in a giant pack at Costco.

This was such a fun and easy little box to make. I think I might use these at Christmas time for little goody boxes for my coworkers. Unless I find something else that catches my fancy before then - which is very likely. :) I think it would also be really cute to put a muffin inside and give it with a mug and some coffee or tea as a breakfast package. So many ideas, so little time. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Supplies
Stamp: Henry Celebrating Mouse (Whiff of Joy)
Paper: Pink and white polka dot pattern cardstock (Costco); brown and white are scraps
Tools and embellishments: Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders); cup cake box template (Sharon Rivera - Artful Avocations); ribbon
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 44 - 3x3 Notecard Box

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week is to create a gift - a box, bag, tin, candle, etc. I had pretty much decided not to do the challenge this week because I'm totally stuck when it comes to ideas for these things - and I didn't really have anyone in mind to make a gift for. But I was perusing the tutorials on Splitcoaststampers earlier today and came across one for a cute little box to hold 3x3 notecards. It looked easy enough so I decided to give it a shot. I think I will make some cards for a variety of occasions and give it to my mom for Mother's Day. She can use them to put in gifts that she gives or just to give someone for a pick-me-up.

The first photo shows the box with the lid slightly ajar - so you can see it really is a box. :) This box was really very easy to make. The tutorial I used can be found here. It's made from just a few pieces of cardstock and designer paper, then embellished. If you try the tutorial, pay close attention to the pictures because there were a couple of places in the text directions that didn't really make sense. If you go by the pictures though, you'll be fine.

The photo below is another view of the top of the box. I chose to use the Country Lady Hedgehog image to decorate the box. I thought she was appropriate since she has the little letter in her hand (paw?).

The final photo shows the side of the box so you can see how I trimmed it. I didn't like the DP by itself. It just didn't look finished. I added the daisy trim around it which helped finish it off a little better. I have had that trim for just about ever. It's one of those things I keep pulling out, then decide it doesn't look right so I put it back. Finally it looked right. :) My mom will love this too because she loves daisies. The tutorial instructs you to use a corner rounder punch to create the scallped border on the bottom of the box. I think surely this tutorial was written before all the great border punches came out. I can't imagine trying to create a scalloped edge with a corner rounder. I used by scalloped border punch and it was super easy.

I'm not sure I'm totally thrilled with how my little box turned out, but it's the first time I have made one. I always find one or two things the first time I try something that I will do different next time. It would be very easy to adjust the size of the box for different projects, and of course you don't have to use this one for the 3x3 cards. It can be used for candy or other gifts, as well. At least I did try something a little different and I'm happy I did.

Supplies

Stamp: Country Lady (Penny Black)

Paper: All cardstock and paper - Die Cuts with a View

Embellishments: Classic and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities; pink and white organza ribbon; daisy trim (Making Memories); flower (Prima); scalloped border punch (Fiskars)

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with turpenoid

Challenge Frustrations

I have been trying for the last two days to come up with a card for the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge. The first image I colored, I didn't like. So tonight I tried a different image - which I did like, but then I just couldn't get a card together that I liked. Sketch challenges are usually easy for me because the hardest part of making a card for me is coming up with the layout. This one just wasn't meant to be I guess. I'll see what's posted for some of the other challenges I like tomorrow and Friday. Maybe I'll come up with something for one of those

In the meantime, I decided to post one of my favorite "oldies." This is one of my favorite non-card projects - a clock made from an altered CD. Stamps are from Club Scrap. I used red jewels as the numbers.