Good News/Bad News

It's Wednesday.  That's Good News. 
It's Wednesday and life/work is still going 90mph past me.  That's Bad News.

It's Wednesday.  So that means it is time for another WOYWW.  That's Good News.
It's Wednesday. The only reason I have anything to post for WOYWW95 is that on Monday afternoon I was "assigned" to make the card for the Boss's 40th birthday.  TODAY.  Good News/Bad News on that one, as my schedule on Tuesday really wasn't going to allow me to have time to make the card.

It's Wednesday.  I got the card done.  That's Good News.
It's Wednesday.  I made a mess getting the card done.  That is Good/Bad News.

First~~The Mess

My trusty copic color chart and the mass of copic markers that I was pulling to color Gus, from Bugaboo Digital Stamps.

The Card:

Inside:   The Bad News--

You have now reached the age

Where you can wear anything

You'd like.............

Quick deets, no links today!  Sorry, the clock is ticking and I'm behind! LOL!

Card base is a 5 1/2" square piece of  Gina K's Pure Luxury.  Covered with SU's Real Red.  Design paper by Nikki Sivils Flaming Butterfly.  Image from Bugaboo Stamps, printed on Georgia Pacific 110# (not my favorite for copic coloring.  Bleeds on the other side.  Miss the nice smooth/shiny finish on the pure luxury.  But my printer HATES Pure Luxury).  Light sponging done with Distress Ink Tumbled Glass.  Image and sentiments layered on SU's Real Red.  Spellbinders Classic Ovals used for the sentiments.  Sentiments inside and out are computer generated. 

Make sure you stop by Ms. Dunnit's to see what all the fuss is about sneaking peeks on everyone's desks.

It's Wednesday.  I have to go to work now.  Could someone please clean up my mess so I can maybe find the missing MoJo to create this weekend?  Thanks

While the Boss is Away................

...................Starla has no time to play!! (sniff, sniff)

Hey Peoples!  Have you missed me? Did you realize that I was even gone?! hehe.  I thought I would pop in and and say a quick hello before anyone sent out a MIA report.  This week has been CRAZY busy, but not with any fun creating!  The Boss is enjoying lots of snow in Mammoth this week.  Which means I am so not enjoying lots of paperwork and long hours at work this week.  Go figure~~we've been slow for quite a while now, and just as soon as our intern leaves and the boss leaves, we get hit with tons of new patient referrals.  Good news: work is  picking up.  Bad news: by the time I get home, I am beyond tired and the effort it would take to find where MoJo went into hiding just does not appeal. 

I haven't even had the energy to visit your blogs much.  I sneak a couple of quick peeks in while eating breakfast, but that is about it. 

Two more days.  This weekend cannot come too soon for me! 

'Till then..........................

March Madness

In this household, March Madness has two meanings.  First up would be the traditional focus on the Sweet 16 and The Toad and Oldest Kiddo constantly checking their brackets and bemoaning the unexpected upsets.

The second would be the craziness of helping pull off Grandparent's Day at the school, the start of middle school varsity basketball, spring (break) fever, the increased hours I end up working covering for the vacationing boss and  The Toad's and my wedding anniversary (for which I need to make a card for......guess after 17 years he'll still stick around if I'm late?!).

Then to top it off, a last minute need for a 14 y/o boy's birthday card. 

Is there any category harder to make cards for than teen aged boys?  There is a SERIOUS lack of creative product geared towards this age group.  Teen girls?  Companies have got that covered.  Teen boys~~not so much. 

The only saving grace I had to work with is that Oldest Kiddo requested some type of basketball card.  Seeing as basketball is a year round sport in this household, I DO have some supplies to pull that off.  I decided to go fairly CAS (clean and simple) for a couple of reasons: 
A) This is for a 14 y/o boy.  Reality check: 14 y/o boys could care less about the card.  They only want to grab the Game Stop gift card inside and beg, plead and whine until their parent's take them to get the latest Call of Duty game.
B) It is late Saturday night and the Kiddo needs the aforementioned card before 8am Sunday. 

Here is what I came up with:

Do I even need to make another lame excuse for the lousy photo?  Late night photos do NOT work!

Card details:  Base is a5 1/2 square of SU's Blue Bayou (I think!).  Creamy Caramel is the next layer.  Design paper is from Karen Foster's Designs On the Line.  I have had this in my stash for a while.  I have NO idea if it is still available.  The basketball die is a Quikutz die.  The "orange" is actually SU's Dusty Durango with creamy caramel sponging to add dimensional shading. The star was die cut from some more Creamy Caramel card stock using Spellbinders Stars Five dies.  Distress ink Stormy Sky was used for the sponging and stamping.  The sentiment (from SU's Sporting) is actually in a straight line.  I masked off to stamp the sentiment in a vertical position, using my stampamajig to line the images up.  Last but not least, I used some Karen Foster stickers (I believe I may have bought the design paper and stickers as a package) to add the numbers "14" in the corner. 

Back to the basics.  It  works!

I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your weekend.  I'm going to see if I can knock out that anniversary card before The Toad takes me out to dinner!

'Till then...........................



Shhhhhh!!!

The E-Team and Crafty Secrets teamed up for a special blog hop today!

And I have a secret to share!  Shhhhh......come closer.......I hear that if you leave a comment on each of the DT blogs that you will increase your chances of winning one of SIX fabulous prizes! Three of the prizes will be from eP and three will be from Crafty Secrets. You will have the weekend to visit each of the blogs and the winners of the eP prizes will be announced Monday on the eP Blog!!

E-TEAM

Daisy/eP blog

Broni Holcombe

Latrice Murphy

Linda Duke

(who is participating for both eP and CS!)

Linda Ledbetter

Micki Harper

Sherry Cheever

and

Me!

Crafty Secret

Vicki Chrisman

Pam Hooten

Michele Kovack

Melissa Phillips

Flo Teixeira

Julie Campbell

Mary Hamer

Crafty Secrets equals vintage.  While I like the vintage look, I find it out of my little comfortable creative box.  But I think I may have found a way to create that vintage look fairly easily.  Creative Scraps.  These are pre- printed images on thick card stock.  There are two sheets, double sided.  That is a LOT of images to inspire layouts, color or themes. 

My project today actually came from The Toad's inspiration while looking at the Wonderland Tea Creative Scraps.  He suggested that I make a dimensional card based on the Mad Hatter.

I took it a step further.  I created my own version of the Mad Hatter's top hat.

Or should I say Mrs. Mad Hatter's dress hat?!

The elements on my top hat were inspired by the details on the "tag" that was cut from the Wonderland Tea Creative Scraps.  I began with a paper pattern that determined my size to make the crown of the hat.  I then made a metal sheet sandwich with TenSecond Studio's Pearl metal, some vanilla textured card stock from my scrap pile and Scor-Tape to give more stability to the thin metal.  I would have preferred to use the Humungo Killer Adhesive sheets, but it would seem SOMEONE ran out!  I am impressed that the Scor-Tape seems to be doing a fine job of holding the metal together.  Good to have a back up on the Killer Adhesive!

I then ran the metal sandwich through my Big Shot with TenSecond Studio's new Kabuka mold #15.

NOTE:  these molds are NOT designed for the various die cutting machines.  BUT!  You can use them in these machines by adjusting your layer sandwiches.  DO NOT force a tight sandwich with the mold through your machine.  Either the machine or mold will pay the price.  For MY machine I used the following sandwich for this particular project:  Essentials Platform, Kabuka mold, metal sandwich, paper shim, thin cardboard (think packaging) shim and acrylic plate.  I will not guarantee that this same sandwich will work in your machine.  You may need to adjust the number of shims.

Since I had added the paper to the back of the metal, the embossing is not as detailed or "deep" as it would have been had I just used the metal alone.  But the slight texture was perfect for the embossed "fabric" look I was hoping for.  I used a burnishing block to lightly sand the color off the raised embossing. 

The top of the crown and brim of the hat were created the same way.  I used my old Creative Memories adjustable circle cutter to customize the size of circles needed. 

The hat was assembled with Scor-Tape.  Vanilla silk ribbon (from Target, I believe) was adhered around the top edge with more Scor-Tape.

The "rose" ribbon is from the Findings section of the Idea-ology line Trimmings. I used Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist in Cherub Pink, Candy Apple Red and S.W.A.K. to dye the ribbon.  The wide silk ribbon (from my stash) actually has a very faint, pale pink tint.  Did you notice the FABULOUS bow?!  Yep.  The ribbon challenged fingers managed to tie that beauty in only FOUR attempts!  I'm improving in my ribbon skills! LOL!

The "tag" was cut from the Scraps and the corners rounded with a punch.  Hat pins are from Maya Road.  The 1/2 back self adhesive pearls have been in my stash for a while. 

If one was to host a tea party, I could see this hat being one element of the centerpiece.  Or perhaps, made in miniature, a place card. 

While I got  two "That's pretty cool" comments from all the Kiddos and "I came up with a good idea" comment from the Toad, I don't think that they would appreciate having to sit down for proper tea! LOL!  But I must admit, I do like how this came out!

I'm already thinking of ideas for the other images on the Scraps.  I just might get into this vintage look after all!

'Till then.......................make some time for creativity this weekend! 

Be Vwery, Vwery Qwiet.........

..............cwafting is twaking place! Said in my best Elmer Fudd typing!

Hey People!  I know that things have been very quiet around here.  Crafting has been shoved to the back burner by Life the last few days.  You know, kiddos, laundry, school stuff, laundry, x-rays, waiting for kiddo to have his wrist immobilized in a cast, laundry, exercise (shock!), work, laundry. 

You know, LIFE.

But! I did get some fun crafting time in today! 

The bad news is...........I can't share it yet.  You have to wait until Friday. 

But here is a little hint for ya................

'Till then.......................

P.S.  I am REALLY excited about this! 

WOYWW 92

It's Wednesday and that means that everyone visits Julia Dunnit for our weekly snoop of work spaces around the world. 



Today my desk is covered with  paperwork and the last bits and pieces that haven't gotten put away from the Making the Years Count card. 

Let's see.....recipe for Lemonade Cupcakes (modified to Limeade cupcakes) and grocery store list for items I forgot for said cupcakes that need to be made today for youngest kiddo's end of season basketball party.

Itinerary (that I totally messed up on when I purchased my ticket....one should note the AM/PM thing VERY carefully) for my flight this summer for a cousin's wedding.  That's what I get for focusing on the time that was close to my sister's flight.  Now I get to see if another flight is available and if the penalty cost is worth the change.

My shopping list for new crafting goodies that I'm desperately trying to narrow down to a reasonable cost. Sigh.  I've been working on this list since Sunday.  Obviously, I'm in a seriousy quandry as to what I NEED. 

That's about it for today! I'm off to the grocery store so that creating can begin in the kitchen!  

Making the Years Count

Happy Monday Peoples! Yes, I am aware that the day is half over, and for some of you, drawing towards evening. But being as I was fairly productive on the home front as well as the creative front, the timing is what it is!!

Last night I was going through some of my papers just to remind myself what I had.  I pulled out a little 6x6 pad from 7gypsie's Gypsie's Market  and was immediately struck with the idea to make a flower out of the striped  paper.

While the flower did get made, you will not see it on today's project! Haha!  It would seem that after planning the whole card around the flower, I did not like the flower as an embellishment!  Soooo, I swapped it for a butterfly made out of the same paper. 

The layout comes from Verve's MoJo Monday Sketch Blog.  I'm not sure why, but sadly, I do not own any of Verve's stamps.  I think that this is something that I may need to change in the near future!  But lucky for me, Verve invites everyone to play along regardless of stamps used! Whew!



The card is actually pretty simple in product. The card base is a 5 1/2  square piece of Vanilla Pure Luxury.  All the  design papers are from 7gypsies.  The two strips of paper along the left side are fauxed layered.  I used a black marker and my small T-square to draw the lines.  The diagonal border is a Martha Stewart punch.  The sentiment panels were cut using Spellbinders classic circles and scalloped circle Nestabilities.  The actual sentiment layer is another piece of the Vanilla Pure luxury that was stamped with Archival Jet Black ink using a retired SU stamp set It's Your Birthday and spritzed with Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist in Old Lace (nice shimmer IRL).  The leaves are Sizzix Branch w/Leaves sizzlet die.  The butterfly, from SU's Beautiful Butterflies, was cut twice and attached only by the body with a rolled glue dot.  The striped layer (from 7gypsie's again) was sponged with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and both layers were spritzed again with Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist in Old Lace. The 1/2 backed pearls were altered from a pearl color to the red with a Copic marker.

I rather like the color combination on this.  I'm getting much more at ease with combining different patterns of paper onto one project.  Of course, it helps tremendously when you use all the papers from a paper pack! hahaaa!!!

'Till next time.......................remember to take some time for creativity, in whatever form it may be!

Wrinkle Free and Distressed!



Welcome to Part 2 of the Get Distressed series the E-Team is presenting!  Today, the Team is showcasing the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique (tutorial courtesy of our own team member Sherry!)

Of course, Daisy has some great wrinkle free goodies to share with two lucky people!!  All you have to do is leave a comment on each team member's blog for the random chance to win some new goodies that are just hitting the store!    You will have the weekend to leave a comment and the winners will be chosen Sunday night!

Broni H

Latrice M

Linda D

Linda L

Micki H

Sherry C

and

ME!

In all honesty, this has to be just about my FAVORITE technique!  It is perfect for making custom background papers, adding a grunge look to a project or just an excuse to mix and match!!

For the LIFE OF ME, I could NOT get the "blues" to photograph with the actual "sea green" tone that the paper has in real life versus this turquoise color that is invading my photo!  You will just have to take my word on the fact that the "blues" are more green and that the ribbon matches much better in person!!

Quick Tip:  this technique does work best with Distress Inks.  Distress inks maintain their true colors when mixed with water, versus other water based inks, which become diluted. 



Of course, I have my own little twist to this technique.  Instead of swiping my ink across my craft mat in a nice row, I swipe in splotches. I start with my lightest color and then randomly smoosh the ink on my craft mat.

Yes, these are different colors than what I ended up using. This would be step one of a failed attempt at an experiment.  But it illustrates my method just the same!

Then I spritz the inks with Glimmer Mist.  You could easily use Perfect Pearl mists too.  I just happen to have more GM then PP!!



Then I smoosh my paper ( I used a 5 x 5 vanilla tag for my project today) in the beaded up ink.  I usually dry my paper and repeat the steps until I get the look I like. Using a glimmer mist or the like, gives a soft  shimmer to your project adding that little extra punch!



Then comes the fun part!! You can use the paper as it is, or make a custom design paper to match your project (and at 1/2 the cost of regular design paper!!)

I first stamped the Aged Music Sheet from Cornish Heritage farms (no longer available...sorry!) with Distress Tea Dye.  Then I overstamped the Fabulous Flourishes Distress Sage Shadow.  The edges were sponged with Vintage Photo. 

The cage is from the Alterations Die Caged Bird.  It was die cut from TenSecond Studios Dark Chocolate metal, that I "distressed" by wrinkling the metal, then lightly sanding the bumps before smoothing it out with the roller tool in the finishing set.  I cut two frames and attached them only at the top and bottom, rounding out the front frame to give it a more realistic dimension.

The bird (from the same die) and the sentiment frame were cut from Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante paper line.  I cut the bird out twice.  By chance, the paper pattern lent itself to being the birds legs perfectly!  I cut out the branch from the bird and layered it over the second die cut.  The Spellbinders Label Eleven frame is raised over the sentiment (Flights of Fancy) with dimensional tape. 

The ribbon was from idea-ology findings  Trimmings that I sponged Sage Shadow, a bit of Broken China and Vintage Photo onto.  I FINALLY got it to fray and crinkle by pulling threads (why is it, that ribbon always frays when you don't want it too, but won't do it when you need it too?!!)

The tassel was made with some fine chain that I had in my stash.  It started out silver, but I used some Alcohol Ink in Espresso to darken.  The chain and the beads (again, from my stash) were attached to the cage with  idea-ology jump rings.  The whole sha-bang was adhered to a piece of presentation foam board  with Scor Tape to give it some stability.

I hope you found the E-Team's Distress ideas inspiring and Wrinkle Free!