Monday, March 28, 2011

TBS DT: Quick Spring Tag

Hi there and happy spring! Depending on where you live you might have gotten a surprise spring snow over the weekend. What was up with that? Sunday morning we woke up to a couple of inches of the fluffy white stuff, but it was all gone by the afternoon.

This week the design team is showing more projects using our current Spring challenge theme. We've added ribbons to our projects for a little extra oomph. At the end of the week Senior DT Jamie and Brenda, our very first Guest Designer will introduce our April sketch challenge. Yay!

I made a quick tag using our new Tim Holtz dies: Tag & Bookplates and Tattered Florals, and Graphic 45's "Once Upon A Springtime".


This really was a quick project - it took just about 2 hours, which is record time for me! The flower was made by cutting the Tattered Floral shapes twice and offsetting each size so the space between the petals doesn't show. I cut the largest flower down by about a half-inch. The petals are rounded with the awesome Empressor tool. To the edges I randomly added a combination of Star Dust and Crystal Stickles with my fingertip.


The little fairy tag was pulled from the Once Upon A Springtime "Tags" die-cut 12x12 page - loads of cool embellishments on that sheet! I cut an extra wing and added a little Stickles to the wing, crown and sceptre for a little bling.


Card Recipe
Thanks for visiting today. There's still plenty of time to join our Beary Sweet Spring Challenge and Birthday Bash. It's going on until March 31 - you could win one of 5 fabulous birthday prizes!

Cheers,
Susan

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Oh-So-"Wicked Circus" Altered Altoid Tin

Hiya folks! So I'm hanging out at Craftster.org and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over some really cool craftiness. They have organized swaps all the time and I decided to take the plunge and participate in one. Ok, ok, so my fabulously talented sister might have had something to do with it. If not for her, I wouldn't have the nerve to play along. Thanks, big sis!

Anyway, the swap was to alter an Altoids tin using a "Wicked Circus" theme. My swap partner has received hers so I can post it here now.

The "Alexander" letters, crystal ball and skeleton hand are all layered.








Inside is a fortune telling wheel and the mystic's lair

I found a dollhouse table and cut to fit with a jeweler's saw. The crystal ball is an antique marble. No matter how much I worked it, I couldn't get Madame Zora's sign to hang straight.

Madame Zora is a fan of Alexander and has a poster hidden behind the curtain.


Kinda wicked, huh? I've got another one in the works with a vintage clown theme and I'll show it to you soon. Thanks for visiting!

Cheers,
Susan

Monday, March 21, 2011

TBS DT: German Glass Glitter Tutorial

Hello crafty friends! Well, can you feel it? Ahhh, the sun is getting warmer and burning off the chill in the air. Can you hear it? The trickling sounds of melting snow up north and the trees bursting into leafy song down south. Can you see it? Daffodils, crocus, hyacinth all wearing their spring finery.

I'm in Maryland, smack dab in the middle of all the seasonal changes. The lawn at my in-laws in southern North Carolina has already been mowed twice, mine is starting to "green up" and dear Kimm up in northern Pennsylvania still has mounds of snow. Still, yesterday was the first official day of Spring 2011. Yay!

Before I get into this tutorial, I want to remind you of The Beary Scrap's current challenge - make a project using a Spring theme, enter it into the challenge and you're automatically entered into our Birthday Bash giveaway! We've got 5 prizes to give away to our challenge players - check out all the details HERE.









German Glass Glitter Tutorial

Today I'm sharing a how-to on our German glass glitter, along with my newest spring-themed card.


I couldn't resist Echo Park's Springtime paper collection. How sweet is this?! I knew I wanted to bling out blank chipboard letters, and just *had* to cut out the sweet little trees. Add a few puffy white clouds et voila! -- an easy, springy card!

I love altering the blank letters - either chipboard or grungeboard. Here's my first step today - drip Ranger Alcohol ink on the letters to let them soak it up and dry. The ink matches the glass glitter I'll be using, and will blend right in if I have any thin spots.


Now that my letters are dry I assemble my supplies.


• Meyer Imports German Glass Glitter in Lime-Green
• Glue - any white glue will do
• Tweezer Bee Precision tweezers
• Pointy instrument - any kind will do - it's to use as a teeny tiny extra finger for moving wet gluey, glittery things around
• Tidy Tray or large piece of paper that you can make into a funnel to pour unused glitter back into the bag

Now that you've assembled your supplies, bring out the bling! Add a thin layer of glue to the entire surface, keeping it off the sides (if you get it on the sides you can use the pointy thing to wipe it out - it's handy!).


Next, plop the letter down into the little pile of glitter on your Tidy Tray or paper work surface and give it a little smush all over to work the glitter all over the exposed glue. Lift it up with your tweezers and give your tweezer hand a tap or two to let go of the loose glitter pieces.


Here's a quick view of the tree glittering action - I used a pointy thing (an embossing tool) to dab glue onto the leaves, then smushed the tree into the pile of leafy, glittery goodness. :)


The last step is clean-up! Pull the plug off the tray and pour the glitter back into the bag. It's helpful to use a cup to hold the bag up.


Ok, so that's just like using the plain old plastic glitter, right? Yes! You definitely have to have your sensible cap on and take care with the glitter - it *is* glass, after all. It's best not to brush it off your work surface with your hand. It will do more damage to your table surface than your hand! After the glue has been sitting for a while but not quite dry, I use my fingers to push the glitter down and smooth edges as needed. Once it's bone dry I brush my fingers over to dislodge any stragglers. I haven't had any problems with this kind of handling *at all*. 

What's the payoff for using German glass glitter over plastic glitter? Sparkle and bling! It shines and reflects light unlike any other glitter and is beautiful! Thanks for reading this tutorial. I hope it inspires you to give our German glass glitter a try - you won't regret it!

Card Recipe
Thanks for visiting today!

Cheers,
Susan

Monday, March 14, 2011

TBS DT: Oh La La!

Hello hello! Happy Monday to you all. I'm here with one more sample from our Beary Sweet sketch challenge, which ends tonight. We've had a great turnout for our 1st birthday so far! Thanks to everyone playing along in our challenge. Remember that your challenge entry gets you a "ticket" in our "2 Challenges - 3 Chances - 5 Prizes" party - check out all the details here!

This card is made using papers from My Mind's Eye Madison Avenue and embellishments from both Madison Avenue (button) and Union Square (Eiffel Tower). The rosette ribbon and crochet ribbon add-on are both May Arts. Check out all the fun rosette ribbon colors here! Kimm has the crocheted ribbon in stock - shoot her an email for pricing. Oh, the crocheted ribbon is cut in half lengthwise - I love how it adds a little detail to the rosettes!

Card Recipe
Thanks for visiting today!
Cheers,
Susan

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Altered Ancestors Wrap Up - Finally!

Ok, so here are the last 3 pages of my Altered Ancestor project. For details and to see the first 8 pages, check out these posts:

Altered Ancestors Part 1
Altered Ancestors Part 2

Quickly: these are 4"x4" and the left side is blank for binding. This has been an incredible project for me and I'm so glad I participated. I shipped them all out to our swap coordinator Thursday and I miss them! Part of me can't believe they're gone and I'll never see them again. I poured my heart into each and every one of those little pages!

Sunny Disposition

 Heart on her Sleeve

 The Cure

There's a lot going on in that last one, eh? It's a whip in her hand... or is it a riding crop? We'll never know! Oh, and the silver pin in her hat says "secrets".

Cheers,
Susan

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

WOYWW 92

Ooh, it's Wednesday once again which mean I have to keep in real with what's happening in the studio. I missed the last 2 weeks of WOYWW because I blinked and the days turned into Thursdays. Wow, does the time fly!

"What's WOYWW?", you wask. Why, it's What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday, you wascally wabbit! Come play with us at Julia's and take a poke around others' desks - it's fun!

This is the last of my little pages swap project. I ca't wait to ship 'em off. At the rate I'm going I'll be lucky if they get to California by the deadline. *sheesh* I think I'll have to bribe my Swap Mom with chocolates. :)


I put this green mat down when I noticed that glue takes the finish off my table. The color is really throwing me off, though! I think I have a gray one around somewhere. That would be better, no? :)


It's bad. I can't show you the floor on the other side of the chair - it's even worse. I have a house guest coming this weekend so I have to bring out the shovel.

Cheers and happy WOYWW!
Susan

Monday, March 7, 2011

TBS DT: Thank You!

Hello and happy Monday to you! Over at the TBS Design Team & Challenge Blog we're starting the second week of our March Birthday Bash party. I'm not exactly sure *where* last week went, but here we are today. :) This week the design team is showing more samples from our current sketch challenge *and* showing YOU a little love. In honor of all our readers and challenge players we're sending you a big ol' Thank You. Each of our projects this week are made with our store and design team friends in mind.


I used My Mind's Eye Portobello Road papers on each layer as well as for the flower petals. The bird is cut from a 12x12 paper in the collection. The letters were dabbed onto a Weathered Wood ink pad until covered. After the ink dried I covered the letters in Rock Candy Distress Stickles. The flower is made from layers of Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die cuts. I used 2 of each size, shortening the petals on the biggest flowers. The flower technique is from Anna Fearer of More Paper Than Shoes. It's not a bad flower for my first try, right? If you look too closely (haha) you'll see that my smallest flowers are a little off-center. Oops! I used Weathered Wood ink and Stickles in Frosted Lace and Star Dust to accent the flowers.

Card Recipe
Thanks so much for visiting. Have a great day!

Cheers,
Susan

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Altered Ancestors Book Swap, Part 2

Hi bloggers! I want share the next batch of little fat book swap pages. I've now completed 8 of the 11 and am feeling the mailing deadline looming down on me. Hee hee. Click here to see the first 4 if you missed 'em.

Muse
I'll admit this lovely lady isn't very altered. She has a crystal on her dress and a butterfly on her shoulder. I rubbed gold Ranger alcohol ink Mixative on the TH word tag. I was inspired by the very talented Laura Carson on this page.
Paris
I love this page! I set out to find an ancestor who evokes "travel" just so I could use this paper. The Paris ticket and "oh la la" were printed at home.

Hustler
You have to watch out for this con artist - she'll take the shirt off your back!

Drama Queen
"The theater, the theater. What happened to the theater?" This is a line Danny Kaye says in White Christmas. It's my least favorite part of my *most* favorite movie. Funny. The crown is a TH stamp that was embossed and cut out. "Art" is made of grungeboard from the Mixed Minis set. Using tweezers I rubbed the letters in a pool of Bundled Sage distress reinker. Impatiently I used a heat gun to dry with interesting results. The liquid evaporated, leaving a cool texture behind - almost like flocking. I'm going to play around with it some more. I finished the letters with Rock Candy distress paint (although next time I will use Glossy Accents since the crackle is minimum on the little letters. Live and learn!) 

So, for a little recap: Over at the All Things Tim Yahoo group I'm in an Altered Ancestors Little Fat Book swap. There are over 20 players and each of us makes 11 pages to send off to our swap coordinator. She then randomly picks pages to bind into little fat books and sends to the players. I don't even know if my book will include any of my own pages!

Each page is 4"x4" and the left side is for the binding rings. The photos were printed on a satin photo paper (just what I had on hand) and cut out. I rounded them for a little dimension and used a silicone as glue so they're all raised off the page a little. The pages are grunge paper with TH card stock attached on the front and back.


There they are! I have a few more days to finish up the last 3, then they get mailed off. This has been a huge project for me and I'll be happy when it's done. Yay!

Cheers,
Susan