Paisley Songbird

I really like the paisley shape, and I felt so clever when I realized that I could make birds from paisleys. I've been meaning to try the technique again, but I see that it's taken me over 4 years to get around to it!

FMS170

I grabbed this paisley cut file from the Silhouette store when it was a freebie. It's cut from silver and gold adhesive vinyls. I trimmed it and added feet, a beak & a Liquid Pearl eyeball. I used another Silhouette freebie for the sentiment and cut it from the gold vinyl.

For the card design, I was inspired by Freshly Made Sketches #170. The background is made with a shiny vanilla paper and a DP from Graphic 45. I added a border with orange Stickles and mounted the piece onto a blue card.

I'm pleased with how this came out. Now to get it in the mail!

Thank you for visiting,

Pilin' on the Hearts

Our theme this week at the Pile It On Challenge is Hearts and/or Flowers. We're sponsored by Digital Delights, and so I used used their great freebie Love Banner to make two matching shaker cards (only one is showcased here).

Some friends came over last week for a day of crafting, and after cutting out some Valentine's projects on the Silhouette, I ended up with the scraps. I couldn't resist putting them to use, along with some papers and embellishments the same friends gave me a couple of years ago at a birthday party!

The outer heart frame is a black-and-white paper that I inked pink. I added a border of pink Liquid Pearls to the red heart frame. I used plastic from old packaging to cover the heart, adhered the piece with foam tape to a scrap of DP from the aforementioned birthday party, and filled it with die-cut hearts & pink microbeads.

I printed the Love Banner digi stamp twice: on a textured red paper and on a white cardstock. I cut the red piece with a border around the banners, and colored the white banners with Copics markers. I decorated it with pink-and-white baker's twine & black gems.

The background cardstocks are the only papers that aren't scraps. I embossed the light pink piece with a Sizzix folder.

Challenges/Inspiration:

1. Bunny Zoe's Crafts: Hearts
2. Clear It Out: Theme - Valentine/Love + Stash - Flowers (the handmade flower has been in my stash 2 or 3 years)
3. C.R.A.F.T. #295: Recycling (scrap paper & packaging)
4. DL.ART Thankful Thursday Challenge #149: Valentines
5. DRS Designs #158: Lovely Hearts
6. In the Pink: Pink & Pearlie (Liquid Pearls & pearl on flower)
7. Kitty Bee Designs #39: Use Scraps
8. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Have a Heart
9. Sweet Stamps #205: Hearts
10. TIME OUT Challenges: Valentine's Day with the optional twist of Hearts

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Say Something Purple

OSAAT January Prize Pack

This fortnight at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), our theme is Purple. StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists. Even if you don't use a store image, you'll still be in the drawing to win the super-duper January prize pack.

Purple is a special color to me; my husband and I share a love of the color, and he even wore a purple suit for our wedding! I decided to use the Book Stamp by Sentimental Susan to make this small book box.

The box template is from SVG Attic's discontinued Nevermore set (if anyone knows where I can purchase this file or something similar, please leave a comment). I love the scored page pieces! Used a purple cardstock for the binding, and covered it with a burlap-patterned paper. I inked the paper with Victorian Violet Brilliance pigment ink from Tsukineko.

I made the sentiment in InDesign and heat-embossed it in purple on a shiny white paper. I inked the piece with the same violet ink that I used for the burlap-patterned paper. The book digi stamps were colored with Copics and place on top of the piece. I used an embossing tool to create little lines on the books' pages.

I wrapped a striped grosgrain ribbon around the box, adhering it only to the front so that it would unwrap. To secure it, I used a tiny key charm from Cousin/Designs By Me. I put a little glittered flower on the ribbon's end-knot.

I wanted to be able to keep charms in the box, so I made a cover for the interior box. I used two magnet strips to keep it closed, and added another tiny key.

Inspiration/Challenges:
2 Creative Chicks #22: No Cards
All Crafts Challenge Dec/Jan Challenge: Anything but a Card
Crafty Ribbons: Anything but a Card + Ribbon
Cut it Up #63: Embossing & Die Cuts (SVGs)
Loves Rubber Stamps #135: Digi Stamp + Letter B (Books, Box, Burlap, Binding)
PDE Linky Party #36: 3D projects

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time,

Pilin' on the Winged Monkeys

Our theme this week at the Pile It On Challenge is Fantasy. We're sponsored by Sweet Pea Stamps, and my imagination was sparked by Elphaba and Her Monkey by Charmaine Flannery. I must admit that I've neither read nor seen Wicked, but I've always been pretty freaked out by the Technicolored flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. Despite knowing the end of the story, I like the idea of a life-long friendship between a girl and her Winged Monkey!

click images to enlarge

I colored the image with Copics, adding highlights to her hair with green Smooch pearlized accent ink and fur to the monkey with a purple Wink of Stella pen. I had created a frame for the image before printing it, and colored that with a Copic and covered it with lime green Stickles glitter glue.

Using the image's oval shape, I hand-traced and cut the pieces to make a simple notch swing card.

The patterned papers, flying monkeys and grown-up Elphaba are from "The Magic of Oz" collection by from Graphic 45. I fussy-cut the characters and colored the witch's face to match the front image.

Cheerful Sketches

Challenges/Inspiration:
Cheerful Sketches Challenge Blog: Sketch
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: Anything goes (2nd entry)
Love to Scrap: Initial Challenge - LTSCB (Leaf ribbons, Thread on larger button, Stickles, Compass on witch's belt, Buttons)
Shopping Our Stash #184: Use a hidden element (2nd picture) + Stash (buttons, designer paper)
Use Your Stuff: Buttons + Stash (small flower buttons have been in my stash for at least 1 year)

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Sweet 16

One of our nieces is turning 16, so I made her this "sweet" card.

I couldn't resist making this into a shaker card. The stamp is actually 3 stamps from the "Bake a Cake" set by Jennifer Ellory; I stamped them all at once onto a shiny black paper and heat-embossed it in white. I cut out the cake parts with a knife and covered the hole on the inside with a piece of plastic from old packaging. I used foam tape to attach the front piece to a multicolored patterned paper and filled the pocket with glow-in-the-dark chunky glitter. I had a bit of fun with my new sparkly white Wink of Stella pen to create what I hope is a whimsical background! I wrapped baker's twine around the shaker piece, partly to hide the foam tape. I topped the cake with glittery stickers.

The background is a black-and-white, music-themed paper backed onto another piece of shiny black paper. I heated-embossed the entire piece with holographic embossing powder. Tip: when heat-embossing layered pieces, you may get some warping. If it's a background, you can die-cut a section of the piece and cover the hole with the top image.

The base card is a double-sided shiny cardstock. I used more of the music-themed paper to decorate the inside. The message section is die-cut and I added detail with blue & purple Wink of Stella pens.

Our niece & her 17-year-old sister have only been in our lives about 5 years, but we've so enjoyed watching them grow into free-thinking young adults.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Brown Sugar #129: Birthday for a Girl
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #68: Use Something Recycled (plastic from old packaging)
Sparkle N Sprinkle January Challenge: Embossing Powder & Loose Glitter (2nd entry)
The Pink Elephant: Shaker Cards

Thank you for visiting,

Something New at OSAAT

OSAAT January Prize Pack

This fortnight at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), our theme is Anything Goes with Something New. StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists. Even if you don't use a store image, you'll still be in the drawing to win the super-duper January prize pack.

My "new" item is the gold-and-glitter peel-off stickers. I also used a new transfer sheet to make this New Year's shaker card using A Toast from Reece's Scrap Pieces as well as this great freebie sentiment from Coosty Creations.

I filled the card with a mix of clear & gold microbeads.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Card Mania #64: Make it Sparkle! / Let's shine!
Creative Moments: Anything goes/ New Beginnings
Hambo Hoedown January Challenge: New Year's Stash
The Male Room: New beginnings (Few men could resist something sparkly for the New Year! I made this for a man, Roosevelt.)
Natalie and Amy's Challenge #28: All Things New!
Paradise of Stamps: New Year

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time,

Thank You at UnstampaBelles

The UnstampBelles January challenge is Thank You, with the fun optional twist of incorporating something from just outside your window and blog about it.

You can link up your projects until the end of the month, but remember that you can't use ANY STAMPS (digi or otherwise)!

We live in Baltimore city, and my view from our backyard is of Marian House, a temporary residence for women. During most of the year we all enjoy a bit more privacy thanks to our over-hanging mulberry tree, but the leafless Winter opens up a clear view of the gray-brick building (plus a lovely view of the stars). 

This Christmas season, they decorated some of their windows with lovely hand-made decorations and lights, which inspired the colors on the card's window. As the holiday ends, the windows are re-populated by their resident cats. I cut this cat from a sheet of Graphic 45 DP. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Calico up there, but it would definitely be good luck!

The window is cut with a Sizzix/Susan's Garden die. I created the "Thanks" letters in SCAL using the Harrington font. I colored the windows with Smooch & Wink of Stella glitter inks, and coated the whole thing with Glossy Accents to give it a glass look as well as reinforce the die-cut letters.

I recently won a gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, and one of the goodies I got was a brick wall stencil by MFT, which I've been itching to use. I applied a generous amount of gel medium over the stencil, removed the plastic stencil, and covered it with silver embossing powder.I found that I need to let the gel dry a bit before I could easily heat-emboss it, but I'm happy with the rough texture I ended up with.

Since it's pretty barren here in Maryland, I added white & brown leaf ribbons to the scene. When this post published on January 4, 2015 it was rainy and gray and those beautiful lights were still up. Love my neighborhood!

Inspiration/Challenges:
DRS Designs #155: Stencils (brick wall is made with a stencil)
Top Tip Tuesday: Make Your Own - something that's not store bought (background & letters)

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at UnstampaBelles,

Pilin' on the Digi Paper

This week at Pile It On! we're challenging you to use Digi Paper and/or a Pre-colored Digi Stamp. We're sponsored by StitchyBear's Digi Outlet, so I used Coosty Creations' Zebra digi stamp & paper pack to create this funky card:

click images to enlarge

Okay, I have to admit something here: Even though I'm one of the sponsor coordinators at Pile It On! and actually chose this theme, I managed to completely run out of color printer ink & couldn't fit the purchase in before this card was due, so I chose to work with this black-and-white digi paper set.

Working from the black-and-white palette, I incorporated neon ribbon, buttons, and patterned papers as well as a neon-orange embossed version of the Zebra digi stamp. I printed the digi onto a shiny white paper, heat-embossed it, and added detail is a black gel pen.


I haven't done paper-weaving in quite some time, but I was inspired to try this technique again from a beautiful card fellow crafter Ike recently sent me.

I used a neon orange gel pen to add some hand-drawn detail to the inside message section.

Challenges/Inspiration:
Bunny Zoe's Crafts December Challenge: Buttons
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: Anything goes
Scrappy Hands Challenge #29: Squares
Seems a Little Sketchy: Sketch
Sparkle N Sprinkle January Challenge: Embossing Powder, Etc.

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

This glitter traveled 2000ish miles so that I could make this card!

Welcome to my final post for 2014; thank you all for sharing the year with me. I'm feeling even more nostalgic than usual, having spent two weeks at my parents' house going through our collected treasures, old and new. A new treasure that I couldn't resist bringing home from Arizona to Maryland was Mom's extra Starform outline stickers. She also gifted me with the tools I need for my favorite technique using the stickers and lots of glitter (like the transfer plastic; I still have lots of adhesive film for now and I've actually had these outline stickers for over a year.) Many thanks to my wonderful husband for lugging my 30 containers of extrafine glitter in his carry-on!

...And many thanks to the personnel at Southwest Airlines for lugging my suitcase, which contained this designer paper and ribbon!

I purchased the double-sided DP at Mom's local craft store Scraps of Love for another nostalgic family card. The "Warm & Cozy" sentiment piece is cut from the designer's logo.

I've had the paper candi for, gee, maybe two years‽ I even used some for the inside, along with a piece from the DP. The ribbon is new-to-me, but is from my mom's stash which is made of years collecting bits of others' stashes! 

This photo doesn't quite capture the true color of the glitter; the cups are cherry red & lime green. I edged all the papers with a gold pen.

This design was inspired by the birth of our newest niece, Luna ... the cups represent her awesome parents and the sugar cubes are Luna and her sweet sister!

Challenge #155

Inspiration/Challenges:

Eureka Stamps: Something Old, Something New (old: Candi; new: glitter)
Less is More: CAS + Family (Sorry, I got a bit carried away and this isn't as CAS as I meant it to be!)
Sketch N Stash: Sketch + Stash (tea-themed outline stickers & paper embellishments)

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

One stitch at a time at OSAAT!

OSAAT December Prize Pack

This fortnight at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), our theme is Stitching. StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists. Even if you don't use a store image, you'll still be in the drawing to win the super-duper December prize pack.

I used the sweet Birds with Leaves from Gingerloft along with a lot of hand-stitching to create this texture-filled card:

I printed the digi stamp onto a linen-textured cardstock and colored it with Copics. I cut the piece out with a decorative die. I made a dotted border around the bird in InDesign so that it was easy for me to create the holes with an awl and hand-stitch the border with a mix of silver & blue threads. I used a needle to poke stitching holes on the image itself, and hand-stitched those details with the silver thread.

The sentiment was created in InDesign using the Home Sweet Home font, and also die-cut. I attached it to the card with a pretty stickpin, covering the pointy end with some white ribbon.

I created the background by printing out a stitching template on white cardstock, adhering it to a lovely patterned fabric, and hand-stitching it with silver thread. Time-consuming, but worth it! I pulled out some of the threads on the edges to give with a nice fringe.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Animal Friends Challenge: Everything goes with an animal
Creative Moments: Anything goes / non-traditional Christmas colors
Fairytale Stampers #49: Everything Goes with stamping (digi)

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at One Stitch at a Time,