Recycling at International Art & Soul

Our theme this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Recycling. I had lots of fun using one of my favorite themes!

The rosette is made with a TH die & cardboard packaging (frozen popcorn chicken); the black border is part of the packaging & happily influenced the overall design. It's inked with QQ chalk ink & two purplish Liquid Pearls. 

I made the background with Technique Tuesday's "Good Vibes" Planner stamp set. I used double-sided tape to stick the whole set (on the packaging plastic) onto a stamping block, and inked it with a Recollections ombre ink pad. Easy background stamp!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Fab 'n' Funky: Bingo (middle column: Flowers, Die-cuts, Pearls)
International Art & Soul Challenge: Recycling (cardboard packaging, plastic mesh)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Florals
Sunday Stamps: Getting Sketchy

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Inlaid Box

When I saw the "Inlaid Dies" Challenge at Addicted to CAS, my first idea was to recreate a wooden box with etching and inlays framed with metal. This was a fun technique; I may have to use it for an actual paper box someday.

The brown square started as a scrap piece of corrugated cardboard; I inked it with brown chalk ink (Quick Quotes) and ran it through my Big Shot with a fancy die. The outer edge cut through but the little pieces didn't, as intended. I sprayed the inner piece with a Satin coating before cutting out the flower (Sizzix) & branch (Sweet Stamps) pieces; I ran these dies through my Big Shot twice to ensure a deep cut. The frames are cut from a gold paper (Recollections) and the inset pieces are cut from a pearly cardstock; I used SU! Wasabi ink for the green parts. I strung some twine around the "box" and used a metal ring to attach a metal Hamsa charm (which I heat-embossed with Gold powder) and a sentiment tag (cut with an EC die & stamped with a Jillibean Soup stamp in Vintage Photo distress ink.) The card front is a lightest beige cardstock. To be honest, this was very much inspired by the urn/box that the Vet put our dear dog Allen into when we lost him a few weeks ago. I miss him very much, and am glad that I have crafting to help me through this time.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Addicted to CAS Challenge #85: Inlaid Dies (2nd entry)
Paper Sweeties: Inspiration #42

Gecko in the Cherry Blossoms

When I saw this week's unique color at Pals Paper Arts, I immediately thought of the gecko I die-cut from a can of AriZona Green Tea.

The background is a rubber stamp from my stash, and I stamped it & the sentiment (from Clear Arts Stamps) in black directly onto white cardstock. I was inspired (again) by the Ink Smooshing technique challenge at Happy Little Stampers. After letting the piece dry, I added detail to the cherry blossom stamp with black & clear Wink of Stella glitter pens. I wrapped a bit of baker's twine on the top and adhered the piece to the card with foam tape. The tin can gecko is attached with foam tape & Glossy Accents.

PPA283

Inspiration/Challenges:
Happy Little Stampers CAS Card Challenge: Ink Smooshing + CAS (2nd entry)

Pals Paper Arts: Mint, Melon, Black

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Recycling with Crafting with Dragonflies

I'm hosting the Crafting with Dragonflies challenge this fortnight, so I chose my favorite theme: Recycling/use something not intended for crafting.

My mom & I visited a great new store near my house yesterday that sells Southeast Asian foods. We found these beautiful sliced "nuts" called Sopari and Mom immediately knew she wanted to use them on cards! You should have seen the look on the owner's face when we bought them...he said, What are you going to do with these‽ but was happy when we told him we were using them as art. Ends up that they are betel nuts, one of the original stimulants. So don't lick this card!

For the background, I cut up a white Styrofoam take-out container and embossed it in my BigShot. The banner is a rubber tourniquet that I cut with fringe scissors. I added some hemp twine & a beautiful Hamsa charm that my best friend gave me for my birthday. The flowers were die-cut from a stiff fabric, and I added betel nut centers & leaves die-cut from an aluminum can. The sentiment is a stamp from IndigoBlu, a happy coincidence considering my color scheme!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafting with Dragonflies #45: Recycled items
Mojo Monday: Sketch #418
Dream Valley Challenge #116: Recipe (bottom row: Flowers, Embossing, Blue)



Thank you for visiting, and I hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies,

Happy Unbirthday!

I totally forgot to put my brother-in-law's birthday card in the mail, and since his birthday was last Saturday I figured I'd make him an "Unbirthday" card and cut my losses!

I kept it very simple. The background is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, and used some of the same paper for the sentiment strip. I embossed a dotted border on the strip by hand with my embossing tool. The base is a light blue paper.

The sentiment is a stamp from Rogue Redhead Designs, and I heat-embossed it in neon orange. The little bubbles are stickers from Stickopotamus.

The banners are cut from three colors of blue rubber tourniquets. My BIL works in medicine, so I think he'll get a kick out of that!

Atlantic Hearts #81

Challenges/Inspiration: 
Atlantic Hearts: Sketch #81
Polkadoodles #43: Recycle It (rubber tourniquets)



Thank you for visiting,

Simply Firefly

One of my favorite things about summer is the beautiful fireworks each evening, in the form of lightning bugs. They are much quieter than the human version of fireworks! I decided to get a little artsy and make this firefly shaker card:

The shaker is made from the plastic safety cover off of a Fiskars paper-trimmer blade...so glad I kept one! It has a little bump in the middle, but I felt like that gave the "body" some dimension. I filled it with a chunky glow-in-the-dark glitter (Martha Stewart brand). A lightning bug got into the house the other day and I wanted to recreate the surprise of its glow in a dark room. I couldn't get a good photo of it in the dark, but it does glow!

The wings and antenna were cut on my BigShot with a Memory Box die. The top wings, antenna, and body background are a shiny black paper (Recollections), and the bottom wings are vellum.The bases were cut with a Spellbinders die (included the base card; I cut it from a folded piece of paper.) The top is a shiny green (Recollections again), and it's glued  onto a black piece that I embossed with the die, cut out, and decorated with Holographic embossing powder (Sweet Stamps). I added some red Stickles as a border, reminiscent of a firefly's coloring.

The sentiment stamp is from the Let It Shine set by Verve Stamps. I heat-embossed it with a glittery white, and added a sprinkle of the white and holographic glitters to the card. That was supposed to look "whimsical" but I'm afraid it just looks messy!

I'm always inspired by our garden, and I'm glad I finally got around to making an homage to these real-life fairies of summer.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cut it Up #48: Twilight
Just Add Ink #221: Just Add Shakers
Simon Says Stamp: Shake It
Tando Creative Challenges: Come Fly with Me

Thank you for visiting,

Berry Sweet Wishes

It's time for a new Pile It On challenge! This week, we want to see "Food."
I'm on PIO's Team B, and this is a Team A week, but I'm covering for Bethie this week.

Our sponsor is MilkCoffee Digital Stamps, so I used her adorable Charlotte & Strawberry Pudding (although I made the "pudding" more of a Jell-O mold):

Two of my teamies also used this image, and all three of our puddings are completely different...but all look yummy!

The netting on the corners, left side, and bordering the image is from a bag of potatoes we bought at Wegman's. 

Tuesday Morning Sketch #205

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Crafting By Designs: Your country's colors
2. Crafty Bloggers Network: Metal
3. Creative Craft Challenges #13 : Stitching (Real or Faux)
4. Happy Campers: Bling
5. Inky Impressions #115: Red, White & Blue
6. LEJ Designs #60: Recycle, Upcycle or use Household items
7. Sassy Studio Designs #184: Red, White & Blue
8. Shopping Our Stash #108: Red, White & Blue or Your Flag Colours 
9. Stampotique Designers' Challenge #107: Recycle
10. Tuesday Morning Sketches: Sketch #205

Update: This was the prize winner for Tuesday Morning Sketch #205. Whoop!

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,

Recycled Plastic Bag Bows

One of my favorite stories growing up was Little Egret and Toro by Robert Vavra, with illustrations by John Fulton, the "American Matador." Basically, egrets save a bull from death in the bullring by mimicking the tradition of waving white handkerchiefs to pardon a particularly brave bull. I've met John Fulton a few times, when I was a child living in Spain... interestingly, he also spent quite a bit of time in my husband's family's hometown in Mexico. Small world!

So when I won some digi stamps by KennyK Downloads via Party Time Tuesday, I just had to grab his Cute Bull. All of his images have attitude, even the animals!

I colored Toro with Copics, added some black Sparkly Fluff, and attached it to the card with a Wobble.

The bows are made with plastic bags! I used the part at the top of the handles; I just tied a bit of ribbon around it (just like using raffia ribbon. I glued them onto the card with Glossy Accents.

The "bullring" colors are fairly traditional, and are very much inspired by Sevilla's Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería. I cut the circles & scalloped circle with Spellbinders dies.

I generated the sentiment in Chinchilla, printed it on a shiny white paper, and mounted it onto a gold paper (both by Recollections). I added some Onyx Liquid Pearls.

The clouded background is an embossed, two-toned Core'Dinations cardstock; I sanded the clouds to bring out the lighter blue. The white base is actually embossed with polka dots.

Inspiration/Challenges:
ABC Challenges: Recycle
Crafty Boots: Recycle
Digi Darla Challenge: Earth Day (use a recycled item)
Eureka Stamps: Animal Catwalk
Going Grey With Scrap-Creations: Insects Or Animals
Joanna Sheen Challenge: Recycle
Kenny K's Krafty Krew: Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting and do let me know if you try making your own plastic bag bows,

DARE, sans Nancy Reagan

I wanted to make a trifold card using mainly recycled materials, and I found inspiration in the Freshly Brewed Challenge #15. The theme is DARE: Distressing, Autumn, Ribbon, Embellishments.
The only part of this card that isn't reused is the ribbon and the message card. I cut the leaf patterns on my Cricut, at low settings.


Supplies: leaf cut files from SCAL2 library and FreeSVGFiles.com, box from case of 7-up, Quaker Oats box, green rubber band, magazine advertisement page, ribbon from Plaza and Target, Fiskars punch, Cricut electronic cutter, SCAL2 software, Tim Holtz scissors, ZipDry glue, white cardstock, emery board, Tim Holtz Distressing ink

Cheer up! Aud Sentiments challenge #11

Somewhere along my travels through the crafting-web, I discovered the Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog. How could one resist, with a title like that? Also, their design team is awesome and very inspiring. Here's my entry:


This month's sentiment is "Cheer Up," and I went with the obvious. I used mostly recycled materials to create the balloon, as a little advert for the Truly Trashy Challenge.

Supplies: box from case of 7-up, green rubber band, Election flyer, ribbon from Plaza, Martha Stewart punch, Core'dinations cardstock, K&Company A4 pre-cut card, HP printer, Tim Holtz scissors, Mod Podge glue, ZipDry glue, emery board, white cardstock, digi stamping

A sketch challenge and a six-pack: Sounds like a weekend

As much as I enjoy designing my own cards, pop-ups and layouts, and I truly do love it, some of the most fun I have is when I can work within creative parameters. I first learned this when I discovered the poetic form sestina. I'm a poet of the post-post-beat generation, so form's not really my bag, but there is something incredibly freeing in having to use repetition. That's how I feel, now, about cardmaking challenges.

This felt especially true this morning, when I found the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #71 over at the PriscillaStyles blog. I had seen some of the entries on CDAC and was blown away, as usual. But I wanted to make something, so I decided to enter the challenge, and give myself the extra challenge of using only recycled materials that I had on hand. So I dug through the recycling and chose the packaging for a case of 7-up and a six-pack of Beach Bum Ale.



Supplies: emery board, Tim Holtz scissors, ZipDry glue, HP printer, Dimensions Mini Stamp, StazOn Ink, rose SCAL cut file from Too Many Ideas