Vintage Family History at UnstampaBelles

The UnstampaBelles May challenge is Family History + Vintage. Make a vintage-style project about a family member who is in the past. You can link up your projects until the end of the month, but remember: NO STAMPS (digi or otherwise).

I made a wall hanging featuring a photo of my mother & grandmother:

I believe this photo was taken when my grandfather was stationed in Khartoum, Sudan in the 1960s. It was digitized from a slide. My grandmother has been gone for many years now, but the stories of her adventures live on through my mom and me.

I started with a glossy-coated wooden hoop ornament. I sanded it, inked it with Vintage Photo distress ink, and painted it with Crackle Paint. I used Glossy Accents to add a braided trim to the inside & outside of the hoop. I glued the lace trim onto the back of the hoop, trimming between each shape to make it fan out.

I used a gold ribbon to hang a working bell and a gold bird from the frame. The bird is actually a vintage-style plastic bird (a pink one, no less) that I heat-embossing with gold powder. I used my Dremel to drill a hole in it and attached a hanger with Glossy Accents.

Inspiration/Challenges:
A Creative Need: Favorite moments with Mom (or mother figure)
Altered Eclectics: Altered Art/Mix Media only
Frilly and Funkie: Snap, Crackle, Crackle + Vintage (Crackle Paint on wood hoop)
House That Stamps Built: Anything But A Card

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teamies and hope you'll join us this month at UnstampaBelles!

Thank you for visiting,

Pilin' on the Historical Puns

The theme this week at Pile It On is Not Cute. You can interpret that however you like, as long as the project doesn't feel cutesy. Our sponsor, SLS Lines, has lots of funky images, and I used this unique Marie Antoinette with Cupcakes to make this rather macabre birthday card:

I couldn't resist using this sentiment! Come on, all I know about Marie Antoinette is that she liked cake, met with a bad end, and bragged to have inspired the champagne glass. I feel a bit guilty about making light of it all, but I'm certainly not the first! I used the Zapfino font for the sentiment, printed it on white paper, and cut/embossed them with a Spellbinders die.

I used a glue pen to cover her hair with white flocking, cutting small slits in which to place the cupcakes and glasses. I printed the image twice, fussy-cutting the cupcakes out, but leaving some paper so that I could fit them into the slits. I added die-cut champagne glasses (from a Memory Box set) to her beehive to add to the decadence. The images are colored with Copics, and I used a Pearl Pen on her earrings.

The frame is a Silhouette cut file. I cut both layers from the same shiny gold paper, but I heat-embossed the top piece with gold powder. The crown-patterned paper is a DP from my stash.

Challenges/Inspiration:

1. Crafting for all Seasons: Birthday + 4 of something (4 metal champagne glasses)
2. Crafts for Eternity #226: Wood (wood veneer bird embellishments)
3. Creative Card Crew #87: Embossing (Wet embossing on outer frame)
4. DoubleClick Skittles #22: Happy Birthday
5. DRS Designs: Birds and/or Bees (wood veneer bird embellishments)
6. Ike's World Challenge: Naughty or Nice (pun is naughty in a macabre way)
7. Loves Rubber Stamps #151: Add a Sentiment
8. Red Rubber Inspirational #220: Sassy Women
9. Ruby's Rainbow: Humor
10. Snarky Stampers: Cake

Update: This was chosen as an Inspiration Project from Red Rubber's "Sassy Women" Inspirational Challenge!

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

Pilin' on the Cute Animals

The theme this week at Pile It On is Cute Animal. We're sponsored by All Dressed Up Stamps, so I used their unique "Head in the Clouds" digi stamp.

I made the "and you in my heart" sentiment using the fonts Zigzag and KBAStitchInTime. In a happy coincidence, both phrases have seven parts so I could use a full rainbow color theme. The scribbly clouds were printed on a shiny white paper and pieced into the scene. I fussy cut the giraffe, colored it with Copics, covered it with an adhesive sheet, and coated it with Apricot glitter. I gave it a quick blast from my heat gun to set the glitter. I was inspired by the giraffe-oxpecker relationship and added a little wood bird that I colored to look like an red-billed oxbird. I covered the bird with glittery embossing powder.

The patterned papers are both by Recollections, and the green/kraft backing papers are from TH/Core'Dinations. I inked the edges of the patterned papers with a copper ink, and sanded the edges of the kraft pieces. I colored the giraffes with a glitter pen.

I made the banners from wood tape. I die-cut the little clouds using an IO die and my bigshot. I inked both banners with different brown inks.

Challenges/Inspiration:
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper: Anything goes with Patterned Paper
Mojo Monday: Sketch #396
Penny's Paper-Crafty #226: Anything Goes
Ruby's Rainbow #103: Anything Goes
Southern Girls #110: Animal Crackers
Sparkle N Sprinkle: Loose Glitter/Embossing Powder
Top Tip Tuesday: Duo (Giraffe/Bird and You/Me)

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

Your Inner Child at Crafter's Cafe

The Crafter's Cafe Challenge this week is Your Inner Child, and we have two great sponsors: Bugaboo Stamps and Deedee's Digis. I used Gus Birthday - Optional by Bugaboo Stamps.

Crafting for all Seasons #101

Inspiration/Challenges:
Card and Scrap #96: Male Cards
Catch the Bug: Anything Goes
Crafting for all Seasons: Sketch
Crafty Cardmakers: Make your own Background (no designer papers)
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #182: Anything Goes/Family Friendly

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join us at The Crafter's Cafe,

Pilin' on the Ladies

The theme this week at Pile It On is Mother/Woman. We're sponsored by Sweet Pea Stamps so I used this Fairy Princess by Molly Harrison to make a Mother's Day card.

The sentiment is by TLC Creations. I used a Spellbinders die set & my BigShot for all the die cuts. The wood house embellishment was painted with a glittery white Wink of Stella pen.

Challenges/Inspiration:

RRR #117

Crafty Ribbons: Ribbon
Creative Corner: For Mom
Digi Sketch Challenge: Sketch
DoubleClick Skittles: For a Mom/Girl
QKR Stampede #137: Mother's Day Cards
Really Reasonable Ribbon #117: Photo Inspiration + Ribbon
Simply Create Too #84: Pretty Woman
Stuck on U Diecut Challenge: Mother + Die Cut
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #181: Anything Goes/Family Friendly

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