A foray into jewelery making...

Hello blog readers! Today I'm sharing a charm I made using a fabulous Spellbinders™ Shapeabilities® S5-093 Crosses Two die and my Spellbinders™ Grand Calibur® Die Cutting Machine!

I cut the die from Lucky Squirrel Shrink Plastic (Clear), punched a hole and then shrunk the cut using my heat tool. The color was added with alcohol ink and sealed with an acrylic lacquer before using a Krylon gold leaf pen to finish the edges...Artistic Wire was wrapped around the cross center and on the last wrap a red bead was added. I hung the pendant on a silk cord using a pinch clasp I tinted yellow with more alcohol ink!

Thanks for stopping by!

Only one spot left!!

Only one spot left in my Saturday Class at The Scrapbooking Studio in Moline, IL! Call them at (309) 736-7242 to register!

Hope to see you there!

Spring is COMING!

Spring has sprung! Not that we've really had any winter here this year...and it was 50+ F today! Looking forward to another unseasonably warm day tomorrow too!

With that said, I created some spring-y projects for Xyron's recent appearance on HSN! Love the DCWV paper stack that I got to play with too...Lemon Flower...and some Xyron Shapez by Spellbinders (the flower pot flowers!)

Let's start with my fave...the flower pot with paper flowers! This one was time consuming, but oh, so worth the effort!

Next a thank you card:

A layout highlighting my nephew's personality:

And finally, an altered frame featuring my youngest niece:

Thanks for popping by today!

 

FINALLY! Some creative time...

I know my family is probably looking for some Thanksgiving pictures...BUT I'm happy that I got a chance to do some creating this weekend, so I'm putting up a crafty post today!

I had a chance to pull out my American Crafts AMY TAN products...such FUN! Love the colors and the textures...here's what I created...

I've seen these butterfly boxes before, and the 'science' geek in me is drawn to how they resemble specimen displays...I used my Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Butterfly dies and adhered the beauties to a punched grey circle before mounting on the cardstock with the printed quote...LOVE this project!

AMAZINGLY...I created a couple of cards...

Those that follow my blog know that I publicly complain about my card making abilities...perhaps I've turned a corner?

Lastly, but not leastly, I created this photo-less layout documenting our family's road to our Iowa HOME!

All these FAB Amy Tan (and the Tim Holtz die) products are available at The Scrapbooking Studio in Moline (or Bloominton)...check 'em out!

ps. if you're in a holiday mood, check out my handmade ornaments on the Reminisce blog!

Gift boxes a la My Mind's Eye!

I've always like to make useful paper projects and paper boxes (either made entirely of paper, or purchased paper mache boxes altered with paper) are one of my favorites!

Here are two that I recently completed using My Mind's Eye Lost and Found papers and glazed brads. Both boxes are die cut using Lifestyle crafts dies...the first uses the Box and Lid Die that comes with an alternate scalloped edge lid.

The next one is a pillow box, again using My Mind's Eye papers, but this time with the Pillow Box die...LOVE that this one has 'grooves' that you use as guides to make the score marks! It's embellished with some Tim Holtz trim, layered snowflake punches and a sentiment punched from the Jillibean Soup Christmas Eve Chowder die cut sheet...

All of the products used to create the two boxes above can be found at your friendly local scrapbook store....the Scrapbooking Studio in Moline, IL...(if you're not local...just call the store, they'll take your order and ship it!)

Thanks for visiting today!

I have an alcohol problem...

an Alcohol INK problem that is!!!

I recently altered a cigar box using Teresa Collin's new Halloween line Haunted Hallows and my collection of Ranger Alcohol Inks...LOVE this stuff!

I'm thinking it will hold candy on my desk at work when the big day gets close...

I used some Tim Holtz box legs on the bottom corners....they're altered with black paint, orange alcohol ink and some rock candy crackle medium...love how spooky they turned out!

Then there's the paper doily I dry brushed with some more black paint and then applied orange alcohol ink to the white spaces....the bottle cap was filled first with glossy accents mixed with purple alcohol ink, then the witchy silhouette was added....after it dried overnight, I applied more glossy accents (without any alcohol ink added) to give the whole item a clear, glossy finish...

I made a orange tulle flowerette and accented the top with some Maya Road raspberry beads (colored with MORE alcohol ink, black this time.)

Here's another view of the finished piece...of course all the papers got stuck down with my handy, dandy, no mess Xyron adhesive!

This project got my mojo flowing! I've been a CREATING machine since this one got done! LOVE THAT!

Toodles all, thanks for checking in!

I have an alcohol problem...

an Alcohol INK problem that is!!!

I recently altered a cigar box using Teresa Collin's new Halloween line Haunted Hallows and my collection of Ranger Alcohol Inks...LOVE this stuff!

I'm thinking it will hold candy on my desk at work when the big day gets close...

I used some Tim Holtz box legs on the bottom corners....they're altered with black paint, orange alcohol ink and some rock candy crackle medium...love how spooky they turned out!

Then there's the paper doily I dry brushed with some more black paint and then applied orange alcohol ink to the white spaces....the bottle cap was filled first with glossy accents mixed with purple alcohol ink, then the witchy silhouette was added....after it dried overnight, I applied more glossy accents (without any alcohol ink added) to give the whole item a clear, glossy finish...

I made a orange tulle flowerette and accented the top with some Maya Road raspberry beads (colored with MORE alcohol ink, black this time.)

Here's another view of the finished piece...of course all the papers got stuck down with my handy, dandy, no mess Xyron adhesive!

This project got my mojo flowing! I've been a CREATING machine since this one got done! LOVE THAT!

Toodles all, thanks for checking in!

As the dust is settling down...

on my family's recent move, I've begun unpacking AND USING my craft supplies again...here's a Back to School Tool Caddy using the newest Little Yellow Bicycle "Head of the Class" papers and embellishments...loving their fabric embellies with adhesive backing...

I use my Xyron Creatopia whenever I do these altered projects...so much easier than wet glue or modge podge...with WAY less MESS!

Some detal shots:

The spinner embellie is just AWESOME!

I altered the banner with the white alphabet stickers that came with the line...I already forget what it used to say (I just checked...it used to say BEST)!!

I'm thinking I'll be using this at my scrap table once it's done its duty at my LSS!!

Toodles all! Hope you have a great week!

Some more scrap-happiness...

Well, here's the last bit of scrapping that I will get done for the next bit--the big MOVE is next weekend and so the last of my supplies are going into boxes this week...(sniff, sniff)...hopefully they're among the first boxes UNPACKED at the new house...

So how about some birthday cards featuring DOODLEBUG:

A halloween layout (with last year's pics):

And a woven candy basket (from PAPER!):

That's it folks...hope to be back at it soon...thanks for stopping by!

Thank goodness for STRESS...

did I say that OUTLOUD? why yes, yes I did and actually MEANT IT! We've been busy with readying our house for sale, listing our house, trying to sell our house AND trying to buy a new house in addition to our everyday, full time, sometimes having to work weekends kind of life...and it's been a BIT stressful, to say the least...but in the midst of it all, I found inspiration and a few moments here and there to CREATE! and here's what I came up with...a canvas which makes the most of the family pictures that SARAH SUNSTROM took...I'm thinking it will look AWESOME in the NEW HOUSE (once we find one!)

Aren't those colors cheerful and FUN!! love it...can't wait to find a spot for it!!

Toodles, thanks for stoppin' by!