Saturday, August 29, 2015

Wanderlust Travel Journal Tutorial

Happy Saturday, all! I have a really cool new tutorial for this vintage travel journal over on the Frilly and Funkie blog today. I hope you enjoy it! You can find the step by step instructions HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Friday, August 28, 2015

Brusho Butterflies Pop it Ups Card

Hi all! I'm sure you've all heard me talk about my friend, Cyndi. She's the one who is in the know when it comes to stamping products and techniques. A few weeks ago we all met up at her house and she shared her Brusho Watercolor Crystals with us. I'd tried Bisters before (again, courtesy of Cyndi) and liked them, but the Brushos - wow! Even though my first attempts were not that great, I decided to keep playing with them.

For this card, I sprinkled turquoise, purple, and blue onto watercolor paper that was slightly damp, then spritzed with more water to activate the crystals. I tipped the paper down to get the drips you see above. So cool!! After it dried I cut it to size and layered it onto a blue panel and then onto the card. I cut a tag from the excess, tied it with a ribbon dyed with turquoise Brusho, and added Tissue Tape, a bit of cheesecloth,  and a Remnant Rub.

How pretty is this? The butterflies were cut from the leftovers from the front panel using various sizes of dies from both the Butterfly Pivot card set as well as the Butterfly Accessories set. I wanted the butterflies to appear as if they were in flight, so I cut a spiral from thin plastic/acetate using the spiral die from Karen's Spiral Pull Card set and adhered it near the top. I used tiny adhesive dots to attach the butterflies, opening and closing the card to make sure they were positioned correctly. Along the bottom I stamped Tim Holtz's flowers silhouette using Broken China ink.

Here's a quick (and strangely jerky) video of the card opening. It's really cool how the butterflies unwind - it definitely gives it the illusion of flight!

The supplies I used can be found at Elizabeth Craft Design, Simon Says Stamp, and Amazon via the links below.





Thanks so much for stopping by today! I can't wait to play more with my Brushos. Have you tried them? Any tips or techniques to share? I'd love to hear them. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Sizzix Halloween Projects

Hi all! Hope you've had a wonderful weekend. Here in Mississippi our weather has been cooling off and it almost feels like fall! By now I'm sick of summer and ready for some Halloween crafting. With the big Sizzix sale on Tim Holtz dies going on right now, I thought it would be a great time to highlight a few of my favorite projects using his dies. The are a couple of fairly recent ideas, and some that go a few years back to when the dies were originally released. I love revisiting older projects - some you might have missed the first time they were posted. There are full tutorials on most of them as well.

1. The Chemist's Laboratorie Shadowbox Card
2. The Witching Hour Artist Trading Block
3. Halloween Luminary
4. Day of the Dead Tag
5. Boo Wreath
6. Bottle of Spiders Tag

You can access the sale by clicking on the link below. Have fun!


Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you're inspired to pull out the bats and witches and get Halloweeny. Have a great week!

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Frilly & Funkie - Stitch in Time

Hi all! Today I'm sharing a canvas I made for the latest Frilly and Funkie challenge. Sue is our hostess this time and she chose the theme 'Stitch in Time'. Sue says, "I love to incorporate sewing into projects. Be it real or faux, it always adds an extra dimension to your artwork. So, for this challenge I want to see stitching somewhere on your vintage or shabby chic projects, real or faux will do! BUT, I would also like to see a timepiece too!"

I love both stitching and clocks, and I had a great time playing with different ideas for how to incorporate them into my project. I started with blank canvas and added a lot of layers of torn paper. It's hard to see, but I added some stenciled texture paste as well. On top of that I adhered various bits and pieces of idea-ology findings, plus some found objects as well. Next, I added one of Tim Holtz's Found Relatives, masked it, then covered it all with a light layer of gesso and used sprays and Distress paints to add color. The strips of paper are pages from a French book, stitched, and then torn into strips and glued to the canvas (I was inspired to try this after seeing something similar on Paula Cheney's blog - love that idea!).

I usually take pics as I'm working, but I was having so much fun playing with this one that I forgot! All the supplies I used can be found at The Funkie Junkie Boutique via the links below.




I hope you enjoyed my funkie canvas! Please come by and join us for the Stitch in Tim challenge - we'd love to have you!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

DecoArt Chalk Paint Mini Mason Jar Planters

Hi all! Today I'm sharing a cute little project I made for this month's Eileen Hull's Art with Heart Challenge. The theme for August is 'Old is New - Choose Your Own Theme'. The Inspiration Team was recently sent a selection of older dies of Eileen's to play with. I had just found these adorable little mason jars at The Dollar Tree and thought they might just be perfect with Eileen's sweet bird die that comes with two other dies in a set. Here's how I made these tiny planters.

Paint the jars with several coats of DecoArt Chalky Finish paint, letting it try completely between applications. When totally dry, gently sand to remove some of the paint. Apply Elizabeth Craft Designs adhesive tape to the bottom of the jar and cover with ECD Antique Silver Microfine Glitter.

To create the bird, adhere vintage French book pages to white cardstock. Die cut two birds using Eileen Hull's bird die, remembering to reverse the layer of the second bird (cutting it with the non-text side down) so that it's a mirror image. Adhere the bird die cuts to each other, sandwiching a skewer in between them. Let dry.

To finish my little jar planter, I added potting soil and a sprig of sedum. I tied a bit of twine (you can find it at The Dollar Tree as well!) around the skewer and inserted it into the jar. Done!

This was such a simple project compared to what I usually make, but I love it so much! I need to remember that sometimes, less is more. I made these for little treats for my friends, but I think they'd be such perfect wedding or party favors. Cheap, easy, and cute!

I've linked to the supplies I used below. The jars aren't identical, but very similar to the ones I used - actually a bit cuter to be honest!

Disclosure: The links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. These earnings help fund my blog and allow me to offer great (free!) tutorials.



Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you will share your art with us at Eileen's Art with Heart challenge this month. There is a fantastic prize package to be won!

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Day 2

Hi again, everyone! I'm back today with my second card for this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge. This card was inspired by the very talented Summer Hills-Painter. I loved her Heart Pivot Shutter card and was excited to make one of my own.

Her instructions are so clear and this technique is so easy - my card came together in no time at all. I basically did everything the same as Summer's, other than using the Butterfly Pivot instead of the Heart, and I used a frame from the Lorna Label Pop-Up set to cut the bottom.

Here is the card when closed. So cute! I used Graphic 45's Botanical Tea paper to decorate the card, which is for my mom's birthday. I hope she likes it! I added a lot of fussy cut images that are popped out with foam dots which gives it tons of dimension.

I've linked to various stores below for the supplies I used.





Thanks so much for stopping by today! Please do yourself a favor and check out Summer's fantastic tutorial - I know you're going to want to make one the minute you see how easy it is!

Be sure and check the Elizabeth Craft Designs blog tomorrow for a tutorial filled with amazing techniques from Karen Burniston. You're going to love the card she made!