Up Up and Away Tag

   Howdy my crafty peeps! 

Today I am sharing a tag that I made for a Facebook group swap. We have a theme requiring the inclusion if a hot air balloon to be somewhere on the tag. I used the Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells paper. The paper is full of balloons. I have also added coordinating flowers which I made using the Elizabeth Craft Designs Florals 1 and Florals 11. The doll is from Julie Nutting. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Trick or Treat

   Howdy my crafty peeps!  

Today I am sharing another Halloween project.  For this project I used the Elizbeth Craft Designs Spiderweb Slimline Background. I also used the Prince die to create my Mummy and Headless Horseman. The colorful bottom layer was created with my Mica Distress Stains.

In order to achieve the look of the mummy, I cut the prince 3 times. Once in green and twice in white. First, I assembled the prince out of the green paper. Next I ripped the white pieces into strips and inked the edges in Hickory Smoke Distress Ink. 

For the Horseman, I again cut out the Prince minus the head. For the head, I used the pumpkin head from Scarecrow die. I also added the cape and sword from the Halloween Accessories dies. 

Here is my finished project. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope this inspires you to customize your character dies in to some spooky creatures. 

Halloween Florals

   Howdy my crafty peeps!  

I recently collected the new Tim Holtz Mica Stains. What does a crafter do? The PLAY with their new toys. I picked out a few colors that would work great for fall. As you can see, even the "Christmas" colors work in this project. While the may have names specific for certain holidays, they are NOT limited to just using during those holidays. Here are the colors that I was working with. 

I sprayed my Strathmore Bristol paper with different colors of  both regular Distress Spray Stain and Distress Oxide Sprays. I knew that I wanted to make some leaves with a fall colors such as red, orange, and yellow. I also wanted some leaves on the green side as well. For those I kept used yellows and greens. I also added a little bit of Crooked Broomstick to the papers when they were nearly dry. I wanted to maintain some of the brown in the papers and not blend so much. I absolutely LOVE how these papers turned out. 

Next, I cut out leaves using the Lacy Leaves and Maple Leaves dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs. I just love love love how they turned out. 

After that, I crafted some flowers. For the small purple ones, I used the blossoms from the Strawberries Dies. I also cut and shaped flowers using the Florals 8 and Florals 9 dies. For the center of the purple flowers, I used some glue on some of the circle flower centers and the Basic Black Silk Microfine Glitter. The sparkle on the black flowers was achieved using some Nuvo Agua Shimmer.

To make the card, I placed a piece of double sided adhesive onto a piece of orange cardstock. Next, I pulled back the backing sheet and attached a black web which was cut using the Spiderweb Slimline Background. I was careful not to touch the exposed adhesive with my fingers. I used a piece of the release sheet to press the web into place. Once that was fully adhered, I added Orange SMG to the exposed adhesive. I arranged the leaves and flowers that I made to the card. I also used Planner Essentials dies to create the sentiment on this card. This was cut using purple cardstock topped with double sided adhesive. I used Amethyst SMG to cover the adhesive topped words/numbers.  

I added some leaves and pieces from my diecut stash that I had cut during prior projects. 

Here is a close up of the floral arrangement. Can you see the shimmer from the mica in the Distress Mica Stains? So pretty in person.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope this inspires your to play with fun custom papers to make pretty things. 

Upcycled Scissor Box

   Howdy my crafty peeps! I have been gone a long time. My studio is in my garage and itis my favorite place to unwind. Unfortunately, the garage door had to be replaced which involved me clearing out my craft studio. Saddly, this task facilitated me losing my mojo. I had just gotten my craft room perfect and then had to distroy it. I do many hobbys so I have lots of craft supplies. I found the task daunting given my health. Well, I have finally been able to put most of the room back together and found my mojo. While putting my studio back together, I realized that I have a plethera of scissors. What is a crafter to do than to create their own. 

While organizing, I found a box that would be perfect. I picked out these beautiful papers from 49 and Market. The box I inked with some Vintage Photo and Walnut Strain Distress Inks.  

After adhereing the papers to the box, I went to work cutting out flowers and coloring them with Archival Ink.  The dies I used are from Elizabeth Craft Designs. 

Next I worked on shaping and creating flower layers with the die cuts.  

I mixed some Cool Diamond Glitter with translucent gel. Using a stencil that I created from an Elizabeth Craft Designs die, I added the mixture to the box using a spatula. Once dry, I added the flowers I created with the inked and shaped die cuts. I also added feet purchaed at hobby lobby becuase they had a lower profile. I also glittered some diecut letters from the Planner Essentials collection and placed them on the box. 

Here you can see a corner view. Hopefully you can see the sparkle from the glittered texture gel.  The flower cluster here is the inspiration for the chosen colors.  

Here is the other sides. Only added the flowers to the front of the box to allow for more versitility in placement in my workspace. 

Here is the completed project.  I love looking at this on my desk while I am crafting.

Thanks so much for stopping by!