Tuesday, February 22, 2011

4 x 4 Pages - Cottage Garden - Flora & Fauna


 

These are the four pages that I made using the Cottage Garden & Flora & Fauna papers by K & Company.  This Life's a {Scrap} Beach swap was a lot of fun as I was working in a 4" x 4" format.  I really enjoy the challenges of small scale.  These pages are much more vibrant, but I was taking photos using very bright natural winter light & there was some reflection from the windows as well as any shiny baubles on the pages.  I really hope that my partners enjoy these pages.  The pictures are of the 4 pages that I'm keeping.  I included a tag with the first initial for each of my swap partners on the pages that are getting mailed to Oregon.

Mardi Gras Charm

This is the charm & tag that I just sent out for the Scrap Beach March charm/dangle swap.  We had a choice between Mardi Gras or St. Patrick's Day & I chose Mardi Gras in order to play with green, gold & purple.  This charm was made with both vintage (deconstructed) items & new.  I'm pleased with how it came out & also with the way the tag coordinated (used my Cuttlebug Fleur de Lis folder) ... Colors could be crisper, but the blog wouldn't let me upload the adjusted colors.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Blue Fairy with instructions

This is the captured fairy jar that I created for Mary.  Our friend Mary is from Scotland & longs for the sea.  No matter what time of year (including November in New England) if she's anywhere near the water her shoes come off & she's in up to her ankles.  When I saw a Captured Fairy on Cynthialoowho's youtube channel I knew that I had to make one for Mary.  This is actually a water sprite that was captured, but the process is the same. 
I took an old mason jar that I had & began by sprinkling fairy dust over the inside bottom (aka blue glitter over Mod Podge).   I took some papers that I had that looked oceanic & layered on two of them (fussy cutting some waves) & attached to the back of the jar with ModPodge (over & under the papers to seal them).  [I found that tissue paper works much better for this when I made my pink fairy later in the day.]  While everything was drying I spritzed some cotton batting with Riptide Glimmer Mist & let it dry.  My thought was that this could be the sea foam over the glitter.  I took the butterfly that I had (a small fabric one from a previous project where I gently removed the body) & used Riptide & Lemon Meringue Glimmer Mist & heat set it.  I edged the wings with Crystal Stickles & let it dry for several hours.  I added bling on the circles for some added sparkle.  For the fairy herself I printed her on our printer & colored gently with Q-Tips & Broken China Distress Inks.  I was trying to figure out how she'd stand in the jar & bent the base she was standing on in the picture & attached to a large antique button.  I glued the wings onto the center of her back & bent them by hand.  I attached the button to the glitter-covered base & then added the batting over the button.  I put in flowers, a pearl button [thinking that pearls come from oysters &oysters come from the sea) along with some small, white pearl trim that I had.  I added small seashells that we had gathered to cover up the outside edge of the back paper using my hot glue gun.  I used lace for the base & also around the rim of the jar lid.  I left the jar lid able to be opened so thart Mary can add other treasures to keep her sprite happy.  I made a paper flower for the lid using the Sizzix #3 layered flower die cut & Glimmer Misting with Riptide & spritzing with green Smooch Spritz for some depth.  The final element that I put on was a pearl swirl to the outside of the jar & then a sprinkle of Dazzling Diamonds with a wish.  I attached a tag with the sprite's name, capture date & location with a message for Mary.  This was a labor of love & I am already looking forward to making my next one.  I will be teaching this class on March 26, 2011 at Life's Memories & More in Palmer, MA.  It should be loads of fun ...

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Captured Pink Fairy

I saw a Captured Fairy on the internet & had just received my Goodie Swap from Sandi... I took several of the elements that she sent me & put this Captured Fairy together.  I'm going to watch an instructional video tonight (Artedar on UStream).  I'll get a chance to see what else I can learn.  I also made a 2nd jar, but it's a gift & I'm not posting a picture until the recipient has it in her hands ... I loved every minute that I spent creating this mini world for my little fairy.  I wish that there was a better way to show the contents ... It's a mini world inside the jar ...

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Easter Tag Inspiration

We're off to a SuperBowl party this afternoon & I'd told our sweet hostess that I'd bring along my new tags to show off.  Half of the partygoers will be sequestered in the downstairs scraproom happily creating & I was excited about sharing the results from my recent class.  When I said that I'd be bringing Christmas tags she challenged me to come up with an Easter Tag using the same techniques.  The picture attached is the result.  I included the original Christmas tag on the left, and I'm very pleased with the Easter tag on the right. I started with a standard manila tag that I stamped with Archival ink using a stamp with cursive writing on it & then distressed when dry by dragging the ink onto the tag with my Stampin UP sponge in circular motions.  The bird is the recognizable bird from the Tim Holtz birdcage die & I used Antique Linen Distress crackle paint & then added some of the purple ink to soften when completely dry.  The banner was made using plain white paper stamped with the Easter Greetings from the Stampin Up Easter Blossoms set.  To get the ripple I simple ran the rounded edge of a pen along the back & then flipped up at the end.  To keep the height I used pop dots underneath at the notched side.  The flower was the very simple scalloped punch flower made with a dry purple gingham paper I had that I distressed with the same purple ink that I used for distressing the tag & the bird (Marvy Heritage Lavender Fields).  I had the coordinating paper, rickrack & ribbon in my stash.  When complete I used the Marshmallow Glimmer Mist to add some shimmer over the entire thing.  I finished off with a green organza ribbon at the top.  I can just see this tag hanging from an Easter basket with chocolate bunnies behing it ....

Friday, February 4, 2011

Lace Around The World Swap with Tag & Charm

This is a tag with matching charm that I made for the Lace Around the World Swap.  The directions were to send 3 laces or trims (1 yard each) & put them on a tag with a matching charm.  This tag was created by embossing a 3 1/4 x 6 1/8 piece of glossy cardstock with the Sizzix folder from the Summer Fun set.  I then inked the entire card using Adirondack Alcohol Ink colors Sail Boat Blue & Pool.  After dry I used Glimmer Mist (color Sweet Pea) randomly & heat set.  I added a piece of black card stock, an image from an ATC set & then stamped with Archival Ink using a flourish (now hidden under the lace.  For the charm I made it using Tim Holtz chain, a Tim Holtz Philosophy tag, a clip that I soaked in the alcohol inks used for the background, & beads from Anita's bead shop in New Hampshire.  The teal lace inspired the tag & the other colors are fuschia & white.  I ordered the teal lace online from elfcrafters on Ebay.  The lace arrived beautifully packaged & quick, quick, quick.  I would recommend them without hesitation.  For fibers I used some yarn that I had in my stash.  I do hope that my swap partners enjoy this tag ... I am looking forward to seeing what they make, too.

Tim's Tags 1
















What an amazing Christmas gift! My BFF, Mary, gave me this class (+ dinner at Panera's before) as a Christmas gift ... The class was delayed due to snow - we had a 2nd storm which left the City with one lane streets & the store was 45 minutes away, BUT - we were intrepid souls & went off to take the class last night. The photos aren't fabulous, but I was taking the pictures in -1o degree weather out on my sunporch [I prefer natural light] & I was having trouble with glare [3 feet of snow!] ... Here are the results & I've learned TONS of new techniques ... The class was held at Inspiration Station in Stafford Springs, CT.
Update re: the Valentine Tea - it's been postponed (of course - we're expecting MORE SNOW) until the 12th of February -- How many people will remember that it's Abraham Lincoln's birthday????