Deja Moo!

Last year I made not one, but two Crocheted Highland Cows...they were (obviously!) outstanding in their field. And now here's another one, made for our grand-niece, Gracie's birthday. 

Gracie's mom was sweet enough to send some fun pics!

The pattern for this shaggy beauty is called Highland Cow Crochet Pattern and is available in the Knot Nook Etsy Shop.

I used Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice Yarn in Honey; with Black hooves and Beige horns and snoot.  

This time out I invented a new way to create and attach the tail. I've awarded myself bonus points for remembering to write it down on the pattern sheet!

Fun fact: the shaggy coat is composed of approximately 450 five-inch lengths of yarn. Uncle Jeff has become a master at producing these en masse. Jeff is also in charge of setting the safety eyes for all creatures... because they are kind of hard to click! 

Recycling... Again!

Over at Jingle Belles, we're back for round two of our EARTH DAY prompt featuring RECYCLING, where we'd like you to create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements.  You know you've got that stash of things that you saved because they were just too pretty to throw away... break them out and create with them! In the past we've used everything from Kleenex Boxes & Soda Cans to Gift Wrap and we *always* have a lot of fun making our own cards and admiring yours!

A couple of years ago, I bought this fun yeti gift wrap. I used most of it to wrap presents; but whenever I had scraps, I saved however many intact yeti photos there were, backed them with cardstock, and set them aside to fussycut and use on cards. The grey paper with stars came as a free gift with a craft magazine. (Not exactly recycling, but a sort of related field, I feel.) This is definitely not the fanciest card I've ever made, but it makes me smile! Also it's flattish and flexible, which means I can mail it for a reasonable price. So I'm callin' it a WIN!

Jump over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's card and check out the fabulous Readers' Gallery. JB2609: Peace on EARTH DAY runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 6th and we cannot wait to see what you will make! 

Gettin' Beachy

I'm loving ALL of the new Make-It Stencils and Stamps from Ranger, but I confess that the Beach Vibes set especially appeals to me right now. I stamped a bunch of the elements from the set (the chair and surfboard; the umbrella and sand; the sun and the sentiment) onto my go-to Simon Hurley create. Stark White Cardstock, embossed in Ranger Black E/P and then "watercolored" them with some of my favorite beachy shades of Archival Ink. 

There are quotes around "watercolored" because you cannot technically WATERcolor with Archivals since they are oil based... (you know what they say about oil and water, right?!) ...but you can do the same sort of technique by using a waterbrush full of Isopropyl Alcohol. You can dispense Archival Reinkers into a palette and dilute them; OR just smoosh the colors from the ink pads onto your craft sheet and pick them up from there. I generally do the latter, and this tag was no exception.

Since I was working on a #8 Dina Tag, I found it helpful to cut apart the chair from the surfboard, and the umbrella from the sand, for a slightly more compact arrangement. I stamped and embossed the seagulls right on the tag, then painted the background using the same method as the rest of the elements.

Check out the entire Make-It Collection at Ranger.com, where you'll also find all the inks, tools, tags and papers you could possibly need for your next project and beyond!

Roses and (CLEARANCE!) Bling

Did you know that Eyelet Outlet is liquidating their entire stock of bling?! There are soooooo many varieties, and while supplies last, each item is just $1.00... how can you beat it? One of my absolute favorites happens to be Clear Swirl Bling, which is echoing the fancy swirls of this patterned paper. I've also studded the design with Rose Brads and Mini Butterflies... with everything clustered around a few pretty circular sentiment stickers. What else could you possibly need for a beautiful and elegant greeting?

Beautifully Blingy Shopping List:

Clear Swirl Bling

Rose Brads 

Mini Butterfliy Brads.

BTW, Swirl Bling also comes in six additional shades AND there are Pearl Bling Swirls, too. In addition there's Bling Strips, Flower Bling, Heart Bling, Bumpy Bling, Holiday-Themed Bling, Snowflakes and  more. Check it out ASAP, because at this price, they're selling pretty quickly; and when they're gone... they're gone for good. Stock up today!

Make-It Stencil Page

What's the first thing you do with new stencils? If you're anything like me, you want to try ALL of them IMMEDIATELY. Which is how I came up with the idea of a stencil page. Just lay those babies out, one by one, choose a few common colors... or go crazy with random shades! No need for a particular plan or even a solid idea, but the patchwork effect makes it all come together.

The new Make-It Stencils are: Bold Shapes, Bubble Mix, Slanted and Wavy Lines, and every single one is fun, fab and (maybe my favorite part!) very useful.

I used a bunch of my favorite Archival Ink shades, and did a little blending within the stencils. Then I did some outlining with a black Letter It Fineliner. I love how some of the printing on the pages of Dina Wakley's Ledger Journal shows underneath the translucent colors.

Check out ALL of the new Make-It Stencils and Stamp Sets... (ooh and there's a new, perfectly-sized Acrylic Block in the collection now, as well!) ...in the Ranger Online Store!

NEW Make-It Stamps and Stencils from Ranger

The first set of fab products from Ranger's new Make-It line debuted earlier this year; and now here is the second wave of beautiful and super-useful stencils and stamps:

The stamp sets are: Beach Vibes, Fun with Fruit and Bold Birthday.    

The stencils are: Slanted, Bubble Mix, old Shapes, and Wavy Lines.

I'll be showing off projects using all of these fun goodies over the next week or so, but to start out with I couldn't resist the Fun with Fruit Stamp Set, which has solid and outline images of five different fruits, plus lots of excellent punny sentiments to go with: 

I had a hard time choosing which fruit to use first, so I just made ATCs with each of them!

I used some of the newest Archival Ink shades (Sweet Treat, Avocado Toast, Sandcastle, Best Dressed) plus a bunch of the old faves (Aubergine, Vivid Chartreuse, Bright Tangelo, Aquamarine, Wine Cellar) for maximum colorful impact.

Stay tuned for more projects and in the meantime, be sure to check out Ranger.com and @ranger_ink for more info and inspiration!

ALL the Colors!

Using (nearly) ALL the colors of my Tombow Dual Brush Pens... with lots of splashy blending and messy outlines... across two pages of my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal from Ranger. Wishing you a bright and beautiful week! ♥