sew much fun!

you know how sometimes there's a challenge that doesn't sound very "you"...but you give it a go anyway, and surprise yourself by actually coming up with something cool? well, i think i've done the opposite: taken a challenge that was sooooooooooooo obviously me, that i've sort of "choked"!

the challenge to is city crafter week #41: SEW FUN. (told ya...how *ME* is that, right?!) also, i've had the idea for this in my head ever since i saw this AMAZING card that kirsty made! and still, somehow, the finished product is just NOT what i was going for.

(patterned paper, diecuts: k&co; blue trimming: pink paislee; lace & fabric flowers: michaels; inks: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape; other: image of woman's head & torso cut from a costume book; vintage lace & buttons; hindi newspaper; sewing machine)

i love the "paperdoll" i made from an illustration in a costume book and layers of newspaper, lace and ruffles. she did turn out a bit *BIG* though...which made my card kind of grow and grow. maybe at some point i will have a brainwave, and "re-locate" said costumed beauty onto a base i like more...or maybe not...

at the end of the day, a unique handmade card by definition is never a BAD thing, is it?! and i did seriously have "SEW" much fun! thanks, CCCB! :)

love the birds, hate the photos

it's the sad story of my papercrafting life: the cooler & more unusual of a project i make, generally speaking, the harder time i have trying to photograph it! and anything 3-D (seemingly... for me...) is just totally impossible! so if you'll all just write in with your addresses, i will be happy to come round to your homes and SHOW YOU this cute set of "lovebirds" in person, ok? :)



failing that, i suppose you could just hop over to the pixie blog, where the (low) quality of my photos is inversly proportionate to the (high) quantity of them!

but i cannot help going slightly overboard...or in this case overBIRD* when all of the ingredients used to make 'em came from the january pixie dust kit, MY FUNKY VALENTINE!


and they really are the cuuuuuutest little birds, honestly! ♥♥♥

*ok, sorry...worst pun EVER...but it put the photos into proportion, now didn't it, lol??!?!)

jingle belles: CARD FIVE

am i the luckiest papercrafter in the blogiverse, or what??! i'm partners with the amazin' stephanie on our very own christmas card inspiration blog, JINGLE BELLES...loads of lovely friends have come along to make cards with us...and now this week, the fabulous ♥amy tsuruta♥ made us a sketch! yep. the luckiest. definitely! :)

but let's get right to said sketch, because it's AWESOME!
see? told you! i realize you want to go make something with that baby RIGHT THIS SECOND, but first i'll show you my card, ok? (thanks!)

(patterned paper: we r memory keepers, october afternoon, daisy d's, sei; xmas light stickers: recollections (i used 2.5 packets!!!); puffy alphas: sei; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape; other: jukebox graphic from t'internet & santa cut from a catalog)

i was going in a totally different direction until i saw this fabulous christmas jukebox graphic* that stef found; and then i remembered the fun santa illustration i cut out of a catalog, and thought "AHA! those would go realllllly well together!" a few glittery xmas lights and some puffy alphabet stickers later, i had myself the fun & festive greeting you see before you.

so NOW you should definitely hop over to the JINGLE BELLES blog, see amy and stef's gorgeous examples, and then plan your own version of world domination via the medium of christmas sketch cards! oh yeah, and while you're there be sure to leave a comment on ANY january post, because the big giveaway is ALMOST at an end, and you'll want a shot at that prize pack, right?! :)

*something that may well turn up later as the inspiration for a future JINGLE BELLES prompt; in which case, act surprised, ok??! :)

UPC...unmasked!!!

the other day i showed you one of my experiments from a session inspired by my girl gina's USE, PRACTICE, CREATE play-long. as it turns out, i was having so much fun with january's focus--acrylic paints--that i just kept going.

again, i used some tim holtz masks. this time, mindful of the fact that masked letters become hard to read if you try to put too much detail around them, i placed "HAPPY" by itself on a glossy sheet of chinese text from an architecture book that i backed with cardstock for strength. i squeezed a small drop of 4 or 5 shades of blue randomly on the surface, and then i used a foam brush like a squeegee...and just spread the paint in one long line across the masked letters to get this really fun "striation" effect:

(patterned paper: hambly, basic grey + text from a chinese book; black glossy cardstock & masks: tim holtz/ranger; alphabet stickers: k&co; bling star: mambi; "!" paperclip: from staples; rubber stamps: hero arts, tim holtz, stampin' up, cherry pie; inks: ranger, martha stewart, stewart superior, colorbox; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow monorunner; other: folk art acrylic paints, sewing machine)

as a result of the above precautions, this time my masked letters were so clear and so uncluttered that i really didn't even NEED to outline them with the sewing machine...but...i did it anyway! :)

i also had the "don't do TOO MUCH overstamping" lesson firmly in my head from last time, so you can see that i added a lot less detail generally, and kept it ENTIRELY off the white masked bits! i could not resist, however, having a little fun with leftover paint and the bottom of my soda can! (see, those things are not just for reindeer, anymore, lol!)

i was so pleased with my painty effects that i only added minimal "finishing" to the card: patterned paper mats, a "birthday" to follow the "happy", a bling star and one of the verrrrrrrrrry cool typewriter key paperclips that leah and i found on clearance at staples last summer. and that's it. i don't think i've ever been so happy to be ♥BLUE♥! :)

UPC & me...perfect together!*

i know i've mentioned gina's USE, PRACTICE, CREATE "play along" project already, but other than making a fun painty card for our UPC/jingle belles crossover last week, i haven't really had a chance to do the "playing along" part yet...until now!

for january the focus is on acrylic paints; which i definitely don't use enough. (that's what i love most about UPC: the chance to re-discover & play with stuff I HAVE, as well as learning and trying new things!) so the other day i got out a bunch of blue shades, and commenced to essperimentin'.

this would be a great time to have step-by-step photos, right?! i agree! which is why it's such a pity i don't. have any, that is. because frankly i was only looking at this as a creative exercise that MIGHT give me some ideas for later on. so imagine my surprise when an experiment with clearance-acquired tim holtz masks resulted in a use-able card background!

(patterned paper: house of 3 for pink paislee + vintage sheet music; black glossy cardstock & masks: tim holtz/ranger; alphabet stickers: making memories; epoxy arrows: recollections; rubber stamps: hero arts, tim holtz, stampin' up, cherry pie; inks: ranger, martha stewart, stewart superior, colorbox; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow monorunner; other: folk art acrylic paints, sewing machine, dymo labels)

what i did (the SHORT version): i placed the gear and "happy" masks on a piece of white sheet music backed with cardstock. i squeeze small random blobs of 4 or 5 colors of blue acrylic paint onto the paper, and brushed them around really loosely, letting them overlap & mix in some places. when the masks were off & the paint was dry, i over-stamped the whole panel with this hero arts "birthday text" stamp (thanks, JUNE!!!) and few other pattern stamps, in various shades of blue and black stamping ink.


the masked "happy" letters weren't as clear as i wanted, so i decided to outline them with the sewing machine. i'm not sure when "outlining" turned into "filling in entirely", but i love how it looks...even on the BACK!


at the very end i added the grid rub ons to the corners and those ancient fabric letters to spell out "birthday"...which i think look surprisingly cool here. :)

the other reason i wish i had step-by-step photos is: the step BEFORE this one was actually a bit cooler! in retrospect, i wish i'd left more of the gears white, but i got carried away with the overstamping. also, i wish i'd thought about a finished card size when i laid out my masks. because i lost even more when i trimmed the panel to it's finished size of 7x6".

but as i said, i really didn't expect to come out of this with anything except messy hands and a feeling of satisfaction...so the card is a really nice "extra" anyway! ♥



*bonus ninja points if you are a new jersian old enough to remember tom kean and his catch-phrase. basically, in a blogging context, this is tracy and me; but WE are smiling right now. :)

flower show!

judging by the amazing cards i've seen on everyone elses' blogs this week, i'm assuming absolutely everybody knows that the current challenge at city crafter is called FLOWER SHOW AT JERSEY CITY and kirsty has given us this lovely photo for inspiration:

and she's additonally added the challenge of incorporating some handmade flowers into our design. hmmmmm...both those things remind me of someone...who can it be??!?!

oh wait it's *ME*! :) :) :)

ever since making last week's painty card for the combined UPC/jingle belles prompt, i've been wanting to get a bit messy again, and this seemed like a fine time to do that; so a few short, fun, paint-n-ink-stained hours later, here's what i came up with:

(patterned paper: american crafts & sassafras + vintage sheet music all from the MY FUNKY VALENTINE kit at pixie dust paperie...along with the "indie girl" stickers and the dear lizzy rose brad; sticky-back canvas: claudine helmuth; acrylic paints: folk art; watercolors: grumbacher; spray inks: glimmer mist, maya mist & diluted ranger re-inkers; ink pads: colorbox, ranger, stewart superior; rub ons: basic grey, fancy pants, american crafts, recollections; white mini-brads: oriental trading co; HAPPY letters: recollections (outlined w/sharpie); adhesives: tombow monorunner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

yeah. i went a little bit nuts. first on the hand-made flowers, and then on the card that would hold them. i've used my last few bits of pink paper, sheet music, and a dear lizzie flower brad from the pixie dust MY FUNKY VALENTINE KIT... some flowery chipboard letters that i bought at full price in michaels even without a coupon... (unheard of!!!) and about a zillion tiny stickers and rub-ons. i was going for "a profusion of flowers". i think i may have overshot the goal somewhat! :)

the hand-made flowers are scraps of sticky-backed canvas cut with the sizzix layered flower die. they are sprayed and brushed with various spray inks, watercolors and glitter glue, they are stamped with acrylic paint and stamping inks, they have white rub-ons applied randomly on top of all the other bits. when i had an effect of color and pattern i liked, i applied the sticky-back canvas to scraps of tissue paper, crumpled and rumpled them into shape and fastened them together with decorative brads.

were they quick to make? nope. do i ♥LOVE♥ them??!? quite deliriously. (mission accomplished!)

you're just my type... of card!

today's project on the pixie blog is my favorite card (that i made)...



...using my favorite element (the sheet of october afternoon "thrift shop" stickers) in my favorite pixie dust paperie kit* MY FUNKY VALENTINE! i hope you'll hop over there and see not just more of this, but all the amazing & jaw-dropping projects my fellow pixies have made this month, because they have really OUTDONE THEMSELVES...which, trust me, is saying something in this talented group!!! ♥♥♥

*ok, it's not really possible for me to have a FAVORITE pixie kit...because they are all EQUALLY awesome; but i got to pick the stuff that went into this one, so yeah, i'm a little biased!!! :)