March Blossom Punch PCL Design Team Projects - Part 1

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.  - Helen Keller

I was working on my next set of Paper Crafter's Library design team projects the other day and decided I might want to incorporate some quotes into the project.  So I started searching for quotes by women and came across a few that really spoke to me.  This quote from Helen Keller was one of them.  This quote can serve as a mantra for life in general and, I believe, it can serve as a guide for us when it comes to our art making.  How often do you hold yourself back when you feel the impulse to just go nuts with your art?!  Do you hold yourself back because you might make a mistake?  or someone else won't like what you do?  or you don't want to "waste" your favorite paint, ink, paper, whatever?  The risk we accept by not expressing ourselves in the way we want in our art is far greater than the risk involved in wasting a bit of paint or making a boo-boo.  Today, give up creeping with your art - go wherever your impulse wants to take you - follow your impulse to soar!!!!!!
Today I am sharing with you two of the projects I created this month as a Design Team member for Paper Crafter's Library.  For today's projects I focused on using the Blossom Punch.  If you followed my blog last week, you saw the video on how to create flowers using your Blossom Punch.  Here, I used a similar technique to create flowers out of kraft colored tissue paper.  It is a lot easier to punch through tissue paper with your punch if you fold the tissue paper over a few times before punching.  Each layer of the flower was glued in the center to the one on top of it and then I scrunched the flowers and hot glued them to the branches.  The vase was filled with floral foam and covered with strips of First Edition Specialty designer series paper to hide the foam :)  I also used a piece of this designer paper to wrap around the outside of the vase - I adhered it to itself so that I can choose to slide the paper off of the vase if I want to decorate it differently.  Do you see the little bird in the branches?  I die cut some muslin using the Elegant Bird die and then sewed the parts together to create a small stuffed bird that I then hot glued to a branch.

For my second project I created a card to demonstrate how you can paper piece using your Blossom Punch.  Here I punched out a blossom punch flower from a variety of different papers and some silver glimmer paper (love it!).  I then cut the flowers up into smaller pieces and glued the pieces onto a base flower.  I added a greeting from the Elementary Elegance Sale-a-bration stamp set as well as a few extra embellishments.  I hope you've enjoyed these first two projects.  Join me tomorrow to see the second two projects I created! :)  You can learn more about Paper Crafter's Library here!

Make Your Own Die Cut Foam Stamps: Video!!!!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Location, Location, Location

I'm not sure what possessed us - maybe the same thing that possesses anyone to walk into an open house or search on-line for real estate.  Somehow we ended up finding a house on-line that we decided we needed to see in person.  It sounded like it might meet our dream needs - you know the list that you make up in your mind as you are falling asleep at night...Our list has things like more land to grow more veggies and flowers, a larger garage for storage and workshop space, and....an artist's studio in a separate building...with a bathroom and kitchen of course!!!!!  Believe it or not, this property had all of those things and then some so we decided to go take a look.  The property was beautiful - it fulfilled a lot of the dream list...and then we started talking about how easy the decision would be if we could just move it a few blocks northwest...or maybe even across town!  Where it is currently located just didn't feel safe to me - a bit of a transitioning neighborhood.  I also began thinking about building a brick and mortar fence around the whole property - about 10-feet high - with electronic gates (and if I was really being honest, a moat and 24-hour armed security!).  Yes, the house had a lot to offer - it was just the location that caused concern.  One of our friends said it best, "The nicest property we ever looked at was just not in the right place."  And so it was with this house.  It's funny though, when we returned home and started our evening routine, I began to think more about what moving there would mean and realized that what I think I really want in my dreams, may really not be what I want in my reality.  A separate building that houses a studio might be nice...at the same time, it's nice to eat dinner and then walk down the hall into my craft room in my pj's, without having to venture into the cold night to head to a studio.  It's also nice hearing the sound of Michael working down the hall.  I begin to realize that some things I have right now are exactly right - in the right location :)  Yes, location is everything :)
For today's card I decided to create my own foam stamp using my Alphabet Simple Letters Bigz dies!  Here is a video to show you how you can use your Bigz dies to create fun foam stamps to use for your paper crafting projects!  Enjoy!!!

Altered Altoid Tin

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Breathe In The Fresh Air!!!!

Yesterday I was able to open the window in the craft room and let the fresh air in!  It was just over 60 degrees here in Denver and I definitely had Spring fever!!!!!  It's funny how people start to come out of the woodwork when the weather starts to warm up.  We took a walk in the afternoon and there were kids in the park, families riding bicycles, runners taking an afternoon jog - it's as if the neighborhood came awake after a long winter's nap :)  We even noticed that the daffodils and some other early flowers are starting to begin their ascent from the winter soil.  Yes, Spring is letting us know she is on her way.  It is definitely time to breathe in the fresh air!!!!!
I wanted to send a little gift to a friend and I decided it would fit perfectly into a Altoid tin.  I have collected these tins from various places over the years and had never altered one...and I am so glad I did - it was sooooo simple!  I took the Everyday Enchantment designer series paper from Sale-a-bration and outlined the top and bottom of the Altoid tin on the paper (I traced around the outside of the tin on the side of the paper that I did not want showing - just in case some of the pen marks weren't cut perfectly).  I then cut out the two pieces of paper and adhered them to the top and bottom of the tin using glue.  Next came the ruffled Wisteria Wonder ribbon - adhered with a bit of sticky strip.  I cut the prongs off of a rhinestone brad and adhered it to the ribbon using a glue dot.  Next I got out the Framelits Labels collection and the Apothecary Art stamp set and did a bit of stamping and die cutting.  Here is a view from the top of the tin so that you can see things more clearly:

I do have a confession to make - I never intended to incorporate the Wisteria Wonder color into this tin, but the 3/8" ribbon fit perfectly, so I went with it!  Now I'm so glad I did!  I really love how all the colors work together - definitely not a combination I would have thought of in advance!  For a touch of sparkle I added a bit of dazzling details on the flowers in the stamped image.  I hope you like it...I will definitely be doing some more tin altering in the near future!!!!!  (Oh...and I made a mini card to match :)  I am also excited to let you know that I will be sharing my second set of projects as a Paper Crafter's Library Design Team Member this week!  I had a lot of fun with my Blossom Punch!!!! :)

Serif Essentials Elegant Bird Journal

If you came here looking for this week's Four Ways Friday, let me begin with an apology.  I have been really tired the past two days and on Wednesday, my creative mojo was nowhere to be found...or maybe it was just slightly visible.  I did manage to start on creating this bird on Wednesday, using the Elegant Bird Bigz Die, some gesso and some modeling paste with a stencil...

And that was as far as I got...  Thursday morning I spent quite a bit of time contemplating the bird.  He got painted with a pearlized paint and then he sat some more.  Next he found his way onto a piece of mat board that I had gotten from my aunt a few years ago.  My aunt owns a frame shop and had given me quite a few mat board scraps one year when I visited her at the store.  Once the bird was against the mat board some ideas started to flow.  Of course, none of those ideas were remotely concerned with Four Ways Friday.  So I decided to go where my creativity was taking me and focus on the bird rather than on Four Ways Friday.  So instead of four ways to use something, I'm going to share with you one way to use a bird that you gesso, stencil and paint :)

I decided to make the bird and the mat board into a journal! :)  Here is a side view...

The inside pages of the journal were made from a stack of yellow paper that came out of an estate sale.  I cut the pages down to size (just under 8"x10") and then punched holes using my bind-it-all.  I punched holes in the mat board front cover and used a heavy chipboard for the back cover.  Once the book was bound with a spiral binding, I began to decorate the cover.  The mat board had come with the fabric on it, so I just built things up from there.  I adhered the bird and added some buttons that I had in my button box.  I then die cut some chipboard with the Serif Essentials dies and painted the letters with pearlized paint.  The letters, buttons and bird were adhered to the cover of the journal with hot glue.  Next came all of the bows on the spiral binding!  I used Always Artichoke seam binding, Whisper White satin ribbon, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, Whisper White grosgrain ribbon, Whisper White organza ribbon and some Chantilly crochet trim.  Finally I added a few jewelry tags that I stamped with a retired Stampin' Up! set and Chocolate Chip ink.
I hope you don't mind the departure from Four Ways Friday and I hope this project inspires you to follow your creativity where it takes you!  Wishing you a wonderfully creative and peaceful weekend!!!!!

Kindness Matters Hello Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  I'm Tired...

I just returned from a work trip last night.  It's funny when I consider the yin and yang of the work I do on the road and the work I do here at home.  I am an introvert by nature - I like to regenerate by being by myself or with my family or with nature.  I enjoy quiet and the comforts of home.  When I go on a work trip I am required to be an extrovert (a skill that I have learned over the years...to a point where people are surprised to learn that I am an introvert!).  On the road I am surrounded by people on planes, trains and automobiles; in airports and hotels; and I conduct training sessions where I am giving every ounce of energy I have to the participants in the room.  The yin and yang - the introversion and extroversion.  By the time I return home from a work trip I am incredibly tired - needing to recharge by sitting in the calm.  I have been trying to spend time in the craft room today (Wednesday) - and I am feeling like what I really need is a nap :)  So I may spend a bit of time cat napping on the couch and hope that my batteries are recharged enough to venture back into the craft room to create later today.  Sometimes I just need to admit that I'm tired...
For today's card I used the Curly Label Movers & Shapers die to create the window and then used a greeting from Elementary Elegance.  The butterflies and flourish from Kindness Matters were stamped with Early Espresso onto a piece of Sahara Sand card stock that I had die cut using the Framelits Labels Collection to create a decorative edge.  I small adhesive pearl finishes the Naturals Ivory card.  I hope you like it!

Out On A Whim Wednesday: Flying Pigs!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Take A Leap!!!!!

Happy Leap Day!!!!!  It always feels so special when you get to enjoy February 29th!!!  I recently took a little bit of a leap!  One of my friends, Lorraine, who has a wonderful blog (you can see it HERE), decided to celebrate her blogging anniversary in a very special way.  She had purchased a number of paper mache pigs and decided that she wanted to send them to people who would be willing to decorate them and send her photos of the finished pigs to include on her blog.  I thought it was an amazing idea and I quickly let her know I was interested!!!!  So guess what showed up in my mailbox????  This amazing box...Want to know what was inside...

 

And then I started taking things out...

Ooh!!!!  And then I kept digging...

YIPPPPEEEEE!!!!  I can't wait to get this little fellow decorated!  I know that he is going to have some type of wings, but beyond that, he is a blank sow...I mean slate! :)  Lorraine, thank you so much for sending this little guy to me and for letting me participate in your special anniversary!  I will be sure to share photos of my fully decorated piggy once he is done....it's time to take a leap!!!! :)  (I can't wait to see what some of the other artist do with their pigs too!!!!!!) :)

Blossom Punch Paper Flowers & Video!!!!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Ice Melts

Okay, I admit it, today's lesson may seem a bit obvious :)  But when you really begin to think about it, there is a deeper lesson awaiting us :)  We have had quite a bit of ice this winter - on the driveway and sidewalks.  Quite treacherous when you are trying to walk the dog!  Some of the ice at the end of our driveway had gotten to be about 6 inches thick and hard as a rock!  It felt impossible to break through it!  And then came the sun - little by little - day after day - and that ice that at one time felt impossible to remove - was all of a sudden a puddle of water.  What obstacles are you facing right now?  What seems impossible to resolve?  Maybe the ice has a lesson for us all - when it seems impossible and insurmountable, maybe if we just wait and shine some light on the situation day-after-day - our obstacle will dissolve and we will move forward without constraint.
I am loving my Blossom Punch!  For today's project I used the punch with waffle paper and designer series paper and then used the flower to decorate this little gift box.  Here is a video to show you how I created the flower.  (WARNING:  Watching this video may cause addiction to paper flower making!).  Enjoy!!!!