Friday Folds: Make A Monster Pop-Up Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Wait For It!
Buddy and I were on a morning walk the other day and I cracked up!  Up ahead, across the street, was a big fluffy Golden Retriever.  The retriever was on a leash and walking with her owner - a woman who was on her cell phone.  The minute the retriever saw Buddy and I she immediately laid down on the ground.  Her owner, not noticing us, tried to pull on the leash (while she was on the phone) to get the dog to keep moving on their walk.  But the dog wasn't budging.  She was keeping her eyes locked on us and I started to smile.  She knew what she wanted.  She was going to sit there and wait for us to get to her so that she could say hello.  And that's exactly what she did :)  When Buddy and I got up to her and her owner I motioned to her owner to make sure it was okay to pet her dog and she said it was fine.  So Buddy and I stopped and petted the retriever - she immediately stood up to greet us.  And then we were all on our way - she had gotten exactly what she wanted - she had waited for it - and it was time to move on.  Sometimes you have to wait for it :)
Today's Friday Folds card is a pop-up!  I haven't really played much with pop-up construction, so I started with something very simple.  I made a wavy cut into the card base like this:

I then folded the bottom part into the inside of the card like this:

Here's what the card looks like on the inside at this point:

Next I stamped and cut out some monsters.  I also die cut some leaves using the Autumn Accents Bigz die so that I could use them as trees:

The sentiment is from Wacky Wishes and the sentiment on the front of the card is from Bring On The Cake.  Here is a close up of the monsters:

I hope this card inspires you to give creating a pop-up a try!  I hope you have a wonderful and creative weekend!!!!

Artistic Etchings and Punched Heart Love Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  It's hard to give up a good thing for a questionable good thing.  -Michael
We talk about it a lot.  What would life be like if we totally changed where we live or what we do?  What if we followed our passion for nature and headed for the mountains with our essential belongings and Buddy in tow?  How would we make a living?  Would we like it?  Would we take advantage of the hiking, biking, fishing and snow shoeing surrounding us?  Would we miss our home, our grocery store, our friends, our weather, our backyard (not necessarily in that order :)?  Yes, we talk about it a lot and we always seem to come back to the fact that where we currently are is good.  It would be a different journey if we were trying to get away from something that we didn't like or didn't feel good.  Then, it seems, it would be easy to pick up and move somewhere different - take a risk - try something new.  But when what you have is a good thing, it makes it more difficult to take that risk for something that may end up being good - or even great.  So, for now, we will continue to talk about it...and I'll let you know if we decide to take some action :)
Today's card began with a Gumball Green background that I stamped with an image from Artistic Etchings that I stamped with Gumball Green ink.  Next came the two punched hearts - one embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and the other paper pierced using the template from the Essentials paper piercing pack.  A touch of retired satin ribbon and a quick stamp from Tiny Tags, finishes the card :)  I hope you like it!

Out On A Whim Wednesday: Rusty Nails

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  It Takes Time To Transform
Samantha from Bewitched used to be able to wiggle her nose and instantly change her surroundings, herself or others.  She made transformation look like magic!  Well, I'm no witch and my nose doesn't wiggle and create magic (I just tried...it didn't work).  What I know is that transformation takes time.  It is a process.  From grief to trying to live again.  From Summer into Fall into Winter.  From sedentary to athletic.  From anxious to relaxed.  Yes, transformation takes time.  This Out On A Whim Wednesday project was a lesson in transformation and patience.  It began with some plain stainless nails and a glass jar.  I am working on a project (thanks for the art challenge Helen!) and decided I needed to rust some nails to achieve the look I wanted.  I found a number of "recipes" on-line for transforming nails/pins into rusty treasures.  I followed this one.  I covered the nails in bleach and sealed the jar and left them to sit in the jar outside for 24 hours.

I then poured the bleach down the drain and covered the nails with cider vinegar and some salt.

I then let that sit sealed outside for another 24 hours.  Look at what happened to the liquid!

I then poured that liquid down the kitchen sink and the nails looked like this:

I was a little disappointed since they just looked like the plain stainless nails sitting in a goo of rust.  But I was patient and followed the directions and let them sit outside in the jar in the sun to dry out.  After 2 1/2 days I moved the jar inside to the laundry room to continue drying.  Now, after a few more days, here is what I found inside the jar...

AMAZING!!!!!  I am so excited to continue my project!!!!  I am also excited about trying to rust other items - small bells, paper clips, safety pins, washers and hardware from the home improvement store!!!!  Yippppeeeee!!!!!  The possibilities are endless... and the transformation is a process :)

Two Ways Tuesday: Autumn Accents Bigz Die

For this week's Two Ways Tuesday I decided to play with the Autumn Accents Bigz die!  I love the Bigz dies since you can die cut all kinds of materials.  However, I decided to stick with card stock for these two projects today.  For this first card I just took card stock (More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie and Cherry Cobbler) and die cut the leaves.  I then crumpled the heck out of them and sponged the with some Chocolate Chip ink.  The Crumb Cake background was scored with the diagonal plate and spritzed with Chocolate Chip ink using the color spritzer tool.  The greeting from Pursuit of Happiness was stamped, punched out and sponged before being adhered to the card with dimensionals.  Finally, I added a bronze button thread with hemp twine.

For this second card I began by die cutting a piece of Early Espresso Coredinations card stock.  I then ran the leaf through the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and sanded the leaf to reveal the light colored core of the card stock.  The leaf was then added to a card base that had been stamped, spritzed and decorated with Orchard Harvest designer series paper.  The sentiment is from Friendship Preserves and was die cut using the Labels framelits.  A neutrals button was added and thread with some twine.  Here is a close up of the sentiment:

I hope you've enjoyed this week's Two Ways Tuesday!  If you are on the East Coast of the United States, I hope that you are safe and sound as Hurricane Sandy continues her progress.

Pursuit of Happiness Painted Transparency Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Do your little bit of good where you are.  It's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.  -Desmond Tutu
I don't know about you, but when I look around at the world and see all the work that needs to be done, I can feel overwhelmed.  It makes me wonder what I am supposed to be doing to make the world a better place.  I wonder if I'm doing enough - if there is more I need to be doing.  And then, sometimes, I feel like I should be doing so much more and it paralyzes me because the task can seem so great.  And then I read a quote like this one (from the Pursuit of Happiness stamp set) from Desmond Tutu and I can breathe again - remembering to do my little bit of good where I am and that those little bits will add up.  Yes, I can breathe again.
Today's card combines the quote with a stamped and painted transparency.  I stamped the bird from Young Vermillion (retired) with Staz-On - you can do this just as easily with the bird from Nature Walk - and then painted the back of the transparency with different acrylic paints.  I adhered the painted transparency on top of a punched Basic Black circle.  I hope you like it!