Altered Sweet Tin Project for Paper Crafter's Library

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Take The Ordinary And Make It Extraordinary!
Today's project started out as an empty can of water chestnuts :)  I created this project, along with videos and written instructions for Paper Crafter's Library and wanted to share it with all of you!  It's easy to go from trash to treasure with a little imagination and a bit of work!  Some Modern Medley designer series paper, a few clay roses, a bit of crochet trim and a touch of stamping took this poor ordinary empty can out of the recycle bin and onto the coffee table.  I can imagine filling it with little sweet treats :)  If you want access to the full instructions and videos, check out becoming a member of Paper Crafter's Library where you will have access to tons of Paper crafting techniques and tutorials!  I hope you have an amazingly creative and peaceful weekend!  Try taking the ordinary and make it extraordinary!!!!!

Embossed Clay Wedding Cake Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Don't wait.  It may be days, weeks, or even months before you can set aside a long block of uninterrupted time for creativity, so don't put off your art-making waiting for one.  - Jenny Doh interviewing Karen Michel in the book Art Saves
This is one of those lessons I really need to pay attention to.  I frequently tell myself that I could be much more creative if I only had a week, a month or a year free and clear to create art.  All this does is discourage me from taking the moments that I do have and putting them to good art-making use!!!!  So now I am working on using what I have - whether it is 5 minutes, a few hours or a few days!  I am becoming more comfortable with "works in progress" - willing to start a project, walk away, and then continue to come back to it.  The Wabi-Sabi Workshop book that I am still enjoying has helped a lot because quite a few of the techniques involve glazing liquid.  If you don't allow enough drying time and try to march ahead to the next layer, you end up with mud!  So I am learning patience and putting my 5 minutes of art-making time to good use!
Today's card was inspired by some pieces of Simply Pressed clay that I embossed.  They were sitting on my craft table and all of a sudden they looked like wedding cake to me!  It is so easy to cut dried pieces/sheets of Simply Pressed clay so I just turned the pieces over, drew a shape in pencil on the back of the clay pieces and cut the pieces out with my paper snips!  So simple!  Making the cake was a lot of fun!  Adding some molded clay flowers and leaves made the cake even more elegant.  Hmmm, I better end this post, I'm staring to salivate!!!!! :)  The cake stand was paper-pieced with hand cut and altered punched brushed silver card stock.  The sentiment is from Petite Pairs.  I hope you like it!

Embossing Clay Easter Card

No, you're not seeing things.  Those are Easter eggs!  I know, I know, Easter is months away.  But I couldn't help myself!  I was playing around with embossing Simply Pressed clay and the idea of creating decorated Easter eggs just couldn't be avoided.  I figured I would share the card with you now because maybe it will inspire you to start your Easter cards early or to take the idea and run with it!  Maybe you'll make embossed candy corn or jack-o-lanterns (hmmm, why didn't I think of that sooner?).  Anyway, I hope you enjoy the card even if it is "off-season" :)  Maybe today's lesson is to do whatever it is you want to do, even if other's might think it's "off-season!"  Hmmm...maybe I'll wear white shoes in December.... :)

Stamped Simply Pressed Clay Thank U Tag

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Sometimes It Takes A Bold Step
Getting on a plane.  With all of my work travel, getting on a plane is often the last thing I want to do.  And, there are times, when it takes a bold step to do what you feel you need to do.  I have a friend who has been dealing with an illness for almost the past year.  It took her awhile to share her news with me and I am so grateful she finally felt comfortable to confide in me and allow me to add my prayers and positive energy toward helping her feel better!  The minute she told me, I told her I would be getting on a plane to come and see her beautiful face!  It's funny how the last thing you want to do becomes the exact thing you want to do when the situation changes!  I am really looking forward to spending time with her and being a part of her healing journey.  Sometimes it takes a bold step!
Today's tag incorporates a stamped Simply Pressed clay embellishment that I created using an image from the Pennant Parade stamp set.  I started with a piece of Soft Sky card stock and cut it into a tag shape.  The little bee from Postage Collection was stamped multiple times with Basic Black ink.  I sponged the edges with Soft Suede ink.  Next I adhered a piece of Basic Black card stock before adding a touch of ribbon and the clay embellishment.  I hope you like it :)

Stamped Simply Pressed Clay Fish Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Reach Out And Let Someone Know You Appreciate Them
I am happy to report that my willpower seems to be working and I haven't checked CNN, People or the local news since I last wrote that I was going to do my best to stop wasting precious moments with senseless surfing :)  In case you are worried that I have my head in the sand, it seems that any piece of news I need to know is brought to me in some other way.  It's been wonderful triumphing over this addiction and one of the nicest benefits is that the time I was spending senselessly surfing is now being put to much better use.  Yes, I have been using some of those moments to create and I have been using some of the moments to appreciate what I experience.  I wrote Serena Barton an email after being so inspired by her book Wabi-Sabi Workshop.  I wrote the corporate offices of Salata to let them know how much I appreciated the amazing service provided to me by their employee Nicholas in their Ft. Worth location (and I let Nicholas know I was going to send the note).  I emailed my swimming coach to let her know how much I appreciate all she puts into our lessons and how motivated I am as a result.  And, I have sat in the park with Buddy - not in a rush to do anything else - and we have just appreciate our time together and the activity of the squirrels in the park :)  One lesson I am learning as I try to beat this addiction is the power of reaching out and letting someone know you appreciate them.  The energy you get back when you take the time to do this is incredible!  I highly recommend it! :)  Psst...for those of you reading this...I appreciate you!!!!  Thank you so much for your comments and your support!!!! :)
Today's card resulting from my experimenting with stamping into Simply Pressed Clay.  I've been playing around with stamping, coloring and combining to create embellishments for my cards.  This fish was stamped, the background colored and then I added a cut out stamped fish face (yes, those are grid lines that you are seeing - I just cut up an image that I stamped off onto grid paper).  The fish face was then glued to the clay embellishment.  I'll be sharing a few more of my experiment results with you this week and if you want to be able to watch videos on the techniques I'm sharing this week (Stamping Simply Pressed Clay, Embossing Simply Pressed Clay, Coloring Simply Pressed Clay, and a few others), head on over to Paper Crafter's Library and look into subscribing!  I am a Designer/Educator for them and continue to add videos, projects and step-by-step directions to their amazing papercrafting library!