A little late for February

Hello bloggers,

Hope everyone is having a great week!  I have finally finished the February page for my mother's House Mouse calendar and what a learning experience it was!  If you haven't already learned the hard way, let me tell you all about Timber brown Stazon ink.  It doesn't really stay on very well.  After colouring my image with Distress inks (which it does stay on for) I decided the little lantern needed to look like glass.  So I applied Glossy Accents over it and to my complete horror, the brown ink bled!  I almost cried! 

I didn't want to waste the image and the time it took to colour it, so I restamped the lantern onto another sheet and recoloured it so I could piece it back together.  This time I applied Goosebumps thinking that it might be more compatible as it is the same brand.  It wasn't.  So, I stamped it again, this time with black and recoloured and used glossy accents.  For some reason, the brown ink bleeds but the black does not.  So, don't look too closely at the lantern as it is darker than the rest of the image and pieced together which just bothers me.  Of course, I say that in vain as everyone is now examining the lantern with a magnifier. 

Supplies:

Want 2 Scrap chipboard base
Papers - Bazzill card, Basic Grey DP inked with vintage photo DI
Image - House Mouse Tickle Phil stamped on 300g hot pressed watercolour paper with Timber brown Stazon and coloured with Distress inks (bundled sage,black soot, scattered straw, pumice stone, rusty hinge, walnut stain, antique linen, vintage photo, tattered rose, frayed burlap and barn door)
Tools - Martha Stewart edge punch
Other - feathers, seam binding ribbon dyed with tattered rose, glossy accents, burlap, calendar was computer generated and slides in the pocket so it can be changed each year.

I'd like to enter this calendar page in the Totally Papercrafts Challenge - my favourite things (I have so many!  Some of my favourites are House Mouse, ribbon and colouring with Distress inks) and I'm also linking up to the Make it Monday linky party.

Thanks for stopping in and for taking the time to leave a comment!  I love reading them and it gives me the chance to visit you to!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Hugs,

Dawn

Just Buzzing by

Hello everyone,

First of all, I'd like to extend a huge welcome to my blog's new followers!  I'm so glad that you decided to join my crafting journey and look forward to seeing your projects and sharing inspiration!  I hope everyone has been well and has had plenty of time to craft this weekend! 

I have a quick card to share today. My hubby asked me to make it for a friend who is moving away, so we thought this would be cute to wish them a new honey filled hive.

For this one I decided to try a new technique and coloured the image on Kraft paper with my prismacolor pencils.  Hmmm - a little harder than I thought.  I think it turned out alright for a first effort, but there is a lot of room for improvement. 

Supplies:  Stampin' Up Just Buzzin' by stamp set, ribbon, brads and flowers from my stash, postage stamp shape cut with cricut elegant edges cartridge, edges inked with Distress ink in walnut stain.

This card was inspired by these challenges:

The ABC Challenge - K for Kraft
Allsorts Challenge- say it with flowers
Charisma Cardz Challenge- ribbon
Papertake Weekly - anything goes

That is all for now, though I currently have four other projects started, so hopefully I'll have something else to share soon.

Thanks for popping by and for taking the time to leave a comment - I love reading them and visiting you too.  Have a great week!

Hugs,

Dawn

Think Spring and a Daffodil Tutorial

Hello Bloggers!

Hope everyone is well!  It was starting to look like spring in these parts of the globe, but this past weekend brought a tremendous amount of snow so now it feels a bit more like Christmas.  To keep that spring feeling alive, I have a spring inspired card to share, as well as a tutorial for making your own daffodils.  Here is my card:

The stamps are all masked together and I love how this little scene turned out.  Daffodils and little baby kittens always make me think of spring!

The flowers are all hand made - my attempt at daffodils, tulips and simple poppies.  I like how they turned out, but next time I would change the tulips just a bit.  I'll do a tutorial on the tulips and poppies in another post later on to keep the size of this one down:).  Scroll down to the end of the post for the daffodil tutorial.

Supplies:

Paper -  Bazzil and Stampin' Up card, 300g hot pressed water colour paper, My Mind's Eye miss caroline papers

Stamps - all Magnolia (spring fence, cat and Tilda with cat)

Ink - Image stamped with black stazon, coloured with Distress inks - antique linen, frayed burlap, scattered straw, black soot, weathered wood, milled lavender, vintage photo, tattered rose, bundled sage and tumbled glass.  Papers inked with milled lavender and weathered wood, flowers and die cuts coloured with scattered straw, wild honey, weathered wood and milled lavender.

Dies & Cricut cut shapes - flowers started out as cuts from cricut Straight from the Nest and Forever Young cartridges, image mat is from Elegant Edges cricut cartridge, all die cuts are from Cheery Lynn - Italian Flourish Doily, Fanciful Flourish and small Exotic Butterflies

Other - sunshine yellow flower soft, Tim Holtz sheer ribbon layered under the scalloped strip of MME paper (I don't think it shows up too much in the photo)

This card is for the following challenges:

Magnolia-licious Highlights - Feb DT blog hop 'Spring is Right Around the Corner.'  This is where I got the inspiration to make my own daffodils - Patti Jo used punches to make her own and they are gorgeous!  You can check them out here.

Magnolia-licious challenge - Think Spring with photo inspiration; I used the fence and flowers, though mine aren't pink - hope that's alright :o)

Simon Says Stamp -Three different papers

Just Magnolia - Romantic doily

Stamptacular Sunday - Photo inspiration

The Sketchy Challenges - sketch

Cheery Lynn Designs - Lots of layers + a DT call!!! (I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed for this one!  They have such beautiful dies, if you haven't checked them out, pop by their blog)

Now for those crafty folks who love to make your own flowers as much as I do, here is how I arrived at my daffodils:

I started with a star shaped flower - this one is on the Straight from the nest cricut cartridge.  I cut an extra one as these particular flowers only have 5 petals and daffodils have 6, so I needed to borrow an extra petal.  This also makes for a flower with fuller petals.

Mark the centre of each flower with a small dot and cut the petals deeper toward the centre as shown.  Cut all the way down to the centre line with one of you cuts only - this is where you will sneak in that extra petal.  On the spare flower, completely remove one petal.

I coloured my daffodils with Distress scattered straw.  Obviously skip this step if your paper is already the colour you want it.

Gently mist the flowers with water from a spray bottle.  They should be damp, but not saturated.  Carefully fold each petal accordian style, but don't try to be too perfect.  Gently unfold, leaving substantial creasing.  Twist petals slightly as desired.  Allow to dry (should not take very long, but you can use a heat tool if you like).  Once dry, glue the extra petal at the centre of the flower.  It should look like the one pictured below.

Next cut a small strip of paper to create the centre.  Don't worry too much about getting the size perfect right away; it can be trimmed as you go.  I used Fiskars ripple scissors along the top edge for a ripply effect.  Pinking scissors would work as well or you can leave it straight. 

Colour and gently mist with water as in steps  above.  This next part is very tricky - Carefully roll the top edge back and curl the length into a cylinder.  This will have to be done gradually in alternating steps to avoid tearing the paper.  Once you are satisfied, trim the length and/or width as needed.  I made my centres long enough to slightly overlap when rolled around the end of a pencil, but larger flowers will need larger centres.  When trimming the height, leave them slightly longer than needed to allow the bottom to be folded in and glued.  Cut small strips as shown for easier folding.

Apply glue to one edge.  Wrap around a circular object of appropriate size and glue edges together.  Apply glue to flaps on bottom and fold in.  Allow to set until glue starts to 'grab' and remove from your 'mold.'  

Adhere centre to base of flower.  Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping in!  I hope you have enjoyed my card and tutorial.  If you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail.  I would love to see your daffodil creations, so please leave me a link to your projects.  And finally, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment - I appreciate each one of them and love to visit you back!  Enjoy the rest of your week!

Hugs,

Dawn

Extreme makeover card edition!

Hello peeps!

Hope all is well!  I'm back with another Valentine's project - made late, posted even later.  This one is for my toddler who loves my cards, but really has no idea when Valentine's day is, so not to worry.  Hopefully you're not all tired of cupid day projects yet :)!

Have you ever made a project that you really were not happy with and torn it all apart to start over?  This card is one of those and I must say, I am much happier with it this time around!  Here was the initial card:

I took everything off (luckily, the glue I was using at the time wasn't very good) and cut the base smaller because I didn't like the spacing.  I kept the butterflies and flowers, which were handmade and stacked some of them together to make them look fuller.  I replaced the image and sentiment with a new one and crocheted a heart doily to add to the mix.  Here is the new card:

Do you think anyone would have remembered it?  It is a completely different card now!

Supplies:

Paper - Bazzil, My Little Shoebox and Making Memories (flowers)

Stamp - Magnolia stamped on 300g watercolour paper with black Stazon and coloured with Distress Inks - antique linen, frayed burlap, scattered straw, forest moss, tattered rose, victorian velvet and watercolour pencil for skin tone.

Tools - Fiskars mini butterfly punch, Forever young cricut cartridge for flowers, Spellbinders Fancy Tags 2, Stampin up leaf die, computer generated sentiment

Other:  Distress stickles rock candy on the wings, pearls and crocheted heart doily.  The base heart pattern I used can be found on the Crochet Geek's blog here and I adapted a border from another doily pattern I had in a magazine.  I added a little fabric starch to stiffen it and make it lay flat.

I know all challenges want new projects only and I think I did enough new work and made a big enough transformation that this card should qualify.  However, if you disagree, please feel free to delete my entry - I do want to play by the rules.  This card was recreated for these challenges:

Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Fairytale

Top Tip Tuesday - Mystical, Magical and Fantasy

Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to leave a comment.  I do love reading them and I love to be able to visit my visitors.  Have a great week!

Hugs,

Dawn

Playing with Fire

Hello everyone!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful (long) weekend so far (in most of Canada)!  Yes, many of us folks from Canada do in fact set one day aside per year to spend with our families - it's not just a rumor.  But a long weekend is a long weekend, so whatever the excuse is, I'll take it! 

It has been a ridiculously long time since I've blogged, so I have a lot of carching up to do with everyone.  I have a couple of projects to share, so I'll be back later today with another post too.  This week cupid was supposed to visit, so I hope he was good to everyone.  He must have been very busy because he didn't come visit me until later in the week - but he more than made up for his tardiness.  Actually, it is good that he was late as I didn't realize Valentine's day was Tuesday, so I was a bit late making stuff myself. 

I made a candy box to fill with Hershey's kisses for my hubby.  It has been far too long since I inked up one of my beloved Maggies!  Love Sealing Tilda was a pleasure to colour, though the whole thing made no sense to hubby who wasn't familiar with SWAK (sealed with a kiss). 

Supplies:

Paper - Bazzill, My Mind's Eye (I believe and Meadowlark collections) distressed and inked with black soot DI.  Red paper was also given a wash of picket fence Distress Stain to tone it down and give it a more vintage/shabby look.

Stamp/ink - Magnolia stamped onto 300g hot pressed watercolour paper with black Stazon and coloured with Distress Inks - black soot, fired brick, tattered rose, antique linen, frayed burlap and weathered wood and watercolour pencil for skin tone

Tools - Martha Stewart heart punch, elegant edges cricut cartridge, edge distressor

Other - Kaiser lace, TH floral ribbon, fabric, pearls, melting wax and heart shaped press (my try something new).  The wax and press was a gift from my hubby and I had no idea it was so hard to use!  I thought I should do a practice run on a scrap paper.  It ended up taking 7 or 8 practice runs to get it and I caught the wax on fire 3 times.  I have to say it was a little scary watching the flame covered wax drip down onto the paper!  In the end, I peeled a seal off the scrap paper and glued it onto the box as I was too afraid I would ruin the box or worse - catch it on fire too. 

I would like to enter this project in the following challenges:

Magnolia-licious Highlights - vintage and shabby chic
Simply Magnolia - red and/or pink with white
Fab 'n' Funky - try something new (wax seal)
Creatalicious challenge - all about lace
CES Challenge - spots and dots

Thanks for popping in and I hope you have time to leave a comment so I can visit you too!  Have a great week!

Hugs,

Dawn