Stars Shine Brightly

At least on my card, lol. Before I get into my card I would like to ask for some prayers please. Tuesday I will be going for some gum grafting and I am really nervous (a.k.a scared) about it. The doctor is good and even took his time explaining everything to me but the idea of it still scares me. I would like some of my nerves to go away between now and then and that the healing will be good and fast.

Ok, now that that little tidbit is done we can get down to the real reason you are here...the project. One of the many blogs I read is Amazing Paper Grace by Becca, and on it I have seen her tutorial on creating a pleated background. Ever since I saw it I have been wanting to try it out. Now was my chance I decided. The card is much larger than I usually do (it is 5 x 7), but I think it would look great framed too (guess that means it could be a gift and a card, nice). The paper I used for it and the stip the ribbon and stars are on came from a Tattered Angels kit from Your Memories Here. I followed the directions as well as I could, but had a little trouble with getting it to stay for me as I was going around. Once I got the pleats where and how I wanted them I added some Helmar's 450 to the inside edges to help insure the pleats would stay in place and place a couple of my ink pads on top until the glue dried just in case. While that was drying I went to word on the light blue layer. First I inked up a music stamp from WMS's Musical Backgrounds set with Versamark and then brushed some Perfect Pearls "Perfect Pearls" over it to give it a nice subtle shine. Then I used the largest die from the Labels 14 Nestie set to cut out and emboss the center. I used some foam dots to get the depth I needed for it to lay flat over the pleats. To cover up the part that doesn't have pleats I used a strip of paper that was left over from cutting out the strips for the pleats and layered a white sheer and grosgain ribbon over it. To cover the center of the pleats I used the Star Nesties to die cute and emboss some stars (they were also used for the strip with ribbon). I decided I needed some sparkle for my stars so I coated the center one with Tattered Angles Glitter Glam Chandelier and then added a little glitter (the glam acts as the glue and holds the extra glitter so well). Over that center star I punched out the circle and sentiment from WMS's Seasons of Love set (after I had embossed them in white). On top of that I layered the smalled star from the Nestie set and coated the center of it with some glossy accent. To spruce up that layered strip I sparkled up another star glued it down. It still looked kinda plain so I layered another star that I not only die cutted out but used a smalled star to get the center out and embossed. I left this layer plain so break up the sparkles some. I thought I was done, but as I was getting ready to snap a picture of it I decided at the last minute that it just needed more sparkles. I cut up some Prima Say It With Swirls and used it as a tail for the star. I LOVE how it turned out. I also sponged the edges of the light blue paper as well as the paper strip with several shades of blue Distress Ink and the navy blue base with some white ink.

Now comes the question, do I give it away or keep it in a frame for myself...

Challenges used:
Cupcake Craft Challenges: include stars
WMCC - use stars
Simon Says Stamp - embossing
Paper Cutz Cahllenges: anything goes
Stamp Something: favorite embellishments (I love bling and glitter)

WMS Blog Hop: Birthdays

I've got a quick post for the WMS monthly blog hop. This month's theme is birthdays and since mine just happed, I thought I would use the new WMS stamps I just got. I used the Say it Loud and Dainty Doilies 2 (as well a stamp from Musical Backgrounds). I even dressed up a little tea light candle for the hop (this would look really cute with a electronic tea light, but I didn't have one handy).

Challenges used:

WMS sketch challenge

Faux Embossed Metal Mat

I promsied ya'll last week that I would show you what I had in store for my sample I created for that Faux Embossed Metal look I learned from Live with Prima. I am here to deliver that promise now. After completeing this one, I don't know which is my favorite. But I do know that both are going to work with me when school starts back up, lol. Most of the supplies you will be able to get from Your Memories Here. Also, Kristina at YMH is offering up several different types of NEW Prima Grab boxes as a pre-order. This is a great way to some NEW Prima goodies. These won't be shipped until late August to Mid September since the products aren't even coming out until the summer CHA.

I knew once I finished the sample wood metal (I had to test out the base color with the silver to see which one I liked better: white or black) that it HAD to get used as a backing for something stunning. It was just too good to throw it out, lol. I saw a really cheap wooden frame laying around (gotten, I'm sure, at Micheal's). I talked about how I created that metal embossed look here, so I think this post will be a little shorter for ya'll. Because I had this stunning, pink-ish, large flower that I just knew I wanted to use to go on top of that sample piece, I thought it might be nice if I added a slight wash in Golden's Magenta paint to the edge of the frame as well as painting the background piece. Loved how it turned out on the frame but not so much on the mat. On the mat it look REALLY pink and didn't got with the vintage feel the whole project was starting to take. Then I got the brilliant idea to give a sliver was over the magenta. Match made in heaven! I loved how it gave the mat an aged metal look without looking "dirty". I used some Helmar's 450 to glue the embossed sample wood piece on top of the magenta "tin" mat and then used that glue again to attach the beautiful Prima flower. After looking at it, I decdided it was too much "pink" and I need to soften it up some too. Out comes that amazingly stunning Prima butterfly. Love how it gave the project a touch of glam/bling withough taking away form the other details. To give depth to the butterfly, I attached it with Helmar's scrapdots. LOVE this!

look at that beautiful shine :)



Challenges used:
Crafty Catz Weekly: Vintage Look (The faux embossed frame reminds me of those tin tile that was used around the 20s - I think, as well as the aged pink background)
PaperPlay Challenges: Things with Wings (the butterfly)
Creatalicious Challenge: 20's inspired (the embossed metal and the pop of pink reminds me of the Flappers of the time as they were the "loud" girls of the time)
Simon Says Challenges: Anything Goes
Cupcake Craft Challenge: Choose your favorite Cupcake Challenge (I chose #19 - Alter something)

Oh, and because I just LOVE this technique, I just had to create a faux embossed metal K for my now growing monogram collection, lol.




And now to see what my desk looks like as I am doing about four different projects all at the same time. Hmmm, maybe I should only do one thing at a time, lol

Antique Mirror...Prima style

Before I get into my project post, I want to let ya'll know that YMH is letting customers to pre-order a grab box as it were of NEW Prima goodness that will be released at the Summer CHA show. Kristina has three sizes of boxes that will hold a range of Prima goodies and even an option to get your goodies from just one collection. Be sure to place ya'll Prima Pre-Order soon (shipping on them won't happen until late August to mid September.

I've got another Live with Prima inspired project for ya'll today. This one is inspired by Julie's Antique frame show on June 20th. I really like how she used a Prima stencil to transfor a plain wooden from into a work of art. Of course this meant I had to try it too, but since I am more of a silver person I tweaked it some. Before I worked on the frame I bought a cheap wooden oval (under $1) from Michael's to test wether I wanted white or black gesso as my base. (You'll see what I am going to do with the oval next week). The test revealed that a black base still works the best with the silver, so off I went making an antique, punch metal inspired frame for a cheap mirror from Micheale's. I left the mirror in when I took the picture and that resulted in seeing me, the camera, and the sticky-note. I am really happy with the end product and so glad I decided to try out the technique Julie showed us :) Drying time between the different coats took the longest time, but using a heat gun does spead it up.

I used some seam binding and twine to wrap around the frame in the corner and the bow. I secured the ribbon on the back with Helmar's 450 quick dry glue. A great thing about Prima's vines is that it doesn't take much make a project shine. It was tacked down with Helmar's 450 too. I sprayed a white Prima flower with several differnt colors of TA's Glimmer Mist to match it as close as I could to the purple-y color flower at the top of the vine for the center of the bow and glued it to the center of the bow with Helmar's 450 (gotta love this stuff).

I couldn't let this sweet frame be complete without a sweet little butterfly. I took one of Prima's Vlinder butterflies and several colors of Glimmer Mist again and colored the butterfly to match a little more. After it was dried, I then took some TA's Chandiler Glitter Glam and painted the butterfly with it to really shine. I attached this little beauty with Helmar's scrapdots to help it lift off from behind the vine.

Finally, here's a shopt of the detail of the frame itself. I used Prima's Stencil Mask Set, Sublime Mix Screens - Mix 3 for the details. I believe Julie used gesso to cover the screen with, but I found some molding paste (with a 40% off coupon) and used that instead. Once the molding paste was dried I brushed on some silver paint making sure to at least cover all of the white paste. When I was happy with that (and I did paint the edges too) I too some very watered down balck paint (like shown in the video) and washed it over the silver. It dulled it down and even puddled in parts. I love how forgiving this was. And if I didn't like it I could just paint over it or even wipe it up if it wasn't dry yet.

Challenges used:
The ABC Challenge: ribbon crossing (the ribbon crossed over eachother when I wraped the corner and then again when I made the bow)
Crafty Catz: Vintage look
Stamp Something: bugs or butterflies
Stampin' for the Weekend: wings and things
Charisma Cards: all about flowers (I know this isn't a card but still...)
Flutter by Wed: open, must include a butterlfy, angel, or fairy

Sweet Box

I've got a sweet box to share with ya'll today. I've had this box in mind for several months. In fact, it is inspired by an article I read title "God's Box" In the article, a lady is talking about the discovery of her late mother's box of prayers that had been labeled God's Box. She described how her mother would say prayers, big and little, write them down, and leave them with God. I really like the idea and started thinking that maybe, just maybe, it'll help me leave my problems with God instead of trying to take them back. The box is from Hobby Lobby with the products are mostly Prima. I don't think I'm am finished with it yet as I am trying to decide about putting the name of the box on there or not and about putting feet on it as well.

The first thing I did was paint both the box and lid with white gesso. After that was dry I used some multi-medium to glue down the Prima Sparkling Spring papers. Once dried I used a fan brush to edge all side with some slightly watered-down white paint so the edge of the paper wasn't so harsh and then gave a top protective coat with the same clear, matte multi-medium. The bottom was then complete (more or less) and that left the top. I really wanted to dress that up and even give it a handle. I used a knob from Tim Holtz's Curio Knobs for my handle and lots of Prima goodness for everything else.

I glued a leftover flower from a Live with Prima kit in the lower right corner and then added a sweet and sparkly Prima butterfly over it. To give it some movement I glued the butterfly on with some Helmar's Scrapdots for a angled height. In the upper left corner I first layed down some Prima bling and then layered the large white flower that came with the butterfly. Next, I took another Prima butterfly and layered it with Tattered Angles Chandelier Glitter Glam and water down pink paint. Then, I sprayed some white Prima flowers with some pink glimmer mist and then took my pink paint water and dyed them. Once dried I used Helmar's 450 Quick Dry to glue them down (as I did with the other two flowers) as well with the Prima leaves.

One of my favorite things on this box is the edge of the top. I used some Prima paper to create a box pleated ribbon effect as shown from this LWP show. Once that was done and glued down I added some Prima trim to add to the ribbon look since I wasn't in a sewing mood, lol.

Challenges used:
Stampin' for the Weekend: use your favorite things (love me some Prima goodness and glimmer mist)
There She Goes: Glitter, Glitz, & Bling
Allsorts Challenge: free and easy
Papertake Weekly: anything goes

PTI peeps are some of the sweetest

I am part of a PTI (Papertrey Ink) blog group and they are some of the sweetest people I have come across is blog land. It has been tradition in years past that if you buy so many PTI stamp sets a year then you will earn a FREE anniversary set. I don't think I have ever done this in the past years. This past year was no exception, but one of the ladies in my little group said she had an extra one and would be happy to send it my way. Not only did she send me the stamp set, but she also included a sweet little tag she had made. Thanks so Deb for being so kind to me.

As soon as I got it I had to create a card (ok, 2 really). For both cards I used the newest PTI's Make It Monday technique. To help ground the flowers some I stamped some text in a very light grey.





Challneges used:
PTI Make It Monday: Polaroid 2-step masking
Mojo Monday: sketch
Flutter By Wed: open, but must include a butterfly, fairy, or angel
Truly Scrumptious: Things with wings
A Passion for Papertrey: use borders (I used the MIM technique for my border