A few ATC's

I've been so bust with cards lately that I have been forgetting to post all of the new ATC's I've made and JAMS I've added to. Finally found some time last night to take pictures of them, and here they are:

This cat ATC is for a animal theme swap I am part of. I decided to stamp and emboss this leopard print on the background. I added black fun flock to the cat so she is fuzzy, also added gem eyes and double stamaped her head so it is another layer that is popped off the card. I always picture domestic/house cats wanting to be the "big" cats so she is saying "roar" with her biggest voice... which you can see is not so big.



This beach theme ATC is for a swap that my local stamping store We're Stampin' Mad in Osseo. I saw something similar to this made into a card, so I altered the design a bit and made it for an ATC. This one is very different for me... no popping up, no moving parts, no over-the-top anything. Just very clean and simple. I guess that it really reflects the theme. I was going to use a fine grit sandpaper as the "sand" but thought that might distract from the cleanness of this card. I happened to find some great shimmery paper at Michaels in two shades of blue, that represent the water really well. I just tore and rolled the edges so that it looked like water washing up on the beach. The shells I stamped with Versamark on the Kraft paper and embossed with clear. I used water color pencils to color in the shells for a soft "sea" look, I really like how the watercolor pencils look.



This ATC is for my small group swap. There are 7 of us to get together once a month to talk, swap, and create. We have so much fun! For this ATC we did not have a theme, we were supposed to use a stamp we really like but never get to use. So I chose this abstract stamp that I have that I've NEVER used. After trying quite a few ways of coloring it, I ended up embossing in black and using my watercolor pencils (again) and coloring it in. After I was all done I thought it looked like a Kandinsky painting during his Bauhaus period. So I found a great quote, it reads "The impact of the acute angle of a triangle on a circle produces an effect no less powerful than the finger of God touching the finger of Adam in Michelangelo" and added it to the ATC. I thought that was quite fitting for this stamp. Hope the girls like it!



The last one was a JAM I was the third and last person. It was started in England, went to North Carolina and then came to me. I added the embossed and colored girl, the pearl earring, the stamps, and the pink ribbon.



That's all. Next time I'll try to do them one-at-a-time. This was a long posting.

Beautiful Butterfly Button Wall Art

A couple weeks back a girlfriend asked me to help her create some art for her daughters room. She saw something she really loved at a well known home decor establishment that is made up of 2 words starting with a P and a B and ending with kids. So she bought them so we could lift the idea. The large one retailed for $179.00. We knew we could make it even better for A LOT less. After looking at how it was done, we knew we needed a canvas 36"x36" some scrapbooking paper and buttons. She bought some scrapbooking paper that coordinated with the bedding and I had the buttons.

We figured out how may circles of each size we'd need and I used my Cricut to cut them all out. We placed all the different circles on the canvas and then glued them in place with quick drying glue. After the the main part was laid out, we filled in the empty space with buttons.

Here's how it turned out...


Close-up of button antennas.



She also made a few smallers ones to coordinate with the largest one.



On the large one alone I think she saved $125. And she saved a total of $350.00 by doing it herself. Granted it did take an afternoon, but that is a huge savings.

March of the Tools Tuesday tip re-do

This Tuesday's tip is...
Using a 1" flat iron (made for your hair) to iron ribbon.

I use ribbon a lot in my crafting and it is stored in cardboard cards in a Prism Box, so when it comes to using it, it is wrinkled more often than not.


I found that it is a lot quicker to heat up my flat iron than the full size iron.
The ribbon MUST NOT contain any plastic (should be silk, cotton, twill or something natural).




Your iron should be on a medium setting. And you need to clamp it quite tightly while you slowly pull your ribbon through it. A thicker ribbon might take a couple of times to iron, but it is a lot easier to pull it through, than getting out the ironing board and iron.

February ATC

Here's February's ATC. Theme: A Song in my Heart





I scanned in an vintage Valentines card (the kitties), and cut them to size. As the background I used old vintage sheet music, all of this is mounted on a old BINGO card. I wanted my ATC to be interactive so when I glued down the train kitty, I only did the sides and bottom, that made a pocket where I could tuck in that other kitty (the one that is making a valentine). I attached that kitty to the card through a silver eyelet tied with red and white bakers twine.

Binder Clip Tutorial

It is really easy to cover all of those boring black binder clips you have around the house. I use Mod Podge as the glue (mine is Gloss Lustre, but you can use flat). I also add age to mine (after it is dry) by using Tim Holtz Distress Ink (I like Tea and Walnut).

Here's how you can do it:

Vintage Slacks Hanger Photo Holder

Yet another use for a random object.

A girlfriend of mine came up with this idea. I thought it was so awesome. If you have old pants (slacks) hangers that clamp... this will work. This one has a cool sliding tightening mechanism that pulls the wood together as you slide it down the neck of the hanger. The hanger photo holder will sit all by itself.

Watch Face Brooches

Have you seen this? What a wonderful project that I found over on Just Something I made. I tried it last night here's how mine turned out.





So I wanted to try it. I did mine a little different. I had an old wrist watch face with the glass. I dug around all my collections of things and found a few little items to put in it, like a "j" charm, a old watch face, and some crystal beads. I glued a bright piece of paper in the background with mod podge, and then layed all my pieces inside. I used Diamond Glaze to set everything (if you get any bubbles make sure to pop them right away, this also needs to dry overnight). After it was all dry I added a few buttons and little things unglued (so they would move around). I put the front glass piece back on and pushed everything back together. I attached it all to a large pin I had and added some ribbon that matched the items inside. I purchased my old watch at a garage sale a while back and just know I would use it for something someday. I have a few smaller watch faces (as well as a pocket one like the web-site I found this idea on) that I am going to alter.

I hope you try this. It was a lot of fun and it made a keepsake that will last forever.

What I love and collect...

and only buy at thrift stores and garage sales.

Flower frogs (ideas for uses here)

Birds (mostly Goebel)

Cows from plastic farm sets (just the cows)

Hand painted pictures of houses and buildings (under 12")

Hand painted pictures of cats (under 6")

Shiny Brite ornaments

Things with cherries on them

Martha Stewart Magazines (I have almost all of them, missing first 2)

Caldecott winning childrens books

Fransican "Starburst" pattern dishes

Anything with the entire alphabet on it.

Charm bracelets (someone's entire collection)

Crystal brooches (only clear/white)

50's holiday decorations (christmas, halloween... etc.)