A Project (FINALLY) and a SALE!

Wow! It has been a long time since my last blog post! Life has gotten busy (in a good way) and has taken me away from my hobbies. My family and I have all just gotten home from an almost month long vacation, visiting family and friends from Virginia Beach to Tennessee, to Eastport Maine and lots more in between and back home again. Well, for the day anyway, till we make our way to camp for the weekend where it will hopefully be cooler...
I have a fun project to share with you today that I made before our summer adventures began. I decided to send a box of goodies to 3 of my favorite girls and was inspired to make the box look like part of the present.
I took a shoe box and primed it with gesso, then gave it a coat of a mixture of different color blue paints. I had some colored images and a few pieces of patterned paper left over from other projects and put them all together to decorate my box. All pieces were glued with assorted HELMAR glues.I painted a lighter shade of blue on the areas I wanted to write my addresses on.I really like how this digi image looks like a postage stamp. It is one of my favorites from the Pretty Primitive set at Lindsay's Stamp Stuff :)
More favorite LSS - these are from the Doodle Flowers set.I used these Doodle Flower favorites to cover over a "mess up". LOL The patterned paper is from a paper kit in Lindsay's SHOP HANDMADE store, studio g stamp and a bird that I bought somewhere in my earlier travels...These were cut from scraps using Tim Holtz dies. More die cut digi papers from Lindsay's Shop Handmade store, along with a studio g stamp.
This was such a fun project to do, and really didn't take much time at all. The best part is that you can buy these papers and stamps or anything thing else at Lindsay's Stamp Stuff (at Mygrafico) on sale today and tomorrow!!!
Please let me know what you think of this project - it is my first attempt at altering a box, so I could use a few ideas and suggestions. What have you altered lately? Leave me a link, and I will check it out and see what inspires you :) Have a great weekend, Everybody!

Cute as a Button

Hi Everyone! Happy Friday! Today I made this "canvas". It measures 8 1/2 x 11. OK, really, it is just plain ol' cardboard - probably a ceral box, but "canvas" sounds way more artsy. :) I started with this cute Owl Tree stamp from Lindsay's ShopHandmade Store and it's only $1!! I had it in my stash and thought it would be fun to use again. You can also find tons of fun stamps, papers and SVGs in her Mygrafico Shop.
The buttons on the tree were made with a sizzix die that I found at Joann's (40% off) and some hemp. If you don't have a button die, you can make your own buttons with a paper punch. Click HERE to go to a fabulous tutorial by our very own Lindsay and she will show you how! That's all for today. Have a great weekend!!!

I am entering this project in the following challenges:

Anything Goes Challenge Blog: Die Cuts
Die Cut Dreams Challenge Blog: Spring Garden Scene

Supplies:

Card stock: Bazzil
Patterned Paper: basic grey
Stickers: basic grey
Stamp: inkadinkado
Flowers: Prima
Brads: Recollections
Pearls: Queen & Company
Digi Stamp: Lindsay's Stamp Stuff
Corner Punch: Stampin' Up

You're Just My Type

Wow, Thursday sure rolls around fast these days! I have a set of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for you today. I am in a swap at the Stamp Shack (of course) and the theme for this set is "That's So Funny". We had to create a set of ATCs with some kind of play on words, so I put on my thinking cap and got out my STEAMPUNK and SCHOOL PAPERS sets from LINDSAY'S STAMP STUFF and went to work. I covered my digital canvas with the ledger paper and then layered the typewriter over it. I added the text "You're just my" on the next layer and then sized it to 2.25 x 3.25 and printed a sheet of them and cut them out. I then stamped "type" on each one using letters from My Sentiments Exactly, swooshed a bit of black soot distress ink around the edges for extra depth and added a few dots of distress stickles in the corner. That piece got mounted on a black cardstock panel and that completed the front. Easy peasy!
Next, I decided to print up the ATC back FREEBIE that Lindsay has in her Mygrafico Shop. I think it's nice to put some information on the back to let the collector know a bit about the card. I love making greeting cards and doing mini books, and lots of other paper crafts, but I think ATCs are my very favorite pieces to create. I just love making and collecting them! Each one is so different and unique, even though we all have the same basic theme and instructions.
Since it's almost Halloween, I thought I would give you a last peek at a couple of the great Halloween sets Lindsay has in her Mygrafico Shop.
The Creepy Crow set is my all time favorite, but the Too cute to spook set is fun too! Gobble them up while you still have time to eek out a few more Halloween cards! Here is the DT list for this week...you know the drill! Have fun and happy digi stamping!

Lindsay Weirich (Owner and Stamp Designer)

Cheryl Gorka DT Coordinator

Shannon Neparko

Margie Visnick

Lisa Jurecek

Melissa Craig

Tamara Bennett

Cindi Hooks

Micki Harper

Karin Martin

Jennifer Bliss

Rhonda Walker

Diane Bove

Tracy Vinson

Laurel Seabrook

These girls rock! I hope you enjoy their creations as much as I do!

A Pocket Full of Posies!

Hello, it's Thursday again and that means another project using stamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. This week I made this collage piece with the Jean Pocket stamp from the Patriotic set. I started by coloring the pocket and adding brads in the corners and adhered it to a leftover piece of bo bunny paper (that I just love). Then I began adding different Prima flowers and leaves with assorted buttons and brads for the centers. I stamped random butterflies around the page and added a bit of stickles to them for some bling. I printed the sentiment on my computer and inked it with spiced marmalade distress ink. Lastly, I added a musical note brad, inked the edges of the paper and done! You can buy this stamp set and lots more fabulous sets at Lindsay's Mygrafico shop. Hop on over to Lindsay's blog and grab her freebie of the week and then see what the DT has to inspire you with as well. Have a great Thursday!!!

This qualifies for the following challenges:

ABC Challenges: A is for August
Alphabet Challenge: Nature
Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog: Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

Best Friends

Happy Thursday! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have finally awoken from my turkey induced coma and have a project for you using pieces from a couple of Lindsay's Stamp Stuff stamp sets. This week I made a project using a 5x5 canvas from Joanne Fabrics. It had a large dragonfly on it, but I painted over it with gesso, and then two colors of light green acrylic paints. Next, I cut some small pieces of coordinating CK Scrappin' Creations Power Pad and layered them over the painted canvas using matte gel medium. I added more layers of paint, Distress Inks, and paint colored with Alcohol Inks until I had a look that I liked. Actually, I think I got a little too much ink, but that's ok. You still want to be able to see some of the papers through the layers. Oh-and you need to let each layer dry before adding the next. I used my heat tool to speed things up - no patience, you know!

At this point, those of you (who are not me) would get out your graphite paper and trace the fabric flower stamp onto the canvas. If you are me, you cannot find your graphite paper and start to panic until you remember Lindsay's "trick". The trick is to color over the back side of the printed image with a pencil. Then lay the image on the canvas and trace over it with your pencil. This transfers the image, just like graphite paper! At this point (if you are me) you are thinking you may never look for that paper again! This part was too easy!

Once the image has been transferred to the canvas, paint it and let it dry. Add details with your prisma pencils to the leaves and outline the whole image with a charcoal pencil. Add a gemstone brad for the flower center. Print, cut out, and ink up the "If friends were flowers" stem and the heart and star from the "Patriotic Elements" set. Attach them with the gel medium and dry. Stamp "best friends" with Distress Ink, distress the edges and you are done.




You can get the Doodle Flowers Set and the Patriotic Elements set at Lindsay's Stamp Stuff or if you want instant gratification, you can download them at her MyGraficO! shop. Check out the cool projects the Design Team has for you to be inspired by this week! And don't forget - Lindsay always has awesome freebies on her blog, The Frugal Crafter, so start there and check it out! Happy Digi Stamping!!!

Let's Get Sewing ATCs

Sherri at the Stamp Shack posted a swap to get sewing on some ATCs. I had never tried, and thought it sounded like fun. While looking at old photos with my mom one afternoon, I found a sweet photo of two children holding flags. I thought it would make a great ATC - another first - using a photograph for an ATC. So, I stitched around the edges with red, stamped memories in blue and hand tinted the large flag with water color pencils. I added a heart shaped brad in the corner for a finishing touch.

We don't yet know who the children are in the photo, but my mom thinks that it may have been taken on a 4th of July at a family reunion. I've been trying to track down the story of these two children. I'll make a new post once I solve the mystery.