I actually created and cleaned....Wha????

I did. Really did. First I created. I joined back into the ATC group. This month the theme was birds/nature. Since my craft studio was A HUGE MESS, I had to use the kitchen table.

Here is what I made for the trade.

Now that I got that done... Time to get cleaning.

Here is what the floor looked like before:

What a CRaZy Mess! could barely get in the door. I did not show you my desk for a reason. My desk looked like the floor. Stuff piled way too high. Almost a health hazard.


Here is what the after looks like. So much better! You can see the floor! Only a couple little "piles" to find homes for.

Prickley Pear ATC Trade

Using the Wildflower Garden Stamp and part of the saying

from the Wildflower garden sentiment.

ATC size

I cut out the ATC from Green colored cardstock. Stamped the flowers in

Versamark and embossed it with white embossing powder.

Then with a sponge I added white ink over the flowers,

green ink over the stems and pink over the bottom.

And then sprayed the whole card with shimmer spritz spray.

With Copic markers I colored the small piece

of lace before I glued it on. I also added

a small rub-on square from American Crafts.

I stamped the sentiment out on glimmer cardstock and

then using my word window punch from SU

I just punched out the in the beauty from the stamp.

Attached it with a button tied with string to the card.

Playing a little catch up

I've been so busy with a multitude of things.

Here are a couple of projects that I have been working on.

A ATC card for April

This one was fun, I tried out a new folding flower

technique that I came across on the web.

(sorry I can't find the blog) I'll have to do one for you.

In this ATC: Background is K& Co. paper that I ran

through the Cuddlebug in a folder. On the top half I

stamped with my new FAVORITE Dot Spot stamp

from PTI . I stamped a small cranberry flower in the lower

right corner. I added a punched vintage ticket border (EK Success-Petals)

under the velvet ribbon. The flower is made form vintage dictionary pages.

I added an old school brass brad with a pearl glued to the middle.

The flower is sprayed with the new Sparkle spray from Tsukineko.

Now onto my vintage button flower garden.

I bought a tin silk flower holder at a thrift store and had no idea what I

was going to do with it, but I knew I needed to have it. It is oval in shape,

about 8" tall 12"long and 3" deep. It came filled with foam and covered

in moss. I decided to make a field of button flowers to put in it.

Grabbed my jar full of buttons and started to put them together.

I use thin floral wire to assemble. I also add ribbon leaves, as I twist

the wire.

Vintage Christmas ATC

Oh boy, did I have fun with the ATC. I found these great rosette stickers at Michaels made by K&Co. And here is that Pinecone stamp, again (told you I loved it). I used this great aged striped cardstock that I found at JoAnns, as the background. Then I tore a piece of old sheet music just slightly smaller that the ATC and edged it in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I glued that down at a angle on the striped background. I used Adirondack ink to stamp the pinecone and colored it in with Copics. I then punched out a scallop circle with my Stampin' Up punch and stamped the Merry Christmas (Papertrey Ink Mega Mixed Messages). I added distress ink and attached it folded over the edge. The next step is to put the rosette sticker on the ATC. I then added Diamond Dust to the "snow" on the pinecone and dots on each scallop of the Merry Christmas. To finish it off, I added punched branches (Martha Stewart) and a pearl. To make it an ornament I set a eyelet in the top and added a piece of hemp.

A Productive Weekend!

I had a very productive weekend. Last week I told you I was going to unmount all of my Stampin' Up stamps, well I did it. After taking baby steps on those first few, I went all out. Just look at the room I am saving. I unmounted 25 sets. In the boxes, on wood they were 29" tall, in the CD cases only 10". I have 6 more sets I need to unmount, mostly alphabets.

I had a girlfriend over on Saturday to scrapbook with. She was working on a scrapbook for a gift. I worked on a box for my Secret Santa.

(Nichole working hard, she did such a great job on her scrapbook)

She brought over these super yummy cupcakes that she bought at Byerly's. They were oh so much better than Hostess. (and yes, they were as big as they look)

Here's my Secret Santa box all finished. It started out as one of these brown unfinished hard cardboard type boxes. My Secret Santa's favorite color is green. So I bought some scrapbook paper, and green accessories (that beautiful butterfly) at Michaels and used Mod Podge to glue everything. I found some awesome old tarnished tinsel garland I had, and added that to the top.

And then on Sunday I went to my friend Judiths for our monthly ATC group get-together.

Here's everyone, eating the most WONDERFUL Scones I've EVER had.

Just look at them! we had raspberry jam and Devonshire cream with them-Yummy!

The table was decorated so nicely with Halloween decorations.

And then we had a demonstration of using distress inks, glimmer mist with stencils and using the cuttle bug/big shot with spellbinders and other dies.

Prickley Pear Day 3

Girl ATC

Supplies:
Paper Solid: White-Neenah
Ribbon:Offrey
Tools: Copics, black threaded sewing machine, BoBunny Sticker, Vintage music paper, vintage button, cotton string, VersaMark pinecone #171 ink, Crop-a-dile eyelets, tiny attacher by Tim Hotlz, EK Success floral border punch and American Crafts rub-ons

Instructions:
I used the Transparency with the little girl playing with jewelry, colored the backside (negative side) with Copics. Flipped it to the right side and sewed it to the white cardstock using a straight stitch and black thread in the sewing machine. I only sewed 3 sides, so it would make a pocket. In that pocket I put 3 strips of vintage sheet music that I glued to a piece of cardstock, and tore. I edged the 3 strips in VersaColor pinecone #171, to give it a little age. I punched a hole with the crop-a-dile and inserted a eyelet. I tied a pink ribbon to the top as well as stapled a tiny staple to add a little hardness to it. i used a floral punch to the bottom of the 3 pieces for a added little touch. I put a American Crafts rub-on on 2 of the small strips and to the last one I added a BoBunny memories sticker. To finish it all off I tied a vintage button with cotton string and glued it to the front corner.

You can purchase the Transparencies here. They have a lot of really great transparencies in the collection.

Slider ATC instructions (for my halloween ghost)

Here is how to start:

You need a piece of cardstock that is 3 1/2" tall and 7 3/8" wide. Scored at 2.5 and 5. The last panel you need to cut 1/2 inch off of each end of the height (see picture). I used a pinking shears to cut a little off of the top of mine (to make it look like a bag).

For the ghost you need a piece of cardstock that is 2 1/4" square. You will need to round off the top to make it look like a ghost.

I used my Copics to color the eyes and add shadowing.

For the part you pull, you need a piece of cardstock also 2 1/4" square. The text (or whatever you want to add to this piece) needs to be 1/2 inch from the bottom and no more than 7/8" tall.

To create the part the actually slides, you will need a strip of plastic grocery bag 1" wide and 8" long.

Wrap the piece of plastic around the end of the card that was trimmed, apply a small strip of adhesive (make sure it is ONLY on the plastic).

Stick the other end (just tight enough where it will not slip off, but not TOO tight or else it won't slide) over the glued part.

Trim the excess.

Now we have to line up the ghost. Put him so he comes just to the top of the card. Now put a small amount of glue on the plastic strip where the bottom the ghost will be attached to it. (draw an imaginary line over from the bottom of the ghost to the plastic strip)

Now fold that small panel over on top of the ghost. It should stick to the plastic strip.

Now we have to attach the part the you pull. Line that part up to the bottom of the card, and towards the inside (see picture). Put a small amount of adhesive on the plastic strip, where the card that you pull will hit it.

You can see here where it is actually glued.

Next we need to create the notch, where you are going to pull the slider down.

I used a 1" circle and notched both sides of the card (make sure you DON'T notch more than 1/2").

Putting it all together. Have the shorter panel folded in. You need to run a 1/8" strip of super stick tape along the VERY EDGE of the panel that has the slider plastic on it, and is over the back of the ATC.

(see here)

now close the whole thing up. Make sure the shorter panel is concealed on the inside.

Test your slider ATC... pull the tab and see the ghost "pop-up".

All finished!

Pop-Up Halloween ATC

{PRESS THE PLAY BUTTON}

Here's my entry for ISC's Designer's Lottery. Isn't this ghost just so cute "popping" out of the grocery bag!

I am going to make this for my small group ATC club as well. I hope they like it. I found the directions for a card version on Splitcoast Stampers and just re-worked the dimensions so it would work for a ATC. If you want me to put directions on how I did it, please leave me a comment and then I will know you guys are interested.
**UPDATED I've had a number of requests for the directions. I will work on writing them Monday and get them posted as soon as possible**