Thursday, April 30, 2015

Party Line

Hi Vintage Journey Fans
 
We are starting a new month and a new challenge at A Vintage Journey with our lovely hostess, Astrid, who chose the theme "Spring Colors".  Or as they spell it over there, colours.  Using the grunge factor from Tim along with his stamp set, Bird Crazy,  I had lots of fun with this one.  I've been playing with these crazy birds for weeks now and I still have some ideas going round in my head.  I'm sure they will be popping out soon.
 
I know I'm dating myself by using this old fashion term but I just had a thought and went with it.  I hope I am not the only one who remembers the "party line" where we shared a phone line with our neighbors.  I thought I would put a different twist on the term by combining it with "party" birds on a wire. 

These birds are ready for a celebration with their noise maker, party hats and balloons.
I used the Props Die Set from Karen Burniston for the party goodies.

Here's how I did it!
 
 I started out with a canvas, added gesso and some tissue wrap from Tim's collection.
 
 Next came a layer of Distress Paint.  I used Broken China and Peeled Paint.
After dabbing it on my canvas, I rubbed it around with a baby wipe.
 
 I drew a line using a sharpie and T square, then added the lettering from some I had in my stash.  I later added  some white lines on the letters using uni-ball Signo Pen.  Last step for the lettering was to cover it with Wink of Stella.
 
I stamped my birds on manila paper and then colored them very quickly using two colors of Distress Ink on each one.  I applied the ink with dabbers and then went back with black and white to highlight some spots after cutting them out.
 
After laying out the birds the way I wanted them, I stamped them on the canvas to get the tops and legs that were previously cut off.  Then the colored bodies were glued on.
I thought they were looking a little bit like they were floating so I used a stencil and some molding paste to add the tree at the bottom of the canvas.


I hope you have enjoyed my silly take on the theme this month and you will stop by A Vintage Journey to see all the fabulous projects from the rest of the team.
 
Have a great month and don't forget to join the fun by posting your Spring Colors (colours) make with us.
 




 

Sunday, April 26, 2015

All a twitter -

Hi my friends,

I took a Twitter class recently and have been thinking about all the things I learned.  I've had some time to play and have been so enamored with the Bird Crazy Stamp Set - from Tim Holtz,  I just had to use them again.   This week the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog is Anything Goes so will add it over there.
All I can say is TWEET THIS!!


I  had some funky little eye glasses (a brad) in my stash so added them to the bird.  I made the "word balloon" and then added it to the bird with a small piece of acrylic to make it look as though it is floating over his head.  Some wire for his top knot and some #'s and @'s and of course the Trophy Cup.  He's ready to tweet.
 
Have a fun and creative week,

Saturday, April 25, 2015

April 2015 Tim Tag

Hi my blogger friends,

Today I decided to practice my watercolor techniques.  I think that watercolor is the perfect definition of imperfection - it is lovely but a bit uncontrollable.  Since Tim invited us to use watercolor on our tags this month I though I'd just go ahead and "embrace imperfection".  I must say I'm pretty happy with the way it came out and hope you like it too.


I didn't have the word dies that Tim used but when I was looking through my dies I came upon this one.  Nobody says Joy can only be at Christmas time and nothing brings more joy to the world than flowers.  I used Worn Lipstick and Tumbled Glass Distress Markers and a water brush for the flowers and background.
 
Have a great week and stay crafty,

Friday, April 24, 2015

Don't forget to fly ---

Hi all,

I'm just stopping by today to share a project that I did today with friends.  I belong to a fabulous group known as WOW!  I'm not going to tell you what WOW stands for but it is a wonderful group of women who meet once a month to enjoy each others company, have lunch, drink some wine and make a craft project. 
 
Here is what I made today - sorry no tutorial.


Our lovely hostess, June, gave each of us one of these great frames from KaiserCraft and then we were free to use anything we wanted from her stash.  We shared a day full of crafting and friendship and I am looking forward to next months event.
 
Have a great weekend and keep crafting.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Shoot for the moon --

Hi everyone,

I am thrilled that Donna Wright of Old Red Shed  and member of  Karen Burniston's Design Challenge Team invited me to be her partner for this month's challenge.  Karen asked everyone on the team to invite a blogger friend to participate with the only requirement being the use of an accordion die from her collection.  Donna and I decided we would both use the  Accordion Star for our projects.  I hope you will hop on over to her blog to see what she made.  Don't forget to stop by the Elizabeth Craft Designs Blog on Wednesday April 15th to see what the rest of the team and their guests made for the challenge as well as a new video from Karen.  She always amazes me with her clever new techniques.
 
I have a stamp that says "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."  Although I printed my sentiment on the computer, I used the verse from the stamp.  Here's what I did with it.




           


Here's how I did it!


For the front I used the stars from the die set and some very shinny metallic paper.  I decided to use two different edges from the Star Fancy Edges, one for the front and a different one on the inside panels. 

 
I used my e cutter to design and cut the moon. Then used the stars from the edge.
 
 
On the inside of the card I cut the center of 2 stars out.
 
 
Using the dies in the set, I cut out the printed verse and backed them with some
patterned paper.

 
Next came 2 spirals from the Spiral Pull Card cut from transparences and then a dot of
Glossy Accents in the center. Next step, wait for glue to dry.
 
 
Attaching the spiral to each star, it was run through the center of the open stars and then attached to the anchor stars on the ends.
 
After attaching the verse stars, smaller stars were cut from the Accordion Star and the Happy Birthday Pop Up and then attached to the spiral - making it appear that they are shooting stars.
 
  
Thanks Donna for inviting me -
Hope everyone has a great week and does something crafty,

Monday, April 13, 2015

Card Class

Hey Phoenix area crafters -

Just wanted to let you know that I will be teaching the Flutter Card and the Exploding Handbag Card at The Paper Collage in Sun City West on April 28th.  Seating is limited so if you are interested please contact the store for details.


 
This opens -
 
To become this!

Have a great week!
S@ndy

 

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Steampunk Bird Crazy

Hi my blogger friends,

Today I am simply playing.  Yesterday I shared a card with the Burly Chef, today I've gone to the birds, Bird Crazy that is.
 
I have to admit that when I first saw these stamps I thought I didn't like them.  Well, let me tell you that I have changed my mind in a big way.  Now I can't seem to get enough of them.  This week over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge  the theme is "In the middle" so will be adding my little birdies over there.
 
I made my crazy birds into steampunk birds and every time I look at them I get a giggle.   Hope you do to ---- 
here they are:





I have another idea cookin so I may see you tomorrow! 
Have a wonderful weekend,

Friday, April 10, 2015

Hey There Cupcake!

Hi friends,

Just stopping by today to share a card that I just finished.  I  got some new stamps in the mail yesterday from Stamper Anonymous so of course had to get out the ink.
 
The set I used here is from Brett Weldele and is called "The Burly Chef."  I used the Rectangle Pull Card by Karen Burniston and Elizabeth Craft Designs for the card.
The cupcake stamp is one from my collection from Close To My Heart.
 
I like the way it turned out and thought you might like to see it.
 


Have a great weekend,
 

Friday, April 3, 2015

Exploding Handbag (in a good way)

Hi Friends,

I'm here today to share a fun project that I just finished.  I first saw the cute little purse on Splitcoast Stampers a couple weeks ago.  I wanted to try it and it was so fun and easy that I decided to add a little something to the inside.  Here's how it came out.
 
 
 
The bag is made of one 12" X 12" double sided paper.  The white part is trimmed and decorated with the Agatha Edge Die set.
 
Then when you open the bag  ta dah!!


I used the Eiffel Tower Die designed by Karen Burniston from
Elizabeth Craft Designs.  Also parts and pieces of other die sets.
 It says "Happy Birthday" in French.

 
I was restricted on the height of the purse so had to modify the tower.  I cut a little bit from the top but nearly 1/2" from the bottom which meant I had to raise the arch.  I thought I was good to go but then discovered that by taking off some of the legs I had a narrower base.  More modifications but it came out just fine.
 
 
I strung some bakers twine through the center and added some cute little banners from the Lots Of Pops Die set.
 
 
I hope you have enjoyed my little explosion of fun-
Have a great weekend,

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Through The Looking Glass

Hi Vintage Travelers,

Today is the start of a new challenge month at A Vintage Journey.  Our lovely host, Julia, has chosen "Through the Looking Glass" as her theme for the month.  I hope that you will drop by to see all the fabulous work from the Creative Guides and perhaps join the fun by posting a project. 
 
As for me - I started out with a quote from Bruce Lee. "If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done".  That is something that often happens to me and I get in a creative stall.  Here is where I ended up.

 
Although you can't see the covers on the clock faces, trust me, they are there.  I think this canvas shows how time can simply fly away when you "over think" a project.
 
A Few Steps Along The Way
 
 
I started by covering the canvas with tissue paper and thin gesso.
 

 
I added some Distress Paint.
 
 
I spread the paint around with a baby wipe.  I didn't like the color at first so added
 more paint.
 
 
Here you can see that I used some of Tim's great layering stencils.
 

I also used some modeling paste and stencil on the side.
 

I just kept adding things until I was happy with the result. 
 
 
Luckily I didn't have to do much die cutting as I simply went through my stash and found some things I wanted to use.
 
 
Hope you have a great weekend and don't spend too much time thinking,
more time crafting.