Spring Cleaning

This week the theme at One Powerful Hour is...

Spring Cleaning

And boy do I need to get some of that done. But to me it's a four letter word! On top of that, I couldn't wrap my mind around an art project that really featured spring cleaning. So I bit the bullet and did something I've been needing to for a long time. I cleaned up all those odds and ends that pile up on the desk.

A few weeks ago when I was at the grocery store I purchased a bunch of mason jars. I put all those odds and ends into 12 different jars. Each jar has it's own theme which I hand wrote onto a punched out piece of decorative paper that I added glitter to the edges of.

To spruce up the jar I wrapped the lid in a silky grey ribbon and then glued a bow onto it. The jars themselves took very little time to decorate, and separating out all that stuff on my desk actually didn't take that long either, once I decided to do it.

The question was what should I do with the jars. After all desk space is already maxed out. So I took a note from one of my favorite space saver/decorating magazines and decided to utilize the window.

Believe it or not putting all this up in the window also took less than an hour. It did however require a trip to the hardware store. I had the wood but not the hardware. I wish the wood panels were glass, maybe I can switch it out in the future.

On top of getting all those bits and pieces off my desk (which is still covered with stuff but getting better) I also managed to find a new home for all my paintbrushes and for two of my stained glass window pieces that were collecting dust at the bottom of a pile of papers on my desk...can you believe I let them just sit!

I am not 100% pleased with the window shelves but for a 1 hour project I think I did really well. And I have a ton more space so next time the "stuff" starts to take over again I'll know what to do.

Welcome Alpha Stampers!

Hey all you fabulous Alpha Stampers welcome to my blog. Wish I could be here to greet each of you, usher you into the door, take your coat and hand you your favorite beverage (I'm serving everything coffee, tea, memosas etc...) but alas I can't. Please sit back and enjoy the eye candy, feel free to ask questions, I promise to get to each and everyone one in time, and then move onto the next blog.

I created this piece especially or shall I say in honor of todays "visit." The background paper, colage images, and ribbon can all be found at Alpha Stamps.

I used the fabulous metal alphabet and number set for the first time on this project, so I got to learn something new. Thank you if you helped me through the process of finding a bench block and answering all my questions.

Now onto the fun stuff!

I have some Spring themed blog candy for one special hoper. All you have to do is leave a comment that you passed through.

Some of the wonderful odds and ends included are:

Purple Feathers

2 Giant Fabric Leaves

Domios

Bottle Caps

3 different ribbons

spring themed collage images (AS of course)flowers

crepe paper cut outs to make the flowers

etc etc etc...

I filled this lovely organza bag to bursting with the goodies. And it needs a new home.

I'll announce the winner on Monday April 4th in the Yahoo Group and you'll have 24 hours to claim it or I draw again!

Hope you enjoy your time today on my blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

New Items for Sale

I just got done posting some fun new things into my Etsy store. Among them are lavender and rose sachets, and a ton of brilliantly colored clothespin magnets (the uses for these are endless). For the month of April I am also offering Free Shipping & Handling on all cocktail napkins. So go check it out!

Because everyone deserves a Cupcake on their Birthday

This week over at One Powerful Hour Sarah has set the theme of "Birthday Wishes." Sarah's birthday is quickly approaching and I thought it an atrocity that she make her own birthday card and cupcakes (see her sample) so I made some for her.

The card took 1 hour and the fabric cupcake took another. So yes, this took 2 hours but I'm looking at it as 2 separate projects, yes I'm cheating, it's allowed! The card is a soft french blue that I kaleidoscope embossed circles all over (hard to see I know). Then I aged some decorative paper to frame the corners. The Words "Happy Birthday" are stamped on transparency film that is placed on top of the card base.

I've included this mini tutorial on how I created the cupcake.

You will need the following supplies: cardboard (or other heavy stiff paper), scissors, batting, two coordinating fabrics, stitch witchery (this is a name brand, any two sided iron on will work) and an iron.

Step 1: Create a template of what you would like to make, copy it twice. This step takes the longest because getting your image/template right is key. If you are interested in the cupcake I have created please let me know, I can post or e-mail it to you.

Step 2: Cut out the template pieces. With mine I wanted the cupcake top to hang over the base so my base piece is slightly larger than my original drawing, so that it can tuck under the cupcake top. Step 3: Cut your batting, fabric and stitch witchery slightly larger than your template.

Step 4: Layer from bottom to top your stitch witchery, cardboard, batting and fabric. You will note that in this step if you are not a beginner you can save some of your stitch witchery because you really only need it around the edges. But for ease cutting it the same size helps at first.

Step 5: With a hot iron (as hot a setting as your fabric will allow) begin pulling the fabric around to the back and tacking it down by ironing it, holding it in some places. Please be careful not to burn yourself, your fingers will be close to the iron and also keep the iron away from the uncovered stitch witchery, it is hard to clean off an iron, but possible.

Step 6: Work all the way around your template until you have the fabric all tacked down. You will want to flip the template over to make sure you are getting the desired look on the front.

Here are my finished pieces. Note that I used much less batting on the base and that I worked my batting to give the top of the cupcake a realistic shape.

Here is the top view. To finish off and get the look of the finished cupcake I took a brown fabric marker and shadowed the top portion of the cupcake before adding glitter and rhinestones. I also brushed the base with some fabric ink to age it a bit, but only did that to make it match the card.

Hope you enjoy! And if you have any questions or need clarification please let me know.

Tea Cup Tuesday

A few months ago I stumbled onto Terri Gordon's blog and fell in love with her Tea Cup Tuesday posts. It is a weekly post hosted by Terri (different from the one mentioned above) and Martha. I believe the origin of the posts is Artful Affirmations and if not then it is a blog worthy of your perusal, such lovely things.

At the time I only owned one tea cup - given to my husband and me by a friend of ours before she moved away - so i didn 't fell right joining when it would only be one time.

Last week in my Marie Antoinette Mail Art group a wonderful swap came up, tea cups! Of course I joined and then went searching the web to see where the best places to buy were. I found this tea cup on etsy and couldn't help myself, I had to have it.


I know nothing about the value of a tea cup and very little about manufacturers. What I do know is that I love the shape and the colors of this one and that is what is important to me. After all beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Quite a bit of the gold is rubbed off and the only thing stamped on the bottom is "manufactured in Germany" which is very hard to make out. But like I said, I love it and am planning on using it instead of letting it collect dust. Now my only delima is Darjeeling or earl grey :)



Thanks for the wonderful weekly bit o tea, looking forward to participating again. I'm hoping that this is the start of a beautiful addiction.

I'm off to check out some of the other wonderful tea cups.

Lucy in the Sky with Metal

The latest Circle of Friends project is incorporating Metal into an ATC. The metal could be anything and any amount.

My original idea was to do something with the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz but no matter what I did I couldn't get it to look right. So I decided to play with one of my favorite (and first) stamps.

I black embossed the image onto white card stock and used various shades of blue and purple watercolor to color the image. To add the impression of metal I added glitter to the stars. Other touches of "fake" metal include gold Dresden around the edge and a crown that I painted with gold paint. The actual metal that I used is some wire that I twisted to mimic the swirls of the stamp. I topped them with sequin stars.

The Dresden, crown and sequin stars are all from Alpha Stamps

Shades of Aqua/Turquoise Charms

So far I've played it safe with the new swap group, Marie Antoinette Mail Art aka MAMA, only taking part in swaps that I knew I could do perfectly. Well, one of my friends hosts charm swaps through MAMA I thought, well she'll be honest so if I suck at charms she'll let me know. And I signed up.

I went to the local Bead store and to Michael's to gather all my supplies, everything I got is pictures to the right. I had already put the dragonfly charms together when I took the picture.

Bellow is what I turned all those bits and pieces into.

Upper Left: I used an off white bead, a blue glass flower and some glass leaves to put this charm together. The bead and flower are strung on a head pin and the leaves I used wire to attach them.

Middle: I love this one! I affixed three blue mixed with a brownish tone to the vintage brass leaf chain. I think this one would make a really lovely bracelet all on it's own and may go back to the store and get more.

Upper Right: I had the dragonflies sitting around from a project I never got to. At the same time I had ordered the stone I affixed to the body. It felt like fate played a part in me not using these items until now, so I had to join the swap.

Lower Left: This one is my husband's favorite. Everything is strung onto a headpin, starting with a brass toned bead, the ring with brown toned rhinestones then the turquoise bead, which has a pretty flower on it, topped with a matching ring and bead.

Lower Left: I think this one would make a nice pair of earrings (which probably means it is going to be a lot bigger than the other charms...oh well...sigh) I dangled three strands of aqua beads off of the vintage brass finding.

The requirements of the swap say that each charm needs to be in a bag. I wanted mine to be special and still swap themed so I got some organza bags and stamped a crown on them, adding some aqua glitter to where the stones would be on the crown.

I also attached my charms, using aqua ribbon, to some aqua paper that I stamped with a flourish and highlighted with the same aqua glitter I used on the bag.







I really like the overall effect. I know my charms have some issues, this was my first go at anything like this. There are some crocked rings and some miss twisted wire but all and all I think I did pretty good and know I'll only get better with practice. I of course intend on taking part in more of the charm swaps. I can't wait to get my returns and make something out of them.

Hop Scotch

This week at One Powerful Hour Pauline has selected the theme...

Child's Play

Right now I mainly think of my little girls, one loves dress up and the other is into stacking, but I couldn't think of how to portray either or these. So I went with one of my school yard favorites, Hop Scotch.

I am not really pleased with the outcome of this ATC, it's a little to plain I think. I mounted a decorative paper onto a solid blue, printed the hop Scotch board out on transparency, affixed the little girl (she's from Altered Pages) and added the brads, to look like the stones used in the game.

Next week at One Powerful Hour the theme is A touch of spring. Come play along with us!

Something Sweet

This week over at One Powerful Hour I've selected the theme...

Something Sweet

My favorite thing to do with challenge themes are play on words. There are so many way's this theme can be taken. I decided to do a bit of both...play with the "love" aspect along with the "yummy" aspect.

A few weeks ago Sarah who is the mastermind behind Soul Journaling posted a tutorial for those of us that are members of her yahoo group. I followed her tutorial and came up with this piece.

The background on the heart is entirely covered with glitter...brown and pink. The image is from Altered Pages, the words from Paula's Kit Club and the fork from Alpha Stamps. Other embellishments include the pink German scrap (which was a pain to put on but adds a nice touch), rhinestones and I glittered the image using sticklers glitter glue.

I hope you enjoy!

Bee Mine

I've posted another set of ATC's for the Marie Antoinette Mail Art group. I am simply loving this new group and I'm so glad that they accepted me as a member.

This months ATC theme was a Marie Valentine. I found this image on Etsy from Olgas Designs. It was originally a bookmark but I cut it down to fit. I printed it out twice and used the entire portion as the base of the ATC and then cut out the image of Marie with the yummy cupcake and 3D mounted it.

Next I cut out a strand of the lovely heart ribbon. I got it in a Paula's Kit Club, but alas she is no more, but I'm sure you can find it somewhere else. I know Alpha Stamps carries it in red.

The Bee Hive is from Alpha Stamps. I stamped it on a separate sheet of paper and colored it using colored pencils. Before finishing it I added some pearl ex powder to the hive so it's all sparkly! I then 3D mounted it on top of the Marie image.



The final touches include a heart that I coated in diamond glaze after outlining. A metal Bee that I made look old using a salt and vinegar mixture. The ribbon banner with the phrase "Bee Mine" and a gem on the cake.

This group is way into packaging...and I have received some absolutely fabulous pieces that I didn't even want to open because the packaging on them was so lovely. So I made sure that my Marie's had something a little special about them.

Following the instructions provided by another of the MAMA members I made crepe paper flowers that I added velvet leaves and some gold sprigs to. I affixed these to a soft pink silk ribbon that I tied around the outside of the ATC envelope.






Here is a picture of the back of the ATC all packaged up with the ribbon tied...I am not very good at bows :(

I can't wait to get my exchanges everyone's pieces are always so fabulous. I hope they enjoy mine.