Junk in My Trunk!

Squeaking in at the last minute, just finished my project for Our Creative Corner this morning - lots of drying time for this one. I altered a little wooden package from some veneer pieces that I bought (waytoolongago) and saved for just this sort of thing.

Here's the start:

Each compartment measures 1.25". I began by coating everything with Picket Fence Distress Stain, and gave it 3 coats. I didn't take step-by-step photos because I honestly didn't think it was going to be share-worthy at the end.

I then used Mod Podge to apply Tim Holtz patterned tissue to the back of each compartment, and the back of the entire piece. Some Hero Arts lace around the outer edge, some seam binding, an antiquey key, some quilled flowers, and voila!

Just a tiny little piece of art - I love how it turned out!
And thank you to Our Creative Corner for the kick in the butt to USE my hoarded "I should do something with thats"!

xoxo,
Jessi

Shopping our Stash #190 - Out of the Jar!

**For my Tuesday Morning Sketches post, please click here. Thanks!!**

This week at Shopping our Stash we have a wide variety of ways to interpret our challenge - Out of the Jar: use anything that came in a jar: flower soft, glitter, perfect pearls, embossing powder, etc.,  OR a jar image - or make something using a Jar! (decorate a jar) 

Lots of options! I ended up using several things from jars on my card - Aleene's Glitter Snow Paint (love that stuff - and guess what? It works like embossing paste! yeah!) - and two colours of embossing powder. 

Supplies: Martha Stewart Butterfly stamp; Hero Arts sentiment; Versamark; Broken China distress ink; clear & white detail EP; Aleene's Glitter snow paint; Memory Box bubbles stencil; embroidery supplies, vellum, rhinestones

I initially stamped the butterfly directly onto the square panel, and it just didn't pop enough. Rather than starting over I decided to stamp & fussy-cut another one using Versamark & Broken China distress ink to give it a little colour. Some wonky-not-enough-room-for-cross-stitching-oh-who-thought-tilting-this-panel-was-a-good-idea and tada!

The snow paint I've not seen to buy except at Christmas, but now that I know it holds up as well as embossing paste for using with stencils...the jars I bought 4-5 years ago are probably not going to last much longer! I think they cost about $4 each, which compared to $12 for embossing paste is a great way to try this technique out and see if you like it before investing too much!

Surely you've got some crafty things in jars - or jar stamps - or heck, have a present to wrap that would fit in a jar?   join in with the SOS crew: 

Leslie

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Donna

Chris

Barb

And you have until Monday,March 2nd to join in!

I also was inspired by the tic-tac-toe board at Our Creative Corner 

I used the right-hand column (embossing powder, stencils, and mediums-snow paint) plus stamps :) 

xoxo,

Jessi

Shopping our Stash #188 - TP or not TP

**For my Tuesday Morning Sketches post, please click here. Thanks!!**

We have a really fun challenge for you this week at Shopping our Stash - toilet paper. Paper Towel. I'm serious! There are lots of fun ways to incorporate these into your crafty projects - toilet paper casting, embossing, inking, using blender solution to add texture...the design team has used a variety of techniques and there are loads more. So - we want to see you use your TP! You can also create a project inspired by the patterns on your toilet paper or paper towels. 

Although I definitely had some epic fail moments while getting started, I enjoyed the messy play of toilet paper casting! My finished project includes embossed toilet paper and the reverse side of a casted piece. I did the embossing by trial and error -  the error? Do not run the toilet paper and embossing folder through while they are wet. Just don't. You'll have to clean your entire machine, and will shred the TP into teeeny itty bits that stick everywhere. 

I didn't take pictures while I was working because I didn't know if it would turn out, but what worked to create the embossing was: four sheets of toilet paper stacked, dampened (really just use enough water to dampen the entire piece, not soak it). Spray mist if desired. Place inside the embossing folder and close it, burnishing it with your hand (do NOT run through the machine!) Open the folder and dry carefully with your heat gun, keeping the paper inside the folder. Once it's dry, run it through the machine for a crisper embossing.

Supplies: toilet paper; Cuttlebug embossing folder; Flourishes heart stamp; PTI and Stampendous background stamps; Tattered Angels spray mists in Yellow Daisy, Turquoise Blue; Candy Apple; Distress Crackle paint in Broken China; Tim Holtz bubbles stencil; Distress inks in Broken China & Festive Berries; Paper Smooches swirls dies; Ranger Perfect Pearls spray in turquoise; Dress it Up "love" button; buttons, seam binding, doily, gems all from stash

I stopped several times while making this to say to myself OH GOD WHAT AM I DOING? I began the background panel by using Distress Crackle Paint and the bubble stencil. Once that was dry I stamped the various background swirls and splots and sponged to soften the white. I added the embossed corners, and the doily, and was stumped. Buttons to the rescue! The heart had terrific detail from the casting, but a very distracting heavy layer of shimmer that I didn't care for, so I used the reverse side. The splotchy inky mottled look was exactly what I wanted. I trimmed carefully along the edge of the stamped image. The seam binding bow is sewn on. The swirls were cut from a piece of pre-misted paper I'd done before Christmas. And the 'love' button was the perfect final 'something' it needed!

Besides the Toilet Paper challenge at Shopping our Stash, I kept the Tic Tac Toe board from Our Creative Corner at hand while I was making this. 

I did end up using more than three of the options, but my goal was the centre vertical row of die cuts, stamps, and embossing folders. 

So are you ready to play with your TP? join in with the SOS crew: 

Leslie

Alica

Deena

Lauren

Donna

Chris

Barb

And you have until Monday,February 16th to join in!

xoxo,

Jessi

Perfectly Pink

Oh, I had so much fun creating this card. So much texture, so much dimension! It's what I'm calling a keepsake card - 5.25" square, and I make a box for it to be delivered in. That way I don't have to worry about squishing it into an envelope & I can embellish to my heart's content.

Supplies: Prima floral spray & leaves; rose made with Martha Stewart paper clay kit; hand-dyed seam binding ribbon (Key Lime & Yellow Daisy glimmer mists); assorted bling from Dollarama; buttons from stash; Bazzill card stock

I shaped the floral spray, and placed it on the pink card stock to see where to place the leaves. I sewed the buttons on to attach the leaves, and then sewed the floral spray into place. I made the white rose using paper clay from Martha Stewart & a silicone mold. The rose was glued into place, and then I tied two bows using the hand-dyed seam binding, and sewed them into place so that I could "fluff" them the way I wanted. A bit of bling, and ta-da! 

This was my first time using glimmer mists to dye ribbon - I've used it to dip-dye paper flowers before, but it was sooooo easy to dye the ribbon! I just put a little of each colour into one of those small medicine cups (the kind that come with kids' liquid Tylenol, etc) and let the ribbon soak it all up. It gave the ribbon a grand shimmery look!

Thanks to Our Creative Corner for the inspiration to try a new method of dying ribbon - their July challenge is "Handmade Flowers & Hand Dyed Ribbon".

xoxo,
Jessi

Flaming Orange Fairy

It's no secret that I love fairies! As soon as I saw the inspiration photo at Our Creative Corner I knew I wanted to make an orange fairy card, and it's also perfect for the current Fairy challenge at Creative Card Crew. 

Supplies: fairy stamp from Sweet Pea Stamps; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Spiced Marmalade distress ink; Paper Smooches sentiment; Spectrum Noir & Bic markers; Wplus9 banner die; American Crafts yellow glitter; Martha Stewart coarse crystal glitter; Sakura Stardust glitter pen; MME paper

After colouring the fairy, I went over her eyes with the Stardust pen, and her cleavage - and then rubbed it with my finger to smudge it a bit. I coloured the sun & then used the yellow glitter. I find that works much better if using coloured glitter. However, as you can see on the upper right wing, even alcohol markers will affect your glue pen - and transfer some of the ink *facepalm* Scratch paper, Jessi, come on. lol!

Here's the inspiration photo for Our Creative Corner:

Be right back!

xoxo,

Jessi

Mother's Day Leftovers

Another one for Simon Says Wednesday Challenge to use Spring Flowers - and also for the Love Those Leftovers challenge at Our Creative Corner. Every item (except the gems) was scavenged from my pile of 'oh, nope, that doesn't work on this card' stuff!

Supplies: Daisies stamp from Flourishes; sentiment from PTI; Cuttlebug embossing folder; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Purple Twilight Adirondack ink; yellow glitter fabric paint

The shimmery green/blue/purple piece has been sitting on my desk for months, as had the piece of vellum. I had tried to use the vellum on a Christmas card, but the sentiment didn't show up well enough - and  the ink smeared when I tried to wipe it off, so I knew I'd have to use it on something where I could cover it up. The daisy panel was stamped this way because I was planning on cutting out the three full daisies to pop them up on another card, and decided against it. The blue fabric peeking out was a similar thing - I thought melting it would produce a better match than it did. 

I could probably make another dozen cards with just leftovers...I should probably clean up my desk :)

xoxo,

Jessi

Vintage Angel

This card came about completely for the Our Creative Corner - Very Vintage Christmas challenge. You must use neutrals, and I hope my little splashes of colour are ok - they are so muted. 

Supplies: papers from MME; clip art angel from Crafty Secrets; angel sticker from PSX; key from Making Memories;  lace & ribbon from stash; classic small & lacy circle Nesties; crochet mat by me

I stitched along the edge of the ribbon so that I could gather it, and then attached it with double-sided tape. The Faith angel is adhered with foam tape, and rests on an angle. My favourite favourite favourite element is the key, though. LOVE it. 

This challenge runs through the 28th, so lots of time to join!

xoxo,

Jessi

Forgotten Things

I am not an organized crafter. I have LOTS of forgotten things in my crafty stash, simply by virtue of forgetting where I put it &  then never looking in the right spot to see it. So when I saw the current Our Creative Corner challenge to USE one of those forgotten things....I wrote it down, thought "hey, that sounds fun!" and then waited to find something.

I figured if I went looking for something then it wasn't forgotten, see. Luckily it didn't take me long to rediscover something - ages ago Barb gave me this awesome little tree & leaves die set from MFT, and I tucked them in with the PTI jars dies.  I really don't know how long it's been since I've seen them - I'm going to say it was before Christmas, because that's the last time I remember using the jar dies.

Anyway, here's the card I made:

Supplies: MFT tree dies; Paper Smooches clouds dies & sentiment; K&Co sun; Memento Gray Flannel ink; Antique Linen distress ink; little skunk from stash

I used scraps of three different green card stocks for the leaves, and with Abby's help/interference cut way more than necessary. Lots for next time, lol. She licked me every time the plates cranked through - she likes to lay down right in front of the Cuttlebug, and takes it personally whenever I use it. 

The grass was cut freehand - I really love the layered look - and the little skunk & 'dang' made me giggle. I wanted a critter and I have a little sheet of card stock animals in my stash. I envision this as a 'dang, that sucks!' kind of card, sort of a consolation for a breakup, or even a belated birthday card. 

Next up on my list - recreating this tree in autumn colours :)

Can you tell - the boys headed back to school this morning? I feel like a new woman. The music is blasting, I'm singing along (with no one claiming they're "going to suicide if you keep humming") and generally making a dork of myself. My kind of awesome day! I hope your day rocks too!

xoxo,

Jessi

Our Creative Corner - Getting Sketchy!

Just as much as the last card drove me completely batty, this card...I love it! I had no real idea when I sat down to play, and I just let it evolve on its own.

Supplies: stripe & grid background stamps from Annabelle Stamps; sentiment from Lawn Fawn (from Jen!); Memento London Fog ink; Versamark; clear EP; Sizzix label die; 1 1/8" circle punch; sheer Offray ribbon; pins from Little Yellow Bicycle; standard oval Nesties; papers from MME (from Tammy!)

I was inspired to use the background stamps that I did because of the patterns filling in parts of the sketch from Our Creative Corner that I was working with:

I think the last time I played at OCC was before Christmas! Good to be back :) Their linky is open until Friday night.

And, a funny I found on Facebook (which just struck me as so freaking true today):

Pretty much. 

See you in the a.m.!

xoxo,

Jessi

ABC at OCC

I haven't played along over at Our Creative Corner in a while - and this week's challenge to use ABC in our creations. I've made two cards, and they are quite similar & use the same ABC items- when I'm in the midst of holiday rush crafting, I find it most efficient to make more than one card at a time using similar products. They don't turn out the same, but it gives me a shared starting point & I find that it streamlines the process a bit.

ANYWAY.

My two cards both have liquid APPLIQUE, one or more BUTTON(s), and a CUPCAKE.

Supplies: papers from My Mind's Eye; stamps from Stampendous; Palette Noir ink; Cotton Ball Fun Flock from Stampendous; standard circle Nesties; buttons; Liquid Applique & micro beads. 

A close-up of the puffy Applique & fuzzy flock. Love that stuff!

\

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Eskimo Kisses;" standard circle Nesties; snowflake punches from Martha Stewart; Palette Noir ink; stamps by Stampendous; Liquid Applique; red Fun Flock; button from stash; black Glaze pen for 'coal' features on the snowman

I've had these Stampendous stamps for YEARS. They are among my oldest clear stamp sets, and although I've lost a few of the smaller stamps (hello, teeny cherry, where art thou?) I still love the images. And, a few weeks ago a customer mentioned that last year she'd bought a penguin cupcake that said "Merry Muffins!" and that she still loved it. I'm pretty fond of merry muffins myself :)

The OCC challenge to use ABC in your creation ends Friday night, so stay home & craft!
xoxo,
Jessi

Fall in the Circle - Our Creative Corner

"Fall in the Circle" - normally I fall on the stairs, but I decided I'd see what I could do!

Ba-dum-ching.

<crickets>

Sooooo, Our Creative Corner is challenging us this week to create a Fall card incorporating circle elements. I haven't played along with OCC in ages & was determined to do it this week, and I'm squeaking in right under tonight's deadline!

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey;
leaves from Prima;
sentiment from Stampendous;
Vintage Photo distress ink;
standard small circle Nesties;
vintage cream buttons

I love the sheen on the buttons & dab of glitter on the leaves!

Besides using the circle die cut, I've stitched buttons around its edge to emphasize the circular shape - and the buttons themselves are all circular :) 

I managed to create cards for 7 challenges today - this weekend will have a whole bunch of posts coming up!

xoxo,

Jessi

Photographing white-on-white...

...it's not for the faint of heart. Or the impatient. My first card is for a challenge new to me, Catered Crop, and this edition (ending tomorrow) is White Pages. I decided to really challenge myself and create a completely white card. In fact, I made two - completely brain-farted over the fact that one of them is for an upcoming DT assignment that I can't show you yet (oops!) and so I went back to the drawing board & came up with this:

Supplies: Frost White pigment ink - Colorbox;
white detail EP - Stampendous;
stamps from Inkadinkado, Kaisercraft, Glitz;
standard small & lacy circle Nesties;
mat crocheted by me

Honest to Pete, you can read it/see it if you click it & view full size.

If it's any consolation (no, it's not) I took even worse photos of my DT project. Honestly, this is legible in person. 

My second card is for this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner - denim plus 3 ribbons/twine & 3 buttons/brads. I wasn't going to play along, because I didn't have any ideas, and then while I was looking for something else I found some denim-patterned paper, and an idea was born!

Supplies: Faded Jeans distress ink;
papers & clips from Simple Stories "Summer Fresh;"
buttons from Basic Grey;
sentiment & twines from Paper Smooches

So, I've got the denim-patterned paper panel, the denim pocket on the little tag, Faded Jeans distress ink (how could I resist?); and then black, red, and kraft twine; and three teensy buttons to finish off. I really like how it turned out - these kind of cards that happen by accident are my favourite. You'll have to hurry if you want to play along at OCC in this recipe challenge - the linky is open til midnight.

And now to go cook supper - mmm, pasta....garlic...onions.....and lots of big smooches all around afterwards, I'm sure ;)

xoxo,

Jessi

CCC-CASology!

**If you're here for my Playing in Paradise post, please scroll down or click here. Thanks!**

Three cards for you tonight - one for the last few minutes of this week's Our Creative Corner challenge, to use this colour combo with a twist:

To be honest, I wasn't planning to make a card for this challenge, but while I had my Konnichiwa pad out making my lantern card I realized I had all the colours right at hand. Serendipity!

Supplies: papers from Basic Grey "Konnichiwa;"
standard small circle Nesties;
embossing folders from Cuttlebug;
sentiment from Hero Arts; Palette Noir ink;
miscellaneous gems

I used 3 different embossing folders, and the pink circle is popped up with a layer of foam. I doodled around the edges, but I'm not sure I like it after all. Then again, it's very hot and humid, and that just generally makes me cranky.

My next two cards are for CAS-ology, which has this cue card:

The CAS-ology linky is open until Sunday at noon, so you still have some time to play along. Both of my cards use Paper Smooches birds - once I was working on the first card, I got the idea for the second.

Supplies: bird stamp from Paper Smooches;
sentiment stamp from Daisy Bucket;
Fiesta Kaleidacolor inkpad; Versamark & clear EP;
googly eyes; various gems;
standard circle Nesties

 Well, first, rainbow. Love that. And I've coloured & cut three birds, and layered them a little askew to make it look like the bird is flapping with excitement. And it worked :)

Supplies: kraft patterned paper from MME "Indie Chic;"
floral, text, and flower clip from Simple Stories "Summer Fresh;"
stamps & twine from Paper Smooches;
Palette Noir & Old Paper and Barn Door distress ink;
corner rounder for scallops

Although there are a number of layers on the second card, I think it still qualifies as CAS because there's still a lot of 'white' space, and it would be a simple design to reproduce. Besides using the corner rounder to make the scalloped text layer, I snipped about 1/8 inch up between each scallop and then gently bent each scallop upwards for some more dimension. 

OK, off to flop in front of the fan & hope for rain...

xoxo,

Jessi

What Not to Stamp - Our Creative Corner

***If you're here to see my Playing in Paradise post, please scroll down OR click here***

All week I've been thinking about the current Our Creative Corner challenge - What Not to Stamp - but only yesterday did I really take some time to go looking through my photo folders for some of my old, cringe-worthy, pre-blog creations. Good GRIEF. It was, well, busy. I tend to be a "more is more" kind of girl anyway, but back then? Wow. Here's a couple of particularly interesting items:
(You can click on any of these thumbnails to view them full-size, but why would you?)

two quilled dragonflies, two dragonfly buttons, three dragonfly stickers,
10 pieces of iridescent yellow dragonfly confetti, some bizarrely placed
mulberry paper....so, 17 dragonflies on one card.

5 pieces of clip art, a metal word tag, 2 metal dragonflies,
one metal fan, metallic bead string, gold paper, 'artfully torn' collage paper,
fun fibre...

Glamour puss? In shiny dollar store letters. 5 handmade paper purses
decorated with fibre/bead/twine handles, gems, fabric paint.
2 little purse buttons, 3 sparkly heart buttons, a pink cat button, a perfume bottle button...and don't
forget the "coordinating" fabric paint EVERYWHERE.

What was that you said about buttons?
A milkshake, a chocolate poodle, a telephone,
a record, a smiley flower. That artfully torn paper again. Fun fibres. Stickers.
Lots of stickers.
(I will admit, I am hoarding the last one of this sassy ostrich, though). 

So, I was trying amidst my groaning to figure out one I'd like to case, and I thought this might be a good time to use some more of my dwindling hoarded PSX sticker stash. It's a tea-themed sheet of stickers, and here are the ones I could find that use the specific image I ended up using today. (The best part? There are probably at least 3 times as many that include other images from the same sheet.)

Hard to see, but there's lace folding along
the left side. 

Rivets & brads...I think I had just gotten my
eyelet setter back then!

Now, my style is far from CAS, but after checking out the past, I really felt the need to stay simple & embrace the white space. I also decided to make this card, CASEing myself, a friendship card for this week's DYSU #82. That's open until Tuesday.
Anyhow, here's what I made today with the same PSX stickers:

Supplies: PSX sticker;
green paper from Bo Bunny;
Wilton doily;
Peeled Paint distress ink;
stamps from MFT;
green gems

I adhered the sticker to a sheet of white card, and fussy cut around it so I could use foam tape for dimension.

That turned out to be longer than I anticipated - once I got going I just felt like 'why should I be the only one to enjoy this....' Unfortunately it's really last-minute for you to enjoy this exercise too - the Our Creative Corner linky closes at midnight - but consider it anyway. At the very least, you will feel SO MUCH BETTER about that card you made yesterday that you weren't happy with!

xoxo,

Jessi

This challenge gets a 10 from me!

This week's challenge at Our Creative Corner is a 10 challenge - in your creation, include the number 10, or 10 of the same items (buttons, flowers, etc). Check out the design team's fun takes on this challenge! My card is really quite CAS for me, even with ten buttons:

Supplies: stamps from Paper Smooches;
label die from Sizzix;
paper from Doodlebug;
flatback feet from Dress it Up!;
blue & white buttons from stash;
black Glaze pen from Sakura;
Palette Noir ink

This little dino is so FREAKING CUTE I can barely stand it! I stamped out several to play with colour combinations, and this blue one wanted to be a baby card. I actually forgot while stitching the buttons on that there needed to be 10, so consider my relief when I photographed it & counted...woohoo for my subconscious kicking in for that. 

The plumbing woes are continuing. No heavy machinery yet. Cleanup isn't finished yet...and yeah, I think I don't want to talk about it. The water and sludge are gone. The rest had better be soon. 

I've got lots of stuff to share but I'm also in panicked night-before mode for the last-minute teacher gifts. Everything's made, but not yet assembled (and of course the kids have to have a special message for each teacher) - and it doesn't matter how many times I regret this last-minute scramble, I will still do it. Every time.

xoxo,

Jessi

Buttons and bows and burlap, OH MY!

I am so excited to join the talented team at Our Creative Corner as a guest designer today!

The challenge is to choose two of the following: buttons, burlap, and bows. I've gone with buttons & bows, and is it ok to be so darn happy with how my card turned out?

Supplies: stamps from Unity;
Palette Noir ink; Barn Door distress ink;
standard small & lacy circle Nesties;
heart buttons from Dress it Up!;
Offray ribbon; Bow-Easy;
Sakura Stardust glitter pen

Shaky bits! microbeads and teensy itty bitty hearts

Once I got this idea in my head, I was determined to see it through. There were some interesting words said, though...I filled the cut-out piece with the shaker bits, and trying to line it up with the bottom layer without being able to see? Yep. Interesting words. I've never made a layer-shaker before - generally I use the entire card front. I took a photo to show the different layers:

All 3 circles cut using the same die; I used an Exacto blade to trim out the shaker detail on the top layer.
The acetate is unshrunk Shrink plastic - cuts like buttah in the Cuttlebug.

And just to let you know how dangerously I like to roll, when did I stamp the sentiment? AFTER ASSEMBLING THE WHOLE SHAKER. I swear, it's like I'm trying to watch the world burn.

Yep, too much time on the Internet.

Be sure to go check out how the design team interpreted this challenge, and join in with us - Our Creative Corner challenges end on Friday nights. (And, OCC is having a design team call....lookie!)

Thanks so much for visiting me today :) 

xoxo,

Jessi