Compendium of Curiosities 2: Challenge #7

Hello!

Today, Linda over at Studio L3 announced the latest challenge: Brushless Watercolor!

This cool technique from Tim can be found in his latest book, A Compendium of Curiosities, Volume 2. If you'd like to play along, you could be the lucky winner of a $25 gift certificate from eclectic Paperie. :)

For this challenge, I ended up making two ATCs using Tim's Brushless Watercolor technique.

My second ATC features one of the custom foam stamps I made for the first CC2 challenge. To visit Linda's original blog posting for that challenge, click here. So much fun!

Sorry for my less-than-chatty-self; I'm running off to dinner with family ... I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities Vol. II	Urban Grunge Stamp Set	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Broken China	Ranger Peeled Paint Distress Ink (FJ)	Vintage Photo - Distress ink	Black Soot Distress Ink
Barn Door - Distress Stains	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Weathered Wood	Forest Moss	Broken China - Distress Stains	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Sain - Vintage Photo	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Picket Fence White
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Grungepaper	Sewing Room - Alterations Die	Idea-ology Hinge Clips	Foliage - Idea-ology	Perfect Pearls - Heirloom Gold

May 2012 Girlie Grunge Challenge

Hi again!

This month's challenge over at Donna Salazar's Girlie Grunge site is centered around this lovely sketch from Mistra, one of Donna's new design team members. If you're like me (layout challenged), sketches are a great way to get your ideas flowing on a 12 x 12 page. I checked out Mistra's sketch blog and she has some of the prettiest sketches! If you ever need some layout inspiration, check out Mistra's blog here.

While I thoroughly do not enjoy creating layouts, I loved Mistra's beautiful sketch so much that I gave it a try. Even though her sketch only includes one photo, I thought I would include a few others to help tell the story behind the main photo I chose. My sister turned 27 a couple weekends ago, so to celebrate, my husband and I took her out for a fun day in Seattle. We had two birthday prizes for her, but in order to "win" them, we made her complete a couple tasks. The first task was to kiss a fish at Pike Place Market. (Am I still the evil older sister? In some ways, yes. >:)  

I loved how one of the guys totally played along with us! He picked up the biggest, slimiest salmon and lunged it at my baby sister. The look on her face was priceless - and thank God, I managed to capture it! >:) 

On a side note, I made those big white dogwood-ish flowers with Donna's Rose Creations die. The red rosettes are from her Bitty Blossoms die, both from Spellbinders. The smaller white flowers are also from Donna's Rose Creations. I did some light distressing on my page with my Distrezz-It-All and used Donna's "Spring in Bloom" paper. I tried to follow Mistra's sketch as close as possible, but made a few changes, including moving the journaling area to the lower right of the page.

Thanks for looking!

Zutter Distrezz It All

Donna Salazar Spring in Bloom - In Bloom 12x12

Spellbinders Donna Salazar - Bitty Blossoms Die

Spellbinders Donna Salazar Rose Creations Die

Bazzil cardstock - French Vanilla

"A Suitcase of Memories" 6/07 Class

Hi there!

It's been a while since my last Tim-inspired project ... I missed his awesome April tag along with a few CC2C projects, so I've been dying to do a grungy project. Fortunately, my next class at The Mad Scrapper is all about Tim Holtz and his amazing products and supplies - so you can say I got my fix!

Below are some photos of a grungy, chunky mini album that I'll be teaching on June 7th. I thought Tim's rich, muted colors, metal Idea-ology hardware, funky grungepaper, and eclectic Destinations paper stash were the ultimate ingredients for a Father's Day project! However, I am leaving out any specific mention to Father's Day or dads, just in case my "students" want to make this for a child or even for them.

Mad Scrapper ladies, if you'd like to sign up for the class or order a kit, just give the store a call! I believe the class is approximately $33. 

Thanks for looking and have a crafty weekend, dear friends!

Teacher Appreciation gifts

Hi crafty friends!

Again, I apologize for my serious lack of posts and blog visits. I've been spending a lot of time designing for The Mad Scrapper and my Etsy shop, and recently spending time with family and working on a freelance project. I don't even want to know how my life would be like, should I suddenly have a kid. :) So ... all you ladies out there who are wives, moms, have careers, AND make time for crafting - you are my hero!!

Anyhoo ... When I had a lull recently, I felt compelled to make some "teacher appreciation" gift ideas. The school year is coming to a close soon (if it hasn't already for some schools) so I thought I would make a couple projects featuring Graphic 45's "ABC Primer" line.

I figured a shadow box would be great for a classroom, or even as home decor for a teacher or homeschool mom. And tags; I just love giving tags with a little present. 

Thank you for looking! 

Vintage Blooms card set

Good morning!

Lately, I've been trying to use different ways to bind books or other projects. Rings are great, but I've been wanting to venture over into the world of spiral notebooks and old-fashioned book binding. I haven't tried out The Cinch yet, but I did try some basic book binding on this upcycled card set that I made for my Etsy shop.

More projects to come ... thanks for looking! :)

"My Secret Garden" Configurations Box Class 5/22

Hello, dearest crafty friends!

I'm sorry I've been away lately. May seemed to come out of nowhere; and all of a sudden, I'm scrambling to get caught up on things. I'm so sad that I missed the deadline for Tim's April tag. Hopefully, I don't miss his May tag - then I'll really be mad at myself!

Self-deprecating comments aside, I wanted to share with you one of the many reasons why I've been M.I.A. lately. This is a configurations box that I designed for The Mad Scrapper. Now, there are a few things that were not photographed yet; so updated photos will come soon. I'll be teaching this class in 2 weeks ... I can't wait!

Update: This is the revised design. (It turns out the 8.75 x 10.75 box has been discontinued, so the new configurations box is made from Tim's 6.75 x 8.75 size.)

I used Basic Grey's "Plumeria" line along with some of my favorite Tim dies. I added some pearls to my butterflies and flowers later; some handmade mini clay pots from a local artist will also be included! 

More projects to come ... till then, have a wonderful evening! 

(Below is the original design, based on the discontinued box size.)