Love Pink

Howdy.  Yeah, busy crafting.  {smile} I have to admit it, I really love it!  I enjoy the whole creative process.  But, I did want to take a break and share with you what I made.  It's small, and very sweet.  It is a magnetic wallet-size photo holder.  Before you say anything, let me explain.  You know those very unique and memorable school photos you have of your children?   You probably have a hundred.  You order enough for grandparents, neighbors, friends, and your children's friends.  But some how you always have extras.  Right?  Well, why not display them with pizzazz!  Either on your locker at work, or your frig, or how about providing a way for your child to 'frame' her BBF's pic?

And look!  I made a few.  And the others I made,  aren't so shabby chic, feminine, girly.  But, I really love this one {smile}.

I used Camilla pattern paper by Anna Griffin.  I just love how beautiful and elegant this paper collection is.  I cut a scallop trim piece from Silver glitter paper.  (Love the sparkles.)  And I took some pale pink scrunched seam binding and machine stitched them together (seam binding and glitter paper).  I also made a multi-loop bow from the seam binding.  

I made a blossom out of white sparkle clay, and distressed it with white paint and dazzling diamond glitter.  I also did the same distressing on the two white pearl vintage buttons.  

I added a little hand-stamped sentiment piece.  I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap piece of digital pattern paper in basic black classic ink.  Matted the sentiment circle with the same pale pink cardstock as the photo matt.  The sentiment is sweet, and fancy {smile} 'Absolutely Fabulous'.  Basically to 'match' the design and feel of the pattern paper.

Oh, I almost forgot.  The finished size of these little gems is 4" x 4".  Small and very sweet.

Thank you for looking.  Just a heads up, tomorrow I will post a few photos of a few crafts I created using red and green.  Yep, no kidding.  Traditional Christmas colors.  Real red and garden green.  See you tomorrow.

Paper Dream Blossoms

What a gorgeous day!  I had the most lovely lunch with two very special girl friends.  Both of whom have taught me so much about friendship, paper crafting, and business.  It is from their encouragement, that I have taken another leap in expanding my paper crafting hobby/business, and to further my teaching.  I am writing a few tutorials to be published.  

But, before I tackle that venture, I wanted to share my latest 'love'.  Hand-made paper flowers.  

lush full blossoms  

After our lunch, I headed straight for my craft room, and to create more of these paper blossoms.  I sat down and made six different colors of these beautiful paper Dream blossoms.  Since these paper flowers are hand-made, each one is unique, so no two will be a carbon copy of the other. 

At first, I wasn't quite sure what to name them.  I had used these paper flowers on a card that I made for a challenge earlier this week. I used the sentiment that I stamped on the card: Dream.  And now, these hand-made, paper flowers are for sale in my Etsy shop, found here.  They are officially named: Dream Blossoms.  I made a pair in green, blue, pink, purple, yellow, and grey.  Each pair of paper Dream blossoms are sold on a hand-stamped button card.  A paper Dream blossom measures approximate 2" wide and 1" tall.  I used Stampin' Up! card stock, classic inks, and shimmer paint to create these unique and one-of-a-kind paper flowers.  If you need a specific color, i.e. pretty in pink, old olive, pool party, soft sky, etc, please contact me privately, either at my Etsy shop here or @ bachnucmed@excite.com

I hope this weekend is wonderful for you!  I am off to my craft room, to create a different style paper blossom.  I'm excited to start this new venture!

a New Mom-To-Be

Hello.  If you found my blog, kudos to you.  For whatever reason, blogger is being a bit difficult.  These last few days, blogger couldn't find my blog, so I could fix a few type-o's, so it's been frustrating.  And then this morning I couldn't log-in to get this post up early.  So, I had another latte, and organzied some of my dies, and embossing plates.  This week, I am determined to tackle my whole craft room.  It has become a bit disarrayed.  So, I'm planning on going through boxes, bags, piles, and stashes, and purging.  So, look for a few 'bag bags' in my Etsy shop.  I will be providing free shipping for those.  

Yesterday, a very wonderful lady that I use to work with, threw her sister a baby shower.  Her sister is expecting her first baby.  A boy! And how exciting is that.  Well, my friend asked me to make her cake.  I love to bake, and cakes/cupcakes are a joy.  And since she is a wonderful person and a dear friend, I wanted to make her sister a lovely gift.  You know me.  Everything comes out match-y match-y.  A baby boy.  Then the cake board must be blue.  And I have an infinity for polka dots, so yes, the cake board was baby blue with silver polka dots.  

I love how yellow and blue compliment and contrast each other, especially when you select the perfect shades.  Authentique and My Mind's Eye helped me with that.

Here is the card and matching bag:

The card is a standard A2 size (5 1/2" x 4 1/4") and the paper bag is 8" tall.

I started with creating the card.  I wanted something pretty, but not too feminine.  So I selected this beautiful pattern paper by Authentique: Renew.  The colors are simply pretty.  The colors match very nicely with Stampin' Up!'s Baja Breeze, Pool Party, and So Saffron.  I like how the pattern papers have a bit of distressing.  

The card base is Baja Breeze cardstock.  I cut a piece of Pool Party cardstock a bit smaller to create a matt.  I used my Tasteful Trim die to create the collection scallop trims.  I just love the larger scallops.  It really shows off the pattern papers.

I machine stitched each layer of scallops.  I then tied a strip of So Saffron Taffeta ribbon around the top of the card.  I created a multi-loop box and tied a white clear paper trey button to the center of the bow, with some yellow bakers twine.

I used my Modern Label punch to create the sentiment tag.  I stamped the sentiment with a stamp from the Something to Celebrate stamp set, by Stampin' Up!. (sorry, that stamp set is retired.)

I saw this adorable rubber stamp at a local stamp shop.  The baby lamb is actually from an Easter collection of stamps by Prickley Pear.  But, isn't it just too cute?  So, I stamped the lamb onto white cardstock with Jet Black Staz-On pigment ink.  I used my 2-way glue pen to adhere some white flock to the body.  I left the lamb's face and inner ears flock-free.  I used my Pear Pizzazz and Pool Party markers to color the flowers and foliage around the lamb's neck.  Then I dotted some more 2-way glue to the flower centers and dusted them with some dazzling diamond glitter.  

I matted the lamb the same  way that I matted the card's main panel: pool party and baja breeze cardstock.  

I added the trio of pearls, because the card seemed to be missing something to me.

I used a template that I purchased from Paper Trey Ink, called Around Town Tote.  I love the size.  It's 8" tall, and the bottom narrows down to just under 5".  The bag can be made to 1 1/2" deep, or expand up to 2 1/2" deep.  Depending on what you want to add.  So, I really love that!

For the decorating, I just copied what I did on the card.  The body ofthe card is made from Baja Breeze cardstock.  I layered and cut the pattern papers in the same manner as the card.  

I set out to make a matching set.  I purposefully made them 'the same'. 

For the sentiment, I wanted a more decorative tag, so I used my Lots of Tags die set to create the shape.  I used the same sentiment stamp: Welcome Baby stamped in Jet Black Staz-On pigment ink.

Instead of adding the trio of pearls under the tag, I added them to the decorative label.

The other thing that I changed on the bag, from the card, is that I didn't machine stitch each row of scallop trimmed pattern paper.  Instead, I machine stitched the taffeta ribbon.  Because I had a mis-stitch with my sewing machine, I added the multi-loop bow to the opposite side of the bag, compared to the card.

I stuffed the paper bag with yellow tissue paper, and added a hand-crafted altered baby onesie.  Yes, the fabric I selected was yellow and blue.  {smile}

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope I have inspired you to craft something today.  And yes, I consider baking/cooking as crafting.  I'm off to machine sew some tiny scallop squares together to alter a few more onesies.  It's good to have a few on-hand, and in my Etsy shop.

Flower Tutorial

PHOTO HEAVY

Glad you stopped by.  I had a lot of folks ask me just how I did the 3-D paper blossom seen here, and here .

As you know, I typically give explanations as to how I do stuff, or at least a sequence of events. But I felt, if I added some photos, the explanation just might be a bit clearer.  (I'm a visual person myself.)  So, here we go.

Supplies:

white shimmer paper

white embossing powder

versa mark ink

heat tool

aqua painter

classic re-inker

white craft re-inker

glue dots

hot glue & gun

foam matt

curling tools (wooden dowl, wooden skewer)

crumb cake classic ink pad

classic ink pad of the same shade as the classic re-inker

I started with Stampin' Up!'s shimmer white cardstock.  (This is a heavy weight cardstock with a water resistant barrier (so to speak) on it.  It's the cardstock that is recommended to use, when doing any type of color wash.  The water stays on top of the card stock, and doesn't soak through.) 

You could use water coloring paper, but your effect will be slightly different, as well as the texture.  So experiment and have fun {smile}.

To begin, I stamped three blossom patterns with Versa Mark, then used white embossing powder, and heat set the images.  (If  you use water color paper, stamp with a Staz-On color.)

heat embossed white blossom images on shimmer paper

To color wash:  I then placed a drop of re-inker (color of your choice) onto a color palate tray.  First, you will need to wet your paper.  Water color the paper with plain water, or spray the paper with water.  With your aqua painter pick up a dab of reinker and 'wash' the heat embossed paper with the color.  (The more reinker you use, the darker the color.)

Once the color washed images are dry, punch out the blossom shapes.

three blossoms stamped, heat embossed, color washed, and punched.

With your paper snips, cut one petal off one blossom, and two petals off another blossom.  (The more blossoms you have the fuller your finished blossom will be.)  {On this blossom, I used with four blossoms.}

petals cut

Now it's time to bend and curl blossom layers and petals.  I use what I have on hand for this part.  You will need 2 different size curves.  I use a wooden dowl for cakes, and a wooden skewer for BBQ.  But, you can use a pencil, and a paint brush handle, as well.  (The idea, is to have a narrow bend, and a medium bend.)

I used my wooden dowl to curl the petal tips out.  I used my wooden skewer to bend the petal piece inwards, to get the cut ends to meet.  I used a glue dot to hold the cut ends of the petals closed.

curled single and double petals

I like to start from the inside of the blossom and work my way to the outside.  This allows me to ensure that each layer fits snugly together, without too much of a gap.  I nestled the single petal into the double petal blossom.  Now adhere the 2 layers together.
I like to use hot glue to hold everything together.  But you can use any liquid-type of adhesive.  (If you use any liquid adhesive except hot glue, you will need the adhesive to dry before you continue.)

single blossom nestled in double blossom

Now, you just keep building your blossom.  Remember, each piece needs to be curled.  Curl the petal tips out, and the blossom piece inwards.  Don't forget to connect the cut ends together.
As I layer, I also off-set each new addition.  This gives the finished blossom a spiral effect.

the single and double petal blossoms are nestled inside the four petal blossom

the five petal blossom with the cut end joined with a glue dot

the single, double, and four petal blossoms are nestled into the 5 petal blossom

the only whole blossom piece

To complete the blossom, stack the layered blossom into the whole blossom piece.

the whole blossom piece with the stacked blossom pieces

completed layered/stacked blossom

Once all your liquid adhesive has dried, it's time to distress your blossom.  (I use a glue gun, because I can't wait for glue to dry.)  

Place a drop or two of white craft re-inker onto your plastic color palette.  With a paint brush, brush the white craft ink onto the petal tips.  You may need to 'lift' a petal or two, to get the white craft ink where you want it.  But don't fret, since your glue is dry, the blossom won't come apart.

white craft ink applied to petal tips

After you have painted all the petal tips with white craft ink, dunk the whole blossom into a tub of dazzling diamond glitter.  (You can also pour the glitter onto the blossom.)  Tap off any extra glitter that has not adhered to the craft ink.  Let the glitter 'set' with the craft ink, aka allow to dry.  This is a good time, to grab another latte, cup of tea, go the bathroom, grab a sandwich, start another load of laundry.  You get the idea.  This takes about 15 minutes.  Give or take.  It really depends on how thick you painted the white craft ink onto the petals.

Now, it's time to distress the petal tips.  I sponged crumb cake classic ink onto the dried petals ends.  (The dried craft ink holds the glitter in place.)  Sponge little,  or a lot.  This part makes some folks a little nervous.  Just remember how pretty our blossom is when we finish.

crumb cake classic ink sponged onto petal tips

Now, we add the 'real' color.  The 'real' color is the color you used to wash the original whole blossoms with.  Using the same color to sponge over the same areas you used crumb cake classic ink.  (Using a sponge places color randomly without saturating the color.) For this blossom, I sponged perfect plum classic ink.  (By using the same color, but in a different strength/medium adds a certain depth to the color.)

perfect plum classic ink sponged onto petal tips

Viola!  Your blossom is complete.  Just adhere the paper flower to any paper craft.  

completed paper blossom

Remember, this blossom is tall.  So it will add bulk to your project.  If this blossom is placed on a card front, the card will not fit inside the coordinating envelope.  You will need a decorative box or an oversized envelope.

side view of paper blossom, to show height

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope this tutorial helps you see how these paper blossoms are created.  They aren't hard.  But they also don't take 5 minutes.  If you have any questions, please drop me a line.

Thanks Tag

Thank you, for taking the time to check back with me.  If I were to say, that this weekend was a challenge, I think I would be sugar coating it.  I created a tag for the challenge over @ Our Creative Corner.  Susan, wants you to create your own background on your paper craft, and absolutely NO pattern paper.  And don't cover up your background.  Sounds like a fun challenge, huh?  Well, I have been making paper crafts for the Arts & Crafts Fairs that I am selling at, and well, my focus has been on Holiday themed items.  I needed a little inspiration, so I headed over to Tim Holtz blog, to see what he has done for the November Tag.  And so, I basically did what he did.  I did a stamp resist technique and a color wash for my background color.  I used minimal embellishments, which was a struggle for me.  So, here is the tag that I created.  It is not my typically style, but I do like it.

Let me first apologize for the photo quality.  I took the photo of this tag earlier with my camera.  But then I lost my camera.  I know that sounds odd, but, I can't' find it anywhere.  So, I had to use my cell phone.  Then I had to email the photo to myself.  Then our modem crashed.  Replaced the modem.  (yes, we had to drive into town to do that.)  Then our internet went out.  Not sure if it is from the snow (yes, we got snow), or our mountain location (elevation 7500ft), or my luck.  Either way, I really had to work at this post.

Here is how I created this tag:

I cut a tag from Shimmer white card stock, 4 1/4" x 2 1/4".  I stamped the two leaves from the French Foliage stamp set, in Versa Mark, sprinkled on some ultra detail clear embossing powder, and then heat set it.  I sprayed the tag with water, and used my aqua painter to 'water-color' the tag with So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, and Old Olive re-inkers.  I did spray the tag with a spritz or two of more water, to help blend the colors.  I used my heat gun to speed up the drying time.  I stamped the sentiment in Jet Black Staz-On.  The stamp is a little off set.  I did that on purpose.  I used some crumb cake seam binding to tie the bow at the top of the tag.  I stamped the small thanks onto a vintage tag in soft suede, and used a tiny clothes pin to attach the vintage tag to the seam binding.  For the butterfly, I used a die to cut the shape from some beautiful pattern paper (city sidewalk from Pink Paislee).  I used picket fence distressed paint to edge the butterfly, and then dunked the painted butterfly into my tub of dazzling diamond glitter.  I had a beautiful black crystal brad left over from my MME lost and found 2 collection.  And viola!

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope that you have a chance to play along with us this week @ Our Creative Corner.  I know you will have fun!  And if nothing else, it gives you an excuse to 'play' in your craft space {smile}.

Nature & Bling #252

Happy Saturday.  The wonderfully talented Paula over @ Our Creative Corner, has this most creative and beautiful challenge for you to try this week.  Paula says that, she is not a girly girl.  Her typical attire is 'tee shirts and jeans'.  A girl after my own heart.  But, Paula admits that, 'sometimes you just gotta whip out the shiny sparkly stuff and make it dazzle!'  So Paula wants you to use rhinestones, stickler, glitter, etc along with items found in nature (plants, animals, etc)!  A bit of bling mixed with nature.  Sounds super fun, huh?  Well, I knew what I wanted to make, I just needed to sit down at my craft table and create.

I loved the sketch Mojo Monday has this week.  So, I combined these two challenges.

Here is what I made:

I am really happy with how my card turned out!  I used scraps of pattern papers to create my 'natural' bling card.  The top music sheet paper is from Glitz.  The green floral pattern paper is from Wild Asparagus.  The middle panel is Road Show by Fancy Pants.  The scallop piece is actually the backside of the green floral pattern paper. 

The leaves are an unique mix.  The cream felted wool leaf was cut with a die.  The gold embossed leaf was first stamped onto First Edition DSP with Versa Mark.  I used vintage gold embossing powder to give the leaf shape some definition and sparkle.  I then fuzzy-cut the embossed leaf out by hand. The middle leaf was first stamped with certainly celery classic ink onto very card stock.  I then stamped the leaf outline marks in Old Olive classic ink.  I cut out the leaf.  I used a 2-way glue pen to do a rough outline of the leaf and then dipped it into a tub of dazzling diamond fine glitter.

I attached a button tied with cream twine to the stem of each leaf.  The felt leaf has a green button, the green leaf has a kraft button, and the embossed leaf has a vintage facet button.

I added a strip of Lichen satin ribbon from Amuse Studios.  I loved how the green ribbon didn't really compete with the card, but rather blended.

For the label/tag, I stamped the polka dot label in Twilight ink by Close To My Heart.  I used a sentiment from the Fall Elegance stamp set by Paper Trey Ink.  I stamped the sentiment in Early Espresso classic ink.

Join us this week, @ Our Creative Corner for this fun and very creative challenge.  Nature and Bling!

Delightful Journal

Hello.  Thanks for stopping by.  I altered another blank notebook.  I just loved the pattern paper I used on the last spiral notebook I altered for my granddaughter.  I decided to alter another one, to sell in my Etsy shop.  The pattern paper is from Authentique.  They have created some really beautiful pattern paper this year.  And they have different styles to work with your different tastes.

To help me with my creative flow, I stopped by the Vintage Cafe Card Challenge.  They have the most interesting sketch for this challenge.  So, that is where I got my layout.   (Please note that this challenge site is in Polish.  They do have a translator button.  Please don't let that detour you from their site.)

Here is a look at their sketch:

See what I mean?  I found my self just staring at it, with the 'wheels' in my head turning!  Stop by their challenge site, and get some inspiration to play along too!  Without further delay, here are some photos of my altered notebook, using the above sketch:

 a few close-ups

Here are the particulars:  To give the pattern paper a vintage feel, and take away the white empty space, I stamped a French script in crumb cake classic ink.  Instead of a border trim, I used a piece of 2" white silk ribbon.  Also, to help fill-in the collection of flowers on the sketch, I tied the silk ribbon into a bow.  For my title piece, I stamped 'Bloom * Blossom * Become', from a Paper Trey Ink stamp set: Garden Variety.  In the middle of my altered journal, I have added a sticker: Be Your Own Kind Of Beautiful.  The graphics are of a little girl selecting what to wear.  I also added a vintage shoe sticker, and a sticker tag that says, 'beauty'.  To help pull the 'getting dressed-up' theme, I die cut and stamped a mannequin in grey flannel ink.  I had a scrap piece of this absolutely beautiful vintage trim.  So, I made a 'make-shift' skirt out of this beautiful trim.  I added a skinny ribbon in delightful daffodil.  I thought the grey and yellow combo worked so well, and really made the pattern paper pop!  I added a white shimmer button and half faux pearl to it's center.  To make the paper blossom, it is really easy!  Cut your circles in different sizes.  I hand-cut, and punch different size circles.  Crinkle the circles and layer them.  To give the edges some sparkle, I used my 2 way glue pen and dabbed it on the edges and then dunked the paper blossom into my tub of dazzling diamond glitter.  (The leaves were made in the same fashion.)  To keep the shabby chic look, I added some tied buttons, and half faux pearls randomly.  I added a resin white architecture piece to the right upper corner, to help give the spiral book cover some visual interest.  I added a long strip of polka dot pink scallop trim ribbon, to be used as a book mark.  That ribbon is attached to the spiral with a white brad.

I hope that you get a chance to play along with the creative ladies over @ the Vintage Cafe Card Challenge.  Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day. 

Home for the Holidays

Oh my!  It's Christmas eve!  I hope everyone has their gifts done, and wrapped.  Me?  Well, there are a few things left to pick up, so I'll be one of those folks out on the road today, kinda in a hurry.  

But, today is also SATURDAY! and that means that it is time for a new challenge over @ Our Creative Corner!  And guess what?  I'm the hostess this week!  Can you believe it?  So, this challenge theme is pretty simple:  Home for the Holidays!  That's right!  Use the scenery around your home for your inspiration!  Use the ornaments (or theme) on your Christmas tree.  The winter weather outside your home.  The Christmas wreath on your front door.  Whatever tickles your fancy, so to speak.  Oh, and you need to add a little sparkle/glimmer, too.  But that's pretty simple.  Just add some glitter, or a piece of shimmer paper, a few rhinestones.  Whatever you have on hand that will shine.

So, for this challenge I used the ornaments on our Christmas tree.  About 75% of the ornaments are snowflakes.  But all kinds of snowflakes: glass, metal, wood, crystal.  I also have some nature items too: glass acorns, metalic leaves.  You get the picture.

But I also needed a little creative help, so to get those creative juices flowing, I also stumbled upon this holiday color challenge, at the Shabby Tea Room.  They want you to use: USE KRAFT, RED, NEWSPRINT, SILVER AND A STAR!

Sounds pretty rustic and hand-made to me.  So I combined the two challenges and here is what I came up with:

 Here are my tree ornaments that helped me move towards this direction:  a metal snowflake ornament that has been painted white, with a silver cord to hang on your tree; and a glass acorn with a glitter cap, and uses a piece of white taffeta ribbon to hang on your tree. 

I hope that you get a chance to play along with us over @ Our Creative Corner.  We would love to see what you create.  Remember, it can be a card, a scrapbook page, a 3-D item, or even an altered item. 

I want to first say, 'thank you' to all the folks who like my work enough to be a follower.  I do appreciate the company.  And, it does make it easier to create when someone is interested enough to take a look.  Second, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  I hope that this season of love and faith finds all of you safe, happy, and surrounded by family and friends.

Stay tuned, as I will have a special post this up-coming week.  And all who post a comment, will be entered in a drawing for some blog candy.  You know, to start the new year right!

Merry Christmas!   hugs, Sharon.