Nursery Art

 I haven't been able to share anything with you recently as my laptop went on a business trip with the hubby.  But I've got it back and I have some art work to share with you!  I bought these frames from IKEA to make some sort of art work for the nursery.  I knew I wanted to use Fox & Friends, but wasn't sure how I was going to make them.  One afternoon I sat down and just got to work.  I like the idea of the uppercase and lowercase alphabet like in Defining Alphabet, but since I don't own it I'm improvised.  I used Short Order Alphabet and my Stamp-a-ma-jig.  The theme of the nursery is brown and white, so the monkey and owl tie in with that.  I'm planning on hanging the giraffe picture in the middle since it's got some color on it.  I'm so excited about how they turned out.  Now I just need to get them on the wall.

Supplies
Stamps: Fox & Friends, Short Order Alphabet, Cheap Talk, Season of Friendship, Trendy Trees
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, So Saffron
Paper: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Old Olive, Whisper White
Accessories: Tag Corner Punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Glass Etching

I originally had a glass etching class scheduled for last Saturday, but due to a winter storm the class was rescheduled for Thursday.  Luckily the weather held out this time around.  We've still got a lot of snow on the ground, but the roads are clear.  

These are the two projects we made.  The dessert plate was made with embossing.  We stamped on the back of the plate with I {heart} Hearts, embossed them, and then put the etching cream on.  When you wash the etching cream off the embossing comes off, too.  Sometimes you have to scrub a bit, but it will eventually come off completely.

We also etched a candle holder.  This one was done with the Big Shot.  We ran some contact paper through the Big Shot with the Little Leaves die.  After removing the leaf, we stuck the "frame" down on the the candle holder and put the etching cream in the negative image.  This is a much cleaner (and less time consuming) method of etching. 

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that today finds you surrounded by family and friends (and turkey!).  Today I wanted to share with you something I made to decorate my table during the month of November.  I found this tall vase and then filled it with sticks I took off a tree that was in my yard (don't feel bad for the tree......it was not hurt in the process as it's already dead).  Then I decorated the tree with acorns made from the Table Setting Bigz XL from the Holiday Mini Catalog.  Now just because fall is almost over, don't think that you don't need this die.  The "acorns" can also be turned into flowers!!  So if you haven't gotten this die yet make sure you do before the Holiday Mini Catalog expires on Jan. 4th. 

Supplies
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip Patterns DSP
Accessories: Chocolate Chip 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Hemp Twine, Big Shot, Table Setting Bigz XL Die

Fall Shadowbox

This is one of the items that was auctioned off at the last Quarter Auction I participated in. I picked up this shadowbox frame from IKEA. It was fun to punch and arrange all the squares and then decide how to decorate them. I hope the winner of the frame enjoys displaying this in their home in the fall (or even all year round if it matches the decor). Oh, and did you notice the distressing around the edges of the DSP?

Supplies
Stamps: Season of Friendship
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss
Paper: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, Really Rust,
Accessories: Antique Brass HPH, Chocolate Chip and More Mustard 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Earth Elements Buttons, Hemp Twine, Stampin Dimensionals, Cutter Kit

Family Frame

I was in a frame making mood the other day and this is what I came up with. I'll probably use it for the door prize at the next event I do. I love making name frames.....I wish I had someone specific to make one for.........

Supplies
Stamps: Headline Alphabet, Cheep Talk
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Brilliant Blue
Paper: Whisper White, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Accessories: HodgePodge Hardware, Old Olive 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon

Fancy Frame

Tuesday night was the quarter auction and this was one of my items. I applied a Eastern Blooms Chocolate Chip Decor Elements flower to this glass frame. I also cut photo mats of Always DSP to add into the frame. Lastly I stamped a bunch of sentiments from several stamp sets and punched them out with the Large Oval punch and adhered them to Chocolate Chip Scallop Ovals. It was well received at the quarter auction and I hope the winner has the perfect place for it in their home.

Welcome....

Last week I participated in a vendor event here in Miamisburg. I wanted to do a door prize drawing and I figured that not everyone is a stamper/scrapbooker, but everyone lives somewhere. So I decided to offer up this welcome frame. It was very well received and I picked a lucky lady to be the new owner of the frame. Too bad it couldn't stay in my house. It sure does look good up against that green wall!

Supplies
Stamps: Headline Alphabet
Ink: Jet Black StazOn
Paper: So Saffron, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Charbon Designer Series Paper
Accessories: Photo Corner Punch, Word Window Punch, 5-Petal Flower Punch, Basic Black 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Silver brads

Thanksgiving, a little late

Since we were moving to Florida Sunday after Thanksgiving my husband’s family decided to come visit us for the holiday. I decided to dress up the table a bit with some place cards. I used a piece of More Mustard for the base of each place card and added a layer of Autumn Vine DSP to each place card. I then took a strip of Whisper White and stamped the tree from Season of Friendship in Chocolate Chip and the leaves in More Mustard and Sage Shadow. I then stamped each person’s name in Ruby Red. I adhered them to a piece of Chocolate Chip, then adhered them to the DSP. I then set them at each person’s place at the table.

Silhouette Candle

I wanted to show another one of the candles I recently made. I love, love, love how it turned out! I repeatedly stamped the image from Pocket Silhouettes in Chocolate Chip on my tissue paper until I had a long strip. I then trimmed it down to fit around the candle. I then lined the ends up and heat set my image. In my opinion it's a classy candle. Simple and striking.

Jingle All the Way

I guess today is a good day to share this with you since it's snowing. I saw this jar and thought it would make a cute Christmas jar, so I bought the Jingle All the Way Decor Elements in Old Olive to make my candy jar. After applying it to my jar I added a bow of Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon around the bulb on the lid. I then stamp the swirl from Season of Joy with Versamark on Real Red and embossed it in silver. I punched it out with my 1 3/8" Circle punch and added a loop of Old Olive that was punched out with my Word Window punch. I threaded a piece of silver cord through it and attached it to my Real Red ribbon.

Right now it's in my kitchen filled with Tootsie Rolls and Hugs. mmmm.....

ETA: It is the small Jingle All the Way

Butterfly Candle

I've got a craft fair coming up in 2 weeks (2 weeks!!!!) and stamped candles are one of the items that I will have available. Here is one of the candles I made that I think turned out really cute! I stamped the butterfly in Ruby Red with the sentiment in Chocolate Chip and melted it into my white candle. Hopefully these will be a good seller for me at the fair.

If you are interested in coming to the craft fair here are the details.

Holiday Craft Bazaar
Beavercreek Golf Club
Sunday, Nov. 16th
10 am to 7 pm

More information, including vendor list at http://beavercreekgolfclub.com/specials.htm

Spooky

So I'm sure you've seen this a hundred times over, but here's my take on it. Now most people have been using the medium Spooky Spider, but I went with the small one. I wasn't a huge fan of having to wrap the legs underneath the jar. So I got this huge jar, added my Spooky Spider and an extra web length. Then I added an extra web length to the lid, wrapped some Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain ribbon around the top, stamped an image from Batty For You, punched with the 1 3/8" circle punch, added it to a scallop circle and tied to the ribbon with some hemp twine (run-on sentence anyone?). I added some Hershey's Minitures candy because no one likes and empty candy jar. This is one of the items that will be available at the DDSN Quarter Auction on Tuesday, so be sure to RSVP and joins us there for your chance to win this cute (but spooky) jar.

And if you don't win and you'd like to make this project yourself the Spooky Spider Decor Element is available for purchase until Oct. 31st!

Happiness....

I got some more Decor Elements today. This is the small Happiness. I put it on a board that I painted black. If you are looking for boards like this for your small Decor Elements head on over to my store and see what I've got. This board has a routed edge, painted flat black, and I added a hanger on the back. Right now it's hanging in my living room for photography purposes, but I think I'm going to put it in my stamping studio because it reflects my mood when I'm down there. I like it!

Decor Elements are Up!

I finally got my Decor Elements up! They look so good. First I had to put the create definition in my stamp room. I have a feeling that this is going to be the #1 seller. The picture isn't very good because the lighting isn't very good down there. It looks like there isn't much contrast between the wall color and the white letters, but it really is noticeable in person. Second I added the Together Forever Circle Frame to a piece of MDF that I cut, routed, and painted. I then added an H in the middle. It's hanging from some Chocolate ribbon in my foyer. I'm happy with how the both turned out and I'm ready for more!!

I stamped today!!!

I managed to sneak in a little stamping time today. I was downstairs cleaning up and I decided that cleaning could wait. I've been dying to do something with this frame since I bought it last week. It's a 12" x 4" frame for a panoramic picture. I started working on it earlier in the week, but didn't get too far. This isn't the DSP or the picture I was originally going to use, but I like these choices better. I used my retired Petals & Paisley DSP and this picture of John and I at a wedding. The "happy" is strategically place over the beer that is on the table. I mounted the picture on a piece of Pretty in Pink and added the flower in the upper corner. As I was working on this Mr. Brown came and delivered my Flower Fusion Accents & Elements, so I added an Old Olive flower over my stamped image using a silver brad. I used my Old Olive and Rose Red Stampin' Write Markers to stamp "find joy in the little things" as well as my flowers from Polka Dots & Paisley. I mounted in on a piece of Rose Red and added a piece of ribbon using a silver brad.

I put this on the piano in the front room.

Stamped Candle Tutorial

Stamped candles are as hard to make as one might think. It's important to realize that you aren't actually stamping on the candle. Here are a few items you will need to stamp a candle. A candle (duh), tissue paper, wax paper, stamps, ink, and markers. I prefer StazOn and Sharpies when stamping candles as they don't bleed like dye ink can.

So once you've picked your candle and your image, stamp onto a piece of tissue paper with the StazOn.



Next color your image. Here I'm using Sharpies. I'm sure we all stamp on scratch paper , but just a reminder that the ink from the StazOn and Sharpies will go all the way through your tissue paper, so please, no stamping on a permanent surface. I will not be held responsible for ruined tables ;o)
Cut out your image. You don't have to get really close to your image as you will not see the edges of the tissue paper. I usually don't like to leave too much excess, though, as it makes the next two steps easier.

Line up your image on your candle. Make sure it's straight. Then snuggly wrap a piece of wax paper around your calendar. It is best to cut your wax paper a lot larger than the candle so that you can hold the back of it. Because your next step is to heat it and you don't want to burn yourself.

Continue holding the wax paper taught and gently heat your image. You will see the image melt into the candle. Don't heat too long or you will melt your candle. I find it is best to wait a few seconds for your candle to cool before peeling the wax paper off to prevent wrinkling (you can also roll your candle on your table with the wax paper still on and while the candle is still hot to ensure a smooth candle). And there you have it, a stamped candle.




And, the blog candy winner is.........Brenda H. Congrats!!!
Brenda, I don't have your email, so please get in touch and I will send the Magic Mesh and Stampin' Spots your way!

Candles

I've got a holiday bazaar coming up so I've been working on a few items to sell. The ladies loved the fall candle I did and requested some Christmas candles for the bazaar, so I used the set Season of Joy from the current mini catalog to stamp on some candles. For the first candle I stamped the large image with Jet Black StazOn and added Bravo Burgundy poinsettias all around. For the second candle I stamped the Tree with Green StazOn and added the star with So Saffron. I also added some So Saffron swirls around the rest of the candle (hard to see in the photo). I picked these two candles up pretty cheap at the dollar store. They're vanilla scented. Hopefully the ladies will like them.

Happy Saturday

Here's a little lesson I learned this fine Saturday. I was down in my stampin' space, just plugging away on my Christmas cards (i.e. mass production stamping), while watching my Boilermakers earn their 3rd win of the season. Now, this is the first Saturday I've gotten to watch my beloved team play as the first weekend of football we were at the lake house (with no TV) although my in-laws' house wasn't too far away and they have Big 10 Network. Last weekend we were driving through West Lafayette while the game was going on. By the time we got to my mom's house the game was in rain delay and we had to get ready for a wedding. So today I got to watch my team. And since I love to multitask I had to stamp while doing so. I finally finished watercoloring all my snowmen, so I was gluing them down then I had to stamp the sentiments. After about 4 or so sentiments stamped (using the Stamp-a-ma-jig) there was a great play in the game and I stamped my sentiment upside down. Doh! About 2 or 3 cards later, I did it again. It goes to show, I cannot stamp and watch football at the same time.

OK, moving on. I also worked on some gifts today. I found these Making Memories letters on clearance at Target for $0.74. They only had the letters F, T, and X. I just so happen to have a niece and nephew with the first initial of F and T respectively. How could I pass them up. I altered them today.



For Faith's letter I used this really cute DCWV paper that I've had for quite some time and never got around to using. I love the colors of the stripes and I thought it would be fun for a 5 year old. And I know she loves penguins so she got a Tempting Turquoise one to match the striped paper. I didn't really want the penguin where I put it, but I accidentally ripped the paper there, so this was my attempt to fix my boo-boo. I also added the chocolate grosgrain ribbon, and the whisper white grosgrain ribbon to perk it up a bit.






For Taj's letter I used some retired Stampin' Up! DSP. I wasn't too thrilled with it after I glued it down, but I was kind of stuck with it. I originally was going to put a Bashful Blue elephant on it, but I didn't like the blues together. Instead he got a Chocolate Chip lion. And to make it "manly" I put some chocolate grosgrain and hemp twine.


I used the 1 3/8" circle punch and the 1 1/4" circle punch on both to cut the animals out. The animals are from the set Wild About You.

I hope you like these. And Becky if you're reading this, be expecting these items in the mail some time.

Home decor stamping

This is such a fun technique. If you haven't tried stamping on candles you really need to. I made this candle to give as a raffle prize at my sorority's alum chapter meeting. It was our first meeting of the year last night so I thought I'd throw something fun in. Who doesn't love a free gift, right? It was a hit. All the ladies loved it and one lucky lady got to take it home. Several of the ladies requested that I make a bunch of these to sell at our holiday bazaar. I guess I'll have to go stock up on candles.

I think these candles would make great gifts. You can even personalize them such as for a wedding gift.

Recipe
Stamps: Greetings Galore, Warm Wishes
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Sharpies
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Bravo Burgundy, Whisper White, Tissue Paper
Accessories: White Grosgrain ribbon, Hemp Twine, Large Oval Punch, Crop-a-dile
Technique: Stamping on candles

Functional stamping

Whenever Oscar wants to go out I'm always looking everywhere for his leash so I decided we needed a hook for it. I was at the Flower Factory the other day so I headed to the unfinished wood section and found a cute round hook. I painted it with acrylic paints. The first layer is sage green (to match the furniture) and then I did an ivory crackle layer. After I was dry I stamped on it using StazOn. There isn't an apostrophe in the stamp set, so I inked up the tail of the lower cased Y and used that as my apostrophe. It's now hanging on the wall next to the back door. I used it last night and it was nice knowing right where the leash was and not having to look everywhere in the kitchen and living room.

Recipe
Stamps: Short Order Alphabet, non-SU! paw print
Ink: Jet Black StazOn