A Button Mermaid Angel

Something a little different for you today, a Button Mermaid Angel, inspired by a project seen in the Winter 2009 issue of Somerset Studios Gallery Magazine.

One of my other passions in the crafting world is Jewelry making, and I just love making vintage style jewelry from old broken pieces, buttons, old lace and the such.

Of course, in this piece I used a rubber stamp of the mermaid's body, and then added the strung together buttons as her fish tail. I started out by stamping the body on light pink card stock and then used prismacolor pencils to color in the hair, the swimsuit bodice, and the bubbles. I then used some Dazzles by Hot off the Press for the wings. They are an airy type of sticker that you can adhere to vellum and then cut around the entire wing unit and glue to the shoulders of the rubber stamped image.

Next, I began the button fish tail by tying gold cord through each of the button's eyes. I then glued each button to card stock to give it some stability and beginning at the bottom strung the beads and then the buttons on to a heavy gauge wire, with the buttons getting larger as I worked towards the top. When the body section matched the size of the button, I then taped the stamped piece with wings attached to the wire, and made a finished loop at the top of the head to hang it from.  Finally, give the entire tail section a soft curve of the wire for motion, and your piece is finished. This can be used as a suncatcher in a window, a charm hanging from a ceiling fan chain, or as an embellishment for a necklace. However you want to display it, it is a delicate and aquatic symbol to add to your collection.

Have a wonderful day, and try something different. You may find an art field you really enjoy! 

Two Projects to Share

 Hello friends,
I have two projects to share with you today. The first is an Artist Trading Card that I made for a special friend. She is always been one for adventure, and she is about to embark on another great one. So I made this tiny 21/2" X 31/2"  decorated pocket with card to send her, and she can even take it with her if she likes.
I started out with a 3" X 7" piece of printed scrap book paper, and folded it to within 1" of the top and stapled it with my tiny attacher by Tim Holtz.  I punched the top corners with a corner decorative punch, and stamped a beautiful butterfly stamp on a scrap of stock, colored it with copic markers, cut it out, used Stickles glitter to glam it up, then let it dry and cut it out!  I then attached the butterfly to the pocket with foam tape to make it pop out just a bit.

To make the card, I spritzed the background  (21/2" X 31/2") with Dylusions spray from Ranger, in several colors to really make it colorful. Then I attached the card which is a print itself from the Travel Travelogue paper collection from Graphic 45 papers.  It just slips in the little pocket for a greeting-to-go! You can also write a special message on the pocket front, or on the back of the ATC card like I did.  Janice, have a nice Trip!

The second project for today is a greeting card made from a deco arts mannequin stamp that I just love. I stamped it out on white card stock with black memento ink. The base stand of the mannequin was too large for the front of the card, so I just cut it off and stamped out a flat daisy to use as the base. All of the coloring was done with Copic markers and I accented the center of the flower and the star on her chest with Sepia crystal accents, just to give it a little texture. I found a lovely tiny rose print scrap book paper for the background, and stamped the cancellation stamp from the Tropical Travelogue Stamp Set from Graphic 45 in the empty space. It needed just a touch more to complete the card, so I added a ribbon with knot lengthwise around the card.

I love the phrase on her skirt that says; "Nothing is more important than this day!" So go out there and make it a good one.  See you again soon.

Indian Paintbrush- Texas wildflower card

Happy Tuesday everyone!
Today's post is about color. Not so much content, as the color you are feeling.

This "Thinking of You" card started out in my mind when I came across this Indian paintbrush stamp in my stash. The flower isn't blooming this time of the year, but I knew I wanted something bold and bright to stand out on the front of this card.

The Indian paintbrush flower is one of Texas' wildflowers that grows and blooms in the spring here in Texas. The flower itself comes in all different shades of red, and depending on how much rain or sun or heat it is growing in, deepens the red bracts of the flower.  I stamped the flower stamp; one of Joyce Meyer's Texas wildflower stamps; on white stock with black Memento Ink, and then colored it in with my copic markers.  I then picked out a solid red shimmery A2 base card to put it on. I went through my stash of scraps trimmed from other projects that I keep, and found some strips of border print from a scrapbook page I made several years ago. The red and gold color of the strips blended well with my background card, so I paper pieced the strips down in a pleasing design, and then using foam tape, adhered the flower panel. Luckily, there was a space left to the right of my flower, where I could stamp my greeting.

 So there you have it, an easy card put together using up some scraps that were lying around, to make a wonderful card to send to a friend who you are "thinking of ".  I wish you all a wonderful, creative week and until next time, "stamp your heart out!"  Have Fun!

CROWN JEWELS theme ATC's for September

The second theme for the September ATC trade was Crown Jewels. Since there was so much in the press about Prince Harry's escapades while he was in Las Vegas recently, I decided to do a spoof of the headline on my Artist Trading Card.

On the front, I printed off the headline on a piece of white stock, and  inked the edges with black soot chalk. This was an outer pocket. Then on the inner pocket that slides out, I stamped the English flag stamp on white stock, inking the stamp with the fired brick and faded denim Distress Markers by Tim Holtz.

On the inner most card I printed a sticker that read, "personally I don't see what all the fuss is about!" and stamped an image of a large crown and embellished it with stick-on gemstones and lots of stickles to make it really sparkly!

It really caused a chuckle at the trading card meeting. Everyone broke out in laughter, and I was so surprised, it really made my day!

I guess they were expecting something else????????????

Have a wonderful day, and a great weekend. This only goes to show you that a little thing like this card can cause  laughter, which in many ways is considered the best medicine.

           



PAPER DOLL themed Artist Trading Card for September

Hello friends,
The September trade of Artist Trading Cards or ATC's was lots of fun! My first card theme was Paper Doll. I made a bi-fold card with the map that says "Summer is for lots of fun" on the cover, and when you open it, the school house with "but now the school bell has rung" on the inside of the cover. Opposite the school house is the Papier Family of stamps from Paper Wings Productions, Marcel, Louise, and Luc in their summer wear. On the back of the card is a mini manila envelope that holds the paper doll's school clothes, shown on them in the bottom picture.

This card was so much fun to make. I had to stamp out the figures, trim off their clothes, and add their shorts, shirts, and bathing suit. I then printed these out to use for the summer theme of the card. I then took the clothes I trimmed off, and copied them on my printer and adjusted the clothes to fit their new shapes, so I could print them out and color them.  Of course, I had to add the little tabs to fold around the doll, and then had to adhere the dolls to the background, popped up on foam tape so the clothes could be taken off and put back on. That section was the hardest of all to produce.

The front of the card was a printed piece of scrapbook paper that I colored with my copic markers and adhered the little label saying "summer is for lots of fun". The school house stamp from Stampabilities was stamped on white cardstock, colored with copics, cut out and adhered to the light blue stock, and the label with "but now the school bell has rung" stuck beneath it. The family and their clothes were colored with my copic markers, and the background behind them was sprayed with the Dylusions Sprays from Ranger.

The second theme for this month's trade was "Crown Jewels." I did a take off of an occurrence in the news two weeks ago with  Prince Harry, and will show my card in a couple of days. I hope you enjoyed this card, and will check back to see the "crown jewels" card. See you soon!