Hello Friend

  I am playing today with my Jumbo Blossom Beauty stamps from Stampendous.  I have been taking a class on My Creative Classroom.com learning how to color the face stamp and flower it comes with.  This is one of my "practice" faces, one that I colored with Prismacolor colored pencils, and another one of the jumbo flowers available "the Hydrangea"!

I have been trying to squeeze the face and flowers on an A2 size quarter-fold card, which really isn't easy.

The face is fun, and the various flowers are awesome, especially since I love flowers!  So here is what I did to complete this card.

First of all, I prepared an A2 card front with a piece of patterned paper 1/4" smaller all the way around. I then stamped out the face and colored it in with Prismacolor pencils.  I love Prismacolor pencils because they are so creamy and really do blend well when layered.  I stamped the hydrangea cluster stamp on X-press Blending card and colored them in with my Copic markers.  There is also a single flower that I stamped and colored also, so I could adhere it with foam tape and pop it up for dimension. One of the exclusives of these jumbo flower stamps, is that Stampendous also has the wafer thin dies that match the flowers so you can cut them out quickly and layer them if you wish.  I love to fussy cut, so I didn't purchase all the dies that were available.

The glasses that I cut for the face were described on a video on YouTube from Stampendous.  There are several videos available from the designer of the faces and flowers line, and she gives you great ideas on projects to use the faces and lovely flowers. She also gives ideas on different hair styles you can draw, paint, or create if you want your face to have hair instead of the jumbo flowers. To complete the card, I trimmed off several of the flowers that hung off the edge of the card. I also added a small banner saying, "hello Friend"!

Have a nice week, leading up to a wonderful weekend. I am busily trying to finish my "class project" from My Creative Classroom.com, and will share it with you as soon as I do. 

Mindy

I Heart Texas!

Boy, where does time go when you are busy with other projects?  I started in January posting on a rather frequent basis, but somewhere in February I went terribly wrong. Of course, sickness will do that to you sometimes. Well, now I am feeling much better, and hopefully back in the groove of blogging!

Today's post is a card I have been working on for celebrating Texas Independence Day, which is March 2, 2013.  I decided to make a business size card or #10, therefore having lots of space to decorate about my home state!  I started with a piece of 12"X12" scrapbook paper that I cut down to 8"X9" to fit inside the business size envelope. I then scored it in half width wise, and used a circle template to round off the left side to make the front of the card.  Using stamps from Deadbeat Designs, I stamped the barbed wire, Republic of Texas post mark, and the open star, on the beige background with Pumice Stone Distressed ink. I also stamped the Texas Forever Star, and the pick-up truck on white card stock before coloring the star in with prismacolor pencils, and the pick-up with copic markers. I cut around the Texas Forever star and mounted it on a scrap of the Country Heritage stripe scrapbook paper, and mounted the pick-up truck with foam adhesive to make it stand out from the card. I then went to work with my Cricut machine, and the Going Places cartridge.

For the inside of the card, I cut a half circle of card stock to display activities one may partake of to celebrate the holiday. Along with more background stamping, I cut out a tent, a fisherman with his boat, a camper,  a hiker, a young couple (for inside the pick-up) and the words "ENJOY" for the card front, and  "INDEPENDENCE DAY" with two stars for inside the card. The small lettering was from a Cricut cartridge called Word Collage.

After adhering the blank card inside for a handwritten message, I closed the card and glued the tiny Independence Day letters so they would be visible from the front of the card. I am entering this in the following challenge:
           
                +Deadbeat Designs- Texas Independence Day Card Challenge

I even decorated the envelope, which was not required, but every little bit helps! Right?

I hope you all have a wonderful day, and take a little time to enjoy the place where you live!

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!