Just Chillin'

Hello, crafters!  I have a pretty little card for you today.  It features a stamped image by the amazing artist Terra Bidlespacher.  I decided to be frugal and decorate my card's background with leftover pieces of papers that I had been working with this month.  I placed them on a diagonal and then took up a black marker and had my way with the patterns in the papers.
I also added some sparkle by embellishing with tiny beads and Skittles.  A long chain with a cylindrical porcelain bead lies across one of the paper strips.
The inside of the card reads:  "Just Chillin'."
What do you do with your paper scraps?  I keep a file drawer full of them, placed in folders by color or seasonal theme.  They come in mighty handy at times, like today! LOL

A Little Beach Magic

Finally got some time to craft, and wanted to use up one of snags I made at my local Goodwill store, thinking how nice it would be to alter it.  The most difficult part was deciding what the theme would be--should I dig deep into my steam punkiness, or would a dark Halloween theme be better?

But it's summer, and the waves are calling me, so a Beach fantasy scene it is.  I started with a raw wood window frame with a flower shelf (a garden scene did tempt me, but I'm allergic to flowers, subconsciously allergic to fake flowers) that I picked up for $2.

I used acrylic paints until I got the frame the colors I wanted, then used the following mermaids for each window.  From top left to bottom right, they are:
Sweet Pea's "On the Shore" by Terra Bidlespacher, QKD's Porcelain Mermaid, again by Terra, and my newest purchase,  another Sweet Pea digi called "Wait for You" by artist Ching Chou Kuik.  I also used a stamped image from High Hopes of two friendly jelly fish.

I colored them all with my trusty Copics, and with my signature technique, fussy-cut them to put into my handmade scenes.

I love mixed media, which has to be my newest most favorite technique, so each "scene" has bits of surprises in each.

"On the Shore" features torn paper background, Stickled sandy beach, glitter button sun and a stray pearl or two.

A few tiny seashells are scattered along the wood frame as well.

In the "Porcelain Mermaid" scene, I actually used four pieces of dimensional tape so that my mermaid looks like she's sitting on the seashell I adhered to the wood frame.

I added some Liquid Glass bubbles, some Stickled shimmer, some pearl stems, seashells and fibers for misc. ocean stuff.

I had this gorgeous but large white starfish that I wanted to incorporate in my project, but no matter where I placed it, it blocked too much of one of the "windows.'  So I created a background from shimmery ribbon and cardstock and adhered a beach-themed ATC to it.

My next window features "Wait for Me", which I printed twice so that I could use dimensional tape so that the moon is "behind" her.  An adhesive accident with the moon caused me to apply a liberal dose of Stickles to cover it up.
I like to use feathers in my work, so her tail features one.  I hand-stamped the background patterned paper, and hung a seashell from the tip of the moon.  More seashells decorate the bottom of the window.

To finish off my project, I used some miniature scrabble tiles to spell out Beach Magic along the "ledge" and stuffed the ledge with raffia and seashells.

It took about two days to finish my project, and now it's in its new home.  I gave it to my son and daughter-in-law within one hour of the glue drying for their first anniversary.  Their wedding theme was tropical, and hubby and I hosted the reception in our backyard, going all out with tropical decorations and menu to boot.  It was a lot of work but worth it.

I'm entering my project in the One Sweet Challenge blog August challenge, which asks participants to use their favorite technique.  Mixed media and fussy-cutting are my faves--for the moment. LOL

A Little Fairy Love

My card today features "Forest Night" by Terra Bidlespacher.  After coloring my image, I tore it and inked the edges with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink.  After framing it with patterned paper, I found a distressed tag in my stash of leftover supplies and used it to open up the frame, also using some torn pink card stock and coordinating striped patterned paper.

The stripes looked too intense, so I toned it down with some webbing, and then I "had my way" with embellishments.  I finished off my card by inking one edge with gold pigment ink, then rubbing in some Aztec Gold Pearl Ex pigments.

I love the fairies that Terra creates, like this one, don't you?  Check them all out at the QKD Shop!!
And for inspiration, check out QKD on Facebook:

Christmas FAVOR-ites

Five days left until Christmas Day and I am (almost) finished making all the favors for my dinner guests!  It's really helped me to have a wonderful collection of stamps from Queen Kat Designs.  This one is from artist Terra Bidlespacher and it's called "Brain Storming".

I colored my stamped image with Copics and cut her out.  I framed her with a white diecut snowflakes and then adhered her onto the front of a small notepad I picked up on clearance for,,,wait for it...49 cents!!  I also inked the edges with white and added a single white rose.

This notepad will be added to my growing pile of dinner favors for my guests.  I'm thinking of giving them out to my guests, all wrapped up, then playing the Lefty-Righty Game.  I wrote special lines to the holiday favorite "'twas the Night Before Christmas".  The idea of the game is for all guests to pass their favors to the left when the word LEFT is read, and to pass to the right when the word RIGHT is read.  At the end of the poem, the guests open their favors to keep.  I have several ornaments, notepads, and small gifties.  I need to count them up--I'll need 18 this year!!
Lucky I have so many pretty stamps from QKD from which to choose to decorate my items!  You can too, and will want to, once you check out all the lovely images from the QKD artists HERE.

Mixed Media Just Because card

My crafting has mood swings.  Sometimes I'll enter a CAS period where less is better, and clean lines and white spaces are beautiful.
Then there are my periods when I use up a certain embellishment, like lace, or flowers, or buttons.  And let's not forget color obsession.  I was on a Teal kick for weeks!
Well, today I was inspired by Jean Blenkhorn's artwork, and tried my hand at a multimedia card.  It's 5x7, because if I'm going to throw on all the elements that move me, my card has to have room for them!

I started with a Queen Kat Designs stamped image called  Porcelain Mermaid by Terra Bidlespacher.  I colored her before even looking for a theme or patterned paper to use.  I just wanted my muse to take me wherever it wanted.
Once she was colored with my copics, I found a piece of amazing seashell patterned paper.  I built on this base, weaving raffia to look like a net, adding tiny seashells and ocean-themed buttons.  I ink-distressed the image, the sentiment and the card base with both Distress Inks and chalks.
I found a Tim Holtz embellishment--a tiny corked bottle, and cut and rolled some printed paper to stuff inside it.  The bow is tied brown netting, and the seagull perched on the sentiment?  Another ocean-themed button.
I'm not used to throwing everything but the kitchen sink on a card, but the embellishments called to me.  Who knows?  From this project I might start using paint and mod podge and all sorts of items.  Or I might go back to simple, pretty, whimsical, clean.
Wherever I go, it will be to follow where my muse leads.
Where does your muse lead you?  If it takes you to the beach, then Terra's Porcelain Mermaid is a great starting point.  You can find her and her salty friends HERE.

Moonlight Persuasion

I love looking out to sea.  I love watching the waves dance and following the ripples of moonlight as the water moves.  I love how the moon looks so enormous over the water, taking up so much of the sky.

I decided to give my card that "midnight on the ocean" look by using these dark blue patterned papers from CTMH.  The dotted swirls almost look like waves, so I added some clear diamond Stickles to some of them  to imitate the moon's shimmer.
The image was stamped using a Queen Kat Designs stamp from artist Terra Bidlespacher called Porcelain Mermaid.
I printed the quote on my computer, taken from quotegarden.com.  It reads, "Take your shoes off," purred the ocean waves.
Then I stepped back and looked the card over.  It was sooooo plain!!  I like a clean and simple card, but it was sooooo plain.  So I added the midnight blue fiber across the sky, and I can stop there and call it finished.
Do you have any mermaid stamps that you can play with?  You'll find bunches of them over at Queen Kat Designs, along with fairies and elves and dragons and all the fantasy characters your heart desires!!  Have fun, and keep crafting!!

Cool Bookmark for a Summer Read

Hello, crafters!  I have been trying to take time out to make this awesome bookmark, and I finally decided to skip the dishes and lock myself in my craft room until I finished it.  I found my inspiration while flipping through the yellowed pages of a cast off book from a rummage sale.  There was a receipt card in its pages that was dated 1985 (that was the year my son was born).

It had a semi-circular cut at the top that a reader could slip the top edge of the page into that she wanted to save.  I thought what a clean, simple design for a bookmark, and so I inked up my Queen Kat Designs "Snowball" stamp, designed by artist Terra Bidlespacher.  After coloring her with Copics (the image, not Terra), I tore it to create a natural frame.
Being a bookmark, I had to keep my project flat, so I used a winter-themed patterned paper, a coordinating blue patterned paper and a strip of leftover white cardstock to bring my snowflake border to life.  I colored another leftover strip of the white cardstock to place behind my image as a sort of ribbon embellishment, coloring it with the pink-shaded Copic with which I colored her outfit.
The tiny snowflakes that were punched out with the punch I used for the border were rescued and adhered to my "scene".  For the semi-circular cut that holds the bookmark in place, I used the medium-sized circle template from the Creative Memories Circle Cutting System.
Now I can keep my cool when my reading is interrupted, and know that I can get back to my summer read without losing my place!
I have a girls' day out coming up soon with my mom and sisters, and they are all avid readers.  I think a little handmade goody is in order, don't you?!  I just picked up a few Christmas romances from my local Goodwill store, and I can slip the bookmarks into them for a little "Christmas in July" giftie!
If you like what you see, leave me some love.  If you like the image, check it out HERE along with Terra's other offerings.

Feelin' Cool on a Summer Day

Some people eat ice cream to cool off on a hot summer day...others sit in front of the fan in shorts and a halter...still others jump into the pool.  I create a card with a winter theme (okay, in an air-conditioned house).

Today I'd like to introduce you to Snowball, a Queen Kat Designs Stamp designed by artist Terra Bidlespacher.  The first QKD stamp I ever colored was designed by Terra, and I love her fantasy-themed girls.  In fact, Terra's Night Forest was on the very first card I created as a new Royal Stamping Maiden for the QKD Design Team!!

I colored Snowball today with Copics, my preferred method if inking.  Stickles make the snowflakes shimmer.  I framed the image with cardstock and an inked paper doily.  I used CTMH double-sided patterned paper for my background, then used a strip of it turned around as embellishment under the diecut snowflake border on the side.  I embellished a snow-white slide mount framing a couple snowmen with a coordinating bow and metal sentiment.  I scattered a few punched stars onto the card to finish it off.

You can find all of Terra's stamps, including Snowball, and a whole shop filled with fantastical, cute, funny, sexy and whimsical stamps at the QKD SHOPPE.