papermonkey.org {make time for playtime}

Cottage Sweet Cottage & Liquid Pearls Rosettes Tutorial

Hi and hello!

Today's card uses the Alota Stamps Cottage and Magnolia Stamps Tilda With Tinsel Garland to create a spring scene. How can a stamp from the Christmas 2008 Collection be used for Spring? More re-purposing. I simply colored the garland a bright leaf green created added Liquid Pearl "rosettes". A mini tutorial on how to make those follows the card details - it's easy as pre-baked pie.

The cottage was stamped twice with Memento Ink, then cut out with a die cut Nestabilities Square. This way I could pop up the cottage and still have the grass. I added tiny gray and brown dots using the Copic Markers you see above to give the cottage a  cobbled look, and added Ranger Glossy Accents to the windows for a shiny, glazed appearance.

 The trellis of flowers around the door is made from more Ruby Red and Pastel Raspberry Liquid Pearl rosettes, as is the doorknob (Gold). 

The heart on the door was glammed up with Crystal Stickles, as were the pearl accents (Robin's Nest Dew Drops) and tag stamp with the Home Sweet Home sentiment, both by Magnolia as well.

The patterned paper is an old favorite, Cosmo Cricket's Honey Pie with Garden Green textured cardstock and Bazzill warm pink cardstock (not sure of the name).

 I went overboard on the Liquid Pearls and added them to Tilda's dress and hair bows as well.

The white Liquid Pearls used here is White Opal. I like how you can get even the tiniest pearl size with the fine tip applicator.

Liquid Pearl Rosettes

Supplies Needed:

• Two colors of Ranger Liquid Pearls(Pastel Raspberry and Ruby Red used here)
• Pin or Paper Piercer

Directions

1. Take the Lighter color of Liquid Pearls and squeeze a small blob onto the paper. Remember to do this as your last step as it takes a long time to dry.

Test the flow on copy paper first. You want a blob that is compact at the base and kind of high - this is because as the LP dries it will flatten and spread, as I learned by making the card above. You can see how they flattened out :(

2. Take a pin or paper piercer and dab the tiniest bit of the darker color onto the point. Swirl the darker color into the lighter carefully and gently - you don't want to mix the colors, just trace a swirl. It is best to work with the least amount of the darker color you can, and add if it's too little. Again, be sure to test one out on copy paper first.

3. Allow to dry 1-2 hours on a flat, level surface. As the blob is so thick, it will be subject to smooshing with nails or pressure, and also to sliding if it's tilted, so you gotta be careful :)

Once dry, I used green marker and a bit of Mint Green Liquid Pearls to create leaves.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a fantastic weekend, and be sure to squeeze some creating time in there :)

Children's Room Name Frames

Their first pet ever, Syd the Beta Fish, died the night we brought the dogs over for dinner. It was Christmas Eve. A few tears, accusations ("I think Rosie's barking killed Syd"), and five steps of grief later, all was well - children are so resilient. Still, my heart broke for these two 7 year old twins. Syd now rests in the family freezer, waiting for the ground to thaw for a proper burial. I was told Abby loves crafts, and their room had recently been remodeled, so I promised name frames for each of them. I always loved receiving personalized stuff as a kid - that meant it was made just for me. It branded my little world.

The kids share a room, but the room is partitioned naturally by the shape of the house - one has an alcove. Because of this, each part of the room has the child's own favorite colors. I tried my best to match their name frames with the room colors AND what they told me were their favorite colors that Christmas eve (Abby: Pink! Purple! Gold! Shiny! Me: Ack! )

Since they share a room I tried to keep similarities between the frames, yet still individualize them a bit for each child.  Both frames started out as cheap black Wal-Mart frames - I think they were $5 each. I painted them with 3 coats of white (wishing all the time that I had bought primer - would have made that part a lot easier). I used Cosmo Cricket chipboard letters and Jack's World patterned papers for both frames.  

The patterned papers are adhered to the back of the frame with Matte Mod Podge. Abby's letters are painted with acrylic paints: a hot pink (#21903 Painter's Palette Bright Magentaby Plaid), and then sponged with a bit of Fok Art Metallic Pearl White #659 by Plaid. When dry, I painted a brush on silver glitter paint in patches - Folk Art Gems in Platinum- why does each paint have a different name? So confusing, but they are all manufactured by Plaid. My last coat was all over - more Brush on Glitter Paint, this one clear with opalescent clear glitter - Folk Art Gems in Diamonds. All these paints can be found at Wal-Mart. Once dry I edged the letters with a Krylon Silver Leafing Pen.

I am not sure who makes the chipboard scallops, but that was painted with a purple metallic paint called #654 Metallic Amethyst, then coated with Diamonds paint. The result is exactly the color of my favorite lip gloss as a teen- Urban Decay's Big Banglol. It is glittery enough for Abby, but only when the light hits the glitter. Then watch out Bling Police! BUT it is still tame enough to not drive mom crazy (I hope). Dew Drops, a sponged Prima Flower with a Swarovski crystal, and a Heidi Swapp butterfly mirror are accents.

Alex's letters are painted with Painter's Palette #21937 Turquoiseand sponged with Ceramcoat Seashell White.  The pointed scallop trim and star were painted with the purple metallic paint and Diamonds Brush On Glitter Paint. I kept his letters matte as it was only Abby that wanted all the glitz.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures but took them in a rush and sent the frames to the new little owners.

This coming week will be quite a busy one - I have a Valentine's Project tutorial for you, and lots of cards - maybe even news on a few sales too :) Thank you for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your weekend (what is left of it!).

Cross-Stitch Tilda (LSC183) ~ A Day of Challenges!

Today's card was made for the challenge over at SCS, which is to make a card with something new, something old, something borrowed and something blue. Fun! This sweet girl is called Cross-Stitch Tilda. She is another new image for Magnolia Stamps. I thought she would be perfect on Cosmo-Cricket's Honey Pie paper which has a cross-stitch pattern printed onto it.

Tilda was colored with the Copic markers you see above (and also Lipstick Red, a blue based deep red, which I forgot to photograph).

I like to use E21 Baby Skin Pink for her skin color, and Blush for her cheeks. I go over her face once to color, then go around the edges with the same color to give a bit of shadow. I also give her a button nose  (basically an upside down u) - it is really just a shadow of a nose, but it adds to her face I think.

Fruit Punch Stickles here added to her bow and the heart of her dress.

I glazed her Mary Jane shoes with Crystal Effects for a patent leather look, and added some more Stickles to the bows. I just can't help myself when it comes to bling!

May Arts pink velvet ribbon was layered over sheer daisy chain  ribbon (also May Arts). The ribbon and pearl flower is by Imaginisce.

For the background I used Nestabilities and the Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder, and a few buttons and hand sewn stitches.

I put a Martha Stewart punched out Butterfly (embossed first with the textile folder) on top of a lace applique butterfly, and added a tiny crystal red heart in the center. Those hearts can also be seen around the sentiment (cut from Honey Pie paper).

Be sure and play in the Embellish-Online.com Friday Free For All Challenge too! I did not like my card so am starting from scratch - the challenge is super neat and something I have never done before, which is to use folded PAPER as an embellishment! Cool huh?

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzy

Honey Pie in the Treetops

Today I am sharing a card from a Lizzie Anne Designs sketch. I can't stop putting this In the Treetop set down - I have found some very cool uses for the shapes that you will see soon. While I used the same stamp set as yesterday, today's card is quite a different style than my vellum trees.

I masked the Birthday Flower stamp (also from Lizzie Anne) then realized as I planned to add layered flowers with pop up dots I didn't need to - silly me. Oh well now I have a mask for next time :)

The trees are just stamped right onto the paper in different colors of green chalk ink, but I did add a few tiny pink crystal flowers and ribbon leaves. Next I "grounded" the trees with some shimmering chalk. A little Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie grass, some pink May Arts velvet ribbon and voila!

I hope the birthday recipient likes it. Thanks for stopping by!

Suzy

Stay Grounded ...but Reach for the Sky

It is Lizzie Anne Designs anniversary so I thought I would celebrate by making a card with my favorite set. I bought this Lizzie Anne Designs In the Treetop set *just* for that sentiment. I just love it - the words can be given for so many reasons - any time you need an uplifting card. Don't get me wrong - I love the rest of it too! Lots of fun little stamps to make backgrounds or trees with.

For this card I embossed the three tree branches onto Papertrey Select White cardstock with a dark brown embossing powder that happens to smell like Coffee - maybe these are coffee trees lol?

I stamped a few leaves onto the trees. Next I tapped around the edges of the treetop shapes with VersaMagic Chalk ink in Tea Leaves, Key Lime and Hint of Pesto and stamped it out on vellum. I cut out the vellum, put it on pop dots and added leaves with glue dots. The leaves cover the white of the pop dots :)

The trees were mounted on a base of Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste patterned paper. The rust colored paper had a frame pattern to it that I used to "frame" my trees.

I snipped some grass with the green paper scrap leftover from the mat. For balance I added some May Arts velvet rickrack ribbon to the bottom left.

Satin leaves from May Arts Leaves and Vine ribbon were cut to add some green to the sentiment.

I also added brown Dewdrops from the Cowboy collection here and there.

I hope you like it! A recipe post is coming up soon - you will love it if you have lots of fresh ripe tomatoes.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Mini Stamp Shop Card

Hi everyone! Today's challenge at SCS was to make a mini anything - what could be more perfect than making my very own mini stamp shop?  I have the perfect stamping sentiment on the way but until then I thought this A Muse Journey  sentiment was quite apropos -when is a journey to the stamp shop not a reward?

I stamped the image twice - once in Ancient Page Coal Black, and a second time in VersaFine Satin Red. I cut out the red parts and propped them up on foam glue dots. I colored the image in here and there with Copic Markers - do you like my feeble attempt at a cobblestone street lol? After coloring the window in a light blue, I added Plaid Papier Finish (like Crystal Effects) and Fruit Punch Stickles here and there. Tiny flowers were adhered with my Zip Dry glue and paper piercer. The scallop is my Fiskars Threading Water punch - yes I am obsessed with it. The patterned paper is Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie which I love except for one thing - two of the sheets are white. BLANK patterned paper? The pink ribbon is A Muse.

My friend Dejah, who owns her very own stamp shop, sent me this A Muse Stamp Shop stamp and lots of other goodies for my birthday. Thank you Dejah!

She sent this book too which I think will be so helpful. Her card was so gorgeous but it didn't photograph right so I will have to take more pics as I want you to see the layers of her flower.

Look what was at my feeder today! I used Allan's birthday gift to me, a book of Atlantic Birds to look him up - he is a White Winged Crossbill (I think).

Such a pretty and colorful bird I thought it was a parrot at first! They eat cone seeds in the forest so I am not sure what he was doing here, but I am glad he visited!

Happy stampin'!

Framing Your Loves: Family, Friends, and Ribbon!

Hi everyone!

When I received this month's Glue Art & Paper Design Team project I got so excited for two reasons. First - this project marks the addition of Jen del Muro to our Design Team! I can't wait to work with this amazingly talented lady :) Second - this tray is full of possibilities! I decided to add a backing to hang it on my wall and turn it into a frame filled with things I love - family, friends, ribbon, and flowers.

I first painted the frame with Delta Ceramcoat Seashell White, a barely off white acrylic paint. Pearl Finish, a sheer wash of shimmering white, was next to add a bit of warmth and subtle shimmer. The 2 3/4" inner squares were painted with Antique White, which to me is actually a very pale yellow.

I wove the various Stampin' Up!, May Arts and Offray ribbons in a braid type pattern on a piece of cardstock and folded it into the top right square for a "pillow" effect.

My Friends square uses Making Memories Fifth Avenue Sophia chipboard stickers as well as Prima flowers and butterfly crystal.

The crystal in the center of the Prima is a Swarovski.

I love the depth of the squares in the frame - they allow for so much shadow box fun.

The Family square also uses Making Memories Fifth Avenue Sophia chipboard stickers (the wreath and sentiment) and an opaque Say It In Crystals black flower.

I added a smaller Swarovski crystal in the center.

The final square uses Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste Black Chipboard flowers.

It is difficult to see but I used a square of green tulle fabric embedded with glitter as well. Water Dew Drops and a Prima Say It In Crystals black and white crystal sticker adorn the flower centers.

I hope you like my project. Be sure to check out what the other Design Team members have made! See you tomorrow.