Fresh Snow Owl Card

Good Morning Everyone!

It has been a cold start to the holiday season here in New England. The first snow of the season fell heavy on Wednesday into Thursday. It was beautiful. I love the look of fresh snow as it covers the browned grass. It's time to pull out sweaters and make hot cocoa.

That was my inspiration for this card.

I mixed the creaminess of hot cocoa with the white of fresh snow using Core'dinations White Wash line.I embossed the cardstock using a Tim Holtz Alteration folder called Deer Knit. I then sanded the paper to remove the white from the raised impressions.

The image and sentiment are from Teresa Collins Fisker collection Winter. I stamped the image and sentiment with Hot Cocoa Memento ink. I then used two different sized snowflake buttons to embellish the card.

I have a kit to recreate this card for sale through eBay by clicking the link above.

Thank you for stopping by. Stay warm and enjoy the snow.

What's Black and White with Accents of Red?

Good Morning!

It has been a busy few days. This week I'm on vacation from my full time job. I have decided to devote most of this vacation to my crafts and art. I have finished two altered jewelry boxes and a few cards so far.

Adam Bagni has been busy drawing and designing digital stamps too. I will be posting these digital stamps in the Butterfly Garden on Friday. 

But back to the topic of this post....

What's Black and White with Accents of Red?

This jewelry box!

I used paper from Cloud 9 Designs called "71382 C9 NS Glitter Paper Pad 24sh/2s" and Core'dinations smooth black cardstock.

Originally the jewelry box had wood dowel handles. I cut them off and sanded the area smooth with sandpaper. I removed all the hardware and put them in to a ziplock bag. I then painted the entire wooden jewelry box with Apple Barrel "2043 White" acrylic paint.

With the top of the box removed, I began measuring and cutting pieces of paper to line the inside and outside of the top. I cut the pattern paper to be 1/8" smaller than the black cardstock. I ran each layer through my Xyron Create a Sticker and adhered them together. I used this adhesive to adhere the paper to the painted jewelry box.

Inside the cover there is a mirror. I used an X-acto knife to cut angles in the paper to create a seam between stripes of layered paper.

I used Mod Podge for Furniture to seal the paper to the painted wood. I covered every nook and cranny of the top (except the mirror). I set this aside to dry.

Next I began cutting pieces to cover the rest of the outside of the jewelry box. Again I cut the pattern paper 1/8" smaller than the black cardstock.

I measured and cut around the edges of the jewelry box where the drawer cut our is located. 

 I continued this process with the drawer and tray. Every surface once covered with paper including the bottom trim was sealed with the Mod Podge.

Once the Mod Podge was set I cut and lined the bottom of the tray and drawer with velvet paper in red. I used two clear drawer knobs that I purchased from Michael's to accent the front of the drawer and the jewelry box. I placed a red rhinestone inside each of the knobs and sealed it with E6000. I used the E6000 to adhere the knobs to the front of the jewelry box.

Once the jewelry box was dry, I used rhinestones to accent the top of the box and strips of velvet paper to accent the inside of the top. 

 

I then reattached the hardware. 

I hope you enjoyed stopping by and seeing this project.

Happy Crafting!

Re-organizing my Crafty Space

Good Morning!

It is a bright, but chilly day here in New Hampshire. One of my New Years Resolutions is to clean, eliminate clutter, organize and use the crafting items I have on hand. Prior to the New Year, I went to JoAnn's when they were having their huge sale on totes and organizing systems. I was able to purchase two storage units designed by Iris for less than half price (SCORE!).

New System-Iris

 Here is a picture of the door organizer I purchased. These organizers replaced the drawer system I had originally purchased from Wal-mart. My old system of the Sterilite drawers was great until I stated to accumulate paper. The amount of paper I needed to store was getting too heavy for the plastic. It began to warp, crack, and break down. Plus it didn't give me the flexibility to organize the paper by theme/season/color that I really needed to.Due to the length of the drawers, I could fit a stack of 12x12 paper with about 5-8 inches of unused space. Paper was getting damaged when I opened or closed the drawers.

Old System-Sterilite

The new system of doors from Iris is a stronger plastic and has individual containers that lock shut. This provides me with an easier way to sort and organize my paper. If you enjoy purchasing the slabs from Michael's or JoAnn's, each drawer on the Iris system holds 4-5 180 sheet slabs. My two organizers sit on the floor verses on the wheels. These new organizers take up less room than the Sterilite drawer system by about 6-8 inches in depth and 12 (unused inches) in length. These means that by replacing the old Sterilite system with the new Iris system I save about 12 of floor space along the length.

Now I'm able to find what I need for paper, when I need it. I highly recommend the Iris system of drawers. Keep your eyes out for coupons in the Michael's or Jo Ann flyers. The Iris drawer carts are usually around $90 USD. However, you can get them for 50% with a coupon or during sales.

My next step is to reorganize my craft closet. It's kind of scary in there.

Thanks for stopping by. Make it a great day.

Trace Adkins and Martina McBride Concert 2010 Book

In March of 2012, I was able to go to the Trace Adkins and Martina McBride concert at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester. I purchased the tickets for my mom, Crystal, and I online. Then counted down the days.

The concert was amazing! I was able to get some beautiful professional quality pictures. However, the pictures sat in a box until this week. Finally I was able to place in motion the ideas for a mini book that were wondering around my head.

I used paper from Rusty Pickle and the Paper Element to create the final book. Here are pictures of the book as of today.

I used some of Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink on some of the pages for Trace Adkins. 

I used some of Tim Holtz Tattered Rose Distress Ink on pages for Martina McBride. 

I used brads and other accents to fill in large spaces. 

Each of the pages has the chorus from one of the songs each artist sang.

I kept the pages simple and left room for journaling...I think this may be a present for my mom this Christmas.

My Love for Graphic 45 Paper!

Good Evening Everyone!

So I started teaching classes at Stampin' Memories in the Belknap Mall in Belmont NH. They are the only place in New Hampshire that I have been able to find Graphic 45 paper. I love this paper! I find that it's weight is great for all my projects and it's double sided. Which means I have pages that coordinate.

On December 3rd, I will be teaching a class about envelope books called Vintage Christmas Brag Book. The project I designed is using papers from the Christmas Emporium and Le Cirque collections by Graphic 45.

Please visit Stampin' Memories' Website at www.nhstampinmemories.com and Graphic 45's website at  http://www.g45papers.com for more information on classes and products. Graphic 45 products are also available through my store. 

Below are pictures of the paper I used.