Winding Things Up for Inspiration at the #Altered Pinewood Derby!

Hello everyone! Today I'm sharing a special little project that was totally just for fun... between friends - and I'm totally in love with this creation!

A while back, Tina Walker announced she was hosting a Pine Wood Derby Challenge and gathered some creative friends to join in the fun. The idea was to all start with the same blank Pine Wood Derby car, and alter it however we were inspired and everyone's resulting cars are so amazing!

This is the blank Pinewood Derby kit we all started with... 

A wedge of wood, four wheels and four nails for axles... so full of potential!

I gathered a bunch of items from my stash of embellishments, leftovers from other projects, watch parts, recycled bits and found objects to alter my dream racer. The base of my car is collaged with a monoprinted deli paper, one of many that I made in a Nathalie Kalbach workshop a few months back.

I used Mod Podge to collage it to the car, wrapping around like a present. I love how it blends from black, to blue to purple - with all the painterly effects and none of the mess, so I can get to embellishing all the faster!

I had loads of potential items to junque up my car... but once I mounted the SIMPLIFY tag on the back bumper as license plate... my muse waived the flag "less is more". Two resin cast bolt caps are the lights flanking the simplify plate. An assortment of embellishments and watch parts clustered into a gear mechanism formation to meet up to the horizontal gears on top.

This was so fun to create. I'm quite pleased with my whimsical racer topped with a vintage winder key... enjoy all the details!

The rims of the wheels are capped off with recycled watch parts.

The front fender is half of a hinge clasp from a cigar box accented with mini adhesive pearls and a recycled watch gear cluster for hood ornament.

The large gears holding the winder are an assortment of recycled gears from adhesive runners, metal craft gears, and found recycled rusty metal pieces all stacked and fitted together. I can acutally spin and turn these around... too FUN!!!

This section is one piece I knew right off the bat would be the feature... this recycled mini square watch face with a leftover stamped eye inside; mounted on top of a partially altered mah jong tile received in a goodie box from a creative friend long ago.

A section of chain that was in with my stash of recycled watch bits and an "INSPIRE" tops off this car. My vintage key came with this purple string tied to it... I left it as it is my tiny scarf tied for good luck!

Thanks for dropping by! Please click on the boxes below to jump over and see the other fantastic creations for the Altered Pinewood Derby. If you are inspired to create your own, please leave me a comment and share your link for us to see - we would totally love it! Have a fabulously creative day! Sb  :)

An InLinkz Link-up

A Diary of BLING... Connie Crystal Challenge with Designer Crafts Connection

Welcome to another special Designer Crafts Connection Challenge. Today we have been challenged to make something handmade utilizing beads and crystal sheets from Connie Crystal. My project is featuring the Connie Crystal Crystal Sheets and I have used these to transform an ordinary canvas journal into a girly diary full of sparkle!

In today's project I have used both the black and white Crystal Sheets provided from Connie Crystal. Other supplies used: Blank canvas hardcover journal book; Colorbox "My Type" punched metal alphabet; double-sided adhesive sheets; paper trimmer; scissors; recycled silver twistie ties; and a variety of ribbon from my stash.

Aren't these Crystal Sheets so gorgeous??! The sheets containing 6mm crystal rhinestones in white mount or black can be cut to any size and are ready to use for any kind of jewelry or crafting project.

This project is pretty straightforward - the hardest part a little math and measuring to figure out how many squares of the Crystal Sheets I would need to complete a checkerboard pattern on the cover. I cut some scrap strips of paper to the size of a 4 x 4 grid of crystals and laid them out on my book cover {this really helped in planning placement of lettering in the final assembly, too}.

The crystal sheets are mounted to a coordinating mesh which can be easily cut with scissors. The sections I received were cut to 1 1/2" x 13" pieces, though on the Connie Crystal website it says the Crystal Sheets come 36" x 4 3/8". 

After cutting all the squares of bling, I cut a section of CLEAR double-sided permanent adhesive sheets and burnished to the front cover. After exposing the adhesive, I placed the crystal squares in a checkerboard pattern - alternating black and white. I had a photo of how I planned placement of lettering {luckily the spacing of the letters just happened to work out as same height and even number of squares}. Behind the letters, I placed some bright silver twistie-ties that are still attached that are leftover from a package of clear cellophane treat bags... bling is bling, right!

There was a sliver of blank cover exposed on the spine edge and along the bottom when I was done placing all the pieces, so I edged with a thing silver metallic ribbon. I adhered a black ribbon tie to the inside front and back cover so this diary could be tied closed.

When I was a teenager, my diary was a plain little blue book with a flimsy lock. This journal REDUX is go girly and gorgeous... I just know my niece is going to love this!

A Book of Sparkle for a Budding Queen!

Visit the Connie Crystal website to see all of their beautiful beads, pendants, Crystal Sheets and more! For more sparkling ideas using Connie Crystal products, click here to visit the "Sparkle by Connie Crystal" inspiration blog.

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Thanks so much for visiting! For more ideas and inspiration follow the Designer Crafts Connection "Connie Crystal Challenge" by selecting hop back/forward on the logo below to enjoy all of the wonderful creations. Sb :)

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Everything's Coming Up Clovers... or in a Shamrock Haze!

Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying St. Patrick's Day and all things GREEN and IRISH that lead to the welcoming of Springtime. I've been totally seeing green and LUCKY ME... I have the supplies, stamps and scraps out for the making. There's a couple challenges that I really wanted to participate in so today I took one hour before work to make a fun tag to share over at Anything But a Card Challenges No. 45 "Green with Envy" and Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers SOSS #29 - L is for Leprechaun. Both of these challenges are open for a few days and are full of creative inspiration.

This tag was fun to make and I just went for it transforming a scrap of marbelized painted creme cardstock into this green fantasy. A bunch of inky, stamped goodness here along with a bit of some hand coloring. I hope you like my Leprechaun sitting atop of the toadstools enjoying his IRISH dinner.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

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Stamps from Viva Las VegaStamps: "I Try Not to Limit..." #15414; "Leprechaun on Mushrooms" #18110; "Four Leaf Clover Shading" #6806; "Shamrock/4 Leaf Clover" #12756; and "Grass" #9746. Other Supplies: recycled dry cleaning tag; Sakura of America Gelly Roll Starburst pens {various colors}; waterbrush; various green dye inks; clover mini decorative tape runner; green torn scraps of mulberry paper; green marbelized and collaged painted cardstock scraps; Tsukineko Antique Gold Dewdrop ink; waterbrush; Miracle Tape; and black versafine ink.

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Thanks for dropping by! Have a fantastic Day! :) Sb

Green is the Color of #Cre8time with Deflecto Craft Frames

Greetings Friends! Springtime is inching ever closer and it's time for another Deflecto USA Ambassador Design Team Challenge. This month's Challenge theme is "St. Patrick's Day". I have created some quick and easy home decor using some seasonal embellishments, floral picks and greeting cards... one store bought and one handmade.

For more information on the Deflecto line of products,

please visit: http://www.deflecto.com/craft/

This month the Deflecto USA Ambassador Design Team is sharing a variety of creative and imaginative uses for the Deflecto "St. Patricks Day" challenge so you'll want to CLICK HERE to jump over to the Deflecto Craft Facebook Page or Deflecto on Pinterest to see more of the teams creations.

  

For this project I used the 4" x 6" Deflecto Green Border Craft Frame Item #69574CR, and also the 4" x 6" Clear Acrylic Craft Frame item #597501CR. These clear acrylic frames can be used vertically or horizonally and feature a slanted design where your photos, scrapbook or literature slides in from the side. The green frame has an approximate 3/4" wide permanent green border border on top, left and right edges wraps around the bottom and onto the stand. It's a wonderful POP of color and makes a great starting point for embellishing.

I love these frames for seasonal decorating - they are so versatile! I can easily frame up a papercrafted project, embellish family photos or make a fabulous customized gift. Today's projects use goodies from my stash of GREEN and shamrock themed embellishments, along with some floral picks to add some IRISH flair to the framed cards. 

The green frame features a cropped front of a cute greeting card I found at the Dollar Tree. The background of the "Lucky" handmade card is a recycled sheet of paper towel painted from mopping up ink sprays on my craft sheet {I can't let that go to waste}. I mounted the paper towel to a piece of creme cardstock for stability and placed into the frame. Since this card has Ranger Stickles on the letters, embossed stamped images and a clover raised on 3D dots, I mounted this to the outside of the frame using an adhesive runner and some coordinating "old school" photo corners.

Each frame is topped of with an assortment of flair attached with Glue Dots... quick and easy! I'm totally green with envy with how these came out.

Kiss Me I'm IRISH!!!

How would you decorate with Deflecto Craft Frames?

Thanks for visiting! Please join me each month when the Deflecto USA Ambassador Design Team will have a new Deflecto product challenge to debut.  :) Sb

For more information on the Deflecto line of products,

please visit: http://www.deflecto.com/craft/

Tasty Snacks Leave Creative Treasures...

It's no secret that greencrafting is one of my favorite pastimes. Especially when tasty snacks come in such fun packaging just screaming for some Cre8time love.

Join me today for another installment of my "Thoughtful Abstractions" column at Unruly PaperArts. The theme for March is TRASH 2 TREASURE... focusing on recycling, reusing and upcycling. I don't have to look far for finding something to create with – there is usually plenty of interesting things to use for crafting in my recycling bin... or in today's case... compliments of "The Laughing Cow" in  my refrigerator!

CLICK HERE to jump over to Unruly Paper Arts to see the full transformation. :) Sb

Teatime Inspired... You Can Make It Yourself Bloghop with Designer Crafts Connection

Hello Everyone! Today is the first monday of March which brings another Designer Crafts Connection Bloghop... celebrating National Crafts Month! Our creatives are sharing projects that "You Can Make it Yourself" and techniques to inspire you to get crafty all month long. I have loads of pins to try to keep me busy for a lifetime {and then some}... but for today's project, I decided on something that has been on my handwritten crafty list of "things to try".

I'm sure you've seen this one around! This papier maché tea cup tutorial by Ann Wood {CLICK HERE to view} is all over Pinterest and the web - I have been wanting to make these for ages. Ann is so wonderful to provide a fabulous tutorial - and - she also provides a downloadable template, too! THANK YOU Ann for sharing! This project is perfect for using up scraps, ribbon and embellishments that are too small for other makes.

I have a bin with paper scraps, small pieces of ribbon and other bits and bobs leftover from other projects which I shop when starting new projects. I had a four leftover mauve floral paper scraps from another project {3" x 12" strips} which made for a great base to make a set of four tea cups. I collected up some coordinating washi tape along with leftover ribbon sections, beaded trim, lace and my tacky glue. I downloaded and reduced the pattern to fit on my paper strips; cut out pattern and traced onto my papers. After a few brief minutes of fussy cutting {really super easy}, it was time for assembly.

I took a few liberites with the instructions: I reduced the pattern to fit my paper scraps and I skipped the traditional papier maché as per the tutorial. Instead I taped the inside of the cups together with loads of strips of washi tape... a cool grey and a teal polka dot pattern - two cups lined with each. I rubbed all the edges with Antique Gold Dew Drop ink, then layering ribbons and trims to each cup. I finished the cups with a sealing of Mod Podge on the inside so the washi tape will not peel up.

Isn't this so stinkin' cute?!!

These were so fun and easy to make - I made a set of 4 while catching up on a couple TV shows spooled up on the DVR. I could see a whole tree covered in these mini teacups for the holidays. They would make great place cards and favors for a bridal shower or dessert party, too.

"Time for Tea"

Thanks so much for visiting! Continue on the Designer Crafts Connection "You Can Make It Yourself" Bloghop by selecting hop back/forward on the logo below to enjoy all of the wonderful inspiration. Happy Creating! Sb :)

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