Recycled Notebook meets #MixedMedia with Viva Las VegaStamps! + Art Anthology

Hello friends! All week Viva Las VegaStamps! has teamed up with Art Anthology to bring you tons of inspiration with mixed-media stamped creations. Today I have a special project over at the Viva Las VegaStamps! Blog... a recycled notebook RE-Imagined!

So you don't miss anything please be sure you check out these links:

For Viva Las VegaStamps!

Website: http://www.vlvstamps.com/index.php/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/vlvstamps

Blog: http://vivalas.blogspot.com/

For Art Anthology

Art Anthology's Website: www.artanthologyinc.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Art-Anthology/392413134139071

Blog: www.artanthologyinc.com/blog

I have altered this journal that came to my husband as a goodie from the car dealership. It's a blank book, with lined pages – perfect for jotting down ideas and things to remember... BUT it's not me. Enter Art Anthology Gemstones ~ Dimensional Paint and Colorations Spray along with my stash of Viva Las VegaStamps! to decorate this journal in my favorite color PURPLE and also to disguise it from the hubs {so he doesn't realize I swiped this out of the recycling bin - LOL}.

In creating, I discovered the Art Anthology Gemstones ~ Dimensional Paint works great for monoprinting on my Amazing DIY No-Gelatin Printing Plate, and also for the resist technique.

Please CLICK HERE to jump over to Viva Las VegaStamps! Blog for see my tutorial and journal transformation.

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SUPPLIES: From Viva Las VegaStamps: "Harlequin Diamond Background" #18920; "Pure Imagination" #19041; "Ferris Wheel" #16038; "Bee Hung Up" #19164; "London Skyline" #10597; "Triangle Banner" #19043; "Chevron Banner" #19042; Miracle Sheets; and StazOn Jet Black Ink. From Art Anthology: Gemstones ~ Dimensional Paint in Emerald and Flourite; Colorations Spray in Wild Orchid. Other Supplies: white cardstock; recycled notebook; scissors; paper trimmer; small paintbrush; Sakura of America Gelly Roll® Stardust® Pen; and pencil.

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Thanks so much for dropping by! Don't forget to check out the other works for this week of inspiration from VLVS! and Art Anthology... there is blog candy to be won. Happy Friday!  :) Sb

A Place for Blissful Wishes... a Decorative Trimmings Wedding Challenge with Designer Crafts Connection

Welcome to another special Designer Crafts Connection Bloghop. With Spring and Wedding Season upon us, we are sharing projects for Weddings using beautiful cording and embellishments from Decorative Trimmings.

Decorative Trimmings has been manufacturing and distributing Braids, Twist Cords, Jacquard Ribbons, Fringes, Laces and Embroideries for over 30 Years.

I love to make personalized gifts when I can, and for this challenge I decided to make a book for the wedding reception where family and friends can write a special message to the happy couple. I didn't have a big lavish affair for my wedding, as I got married at a small ceremony in Jamaica. We had a big family party when we returned and I really cherish my book of wishes that were gathered at the event. My book is a simple brown book that was from the party supply store. My handmade keepsake book takes that idea and adds a personal touch and elegance with the addition of Decorative Trimmings.

The trimmings I selected from Decorative Trimmings are ornate and sophisticated in oyster coloring. I have to point out how beautiful and secure each trim was sent on individual shrink wrapped cards - safe from tangling and unraveling.

Trims as shown in photo above from left to right: OYSTER STAR GUIMP Code: 02550-8-12Y-020; 3/4 INCH NATURAL LACE and GIMP GALLOON Code: 06550-8-012Y-020; OYSTER 1/2 INCH "CHINESE BRAID" Code: 02539-H-022M-020; and 5/16 INCH OYSTER PEARL TWIST CORD Code: 09141-R-10Y-020.

I set out to create a simple bound book. I cut a couple of pieces of thin recycled cardboard to 4 1/4" x 6 1/2" and also a 3/4" strip for a spine. I mounted double-sided adhesive sheets to each side; placed onto backside of cardstock leaving about 1/8" allowance between for folding; then wrapped my decorative cardstock around. I finished the inside off with a creme cardstock.

I wrapped the cover with a beautiful creme and bronze glittered 12" x 12" paper I had in my stash from The Robin's Nest {Creme Awning Coffee Glitter}. This was one lone sheet of cardstock that was waiting for a special project such as this. Gorgeous!

The inside pages are a stack of creme cardstock sheets cut 12 1/2" x 4", scored and folded in half. I scored each 1/2" from the fold and used a paper adhesive to glue them together.

I would normally hand stitch pages into proper signatures, but then I would have to stitch and bind them to the cover. This way I can keep the cover simple and let the Decorative Trimmings stand out. The first page is accented with the Chinese Braid 1/2" trimming adhered with double-sided tape. 

On the cover I layered first the Oyster Star Guimp, then added the Oyster Pearl Twist cording on top using Beacon Fabri-Tac®. I dabbed all the trimmed edges with a small amount of Diamond Glaze to prevent fraying. This covers up the seam where I joined the sections of paper together and puts the finishing touch on this keepsake book.

A Place for Blissful Wishes!

Visit the Decorative Trimmings website to see the wonderful selection of decorative trimmings, lace and narrow fabrics for use in Crafts, Hobby, Home Décor, and Apparel. You can also follow Decorative Trimmings on Social Media via Facebook page {https://www.facebook.com/dectrims} and Twitter {https://twitter.com/dectrims}.

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

Designer Craft Connection

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#Cre8time Paint Play brings #MixedMedia Variety...

Join me today for another installment of my "Thoughtful Abstractions" column at Unruly PaperArts. The theme for April is Gelli® Plates and Monoprinting... focusing on the mixed-media painting technique that virtually ANYONE can do – anywhere! This is one of my favorite techniques and is a source of Cre8time inspiration.

CLICK HERE to jump over to Unruly Paper Arts to read my latest column that includes a monoprinting tutorial.

Monoprints are so versatile and can be a starter for all sorts of projects. Here are a few examples of projects I've made using different techniques.

My "Faux Van Gogh" stamped collage is a fusion of three layers: the base a painted sheet of white cardstock; a monoprint created with Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic paints {Cadmium Orange Hue and Cerulean Blue} and deli paper on a Gelli Arts® Gel Printing Plate {yes, I do actually own one}; and a stamped image on deli paper. This is a fun way to use your monoprints. This blue and orange was acutally a clean-up sheet that I was rolling my paint filled brayer on. CLICK HERE to view tutorial on how I created this.

How about using a monoprint to découpage onto a dimensional project? Oh yes! This made painting so quick and easy and my whimsical steampunk pinewood derby car came to life in minutes. CLICK HERE to see the entire project.

Round monoprinting plates are the lastest craze and it dawned on me that I also have loads of round shapes lying around, too! A whole pile of them!!! Several of my mold rubber molds sitting in pretty little stacks like crafty pancakes.

First I applied some colors to one of my rectangular plates with a brayer, then pressed my nut and bolt mold into the paint – this leaves a beautiful circle with hexagons in the negative space. Then I can stamp off the color from the MOLD onto another print or blank paper. Gorgeous!!! CLICK HERE to view more variations of applying color.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are inspired to try some painterly play during your Cre8time! Have a wonderful Sunday. :) Sb

Wearable Art to Share... Creative Scarves Blog Hop

Hello everyone! Welcome to a special bloghop celebrating the launch of the book "Creative Scarves" - 20+ Stylish Projects to Craft and Stitch by Tiffany Windsor, Heidi Borchers and Savannah Star. This new book changes the outlook on traditional scarves and shares fun and creative ways to DIY beautiful scarves for all seasons.

I don't know how to knit or crochet... so I was thrilled and intriqued when Tiffany invited me to participate in the book launch party. I love to wear scarves, but living in the near year-round summer heat of South Florida, it's not really practical until the temps drop below 70 {which is a rare, but celebrated occasion}. This book is fantastic and I have so many fun scarves in the works - repurposing clothing that is taking up space in drawers and hanging in the closet. 

Many of the techniques and projects featured are great for beginners {or even seasoned seamstress} as many are NO-SEW projects - perfect for getting the kids involved! All the projects would make for great handmade gifts... as I am starting my Christmas gifts already. I have sisters and several nieces who love all things girly.

Here's a sneek peek of the scarves of spring - bright and colorful with interesting uses of fabrics and texture. My first venture was off to my overflowing t-shirt drawer and gather a few that I know I can cut up straightaway. I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal most every day and making a cute girly recycled scarf was fun and so easy while I waited for the load of laundry to finish washing other shirts up for redux.

I have loads of wide organza ribbon from my stash cut in squares to make a variation of the orange and creme beauty in the center.

Here's me wearing my first make from this book. It's totally ME! I cut up the bottom halves of three t-shirts using my trusty Fiskars {I don't have a rotary cutter}. This project gives you a fun upper body workout while stretching the strips out to make the yarn. Snip, snip, snip and then pull, pull, pull and in under a 1/2 hour I'm ready to wear!

This design is fun and can be wrapped and tied to change up the look. I've even worn it to work and the guys at the printshop didn't even say anything {that is vote of approval - they have an opinion of e-v-e-r-y-thing LOL}.

Since it's so warm out now, I wanted mine to be less bulky. I divided all my strips up so I have two scarves from my handiwork. One for me and I'll give the other to my sister - she loves green. I'm having so much fun with these projects!

Here's another sneak peek - the scarves of summer... bright an summery all perfect for accenting any occasion for summer at the beach. I look forward to making all of these and revamping clothes of season's past into something new!

This t-shirt that I colored with Tulip® One-Step Tie-Dyes is next up for my trusty Fiskars. I was thinking this would look nice as the infinity fringe like the peach one above in the summer overview photo. What do you think? Or maybe this one would be pretty cut into t-shirt yarn, too??

Now this wouldn't be a proper blog party without a giveway and there is an amazing prize for the "Creative Scarves" Book Launch Blog Hop. Follow the rafflecopter instructions below for your chance to win the prize... a signed copy of the book plus a $100 gift card from Dharma Trading! International readers are welcome to enter, too. GOOD LUCK!

CLICK HERE to see the entire bloghop.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I really love this book and the projects. I plan to make all of them using stuff in my crafty stash and at the same time having fun clearing out the closet. Special thanks to Tiffany Windsor for inviting me to participate in this event - it is truly an honor. I would love to  hear about your creative scarf creations - please share in the comments. Thanks for visiting!  Sb :)

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Framing Up a Special Friend... #Cre8time Memory Keeping with Deflecto Craft Frames

Greetings Friends! Springtime is finally here - though here in South Florida we're already feeling the summer heat. Today I am sharing a special commemorative gift that I made using one of the beveled edge craft frames from Deflecto. 

About a week ago we heard that my brother in law's dog had gone to the big dog park above. Rusty was more than just his dog... he was the family dog - a gorgeous golden retriever with a heart of gold. We have a family dinner this weekend so I want to bring a special gift for my brother in law framed in one of my Deflecto Craft frames. I have several photographs of Rusty that I had taken back in 2009 for use in one of my "Wreck this Journal" projects. He was such a good sport in partnering to help me with some creative madness.

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 seasonal uses for Deflecto Craft products 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 special commemorative gift I used the 5"x7" Deflecto Beveled Edge Frame Item #799593CR. A premium clear acrylic frame featuring a beveled edge with metal knobs that unscrew easily to be used vertically or horizontally. The edge has a tint of green so that it looks like real glass and photo/signage floats securely between two plastic panels. It's modern, sleek and will blend perfectly with any home decor. 

First thing I needed to do was select a photo then do a little creative photo editing in Photoshop. I cropped my photo to 6 1/2" x 8 1/2", the same size as the frame edge to edge and printed it out on my color laser printer {I could also take it on a disk to the drug store photo lab to get it printed}.

I mounted my print to a sheet of black cardstock for the backside and trimmed to the fit the frame. I needed to use a hole punch to punch holes where the screws secure the photo between the two plexiglass panels.

Now I need a custom piece to finish it all off. For this I got out a little metal dog tag that I have in my stash of items to mold. I mold this using Amazing Mold Putty to make a custom embellishment for my framed photo with Rusty's name. This is a two-part molding putty that is quick and easy to use and cures in about 15 minutes.

Now to prepare for a bit of resin. I brushed the mold with Alumilite Bronze and Silver Metallic Powders to add color that will adhere to the poured resin.

I prepare a small batch of Amazing Casting Resin - a 2 part resin that cures an opaque white that cures in about 10 minutes. It's lightweight and perfect for making embellishments in a jiffy. I added no dyes - the grey color is from the metallic powders swimming around during the curing process... a little happy magic that happens in small castings.

When cured I remove the tag. I'm really happy with the metallic sheen from the metallic powders. I punch the hole through and gently sand the edges on the back. I use some metal stamp letters to hammer "RUSTY" into the tag. I finish off with a silver brad and tie onto the frame with some black fibers. I was going to hang the tag from a section of a dog collar I picked up at the Dollar Tree - but it was a little out of sorts with the simple design of the frame. I want our special friend to be the focal point.

Remembering Rusty...

This one of a kind special gift turned out amazing and my BIL really loves it. I'm glad I made a mold of the tag - I'm pretty sure I'll be making a few more of these for other family members too. Rusty was a traveling dog and he never missed a family gathering.

How would you memory keep with Deflecto Craft Frames?

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

For more information on the Deflecto line of products,

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

April Showers Bring #Handmade Paper FLOWERS

Hello Everyone! Another month is speeding along and the first Monday of April started another Designer Crafts Connection Bloghop... this month we bring you a floral fantasy! Our creatives are sharing projects and techniques with "Handmade Flowers" to inspire you for the Spring  and Summer seasons ahead.

What to do with that lone leftover piece of tissue... make flowers??! Can you believe these flowers are tissue paper??? Really - that's it! All you need is a sheet of tissue paper folded over several times, a circular or scallop paper punch, a pushpin and a brad. It's super easy and customizable to any colors you desire!

You punch 15-20 circles {I used a 1 1/2" scalloped circle punch and this punch with three mini blossoms} then layer them all together. You want to make sure your punch is sharp (or the tissue will just tear}. You can certainly do this with steelrule or thinlet dies too.

My selected punches haven't been used in a while and were a bit oxidized, so I had to prime them by punching though some aluminum foil. **A BONUS... THIS GIVES YOU A WHOLE SET OF METAL BLOOMS! **

Layer a stack of 15-20 punched pieces {less if thicker paper or foil}, and punch a hole in the center using a pushpin or paper piercer {or a small hole punch}, and affix with brad.

I used a pushpin to poke a hole in the center of my blooms.

After poking hole through stack, I poked a mini brad through the center and opened the wings to secure. Depending on how large the shape of the circle, the brad need not matter because after you scrunch up each layer of tissue towards the center, you won't see it anyway.

The flowers look pretty enough like this... but I'm going for some eye-popping 3D blooms here! Now it's time for the fun stuff - the fluffing! 

All the work is in the scrunching... to fuss about with the petals to make them just so. I find myself obsessing a bit at this point - LOL! These can be finished off with some paper cut into leaf shapes, or added directly to a frame or shadowbox project. 

These were so fun and easy to make - I made all of these in under an hour. These are so lovely - not even chalked or inked; and the more mushed up... the better! Grunged up with a little creamy brown chalk ink or dry-brushed with white they would be perfectly shabby chic. Embellished with some ink, glitter or shimmer spritz... oh the possibilities!

"Fanciful Flowers"

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

Designer Craft Connection

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Tagging King Tut's GOLD for Anything But a Card Challenges No. 46 - "FOOL's GOLD"

It's a long weekend for Easter and Passover. With a new challenge to play with, I putter about and catch up on some tag techniques to see what inspiration strikes. 

We have a new Challenge at Anything But a Card Challenges. Challenge No. 46 is "FOOL's GOLD"... uses the prettiest of all metals – GOLD – as your inspiration to challenge your muse. CLICK HERE to jump over to ABAC to see inspiration from our design team.

My tag is based on T!m Holtz' August 2013 Tag techniques and I'm heading to Ancient Egypt to find some Gilded treasure for my creation for the "FOOL's GOLD" No. 46 challenge at Anything But a Card Challenges.

On a sheet of freezer paper, I applied side by side three Ranger Distress Stains - Brushed Pewter, Old Paper, and Antique Linen. I misted my #8 manila tag with a light amount of water then dragged the tag through the puddle of ink. I tapped off the excess liquid and then heat set to dry. Looks pretty grungy and gold... weathered by thousand of years in the desert!

I built up the layers of color with three applications using the same technique above and heat set to dry between layers. The brushed pewter gave a subtle metallic shimmer over the tag that looks like aged sandstone. I overstamped the "Basket Egyptian Goddess" #6101, "Mummy Case/Female" #5806 and "Stylized Dog Border" #9827 {all from Viva Las VegaStamps!} using Staz-On Jet Black ink. I also stamped each on acetate and a scrap paper to create masks for layering and scene building.

I prepared my masks, two on acetate and the others on paper and adhered to my tag with some removable adhesive runner. The colored image will not appear where the masked areas are. This process of building scenes is a bit time consuming with fussy cutting - but the end results are AMAZING - and for me totally worth the effort!

I mounted the "Nile Flower Background" #1657 stamp and then began coloring with Ranger Distress Markers adding different colors directly onto the stamp. This is a detailed pattern, so I had to concentrate coloring similar sections. This was quite fun and relaxing coloring this large background. I remoistened the marker applied to the background stamp by breathing on it then stamped onto the tag. 

The "Mummy Case/Female" #5806 was not as clear as I liked on the painted tag, though I did stamp clearly - so I stamped it again onto a brushed gold cardstock, fussy cut and adhered with Miracle Tape right over the top. This did the trick! The gold gave the pop and extra bling that I desired and looks just like the artifacts in the King Tut exhibit I saw in the Art Museum!

I went around the edge with a distressing tool for a frayed effect and rubbed edge with a couple colors of Distress Markers. To finish off - I added a pink pearl gem, some additional hand coloring and some ribbon to the top and bottom and this tag looks like it's an artifact straight from the Egypt.

Tag ARTifact from the Pyramids...

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Supplies used: STAMPS - "Basket Egyptian Goddess" #6101, "Mummy Case/Female" #5806, "Nile Flower Background" #1657, and "Stylized Dog Border" #9827. Other supplies: #8 manila tag; Staz-On Jet Black ink; Miracle Tape; Ranger Distress Markers; Ranger Distress Stains - Brushed Pewter, Old Paper, and Antique Linen; water brush; brushed gold cardstock; pink pearl gem; and ribbon/trim.

Thanks so much for dropping by. I invite you to play along with us at Anything But a Card Challenges and the new "FOOL's GOLD" Challenge No. 46.

Hoppy Creating!  :) Sb