"O" You are too wonderful!!! (+ a template peek and photoshop ramble...)

Thank
You!!!

Two little words that always seem oh so inadequate when I try to express how much your incredible support and heart warming words mean to me. I just can't tell you how extremely lucky I feel to know you guys. Wish I could be next-door neighbours with you all! Wouldn't that be a great neighbourhood? Crafting buddies galore for everyone! sighhhhh.... ;o)

I'm thrilled to report that I'm in the process of feeling crafty goodness coming on (thanks to your encouragement!) and I'm making a template. Here's a sneak peek of part of it...

These are the side pieces of a curvaceous purse basket.
There's a non-patterned version too :o)

If you'd like the free curvy purse basket
template, you can find it my post here

A strange random ramble about photoshop: You long time blog friends may notice I have finally conquered the curve!!! The curvy bits on here are real, symmetrical circles--not "shaky drawn with pencil" kind of circles---not "tracing-the-lid-off-the-spaghetti-sauce-jar" kind of circles---not "try-to-line-two-of-them-up-and-get-that-curses-on-mel's-crooked-circles-feeling" kind of circles! but bona fide computer roundness! teehee

Although, I still "feel-the-love" for that wonky kind of homemade circle, it was an exciting moment when I figured out a sneaky way to make circles in photoshop. [Using the letter 'O', lining it up on my template, using the "find edges" filter to turn it into a line, and erasing the parts of the "O" that don't fit the template.]

Granted, it's definitely not the right way (which for some reason eludes me to no end) and this weird way probably takes way too long comparatively, but "O" man oh man, was the tech-challenged stamp-dork side of me ever thrilled to have symmetrical circle ability engaged! ;o)

Well, enough of my yadda yadda... I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of this template up & sharing it with you fabulous sweeeeeeet people, soon!

Thanks again for being You!
You make my heart burst with happy!
:o)
Mel

Read More

a little hello from under my rock!

How I have missed you all! I am ever so sorry to have been gone so long without a word from under the rock I crawled under... I must admit, it's strange what being absentee from the world of crafty internet-ness can do to ya. Good things and odd things.

Long story short:

The GOOD things about being away are I've been sleeping!!!! Well that and getting more done around the house. Our land of boxes and messes is almost organized if not really ever 100% clean (between battling bad migraines and oh-so-low energy).

Miss Mouse expresses it best:

YAWN!

By far, the loveliest thing is that C and me and Mouse are making lots of time for each other and all 3 of us are more in love than ever. :-D GRIN :-D (I know: BARF! hey?) ;o)

But the ODD things are that... after I fell of the map, I somehow lost my creative self almost entirely (maybe it was the extreme guilt about falling off the map? not sure)... the most surprising & odd thing was that I lost my "internet self" (I lost my online voice) so much so that I quite honestly didn't know how to even begin to write a post to you all--even though I must have thought of writing it hundreds of times. I was just so sadly STUCK.

However, I think perfectionism & insecurity habitually scares me away from doing what I want (and need) to do--and it may be a very long while until I figure out what is making me generally ill-- so my new motto is...

"make yourself"

(make myself face challenges one crawlin' step at a time, make myself work through illness, make myself over anew... all while making myself take time for the stuff that I never used to...)

hence I thought I'd just make myself write to you sweethearts, already! ...even though it is sort of scary after being gone so long. [And despite the possibility this may not be remotely coherent or complete, since I'm writing it during a migraine extraordinaire.]

Anywho, I don't know if/when I'll be back to blogging/crafting, but I am dabbling on the computer again, experimentally:

• ..I'm trying desperately to answer new & old emails (I am so very sorry if I have missed yours!)
  
• ...I put some old project photos up on flickr, because I wanted to be a part of the new Little Paper Shop flickr pool there...
• ...I added a new page on the ol' blog (called my clips) I'm using clipmarks to gather inspiration online & hopefully get crafting again.
• ...my aunt Maggie (who is way way WAY too good to me and extremely artistic) gifted me with the summer course flying lessons by Kelly Rae Roberts. A course on finding your creative wings and building a creative business. It was a delight. (I am so lucky!) I'm looking forward to trying to put it into practice. I dream of collage making (and selling) and gathered all the supplies , but am at the chickening out phase. How to get started...? :o)
  

My touchstone lately is a philosophy shared by a lovely friend in email: WYC, WYC "what you can, when you can" so I'm going to go with that for now...

Well, that's my ramble on where I'm at. I'm sorry it's been so very overdue and that I don't have plans for a new blog schedule at all...

...but I am most certainly thinking of You
With Love,
Mel

Read More

I've been a little lost at sea...

(You can find the tutorial & freebies for this diorama project here)

Message in a bottle?

I'm so sorry, it has taken me too long to manage to write this....

Those of you who know me (and my fine-feathered friend mortal enemy the migraine beast), or those of you who have read this post, may not be all that surprised that I'm still struggling.

I'm joking about it (a matter of laugh or cry?) but the migraines have been daily for weeks & I haven't been able to work. I've gotten lost in blue waves, and for now, I'm not too sure when I'll be in blogland again.

I'm having to rethink the direction that I want to take crafting & trying to chart a route that will make it easier...

Thank You so much for your patience while I plot my course
& I hope you are well & oh so happy,

Read More

caardvarks Challenge cards (& some etsy digi shoppin')

A quick post, sorry. Charles & I have big bad colds.

"UGH" about sums it up. LOL ;o)

Today, a couple of colourful Caardvarks Core-dinations cards with
cute characters & SRM sentiment stickers.

(Say that five times fast.) hehehe

These critter kids are digital images that I purchased from
two different artists on etsy...

The Kitty Cats Digital image above is by Kimprints (her store is here on etsy)
I embossed her on white cardstock painted with Matte Medium.
The kitty was coloured to match Mouse:


(She's getting so big! Must be the super kitty vitamins we gave her to
try & counteract any deficiency from the worms...) :-)



Fur texture on the cartoon "Mouse" cat
was made by scratching the paper with a paper piercing tool.

To jazz up her kitty costume, I doodled on flowers & coloured her in Copic markers...
pierced holes around the face & hem & stitched it with gray embroidery thread.



The patterned paper is digital as well, from TADA (on etsy here.)

For textured-distressed digital paper,
I covered the printed paper in Mod Podge tissue paper:

1. Print the digital paper pattern & Heat set with a heat gun
2. Brayer the Mod Podge on (to minimize colour bleed.)
3. Then add white tissue paper over the wet Mod Podge.

(I also cut one of the flowers & some leaves out of the digital paper.)



Monkey Kid is drawn by HYCJ on etsy (the store is here.)

& this is more patterned digital paper from TADA (TracyAnnDigitalArt)

The card bases are made with Core-dinations cardstock
from their Ebony & Ivory collection pack.

The SRM sticker sentiments can be found here.

Hope your day is a colourful one!

Read More

Our Mothers ROCK! Happy Mother's Day Orchid Card

Happy Mother's Day! :-)

An Orchid digital image is something I've wanted ever since I first knew what digis were. This one by Ruth is perfection. Just like the two outrageously amazing Moms that Charles & I are blessed to have in our life! (I'm not telling which one this card is for though! Nanananabooboo, Moms! We love Youse, madly!) :oP

This has all kinds of odds 'n' ends: layers & stitching & lacy bits & even rocks....

...but layout-wise, I tried to keep it simple for the SplitCoastStampers'
CAS65 Clean And Simple Mother's Day/May Flowers Challenge here.
(I find simplicity so difficult!)

Here's the inside of the 5 and 1/2 inch card...

1... New & Nifty: Orchid digi image by Ruth
2... how to make this card

-1-

This Orchid used to be a sold-out clear stamp & is now a digi!

It's available here on Ruth's blog A Passion For Stamps in this post

Info on where to email her with any orders is here:

& you can see all of her blog entries & images as well.

-2-

...make this Orchid card

• Orchid digital image from A Passion for Stamps
• Illuminate text stamp from Above the Mark in Antique Linen Distress Ink
• Copic markers
• Vinnie Pearce Old Things Papers Paper #10 (digital from Two Peas)
• Little pierces of rock & Beacon's 3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue
• Paper piercer, needle, embroidery floss & ivory thread
• SRM Sticker sentiment from the Love sheet # 51004 here
• French-English dictionary pages
• "Generations adhesive vellum" made by Cardinal Brands

Some chit chat about Blogger Viewing options:

All the photos below can be enlarged by clicking on them (to view in Blogger)
In Mozilla Firefox you can right click & choose open link in a new tab (to save your place in the tutorial) or click the back button in your browser toolbar...

...and You can hold the Control button while scrolling the wheel on your mouse forward or backward to enlarge or decrease the photo size... :o)



Step 1) Print the Orchid image & pieces to layer:

• Stamp the Illuminate text stamp in Antique Linen Distress ink.
  
• Heat set the ink to dry well before printing.
• Run it through the printer to print the Orchid, an extra flower, extra leaves, & a second pot--for layering.
  

Step 2) Colour it, adhere the layers, & add embellishments

This is coloured with there Copic markers: Flower & stem: B00 Frost Blue; BG10 Cool Shadow; YG91 Putty, E44 Clay. Leaves: YG23 New Leaf; YG67 Moss; G85 Verdigris; Pot: Photoshop brush text "Mother" brush (in beige) shaded with YG91 Putty, E44 Clay.

I glued on some bits of rock at the top of the pot, giggle giggle:



(and some distressed hand sewing around the edge of the image)



Step 3) Decorate the bottom of the image. This has dictionary text, paper ruffles, & crochet trim (Using: a French-English dictionary; adhered to 3 layers of cardstock cut in free hand wavy lines & distressed; & a crochet edge cut from a stained doily.)



Step 4) Make a curved mat & stitch it. This mat was made by:

• Printing the Vinnie Pearce Old Things paper (digital from Two Peas)
• Cutting it to measure 4.5" wide by 5.25" high
• Tracing a plastic lid to get a curve at the bottom & cutting it out
• Trimming off the bottom of the curve to make it flat
• Piercing holes around the edge & stitching with embroidery thread
• Adhering it to a piece of white cardstock, trimming around, & distressing

(Sometimes I trace any old round things at hand, because it's faster than getting out the circle cutter. LOL)



Step 5) Add a sentiment. (I'm so excited that there's another reason to obsess over SRM stickers: you can use them to do tape transfer sentiments!

Here's how this "[lots of love]" SRM sticker got its makeover (a collage layer under it & a softer look):

• Cut the sentiment sticker to the size I wanted & peeled it off the backing
• Adhered it over a page out of the French-English dictionary (cheap paper works wonders for this)
• Rubbed to stick it well int he areas where I wanted words & paper to stick
• Peeled it off of the book page
• Adhered it to a piece of white cardstock & trimmed it

• ....and to soften the contrast so that the image would remain the focal point (and to add a little texture) I stuck some self-adhesive vellum over the SRM sticker:

This sticky-backed vellum is called "Generations adhesive vellum" made by Cardinal Brands (I got it at staples office supply a couple of years ago.) If you like this look, but don't have any adhesive vellum, you could adhere any vellum, onion skin paper, tracing, or tissue paper...

Put it all together...

...and you have a card for Mom:

Thank You for visiting & may your Mother's Day be ultra lovely,
whether you are a Mom or were just made by one! ynuk ynuk

P.S. Oops! Sorry for the weird post that went out to Feedburner subscribers that said "Happy Mother" I started typing this & hit some wonky button & you get the posts the second they go live, so there's no 'undo-the-OOPs' button! ;o) LOL

(Please click if you'd like to visit the blog
from an email or reader)

Read More

Rinse Lather & Repeat-MFT Hop & Shop!

Welcome to the MFT Hop & Shop! :-)

Today, a speedy project for a change. I had a blast with the new Pure Innocence image ($9) and I tried to make this a quick project tutorial for those who have less time on their hands. :O)

Rinse Lather Repeat...



(Inside the box it says "Baby Yourself" heehee)

The bead bubbles are so fast, but they look real enough to give ya the giggles:



(They seem to look more bubbly in real life) :o)

1...Hop & Shop (My Favorite Things new releases)
2...How to make this QUICK Pure Innocence 4.5" box

-1-


If you haven't started yet & would like to hop
The hopping starts here on Kim's blog!

Next up is marvelous Megan!

-2-

make this 4.5" box

• 4.5" square box template
  
• New MFT clear stamp set: Rinse, Lather, Repeat (available here tonight)
  
• ...stamped on Perfect paper panels
• ...with Black Brilliance ink, clear embossing powder & a heat gun
• Copic markers
• Sweet tooth heavy weight cardstock
  
• TADA digital paper (flowers) from etsy & scrap of BasicGrey Origins
• Green & light turquoise cardstock
  
• Paper piercing tool, needle & thread,
  
• Beacon's 3 in 1 advanced craft glue & lots of clear seed beads
  
• Black Multiliner/permanent marker
• White cotton ribbon (from DressSew in Vancouver)

Step 1) Print the 4.5 inch square box bottom:

Print the MFT template for the 4.5 inch box bottom on green cardstock
Score it (where the tick marks show), cut it, & crease the folds.

(I used the version of the template that has no score lines on it, so it would be tidy inside.)



Step 2) Print & embellish the box lid:

• Print the template for the lid (this is printed on digital patterned paper)
• Score it, cut it, & crease the folds.
• Scallop the edges & trim the 4 flaps to fit behind the scallops.
  

Step 3) Add faux stitches with a black marker (speedy for a change!) ;O)



Step 4) Assemble the lid...



(tabs on the inside)



Step 5) Assemble the box bottom (tabs on the inside again) :o)



Step 6) Cut patterned paper to decorate the inside of the box bottom--4 1-4 inches square.



Step 7) Stamp & colour top of the tub with the Pure Innocence gal (from the Rinse Lather Repeat set.)



Step 8) Stamp & cut just the bottom for the tub (to layer under it) Colour the bathtub feet with metallic pen.



Step 9) Cheap trick: Stamp extra images to use a paper spacers (cut roughly.) Lately, I find this not only more affordable, but also more tidy than foam tape. (I guess I'm a bit cheap & a touch neurotic.) ynuk ynuk.



Step 10) Bubble the bath up with seed beads:

• Add clear glue to the bubble bath part of the image.
• Sprinkle lots of little clear seed beads on the wet glue.
• Add a second layer of glue & beads if you want it really bubbly.
• Fill in with single beads in spots that got missed.

(I used Beacon's 3 in 1 because it holds so well & dries SO quickly. It has a little give so it doesn' seem to crack when dry. I did the gluing outside, for lots of ventilation & used a plastic lid to catch extra beads.)



Neat thingy: Clear beads will pick up whatever colour you made the bubble bath on the image underneath. :o) I wanna do a rainbow coloured bath next time... and inchies with that ducky. (He is off the hook cute at about a half an inch square.)

and that's it....

Next on the hop
is Megan!

Thanks for visiting & hope you have a great Hop!

P.S. For anyone who can't wait a moment longer,
You can find all the Brand Spankin New set here.

(please click if you'd like to visit the blog
from an email or reader)

Read More