Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Scrapy Land Guest Designer -- Anything Goes

Hello everybody! Today I'm excited to share my first Guest Designer project with Scrapy Land where the theme is Anything Goes using any brand dies that Scrapy Land sells in their shop!  This leaves you wide open so be sure to join in the fun! I made a few Easter cards which have already reached their destination.




Dies used (all brands that Scrapy Land sells):





He is Risen

The green background is watercolor paper decorated with a TCW stencil and texture paste sprinkled with Easter Parade embossing powder. When the paste dried, I heated the powder. I splatted Distress stain in Mowed Lawn on the panel and spritzed with water to blend and heat dried, repeating until I was pleased with the look. I distressed the edges and blended on Frayed Burlap Distress ink.

The Fleur De Lis Square is cut from baby blue card and distressed with Frayed Burlap. The flowers are colored with Stormy Sky and Frayed Burlap inks, and I used Squeezed Lemonade and Easter Parade powder on the buds. The greenery is colored with Mowed Lawn ink and Sour Apples Perfect Pearls spray mist. I used a floral image from Rubber Stampede inked in Archival, Potting Soil and fussy cut the flowers and layered them up. I added a paper clay cross and a bow made from cord. The framed image is Crafty Secrets.





Easter Greetings

I used Dylusions Vibrant Turquiose to color my background, with lots of water to blend and dilute the bold color and Tim Holtz' Flourish stencil, texture paste and Easter Parade embossing powder. The frame is adorned with more of the embossing powder sprinkled on Glossy Accents.  The Tattered Florals blossom is colored with Wilted Violet Distress spray. The image is Crafty Secrets, and I added a paper clay dove.

  Here's one more look at my cards and at the bottom three more I made using the beautiful Memory Box die.  Please stop by Scrapy Land Challenges to see all the beautiful designs the Design Team has made for this challenge. I hope you will be inspired to play along for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to Scrapy Land!
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I would like to enter my cards into the following inspiring challenges:
Emerald Creek Dares Easter Parade--yeah! I used that Easter Parade!
Mixed Media World MMW #12 Vintage My He is Risen card is vintage in style.
My Time to Craft Challenge #318 Girle My two cards were made for my Mom and my sister.
As You Like It Favorite Line on Our Bingo Board I chose Lace, Purple, Die Cuts/Punch. The Fleur De Lis Square and Palace Frame are the lacey elements, purple flowers, Die cuts listed above. These are my favorites because purple is one of my favorite colors, I love a  lacey element in my projects, and love using die cuts, especially flowers and frames. What could make a better Easter card when all these elements are combined?
Deep Ocean Challenge # 126 "Spring is in the Air"
-The Artistic Stamper April Creative Challenge--All Things Distress Entering my first card-He Is Risen only--floral stamp used by Rubber Stampede and lot's of Distress products. 1st entry for April.
Thank you for stopping by today and for all your wonderful comments!  I read and appreciate each and every one of them!
Hugs and Blessings!
Sara Emily

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Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Anything but Cute Challenge # 12--Earth Day

Hello, friends!  Today marks the first day of our new challenge over at Anything But Cute where the theme is "Earth Day" chosen by the one and only, very talented Samra of Paper Talk With Samra.  Before I give you the details of the challenge I'd like to show you how I was inspired by Samra's mood board. I never made a project where the vision I had turns into reality, but this one did! I'm excited to show you my fantasy tree stump!


Here's what Samra has to say about her challenge theme: Create a mixed media project inspired by this mood board and the beauty of our planet. Please tell us what inspired you. Entries for this challenge can be echo friendly, or even recycled/upcycled items; or depiction of the sea, mountain, river, forest, flowery meadow…let’s celebrate our planet!


I was inspired by the gorgeous blue tones of the butterfly, the mushroom, and those beautiful flowers. Those pastures reminded me of  a bed of soft moss, and I got a sense of nature tinged with fantasy from her mood board. Samra's words about being eco-friendly prompted me to use a few recylced items.

My tree stump started off as a lowly piece of pantry-staple waste.  Actually, I had to pour the breadcrumbs into another container, so I could use this cardboard canister. It was the perfect size for what I had in mind.  If you wish to see the ugly details of how this transformed, I've taken at few photos of the process, and you can scroll down to see them.


Let's start our tour of my rotted tree stump at the top where we find a butterfly sniffing out a couple of fantasy blossoms.  The butterfly (Rubber Stampede) was stamped on vellum with Staz-On ink and colored with Perfect Pearls powders, then fussy cut. 



I love how the sun shines through his delicate wings.



A little knot in the stump.  Looks intriguing!

               
The tiny blossoms are Tim Holtz Tiny Tattered Florals on card sprayed with Mermaid Lagoon Distress spray.  This is my first time using this die set and the spray. Love them both!


A trio of tiny fantasy mushrooms spring up from a root. These are hand made from paper clay and colored with Mermaid Lagoon and Mowed Lawn  Distress inks. You'll notice moss around the bottom of the roots.  That was a fun part of making this and grounds the roots.



An aerial shot looking down into the hollow of the stump...I wonder what lives in there?  Want to stick your head in there and find out?


Wait for it!


 No, it's not a chipmunk!  It's a little squirrel!  I made this in honor of Pamellia's lovely Dianna, who sadly did not make it to see the spring.  I can't tell you how that upset me, and I was inspired to make a little shrine for her. Pamellia, I hope you like it, and you will forgive my "cute" little girl. She is sculpted from paper clay and painted with various paints and markers to high light her eyes. She's shy at first , but then comes out a little to check out her new home and surroundings.












Now for the technicals... I cut my cardboard canister down to size and added a ring of cardboard to support the top. Here's the rough cut, and the ring is glued and drying. This was about a month ago--  this was a slow process project.  I later realized I wanted it to be a tree which died from natural causes and not one that was chopped down,  so I added back some cardboard to make  the top uneven, as if the tree had fallen. I can not bear to see trees chopped down.


The inside is smoothed with paper and modpodge  (I used the kraft wrap from an order from Frilly and Funkie torn into pieces).  This serves two purposes--it adds stability and makes it able to be painted, since the cardboard is wax coated. Next, but not shown, because I thought I took a photo but obviously didn't, I added tons of aluminum foil (recycled thanks to Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn) to shape the roots and to add texture to the sides (just on the outer surface). This was attached with hot glue, and done with much patience and a few burnt fingers.


Next, I added masking tape over the foil, wrinkling it a little, so there is more "bark" texture.  I followed this with more waste kraft paper, wrinkling as I went for yet more bark texture. This also added stability to the roots, which, while just foil, were quite wobbly.


Then it gets really ugly as I wipe on random swatches of crackle texture paste. And then, as if by magic, paint layers are added until I was happy with the color.  And believe me this took awhile, because I'm not easy to please. I used browns, greys, sand color, greens and black acrylic paints in many brands.  I also added texture paint in brown, but went over it in green to simulate moss and algae.




At this point, I took it outside to be sure my colors were fitting to nature.I kept hearing from my family, "it's too dark", "it doesn't look like bark", "it's too light", "too brown", "not enough brown"!




Finally, I added three types of craft moss. I went as far as drying some moss from my garden, but I live in fear of bugs, so back out into the yard it went. You may spot some hot glue spider webs--these were left intentionally.

Here's another look at my tree stump home for my little squirrel. Yes, one of my flowers got knocked  off during the photo shoot--you are observant!.  I hope you are also inspired to join in Samra's Earth Day challenge this month! Samra will be choosing a winner and her favorite, and the team will each choose a favorite.


I added this picture with a quarter, so you can get an idea of the scale.


I would like to enter this into the following inspiring challenges:
Creative Artiste Challenge 13
Emerald Creek Dares Easter Parade I associate the colors in my mushrooms, my flowers and moss to those seen around Easter time
Die Cut Divas-Project associated with April I chose spring!  Die cut: Tiny Tattered Florals by Sizzix
Mixed Media Mojo April Fun Recycle-Use Metal you can't see my metal--it's the foil I used around the outside to make my roots and bark.  Sorry, I didn't get a shot of that. Recycled bread crumb cannister, aluminum foil, and  kraft wrapping paper from my craft order.
A Vintage Journey #40 Spring is in the Air I hope I made mine pastel-y enough!  I thought my flowers, mushrooms and butterfly might fit the bill.
Rhedd's Creative Spiirt April Anything Goes Mixed Media or Altered Art It's been a long time since I've played along here, but I saw Rupa is hosting, and I knew she would appreciate my entry!

Thank you for suffering through my extremely long post today.  I appreciate your visits and all your lovely comments!  I read and appreciate each and every one of them!
Hugs and Blessings!
Sara Emily
UPDATE:
Yippeee! So honored!
Winner!


Diva's choice!
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Monday, April 4, 2016

Retro Birthday Card

Hello, crafty friends!  I'm here today with something totally different for me.  Cec over at Frilly and Funkie wants to see our retro projects straight out of the 60's and early 70's.  I really felt quite at a loss when it came to designing anything for this challenge, because I really don't have a frame of reference for that time (cough, cough).  I did try with brighter colors, a song from the 60's, and a square canvas with my last project, but it wasn't 'til I walked into my neighbor's house the other day that I got a true sense of the 60's and early 70's.  Here is a birthday card I made for my older sister, who might have a better appreciation of that era.





My entire card was based on two things I picked up from my neighbor's house--a strip of 70's wallpaper and a sewing pattern from the 60's.  Another neighbor stopped by and told us they were taking everything out of Hilda's house and taking it to the dump and asked us if we wanted anything.  Well, I'm your girl! Heck, yeah!  If you've been following me for awhile you know I love yard sales, estate sales and have been known to do a little dumpster diving if I think a castoff has a second life (see my Spring in a Drawer for a recent curbside pick up).   In fact, I picked up a ton of stuff at Hilda's estate sale last summer, and I use her vintage seam binding whenever I make a bow on anything. Hilda, bless her heart, was stuck in the 60's and 70's, so I knew this was where I would find inspiration for a retro project.

 I snatched a few sewing patterns and a piece of wallpaper hanging off her walls, among a few other crafty things I missed at her sale. This sewing pattern-dated 1963-instantly reminded me of a plaid (squares) jumper my sisters and I shared through the 60's (them) and then the (cringe) 70's (me); I can remember it like it was yesterday! I pulled a strip of peeling wallpaper from Hilda's dining room wall, and instantly knew this was going on a card to my sister. Do any of you remember those mod foiled wallpapers?  I sure don't--our home growing up was stuck in the 1800's!

I added a few die cut squares and Tiny Tattered Florals ( left un-twirled) and some Flower Power looking blooms from the Tattered Florals strip die, colored with Distress stains and inks in Abandoned Coral and Dried Marigold, Twisted Citron and Cracked Pistachio, and Mermaid Lagoon.  These colors are the perfect compliment to both the pattern image and the wallpaper. A couple of rub-ons added to the corners to sum up the retro feel, and serves as a little private birthday joke. I'll put a personal birthday greeting on the inside.




I'm sure Hilda is looking down from Heaven happy to know her patterns and wallpaper will be brightening my sister's special day!


I would like to enter my retro card into the following inspiring challenges:
Glitter and Sparkle Challenge # 182 Use a a Punch or a Die I used Spellbinders Square, Sizzix Tattered Florals Strip and Tiny Tattered Florals dies.
My Time to Craft challenge # 318 Girlie Mine is made for my sister; and I used a girlie image.
Cut it Up challenge # 93 April Fools Day!  I included a private joke using my rub ons that only my sister would understand. I used 3 different die cuts.

Thank you for stopping by today and for all your amazing comments!  I read and appreciate each and every one of them!
Hugs and Blessings! 
Sara Emily
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