Happy New Year

Happy New Year.   There is something about a new year that brings hope for change.   We make these resolutions each and every year, but I don't know if you are like me - I don't keep them for long.   This year will be different.   I have made some changes before the new year that I think will help me keep on track.  Not that it won't be a challenge, but I think it will definitely be doable with realistic (and some lofty goals).

First and Foremost - Balance.  That is my word of the year.  I have a hard time creating an even balance of things. Last year I worked way too many hours and way too many weekends.  Seven days a week wasn't uncommon.  I have been able to make changes so that I can work a normal schedule and have time for other things in my life.

I have a tendency to overcommit time, so I am going to really look at time like I would a budget and make time for the important things such as family, work, health and doing things that make me happy.  As for the other stuff, as long as it doesn't take away from the others I will fit it in.

I want to find the joy in my hobby of crafting again.  I want to set aside time at least a little each day to play.  To have fun and explore the different crafty goodness of the things that I have collected. 

I want to focus on health.  Life is passing by too quickly and I need to get things in order.  Nothing will be a quick fix, but I need to make changes before change is to difficult to make.  Time to get on that road towards a healthy life.  I am putting this here - very scary but here it goes....329.9 lbs (yes, that tenth makes a huge difference to me...:)   every bit counts ....

Another goal is get out of my comfort zone.  I like to hang with my kid and work.  I have lost my adventurer's spirit along the way. Time to get out of the house and do things.

It all equates to work less, play more, love more, enjoy life more.  

My goal is to post at least every Sunday an update and pics of projects I have worked on through the week, any techniques I have tried, etc.   I hope to have some tutorials and other fun things through the year.  

Happy New Year to all and I hope all your wishes for the new year come true.

Alice in Wonderland ATC's for Creative Embellishments

Hello all.   I had some fun with some Alice in Wonderland ATC's with a steampunk twist.   I used the G45 paper collection along with the some Marion Smith papers for the base of my scenes.  I have 9 pieces in total to fill a pocket letter.  So matted each with black card stock that I edeged with a bronze Wink of Stella pen and a Tim Holtz stencil.





With the images, I added some quotes from the book itself and some stickers from the paper collection. To add depth,  I added chipboard embellishments to each scene.  I didn't have size I wanted in some of the pieces so I did a little improvising and some chippie surgery.  This is a good way to use left over pieces from a pack of embellishments after finishing a project.  On the Rabbit, I used a clock hand from the clock hand snowflake.  I will be able to use the rest of the chippie in another project so this worked perfectly as it was exactly the size I needed for the Rabbit to be standing on.   For the Queen of Hearts, I had to do a little more surgery with the Steampunk Heart with Wings.  I was careful to keep the wings intact as I removed them so that I could save them.  The hear then was inked and trimmed to size.   For the Cheshire Cat, the branches were a little to big but I created the perfect size from a left over Seaweed 2 chippie that I had cut down from a previous project.

Last minute gift idea for the Creative Embellishments blog

Hi all.  I am up on the Creative Embellishments blog today with a last minute gift idea.  Do you ever have those uh oh moments when someone at work gives you a gift and you have nothing for them in return?  Or you want to give some a token gift but don't have the budget to go all out?  This is a great little gift that could be customized with different papers and embellishments throughout the year to fit any occasion. 

I took a king-sized Hershey candy bar and wrapped it in some Tim Holtz papers.   I used a paper punch on the ends so that the silver from the candy bar wrapper would show through.  I added some stickers from an old Christmas paper pack to add the sentiment and image.

I chose snowflakes to embellish my bar as inspired by the main paper I used.   I wanted a different color so that it would stand out against the paper.  I sprayed the clock hand snowflake in Krylon glitter blast spray paints.  Giving each piece two coats.  I love this stuff.  You keep the detail of the pieces and the shine of glitter without having to deal with the mess of glue and loose glitter.  I finished off with a little blue flower from my stash.  I adhered this  to the candy bar with a little foam tape so that I could tuck a little gift card underneath.  

If you haven't checked out the Creative Embellishments store, she has some amazing chipboard embellishments along with would veneers, stamps, stencils, and flair.  CreativeEmbellishments.com.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Tag book for Creative Embellishments

Hello all.  I decided to go grungy again.  It is so my favorite.  I wanted to give a Tim Holtz tag book a little make over.   I plan on creating some technique tags for inspiration when creating for those crafter's block moments. 

I painted the book with a couple thin coats of gesso to prep the surface.  I used a thin layer of embossing paste and then heated with a heat tool until bubbly and uneven.  I love this technique.  If you want your embossing paste to be uniform in consistency, it is better to air dry.  This technique though gives incredible texture very easily.  Lots of nooks and crannies for paints and sprays to settle.  Once dry, I added my chippies.  I used the steampunk pipe corner as my main image.  I layered it with gears and loose parts.  I used for the upper right hand corner another piece from the loose parts and gears package along with a propeller.   Since this book is to be used to provide me inspiration, I used the inspire chippie from the Inspiration word set for my title. I used some flat backed gems for the rivets. 

After everything was adhered and dried I painted black.  (Tip:  I did not do this step and so regretted it after - paint a base layer of black before adding your chippies and other layers.  If you have detailed chippies, give them a coat of paint to before gluing down. Then do another layer of paint after.) I then decided to go over it with brown, teal, rust, and orange colored sprays.  The camera doesn't pick up tall the shades of the sprays - but in real life it is really cool.  Depending on how the light hits the colors really pop.  I went over areas of the book in metallic paints to bring out the chippies. 

Steamy Love Canvas for Creative Embellishments

Hi all.  Hope you had a splendid Thanksgiving holiday.   I decided to get a little painty today and try a faux batik technique.   I prepped a canvas with gesso.  Once dry,  then embossed with white embossing powder through a stencil.  I took metallic paint in patina, a blue green, and a pinch of copper penny and dabbed it over the canvas.  Using a piece of scrap card, I scraped the paint across the canvas.  Once almost dry I used a paper towel to buff and remove the excess paint from the embossing powder.

For the steampunk heart 2  I prepped it with a layer of rusty hinge distress stain.   This chippy is so detailed and I didn't want to cover up the fine details.  I just highlighted some of the details with metallic paint and some brown ink.   I added a gear and some propellers.  Something about steampunk just makes me smile. 

I layered the heart over these fab wings that I sprayed with a gloriously glittery metallic spray.  I finished off the mini canvas with some ink around the sides, a ceramic love word from Prima, and some enamel brads. 

Chipboard Canvas for Creative Embellishments

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I am up on the Creative Embellishments blog today.  You should check out their store as they have some amazing deals going on. 

I was looking around my craft room an noticed my paper cubes are a bit plain.   I have been putting off on painting them as I am thinking of changing craft room colors.   So I thought it would be fun to make a light weight canvas to hang on the side to give it some temporary style until I make the change.   I cut a piece of chipboard down to 8 x 8 and added some Tim Holtz distressed grungy paper for a base.   I decided to build up visual layers in order to keep the canvas light.  

I used the distressed brick stamp randomly in a sage green ink across the canvas.  I followed it with using a patina color ink with the distressed text stamp.  For my last layer of stamping I used my new favorite stamps, the halftone circle stamps in patina and chocolate brown. Let me tell you these stamps are so detailed an amazing.  To add more layers I used the harlequin lattice and the mini circle panels as stencils.   They worked beautifully, plus I still have the panels to use on another project.  Love getting extra use out of my supplies.

I used a teal spray on a grunge circle frame to highlight my quote.  I edged it with ink and paint along with embellishing it with some painted washers and a propeller.  I added an image from my paper stash along with a few little metal embellies and a few splashes of paint. Time to hang it on the cube with some sticky tac.  Have a wonderful day.

Believe Canvas for Creative Embellishments

Hi all.  Kelley here with a canvas panel today.  I started off with a canvas panel and created some texture.  I slabbed on a thick layer of modeling paste through a stencil pulling up a bit.  Once it dried I added layers off different metallic paints.  I added some black ink to the center to bring out some of the texture.  I then inked the edges unevenly with a versa mark pad and heat embossed with chunky black embossing powder to create a frame.




For the chippies I started both off with a coat of black ink.  For the steampunk butterfly,  I added a layer of Golden Doubloons and Tibetan Poppy Teal sprays  followed by some brown ink.  I wanted to keep the embellishments of the chippie simple as the details on the chippie are amazing.  It is so gorgeous as it is. I finished it off with some metal bits and bobs from my stash just to highlight my favorite areas.  I added some of the teal spray to the word believe from the inspire word set.  This was a fun piece to make for my craft room wall.