My Other Creations: A Loving Home Collage

One of my favorite blogs to frequent is the Simon Says Stamp & Show blog.  Every week, there's a theme-based challenge and then some Mega (with a capital M) talented designers show how they interpreted the theme.  And if that isn't enough inspiration for you, there are a ton of entries you can check out left by super crafty people all over the world to show how they've answered the call of the challenge.  Needless to say, it is good stuff!

This week's challenge was, "A Little Paper."  The goal was to use 6" x 6" paper or cut down bigger paper to make something amazing in miniature.  I loved the challenge, so here's the collage I made for it:

To create this project, I made a collage from fabric scraps, then I stamped a house image on top of it.  I used the "Elegant House" stamp from B Line Designs and jet black Ranger archival ink.

I attached my house collage to some gorgeous paper from Prima's "Lyric" Collection.  I used a piece of 12" x 12" paper titled "Prelude," but I only cut out one tiny panel of it and used that to frame my collage house.

Lastly, I cut out a "Love" sentiment from another piece of paper from this Prima collection titled, "Recital."

I adore 12" x 12" paper and I'm always looking at its patterns and panels and thinking of how I can cut it up into smaller components for cards, tags, mini books, etc.  What a fun challenge from the Simon Stamp & Show blog that reminds us that one 12" x 12" sheet can keep on givin' for a multitude of mini projects!

Flashback Fun: Cereal from the 80's

At my house growing up, my parents were healthy and bought us disappointing and boring cereal (from a kid's perspective) such as Cheerios and Corn Flakes.  My brother and I would still end up dumping about 10 spoonfuls of sugar on it to make it taste better, so I'm not sure which was worse....oh!  And I forgot Grape Nuts.  I think that required 15 spoonfuls of sugar.  

But before you go thinking my parents were overly strict (how dare they care about our health and our teeth??), they did buy us sugar-loaded cereal twice a year: for our birthdays and for Christmas.  Oh how I would treasure my box of cereal!  Much like the story of the orphans and their Christmas oranges, I would savor my cereal for days and days, delighting in each sugary puff!  And what was the favorite cereal of my youth?  Hands down- it was Ice Cream Cones cereal!  Does anybody else remember this one???  I Googled it and my mouth started watering when the picture came up!  Seriously.  I still dream about this stuff.

And here's another one that totally brought back some memories: Crispy Critters!  The box says "Low Sugar," which probably explains why it was in our pantry.

Here are some others that you might've enjoyed while watching Saturday morning cartoons (wasn't the A team the best??):

I was scared of the real Ghostbusters movie in some parts (I was a sensitive little child), but there was nothing scary about the cereal!  Delicious!!

I don't remember ever eating this one, but the box certainly was a blast from the past.

And last but not least, what would an 80's cereal flashback be without this little gem?

Yes indeed.  The glory years of cereal!  A stroll down the cereal aisle today makes me realize how much cereal has changed over the years and not always for the better (still miss you, Ice Cream Cones cereal)!

My Cards and Tags: May 15th SOUS Card Sketch

Well, it's time for another fabulous card sketch from Stuck On U Sketches.   I was not only inspired by Leah's sketch, but I was also ecstatic to play with the new "Find Your Wings and Fly" collection from My Mind's Eye. There's an "Up and Away" set and a "Sky's the Limit" set and they are both dreamy!  As always, I get giddy with the latest and greatest from MME.

Without further ado, here's the card I created:

I based my card off this sketch of Leah's, only I flipped it vertically:

 
All the paper for this card came from My Mind's Eye (as mentioned), except for the text background paper for the stamp, which is from Graphic 45.  The stamp of the guy with the crown is one that I bought from a seller on Ebay a few years ago and he's no longer a registered seller (bummer).  I also used Tim Holtz distress ink.

Everything else came from MME, including the sticker sentiment. 

 

Thanks again to Leah and the other talented ladies at SOUS.  Being on their Design Team has been a completely and utterly positive experience!

All Things Crafty: Washi Spools

I love to incorporate sewing notions into my projects and I'm especially keen on vintage wooden spools.  As I was experimenting with them the other day, I decided to wrap them in Washi tape for a different look.  I loved the results!  Check them out:

The great thing about this project is that it's super easy and takes about two seconds to do.  And if you don't have vintage wooden spools, not to worry!  You can also buy craft spools and ink them around the edges to make them appear more weathered.

To do this yourself, you only need three ingredients: Washi, a spool and ink.  In my mind, there is no greater ink than Tim Holtz's Distress ink (Walnut Stain color).  I use it constantly! 

Simply find a Washi that is the same width as your spool (or cut the tape down to size), then wrap a strip of Washi around it, then ink the edges!  Done!

For the spools pictured, the floral/butterfly/bird tapes are all Recollections brand.  The typewriter tape is from Prima and the diagonal stripe is from My Mind's Eye.

After the spools are covered, you can still wrap a little bit of thread or yarn on top of the Washi for even more dimension.  Also, depending on how sticky your Washi is, you may have to add a bit of adhesive to the ends of the tape to ensure it stays stuck for the long haul.

 Thanks for stopping by and have fun Washi-ing (If that isn't a verb, it should be)!

All Things Crafty: CKCB Challenge- Beatrix Potter Book Journal

Welcome to another fantastic challenge from CKCB!  Our challenge this month was to make a project inspired by our love for childrens' books.  The hardest thing about this challenge for me was to try and narrow it down from so many possibilities!  I was lucky to have a mom who read to me and I've always been enthralled by literature.  And the artwork!!  I am a forever fan of Richard Scarry and Maurice Sendak.  I also adore the retro artwork from the Little Golden Books.  So much good out there!

For my project, I decided to pay homage to Beatrix Potter.  The tale of Peter Rabbit has a special place in my heart, so I absolutely had to buy this amazing piece of fabric I found!  Using it as my focal point, I made a collaged cover for a book journal where I write down what I've read and whether or not I liked it.

I used some Gesso  and pale blue acrylic paint to outline the edges of the fabric and to add some color to the Heidi Swapp paper I sewed it onto.  I also cut out a "rabbit" definition from a vintage childrens' dictionary and cut it into a file tab shape. 

Here's a close-up of that gorgeous fabric!
 

I also added a piece of scalloped lace to the bottom and attached some fabric scraps on the side.

To finish it off, I adhered everything to background paper from Basic Grey.

I must say that this has been one of my absolute favorite CKCB challenges.  Thanks to my fellow Design Team members for never ceasing to inspire!

All Things Crafty: Tunnel Book Tutorial

So I've seen a lot of cool tunnel books lately (books that have accordion-fold sides and pages with openings so that when you look through, it's tunnel-esque) and thought I'd try to make one myself.  Here's a little peek into my finished product, followed by the step-by-step instructions:

Start with pages that you've either cut openings in (descending in size from large to small) or used a set of nesting dies on.  For mine, I used a label set of dies from Spellbinders.

Using a scoring board, make two identical accordion-folded sides.  It doesn't matter how close together the folds are or how many folds you have.  It's entirely up to you and how many levels or layers you want your tunnel book to have.

Glue your pages to your accordion sides.  Here are pictures of one side connected to the pages:

Now you're ready to make your background scene (what you'll see through the tunnel holes).  I made a fabric collage of a bird.

Attach the bird scene to the back page and glue on your second accordion side.  Unlike a real book, tunnel books typically don't open.  Both sides of the pages are glued to the accordion sides so it's more like a tunnel box.  Here's what it looks like from a few different angels once I glued it all together.  I also added a Prima flower and a strip of lace:

After it was glued together, it was easy to look and see where else I wanted to add embellishments.  I added some other flowers, yarn and some fabric strips to look like curtains on the sides.  Here is my finished tunnel book. 

Tunnel books are fun to make and the possibilities are endless.  While their depth makes the inside a little difficult to photograph (sorry about the shadows!), I promise that they are quite stunning in real life!

All Things Crafty: CKCB Scrapbook Room Hop!

Happy National Scrapbooking Month!  And to celebrate the first weekend of it, the CKCB Design Team decided to do a blog hop featuring our creative spaces.  How fun is that??  So if you want to start the hop right, go to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog!   If you're already busy hoppin', you've come from our talented Guest Designer Sherrie's blog.

Without further ado, here is my space, which I just recently moved into and am still happily tweaking.  This is the view I see when I'm sitting at one of my work tables:

 

But let's back up and give you the full shot from the doorway.  You may notice the guitars and there's also a piano on the left that you can't see.  I love music and figured there was no reason to separate my creative passions.

This room is made of lots of angles, so it took some careful planning to try and utilize it all.  There are two beautiful bright windows, which I love, and the angles do make for some cool nooks.  The two tables that I work from are solid (we bought them dirt cheap at an old courthouse furniture auction) and are sturdy enough to handle any die-cutting or stamping or jumping I want do on them.

This corner contains one of my favorite acquisitions: a striped wood cabinet that we bought in a little art/recycling shop in Oregon.  There was not enough room for the four of us travelers and the cabinet in the car, but I refused to leave it behind.  So I squished it in next to me as "passenger number five" and couldn't move a muscle for the entire 15-hour drive home.  Totally worth it!

 

Here's a close-up of the card display I made that's on top of the shelf.  Being a literary fan, I made it out of a stack of my favorite books, a candlestick and a lampshade frame:

I love retro and vintage stuff, but I'm also an organization freak who likes a clean modern vibe, so I keep my wooden stamps lined up in see-through totes on bookshelves.  Each tote has a different type of stamp (birds, Halloween, frames, text, etc.) and then I face the stamps out on the side so I can see what's in each tote at a glance.

My room is filled with these cool Bygel rails that you can buy at IKEA.  I hang all sorts of cards and art pieces from them and they also work beautifully as punch holders.  This is what I affectionately refer to as My Punch Wall:

I turned another one of the nooks into a die-cutting station, which has proved immensely handy:
 

I love to keep all of my little jars and flowers and embellishments within view since I find them inspiring.  Here's a shelf of them on one wall as well as some glass containers of vintage sewing notions:

I also really dig magnetic display boards (you may have noticed the floor-to-ceiling one in the third picture-- those panels also came from IKEA).  I have some smaller panels near my main work tables, too:

This awesome vintage medical supply cabinet is ideal for my tools and it has tons of sentimental value to me since it belonged to my dad.

Here's another close-up of the scene above one of the bookcases.  I thought it was a fun place to display my cards and the magazine easel was a good find at Tai Pan one day.

Lastly, behind the door into my crafting space is where I keep my yarn.  I tied two clear plastic shoe holders onto some over-the-door hangers and wah-lah!  It goes the whole length of the door and has been extremely helpful for seeing and storing my yarn.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this tour of my crafting space and I must throw in a kudos to my parents (they painted the room and my mom donated her sweet retro sewing machine to me), my husband (I dare not even tell you how many nails and screws that good man had to put in these walls), my in-law's (they gave me that awesome phone booth painting cause they know I love London), and to my crafty friends who contributed art to the cause.  Thank you!  At the end of the day, I know that "things" are not as important as people.  But the things that do mean the most to me, in life and in this space, are things that are tied to those I love and remind me of them.  I hit the family jackpot and acknowledge that blessing every day.

And now you must carry on to the exciting space (can't wait to see it for myself) of the ever-talented Angela!

Just remember that no matter what your space looks like, you can find inspiration and motivation everywhere if you look for it!