My Other Creations: The Queen's Musings Notebook

The theme this week over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog is, "Let's Be Royal."  What a fantastic theme!  I decided to make a notebook which would be the perfect place for a queen to jot down her royal thoughts and ideas:

Isn't that girl stamp fabulous?  It's called, "Mona Lisa" by Penny Black, so apparently she's not royalty, but she looked like she could be to me!  I started by making the background for her using stamps, color sprays, ink smears and stencils.  When my background got too dark, I added some Gesso on top.  Next I stamped the girl onto light-colored paper and fussy-cut her out.  I added some pink chalk to her cheeks and colored her with ink and Spectrum Noir markers.  I drew and cut out a crown for her and added lots of die-cut shapes using the Moroccan Tile die from My Favorite Things and the Sizzix Mixed Media die set.  I used alphabet stamps for the sentiment.

I tried something new with this notebook and that was to create the pages out of 6x6 patterned paper that I hadn't used in other projects yet (you know when you buy the 6x6 paper pads and don't use every page?).  Since they were already a uniform size, they made quick and easy pages until I decided to round the corners of all of them.  My hand almost cramped up from all of that round-edge corner punching, but I liked how it turned out. 

Here's a peek at the inside:

This really was an inspiring theme and I was able to make good use of these products, which you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Penny Black Mona Lisa Stamp	My Favorite Things Moroccan Tile Border Die Trio	Tim Holtz Sizzix Mixed Media Thinlits Die	Prima Old Town Cling Stamp Set	Hero Arts Basic Alphabet Stamps	Prima Honeycomb Stencil	Fiskars Acrylic Blocks
Prima White Heavy Gesso	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MERMAID LAGOON	Distress Ink Tumbled Glass	Squeezed Lemonade - Distress Ink	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad CRACKED PISTACHIO	Worn Lipstick Distress Ink Pad	Pebbles Chalk
Sizzix Big Shot Machine	Kaisercraft Blue Bay 6x6 Paper	Cinch - We R Memory Keepers	Spectrum Noir Markers: Pink	Dylusions Ink Spray Calypso Teal	Mixed Media Sponges Bars

Can't wait to see what you come up with for this week's challenge!  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store!

My Cards and Tags: Thanks for Bailing Me Out

There are a few truths that I've learned in my life and one is that there are a lot of people to be grateful for.  No matter what happens or how I react to it, I have family and friends that will help me through and who love me unconditionally.  What a rare and wonderful gift!  As I thought about them, and thought about other people I interact with everyday, I realized just how many opportunities there are to say, "Thank You," which is this week's theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  I decided to make a card for someone who seems to save my metaphorical boat from sinking at least once or twice a week!

The image comes from Tim Holtz's Found Relatives set and I made my guy's green "boat" out of a soup bowl that I cut out of an old cook book.  The background is paper from Tim Holtz's "French Industrial" pack and I added splotches of Salty Ocean Distress Ink and stain.  I stamped the "Thank" from My Favorite Things Photo Booth set and the "You" was die cut from Avery Elle's "Simply Said You" die.  The letters are Label Letters and I stamped, "Party Hat Ready" using Hero Art's "Playful" alphabet stamps.  The colorful party hat is cut from Simple Stories' DIY Boutique collection and is topped with an enamel dot from My Mind's Eye.  I also used Tim Holtz's Stripes stencil for the paper behind the sentiment and inside the green boat.

This project inspired me to try to say thanks more often.  There are so many people who deserve to know they've made a difference and I hope I can express that more consistently.

Here are the supplies I used for my card, which you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Idea-ology - Found Relatives	Tim Holtz 12x12 French Industrial Paper Pack	My Favorite Things Photo Booth Stamp Set	Avery Elle Simply Said You	Label Letters - Idea-ology	Simple Stories DIY Boutique 6x6 Paper	My Mind′s Eye Jubilee Enamel Dots
Sizzix Big Shot Machine	Lifestyle Crafts Genius Ultimate Platform System	Fiskars Acrylic Blocks	Tim Holtz Layering Stencil Stripes	Hero Arts Playful Alphabet Stamps	Salty Ocean Distress Stain	Salty Ocean - Distress Ink
Colorbox Rain Forest Ink	Distress Ink Tumbled Glass	Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad

So how will you say Thank You this week?  Can't wait to see what you come up with.  Upload your creation to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog so that we can be inspired and so that you'll have a chance to win that fabulous $50 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!

My Other Creations: Flashcard Yarn Holders

When I learned that this week's theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog was "X, Y, Z," my mind went down a regrettable math path!  I suddenly remembered all those tear-filled "solve for X sessions" that were had around the kitchen table with me bawling my eyes out over the futility of it all while my truly wonderful father would try to make math problems seem like fun little mysteries to solve.  The man is a math genius (ditto with my bro).  Bless all the enthusiastic mathletes out there, but "fun" and "math" will never "equate" in my brain!  And so it was revenge time.  I found some vintage subtraction flashcards and chopped them up into something useful: yarn holders!

I started with these vintage subtraction flashcards (ironically, my math problems started early with never mastering subtraction), which I cut into file-folder shapes with the Penny Black "Tags &Toggles" die set.

You know I love my Dina Wakley paints, so I grabbed those and finger-painted some color onto my cards (highly therapeutic, by the way). 

I picked up my sponges and my Distress Inks and rubbed some on.  And yes, math was starting to be tolerable...barely.

I used Ranger Jet Black Archival ink and stamped on a bunch of random stamp images.

Last but not least, I whipped out the watercolors and filled in the rest of the card with colors.

Here's how they all turned out before I wrapped yarn around them:

I wrapped some yarn around these and secured it with some decorative paper clips that I've had in my stash forever.  Now I have a nice place for some of my favorite yarn and I finally feel like I've gotten revenge on math!

Here are the supplies I used that you can get at Simon Says Stamp:

Penny Black Tabs & Toggles Die Set	Sizzix Big Shot Machine	Lifestyle Crafts Genius Ultimate Platform System	Dina Wakley Lime Acrylic Paint	Dina Wakley TURQUOISE Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley MAGENTA Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley RUBY Heavy Body Acrylic Paints
Dina Wakley TANGERINE Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley BLACKBERRY VIOLET Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley LEMON Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Simon Says Stamp Sparkle & Shine Stamp Set	Impression Obsession Butterflies Clear Stamp Set	Simon Says Clear Stamps SCRIBBLE FLOWERS	Stampendous Cling Stamps: Grunge
Tim Holtz Runway Stamp Set	Prima Epiphany Cling Stamps	Prima Clear Stamps DOILY 1	Dina Wakley All the Gals Stamp Set	Darkroom Door Dots Texture Stamp	Paper Smooches Fruitastic Stamp Set	Tiddly Inks Harmony at Home Stamp Set
My Favorite Things, Whimsical Wishes Stamp Set	Dylusions Birds on a Wire Stamp Set	My Favorite Things Circle Scribble Flowers	Hero Arts Word Pops Cling Stamp	Tim Holtz Little Prince Stamp	Festive Berries - Distress Ink	Spiced Marmalade - Distress Ink
Ripe Persimmon - Distress Ink	Mustard Seed - Distress Ink	Squeezed Lemonade - Distress Ink	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad CRACKED PISTACHIO	Peacock Feathers - Distress Ink	Salty Ocean - Distress Ink	Dusty Concord - Distress Ink
Picked Raspberry - Distress Ink	Worn Lipstick Distress Ink Pad	Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad	Loew Cornell WATERCOLOR CAKES 24 Paints	My Mind′s Eye Jubilee Enamel Dots

"XYZ" is an interesting theme and I can't wait to see what you come up with!  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and you'll be entered to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!