April Calendar

Where is this year going? It's already ready for April. Last thing I remember is January! Oh well, onward. Once again I used the QuicKutz Calendar Kit 2 and 2008 Calendar Months. Please check out the January Calendar page for specifics. Five pieces of designer paper (or less if you use double sided paper). One piece of brown cardstock. Ribbon. Adhesives of choice. Cat's eye Chestnut Roan ink for edging.

QuicKutz Bunny die, Easter basket die and the 2" crosses die.
Going to see Elton John. Stamped the Quickutz ticket die with lettering from JustRite Stampers using the horizontal long block.
Used the Quickutz nesting flowers die for the background and a punch to punch out the birthday girl's picture. Also outlined the date with Liquid Pearls in baby blue.
Attached a preassembled mini pearl motif. Then glued on the month and once in place, used the Liquid Pearls to 'write' in the month name.
Attached a ribbon across the empty spot above the calendar weeks. Tied a small piece of ribbon into a knot and used a glue dot to adhere to the ribbon.

Have fun and above all...

Hanging hearts, small art canvases

I found these metallic covered cardboard hearts for very little money somewhere. No recollection of where, sorry. But you could draw a heart on chipboard, cut it out and cover it with paper and achieve the same affect. I stamped each heart with black StazOn ink which will stamp and stay on most all surfaces, especially a metallic background such as was on these purchased hearts. On this canvas, I used an Eiffel Tower, Fleur de Lis, leaves and a scallop background stamp. I used my QuicKutz Silhouette to cut the names from white vinyl. Use a Crop-a-dile to cut a hanging hole in the top center of the heart. Glue some cording to the outer edge of the heart. Cut another hole into the center bottom of the heart and hang a tassel. Tie a small, sheer green ribbon to the tassel. Fold a white flower in half and adhere to the center bottom of the heart over the hole through which you have attached the tassel. Layer a ribbon flower over a paper flower and adhere to the white flower. Adhere the white name to the desired location on the canvas. Run a ribbon through the top and you are ready to hang the canvas.
Starts, guitars, musical notes, a grid, and a cowboy on horseback stamps were used to stamp the background on this canvas. Adhere the vinyl name in the desired location on the canvas. Attach a t!m Holtz metal piece with a brad to the center bottom. Glue a black and metallic trim to the outside of the contours of the heart. Use silver Liquid Pearls to 'dot' the outer edge of the heart. Take care to space the dots evenly. Let dry thoroughly. Run a ribbon through an opening in the center top of the heart cut with a Crop-a-dile.
Stamp flowers and butterflies on the background. Adhere the vinyl name as desired. Glue lace and pearl beads around the outer edge of the heart. Adhere the vinyl name to the heart canvas as desired. Die cut a butterfly out of metal. Distress butterfly with t!m Holtz alcohol inks. Dot edge of butterfly with silver Liquid Pearls. Adhere the butterfly with a pop dot to the desired location on the canvas. Adhere a floral embellishment to the center bottom of the heart with a glue dot. Run a ribbon through a hole created with a Crop-a-dile in the center top.
A flourish stamp and heart were the only two stamps used to embellish the top of this heart canvas. Adhere vinyl name in desired location on heart canvas. Glue gold ric-rac and glass beads around the outer edge of the heart. Adhere small flowers at random on the heart. Adhere a large gold heart on the center bottom. Tuck a small folded ribbon under the heart so that it hangs down with a bit of a tail. Dot each flower center with gold glitter glue. Tie a sheer ribbon through a hole created by a Crop-a-dile in the center top.
And angel and flourish are the two stamps used to decorate this heart canvas. Adhere the vinyl name in desired location on heart canvas. Attach Swarovski crystals as desired on the canvas. Glue fancy gathered lace to outer edge of heart. Glue a sheer flower to bottom of heart. Run a heart bedecked red ribbon through a hole in the center top.
Texas stamps cover the heart canvas. Use a variety stamps. Adhere vinyl name to the heart canvas. Glue both a black and a white cording to the outer edge of the heart. Die cut a smaller heart in white. Cover with white glitter and tie to center bottom of the heart canvas. Add a black and white checked ribbon through a hole in the center top.
Keys and old world stamps adorn the background of this heart canvas. Adhere the vinyl name as desired on the heart canvas. Glue black ric-rac to outer edge of heart. Glue red cording over the ricrac. Use silver Liquid Pearls to dot each ric that is visible of the ric-rac. Attach t!m Holtz keys, spinner and keyhole as desired. Tie a black and white striped ribbon through a hole in the center top.

I hang my hearts on the curtains in the dining room. Simply attach with a straight pin. If your curtains do not cover the rod completely, you could hang them on the rod itself. Or pin to the molding at the top of a window. Happy Valentines! It's going to be here faster than we know.

February Calendar

These calendars just have a way of being more and more fun to create! So I ventured away from the Valentine red and found some more soothing colors, it's really ok. Gather 1 piece of brown cardstock, 5 coordinating (can be front and backs) designer papers, Petal Pink Liquid Pearls, Coffee Ice Stickles, VersaMark watermark stamp pad, copper embossing powder, Versafine pigment ink pad in Vintage Sepia, brown/beige mini check ribbon, pearl swoosh, stamps of your choice, QuicKutz Calendar set 2, QK Calendar set 1, QK envelope, heart tag & ribbon slot heart die, Spellbinders scalloped hearts, QuicKutz Santa's Workshop spine, Chestnut Roan cat's eye ink pad, brown felt tip brush marker for outlining letters, QuicKutz Love Shapes., and QuicKutz pop up windows. You will also need some adhesive, t!m Holtz's tiny attacher, and a metallic copper marker.

• All stamps are stamped with the Watermark stamp pad and then embossed with the copper embossing powder.
• The centers to the numbers are embossed with an embossing pen and embossed with copper embossing powder.
• The Santa's Workshop spine is cut down to just one side and outlined with the Petal Pink Liquid Pearls.
• The word February is "stickled" with the Coffee Ice stickles.
• The Calendar strips are die cut as desired (1 with header and 4 without) and adhered only along the top and bottom side so that you can still insert tags into the pages.
• Special dates have the numbers colored with the copper marker.

Enjoy and

Christmas Countdown - Day 8 - Advent calendar part 1

Today I will show you the first 12 pieces of an advent calendar. All pieces are QuicKutz die cuts. All pieces are 2" square. During December, they will find their place on a metal cookie sheet; staying because each piece has a magnet on the back... I hope you enjoy. The bell has alcohol inks dabbed onto the die cut to create a copper look.
Used some gell pens on the gingerbread people.
Die cut the sled (minus the Santa) twice and wedged in some backless buttons between the two pieces.
Used a "snow writer" pen to create the snow in the snowglobe.
Found this fabulous metallic handmade paper in Santa Fe. Made perfect bells!
Used Versamark and clear embossing powder to emboss the holly leaves. Added glass glitter to the holly berries. Rubbed antique gold rub and buff on the edge of the piece.
This is an exclusive QK die made for Scrapy Land.
A piece of paper that I fringe cut with scissors changes the plain bird shape to a Cardinal!
A large glittered brad holds the snowflake pieces together.
The background is debossed and inked, and the reindeer is sporting a green star on his hat.
The nativity pieces fit perfectly on this size square. Don't forget to ink the edges of your pieces to create some depth.
The gingerbread house has been embellished with Stickles and Liquid Pearls.

Stay tuned tomorrow for part 2. Don't forget to leave a comment for the random drawing of Printed Treasures printable fabric!

Be Creative!

May Calendar - early!!

I know, it's not even the last week yet.. but it is the last weekend in April. So I thought I'd post the May CD calendar insert.

Supplies: Paper edger punch, tag punch, Creamy Brown Chalk Ink by ColorBox, Lemon Yellow Liquid Pearls by Ranger, Branch spray embossing folder by CuttleBug, white silk ribbon, yellow silk flowers, a bit of tatting, a stray embellishment by ???, a large flower grommet, and QuicKutz kite and envelope dies.



This month's quote:
The world's favorite season
Is the spring.
All things seem possible in May.
Edith Way Teale

I embossed the right side of the background piece with the CuttleBug embossing folder. Once embossed, gently rub the ink pad over the raised area to highlight the embossing. Then dot Liquid Pearls on all the little raised buds. I also used the Liquid Pearls on two corners, the small tag and the flower grommet.

The big flower grommet serves as a picture frame for a tiny picture of a snow drop. I tied heavier thread to the die cut kite and then tied snippets of white silk ribbon to the thread, weaving the thread down and around the piece.

a frivolous fantasy flower

What can you do with these supplies? You can create a most delicious fantasy flower. Walnut crystals are wonderful mixed with Perfect Pearls. That's the white powder in the little container. It's a shimmery powder that can be used in a lot of ways. Mix a bit of the Walnut Crystals with a bit of the Perfect Pearls in a Mini Mister by Ranger. Add some water to fill. Now you can spray a shimmery colored ink on items to change the color of so many things such as paper and ribbon and flowers and the list goes on and on. I love using Distress Ink to edge die cuts. Dip the dauber into the ink and gently rub over the edge of the die cuts. I usually start on a craft sheet/mat and rub up onto the die cut. Liquid Pearls make delightful little dabs that when seen, can't help but make you smile. The little pink pot of deliciousness is a product called Twinkling H2O's. It's a shimmery watercolor paint that can be applied easily with a water filled brush. Sadly, this product is being discontinued, but you can get them here. Talk to Polly and she'll be delighted to send some on their way to your resource center. I've got a very fake but highly luminescent piece of a string of pearls and a gold wire once wrapped around the Ranger Mister and cut to the desired length. That is a set of Spellbinders flower dies. I know so not being loyal to my beloved QuicKutz, but these are great too. And they play well in the same sandbox.

So here's this darling flower. Ok, ok, so I've got a very bad case of spring fever. Forgive me, but the weather has been extremely spring-like. So die cut the flower pieces in coordinating DP. Emboss each one with the embossing pad. This gives the nice raised outer edge on the flower pieces. Distress Ink the edges. Dab the Liquid Pearls around the edge of the larger flower. Paint the middle set of petals along the edge with the Twinkling H2O's. Just drop a spot of water into the little pot, let it set a bit and then use the water brush to paint those edges. Spray the flower center with the Walnut Crystals-Perfect Pearls and water mixture. Paint the edges of a contrasting Prima flower with the Twinkling H2O's. Stack the flowers as shown using glue dots to secure. Tuck under a folded piece of the string of pearls. Adhere a contrast silk flower as the center and dab a larger glob of Liquid Pearls in the center. Done.

Of course now I have to do something with it.. not really, it's pretty sitting on my desk just waiting for the right project to come along.....

Be Creative and thanks for stopping by.

Flowers,flowers everywhere!

QuicKutz has the most awesome new set of nesting flowers.
Click here to see them. The smaller dies that appear to be whole are meant to be used within the larger open shapes to create flowers with a dimensional shape to them. Or if you want use the center pieces by themselves and snip the connecting lines to have even more pieces with which to play and create. For a really great source of flower techniques check out Inkstains or Studio 490.

The flowers were created as follows using a whole bunch of different techniques and products. Blue flower: stamp word stamp with embossing ink, coat with clear embossing powder (keep your thumb out of it - I didn't) and then finish with a coupled of light spritzes of Blueberry Memories Mists.
Large dark pink flower: snip out a second center (gridded paper) and a third open center, stack and use Glossy Accents for the center. Two small flowers: cut a second center for the black one and layer. Stamp with embossing ink and check stamp, emboss with Verdigris EP, finish off with a spritz of walnut stain mixed with white Perfect Pearls. Yellow flower with green leaves: stamp grunge flourish stamp with embossing ink, emboss with clear EP, rub yellow Distress Ink over flower, wipe off the embossed area, rub orange Distress Ink over center, wipe off embossed area. Leaves are same technique but sprayed with Margarita Memories Mist and curled while damp. Velvet Flowers: the center flower is au
natural, as I bought it, the left is sprayed with a my own mixture of Walnut stain powder, white perfect pearls and water in a mini mister. This mixture will keep forever and is very economical to use. You can also use your Distress Reinkers to make your own mists. Love those little spray tubes from Ranger. The spray heads are fine and produce the best results!

Pink Flower: Grunge flourish stamp (can you tell it's my new favorite?), white embossing powder, then use Acrylic dabbers in pink and red very lightly on the flower, mist with water! White flower: die cut one large white flower. Use scrap paper under the center portion, protecting the outer white area, lightly ink the center with a golden yellow ink pad. Die cut a small green flower, protect the outer area and ink the center with a red ink pad. Yellow flower: Ink and chalk the center portion of the flower only. Little yellow flower: This is one of my favorites! it did start off all white. Snip the largest center die out of white paper, then die cut the smallest combination. Lightly ink the larger white piece with yellow ink. Repeat the inking of the center portion, just go a bit heavier. Then lighlty ink all edges and the center with red ink. My pads aren't juicy and new anymore so this works great! Use yellow Liquid Pearls to lightly dot the outer and inner petals. Green flower: this flower is in it's original state with only a bit of clear embossing over the flower. Once again the grunge flourish stamp. Grey and silver flower: start off with a green flower, stamp with embossing ink and the grunge flourish stamp. Emboss with clear embossing powder. Spray lightly with Amaretto Memories Mist. Spray with Walnut ink & Perfect Pearls mixture. Die cut a center flower combination in white, cover the center portion and spray with a silver Glimmer Mist.



So now that you've created all the lovely flowers how to use them? I created this layout of our granddaughter (face hidden for privacy) using an entire set of other flowers, some purchased and one die cut, all altered and stamped and inked and sprayed and layered.

What I love about the Walnut ink crystals is that I can mix the combination of crystals and Perfect Pearls up to the strength and color depth that I want to use for any given project. The nice part of the Distress Reinkers or Distress Alchohol Inks is that they don't dilute (get weaker in color) in water.

I use an array of different glue dots to assemble the flowers. From tiny little ones to the thicker dimensional ones, they all have a purpose in layering. If you want a greater dimensional effect use the thick glue dots between layers. If you want a tighter close knit effect, stick with the thinner ones.

So have some fun and Be Creative!

QuicKutz club insert back view

Just thought I'd share the back side of the piece before our club meeting. I figure it will help you decide which embellishments you might want to bring.

Cover with DP, run a piece of contrast paper through the QuicKutz small scallop 12" border die and adhere that to the straight portion of the insert. With Ranger's Platinum Liquid Pearls, make tiny dots along the scallop edge of the contrasting DP strip.

The pocket watch and watch in the lower left corner are Spelbinders dies and were used to attach the clear watch face embellishment to the page. Embellishments will vary.

Die cut 2 flower inserts with the QuicKutz Cookie Cutters Flowers shapes. See picture for detail. Layer and adhere these over a Prima flower. Dab a bit of Liquid Pearls in the center of the flower.

The upper right corner features another clear embellishment, or you could stamp a flourish with VersaMark embossing ink and emboss with black Embossing powder. Stick the layered flower on top of the flourish. I found a little bit of a very inexpensive string of opalescent pearls and used a glue dot to stick this under the flower petal.

have fun and above all else - Be Creative!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day.

Other than this blasted cold, my day is perfect! Flowers from the husband, calls from friends and family, right now there is nothing better. And I have my QuicKutz club project finished. That is just icing on the cake.

Here is the project, just waiting for the perfect picture. The lower right flower and the upper green flower were die cut using the new QuicKutz Cookie Cutter Nesting Flowers dies. These are just fabulous! You can layer these on the magnetic plate of the Revolution, which when cut will create amazing flower shapes with petals that can be curled and inked and shaped to give your project so much dimension. The big one got a bit squished in the scanner, but IRL it's alive and popping off the page.

I've also used a product from Ranger called Liquid Pearls to dot the flower in the lower right corner. Instead of glitter, the consistency of this product is a milky, creamy pearl like texture and finish. Simply Yummy. A few additional flowers, some ribbon and brads for flower centers, completes this side of the insert for the 2009 album.

Next week, I'll show the reverse side. So Be Creative!