Booty Shaker - Talk Like a Pirate Day

Today (September 19) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and for some reason I get a real kick out of this new tradition. I've made Pirate-themed cards for the past few years, and this year I had lots of fun participating in today's Talk Like Pirate Blog Hop.

I've received many positive comments on my star-themed ATC shaker, so I used the same technique to make a pirate-treasure-themed shaker ATC:

click to enlarge

The treasure chest is cut from shiny gold & brown papers using cut files from KLDezign. I filled the chest with spots of gold & silver liquid pearls and put it on a a blue, metallic-coated paper.

The wood-patterned paper is backed with the same textured, brown cardstock I used for the porthole frame. I glued some scrap plastic onto it and popped it up with foam tape. The frame is decorated with a silver pen.

The ridiculous sentiment was set in the Snidely font and heat-embossed in gold on shiny black paper. I cut it with a banner die and lined it with a gold-leaf pen.

The seashell is cut/embossed from a lager can. I wrapped the ATC with a brown raffia and added some fishing net.

I'm entering this project into the "Pirate Day" challenge at Die Cuttin' Divas.

Thank ye for visiting,

ATC featuring Aud Sentiments

The current challenge at Aud Sentiments is "Any Sentiment but Birthday" and they are offering a wonderful freebie wordart by Marie-Clare. Since the theme of one of my group's ATC swaps this month is "Stars" I couldn't resist combining the two to make this shaker-ATC:

I assume this quote is from "Yellow" by Cold Play, and although I'm familiar with the song and incorporated yellow stars into the design, the blue coloring had nothing to do with the video theme (a happy coincidence!) I printed the sentiment onto a shiny white cardstock and attempted to heat-emboss it in yellow, but it didn't work so well this time. However, I liked the effect and was still able to ink it with blue inks. I also sprayed it with blue Glimmer Mist.

The frame is two layers of a glittered cardstock; the top piece is inked to be slightly brighter. I cut the apertures with a Spellbinders die. The plastic cover is cut from a scrap packaging plastic, and the shaker is filled with chunky glow-in-the-dark glitter.

The wood stars were inked with a yellow ink & heat-embossed with Holographic embossing powder. I also added some gem strips. I added an outside layer of blue tulle.

Challenges/Inspiration:
Add a Little Dazzle #41: Glitter/Anything goes
Aud Sentiments #114: Any Sentiment but Birthday
Opus Gluei: #191 ATCs (artist trading cards)
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything goes + an uplifting sentiment

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Desert-themed ATCs - Final week of Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge

You have one more week to make a Set of 3 Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for our current challenge at Crafting with Dragonflies (the deadline is July 8) They are fun to collect an swap, and make great card toppers. I had so much fun making my Message in a Bottle set that I decided to make a set of desert-themed ATCs:

The backgrounds are digi papers from the Camel Digital Stamp Pack by Coosty Creations. The birds are a stamp from the Cloudy Skies set by ArtsyfArtsy Stamps, which I recently won from Sweet Stamps (thank you!).

All of my desert-themed stamps seem to be quite large, so I pulled out my Shrinky-dink plastic and made embellishments for each of the ACTs. I coated them with Glossy Accents, which made them difficult to photograph but enhance the image in person.

The camel Shrinky-dink was made with an Animal Spirit Stamp by Sue Coccia for Earth Art International. I stamped this intricate design with Timber Brown Staz-On ink.

Don't you just love this digi paper with these curious camels?! I just added a little Antique Linen distress ink to the edges. I cut the little banner from a Kraft paper, doodled on it with a watermark pen (Versamark) and heat-embossed it with Brown Sugar embossing powder (ZING).

I made the border on a base of the plain desert digi paper, using Glossy Accents and gold microbeads.

It would probably be more accurate if this were a date palm, but I just had to use this Coconut Palm rubber stamp by Under the Rubber Tree to make a Shrinky-dink. I inked it with stamp markers.

The silly sentiment is from Inky Antics. I used the same ink for the sentiment as for the bird shadows (Gingerbread from VersaChalk), but I added some blue-green glitter embossing powder.

The refreshing watering-hole was hand-cut from a holographic plastic and embossed in my BigShot with a Sizzix folder. I put some mesh (one of my favorite recycled items, from a bag of avocados) behind it for added texture.

I added a border with a TEKwriter glitter pen, and used bright green Liquid Pearls to accent the corners. I backed it onto a light blue cardstock.

The cactus stamp is from the Fred Bear Out West set from MFT. I stamped it in green pigment ink, colored it with a stamp marker, and fussy cut around all those darn little needles. And then I put it in the toaster oven & totally forgot about it...it burned just enough to give the green some tint, so it was a happy accident.

I printed this background with a blank top so that I could ink directly onto it. I used a die circle and its negative as masks to create the sun. I backed the scene onto a patterned paper.

These adorable little quail die cuts are from Cheery Lynn's Birds of Earth & Sky set, which I bought from Sweet Stamps. I cut them from a black-on-gray, textured Core'Dinations cardstock, sanded them very carefully to reveal some of the gray, and added details with a brown marker, a glitter pen, and a white Glaze pen. I have friends & family in Arizona, so this theme was very close to my heart. We call the baby quail "walnuts" and they are beyond cute in person. I used a border punch for the teensy flowers and a sunburst punch for the larger ones, and added some Liquid Pearls to the centers. The flowers were partly inspired by my best friend, who called me while this Spring while driving from Flagstaff to Phoenix, just to tell me how beautiful the blooming Sahuaros were!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Scrappy Hands #16: Use a Stamp
Wicked Wednesdays: Inspirational / Uplifting Quotes or Words (I'm entering the Oasis ATC with the "I'll never 'desert' you" sentiment)

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies,

Message in a Bottle ATCs

This fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies we're challenging you to make a Set of 3 Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). We have two sponsors, Pickled Potpourri Designs and QKR Stampede, and I used this fun Wish in a Bottle Digi Stamp by QKR.

An artist trading card (or ATC for short) is a 2.5x3.5 inch piece of art created with the intention of swapping or trading it with another artist. I'll admit that I've incorporated this challenge into the ATC Swap we're having within one of my other Design Teams (OSAAT). I was inspired by the "Great Outdoors" theme for that swap. My Crafting with Dragonflies teamie Susan used this same digi stamp for her ATCs as well, and I love her take. Be sure to check out all the DT projects!

The Bottle digi stamp was printed directly onto the paper; I also printed them on masking paper so that I could ink the background over top. I then colored the bottles with Copic markers, using the Blender Texture technique for the underwater parts.

The background was made using a wave border cut file from SVG Attic's Just Beachy set as a mask. I don't do this very often, but it was tons of fun! I found it pretty easy to mask and ink using the die cuts and their negatives, plus plenty of painter's tape. Here's a photo of how I did this (sorry, I took it after doing the inking!):

The banner paper and sentiment are from Graphic 45's By the Sea collection. I hand-cut the banners and attached then with these glittery brads so that they move.

The "beach" is made with a coffee sleeve. I used some green mesh from a bag of avocados for a little texture, and the sandy landscape base is from Camel Digital Stamp Pack by Coosty Creations.

Inspiration/Challenges:
ABC Challenge: N is for Nautical
Craft my Life All Crafts Challenge: Anything but a Card
Jellypark Friends Friday Challenge: Seaside/ Beach/ Nautical
Moving Along with the Times: I would like to be beside the seaside

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies,