Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day

Today (September 19) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so here's my traditional Pirate-themed project!

I've had this Little Pirate rubber stamp by Lili of the Valley for 5 years. Be sure to check out the special Talk Like a Pirate Day cards featured on LOTV's blog, Ideas to Inspire.

The image was colored with Copic markers; I used TH's "Old Paper" distress marker for the newspapers. The patterned paper is from Graphic 45. The sentiment stamp is from Recollections, and it's popped up with some actual fish net. 

Inspiration/Challenges:
Kreativeinkauf-challenge: Easel Card
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: A is for Aaargh


Update: This was chosen as a runner-up at the Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers!

Thank ye for visiting,

Cicada Pirate

Today (September 19) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and to keep up my tradition of Pirate-themed projects I made this 3D project using a "dog day" Cicada shell.

I cut the Pirate Ship shape with Cricut's Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge from a gold/tan double-sided paper. I inked the tan sides, and pieced the sails with a shiny white paper.
The pirate hat & eye patch were sized from a printable template by Making Friends that I fussy-cut and carefully glued to fit this little guy.

The sentiment is a classic by TLC Creations that I printed & di-cut and inserted into a slit in a small branch. The base is die-cut from a textured paper. It's all pretty much held together with Glossy Accents.

Thank ye for visiting,

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,

Pirate Tag Card / Use a Digi at OSAAT

It's time for a "Use a Digi" challenge at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT)! I love stamping, but digi stamps are so much fun too, and StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds from many wonderful artists.

I get such a kick out of Talk Like a Pirate Day, but since that was September 19, I guess I'll have to save this for next year! I used Treasure Map by Delicious Doodles:

The sentiment is a freebie from TLC Creations (Thanks, Paulette!). It's also available as part of her Pirate Party set. I colored the Treasure Map with distress inks, using a finger dauber. I also added some details with Copic markers. The map is glued to card on the bottom and right sides, so that the tag easily sits in the pocket. I printed the sentiment directly onto Kraft paper, and heat-embossed a TPC Studio stamp in gold. I used my Crop-O-Dile to add an eyelet, and tied on some raffia ribbon.

I've been saving the lovely red/gold handmade paper for a long time; Mom brought it back from India, and I was just perfect for this project. The corners are punched with my favorite Marvy punch.

The gold coins were made with a Stampin' Up! rubber stamp. I heat-embossed a piece of cardstock with ultra-think gold embossing powder, and stamped on it while it was still hot & soft. Remember to ink your stamp before doing this! I adhered the fishing net to the card with Glossy Accents (I used ZipDry glue for everything else). Finally, I added some Recollections adhesive gem swirls to the corners.

Inspiration/Challenges:
4 Krafty Girlz #3: Anything Goes
Crafty Catz #201: Anything Goes
Creative Card Crew #46: Tags
Left of Center Creative Challenges #15: LOC or Some Element of Water
Penny's Paper-Crafty #147: Anything goes
Sisterhood of Crafters: Tag
Totally Papercrafts #187: Bring Humor To Your Creations

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at OSAAT this week,

Wooden you like to join us and Pile It On?

How can you tell if there's a dog on your boat? Just look for the poop deck!

Yes, I must still have "the puns" from April Fool's Day... I'm not much for practical jokes, but I love a bad pun. Which is why I'm kinda regretting choosing the theme of "Wood" for this week's Pile It On Challenge...! We're sponsored by Jellypark, so I used her cute Pirate & Dog on Boat digi and my punniest sentiment, from TLC Creations: "To err is human; To arrrr is pirate." (It's also available as part of the Pirate Party set.)

I've actually used this sentiment with a Jellypark image before, and it was even for Pile It On, oops! But the cards are very different. I'm thinking I'm going have to send out Talk Like a Pirate Day cards this year!

I couldn't help myself from making a little Doggie Jolly Roger with a Prima wood embellishment. I drew the bones and colored them & the dog with a white glaze pen.

I cut the little boat from some cork I have in my stash. I added the details, and attached the sentiment sail with a small stick that I just happened to have. Okay, I admit that I collect natural items for crafting purposes...sticks, leaves, even bark. I put them in a plastic in the freezer to "treat" them, and try to use them as fast as I collect them...which I never do!

Which is why I was really happy to find a use for the bark I collected last year. I soaked some pieces in a bowl of water overnight, and then ran them through my SU! Sweet Buttons Embosslit Die to make little buttons. I punctured the holes with my awl, dried the piece with my heat tool, and sewed on some blue floss.
 
The image is colored with Copics. I added texture to the boat using Blender Solution and a piece of cork.

As you can tell, I had lots of fun making this! Hope you'll gather your favorite challenges and Pile It On with us this week.

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Aud Sentiments Challenge: Card or Project with a Sentiment for a Child
2. Cards For Men: Humorous cards
3. Crafty Cardmakers: Humour
4. Card Makin' Mamas: No patterned papers
5. Inklings and Yarns: Always Anything Goes
6. Inky Impressions: For a child 
7. Oldie but a Goodie: Transport (I've had the cork for over a year and a half, and the stick & bark were collected last spring)
8. Paper Playtime: Use a Pun
9. Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes
10. Stuck on U Diecut Challenge: Rrrrrrr Ye Sea Worthy (buttons are cut with a die)

Update: This was chosen as one of the Top 3 for the Stuck on U Diecut Challenge. Thank you!

Thank you for visiting,

Anything Goes at One Stitch at a Time

It's time for another fun "Anything Goes" challenge at One Stitch at a Time!

My teamie Vicky chose for her & myself this time around, and totally challenged me with Mermaid's Revenge by Delicious Doodles. Since this is an "Anything Goes" challenge, our wonderful coordinator Choccy asked that some of us make something other than a card, so I made a very funky Post-It Note holder:

I just love the digis from Delicious Doodles; they are so fun & interesting, and I had a blast coloring this with my Copics and Glaze pens.

I used Cuttlebug's 3x3 Bubble Frame Die/Emboss Combo for the frame, but since the image was larger I cut down two to make the frame (I used some of the scrap for the inside).
Actually, all of the paper used for this project is from my scrap box. Even the blue cross stitch fabric is a scrap!

The blue flourishes are a Sizzix die cut that I actually found in my scraps... can't remember now what I originally cut it! I've had the little plastic bone buttons (with shanks removed) for the longest time, and was excited to have a funky way to use them.

I generated the sentiment myself using the font Bleeding Freaks, making the outline (or "stroke") red for the first letters and blue for the rest. Thought it worked nicely for the undersea vampire theme. I printed it onto shiny gold paper (Recollections), cut it by hand, and drew the border with a white Glaze pen.

I'm really into cross stitching right now (see my other projects here), so I whipped up a little skull pattern, complete with gold tooth. Too fun! It's glued into an ornamental bottlecap.

Here it is opened up:

I started with a 4.5 x 12 inch strip and scored it at 4.75, 5.25, 10, and 10.5. I used some scrap magnet to make a closure. I ran the seashell-patterned ribbon through a small piece of paper (the same glittered black Core'dinations cardstock I used for the base) to make a loop for the small pen. This holds a regular 3x3 "sticky note" pad.

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Allsorts Challenge Week 189: Dies and Punches
2. Crafty Cardmakers: Create a Fairytale Scene (Okay, it's a pretty dark fairytale, but hope it counts!)
3. Digi Haven: Sparkles & Bling
4. Divas by Design #67: Anything goes 
5. Eureka Stamps: Make it Sparkle
6. Haunted Design House Macabre Mondays: Anything dark/Gothic
7. Penny's Paper-Crafty #109: Anything goes
8. Songbird Challenges: Paint It Black (LOVE this song!)

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join us this week at One Stitch at a Time,

I spy something beginning with P... for Pile It On!

This week's challenge at Pile It On is another really fun one: We want to see you use anything beginning with P!

I used this oh-so-cute Pirate from Jellypark digi stamps, our fabulous sponsor.I tried use as many "P" elements as possible: Pirate, pencils (watercolor), pen (Copic, for edging on Pirate ship), pin, pearls, penny, and patterned paper: pinstripes, polka dots, plaid. I heat-embossed the penny with ultra-thick gold embossing powder to make a faux doubloon.

The sentiment is a freebie from TLC Creations (Thanks, Paulette!). It's also available as part of her Pirate Party set.

Thank you for visiting,

Pun Ahoy!

[My stop on the Dude Time Doodles New Release Blog Leap is HERE]

I'm really enjoying everyone's projects this week inspired by the "Pun" challenge at CAS-ual Fridays. I do love a bad pun! It was difficult for me not to come up with my own, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use this pun-tastic wordart offered by Create with TLC on Talk like a Pirate Day.

I'm taking a stab at using up my never-ending collection of scraps, and I found this just-the -right-size scrap of compass-themed DP. The card itself is made from a scrap too; I just folded it in half and voilà. I simply printed the sentiment onto glassine paper.

Cards for Men Challenge #5

Inspiration/Challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #41: Jest for the Pun of it(Dang I missed the deadline!)

Cards for Men Challenge #5: Sketch

Less is More Week 56: Don't Scrap It

Party Time Tuesday Challenge #57: Anything Goes

Quilted explorer

For my birthday (34, my goodness ... I'm just getting started!), Mom bought me some Lili of the Valley stamps and die cuts, and I'm been itching to use some of the adorable little boy stamps! The Little Pirate and Sleeping Reader make a nice set.

In order to use two stamps on one card, I decided to make what I'll call a Notch Swing Card. The concept is simple: secure a piece of paper slightly larger than the cut-out space by cutting small slits, or notches, in both. I put this card together in SCAL, and if you'd like to try it you can download my SVG files via the link at the bottom of this post (please leave a comment if you do).

I couldn't resist making something for the Columbus Day challenge at CCEE Stampers ("Make a card with a ship, ocean, or anything that relates to this day."). I grew up near Puerto de Santa María, where Columbus set sail for his second voyage to the New World. For seven years, I spent Columbus Day with the Girl Scouts, trekking to the church where he prayed before his voyage. Columbus Day isn't very popular in the States these days, since people doubt his "discovery" legacy, but I've always enjoyed the lesson of Columbus: Follow your dreams; They might not lead where you imagined, but it will be a great adventure.

The background was inspired by the Photo Inspiration/Use Your Scraps challenge at DYSU. Not only are the colors in the photo example beautiful, I liked the idea of using up my scraps to create a quilted feeling.

I sewed on the buttons, and I'm entering this into the Button Up! challenge at Divas by Design. I stamped & colored the images on Hammermill cardstock, fussy-cut them, and glued them onto the blue linen paper.

Here's card closed flat:

Here it is winging open one way (see photo at the top of this post for the view with it swing the other way):

I put the message section on the back so that the inside served as a sort of background for the front. Here's the inside:

And here it is open from the back:

Inspiration:
CCEE Stampers / CCEE1141: Columbus Day

DYSU #41: Use Your Scraps + Photo Inspiration
Divas by Design #12: Buttons

Stamps: Lili of the Valley

Paper: stash (scraps), Hammermill, China Blue Eyes Linen Finish Card Stock from Mark's Finest Papers

Tools: Fiskars papercutter & deckle scissors, MS detailing scissors, Marvy heat tool, sewing machine

Other: ZipDry glue, Simplicity thread, Recollections embossing powder
Copics: E13, YR00, E35, E31, E47, E37, YR09, B18, B39, B32, B23, B00, BG15, BG10, RV11, YG67, YG63, G99, G07, YG03, YG41, Y000, YR31, YR12 (I also used YR12/Loquat for all the edging)

Download card cut files (svg)