Sweater Jack-O-Lantern Card

OK, I'm really liking this PTI sweater background stamp, it's so versatile! I stamped an entire background in orange and then drew a jack-o-lantern on top of it. Then I figured out which stitches should be cut, and which should be colored brown. Just like counted cross stitch! You could totally do this with a counted cross stitch pattern, as long as it was a one color + black design.  Or you could paper-piece any additional colors.

 It did take awhile to marker over these teeny-tiny stitches. After I colored all the stitches, I drew a thin line down the middle of each stitch with a white gel pen to clean it up a little. Now that I think of it, paper-piecing might have been a little quicker. Next time : )

ETA: Huge thanks to Tracey McNeely who had the brilliant idea to just cut a column off the sweater stamp! Of course, it makes so much sense now that she says that!! I'll have to measure to make sure, but the strip is so long I'm sure it would not matter to cut the last column off. Then I'll have 3 individual stitch stamps. So much easier than using a brown marker. This is exactly why I LOVE this paper crafting community. We all get and give ideas. So darn cool!

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used: 
stamps:  PTI Background Basics Striped Sweater
other: brown marker, white gel pen

PTI October Blog Hop (Again!)

Here's another post for the PTI blog hop and CAS-ual Friday's Over the Edge

This time I've used a different color palette:

  

 After seeing all the cool projects with the new sweater stamp from PTI I was so excited to try it out. I thought it would be fun to cut along the stitches to make a knitted tree. The linen texture is on there, must be bad lighting today because you can't see it.

 For the sentiment I stamped it once in the same Simply Chartreuse color as the tree trunk, and then flipped it around to stamp in Aqua Mist in the empty spaces. Like a jigsaw puzzle. I think it makes a nice grounding element for the tree, and then if you look closer you might be surprised that it's actually the sentiment. 

Here's my first version, with the Simply Chartreuse on the top of the tree instead of the fussy-cut, embossed white star. The one with the star has a more ombre effect, and this one is a little more defined with the greens on the top and bottom. Not that I'm overly analytical or anything : )

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used: 
stamps:  PTI Background Basics Striped Sweater, PTI Think Big Favorites #21
impression plates:  PTI linen, Provo Craft star embossing folder

PTI October Blog Hop

How about a home decor project for the PTI October Blog Hop? A self-standing, antique frame came up from the basement and helped showcase the beautiful snowflakes that I'll never tire of.

This is inspired by the following color scheme:

Initially I was going to use the phrase "Let It Snow" but then I challenged myself to use something a little more interesting. "Silently the Snow Falls," is the title of a Christmas CD. Perfect! I love thinking about those silent, snowy winter nights. I popped the "the" on the edge for some extra dimension. The paper is hammered silver with some texture that you can't see here.

The centers are glittered with Martha Stewart glitter and double sided stickers. I hung the large snowflakes on the silver wire so I could maintain their straight position, but the smaller snowflakes I didn't care about as much so those are on invisible thread. It's a good combination, because the big ones stay put so you can always see them, but the smaller ones have some movement (like snow!)

The snow collected on the frame is made from layering some cardboard, a couple layers of batting, and some fantastic, vintage, fuzzy-edged, chevron fabric. Because of the batting it's got some soft dimension.

Keeping it real, here's a shot of the back. Scotch tape works pretty well!

Now, I'll put the evergreen branches back in the basement and return all the Halloween decorations to their normal positions : ) But come December I'll really look forward to getting this out again!

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used: 
dies:  PTI Snowflake, PTI upper case letters, PTI block lower case letters
other: Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, Martha Stewart Glitter, Martha Stewart Double Sided Stickers, wire, invisible thread

Halloween Treat Toppers on Inspired by Family

 I like to give something to the neighborhood kids around Halloween, so I made some monogrammed treat toppers with mini clothes pins for our play date yesterday. Head on over to Inspired by Family Magazine to check them out! 

  I was happy to have just enough candy corn pieces (really, like by 1 or 2 which I ate myself) to make the 15 bags plus one extra. I find it's always good to have an extra, and that was the case yesterday when a friend of a friend came over. I handed her my sample one:

 

 

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Skeleton Cheerleader

 OK, so this may be a tad on the quirky side, but I had a little smile on my face making this skeleton cheerleader tonight. He's got SPIDER WEBS for pom-poms. I wish I could take credit for it, but I can't. It was my turn to host the neighborhood playdate today and I had all the 3rd grade girls doing crafts with the new Mr. Bones PTI set I got in the mail yesterday. Everyone really liked the skeleton, and I thought it would be fun to cut two of them holding hands paper-doll-style. The girls put a third skeleton on top of the original two to make a triangle. "Oh, like those water ski shows?" I asked. "No, like cheerleaders!" they exclaimed. Indeed, they did look like cheerleaders. Then one of the girls put a spider web over the hand for a pom-pom. Brilliant! Because what else would a skeleton cheer with, right? I added a second, off-set spider web behind the first to make it a little rounder like a pom-pom would be, but I think you still get the spider web picture. I used a white gel pen to fill in the middle of the letters in the "Sack The Quarterback" sentiment to tie in with the skeleton.

She's inspired by the colors at Play Date Cafe:

And CASual Friday's off the edge challenge.

ETA: This morning when I saw her again I realized what was off ... "she" didn't look like a girl. So I added a bow to her head.

 A spider bow, of course! It actually has the same shape as a bow, with the spider body where the knot would be, and the curved legs where the loops would be.

This card is inspired by the MIM challenge to use a negative and positive die cut.

More traditional Halloween colors on this one. She seems to have a hunchback, forward leaning stance, like when a cheerleader bends over to put her pom-poms on her knees.

The skeleton is in the negative die cut, and of course the pom-poms are a positive die cut. Makes for some nice dimension. Great technique!


Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used: 
stamps:  PTI Mr. Bones, The Paper Company Football, A Muse Sports Words Set
dies:  PTI Mr. Bones
other: white gel pen

Antique Player Piano Rolls

ETA: photo below for CASual Friday's over the edge challenge, and the LIM autumn challenge (much more white space):

At a garage sale last year I saw a box under a table with a sign saying, "25 cents each." Taking a closer look, I saw they were old player piano rolls! Score! I bought them all. I was surprised to find that they are about a mile long once your unroll them. I think one roll will last me many, many projects. My first project with them is a set of cards I made for a card exchange last year.

 It was hard for me to cut one up, but I thought it was better to give them a second life. I backed the player piano roll with a dark paper to highlight the holes that make the music. The words in blue are the song lyrics, which would be read from bottom to top as the roll moves. So the lyrics on this particular card would read, "Pret-ty ba-by."

 On the inside of the card I printed a little blurb about player pianos, figuring not everyone is going to know what it is. It was fun doing some research, and I even got to hear the actual song on youtube! It's a pretty catchy jazz tune.

 

I made a few different versions of the card. They all feature a leaf "falling." I like that the song, "Bye-Bye Pretty Baby," could be about saying good-bye to the beautiful falling leaves. I thought the vertical holes in the paper added to the falling leaf story too.

I'm adding this to the Less is More challenge: autumn.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used: 
stamps:  Stampin' Up Leaves
other:  watercolor pencils, wire, button, player piano roll

Heart's on Fire

ETA: photo with safety-pinned sentiment, the original one hanging from the thread was bothering me a little. It's fine, you can call me a "dork".

Heart's on fire! 

The felt heart is cut out, stuffed and stitched. The tag hanging has a tongue-in-cheek "warm" wishes sentiment. I thought the burlap left on my desk from my last card would add some nice, warm texture.

For the fire I I played around with alcohol markers on acetate to get the ink to puddle up, then draw through the pools to get a fire-like effect. Then it's stitched in between the top layers.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used: felt, burlap, Spectrum Noir markers, acetate, tag, PTI Tag Its

Fringe Owl Card

ETA: better photos at the end and supply list

After cleaning up my craft space I came across this fringy, delightful trim and immediately thought of the beautiful color combo at The Play Date Cafe.

I also thought of the super fun card from Julia Stainton at CASE Study this week (which I'm new to):

And came up with this guy.

He's similar to an earlier owl card I did with paper feathers, and always thought it would be fun to play with a little more texture. Ribbon would be great. Or torn material strips. Anything you can make into a loop and line up along Scotch tape.

 I wasn't sure what to make the eyes out of, and then noticed the huge burlap flower on the inspiration card. Of course! Burlap eyes. These are die cut with the PTI circle dies. I don't have the shade of pink I wanted to match the fringe, so I die cut white paper and colored it with a pink alcohol marker.

It's pretty fun to feel all the "feathers" on this guy. 

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used: 

stamps:  PTI Mehndi Medallion

dies: PTI Limitless Layers 1 3/4" Circles, PTI Banner Builder, small circle punch 

other: Fringe Ribbon, Burlap, Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers

Happy Colors, Happy Birthday

Such happy colors from the Play Date Cafe this week:

 I wanted to try using only markers for the colors in this challenge.

So I grabbed the three closest in color and started drawing lines at various widths over a masked sentiment. The lines definitely aren't perfect, but the end of one was a lot thicker than the others, so out came the "random" squiggles. I kinda like 'em. It reminds me of those thick sections of thread in a piece of silk.

 Wanting to play some more, I went after a plaid background. Can I tell you how annoyed I am about the pink marker (which has only been used once before) loosing its steam already?! And couldn't this have happened to one of the 20 grays in the set, not the one hot pink marker? Anyway, instead of tossing the card, I decide to finish it anyway. Maybe it can give a flannelish look, or at least a little personality.

 The last card with this color scheme is done with decorative tape and markers. Originally I tried a gray base so the white label would stand out, but the colors looked really dirty with the gray showing through. White it is.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used: 
stamps:  PTI Movers and Shakers Sentiments
dies:  PTI Mat Stack
other: Target Up & Up decorative tape, Spectrum Noir Markers, McGill heart punch, eyelash yarn

Guest Post on See Vanessa Craft

 

Hi all! I am so excited to guest post for See Vanessa Craft's 20 Crafty Days of Halloween series. There are some super-fun projects over there. I've already tried the front door spooky eyes where you take black cardstock, cut out eyes, back it with tissue paper, and put it over your front door windows. They glow when lit from behind! My kids both give it a thumbs up. Can it get much easier?

Anyway, I'd love for you to check out my guest post on making 3D pumpkins. You'll see a card project, a home decor project, and a place card project, all using this technique. Here's a sneak peak:

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly