Snowman Snow Globe

After seeing all those things-under-glass-turned-snow-globe projects that were so popular in magazines and Pinterest last year, I thought I'd try my hand at making one for the Moxie Fab World Holiday Decor Challenge.

 

The large bubble label die makes an easy snowman when you cut off the bottom portion (check out Dana's fun snowman too!) This guy is a layer of chipboard* sandwiched with felt on each side so he's pretty sturdy. In between the felt layers I glued branches from a Memory Box die for the arms. His scarf is from a vintage (1970's) piece of material.

*actually it's a piece of a fast food drink holder box painted white to match the felt

For the bottom I was picturing some wispy cotton with that big, chunky, vintage glitter. However, 1) I couldn't find the cotton; and 2) I couldn't find the big, chunky, vintage glitter. When I unpack the Christmas boxes it will appear. So for now, I have the bottom as a balled up Kleenex, covered in batting, with some wimpy glitter that would not shake too well sprinkled on top. It's a place-holder.

The snowman is able to sit on the hill because I left an end of the middle chipboard layer extend beyond the snowman die cut. That extension is slid through a slit cut in the batting. Then I split that extension in two and spread it out underneath the batting to allow the snowman to stand.

The lid of my snow globe, which in a previous life was a salsa jar, is spray painted in silver and screwed back onto the glass. A bow I saved from a present last year finishes it all off. Love making projects from scraps around the house!

Thanks so much for looking!

-Kelly

CAS-ual Fridays #113 - Krafty Text

I channeled my inner Donna Mikasa for the latest CAS-ual Fridays Challenge to use type and kraft paper, and went for neon on kraft. I've been dying to try it, she always makes it look so. darn. good.

For the background I was also excited to emboss with the spray mist templates. I still can't get over how fun this is! I would seriously buy this design as an embossing folder. I like how it gives more energy for the "screaming and shouting" but still keeps the card kinda clean (I know I am not always the best at being on the clean side of CAS).

Fonts are Ariel and Impact, cut on the Silhouette. Ampersand is from PTI Block die set.

(side note, lest you think "well that's not a very involved card, she just typed it and cut it out" let me tell you that was not the case! Wrestling with an old cutting mat which needs washi tape to sufficiently hold the paper down, which needs MANY pieces of tape, a dull cutting blade, an even duller back-up blade, figuring out that's what was wrong with my machine, going to M's for a new blade, and starting all over again definitely took the better part of the afternoon and evening.)

Please go check out the others in the CAS-ual Fridays gallery, and say a fond farewell to Pamela and AJ who are leaving this term. It was wonderful to work with both of you talented ladies!! The winner will receive a wonderful prize from our sponsor CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!

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Since I made a double set of the Will.i.am and Britney Spears song lyrics in case of any mistakes (does anyone else do that?) I thought it was the perfect opportunity to finally play in a challenge again. This may be the first challenge I've done all summer!

How can you pass this ombre beauty up at Moxie Fab's Tuesday Trigger?

This one's a little more clean. I started with a white base, but after putting the letters on charcoal and seeing how they popped so much more, I changed directions. The grey and white stripe on the side is directly from Maria's wonderfully CAS glittery peace card.

A note of caution for those who haven't made a card featuring song lyrics before, make sure to pick a song you really love. You really can't piece the text on to your card without the song going through your head on an endless loop. Double caution if the card takes way longer than expected. And guess what? You also sing it while writing your blog post!

Thanks so much for looking!
-Kelly

Fusion #16 + Get More From Your Tools!

Can't wait to show you what I ran through the embossing machine this week! Last week I ran burlap through and was quite excited at the resulting texture. This time I ran the plastic mister templates through ...
  

 Folks, that works too! This is the Studio Calico Chevron Mister Huey Mask, meant for masking with the mist sprays. But, it works WONDERFULLY as an embossing tool. I put a few shims through to make the impression a little deeper. You just have to play with it.

For this card, I used the Studio Calico Circle Graph Mister Huey Mask.

It's inspired by the luscious summer colors in the Fusion Card Challenge photo.
  

I ran the Studio Calico Circle Graph template through the Big Shot and came up with these wonderful impressions. Oh the possibilities! I cut out random sections of the circle graph and put them together on the main card.

I wanted it to go with the saying. All the days (the bars) adding up to the knowledge you acquire over a year (the circle).  

 

Woah, getting a little deep here! : )

Anyway, I was excited with how this one turned out, and can see playing with this technique more in the future. Please stop by the rest of the fabulous Fusion designers, and hope to see you in the gallery!

Amy Tsuruta

Stacey Schafer

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan

Geri Freeman

Thanks for looking!
-Kelly

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps: Some Fun Ones!

It's my day at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps to have a little fun with some cards!

(eta: you might notice that these cards look NOTHING LIKE the actual cards on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog ... sorry about that!)

This one may not look like much, but MAN did I spend a lot of time on it. The red/white/blue background was the really tough part. I lined up 7 of the Big Thanks sentiments on an acrylic block and stamped/embossed them down a strip of red paper. Did the same thing on white and blue paper.

Now comes the part where you tear your hair out and stamp 20 more strips of paper until you get it right (OK, that's an exaggeration, but it took a LOT of tries). I sliced them each in thirds and then put them back together again so the words would read across.

The trouble spots here are making sure you stamp the words in the exact same spot (vertically AND horizontally) all the way down the strip, and making sure you cut the strip exactly in thirds.

Not sure how quickly I'll be doing this technique again.

This one uses a background from Zigs & Zags as the focus. A mask is used for the shading on the bottom. For the top row, I flipped the border stamp upside down to make the diamonds, and colored in the resulting tiny squares.

The sentiments are from Truth Is and Frankly.

This one, quite honestly, is one of my favs. It was submitted for a publication call for sympathy cards without using a sympathy sentiment. Can you guess what material the flowers are from?

They're felt, only heat embossed. You really need to try this if you haven't already! Heating the felt makes it shrink up and bubble a little, which is the perfect shape for dimension on a flower. The density also makes for a sturdier embellishment, so it would be good on its own, like for a tag, ornament, etc.

The flowers are from Loving Thoughts and the sentiment is one of the many frequently-used phrases from Calm & Gentle. The border is a white gel pen.

Thanks so much for looking!
-Kelly

CFC 112 - Aqua, Green and Orange + A Story

It's a color challenge this time at CAS-ual Fridays! Feel free to use whatever shade of these three colors you'd like. There are so many possibilities! 

Today's sponsor is Simon Says Stamp, who will kindly have a gift certificate waiting for the winner of this challenge.

I've been wanting to use some of the sentiments from Stampin' Up's Word Play set, and the one with the world is perfect for aqua and green. Glossy Accents on the world gives it a little needed interest since this is a really simple card. The orange is from a mat stack die that I cut the rounded tops and bottoms off.

Then I decided it was a little too simple, so I added some more stuff on the bottom of the card. I prefer it this way, I think.

 Be sure to stop by CAS-ual Fridays to check out the Design Team inspiration, and to link up your vision of Aqua/Green/Orange!

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Recently I was contacted by a young mother who was diagnosed with mesothelioma. As a girl, she loved to wear her dad's coat. Unfortunately, her dad was a construction worker who unknowingly came home covered in asbestos every day. I know, heartbreaking, right?!

If you have a few minutes, I would love for you to hear her story. Her goal in reaching out is to help raise awareness, and provide a sense of hope to others. Thank you!

www.mesothelioma.com/heather

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Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

A Promise to Save You $16 ...

... if you're like me and went wild over the new Papertrey Ink burlap impression plate that goes on sale today.

I NEED that. I'm dying for more choices of subtle backgrounds. 

But then I thought...

Wait a minute, don't I have burlap? Wouldn't that be just as good as a piece of metal trying to be like burlap?

Folks, it turns out that it is!

I cut a piece of scrap burlap the same size as my foam pad, and ran that through my Big Shot.

I can't believe how well it works! 

Now maybe you all already know this and I've just been on the slow boat all year, but you would not believe how excited I got in my craft room today. Then I started thinking about all other textures.

screen mesh

aida cloth

linen

sandpaper

(eta: turns out misting masks work just as well too, see post here!)

You can bet there will be some experimenting going on when school starts up and I have more time for crafting/blogging. Even the burlaps I tried were different. One is pretty even and has lots of holes, one is more random with thin and thick strands that don't run straight. I love it!

In the meantime, I thought I'd share my excitement with you and perhaps save the $16 for that impression plate for some other awesome Papertrey goodies that you can't duplicate at home. 

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

A Wnner + Adventure Pics

Thanks so much for all the sweet comments from the Holiday Cards & More Blog Hop! It sure was fun to see all the packaging ideas AND recipes.

We have a winner for a free issue from Paper Crafts! 

Commenter #75 is ....

Isha!! Please email me your address and we'll get your copy in the mail!

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If you're interested, I also have some adventure pictures to share from last week. 

This trip wasn't to explore new areas, but just to have fun hanging out at Millennium Park with friends. It's been awhile since they've all gotten together, as you can see!

The train was part of the experience. It's quicker, easier and cheaper to just drive down, but it's fun once in awhile to relax and take the train.

On our way to Millennium Park. The kids are not deterred by any office workers who may be sitting on the benches. I see several reaching for their devices and papers as they realize the swarm of kids will be upon them soon.

At the Bean in Millennium Park, we moms reflect on how it's like they've never seen a mirror before!

Love the plantings around the park.

The Target Tent always has something going on for the kids. Live music, crafts, games, etc. The kids make box kites from paper bags.

We get lucky and try a new place for lunch. It's not a chain, they have outdoor seating, and kids meals are only $5. Score! And it's across from one of my favorite buildings in Chicago ... the Carbide & Carbon Building (left side). The polished black granite exterior is just stunning, with bronze Art Deco accents. Were we not pressed for time, I would have loved to check out the lobby again.

The kids have so much fun together. A piece of yarn from the kite craft entertains them through most of lunch.

A classic "toursity" shot ... with the Chicago Theater sign (although now that I'm looking at the picture, I don't know when the "Chase" sponsorship landed on the sign). Kevin James (King of Queens) is coming here in September.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly