FP - Crochet Skull Card

I am sure excited about my current finished project because by combining my new love for crochet/knitting together with my previous love of paper-crafting I am now in the mood again to create cards and scrapbook pages...woooohoooo.

But let's start from the beginning - I blame my buddy {Trace} for my rekindled passion, because she send me an email the other day with a link to {this pattern}. Now anyone who knows me will also know that I am a total sucker for skulls: always have, always will. Thankfully Mr P's nephew shares this obsession so it's always easy for us to find gifts/create cards and it gives me an excuse to search online for anything skull.

After Trace's email I searched Ravelry's database for more crochet skull patterns as I did not like the jaw bit too much on the original pattern and I found {another one} by Matthew Gravelyn. I hooked the little fella up in no time, using embroidery floss and a 2mm hook.

Here he is before blocking, a wee bit crooked:

And here he is after blocking - to be honest, I have no idea why the area around the eye sockets is reddish, as if he was bleeding from his eyes...creepy

And here is the finished card, I am so happy with it and hopefully this will see me get back into the papercrafting mood, as it has been quite annoying having to buy greeting cards over the last six months :)

For more finished projects hop over to {Tami's blog}

The Journey has ended

** Photo heavy post **

contains vintage nudity 

The good thing about being a card maker is that you always have a card at hand for every occasion, especially birthdays. And it is very rewarding when you know that your nearest and dearest keep all of the cards you've sent over the years.

The bad thing about being a card maker is when you have hit a slump, a complete lack of inspiration and your stock of cards has diminished. Then you actually have to take the walk of shame to the (dare I say it) card shop (gasp) and buy-a-card (gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh) 

As you may recall, I stopped all paper crafting pretty much at the end of last year (the projects I showcased since then were new to the blog but all created in 2011) as there was no mojo left. And there still is no desire of drive to actually pick up where I left off.

So, during the Easter weekend I took a huge empty basket and filled it with all the products I haven't used or even looked at for at least a year. That got rid of about 60% of all my stash and I handed it downstairs to the charity shop. They were delighted, which made me happy.

All other bits and bobs that I have kept have gone into a big storage box which will live on top of our wardrobe. If I have not reopened this and made use of any of the products within the next six months, they will also go to charity. This is actually the way in which I get rid of all surplus stuff that I am not using, be it hobby related or clothes - once a year I go through all my shelves, wardrobes, etc and look for things I have not touched in a while: they go into a box with the date marked on the top. The next time I have a clean out and I come across those boxes, everything that's inside will be given away. 

Anyway - getting our hobby room back into a space where you can actually see the walls inspired me to pick up my minimal supplies I have readily available and I made a card for an impending birthday. You know what? I am glad I am giving all my stuff away because I am not feeling the paper crafting anymore. The card I created is nothing I am proud of, it is ok-ish but I am not loving it.

This bad boy has sealed my paper crafting fate - it is over :((((

Now, please don't get me wrong - I am not posting this to fish for compliments, heck no! I am posting this to  bring it home to myself that my paper crafting journey has come to its end: we had eight wonderful years together but for now we are going separate ways.

If you have the time, who not join me on a reflection of this journey to show you how I have now come full circle. The cards I have chosen are the ones I have liked best during the particular year.

2004

2005

2006

2007

close your eyes NOW if vintage nudity ain't your thang and scroll on 

2008

2009

2010

2011

Donna Salazar - February DT - Pt I

Good morning all, this is Kim S. to post for Donna Salazar Designs showcasing a card made with Donna's awesome stamps, produced by Art Gone Wild

First I prepared the background by spritzing a piece of manilla paper from the new Mixed Media Stax pad with Smooch in Cashmere and Holly Berries.
Once it dried I randomly stamped the branch motif in two different colours along one corner and finished it off by embossing two branch motifs in white.

Previously I stamped the Queen Bee motif twice onto a scrap piece of the manilla paper with Mixed Media Inx, hand cut the images and added some glitter to their wings.

With the aid of adhesive foam squares, I raised the bees from the background and added the sentiment using Donna's Alphas and Jenni Bowlin stickers.

Products used

• Papers: Donna Salazar for GCD Studios - Mixed Media Paper Stax, 
• Mists: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Smooch Spritz in Cashmere, Holly Berries
• Inks: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Mixed Media Inx in Honey, Truffle
• Glitter: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Fairy Dust Glitter in Sugar Shimmer and Mixed Berries
• Embossing Powder: Clearsnap Inc
• Cardstock: unknown
• Dies: Donna Salazar for Spellbinders - Donna's Alphas
• Stamps: Art Gone Wild - Queen Bee, Branch

Gel-a-Tins February DT - Pt II

Sweet Girl- Card

Hello everyone, today I have another CAS card for you and to go with the baby card for a boy from last week, here is one for a sweet baby girl

Making use of the PEACE ON EARTH stamp set I started by stamping a set a baby feet onto the cardbase.

A handcut sentiment was added on top of the feet with some pop dots for dimension and a few pearls added.

As just the stamp and sentiment looked so lost on the card, I added a layered butterfly die to create a balance.

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Papermill

Sentiment - Bella Blvd

Ink - Donna Salazar Mixed Media Inx for Clearsnap

Butterfly Die - Donna Salazar for Spellbinders

Pearls - unknown

Gel-a-Tins DT - January Pt IV

Below post went live on the Gel-a-tins blog earlier:

At the end of January what else could we have on our minds but Love, Love Love? What with Valentine's Day being just around the corner, hearts will be plentiful in the coming weeks. But can you really make use of the CRACKLE PAINT stamps for a lovey-dovey card?

Judge for yourself:

Instructions:

Spray a piece of chipboard with some Smooch Spritz for a glitz look and stamp right onto the now coloured chipboard once the mist has dried. Sprinkle some embossing powder on top and set with a heat gun.

Now ink a chipboard button with some Mixed Media Inx in Chiffon and once dried attach this to the heart with an organza ribbon.

Add a sentiment, which comes from the FANCY DOILY set and stamp with the same colour as used for the embossing and colouring of the chipboard button.

There you go, a simplistic, love-infused card

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Bazzill

Mists - Donna Salazar Smooch Spritz for Clearsnap

Ink - Donna Salazar Mixed Media Inx for Clearsnap

Embossing Powder - Donna Salazar for Clearsnap

Pearls, Ribbon - unknown

Chipboard - Crate

Gel-a-Tins DT - January DT Pt II

Below post has gone live earlier on the gel-a-tins blog

Today I would like to share a quick card with you, making use again of my current favourite stamp -  CRACKLE PAINT

Instructions:

Stamp twice directly onto the card base. After I stamped the left hand side first, I rotated the stamp by 180 degrees to ensure that the end of the crackle lines match up as best possible. I LOVE the effect this stamps gives to any background

Cut a strip of patterned paper the length of the card and a width of about 2" and run a border punch along the top and bottom edge. Adhere this to the background.

Add a sentiment, such as this one which comes from the FANCY DOILY set and adhere to the paper strip.

I also love to experiment with embossing powders and I after I sprayed two flowers with some mists, I sprinkled some random embossing powder onto the leaves.

And here is the complete card again

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Bazzill

Papers - My Minds Eye

Mists - Donna Salazar Smooch Spritz for Clearsnap

Ink - Donna Salazar Mixed Media Inx for Clearsnap

Embossing Powder - Donna Salazar for Clearsnap

Pearls - Want2Scrap

Border Punch - Martha Steward

Flowers - unknown

Gel-a-Tins - December DT, Pt III

Below post went live earlier on the Gel-a-tins blog

So, are you all organised for the holidays or could you do with a little more inspiration for quick last minute card? Good, because I have one more for you making use of the new stamp set HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Instructions:

First I inked the edges of some paper scraps and layered them on top of each other. Stamping the "Wreath" onto some white cardstock, I coloured the image with various shades of green and added a little clear glitter glue to some areas, for a frosted look.

The sentiment "Happy Holidays" was stamped onto a strip of masking tape and added to the top of the card.For the final touch, I used a border punch to avoid too much white space at the top and added a few drops of clear dimensional paint.

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Mad About Cards

Papers - Authentique

Inks - Stampin' Up, Clearsnap

Other - Glitter Glue, Dimensional Paints

Tools - Martha Stewart border punch

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Gel-a-Tins - December DT, Pt II

Below post went live on the Gel-a-tins blog earlier

Today I would like to showcase another Christmas card with you, which was created within the matter of about 10 minutes. I can sometimes spent hours on getting just one card finished but the gorgeous new stamp set HAPPY HOLIDAYS makes creating cards a doddle!

Instructions:

I started stamping the tag with the "Merry Christmas" sentiment first and then added the little "Swirl" to the corners of the tag. Previously I stamped the "Holly" twice to a sheet of white bleedproof paper, coloured it in and hand cut the image, adhering it to the tag with the aid of some foam dots.

To add a little more interest to the "Swirl", I adhered a red flat backed pearl to the lower part to compliment the berries from the "Holly" image.

Finally I added the tag to my cardbase with a double helping of adhesive foam pads, to raise it off the red background and allow me to tuck some punchinella behind the tag.

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Mad About Cards

Papers - Donna Salazar Designs

Tag- WH Smith

Inks - Stampin' Up

Other - Bakers Twine, Punchinella, Button

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Gel-a-Tins - December DT, Pt I

Below post went live on the Gel-a-tins blog earlier

I don't know about you all, but I am SOOOOO ready for Christmas and the fabulous new stamp set HAPPY HOLIDAYS had me super excited to get started on my Christmas cards!

The detail of the wreath is the best I have even come across and looks awesome just left as it is or coloured in. For today's card I have chosen to get out my ProMarker pens and colour away...

Instructions:

First I stamped the image onto some bleedproof white paper and then added various shades of green all across the wreath, adding a few bits of red for the berries. I hand cut the wreath from the paper and added it to the background with some adhesive foam dots.

I also wanted to feature the totally cute little bow, and after it was stamped and coloured it, I hand cut the bow and added it to the bottom part of the wreath. As a final touch, a piece of bling was added to the bow

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Mad About Cards

Papers - Bo Bunny, Authentique

Punch - Woodware

Inks - Stampin' Up

Pens - ProMarkers

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Gel-a-Tins - November DT, Pt III

Below post went love on the Gel-a-tins blog earlier.

Even though I loved using this month's brand new set ONCE UPON A TIME to create embellishments and backgrounds for layouts, I just could not help myself and whip up a very quick and easy card making use of the "Princess and Unicorn" stamp.

Stamp your image to a piece of white cardstock (or bleedproof paper) and colour with pens.

Then tear a piece of patterned paper into a rectangle shape and run an inkpad along the edges for a distressed look. Take another smaller piece of paper and cut along the edges with a pair of decorative scissor (or use a border punch).

This piece of paper will be the base for you image. When you adhere it to the background, make sure to leave a little space to enable you to tuck a journaling card behind paper and image.

For the final touch, adhere the image to the background using adhesive foam dots to raise it slightly. Then you want to add a sentiment of your choice to the card and you are done.

Told, you it was quick and easy.

Supplies:

Cardstock - Poundland

Papers - American Crafts

Journaling card - Belle Blvd

Pens - ProMarkers

Ink - Clearsnap Chalk Ink

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Upsy Daisy Designs - A few cards

I realised that I forgot to share some cards I created some months ago, using papers from Upsy Daisy Designs and I also some of my beloved Dustin Pike digi stamps *sighs*

** click on images to enlarge **

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Donna Salazar Oct II

Good morning all!

This little bonus share went live earlier on the Donna Salazar Designs Blog.

Do you find yourself sometimes in a real rut, wanting to create something but you just don't know where to start?

I find that when it gets closer to specific holidays I want to create something that has nothing to do with that time of the year whatsoever. Just like right now, everyone is getting ready for Christmas and I am thinking of Valentines Day - weird, or what?

So the other day I just sat with some of my scraps looking to create some lovey-dovey tags and cards and thought that there is no reason in the world why we cannot express our love for someone special at any time of the year - we don't HAVE to wait for Valentines Day to tell the Sweetie in our lives that we want him/her to be ours, right?

There you go then - let's celebrate love and that special someone in your life.

First of, I create this wee tag

I took a piece of corrugated board and tore it into a tag shape, making sure I peeled some of  the top layer off to reveal the delightful ripple.

Then, I ran the edges through the Distrezz-it-All and inked the tag with Cat's Eye chalk ink in chestnut roan and dark brown.

Next, I used some watermark ink with Donna's All My Love stamp and stamped across the top of the tag. I added some Top Boss embossing powder in white and set my heat gun to work.

Boy oh boy, I do love the effect this embossed stamp has on this tag. I also like the effect the few loose bits of powder have on the overall look. I prefer when artwork looks a little messy and all over the place - a little bit like myself :)

I finished the tag by fussy cutting a few images from various papers and layering them onto of each other and adding a layered flower a la Natasha to the focal point of the tag - the heart

I wasn't quite done for the day and wanted to do a quick card too, and this is the end result.

I pretty much added all sorts of left-over scraps on top of each other and finished it off with yet another Natasha flower (can you tell I am addicted on making these??)

So,what do you think - do I really need to wait until February to pass the card and tag to someone special, someone loved, or shall I just go and do it now?

Lots of Love'n'Glitter

Products used

• Papers: Donna Salazar for GCD Studios - Take Flight, Banner Artistic Paper,  Crafty Chronicle, Time For Tea, One Sheet Wonderful, Spring in Bloom 6 x 6 Artistic Papers
• Mists: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Smooch Spritz in Woodstain
• Inks: Clearsnap Cat's Eye Chalk - Chestnut Roan, Dark Brown 
• Tools: Distrezz-it-All by Zutter
• Stamps: Donna Salazar - All My Love
• Embossing Powder, Watermark Ink: Clearsnap Inc
• Dies:  Spellbinders - Scalloped Circles
• Rivets: Zutter

Other products: Pen - Zig Millennium in black, Pin, Trim, Ribbon, Pearls, Stamp - Papermania, ProMarker Pens

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Donna Salazar Oct I

Below post has gone live on the Donna Salazar Blog today:


Today I am sharing a post on how to create a quick and easy to do "Thank You" card by using acrylic covers.

** click on any images in this post to enlarge and sharpen their view **

I love the concept of using acrylic covers to create cards, as you can add so many layers, which peek through the top cover. You can see all four layers, which complete the card just by looking at the front cover of the above picture.

I decided from the outset that I wanted an interactive card, meaning you would have an element within the card that you have to move in order to reveal a sentiment or picture.
So, I took one of the smaller dies from the Creative Book Pages and cut a cute tabbed insert from the Antiquities Artistic Papers . I distressed this with some Smooch Spritz  and a selection of Cat's Eye Chalk Inks. As a final touch I hand-stitched along the edge with some pink embroidery floss.

To hide the back of the stitching, I used the same die on a sheet of The Crafty Chronicle and adhered it to the back of my insert tab - a few dabs of chalk inks to to edges and the insert was complete.

For the remainder of the 6 x 6 Artistic paper - I cut this into a luggage tag shape, ran it trough the Distrezz-it-All and inked the edges with some more chalk ink. If you want to make your tag look really professional, just ink a white self-adhesive washer (sometimes also called reinforcer) with chalk ink in chestnut roan.

I then cut the sentiment by using Donna's Alphas on a leftover piece of Time For Tea, outlined the edges with black pen and arranged the letters across the insert tab and back page.

Notice the eyelets? 

Yeah, I am totally inspired by my DT-teamie Natasha, who uses them to perfection on all her projects. Thanks to her I now make more use of them and I think they work well as a little embellishments on this card.

Another thing I love about using acrylic covers for cards - If you use double sided paper the flip side will of course show through the acrylic. So choose wisely: I just thought the butterfly image was perfect to be seen through the backpage.

As for the front cover, I just layered cut outs from the Artistic Journal Cards and a die cut using the 

Creative Pages II and topped these with another fabulous quote from The Crafty Chronicle:

"A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails . - Donna Roberts"

To finish the cover off, I added a layered flower, cut from some leftover Artistic Paper scraps and distressed with Smooch Spritz and Chalk Inks and outlined the frame with the help of an plethora of Baby Pearls from Want2Scrap.

Finally to "hide" some of the glue shining through the acrylic, I also added a layered butterfly, cut with the Wonderful Wings die and adhered it to the back of the front cover.

I nearly forgot to tell you how I bound the card together...first cut two holes with the help of a crop-a-dile (or similar took which cuts through acrylics), then you either use small book rings or faux-leather bands as I did.

Hopefully you enjoyed this project and may try your hand at creating a card with a difference.

Lots of Love'n'Glitter

Products used

• Papers: Donna Salazar for GCD Studios - One Sheet Wonderful, Antiquities 6 x 6 Artistic Paper,  Crafty Chronicle, Time For Tea, Artistic Journal Cards
• Mists: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Smooch Spritz in Caramel Latte, Pralines and Cream, Green Olive
• Inks: Clearsnap Cat's Eye Chalk - Chestnut Roan, Dune, Dark Brown, Cocoa, 
• Tools: Distrezz-it-All by Zutter
• Dies: Donna Salazar for Spellbinders - Donna's Alphabet,  Wonderful Wings, Creative Pages I
• Pearls: Want2Scrap
• Acrylic Covers:  Zutter

Other products: 

Embroidery Floss; Eyelets, Self Adhesive Washer, Pen - Zig Millenium in black; Crop-a-Dile - WR Memory Keepers

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