weck statt ball (Moxie Fab)

We don't have Ball jars in Germany.  We have "Weck Gläser".  Consider yourself enlightened ;)

Whatever.  I love 'em just the same because they evoke a down-on-the-farm feeling reminiscent of days gone by.  My days gone by.  I remember stopping by a relative's farm and there was always something being "put up" in the kitchen.  I myself can handle marmelade and "Pflaumenmus" but that's the extent of it.  Oh, I can do chutney too...

There's a new challenge at Moxie Fab, "The Jars of Joy", and IMO that they truly are.  But since I don't have any mason jar product (yet) I had to take a different approach.  As in alcohol inks and acetate to give a blue glass feel to my tag.  Cuz I was totally inspired by this photo.

image credit

Get it?  Red/white, blue glass, touch of metal.  Shine.  Joy.

Found a template online for a pillow box.  Used Nook and Pantry PP, a doily, some lace and some twine and there you have the packaging for some tags I made as a hostess gift.

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies pillow box:

Paper: PP Basic Grey

Stamps:Inkystamp

Ink: Versafine

Tools: dies MFT

Other: metal frame, lace, twine, doily

orchid, tangerine, sea foam (PDCC, PS, YCU)

 Trends.  How long do they last?  But I did it.  Bought a chevron die.  Oh my goodness.  What fun.  What possibilities.  What a challenge (if you're good in spatial thinking -read:  I'm not - you can do awesome things with this baby).  Just check out JJ's blog.

Die cut a bunch of chevrons and then played around with them until I found a pattern I like.  Tons of possibilities.  Then, when you cut them into strips a whole nother (that's Michigan slang, BTW) world of possibilities presents itself.

I used the colors from this gorgeous photo board from The Play Date Cafe:

And this designer draft from Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge:

And am loving the trend challenges like this one at Young Crafters Unite:

Here she is.

Looks kinda wonky, but I purposely stamped the sentiment in lilac AND light gray to give it a bit more weight. It doesn't look that "fuzzy" IRL...  Notice how the twine guides your eye from the star down to the sentiment (thanks to Paper Crafts Connection  and Moxie Fab World I now know that's called "movement/flow")?

And because I actually needed a retirement card for a friend (yeah, I'm that old - actually I'm not but I have friends who are!!!) and because I had plenty of chevrons ;).  It needed to be more masculine so, more blue and vellum rather than twine.

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies cheers:

Paper: card base Buttinette, CS Papermania

Stamps: Kim Hughes CHF, sentiment Paper Smooches

Ink: Versamagic

Tools: dies MFT

Other: twine

Supplies happy happy everything:

Paper: card base Craft UK, CS Papermania, vellum

Stamps: Kim Hughes CHF, sentiment PTI

Ink: Versamagic, Versafine

Tools: dies MFT

Other: 

cardmaking - next Olympic discipline (Moxie Fab)

Got your ducks in a row?  This is another philosophical post about cardmaking.  You can stop reading if you'd like, although there is a card in here somewhere ;)

The pile of "maybe-I-can-use-that-one-day" stuff in my laundry room had gotten so huge I could hardly use my sewing machine.  Enter discipline:  MARATHON SORTING, discarding ...

and then die cutting.  Enter:  BIG SHOT CRANKING.  How great do you think 5000 cranks of that handle are for your biceps?   Leaves were part of my plan (of course they then had to be inked and stamped then too).

The green ones came from an acrylic work of art that my friend made as an oversized gift card for DH's bday.  I decided to upcycle it (DH suggested I don't tell her that) cuz the patterns/colors were just too cool.  Call me a dweeb - I didn't photograph it before I chopped it up - but I can show you this.  Saved one square piece to work into a mini canvas.

In my effort to not waste any of that gorgeousness I started looking through my dies for the teensy ones.  Realized if I broke it apart, I could use the PTI farm animals.  And the duck was the smallest animal  for those leftover bits.  Enter:  GET AN IDEA AND RUN WITH IT.

Here's the philosophical slant.  Where DO these ideas come from?  I mean really?  I looked at my little die cut ducks (was actually going to put one chicken in the row and do something along the "you're-one-of-a-kind" line) but for some reason I got up to look at the PTI stamp set that goes with the die and ta da - this sentiment.  In case you haven't caught on yet, I believe there is a cardmaking God out there.  Some days He lets you stumble around on your own for hours, but some days He is right there nudging you around your craft room!  Hadn't used this stamp set yet, but I think I like it lots.

As for the color?.  Another who knows.  I tried a couple but went with the green, although green is never my go-to color.  I'm thinking it was the Tuesday Trigger of those green shoes...  When I saw it I immediately thought of "Wicked".  What can I say?

I'll say thanks for looking and (maybe) hanging around until this point.  And happy to have my sewing machine back!

Supplies feeling ducky:

Paper: card base Papermania, recycled artwork/packaging

Stamps: PTI, BG WMS

Ink: Distress Ink

Tools: dies PTI, sewing machine

Other: 

stretch those stamps (HA, ABNH, CFC, embossing)

 Recognize this little dude?  He's from this Hero Arts set, which is clearly a Christmas set.  But one of the challenges in this month's contest at HA is to use "a stamp for all seasons."  Read:  for all occasions.

Perusing my HA Christmas stamps I happened upon Le Frog.  Knowing I wanted to bed him on some green embroidery thread (a la this card) and having gone to college at a time was preppy was in (know what's coming???), I decided if I gave him a neon pink scarf, he wouldn't have to be a Christmas frog anymore.  I hate long sentences.

Also knew I wanted to do some embossing to add interest to my CAS card.  And since the girls over here wanted to see it!

As well as here:

Presenting Le Frog wishes you a happy birthday.

Selective inking allowed me to use this sentiment for the bubble - continuing the rest on the inside of the card.  And I squealed when I noticed the teensy crown also included in the sentiment set.  Perfectomundo for Le Frog's cabeza - gold, of course.  Googly eyes?  That was a no-brainer.

Have a bon jour mon amis...

Supplies Happy Birthday:

Paper: card base Papermania

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink:Aladine, Versafine

Tools: embossing folder Cuttlebug, corner rounder EKS

Other: embroidery floss, embossing powder, googly eyes

two-fer (LIM, SSS)

Typical me, I saw the Brown/Pink challenge over at Less is More.  Thought, "oh cool".  Missed the deadline.  Saw the new challenge One Layer Card.  Thought, "Brown/Pink One Layer Card."

Two actually.  Same concept for both.  You pick.

For the first one I used Distress Ink and heat embossed it with clear powder.  Mr. Tim does this successfully.  I never have.  (Pads not juicy enough??? Yo no se.)   So I stamped over the image with Versamark and then heat embossed again with clear.  Happy accident = notice the shadow effect to the main image.  Muy coolio.

I also gave my masked circles some extra treatment.  Water splashing.  Extra stamping.  Definitely adds interest but I wasn't sure I wanted so much interest.  Enter second card.

For this one I used Amuse pigment ink for the image.  The embossing really didn't work here either so I did the Versamark over the top thing again and once again got the shadow effect.  Do LOVE that.  I masked and inked the circles using two tones of Distress.  Went with a bday sentiment in same Amuse ink.

 The card is white.  Looks blue here, eh?  I'm trying my hand at PhotoScape editor.  Great free tool, but seems when I upload the pics to my blog, they come out blue-r than they were in the editor.  Hmmmm....

Also entering Simon Says Stamp challenge to Stamp It cuz I did.

Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies :

Paper: card base Papermania

Stamps: #1Kesi , #2  Kesi and PTI

Ink: #1 Distress, #2 Distress and Amuse Studio

Tools: die MFT to make mask

Other: Post-It & repositionable adhesive, clear embossing powder

creative thinking required (TAWS, JayGee, SSS)

Both of these inspiration photos totally spoke to my Marimekko heart.  The first is the current challenge at The Alley Way Stamps, the second JayGee's Nook.

See the pillows?  See that "ric rac" one?  I have a ric rac die.  But, having no Alley Way Stamps in my stash, I perused the freebies on their site and found a great sentiment that fit the ric-rac-turned-water motif.  Add a stamp from my stash and this is the result.

Pretty self-explanatory.  Printed the digi image.  Stamped.  Added die cut strips.  Thanks for checking it out.

Entering this to Simon Says Stamp's challenge to Stamp.  Cuz I did.  Digitally and with inky fingers.

Supplies just keep swimming:

Paper: card base Papermania, CS Coredinations

Stamps: digi The Alley WayStamps, EKS

Ink: Adirondack

Tools: die Cottage Cutz

Other:   

it's a shaker card (JayGee, SSS)

When I first saw the story board at JayGee's Nook, I was taken with the polka dots.  Especially when I saw how fun the randomly stamped dots are on this card from Ange.

I remembered a party PP I have with random dots.  And I decided to make a shaker card with some birthday confetti.  Used recycled acetate and a stamped card base that I had intended to use for my lady Wanda, but didn't.  Added an outer ring of the dot PP to the front and some polka dot washi to hold the sentiment tag and voila.

Could be for a child, but I'm thinkin' a fun lovin' adult might likey too!  Cuz the quatrefoil and sentiment are stamped, and I even put a piece of washi on it  I'm entering this in Simon Says Stamp's Stamp It challenge.  Big celebration going on over there.  If you love stamping, check it out.  Happy weekend.

Supplies happy birthday to you:

Paper: card base Papermania, PP K&Co, recycled acetate

Stamps: BG Clean and Simple Stamps, sentiment PTI

Ink: Versafine

Tools:  die MFT

Other:  washi tape, tag, dimensional adhesive