Rolodex Swap

On AFTCM we are doing a monthly Rolodex Card swap, with a different country featured each month. For this month the country was Greece.

I was lucky to get some Rolodex cards cheap at Staples and a friend who had been to Greece very kindly shared some of her pictures with me.

I printed of the pictures from my friend Christine and also some pics of the Greek flag. I added the pictures to the card then cut out the inserts with an Exacto knife. I took a punch with the Greek Key motif and punched out pieces of coordinating cardstock and attached them to the sides.

I then printed out the name of the Greek village with my labeler and attached them to the card.

Cinderella Slipper

I joined a swap in AFTCM where we make a 3-d or flat Cinderella Slipper.

The template was obtained from Terri's blog which includes a video on how to put the shoe together.

I traced the template onto some light cardboard and then covered each piece with some of my Faux Washi paper that I had in my handmade papers. Here is a link to how to make this paper on Trish B's site.

Once I had the shoe put together, I added some lace to the front, along with some fancy metal trim. I also added some plain metal trim around the top of the back portion of the shoe.

I wanted to add a flower but the ones I had did not work well. I discovered a tutorial/video on making flowers on Joanne's blog and decided to give it a try. I sprayed my petals with Smooch Spritz prior to putting the flower together. To complete the flower I punched out some leaves from a piece of Cuttlebug embossed cardstock, sprayed them with a coordinating colour of Smooch Spritz.

I added a heel using a child's alphabet block that I cut down, but it was a bit "wonky" so later on I removed it and added two wooden circles coloured with a plum fluid chalk ink.

great blog candy give away

Erika, over at Taylored Concepts has a really large prize up for grabs.  And I do mean large.  You really got to see this  giveaway.

Second Ezee Pzee Design Team Project

For my second project I decided to use a canvas. I started by colouring the background with some USArtquest Mica watercolour paints. After it dried I stamped and embossed a large flourish stamp in gold.

I covered the right side of the canvas with gel medium and placed some fantasy film over the top and heat set it with my embossing gun, then stamped and embossed the flourish stamp over the top again.

I added some snowflakes on the left with a stencil and molding paste. When they dried I painted them with the pearl white mica watercolour paint, then added some iridescent foil over the top. At the bottom I adhered the Tim Holtz musical tissue tape and painted over it with the mica watercolour paint to make it blend in more. To finish the sides and top I applied some opalite embossing powder and heated it.

The Ezee Pzee toy soldier was first coloured with colorbox fluid chalk inks, his face with acrylic paints,  and the hat band and strings were painted with a gold leafing pen. I wanted it to be more vibrant so painted it with some varnish. I attached gold metallic cardstock behind the epaulets and the areas in the front of the uniform, then added glossy accents to fill the areas. The buttons are little green pearl embellishments.

Since I did not have the cut-out piece for the mustache I had to draw my own on black cardstock and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I had a bunch of the little googly eyes from previous craft projects and added them (sorry he is a bit cross-eyed as they kept moving when I scanned it LOL!).

I added a piece from an old earring as an emblem on his hat and a feather to finish it off.

First Project for the Ezee Pzee Design team

I received my wonderful box of goodies from Kathy at Engravit the company that makes the Ezee Pzee die cuts.  It was filled with an array of items to play with and I got started with the first project.

I decided to make a Christmas card as I am way behind on my list.

I took a piece of 130Lb cardstock and did the "stamp smoosh" technique which I learned from Cathie Allan, using Clearsnap's Fluid chalks. I stamped and embossed the Poinsettia  stamp then coloured it with Smooch Inks. I edged the panel with a red marker.

The little Elf was coloured with Acrylic Paints and I added some distress ink to the toy bag to give it definition. I added some smooch ink over the top of the Elf's clothing and the bow. I attached metallic cardstock pieces behind the words, and the elf's ears and eyes, and a bead for his nose.

The saying was stamped and embossed on an extra piece of the background and edged with the marker.

Ezee Pzee play time

As you may have noticed I was chosen for a spot on a design team called Ezee Pzee by Engravit. I was really happy to be on the team as this is a local company and they have a good variety of chipboard pieces.

Prior to being chosen I had bought a pack of the chipboard and last night I decided to play with a couple of them.

For the first item, I took the little mitten and sealed it with some SoJonia sealer, then painted it with some green metallic paint. I added some lovely red velvet rick-rack as the cuff.  I have some winter saying rub-ons and applied one of them to the body of the mitten.

I took a piece of cardstock that I had stamped ( a scrap I was not happy with!) edged it with a red marker, then applied three snowflake stickers that I got at the dollar store. I attached the mitten with some sturdy 465 3M tape.

In this same package there was a little sleigh/sled and I could not think of how to use it, then I finally decided to make a Christmas Card with it.

I took a piece of white cardstock and stamped and embossed the snow covered tree and added some Stickles glitter to simulate snow. I coloured the remaining portion of the cardstock with some light blue chalk for a sky look.  I discovered some Christmas frames with other embellishments at the dollar store, and chose one with red elements and applied the frame over the stamped image. This was applied to a red card front with double-sided foam tape.

I took the sled and sealed it then painted the main part with red acrylic paint and coloured the runners with a silver Krylon leafing pen. I coloured a piece of thin twine with a dark brown fluid chalk stamp pad using a Clearsnap stylus and black foam tip. I attached it to the front of the sled add some little gold and green embellishments to the sides. Again I added some Stickles glitter around the sled. To finish it I used another one of the rub-ons on the body of the sled.

I took a photo turn and attached a screw brad in the hole and attached it to the side of the frame, and hung the twine over it, and adhered the sled with some double-sided foam tape at the bottom of the card.

Canvas ATC"S

In my Art-Ventures group, Carol S proposed a swap for ATC's on canvas. Luckily I had a couple of canvas ATC bases and joined the swap. As it turns out only 3 of us joined in so I had sufficient to complete the swap.

I decided to do the same technique but in different colours.

I painted the bases with gesso and let it dry. I coloured the first one with green paint, let it dry then added blue over the top. I let it dry a bit then spritzed it with rubbing alcohol and then dabbed over it with a cloth, allowing some of the green to show through. For the second one, I painted the base with orange, let it dry then added a burgandy red over it and followed the same procedure as the first, allowing some of the orange to show.

After they dried completely, I embossed them with a dreamweavers stencil and embossing paste and set them aside. When they were dry I used leafing on both. On the the orange/red one I applied a variagated orange colour, then I added some green apple smooch ink to the vines and to cover some of the areas missed by the leafing I coloured with Pumpkin Smooch ink.

On the blue one I  coloured the vines with the Green Apple Smooch, but the silver on the flowers was a bit glaring so I coloured over them with some Ocean Soul Smooch ink, let it sit for a few seconds then gently wiped them with a kleenex.

To complete the cards I printed and cut out two images from Moonlight Journey and placed some little frames over them. Both were coloured with some metallic rub-ons in coordinating colours to match the backgrounds.