Prickley Pear Monthly Sketch

I was playing in the studio tonight, and got to play with this great stamp set, Clearly Beautiful Hibiscus and the matching die. I loved the elegant sketch this month, and just had to play along!

Challenges:
Prickley Pear: sketch
Simon Says: Dies to Die For

Playing with Sakura

I love experimenting with Sakura's Crystal Lacquer! And I've come up with a technique, that I hope you will enjoy.


1. Choose some interesting dies, and cut wax paper shapes. Cover the shape with the Crystal Lacquer. Let Dry



2. I'll admit, I thought the dried lacquer would pull right off the waxed paper...but it didn't. But don't you worry! I've got the answer. Heat the waxed paper side for a few seconds with your heat gun. You can then peel it off revealing a die-cut shape of the Crystal Lacquer.

3. Choose embossing folders, and run the shape through your Cuttlebug machine.

4. You may either leave your piece alone, as it is - or add colors. I rubbed on Viva Decor Gold, and then buffed areas off. I also rubbed Stickles over the shape too. Finally, I inked the edges with Distress Inks.

I had been going to do just one card, but decided to make a trio of ATC's. You can see the different textures that were created - and there's so many variations left to try!





For this last ATC, I die-cut my spellbinders, and inked the embossed area. Then I just highlighted those areas with the Crystal Lacquer. I also covered the little squares completely, to make them more like charms.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Challenges:
Stamp and Show: ATC
Simon Says: Dies to Die For

Scor-Pal and Glue Arts Week

I hope you have been enjoying Scor-pal's Glue Art Week! I know I have. There have been some great projects (and we're not done yet!)

There will be some great Scor-pal and GlueArts prizes so be sure and leave a comment each day this week at the Scor-Pal Blog! There will be two winners randomly selected from all comments throughout the week. One will receive a Scor-pal scoring tool and the other will receive an assortment of great GlueArts products. You have until 8am CDT on Monday to leave comments. We will announce the winners later that day both on the Scor-pal Blog and on the Scor-pal Fan Page.
Once you are finished here be sure and stop by and visits the GlueArts blog as to see what they are up to as well. Also, don't forgot to visit the GlueArts fan page and, of course, stop by the Scor-pal Fan page. There we have some great prize giveaways, contests, ideas and more.

My project is being shown today, but I thought I would share it with you here as well.

Supplies:
Scor-pal
Scor-tape
Glue Arts ExtremeTac Adhesive Squares
Glue Arts U Cut It Adhesive Foam
Spellbinders Dies
Bazzill Cardstock
Basic Grey Patterned Paper
Ribbon, Metallic Thread

Tutorial - Square Treat Box from Scor-pal website
Cat rosette was adapted from a home decor project from Martha Stewart.



To make the scaredy-cat rosette, cut 2 pieces of black cardstock, 1.5" x 12". Score every half an inch. Pleat fold, and attach the to strips together with Scor-tape to form a circle.

Press the circle down in the center to form a rosette, and glue in place.



Add pieces of cardstock to decorate the face. Apply Extreme Tac to glue the eyes, ears and mouth of the cat. Cut a small piece of U Cut It Foam, and fill in the hole in the center of the rosette. Color orange with a copic marker.






Make a loop of metallic thread, and tie a knot in the center.



Clip the ends to make whiskers. Place this on the U Cut It Foam. Glue the nose over the top with the Extreme Tac.




Complete the Square Treat Box, following the tutorial, and add the Scaredy-Cat to the top of the box.

Challenges:

Simon Says: Dies to Die For

Flower Soft + Circles

I've got a fun fall card to share with you, for the new challenge at Flower Soft. It's a super easy one this time-circles! I made a shaker card using papers, chipboard and stickers from Best Creation - Hello Fall line. I used the Autumn Flower Soft to look like leaves around the scarecrow. Some of my leaf stickers were placed under the acrylic, and some over it - to add more dimension.

Happy Fall Y'all

I think it's really here! Fall, that is! My very favorite time of the year. I haven't seen any leaves turning yet, but the air is crisp, and has that wonderful fall smell to it.

If you love fall like I do, then our current Beary Scrap challenge is an easy one for you. We want to see your autumn inspired projects. Easy, huh? And one lucky winner will walk away with a $20 gift certificate to the Beary Scrap!

Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket, doesn't really sound like it would lend itself to fall projects, but when I started looking at it - it really was full of rich oranges, reds and green - perfect for this time of year. I inked the edges of all of my papers with a little distress ink ( Rusty Hinge). My flower was stamped from the Sweet Williams set from Our Daily Bread Designs. And I had a cute little button in my very special button drawer, just waiting to be my flower center.

I hope you will come play along with us! You have until the end of the month to upload your creation.

Challenges:
Our Daily Bread: Fall Colors
Card Patterns: Sketch
Paperplay: Punches and Dies
Corrosive Challenge: Punches and Dies
Sweet Stampin: Flowers

Crafty Secrets DT Challenge "Retro inspiration"

Don't you love anything retro?!! I do, so this month's designer challenge from Crafty Secrets, was a fun one for me. When I saw this pink oven in the Homemade Images and Journal Notes, I knew I wanted to incorporate it into my card. We recently sold my grandparent's house, and it still had the original turquoise oven in the kitchen! How's that for retro?

All of my papers were printed from our Creating With Vintage Patterns CD. There are new CD's in the works, and I know they will be as big a hit as the first one! Did you notice how my cherry border that I stamped from the Kitchen Classics set matches the paper? So cool! My adorable domestic diva is from one of our new sets, Let's Hang Out. I even sneaked in our newest stamp set, Mini Frames, by stamping around the sentiment form the Journal Note Pad, cutting it out, and then restamping and mounting the sentiment on top. I love how the cherries on the patterned paper, look like a tassel coming out of the sentiment tag.


I know you are going to want to see what the rest of the design team came up with, so here's a list of everyone, so you can check it out! Keep your notepad handy, cause I'm sure you are going to want to start your shopping list! So when you finish, you can head to the Crafty Secrets website and get some Crafty Secrets goodies delivered to you! And to make sure you don't miss anything, why not subscribe to the Heartwarming Vintage Blog? There's always lots of inspiration, announcements and giveaways.

• Amy Teets


• Debbie Marcinkiewicz


• Fauve vanMaanen


• Gini Cagle


• Heidi Blankenship


• Jan Hennings


• Julie Campbell


• Linda Duke


• Michele Kovack


• Pam Hooten


• Tammy Roberts


• Vicki Chrisman


• Victoria Warren-Mears


• Viola Mahr