Buttons and Butterflies

Welcome to the Studio!

Whew, it's been a rough few months.  I haven't had hardly any time to craft.  I've been packing and purging not only my scrap stash but everything else in the house too.  You can't imagine just how many Christmas ornaments you can acquire in four short years:)

So to update everyone, I am partially moved (and my mom too) to the sprawling metropolis of Picayune, Mississippi.  It's country living at its finest.  The guy who lives across to street brings fresh chicken eggs once a week.  I've never had eggs that fresh!  From coop to kitchen in under an hour.  We have a brand, spankin' new scraproom built by my Dear Old Dad.  It's awesome!  Just a huge 10x20 open space with lots of outlets for all my scrappy gadgets, some uber lighting, and lots of windows.  There's even a tin roof so I can hear the rain pitter-patter.

The cube wall with all our paper is put together (mostly), the dies and diecutting machines are ready and raring to go.  I even found my paper trimmer - Yay, Me!  So I FINALLY got a few moments to crank out some cards after months of not really being able to.  By no means is everything unpacked, but at least I can find some of my stuff;)  The picture below is the cube wall...

I thought a good way to get the creative juices flowing again was to start with a few challenges.  Here is my newest creation...

It's based upon Sweet Sunday Sketch #188.  The sketch is pictured below.  I also got a bit of inspiration from a challenge blog I just discovered, 613 Avenue Create.  Their current challenge, #27,  is a "create your own" challenge.  I created my own with a Choose 3 option of pattern paper, solid paper, and a sentiment.  It was a lot of fun and really made me put my creative thinking cap on.  I also used a bunch of buttons so I could join in the fun at Catered Crop with their Button Up challenge.

For this card, I used:
Ivory 5x6.5 card base, from chain craft store
Pattern Paper:  denim (Paper Studio/Hobby Lobby); Flowers and pink (Crate Paper/Random collection)
Chipboard:  Butterfly (Michaels)
Stamps:  Happy Birthday (Heidi Swapp); Flourish (Justrite Stamps)
Buttons:  yellow are from CTMH, pink from stash
Linen thread:  Stampin Up
Jute Cord:  from stash
Inks:  Gumball Green, Primrose Petals, Rose Red and Crumb Cake (Stampin Up); Colonial White (CTMH/retired)
Dies:  Spellbinders scalloped border

Here are a few more pictures of my new scraproom.  I'm just so excited to have a pretty place to craft!

The "Timmy Table" aka home of the Vagabond.

 

New stamp storage.  It spins and holds tons of stamps

and even has room for a lot of bottles of Prima flowers!

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed your visit.  Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Steamy Steampunk

Welcome to the Studio!
I have a very different card to share with you today.  I haven't done too much in the way of steampunk, only a small, framed wall hanging for a friend.  I'm normally into the cute, sassy, lots of flowers and ribbon, vintage kind of stuff.  For trying something outside of my comfort zone though, I think it turned out pretty well.

I adore "Lady Victoria" from Kenny K.  She's a digi stamp and just too awesome along with tons of their stamps.  I can't wait to get more.  I had fun playing with all the metal stuff and those acrylic flowers too.

I'll be entering this card into a few challenges...
This will be the second card for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #161.  I used the sketch and just modified it a bit to make room for all the metal.  My first submission for this challenge is here.

Next, I'll be entering Basic Grey Challenges #71, favorite color combo.  I will admit the only reason I bought BG Periphery is because of the lime greens and blues.  It's one of my faves.

And another, 2 Sisters Challenge Blog #97, Anything Goes.  Even if you don't play along, there are tons of fabulous cards, layouts, and projects on all of these challenge blogs, so go check them out.  You never know where inspiration could be hiding.

My Supply List:
Paper:  Basic Grey, Periphery
Inks:  Not Quite Navy, Crumb Cake & Chocolate Chip, Stampin Up
Digi Stamp:  Lady Victoria by Kenny K
Stamp:  "Just For You" by Justrite Stampers
Seam Binding:  from stash
Flowers & Bling:  Close To My Heart, Heirloom Assortment.
Metals:  Cogs and Chain with Clasp, Spare Parts by Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby
Punch:  Stampin Up bracket label
Other:  watercolor paper and watercolor pencils

A lot of my non-papercrafting friends want to know what I do with all those cards I make.  My mom and I teach a cardmaking class once a month at our church.  Since they do not charge us for anything, we donate just about all the cards we make ourselves to our church and have handmade cards for sale all the time.  Our church keeps all the proceeds and we don't have to rent a 20x20 storage building to store all our cards.  This particular card, however, will not be showing up on the rack at church;)

Thanks so much for visiting today.  Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

In A Witchy Mood

Welcome to the Studio!

I know summer is just beginning, but I'm ready for fall.  It's my favorite season!  So much wonderful stuff is in the fall, pumpkin patches, leaves changing, that crisp, coolness in the air, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving...I could go on for hours.  I just totally love autumn.  So just to keep my fall yearnings in check, I decided to play along with Forever Night Challenges Freaking Friday #41 and make this witchy, delightfully wicked, halloween card.  The card is based on Sweet Sunday Sketch #161.  I've used that sketch twice already this week.  It's so versatile for these elongated stamps.  I'll be sharing my other card soon.  It's still in the works on my scrap desk;)

And I just love that wicked animal print flower.  I didn't have any seam binding to match - EEK!  So I had to make my own.  I started with ivory seam binding and added it to some water with a drop of black CTMH reinker.  It gave me kind of the gray I wanted, so then I spritzed it with Sassy Shimmer Spritz (my homemade version of Glimmer Mist) in silver.  It came out great, a little glitzy, a little blotchy, and perfectly shabby.  And check out my gossamer-winged bat on my tag.

And you can never forget the inside of your card...

Wanna make your own "Sassy Shimmer Spritz"?  It's easy.  Here's the easiest recipe:
Mist bottle (find those at Wal-mart in the travel size section)
Water
Pearl Acrylic Paint
Water-based stamp pad reinker

All you do is fill the mister bottle approximately 3/4 of the way with water.  Add a few drops of the pearl paint and shake to mix.  Then slowly add reinker until you get the color you want.  Keep in mind that it looks a lot darker in the bottle than it will when it's sprayed, so get some scrap paper out and spritz until you get the color you want.

Recipe #2:
Mist Bottle
Water
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (not Pearl-Ex)*
Water-based stamp pad reinker

I prefer to add the Perfect Pearls first, normally about a 1/4 tsp for a 2 or 3 oz. bottle.  I think add a little water and mix it around to stop the Perfect Pearls from becoming perfect clumps.  Then I begin adding reinker until I acheive the color I want.  I like the way the pearls look better than the paint, plus you can mix and match all kinds of different colors of pearls and reinkers.  If you'd like your spritz to have a more opaque or whitewash finish, just add a few drops of plain acrylic paint in white (for whitewash) or a coordinating shade.

*My reason for insisting on Perfect Pearls is because they have a binder already mixed in with the pearly stuff.  Pearl-Ex requires the extra step of adding a binding agent (gum of arabic, found in the paint section of your local craft store).  Just add about ten to fifteen drops from a pipette into your bottle with the Pearl-Ex and swirl around before adding other ingredients.

Supply List:
Cardstock:  CTMH, Grey Flannel;  Black textured, Recollections/Micheals
Pattern Paper:  Echo Park Apothecary Emporium 6x6
Inks:  CTMH Grey Wool, Sunset, & Black;  Versamark
Embossing Powder:  A La Mode, Detail Black by Hampton Art
Flower:  Prima
Seam Binding:  Really Reasonable Ribbon, dyed by me
Stamps:  CTMH Wicked and Mischief Workshop on the Go stamp set
Sketch:  Sweet Sunday #161
Challenges Entered:  Sweet Sunday #161 and Forever Night Challenges

Hope you enjoyed your visit.  Until next time, Scrap Sassy!