From cigars to cards

I love to take something functional and make it pretty. This time I repurposed a cigar box.

This what I started with …

First I painted the edges so if I miss a part with paper, it will still look nice.

Then I covered the box, inside and out, with paper (from Kaisercraft) …

Then I cut out the bird from another sheet of paper and adhered it with Pop Dots …

I added a bit of lace to the inside and a Piccolo enameled with Vintage Gold to the front …

And it is done!

I set it by the front door to hold mail during the holidays.

 

 

Inspired by Christmas

I find inspiration for my creations everywhere. It may come from a magazine ad, a piece of paper or another person’s creation. I have even been known to take inspiration from a tile wall in the bathroom of McDonald’s.

This time, I found inspiration at one of my favorite online stores — One King’s Lane. Here are a few of the ornaments I discovered in their store:

Aren’t they beautiful?

Anyhow, I decided to try my hand at my own glass ornaments … each one is totally different, since I was mostly experimenting, but I think they turned out pretty cool. I started with a box of clear glass ornaments. You will notice there are not 6 — two didn’t survive the experimentation and met their fate in the trash can.

I coated the inside of this one with a very thin layer of Piccolo 3D Enamel Gel. I rotated it several times a day for a few days until it dried and then I added Elizabeth Craft Designs snowflake stickers to it. Isn’t it beautiful!

This one I left clear and added a bit of Faux Snow by Art Glitter to the inside. The stickers are from Elizabeth Craft Designs. I coated them with Glitter Ritz glitter in cool highlight and then colored them with Copics. I love how the translucent design allows you to see through the back side.

For this one, I coated the inside with Adirondack Paint. The large stripes are done by attaching Scor-Tape and then coating it in Art Glitter glitter. The other stripes are freehand with Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive and Art Glitter glitter.

And, last but not least, this one is coated on the inside with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint. The stars and Season’s Greetings are stickers by Elizabeth Craft Designs. The ribbon is from May Arts. Very simple, but very pretty, don’t you think?

Candy’s Supply Book

If you are anything like me, you have trouble remembering which colors of ink, paint and markers you have at home. When this affliction strikes, one of two things is bound to happen when you visit the store.

A. You think you have the product at home, but when you get home you discover you don’t and that you must return to the store to purchase it. Or B. You don’t think you have it home, so you buy it and then you have two! Both options are time and money wasters.

When I found myself buying duplicate Adirondack Paint Dabbers, I decided to take matters into my own hands and I created my very own supply book.

This 5×5 book is ring-binder bound and can easily fit in a purse or bag so you always have it when you need it and the pages can move around, be removed or added as necessary.

I’ve even included a hinge clip at the beginning so you can write down notes for yourself the next time you are in the store. The tabs can be modified to your taste to make it easy to find what you need.

I’ve created custom pages to record Distress Inks (including pads, markers, paints, Stickles, stains and more), Ranger Archival Ink, Memento Ink, Adirondack (including alcohol ink, paint, embossing powder, Color Washes and more), Claudine Hellmuth Studio products, Liquid Pearls, Dreamweaver pastes and F/X, Perfect Pearls, Flower Soft and Stickles. Additionally, five pages will hold color samples for all 358 colors of Copic Sketch markers — printed on X-Press It Blending Card so you know exactly what the colors will look like on your project. Also included are blank pages for recording additional ink pads, embossing powders, mists and sprays, glitter, flock and beads, and pens and markers.

The best part is I’m running this as a class, so you can make your very own supply book, at Capture A Memory in Flint Township. The class is set for Tuesday, April 24 from 5:30-7 p.m. Contact the store for details.

I also plan to make kits available for those who cannot attend the class. I’ll have those up in an Etsy shop shortly.

A Traveling Tray

In the digital age in which we live, words, books and the entire printing process seem to be going away. For someone who has spent the majority of her life hanging out in bookstores and libraries and working  for a newspaper, the change is sad. While I appreciate the ability to carry dozens of books on my Nook and love the speed of e-mail and the convenience of text messaging, I am still nostalgic for the smell of ink, the feel of the pages in a brand-new book and the excitement that comes from finding a card in the mailbox. Yes, I am that crazy girl who rather look up a book in a digital database, but dreams of owning her own card-catalog cabinet. And, while I would never trade a computer to go back to the old days of setting type, I would give just about anything to own a wooden cabinet that once held the letters.

So, when Tim Holtz came out with a printer’s tray as part of his Configurations line through Ideaology, I knew I had to buy it — even though I had absolutely no idea what I was going to make with it. It sat in my craft room for a few months while I thought of the possibilities.

Then, Matt & I took a vacation in Manistee, along Michigan’s west coast, and had such a wonderful time that I knew it was worthy of recording in the tray. Here’s what I came up with …

You can click on the photo for a larger view.

I used quite a few techniques and wanted to share a few with you …

I started by painting the outside of the tray, along with the insides of the boxes I planned to put photos in, with an Adirondack Paint Dabber. Then, I created some glazes with Perfect Pearls and went over the outside with them. The end result looks kind of like wood and has a soft, silky feel.

Next, I covered the edges of each of the interior boxes with Tissue Tape. It was too light/bright for my project, so I covered it in Walnut Distress Ink to tone it down a bit.

Then I glued each of the boxes into the tray with Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear adhesive and added metal photo corners, also from Tim Holtz. At that point, I was ready to decorate.

I cut photos to size and placed them in many of the boxes. I used paper from Simple Stories to accent a few of the boxes. The brads and embellishments are, for the most part, from Tim Holtz. The metal flower is from Graphic 45 and the decorative brad shown here is from Bo Bunny. I also added a few rocks and the saying in the top photo was cut from a travel magazine.

In this box, I filled one of Tim’s tiny jars with sand taken from the beach. I added a label from 7 Gypsies, fiber from We R Memory Keepers and a tiny lock and key from My Mind’s Eye.

The Frankfort sign was cut from a photo.

I created another jar for this square. The compass was stamped, embossed and cut out. I added a brad and game spinner and attached it to the box. The tag is also from Tim Holtz — I cut the die on my Sizzix Big Shot and then stamped the image, distressed it and added it to the box.

The tiny sign at the bottom was cut out from a travel magazine. I then used Glossy Accents to attach it to a clear fragment charm and glued it on the bottom so it stands out from the photo.

I used the same technique to make the charm in this photo.

The No. 2 is Grungeboard that I colored with Distress Ink and then covered with Diamond Glaze.

The book plate is another of Tim’s brilliant creations. The stamp is from his ticket set and the paper is cut with the tag die. They were designed to work together, but also to fit in the metal book plates! Cool, eh.

I used the same stamps and the ticket die to make the title … then I cut out the letters using a QuicKutz/Lifestyle Crafts die set.

The flowers are from Prima. I so love these!

And, although you can’t see them too well, the word Escape is made from Tim’s letter and blocks Grungeboard set. I colored the letters with Distress Ink and painted the block with Adirondack paint. When dry, I glued the letters to the blocks and then covered them with Diamond Glaze. I love the way they flow together!

When I finished, my husband decided it said Escape 2 West Michigan. It really didn’t … I had separate squares for escape (as in relax), Just the 2 of us, and the destination, but, from a distance, it does say “Escape 2 West Michigan.” Sometimes I think my fingers know more than my brain!

 

 

 

 

 

The Cat Who …

I recently discovered The Cat Who series of murder-mystery novels.

The books, written by Lilian Jackson Braun, tell of the adventures of a semi-retired journalist, Qwill, and his smart Siamese cat, Koko. They take place in Moose County, a rural region 400 miles north of everywhere, in Michigan.

While I enjoy the basic mystery portions of the novels, I also like to read about the slow-paced small-town life, the quirks of Koko and other small tidbits in the stories. I am particularly intrigued with the creative license Braun uses in her fictional county. It appears she has taken the best of Michigan and combined it into one location. So taken by trying to figure out where Moose County is, I decided create a scrapbook page about the clues in the book.

As always, click on the photo for a larger view …

The paper and flower stickers are from Cloud 9 Design. The state die cut was a gift from my sister. I printed the journaling on vellum and the clues on cardstock. The cat is a digital stamp by Doodle Pantry, printed on X-Press It Blending Card and colored with Copic Sketch markers.

As a side note … Copic will not react with laser or toner from a copy machine. They may react with ink jet printers. I have an HP and it works fine. I haven’t tried it with my Epson photo printer yet. So, always check your printer before coloring. Trust me, you will not like it when the black bleeds into your images and you could damage your nibs.

Back to the layout … the large letters and question mark are Grunge Board from Ideaology. The question mark is painted with Adirondack Paint Dabber and then covered with Diamond Glaze. The small letters are chipboard from Maya Road. They are colored with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink … a lot of ink for a solid color, less ink for the spotty ones … and then covered in Diamond Glaze. The black is painted on, then glued to the top of the squares and then the entire image is covered in Diamond Glaze. I love the finished look … especially the way the Diamond Glaze puddles where the letters meet the blocks. Once dry, I used Black Soot Distress Ink to ink the edges and then adhered it to my page. My favorite adhesive for these is Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear. I used Removable Glue Dots to hold the letters to my Nonstick Craft Sheet while painting. Trust me. You will want to do this!!