Going Green with Sizzix

I've got a FUN recycling project you can make using your Sizzix products and some recycled items and cheap wooden beads from GoodWill today! When I say cheap -- I mean .98 CENTS for a 24" strand. I think I used 3 strands on this project. That's all I bought -- everything else I already had. Wow. See what you can do when you start using up all those items you buy because you love and then never use. So, let's get started!

Here's what we're going to make today. It's a little wind chime with some sparkly sun-catcher prisms in it. Pretty, don't you think?

Heres what you'll need: 

• Big Shot Machine
• Tim Holtz Movers + Shapers Mini Ticket Set
• Sizzix EcoEtch Die: Deco Motif and India Archway
• Vintaj: Natural Brass Circles, Bird
• Maya Road Brass Butterflies
• Various Colors of Spray Paint
• Faceted Glass Chandelier Beads
• Various colored beads
• Wooden Beads, painted or plain
• Rocks, Shells, Bells, Bottle Caps, Charms, Keys Fishing Lures or whatever you like to hang
• Silver Plate Butter Dish -- Vintage/Recycled
• Tim Holtz Screw Punch
• Tin Sheets
• 20 Pound Fishing Line
• Electric Drill
• A Willing and Helpful Husband -- I asked my husband to help me with drilling the butter dish -- because if there was ANY possible way I could hurt myself doing it I would. Plus, he's a better driller than I am :-D

So, let's get started. 

• Before I did any drilling (I being my Man) on the butter dish I gathered all the items and prepared them for stringing. I spray painted the brass shapes from Vintaj with black or red and let them dry. When they were dry I embossed them with the EcoEtch Die and sanded them with a sanding block to reveal the pattern. Oh, they made me so happy! 

• If they needed a second hole drilled in them I used my Tim Holtz Screw Punch to do that. I love this tool -- it saves my hand punches when I want a hole in some metal. I've ruined so many 1/8" punches by trying to use them to make a hole! 

• I also used the Mini-Ticket Magnetic Movers + Shapers Set and a sheet of tin to create some mini tickets that I could add to my wind chime/sun catcher. If you don't have the pre-made brass bird, butterflies and circles but have dies you could cut your own from any type of metal -- soda cans work great just be CAREFUL when you cut them apart!   

• I used my Big Shot to squash the bottle caps and then drilled a hole in the center of each one. I thought they might sound like a tambourine when it gets really windy!

• When you have all the elements ready you will need to prepare the butter dish. This is where my husband helped me. I marked on all 4 sides of the dish (5 holes on each of the long sides and 2 on the ends) with a marker where I wanted him to drill the holes -- I think he used a 1/8" drill bit. 

• When he was done I sanded down any rough edges with a sanding block. 

• Now I just need to cut a piece of fishing line and start creating the beaded strands. I tried to make them all different -- and different lengths too so they would swing in the wind and create soft, relaxing sounds.

• I cut the fishing line about 30" to 36" long and placed the end piece at the center mark. This would give me 2 pieces of fishing line to tie in a knot to the butter dish.   Then I started stringing the beads, rocks, shells and other items to create my strands. They range in length -- the shortest is about 8" long and the longest one is about 12".

• When each strand was complete I tied it to the butter dish. I did try and hide the knot on the inside. Since I don't know any fancy knots I just tied a 5 or 6 regular knots and pulled them tight, then I trimmed the ends to about 1/2" long.

Doesn't it look awesome? I can't wait to hang it outside and hear the sweet wind chimey sounds on a breezy day! 

 

This project took me a few hours -- but it was totally worth it. I think I'm going to make another one with the other part of the dish.

THANKS for joining me today for this project brought to you by Sizzix! Have a great day and see you next time! 

Balancing Act and a Twitter Party

Popping in to share this with you today! If you get Lifetime you definitely don't want to miss "The Balancing Act" -- and it's airing tomorrow -- May 21.

 

There's also going to be a twitter party, so don't miss it!  So, be sure to join in on the fun by joining me and other members of the Sizzix team as we host a Twitter chat about all things Sizzix!  Join us on Twitter for fun crafty talk and questions and answers about Sizzix products.

You can find us -- TODAY HERE: https://twitter.com/Sizzix_US at 3pm PST -- be there or be square!

Thanks for stopping by --- have a great day.

It's that time of the Year: Annual trek to Brimfield

Today I thought I would share a few fun pictures from my annual trip to Brimfield this week. This year I took my son as all my other friends had scheduling conflicts and my husband couldn't take the day off of work. Since my son is 13 and it seems like all we do is fight and argue I thought it would be a great to spend the day together doing something we both love.

I'm happy that I asked him to come along, we had a great day and he went along with all my silliness, like the picture below, ha ha. Of course, I did lay down the law first thing! If you're coming here with me you HAVE to play along with the silly pictures.

A little fake smile, but that's ok.

Every year I take a picture of these funky latex glove forms, they are always waving!

I was so in love with these little rusted wire faces -- but I wanted them individually. I might have to make a few and put them on stakes...they really made me happy!

This foot was huge - my size 9 foot was the size of it's pinky toe, lol.

I thought this mask was kinda cool. He didn't.

Hey, hello again.

 
 Creepy baby parts in a cool jar.

Trims galore. Loved the way these were set up with similar colors together. It looked fabulous!

That's it for pictures. IT was the perfect day as far as weather, company and driving. I'm hoping to go back again this summer with my sweet friend that couldn't come this time. Crossing my fingers! 

THANKS for stopping by -- have a GREAT day.

It's Whatever's Time for May!!

edited to add: I just realized that I forgot to put the links over to Nat and Vic's blogs -- what can I say but SORRY gals-- it was midnight after a long day of driving and I'd been up for 20 hours. Please check out Nat and Vic's pages for May here:

• Nat: The Times they are changing!
• Vic: You May Not Know

________________________________________
  
13 CLOWNS WANTED

ALIVE

in connection with the disappearance of local man; Winston Whatever. A gang of thirteen men, women and children thought to be members of an elite team of Ninja Warriors posing as Circus Actors are targeted with the disappearance of Mr. Whatever.

Mildred, 10
Hazel, 23
Minnie, 29
Nellie, 42
Cora, 36
Fannie, 71
 
Melvin, 11
Roscoe, 45
Cornelius, 31
Orville, 53
Percy, 72
Horace, 38
Oscar, age unknown

Cordelia could hardly believe her eyes – she was overwhelmed and about to faint from the sheer shock of reading the headline “13 Wanted in Mystery Disappearance of Local Man!” What was more shocking to her was the fact that there were children and women involved.

As she skimmed the article, she couldn’t help but have a little hope that her sweet Winston would be home soon. Ever since those women had found the note the case had been moving along – he had to be found soon.

Oh please. Let him come home soon!  

PHEW -- I know, I managed to leave you hanging ONCE again! Stay tuned for June to see how this story turns out for the Whatevers!  

____________________________________________

 Want to play along?? We have just a few things to let you know about: 

• Vicki, Nat and I have made a one-year commitment to each other and picked twelve photos with Whatevers whom we will give a story.
• Every month – if possible always on the 15th –  each of us will do a post with an individual story that goes along for us with the same photo.
• If you want you can play along and we will have the photo for you – just right click on it to safe it to download and show us your version of The Whatevers.
• There are no rules to the story itself- it can be funny, sad, uplifting, breathtaking- WHATEVER
• There are no rules on the length or the form of the story- it can be a short sentence, an essay, a poem or a soap opera – WHATEVER
• There are no rules on the art form you choose – it can be a scrapbook layout, an altered art project, an art journal page – WHATEVER
• Here is a rule though: if you take the photo you have to link back to us and show us your story.
• These pictures are from our personal stash and are for personal use for you only! If you want to use them for a publication whether a book or magazine in print or digital form please ask for permission!
• If you want to participate we’ll have a linky list for each Whatever Post.
• You can also join our The Whatevers -Facebook Page 

In + Out Series WEEK!!

Today I wanted to share some links to my In + Out Series classes that I'm teaching over at My Creative Classroom. These are ONE lesson classes that I have offered once a month since the beginning of the year.

Some of them are technique classes and some of them are project classes.

But in each of them you get TONS of video and information. The Art Journal one that I had last fall was EXTREMELY popular -- so popular that we decided to run it again.

In the Watercolor for Stampers and In + Out Embossing classes you will learn everything you need to know to add these two beautiful techniques to your cards and stamped projects.

 

For the Easter class I'm sharing a sweet and easy way to make an Easter Decoration that everyone will love. (Note: While I realize it's not Easter right now -- you can use the techniques to create any project like this -- and what a SWEET Fairy House or other child's project it would be!)

Spellbinders Mix + Match was another EXTREMELY popular course -- in this class you'll learn tons of techniques and I'll share step by steps to create 3 creative and beautiful cards you can whip up in NO time!

 

I've included the links on each image so you can click on it to go to My Creative Classroom and read the entire class description, supply list and other pertinent information you might have.

For the In + Out Series I'm offering a special incentive if you sign up to take them all!! That means if you sign up for all of the new classes that run for the first time from January, 2013 to December 2013 you'll qualify for a FREE class at the end of 2013. However there are a few rules -- and I should say at this point that "In + Out Journal" is not one of the classes that qualify for this deal. So, if you want to catch up and qualify for the free class at the end of the year now's the time to enroll as I'm not sure if we will have another catch up week this year. 

And, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at the email address that is listed on the course information!

THANKS for stopping by -- have a GREAT day.
Catherine

Art Journal Round Robin

Today I wanted to share a fun project I did with some brave and creative women when I was at Kept Creations in Whitman, Mass last Saturday. I call this Round Robin Art Journal Page -- and it is a TON of fun. Great for anyone whether they can draw or not.

We started out drawing on a piece of 9 x 12 Mixed Media Paper from Strathmore. We each drew on our own page for 3 minutes -- which was a VERY long time. When the timer went off we sent our page off to the rest of the group and then drew for 1 minute on each of the pages as they came around.

I think we had 6 or 7 people in the Round Robin -- plenty of people to fill up EVERY page with unique, creative and beautiful shapes and images.

This week I had time to add some color to mine using the Sakura Gelly Pens.

The only problem with them -- not enough colors  :-D

I absolutely love the opaqueness of them!

And finally here it is without the quote I decided on:

The next time you gather with a group of art journalers or friends -- consider spending 15 minutes on a round robin!

Thanks for stopping by -- have a great weekend and HAPPY Mother's Day!

Mother's Day Hexagon Paper Quilt

Over on the Sizzix blog this week (yesterday) I shared how to create a beautiful paper quilt using the Hexagon die....head on over to see how I create that from start to finish!

You'll also see how create the pretty painted image!

While you are visiting, you should take a minute to check out all the beautiful inspiration the team has shared for Mother's Day! 

Check out my Project over n the Sizzix Blog!

Since Mother's Day is RIGHT AROUND the Corner (May 12th in case you need a reminder) and I thought I would share this sweet little canvas (5 x 5) that I created for my first post over on the Sizziz blog.

The post has a complete supply list, instructions and step-out photos to make is SUPER easy for you to create for a sweet Mama in your life!

Thanks for stopping by today -- have a great THURSDAY!! 

PS. don't forget I'll be at Kept Creations in Whitman, Massachusetts on Saturday teaching an all day workshop: Art Journal Toolbox -- hope to see you there!

In + Out Floral Collage starts on Monday!

Quick reminder that my next and new class that is starting at My Creative Classroom, in + out floral collage will be starting on Monday May 6th! Get all the details here!

Thanks for dropping by -- have a great day!