Altered Eyeglass Collaboration :: Seeing Stars

A while back, I was given the opportunity to join in with several other crafters and artists with a unique objective: use a pair of reading glasses in an altered art project.

If you've been reading my blog for long, you know that I've only dabbled a bit in mixed media and altered art - it's not my usual type of crafting. But...I love a challenge. I wanted to stretch myself and also put my style (which is generally more of a clean look) into the mix.

I received a pair of blue glasses with some light yellow accents, so I stuck with blue and yellow for my main color palette. I added stamping (both with ink and paint) and some die cuts to my project.

 I finished it all off with a handwritten title: seeing stars.

I had so much fun joining in on this collaboration and loved seeing what everyone else came up with. A few of those involved are sharing their projects on their blogs - so be sure to stop by and check out the other projects from: Tina (the one behind the whole idea), Keri, and Susan.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Paint: Plaid (Apple Barrel - Parrot Blue, Bimini Blue, Ivory, Yellow Flame, White);

Other: Plaid (Mod Podge - Matte);
Stamps: Unity Stamp Company (Sweet Summer Love, Wood Grain Script);
Ink: Ranger (Archival - Jet Black);
Dies: My Favorite Things (Lucky Stars);
Cardstock:
Other: (Canvas);

Growing In Unity :: Day 3 - Stamped Canvas Gardening Bag (& Gift Tag)

Welcome to the 3rd day of my week as the Growing In Unity gal!

I am so thankful for each of you that have stopped by so far to check out and comment on each of my projects using Unity Stamp Company stamps. Be sure to comment on all five of my Growing In Unity posts this week if you want a chance to win some free stamps!

If you are new here or aren't already a follower: I'd love to have you follow my blog!
If you are one of my regular readers: Thanks for coming back! I love having you!
If you are on Facebook, please "like" Ink Blots by TRD.

Today I am taking a break from sharing paper-crafted projects using Unity stamps to share this canvas gardening bag with you.

I started with a blank canvas riggers bag, taped off the area I wanted to keep clean, and then started spraying with a variety of mists:

After the misted area was completely dry, I stamped the bag with the flowers from the Hello Birdie and Pray Continually stamp kits:

I then added in some stamped dots (from Hello Birdie) and the word "grow" using the Liz Hicks Alpha kit.

In addition to the bag, I wanted to create a simple, coordinating gift tag to go along with it:

It was fun working on canvas and I hope my sister-in-law (who received the bag and tag) will enjoy using her new gardening bag.

Thanks for stopping by today - and don't forget to leave a comment so you can enter to win!

From the comments that are left on each of my posts this week I will be randomly choosing TWO winners who will each receive 25 random stamps from Unity Stamp Company - to be sent to a domestic address only, please.

Supplies: 
Stamps: Unity Stamp Company (Hello Birdie, Pray Continually, Liz Hicks Alpha); 
Canvas Bag: Harbor Freight;
Mists: Studio Calico (Mister Huey's);
Chipboard Tag: Cost Plus World Market;
Ink: Ranger (Archival - Jet Black);
Colored Pencils: Prang;

Twine-Stitched Burlap Canvas {The Twinery}

{I'm sharing on The Twinery Blog today - see my post here.}

With the recent heartbreaking news that has come to my family with my baby nephew's passing, I have felt the need to create - but I haven't felt very inspired. That is a difficult crossroads to maneuver, so I have tried doing some simple things that don't take a whole lot of focus, but still fulfill the need to be creative. 

Enter what I am going to call the "Lazy Girl's Cross Stitch":

I had a burlap canvas sitting around that I hadn't used yet, and thought it would be a great surface for a little twine-stitching. Instead of doing the 'x' pattern of a traditional cross stitch, I went the lazy route and just did a series of long horizontal stitches with The Twinery's Solid Charcoal twine. After doing the horizontal stitches I wanted a little more coverage, so I then went over those with a series of long vertical stitches. 

I just free-handed the heart, but I am sure it would have gone even faster if I had used some sort of pattern. Even without a pattern, I was able to complete this project easily in under 30 minutes. (This would even be easy enough to do in a car on a road trip - if you aren't driving, of course.)

Once I had the heart finished, I used two strands of The Twinery's Solid Charcoal twine to finish it off with a double bow.

So, there you have it - a simple, quick project using minimal supplies and a cute final result.

Thanks for stopping by today!
{And don't forget - today is the last day to enter to win the great giveaways on the Poppystamps blog hop and the Serendipity Stamps blog hop. 
You won't want to miss them!}

Supplies: 
Twine: The Twinery (Solid Charcoal); 
Other: (Burlap Canvas);

Love U Mini Album

Today I wanted to share with you the cover of a mini album I created. I haven't added any pictures to the inside of the book yet, but I had a lot of fun doing the cover.

For this album I cut my own covers from chipboard, then covered it with a vintage ledger paper and some various embellishments. The houndstooth on the bottom is fabric (FabRips from American Crafts) - it's the first time I've used FabRips and I love how easy it is to work with! It's already sticky on the back, so the pleating was simple to do. I cut some various patterned papers for the pages inside and bound it all together with my Cinch. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies: 
Embellishments: Vintage (Mini Playing Card, Sunshine Candy Co. Paper); Recollections (Peach Flower); Seam Binding; American Crafts (FabRips); Studio Calico (Wood Veneer Hearts, Grid Label); Maya Road (Envelope);
Stamps: Market Street Stamps (Believing Butterfly); 
Ink: Ranger (Archival - Jet Black);
Other: Canvas; Chipboard;
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors); We R Memory Keepers (Cinch Binding Tool, Cinch Binding Wires);

Fall Feather Tag {Market Street Stamps}

Hello there and happy fall to you!

Today I'd like to share a little tutorial for creating a Fall Feather Tag using some stamps from Market Street Stamps and a canvas tag. 

First, let's gather our supplies from the Marketplace:

• Canvas Tag
• Funky Herringbone Background Stamp
• Wild Market Mini
• Acrylic Blocks (I am using the Rectangle and Medium Round)

And from our craft stash:

• Mists
• Dye Inks

We'll start by stamping the Funky Herringbone Background Stamp on the tag in a light fall color. 

These canvas tags work wonderfully with the large background stamps from Market Street Stamps. I chose to only stamp it once (so it covers the large base area of the tag and leaves an empty space at the top). If you don't like that look, you can stamp it twice for full coverage (or use one of the mini canvas shapes for full coverage in one impression).

When stamping on canvas you should realize that there are most likely going to be imperfections in the stamping. I think this adds character - but if you can't handle imperfections in your stamping then you can just give this a whirl on a paper tag. ;o)

Next we will give the tag an ombré effect with various mists. For this project I suggest choosing light colored mists in a similar color family/palette. I've chosen three fall-friendly mists that will blend well into each other.

Tip: Always mist on a protected surface. You will have overspray...so unless you want that counter or table misted, cover it up with something like scrap cardboard. 

Stamp the beautiful feather from the new Wild Market Mini with a dark ink. (I'm using a permanent black ink.) 

Stamp it several times varying the positioning. I've grouped it into two clusters, but I also think this would look great randomly stamped all over the entire tag. 

When stamping off the edge of the tag, be sure you are protecting your stamping surface...although I can't deny that a feather stamped desk might just be beautiful. :o)

Finish off your tag with some twine, ribbon, or other embellishments.

This tag would be great to tie onto a big fall gift basket and I also think it would be lovely to create two of these and use them for mini album covers.

What would you use this tag for?

Supplies:
Canvas: Canvas Corp. (Canvas Tag);
Stamps: Market Street Stamps (Funky Herringbone Background Stamp; Wild Market Mini);  Ink: Memento (Cantaloupe); Ranger (Jet Black Archival); 
Mists: Ranger (Sunflower Sparkle, Perfect Copper, Interference Red);
Twine: The Twinery (Buttercream, Cantaloupe, Flax);
Tools: We R Memory Keepers (Crop-A-Dile); 

Block Party {Market Street Stamps}

It's time for another...

{Be sure to head on over to the Market Street Stamps blog to get all the details about how you can join in on the Block Party...where you can win some fabulous free stamps and have a shot at being a Guest Designer for Market Street Stamps;">!}

You can create ANYTHING for this challenge...no color requirements, no specific project types...just have fun.

For this one I've created a canvas - I used the Grace background stamp and stamped it with paint all over a canvas (it lines up nicely to do a little overlapping to get a continuous look).

Paint doesn't allow the nice details in the stamp to show up, but I still love the effect it gives.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Stamps: Market Street Stamps (Grace);
Paint: Plaid (Green, White); Marvy (Black - Paint Pen);
Other: (Canvas);

Canvas Mini Albums

Back in early January when I was creating projects for CHA I decided to create a mini album for each of our kids featuring an overview of the first weeks/months after their birth.
Our kids love to look at pictures and since I've started making mini albums I've seen a bit of extra joy when they pull one off the shelf.
I wanted to create something easy enough to create in triplicate, yet still make them individual for each of our kids.



I started by creating a canvas cover for each album - each with a similar basic idea, just with a bit of difference in the stitching.
Each album is created using a combination of papers that have been cut to 6x6 or cut to 6x12 and folded in half to create a 6x6 pocket.



Each album also carries a few elements throughout, which helps pull it all together (and also made it easy to create in a timely fashion). If each page had been done with it's own theme/scheme as a traditional 12x12 page these albums would surely still be sitting in pieces.



Each album was then punched and bound using my Cinch...love that thing!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!
I'd love it if you'd leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Supplies:
Patterned Paper: Authentique Paper (Various Collections);
Embellishments: Maya Road; Ranger (Tim Holtz);
Mists: Ranger (Perfect Pearls Mists);
Other: Canvas; Washi Tape;
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors, Rotary Cutter); Scor-Pal (Scoring Board);

So Blessed

{As seen on the Fiskateers blog}



I admit it. I have a thing for birds.
And not really the real kind of birds...the paper crafting kind.
Bird stamps, bird papers, bird punches...birds...birds...birds.

I was totally excited when Lead Fiskateer Rebecca offered me the opportunity to be able to combine the awesome Scarecrow Squeeze Punch and the For The Birds stamp set in one little mini album...perfect for the upcoming holiday season.

I can see these stamps and the punch being so versatile for every day and many holidays (Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), but I decided for my project that I would create a Thanksgiving theme project...focusing on the "THANKS" in "Thanksgiving".


I created this mini album from plain chipboard pages and a few canvas pages. I added some stamping, layered on some punched shapes, topped it off with a few extras...and voila!





I was planning on putting some pictures of our family's trip to the pumpkin patch in here (which I haven't had printed yet)...but I also think this would be a great family activity around the Thanksgiving table.

Each person can take a little time out to pass the book around and write, in their own handwriting, how they have been blessed.
{And I think that would make a great family tradition - a new book every year with so many memories of wonderful blessings!}



How have you been BLESSED?

Supplies:
Patterned Paper: Authentique Paper (Free Bird Series - Fair-weather);
Stickers: Authentique Paper (Petite Type - SPS001, SPS003; Diction - SJ0004);
Stamps: Fiskars (For The Birds);
Ink: Memento (Rich Cocoa);
Mist: Tattered Angels (Hot Chocolate, Marshmallow);
Tape: 7 Gypsies (Music Tape - Brown); Washi Tape;
Other: Chipboard; Canvas; Book Rings; Eyelets;
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors, Round N Round Squeeze Punch, Scarecrow Squeeze Punch); Tim Holtz (Tiny Attacher); Martha Stewart/EK Success (Scoring Board); We R Memory Keepers (Cinch);

Halloween Banner {Authentique Paper & Glue Arts}

***Looking for my post for the The Twinery & Sweet N Sassy Stamps blog hop? Look HERE***

{As seen today on the Authentique Paper blog}




Hi!

Today I'd like to share with you a project I created using Authentique Paper's Glowing Collection with the help of some great adhesive products from Glue Arts.


I started out by cutting the base pieces for my banner from the Glowing Collection Foundations.
{Each piece started as a 4"x4" square, and then I trimmed it into a triangle.}


I used ExtremeTac Adhesive Squares to adhere the paper banner triangles to some canvas fabric (they definitely have an extreme hold...even on canvas!) and used my pinking shears to cut the canvas.


Each center letter is a sticker from the Glowing Classic Type and is adhered to a scalloped circle punched from the Luminous paper. This is all popped up on UCutIt.

I added some die cut embellishments from Glowing's Noteables, Icons, and Tabloids and some extra little sticker phrases from Diction. Some of the die cuts are adhered using Raisen's to add a bit of depth.


I added some touches of The Twinery's twine in Mandarin and Charcoal to finish it off.

My grandma recently broke her ankle and had surgery and is stuck in rehab for a few weeks, so I plan to send this to her (along with my card from the current color challenge) to add a little Halloween flair to her room.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Patterned Paper: Authentique Paper (Glowing - Foundations, Luminous);
Stickers: Authentique Paper (Glowing - Classic Type, Diction);
Die Cuts: Authentique Paper (Glowing - Noteables, Icons, Tabloids);
Adhesives: Glue Arts (ExtremeTac Adhesive Squares, Raisen's, UCutIt);
Twine: The Twinery (Charcoal, Mandarin);
Accents: Maya Road (Doilies - Kraft, Transparency);
Other: Canvas fabric; Safety pins; Mini wooden clothespins;
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors, Pinking Shears, Scalloped Circle Squeeze Punch); Tim Holtz (Tiny Attacher);

Falling Leaves Tags

I created this set of three tags using the Unity/Simple Stories Itty Bitty stamp "LIFE Bingo".

I stamped the bingo card in three colors of ink onto some patterned papers from the Basic Grey Basics {Manila} 6x6 pad.


I used a Fiskars Squeeze Punch to punch out the leaves from the stamped papers, adhered them to a tag-sized piece of kraft cardstock and then added a cute little canvas and pearl embellishment.


Quick and easy, and if I do say so myself...kinda cute. :o)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Cardstock: The Paper Company (Kraft);
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Basics - Manila 6x6 Pad);
Stamps: Unity (LIFE Bingo - Simple Stories Itty Bitty);
Ink: Tsukineko (Pink Grapefruit, Aegean Blue, Sea Breeze);
Pearls: KaiserCraft (Denim);
Other: Canvas fabric; Mini wooden clothespin;
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors, Leaf Squeeze Punch); Tim Holtz (Tiny Attacher); We R Memory Keepers (Corner Chomper - 1/2" Round);