Merry Christmas!!

Wishing you and your family the MERRIEST of Christmases and a BLESSED New Year!  This is our Christmas card this year… I created it in Photoshop Elements and printed it on 1/3 sheets front and back on glossy cardstock.  This is the digi version showing both sides.

And a little disco funk for your Christmas pleasure featuring the three of us crazies… sure wish I could really move like that!

Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

Erin, Brent & Sadie the pooch

Birds of a Feather: A Tutorial

Hey friends! Back with the promised shabby chic feather birdie tutorial just for you!  I hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving and are recovering from the crazy Black Friday sales!  Brent and I skipped them this year and slept in in our nice cozy bed. :)

When I made the Christmas tree for my studio I wanted something fluffy and white for it to fill in some gaps and thought feather birdies would be perfect but I wasn’t able to find any in the stores so I figured I could make some.  These feather birdies are SO EASY and fun to make.

Here’s your supply list:
Glue Gun & Glue Sticks
String (I used beading string)
Pearlescent beads (10 mm and 2 mm)
A Feather Boa (you know you have one in your closet)
Scissors, Piercing tool or other pokey thingy
Styrofoam balls (about 2.5” diameter)
Something to press feathers down so you don’t burn your fingers (I used a bone folder)
Craft Mat to protect your work surface
Sparkly paper

{Yes, I forgot to include the sparkly paper for the beaks so it’s photoshopped in. :P}

Step One: 
Strip off a whole bunch of feathers from the feather boa and make a pile to the side of you.
 


Step Two: 
Spread hot glue in sections on the styrofoam ball, careful not to burn your fingers in the process.  Then carefully add feathers so that the styrofoam is completely covered.


 
  

Keep covering it until you have a big fuzzy ball of loooove like this:

 Step Three: 
Using very sharp scissors, begin trimming down the feather fluff… kind of like giving a fuzzy pet a haircut.  Don’t cut too much off, just enough to “smooth” and tame the frizz.


Step Four:
Time to build a tail for your birdie…. Snip off some nice “full” feathers from your feather boa and set them aside.  Begin gluing the feathers on one “end” to form a tail.  You might need to work in some extra fluff feathers to give it some body and trim up as needed.
  

Step Five: 
Glue on one of your 10 mm beads to make a head.


Step Six:
Snip off some beads from the garland that was too wimpy for your tree and dip in some hot glue using a tweezer or your fingers if you’re not a klutz like me and then adhere to either side of your head to create eyes.
 

tep Seven:
Cut a small triangle from your sparkly paper, score from one point to the longest side with a paper piercer or other tool, fold in half (trim if necessary) and dip in hot glue.  Adhere to front of bird head to create a beak.



Voila! Your ball o’ feathers is starting to look like a birdie! How TWEET!
 


Step Eight:
Cut a small piece of string to desired hanging length and tie the ends in a knot like this
 

Step Nine:
Using your paper piercer or other pokey tool, poke the knot down through the feathers and into the styrofoam on the top of the bird.  Be careful not to put it too close to the tail or your birdies will be nose diving from your tree.



And there you have it!  A loverly shabby chic feather birdie for your tree, wreath, or other happy place in your home! 
 

Now realize you and everything around you is covered in feathers, which, according to your husband ranks right up there with you and everything around you being covered in glitter….

                     
I
nky  Smiles & Happy Birdie Making!

PS.. If you make some birdies please link up and share what you’ve created!  (I m trying to figure out the Mr Linky thing and add it to the blog posts… )

Festival of Trees

Every year Primary Children's Medical Center (PCMC) in Salt Lake City holds a Festival of Trees. The purpose of this festival is to raise money for families who have loved ones at PCMC and need help with their medical bills.
From their website:

"For 39 years, the Festival of Trees has been a “Gift of Love” to children at Primary Children's Medical Center. The Festival is organized by a volunteer board of 84 women who enlist time and talents from thousands of individuals, organizations, businesses, and families throughout Utah. Over $24 million has been raised for children in need at Primary Children’s Medical Center through the Festival since 1971, with $1,495,840.74 raised in 2008"

The Grotegut family has a special place in our hearts for PCMC as it is the place where our sweet niece, Kiera Grotegut, passed away as an infant several years ago. This year we were approached by a friend, Andy Monson, (Amaryllis' cousin) who was putting together his third tree to donate to the festival in honor of his sister, Angela Marie Monson Heaton, who was killed in a tragic car accident a few years ago on her way home from work. Angi was a nurse and loved children and scrapbooking.

Stamper Storage made a donation including a customized and finished (painted, stained, sealed) InkStak-Tall Stak Wide and loooooooads of Bind-It-All supplies and a BIA machine. Here's a snap shot of Andy with the tree and all the goodies from various businesses:

It is exciting to be a part of something so special. Thank you, Andy, for letting us experience a little Christmas Joy with you :)

Inky Smiles!

PS - this tree has still not yet sold. If you're interested the price is somewhere around $3900 for the tree and all the delightful goodies.

PPS.. If you would like to donate to Andy’s tree next year please shoot me an email and I will pass your information on to Andy so he can contact you next year when they get ready to start collecting donations again. If they do a scrapbooking tree again next year handmade cards and other paper crafting projects would be welcomed as well as new, unused items in packages.

Merry Christmas - Christmas Tree Chipboard Book

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I am on the road for Christmas... visiting family in Iowa. We got my parents here safely after a long two days of driving across Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska and half of Iowa. I'm a little late posting this fun project because I've been so busy getting ready for Christmas ( and playing with the neice and nephews), but I've been dying to share it with you all.

This project was something I was dreaming up after I made my Mummy Book for Halloween. I wanted to make something fun and fabulously Christmasy... and I had this fun idea, but wasn't sure if it would work (see last Thursday's TFT) and out of the ordinary.. at least *I* think it's out of the ordinary.. It's definitely out of my box and a little wonky and I love it! (Thank you Alisha Trussell for the idea to string the beads on wire!!)

Merry Christmas friends! I wish each of you a very merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous new year!

Love ( & Inky Smiles),

Erin

(EDITED 12/26/07: OOPS! Looks like Google gobbled up the first pic soemwhere... I'd saved this post in edit mode before I left Utah and I don't have the original digi pics with me. I will have to repost a full pic of the book when we get back to UT.)

Supplies:

Stamps (Delightful Alphabet & Playful Flourishes)/Paper/Glitter/Ink/Beads/Photo Hanger - CTMH, Chipboard letters - We R Memory Keepers, Brads - Making Memories, Misc Embossing Glitter, Misc Beads & Wire - Michael's Craft, Ribbons - American Crafts, Perfect Pearls - Ranger Ink, UTEE, Gold Pigment Ink & Red Pigment Ink - Colorbok (I think...those little cats eye shaped ink thingies), Chipboard - Graphix, Bind It All Machine & Red Owires - Zutter (purchased from myself... hehe - and I have lots more available!)

Thoughts for Thursday - Merry & Bright

Last night, as I was laying in bed after a LOOOOOOOONG day of work (I have to go back today to finish up some accounting) and a super long evening of Christmas shopping with my sweetheart, I was thinking, "What on earth am I going to talk about for a TFT tomorrow???" Then this am I woke up and checked my email and the Foundation for a Better Life (FBL) saved my tired bum again! YAY! This cool little quote was waiting for my in my inbox and it's perfect for a piece of art I've been working on and can't wait to show you all!

“ Trust that still, small voice that says,
'This might work and I'll try it.' ”

- Diane Mariechild, author, speaker

Sometimes I think that we doubt that little creative voice within us. Initially we have this GREAT idea... but then we think, "nah... no way.. I can't do that" or " it's not gonna work" and we don't keep trudging through the creative process. I know that quite often I get frustrated and annoyed if something isn't working how I think it should and just pack it up and quit working on the idea. This time I kept on trudging.... and although I didn't reinvent the wheel or anything like that, I'm excited about it, another fun and out of my box project. I used some elements of a really fun Bind It All project that I will show you later this week.


I think I mentioned previously that I have discovered Perfect Pearls and I am very much in loooove with them! I made this card for a friend last night. I wanted something merry and bright and cheery. I think I accomplished merry and bright.. Tee hee!

Perfect Pearls are sooo awesome! You can mix them with a tiny bit of water and use as a "water paint" (which I did over the Liquid Glass on the r, i, h, t) or brush on to wet ink (which I did on the MERRY) and then spritz with a tiny bit of water which will "set" the pearls. I also "water painted" the edges of the Honey (CTMH) card stock that the BRIGHT letters are mounted on. I love how the Perfect Pearls transform the card stock to a metallic card stock.

I strung plastic and glass beads (CTMH - red, white, green; generic - yellow) and 32 gauge gold wire and "hung" the strands from a brad.

Supplies:
Cardstocks, Inks, Liquid Glass, Beads - CTMH
Delightful Alphabet & Rustic Alphabet Stamp sets - CTMH
ATG adhesive - Scotch 3M
Perfect Pearls - Ranger Ink
Glass micro beads & glass beads - misc. vendors.
Scalloped scissors and hole punch - Fiskars
Handwritten Font - Yours truly

Belated Thoughts for Thursday, Perfect Pearls, Cuttle Bug

“ Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient. ”

- Eugene S. Wilson (1900–1981)
Dean of Admissions at Amherst College

I love this quote! There is something special about the journey when trying something new. Tonight I went on my own "quest" and learned something new... sorta. I PLAYED with something new!!!! So I am a Technique Junkie and I am always oogling over their techniques and have had fun playing with the ideas.

Tonight I made my own version of the "Cuttle Bug Smoosh" and played around with Perfect Pearls. I painted PP powder into the recessed side of the Cuttle Bug embossing folder and ran the kraft colored paper through the CB . I also stamped the Bethlehem and sentiments with Perfect Medium and dusted with the PP powders. I spritzed the paper flower with a mixture of Cranberry reinker and water and rubbing alcohol and let it dry. I brushed some PP on the petals while they were still wet. I am diggin how the PP look when you wet the powder. Then I loaded up some gold glass beads on some Liquid Glass. O Holy Night is embossed on a chocolatey brown paper.

The card still needs something, but I am not quite sure... it feels unfinished to me. Not mentioning that it's just a card front at this point.. but the design needs something... any ideas?

Glass beads - Halcraft
Papers - Archiver's
Perfect Pearls - Ranger
Perfect Medium - Ranger
Inks - CTMH
Embossing Powder - CTMH
Paper flower - CTMH
Organdy Ribbon - CTMH
Cuttle Bug machine
Cuttle Bug Textile Embossing Folder
ATG Gun & Adhesive