Beware

The Scarecrow #662382 is one of Tim Holtz's Halloween releases in his Sizzix Alterations line. It consists of three pieces, two with birds and one with the scarecrow and grass/wheat.  They all cut beautifully and make for a quick, easy card or addition to a decor piece.

For the background on this card, I used blending tools and Distress Oxides. For the purpose of this mini tutorial, I blended the Fossilized amber into the Broken China, then Faded Jeans and last the Wilted Violet.  The colors will determine how bright or muted your background sunset will feel.  This one is brighter than the one on the card.

  

 To form the clouds, I used the wide water brush, loaded with water, and brushed in cloud-shapes one at a time. Let the water pool and it will form kind of a border.  I don't know why, but it has something to do with the chemical make-up of the Oxides.  It's pretty cool!

  

Once the border forms, then I ever so gently, soak up a little bit of the pooled water, leaving some to make them look not so uniform and more cloud-like.  I really love the way the clouds look.

I cut two extra bottom portions of the scarecrow die and trimmed them off so I could pop them up with dimensional adhesive. The birds are attached scattered across the sky as if they were just scared from their resting places throughout the field.  And to finish it off, the word Beware was added from the Handwritten Halloween #660598 set.

Patriotic Spool

 

This was a fun decor piece I made for a class.  It uses the Authentique Freedom line of paper and three Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations dies, Tattered Pinecone (small rose) Jumbo Tattered Pinecone (lg rose) and Star Bright (3-D "poofy" stars).  

For the people who purchased the kit and couldn't attend class here is a video to explain how to put the spool together and how to make the stars.  

I put the roses together for those who were unable to attend the class, but if you are interested in seeing how to do it or how to make a pinecone from the pinecone die, this video by the designer, Tim Holtz will be the most beneficial. 

Thanks for taking the class or purchasing the kit and I hope you enjoy your little patriotic spool decoration.

Chenille Greens and Tattered Pinecone Roses

I wanted to make a really springy birdcage decor project recently, so I turned to my Sizzix Alterations dies, some chenille fabric and some Distress Stain.

Once the chenille was colored,  I cut some pink chenille on the Tattered Pinecone Die, and the Spring Greens from the green chenille.

 The Tattered Ponecone die made such soft, beautiful roses and the chenille spring greens were the perfect addition for this project. Stay tuned for the full project reveal next!

I'm excited about the Sizzix give-away and hope I win because I love my Sizzix products and use them on almost every project I design. 

Meow Mini Book - Bella Blvd Riley

The second project I decided to do with the Bella Blvd Riley paper was a mini book.  I had recently purchased the banner die from Lori Whitlock by Sizzix.  I love the size and that I can cut chipboard and so many other things to make banners!  But the first thing I decided to make with it was a mini book about three little foster kittens I had at the time. They just stole my heart and were certainly worthy of a mini book to document all we went through with them.

 I just used all of the journaling/title cards I could, I added tags on most pages so I could add more photos, and lots of journaling.

 That is the cat I scanned to make the tags on the layout I posted yesterday! It worked perfectly!

 To break up the banner pages, I added some half pages using the Tim Holtz Alterations Ticket Die

 My foster kittens got in on National Hug Your Cat Day too.

 I cut the hearts out of one of the stripes on the decorative strip paper. The cat shape was another one left over from the layout.

Just a fun, quick little mini book that allowed me to get my story told and get some of my many Instagram pictures scrapped of these precious boys! I love them to pieces and am glad two of the three found a wonderful home.  Tangerine came back to me about six weeks after he was adopted as his adopter got a job offer in NY and couldn't have pets in her new appt. I still have him and am looking for just the right home for him with another foster cat I have that he has bonded with.  Such a hard thing to do but a wonderful thing. Especially when they find just the right home.
Kisses all around my precious little ones!

Freedom Collection Class Projects

The Freedom Collection by Authentique was the paper line I used for my August class.  It was originally going to be a July class, but ended up getting scheduled in August, which is fine by me because I was using it for family trips to historical sites, not for 4th of July anyway.

In the collection kit classes we do one two page layout and then I include directions for one or two other projects: home decor, mini book, another layout, etc.

 The layout for this project was based on this one page sketch. Sketch Savvy #147
I was inspired by the design and stretched it into a two-pager. I included my favorite American Revolutionary, James Otis, the first revolutionary.  He was revolutionary before revolutionary was cool. ;-D  He gave us a tour of Boston's Freedom Trail and these are photos of him with the graves of Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and the victims of the Boston Massacre of 1770.

The first additional project was a one page layout based on Sketch Savvy #143
 It just seemed so perfect for the photos of my favorite American Revolutionary, James Otis near his grave. He was given the nickname, The Patriot by another founding father, Samuel Adams, who did a LOT more than just make beer. In the top photo he is explaining why people leave stones, coins or other things on the tops of grave markers.  It is a symbol you leave to represent that you have been there and paid your respects.  People leave pennies on Paul Revere, Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin's graves. Because one was a smith, it bears one's likeness, and one said "a penny saved is a penny earned." 

The final project directions in the kit were for the Sweet Land of Liberty mini book  I had detailed printed directions and photos in the kit, but am including photos here and a 10 minute video at the end of this blog detailing how to make the book and put it together.  
I haven't had time to go through all of my photos from our trips back east, but I will be including a few pictures from our trips to Boston, Lexington, Concord, Philadelphia and Gettysburg.

The first two pages and inserts will be Boston and Philly, including of course the Liberty Bell.

 The second two pages and inserts will be about the flag.  That will include the Betsy Ross house in Philly, and possibly the flag flying over some important historical sites.

 These two pages will be photos of battlefields like Gettysburg, Lexington and Concord.

 And the back page is going to have a journaling card with a quote of something talking about the US.

For some of the people who purchased the class kit and weren't able to attend the class, here are some of the tidbits we discussed in class regarding how to do each project in the kit if you so choose.

I broke them down into one video for each project. 

NOTE: If you have a kit, it is important that you read the directions before you start each project.  It keeps you from being surprised along the way or not having enough of something.  So please take a little extra time to read the directions and even have them as reference as you peruse the videos. 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me through this blog. Thanks!

January Make n Take - Crackle Paint Ornaments

In January I did the Make n Take for my LSS's monthly crop. It was designed based on an idea I saw on Instagram from user Vintage Muse. She made a much prettier snowflake ornament than mine below, but it inspired me to try to do a simple one for a make n take.

Because we ended up doing this make n take in January instead of December, I wanted to try and show people how the same idea could be used for so many different holidays. So that is how the variations below came about.

Valentine's Day

 Spring/Easter

 Spring/Easter

 Summer

 Fall/Halloween

 

Christmas

I used a large variety of Tim Holtz Alterations dies from the Movers and Shapers line, as well as many of the shapes from his Bigz Alterations dies as well. Along with Distress Paints, Distress Rock Candy Crackle Paint, Distress Stains, Tissue Wrap, and odds and ends of Ideaolgy.