By the Sea

Hello! Today I have a "just because" card - not made for anyone in particular and merely a result of playing in my craft room.

On the weekend I ran across some old technique booklets from ancient swaps on the Yahoo group Canadian Stamp Talk (largest Canadian Stamp Group on the net with 695 members currently) and was reminded of stampers I have not heard from in years - and techniques that I have not used for ages. It was a nice trip down memory lane. I decided to make some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) and Perfect Pearl tiles to feature on a card. I crackled them and rubbed black ink into the cracks. I popped the center tile up on foam to highlight it a bit.

I live on an island so I have a bit of an affinity for the sea. I have always liked the Shore Cliff cube stamp from Stampington & Company; guess that's where the inspiration came from!

Tulips for Mojo Monday- MOJO183

Here is a response to the Mojo Monday sketch challenge number 183. This is a great challenge blog - it really makes me stretch.

I tried a few different things with this card. The tulips are black embossed and three layers, using silicone to 3-D them. I watercoloured them and added a subtle glimmer to the buds with a clear star sparkle gel pen. I used straight stitching, zig zag stitching and crazy free form meandering stitching. I left off the suggested bow. I may re-think that, but for now this will do.

The sketch provided was:

Smile for WMSC39

This week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge is almost over, but I am just squeaking in at the last minute with an entry. Here was the sketch:

And here is my attempt, using a WMS alphabet set:

This is also a belated entry in the Splitcoaststampers Weekly Ways To Use It Challenge -WT314 - feature a smile somewhere on your card.

Sage, Raspberry and Vanilla

Meredith's blog, A Delightful Waste of Time, is celebrating its first birthday with a week of challenges. In my last entry for Meredith's Birthday Blog Bash, I made a card for her colour challenge:

This really is raspberry but for some reason the camera isn't capturing it accurately. I think Meredith was expecting bright, bold and funky, but I liked these colours for an old fashioned Easter greeting.

Meredith's Birthday Bash Sketch

Meredith's blog, A Delightful Waste of Time, is celebrating its first birthday with a week of challenges. One of these was a sketch challenge. Here's my card, featuring Waltzingmouse Stamps:

Here's Meredith's sketch:

I think I prefer sketch challenges over colour challenges, but she has one of those, too! Stay tuned.

Justimization

The other day my very clever daughter coined a new term: "Justimization!" I asked her what it means and she said it is optimizing her justification of something. I told her I should re-name my blog Justimization, as it serves to optimize my justification of all the CRAFT STUFF I own.

So imagine my surprise when I took some classes at my local stamp store, Stampers!, last weekend and developed a newfound passion for metal sculpting. I am NOT looking for another craft that requires oodles of new supplies. I already have a fully equipped (read: no room to move) paper crafting and sewing space. But these classes looked pretty interesting and what made them even more intriguing was the opportunity to use many supplies and equipment I already own, like my Cuttlebug die cut and emboss machine and assorted dies and embossing folders.

We were instructed by pewter and metal artist Elitia Hart in how to free style doodle on soft aluminum sheets, then work the metal to enhance relief; to use TEN seconds studio molds to create shapes, and how to refine them; how to stamp and heat-emboss on the metal; and how to emboss the metal in the Big Shot or Cuttlebug machines. We also sanded the metal and colourized it with alcohol inks.

My samples are not anything to showcase here, but last night I needed a quick gift so I took some black metal and repurposed a 3 inch round tea tin to feature a molded monogram and the Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls embossing folder. One of the tricky bits with this work is if you have a large relief area, you don't want it to collapse. In class we discussed spackle, silicone and melted beeswax as support methods. However, at home I experimented with hot glue and was very pleased with the results. I can't recall the last time I used my glue gun for something. See, there's some justimization right there!

Working with the soft metal is very relaxing and fun. I am looking forward to expanding on my skills with practice. If you are on Facebook you can see many cards made from the samples we did in class. Just go to the Stampers! photo album there and check them out. More classes are being scheduled so if you are in the Victoria area you might want to inquire. For more inspiration visit the TEN seconds studio blog.

After making this tin, I realized I was subconsciously making something that looked an awful lot like this  tin that holds Clipiola Clips. Oops! Purely unintentional.

So inside this tin (remember, it was a gift) I put a bunch of 2-inch square cards and teeny matching envelopes. And there you have it, an almost free, upcycled gift that optimized the justification of my craft obssession! I am entering this in the Blog Birthday challenge focused on {Gift Packaging} over on Meredith's blog. What will you justimize today in your craft room?