Vintage Pockets of Whimsy

Another swap and my second Whimsy Pocket! This was so much fun to make too. This particular pocket is for a swap for the Tim Holtz Addicts group on Swap-bot. It is suppose to have a vintage Tim Holtz feel to it as the overall style for the pocket.

As with the last one I made in 2010, I started out with a paper towel roll that was 3 1/2 inches in length. I flatten it out, then stapled one end together to make the bottom. You can also glue or tape the end together as well. I then lined in inside with some chocolate colored felt that I glued down and slipped snugly into place.

I took a thin sheet patterned scrapbook paper(I got this design at Jo-ann's), and crumpled it up and smoothed it back out a few times to get a softer more worn look to it and glued it to the outside. Then I cut more strips of the same paper and glued it around the edges and bottom to give it texture and make it more secure.

After that I embellished it with ephemera, a Tim Holtz Ideology ornate plate and seam binding for the handle. The fun part is filling it up with rare goodies for my partner, which include vintage bits of ruler, a small compass, an old game piece, a charm I made and a vintage silk rose.

I love participating in swap like these especially with this group in particular. They are so creative and make some of the most lovely craft items I have found anywhere. It's nice to put such love and effort into something you make and know that what you receive will be just as fabulous and made with care as well. I am very fortunate to be a part of such an amazing group of artists. Blessings for a happy week and as always, happy swapping everyone!

Pretty Little Pink Dress

I made this dress for a swap on Swap-bot titled "Pretty Little Dresses." The size is 5x8 in. Printed on heavy card stock. This dress has more than a few layers of color. First, I used Milled Lavender re-inker basically like a stain by dropping a few drops on a sponge and dragging the sponge across the paper that the dress template was printed on and then sprayed it all over with a Perfect Pearls mist I made myself from the Milled Lavender re-inker and Perfect Pearl powder.

After that I used the Victorian Velvet Distress Ink around the edges, added the script writing stamp block in Milled Lavender as well and finished off the edges with Distress Stickles in Worn Lipstick, then added the embellishments.

I think I will be making more of these in the near future and seeing what else I can make from them. What can I say, it is great to be back and crafting again. I dedicate this dress to my mom, this is the first Mother's Day with her with us and I know she would have loved a little dress like this. Happy swapping everyone and bless you all!

Steampunk Themed Mini-zine

So, I am hosting a swap for a mini-zine with a steampunk theme on Swap-bot. I really like making zines and I can take my time and add to them slowly over the course of a week or even two, so no rush, I like that very much.

This one was really fun for me because I love steampunk. This zine has more of a picture book feel to it more visual than chocked full of information and it's a little colorful and with a more whimsical approach to steampunk than serious or true to form, but I like it!

I make all my zines by hand so I have an original, tangible template for each one I have made so far. I do not have any digital programs to aid me in making zines. But making them by hand is fun too. I use inks, and stamps, tissue tapes, just whatever I have in my stash to help make my idea come to life.

So enjoy a little sneak-peek and have fun crafting this week and happy swapping to all!

Slowly Creating Once More

My newest inspired act of creativity is this set of hand stamped, hand stained muslin ribbon I made for a trade on Flickr. I used various Walnut Inks and Glimmer Mists to stain the ribbon and then used different colors of Staz-On inks to stamp the designs.

I also made the tags that are shown with each ribbon. For them, I used Distress Inks in Barn Door, Black Soot, Dusty Concord, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo and Milled Lavender to name a few, Distress Crackle paint was used on a tag as well. I then misted then with water and Glimmer Mists and used Staz-On once more for the images I did not want blurred around edges. Essentially, these are ribbon and tag sets. I hope to sell them soon when I get my Etsy store set up. Listing from top to bottom they are Bloody Valentine, Celtic Garden, and Parisian Post.

I added vintage hat pins to secure each set and give that special touch. The ribbon I used to finish off each tag is cabbage roses ribbon from a great Etsy shop I have mentioned before in my blog... MemrieMare, the link follows: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MemrieMare

I hope you enjoy these new items and thank you for looking. Happy crafting!

Taking a Break...

My sincere apologies to all my followers (believe me I appreciate every person that follows this blog). I am taking a short break now for some family business. However, I will be back and blogging soon once more. Please don't give up on me, there will be more fun crafts to come! Thank you to all who follow this blog, you all make me smile!

The Art of Domino...

I joined another great swap recently to expand my crafting experience. I signed up for a domino booklet swap for my group Keepers of Avalon on Swap-bot. I have never made a domino booklet before so this was an exciting as well as a learning process for me.

I used acrylic paint and Distress paints on the domino. I then covered the surface with Rock Candy Distress crackle paint. The images are waterslide transfers that I glazed over with Glossy Accents. The pages are tea-stained paper I stained with Distress Inks and Perfect Pearl Mists. I also used stamps with Staz-on inks for design as well. The last touch is some cabbage ribbon to tie it all together.

I may not have gotten everything right this first time, but all in all I do not think it is a bad first effort. I cannot wait to try more in the future. Thank you for coming along with me on my creative journey today. Until next time happy crafting!

Steampunk Container

I was in private swap with a lovely swapper, LadyStephanie and as I looked over her profile I notice she had been flaked on for some swaps and offered to angel one for a Steampunk Container. Here then is my offering for this swap to her.

It began as a humble, unassuming and unfinished wooden box from Hobby Lobby. But after some layers of quality acrylic paint in a dark umber, a lot of sanding it down to a smooth finish with worn edges. I began to decorate it at last.

I used acrylic paint to stamp the floral pattern on either side. I then found a clockwork print paper that I went over with Distress Inks and then glazed with Rock Candy Distress Paint. After that, I went over it once more with Distress Ink to reveal the cracks for an even more aged look. Then I just added the embellishments. The rest of the box is decorated with a stipple brush and acrylic paint and with a stamp that I inked with Staz-on over the paint.

I really hope this will brighten her day as I had so much fun making it. Until the next blog, happy crafting!