Shaker Box, Caterpillar on Branch, Wood Effect

 I've been on a bit of a recycling/upcycling mission this past few weeks - reusing acetate and cardboard packaging on my last tag AND on today's craft project.

You see, crafting costs a small fortune.  We all know it does.  But then many hobbies do.

So if I can cut costs AND do something that's good for the environment, well then...  I'm just going to go ahead and do it.

I encourage you to do the same.  You've not got much to lose if it was heading for the recycling bin anyways!

(I'm just going to pretend you all recycle.  It's none of my business whether you actually do or not). 

Anyhow...

This month's Poppystamps challenge has been delightfully called 'Shake It Up'.

I wanted to play along, so I got out my Poppystamps dies, (well actually, I got out the 'cut outs' of my Poppystamps dies) and played around with a few ideas before settling on one design.

One design that morphed into something else en route!  Heck, it morphed so much it's not even a card anymore!

You're no longer surprised by that, are you?



Let me show you what I've ended up with...

...  and one close up shot...

I've taken a few photo's as it's really the only way to give you any idea of what it looks like underneath the Nail Glitter/Flower Soft 'snow'.

Have you noticed that those three pink Flower Gems don't seem to have moved at all?  You would be spot on if you had.  I glued them into place on the Brusho background as they were far too integral to the design to shake around wherever they please!

This is a very 'girly' design, isn't it?   Would you give it to an adult, or only a child? 

I have to be honest and say I've never spot coloured with Glossy Accents before.  

I'll leave it to you to tell me whether this was inspired or insane.  (My husband certainly doesn't like it one little bit.  He likened it to something I shan't mention in case you are eating right now.  Let's just say I have similar thoughts every time I look at my bottle of Stickles 'Sprinkled Sugar')!

Did any of you noticed that my branch isn't embossed and want to know how I managed that?

Sizzix have a range of Embossing Diffuser sets that have aperture's set into them.  I used the Circle from Set #1 to effectively 'mask off' the branch from being embossed along with the rest of the card.  Just something else to add to that busy/plain balance I was striving for.

I guess I should tell you which part of this box lid uses recycled cardboard as the acetate's pretty obvious, isn't it?!

See that spotty/snowy base that everything else is glued on to?  It's been recycled from that super shiny cardboard you so often get with Embossing Folders.  

After using Spray Mount to attach some White Card to the back of this pretty piece of shiny card, I cut it into shape (Tattered Lace Box Die) and then ran it through the machine with my 'Snow' Embossing Folder.  And then I gently sanded it!

I just love this technique.  It's super easy and very effective...  and I'll be using it again closer to Christmas as I still have a little of this repurposed card left.  Yay!

A tiny touch of Stickles underneath the two Silver Gems, Flowers, Leaves, Blue Gems and a touch of Distressing and Black Ink around the edges...  and this was finished.
Except that I now had to make the box base!

Supplies Used:

Dies:

Poppystamps 'Cute Caterpillar'
Poppystamps 'Quiet Bird Sash'
Poppystamps 'Dogwood Blossoms'
Poppystamps 'Meadow Leaf'

Embossing Folders:
Sizzix/Texture Fades 'Woodgrain'
 Crafter's Companion 'Snow'

Ink:
Holtz/Distress 'Black Soot'

Other:
Brusho  'Grey'
FlowerSoft  'Polar White'
Ranger/Stickles  'Sprinkled Sugar'
Ranger 'Glossy Accents'
Flower Gems
Gems
Nail Glitter 

Challenges I'm Entering...

Poppystamps

Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge

(Apart from the Recycled Card and the White Card needed to make the box base, it's all snippets)

Simon Says/Monday

(Try To Contain Yourself)

Thank you so much for stopping by today...

Donna. x

Flowers on String, UpCycling, Acetate

A new challenge starts today at what I now like to unofficially call 'Tag You're It' Friday.

(I can't help it.  I like the way it sounds).

My design for this challenge started off with every intention of being quite true to our Featured Artist's inspiration tag...  but then it digressed into something quite different.

Let me show you my tag...

...  and at a different angle...

...  and the tag created just for us by Michele Ferguson.

The similarities are there...

I focused on those pretty blue flowers, decided to upcycle some cardboard packaging from my Gorjuss patterned papers collection to create more flowers (there are two kinds on Michele's tag) and then stretched out my design on to a piece of string instead of keeping it quite compact on the leaves.

Don't ask me why.  

 (I may have mentioned this before, but my brain often takes 'interesting' detours when I'm crafting)!

I will say that the original intention was to use a branch in place of the leaves, but I decided against that as I felt the design would get too busy.

So string it was!
And I have used two tags (just like Michele) - it's just that one was cut and embossed from acetate before being partially glued into place over the other one.

I even managed to include dark centres on my flowers - just like the dark centres on Michele's blue flowers.
So all in all I didn't digress that far off track...  although I did sneak in one final sparkly touch before gluing everything into place!


Here's a close up so you can see it...

Supplies Used:


Die:
Sizzix/Framelits 'Tag Collection'
Memory Box 'Fabulous Phlox'
Memory Box 'Flower Mound'

Stamp:
SugarPea Designs 'Funky Wreath - Spring Edition'

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress 'Stormy Sky'
Tim Holtz Distress 'Broken China'

Embossing Folder:
Crafter's Companion/Textures Elements 'Snow' (8x8)

Other:
Ranger/Stickles 'Sprinkled Sugar'
String

Challenges I'm Entering...

Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge

CAS-ual Fridays

Challenge #153   'Gift Tags'

Simon Says/Wednesday

Fabulous Florals

Allsorts Challenge

Week #374   'A Touch Of Sparkle'

We would love to see how Michele inspires you to play along, so why not join us?
Have a happy weekend.

Donna. x

CAS Tag, Vase and Flower, Butterfly

Have you been playing along with the current challenge at 'Tag You're It'?

 There's less than a week to go but that's still plenty of time to get those creative juices flowing! 

For those of you who may not have had a chance to stop by at Tag You're It lately...  You may not know that we now have a 'Featured Artist' for each new challenge, bringing us their own design to work with and giving us and you even more inspiration to play along with.  

Yay!!!
So if you have the time, why not give it a go?

My tag for this challenge is probably the most CAS thing I have ever made...  and boy did I struggle leaving all that white space.
I have to confess I tried many, many ways to incorporate some colour into the background...  but not one of them looked right.  And yes, I did consider Embossing Folders...  but then I would have lost the definition of the 'flight path' stitched detail.   

So in the end I resigned myself to the fact that, in this instance, lots of white space was the way to go...   but to make myself feel better I did spray the whole background with glitter varnish before adding the vase, flower and butterfly.  (And yes, it really did make me feel better)!

Here's my tag...

...  and here's a close up so you can hopefully see the glitter varnish...

  

I'm always trying to find ways to sneak in a little dimension with my CAS projects.

How did I achieve that on this design?

Well, firstly I chose a die that I could emboss and add colour to. Then I cut a bottom flower head in red and the top overlapping in a deep pink colour.   

Then I chose a stitched detail that adds to the scene without adding any colour whatsoever...  and added a butterfly that's glued only at the centre - so I can raise the wings a little. 

Cutting the vase from vellum and then inking around the edges meant that any glue that would normally show through was now hidden - I just spot glued behind the inked edges only.

Even my glitter varnish base gives added texture - how's that for a happy coincidence?

I will never be a one layer girl and I'm ok with that.  It's simply not in my skill set.

Why worry about what I cannot change?  We can't all be good at everything, after all!

The Featured Artist for this challenge is a lady by the name of Amy Tsuruta.

Here's her tag on a card...

It's easy to see where I got my inspiration from this time, isn't it?!

Supplies Used:

Dies:

Sizzix Thinlits 'Flower Vases'

Marianne Designs (Creatables) 'Tiny's Tulip'

Memory Box 'Peaceful Butterfly Wings'

Memory Box/Open Studio 'Busy As A Bee'

Ink:

Tim Holtz Distress 'Walnut Stain'

Tim Holtz Distress 'Forest Moss'

ColorBox Pigment Ink 'Frost White'

Other:

Crafter's Companion 'Spray and Sparkle'  (Pearl Diamond)

Vellum

Ribbon

Challenges I'm Entering...

Simon Says/Wednesday 
Anything Goes

Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge

(Made entirely from Snippets)

Shopping Our Stash

Challenge #262   'A Stitch In Time'

Allsorts Challenge

Week #373   'Anything But A Card'

Stamping Smiles Designs

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #14

(Add Dimensional, Intricate Dies, Ribbon)

CAS-ual Fridays

Challenge #153   'Gift tags'

Cardz 4 Galz
Challenge #27   'No Patterned Paper'

Wishing you the happiest of weekends...

Donna. x