Challenge #47 Features - PaperDoll & PaperCrazy

What a great challenge!  Blue and Green aren't my typical go-to colors being I have 2yr old little girl.  You ladies gave these 2 colors a run for their money!!

Here's 2 projects to inspire you to keep those blue and green juices flowing!

PaperDoll:

All patterned papers-Loyal by Authentique. Star trinket-Everyday Moments by TC. Green button-BG. Non CC: Navy cardstock by Bazzil. Twine-The Twinery. Sentiment-Our Daily Bread. Diecut machine-Silhoutette.

PaperCrazy:

CC products used: BG Wisteria 6x6, MM Cosmopolitan 6x6, MM 8.5x11 embellishment paper, Distress Ink Stormy Sky and Pine Needles, BG pearls. Non CC products: White CS, alcohol markers, Stampendous Everything Happy stamps, Spellbinders Orchard Harvest tags, Sizzix Branch W/Leaves die.

Great job ladies!

Cracked Glass - by Clayton528 (Kathy)

Hi, all my crafty friends!  It’s time for my first project of 2013.  When I first January’s theme was “ice”, I was stumped.  Then one day I was looking out my window at the pond behind my home and it hit me . . . maybe I could do something that looked like cracked ice?  Maybe cracked glass?   So my “experiment” began . . .

 

Supplies

CC Products:

Distress Crackle Paint – Rock Candy

Distress Stain – Pumice Stone, Brushed Pewter

Daily Junque Wooden Alphabet by Pink Paislee

Frost Wrap by Bo Bunny

Twine from Jilli Bean (Sprouts)

Pearl pins by Pebbles

Other supplies:

Glass bottles

Glue ‘n Seal by Ranger

Tim Holtz Ideology “Baubles”

misc. key and ribbon

 

Before I start, I said “experiment” earlier and believe me, it was an experiment for me.  One thing was crackle paint needs something to “grab” onto . . . something with “teeth”.  I did not realize this until I went back to my first bottle and it looked like it had snowed around it . . . flakes everywhere.  But after a couple false starts, I got it right and LOVED the outcome.

 First I washed and thoroughly dried my glass bottles.  Then with a paint brush, apply an even coat of Glue ‘n Seal to the whole bottle.  Let dry completely.  At least 24 hours . . . maybe longer.  It all depends on the humidity.   (If you don’t, the crackle paint will peel right off . . . believe me, I know.)  It will have a slight milky look to it once it is completely dry.

 

Next, I applied a coat of Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint and sat back to watch . . . it was amazing seeing the cracks appear.  I let it dry about 24 hours before going to next step just in case. 

Once my bottle was completely dry, I used Pumice Stone distress stain to enhance the cracks and to give the bottle an old-fashioned look.  (I also did a bottle with Broken China distress stain and one with Brushed Pewter distress stain . . . love both of them.  Pictures of those at the end of this post.) 

While I was waiting for my bottle to dry completely, I used Brushed Pewter distress stain to stain my wood letters.  I used an “A” and a “C” for my daughter’s initials.  Then I used some Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint on them and let me completely dry.  Then with a hot glue gun, attached the 2 letters together. 

After my bottle and letters were completely dry, I finished embellishing it by wrapping lace around the bottom,  attaching a flower to it and wrapping twine right above it about 5-6 times.  Then using the hot glue gun, I attached my “AC” to the middle of the bottle.  And lastly, I wrapped ribbon around the top and attached an old key, another flower, a stick pin and some baubles.  

Voila!  It’s done.

Here’s a couple other bottles I did using Broken China and Brushed Pewter distress stains.  I haven’t embellished them because daughter wanted them plain.

 

Thanks so much for taking time to look at my project.  I hope you have as much fun with it as I did.

Snow Globe Card Tutorial - by Laursey562 (Laura)

Today's post is inspired by winter, snow and ice.  Although I live in Southern California where we never get snow, I love being in the mountains and watching snow fall -- especially when they're those big, fat snowflakes that slowly spiral down from a night sky.

It is with that in mind that I challenged myself to create this snow globe card.

I looked on You Tube for some tutorials to get me started and got some construction ideas from Libby Hickson's blog, Libby's Little Addiction.  But, in the end, I kind of winged it.  Here's how it did it:

Step 1: Gather your supplies.  I used paper and stickers from the Peaceful collection by Authentique that I purchased at cropchocolate.com, kraft, brown and green paper from Bazzill, twine from The Twinery, Color Box chalk ink in Moss, and pigment ink in Frost, foam adhesive and sparkle embossing powder from Recollections, Holiday stamps from Hero Arts, Perma Tac adhesive from Glue Arts, Beacons 3 in 1 glue, and buttons from my stash.

Step 2:  Cut brown cardstock to 11 1/2" x 5" and fold in half.  Using a circle cutter positioned slightly off the top of the fold, cut a 4 1/2" circle in the brown card -- CAUTION:  Do not cut a complete circle -- you need to leave the fold intact at the top of the card and leave the circle connected to the base at the bottom.

Step 3:  Cut the inner circle 3 1/2" -- this will be the opening of the snow globe. Then make angular cuts on the sides of the base of your snow globe -- 1/4" narrower at the top of the base than the bottom.

Step 4:  Cut a 4 1/2" circle in contrasting paper, make a straight cut across the top to fit the inside of the snow globe and adhere.

Step 5: Now for the fun stuff -- the decorations!  I cut pieces of patterned paper and Kraft card stock to layer on the base on the front and inside of the card.  I also fussy-cut the bird from the Authentique Peaceful Collection (Solitude pattern paper). Next I inked the edges of all the papers and applied foam adhesive to the bird.  I placed some pinecone stickers on the green cardstock and then adhered the bird on the green circle cut paper.

Step 6:  Cut a 4 1/2" circle out of acetate or plastic.  I used some packaging I had laying around.

Step 7:  Stamp snowflakes on the plastic circle using pigment ink, cover with sparkle embossing powder, remove excess embossing powder and set using a heat gun.  Be careful not to overheat the plastic -- it will melt.  (I found this out the hard way!) Now, glue the plastic to the inside front of the card with the  embossed snowflakes facing outward.

To finish, decorate the front of the card using stickers from the paper collection, buttons and twine and you're done!

Here is another card using this same technique I made for Christmas using Echo Park This & That Christmas Paper and stickers from Carta Bella Christmas Day collection.

What Dreams are Made Of - by BKrejci (Becky)

When I learned the theme was ice, I immediately went to a picture of my oldest son's prom, which I had put off scrapbooking for a few years.  The theme of the prom was "What Dreams are Made Of" and the decorations were all snowy and icy. 

The picture I chose had an igloo in the background.  I chose to use Winterland paper by Fancy Pants throughout the layout.  I used the Below Zero for the background and cut letters and snow flakes using the Mistletoe design card from Slice.  A new technique that I used with this layout is the way I applied the glitter to the letters "DREAM" and the snowflakes.  I wanted them to look icy without having glitter rub off on everything or flake off all of the time.  

To take you through the construction of my layout, on picture 1 you will see I cut out letters, using Frigid paper for the "What" and "are Made Of" letters and Cards paper for "Dreams" and the snowflakes.  

Now to adhere the glitter to the letters and snowflakes to give it an icey effect, (Picture 2) I first sprayed the letters and snowflakes with Aleene's Tacky Spray and sprinkled with Hint of Violet Flower Soft Glitter.  

After I shook the excess glitter off, I then sprayed the letters again with Mod Podge Gloss Lustre spray.  This allows all of the beauty of the glitter to shine through, but not flake off.  I love this technique and it can be used with anything you want to glitter.  

On to Photo 3.  

Again for the base of my layout I used Below Zero paper and attached the lettering "What" and "Are Made Of" cut from Frigid paper.  I also used Martha Stewart Snowflake punch and punched snowflake border on the top and bottom of a strip of Frigid paper and attached to the base paper along with my photograph.   I used Electric Winter Transparency by Fancy Pants and attached the snowflakes and the letters "Dream" (cut from Snow Angel) with pop dots to give it some dimension.  I also used a pretty mint green Pebbles Pearl Candy Dots to accent the snowflakes.  

I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed making it.  

Challenge #46 Features

As of this morning, there are 25 entries!!  I couldn't just choose 1 to feature, so I chose 3. :)

Michelina:

Emma:

(LOVE LOVE LOVE the young ones getting in on the action!!)

and, SaraS:

GREAT WORK LADIES!! :)

Remember, you still have until tomorrow morning, 8am MST to enter to win $10 as well as the big $25 monthly drawing!!

**Amber

Circles Galore - by Scrap Happy (Julie)

“Lifestyle Crafts circle nesting dies saved my life.”  No, that’s too dramatic.  “Lifestyle Crafts circle nesting saved my marriage.”  No, that’s not it either, although it might be true.  “I love Lifestyle Crafts circle nesting dies.”  True, but not dramatic enough.  “Because of Lifestyle Crafts circle nesting dies, I’ll never have to buy another circle cutter!!”  There, that’s it!  I finally got my opening statement right!  I haven’t been a fan of circles until now.  I’ve tried many different circle cutters, some with very limited success.  With the wide variety of circle sizes with these dies, I can cut many different sized circles – perfectly – EVERY TIME!  

I used the circle cutters on this layout.   I also used 6x6 papers.  I’ve always wanted to try a 12x12 layout using 6x6 papers, and it’s easy to do with this technique.

Supplies needed:

Carta Bella Kraft cardstock for the base

American Crafts white cardstock for most the circles

Echo Park Wintertime cardstock for the mitten journal box

Echo Park Winter Wishes 6x6 paper

Lifestyle Crafts circle dies

Die cutting machine of your choice (I used a Grand Calibur)

Unity mitten background stamp

Unity Snowflake Kesses

Stickles in lavender and waterfall

Close To My Heart inks in Smokey Plum and Twilight

Close To My Heart Dimensional Classic Alphabet

Liquid Glass or other liquid glue

The first thing I did was pick out papers that would match each other, but have some contrasting patterns when placed by each other.  Then, I began cutting out the white circles.  My circle sizes varied from the largest at 3.25, and the smallest being an inch. Then, I matched up papers and cut those out a ¼ inch smaller than the white circles.  The pictures were mounted on the largest circles.  They are cut using a 3 inch circle cutter.  

One of my trade secrets is using washi tape to hold the die where I want it.  Place the die with the blade side down on the photo, tape it in place, then flip the whole thing over to insert it in your diecut machine. After cutting, the picture pops right out because the tape is adhered outside of the cutting area.  Three of the circles, I reversed the process, placing the designer paper on the outside, the white paper on the inside, and then I stamped a snowflake design in the middle of the white circle.  I added some waterfall Stickles to the snowflake to ‘bling it up’ a bit.

Once the photos are cut in circles and mounted on a circle that’s a ¼ inch larger, and your patterned papers are cut and matched to other white circles, start laying them out until you find a pattern that is pleasing to you.  I left room in the lower right corner for my title, and the upper right quadrant for my journal box.

I adhered the ‘ice’ letters using Liquid Glass.  Any liquid adhesive would work.

Now it’s time to make your journaling box.  I like using stamps, and this large mitten seemed perfect for some journaling.  I stamped it on EP Wintertime cardstock using Close To My Heart Smokey Plum ink.  Then, I fussy cut the mitten and used a thin, black pen to journal with.  I added some lavender Stickles to the mitten for some sparkle.  I never like the look of my own handwriting on my layouts (it takes away from the ‘professional’ look I’m after), but I think it’s important to include it occasionally.

And, here’s a closeup of the journaling mitten, complete with sparkly cuff.  I hope you try using circles in a layout or card or home décor project.  I’d love to see what you do with them!  And, as always, scrap happy!

Altered Photo Box - by Karey2005

The January theme for the Crop Chocolate Design Team is Ice!  When I think of Ice, I think of sparkly diamonds…  One of the reasons that my DH and I love to boat is the relaxation of looking out on the sparkly diamond water, so I decided to do a memory box of our times at the boat, watch the river go by.

Step 1.  First, I used TH distress ink in Stormy Sky and TH Pewter distress tain to cover the edges of the wood. Then I painted on a generous layer of TH Crackle Paint (Clear Rock Candy). It’s very hard to get a good photo of the effect, but it LOOKS like glittery ice!  (Tip:  I use cheap Costco paper plates to work on my projects – keeps my work surface clean and keeps my project stuff together…)

Step 2. I cut strips of Blue Bazzill and paper from the Carta Bella Traditions collection to run along the edges. I used Mod Podge to make sure it was adhered firmly. You can see a little pair of green scissors in the picture. I got those from a CC HC – they are fantastic scissors!!

Step 3. I had purchased some glitter mesh from a vendor at Scrapbook Expo. I ran strips of it through my Xyron sticker-maker to adorn the edges of my box.

Step 4.  I made twine waves with Miss Caroline twine in blue with some bling from a CC HC. To do this, I used a small piece of double-stick tape and lined up small pieces of twine. I then simply trimmed the edges.

Step 5.  I then had some fun figuring out what pictures and embellishments that I wanted to use.  I used the blue Bazzill to back everything, and I used 5 layers of pop tape to bring them up. Here’s what is in the individual sections:

Top left: Beaded Cloud from UmWow Studios. Top right: Picture of the I Street Bridge in Sacramento and flower from UmWow Studios. Middle left:  Paper and sticker from Traditions collection (cut with CC-purchased circle dies). Middle-middle: Picture of a seal on the dock near our boat. Middle-right: Sticker from Traditions collection. Bottom-left:  A picture of DH and me. Bottom-right:  My twine waves. (The bottle is also from UmWow, but I decided not to use it for this project after all because it stuck out after I’d popped everything…)

CC Products:  TH Stormy Sky, TH Distress Crackle Paint (Clear Rock Candy), Blue Bazzill (from grab bags), Carta Bella Traditions paper, Miss Caroline Blue Twine, Bling, CC Circle dies.

Modified "Chipboard" - by Corrie

When I saw the the theme was Ice I thought of iridescent paper and bling, two of my favorite things.  I have always love the look of chipboard but the only drawback of the Cameo is that it can't cut chipboard, plus it's hit and miss on the acid free content. I decided to layer four of the same die cut to achieve the dimension of chipboard and this way I know the end result is acid free.

CC Product

• Evergreen Borough Distress Ink
• Snake Tape
• Cameo
• Winterland Collection pack by Fancy Pants

Non CC Product

• I-Roc
• Spray Adhesive
• Iridescent paper

Step 1:  Modify and size your shape as necessary and then cut four times, in my case I merged the design twice and then copied it four times.  The more layers you add the more dimension you will get but if your design is very intricate and detailed it gets harder to match each layer.

Step 2: Carefully remove the design from the mat and line up how you will use them, if your paper has a good and bad side make sure you have the right side up

Step 3: Apply a re-positionable spray adhesive, use a spray for a light even coverage and re-positionable will give you some flexibility when matching the layers before setting permanently.  Note because spray adhesive tends to splatter do this outside or in an empty box.

Step 4: Carefully match the layers up and press down, repeat for all layers.  Note the more intricate and delicate the design the more difficult this will be

Step 5:  Embellish as desired and attach to your project  (I added some bling with the I-roc)

Upcycled Jewelry Holder - by Christina

When I think of ice I think of diamonds...maybe because that is my birthstone,maybe because they are just so darn sparkly...

Whichever the case,I decided to make an upcycled jewelry holder.

Most of the time my stuff is jumbled in a ball in a drawer so I thought I would maybe also get some organizing done.

I started with a cheap(75c) item from the thrift shop.I think it was meant to hold keys.

I painted the whole thing a couple times with white paint. 

Once dry I sanded all the edges and roughed it all up,exposing wood grain below.

Next I took my TH ink pads (Tumbled Glass and SHabby Shutters) and rubbed them across the flat sections and corners to distress it a bit.

I rubbed brown ink (Close to Cocoa-SU)  along the edges also to give it an aged look.

Then after choosing my papers,I glued them all down on the flat surfaces and began embellishing inside and out.

This paper line is Lost and Found~My Mind's Eye.I love it and it will go perfectly in my daughters room..oh ya did I mention,this will never hold all my stuff so I gave it to Emma.

I also used a paper towel holder to match that will hold her bracelets.

I used the same technique and wrapped paper around the post.I also added some detail to the bottom.

There ya have it, a Shabby Chic jewelry Holder that cost me pennies to make.