ImpressArt BLOG HOP!!!

 Hi and Welcome to my blog!!

I am one of twenty designers lucky enough

to be designing with ImpressArt Metal Stamps today!

I've made a quick and easy Bag Tag

with these amazing products -

I hope you'll feel inspired to work with these

products as well!!

Be sure and enter their contest

* here *

 and you could be the Grand Prize winner of

$120.00 worth of ImpressArt products! 

Here are the supplies needed to make the Bag Tag:

ImpressArt Supplies:

-ImpressArt Alphabet Stamp Set, Ballroom Boogie (lowercase)

-ImpressArt Metal Stamping Blank, Flower

-ImpressArt Metal Stamping Hammer

-ImpressArt Steel Stamping Block

-ImpressArt Stamp Straight Tape

Other Supplies:

4" Wooden Tag; 2" Wood Bird Cutout; (5) 12ss Swarovski Crystals;

Black Feather; E6000 Adhesive; Acrylic Paints: Turquoise,

Marigold, White, Black, Extreme Glitter Hologram;

Sanding Block; Permanent Marker; Clean Rag; Ruler

First, I stamped the Flower blank.

Place the ImpressArt Metal Stamping Blank (Flower)

on the ImpressArt Steel Stamping Block.

Apply ImpressArt Stamp Straight Tape across the

flower and use the ruler to mark 1/8" guidelines.

 Place the ImpressArt Alphabet Stamp on the blank.

Lightly drag the stamp towards the center of the tape

until you feel the bottom of the stamp

catch the top of the tape.

Strike the top of the stamp with medium pressure;

if you've hit the stamp too lightly, you can

strike again as long as the stamp has not been moved.

Use the permanent marker to color the impression.

Without allowing the colored impression to sit too long,

use a clean rag to wipe off excess ink.

(I used E6000 adhesive to apply 

one Swarovski crystal

to each of the flower petals).

Use this same stamping technique to stamp the

entire name onto the wooden bird.

Paint the bird with Turquoise acrylic paint.

Sand lightly over the top of the painted bird;

this will remove some of the paint

leaving darker stamped impressions behind.

Paint the beak Marigold, and the eyes are

dip dots of white, and then black.

You could check out my tutorial 

on painting dip dots *here*

Paint the front, back, and sides of the wooden

tag Turquoise.  Allow to dry.

Use the sanding block to smooth

the paint on the top of the tag, and to

remove some of the paint along the edges.

Coat the entire tag with Extreme Glitter

Hologram to give the tag some shimmer.

I used E6000 adhesive to attach the feather

and the bird to the bottom of the tag.

Thread a 12" length of sheer black ribbon 

through the top of the tag.  Attach the 

Flower charm with a split ring.

I used the permanent marker to outline

the wooden bird.

There it is! It says "spring" with a little

"bling" and I hope you like it!!

Please use the Designer Crafts blinkie

at the top of this post to Hop Forward

and check out more fun projects using

ImpressArt Metal Stamps!

And because I couldn't resist ... something just for fun:

I just had to create this Santa 

from one of the fabulous 

ImpressArt Metal Stamping Blanks!!!

Peace and Bag Tags!!

Ho Ho Ho

 

School Room Snowmen

This year, I had 70 ornaments to make

for the classmates of my children.

Since my 11-year-old had already

specifically requested a particular ornament,

which would be difficult and time-consuming

to make for his 14 classmates,

I knew I had to find something super

quick and easy to make for the remaining

56 children in my other kids' classes.

I decided to make
School Room Snowmen!!

(or Ruler Snowmen)

whichever of those names you prefer

For every FOUR ornaments, you will

need one wooden ruler 
(look for a ruler without pre-drilled holes)

acrylic paint in white, black, red, and gold.

Extreme Glitter in Black,

and Plaid Dimensional Paint in orange.

Also, mini craft sticks for hat brims,
wooden birds for the school mascot,
red ribbons for hanging and

a permanent black marker for outlining.

Use the Midwest Products Easy Cutter Ultimate
to trim each ruler into four 3" lengths,
and trim the mini craft sticks to just a hair
wider than the ruler, so the hat
brim hangs over just a bit on either side
of the snowman's head.

Use Aleene's® Tacky Glue®
to adhere hat brims to each ruler segment.

I attached my hat brims
towards the top of the segments,
rather than directly in the center.
However, I've made many of these types
of ornaments, and attaching the brim
a little lower makes for a totally different look:
a really tall hat and a small face,
versus the small top hat and the larger face.
I wanted to date these ornaments,
so I made the hats smaller.

Paint the craft stick and the
top half of the ruler segments with
black acrylic paint.
Brush Plaid's Extreme Glitter Black
over the hats for extra shine.

Paint the bottoms of the ruler segments
with white acrylic paint.
Leave the backs unpainted;
to keep the "School Room" feel of
these ruler ornaments.

I use a cotton swab and pink
powder blush to blush the cheeks of
each snowman's face.

Use a stylus dipped in black paint
to dot the eyes and the mouths.

Dip the stylus before each dot
for same-sized dots ...
dotting two or three times before
re-dipping into the paint
gives you descending-sized dots.

I used my Crop-o-Dile to
make a hole in the top center of
each snowman's hat,
so I could thread some ribbon
through for hanging.

NOTE:
For step-by-step photos
of how to paint dots and carrot
noses, please click here.

Because I am making these ornaments
for the classmates of my children,
I want to add our school mascot,
the cardinal.

Here is a quick tip I found for painting
small wooden pieces, such as these 
bird cut-outs:

Spread out a piece of GLAD®
Press'n Seal® sealing wrap,
sticky side up,
and press the birds onto the paper.
This holds them in place while
you use a paint roller dipped in red
acrylic paint to base coat the birds
quickly and easily.

A quick way to make the triangle
shape on the cardinal's head,
is to use a small flat brush dipped
in black paint; lightly press the brush
diagonally across the bird's head.
Ta Daa!!!

Allow to dry before dotting the
eyes first with white paint,
and then with black paint.
Brush on a coat of Plaid Extreme Glitter
in Red for extra shine.

Use a detail brush dipped in
gold or yellow paint to highlight the
bird's beaks.

I threaded the ribbon through
each hole in the hat before I attached
the birds ... I thought it was
easier than waiting to thread the ribbons
and possibly running into a hat
whose hole was covered by a bird.
;)

There we go!
56 School Room Ornaments!!
As a final touch,
I used a black permanent marker
to outline the snowman faces,
define each bird's wing,
and add the year to the bottom.

* Peace and Snowmen *

A Barn Bathroom

A barn bathroom; a bathroom for a barn;

however you say it, the window needs a curtain.

Actually, this barn is pretty centrally seated on

one hundred and twenty acres of

... well, trees, actually ...

so really, it's pretty private just by location.

My daughter disagrees.

Something about "nature" watching

her when nature calls??

Nah, I actually see her point.

Even Bambi doesn't need to see all that. 

Right?

Besides, decorating is the fun part.

That's my story; and I'm sticking to it.

You may have noticed that none of these pics

actually shows the bathroom window

as the focal point.

Yea, I dunno.  I've been through

three different camera chips and clearly

I never thought the window was the

most interesting part of the bathroom ... until now,

and I don't have a direct photo of it.

I made the curtains anyway,

so this post will go on ... and I promise to

come back at a later date

(hopefully this evening)

and add a picture of the window.

Keeping in mind, if you will,

that nothing is completed yet EXCEPT

my curtains, and I can't hang

them in the window until the plumber

wraps up his business in that room

and the "cleaning crew"

does its thing.  

Actually, as the "" "" indicate, I have

more to say about this, but I'll save it for another post.

Moving on ... to curtains!!

I bought a fabric shower curtain,

and cut it right up the middle into two panels.

 

  

I pressed the edges to smooth them out.

Because yellow is my "pop" color in the bathroom,

( you know all about "pop" colors, right? )

I bought blanket binding in that color and pinned

it to the cut edges of each panel.

I sewed a straight stitch down the

outside edge of the binding,

and another straight stitch down the 

inside edge of the binding.

Then I pressed both panels again.

Picture of finished curtain panels.

For the window.

From a shower curtain.

!

Oh, and I'm making curtain tie-backs

with those nests and birds you see

in the photo ... up next!!

Peace

Designer Craft Connection

May 2011

Designer Craft Connection Blog Hop

Spring Canvas

Nothing says Spring like a sweet little bird!

I've painted these on jars and flower pots,

and this time I decided to use a 9" x 11" canvas.

Use the Designer Craft Connection blinkie

at the top right of my blog,

and hop forward or hop back to view

all the wonderful Spring or Mother's Day projects!

Be Inspired!!!

Peace out

Spring

Designer Crafts - Wedding

My wedding inspired craft:

DSC_1548 a photo by megpie.design on Flickr.

A tiny, feathered bride and groom ...
painted on tiny canvases
and perched on tiny easels!

 

Feed the Birds!!!

"Come feed the little birds, show them you care And you'll be glad if you do."

Sitting outside the dance studio last night,

I remembered I hadn't filled the bird feeder and a

MAJOR STORM was about to hit.

I text my husband, thirty-five miles away at home

with the boys:

"please fill the bird feeder before

the (insert snowman icon here) hits"

and I get in reply,

"we will"

I love technology!!!

In the middle of the night, I woke up for

two reasons: my six year old was between us

in bed with a 104° fever,

(so he needed a dose of Motrin and a

cooling strip for his forehead and back);

AND I was worried that the raccoons

would eat all the birdseed

out of the bird feeder!

From the house, it looked like two of the

tubes were clogged; so out he went ...

... my adorable husband ... 

 

... into the snow ...

... to unblock the tubes, top everything off

with fresh birdseed, and ...

 ... here they came!!!

This is the view from my bedroom window:

This pic is of the back deck;

look under the wooden chest ...

They're so quick, I couldn't catch them with

my camera, but the birdies are

ducking for cover underneath the chest

on the back porch!

My husband told the boys the birds

are under there playing poker

and smoking cigars.

???