More Houses Hung At The Cabin

We went up north again this past weekend and it gave me a chance to hang more of the houses I have received from everyone. I am loving the way they all look and I want to again thank everyone who has sent me one.

Here's a shot with some of the placemats on the table that I have been working on. Unfortunately I ran out of white thread so I couldn't topstitch the last three. 

I made a little guest book for everyone that stays with us at the cabin to sign and date. I would love for everyone that visits to make a house but I know some will balk at that idea because they think they are not artistic. 

And this last picture is because I know some of you need a Dexter fix and because he is just so darn cute even when he is sleeping. 

Yeah... It's More Cards

Here is another bunch of cards that I made for Stampeddler as samples to show various paper or stamps. The first one was another Kaiser card but it made from left over paper I had from another project and I wanted to show the stamp. (It is the center panel.) 

 These 2 cards are using Anna Griffith paper and a couple of new stamps that are at the store. 

 These next 2 cards were using some stamps that looked more steampunk to me so of course I had to do something with that theme.

 This set of cards was using another set of Kaiser paper, Kaiser stamps and some Penny Black stamps.

These 2 cards are using Indigo Blue paper and stamps. 

 I forget what paper this was but the cute flower stamps are from Kaiser again. 

This was using a big background stamp from Impression Obsession and clear stamp set from Bo Bunny. (Can't remember what paper on this one either.) 

 This is a large stamp from Stampendous that comes with a cool stencil to use with it. You can do some cool things with masking or stenciling.

This card was mostly to show the paper but it also has a lot of stamped backgrounds. 

Another couple of cards using Kaiser stamps. 

This one was using Basic Greys chipboard pieces and paper. How easy is it to do this one? (About half an hour.)

Where's Waldo?

Every time I look at this collage I think of that game because I see something new that I had not noticed before. This was another collage that was inspired by Anna Dabrowska (aka Finnabair). It is done on a 9" x 12" canvas and the picture is of my grandparents at their wedding. I used everything I could get my hands and glued it to this canvas. Stuff like an old pocket watch case, bingo markers, a zipper pull, keys from an old clarinet, a vintage garter clip, typewriter strike keys, snaps, bullet casings, bits of lace and necklace chain and the list goes on. See what you can find?

Kaiser Cards And More Kaiser Cards

Yes I have been very busy making all kinds of sample cards for Stampeddler. Unfortunately I kept forgetting to post them on my blog... until today that is.

All of the cards shown here are made from Kaiser Craft paper and this first set of cards are all made with a set called Lulu and Roy. It's basically using the small 6.5" pad of paper and solid color card stock. It will eventually be a class but I am not sure which cards will end up being in the class. Whatever is not used for the class will end up as samples in the Kaiser Korner of the store.

Closed

Open

This is a tag pull out card and you can see it lays flat when it is closed. To open it you simply pull on the tags ribbon and it slides open to reveal the secret message. (It also opens like a regular card so you can include another message inside.)

These cards are made from the set of paper called Secret Admirer and the first 3 are made using the same 2 stamps. I wanted to do the Somerset Magazine approach that they do for the article "With One Stamp".  The fourth one I did because I liked the paper with the owl on it and just had to use it. The stamped image is actually the white flourish in the upper corner. (It is stamped with clear ink and then embossed with opaque white powder.) The sentiment is also stamped but other then that it is a very simple card to make. 

These 2 cards are from the Periwinkle collection and will also be part of a Kaiser card class. 

There are many more cards for me to post as well as a few other projects but I will save that for another day since this post is already very long. Have a Happy Easter everyone!

New Housing Project

So I just got back from our cabin up-north and I was able to hang all of the houses that I have received so far. You can see the aqua chairs at the table that started this whole color scheme. The red comes from some of the dishes, the toaster, and the hand towels. The 10 houses that are there right now look a little lonely but hopefully there will be more soon. (YES... I am still sending out houses to be decorated so just email me and I can pop one in the mail to you.)

To those of you that recognize your house you may notice that a few of them have some extra things added to them. I certainly hope that no one minds that I did this but I just love bling and felt a few needed something. 

I hope that I get enough houses to fill the previous wall and this one that is perpendicular to the first. The last owners left this tacky painting of a lighthouse that I just hate but I hate bare walls even more. 

Some of you may remember the shade I did made out of out slides. Here it is in it's final corner of the living room all lit up. I think it looks like it belongs there and has been there for years. 

The other project I am working on is some coasters and placemats for the kitchen. Here you can see 4 of the placemats almost finished and 5 coasters completed. (There was 6 but one mysteriously disappeared that afternoon.) 

Here's a close-up of the finished placemat and a few coasters. I may redo the quilting on the placemat. I am not happy with the way the quilting distorted the seam lines even though I used an even feed foot on my machine. 

 Suspected coaster thief looking calm and confident despite being yelled at by mom. 

Don't Throw Out Your Matchboxes

I saw this project on Laura Carson's blog "Artfully Musing" and I had to watch the video and make one. I didn't have store bought matchboxes but I had a die-cut one. (And... yes.... It is bigger then the store bought boxes.)   

The mirror is a frame die cut that I have that happened to be the right size. I added a piece of the fabulous mirror paper that Tim Holtz now has and it actually makes a pretty good mirror. I covered the die cut with gold foil before I cut it then I ran it through an embossing folder. I then painted it with magenta acrylic paint and wiped it away leaving some in the valleys.

The feet are some brass findings that I bent in half. (I also cut the loops off.) 

I have done the perfume bottles as charms for the necklaces that I make but this was a perfect opportunity to make some a little larger. (They are glued onto a head pin to keep it all straight and once they are dry I cut the headpin even with the top bead.) I printed the teeny tiny labels on my commuter. (YES.... I really do have too much time on my hands.) The trays that the bottles sit on are just brass frames that have a back to them instead of being open. The glasses and comb are charms that I snipped the loop off of with wire cutters.