Happy CyberMonday

Everyone...............................

Hope you are having a great Monday.  I have been doing some more crafting.  Made a few more necklace/earring sets and some more gift tags.

This set is Faux Onxy and Silver

This set is Faux Turquoise and Silver

A couple of the different gift tags that I made are:

I need to get back in my craft room and get some Christmas cards made.  If you'd like to check out my Etsy shop, here's the link.  Hope you have a great day!

Hugs,
~Jody

Busy, busy busy........................................

I have been soooooo busy crafting, I have forgotten to put some pics up here for you to enjoy.

I had a rather unique experience happen a couple of weeks ago and it really got me motivated.  I received an email from PayPal saying that I had been paid $XX for some Thanksgiving die cuts that I had in my Etsy shop, 5 YEARS AGO.  I had to scramble to find a picture of what the person ordered so I could make them and get them in the mail.  I was so surprised!  And I still don't know how they found the item to purchase it.  I hadn't done anything with my Etsy shop for over 5 years, but I never closed it either.  The pictures of the items I had in it were still there but the listings were expired.  Still kinda baffles me.  I sent an email to the person that ordered them asking but they never responded.

Anyway.........................it got me motivated.

I have since made some beautiful jewelry

And some Gift Tags (several variations)

And some Christmas Die Cuts

These are just a few of the items I have put in my Etsy shop and I wanted to invite you to take a look.   My shop name is Unique Unicorn Designs and the link is here.   Enjoy!

More cards.................

Hi everyone, have been keeping busy making more Halloween cards.  I was poking around Pinterest and came across an old technique that Tim did on a Christmas tag back in 2008.  He painted a tag black and then clear embossed a flourish on it.  Over the top of that he painted some juniper paint.  Before it dried he wiped with a cloth over the top of it, leaving the embossed flourish showing thru.

I decided to try it with some Halloween colors.  I used black cardstock instead of painting some black but then I clear embossed this Raven stamp I have.  It is about 4 x 5 so it covered most of the front of the card.  Then I painted over it with orange paint.  Using a damp cloth, I swiped over the entire thing leaving the stamped images free of paint.

 

I added some other embellishments across the front along with a couple of bats and a spider that I made out of shrink film. The gray web looking stuff is actually cheesecloth that I colored with Pumice Stone Distress stain.  The 'hocus pocus' words are stickers. Love how the background turned out.

The other one I made, I used a another technique that I saw on Pinterest.  Apparently it was a technique that Tim used in his latest online class, somewhat altered.  They used aluminum foil to cover a piece of cardstock, glued it on. Then they embossed it with a leaf flourish. Then they covered it with black paint to get it in the crevices and wiped the excess off.

So.................. using my Halloween inspiration, I covered a piece of black cardstock with aluminum foil. I let it dry a little first so it wouldn't crack or tear.  Then I embossed it with the spider web embossing folder.  Then I covered that with black paint and wiped the excess off.  It turned out really cool looking, don't cha think?

I added some orange cardstock under a black 'Happy Halloween' ribbon, a big spider I die cut and coated with glossy accents.  A couple bats, a crossbones and a die cut '31' round out the rest of the embellishments.

I still have a witches' hat I wanted to decorate.  Have had it for several years and never got it done so I'm thinking now is the time.  I used to wear black halloween hats to the "Black Hat Society" tea parties I used to attend when I lived in FL.  Really miss those ladies and those tea parties.  One of them, Gloria, actually sent me an invitation to the Halloween tea party she's giving this year.  Sure wish I could attend.  I'll make and wear my hat and be there in spirit. Love you girls!!

Hugs,
~Jody

Trick or Treat

Hey peeps, are you ready for Halloween?  I have all my decorations out and I bought a pumpkin for the front porch.

I have also been making some cards and stuff.  First I made this like panorama out of a cigar box.  I saw one similar on Tim Holtz's blog that was made out of his configuration boxes and I didn't have any of those.  I am trying really hard to just use what I have and not buy anything else, I have so much.  So..............I made mine out of a cigar box and I made all the little boxes inside myself out of chipboard.  The bottom one I made a drawer so you can pull it out and drape something over the top of it.  I had some Gasparilla beads that had skulls and crossbones on it so I cut it up and used some of them.  I used some Tim Holtz ideology, bottles, and letterpress letters as well as some other things I had in my halloween  arsenol. I even decorated the lid so when it's open it looks like it belongs, then I can close it again.

Halloween Panorama

The cauldron was made of that clay stuff you can form anything out of, the web looking stuff is cheesecloth that I colored using Pumice Stone Distress Stain

The little bottle of red 'eyeballs' are actually those micro beads and they came in that little vile.  The skull hanging out of the drawer was a left over earring, lol, remember I just used what I had.

The skulls were from the Gasparilla beads with some wishbones.  I still need to put some labels on my bottles but my printer is down right now so as soon as it is repaired I'll make some labels.

Here we have the letterpress letters and a little wooden barrel of poison.

It is a great addition to my Halloween decorations and I just love it.

I have also put together a couple of cards. The first one I used Tim's spider web embossing folder and a big black sparkly spider.  I cut the 31 from some orange foil that's in my stash.  Love the wide black/white ribbon with a button stitched on.  See what you think.

I even added some black fringe yarn down the side for an added attraction as well as the the word 'eek'.

I used the same Halloween Script thinlits to make the 'happy halloween' letter on the inside of the card.

The second card was made with the candlestick die from Tim Holtz.  I placed some black netting over the top of the orange base first. Then I added all the goodies.

Had some left over black flocked cardstock that was cut in squares so I glued them all together. Pulled a cotton ball apart and spread it around.  Added some distress stained cheesecloth underneath the word 'spooky' and some little black flowers at the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring has sprung, Fall has fell and Winter will be as cold as..................

well you probably know the ending to that saying...................lol

I have really taken a liking to the fall season since I have moved back to WY from FL.  The cooler temperatures are so awesome.  I am still able to have the windows open a little bit at night, there is a fabulous cool breeze that blows through, I love it!

The leaves have started to fall from the trees and soon the colors will become so vibrant that I will need to make another trek up to the mountains (oh darn!) to see them all.  In the meantime, I have created a little reminder as some home decor.  Somewhere in my travels I ended up with this great frame and when I unpacked here I put it on a hook in my living room, knowing that sooner or later I would find something to put in it.  Well, it hung there long enough without anything in it that a good friend made comment to me, something about an empty picture frame hanging on the wall, lol!

So, I decided to change that.  Here is what I came up with

I started with a plain piece of chipboard from the back of a tablet. Covered it with gesso and then some Distress Stains in autumn colors. Then I added some 'bricks' with some embossing paste and one of the Tim Holtz stencils and inked them up as well. 

I found some little wooden letters in my stash and was quite tickled to find the actual letters I needed (FALL).  I added some Distress Stains to them in Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade and then sprayed them with water to make the colors bleed together.  Then I inked the edges with Vintage Photo.  The 'has' was printed from a label maker and the 'fell' was from one those old Dymo label makers so no stamping here.

The leaves were made from the Tim Holtz Layered Leaf die and embossing folder.  I first smeared out some distress inks on my craft sheet and sprayed it with water and swiped a manila folder through it to get the coloring. Then I cut out the leaves and embossed them and inked them with Walnut stain.

I added a piece of wire mesh under the letters but over the top of the bricks for some dimension and a few embellishments in the top right hand corner.  I also found a metal leaf in my stash and hung it from the mesh.  It just kinda spoke to me when I found it, lol.

I wanted to enter it into the Frilly & Funky Challenge Blog Stamps be gone, hence no stamping here! This will make a great home decor item for years to come!

It's St. Paddy's Day again............

OMG, am I ever glad I wrote down all those user id's and pw before I left FL, lol, I would have never found this blog again.  My memory is getting worse and worse.  As you can see I haven't been able to get back here very often and I don't remember things that are not used on a daily basis, and even that's iffy, lol!

Anyway, Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.  I have been busy making some tags and now I want to make a banner and a few cards.  I still have about 10 days or so but I better get busy.

Here are the tags that I have been working on.  I just did the usual distress stain swipe on the tags to start with.  I used Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles. Then I did the technique that Tim used on his March tag.  I stamped my shamrocks and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I didn't have the stencil he did but I had the eye chart one so I used that.  I covered it in areas with embossing paste and then sprinkled gold embossing powder over it and left it to dry.  (Probably could have gotten a bit more on the one on the right, I think that's the one I did first, can ya tell, lol)  That's a very cool technique.  Didn't realize that you could cover that embossing paste with embossing powder, leave it to dry and then come back to it later and hit it with the heat gun and it would still melt and turn shiny.  What a cool idea, I love it.

I found some 'gold coins' in my stash and I used the little hole maker of his to put holes in each side of the coin and also in the top of the wish bone.  I threaded some jute string thru the holes and tied it in a bow on the other side.  I typed "Happy St. Patrick's Day" on the computer and printed it off on plain white paper and then distressed it with ink and cut it out to fit in the oval charms.  Had some little metal charms in my stash as well but they were silver so I covered them with some gold alcohol ink and wiped off the excess.

Then I just used some cream colored seam binding dipped in the same distress stains in the hole at the top. I attached everything with jump rings to a pin and pinned it to the seam binding.  I glued another tag to the back of each one (cuz they were kinda messy) and added a sentiment there.  And I inked them up well.

Added some little shamrocks and a hat to the back, as well as a little stamp.  See the jute tied in the back, that worked out well, lol.  

Anyway, that is what I have come up with for my St. Patrick's Day tags.  Hopefully I will get some cards done now and a banner.  I'll be sure to share with you, if I do.  Hope you all have a lovely week and may the Luck of the Irish be with you!

Hugs!!

it's starting to look alot like Christmas.............

Good Morning peeps, have finally been able to get some crafting time to myself, YEA!  Really miss it when I can't get my hands inky, lol!

Have been working on my Annual Christmas Tea Party plans and of course the invitation has to come first.  I was wanting to make something that was vintagy looking, kinda lacy too. Wanted them to look old fashioned.  I am going with the blue/cream/white theme this year so created the invitations using the same theme.  Had a piece of old white lace and some light blue tulle (I think that's the name for the netting). Printed the actual words on the computer and printed them out.  Roughed up the edges and inked them with vintage photo ink. Had some light blue cardstock for the base so did the same thing with those.  Layered the lace first, then the tulle and then the invitation.  Used Tim's OTE die 'distressed doily' and made a 'gate' closure for the front.  Inked it up with vintage photo as well.  Attached them to the sides around the back and then used another blue base piece to cover that up.  It also added a bit of sturdiness to the whole thing too.  Tied the gate with a piece of shiny blue ribbon and a little tea pot charm in the middle.

Then I stamped a little cup and some steam to the fronts of the envelope and inked the outside edges of them as well.  Here's a peek at the finished product.  Hope you like it.

Will hopefully get them done this weekend so can get them in the mail soon.  Have Tuesday off as it's Veteran's Day so can maybe get them finished up then, if not this weekend.

The weather here has been fabulous.  This fall has been the most enjoyable one I've had/seen in a long time. I've so missed the changing of the seasons and all mother nature had to offer.  The trees have all lost most of their leaves and winter is about to set in.  The temperatures this weekend are supposed to be in the 50's but come Monday the highs will only be in the 20's and it's supposed to be snowy and windy.  Fall has lasted longer than normal this year, which is good.  It's been getting me used to the cooler weather.  I surely don't miss the heat of FL but am not sure if I'm completely ready for the cold of the WY.  Am excited for the first big snowfall but don't care for the cold wind.  I do enjoy the cool breezes that blow but am probably not ready for the cold wind, lol. It will definitely be cool to see the season changing even more.  I kinda feel like this place has so much more character.  In FL it's hot and green, all the time.  Here, with the changing of the seasons, it seems like when things change, it gives you the anticipation of new things to come.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the weather and the Tea Party plans.  Am hoping to inspire some of my dear friends around here to be a part of my tea group.  There is only one tea house in Cheyenne so we will have to each host a tea party at our homes once a month, so am hoping to collect like 10 others to participate.  It will be fun to see how it all plays out.

Hope you have a terrific weekend,
Hugs,
~Jody

Happy Halloween 2014

Hey There Bloggers,  Just wanted to drop in and say hello and Happy Halloween to all you bloggers out there.  I am finally up and running again in the craft room.  It's been 8 months since I last saw my craft room in working order.  It still needs some pooffing but it is in working order, pretty much, and OH how I have missed it.  It feels so good to be back in the saddle again.  Have made a few more coffins this year. They were nothing fancy but I still love how they turn out.

A couple of them I added black netting to, just experimenting.  I love the results!

Notice the netting on the one on the right, kinda hard to see but it looks so cool in person.  The one on the left I added some orange glitter to her stockings with some glue and a toothpick.

The one on the right here has the netting.  I also added a raven and a black cat that I cut out of some velvet paper.  They added a whole new dimension to the view.

So, ya, there we have it, some cute little coffins to decorate with.  Think I'll run over to the dollar store and see what I can find to fill them with.  Maybe some orange tissue paper and some candies??

Hope ya'll have a fantastic Halloween, crafting and decorating your hearts out!!!

Hugs,

~Jody

 

Busy, busy, busy................

I finally got my hands on some Tim Holtz fabric.  There is a little quilting shop in this town but they didn't carry it, nor did Joann's so I had to go to Ft. Collins, CO (about 45 miles south) to a little place called Loopy Ewe.  It's a bit expensive but I do really like the designs. 

I found a little foot stool at a garage sale a while back and wanted to recover it with the Tim Holtz fabric.  I used some foam that I found stashed in one of my mother's closets.  I found some iron interfacing to stiffen the fabric a little. I removed all the legs and the old fabric and covered it right up.  So cute!

Had a little fabric left so I made a little pillow from the same fabric.  It actually is a pillow cover so I can take it off and wash it.  I made the actual pillow out of muslin and then put the pillow cover on it.  I found some cute trim at Walmart so added that to the sides. 

They both turned out so cute.  They will match my couch and loveseat really well.  I think I might make some curtains out of the same fabric when I get in to my new place.

See what you think!!

So anyway, I look forward to decorating my new living room with these fabrics as soon as I can get moved.  I have a permanent full time job now so it won't be long.

Hope you are enjoying your summer!
Hugs,
~Jody

Home Again, awwwwww

What a great feeling to be back home again.  I have reconnected with some old friends and made some new ones.  I have been working two part-time jobs just to keep me afloat but last Friday, I was offered a full time job with the County, YAHOO! 

All of my things are still in storage but they will be coming out soon now, now that I have a full time job.  I will start looking for a place of my own.  Want to buy but housing here is at a premium so that may have to wait a bit longer.  Can hardly wait to get my papercrafting supplies out and start playing.  I have been staying busy, just in other ways.

I planted a garden for my stepfather since he is unable to do that himself any more.  If nothing else, it gives him some bragging rights.  The garden is growing beautifully.  And I have to laugh because I have never planted a garden in my life, lol.

The beginning-planted everything over Memorial Day weekend

This is what it looks like today 07/27/14

 We planted a large variety, you could say.  My stepfather brought home a bunch of seeds and I planted them.  We planted them indoors first and then transplanted them out back in the garden area.  They have quite a bit of hail here so we put a canopy over it, made of 6 mil plastic and some pvc piping and a couple of 2x4's.  Carpenters we are not but so far is has held.  The wind has ripped it up more than the hail, but will keep repairing it until we can get a harvest, about 30 more days.

We have tomatos, beets, peas and sugar peas, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, sweet pepper, butternut squash, yellow squash, zucchini, onions and potatoes.  Had some radishes too but they have been eaten already..

Basil

Beets

 

Butternut Squash, see the resemblance

Cabbage and carrots

Cucumbers

Tomato

Yellow Squash

And I just realized that I didn't take a picture of the zucchini and it's the biggest plant there is out there, lol!

I also have been building things.  I went to a barn sale with my mother one Saturday a while back and found this great old door with all these little windows in it for half price.  I paid $14 for it, what a steal.  I have been wanting to make a potting bench so I turned the door on it's side and built a potting bench around it.  I used the instructions from a blog I have been following now for a while called Backwood Cottage.I just changed the back of it to incorporate my door and then used some old barn wood I found out along side my parents house across the back. See what ya think!

I also bought some scroll hooks for the shelf that is above the door, which you can hardly see.  Up top, I attached a scroll wall decoration that I had in storage (and could reach) across the back.  Then I painted it all white.  I just love it. Can't wait to have my own place again so I can start decorating.

Sorry it's been so long since I yakked at ya.  Things are starting to fall in to place here now so hopefully I will be able to get back here more often.

Hugs,
~Jody