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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

More Leaves.

I know too many leaves...but I just can't help myself.  I find inspiration in nature at lot for the art I create.  On my morning walk Tuesday I found these leaves.

I just had to try and see if I could make some.  So here's the supplies I used to make leaves.
  • CTMH Inks; Flaxen, Sunkiss Yellow, Honey, Buttercup, Pear, Sweet leaf, New England Ivy and Coco
  • Arcylic block, spritzer with water and water color paper
  • Outline leaf stamp 
I tried many..many...times & ways to get the look of these leaves, I especially liked the veins and how they kinda bled into the leaf.  I found that it worked best to ;
  • Put your ink onto the block, spritz with water and stamp on water color paper (I also spritzed the paper...caution....just a small amount )  I dried the ink between each addition of color.
  • I just played until I got a combination of colors I liked.
  • For the veins....the hardest part.  I almost gave up on this one.  I tried different inks (distress, pigment and our classic inks)  I found that ours (CTMH) worked best.  I used our small distress ink pad to do part of the stamp, then used New England Ivy on the rest....used ink daubers to apply. To stamp the image, I spritzed the paper (with the color on it.)  then I just rubbed the water on the paper to make sure it was coated well ,but not too wet.  Then I stamped....held my breath...and watched the magic happen.  I used my heat gun to dry it when it had bled enough. Ta..da... My leaves!

Then I decided to make my granddaughter a card.  She was so nice to help me make some birthday cards last night.  So I made this card.  Here are the supplies I used.
  • Craft card stock for the base, Skylark (one of my favorite paper packs) and Flaxen (new color)
  • Stamp sets; You are my Happy and This is Good
  • Flaxen and Coco Inks
  • Yellow fibers and bakers twine I had in my stash..also a Wink of Stella pen for some shine. I used a 3"x3" base to attach my fibers and leaves to with a tape runner,


Please leave a comment below if you liked my card or have any questions.  Supplies and more inspiration can be found on my website Here
Stay Curious Ladies!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Post-it-Note Holders

Post-it-Note Holder with pen


More leaves...I Love my leaves...I am having so much fun with my leaves!
I have been making some things for my first Craft fair coming up.  Feeling nervous and excited. If any of you have any advice or suggestion for a newbie please let me know,
Supplies I used for this project
  1. Post-it-Notes
  2. Ink pen
  3. Twine
  4. Autumn terracotta card stock
  5. Autumn terracotta ink
  6. Stamp set "This is Good"
  7. Sequences (colored with Terracotta marker)
  8. A 3 1/2" x 5 1/4" Acrylic picture frame holder
To make this set, I cut a small piece of cardstock to match my paper. I took the ink tube out of the pen, put some adhesive down the strip with my ATG gun, and just roled the ink tube in the paper. Then I just slipped the ink tube back in the pen.  Like magic you have a designer pen!
Cut your paper 3 1/2" x 5" to insert into the frame..  Cut your card stock 7 1/4" x 3 1/4" ( I made mine to open up instead to the left) On the 7 1/4"" side of card stock score at; 3" and at 3 1/4".  Fold along your score lines.  I added a piece of ribbon for a pen holder . Do your stamping and put things together,  Remove the backpiece of paper from your post-it-note and just stick it to your cover. Adhere the post-it-note and cover to the frame with a strong adhesive. I used my ATG gun.  I added my sentiment to the top of the frame and emblished the front of the holder. Added my leaves, some twine, sequences and sparkles. I also colored my gold sequences with a terroccta marker. This would make a nice gift for someone or a stocking stuffer. Cute, easy and inexpensive. Here are a few more I have made using my Leaves.

Fun project.  Be curious and give it a try.  Keep Crafting. Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments below.  I would love for you to like this post and follow my blog.
Be Curious!

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Fall Cards

Fall Cards using my Homemade Leaves

Fall is my time of the Year......the deep blue sky, the chill in the air, football games, the changing colors in the trees, the sound of leaves under your feet.  I saw a technique on You Tube by Dawn5377 and I Just had to try it. I hope you enjoy this tutorial and take the time to try it.  Please let me know in the comments section what you think or if you have any questions.  I would love for you to follow my blog and share with me as we do what we love.

CTMH Suplies I Used
  • Card stock; Colonial white, Ponderosa pine, Autumn Terricotta, Gold rush, Barn red, Flaxen
  • Inks; Olive, Bamboo, Desert sand, Cashmere, Honey, Autumn teraccotta, gypsy, Indian corn
  • Pearl paint, Honey re-inker, spray bottle
  • Twine, Burlap ribbon
  • Stamp Sets; Distressed Backgrounds (chicken wire), So Grateful, The Present, Treasure Life, Huntington (wood grain, leaves)
  • My homemade Leaves
Non-CTMH Supplies
  • Spellbinders leaf dies
  • Embossing folders
  • Leaf brads
To make your cards cut your card stock at 11" x 4 1/4" and fold in half for your card base.
Cut a piece of Colonial white 5 1/4" x 4 to use as your background.  To make the background I just stamped with multiple stamps and inks to get the look I wanted.  Let it dry for awhile then mix a small amount of pearl paint and a drop of honey re-inker on your craft sheet. I took a dry paper towel scrunched it up and dabbed it in the paint and applied it to my background sheet. Assemble back ground to card base. Add a strip of burlap ribbon. You will have to use a strong adhesive to stick down the burlap.  I used score tape,Then I cut a 3" x 3" piece of card stock to place my leaves and sentiment on. On the inside I added a piece of 3 3/4" x 5" Colonial card stock to stamp my sentiment and image.  I also stamped a image on the front of my envelope to match my card.
My favorite thing about the card (besides my leaves of course) was making my background.
I hope you take time to try this technique.  I would love to see what you c ome up with. Please feel free to share a link to your art work in the comments section.
Stay Curious Crafters!

Fall Coffee Filter Wreath


This is my version of the Coffee Filter Wreath.  I did some research online and came up with my own version. All the leaves I made were prefect for this project.  List of supplies I used:
  1. Leaves that I made
  2. Coffee filters ( I used 150-200)
  3. Cardboard (I used 12 x 12 backs from paper packs
  4. Foam Wreath for my circle
  5. Re-inkers (barn red, cranberry, sunset, Autumn terracotta)
  6. Container to put inks and coffee filters
  7. Hot glue gun and sticks
  8. Burlap ribbon, twine
  9. Banners

To color the coffee filters I put the ink and water in a container to make the color I wanted. You don't need much. Put the filters in the container upside . They soak up the dye quickly.  If you want a darker color around the top of filters add just a small amount of ink and water. Filters will dry lighter. To get the brown color I used old strong tea. I couldn't find the natural color ones. Using them would save some time.  To dry I just tossed mine in the dryer for a few mins. They may be a little wrinkled but all you have to do is just lay them out and fold them.  The fold I used was; fold in half, then in half again, then in half again.  Then I set them aside.
To make my frame I used cardboard from paper packs (off the backs) I traced my shape using a foam wreath. I make three and glued them together. I used a glue gun to attach the filters to the frame. When you glue them, just glue the tips (pointed ends) because you will have to pull them up when you get close to the end.


I kinda started in the center and then put one filter on each edge. As I added filters I over lapped them so that only a small part (of the one under it) showed (1/4" to 1/2 ")  Decide where you want the colored "flowers" to go and add them in. When you get to the end where filters meet you will have to bring the filters up an add the rest of the filters until wreath is full.  Once all the filters are on just fluff them up until you get the fullness and shape you want
Once your wreath is finished, you then add your leaves.  I made groups of them and glued them together and then added the to the wreath.  I added my burlap ribbon to make a hanger then added the bow. I also made a bow out of twine and added it on top of the burlap bow,   Thought I was finished and a day later I decided I wanted a banner.


I hope these instructions will help you if you decide to give this a try. You could also use real leaves and fall things you can find around this time of the year. Also you could use artificial leaves and fall items from your local store.  Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this post or if you have any questions.  I would love for you to follow my blog and like this post.  Keep crafting my friends and most of all......Be Curious!
You can find more information about the products I used on my website here

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Fall Coffee Filter Wreath

I've been wanting to try a coffee filter wreath for a while now. I decided that my leaves would be perfect for this fall wreath. I hope you guys like it. If you want more information leave a message in the comments below. Be Curious!

Playing With Leaves


I just love Autumn...the cool crisp weather, the deep blue sky, and the changing color of the leaves.
Making these leaves I used mostly CTMH supplies, the exceptions were two leaf stamps I had, a couple embossing folders,Cricut cartridges,Glitter and some distress inks by Tim Holts.  
This is a list of CTMH supplies I used
  1. Inks (Exclusive & pigment)
  2. Re-inkers
  3. Create-A-Shade Paint (Pearl)
  4. Stamp Set Fall Harvest (C1504)
  5. Card Stock
  6. Embossing Folders ( Wood grain, Chevron)
  7. Clear embossing powder
  8. Heat gun
  9. Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge
  10. Sanding Kit (Z1294)
  11. Sponge (Z697), Sponge Daubers (Z726)
I used the colors of card stock & inks that I liked. Some if the colors I used were; Olive, Barn Red, Honey, Sunset, Autumn Terracotta, Goldrush, & Colonial white.
Supplies
I used 3 layers of cardboard for my wreath base. I used the foam wreath to trace for the shape.
I embossed with folders and embossing powders. I stamped with pigment inks (barn red & coco)
and used clear embossing powder.  With the folders...some of them I left plain , some I sanded and some I inked.  Most of the leaves I used a sponge or dauber to apply the inks, some I did as water color, some inked over the clear embossing and some I sprayed with sprays I made with the re-inkers.  I added some of the pearl paint to some of the sprays to make them shine and of course I had to try some glitter.
Embossing Folders
I think the Chevron turned out to be my favorite!
Sanding the embossed patterns
CTMH paper is great for this technique!
I inked some of them with our distress ink.
These I sprayed
You can see the shine from the pearl paint!
I Love it.
I think these are my favorite. I used VersaMark ink pad and just ran it over the raised part of the embossed patterns, added clear embossing powder. I sponged these with pigment inks and used a baby wipe to wipe off the excess. Pretty!
These I used just pigment ink & a dauber.
These I used our glue pen and added where I wanted the glitter to be. Then I sprinkled glitter on the glue.  Again the Chevron is my favorite!

Well that is my fun play time with my leaves. Watch for my next post to see what projects I have used them for. Happy Crafting!  Be Curious!
Give this a try, .. its so fun.  If you have any questions please let me know.
Please like this post and send me a comment so I know what you think. If you are local and are interested in classes please let me know below. If you need supplies you can find my website here
Be Creative...Be Curious!