Page 5 - Holiday Fairies

Today I completed page 5 of my Fairy Booklet pages.  Is it too early to incorporate fall/winter holidays?  Of course not.  Yes, I do stay awake at night thinking about themes for the next page.  However, by morning I've forgotten much of what I dreamed up.  This Halloween page has a Teresa Collins background paper, with all of the other papers from Graphic 45; a playing card is the center piece, and a cabochon from Jolee's French General line.

I bought this Christmas fairy stamp from eBay specially for this project.  The fairy is standing on holly leaves, but I covered those up with Tim's Festive Floral die cut leaves, topped by a flower and a little rhinestone center.  I used Tim's Vintage Market alphabet die, and his Merry Christmas stamp which I embossed with distress powder.  Oh, and the red panel is embossed with a Tim texture fade, plus the new Sizzix embossing diffuser.  Gee, I'm sorta all about Tim and Graphic 45, aren't I?  OK, but the sheet music is vintage and the background is the reverse side of the Teresa Collins paper! 

Half-Way Point

 Today I completed the 4th page for Karla's Fairy Booklet swap.  I'm half-way done.  I am aiming to not repeat the layouts for the front of each page, though I have used the same basic design for a couple of the back-sides.  Here are two "fronts".  Keep in mind Karla will ultimately determine front/back as she puts each booklet together.  I expect she will have MANY swap participants (maybe 60?).  Karla will create the front and back of each booklet, sort through all of the pages to make a book for each of us, bind them, pack and mail.  Are you sweating yet?  I would be.  But she is up to the task.  Go here for details of this swap:  http://karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage/2012/06/fairy-berry-book-swap.html  The image in the top pic is from The Graphics Fairy.  What a generous woman she is. 

This page is a bit of a gamble...as in "will the recipient get it?"  What I am going for here is an encyclopedia of fairies.  Hmmm.  Here I used stamps, colored them with some pencils, a bit of glitter, all on Graphic 45 Renaissance paper.   

WOYWW July 24

 In the past I've shown all of the glues I must have for my paper crafting.  As it turns out, I neglected the drawer full of specialty "glues", which I'll save for another post.  Today, I'm revealing my scissor drawer.  These, a couple punches and my Fisker's paper cutter are in frequent use.  Actually the only essentials are the paper cutter and my sharp-tipped scissors with the black handle.  I bought these years ago at a stamp convention and they are just terrific.  I also use Tim's Tonic scissors a lot when I want to cut through paper, wire, old jewelry, buttons, etc. 

Today I did a little more work on my Faerie booklet pages for Karla's swap.  I've completed 3 double-sided pages so far...5 to go but I have a month to get it done.  I have lots of ideas still.  I find I'm using Graphic 45's Renaissance papers a lot as this period just seems to go with a fairy theme.  Thanks for visiting all you WOYWW'ers at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ 

B-Day Prelude II

 Thursday was MY day to spend guerrilla shopping in Seattle.  "Guerrilla" because I can cover a lot of territory when I'm by myself.  First, I grabbed an outfit that would withstand walking miles in mild weather: Chico's crop jeans, Anthropologie cotton top, Sundance flats and some jewelry.  I made it on the ferry with barely a minute to spare.  Too close.  Whew, nice to be able to sit for the hour's journey watching the water and collecting my thoughts. 

I visited all the stores on my wish list:  Watson/Kennedy, Sephora, See's Candy, Anthropologie, Nordstrom and Macy's.  I didn't NEED anything (haha), so everything I bought was either a consumable or a gift.  Except that yellow scarf with the sparkly trim from Anthro.  I spent 4 hours roaming the big city.  OK, I'm good for a couple years. 

B-Day Prelude

 My dearest Texas galfriend mailed me a hand-made birthday present.  I knew it would be fab, but I didn't expect THIS! 

 *Laura hand painted this charming little dome a la MacKenzie-Childs AND she made those precious charms that dangle from tiny hooks.  I am just so thrilled with this.  It happens that I had my Sis coming to dinner tonight, which calls for cake. 

 I immediately put away the cake stand I was using because the angel cake fits nicely on my new special-for-me stand. 

The rest of dinner consisted of 2 new recipes:  grilled skirt steak using my new smoker box (with hickory chips) and a southwest potato salad with corn and avocado.  Everything was delish.  ps Laura is also known as http://rhinestonearmadillo.typepad.com/my_weblog/

10 Minute Card

Over at the Graphic 45 Blog they are featuring a "10 Minute Card Challenge".  Denise Hahn, on their design team, produced a tutorial; I was surprised at the layers and detail she was able to put together in 10  minutes.  Using Denise's design I made my card within the 10 minute limit.  It helps that with the G45 collections you can do no wrong when choosing paper and elements to feature.  I went with their Tropic Travelogue collection, using a glitter spritzed doily as a background and a piece of Christmas corsage that was already on my worktable (you just never know when those scraps come in handy).  While I always take my time to fiddle and fuss over my projects, I found this just came together with the right amount of extras to make it feel complete.  Thank you Denise and Graphic 45.  Here is Denise's tutorial and info on the 10 Minute challenge http://www.inmyblueroom.blogspot.com/

New Project for WOYWW July 11

 Alas, I'm a bit out of whack with the dates.  I was thinking today is Tuesday and that means...it's time to get ready for the What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW).  I'm just getting my camera back after being without it for almost 2 weeks.  That meant I couldn't post to my blog so I've been anxious to get back on track.  A bit over-anxious, it seems.  Ah, well, here is my desk.  It may look the same to you as it does every week, but I've actually done some useful organizing.  I took all of the bits and scraps I can't part with and placed them in plastic baggies; then I transferred a couple of small boxes full of buttons and jewelery findings to a storage cupboard.  I rarely use those items and they were taking up prime space in the center of my work space. 

I've started work on a Fairy Themed swap hosted by Karla Nathan.  She is a fun hostess who attracts like-minded, talented folks to play with her.  For the booklet we each need to make 8 pages, front and back, so that's really 16 pages.  It isn't due until Sept. but, heck, why not start now and immerse in the experience?  If you want more info, go here http://karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage/2012/06/fairy-berry-book-swap.html
And thank you to all your WOYWW's for visiting my blog.  Here you can find more  http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

Tim's July Tag

Just as Tim's is, my tag is all about the Red, White & Blue of our American flag.  Not having most of what Tim used, I did my own thing using a patriotic image from The Graphics Fairy (she is so awesome).  The tag on the right does make use of a Tim stamp, and I've used various colors of Distress Ink and the distress tool on all of the papers.  For the tag on the left I printed the image in greyscale to give more contrast to the colorful background.  

A Little Bit

I'm not really avidly crafting today.  But I need to get something in the mail to Josef as it's been too long between cards.  The background is from my latest purchase of Graphic 45 papers; this is an older collection called Renaissance.  The darling image is another from the fantastic Jasmine Becker-Griffith.