Our Kari’s Purplies Design Team Challenge this week was to create a card from a sketch.... 

All the paper in my project is from DCVW “The Chateau Lavender Stack.”  I created a 6”x6” card, and used my corner rounder to round thecorners.  I used a French postcard collage sheet, and cut the individual pieces out and shaded them with Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink and Elegant Eggplant from Stampin’ Up. I also used the colors to ink the edges of my card.  I adhered them to the bottom half of the card.  I used the same stack and cut out a lavender coneflower and hydrangea border.  I used the hydrangea border as my separator between the two layers of pattern paper.  I used two chiffon flowers from ribbon roll and used my Tsutenko spray in lilac to color them purple.  I colored a dress digi-stamp with my purple watercolor markers and used my blending pen to soften it. I adhered it with hot glue to my clotheshanger (made from a paperclip, jewelry wire and lavender ribbon.  I attached a hemp string to the inside of my cut out section with glue dots, and suspended it from the center with a metallic lavender brad.  I located a pattern for a thread holder and wound thread in purple around it.  I also found a large purple button and ran a raffia thread through it.  I used hot glue to adhere all of my embellishments to the card.  I used a sentiment stamp (If you Obey all the Rules, You miss all the Fun”-Kathryn Hepburn and stamped on a leftover scrap of the postcard collage and embossed with dark purple embossing powder.  Tada....

I think this card would be a great way to cheer up a female friend, or just as a “girl’s note.”  I hope you have enjoyed my project.

Until next time~ Happy Crafting!

Lisa Woodward

Guest Designer for PurpleFuntastik Creations

I am so pleased to be a Guest Designer today for my dear friend and Queen Purplie, Kari Sanchez on her Purple Funtastic Creations page.  Today, I am going to instruct you on how I made this beautiful telescoping card. 

All of the papers used are from a great little find…The Girlie Paperie, Vintage Floral.  I used Lacey Labels to cut 3 lacy circles, in 6”, 5 ½” and 5”.  For a telescoping card, it is important for the sizes to only be a little bit apart.  I cut a second 6” circle in a complimentary patter and cut it in half.  When adhered to the largest circle, this becomes the pocket for the message tag.  I love message tags.  Very often I receive a beautiful card, only to tuck it in a drawer because I don’t want others to read the personal message from the sender.  I have found that using message tags is a great way to allow the card to be displayed while keeping the message private.  The message tag was cut using George Shapes set on 4”.  I lined the pocket with Pearlescent paper trimmed with my Martha Stewart Lace Border Punch.  The ledger style paper also came with The Girlie Paperie, Vintage Floral.  The birdcage and the vines were cut from the Bloom cartridge.  The 3-D roses, flowers and leaves were made using my FAAAAVORITE flower die…Spellbinders Rose Creations by Donna Salazar.  This die is so versatile, depending on how loose or tight your fold and the types of paper used. 

On a telescoping card, you want to design and put together each layer individually and then join them.  You want to try to contain your design on your paper (not oozing out of the edges) so the card has a very neat and tidy look when closed.  On the bottom layer, I attached my pocket by running a dot runner along the very edge of the half circle.  Everything else was adhered using my Xyron Sticker Maker.

On the second layer, I enlarged a bird diecut from KC&Company and reprinted onto heavyweight white cardstock.  I found a vellum sentiment that, surprisingly, went along with my pre-defined bird theme.  There is a lot to do about how to properly adhere vellum so the adhesive doesn’t show thru.  I have even purchased specialty vellum adhesives, only to find out that adhesive applied to the entirety of the back with my Xyron works fantastically.  I adhered more flowers made using the Spellbinders die.

I cut a 2” circle using my Sizzix Circle Die and Big Kick.  I then pressure embossed “Thinking of you” and used my Tim Holts Distress Ink in Tea Dye to make the embossing stand out and distress the cream stock.  The outer frame was also cut using Lacy Labels and adhered with 3-D Foam Squares.  I laminated these two items with my Your Story machine, as this is where the pull/hanger would be attached.  Once you have your 3 layers completed, take large brads and attach the layers together.  In order to get the correct effect, lay the top and bottom layer where the design in towards you, and the middle layer away from you.  You will use a small punch and brad to attach the bottom of the top layer to the top of the middle layer and bottom of the middle layer to the top of the bottom layer.  Use the last brad at the top of the top layer and attach a pull ribbon.  You MUST use brads to complete the connection process.  You need to have the freedom they allow in the swinging and closing process.  Once it’s completed, position it closed and pull open to make sure everything hangs in the correct manner. 

I hope you have enjoyed how to make this beautiful telescoping card.  Many thanks to Kari for having me today.

Until next time-Happy Crafting

Lisa Woodward

Design Team Challenge-Altered Composition Book

Our design team challenge this week was to take our flower from the previous challenge, and incorporate it into an altered composition book. 

I began with a standard black and white composition book.  My first process was to unthread the pages from the cover, and remove the binding tape from the spine.  From here, I now had 2 covers, rather than one continuous cover.  I split the interior pages in half and trimmed them down from the middle a bit to get rid of the thread holes.

I scored and cut 2 12”x12” pieces of black cardstock with circles from DCVWs “The Black Currant Collection.” (This is an awesome stack of paper.  It incorporates Black with a Red Currant color (purplish violetish reddish color, lol).  Most of the paper is embossed and shiney, but not glittery.)  I used rubber cement to apply the paper to the covers of the book.  I then cut down two pieces of textured black core cardstock to create the coversheet for the inside of the covers.  When creating a custom cover, I like to use this to hide the rough seems and cuts.  The difference this one piece of paper makes-is remarkable.  It takes sloppy and brings it up to highly polished.  Then, I began to cut my embellishments.  I cut a silhouette using my Forever Young cartridge, at 5”.  I then cut with a piece of plain white stock, the accompanying dress.  I then used this as my pattern and cut the dress from a remaining piece of fused, red plastic to coordinate with the rose.  I made the original rose very dirty and grungy looking.  I was afraid my whole notebook would have to look dirty.  Before I did any finishing techniques, I laid it out on the cover, and the black and red balanced nicely with the one grunge element, and since it was a stand-alone element the way I was using it, I thought it worked nicely.  I have a really awesome black grosgrain ribbon with white stiches down each side and rhinestone like sequins in the middle.  I used a small length of it, and trimmed the stitches on the side off and adhered as the belt.

I then used Accent Essentials to cut the background from DCVW “Life Quotes” page.  I also have this beautiful black and silver damask fabric paper.  I wanted to incorporate the pattern, but this stuff is gold…hard to find, and never cheap when you do!  I have found to preserve the originals, that I can use a nice 98 bright cardstock and using the copy in my projects.  This even works with fabric, and die cuts, I edit to change the look a bit.  I also do this with my true finds, like some 1940s sheet music I just recently found at a yard sale. I used my Xyron 5” adhesive to apply the papers to each other and to the cover.  At this point, I knew I would need to bind.  Some people get carried away and try to save the binding for last….not with 3-D embellishments.  You need to get it out of the way once your spacing is figured out.  I used my Bind-It-All and a ½” binding comb.  I needed to clip about 2” of the binding comb off. (Don’t throw these away!  They are awesome to use for mini albums or odd-shaped albums)  Once the composition book was rebound, I used 3-D Zots to adhere my dressed silhouette to the quote background I then took four glass crystals and hung them with a large jump-ring from the four openings at the bottom of the birdcage (cut with Bloom cartridge) I used silver jewelry chain and looped it around a brad, and joined both ends to the top of the birdcage.  I then placed my rose over the brad.  I used black lace trim and adhered to the opening side of the journal with dabs of hot glue, and threaded it thru the spine for balance.  Voila…I have transformed this Plain Jane composition book into a creative jourrnal I will be pleased to doodle and plan in!

I must credit Joy at Joy’s Life for the wonderful silhouette idea.  Her version of an altered composition book can be found at http://joyslife.com/altered-composition-book-blog-hop/.  I just love looking at what others have done, and finding my own definition…a little challenge within a challenge.  All of our projects can be seen on our Kari’s Purplies Design Team blog at http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/.  Please also visit the rest of our Design Team members blogs and see what they have created in their own rendition….

Sr. Design Team
Kimberly Pate ~ http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com/
Shawnee Penkacik - http://www.blessedonthebrightside.com
Zenita Smith -- http://www.scrappinwithz.blogspot.com
Lynne Kirsch - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/
Susan E Bermudez - http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/
Tina Keller- http://craftyandgreen.blogspot.com
Carolyn Phillips http://messmuddleandfun.blogspot.com/
Jr. Design Team
Rachelle Larsen-http://creationsbyrachelle.blogspot.com
Lisa Woodward-http://mycraftyspaces.blogspot.com/
Andrea Stradley-http://astateofgracie.blogspot.com/
Jackie Lodge- http://jackrabbitscrappin.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for stopping by and Happy Crafting!
Lisa Woodward

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

Welcome to our Mardi Gras parade. I must warn you though while you may enjoy jumping up to catch beads, doubloons, cups, stuffed animals--whatever! Please yell at the float riders "Throw me something, Mister!" Bring a large, sturdy plastic or cloth bag to hold all the treasure you'll be catching - if you try to put all of your beads around your neck, you'll have a hard time standing up straight! Be prepared: some people get so overcome with excitement they will occasionally jump in front of you to grab what a rider has thrown to you. Don't get into a tug-o-war....there are many more floats on the way! If you're from far away, some visitors hold up a sign saying where they are from.. our local riders love to see people from far away have a good time and will throw to them to make sure they do!

The colors of Mardi Gras are: Purple which reprsents justice; Green which represents faith; and Gold which represents power.Mardi Gras is always held the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is music, parades, picnics, floats, excitement ... and one big holiday in New Orleans! Everyone is wearing purple, green, and gold; and adorned with long beads caught from the beautiful floats. They sit on the ground throwing balls, playing music, having a picnic, and watching the crowds walk by between parades.

Instead of beads, coconuts (which apparently is the most prized throw from floats) and other baubles, we have a great sponsor:

~$15 Gift Card for Treasure Box Designs (http://www.treasureboxdesigns.com/). They are asking you to stop by their blog and become a followr of their blog at http://treasureboxdesigns.blogspot.com/. They are having issues with their blog at this time but asking you become a follower!

~$50 Gift card from Anita Meadows Cannon

Sew, sit back with your beverage of choice, just keep in mind the police will be in full force watching for drunken lewdness as this is a family event! Feel free to watch in costume, as this is a festive hop!! 

 If you have arrived from http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com/ on the parade route, then you are sitting at the best seat in the house! If you have just happened to be visiting me today, don't get me wrong as I always love visitors, I would love for you to start at the beginning of our parade route at Lynne, your hostess, at http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/ along with our marvelous co-hostess, Kimberly, at http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com/.

Laissez les bons temps rouler, mes amies!  Thanks so much for stopping to take a look at my Mardis Gras project. 

 

I chose to make a modified picture frame, turning it into a memorabilia frame.  I found a wonderful Mardis Gras image, and edited it profusely to add character.  I printed it on Cardstock and trimmed it down to a 6”x6” size.  Then, I covered the picture with Glossy Accents and sprinkled Diamond Dust on top, adding a cracked glass effect to the picture.  The picture was then added matted with a cut down piece of gold card stock.  I trimmed the area where the mat met the picture with a fleur de lis border.  During the matting process, I used layers of acetate to create a glitter pocket and added gold, green and purple glitter to the upper left corner of the picture.  I softened with edge of the pocket with a green swirl border. 

 I repurposed an unused 8 ½” x 11” picture frame.  Since my picture was 6”x6”, I wanted my outer frame to be square, so I took a piece of 12” x 12” white board, and cut the middle out to accommodate an overlay of the 6”x6” picture.  I began to decorate the frame by applying Ranger Alcohol Inks with an in blotter using Wild Plum, Eggplant and Lettuce Green.  After the alcohol ink was applied, I sprinkled gold embossing powder on the ink and applied heat.  The effect of the embossing powder collecting where the ink was still a little tacky was beautiful!  Once the color was applied to the frame, I bordered the inside square with purple rhinestones and bordered the edge of the frame with green glitter border tape and gold rhinestones.  Then, I used purple and green glitter border tape, and stuck them together,  cut 6” strips, and twisted them all around to create a streamer effect.  I then embellished with miniature Christmas tree ornaments in green, gold and purple.  To the bottom of the frame, I attached an acetate pocket, with the phrase “Laissez les bons temps rouler” (“Let the good times roll”)  cut using Calligraphy Collection and Cricut Craft Room.  I cut using black card stock, but that looked a bit harsh on the colorful frame, so I used an Opaque Stix marker in Turquiose and gold metallic pen to color the letters.  I adhered them to the outside of the pocket using my Xyron sticker maker. 

I adhered my embellished whiteboard frame to the picture frame using hot glue.  Once assembled, I added music notes to the glass in the frame, which is “floating” above the picture, creating the illusion of music floating up from the saxophone.  I inserted beads in the pocket to show what could be done with the memorabilia pocket.  It can hold any scrap-able souvenir, such as tickets, small photos, beads, favors, etc.  I thought this would make an excellent way to display the various Mardis Gras memorabilia collected year after year...whether celebrating in New Orleans, or at your local watering hole’s celebration!

I hope you have enjoyed my float in the parade. To continue on the parade route, Your next stop is http://craftingwithblue.blogspot.com/

Time for me to say…”Throw me some comments!” on my project and sign up to follow my blog…. and let the next float roll on by for your enjoyment!  Thanks for stopping by!

Au revoir!

Lisa Woodward

Design Team Flower Challenge

For our Design Team challenge, we were asked to make a 3 dimensional flower.  Easy enough, right?  I’ve only been making 3d flowers for a little while.  Infact, before Christmas, I made my first dimensional flower, a poinsettia.  I wanted to try something new…I wanted to make a Tim Holtz® grunge style rose…but I wanted it very grungy with a touch of vintage…almost gothic.  I had the image in my head….a deep rich red, with black embossing and distressing, several rough layers….the perfect job for my favorite flower die…Spellbinders®Rose Creations by Donna Salazar.  One small catch…there always is…I wanted to use a media other than paper….so, I decided to whip up some fused plastic.  Here is my recipe and instructions....enjoy:
Ingredients

Red Fused Plastic

Black Glitter Cardstock (solid core)

Spellbinders Rose Creations Die

Tim Holtz script stamp

Black embossing powder

Cranberry Embossing Powder

Glossy Accents

Perfect Pearls Powder in Pewter

Tsukineko Walnut Ink in Java

Hot glue gun

Heat gun

 

Seeing as how I’ve never fused plastic before, I knew this would be a breeze, LOL  I did have a stash of plastic grocery bags….I looked up a tutorial to find out what I didn’t know…exact settings, how to add color, etc.  I have to say, while it contained great details, the overall tutorial was over laborious and almost intimidating.  There are several shortcuts I took along the way, that worked well.  When I say well, cut the time in half…and who of us has enough time to spend twice as long, doing something… I knew that plastic grocery bags would fit the bill.  I had white walmart bags, and they worked really well.  I also knew that using plastic, I would have to add the color to the plastic itself in the fusing process or I would be coloring and distressing all day.   When adding color to fused plastic, there are some key things to know…the color from your materials does not bleed when fused.  I had imagined a blending of colors, and that did not happen.  With this in mind, use your logo’d and printed plastic to the back of your fused plastic.  I needed red…a lot of red….I wasn’t adding a small applique…I was making several cut layers.  I found some red Saran Wrap that I purchased at Christmas.  This is a very thin, very transparent plastic.  I created a fused plastic sheet, using a total of 6 grocery bags, 2 clear deli bread bags and a total of 5 layers of Saran Wrap® on each side. 

Once the plastic was made, I headed to my room to cut my flowers….or so I thought.  Turns out, Spellbinders do not cut fused plastic.  It’s too thick.  This was the downfall of my plan and where I began to think I needed to post this project on Epic Fail vs. a Design Team Board.  (I have since discovered that a Sizzix® die will cut it, the Spellbinders® was just too thin.  If you have the Sizzix® rose or Tim Holtz Tattered Rose® die, it will work perfectly.  The Spellbinders® die DID imprint the shape, so I hand cut them.  Took a little bit of time, but they still turned out good.  A good pair of scissors will cut no problem.  I cut a total of 12 flowers, 2 of each size.  I used 9 of them for my flower. (This is a wonderful die, and well worth the $$.  It is very versatile, and easy to use.)

From there, I used my Tim Holtz® script stamp and embossed each flower with black embossing powder.  During the embossing process, I learned that my heatgun was hot enough to limber the fused plastic, which I took advantage of when shaping the petals.  To shape the petals, I used my heat gun to heat the flower enough to be manipulated, then curled the petals and held them while they cooled.  Fused plastic can be shaped like paper petals, but will relax over time.  Using the heat and cool method will allow the flower to hold its shape, making it a very durable embellishment.  When I shaped the petals, some of the embossing powder flaked off…this actually added to the “grungy” character of the rose. 

Here comes the scary part….putting together the flower.  Why is this scary?  Well, ladies and….probably more ladies, lol….because I have just made fused plastic, hand cut 12 flowers, heat embossed and shaped the petals….and the next step to a perfect grunge rose is…to cut the flowers up.  If you follow the standard tutorial on how to make a Tim Holtz style grunge rose, you will have good results.  This particular flower has less petals than the one in the tutorials, but I still removed the same number for each layer and they worked just fine.  I used hot glue to glue the layers together, and used some of the extra petals that I trimmed to fill in gaps.  Once the flower was assembled, I wanted to add black accents, but I had 2 problems….I don’t have black alcohol ink, and pigment ink won’t adhere to plastic….  I pulled out my box of finishing materials…yes, there is a box of them…and mixed together Glossy Accents®, Tsukineko Walnut Ink® in Java and Perfect Pearls® Powder in Pewter.  I used a small paint brush to apply this solution to the edges of the rose, and used a dry stippling brush to smooth the edges and add in into the petals.  After applying this, I sprayed with Tsukineko Shimmer Mist® in both Copper and Frost.  I used the stippling brush to remove the puddling then applied heat from my heat gun to dry.  I cut leaves from the Spellbinders® die (it comes with 6 flowers and 3 leaves) in black glitter cardstock, embossed them with Cranberry embossing powder, roughed them up a bit, and glued them on the backside.  Now...what do you get when you put it all together......tada.....

I hope that you have enjoyed the process of  my grunge rose.  I will be posted a post detailing how I made fused plastic sometime between now and Thursday, for those of you who are interested in it. 

Please visit our Design Team page at http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/ to see the rest of our wonderful projects and visit our Design Team members’ blog pages at:

Senior Design Team:

Lynn Kirsch~ http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/

Kimberly Pate ~ http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com/

Shawnee Penkacik ~ http://www.blessedonthebrightside.com/

Zenita Smith ~ http://www.scrappinwithz.blogspot.com/

Susan E Bermudez ~ http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/

Tina Keller ~ http://craftyandgreen.blogspot.com/

Carolyn Phillips ~ http://messmuddleandfun.blogspot.com/

Junior Design Team:

Rachelle Larsen ~ http://creationsbyrachelle.blogspot.com/

Lisa Woodward ~ http://mycraftyspaces.blogspot.com/

Andrea Stradley ~ http://astateofgracie.blogspot.com/

Jackie Lodge ~ http://jackrabbitscrappin.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for stopping by, and don’t forget to come back on Thursday, to see what I do with this beautiful grunge rose!

Lisa Woodward

Kari's Purplies Jr. Design Team Project-Love-outside of box

This is my first Design Team Project for Kari’s Junior Purplies and you can find the complete Design Team projects at http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/ . Her instructions were simple – we were to do a Love project and think out of the box and yes it can be anything paper related or home decor just don't do a card...along with trying to be different!

This is my project: Love-thinking outside of the box

Materials

Wooden Craft Frame

Coredination “Gemstones”, colorTurquoise
The Paper Studio, Black Glitter
The Paper Company, color Translucent Silver
Black Leather Jewelry Cord
Wooden mini clothespins
Me and My Great Ideas stamp set “Sassy”
Owl Stamps, Mother and Child
Orange Marker
Black Embossing Powder
Heat Gun
Ranger Alcohol Ink, Turquiose
EK Success Chalk Collection, Green
Martha Stewart Glitter Marker, Green
Spellbinders, Rose Creations
1/4 “ Satin Black Ribbon
1 “ Black Grossgrain Ribbon
Alphalicious Cricut Cartridge
Cricut Craft Room

After many options, ideas, I found a perfect fit.  I have to generate what I’m trying to get across in my projects before I can begin patterns, etc.  Especially as a gift.  It was a very timely challenge, as for everyday love, not particularly for Valentine’s Day, my thoughts go instantly to the love a mother has for her child.  It just so happened, I received the first ultrasound picture from my daughter’s first pregnancy, so I decided to create a frame for it to give to her and her husband.  Since there is no way of knowing whether it was a boy or girl, I opted for a color that would coordinate with either, and could easily be displayed in another part of the home if the nursery theme was different.  Again, not knowing the sex, I felt the embellishments needed to be appropriate.  A lot of people prefer unisex embellishment in this case. I think you can achieve an appropriate balance using a feminine embellishment with paired with something bold.  Once I covered the frame with the paper, and cut the appropriate center hole and secured with hot glue, I stamped this very thick flourish and heat embossed with glossy black powder adding a solid masculine counter to the delicacy of the silver translucent vellum flowers.  I’ve mixed distinguished, straight spiral roses with more flouncy ones cut from the Spellbinder die.  The silver roses were inked around the edges with Martha Stewart Green Glitter Marker.  The others, both spiral and die cut were colored with Ranger Alcohol Ink in Turquiose and the EK Success Chalk Collection-Green marker.  I love the effect both of these added.  (Although done on Silver vellum, I’m sure the result would be equally as nice on plain vellum.)  The center of one rose was embellished with an adhesive pearl.  I looped leather jewelry cord around the top of the frame twice to simulate a “clothesline” while sticking with the color theme.  My daughter loves owls, and as far as we know, that’s the only baby theme we have….we’re not sure if its boy owls or girl owls….so I stamped and heat embossed a mother and baby owl and cut them out.  I colored their beaks with an orange marker and adhered with 3-D Zots.  I cut out “a mother’s love” using the “Alphalicious” Cricut Cartridge and Cricut Craft Room to weld the letters and make the words.  I adhered them to acetate to give them a little durability and hanging flexibility while not distracting from the overall design.  I attached the words using mini-clothespins (found in the office supply section of Wal-Mart!)  I attached a 12” length of black grossgrain ribbon to the back with a staple gun and hot glue and attached a small hanging loop from the 1/4” ribbon.  Where the two met and the bow was tied, I added a few extra flowers to cover up the knot.

I’ve hope you enjoyed my project as much as I did making it!

My wonderful Junior Purplies team is:

Rachelle Larsen-http://creationsbyrachelle.blogspot.com

Andrea Stradley-http://astateofgracie.blogspot.com/
Jackie Lodge- http://jackrabbitscrappin.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Lisa Woodward

There are NO crafting mistakes....just techniques that haven't been invented yet!"

Kimberly's 1 Year Blogaversary!

Welcome to Kimberly’s 1 year Blogaversary! You have reached stop #16 on this great blog hop.

You should have come here from:

Lucy Kelleher - http://love2createitall.blogspot.com

and will continue to www.kadoodlebugdesigns.blogspot.com.

If you have just stopped here and would like to join us, please go to http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.comand join the fun!

Ready to usher in Spring, Kimberly had us do something that reflects birth and renewal in pastel and floral colors!

We have a wonderful group of sponsors that want to have "Spring" too …please take the time to stop and visit each one of the sponsors. They have graciously donated their talent for this hop.

1. 1. Creative Kut ~ $10 gift Certificate (http://www.creativekuts.com/)

2. KaDoodle Bug Designs ~ $20 Gift Certificate (http://www.kadoodlebugdesigns.com/)

3. Mickie Burks Osman ~ a paper pack and some stamping goodies

4. Lucy Kelleher ~ Close To My Heart ~ December Stamp of the Month (http://love2createitall.blogspot.com)

5. Nikki Schiltz Calmes ~ Paper Piecings by Nikki ~ $25 credit to Paper Peicings by Nikki (www.paperpiecingsbyNikki.com)

6. Scraptastical Kreations ~ $20 Gift Certificate (http://scraptasticalkreations.com/)

There are a lot of great gardeners along the path, so this hop is two days, so, so sit back, relax and take your time browsing each garden. To be eligible for the blog candy, you must follow Kimberly’s blog. Other bloggers may have additional requirements if they offer individual blog candy.

Our wonderful line-up is::

 

1. Kimberly Pate ~ http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com

2. Kari Sanchez ~ http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com

3. Lisa Peters ~ http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com

4. Mickie Osmon ~ www.littlescrapcorner.blogspot.com

5. Audrey Dickinson (Scrappie EMT) ~ http://scrappyemt.blogspot.com

6. Tiffany Grant-Simmons ~ http://angel4ever-thecraftyteacher.blogspot.com

7. Lynne Kirsch - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com

8. Marleen Gallagher - http://www.marleens-crafty-space.blogspot.com

9. Pamela Pattison Lash - http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com

10. Tricia Colon ~ http://mycrazybubble.blogspot.com

11. Michele Eickholt ~ http://chelescrafts.blogspot.com

12. Staci McD ~ http://preciousmem.blogspot.com

13. Katie ~ http://www.ktsangels.blogspot.com

14. Lucy Kelleher - http://love2createitall.blogspot.com

15. Lisa Woodward ~ http://mycraftyspaces.blogspot.com

16. Melissa Deuss - www.kadoodlebugdesigns.blogspot.com

17. Elecia Betts - http://creationsby-kahaulani.blogspot.com

18. Leslie Dawn Bigam-Krochta - http://www.lesliekcreations.blogspot.com

19. Mary Finstrom http://www.scrappintoday.blogspot.com

20. Christine Oxner http://christine-tac-angel.blogspot.com

21. Jessica Owens http://toocutebyjessica.blogspot.com

A little inspiration from Kimberly: “I can hardly believe I have been blogging and showcasing my crafts for a year now!!! I've grown just like spring and learned so much as I have traveled the crafting path. I am sure you will be as impressed with the talent from these crafters as I am.”

I won’t even begin to tell you how intimidated I am by pastels, so this was a challenge in two ways for me. My “floral” crafting experience has been strictly focused on French Country and Vintage styles. When confronted with Kimberly’s challenge, I knew I had to think out of the box….WAY out, so far outside of the box that I was thinking in the basket!….nothing says “Spring” to me like freshly blooming flowers, so I decided to send Kimberly a basket of flowers for her celebration!

(Please note, that unless specifically mentioned, my materials come from my own personal stash. If you have a particular question about a particular embellishment, please comment and I will do my best to answer it for you!)

My basket is a 4 inch market basket with a traditional basket weave pattern. I used ½ inch x 12 inch strips of sky patterned paper. ( I started this project “pastel challenged”, so for the majority of my paper, I broke out my Cricut Imagine® cartridges and opened my Printmaster 2011 Platinum digital scrapbooking program to print some.) This is the first time I have done paperweaving to such an extent. I cannot stress enough how crucial exact measurements are when embarking on a project like this. If your paper strips are 1/16^th of an inch off, by the time you get to the top, your basket is ½ inch taller on one side. To make the handle of the basket, I laid 3 strips the long way, and cut smaller strips to weave in. I then folded both sides under and added another strip of paper underneath to reinforce it. If made with thicker cardstock, this would make a great treat basket for baked goods or candies!

Once the basket was completed, I turned my focus to the flowers. Flowers that I needed A LOT of and that I’ve never made before. Easy peasy, right? I’ve just recently begun experimenting with 3-D flower making, so I knew a few tutorials were in order. I knew that roses would fit the bill, and since they come in such a variety of colors, I could certainly find some paper in my obscene number of boxes that would work. I wanted straight edge spiral roses, not scalloped, and cringed at the number of spirals I would be cutting to get the amount of flowers that I would need to fill my basket…never fear….if there’s an easy way, I’ll find it! I recalled one of the tutorials I saw edited a spiral on Accent Essentials cartridge and actually added ovals in Cricut Craft Room to get the scalloped edge…..so, I started…and stopped…with that one lone spiral on Accent Essentials. After all, I wanted straight edge spiral roses. I figured it was worth a try. I cut my first spiral, and wound it around the piercing end of my paper piercing too. With this type of flower, you need a very small tight center, and the paper piercer worked perfectly. I let it unwind slightly, used the rounded end of the spiral as my base and secured with hot glue. At the end of it, I would have thought this spiral was made specifically to these flowers! I also discovered that I could also use the spiral cutout left on the mat. It made a slightly smaller flower, allowing me to have various sizes while also saving materials. When you use the mat leftovers, you’ll need to trim the end a bit, but other than that, they work flawlessly!

Next, I needed a leaf base for the roses. Again, I found my answer on the Accent Essentials cartridge. I used the four pronged star cutout, blacked out, so I got a solid middle. I folded the end of the leaves in the middle and folded them upwards and hotglued to the roses. I rolled the leaves under to give them a more lifelike appearance. I was pleased with the prototype, except dimension and color contrast (….did I mention my fear of pastels? ) so I inked the edges of the cut spirals with varying colors. Some I inked a little darker, like pink on pink, and some, I got experimental with, using blue ink on yellow paper, etc. The results were absolutely beautiful, as you can see. I comingled in a few small daisies with adhesive gemstone centers and some folded roses that I made using the flowers and leaves from Spellbinders® Rose Creations designed by Donna Salazar. Each folded rose consists of 6 layers of the varying sizes using a double fold technique.

Once the flowers were completed, I added floral foam to the inside of the basket and started gluing….and glued, and glued and glued! The basket was coming together! At this point, I was feeling that maybe, just maybe, I had this pastel thing under control!
Despite the intricate weaving and the flowers, the basket looked bare on the outside. Trying to think of what to add, I thought that smaller roses on vines was in order. I trimmed some extra spirals that I had down to make smaller roses, cut vines and flower stems and leaves from the Bloom cartridge and went back to basics for the fence….George Basics and Shapes that is. I used the tag shape and the rectangle shape to create the picket fence in Cricut Craft Room.® The grass I added from the Plantain Schoolbook cartridge. I like dimension, so I folded the leaves and rolled the grass blades. I wove the vines in and out of the fence and attached the flowers, including some smaller daisies for uniformity. I added some swirls of pink and purple paper ribbon that coordinated with the paper ribbon I used for the band around the top of the basket. I am quite pleased with the end result. Lessons have been learned, techniques perfected, and I can proudly say, that thanks to Kimberly’s challenge with pastels, I have the confidence to move forward with the unfamiliar and, as long as I’m not afraid to make it mine, I'll conquer it.

Thank you for stopping by and remember "think spring" and have that "spring fling"!! I hope you have enjoyed seeing my creation for Kimberly’s blogaversary! Don’t forget to “follow” my blog and leave a comment before you spring on!

Your next stop along the way on the garden path is www.kadoodlebugdesigns.blogspot.com.

Happy hopping!

Sunshine, Raindrop, and Rainbows and Flowers

Lisa Woodward