Celadon Creations

OH MY FLIPPIN GOODNESS!

Oh, my flippin goodness, do I want this!  I don't know what practical use it really has, but I think it is the cutest thing ever! Don't you agree?  I am not an artsy type of girl, but this is a must have.  It just screams funky and yet so very chic.  That is just my style.

Not only is this little card the cutest thing ever but it comes with a pin too!

  How cute is that! I know you are saying this too.  Don't be shy. You can admit it.  O.k. so maybe fairy dogs with wings is not for everyone, but how about a queen who is most definitely in charge of the matter?

This is the perfect gift for the control freak in all of us.

It definitely says, I have arrived. I actually know several people who are all in their own rights very deserving of such a beauty.  I do mean this in the best way of course.  Those women who know how to control a room, or command a situation.  That friend who is always right, and you love her for it.  The daughter or mother who keeps the family in check with her righteousness. Or even yourself for those days when you just feel the need to cop an attitude.  Not a bad hair day, in fact just the opposite.

And what better way to establish your place in society than with your very own crown jewels?

I know, I know, you are asking yourself what this has to do with card making, scrapbooking, or just being crafty in general, well, nothing, really. Otherthan being created by someone who is very artsy and has an eye for clever and cute.  The pins are very nicely done and the ATC upon which they are packaged is very eye catching.  So kudo to Carte de Bijoux by F. G. & Co.. I for one will be drooling all the way to the poor house. Thank you very much.  Indeed.

Shaken things up a bit...

This week has been an extremely busy week for me.  On Tuesday, I demonstrated the new shaker kit from Creative Cuts and More to the ladies at the Mile Hight Stampers meeting.  About 45 women attended and made the card.  You can see the card I did as a make and take on my splitcoast gallery. 

This shaker kit is not only a new product but one that is sure to change many minds about the ease of shaker kits.  Follow along as I walk you through a tutorial on Creative Cuts and More's new shaker kits. 

Shaker Kit Supplies:

* 2 -1/2" card stock square
* Foam Shaker Frame
* Straight Frame
* Acetate Square
* Tape Frame




Basic Step by Step Assembly Instructions:

Step 1:

Begin with the 2-1/2" card stock square.  You will place your background image upon this.  For the purpose of this tutorial, I am using an image from Lunagirl.com.  After creating the background for your shaker kit, you will take the foam shaker frame and remove one of the paper backing from the frame, this will expose the adhesive upon this side of the frame. Note both sides have adhesive upon them.

Then place the foam shaker frame on top of the 2-1/2" card stock square.

Step 2:

Now you can fill your frame with the desired shaker items.  Due to the fact that the shaker frame is a solid construction of foam there are no seams at the corners to leak the contents of your shaker!  This is what makes this product so wonderful.  You can use the finest of fillers and rest assured that with each shake they will remain in the shaker, not on the floor.  For this tutorial, I have used a mixture of seed beads and micro beads.

Step 3:

Next you will very carefully remove the remaining paper liner from the foam shaker frame. Hold the card stock firmly in place while removing the paper liner as to avoid popping the contents of your shaker on to the adhesive of the foam shaker frame.

Then place the acetate square on top of the foam shaker frame. 

Step 4:

Next you will take the tape frame and remove one of the paper liners. 

Then place the tape frame on top of the acetate square already upon the shaker kit; and remove the remaining paper liner.

Step 5:

Now you will finish off the shaker kit with the straight frame, however note that the straight frame is larger than the previously used pieces in the kit.  So for best placement, I recommend placing the straight frame face down upon your work surface.  Then placing the built shaker kit face down and centered on to the straight frame.  Be sure to leave an even border to achieve the best look.

Step 6:

Your shaker kit is now complete.  The size of the shaker allows it to be used on many different projects; on every thing from cards to boxes and bags.  You really are only limited by your imagination. 

Here is the shaker kit on a finished card.  For more ideas be sure to check out my gallery at Splitcoast Stampers, or the idea gallery at Creative Cuts and More.

For this card I used, shaker kit with Elegant Eggplant, image of peacock from Lunagirl.com, and papers from SU! and DCWV. Beads are from a local craft store.

Thank you all for commenting on previous posts.  I am glad to see such support for what I am creating and my tutorials.  Remember to keep those comments and subscriptions coming.  You just never know when another dose of generosity will strike me. 

The winner of the Band-aide Tin and accompanying goodies is: dragonflydreams@*****. Congratulations on winning.  I hope that you enjoy your candy. 

* All information contained with in this tutorial is copyright protected by the author, Dusty Patrick, and may not be reproduced with out written or expressed permission by the author.

** The shaker kit is a new product licensed to Creative Cuts and More.  Currently you need to call 303-840-1744 to order this product, containing 1 mat ranging in size from 2-1/2" to 3" to 3-1/4", 1 foam shaker frame, 1 acetate square, 1 tape frame, and 1 straight frame.  New product is always coming on-line so be sure to ask what else they have that you may not have seen on the web. 

The goose that laid the golden egg

I wanted to show the cards I have been working on lately using the new shaker kit from Creative Cuts and More, but I can't. The batteries have died in my camera, and seeing as it is now almost 1 am I think I best wait till tomorrow to go get some.  But I will post them on Thursday.  I show-cased these cards and the new shaker card kit at the Mile High Stampers meeting tonight and it was a huge success. Everyone really seemed to like the ease and convience of it all.  I will explain more on Thursday when I do a tutorial on the new shaker kit. 

In the mean time, I will show you a cute and easy Easter basket.  This basket is the basket with handle from Creative Cuts and More.  There is a picture of it on my Splitcoast gallery where I used the handle that accompanies the basket, but in this sample I only used the basket in acetate to display, what else but a golden egg.

The egg is nestled upon a pink carnation inside of the acetate basket.  The basket was stamped with Jet Black StazOn, then colored on the reverse side using Purple and Yellow StazOn.  These two colors were applied with a cotton swab, but you could just as easily use sharpies to achieve the same effect. The stamps used are Flower Garden and Artifacts by Stampin' Up!. The basket since being done in acetate uses no adhesive but brads to hold it together.  This is a very quick and easy project.  Too bad  the kind folks over at Creative Cuts don't sell golden eggs too. 

Good things do come in small packages

A recent assingment of mine was to create something using the band-aide tins being offered by Creative Cuts and More.  These things are so small and yet so cute.  I have seen these used for so many things: travel games, relationship fixes, holiday stress relievers, etc... I stared at my tin for a long time before finally deciding on this:

A birthday tin!

I used rub-ons to create the entire collection.  The rub-ons are new from All My Memories.  I like the few that I have seen in the series.  This particular one is the Birthday Girl set.  To make this ensemble which includes the tin, the gift card envelope, and the accordian card, I used all but one of the rub-ons. 

I found that the "Happy Birthday" rub-on fit perfectly in the middle four pleats of the accordian.  I was very happy about this, but I found that the rub-ons were a little stiff. They did not come off of the transfer sheet very easily.  So a fair amount of pressure and rubbing was need .  While I love the designs of their new designs, I don't think I will get to many more of these, as I can see if they are not used right away where they will become brittle. 

So in review, I love the band-aid tin, and the accompaning ensemble but not the rub-ons used.  I have found other rub-ons to be easier to use and be just as cute. 

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who has commented and suscribed to my blog.  I am flattered to say the least.  So I am doing a little blog candy early for March.  It's my way of saying thank you.  One lucky person will be drawn from those who have suscribed and/or commented on my blog by the end of this week. The lucky winner will receive a band-aide tin, gift card envelope,  accordian card, *bling blossoms, and one spool of light pink gingham ribbon.  Thanks again for looking and letting me know your thoughts.

*Bling Blossom:

There are two large and two medium sized blossoms in the package as well as four cicular gems, all of which are self adhesive. 

Baby Shoe Tutorial

Around this time every year, either you or someone you know will be hosting a baby shower.  And one of the most popular shower favor boxes is the baby shoe.  Did you know that you can get this item pre-cut for you?  Save the time of cutting it out of a template and use a die cut.  Then you can spend all that extra time on shopping for the goodies to put in the favor box. 

Supplies:

1 die cut baby shoe containing two soles and one upper shoe,
adhesive - I used Killer Red Tape from Creative Cuts and More, and scissors

Basic Step by Step Assembely Instructions:

Step 1.

Begin by placing small strips of adhesive to the tabs on the upper section of the die cut on the outside.

Step 2.

Gently fold all tabs to the back at the crease.

Step 3.

If using Killer Red Tape, or similar product, remove the red backing from the only tab that is on the end of the die cut and not in line with the remaining tabs.  Then wrap the die cut around until both ends meet up at this tab.  Once this is done, the die cut should form an eliptical shape and press to secure in place.

Step 4.

If you lay the two soles so that one is resting atop of the other, you will notice that one is slightly smaller than the other.  You want to take the smaller of the two soles and slip it into the shoe so that it is resting on the tabs.  If using one sided card stock, be sure that the patterened side is facing up and not towards the bottom of the shoe. 

Step 5.

Next you will want to remove the remaining bits of red backing from your Killer Red Tape. 

Then place the bottom sole upon the longest tab which is on the opposite side of the seam.  * Be sure that the pattern is now facing out so that when the shoe is finished you see the pattern or color of the paper used.

Now you can finish securing the bottom sole to the remaining tabs.  Be sure to press firmly in place from both the inside and outside of the baby shoe.

Step 7.

Congratulations! You now have a finished baby shoe.  Embellish and enjoy. Have fun with it!

The paper used for the baby shoe displayed above is Jade Riccio with a silk ribbon rose used as an embellishment.  The baby shoe below was made using Bronze Ore Metallics then embellished with chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon and a vintage fabric button.

* All information contained with in this tutorial is copyright protected by the author, Dusty Patrick, and may not be reproduced without written or expressed permission by the author.   

Challenging Chantecleer

I created this card for a challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com .

The challenge was to create a scene using a stamp as the focal point.  I had done some of these in the past.  But this one was a bit of a challenge.  The stamp that the rooster came from had a lot more detail to it than just the rooster.  But I only wanted the rooster.  So I used a marker to color the outline of the rooster and omitted the rest. 

The only thing that is stamped on this card front is the rooster and the flowers.  The rest is either drawn in or watercolored on.  I had a lot of fun with this card.  I love these challenges.  They are definately worth doing.  I think it helps to break you out of the dull-drums that we all tend to get into. 

I would love to hear what you think. Please feel free to comment.

Candy Anyone?

My sweet tooth is acting up today.  I had a soda and starburst candy for lunch, popcorn for dinner, and I just drank a huge glass of hot carmel milk as if it were water on a hot summer day. I  am so bad.  I  should think about eating some real food... okay, thought about it.  But it was a little late.  I'm not hungry anymore.

Unless.... It's candy were talking about.  I'm always hungry for candy!

Candy is what inspired this project.  Well, to be honest, it was also, my friends Danelle and Tish. Danelle had made this cute milk carton with from Creative Cuts and More, using the gumball machine from Stampin' Up! and filled it with gumballs.  Tish  used the set on a card and made a shaker card out of it.  But Tish being so damn ingenious, made it a working gumball machine. She filled hers with mini- M&M's and put a swining door on it.  So the candy could actually be taken from the shaker with out damaging the card.  Too clever!

So I just took a little bit from each of them and made my own. Using the milk carton from Creative Cuts and More I stamped the Print Pattern background stamp, and the gumball from Stampin' Up! and I drew the diagonal lines on with a Chocolate Chip marker.  I cut the window using  a sharp pair of paper snips, lined it with acetate, punched a hole for the skittles to come through (these were limited edition flavored, hence the unsual coloring), attached the tag die from Creative Cuts and More, and then built the box.  I filled it with the candy, but only partly.  When I originally did this box, I found that if you pour that much candy into this box, it distorts the sides due to weight, so I cheated and placed a hollow tube in the center to take up some excess room. This way the box looks full, but does not weigh two pounds! The top was secured shut with killer red tape from CC&M, and then finished off with a bow made from Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon and Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon. 

I love candy so much I decided to share.  Actually I decided this about a month ago.  The lucky recipiant of the blog candy for Febuary is cmroyer!  Congratulations!  I will contact you and get your blog candy to you just as soon as possible.  Thanks for suscribing to my blog.  I really do appreciate it.  And thanks to everyone else who has suscribed as well.  I will be posting the blog candy for march later this week, so be sure to check back. 

Oh, and did I mention that blog candy is FAT FREE and has zero calories? Who wouldn't want a tasty treat like that?

Wedded Bliss

Have you ever found something that calls to you and won't let you go?  My latest calling is the Fruitcake Paper by Basic Grey, the Wintermint to be more specific.  It is absolutely gorgeous.  I love the colors, so rich and vibrant and yet soft and demure as well.  I love the pattern.  And the mere fact that it is a two sided cardstock.  This is one of my favorite products that Creative Cuts and More is now carrying.  They will have a wide selection of Basic Gray Papers available on their new website, which should be up and running with in the month. 

This file folder card was created with a wedding in mind.  It was very simple to make.  Upon receiving the card from Creative Cuts and More, I ran a length of ribbon across the front of the card with tails hanging underneath. Then I secured an old button on top. 

The inside was done by attaching vellum stickers upon the flap and bottom half of the card.  The lower sticker reads : Congratulations to the happy couple. The image is from Lunagirl Images.  She has a wonderful variety of old images.  This particular one came from a set purchased months ago from her, and let me just tell you that there are so many images up her cd's that I have not had a chance to even look at all of them. 

The image in the card is layer upon a piece of Handsome Hunter which is in turn laying upon Mars from Creative CUts and More.

What could be easier than this.  And elegant too.  Any bride and groom would be delighted to receive such a card on their special day.   

Quickie Glue Review

How many times have you wanted to add just the smallest amount of glitter to a project but the only adhesive you could find had too large of a tip.  And what you wound up with was a glob of glitter.  Thanks to quickie glue (Trademarked and manufactured by Sakura Color Products Corp.) globs are a thing of the past. 

The glue is very similar to the repositionable / permanent liquid glue that has been on the market forever.  When the glue is wet and light blue in color the adhesion is permanent, however once the glue has dried and become clear the adhesion is temporary allowing you to reposition or temporarily tack an item in place.  However, the one feature of the quickie glue that most appealed to me was how the glue is dispensed.  No squeeze tube here or having to start the flow of the glue by pressing in the tip of the pen.  Quickie glue is dispensed through a ball point.  That's right a ball point just like an ink pen. 

Not only does the ball point allow for the smallest amount of glue to be dispenced but allows for greater control too.  Now you can trace your design, write your name or message, or highlight as needed with the greatest of ease. The glue flows  smoothly from the tip of the pen  on to the working surface.  And the rate of speed that your hand moves controls the amount of glue dispenced. The ball point application allows you to apply a drop of glue as small as 1/16" or less.  The tip of the pen is shipped with a wax seal on it.  I prefer to keep the wax seal and use it over and over again to keep my pen from drying out.  I simply place it in the cap and secure the cap to the end of the pen when in use, that way I don't misplace the tiny wax seal.

In my opinion the Quickie Glue is a girl's best friend, that is next to the dazzling diamonds!

And the catagories are...

In my last post I mentioned that I would be featuring a new category for each day of the week. 
*Drum roll*  And the categories are:

Merchandise Monday - Product Reviews

Techie Tues. - Technique Overviews

Working Wednesday - That weeks major project which equals work. But fun work.

Through Tutorial Thursday - Photo tutorials on building dies.

Free-for-all Fridays! - This is the day when you just don't know what might come your way. And one Friday a month, I will give away BLOG CANDY! Woot! Woot!

Simple Saturday - Featuring quick and easy projects that take less than 10 minutes to make.

Sleepy Sunday - I may or may not post on this day, it just depends on how sleepy I am. Ha. :)

So check in tomorrow, boys and girls, to see our blogger review Quickie Glue! Same blog time, same blog channel!