Sassy & Sweet Notes

A Halloween Vintage Postcard Challenge

The designers for Crafty Secrets decided to share today, a project made using one of the new Crafty Secrets Vintage Postcard kits.

I chose the Halloween kit, because I adore vintage Halloween images! I chose to make a hanging ornament with this kit.

I adhered the image to the chipboard postcard, and sanded around the edges with an emery board to smooth and even out the edges.

I inked the edges with several colors of brown Distress Ink, and added spritzes of Glimmer Mist AND silver craft glitter spray for lots of sparkle. I used rusty wire for the hanger and a few rusty stars for extra decor.

The back of the card is inked with brown Distress Ink (I love how this chipboard takes the ink colors!) and is stamped with the mini stamp set that comes in the kit.

You will want to check out the rest of the designer's projects as well -- they always amaze me with their projects! Here's a list to help you out:

Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Blog
Vicki Christman
Pam Hooten
Heidi Blankenship
Vivian Peters
Michele Kovack
Linda Duke
Michelle van Etten

Vintage Postcard Kits

Next week at CHA, Crafty Secrets is releasing new Vintage Postcard Kits. I have thoroughly enjoyed making samples with the kits for the CHA booth! The images in the kits are absolutely perfect! I'm working on Christmas & Halloween, but there are other themed kits as well that are just as fun.

Here is the first sample I made using one of the large Christmas images. The kits come with die-cut chipboard shapes, the images, as well as a small stamp set that coordinates with the theme of the kit. Putting the postcards together is so fun and easy. I used a thin white glue to adhere the images to the chipboard shapes and used a nail emery board to sand around the edges -- this makes them nice and tidy! I added ink to the edges to warm things up a bit and make the overall project look more primitive. I added a simple rusty wire hanger with a rusty jingle bell for decoration.

The chipboard is a beautiful vanilla color -- not dingy brown or grey like so many chipboard items we're used to seeing. Being lighter in color gives a wonderful surface for stamping and inking! I used a sponge applicator to apply various shades of brown Distress Ink from Ranger. I really laid down the color -- I could have done a lot less inking, but love the aged look of the inks on the vanilla colored chipboard. Then, using images from the small stamp set included with the kit, I stamped the images directly on the chipboard in brown and black ink. I spritzed the entire project with Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist for some subtle shimmer.

To adhere the chipboard star to the wire hanger, I sandwiched the wire hanger between the star and a vintage button. A glue dot on the star, and a glue dot on the button, when smashed together hold like you wouldn't believe!

I have another Christmas postard to show you as well, but I need to snap some photos! Stay tuned for more!

If you would like to see more samples of the Vintage Postcard Kits, check out the Crafty Secrets blog. Sandy has shared several of the designer projects there. You will LOVE them -- the inspiration is endless! AND, Sandy's doing a give-away, so check it out!

I got Stuffed!

I am so thrilled to have several of my holiday felt ornaments featured in the recently released in Stuffed: a gathering of softies (volume 2)!

Volume 1 of the magazine was super, and still sits on my desk to enjoy. Volume 2 is JUST as fun -- you won't believe the creative creatures featured in this issue! This is a must have mag for anyone who loves to dabble in, or wants to dabble in, softies of all kinds!

The magazine can be ordered directly from Stampington & Company, and might also be found at your local Borders or Barnes & Noble.

Sweet Country Bird

 
I found some great MDF board shapes at Michael's on my shopping day this weekend! My favorite shape was this bird, but they also had a tall narrow crown, a heart, and a graphic person (like on a restroom door sign). I think that was all of the shapes... I can't recall. Maybe there was a guitar too. That sounds familiar. Anyway, I bought the birds, crowns, and hearts. But, the bird is my favorite! What a cute shape, eh? And they're a good price as well -- they come in packages of 12 pre-cut shapes for about $2. And it's not even chipboard! MDF board is much sturdier than chipboard, just as easy to work with (as far as adhesives, sanding, etc) and I was thrilled when my cropodile punched through it without any problems! It was a snap to create the holes I needed for the wire loop.

Cindy Lyles posted a beautiful project recently that reminded me that like Cindy, I also have a "secret" stash of this fantastic Daisy D paper. I bought a few sheets when it was released a few years ago, and afraid I'd never be able to find anything as wonderful to replace it with, I've used very little. (Why do this? ... I'll never be able to explain ... I just do.) I'm still not sure there's a paper I like as much as this series, but I mustered up the strength to use a small bit of it on this project. I think it was worth it!

 I used white craft glue to adhere the paper to the bird. Once the glue was dry, I snipped around the shape with my scissors, and then used a sanding file to finish off the edges. I repeated this process to adhere paper to the backside, too. (I used a nice red printed paper from Daisy D that has faint script on it. It might have been from the same paper line, even.)

Once the paper was on both sides and the edges were all sanded smooth, I added ink to the edges using a sponge applicator. I also added some faux stitches around the edges, just for fun. I chose to use seam binding ribbon from Martha Stewart (also from Michael's), along with some vintage mother of pearl buttons and hemp twine. I added a tin heart, since the wood shape really didn't have a wing. I created one with the heart!

I added a twisted wire hanger, complete with jingle bell embellishment! I'm going to hang this cutie in my kitchen!

Friends Forever Heart Ornament

My goodness! Where does time go!? I can't believe it's already Sunday afternoon. I could use at least two more days for the weekend. Maybe three. But I have something crafty to show!

I made this heart ornament the first or second week of January. It's been hanging from one of my storage drawers over my desk, and today when I went to put something into that drawer it dawned on my that I hadn't posted it on my blog yet! The heart is chipboard, and honestly, it's been in my stash (the front side even covered with paper) for so long that I can't remember where I got it. Sorry!! I punched a hole with my Cropadile and added the tin star, button and sentiment banner embellishment. The sentiment on the banner is from my Friendly Expressions set, and it's stamped in Timber Brown StazOn.

The backside needs to be cute too! I added more buttons and hemp twine, and cute paper. This paper is by Cosmo Cricket. The paper on the front might also be Cosmo Cricket ... I can't remember! I'm so terrible!

Even though I haven't been able to share much for the past few days, it doesn't mean that I'm not busy. Some things just can't be shared yet! But soon! In time! Honest!

 
Here's a peek though... you know I can't keep EVERYTHING secret. *grin*

Friends' House...

Here's a project I put together for Crafty Secrets. I'll deliver this to Sandy (owner of Crafty Secrets) on Monday at CHA (Craft/Hobby Assoc. convention) for her to display in her booth.

The house shape is from the "unfinished wood" department of Hobby Lobby. They have a few misc shapes of unfinished wood that are sold as singles, and others in packages of 4. The house was in a package of 4. Rather than being made of chipboard, it's actually thin wood which makes it a bit more durable than chipboard. But just as fun to alter!

The heart is also from Crafty Secrets, from their chipboard shapes package. It was already white so I didn't have to paint it. I roughed up the edges a bit with my scissors, inked the edges lightly with some brown Distress ink, and covered the top surface with white liquid adhesive. I added some white glitter by Martha Stewart for sparkle and set it aside to dry while I prepared the button and sentiment embellishment.

The sentiment is from the recently released Crafty Secrets Home Sweet Home clear stamp set. The punches I used for the leaves and twigs are by Martha Stewart. I used paper from Crafty Secret's Classic paper pad for the house and the punched leaves and twigs. I inked the edges of the punched shapes and sentiment banner a bit with a nice champagne colored ink from a Queue ink stack. The buttons are from my stash!

The flourish image I chose to stamp on the house is from an older Crafty Secrets set called Flourishes. I stamped it in the same champagne colored ink I used on the leaves, twigs, and sentiment banner.

I thought it might be cute to have a little embellishment on the wire hanger, so I created a little "flower" using a couple of punched leaves, a button, and some hemp twine. Pretty cute, I think! *grin* After everything was assembled, I spritzed the entire project with Gold Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. It really sparkles and shines!

I'm flying out to California tomorrow to spend a couple of wonderful days with my friend Lisa. We'll be attending CHA, doing some shopping for her stamp/scrap shop, and checking out what's new for the season. I'm looking forward to the trip!

I'll be taking a BUNCH of photos while I'm there, but I won't be taking my computer.... (sorry!) So, that means I'll have good stuff to share with you when I return on Wednesday! I will try and post a few updates via Twitter -- you will find my Twitter updates over on the right side of my blog. You can follow the posts here on my blog, or you can follow me on Twitter.com too, and receive emails of any updates I post. Who knows... maybe I'll find something entertaining to share! =)

Hope you're having a GREAT weekend!!

Free Love

The fabulous and fun miss Lisa Zappa had a fun idea this year for a holiday tree. She was given a package of vintage bingo cards that she decided to make into altered ornaments for a holiday tree. I was delighted when she asked me if I'd be interested in altering a card for her tree. What a treat! I received the card just before I took off for my trip to Washington for the holidays, so I added the project to my early January to-do list. Earlier this week, I put the finishing touches on the card and popped it in the mail, back to Lisa. She received it today, so now it's safe for me to share it! (I didn't want to spoil her surprise!)

The card was already nicely browned from age, but I added just a touch of distress ink around the edges to warm it up just a bit more. I masked off a few of the number squares and inked them up a bit too, for a bit of variety. I added some faux stitches around the edges. Along the top and bottom I tacked on some cute natural colored lace I picked up before Christmas. The lace is only held onto the card with the hemp twine threaded through the buttons -- no adhesive. I rubbed on some Perfect Medium and Perfect Pearls for a bit of shimmer.

The chipboard heart is covered with ledger paper from an old K&Company paper pack. I inked the edges, added faux stitches, and again used Perfect Medium and Perfect Pearls for shimmer. There's even a bit of shimmer on the rusty star, buttons, and bells!

I added a simple primitive wire loop hanger to the top, with rusty bells for a bit of jingle.

Thanks for the fun, Lisa! Hope it looks great on your tree, or in your stampin' room! (You're lucky you actually got this back! It was a project I'd been happy to KEEP for myself!) *grin*

Hoot Hoot! Felties!

Thanks to everyone who's been sending me emails checking in on me. I'm fine... I've just had a couple of days where I've just been puttering around not doing anything creative, catching up on things after being gone for the holidays. But I'm slowly slipping back into creative mode, and it feels good! *grin*

I thought I'd share a few more felt ornaments I designed and stitched up while I was up at Mom and Dad's for Christmas. I made this chubby woodland owl, and think it might be my favorite! I used various colors of wool felt, cut out my pattern, and hand stitched the pieces together. Before I stitched all the way around, I stuffed his fat little round body with craft cotton. The button is from my stash, probably from a Rusty Pickle jar of buttons.

I also made this little rose colored bird with earmuffs and leg warmers! I used a short piece of wire over her head to connect the two earmuffs. Her body is stuffed, too.

For Daisy and Farley, I made a little stuffed dog bone. So cute hanging on the tree!

Several people have asked where I've been getting my patterns and supplies. The patterns I drew myself. Once I had the drawing done, I cut it apart and used the shapes to cut out the felt pieces. You can use wool felt if you can find it, or craft felt which can be found in most hobby shops. I like the look and feel of the wool felt, but in a pinch craft felt will do. I used embroidery floss for all of the stitching, in various colors. You can find nice embroidery floss at places like Michael's, and some JoAnn's, or needlepoint shops. If you separate the floss (using one or two strands, instead of six) your stitches will be fine and not overwhelm the small felt shapes. Buttons and beads and ribbons dress up the ornaments nicely! You'll need some real fine needles if you're going to use seed beads -- not all of the beads will fit over a standard hand sewing needle.

Flakes and more flakes!

For the past couple of days, Mom, Aunt Patty and I have been busy being crafty. When I came up from Texas, I brought some of my crystal snowflake supplies, and we've been having a great time making all kinds of snowflakes and chipboard ornaments! Here are a few of the projects we've finished (we've made about 50 ornaments, so this is just a small sampling)...

 
Mom glittered up several punched snowflakes, along with a painted wooden snowflake when she made this one. She used white crochet thread and a cute little metal button for the center. 

 
Aunt Patty chose fresh colors for this snowflake. It's so pretty in peach, light turquoise and yellow! And would you just LOOK at all those sparkles!

 
I covered this chipboard star with patterned paper and added some faux stitches around the edges. I added a tin heart with a small brown button for decoration.

 
Mom made this large SPARKLY snowflake using a wooden snowflake and more paper snowflakes covered with lots of sparkly glitter. She used a pearl brad in the center - so CUTE!

 
Patty sanded off the edges of her wooden snowflake and added distressing inks to really darken up the wood. She used pretty gold embroidery thread to tie on a button center.

 
One of the ornaments I purchased earlier this month at Target was this little pair of wood skates. They were so plain, so I took them apart and added sparkly glass glitter and replaced the lacings with nicer twine. I love the little rusty bells, which were already part of the original skates.

 
The last ornament I'll share on this post is this little tin heart ornament I made. I covered a small chipboard star with patterned paper, added some buttons and hemp twine to finish it off.

And there are so MANY more to show ... stay tuned!! *grin*

More Felties...and SNOW!

 
We've been busy busy busy making more felt ornaments! Here's a cute little blue bird I made last night who's snuggled up in a red wooly scarf. I stitched on some sparkly beads and added a little white jingle bell. The birds body is lightly stuffed with polyfill stuffing.

 
I also made this flatty wooly snowman wearing wooly muffs and scarf. I stuck the ends of a piece of wire in between the layers of felt to finish off the ear muffs. I made a couple of stitches around the wire to hold it in place.

 
The weather here in Northeastern Washington is still a mess. My parents live about an hour north of Spokane in a small mountain valley. The snow has yet to let up and continues to stack up - everywhere! It's chilly chilly CHILLY! Thankfully, Dad got himself a new snowblower and has been able to keep the driveway clear. The photo above is the front porch (taken about an hour ago). You can see the snow drooping off the railing, and the ice hanging off the eves in layers! So pretty!! The amount of snow we've seen fall this week is unvelieveable! And they're promising 8 to 20 MORE inches of snow tonight and tomorrow...whoa!

Merry Christmas Eve, to you!

Felt Chickens!

One of the things I always look forward to during the holidays with my family is CRAFT time! This year, we decided to make felt ornaments. Mom's been making super CUTE ornaments of snowmen, tea cups, gingerbread men, etc... and me? Well, I've been making CHICKENS, of course! Sorry if the photos aren't as good as usual -- it's tough to do things like usual on a itty bitty laptop I'm traveling with instead of my big desktop computer that I use at home.

Mom has a great assortment of wool felt in all kinds of colors. We draw a pattern on scrap paper, then use the pieces of the paper pattern to cut out the wool shapes. Once all the pieces are cut out, we hand stitch them together! These are so fun to make!

 
This is Tiny Tim, in his flashy wool coat.

 
I also made a tall rooster that's slightly stuffed with cotton batting.

 
And you can't have chickens without a sitting hen! This little fat butterball of a red hen happily sits on her three eggs.

Here are a few of my Mom's designs! She's much better at stitching than me!

 
Isn't this a cutie of a snowman!?

 
Look at her gingerbread kids! Ric-Rac and everything!

 
And finally, her Santa! I love his big red nose!

Oh, and by the way... it's still snowing. *grin*

"Designer" Snowflake

Here's another fun project I finished up this past weekend. I tell ya, since it wasn't snowing outside, I went all out for snowflakes inside!

The large snowflake is a rustic laser cut wood ornament, 5" wide. While it was nice as bare wood, being dressed up with glass glitter is even better! The wood of the original snowflake ornament was really quite light in color. I used brown inks to warm it up a bit before I added the glitter, and several layers of snowflake goodness. I even glittered up the wooden ball at the base of the divine Martha ribbon (which was also replaced from the original icky gold string).

This close-up photo of the center of the snowflake shows the various layers I added. There's a cream colored snowflake, followed by brown branches, followed by a crystal wine colored snowflake, followed by the jingle bell wires and a fun faux-wood button. It's all held together with hemp twine.

I think it's important to finish the back of ornaments too, so while I was assembling the layers on the front, I made sure to weave the twine through this fun Pierre Cardin button (see! it is a Designer Snowflake!) to dress up (camouflage) the hemp twine wrapping I had to do to secure the items attached to the front. I even added glitter to the back of the large snowflake. Plenty of sparkle on this sucker!

I attempted to photograph this hanging on one of our trees, but it's been so windy it just hasn't been possible. Oh well! *grin*

The big question is do I sell this ornament, or keep it for myself ..... ack!

Wood Stocking Ornament

This weekend I put the finishing touches on this wooden stocking ornament. Since I planned to sell it on ebay, I wanted it to be extra nice. The wood form is actually quite large for an ornament, and would really stand out on a tree! I think it would also be fun as a wall hanging.

The stocking is 9.5" at it's longest point, and is 6" wide heel to toe. It is covered with new coordinating holiday papers by Cosmo Cricket. The stocking has faux stitching, and is dressed up with one of my large multi-layered crystal snowflakes.

I'm just thrilled with how this turned out! So much so that I almost decided not to list it for sale, wanting to keep it for myself! And then I remembered a plane ticket I need to buy for the holidays...

Not wanting to leave the back unfinished, I dressed it up simply with beautiful red designer paper, and a cute red button with a hemp twine bow. There's also a long twine loop hanger, with a green button attached at the end. CUTE!

If you're interested in this item, view the listing on eBay.

I've got a short work week this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday - Yeah! More time to work on holiday projects! And I've *got* to get started on our holiday cards!

Dressed up Tin

Did you watch Dancing with the Stars tonight? We did ... too much crazy singing. I also worked on a couple projects I've had in mind. Both of them use sentiments from Whipper Snapper sets.

First, I made this tin snowflake ornament using a 'tin-tiques' snowflake, some crystal snowflakes, and some glittered branches made with a Martha Stewart punch. This was a quick and easy project to make. The longest part was waiting for the adhesive and glitter to dry! The sentiment is from my North Pole Post set, and has become one of my favorite sentiments for the season.

I also put together this small tin of toasted marshmallow Jelly Belly candies! I used a 'tin-tiques' country star, a glittered snowflake, and a button to dress up the container. This was also a really quick project, but I think that if I were to do it again, I wouldn't glitter the tin star. I like the sparkle, but I prefer the look of the tin without the extra glitz. The sentiment on this project is from Winter Schminter, one of the November Whipper Snapper sets.

I'm so tired ... I'm headed to bed.
Sweet dreams!