You're The Tops!

Hat pins, stick pins, pretty sparkly baubles. So many of us have a feminine side that thrives on a wee bit 'o bling, right? For me, it's bracelets and brooches. I have a small collection of vintage rhinestone bracelets that I love to wear and a monster rhinestone sunburst brooch I bought  from a street vendor in New York. It is a winter staple on my sweaters. Oh, the sparkles!

So, you know my Etsy shop scrapbook and stick pins, right?

Welll, Etsy seller Nekoda, from the It's A Girl Thing Shoppe makes adorable tutu dresses and couture mini top hats. I'm tickled to show you what she's doing with my sparkly little stick pins:

Aren't these the cutest hats? They are 5" - 7" high and come with built-in hair clips. I love them!

Thanks for visiting today. Hope you have a great day!

Cheers,
Susan

Graphic 45 Design Team 2012 Audition

Hello crafty friends! As you might know, the Graphic 45 folks are holding a design team call. As I am smitten with their papers I just have to throw my hat in the ring! In this post I am showing brand new Graphic 45 projects (I've been busy!) as well as one or two you've already seen. So grab a cuppa and walk with me through the beauty that is Graphic 45.

My first projects are greeting cards made with An ABC Primer and a combination of Renaissance Faire and Curtain Call.

An ABC Primer

Renaissance Faire and Curtain Call

The next two projects are re-purposed tins - one from Altoids and the other is the bottom half of a gift card tin. The Christmas (Altoids) tin includes paper from Christmas Emporium and was made for a vintage Christmas-themed swap on Craftster.org.

This shadowbox tin was made with the fanciful Once Upon a Springtime papers.

Next is the little calendar that hangs right above my work space. She's made with Fashionista Le Fleur paper.

My favorite flower is a red poppy and even though this red sweetheart isn't really a poppy I'm imagining she is (just because I can!). This 5"x7" canvas was made using beautiful Botanicabella.

My final project is a 6"x7" album made with the gorgeous Tropical Travelogue line. Oh how I love this collection!

Pages 2 and 3:

Pages 4 and 5:

Pages 6 and 7:

Back cover:

Wow, seven projects in all! Thanks so much for following along with me. I know this was an image-heavy post, but you know how important details are to me.

Next Friday, March 2nd, the Graphic 45 team will announce their Top 30 applicants from the hundreds I think they will receive. Competition is fierce and the crafty skills "out there" are quite impressive. After that announcement the Top 30 have a few weeks to get 3 projects in the hands of the G45 team for some down and dirty inspection. We all know that our projects always seem to be better in person than in photos, right? Can you imagine a conference room bursting with all those fabulous submissions? Oh, to be a fly on those walls!

I've got fingers crossed for luck that I will make it to the final round. I'm already noodling away at ideas for new projects. I can't help it - these papers are so inspiring! Maybe they can be final round submissions. A girl can hope, right? *wink* Wish me luck!

Cheers,
Susan

A Lovely Pair!

Hello folks! I hope you are having a fantastic start to your weekend. I'm not sure, but I think Husband just talked me into repainting the family room tomorrow. My head is still spinning a bit. Of course, I'm the "painter" of the family so you know who will be doing the bulk of the work... The ceilings are ridiculously high. Ugh.

Anyway, I'm here to show you a bit of my goings-on for the past week. For a set of twins I needed a set of similar cards. Simple style was important as was pastel coloring. I think I'm pushing the edge of pastels...

These papers are from the much-beloved Basic Grey Curio 6x6 pad. I've been saving these designs for the right projects and am happy to be able to combine these favorites! The flowers are from Prima and the stamens added by me. I'm not sure how it looks on your monitor, but the flowers really do complement the background papers. It looks a bit funny on my screen, but in person they all work well. :) The birds are from a great K&Co. die cut pack called "Flora & Fauna". (There's one bird per pack.)

Here's a side view to see dimension. The birds edges were rounded under and it was attached to the white layer with 1/16" foam dots. The white layer is popped up on 1/8" dots.

That's it for me tonight! Thanks for visiting. I hope you have a productive weekend! Next week I'll show you some Graphic 45 projects I've been working on. Fun!

Cheers,
Susan

Studio Tour (Image heavy!)

Hi there friends!

I recently changed the studio up and did a little reorganizing. Wanna see?

Here's a walk around the room first. I really need to see what I have or I will forget I have it. I love these metal racks!

From the doorway

On the right there are sections for flower jars, vintage bits and bobs and Sizzix and embossing. The bins have embellishments and crystals, and the bottom shelf is jewelry related.

The middle section is all about papers. The 12x12 stacking bins came from a close-out sale at my mother-in-law's local scrapbook shop. The bins hold either favorite paper pads or paper lines, and there are about 60 small pads. I don't have a problem, really...

The small rack holds a Clip-It-Up and the white wall ribbon rack is from Making Memories. I have a love/hate relationship with ribbon, or rather the storage of it. Below is my new system, which seems to work.

After the Making Memories wall rack is a window, then this baker's rack. It holds most of my liquids/wet stuff. The vintage two-tiered stamp stand holds ink blending tools - a fantastic find off Ebay for $15.

Next is my work table. It's 36" x 60" and another incredible find - this time off Craigslist. :) The pile on the left seems like a mess, but it's perfect for me. The vintage scale was used by Grandma to weigh my father-in-law when he was a wee lad. How sweet! The sewing machine drawers were salvaged from a machine I bought at an estate sale and used as a table for a few years. Once Grandma's came to us, I sold my old one on Craigslist (without drawers). The scissors and such are on a glass lazy susan found at Tuesday Morning.

On the wall shelves are swap items, cards from friends and a few things I've made; including my first tag which has been repinned on Pinterest over one hundred times. (I stopped counting the emails...)

Behind the door is a shoe rack that holds wood mounted stamps and paper punches.

Below the desk is an Iris rack with stuff... seldom-used clear stamps, stamping supplies, adhesives and bins with assorted themed embellishments.

And the closet. You don't get to see in there since you'd probably want to gouge out your eyes it's far from organized. *sigh* There's a slightly smaller metal rack and tons of built-in shelves, but none of it makes sense yet. One day it will be a shipping station... The little wood table still needs a paint job and knobs - it holds overflow adhesives and Stickles as well as hot glue supplies and a shipping scale.

(More details after this jump...)

G45's Botanicabella and Tuesday Morning sale alert!

Hiya crafty cohorts!

If you're a Tim Holtz fan and have a Tuesday Morning shop around, there's a TH weekend special starting Friday, February 10. My local opens at 10 and you better believe I'll be there before to stake my claim on whatever they have to offer. Or, at least I'll look! (They'll also have Martha Stewart and K&Co.)

Today I'd like to share a project made using Graphic 45's Botanicabella line. I've been hemming and hawing (do people still say that?) over using it for a while and finally found the right project. I don't know if I've ever told you, but a red poppy is my favorite flower. This isn't quite a poppy, but it gave me inspiration non-the-less.

It's a 5x7 canvas that started out as a card. Once I decided to use the lettering, I had to go bigger than my normal 5 1/2" card (since I don't have smaller letters). I think it was a good decision. :) The paper is wrapped around the edges and the back is finished with another design. I haven't decided if I want to use a ribbon to hang or just add a sawtooth hanger on the back. I almost want to just leave it alone so it can s1t on a shelf in peace. :)

As you can probably tell, the flower samples are popped off the canvas. I used 1/8" dots for the big pieces and 1/16" dots for the red flower and stamp.

The letters are from TH Mixed Minis grungeboard set. I threw them all in a little baggie and dripped caramel alcohol ink in to stain them brown. Once dried, I covered the tops with Vintage Photo Distress Stickles.

The butterflies are from the same sheet as the red flower. I cut them out, inked the edges, used Diamond Stickles on the light bits and covered it all with Glossy Accents.

The Dusty Attic ferns were colored using Peeled Paint Distress Stain. 

The antennae are made from black craft wire. I dip small (around 1") snips into white glue and hang upside down until they dry. Once dried I dip into glossy black paint. I usually do a bunch of them at a time to have them on hand.

Thanks for stopping in today and see you next time!

Cheers,
Susan