Monday, June 27, 2011

TBS DT: Travelin' Teddy

Hi there crafty friends! Happy Monday to you. Before I chat up this week's project, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Guest Designer Brenda, who posted her last project this past Saturday. Sweetie, thank you so much for bringing such fun projects to our challenges. You and I have very different styles yet I learned something new from you almost every week over the last 3 months. It's been amazing to see what you design, and I am completely honest when I say you've taught me to think differently. Thanks Brenda!

This week the design team is continuing with our DIY embellishments to go along with our Do It Yourself Embellishment challenge. Seeing all the different embellishments by the design team last week was very inspiring to me!


For today's project I decided to make a mulberry paper "Tear Bear" as my DIY. It's been a looong time for me - at least a year! You may not know this, but Tear Bears are what brought me to The Beary Scrap in the first place. I was a novice bear maker and our very own Kimm was incredibly patient while I learned. I peppered her with a million questions and she answered every one of them with kindness. These days the Beary Sweet Designs acrylic patterns make it *so easy* to whip up a Tear Bear, and the written instructions HERE are brilliant.

I used the Tattered Teddy pattern on this card. Since Tattered Teddy came out, I've been playing around with the idea of making him slouch against a dress form die cut on a very shabby chic styled card. It turned out that my dress form die is too small for Teddy, so I went in a different direction with this project. (One day I will do it, but with the Baby Bear pattern instead.)

Here's Travelin' Teddy, working his way around the globe!


Card Recipe
Thanks for visiting today! Our DIY Embellishment challenge goes on through Thursday night - come play with us! You could win a $20 gift voucher to The Beary Scrap! Thursday is also the last day for Guest Designer Debbie. *sob* It's been a thrill to have both Debbie and Brenda with us for the last 3 months. I can't believe it's almost over. Ladies, thanks for all your wonderfully inspiring projects!

Cheers,
Susan

Monday, June 20, 2011

TBS DT: DIY Crinoline Flower

Hello crafty friends! This week The Beary Scrap design team is continuing with Do It Yourself Embellishment samples to go along with our current challenge. I've been a fan of crinoline flowers seen here and there and decided to try it myself! Thanks to my blogging buddy Linda Caughlin, the Funkie Junkie, for offering crinoline for sale, 'cause my local fabric store doesn't. :)

Click for a bigger, better view!
I used Tim Holtz/Sizzix Tattered Florals die and cut three medium flowers and 2 of the smallest flowers on the die. I pressed one of each flower size into a Spun Sugar Distress Ink pad, and the others were spritzed with Glimmer Mist. It has a pink-ish brown-ish color and was perfect for the vintage look. I used a heat tool and tweezers to dry each flower then poked a hole in the centers. The flower "pollen" is a button from the My Mind's Eye Market Street button set. 


The tag is cut using the Tim Holtz Tag & Bookplate die. I used the Madison Avenue Dress Shop Glitter paper. Ages ago I cut out the dress form from this paper but never used the rest of it. Luckily I cut close enough to the form that I was able to use the sewing machine image as a design element on this tag, weeks later. Yay for pack rats!


As I was finishing this, I knew I'd make another one that would fix things I didn't like. Unfortunately I didn't plan any of the design except the dress form and crinoline flower. The sewing came late and the corseting after that. Unfortunately I had already added a back panel to cover the sewing bits so the corseting is visible on back.

The stamp in the upper corner is from the Tim Holtz Haberdashery set, and should be embossed instead of flat. I like the image there, but not it's flatness.


The twine on the faux spool is from the Madison Avenue collection, and the needle from my stash. And here's the rest of the story:

Card Recipe
Thanks so much for stopping by today. The design team will be showing all sorts of cool DIY embellishments all week, and hopefully we can inspire you to join our Beary Sweet "DIY Embellishment" Challenge. It's going on now through June 30th - come play with us!

Cheers,
Susan

Monday, June 13, 2011

TBS DT: For The Birds

Hiya crafty friends! I hope you had a great weekend. We got rained out at a local minor league baseball game. It was a shame since the game had serious promise (1st- and 3rd-placed teams in the league). Anyway... I can hear your yawns, so I'll get on with my BSC #27 sketch sample. You still have a little time to get crackin' on an entry of your own and have a great chance to win a $20 gift voucher for The Beary Scrap! This sketch proved to be a bit challenging for some folks - are *you* up to the challenge?

For this project I relied on my My Mind's Eye Portobello Road paper and embellishment collection. I threw in a little Bazzill brown, distress ink and an assortment of adhesives. Seriously! All four of My Mind's Eye's Lost and Found collections are like one-stop-shopping for cardmakers!


Card Recipe
 I hope this can inspire you to join our Beary Sweet Sketch challenge - you have until Midnight tomorrow (Tuesday) to come and play!

Cheers,
Susan

Monday, June 6, 2011

TBS DT: June Sketch

Hello crafty friends! It's another Monday - oh, how does the weekend go so fast? It was a beautiful one here, and we took advantage and trimmed trees and weeded. I hated the work but love the results!

This week the Beary Scrap design team is showing samples using our current Beary Sweet Sketch Challenge. We're adding a little extra element to our projects in the form of seam binding.

Here's my take on the sketch. I wasn't sure about the sketch at first, but fell in love with it as I pulled the Bo Bunny Vicky B papers together. There are so many wonderful designs in this 6x6 paper stack that I had no problem at all. I adore these colors!


I used the wooden dragonfly from Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden collection (currently sold out in the store - sorry!). I gave it a base coat of pearly white and pink acrylic paints and then painted the body and part of the wings with glue, then sprinkled copper German Glass Glitter. On the wing tips I used the German Glass Glitter in white, with an itty bitty bit of Star Dust Stickles on the very ends.

The pink brads are from My Mind's Eye Madison Ave and the green swirl brad in the flower is from the We R Memory Keepers "Inspiration" Eyelet & Snap set. 

The mulberry paper roses were spritzed with a light green Glimmer Mist and touched with Star Dust Stickles. The  crocheted flower is an Etsy find from an awesome seller called Willowfolk and the decorative pins are from my new Killam Creatables line (available on Etsy!).


Card Recipe
Thanks for visiting today. I really hope you can join our Beary Sweet Sketch Challenge, going on now through June 14th. Come play with us and you could win a $20 gift voucher!

Cheers,
Susan

Monday, May 30, 2011

TBS DT: Mischievous Fairy!

Hello hello! It's Memorial Day here in the US, and I hope with all my heart that everyone takes a moment to celebrate and remember those who fought the good fight. Thank you all.

This week Gini and I are wrapping up our current Beary Sweet "Nature" Challenge before Patricia kicks off a new sketch challenge on Wednesday. Can you believe June is almost here?!

I can't seem to break away from butterflies during my nature-themed projects, and this last one is no different. :) This time, it seems the fairy has released the butterflies from captivity!


Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden line is the name of the game on this Tim Holtz Alterations/Sizzix die cut tag. I've used Butterfly Garden for both the tag itself and the cut-out butterflies. The fairy was cut from the "Botanical Garden" sheet.

The Butterfly Garden wood cage (currently sold out - check back for more) was colored with Tattered Rose Distress Ink and then randomly dotted with the same color Distress Stickles. I was very inspired by Guest DT Debbie and her pink glittered cage of 2 weeks ago!

I added Star Dust Stickles to all the wings and mulberry paper flowers, and used Frosted Lace Stickles on the rose for a little glitter without all the glamour.

Card Recipe
Thanks for visiting today! You shave until midnight EST tomorrow to enter your Nature-inspired project into our Beary Sweet Challenge. You could win a $20 voucher to The Beary Scrap!

Cheers,
Susan

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Introducing Killam Creatables Decorative Pin Sets

Hello hello dear crafty friends! So many folks have emailed about the pin sets I use on my cards that I decided it's time to share. I now have decorative pin sets available in my Etsy shop. :)

Since Memorial Day weekend is coming up, everything in the shop is 10% off - use coupon code MEMORIAL10! Be sure to read the shop announcement at the top - I'll be frantically working on new pin sets (as long as I don't get distracted by bright, shiny things!) and will gladly combine shipping on multiple orders through Monday (but won't ship combined orders until Tuesday, of course.)



Beads are glass - either lampwork, glass or faceted crystal. All of these pins are 2" long with flat ends (not pointy). I find that length is perfect to tuck behind a flower or ribbon arrangement on my cards. Here are some examples:



I'll continue to add new sets, including OOAK lampwork beads, fun dangles and larger stick pins and sets. I can even customize a "Killam Creatables" set for you if you wish!

Thanks for visiting today!

Cheers,
Susan

Monday, May 23, 2011

TBS DT: Nature's Flutters

Hello hello and happy Monday to you! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I had a birthday... and it was good. *wink*

So, this is Week 2 of our Beary Sweet Nature Challenge, where you can enter any project that you think conjures up "nature" in your noggin. As a bonus challenge to the design team, we have to include a charm in our project. Easy enough!

Kimm just got this fun filmstrip ribbon into the store, and I decided to use that as my jumping-off point. Here's what happened when it all landed:





Card Recipe
Thanks for visiting today! Come back all week for more great design team samples of our Nature theme. I hope you can enter our Beary Sweet Nature challenge, too. You could win a $20 voucher from The Beary Scrap!

Cheers,
Susan