Scrapping by Design

I made this child’s Valentine card for a little girl who is just one year old. It has a hand drawn and cut teddy bear. I think this is what they call paper piercing.

The small hearts are made with a punch. The large heart is hand drawn.

The cream colored background is embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, done on the Big Shot.

“Be Mine” is stamped with an acrylic stamp and white ink.

This My Little Monster is obviously a kid’s valentine. I made it to send to a friend’s grandson, age three.

The monster is stamped and colored with Copic markers.

The sentiment, Happy Valentine’s Day” is a stamped image, as are the words, “My Little Monster.

It is layered on red and navy card stock.

The monster has some red glitter glue on his tail.
Copic Markers are highly versatile. You can get them at Amazon.

This tri fold Valentine card had “heartstrings” as the theme, and it was to incorporate layers. The decision to make a tri fold card was my own and not a requirement of the swap. Tri fold incorporate a lot of layers so it worked in that respect.

I used a selection of coordinating vintage scrapbook papers, which I had dry embossed with the domino embossing folder from Cuttlebug.

In the center panel, I placed a heart shaped die cut, which I layered on a layer of cream colored card stock. I wrapped the heart with silver metallic thread, creating “heart strings”.

Recently, I had participated in a swap for hand made flowers. One that I received was made of red felt fabric. I placed that on the front panel of the card, visible when the card is closed.

I also added some red ribbon, cream colored lace and red square shaped stickers.

The back of the card contains a second heart, which has the text “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

This Valentine card is a tri-fold card done with a vintage style.

The tri fold (shutter) card is an easy fold to learn. The instructions are online at Split Coast Stampers.

I decorated the card with a selection of vintage scrapbook papers that I had dry embossed using the Domino Embossing Folder by Cuttlebug.

The bird picture is a vintage image that I stamped with the sentiment, Happy Valentine’s Day.

I drew the heart shape free hand and colored along the edges with dye ink.

The three red roses are stickers, but I added shading to them with cream-colored decorator chalk.

I added cream colored lace along two edges and tied red ribbon in the center panel.

It makes a rather nice card, I think.

I am calling this piece of altered art Victoria’s Secret Spectacles.

I made these altered eye glasses for a swap at Art for the Creative Mind Swap Group.  I intend the altered eyeglasses to resemble a lady’s bra.  It could be a good Valentine Day art project as well.
To make this, I glued some torn-apart cotton balls to the front of the lenses.  Then I cut four shapes of pink felt fabric in a size big enough to cover the lenses and enough left over to tuck around the rims. I glued pink lace to cover the felt.  I did use a few stitches with needle and threat to keep some ends tucked in nicely.

I glued this in place using Zip Dry Adhesive, my favorite adhesive of all times. Zip Dry will fasten anything to anything and it will last! Amazon sells it: Zip Dry Paper Glue *Fast Drying* Acid & Lignin Free!

At the back, I covered the lens with pink felt fabric and glued some pink paper flowers in place for decorative purposes.

I glued some matching bands of lace to the top of the “cups” and glued the other end to the ear lug part to form straps.

I would some pink lace around the ear lugs and glued that in place as well.

Finally, I added some pink ribbon rosettes for decorative trim.

This project was a lot of fun.  I have seen pictures of the altered eye glasses that some of the other artists made, and the work is amazing.

I am looking forward to receiving my swap.

I made this project for a swap. The assignment was to create an ATC (artist trading card) triptych with the theme “Simple Pleasures.

A triptych is three artistic panels of some sort that are  joined together vertically and hinged.

I created three related scenes using Stampscape stamps and dye inks.

I set the scenes on cream and green card stock and used die cut hinges from this package: Spellbinders Mega Dies, Creative Page Tabs.

The tripych closes and ties with a white ribbon.

If you are unfamiliar with Stampscapes, you can find info and tutorials at their web site: Stampscapes.com .

As I was attempting to take the photograph, my ragdoll cat, el Gordo, decided to improve the picture by appearing in it.

From the look on his face, he is not that impressed with my artistic endeavours!

I have just finished writing a negative Yelp review about the Michaels Arts and Crafts Store in North Vancouver. Here is the link to my review: Yelp Review of Michaels North Vancouver, Canada

This is my complaint.  Two or three months ago, I purchased a bottle of Zip Dry Adhesive from Michaels. When I went to use the glue, I discovered it was dried up sold and unusable. I had not saved the sales receipt, so I did not ask for a refund.

I went back to the store to purchase more Zip Dry Adhesive, which I use frequently in my various projects. I discovered that every bottle was dried up and could not be used. At that time, there were perhaps three bottles of this glue on the shelf. I commenced notifying Michaels staff of this problem. but nothing happened.  Over time, two bottles disappeared. I assume someone may have purchased them.

On one occasion, a male employee removed the remaining unusable bottle at my urging.  I believed the problem was solved, but the next time I went to the store, the dried up glue had been returned to the shelf.

Since I began bringing this unusable adhesive to the attention of the store personnel, I have reported it a total of SIX times.

Initially I believed that the glue was an innocent mistake. However, after six reports and one incident of the product being removed and then returned to the shelf, I can no longer believe this is accidental. I can only conclude that it is a deliberate decision to continue trying to sell this useless product.

 Why I Love Zip Dry Adhesive

Zip Dry Adhesive is more costly than most scrapbook and paper craft adhesives on the market and it will dry up with age.  However, despite these two negatives, it is hands down the best adhesive I have ever encountered.

This glue will attach anything to anything. It’s amazingly strong and durable.  What’s more, once the glue has dried, your product will not fall to pieces. I have used glues, especially glue sticks, that work well at first but within a few months, the glued surfaces separate and your project comes to pieces.

I also like Zip Dry because it is repositional when wet, and because if you accidentally get a glob of glue where it is not wanted, you can let it dry a little and scrape if off with your finger. Usually no sign remains that glue was ever spilled in the first place.

I made this Teesha Moore inspired 4 by 4 for a swap.

To be honest, I really don’t understand Teesha Moore’s style. Having watched her videos and perused her blog, it seems to be that the collages focus on faces, bright colors, and text written by hand.

That’s what I did. I painted the background paper yellow then cut papers from magazines and advertisements.

To finish, I added some relatively nonsensical hand printed text.

And that is my Teesha Moore collage.

This is Steamy Nelly. she is a steampunk doll made for a swap. I suppose she is an art doll, although I am not too sure what an art doll is, exactly.

Steamy Nellie is made from polymer clay. I used a rubber stamp of a game girl doll to get a template. I used the template to cut the doll parts in the clay. I used black clay and flesh colored clay to make this project.

Nellie’s helmut and boot are both cut from faux leather. The goggles are drawn on with marker pens.

I twisted wires to add some decorative elements. The black part of the breast plate is decorated with black micro beads.  I also added a washer type thing from the hardware store and a small key from my stash.

The body parts are attached together with wire.

One leg has a small band of lace; a Victorian garter perhaps.

To complete decorating Steamie Nellie, I added some steampunk gears purchased at eBay

I made this flip flop card for a New Years swap at Art for the Creative Mind.

To make the card, I used beige and turquoise card stock, cut in the flip flop fold pattern found at Split Coast Stampers. The tutorial to make the cut is at this link: Swing Flip Flop Card Tutorial.

I used vintage graphic images from Graphics Fairy web site, and also some New Years Clip Art images found at Microsoft Office Clip Art web site.

I resized the photos and added the text “Celebrate 2012″ using Photoshop Elements. You can find out more about the software at this link: Adobe Photoshop Elements