Holiday Bottle Cap Ornaments

Hello and Happy Sunday Morning! I wanted to hop on with a quick post before the last minute chaos of the Holiday season! This past year has been a great one creatively ... new design teams, lots of teaching, my first craft fair, fun loft art retreats and many crafty get-togethers with friends. I am working on new projects including a new canvas for a class at Right at Home Scrapbooking. While participating in the 12 Days of Christmas Holiday Blog Event I created a bottle cap ornament. I loved it so much I decided to create a few more. These bottle caps are from Maya Road and are big -  3.0"!! For the first one I used Lawn Fawn's "Snow Day" paper. I love the colors of this collection and how cute is this little bunny ...

 

 

There's glitter on the snow drifts and snowflakes and a cute little pom pom for the bunny's tail ...

 

 

The next ornament has an adorable green deer from the latest Noel Mignon kit "Cable Knit". I used some "Shaved Ice" from Stampendous for a snowy effect ...

 

 

Here's a close-up ...

 

 

These are so easy to create and can be made for any occasion!

Hope you all have a wonderful Holiday season. Thanks for all your support over the past year and I'm looking forward to sharing new projects and hanging out with you in 2015!!! Happy Holidays!!!

12 Days of Holiday Inspiration - Day 12

Welcome to Day 12 of the 12 Days of Holiday Inspiration Blog Event brought to you by the "Inspiration Crew".

We're just a group of online crafty blog friends who love being creative. This time we're doing a 12-day event to provide you with tons of Holiday Inspiration.

We're making crafty projects using products we like and some of us are even offering prizes. Check each blog and the information there for what prizes are being offered and when the winners will be announced on that blog.

I have truly enjoyed this Holiday Blog Event. It was fun creating every project and sharing them with you. I hope you have been inspired by all the lovely ladies who have participated. Please be sure to check out all their blogs as some are offering prizes. For my last project I wanted to share what I created for my office holiday party. We had a wine bottle decorating contest as part of our Holiday festivities! I had a few ideas and finally decided to wrap my bottle with lovely angel hair yarn and decorate it with beads, ribbon and sequins. I got the beads and yarn at Joann's and the rest I had in my stash...

 

I cut a primitive star out of cream colored cardboard, inked the edges and tied more yarn around the star...

 

 

Fun, right - and easy too. I used decoupage glue for everything and it held up well!!  Sadly, this Holiday Blog Event has concluded. Thanks for all who commented on my projects - it means a great deal to me! Please stop by all the blogs below as some are offering prizes and have the details on their sites. Happy creating and I hope we have inspired you to make some easy Holiday crafts!!

 

Donna Bowman

Rachel Kleinman

Ceal Prichett

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Jennifer Cuthbertson

Lynn Kopas  <<<that's me>>>

Misty Buck  

 



12 Days of Holiday Inspiration - Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of the 12 Days of Holiday Inspiration Blog Event brought to you by the "Inspiration Crew".

We're just a group of online crafty blog friends who love being creative. This time we're doing a 12-day event to provide you with tons of Holiday Inspiration.

We're making crafty projects using products we like and some of us are even offering prizes. Check each blog and the information there for what prizes are being offered and when the winners will be announced on that blog.
Today I decided to change it up a bit and create something more in the altered art realm. I love bottle cap art and finally created my first piece. I found a free printable vintage Holiday image and sized it to fit my 1.5" bottle cap. I punched out the circle image and glued it to the inside of the cap. I wrapped a small piece of silver pipe cleaner around the inside. With a cropadile I punched a small hole in the top and bottom of the bottle cap and added  jump rings. The top jump ring allows for a ribbon or an ornament holder to hang the ornament. The bottom jump ring allowed me to add some beading.

 

It's hard to see but I used a clear Wink of Stella Brush to highlight Santa's hat, tree and belt! Here's a close-up ...

 

 

I will definitely create more bottle cap art in the future. The caps come in many sizes,  up to 4.0".

As usual, check out all the blogs of the crafty participants below for lots of Inspiration! I will see you all tomorrow for a new Holiday project!

 



Donna Bowman

Rachel Kleinman

Ceal Prichett

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Jennifer Cuthbertson

Lynn Kopas  <<<that's me>>>

Misty Buck

Mixed Media Monthly December Challenge

Happy Monday! Did the Holiday fly by or what?!?!? I need a holiday from the Holiday!! I wouldn't change a thing though - the time spent with family, friends and teaching was the best way to spend the Holiday.

Today I will be posting twice ... that's right, TWO posts from me today!! The first is December's challenge over on the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog. The challenge is so fun this month - it's a game of tic-tac-toe. Choose the three elements you want to incorporate onto your project and start creating. Here's our logo ...

 

 

I went with Stencil, Glitter and Patterned paper.

I decided to decorate an embroidery hoop I've had in my stash for some time. I started with some older Authentique papers. I traced around the hoop onto the music paper and then stenciled some snowflakes onto one side with modeling paste. Once dry I adhered that to the back of the hoop. I cut out three simple trees, stamped them with a script stamp and gesso and attached them to the music paper - popping up two of them with foam tape for dimension.

 

 

 I added some stickles to the snowflakes, a few sequins, some shimmer twine and done!! Here's a close-up of the stenciled snowflakes ...

 

 

Our sponsor for December is Inspiration Emporium. Create a project playing the tic-tac-toe game and enter our challenge for a chance to win a $25.00 gift card and 10% off with code MMMC. Head on over to the Mixed Media Monthly Blog for more inspiration form the team and out Guest Designer Joy Kennedy!!
Stop by later today for my second post with another Christmas project and a FUN blog hop!!!

April Tag of the Month

Hello Bloggers! Hope you are all doing well. After all the rain this past weekend it has been great to see the sunshine and enjoy being outdoors! I am so glad the winter is drawing to a close and the severe cold is behind us! Welcome April!
I wanted to share my "Tag of the Month" with you today.  I went all mixed media this month and created an Anna Dabrowska inspired tag. The tag I used in a
#10 large manila craft tag from Ranger. I prepped the entire tag with gesso first. I applied some light modeling paste through a few stencils to add some texture to the background. Then I grabbed all kinds of random embellishments from flowers, beads, old jewelry, metal gears, a paint brush tip, lace, alpha letters ... and glued them down. Once dry, I recoated the whole tag with gesso making sure to cover everything. I added a second layer of gesso in some of the more dimensional areas.

 

 This is kinda cool like it is but it's begging for color! So, next comes the fun part. I must admit, I let this sit for SEVERAL days before I added color. I was trying to decide what colors and then was afraid I would ruin it. However, learning is what allows you to grow as an artist, so I jumped in. I tried some ink sprays that have been around a long time but are new to me. Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays are the newest addition to my arsenal of ink sprays!! Lindy's Stamp Gang has four types of ink sprays as well as embossing powders and other products. I used the Starburst Sprays which are two toned dye based sprays that have gorgeous shimmer. I decided to go with pink, teal and green sprays. Now, I didn't have teal yet in Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays so I used my Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Teal. I sprayed two shades of pink for the flowered cluster, then added the teal on the right side of the tag and then added several shades of green sprays to the left and bottom of the tag. I constantly had my heat tool going to dry each color before adding the next one so they wouldn't run together. If I added too much I used a baby wipe and took it off - this is the beauty of gesso!! Here's the final result ...

 

The textures on this tag are so cool and the shimmer sprays highlight the dimensionality of the tag. Here's some close-ups ...

 

 

It's hard to see but as a final layer I pounced a Versamark ink pad on random parts of the tag, added UTEE and heated it with the heat tool. Some of the raised areas now have a waxy appearance!!

I am so happy how this came out and am working on another one, applying lessons I learned from this tag. The layout is a bit different and I will share that with you soon along with some exciting news (times two)!! Thanks for letting me share this with you and I feel like this process has enhanced my love for mixed media! Hope you have a great week and I'd love to hear from you, anytime!!

Project Life: Week 47

Hello everyone! Hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving. I spent a great day at my brother and sil's with delicious food, lots of laughs, fun kids and a well mannered boxer puppy! It is always great seeing everyone together - but hard as it was the first Thanksgiving without my Gram. We made a few of her fav dishes so it felt like she was with us! I am so grateful for my family and this tag was created as a reminder ...

I also wanted to share my Project Life page for Week 47. This week has more photos, one for each day. I used Maggie Holmes "Flea Market" mini kit again - I'm still really enjoying this collection! The pocket page is Design B. Here's the whole page ...

 The title card ...

I can't have a page without featuring my sweet pets. Here's sleepy time Max ...

and an incredibly warm day in November ...

some reorganizing in my studio and a sweet little visitor at work ...

all new smoke detectors after they ALL went off at the same time for no apparent reason and a trip to the always fun Pier 1...

 Thanks for stopping by and letting me share my creative stuff! Have a great weekend and I'll see you soon!!!

More FUN with Graphic 45

Happy Saturday Everyone! Welcome weekend! I'm off to Norwell today to spend the day with my parents and celebrate my Mom's B-Day. We are heading to Hull for a nice dinner and hopefully I'll get some picture of Nantasket Beach if the weather cooperates.

As promised I have some pics of the Printer's Tray that I created with Graphic 45's Mother Goose collection. The printers tray is from 7 Gypsies and is perfect for the 4 x 6 sections of the collection. I used the leftover papers that I had from my layouts that I previously posted. Here's the tray along with some close-ups ..

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Wouldn't this make a great gift for a nursery or little one's room? It was fun to make and the only thing I would do-over is the gold chipboard keys ...not lovin' them!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend!!

Holiday + Rain = Studio Time!

Happy Labor Day Everyone! Rain is forecasted here in my neck of the woods for the next few days making it PERFECT for some studio time!! I spent yesterday in Norwell helping my parents with projects around the house and today will be crafty time. I have my new end tables in the studio and love them ... they are distressed and so cool. My loveseat is old and outdated so I'm hoping to replace that with next year's tax return. Here's a look - I added some colorful pillows too ... and the dog toys are Simba's FAV's ... 

I also created more ATC's with Splash of Color's collage sheets and here's a look at them ... I love how cute the vintage girls are ...

OK - I'll stop now LOL!! I'm off to start my project life pages. Have a great Holiday!!

A Nice Long Weekend!!

The end of August ... wow, it was tough typing that!! Along with the end of August comes a long Holiday weekend!!  I'm hoping to get a few loose ends tied up in the studio, then clean up, purge some "stuff" and make way for upcoming endeavors ... like a fresh start!! Like the seasons, it's time to change things up!!

I'm working on updating the studio. I love my new paper racks, they take up less room and I can spread the collections out a bit more. I have new end tables coming Sunday ...  (my studio occupies my loft space and includes a sofa, TV, ottoman and now new end tables!! I am also in the process of getting a larger desk - I love the one I have now, but there's not enough room ... there never is, right!!

I'd also like to break out my new sewing machine and start sewing on some projects - yep, I'm a bit behind on the sewing front!!!

So, to start off the new endeavors, here's my latest ATC. The theme is "Things with Wings". I used some collage sheets created by Splash of Color - perfect for ATC's. Here's a look ...

I'm going to create a bunch more this weekend - lots of cutting, but so cute in the end! So, have a great weekend and I'll be back soon!!

Hanging onto Summer

It's nearing the end of August ... can you believe it?! Soon it will be back to school and the casual pace of summer will shift gears. So, I'm trying to savor each day and creating summery projects definitely helps! I wanted to share my latest beach themed ATC for a swap group. Here's the card and I used Viva Colour's Stone Effects Paste to create the sandy beach effect ...

The sand effect reminds me of my upcoming trip to Bermuda - I hear the sand there is like this and I can't wait to see it first hand!

Enjoy the rest of the season and I'll be back with my latest art journal page using only Distress Paints!!

 

Summer Classes

Happy Sunday! I'm in class mode now - both teaching and taking! The best part of this is ... NO TESTS ... just FUN!

Today I'm teaching a Technique Tags class at Right at Home Scrapbooking. If you're in the area, stop by and join us. Click on the link above for details.

Next Saturday August 24th at 1:00pm I will be teaching an Art Journal Class and here's a peek at what we'll be creating ...

We'll being using Ranger's Distress Paints to create this page on watercolor paper! It's fun,easy and a bit messy! Come join us - it's a great way to get started with art journaling.

I finished some Beachy ATC's last night for my ATC Swap next Sunday - pics coming soon!! I'm also taking a project life class this Thursday and looking forward to getting started. I've done some homework - getting ideas from pinterest, bought an album and page protectors. Now to get started .... so happy to have this class to get the ball rolling!!

Well, off to teach. Enjoy your Sunday and I'll be back soon!

 

Patriotic ATC

I have been throughly enjoying my ATC Group held at my LSS Right at Home Scrapbooking. I love seeing what everyone creates and how the class interprets each monthly theme! This month's theme was "Patriotic". I'm often searching the internet for vintage images and I found a perfect one for this month's theme....

I built up layers to create the card starting with Jillibean Soup's red corrugated cardboard. Then I added navy blue textured cardstock, the vintage image with a piece of a doily underneath, I gessoed the edges of the layers and added some twine to the card. I attached the twine with blue staples, added some bling and a paperclip and was done!

Our theme for next month is "at the Beach"! Can't wait to start playing! Have a great week and I'll be back soon!!

Staycations are fun too!

It has been heavenly to have some time off this past week. As much as I love to travel, staycations are more relaxing and this one was productive. I brought my 12 year old cat Max to the Vet for a long overdue wellness check-up - awaiting bloodwork to see how he's doing. I saw my favorite little guy and spent the day with him on Saturday. I taught a canvas class yesterday - thanks to all the Ladies who came in ... here's what we created ...

This canvas was so much fun to create and my favorite part of this piece is her hair!! This was the end of my seasonal canvas series for Right at Home Scrapbooking. I'm sad it's over, but onto new projects and new classes!!

I have also been creating summery layouts with the oh so fabulous monthly kits by Noel Mignon and here's another page from this month's "Hello Sunshine" kit which is filled with products perfect for summer photos. I used the monthly sketch by Julie Bonner for this page ...

Here's a close-up of the photo and lots of layering ...

Well, I'm off to savor the last days of my staycation. Be back soon with more projects including this month's ATC's for Right at Home!!

Happy Fourth and a class ...

Happy Fourth to everyone!! As I am typing it's 10:00 am and already 85 degrees so since I'm nowhere near a pond, lake or ocean, I am in the AC in my studio! I have been less of a sun bum lately - less tolerant of the heat and more aware of the sun's negative effects. I was such a sun worshiper when I was younger and I hope that doesn't catch up to me. Wow, I just sounded old there LOL!!!

I have recently completed a canvas that finishes up a series I have been working on since last year. The canvas will be taught this Sunday July 7th at 12:15pm at Right at Home Scrapbooking - there are still spots open if you are in the area and need a break from the heat. You can reserve a spot in class by calling this number ... 508-695-9290.

The series of 10 x 10 deep edged canvases represent the seasons and before I show the summer canvas I wanted to share the past canvases. It all started in the fall ...

We used lots of fun mixed media products and played with UTEE for the leaves on the pumpkin. We used sewing patterns for the background and edged the canvas with glass beads. Then, winter rolled around ...

Tearing, inking and rolling the papers used to create the tree required a LOT of patience - but the class loved the end result! I especially like the birdprints in the snow! Then came Spring - the best season in my opinion! I feel like Spring is a reward for making it through a New England Winter!!

The emphasis was paint on this canvas. The favorite part was "flicking" paint on the project at the end ... it's like icing on a cake! We also "Painted" with Perfect Pearls Mist - great for adding shimmer with more control!

So, that leaves summer - the last in the series. I had so many ideas and finally came up with this ... this one is my favorite (but I think I've said that after each one!) We will be using the latest MFT stamps and stencils as well as paint and glass beads...

Here's a close-up of the sun's center ...click on the photo below to see the texture and detail ...

 

 So, come join me if you can - it will be fun to play and get messy and take a break from the heat!!

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July and I'll be back soon with more projects!!

 

Phew ... a busy week!

WOW ... it has been a b u s y week! It started with a trip to Virginia last weekend to complete the memorial service for my Gram. It was wonderful to reconnect with my "southern half", many of whom I haven't seen for around nine years! We remembered stories and went through older photos and shared lots of laughs. I'm so happy to have had time with them and hope it's not another nine before we reunite.

The week ended with some fun classes at Right at Home Scrapbooking. This first class I taught. We created some oversized tags using Prima's Mixed Media Doll Stamps. Everyone did a great job and left with ADORABLE tags. The next class I took was my monthly ATC swap.  This month's theme was "Your Favorite Element". With so many go to elements to choose from, I finally decided on birds as I use them ALOT on my projects!! I went a bit crazy creating 10 ATC's using bits and pieces from my stash.  Here's some of them ...

I am in the process of designing the final canvases in two separate series of canvases ... the  6 x 12 seasonal girl canvases and the 10 x 10 nature seasonal canvases ... stay tuned for more info.

Have a great week and I'll br back soon with my Home Study Layouts!! Bye for now!!!