Getting Punk'd...Steampunk'd!

Good morning peeps!  Boy do I have an awesome project to share with you!  I have been in a weird mood lately.  I've gotten the altered art and mixed media bug....BIG TIME!  I decided to finally do a birdhouse.  But I didn't want to do a plain ol' birdhouse.  I wanted to do one that was fun and edgy, but a bit softer too.  What I came up with is a birdhouse done in a rustic vintage steampunked style.  And I love it!

Rather than cover the whole dang thing with paper, I decided to use some Glimmer Glaze and stain it.  There were some wonderful wood grain patterns that I didn't want to cover up.  I used "Cowboy" for most of the house and accented the trims and between the slats of the roof with "Chianti".  Both of these colors are rich and saturated and really warm up the papers and metal embellishments.  At the same time, it gives the house a rustic and softer appeal and tones down the steampunk nature of the rest of the elements. 

Below are some close-ups showing the details along with a "how-to" of sorts.  This photo is of the the other side and shows the butterfly and some of the dimension that the front has. There was a little bit of cutwork involved in putting this together, but not as much as I thought.  For those of you that want to try your hand with fussy cutting, then this is a good warm up project for you.  Most of the embellishments were cut from the sheet of tags that are a part of the paper line.  The size of the elements were perfect in comparison to the size of the house.

To keep the butterfly in unison with the rest of the theme, I simply added a Tim Holtz game spinner as the body.  You can soften the edges by inking them, not to mention inking them hides any blemishes in your cutwork as well ::wink::.

The next photo is of the back of the house.  The lady is pop-dotted out a bit, also for dimension.  This Steampunk Madam, as I called her, is cut from one of the larger tags.  I love her color and the fact that she is draped in a white flowing robed helped me to keep the house a bit softer and not so industrialized or overly victorian.  Her steampunk details are subtle and not overwhelming.  The color saturation she has works perfectly with the stains I chose for the house and accents the "Chianti" color gorgeously.  Instead of being "matchy matchy", try working with what "goes".

The next several photos show the detail work on the front.  I used Ranger Crackle Accents in some places to give some distressing and texture.  I love how it made the pieces look broken and cracked once it dries.  I even added it to the wood trim on the front of the house.

As I mentioned earlier, using pieces that go instead of that match can make a huge difference in your work.  It'll give it some personality, YOUR personality.  Instead of just sticking to clocks, gears, chains, and cogs, I used a filigree flower by Prima.  Because the flowers are made of metal and are of the same color palette, brass, they go with the flow of the house without being too matchy.  The steampunk details are subtle and yet speak volume.  The ball chain I added to the house is also by Tim Holtz and instead of applying it in a straight line, I softened the house even more by draping.  It also adds visual interest and movement, literally.

I hope you enjoyed looking at this house and that you were able to pick up a few tips and techniques on how to make a "hard" style a bit more user-friendly.  Remember to be adventurous and bust out of the "matchy match" box.  Think in terms of color, styles, textures.  If you use anything you picked up here, I would LOVE to see your end result.  Link it in the comments section and I'll be sure to drop by, take a peek, and leave a bit o' love. 

If you're interested, I plan on completing 3 more Grapic45 birdhouses.  Be on the look out for them as they will also have little tid-bits of technique information as well!

Let's Celebrate!

Webster's Pages is at it again!  And, instead of waiting until after CHA, they have released their newest line, "Let's Celebrate!"!  Check out the full monty at inspireME and join the fun and celebration.

Don't you just LOVE that flower-cake?!  Such an awesome little cupcake!

Not Your Regular "Lauderdale" and a Twisted Sketch!

When we hear "Lauderdale", we automatically think of Florida.  Now, whatever comes to mind when you think of Florida may be forever changed!  Basic Grey has released their amazing and vibrant "Lauderdale" line and your's truly got to get her little hands on it thanks to ACOT!  The bright colors and fun patterns allow for limitless possibilities for your projects. 

A rather cool little note to add:  The only products I used that were NOT part of this line were inks and stickles, alphas, string and twine, some scrap fabric, a button, 3 rhinestones, and a little punchinella.  EVERYTHING else is solely from this line.  I did this to show how easy it is to have everything you need within a single product line and how to make these items work for you to their full potential!
I've used this wonderful line to make a variety of projects, some themed, some not.  So pack your bags and let's head on down to "Lauderdale" and bask in all of its vibrant glory!

For my first project, I decided to focus on a subject I very seldom use.  ME!  I have found that because these papers are so bright and busy, it is much easier to use black and white photos.  The contrast the photo adds against the paper is truly astounding and is a super easy trick to get the full potential from this line.  This first page is definitely one of my favorites.  You will find that the simplest of techniques and the most subtle of details speaks volumes with this line.  I let the papers and the embellishments do ALL of the work for me.  All I added was some Glimmer Mist splatter and some sewing around the edges.  The only "big" thing I did was make the flower from some scrap material I had.

The next photo is a close up of my flower I made.  The line I drew to cut along while cutting the strip of fabric was intentionally left to be seen.  I wanted to emphasize the title of this page.

This next page uses a fun (and cute) photo of Julia sporting Madi's fedora and is also the next sketch to go live at Twisted Sketches!  The twist this weeks was "shine". 

I immediately thought of this photo as total "perfection" with these papers.  The photo is light and fun and so are the papers.  The mix of patterns made this page so much fun to put together.  It really is hard to do something "wrong".  A few of the cardstock stickers, some punchinella, and a title and this was done!

This page is a bit more subdued than the previous ones.  For those of you who like more simple color and patterns, then this is for you.  The photo is of my 2 oldest daughters.  I saw this picture and about wanted to cry!  They've grown so much since then and "then" was only 2 years ago!  Anyway, once again, I used black and white photos so as to not over-saturate the papers with a wash of color.  A few simple Walnut Ink splatters and minimal embellishment and voila!

Now for a shift in gears and focus.  To show you how much you can do with this line, I created a "lovey-dovey" card and a birthday card!  That's right!  BIRTHDAY!  How so??!!  Keep reading!
First up is the "lovey dovey" card.  The easiest thing to do is to let the paper and a "pops" do the work!  This card took about 5 minutes to put together.

Now for the BIRTHDAY card!  I used the patchwork paper and cut out the little boxes in different sized then added my own "bows".  Super easy!

I certainly hope you enjoyed these projects and that you feel inspired to try some of them!  Basic Grey lines can seem somewhat daunting at first, but once you get in there and just go for it, they are remarkably easy to work with.  Try not to overthink it and just fly by the seat of your Bermuda shorts!

For the Heck of It!

I have had some "down time" between my DT commitments and I have enjoyed it.  But then I realized that I was BORED!  So I sat down at my table and rummaged through my scraps drawer.  Ok, not really rummaged, I pretty much grabbed whatever was on top and decided to make a couple cards. 

These cards are actually mini cards.  I just love mini cards!  They are so cute and dainty.  I took a regular 5x7 card and cut it in half perpendicular to the fold then went to town. 

I used a mash-up of Sass Lass and Basic Grey.

I just love how these li'l guys turned out!  Here are some shots of the cards individually. 

For the first card, I used Basic Grey "Hello Luscious" and cut the borders from a sheet of patterned paper.  I accented them using a plain ol' black sharpie.  To balance the bold black lines, I used kraft journaling tags by Maya Road and a sticker from Basic Grey.  The alphas are by Thickers (of course!!) and there's turquoise Stickle dots on the borders and crown. 

For the second card, which is actually a birthday card for my neighbor, I used Basic Grey's "Hello Luscious" and Sass's "Ellie's Tale".  The flower is by Prima and I made the medallion.  I used Cosmo Cricket's Tiny Type to make the "CHEERS" banner.  (She absolutely LOVED it by the way!)

I hope you enjoyed these little minis and I hope they inspire you to create a couple for yourself!  They are GREAT to on hand for that last minute card. 

Exponential Potential!

Who says what's trash and what's not!  I say, "Pish posh!"  Today, I decided to tackle my 3 year old's room.  Now, she's not crazy messy or anything, but sometimes her room gets a bit out of control.

Lately, she's taken a shine to getting into the board game cabinet and playing with the pieces.  "LIFE" is missing all of the plastic cars.  "Animalopoly" has been blessed with its long-lost hippo piece.  "BOGGLE", well, you'll see what I have left of that one.  And then there's "Texas Hold 'Em Yahtzee", the treasure trove of my newly discovered stash o' dice.

I saw these random dice in my daughter's room and had initially thrown them into a trash bag.  And then I had my epiphany.  "What in the hell am I doing?!  These are items with exponential potential!  I have big plans for these li'l guys!" I dug them out of the bag and stuffed them into my pocket.  After getting Julia's room back into some semblance that a human child lives there and not a hybrid of a pig and monkey, I looked at my new found "finds".

This is what remains of "Boggle" which I had mentioned earlier.  How cool are these?  The "Hold 'Em Yahtzee" dice look so retro with their cool colors and rounded corners!  The "Boggle" dice, who knows, but aren't they cool anyway?!

I honestly have no idea what my earlier mentioned "big plans" are but who cares?? These are items with exponential potential!  I just love my new little "preciousessss"!

I can't wait to inventory some other games.  I have plans for certain "Monopoly" and "Sorry!" pawns and gameboards!

The "Modern Homemaker" Mini

Hi everyone!  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!  I know we have definitely been enjoying the sun and warmer temps.  I am in recovery mode right now from our kick @$$ BBQ we had this past weekend.  The guys killed over 2/3 of the keg of Shock Top we got!  Needless to say, some were hurting the next day!  All in all, nothing beats good times, good food, and great friends.

Now for the business at hand.  I have received several requests for some close-up photos of the "Modern Homemaker" tag album I put together a few months ago.  I had originally done this as a class for A Cherry on Top during their crop at the beginning of the year.  Below are photos and some details.  Enjoy!

This is the cover of the album.  I used October Afternoon's "Modern Homemaker" line for the entire album.  The flower on the cover is Prima and I used some ribbon from my stash for that lovely striped bow.

These are my 4 children.  This photo was taken back in 2008.  Needless to say, they've grown some since then!

The following photos are of my day-to-day stuff in order to keep the APPEARANCE of sanity, decorum, and civility in the house.  Truth be told, IT'S A ZOO!

And for the final page of the mini, my little toast to indulgence and BEER!

I hope you find this fun little mini inspiring and fun!  I like to make fun things like this because life is full of too much craziness and hilarity to be taken uber-seriously!

My Baby is Growing Up!

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a great memorial day weekend!  I know we relish the long weekends, especially if the weather cooperates!

The latest sketch for Twisted Sketches is up and this week's twist holds a special sentiment for me.  This week's twist is "result" and I thought what better photos to use than those of my oldest daughter and her best friend the morning of their elementary school promotion.  Their hard work has paid off and now they are middle schoolers!  It's so bittersweet but we are proud nonetheless.

I decided to use Basic Grey's "Hello Luscious" line.  I love the bold and playful colors and sophisticated patterns.  The journaling was printed onto cream cardstock and pop-dotted to the layout.  I wanted to blend "child" like details with more "grown up" details so I used serious alphas for the first half of the title and fun, glittery letters for "elementary".

Here are a couple more close up shots.

Please head over to Twisted Sketches to see the original sketch and the other amazing pages the other Twisted Sisters created!  I doubt you will leave uninspired.

And don't forget about our 4x4 challenge for the month of May!  Head over to Jess's blog to check out the details and to play along!  There's a prize involved and next month, yours truly will be hosting with another set of products and a new prize!