Stamp n Doodle Thursday!

Except that it is Friday!!!!! So sorry I am late this week, I have been crazy busy helping my daughter's school get ready for a winter dance/party. In fact, I am late getting there to help set up, so I will just tell you that we were asked to work with a 3-D template for an Elf Shoe this week. 3-D items are definitely not my specialty, so I hope all of you like it. I toiled a looooonnnggg time with this one. I didn't have any cute pom poms to put on it, so here is what I did:

Some cute x-mas striped paper, some fringe, some red flowers from Prima, and some faux silver pearls and voila it was decorated. The longest part was putting the shoe together, but it is so cute once you get it there. The top of the shoe is open and you can stuff candy canes in it, Hershey kisses, whatever you like, and it will look adorable on a table with your other Xmas decor. Now, hop on over to the Stamp-n-doodle blog (click on the icon on my sidebar_, and see what the other DT ladies have come up with for this cute little shoe.

Until next time........ Blessings, Lisa

Soft Pencil Sun catcher!

Hello. We design team members were given the digi set called "Bichitos" to work with this week, and were asked to make anything but a card. First of all, Bichitos is Spanish for "little bugs", and they are the cutest little bugs I have ever seen. I just love this set of digis. I think that they are so versatile for different projects. I have one project with them to show you today, and one that is in the works that I will be posting tomorrow (Friday). Here is what the set looks like:

For today's project, I used the butterflies and made my own handmade sun catcher for my craft room window. So, here is a photo of the final project, and then I will explain how I made it.

1. The first thing that I did, was to make 6 copies of the digi set on my computer.
2. Next I placed each bug in it's own file, this way, I could copy paste them into Microsoft Word in any arrangement that I wanted before printing. I clustered the three butterflies together as you can see in the project.
3. Then, I printed it out and took it to my nearest office supply store and had them copy it onto a piece of Transparency/Acetate. I wasn't sure how well it would print on acetate with my inkjet printer.
4. Then, I cut two card stock circle frames; ovals would have been nice too. It really depends on the shape of the image(s) you are working with. Also, the thickness of your frame is entirely up to the individual. Oh, as an extra tip, this can also be done with rubber stamps but you would need to use black Staz-on ink on the acetate.
5. The next thing that I did was to cut the bugs out in a circle shape at the same size as the outside edge of your frame.
6. Now we are set to add color. I turned the image over and colored on the back with some permanent markers.
7. The next thing that I did was to heat emboss the frame. The easiest way to do this so that it looks uniform, is to lay your frame down on a piece of scrap paper, dab your versamark embossing pad directly onto the frame, until you have one side of both pieces covered, then sprinkle on the embossing powder and heat set. I used gold embossing powder here, but I think silver or even black would look great. I have seen some where embossing powder with glitter in it looked really nice.
8. The next to the last step is to assemble the project. I used Snail Adhesive, but Extra Tacky double sided tape would work too (Stampin Up sells both). I applied the adhesive to the non-embossed side of the frame, then lined up my acetate with it and pressed down all around the circle. Then, I did the same thing to the other frame and placed it on top of the acetate and pressed down all around the circle.
9. The last step was to punch a hole in the frame, I used my crop-a-dile tool, added an eyelet, and put a loop with some misc. skinny organdy ribbon through it so that it could be hung on a hook.

Do not be intimidated, this is not hard to do at all, I promise! Now, if you notice there are 3 other bugs in the "Bichitos" set, and I am altering a wood photo frame to show you another day with the bugs from the same digi set. So, I hope you will come back and visit me to see that. In the meantime, look over on my sidebar at the Soft Pencil logo, click on it, and visit their blog and store. Their digis are so cute and a blast to work with.

Until next time..................Blessings, Lisa

Upline Workshop Creations

Hello. Wow, what a busy week this is with the upcoming Holiday tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving to all! I have a nephew who was born on my 15th birthday, and he is in the US Navy. Well, I got word today that my nephew's air craft carrier (USS Ronald Reagan), reached its port in San Diego on November 18th safe and sound. They had been on their second tour to the Middle East. So, I have an extra blessing this year to be thankful for. I heard he was all grins when he saw his new baby girl (she was born while he was away) for the first time. He has 2 boys and one girl.

Ok, on to some crafting. My Stampin Up leader hosted a techniques workshop for all of us on Monday. This is something she does for us once per year. However, we know most of the techniques, so she prepared some interesting projects, and let us play with her Big Shot die cutter. I have got to get some of those die-cuts, they are too darn cute. Where the heck is that money fairy when I need her. haha.


This project was the cutest little magazine file replica. It stands just a little over 3 inches tall. We made the 3 x3 cards in the photo below to go in it. That would make a cute gift for a co-worker or friend. Well, I am being paged to go run erands, so I will be back later to post some of the other projects we made, especially those made with the Big Shot Machine!



Lisa