Soft Pencil Tuesday!!!!

Yay, it is Soft Pencil Day! I make it no secret that Soft Pencil Day is my favorite day to blog, love her cute little images! I originally printed this weeks image out to put onto a card, but decided to alter a cardboard coaster with it instead to make an ornament. I get these packs of 6 coasters each at Michael's craft store, thinking I could do something paper craftery (I know, that is not a real word) with it. Well, all of a sudden the other day I came up with this Christmas ornament idea. So, watch my blog for some more ornaments in the next few days or so. Also, as soon as I finish this blog post, I am going to post this in my Zibbet store for sale.

So, first I colored Michu with my Prismacolor markers, then I added some Liquid Applique to the parts the Santa suit that are supposed to be fluffy. I let that dry overnight and then heated it with my heat gun. Next, I cut out my image with one of my circle nestibilities, and matted with my scalloped nestibilities. Then, I turned it upside down and used some tombo liquid glue to adhere the fringe fiber. Next I traced the coaster onto some card stock, and cut it out, adhered that to the coaster, then adhered the image to the coaster. The last thing was to cut a hole in the coaster with my crop-o-dile, and add the ribbon bow and loop to hang it with. The whole thing was so easy, run to your nearest Michael's and get some of these and make some for your self, or buy some from me. LOL. I have some others in the works with different images and colors, etc..... If you have an requests, send me an email (link on my sidebar).

Now, hop on over to the Soft Pencil blog and Etsy store and see what sales and cute images you can find there. Also, visit the other DT girls (links on my sidebar), and leave them some love for all of their hard work posting samples for you to get inspiration from!

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

P.S. Please excuse me, but I was unable to log-in to my Zibbet store, so stay tuned for updates on what is in there for sale! I may have to switch back to Etsy!

Soft Pencil Tuesday!

Welcome back to Soft Pencil Tuesday! It is the time of year when we start to look for Calendars for the new year approaching. Elizabeth has created and listed in her shop some new digi image calendars! Yay, love these! I created with it a new desk calendar for my craft/computer room. Here is a pic of the how the image arrives to you via your computer.

Here is a picture of what I did with it! Yes, since my craft room is decorated in shades of Purple, I had to go with that. I just couldn't help myself. LOL


I had a small clipboard from the Target clearance section laying around waiting for the perfect alteration project. So, I went to work on it! I also brought my image up onto my freebie photo editing software called "Gimp", made two copies of it. This way I could keep the original in it's original form. I trimmed one copy to show only the calendar, and the other to show only the kitty image. Then I copy and pasted them both into separate Microsoft Word files, and changed their size to suit my needs, then printed them out onto some card stock. I cut each monthly calendar out, individually so that I could stack them on top of each other, and the year date to mat and place on the clipboard by itself. I covered the clipboard with some retired Stampin Up Designer paper, using my extra tacky tape, as the clipboard had a really slick surface to it. Next I covered the edges of the clipboard with some Purple Pigment ink that I had laying around. Pigment Ink takes forever to dry, I hardly ever use it for that reason. My daughter was laughing at me in fact because I had to wipe purple ink from my hands three times while I was working on this. All that was left was to add my elements to the clipboard. The Butterflies were cut out with my SU/Sizzix Beautiful Butterflies embosslit and retired Lovely Lilac Card stock. I added the Purple Satin Ribbon bow to the top with my foam pop dots, and voila, it is finished.

Now, hop on over to visit the other DT ladies and see what they have done with their calendars today! Lots of creative ideas will be seen I am sure of that!

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

Soft Pencil Sunday? Altered Frame

Oh my goodness, I just could not stop at one project for that "Anything but a card" challenge we DT members had this past week. Hop on over to Paper Craft Planet and join the challenge too, and win some digis. See the link on my sidebar, and join the Soft Pencil group when you get there to enter. It costs absolutely nothing and is so much fun.

Anyways, I had some of those wooden photo frames on hand from Michael's craft store, and I thought, alter one with these adorably cute "Bichitos" for a photo of my also very adorable great niece, London Page, even her name is cute. So, here she is in her altered buggy frame:

The designer paper base is from a retired Stampin Up paper pack. After I cut the paper to fit the frame, I adhered it to the wood frame with Mod Podge. I used two layers, one under the paper, and one on top of the paper to seal it. I colored the cute Bugs with my Stampin Up markers and cut them out before adhering them to the frame. The words at the top were typed on Michrosoft Word software, printed, and cut out with some small scissors. It is so much more easier than it looks.

Now, look at that cute little face and just try not to tell me that you wouldn't like to give her a hug! I know I do! Yes, I am very much the proud aunt. She will be a huge 2 years old in June, and doesn't live within driving distance of me, so I miss her very much. Love you my little sweetie!

I have some more cards made to show you too this coming week, so come back and visit me.

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

Chipboard Book Cover

I have had one of Stampin Up's Chipboard Books (the 5x5 art journal) sitting on my craft table for oh, two years. I have wonderful niece who is in college now, and I meant to have the book altered and filled by the time she graduated from High School, but that didn't happen. Gee if I wait long enough, I could save it for her college graduation. Please tell me that I am not the only one that does these things. Anyways, I thought that since I didn't have a new card ready to show you, the book cover would have to do.

The background paper is from Provo Craft, the rest is from Stampin Up (Regal Rose, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive). The curvy Rose Red piece was cut with my Creative Memories 12" Curvy Cutter, The initial "S" (her name is Sarah), was cut with my Cuttlebug Alphabet set (sorry, I forget the name). There is some Stickles Glitter Glue on the "S"; and I had so much fun with it, I put some along the curvy Rose Red piece. The sentiment was heat embossed with the retired Brown EP from the Earth Elements stack. The sticky gems below it are from Hero Arts. The flower idea I cased from the Stampin Up catalog. The flowers are made by simply trimming down some punched scallop circles, and 1/2" plain circles. Yes, both punches were from Stampin Up. Love those punches! The top layer of the flowers were popped up with a foam dot. The stems were made with the SU Large Oval punch. Should anyone need instructions on the flowers and stems, please leave me a comment and I would be glad to make a photo tutorial. The chipboard Journal is still a current item, so if you would like to order one, let me know, or order it online at Stampin Up's website. Please choose me as your consultant; I am listed as Lisa D. Atha. These journals make excellent gifts to turn into scrapbooks for grandparents, friends, etc. Oh, the designer series paper packs are still on sale through the end of May: Buy 2, get 1 free with no limit. The designer paper would make the On-board books super easy to turn into a scrapbook too. The leftover scraps could be used on cards. With those thoughts left on your mind, I will close for now. Have a great and safe Memorial day weekend!

Blessings, Lisa

Altered Photo Brag Book

Hello. I was in my local Big Lots store one day to buy some bargains that I needed and I found some photo brag books that I thought I could alter because the front and back covers were removable. I thought that I could give them as gifts to family with my daughter's photos in them, or to take to Stampin Up workshops with card samples in them; etc..... The other great thing about them too was that the covers that I removed had very vibrant colors on them, that could be used later on for the Faux Cloisonne` technique. I used the stamp set "Great Friend" from the current Stampin Up Mini catalog. Here is a photo of the altered front cover:

The base is So Saffron, and I made my own background paper out of it, by stamping the stem and leaf stamp from "Great Friend" in bleach, then on the card stock. Click on the photo to enlarge if you can't see it very well. Then, I cut a Top Note out of Night of Navy card stock. I also had cut one out of Whisper White, and all along the edge, there is a perforation approx 1/8" thick, so I cut all along that perforation, then mounted it onto the Navy Top Note. Next I stamped the stem and leaf along the bottom, stamping it two times each time I inked it up, which is how I got the lighter images. The two butterflies were stamped on Whisper White and cut out. I added some teeny tiny faux pearls for their bodies, and adhered them with some foam dimensionals. Then I stamped the friend sentiment by coloring only the word "friend" on the sentiment stamp (with SU marker) that comes with that stamp set.

Now, the back cover is kind of the opposite, I used Whisper White as the base, and stamped the leaf and butterflies randomly in So Saffron and Night of Navy ink. Here is a photo of that:

Here is a close-up photo of one of the butterflies from the front cover:

Last, but not least, I have to show you a photo of the gorgeous covers in all of the albums. I will be creating something with them in the near future with the Faux Cloisonne` technique.

Before I go, Please keep reading.......this is very important!!!!!!! I am sure you have heard me mention a friend of mine (who also has a blog - Understand Blue); Lydia Fiedler. Well, she is a huge animal lover like myself. She had the awesome opportunity to design a cat stamp for a charity. She has a link on her blog to where you can go to order one, and tell you about the charity. The link is on her side bar with the words "Buy a Stamp, Help a Cat". So, first click on her blog link above in the parenthesis, then click on her side bar link, then buy her too cute black kitty stamp. DO IT! NOW! Yes, I am being pushy, go with it!

I can't wait until I get mine in the mail, and I will be sure to post at least one creation with it! Lydia, has said that she will be posting creations made with it as well, as soon as her stamp arrives too. Ok, I am done. I am off to browse my favorite blogs and then go to bed. Have a great Wednesday!

Blessings, Lisa

Memory Glass Window Ornament

Hello. Memory Glass Window Ornament? I didn't know what else to call it. I plan to hang it in a window with one of those little suction cup hooks, so it is a window ornament in my house. I have been wanting to try this little doodad for awhile, but thought that I would have to mail order the glass pieces. Well, I happened to come across some in a store and it is called "Memory Glass" by Ranger. It comes in 4 different sizes as far as I could see. Here is a link to their website, maybe it will spell it out better than I did. I used the 1"x3" size; which resembles the size of a microscope slide. Anyways, I first cut a piece of vellum paper to the size of the glass. Next I took a stamp from Stampin Up's "Embrace Life" stamp set, and stamped it randomly onto my vellum with black StazOn ink. I knew that if I used StazOn ink, that I would not have any ink smears. I need this when I work with vellum because I am accident prone. Then, I turned it over and water colored in the design with Stampin Up Markers and blender pen. Don't those blues and a hint of purple look pretty blended together? When I was done coloring, I put the vellum in between two pieces of the glass and put something called "Memory Foil Tape", also made by Ranger, around the edges to hold it all together. The last thing was to add the cord hanger that you can barely see in my photo at the top. I used another small piece of the foil tape to adhere that so I could then hang it in the window. That was all there is to it. It is pretty easy to do. I thought if you used Christmas designs in it, then they could be used as Christmas tree ornaments as well. Of course there are many uses and ideas for these cute little doodads. I was wishing that I had picked up a pack of the square ones as well. Maybe next time. Well, I need to sign off, I have a couple of card projects started and need to get them finished. Have a great day!

Lisa

What should I post today?

Hello. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I sat at my craft table today with a completely gigantic creative block. No creative juices flowing what-so-ever. Then, I glanced down and saw my new calender for 2008. It is one of those ones with the beautiful landscapes, and inspirational quotes that either make you smile, or put you deep in thought. Then, I was telling a friend that I have been neglecting my scrapbooking, because I am always card making. Then......I remembered a thick spiral notebook that we altered at an upline meeting for Stampin Up. The three thoughts put together made me decide to show you this altered book and tell you what I decided to use it for. I decided to use it for scrapbooking notes, quotes, and memories that I want to remember for scrapbook pages. Some of these quotes came from the calender that I mentioned earlier. I have to share one of them, that I am trying to burn in my brain. All of us go through struggles of different kinds in our lives, I am certainly not immune to this. In fact, I have been unemployed for quite a long time and have had many moments of frustration and stress to say the least. So, I found this quote to be very useful to my inner strength. I hope it helps any of you who are struggling with something in your life.


"The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings"
By Ralph Blum..............whoever he is.......

Ok, now to show you the altered notebook.

Supplies used: All Stampin Up Products
Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, Swirly Sizzix Die used in Big Shot Machine, Designer Brads-Circle Assortment, Designer Series Paper-Haiku, Pumpkin Pie 1/2" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Other assorted SU ribbon current and retired.

We used the super tacky double sided tape that SU sells to adhere all of the paper to the book, except for the swirly die cut. Notice the negative leftovers from the swirly die cut that was used at the bottom.


Paper crafters No. 1 rule, if your leftovers or scraps look useful, use them or save them for later. ~ Lisa Atha


Blessings to all!

"Garden Whimsey" - wall decoration

Hello. Here I am, a little late in the evening, but I am finally here. Where the heck do the hours go? I often wonder if mothers that have more than one or two kids even remember having a life, once their children are grown. It must be one big blur! Especially that poor mother in Arkansas who is pregnant with her 18th child! Only 2 of her pregnancies have been multiples (twins). Michelle Duggar is her name, and she, her husband and all of the little Duggars are on TV quite frequently (TLC and Discovery Health channels). Actually, the oldest Duggar is 20 years old and he just got married. That is one very interesting family, I highly recommend doing a search on the internet, and reading all about them. Did the Lord build her body strong or what? Ok, I have absolutely no idea why I just told you all of that, but I also feel the need to just leave it on my post.

Ok, I promise that I will get onto the real reason I am clicking on my keyboard right now. I found these really pitiful thin coasters in the Target Dollar spot quite a few months ago, but thought maybe I could use them in my paper crafting. So, I created this wall decoration for my daughter's bedroom. Her bedroom is decorated in Purple and Pink. Gee, I wonder where she gets that love for purple? Anyways, She also likes butterflies and flowers, so I thought Stampin Up's "Garden Whimsey" Stamp set would be a good choice. The background on all of the squares is SU's Perfect Plum card stock. First I traced the shapes I needed, and cut them out. I set the coasters aside, and stamped the images onto the card stock. I did this so that if I messed up, I wouldn't have to try to figure out how to get the card stock off of the coasters. I stamped the images in versamark, then into the color of classic ink of my choice. Next I sprinkled the images with SU's Irridescent Ice embossing powder (I love that stuff), and heat set. After this step, I adhered my stamped images to the coasters with that really tacky double sided tape that SU sells. I tried my Martha Stewart Mod Podge, but after it dried, the card stock pealed right off of the coaster. The next step was to put on a few embellishments like some Prima flowers, and some gem stones. I am so hooked on anything that sparkles. Must be a girl thing. The final step was to get out that very tacky tape and attach the ribbon to the backs of the coasters, and place a bow at the top. Voila, all done, and my daughter loves it! I will list what ink colors that I used at the bottom, and some close up photos.

All ink from Stampin Up: Lovely Lilac, Pink Passion, and Retired Spectrum Pad - Parfait, Ribbon: Retired grosgrain-Delphinium

Made with the Paper Crafting Fairy's goodies

Hello. Remember all of the awesome "stuff" that a friend of mine gave to me? In case you don't page down and see my previous post. Anyways, I found this heart shaped box a while back on a clearance shelf at Wal Mart. I just love those clearance shelves! I chose to decorate it in lavender and purple; big surprise there. The picture looks a little blue to me though. Anyways, I also said that I would be letting you know when I was using some of the awesome goodies that my friend gave me. The Dark purple gems on top of the lid and the butterfly ribbon on the rim of the lid are courtesy of the "Paper Crafting Fairy". Ok, the first thing that I did was to cute my designer paper of choice to fit the shapes of the box and lid, then I adhered the paper with Martha Stewart's Mod Podge (awesome, it has an application brush attached to the inside of the lid), then I let that dry..................Then I brushed the edges of the lid and base with a lavender pigment ink......let it dry.......... Next I added another layer of Mod Podge to the top of the paper, and before it was dry I added the dark purple gems that are on the lid and the butterfly ribbon to the rim of the lid. Mod Podge is sticky, so it served as my glue for these items. Next I added a layer of Mod Podge to the base as well, and added a few royal purple satin butterflies. The satin butterflies were actually from a specialty ribbon I have had around for awhile, and I just cut a few of them apart to use on my box. That pretty much sums it all up. I will list the product manufacturer's below. One thing I wanted to say for those who have never used Mod Podge, it is not absolutely necessary to put a top layer on your project, but it does give it extra protection and makes it look shiny.

Designer paper, dark purple gems, and satin butterflies - Sorry don't know

Butterfly White Ribbon - Making Memories

Until next time............... Take care Lisa

After the Craft Sale..............

Hello. Well, have you heard that old public service announcement that states; "This is your brain on drugs". Well, I have got one similar which states; "This is my craft table after an all nighter of crafting". I got to bed only a couple of hours before dawn, so I went all day at the craft fair on 3 hours sleep and 2 cans of Pepsi. Boy have I been lazy the rest of the weekend. I decided that I am too old to stay up all night. I am thanking the Lord that I have Monday off work. Well, the craft bazaar did not go very well for anyone who had a booth there, I think that the economy is just too poor right now, especially in Ohio. People are just not spending. I can't say as I blame them, because I am one of them. I mostly gave it a try because it was for my mother-in-law's church, and it helped them out to have every booth filled. Her church is a very small one with not many members, so their income is not too good. Anyways, I thought I would post some photos of the things on my table at the craft bazaar, for you to view. I did not sell even one of those altered photo frames that was in a previous post on my blog, I also had some altered large binder clips that are great for holding a photo or a recipe in the kitchen. I sold some magnets that were made by stamping an image, gluing with clear glue to the back of a large flower clear flower pebble, and then gluing a magnet to the back, behind the stamped image. My best selling item was an acrylic post-it note holder. What an easy item to make, I think it needs no instructions, just look at the picture. I also had a couple of key chains that I could insert stamped images into, so I threw them on the table as well. Last, but not least, my 9 year old daughter made some book markers to sell, and she actually made $6.00. She was very proud of herself, "Go Amanda". So, before I go, I will upload my photos. I hope you like them. Take care, and See ya later. Lisa

Friends are Angels

Hello everyone! A close friend of mine sent me an email today and it had a great story in it. Of course I was supposed to forward it to"X" amount of people. You all know how that goes! But, I decided that instead of doing that, I would instead share my favorite part of it with you on my blog. The last sentence in the story really caught my attention. So here it is:

"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly"

That would be great as a rubber stamp quote. It may be one already, and I am just too much of an airhead to remember. If anyone knows if it has already been made into a stamp, and where I can get it, please, please leave me a comment and tell me where! Thanks a bunch.

OK, on to some crafting....... I am signed up to have a craft table set up at my mother-in-law's church this coming Saturday, October 11th for their annual craft bazaar. In case any of you live in Southwestern Ohio it is going to be at the Sharonville Presbyterian Church on Cornell Ave. from 9am-4pm. They are a small congregation with little money, so they appreciate all who will come. They will also be selling some homemade lunches, and I hear someone is making some awesome Chicken pot pie from scratch. So, with that said, I thought that I would share an altered item that I will offer for sale at my booth. I found this cute little photo frame, and decided it needed a creative touch. So there it is. It had this pitiful decoration in the left hand side that was just screaming for me to do something with it. So, I removed what was there, stamped an image from Stampin Up's "Embrace Life" stamp set, colored it with SU Markers, decorated the wooden frame with some Prima flowers and bling centers, then punched a blue (SU Bashful Blue) butterfly with a Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, which I doctored up a bit, then it was finished. Now , what I did with the butterfly was a little tedious, but I was pleased with the end result, so all was OK in my little creative world. After punching it out, I scored it on each side of the butterfly body, then colored the body with SU Ballet Blue, then I turned it over, took my stylus and dry embossed it, so that the front of the wings would look slightly curled. This was a tip that I got from someone on the SplitcoastStampers Website. Sorry, I forget who. Then, I took my SU Crystal Effects Clear Adhesive and put it on the body of the butterfly, and held the wings up slightly for a few minutes until the Crystal Effects became tacky. Thus, holding up the wings and giving the butterfly a 3-D effect. So it ends up being a kind of homemade 3-D embellishment. I know what you might be thinking, and yes it is very delicate, and if on a card or scrapbook page it would always have a chance of getting squished. But, I had fun making it, and it looks cute on the frame, which hopefully won't be getting squished. I also am enclosing a closeup of the flowers and Butterfly in case anyone wants to see it.

Well, I am going to be super busy every evening this week finalizing my craft projects for the bazaar this coming Saturday, so if I miss a day or two of blogging, I am apologizing right now, and ask for you to keep checking back because I will have more to show you. Thanks, and have a great Monday!