Passion for Pizza...Boxes

Sorry guys no long post today I'm not feeling too well but I did want to sneak a project in for this week's challenge, Layers, over at splendid stamping. Don't worry, what this post lacks in paragraphs it makes up for in pictures! After all, isn't a picture worth a thousand words? Well that technically makes my post more than 6,000 words then (^.^)! Seeing a gorgeously adorable mini pizza box on Rosie's Blog reminded me that I'd wanted to try one a while back and never got around to it (mostly because the task seemed daunting). I finally gave it a shot and it turned out to be easier than some card folds (like the dreaded trifold shutter card I've only attempted twice)! It was so super fun and easy I made a few different ones in about an hour and here they are:

Amelia (OA Lovey Dovey)

 Cheeky Geeky

Beanie Ian

As you can see, when I love a technique it becomes an obsession lol! These awesome little babies will be filled with various Vday goodies and will make great treats for some of my DD's teachers, coaches, and principals as well as a few of my good friends! well you guys I'm going to try and get a bit of rest and hopefully I'll feel crafty and healthy tomorrow, thanks for stopping by and don't forget to try your hand at making these adorable mini pizza boxes guys, seriously ridiculously easy!


-Krys

I've Got the Blues...and a Little Green too!

As you know I don't mean the sad kind of 'blues' or the music either, I mean the colors! Have you ever thought about how many shades of blue are out there? Hundreds? Who knows, who cares? All I know is that just about all the blues can be paired together with beautiful results, and when you add a splash of green as an accent? GORGEOUS! Today I bring you a good example of this (I hope) in a gift that I created for a friend of mine, who has always been there for me, in the form of a picture frame (the gift is the frame of course, not the friend ^.^).

Cheeky Geeky

 

 

I started with an unfinished balsa wood frame from my LCS (one of the things I mentioned a few posts back) and painted it with a really light green almost seafoam acrylic paint. once that was dry I got out my homemade mod podge and cutter and pieced a few different scrap pieces with similar color schemes to get this patchwork kind of look. Since I didn't have much DP in the shades I needed, I created the leopard print by running it through an embossing folder and inking it with pigment ink a few shades lighter. I did the same with the swirl pattern, embossing and inking in shades of blue to get the effect I was going for. I colored Ms Cheeky Geeky from The Greeting Farm with my copics and gave her a blue leopard print skirt with matching tie and headband and fussy cut her out. The sentiment is from Close To My Heart (CTMH) 'Friendship' set and the other embellishments are from my stash. I wish I could take credit for this lovely idea but I am actually CASEing this project from one of my personal favorite blogs, Rosemary's Creations, ( you can go and see her project here!). I plan to enter this in the following challenges; Splendid Stamping FFF, 'Cut it Out', Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, 'It's a Mystery', and 7 Kids Challenge, 'Anything Goes'. Thanks for stopping by,

 

-Krys

A 'SMASH' ing Alteration

Hi bloggers, its been a while, I'm still trying to turn those stubborn lemons into something worth the wait but its slow going. Meanwhile, I'd been working on a project that has taken me quite a while to complete. I'm proud to say, it has been completed and I couldn't be more excited to show and tell, but first, a back story!

A few months ago I started seeing these K & Co 'Smash Journals' everywhere (along with DIY tutorials on how to make your own). I loved the tutorials because when you can DIY and save money its always a great feeling on you and your pockets! And lets face it, at roughly 14.99 a book its a bit steep so why not do it yourself? why? I'll tell you why, Michaels sent me a '50% off one regular priced item' coupon in the mail and it was burning a hole in my pocket :). Anywho, I selected and purchased the one with the pink binding, Pretty Style Folio, got home, and waited for some great creative revelation to hit me... Weeks later I was still waiting. I tried journaling in it, doodling, treating it like a scrapbook, but nothing. No great work of art or much of anything else came about and I started to give up hope until one day I found the problem. It was boring, plain, and downright ordinary looking! How could I be inspired when the book itself was so uninspiring. I immediately began to design the perfect cover and to do this I had to take it in stages. A lot of hard work and many hours went into this project but it was definitely a labor of love and I'd do it again!

(BEFORE)

 

 

(AFTER)

Lolli Anya, Cheeky Geeky, Queen Bean, Alice Bean, C.C. Madden, Cheshire Bean, C.C. Friday Night, C.C. Lula

Sentiments: Anya Strolls, Anya Lifts, O&A My Favorite Things

Cheeky Geeky, Queen Bean, Alice Bean, C.C. Madden

Cheeky Geeky, Queen Bean, Alice Bean, C.C. Madden, Cheshire Bean

Lolli Anya, C.C. Lula, Cheeky Geeky, Cheshire Bean

Sentiments: Anya Strolls, Anya Lifts

Lolli Anya, Cheeky Geeky, C.C. Lula, C.C. Friday Night

C.C. Madden & Lolli Anya

 

As you can see, I had lots of fun layering and distressing and stamping and coloring to bring this book cover to life! I used quite a few of the TGF stamps in my arsenal, and actually have about 5 or 6 more colored up that were unfortunately too big to make the cover but will still be used for future projects, promise! I used Tim Holtz Walnut Stain to distress the edges of several sheets of paper from DCWV as well as a sheet of translucent vellum with script. I added a few pages from an old book also distressed with Walnut Stain as well as Antique Linen. Each of the girlies were stamped around a sheet of kraft colored cardstock and each took about an hour to color. I love the way prismas look on kraft cardstock so I tried to experiment with skin tones as well as outfit colors and was very happy with the outcome. Dark skin is not the easiest to render on kraft, found that out the hard way. But the key is layering, much like working with copics. Once I figured that out it was (semi) smooth sailing from there! Everything was held on and sealed with my homemade mod podge, which I found a 'recipe' for on Pintrest. Honestly, can you really call it a recipe if there's only 2 ingredients? oh well, the point is, whatever you call it, it works GREAT! I'll never buy the real thing again! To finish off the book I created several charms to fit my personality, connected a few jump rings and made a hanging charm for the binding of my book (gotta love that shrinky dink!). I plan to enter my altered SMASH folio in the following challenges:

 

The Greeting Farm Retro Fresh Challenge- Layers!

The Greeting Farm FFF Challenge- School's Out

Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes

 

Until next time,

-Krys



Dressed to Impress

Hi again! Today has been semi productive as I tried my hand at stepping further out of my comfort zone on an altered art project. This week's theme at Anyone for Anya? was Weddings! the ABC Challenge Blog N for Not Just One (3 or more embellishments), and 7 Kids College Fund was 'Anything but a Card' I thought I'd give it a shot and make a door sign thingy for the bride's dressing room loaded down with embellishments and this is what I came up with:

C.C. Tuesday

C.C. Tuesday

C.C. Tuesday was a bit too small so I stamped her scanned her into my computer and made her a bit larger, this also allowed me to print her multiple times to one sheet rather than trying to stamp her over and over again. Sounds brilliant right? I thought so, until, unfortunately when I added the stickles to her tutu the ink from my printer began to run so I ended up with this dalmationy spotty thing going on -__-. Oh well, as you can see, my resolve wavered and I gave the 3D paper piecing thing a shot again, it went SOOOO much better this time. Turns out just as I suspected, I was overthinking the whole process! Other than the dalmation tutu I'm pretty pleased at how this turned out! Along with the challenge at Anyone for Anya mentioned above, I also plan to enter her in the Simon Says... Flowers! as well as the FFF Paper Piecing  challenge over at Splendid Stamping along with this little lady:

 Cheeky Geeky

Back to my SAFE PLACE! lol My absolute favorite TGF stamp ever takes center stage with her tie, skirt, and head band paper pieced from My Mind's Eye DP. As you can see, I'm also lovin the delicate words die from TGF as well as several different roses from iamroses with plenty of stickles! I love this card so much! Thanks for stopping by!

-Krys

Thinkin Pink...and Brown!

Still on a roll today I guess because I was up burning the midnight oil... well actually it was more like the 2 AM oil but that just doesn't sound as good. Well I just could not sleep so I was up making cards early this morning and these are the two that I came up with:

Latte Anya

The Greeting Farm's Latte Anya: As close to 'simple and clean' as I've ever been able to get, how did I do?

Cheeky Geeky

Also from TGF, Cheeky Geeky. I absolutely love this adorkable stamp and she's been colored up for weeks to be honest all because I was practicing my 'ash blonde' hair coloring. All the embellishments were either odds and ends that have been hiding out in my craft drawer or from my recent haul from my LCS' clearance or discount bin. The papers used for both cards came either from the DCWV Garden Tea Party stack, my stash, or were made by me.



Now, can you keep a secret.....? Me either. I'll tell you anyway because someone should know;
I'm addicted, no, OBSESSED with pearls! I LOVE to use them, they are my absolute favorite embellishment and they managed to sneak their way into even the manliest of cards! Whew! there I said it, I feel so much better. A newer but no less excessive obsession would be my love of stickles. I tried for years to avoid buying them because I knew everything would be stickled once I got my hands on them. I recently gave up my strong attempt to deny the awesome and bought 5, Spun Sugar, Black Diamond, Crystal, Candy Cane, and Waterfall as well as a 3/4 oz jar of stickles dry fine glitter in Diamond. Can I just say I fell in love all over again and have been stickling everything stamped from the smallest shoe to the biggest blingy bows! and I'm ashamed (and a little excited ^.^) to say I bought more on E-Bay and am currently waiting on my next few colors! Bear with the bling till it dies down please, I am a woman bedazzled by bling, do they have a self-help group for that sort of thing??? I'm considering entering one of these beauties in the TGF Retro-Fresh Challenge - Polka Dots and/or Plaids over at Splendid Stamping but its still early in the challenge so I may change my mind and create something else that I like better. I just wanted to share with you guys, enjoy and please comment, I'm the new kid on the block and would love to get some feedback
Thanks!