Tammy Tutterow

Cocoa Daisy Picnic in the Park Event

I am so excited to have been invited to be a part of the Cocoa Daisy Spring Crop Designer Challenge!  The team at Cocoa Daisy is throwing a fabulous online crop packed with activites all weekend long.  It is sure to be a ton of fun so please go check it out!

For the designer's challenge, I received The Crafters Workshop 6x6 Mini Blazonry stencil.  I used it to create a background for a tag. 

I actually made my tag in my hotel room last weekend when I was in Indiana to teach.  I grabbed a few supplies out of my classroom supplies and sat at the desk in my room expirimenting.  It was torture to watch everyone get inky hands all weekend and not get to play along, so spending a little time with a handful of supplies was a perfect way to end a great weekend.

I began by inking my manila tag with Bundled Sage Distress Ink using an ink blending tool.

I placed my stencil over the tag and dabbed Bundled Sage Distress Stain onto the tag.  After removing the stencil I had a very fluid looking version of the design.

I placed the stencil back on the tag, lining up the openings with the design made with the stain.  I used my Bundled Sage Distress Ink pad to tap ink onto the tag directly from the pad.  I twisted and turned the pad as I tapped.  By twisting and turning the ink pad as I applied it to the tag I was able to achieve a cross hatch type pattern from the lines and edges of the ink pad.

After removing the stencil, I had a cross hatch type pattern on the stained areas of the design.

I inked a large cling mount rubber stamp (Hero Arts Leaf and Floral Background) with Forest Moss Distress Ink.  I placed the stamp on my table face up and layed the tag face down onto the stamp.  I ran my fingers over the back of the tag lightly focusing mostly in the center of the tag to transfer the design onto the tag.  

The stamped image turned out very light around the edges and more concentrated in the center.

I used an ink blending tool to add additional (Forest Moss) ink to the edges of the tag.

I love the finished look of the background.  It has so many layers and so much depth.  I love that it was created with only two ink colors.

To embellish the tag, I added an ornate plate that I painted with a Snow Cap Paint Dabber.  I applied the paint to the plate and let it set for several minutes.  I used a dry cloth to wipe away some of the paint.  After the plate was fully dry, I tapped the surface with my green ink blending tool transferring some of the green ink (Bundled Sage and Forest Moss) from the foam pad onto the metal.  I heated the piece to dry the ink.  

I colored a piece of Crinkle Ribbon with Bundled Sage Distress Stain.  After misting the ribbon with water to blend the stain, I dried it with a heat too.  I tied the plate to the tag with the ribbon.  I added a trinket pin and a bauble which was colored with Lettuce Alcohol Ink.  

Finally, I inked the edges of a Journaling Ticket with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I slipped the ticket behind the frame and stamped the word "renew" on the ticket through the opening.  The word renew seemed quite appropriate after spending so much time at the computer and not enough time with ink on my hands.  It felt like a renewal to get lost again for a even just a few minutes with stamps and ink.

InLinkz.com

This Christmas, be Flabbergasted!

Today I am so honored to be a guest in the 12 Days of Home for the Holidays Christmas feature at D's Paper Studio.  The posts have been so wonderful to read and are all about special memories and family traditions for the holiday.  For my post, I shared a story about how we were reminded that there aren't any rules about the magic of Christmas time thanks to a little green skeleton and our sweet little girl Emma.  Be sure to visit Debbie's blog to read the full story.  On my blog here, I thought I would share a bit more about the project featured with the story there.

For a project, I shared a re-make of this project. . .

You might remember this project from the summer.  I made it for a sample for CHA for Tim Holtz.  (You can find the original post and details HERE.)  At the time when I made this project, I knew I would eventually give it a slight make over.  The skeleton reminded me of the skeleton in our family's flabbergasted story.  I really wanted to create a Christmas themed box but since the box was a show sample, I kept it Halloween.  I didn't think many people would get or appreciate a Christmas Skeleton box!

So finally, when Christmas decorations hit the stores, I went shopping for supplies for the Christmas re-do.

I found a fun little LED light up tree that was just the right size for the box.  I found a fun mini snowflakes, a bead garland, and fun mini sting lights for the tree.  I added pre-made mini packages around the tree.  (The tree, snowflakes and garland are from Michaels, the string lights and packages are Jolee's Boutique.)

For the skeleton, I used green Copic markers (YG03 and YG11) to color over the embossing powder finish originally applied to him.  I found a fun Santa outfit that I was able to adjust a bit to fit him.  I draped the bead garland off of the tree and wired it into his hand so that it would look as if he is dressing the tree. 

A glittered Grungepaper die cut spider adorns the corner to keep the box still on the spooky side.

Along the bottom, I die cut a Tattered Banner from manila cardstock.  After coloring it with ink, I stamped out our family's traditional traditional phrase, "Be merry, Be bright, Be flabbergasted".

This Santa Skeleton and his tree make me smile.  It is just a perfectly fun little reminder of such a special story in our family.  I think when the holidays are over, this piece will stay out in my studio and not be packed away with the holiday decor.  I think that the meaning behind it is one that we could use a reminder of year round.

Happiness Project: Home

Today I am sharing a little more details about the Home card from my library drawer Happiness Project.  This section will have cards about things in and around my house and anything about my house that makes it a home and a reflection of our family.  Since I gave the garden and vintage their own sections, this one may be a little more of a challenge since those are two elements of my house that I especially love.  I think it will be a fun challenge to look beyond the garden and the vintage decor to find things about this little yellow bungalow that make me happy.  Maybe I will even look at the bigger picture and think more about what "HOME" itself means to me.  We'll see where the art takes me on this one.

For this card, I used another of the Crafty Secrets Creative Scraps.  This card was already in color with a cluster of Forget-Me-Nots and the word "remembrance".  I didn't want the word to show so I placed my typewritten journaling strip so that it would cover it. 

As with almost all of the other cards, I included a flower and a leaf trinket pin.  I like the unity it brings to all of the cards to have a few similar elements repeat through each card.

Under the journaling card, I placed a strip of lace from Websters Pages.  I love this lace, it is so vintagey looking and the perfect shade of blue.  I dabbed a little Walnut Stain Distress Ink on it with the Ink Applicator Tool to give it a little bit of age.  

I added a few Mini Pins to each end of the lace to make it look as though it was pinned to the card.

The Prima butterflies are really a great item to have in your stash.  They come in colors, but I prefer the white ones because you can easily colorize the paper wings with ink to match any project.  I brushed a bit of Stormy Sky Distress Ink on this one and then brushed the edges with Walnut Stain.

I have a post for Glitz tomorrow (gasp, a LAYOUT!) and then will be back to the Happiness Project day after tomorrow with the family card.  I hope you will stop by again to take a peek!

----------Supplies----------

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Flora, Feather, Aviary
• Crafty Secrets Vintage Photos Double Sided Creative Scraps
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Webster's Pages Scrapbooking Ribbon: Dusty Blue
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Prima Marketing Butterflies: Papillon (inked with Stormy Sky Distress Ink)
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Pins
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Stormy Sky
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

Happiness Project: Art

Today I am sharing more details about the index card for the Art section.  What I envision for this section is little art cards about art things I love, whether it be an image of supplies I love or even just an art page with a technique, favorite stamp, just whatever is artsy that makes me happy.

At the center of this card is one of the Crafty Secrets Creative Scraps.  I think these are so fun!  They are double sided.  On this particular set, one side is a vintage photo and the other is a vintage image from things like trading or calling cards and photographers cabinet cards.  This one had a line drawing of a woman surrounded by cherubs as she sketches. 

To enhance the image, I colored in the details using Copic Markers.  I used very light shades, some of which I applied to my blender to make sure they would be very faint and light.  I added the ink bottle rub-on to make the card look like a vintage trading card and then inked the surface and edges of the card with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I love the way the Distress Ink softened the marker colors and made them look aged.

Like all of the index cards, I added a small phrased typed onto a scrap of patterned paper.  The typewriter I use is a small portable manual typewriter that belonged to my mom from before I was born.  I love that it adds a sentimental and vintage touch to my project. 

Okay, there you have it, the first card!  Be sure to stop back by tomorrow to see another!

----------Supplies----------

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Flora, Magpie, Aviary
• 7gypsies Rubbings: Nomenclature
• Crafty Secrets Vintage Photos Double Sided Creative Scraps (colored with markers)
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

Happiness Project: Favorite Things

Yesterday I shared with you the 7gypsies Library Drawer I made and how I plan to use it in the coming year.  I shared one picture of each of the themed divider cards.  I thought it might be fun to share each one in more detail.  I will share one each day.  There are 12 cards total and with a few other things I have planned for the month, there will be something pretty to come see every day for the rest of the year!

On the post yesterday I included a supply list below the photo of each card.  I am repeating that supply list each day at the bottom of the post to make it easy for you to see what I used each day and so that you don't have to go back to that first post to see it.

First up, the front "cover" card.  Since the project is all about things that make me happy, I used the phrase "These are a few of my favorite things" from the song Favorite Things from The Sound of Music.  I love that song, it just really makes me happy. . . I guess you get the idea.

Each tab has a title using Tiny Alpha stickers by Making Memories.  I added machine stitching along the bottom edge of the letters.  I tend to use a lot of machine stitching because I love sewing.  It was one of the first craft hobbies I had.  I love the texture it adds to a paper project.

This tag cluster is made up of a Jenni Bowlin Journaling Card (yellow), a Creative Scraps Journaling Card by Crafty Secrets and a black rub-on by 7gypsies.  After applying the rub-on, I used Copic Markers to add color to the design to help tie it in with the colored design on the journaling card it is applied to.  I used my Tonic Paper Distresser to rough up the edges and then applied Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  The Distress Ink applied over the Copic Markers looks really cool and vintagey.  It really softens the colors and gives them age.

Every element (except the metal pieces) were edged with Walnut Stain Distress ink.  In the future as I add cards to the sections, I will use that same color for edging to keep a unified appearance to the project.

I like lots of stuff and lots of layers of stuff and tried to really represent that on this first card.  I let it be the bulkiest since it be at the front of the display. 

I used a bit of dyed crinkled seam binding to "tie" the optical glass to the card.

I placed the lens so that the word "favorite" would be in the center of the lens to draw extra emphasis to it.

I used a scrap of pattern paper to type part of my title on.  I used a vintage typewriter that I have in my studio.  I stapled the strip to the journaling cards.  I tried to use some of the same elements on each card like the flower with the leaf trinket pin.  To me, it helps to unify each card as part of a set.

I sanded the edges of the printed chipboard letters so that they would be a little worn and would take ink a little better.  After I placed them on the card, I brushed on Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.  Since the letters are thin and were already on my project, I used a paint brush to dip into the crackle paint and apply it to the letters.  Using a brush smaller than the one that comes in the paint gave me more control over the application.

Okay, there is the first card!  It has a lot going on.  The inside cards are a bit more simple.  I hope you will stop back by tomorrow to see a few more details about the next card!

----------Supplies----------

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Butterfly, Aviary
• 7gypsies Conservatory Chipboard Alphas and Numerals
• 7gypsies Rubbings: Nomenclature (image colored with markers)
• 7gypsies Optical Lens
• 7gypsies Hardware: Gears Gems
• 7gypsies Mini Gypsies Ephemera Cards
• Jenni Bowlin Family Tree Journaling Cards
• Crafty Secrets Vintage Photos Double Sided Creative Scraps
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Prima Marketing Butterflies: Papillon
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Trimmings (colored with Glimmer Mist)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Hotz Distress Crackle Paint: Clear Rock Candy
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

Happiness Project: 7gypsies Library Drawer Project

I recently had the pleasure of being invited to be a guest designer for Blue Moon Scrapbooking.  I have a serious love of all things 7gypsies and think Blue Moon has one of the best 7g selections online.  I guess it won't come as a surprise that when asked what I would like to use for my project I immediately said 7gypsies Conservatory collection.

Because I love to make "stuff" I also decided I wanted to create a project featuring a 7gypsies Library Drawer.  I really love the alterable items from 7gypsies and had really been looking forward to an opportunity to create a special project with one.

The box comes with a set of tabbed divider cards.  Last year I joined in on a One Little Word for the year.  With the new year quickly approaching I have been thinking about what my next word would be.  After a lot of thought, I finally decided it should be happiness.  With that choice I knew that I wanted to create a special project that I could use to document my focus on finding and celebrating happiness in my life.  

I decided that throughout the year I would make little art cards on 4x6 index cards that I could file in my happiness project.  I used the tabbed index cards that were included with the box to create themed sections for my drawer.  The art cards may be fancy, they may be super simple, they may even just have some hand journaling- I think it will just depend on the moment.  The goal will be to look in my life and the world around me and capture the little things that bring me happiness.

The beginning of the happiness project is the Library Drawer which I covered with the text side of the Mesofauna patterned paper.  Tucked in my goody box of supplies were some Wonderfall journaling cards by Websters Pages.  One of them had the phrase "All My Happiness" which was perfect to cut out and add to the top of the drawer pull.  I added Distress Ink (Walnut Stain) and Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint to give it an aged effect.

I decorated each divider card with assorted embellishments to go along the card's theme.  Each card has a small strip of patterned paper with a phrase or quote appropriate to the category.  I used a vintage typewriter that is sentimental to me to create the text.

Below are all of my tabbed index cards along with the supplies included on each one.

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Butterfly, Aviary
• 7gypsies Conservatory Chipboard Alphas and Numerals
• 7gypsies Rubbings: Nomenclature (image colored with markers)
• 7gypsies Optical Lens
• 7gypsies Hardware: Gears Gems
• 7gypsies Mini Gypsies Ephemera Cards
• Jenni Bowlin Family Tree Journaling Cards
• Crafty Secrets Vintage Photos Double Sided Creative Scraps
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Prima Marketing Butterflies: Papillon
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Trimmings (colored with Glimmer Mist)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Hotz Distress Crackle Paint: Clear Rock Candy
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Flora, Magpie, Aviary
• 7gypsies Rubbings: Nomenclature
• Crafty Secrets Vintage Photos Double Sided Creative Scraps (colored with markers)
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Flora, Feather, Aviary
• Crafty Secrets Vintage Photos Double Sided Creative Scraps
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Webster's Pages Scrapbooking Ribbon: Dusty Blue
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Prima Marketing Butterflies: Papillon (inked with Stormy Sky Distress Ink)
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Pins
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Stormy Sky
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Butterfly, Aviary
• Crafty Secrets Vintage Photos Double Sided Creative Scraps (colored with markers)
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Butterfly, Aviary
• 7gypsies Mini Vintage Ephemera Cards
• Jenni Bowlin Family Tree Journaling Cards
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Webster's Pages Scrapbooking Ribbon: Dusty Blue
• Jillibean Soup Pasta Fagioli Corrugated Shapes
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Butterfly, Aviary, Flora
• 7gypsies Rubbings: History (image colored with markers)
• Crafty Secrets Vintage Photos Double Sided Creative Scraps
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Jillibean Soup Pasta Fagioli Corrugated Shapes
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Clips 
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Aviary, Feather
• 7gypsies Mini Vintage Ephemera Cards
• Crafty Secrets Vintage Photos Double Sided Creative Scraps
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Butterfly, Aviary
• 7gypsies Hardware: Gears Gems
• 7gypsies Mini Gypsies Ephemera Cards
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Trimmings (colored with Glimmer Mist)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Clips 
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Butterfly, Aviary
• 7gypsies Mini Gypsies Ephemera Cards
• Jenni Bowlin Family Tree Journaling Cards
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Jillibean Soup Pasta Fagioli Corrugated Shapes
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Trimmings (colored with Glimmer Mist)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Memo Pin
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Clips
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Flora, Aviary
• 7gypsies Mini Gypsies Ephemera Cards
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Jillibean Soup Pasta Fagioli Corrugated Shapes
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Clips
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Feather, Aviary
• Jenni Bowlin Family Tree Journaling Cards
• Crafty Secrets Vintage Photos Double Sided Creative Scraps (colored with markers)
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Jillibean Soup Pasta Fagioli Corrugated Shapes
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments)

 

• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Aviary
• 7gypsies Mini Vintage Ephemera Cards
• Maya Road Vintage Trinket Pins: Green Leaf
• Prima Marketing flowers
• Making Memories Tiny Alpha Stickers
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser
• Therm O Web Mounting Adhesive Sheets (covering the cards with paper)
• Helmar 450 Quick Dry (for all embellishments

• 7gypsies Library Drawer
• 7gypsies Conservatory patterned paper: Mesofauna
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi Medium: Matte
• Webster's Pages Wonderfall Journaling Cards
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain
• Tim Hotz Distress Crackle Paint: Clear Rock Candy

In the upcoming days I will sharing each card again with close up of photos and details about each card.  I hope you will check in each day to see a bit more about the different parts of this project.  I really love it and am excited to share more about it with you!

The Happiness Project: A sneak peek!

I am so excited about a project I am sharing with you all beginning tomorrow that I decided a little sneak peek would be fun today!  There lots of parts to this project that I will be sharing for several days ahead.  I absolutely love the end result and hope that you will be inspired by it and will come by to see all of the different parts to it!

Until tomorrow, a quick sneak peek. . .

A special thanks to Blue Moon Scrapbooking for inviting me to be a guest designer and for giving me an amazing selection of products to play with.  Just wait until you see the whole thing!

Guest Designer: Donna Salazar Designs (part 2)

Yesterday I shared a recipe binder I created using paper by Donna Salazar as a guest designer.  Today I am sharing a shadowbox frame I created with her Grandma's Garden collection.

I really loved the images of fabric textures on the papers and felt totally inspired to create a paper quilt.  I used a quilt template to cut the pieces from the different patterns.

I used flowers and leaves by Prima that I adhered to the outside of the frame.  I die cut two paper flowers from the backside of a piece of Donna's Artisic Papers.  I added machine stitching to the flowers to help tie them into the quilt theme.

It is hard to tell in the photos, but I added batting under each paper piece to help give it dimension and make it look more puffy.  The edge of each piece is also distressed and inked for a more vintage look.

I added strips from the artistic paper on the inside too around the quilt to mimic the binding on the edge of a quilt.

I added the strips to the outside of the frame too.  I really liked the texture of the Artistic Papers, they feel a lot like water color paper and take ink nicely.

Many thanks to Dona for inviting me to create with her collections!  It was great fun to use them!

Guest Designer: Donna Salazar Designs

I had the pleasure of being a guest designer for Donna Salazar this month.  I made two projects using two of her paper collections.

The first project I made was a cookbook with her Kiss the Cook collection.  I found a plain full size chipboard 3-ring binder on clearance at Target recently.  I thought it would make a great cookbook binder for some favorite recipes.

 

Tomorrow I will share a frame I made using Donna's Grandma's Garden collection.

From my studio: Say It With Letters Happy Homes

Recently Deb from Say It with Letters contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in doing a Guest Designer Project with their products.  I said yes of course since I think their products are super fun.  I seem to have a thing for house themed projects so of course asked if I could play with the Happy Homes Collection.
For my project, I decided I wanted to set my houses upright on a base.  I used a wooden sign that I picked up on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  I painted the sides a dark brown and then covered the center portion with green pattern paper.
 I painted the sides and backs of each house and then covered each with different pattern papers.  For the house with the doors and windows, I added window frames and vellum so that I could set a battery powered tea light behind it and get a soft glow through the openings.  I also cut strips of chipboard and gave each little house a roof.
 To adhere each house to the base, I put a line of E600 glue along the bottom of the house and placed it on the board.  I sat something behind each house to keep it setting upright until the glue set, which was fairly quickly.

For the little house in the set, I did a bit of handwriting on the paper that I covered the house with.  I toyed with the idea for several days of what phrase I would use.  As it always does, this phrase came to mind as I was laying in bed.  I had to get up and jot it down because I knew I would never remember it in the morning. To finish out my scene, I added a few small flowers at the base of each house and covered some chipboard trees with paper and used foam strips to adhere them to the houses. (Products: Houses- Say it With Letters; Pattern Paper- BasicGrey Nook & Pantry; Chipboard Trees- Maya Road; Flowers- Making Memories; German Foil Trim- Red Lead)