If You Like It, Then You Better Make a Ring Out Of It!

Aah vacation. As it draws to a close, it's just now getting to the point where I can do some fun stuff. 

The first three days I spent shoveling out my craftastrophe. What's funny is it doesn't really look that different. But I spent most of the time on the closet. I threw away three huge garbage bags full of old class notes from conventions past, some old cards that were ugly and I was never going to mail to anyone, and a whole lot of random scraps of things or half finished projects that weren't worth starting. 

After I got rid of the trash, I had a lot of stuff that was brand new or gently used that needed to go. I boxed these up in flat rate boxes (35 pounds across three boxes!) and mailed them off to friends. That felt good. 

I did so much of this that I'm actually sore from squatting in front of shelves peering at ill advised purchases from bygone years. I have lots more to go but it's a start! 

My goal for 2012 is to have exactly HALF of the possessions I have now. I only want to keep things I really love and use. The rest should go to people whole will love what I'm not using. 

I've also decided if I win the lottery I will build a large, one-story home with NO closets, NO drawers and NO attic. Everything will have to live in the space it's used in, so things will have to be useful and artfully displayed. So put THAT in your hat and smoke it. 

So today was the first day I've gotten to the point where I could be crafty. And it was SO fun!!

I used a tutorial I saw earlier in the year to make fake faceted jewels from floral stones!!

LOOK how sparkly and fun they are!! Here's the white one. 

SQUEE!!!

And you KNOW I did a blue one!!!

Don't they just make you happy????

Okay - here's what you do. I started with this fried marbles tutorial on Craftster. However, I tried it with her temperatures three times and it didn't work. So after a lot of failed experimentation, this is what I did.

• Start with these flat bottomed marbles. 
• Preheat your oven to 500.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 
• Fill a stainless steel bowl with ice water - lots of ice.
• Spread stones out on parchment paper in a single layer. 
• Bake for 20 minutes, and when finished, take the cookie sheet and dump the marbles directly and immediately into the ice water, where they will make a satisfying sizzle and crack. Leave them there about 15-20 minutes and dump them out onto a paper towel. 

Some will crack better than others. They are SO fun!! I made a squillion of them. 

Then, take some of this glue and glue them to these ring blanks. 

VOILA!! Ring bling!! 

How fun is THAT?

And for a few Christmas gifts, I bought these stacking espresso cups and some candle making supplies - a little hot pot (nice because it's easy to pour the wax out of), wicks and some unscented wax and I filled the cups with wax. When they were cool, I added a circle of stamped tissue paper and heated it with my heat gun to melt it into the candle. The stamp is the retired background stamp - Musical score. Aren't they sassy?

Now after I gave them away I was left with the holder the cups came in:

What ever shall I do with it? Got any ideas? Lay em on me, stringbean!! :)

Loveyameanitbye.

People, Places and Things are all Great. Study Them.

It's the end of a long, fun-filled crafty weekend. Saturday I had my monthly stamp class, and then headed to lunch and the Renegade Craft Fair with Dana, Libby, Lisa, Kim and Christy. I LOVE this craft fair - it's my favorite because it's so unique. Even the dogs are unique.

Yes, his tongue hangs out all the time. And according to his owner, he's a biter. He's clearly not a dog, but an Ewok.

One of the very first booths we went to had us laughing so hard that my sides still hurt. It was a husband and wife team called the Mincing Mockingbird and the Frantic Meerkat. The husband, Matt Adrian, does these incredible bird paintings and then his wife puts these hilarious captions on them. Like this...

Aahahaha - that cracks me up.

Then we saw this bacon and egg scarf by Twinkie Chan.

Right near the front, I spotted these gorgeous painted belts by Love Jules Leather.

There were some super fun pre-zombied windows you could buy from FreshstART windows..

And of course, there was moustache soap from my sweet friend at Nepenthe's Bathtime.

Some of my other favorites were:

• Paul Friedrich
• Quirky Creatures Cards
• BDJ Craft works (My sis bought a beautiful vase here)
• The Bocket Store
• Ecceprints (I bought some fun stickers and ephemera here)
• The Funky Skunk
• Glass Cathedrals

And then, there are my friends at Public School. I love everything these guys do. When there were barely even Ipads at the last Renegade, they had the credit card payment thing set up on an Ipad in their booth. Their work is graphic, and sweet and innocent and fun. I love their posters. They have a practical optimism about them.

I saw this last one at the end of the day, and it kind of summed up the whole afternoon...

So true. A day filled with great people, places and things ended perfectly.

I was too tired to stamp more VSN challenges when I got home, so I did this one this morning with some goodies from the show. Just little stickers that I added bling to for the CAS-ual Friday's bling challenge and the VSN bling challenge. I framed my little Eiffel Tower sticker with rhinestones and let the stickers and the ribbon do the rest.

Speaking of rest... :) Have a good night.

 

The Fiskateers are Coming!

Actually - they already came!

The lovely and talented Lead Fiskateer Angela Daniels graced our fair city with her lovely presence, and organized a crafty night at Memory Depot that was a BLAST! Here she is with LaRee, the owner of Memory Depot, and yes, that's Austin's own Naughty Secretary (Jennifer Perkins) - an incredibly sweet and fun gal. She even brought us presents, including my new fave crafty tool - the Fiskars hand drill! WE DRILLED LEGOS AND STUFF - I AM NOT KIDDING! So nice to have a very powerful little drill that you don't have to plug in - what brilliance! I was shocked at how well this thing worked. It worked so well that I quickly drilled right through the cutting board I was using. Oops :)

Anyway, my sister made the most adorable little Lego robot! Look at this guy! Squee! His little eyes were drilled with our drills and that's how we put everything together too. So fun.

Then she turned him into a necklace, thanks to the bead-y generosity of a sweet visitor from San Antonio - Carrie Bond.
Angela also taught us how to say "Fiskars" - I promise, you're doing it wrong, just like we're all doing "Copic" wrong. It's fisCARS, not fisKERS. It's super cute. And, in case you're like most people, you are probably saying CAH-pic, when you should be saying COH-pic.

Whew! Now we're all as smart as we are pretty! Heh.

If a Fiskateer comes to your LSS, go to their events - they are great, fun girls with tons of talent and crafty knowledge! I learned a ton and met some awesome local crafty peeps.

See ya tomorrow! :)


Have you signed up for the UBlue Cyber Club? Attended one of my Webinars?? Come on - get your geek on! :)

Want to see my other blog?

Like you Need an Incentive...

To buy a stamp... That is complete crazy talk. I went to JoAnn's yesterday to buy one little teeny canvas and came out with two bags so heavy I think I pulled a muscle. What the heck? Crafting is so easy and fun.

Last night I played with canvases and paper and my favorite new gel medium - Liquitex. I was making an art project I can't show you yet, and I am absolutely covered with gel medium. This new kind I got is much thicker than the last kind I tried and there was NO buckling of my paper while I was collaging. So if you like to collage, try the Liquitex Matte Medium.

And after you're all sticky and covered with tiny pieces of paper, maybe you just want to make something simple and CLEAN.

I don't think any of you are paying attention to me when I talk about the incentive stamps from Stampin' Up! I'm fairly certain you ignored me on this post. Don't make me hold your face when I tell you things!!

These images are demo-only stamps we can use as incentives - again, unnecessary :) - for customers. If you are a customer, I would advise showering your demonstrator with compliments and gifts (especially if she is me) in order to acquire one of these stamps, like, for example, this lovely little tree AND greeting from the Delightful Designs set.

Stamps: Delightful Designs Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Crushed Curry
Ink: Basic Black Accessories: Punches, Ribbon
All supplies Stampin' Up!

Now if this clean little ditty isn't the complete opposite of being covered with glue in the middle of the disaster area formerly known as your studio I don't know what is!!

Enjoy your day. :)

Have you signed up for the UBlue Cyber Club? Attended one of my Webinars?? Come on - get your geek on! :)

Want to see my other blog?

I Suck at Gold Leaf

Or do I??

Well I did. I saw this beautiful post in my reader one day and felt it was a must-do craft.

At which point I discovered I'm not nearly as talented as fellow Texan Claire Chauvin. Her beautiful hand cut trees just stopped my heart.

I tried to recreate them by handpainting a tree with the gold leaf adhesive, but it's really runny and not suitable for precision. And I don't have Claire's patience so I tried to see what was within 18 inches of me (lazy) that I could use. And lo and behold - I was rewarded for my incompetence with my Martha Stewart punches! I also happened to have a few scraps of the sheet version of sticky strip. So first, I punched some shapes from a horrible card failure that was laying, well, within 18 inches. Another great reason never to clean your desk.

Then I traced them onto the backing sheet of the sticky paper and cut them out.

I peeled off one side and stuck the shapes to my river rocks (@ Michael's in the floral dept if you are interested). Then I carefully applied the gold leaf sheets, and used a soft paintbrush to clean up the edges. I was floored at how easy and pretty it was.
I took these photos prior to sealing them with the sealer that came with the gold leaf kit because I just knew it would ruin them. It did not. :) Now they look just the same except the rocks are a little shinier. What a fun little desk decoration. For smaller rocks, they would make beautiful magnets!

I'm tickled and grateful to Ms. Claire!

Now, let's talk about bad cats. This morning I walked a crooked little walk (avoiding pillbugs- it's pillbug season) on a grey day full of fun sights, and got back and was ready to craft up a storm. So, as is my custom, I turned on the space heater under my stamping desk (I told you I'm always cold, plus the AC is on 70!) and what happens?? Bad cat jacks my chair!! IMMEDIATELY. It's right by the heater and the two of us race each other to get there.

Karma punished her with a big piece of gold leaf in her fur. So there Maddie - you look stupid with gold leaf in your fur. My feet are cold. Actually, the leaf is kind of glammy. *Sigh*. Looking for socks...
Head over to Project Reanimate for the latest creation!

Have you signed up for the UBlue Cyber Club? Attended one of my Webinars?? Come on - get your geek on! :)

Want to see my other blog?

Madagascar Circus Cat Performing Live Nightly

But first - my sister's handmade gift this Christmas. It's a felted sweater beer coozie. She bought wool sweaters from Goodwill and felted them - washing them hot, and shrinking them down to leprechaun size, and then cutting the sleeves to make the perfect drink sleeves. They are AWESOME. And she rightfully points out on this one - It is also fuzzy. Doesn't get better than that.


Then, some scenes from the show playing nightly in my living room with the Madagascar Bat.

She works for Cheetos.

Check out these moves. Hard to tell in the photo, but she's FEET off the ground. Trying to catch her pom pom mommy that she loves so much.




I feel so good about myself today. I went from 1200 emails in my inbox to 23! I categorized, deleted and archived the heck out of myself.

Same with my reader - 112 I have been saving turned into just 4 that I want to make for club etc this week.

Three very exciting announcements coming up I can't WAIT to tell you about!!!

I won't even give you a hint.

Well yes I will.

I have a second blog debuting on January 1st. I think you will really like the theme!!

So just a few days till you find out!!

Then, partly because of that, a very exciting win for yours truly that.. well, you'll have to wait.

THEN - a stamping promotion!! (not a sale, a promotion for me!)

But that is enough hints for now. You just sit tight.