April Technique Class Preview

Our April Technique Class is stamping on candles. We will be taking a regular wax candle and turning it into a beautiful gift. Our class will be held on April 14 at 6:00 PM, email me to RSVP.








I will post a tutorial following our class.

We will also be making a complimentary gift card. These candles will be great for Mother's Day, Easter or any occasion.

You'll also get to see how decor elements can be used to liven up an old lamp.

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

A Little Interior Decorating

We've recently been changing the look of our living room. We inherited a china cabinet built by my husband's grandfather so I decided to use our old cabinet (also built by Grandpa Frank) for all the decorative items recently orphaned in the flat screen TV upgrade that made our entertainment center obsolete. All the rearranging and new items prompted me to start looking through the Definitely Decorative catalog where I found something to dress up our old cabinet.

I selected the chocolate Flourishes and applied them to the glass doors of the cabinet.



I followed the directions that came with the decor elements, applying the flourishes in the corners. I did not use the little flowers- I'm sure they will find a home on another project.











I also purchased the White Flourishes to liven up an old lamp that has seen better days. I figure with a new shade and some flourish, it will be like having a brand new lamp. I'll be demonstrating this project as part of my next workshop on April 14.



Is there hope for this lamp? Come to my April 14 workshop to see!

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

Friends Forever Canvas

I'm taking a few days off from work and finally getting around to some planned projects.  This is one that I had planned for Tessa.  If you've ever read my blog, you know that Tessa loves cats, especially her cat, Zoe B.  So, months ago, I ordered the Little Sister and Cat All in the Family Decor Elements along with the small Friends Are Forever Decor Element.  Since the All in the Family Decor Elements come only in white, I couldn't just add it to her plain white bedroom walls so we picked up a Artist Canvas Board from the local craft store.  I used an 8 x 8 inch board.

I began by sponging Daffodil Delight all over my board, followed by Peach Parfait and then Pumpkin Pie on the very outer edges and sides.  I used regular ink because that is what I had but I think craft would likely work better as my ink had a tendency to wipe off the canvas.  I heat set with my embossing gun and then sprayed a layer of dull coat finish over the canvas.  Then, I just followed the directions with the Decor Elements to apply my images. 

The white didn't contrast quite as much with the Daffodill Delight center and I couldn't see the eyes as well as I wanted so I added a bit of Stampin' Write marker to accent the eyes on both the girl and cat.  I also used my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker to add their names.  I then applied a final coat of the dull coat just to be sure everything was protected. 

I like the way it turned out, but I might try craft ink or paint next time. 

I hope to have some more projects up this week.  My spring break doesn't come with the promise of sunny weather and since I'll be inside, I might as well stamp!

God Bless and Happy Stampin!
Charity

Li-Bot's 5th Botday!

Liam celebrated his 5th birthday in March with a fun robot party! Whenever we planned, we had to use a robot voice and call him LI-BOT 5. Of course, I had to get the Lots of Bots and Best Bots Forever stamp sets for use with all our party projects. And, his favorite color is red so we kept lots if Real Red and Red Glimmer paper on hand.

First, the invitations- a great shaker card with 5 hex nuts in each card. This invitation was inspired by several I saw in the Splitcoast Stampers SU galleries.



The trick to shaker cards is to make a mini shadow box. Stamp your image onto your card-stock (I used Whisper White and colored the image with Blender Pens and Stampin' Write Markers). Liam wanted his robot to look like Wall-E so we used the wheels for feet. Once your image is stamped, frame the outside edge of your card-stock with dimensionals. This is like a shadow box. The outside frame part works best because it is connected and you won't have to worry about gaps. Depending on the height of the item you use for the shaker, you may need two thicknesses of foam. Add your item inside the foam frame, peel the protective paper from your dimensionals and add a piece of clear window sheet to the top. Now you have a fully enclosed shadow box. I added a frame cut from Real Red to the top. The frame had nuts and bolts stamped around it and I stapled a bit old VHS video tape film to one corner. Good use of an old tape I had laying around.

I used Tasteful Trim to cut rick rack from the glimmer paper. I also punched lots and lots of gears from Basic Black using the Cogs punch. I also used a computer style font to print several 5's in Real Red, punched them with a 1/2 inch circle punch and attached to the center of the cogs. I added some of the computer language stamps as well. Everything was attached to Brushed Silver card stock.

On the reverse side, I printed the party details onto Very Vanilla card stock and added an additional birthday bot.




Now for the party favors which were a CASE of a project that (Cristena Bagne did. I adapted it for my needs and made a tri-fold party favor/activity booklet. I used a 12x6 sheet of card stock, scored at 4 and 8 inches. I used the nuts and bolts stamp to create a background image. I put the birthday bot in the front along with the sentiment which was punched using the modern label punch. I used my cog punch for embellishments and the closure for the tri-fold is a Build A Brad with another computer font 5. I used stretchy cord as the "latch."




On the inside, I used the Top Note punch to create a game board. Then, using Best Bots Forever, I made game pieces of the heads, bodies, and feet. There were two types of each and five of each type. Each game piece had a piece of Velcro on the back. This allows them to play Tic Tac Toe or Build a Bot. I used a resealable baggie to hold the game pieces.








When the tri-fold is completely open, you can see the coloring/activity pages I downloaded online as well as either flash cards or note cards. For the flash cards, I used My Digital Studio to print the number tags from Hoppy Birthday Designer Kit.








Now for food and decorations. I saved several boxes, empty soda bottles, and cans. I painted the boxes with silver spray paint. I cut two holes in the bottom for the legs. I filled the empty soda bottles with colored water and put the boxes onto the bottles. I cut a hole in top for the neck which was a can. Then I just hit glued the head on. For the eyes, I used Real Red rectangles or circles I punched. Mouths were either drawn or added using bits of scrap glimmer paper. The control panels were made from Love Impressions Specialty Designer Series Paper and extra cogs. I also downloaded a free image of gauges to print for each one. Arms and antennae were made using glitter pipe cleaners and styrofoam balls painted with silver spray paint. Last, I added party hats and horns.















Now for food and cake. I got some of my food ideas from Birthday Party Ideas. We gave the foods a robot themed name and I made signs using Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper.


















And no robot party is complete without a fabulous robot cake:







For activities, the kids made robots using spray painted toilet paper tubes and they planted little seeds so they could have a plant like Wall-E. They also played pin the battery on Fender (from the movie Robots).




We also watched Wall-E.

Overall, a great party! LI-BOT gave it 2 thumbs up!

God Bless and Happy Stampin'
Charity

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