Day 111: Awesome Praying Mantis Notecard

the title of this post made me laugh.  :)

it literally is an awesome postcard.  see... it has the word awesome on it.



all the stamps used are from the making memories Just Chillin' clear stamp set No. 31843.   it's definitely a stamp set for guys.  i love it!   hahahah...
the cardstock is a plain white.  the ink blots are stamped in ColorBox pigment Lime and the praying mantis and "awesome" are stamped in Stampin' Pad Old Olive.  i also distressed the card using the old olive too. 

i like the green camoflage look.  what do you think?

Day 110: "Who Are You?" Wonderland Caterpillar Postcard

i recently joined the Swap-bot swap, "Whats Your Favorite Quote ... Postcard" in the Down the Rabbit Hole group.  we're supposed to make and send 3 postcards featuring our favorite Alice in Wonderland quotes.  it was a good excuse for me to buy a new stamp set from Stampington!  actually i bought 3 sets.  (yah, i've been working a bit of overtime so i'm treating myself to new goodies)  haha.



the quote is from the Wonderland Silhouettes Stamps set by TJ Designs.
the caterpillar is from the Down The Rabbit Hole Stamp Set also by TJ Designs.
the larger shadowy mushroom stamp used for the background is a random rubber stamp i got off Ebay.
the smaller black mushrooms are for the My Little Shoe Box Summer Collection 2010 - Green Clear Stamp set (item # 10061). 

i stamped the shadow mushrooms in brown on green cardstock.  rubbed the brown on the edges of the green and the cream colored card stocks.  the other images are all stamped in black.  i found a random piece of orange tissue in my scrap bag, so that added a bit more color and texture.  i added some blue using my water brush pen and the blue ink pad to color Alice's dress and the caterpillar.  to make sure the postcard arrived intact, i used black glitter brads to enforce and embellish the caterpillar image cream cardstock.  then the green cardstock was reenforced with orange eyelets to keep it attached to the plain white backing.

not bad.  now i have to make 2 more.  but maybe i'll use a different quote and do the others with Alice.

Day 109: You're Special Dragonfly Silhouette Notecard

using the scrap piece of paper that i used to punch the dragonflies out of for yesterday's notecard, i created another card. i just added some stickers i had in my stash to give it more character.



not bad...

what else can i make from scraps?

Day 108: Mon Ami Dragonfly Notecard

i got my Stampington Company online order today in the mail!  yay!  so i started flipping through the "take ten" magazine for some crafty inspiration. 

i found this card that i love.  the simplicity is perfect! 



i don't have a butterfly paper punch or a nice scripted "beautiful" stamp, so i adapted.

here's my version using my dragonfly paper punch and "mon ami" stamp.



i've found that the key to adhereing the dragonflies is to use the Sakura Quickie Glue Pen. the pen is so gentle it can add glue to every part of the punch including those tiny legs. gluesticks just mash the whole punch up and when i tried brushing with liquid glue or mod podge, it got all over the place. i found the pen to be the cleanest.

the sentiment is simply stamped in black ink.

i think i'll make more of these pretties using different punches and stamps.

happy spring!

Day 107: Artify'd snail

Took a fun picture of a snail during my morning walk with my dog. Used my iPhone's Artify app to turn it into an impressionalist painting. So fancy!

Day 106: SketchBook Black-spotted butterfly

Drew a little spotted butterfly on my iPhone today. I still can't get over how sensitive the screen is, yet I still have a hard time making the paints and pencils go where I want. I guess it's not so different from real drawing. I'm not very good at that either. Haha...



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 105: Random Butterfly Journal page

I'm trying to complete a few pages for a friend's "Happy Journal" and I thought since it's spring that butterflies would be fun. I used a few stickers and rubber stamps to randomly cover the page.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 104: Colorful Ladybug Bracelet

i found this nice assortment of pretty glass ladybug beads in my stash that i think i received from a Swap-bot swap.  they are ladybugs in all colors so i thought it would be nice to match them with plain clear glass leaf beads and make a bracelet.  what do you think?


the beads are strung on 1 mm clear stretchy cord.  i tied a knot at the end and squished it with a pretty silver crimp bead cover (to keep the knot from unraveling).  i realized that i put two leaf beads together at the connection, so i hung a simple silver ladybug charm in between.  i think it's pretty cute.  i think i'll wear it out tomorrow.

Day 103: Pastel Spring Butterfly Notecard

i received a bunch of spring themed goodies in Swap-bot swaps recently, so i thought it would be nice to use these since it is spring.  Easter is this Sunday, too.  yay!  i should make pretty Easter cards to send out... tomorrow.  wow, i'm late.

anyway, back to my buggy craft.  i used a butterfly paper punch to make a notecard i'm sending an ATC in. 
i ran the pink butterfly through my Xyron sticker maker machine and attached it to the card that i had already stuck a big spring sticker to.  some of the sticky from the sticker machine left some sticky goo in the details of the butterfly, so i sprinkled on some fine pink glitter to add a bit of sparkle.



clean and simple.  nice.

Day 102: Dragonfly Sticker Flat Notecard

i needed a card to fit into the standard business mailing envelope (about 3.5 x 6 inches), so i cut a piece of pretty pink cardstock that i'm repurposing from a notecard i received, and attached it to some natural cardstock. i added a few pretty dragonfly and flower stickers, and just like that... i'm done. :)



not very complicated, but it's flat and it will mail well. and i think it's very pretty.

Day 101: Ladybug Leaf Tags

a simple rubber stamp and paper punch craft today.  took out a rubber stamp i got free from Terbear Collectibles on Etsy.  i bought a bunch of stamps from her and she threw in this cute ladybug on a leaf stamp.  how sweet!

so i punched out my paster cardstock with the Stampin' Up Decorative Label punch, punched a small hole in the middle of the long side of the tag to attach the twine, and stamped the ladybug image in the corner using the Rich Razzleberry Stampin' pad.

Day 100: Secret Garden Butterfly Bookmarks

i love "the secret garden" book.  the first time i tried to read "the secret garden" was for a book report in third grade.  i liked the book, but it was too long for me to finish in the time frame given.  i ended up writing the report without finishing the book, so i didn't get a very good grade (as you would expect).  then i had to start the next book, so i could get a better grade on my next book report.  so, i never finished "the secret garden."

finally, a few months ago, i got a new iPhone that has the Kindle app.  i downloaded "the secret garden" for free from Amazon and read it in a couple of weeks.  i'm so glad i got to finish the book after over 20 years! :)  it's a wonderful book full of forgiveness, hope, and love.  if you haven't read it, i highly recommend it.

while i was reading the book, i came across a swap in one of my Swap-bot groups with a secret garden theme, so i just had to join!  basically, we make a seed packet for each of our three partners, write a note about our relationship with the book, and enclose a small flat gift.

i made these little bookmarks for the Swap-bot swap, "A Bit of Earth – Secret Garden seed packets" in The Hundred Acre Woods group. 



these are the seed packets i made and sent too. the paper was so pretty, i didn't want to add anything to make it tacky.



they're so springy! i love it!

Day 99: Origami grasshopper

During my visit to Lancaster for the Poppy Festival, we walked around in a poppy field taking pictures. I met quite a few little creepy critters, including a bunch of grasshoppers! So, here's my tribute to them.




It's another origami creature from the Origami Craft Pad. I altered the folds to my liking so it didn't look like what was in the book. I like my antennae better. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 98: Beautiful Butterfly Journal

Created a new cover for my journal for the Swap-bot "Round Robin Journal Swap." I used my new Papertrey Ink doily rubber-stamps with their chamomile tea dye ink pad on their rustic cream cardstock paper. Added a couple of Pink Paislee butterfly rubber-stamp images to fill in the page, then used a butterfly rub-on I've been holding on to for a while. The "beautiful" vellum sentiment is from the immortal love paper set I got from Joanns. I used my Xyron sticker maker to adhere the vellum. I attached the whole cardstock cover using eyelets on the four corners.



The back cover is slightly different: clear swirl rubber-stamps and a smaller butterfly rub-on.



Now I just have to write a welcome message and send it off!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 97: Rubber Stamped Dragonfly Postcard

I had some of the Stampin' Up Bug Builder rubber stamps out so i pulled out the dragonfly pieces and inked them with Stampin' pad rich razzleberry and tempting turquoise on light blue cardstock to create this postcard. I also had a tiny dragonfly rubber stamp (made by All Night Media) so I added more little bugs!



I'm sending this postcard to someone that got "flaked" on by her partner in 2008 for the "ABCs of HMPC - D swap" on Swap-bot.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 96: Rubber stamped Ladybug Postcard

What's black and white and red all over?! A ladybug postcard! I used some of the Stampin' Up Bug Builder rubber stamps with red and black ink on white cardstock to create this postcard. I also had a tiny ladybug rubber stamp (made by All Night Media) so I added more ladybugs!



I'm sending this card to my partner for the "April Showers of Mail" swap on Swap-bot. I hope she likes it!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 95: SketchBook Ladybug

A really long and busy day at work always results in a not so creative night. Here's my attempt at a SketchBook iPhone app ladybug.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 94: SketchBook Nematodes

Don't know what made me think of nematodes today, but I was compelled to draw them. Of course they're microscopic parasitic worms so these drawings are not life-sized. Nematodes are everywhere, and are parasites of practically everything, both plant and animal. They have been found living in snail and slug slime... And burrow into skin... And up into human brains. Eeeewwwww....





To make you feel better, those brain parasites are not native to the United States, but I wouldn't recommend touching any slugs or snails anyway because they themselves are poisonous.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 93: Rubber Stamped Butterfly Mini Notebook

time to use the new clear stamps i got a few weeks ago!



i tried to emboss them on a mini purple writersblok notebook using the versamark stamp pad as the adhesive, but i didn't line up one of the stamps nicely, so i just brushed off the embossing powder and re-stamped over the dried versamark with the white chalk stamp pad. it created a fun shadow effect.



the notebook is included the Swap-bot swap, "It happened in the garden" in the Cotton Candy & Glitter group


the entire package includes:
a postcard
sticker embellishments
handmade paper flower embellishments
handmade cherry blossom magnets
flower notecard
vintage purple flower
bee and ant toys
altered rubber stamped butterfly mini notebook
pink vine ribbon

Day 92: sketchbook potato bug

I don't think I made it round enough, but here's my bug sketch for today.




It's supposed to be a potato bug or pill bug. I see at least one on every day when i take my dog out for her walk. Cute little guys crossing the sidewalk.

Day 91: SketchMee grasshopper

Using my iphone SketchMee app and a photo of a grasshopper I took a couple of months ago, I created a fun sketch.

It's been a long day and I'm too tired to draw something myself. :p


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 90: Pretty Pink Butterfly Box

created April 4, 2011

so i didn't make the butterfly, but it added such a wonderful touch to a box i was altering for the Swap-bot swap, "It's Pink, It's Pretty and It's for You!"
. the box wouldn't have been the as pretty without the butterfly.



oh, and it's SO PINK! it hurts! hahahah... i really don't like pink (or so i keep telling myself), but this box turned out really nice. i had a hard time parting with it.

i painted the plain cardboard box with acrylic pink paint.
then i added the fun pink pompom trim around the lid.
finally, i hot-glued the silk flowers, leaves, and butterfly to the top.

not very complicated, but it took a bit of time to get it all right.

then i filled it with other pink goodies:


including the Swarovski Butterfly-Love Charm and Pink Origami Butterfly i made a couple of days ago.

Day 89: Swarovski Crystal butterfly zipperpull

Added a little Swarovski butterfly bead to my pouch's tiny little zipper. Makes it so much easier to open and close now!











- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 88: Swarovski Butterfly-Love Charm

another late post for Friday, April 1.

made this little pretty pink charm for the Swap-bot swap, "It's Pink, It's Pretty and It's for You!" in the Cotton Candy and Glitter group.



instead of using wire to string the crystal beads, i used fishing line (clear 6-pound test thread). i thought it would be nicer and not take the shine away from the crystals as much as the silver wire does.

i made this little charm and will probably attach it to a cellphone charm cord. what do you think?

Day 87: Pink Origami Butterfly

Late post... craft done on Thursday.

It's Thursday after work and i'm tired. it was a long hot day outside working in the field, and i'm too pooped to really do something complicated.

i decided to do a quick but pretty today.


it's an origami butterfly!



i'm sending this to my partner for the Swap-bot swap, "It's Pink, It's Pretty and It's for You!" in the Cotton Candy and Glitter group.