Ornamental Dylusions Christmas

Howdy Candies…So I’m completely smitten over some gorgeous shares lately & I would say they are just stunning Eye Candy heARTistry!  I’m very certain that you will find them to be too!  Along my journey I decided that I wanted to dibble a bit and combine a plethora of products together to create some ornaments that I’m in a swap for & admittedly I also wanted to join in this months Inspiration Emporiums “Joyful Creations” challenge.  I will say that I’ve officially incurred the “Dylusionsenal Syndrome”…Warning: The voices in my head say there is no cure!   Of course it’s no wonder that I’m experiencing an Ornamental Dylusions Christmas lately. 

Whilst I’m inspired by the lovely shares from the Design Team at IE, I’ve also seen many handmade Christmas Cheer along the way from those I admire deeply & personally follow along in the Blogosphere.  They are more then just Designers but heARTists that truly create to share their love of the crafts as much as I do.  Along my journey this past year they have also become Friends!  I’m so excited to share some of their heARTistry with you in what is dubbed “Blogworthy Eye Candy!”  I’m so thankful to them as their inspiration touched my heART & they are some of the most amazingly generous souls I know.  So Stay TUNED for the end of this post for a list of my Favorite Holiday Creations that inspired a bit of mine.  (To leave a comment, thoughts, suggestions, or feedback - just click the title to this post & scroll to the bottom)

Dylusions Ornament – Configuration Style: (Crushed Grape, Bubblegum Pink, Vibrant Turquoise Dylusions sprays, Tim Holtz – Configurations, Ideo-ology Findings, Tinsel, & Woodland, Claudine Hellmuth – Sticky Back ATC Canvas)

Top: Color Ready Ribbon, Tinsel, Broken knob, & Fabric Glue

Inspiration Emporium “Joyful Creations” Challenge Submission: (Click the Photo to Join the Challenge!")

 

Edited FB Cover “Ornamental Dylusional Christmas”

 

Instead of mass producing Christmas Cards this year I wanted to make one single card for each recipient that is a quality handmade card with a small ornament to hang on their tree from the Candy Studio. I thought it would be a Fantabulous way of using these treats & also play around with various techniques along the way. I’m so excited to share each of them in posts leading up to Christmas, Yay! (Doing the Happy Dance) I will also be including one of my treasures in the give-away from my blog post “One BRAVE Evening” isn’t this just exciting!?!

These were also inspired by our CC101 Continued Journey Challenge this month for “Vintage” and/or “Christmas” creation.  This Christmas Card with “Twinchie” ornaments was created using a multitude of different techniques & products.  I was just playing around with different things I received as gifts from Heidi Swap, Inspiration Emporium, Tim Holtz, StudioL3, Ellen Hutson, & Ribbon Carousel.  First I want to say that I love masking!  It is a FUN technique & the trees are not a stamp.  It is actually a 6x6 cardinal thin chipboard set that I punched the pieces out & used the reverse of the inside to spray Heidi Swaps ‘Chartreuse’ Color Shine.  (Love the glimmer effect, just blingy to me!) I also used Tim Holtz Coordinations Distress paper, Paper Stash “Holiday’s Past” & my FAV Glassine, to cover the “Twinchie” ornaments along with some fragments, findings, & glossy accents.  

 

Christmas Card:

Christmas Card Back:

Christmas Card & Ornament Set #1:

I also found myself playing a bit with backgrounds because I plan on making a few of these gorgeously quick Star ornaments that Dyan Reavely shared a video about that you can do in 5 minutes!  Yes that’s right 5 minutes.  Can you imagine them all over your home?  I mean I can get totally Dylusionally Ornamental & that will be my next post!  (Click The Photo For the Video, It’s pretty Hilarious!)

Reverse Image “I love not having to waste a single drop of ink with my craft sheet!”:

I want to thank each of you for your outpour of support & response in my last posting.  It’s not always easy to put yourself out there but it did free my spirit enough to find my muse & just have FUN creating!  Of course I had quite a bit of inspirational help from some Fantabulously heARTistic Friends along the way….so without further ado…”Blogworthy Eye Candy”:

1.  The Gentlemen Crafter – “The Joyful Jetting Santa”

2.  StudioL3– “Updated Tim Holtz Configurations Holiday House”

3. Annette’s Creative Journey - “The House That Annette Built”

4. Trash To Treasure – “White & Gold Christmas”

5. The Little Shabby Shed – “Dylusions Cuff”

6. Inky Obsessions – “My Favorite Art Journal – Dylusions”

7. Tim Holtz – “12 Tags of 2012 – December”

8. Dylan’s Blog – “Catch Up At The Studio”

Wowza…those are some seriously creative inspiration flowing through these talented hands.  I hope you have some time to take a gander at those who are inspiring me this Holiday Season!  From different uses of Configurations, Canvas, Sticky Back, to Tags, Cards, & Backgrounds…there is plenty of Eye Candy to rave over.  I’m experiencing Holiday Cheer this year & can’t help but spread it about.  Remember to enter the Candy Give-Away for a personal set of these handmade treasures along with the “Wear Your Words” bracelet from the “One BRAVE Evening” post.  Thanks for Stamping By…(To leave a comment, thoughts, suggestions, or feedback - just click the title to this post & scroll to the bottom)

Fall In Love with Kiwi Lane…

Howdy Candies, I’m over the moon excited to bring to you a special new line of ‘tools’ that I honestly have no idea how I’ve lived without!  It’s totally rejuvenated my passion & love for paper-crafting in a whole new way and I’m just smitten as I’ve totally Fallen in Love with Kiwi Lane Designs.  So much sooo that I can officially announce that they personally contacted me to ask if I would share a New Design to highlight on their blog for their Technique Spotlight – “Ideas That Inspire”, how Ah-mazing is this!?!  The wonderful thing is that they are looking to share this with others locally here in the Treasure Valley area and would love to feature New Ideas and techniques with their incredible ‘tool’ and process of “Framing”.  What is “Framing”?  Well I’m going to take you on a journey through the process of “Framing” using their DT’s ‘tool’…so without further ado Photos: (To leave a comment, thoughts, suggestions, or feedback - just click the title to this post & scroll to the bottom)

“Framing” Is a simple 4 Step process: (Click the Photo to Open the Kiwi Lane Design Blog Post for a tutorial on another Design I made for their Spotlight Technique using the Cricut Artiste’ Collection)

Here I took the “Mini Madison Avenue” DT: 3A, 3B & “Tiny Wildflowers” DT: 3T, 6T for Step 1: Visualize the way I wanted my Colonial white die-cut card base to be both inside and then outside.  Step 2: Cut my NEW “Clementine” paper.

Step 3: Replace the DT’s position and adhered my pieces down with adhesive. 

I also wanted to add some stamping from my NEW “Words of Comfort” C1524 My Acrylix CTMH stamp set to the DT “Tiny Wildflower” 3T mini floral B&T.

Step 4: Cherish, I got to embellish with CTMH accessories to create this lovely FRIEND colonial white die-cut card.  (Apart of the “Clementine” WOTG with bonus project) along with other CTMH New product: Burlap ribbon, Canvas letters, Cottage Assortment Fabric Flowers, Opaque Pearls, with Brown & Tan Sparkles.  (I stamped the little flower flourish randomly on the Canvas Alphabet)

Outside of “Friend” 3 1/4” x 8” Colonial White Die-Cut Card:

Inside of “Friend 3 1/4” x 8” Colonial White Die-Cut Card:

Supplies Used in the “Clementine” Friend CTMH Colonial White Die-Cut Card:
G1046 “Clementine” WOTG  / Z1738 Colonial White Die-Cut Cards & Envelopes / Z1753 Sparkles Brown & Tan Assortment  / Z1336 Peal Opaque Adhesive Gems  / Z1760 Burlap Ribbon  / Z1777 Canvas Alphabet / Distressed in Chocolate Exclusive Inks Pad w/ sponge (All pieces). (You can purchase any of the CTMH supplies listed above via my “Shop With Me Badge”)

"Framing” Process: Kiwi Lane Design Templates; “Thoughtful” 3A, 3B “Tiny Brackets” 1T“

“Avonlea” Cricut Artiste Collection ‘Dress Form Card’ Photo Tutorial:

 

Step 4: Cherish (Embellish As Desired) 

 

Supplies Used in the Avonlea Cricut Artiste “Sew In Rare Form” Card & Instructions :

G1045 CTMH Avonlea WOTG Card Kit (Cards, Envelopes, Ribbon, Accents Included) 4 ¼” x 5 ½” A2, Kiwi Lane Design Templates: “Thoughtful” 3A, 3B “Tiny Brackets” 1T / Z1790 Close To My Heart Cricut Artiste Collection Cartridge – Dress Form Base & Overlay, Ranger Glossy Accents – Highlight / Z1336 CTMH Bitty Opaque Pearls / Z2111CTMH Chocolate Exclusive Inks Pad, Z697 Sponge / Z1783 SureCut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer / Tim Holtz / Tonic Scissors / ATG Tape Glider /Glue Dots & Tobow (You can purchase any of the CTMH Item# Supplies listed above via my “Shop With Me Badge”)

“Framing” (Choose your paper, “Frame with DT’s, Cut Dress form 1st)
Outside Card Front:

1. Focal Point:
Cricut Artiste Dress Form: Base & Overlay cut at 5 ½” Adhere Outline to Base

2. Using Glossy Accents add dimension to the chocolate sections of the Dress Form.
(Set aside to allow time to dry)

3. Card Base Front: 4 ¼” x 5 ½” Diamond B&T paper.

4. Front: Juniper Dots B&T, Reversed & Flipped Opposite DT “Thoughtful” 3A, 3B

5. ½” Cut word B&T overlaying ¾” chocolate cardstock

6. Distress all pieces with Chocolate Exclusive Inks or your preferred Distress Ink.

7. Weave the Dress From into the piece from steps 5 & 6 to the ¾” word band strip. Adhere to the Front.

8. Using Bowdabra & the ¼” “Slate” organdy ribbon create 2 loops for the dress.

9. Randomly place CTMH Bitty Opaque Pearls (Embellish Front as Desired)

Inside of Card:

10. “Thoughtful” 3A, 3B overlay one another opposite the outside of card front.

11. Sentiment: Jet Printed on Colonial White Cardstock using Font – Ugly Qua altering the color with RGB values in word pro 2010. “Juniper” RGB: (R-55 G-141 B-110) “Sew In Rare Form” Framed with DT “Tiny Brackets” 1T then cut & Distressed with chocolate exclusive inks. Placed behind the 3A & 3B strips.

12. Using the Step 3: Replace Adhere pieces to inside of the card.

I have loved their flair & passion for paper and just adore each handmade piece of heARTistry they share.  They are armed with years of experience in the industry coupled with incredible Designers and to top it all off they are having their 3rd Birthday this year August 3rd.  You don’t want to miss all the Festivities going on during their 3rd Birthday Bash!!!  To Join in the FUN on their FB Page.  (Just click the “Framing” image to link-up)  I also wanted to extend a huge Thank You to Susan Budge for reaching out to me on behalf of Kiwi Lane Designs and bringing a new tool into my Candy Studio that has sparked a renewed way of integrating the various mediums I already use in a full-circle blessing. Thanks for Stamping By…

Day 8 “Creative Chemistry 101”– Journey & Cricut AP Photo Tutorial

Howdy Candies & My TH CC101 Class-mates…Today we learned some really cool painting techniques.  I used to LOVE painting & wonder how I ever got away from it. I have a few hand-drawn paintings I did with various mediums that I found during a hidden treasures post I did in October (just click the sentence to open in a new tab).  It’s funny because to this day I have yet to paint anything else but I do tend to sketch a bit or rather doodle lol.  Anywho…I have lots of photos to share today because during class there was a question I had in using grunge board or in my case grunge paper & the Cricut with our very own CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge.  I didn’t know quite exactly how to explain what I did & I do know a few CTMH Sisters that just adore Tim Holtz as much as I do…in saying that I ended up promising those on the forum thread that I would post photos of the process in order to help out & of course reference for anyone who loves our CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge that would love to try this with the awesome idea-ology grunge paper.  You can certainly purchase the Cricut AP cartridge from me!  Yep I have a blog badge button just to be able to purchase this incredible die-cut of sorts, just click it to link up.  I will be posting the Tutorial photos after the Technique I did using it…So without further ado Photos: (Side-Note: If you would like to sound off or leave a comment just click the title to this post & scroll down to the bottom)

Technique Collage I created in my PSE9 program to show what I learned with Close-Ups of 3 Different Techniques:

Here are the Tags I did for reference:

Technique #1 – I LOVE LOVE LOVE Canvas & sticky back with craft sheet just rocks!  I have to admit here that I did order the Claudine natural sticky back canvas & going through the box finally as we used it today, unfortunately that did not come for whatever reason! Trust me I spent all morning looking & it just wasn’t in there.  So of course my out of the box thinking decided that I had a package of ATC natural sticky back canvas from Ranger that I used instead...I did have to cut it down & attempted to create a window effect on my tag.  Whatever works is what I say!  

 

Technique #2 – I had a lot of FUN with this technique & of course I just opened up a brand new Distress Crackle Paint “Broken China” (love that color) & whatcha know…it was dry & mudd to say the least.  That is not usually how it is & certainly Ranger stands behind their products.  I just happen to be a very impatient person & used water to get the best I could out of it…of course I had to do a couple times & applied to 2 different tags, then it was sit & wait to see what it did.  I personally LOVE the way they turned out even with a bitty of technical issues with the medium…Thoughts?

 

Technique #3 – This was really neat!  I love glass effect & I didn’t put enough layering of the “Rock Candy” to make it more cracked but I sure LOVE the way the shapes turned out.  This is where I used my Cricut AP cartridge.  Since I don’t have grunge board shapes etc. I used the next best thing which is grunge paper & created my very own. 

 

Alternate Shapes I could of used on the tag:

So now that you’ve seen the creations I did in Day 8…as promised here is a photo tutorial of sorts demonstrating what I did using my Cricut Expressions Anniversary Edition aka E2.  This is my very first photo tutorial of sorts so I sure hope it helps.  That’s why I highly encourage comments & feedback from my fellow Class-Mates, CTMH Sisters, & Customers to help me do better in the future, so Thank YOU!

Supplies: Cricut, Cricut AP cartridge, Tim Holtz grunge paper, Cutting Mat, & AP book for reference of the shape.

In an E2 once the cartridge is loaded all you have to do is click on the shift/lock key to see the flourish which is 2 rows to the right & 2nd image down.  I did the hearts too which is 2 rows from the left bottom image.

After that I clicked on the image itself (it will show up in the white bar in the photo you see above), it then opened up a window for me to size.

This part is pretty self-explanatory as to what I did & the size I used too…

Now the cutting part…This is my first experience using this material & I have to say I LOVE the smell of it…kinda like leather in a way.  I know many people use various settings when cutting I personally used these settings to make sure I got a good quality cut.  I made sure my cutting blade knob housing was set at 6 on the inside of the machine.  Then of course the other measurements are in the photo.

The rest is uhm…history as they say…

I hope you enjoyed Day 8…only 2 more days left to go & then it’s off to get a few things done in the office that desperately need my attention after all April 16th is coming up pretty fast & that’s my Anniversary.  Plus at the end of my CC101 online class journey I have a HUGE Blog Candy to post.  Stay Tuned & Thanks for Stamping By…