Sustainable Summer!

I entered this card in the Cards Magazine cover contest - it's made from the pages of Cards Magazine - it's like a meta-card!

Alas, I did not win, however, they were kind enough to feature me on the blog today! They have incredible photography and projects over here.. It's like getting their magazine every day. Check it out by clicking the link above or the picture.

Craft magazines have such beautiful pages - use them for something fun!

PS - I twittered a special offer today... check it out!

Bunny Week...

Is pretty much the best week ever!!!

I made this little fella for Bunny Thursday.

He's reanimating the pages of the last Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

I punched him out and then punched his pink ears from a cool pink ad from the same issue.

I made the grass just by hand cutting a strip of Kiwi Kiss paper. The ribbon is Stampin' Up!

The polka dots on the pink background are made with the eraser of a mechanical pencil. When they're new they are such perfect circles. Just pat them on your ink pad like a stamp and stamp them! I used basic grey ink. The greeting is from A good egg!

Happy bunny Thursday!!

счастливая пасха!

I studied Slavic Linguistics in grad school, and Russian Literature in undergrad - yes, including Old Church Slavonic - and loved the icons, so I thought I'd make an Easter icon out of Stewie... If you've never seen a traditional icon, this is what they look like. They are mysterious and sad, like Stewie. They are also brightly colored, which I adore.This is what they look like in the Doodle Factory.

I used Russian text I printed from my computer (reanimated from my Christmas card) on the right and sponged it with red ink. The blue paper is Basic Grey Marrakech. I hand cut the cross and decorated it with a silver Pentel. I wrote theRussian word for Easter on the horizontal strip.
I traced a circle from a piece I punched with a black felt tip marker and then filled it in with gold Pentel for his halo. I colored the torn edge with a gold Pentel and mounted it on brushed gold cardstock.

счастливая пасха!!!

Sometimes, you gotta make lemonade...

Bills.I hate em.

I hate all the trash they generate even more than I hate sending my money away.

So I fixed it. with the help of Lisa Vollrath.

See what you think.

First.... Steaming letters open is for housewives of the 50's. Take one of the envelopes from your bills and use your heat gun to release the glue. Be sure and remove the plastic window first though. Don't ask me how I know things. I just do. :)


All opened up, nice. Use the open version to trace onto cardstock and use as a permanent bookmark template. After tracing, reseal.

Next, measure 3" from the corner on each side for your cut marks.
Use a ruler to draw a line and cut.

Now you have your bookmark, and you just need to decorate it!

For the first one, I took the Amex envy and painted it with Golden's Micaceous Iron Oxide which is a gorgeous grey with sparkles. I'm sure there's a technical term for it. I don't know it.
Paint it over the envelope. I liked the stripe on this one because it showed through and became part of the design.
On top of this, I painted Tempting Turquoise Craft Ink.
Then I attached an old postage stamp - orange for a pop of color. I used Golden Gel medium to attach it, and to paint over the whole thing to make it a little more durable. It's just clean and clear and glossy like Mod Podge.

Here's the book I'm readingAnd here it is with the new sassy bookmark.I love having the template.
I made this one out of Basic Grey's Marrakech paper. I love this.I covered this with more gel mediumNothing better than turning a credit card bill into something that holds my place in a book called play!!

Reanimate Bunnies hit the Big Time!

Yay! My reanimated bunny tree is in the latest edition of Take Ten!

Finally - Bunny Season!

It's true! I can't wait for February 15th every year because I can switch to all things bunny for a few months!!See - I even open my Martha Stewart Living Magazine and LOOK - it's covered with bunnies!!!Well, maybe I stamped them in there. In India Ink. After I got done reading it.
Then I built a little landscape for them. I used Basic Grey designer paper to cut out little hills. I used a white gel pen to highlight the tops of the hills.I popped them up to different heights with dimensionals so it's a very 3D bunny landscape.

More Basic Grey for the sky. A punched circle for the moon, outlined with a Sharpie. A rubon for the greeting. A teeny Martha Stewart butterfly punch for the butterfly. A Kiwi Kiss card base.

Aaah. Spring.

Have a great Sunday.

You can Read my Heart

You know how some people just can?

Well this is more from my Nancy Drew book from the very first post. I'm still having a great time with the pages from that book.

To make this 3D heart, I just used a punch to punch out a bunch of hearts. I folded them carefully in half. It's very important to have the edges lined up to get a nice crisp and even look.

While each heart is folded, adhere it to the next folded heart until you have a 3D heart. You can make it as full or as spare as you want - just use more or fewer hearts.

When you're done, adhere the two edges to your card.

I used more of the pages for the background, and I also punched a teeny orange heart for the very center heart.

I thought that if there was someone reading someone's heart, then there really needed to be two. :)

The background paper is Stampin' Up!'s Urban Oasis, and the base is Tangerine Tango. The greeting is in Tangerine Tango from Best Yet.

Nice alternative to all the pink, yes?