Just Dreamin'... (and blog candy)

Let's go sailing - with the wind in our hair, and the fresh smell of the ocean filling our lungs, I can almost feel it...

This will be our journey on a fantasy sail boat. Wanna come?

I've been cleaning out and reorganizing my craft room, including some of the older boxes stuffed way in the back that were housing... who knows what?

In cleaning out one box (novel idea, yes?) "a something" which had been die cut and covered with SuperAdhesiveSheets was discovered.

So I peeled away the protective covering to see what the image was. It was this fantasy, stained-glass sail boat from Sparkle N Sprinkle colored with Prisma Color pencils. Immediately I covered the now ultra-tacky surface with those tiny little clear beads everyone has in their stash. That took care of the exposed ultra sticky stuff.

Now what? Should I just throw the thing away?

As long as the ride is a fantasy, I experimented with a few techniques, once again allowing my distraction to keep me from finishing the task at hand -- to clean and reorganize the craft room.

Are you easily distracted, too?

(Can you see the little beads covering the sail boat image?)



Here, maybe this photo is better:

 First...

Using my old stash of virginal supplies, (hanging head in shame) I broke out:

Spellbinders Grands Big Scallop Ovals, and Big Scallop Ovals Nesties
Adirondack Lights Salmon (still had the wrapping on it)
My Mind's Eye Twine (still in the wrapping)
Brass Sea Horse Charm (still in the wrapping)

Colors and Layers:

It's fun finally using goodies purchased so long ago.

(the rest of the products are listed at the bottom of this post)

BUT BUT BUT - then, here is something new!

Will you come Dream Away with me as we sail?

Wonderful dreamy sentiment including phrases which allow us to sail away into the past, present or future:
"Cherish yesterday, Live today, Dream for tomorrow"

The sentiment is on this beautiful new Spring Florals set currently on sale at SNS.

A little about creating the dimensional glitter panel for this card:

Using white cardstock (CS), cut a panel with a fantasy scalloped "port hole".

Another "ring" of scallops was die cut from yellow CS. Because the glitters are semi-transparent, the yellow panel slightly shows though.

The yellow scallop ring was glued onto the white CS to create a tad of color and lots of dimension.

With Brushable Glue paint a ray of glue across the white and yellow panels and coat with Sunny Daze glitter.

Leave a space, and paint another ray, covering it with Sunny Daze glitter, and so forth. Allow to dry thoroughly, then go back and paint rays for the Orange Crush glitter in the spaces left between.)

Tip: hold the handle of your paint brush between your teeth while applying glitter between brushing the glue stripes (LOL)

Tip: have coffee filters available to catch the excess glitter. Very easy to pour back into jar.

Once dry, apply brushable glue to inner port hole and sprinkle on the Laser Blue glitter.

Customizing the charm: Lightly paint seahorse charm with Versamarker so the brass metallic essence will still shine through. If it is completely coated with VersaMark, then the EP will also cover all the brass. Apply By The Lake embossing powder (this glittery, pearly EP is awesome). Heat set. Stamp sentiment with same EP and heat. Smoosh white CS with VersaMark ink and apply matching embossing powder. Punch out scallop circle from that swatch. Assemble card.

Here is a close up of the textures and layers:

The best part of this card is the dreamy sailing trip with you, my dear blogging friends.

So where is the blog candy? Three Sparkle N Sprinkle stamp sets to the winner whose name is pulled out of the hat (because I have not figured out random.org yet). Just leave a comment answering the question about getting distracted: When in your craft room, regardless of what you are doing, do you sometimes become distracted, putting off another project already begun? If the winner's e-mail address is available through their blogger account or left in the comment, or even e-mailed to me, I will notify them, so you do not have to become a follower. Just have fun! Deadline is March 31.

Note: winner was announced on April 1 here, it is Cammy.
Products used:

Sparkle N Sprinkle Stained Glass Sailboat

Sparkle N Sprinkle Spring Florals stamp set (saying)

Sparkle N Sprinkle Laser Blue Glitter, Sunny Daze Glitter, Orange Crush Glitter

Sparkle N Sprinkle By The Lake embossing powder

Adhesives: SNS Brushable Glue, SNS Super Adhesive Sheets, Dimensionals

Cardstock: White, yellow, aqua

Prismacolor Pencils

Spellbinders Grands Big Scallop Ovals

Punches: EK Success 1.5" round, SU scallop round

inks: Adirondack Lights Salmon dye ink, VersaMark ink, Weathered Wood dye ink, VersaMarker

My Mind's Eye Twine, Brass Sea Horse Charm 

This card is submitted to the following awesome challenges:

Sparkle N Sparinkle - Use Glitter

Crafty Boots - "Old, New, Borrowed OR Blue" (blue - CS, glitter, embossing powder; 4 old virginal items (so they are actually new as well) new sentiments from set 490.

Critter Challenge - #155 Use Twine (twine holds charm)

Make It Monday - #131 Anything Goes

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - #206 "To Die For" (used 5 SB Scallop Oval Dies)

Sunday Stamper - #248 "Use Something You have had for Yonks and never used" - (SB dies, ink pad, charm, twine)

Stamping with the Dragon - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - 1-2-3 - (one charm, two stamp images, three colors of glitter)
Use It Tuesday - #52 Dies, Punches, Cutouts - (SB large scallop reg diecuts and grand diecuts)

Vickie's Challenges - Anything Goes -

Thanks for checking in!

hugs,

Those Little Beadies

Micro Beads are a fun medium to play with, but they sure are difficult to capture on a photo! A friend and I have been playing with micro beads, challenging each other to actually take an adequate photo. I lost. She did far better than I -- I gave up after about 40 photos LOL

In my stash, I discovered 3 containers of "clear micro beads". One from our LSS, one from Michaels, and one from Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart "beadies" were actually tinier and clearer than the others.

If you've never used micro beads, they are fun. In Real Life, clear micro beads provide a stained glass look. Because of that, they are forgiving, if you accidentally color outside the lines. Bolder colors work a little better than pastels. When coloring, let your imagination guide the color choices. Paints, markers, and colored pencils can all be used with this super easy technique.

To use micro beads, find any stamp image which allows for coloring. These parrot cards were made with the Sparkle N Sprinkle Stained Glass Parrot. It's on sale this month. The birthday sentiment is also from SNS. I cut it apart to accommodate Nesties Labels 10 on my Grand Calibur.

The EASY part came after the coloring. Cut the image to size. Trim SNS Super Adhesive Sheet slightly larger than the image - about 1/4". Apply the SAS. Cut little slits in the excess SAS around the image of the image, then gently fold it over to cover the back of the parrot image. Place the image onto the layer for the card, pull off the protective sheet, and drizzle on the micro beads. The SAS is super adhesive. It holds the image to the under layer AND holds all those beads right through the US mail.

A hint about the photography - any photos which actually show the beads themselves, dulls the image and card. But only in the photos.  I hope you can get an idea of what playing with micro beads can do in the way of presenting an interesting and different card any recipient would welcome.

Thanks for visiting! Your comments are always read with appreciation.

An Untraditional Mother's Day Blog Hop with Sparkle N Sprinkle

Welcome to An Untraditional Mother's Day Blog Hop With Sparkle N Sprinkle. Did you arrive from Shona's amazing place? Then you're right on. If not, to view all the beautiful cards and become eligible for one of two great prizes, begin at the SNS Home Blog.

This is your last stop before returning to the Home Blog. 

The incredibly diverse and beautiful cards presented by my fellow Sparkle Team designers reveal a glimpse into their feelings about special woman in their lives. Our Mother's Day inspired hop is untraditional because we're displaying cards which honor extraordinary women, whether they are Moms or not. We hope you have enjoyed these feminine cards, and perhaps want to create something special for the dear women who meaningfully touch your life. 

Today's card is intended for my Dad's wife. Linda is one of those rare and kind individuals who shines  a certain happiness and light in our family. Hard working, and lots of fun, she always seems to be thinking of others, making each day more enjoyable. How fortunate she and my dad found each other! The card style is a little different for me, because I tried tearing paper so that everything would not be uniform - the layers of designer and mulberry papers are all torn, and intended to overlap. (No reflection on Linda, LOL).

Also employed is the newly re-released set "Flower Vases", which is on special this month. 

The images have great potential no matter what your coloring forte. Water color pencils were applied with a brush. Vases were then "colored in" with a VersaMarker and covered with clear detail embossing powder. 

The "Special Warmth" saying is perfect! The stamp can easily be cut in half to have a "before and after" placement on the front of the card, or to employ an "innie and outie" effect on the inside of the card. The combinations of bead and glitter colors were specially mixed to create a dimensional texture in the card colors. It's fun mixing custom elements! Check out the enhanced designer paper - an image was randomly stamped on the DP with VersaMark and then heat embossed with Princess Rose embossing powder which is also on special this month.


A complete recipe for this card, and its components is on the SNS Gallery here.

Thanks for stopping by! To become eligible for one of two prizes, remember to leave a comment below, before continuing on to SNS Home Blog for one last comment. I hope you win a prize! 

Stamping hugs,