3D Altered Wire Dress Form

Now that Thanksgiving is over, my girls have gone back to university and my husband back to work - perhaps I can get a bit of crafting done.

I have actually been working on several projects, Christmas cards and ornaments, and most especially 'something' for my secret elf (a gift exchange I'm doing with a bunch of lovely ladies.)  One of the requirements of the gift exchange is to make 'something' for you partner - this is my 'something'.

DCWV had a booth at CHA this year and displayed their paper on full sized dress forms, you can see them here on youtube.  As soon as I saw them I knew I had to make one (only much smaller.)  When I was in the Cricut Circle, a lovely lady named Tanya Kostynuk from Stamper Inks (in Shawnee, KS) shared her instructions for these smaller dress forms.

The dress form,, which I got from Hobby Lobby stands about 14" tall, the paper is from DCWV (of course) Blackcurrant Stack, the leaves are cut from Disney Princess - Dream Come True (2", 1.5" and 1" - about 40 of each) and lots, and lots, and lots of double sided tape.

For the bottom part of the dress I used an 8" square of copy paper (when you hold it around the bottom of the dress form it form the split in the front of the dress.)  I attached the leaves largest to smallest to the paper, the attached the paper 'skirt' to the form using double sided tape.  Next I covered the top top with a lot (really quite a lot) of tape and stuck the remainder of the leaves on.  I just finished it off with some sheer ribbon at the waist.

I just hope this 'travels' well though the mail, and that my secret elf likes it.  I can't wait to try another one of these, but I may just have to keep it for myself.

Thanks for stopping by.

Letter Wall Decor (Part 2)

With my letters ready to decorate, my mind was racing with ideas, but bearing in mind that I needed 8 of these babies I didn't want to go over the top.  One element I knew that I wanted to included was a 'crown'.  For some reason (which totally eludes me) some of my these crafty friends of mine have nicknamed me  'smut queen' - obviously if the letter is suppose to be a representation of me a crown was in order.

I happened to find a crown stamp in the $1 bin at M's sometime ago and I knew I had to have it.  At the time I wasn't sure what I'd use it for, but now I'm glad I got it (which just proves you need to 'go with your gut' for those little craft urges.)  I stamped the crown on a 1 3/4" circle with versamark and then embossed with copper embossing powder.  I wanted to put this crown on top of a rosette, and found this great tutorial for it on The Paper Boutique.  I already had the perfect paper to make these, the reverse side of what I had used to cover my letter.  Here is a close up.

I took some Tim Holtz Distress ink in Vintage Photo, and the same Perfect Pearls Mist in 'Cappuccino' and 'Perfect Copper' just to finish it off.

You will also see in the photo a couple of stick pins.  Beads and stick pins have been quite the topic of conversation amongst my friends of late - someone in particular is trying to do a lot of enabling (you know who you are Caroline!)  Well, I have a stash of beads and some corsage pins, so I had to try.  The corsage pins actually have a white 'pearl drop' on the ends, as this didn't go with my colour scheme I decided to cover that in versamark and heat emboss with copper embossing powder.  Then I added a few beads which are held in place with Beadalon Bead Fix - take care with that stuff if you use it, it's like super glue (don't ask how I know!)  I'm pretty pleased with the way they turned out.

Finally I wanted to add a meaningful quote - found this and thought it was perfect.

Here they are, all 8 ready and waiting for a trip to Florida in February.

This project, although not inspired by, fits perfectly on this weeks theme challenge 'Being Thankful' over on Paper Craft Weekend Challenge.  I am truly thankful for these ladies and their friendship (even the ones that enable.)

Thanks for looking, and happy crafting.

Letter Wall Decor (so I can 'hang' with some crafting buddies.)

Yikes!  Over a week since I last posted.  In my defense I have been working on a project that has taken me quite a lot of time.  Before I show the project however, I have some other news.  Last week I was given an award by Angie from Crazy "Scrap" Lady.  Thank you so much Angie I feel so honoured.  Here is the award

With this award come a few rules.

1. Thank the person that awarded you.

2. Tell 7 things about yourself that people may not know about you.

3. Pass on the award to 7 other blogs.

Well, where to begin?

1.  I'm not much of a 'rule-follower'.

2.  My favourite colour is purple.

3.  I am 5ft 12 inches tall :)

4.  I think 'pasta' should be its own food group.

5.  I recently started a 'love affair' with ProMarkers (one day I'll be brave and post a project with them.)

6.  I am petrified of birds (to the point of hyperventilating.)
7.  I am a huge 'Criminal Minds' fan.  (Many actually already know about my FBI 'connections')

Now this is where I become a bit of a rule-breaker, I'm giving the award to some people who have either just started blogging, or who haven't posted for a while - I know these ladies and they are all very talented so please go and check out their blogs and give them some words of encouragement.

1. Paper Grandma
2. Landlocked Island Girl
3. Paper Luving Mom

I know there are only 3 blogs, but I am still really new to this and want to give encouragement to other newbies too - hope I can be forgiven for the short list.

Now on with my project.  There are a group of ladies who I 'get together' with over facebook, and some of us are meeting in Florida next February.  We decided to have a letter swap - we each decorate our own initial to give out and take back the other initials to hang on our craft room wall.  I think it will be great to have these decorated letter hanging up, it will be just like we are crafting together.  Here is my finished project.

These letters I got from Hobby Lobby (50% off of course.)  This is what they look like 'naked'.

My next step was to spray each one with Elmers Craftbond adhesive, lay them face down on my chosen paper and trim around the shape with an Xacto blade.  The paper I chose is 'Lost & Found' (MME) - it is double-sided and so beautiful I had a hard time deciding which side to use.

After the paper is trimmed I sanded the edges and then inked them using Basic Brown from Stampin' Up.

Well, I couldn't just leave it there, so I decided to add a bit of shimmer with some Perfect Pearls Mist in 'Cappuccino' and 'Perfect Copper'.

Then the fun began.....decorating.

I'll post the details of that tomorrow.  Thanks for taking a peek.

2nd 3D Advent Calendar (Lemon Flower Stack)

Back in September I posted the 3D advent calendar that I made for my daughter, the details are here.  I promised then that I would share the second one I made for my youngest daughter, so here it is.

I made this one with the DCWV Lemon Flower Stack.  The colours look a bit washed out in the picture, but IRL it looks much better (note to self - work on your photography skills!)  Here are a couple of close-ups of the doors.

I really hope that they will like them, they are filled with little goodies which I know they will enjoy.  they are both coming home from university for Thanksgiving, and that is when I will give them one each.  All we have to sort out then is how to transport the calendars back to university.

Thanks for taking a peek.

Baby Onesies - Heat Transfer Vinyl

Feels like I've been away from my blog for ages - no apologies, as I was having too much fun with my friend visiting from the UK.  Lots of shopping, Starbucks and Christmas Craft Fairs.  Sadly her visit was over all too soon and now I'm back to reality.

So on with my project.  My husband had asked me to make some onesies for a co-worker who's wife just had a baby boy.  Of course he wants them 'yesterday', so I had to make do with the colours of heat transfer vinyl I had on hand.  Here they are.

I used two cartridges to make the first one.  Creative Memories Stork's Delivery - Sugar and Spice Font cut at 2", and Easter 2010 for the chicks cut at 1.5".

For the second one I also used the Sugar and Spice font from Stork's Delivery cut at 1.25".  This is supposed to be the 'girl' font on the cartridge, but I think it is adorable and wanted to use it even though these onsies are for a boy.

And a close up.

The third one I made I will admit up front is not an original idea.  My friend Allison over at Goody Bag Diva, made an adorable onesie with a ketchup bottle and 'little squirt' on the front, take a look at it here.  So this is my version.

The ketchup bottle is from the Block Party lite cartridge and is cut at 6".  I love working with heat transfer vinyl, the results can be so gratifying - but I will admit I was a little nervous as I had never layered different coloured vinyl.  The vinyl I used for this project is from H & H Sign Supply, and is Siser Easyweed.  There is a video on the website showing how to apply this product, but basically I used my iron set on 'cotton', used my Teflon craft sheet to iron over the vinyl, and peeled it off while it was still warm.  The settings I used on my Cricut Expression were Blade Depth 3, Speed 3 and Pressure 3.  Probably the most important thing to remember with the heat transfer vinyl is that the images need to be CUT IN REVERSE (obviously particularly important for lettering.)

Here is a picture of the back of the 'ketchup onesie'.

Once again the font is Sugar and Spice cut at 1.5', and the 'squirt of ketchup' is actually a 'splash'  from Disney Princesses Dreams Come True, also cut at 1.5".  Thanks so much Allison for the inspiration, and allowing me to 'steal' your idea.

I really had a lot of fun making these, and I'm looking forward to my next heat transfer vinyl project.  Thanks for looking.