Mere Mortal

Yes, it is true.  I am no longer a Stampin' Up! Demo.  


I am a mere mortal.

sigh....

I never was a big SU seller.  Just a user.  And during my little break from paper crafts I declined to meet my quota.  The down side of this it that I now have to pay FULL PRICE (gasp!) for my SU goodies.  The upside is that I can talk about and link to other products and sites.  Full price = bad for me.  Linking = good for you.  You win!

Here is my "get back into punching" first project - Lady in Hat

I think she will go with any snarky sentiment you have for a girl friends card.

My inspiration came from an old (March 2005) Paper Crafts magazine and the stamp is Lady in Feather Hat by Victorine Originals.  (Don't know if it is still available).  But this is what made me want to punch again:

I was cleaning out some old craft stuff - saw where I had torn this page out. Her square jaw line made me think of the Curly Label punch and so I opened the second punch drawer, knocked the cobwebs off and tried it.  I think Betty Boop is the only other time I have tried using the Curly Label as a face.

Here is a shot of her parts:

Here is a list of her parts:

Hat - 1 3/8 circle, large oval, another large oval trimmed as shown in photo
Head - Curly Label - face drawn on (copying the Victorine Originals Stamp)
Neck/Chest - Blossom Petal Builder - feather duster one with the tip cut off - curve line drawn for cleavage
Dress - Full heart, point cut off
Arm - Full heart next to Full heart hole
Hand - end of Modern Label repunched with one of the smaller circles
Brim of Hat - small oval trimmed as in photo
Hair - scraps, cut fringe into one end of each and curl with your talented little fingers

Then I added a little flower but didn't have it added when I took the parts picture - you can figure that out!

Disclaimer - I have not yet flattened the hair, stuck it in an envelope and mailed it so I can't say what it will look like upon arrival at its destination.

My sentiment reads "The older we get, the more we should accessorize.  Or is that exercise?"  And here is where I accessorized her (well, at least I bling-ed her a bit)...

World Series

You didn't really think I'd let the Texas Rangers play in the 2011 World Series without some commemorative Punch Art, did you?

It has been a LONG time since I've punched so this is pretty simple - but hey, I gotta get started again somewhere...

And you could add a wimpy little moustache to represent our darling pitcher Derek Holland.  Way to pitch in the World Series Baby!

Punches needed: 1.75 inch circle, Small Tag, Blossoms Petal

Punch the circle for the ball
Punch the petal - reinsert it into the circle so you can see it and punch OFF just the bumpy ends - cut in half and you have the brim sections of your hat
Punch the small tag punch - either on the edge of the paper, or trim off one side slightly - insert in the circle punch to nip off just a tiny bit on the top of the hat

Outline hat pieces and draw lines on your baseball. Sponge a bit of ink on the edges if you like.

Ta-dah!

Whatever happens in Game 7, it was an AWESOME season. 

I love me some October Baseball!

Cup of Tea

Welcome to my little portion of the VC Rocks Blog Hop.  Our theme this weekend is "Anything but a Card". 

No problem for me, since I so RARELY show a card. 

What I came up with (just for you) is a punch art bookmark.  Which is shown here in a good book I just finished, Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier.

.

Here is the WHOLE thing

Instead of Fiction is my cup of tea, it could have been Mysteries are my cup of tea, Romance is my cup of tea, Cooking is my cup of tea... well, you get the idea - fit the bookmark to your own needs - or make it "match" a specific book. (Gift Idea!)

So how did I make the teapot?

Start with the feather duster looking petal from Blossom Petal Builder Punch.  Trim as shown in photo.  Keep the "lumpy" bottom piece and the middle piece - toss the tiny tip.

The lumpy bottom piece becomes the "lid" of the pot - just add a small circle.

Handle is 3/4 inch circle around the 1/2 inch circle hole

Spout is the left side "part" of the small petal on the Blossom Petal Builder (see photo below)

I stamped on some little flowers, sponged all the edges and put it all together with mini glue dots.

The bonus idea today is to punch the "feather duster" in silver, trim the "lumpy" bottom off as I did for the teapot, leave the tip alone and you have a Hershey "kiss" shape. 

Easy, huh?  And it is easy to see more "non card" projects - just click the buttons below to continue on the VC Blog Hop. 

Home base is HERE if you get lost along the way (official hop start time is 9 AM Central)

Click the button on the left to hop backwards to see what Carey Rogers has for you or Click the button on the right to hop over to see what Karen Gibson created.  Happy Hopping!



Random Woman

Sometimes you have some smart or snarky sentiment but no image to coordinate.  This is the type project/card that I like to use a "random woman" on.  So here is a random woman punch art

The hair was inspired by some of the "dos" from the 60s as I was watching DARK SHADOWS on Netflix.  Hysterical - the special effects are atrocious, the phones are rotary dial and you get an AWESOME idea of the 60s fashions.  Unfortunately, I've finished all the instant watch so I'll have to wait for them to mail the discs if I want to find out what happens to Barnabas Collins and the rest of the Collins family (imagine spooky music here) 

Here is the punch list if you need to make Miss Random:

Neck and Chest - feather duster looking petal from Blossom Petal Builder
Eyes - leaf from Blossom Petal Builder (trimmed a bit on one end - stack them and cut both at the same time for matching eyeballs) and 1/2 inch circle and black pen
Dress - Full Heart
Face - Ornament
Lips - circle from itty bitty punch pack at end of modern label hole
Hair - large oval and large ovals near large oval holes
Necklace - standard hole punch (anyone else think of Wilma Flintstone when you saw this jewelry?)

And here are some other random women I've made, in case you need 'em or missed 'em.
Sample A
Sample B
Sample C
Sample D

Blossom Petal Builder Werewolf

I know this is a little weird for a July post...

but it is what sprung from more blossom petal builder playtime - I'm betting NO ONE else has made a werewolf with this punch (possibly from ANY punch).

Take 2 of the feather duster looking parts and two of the leaves for his ears, add a RETIRED AND LOVED small oval, small heart eyes, scrap teeth and a few pen marks and you are done.

Tennis Power

Surprise!  Third post in a row...

I don't play tennis (I don't play sports - I think I'm "allergic" to exercise) but if I did, I would not want this character hitting a ball in my direction - this gal has some muscles!

Head - Owl punch (minus feet and ears)
Hair - NEW postage punch - as is, turned on the diagonal
Strip of something (I already forgot) for headband
Usual, usual usual  blah blah blah - legs are modern label with a line drawn to separate them. Lips are the tiny heart from the owl punch.

More Blossom Petal Builder Punch

Maybe if I write the name of this punch a few more times, I'll actually remember it.  As of now, I'm still having to look it up.  Blossom Petal Builder is the one that looks like a feather duster to me - Haven't used it too much so I tried another project and I think you might like this..

Ok, maybe you'll like it better next Easter instead of now but I haven't been turning out too many punch ideas so you best just take what I can give and don't be picky about seasonal timing.

Body - large feather duster petal from Blosoom Petal Builder
WIngs - large feather duster again (cut int half)
Beak - narrow heart to heart, trim bumps end off
Feet - I cut the little flower from itty bitty punch pack - but I should have just used the owl feet
Hat - medium oval
Hat brim - combo of ornament and large oval
Flower - itty bitty punch pack, standard hole punch center

Blossom Petal Builder Punch Pooch

Did I really NEED to punch yet another dog?  No, but let's just be glad I punched something...

And he did turn out kinda cute...

Head and Body - Feather Duster looking part of the Blossom Petal Builder (BPB), for head insert small end into 1/2 inch circle to shorten and round for his forehead.
Muzzle - large leaf BPB - trimmed on one end to "match"
Ears - small leaf BPB
Paws - small blossom BPB, trimmed flat on one side
Tail - large oval next to hole of same
Nose - 1/2 inch circle on edge of paper
Tongue - any small circle next to hole of same - trim end to round
Collar - 3/4 circle around 1/2 circle hole
Heart tag - small heart to heart (old tiny punch from SU  - might match eyes on the owl punch???)
Ring on color - circle from itty bitty punch pieces around standard hole punch hole
Eyes - small heart in white, standard hole punch in black

This was inspired by a stamp in a 2001 catalog that I am not allowed to name due to SU Cult Rules -Why are they paranoid about admitting other companies have nice product?  (I can't answer because I don't understand the cult mentality)

The real question is why do I still have ANY company's 2001 catalog?....  might be time to do some more purging around here...

Hornets

Saw a plea for a hornet over on SCS so I jumped into action with this:

Body and wings - large ovals
head - small oval
eyes - small heart cut in half
Legs and antennae - wide heart to heart next to hole of the same (antennae need to be trimmed)

Stripes were just drawn in - lay an oval down, trace the edge, move & repeat - color between them

What she really wanted was a "brown hornet" and when I googled that I saw the old cartoon The Brown Hornet from the Fat Albert show - Hadn't thought of this Super Hero in decades!  But he screamed PUNCH ME, so I did:

I didn't "fine tune" him since I have no use for him - but maybe one of you will need him - or he will trigger another idea for someone.

His face is medium oval and 2 small ovals
Hair - small oval
Neck - word window
Kerchief - wide oval, small heart next to same hole
His shirt is the butterfly punch trimmed
Muscles and Sleeves are the medium oval
Gloves are narrow heart to heart and  1/2 inch circle at the ends of the modern label
Narrow waist is the Blossom Petal Punch
Shorts - 5 petal flower trimmed
Shoes - wide heart to heart
Legs - wide heart to heart next to same hole

Simple Puppy

I was cleaning out a pile of OLD stamping/scrapbooking magazines I found on a shelf that I had forgotten about.  Out of sight, out of mind, ya know?

But I MUST thumb through them before they go to recycle and I spotted an add for a PUNCH - actually 2 punches - a puppy head and a puppy body.  Well.... you know what happened next...

Head - Owl punch with ears and feet cut off
Ears - Petal from Blossom Petal/Feather duster
All the circles for his eyes, nose, face ring - Owl Punch
Body - 1.75 inch circle, cut flat on bottom and right side, repunched in a bit at the bottom with circle from itty bitty punch pack, drew line for "front legs"

Drew on a few spots with black marker
Attached his head with a dimensional.

Rosie

Some of you will remember the Jetsons from the 60s.  Some from when it was reprised in the 80s.  Some of you might not have a clue about this character. 

I am one of the original watchers and I loved Rosie the Robot Maid.  I loved the way the Jetsons loved her even though she was a little "out of date".

Since we are officially in SPRING now, I thought it might be nice to have Rosie come do some Spring Cleaning!

I'm happy to be back punchin'

And I actually put her on a decent background instead of scratch paper!

But I'm too lazy to type out the directions...

You can't have everything!

I will tell you that the owl punch is only used to get the tiny buttons on her outfit.

The new flower punch I call Feather Duster was used for the feather duster base and for Rosie's base

The hands started with a 3/4 circle for one and word window for the other but there is so much trimming - I don't know how to explain.

You'll have to figure out the rest.

Daisy Drives A Lot

Not Driving Miss Daisy (old movie title) but Miss Daisy, all I do is drive!

Ever feel YOUR name is Daisy Drives A Lot? 

Let me tell you it is WONDERFUL when your last child gets their license and you only drive when YOU need to. 

I hope you can find a use for Daisy here. 

Maybe you can use this character on a page about your long commute to work.

Or about all the things you overhear while carpooling

Or maybe you DRIVE ME CRAZY on a page or card

I used some parts from SU's two new punches, the cupcake and the flower one that I can't remember the name of (you know, the one that has the feather duster looking thing? -let's call it the Feather Duster Flower punch from now on.  OK?)  I'm sure there will be many fun uses for these punches but I spend most of my weekend scrapbooking and didn't play punches until the last couple of hours when I was too exhausted to think.

Daisy Driver Parts
Face - Owl (upside down, feet and ears cut off)

Hair – Full heart (upside down)

Bangs – medium oval

Eyes – circle itty bitty punch pack

Lips – modern label – punch tip with circle itty bitty punch pack

Neck – word window (1/2 lengthwise)

Shirt - feather duster from the new feather duster flower punch

Collar – slot (retired) or use a small scrap strip

Hands – modern label repunched with circle itty bitty punch pack

Car parts

Seat back – Key Tag (retired) or use a rectangle and round the corners

Steering wheel – 1 inch circle around the ¾ inch circle hole

Dashboard – wide oval

Rear-view mirror – word window repunched to shorten

Rear-view mirror mount – cherry from cup cake punch

 
Sometimes it is hard to judge the scale of these characters. Daisy Driver here is 3.75 inches tall.

Oh, let's just continue this unfinished theme...

Long time readers know that I get on "themes"   - maybe a bunch of Loony Tunes characters, or back views, or the Peanuts gang....

So, I'm hanging with this "unfinished" theme for yet another day 'cause... well, because it is just darn easy and I keep on finding other things to do than finish stuff (I'm on a reading jag right now, and you KNOW how hard it is to put down a good book.....)

I got the TWO new punches in the mini catalog today - yep, I waited until Sale-a-bration to order them. 

Translation:  Sale-a-bration - when you get free stuff with every $50 spent - an annual event with Stampin' Up!

So, I opened the box about an hour ago - put stuff away quickly cause I'm still on my cleaning thing - finished cooking dinner, ate, and ran back to make sure my punches were punching and instantly saw....

Little Christmas ornaments from the Blossoms Petals Punch

Not that you need Christmas ornaments at this time of year, but file that away in your memory bank because I'm sure you are going to order this punch. 

Right? 

Of course you are.

AND

in addition to the ornaments - it also is the answer to my feather duster issue (although, I have to say I liked the cocktail suggestion).  If I can't turn THIS

into a feather duster - I'm hanging up my Punch Lady Title.