Mom's Birthday Card

I made this card for my Mom’s birthday – she turned 81 yesterday.  My Mom is sight impaired due to untreated glaucoma and I am always looking for ways she can use her other senses when I make her something. So, this card has a bunch of things she can feel as well as see.  Sadly, this also my last post with the Design Team for Globecraft & Piccolo.  I have had a marvelous time and I wish them continued success!  Thanks to my awesome teammates and to Stacey & Sandy for making the experience so incredibly fun!

What I Used to Make this Card:

F100 French Oval Single Frame

LA107 Large Stemmed Rose Accents

3D Gel in Rose Pearl & Leafy Green

Embossing Enamel in Cranberry Wine

Embossing Fluid

Crafter's Pick Glue

DCWV Chalk Art Stack – card base 5 ¼ x 5 ¼

Silhouette Cameo letter cutouts

Ranger Embossing Powder in Rich Red

White Cardstock

Mom loves roses 

I confess I had covered the rose long before I made the card.  I knew the 3D gels would be beautiful on the chipboard and I made a few of them.  I tried to trace around the rose as carefully as I could (I can’t find my metal tip. I suspect one of the cats has taken it.  Actually, I am positive one of the cats took it) but I actually ended up covering the rose sort of like when you grout tile.  Because I didn’t need it to be absolutely perfect, I just filled in spots with more 3D gel after it dried.  Since the gel is amazing, you can’t even tell and I was open to some more texture anyway.  So, cover your rose and let it dry overnight if you can.

One of the roses

Then I discovered how brilliantly the rose fit into the French Oval Frame.  Now, the cardstock is also very bright, not neon bright, but bright. 

Close up of the French

I had no Embossing Enamel that matched, so I took some red embossing powder and covered the frame with that first.  Then I pounced my Embossing Fluid around the frame and covered that with Cranberry Ice Embossing Enamel – I love the way it came out!

I cut my card base out of the DCWV Chalk Art Stack – that paper is thick!! I made a square card since I had so much to put on it and I wanted Mom to be able to touch the cardstock; it has a texture to it so it can be used like a chalkboard (you can even wipe the chalk off). So cool! 

It's STUNNING in real life!!

To keep the theme going, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out Happy Birthday (I also discovered a neat trick – when your letters are still on the cutting mat, before you remove them, use a bit of washi tape that is long enough to grab all the letters, then gently use your tool to remove them.  Now, when you go to place them, they are all straight!)

Next I just traced the inner circle of the French Frame and cut it outside the trace line so there would be a little bit of paper to use to attach the it to the frame. Positioned my rose in the center of the white cardstock, and then glued the whole shebang to the front of the card.  Lastly, I put the Happy Birthday on the inside of the card since I didn’t have enough room on the outside. 

So there you have it!! Mom and I met yesterday to celebrate our birthdays over lunch & she LOVED the card (of course)! Sorry no other view of the card! I hope you have enjoyed my birthday card – I still have one more birthday to celebrate, so keep your eyes peeled! Thank you & have a lovely day! Christi

Too early for holiday ornaments?

I say NEVER! For this Globecraft & Piccolo post I decided to beat the heat by making a holiday ornament.  Using one of the Ornament Kits (in addition to the kits found on the linked page, there is the DIY Portrait Ornament and the DIY Landscape Ornament) make it SO easy and really fun, but my favorite is using one of the 2 DIY kits, like I did here.  I wanted an icy feel to my ornament, hoping that keeping cool could be a bit of mind over matter!

The final ornament - pretty, but I'm still hot!

What I Used to Make My Project

ORNP, DIY Portrait OrnamentKit

LA100, BejeweledSnowflakes

Embossing Enamel in Siam Silver, Mermaid Tears and Aged White

Embossing Fluid

Fishing Line or Craft Filament (I used jewelry cord, clear)

E6000

Crafters Pick Glue

The kit with the piece from Bejeweled Snowflakes

First thing I did was cut my long snowflake border from the Bejeweled Snowflake Set in half – there are 8 little snowflakes on each strip, so I just snipped it into 4.  Then I applied the Embossing Fluid and embossed the strip with Aged White Embossing Enamel, both front and back.

Then I embossed the inner circle of the ornament – the inner piece is the

Inner bezel with snowflake piece

piece in the kit that has the loop on the top to hang the ornament.  I just pounced my Embossing Fluid along the outside of the ring (super easy since the Embossing Fluid uses a dauber on the top of it – you never get too much or too little! Just don’t squeeze your bottle as it will explode – or so I hear - hehehe) since I knew once the ornament is assembled you can only see a small bit of the ring; I embossed the inner ring on both sides.  Then, I threaded the cord through the very top of the snowflake strip that I had cut so that the ends of the cord could be glued to the inner ring and the strip would hang correctly.  For that I used E6000 and I did one piece of string at a time (for me that was easier than trying to line the filament up on both sides, ensure the strip was even, then try to glue both ends of the cord – it became like a game, with me fighting against everything.  So, I surrendered and did each end separately).

All the pieces embossed, attached & ready to assemble (except the globes)

While my hanging piece was drying, I embossed the 2 outer rings with Mermaid Tears, being sure to roll the Embossing Enamel to shake up the enamel.  The Globecraft & Piccolo Embossing Enamel is hand blended in the USA and each color is so unique – the Mermaid Tears is such a pretty mixture of colors!  I did one side of each of the outer rings, but I did emboss each side twice.  Then I glued the globes and the rings to the inner ring, lining it up and clamping them together with bulldog clips.  I let it dry overnight and I was done!

Another look at the final product (hard to get those bubbles to photograph!)

Also, another great use for the bubbles is to use them as "shields" - when you have items drying, perhaps with Glastique Gloss, you can place a bubble over the item and that helps to keep the cat hair, human hair, Embossing Enamel and all the other floaties out of your finish.  Thanks so much for stopping by – I appreciate your comments and sharing of my posts so much! Hope you have a fantastic weekend! Christi

Embellishment Redo

I have many embellishments that just don’t work for me.  The main reason I don’t use them is the color.  If I don’t like the color it will never get used, no matter how nice it is.  So I decided to “fix” some embellishments that I didn’t like.  This started out as an experiment, so I was thrilled to see that it actually worked!

I have acquired quite a mix of acrylic cabochons from when I belonged to a kit club.  Every month I received a package with items pertaining to a certain theme and, although the company that put out the kits is no longer in business, I have a large stockpile of stuff.  

What I Used for my Embellishment Redo:

Acrylic Cabochons 

Embossing Fluid

Mermaid Tears, Cranberry Wine and Vintage Gold Embossing Enamel

Vintage Gold - a bit melted :)

I wanted to try to “fix” some of these embellies so I would use them.  I took an empty medicine bottle, popped the top of the Embossing Fluid and poured some in the bottle.  Then I brushed the Embossing Fluid on the cabochon (the brushing worked better - you can work the fluid into the little nooks & crannies), poured whatever color of Embossing Enamel I wanted (after pouring the extra off) and heated it.  The first one I did melted a bit, but then I got the hang of it.  

Cranberry Wine

 As I said, this began as an experiment and I am so happy it worked! Now I can “fix” my cabochons to match my projects!

I hope this inspires you to think a bit out of the box and find ways to “fix” items that you aren’t thrilled with.  And, since I had all the items on hand already, the new cabochons are essentially free!

My Favorite One - Mermaids Tears

Thank you SO much for stopping by today! I appreciate your support ~ Christi

A Midsummer Night's Dream

I am SO sorry this post is late! I hope you enjoy it!

When I first started rubber stamping Shakespeare was all the rage. A few movies had just come out and everyone was obsessed with William (honestly, I have never read a thing he’s written), but I did like the costume and pageantry of the time period.   When I saw this new Piccolo the first thing that came to my mind was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. So as to not disappoint my muse, this is the creation that was born.

Shows some bling

What I Used:
A 5x7 Canvas

Gesso

Embossing Fluid

Embossing Enamel in Starry Star and Siam Silver

A126, Flourish Accents

W015, Dream Word Accent 

Female Stamp from The Stampsmith

Distress Markers in Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Worn Lipstick and Tumbled Glass

Distress Paints in Seedless Preserves, Milled Lavender & Chipped Sapphire

Silhouette Machine (to make the letters)

Silver Paper (for the letters)

Crafters Pick Adhesive
Bling on a Roll - Silver

First, let me preface with I am not used to using canvas.  I prefer boards, but I have some canvas that needs to be used.  So after I made my first background, or, tried to make it, I realized I needed to gesso my canvas if I wanted a smoother background.  So after the gesso dried, I used Distress Paints to make a purple and blue summery night sky. 

Then, I swooshed my Embossing Fluid and embossed the swoosh with Starry Sky. 

I had stamped the Stampsmith stamp on glossy paper & colored her with the Distress Markers. I fussy cut her out and glued her to the canvas.  I then embossed the word accent and the flourishes with Siam Silver.  I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the words “A Midsummer Night’s”, I added some bling to the D and to each “i”.  I added the silver embellishment and I put it all together and created my Midsummer Night’s Dream.

  

This picture shows a little less bling

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial. Thank you! Christi

A Bubble Background ATC

I love making ATC’s.  Not only are these trading card sized beauties fun to trade with other artists, but I use them on cards as well.  It makes it simple to make a card quickly when you already have the focal point done.

In making this ATC for Globecraft & Piccolo I used the following products:

Embossing Enamel in Mermaid Tears & Royal Sterling

ATC Bubble Background,LB101 (keep the pop out pieces!)

Embossing Fluid

Distress Paint & Distress Marker in Seedless Preserves

Purple Pre-Made ATC card

Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black

Tim Holtz Simple Sayings Stamp Set, CMS155

Scrap Piece of Complimentary Color Paper

Crafters Pick Glue

First, I covered the ATC Bubble Background with Embossing Fluid and embossed it with Mermaid Tears. 

Embossed and Raw ATC Bubble Background

Close up, embossed w/ Mermaids Tears

I embossed the background a few times to get the coverage I wanted. Then I chose a few of the leftover pieces I had popped out of the Bubble Background and covered them in Embossing Fluid and embossed them with Royal Sterling (HINT: mark the piece on the correct side so when you emboss the piece it will fit correctly– ask me why I suggest this!).

Once everything was embossed, I fit the pop out pieces into the Bubble Frame and glued them in.  I did this by turning the Bubble Frame over and I spread some glue over the piece and the frame.  Since I knew I was going to attach this to an ATC I wasn’t too worried about the pieces falling out.  Once they dried, I just chose some areas on the Bubble Frame, dotted some glue and glued it onto the ATC card.  I also glued my ATC card to some left over cardboard to make it a bit more sturdy and then inked around the edges with the Seedless Preserves Distress Paint & filled in any gaps with the Seedless Preserves Distress Marker.

I inked my sentiment in the Jet Black ink, stamped it on a coordinating piece of scrap paper and trimmed it down.  I glued my sentiment to my ATC and I was done! Now I am all ready to pop this on a card when I want to remind someone I’m thinking of him or her.

This picture really shows the sparkle!

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to check out the daily posts on the Globecraft & Piccolo Blog, and my blog, Art Without Anxiety.  Hope you & yours have a GREAT week! Christi

A Thank You Card

I am finally feeling better and my creative muse is returning. I wish I knew where my muse goes when it disappears. I’m thinking one of my cats got to it and it took off for parts unknown.  I don’t know, and it’s not talking.  Anyway, I have some thank you cards overdue, so today is a break from the birthday card rush.  Here is my card:

No matter HOW many times I tried, I couldn't get the THANK YOU to show up in the pics!

And here is what I used to make it:

LA106 Stacey’s Stacking Flowers 

Cranberry Wine and Girls Night Out Embossing Enamel

Embossing Fluid

Pink Cardstock Base

Decorative Paper (mine came from Somerset Studio)

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Stamp from Catslife Press

Crafters Pick Glue

It’s a simple card – I wanted the “Thank You” and the flowers to be the focus. 

The Flowers

I used 3 of Stacey’s Flowers, sized so they could be stacked.  I embossed the largest and the smallest with Cranberry Wine Embossing Enamel (I am in LOVE with this color! It has little teeny mirror-like bits in it!) and the middle one with Girls Night Out.  I stacked them and glued them together.  I then took a piece of the decorative paper and embossed the sentiment, using the Cranberry Wine Embossing Enamel as well. 

The Thank You

Cut another square out of the decorative paper, adhered the sentiment to that just to give it a little “pop”.  The hardest part of this card for me was trying to figure out where I wanted to place my flowers.  Once that was sorted, I glued them on and I am good to go!

Please, take a look at the Blog at Globecraft & Piccolo– my wonderful teammates post cool stuff every day! 

And another view

Thanks SO much for stopping by! ~ Christi

Another Birthday Card

Here is another quick card I made for the upcoming birthday rush.  I haven’t been feeling well and I apologize for not being up on my comments and such.  Anyway, here is my card:

What I used to make the card:

Embossing Fluid

Cranberry Wine, Royal Sterling, Deep Blue Sky, Girls Night Outand

Micro Black Embossing Enamel

White Cardstock

White Card Base

Scrap piece of Metallic Purple Paper

Happy Birthday stamp from SU! Greetings 4 You set

Silhouette Cut File: Balloon

Balloons!!

All embossed!

I cut the balloons using a cut file I had in my Silhouette Library (I think it was a free image) and then embossed each one with the different colors of Embossing Enamel.  Next I used the Micro Black powder on the sentiment, trimmed the sentiment and layered it on the purple paper. 

I glued everything down and I was done!

Everything is so sparkly! Wish I had some black twine to use as the string. . .

Another card down, lots more to go!

Thank you for stopping by! Christi

Happy Birthday Starts Now. . .

As the end of June officially begins the “Birthday Bash” in my family

 (6 of us were born within 5 weeks), I am trying to get ahead and make some birthday cards now.  I made this one for one of the men in my life.  Sorry I don’t have a picture tutorial but I was in the creative moment, and I think it I easy enough to follow. 

The green is not part of the card :)

What I Used to Make this Card:

Kraft Cardstock Base

White Scrap covered with Tea Dyed Fabric (to see more about this fabric go here)

Globecraft & Piccolo Micro Black and Siam Silver Embossing Enamel

Embossing Fluid

Adhesive Fabric Paper from DCWV, in Blue

Tim Holtz Stamp Sets; The Journey and Simple Sayings

Crafters Pick Glue

Distress Ink in Walnut Stain

The tea dyed fabric & the original

First, I cut a piece of my tea-dyed fabric and glued it onto a scrap piece of white cardstock.  This both showed the design of the fabric and made it easier for me to trim down.  Then I embossed both the car and the truck in Micro Black, on Kraft cardstock and cut them out.  

I embossed Happy Birthday in a mix of Micro Black and Siam Silver, just to give it a different look than plain black.  I trimmed my fabric paper from DCWV; the tea dyed fabric (I rubbed the Walnut Stain Distress Ink around all of the sides), and the sentiment to fit on the card and just glued it all down. 

I have to say I am pleased with the way the DCWV fabric paper brings everything together. I was concerned about the patterns, but I like them!

Thanks for popping by! Please take a look at the Globecraft & Piccolo store; there are some new releases!!

Blessings! Christi

Mother's Day Card & Gift

Mother’s Day in the United States is just around the corner so today I am showcasing a Mother’s Day card I made for my mom for my Globecraft & Piccolo project. Remember, there is a NEW project every day on the Globecraft & Piccolo blog - go and see what my fabulously talented team mates have made.

What I Used to Make This Card:

Embossing Fluid
Embossing Enamel in Micro Black3D Gel in Titanium Whiteand Rose Pearl
MOM Stamp from Great Impressions, #G150
Distress Marker in Seedless Preserves
White Card Base
Scrap of White Cardstock
Paper Flowers & Leaves (Hero Arts & Prima)
Scrap of decorative paper & butterfly sticker 
from KaiserCraft Violet Crush paper pack

Embossed

The gels

I first used Embossing Fluid on my stamp and then stamped it on a piece of scrap white cardstock.  I embossed the card using G&P Embossing Enamel in Micro Black.  Once that was accomplished, I took two of my 3D gels, Titanium White and Rose Pearl, put a dot of each on my wax paper, mixed them together and painted the sentiment. In order to make the letters stand out a bit more I colored over them with the Distress Marker in Seedless Preserves.

Painted with the 3D gel mix

Once my sentiment was dry, I trimmed it and adhered it to the decorative paper.  I needed to add some oomph so I turned to my stash of paper flowers and leaves (my mom loved to plant flowers) and added a few of them, as well as a butterfly sticker. The card is done, so let me move on to the gift I made for her.

The card is actually more purple than pink

For a gift I made a bird’s nest pendant.  This was SO easy but looks SO hard I love it! I loved it so much I already gave it to her I just couldn’t wait!  There are quite a few tutorials on the web for this type of pendant (one of my fav's is HERE) so I am just going to give you a quick explanation on how I made it.  I used some silver craft wire (22 gauge), about the 10” long, put the three “eggs” (these were just plastic beads I had hanging around) on the bottom of the wire and basically formed a circle around the eggs, adding walls and threading the wire through as I went around the nest.  I then cut more wire and weaved it in and out of the nest frame to make it more cohesive.  After I finished with the wire, I took care to tuck the ends so they wouldn’t snag on any clothing and shaped it a bit with a pair of needle nosed pliers.  Mom wore the necklace to her senior center on Tuesday and it was a hit! All the ladies wanted to know if I sell them – I told Mom to get their favorite colors and I’d be happy to make the pendants, the whole thing only took about 15 minutes! 

Not as neat as the ones in the tutorial but I love it!

So there you have it – I will most likely get my mom a plant for Mother’s Day as I can’t go over there empty handed.  I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.  Please keep in touch, as I am getting ready to celebrate my Blogaversary!! I have SO many goodies to give away there is going to be more than one winner (and I keep adding stuff to the pile daily, who knows, maybe everyone will win something!) Thank you for stopping by ~ Christi

Hi all, it's Christi with a project that was inspired by my Globecraft& Piccolo teammate Tracy (see her project HERE), I took one of my recent goodies and decided to use the leftover chipboard as a stencil. For my project today I made a very simple wall hanging.   

I could of made a beautiful card out of this just as easily, but my walls are bare! And, yes, I realize there is nothing on this to hang it yet, but I am going to be ordering wall hangers from G&P!

I used:

LC102 Royal Key Charms

Crafters Pick Glue

Piece of Vellum Card Stock (thicker than regular vellum)

White card stock

Dylusions Ink Sprays

Removable tape (to hold the stencil)

Scrap mat board

Brads

I removed all of the keys (there are 18 of them and they are 2" long) and took the leftover frame, taped it down on a piece of card stock and sprayed away with my Dylusions Ink Sprays.

Mine didn't come out as "smooth" as Tracy's - I think I need that adhesive she used! 

I cut the stenciled card stock down to size (I removed all the “over spray”) and then cut a piece of scrap mat board the size of the stenciled card stock.  Before I attached the cardstock to the mat board, I found a cool quote (I know, another one!), set it up in Microsoft Word, adjusted the font and such until I liked it, then printed the quote on vellum card stock. 

Another GREAT quote!!

I chose vellum card stock instead of regular vellum because I wanted to be able to still see the keys behind the quote, but I didn’t want the keys to be so visible that they were a distraction.

I cut the quote down to the size I wanted (after I let it dry – very important that you don’t touch the printed quote for a few minutes – how do I know? Guess!)  and attached that to the card stock using brads.  Glued the card stock onto the mat board and now I have another cool piece to hang in my studio!

Can you see the Key Holder?!?

In addition, wouldn't the leftover frame be a really cute board to hang your keys on?? Hmmm. . .

A final look. . .

I wish you all a happy holiday weekend ~ Christi

A Certain Darkness. . .

I know everyone is making pretty spring cards and projects but I am stuck on a quote kick, plus I got a bunch of new stamps from Unity Stamp Company.  And, I found the base paper hiding in my stash, unopened, where it has sat for a very long time (the company I bought it from is out of business, but if you do a web search you can find it).  I am on a mission to use my supplies (I am still buying new stuff, but that can be our little secret) so I wanted to use this paper.  I am very pleased with how this card turned out and I hope you agree!

Not sure why this one looks a little blue. . .

What I used to make this card:

• Base made of black plastisheen paper (which is a thicker, heavier version of glossy cardstock)
• A144 Tiny Hearts, Flowers, Stars & Flourishes
• Unity Stamp Co. “A Certain Darkness”, IB-DD-579
• Micro White, Starry Sky, Siam Silver and Mermaid Tears Embossing Enamel
• Embossing Fluid
• Scrap piece of black cardstock
• Sturdy silver cardstock
• Small Star Punch
• Pop Dots
• Crafters Pick Adhesive

First thing I did was take four of the small stars from the Tiny Hearts, Flowers, Stars and Flourishes set – I need to order that set again as I have no more stars left. I embossed them with Siam Silver Embossing Enamel after coating them with Embossing Fluid.  I just have to say, I have been using this bottle of Embossing Fluid, at least weekly, since January and I haven’t even put a dent in it.  And the dauber delivery system is SO much easier to use than a typical embossing pad, plus, I pried the top off and put a small amount in an old pill bottle to use for painting the Embossing Fluid on.  Love this stuff! Sorry, I got distracted <grin>. I completely ruined one of the stars (don’t drop newly embossed items on the floor when you have four very furry cats) so that left me with 3 stars.  I knew I needed more, so I punched some out using the heavy silver cardstock.

Next, I embossed the sentiment with the Micro White Embossing Enamel on a scrap piece of black cardstock.  Now, I have never had good luck with white embossing, ever.  I use my little pouch thingie to ensure there is no stray powder but I could never seem to get a clean emboss.  I did here! I am thrilled with this stuff! I trimmed the sentiment down so it was even.

It was then I decided to try something new.  I knew I could emboss on glossy cardstock, so I thought I’d give it a whirl on this plastisheen.  All I did was use the Embossing Fluid and I swiped it on the card, right out of the bottle.  Then I embossed my swipes with Starry Sky Embossing Enamel. 

I love the texture (such a big thing now!) and it was so fun! I love to try new things; especially when they work out!

So, now I have my background done, my sentiment and my stars.  I pieced it together and felt something was missing.

Hmm. . .not quite right

After debating how to give the card some more interest, I took 2 of the cardstock silver stars and embossed them with Mermaid Tears.  Definitely gave the card a little more pizzazz! After I glued my stars where I wanted them, I pop dotted the sentiment, adhered that and we have liftoff!

My Mermaid Tears stars

So there you have it! I want to share a few more pictures of the card:

I was amazed to see the purple pop out in this picture!

And the last picture of the finished product!

It is very difficult to get a good picture of a black glossy card!
Thank you for popping by and I hope you stop by the Globecraft & Piccolo blog every day to see what my fabulously talented teamies have created! I have to get started on my Mother's Day card ~ eeeek!! Christi