Happy New Year!

Hi everyone can you believe that 2015 is almost over. Where did the year go? A new year is on its' way a year of surprises, discoveries, and hopefully personal growth. Every year I make Crafting goals. I don't make resolutions as for me that is setting me up for failure instead I make goals and they don't even have to be big ones. It is easier to meet a goal of lose ten pounds then to make a resolution to lose weight.  So how did I do on my goals. My craft room although maybe not neater especially my work space is more organized.. I did make it on a Design Team. Yeah! And I've definitely been trying new techniques and products. I didn't make much of a dent in my stash but I did use some stuff that I've had for ten years or longer so that is progress.

Using Just For Fun Celebration and their Happy New Year frame I made this card to wish you a virtual Happy New Year!

 For the base I crumpled white tissue wrapping paper and used Mod Podge to adhere it as my Outdoor Mod Podge is really thick and wouldn't buckle the scrape card stock like regular glue.

I took a Silhouette Store frame cutting file and filled in the center with black alas I did not have the cutting lines thick enough so they did not print out dark enough on my laser printer for the foil. So I had to use a gel pen to edge in gold.

The sentiment frame was stamped and heat embossed with some Hero Arts gold embossing powder I've had for years. When I went to the big city years ago I bought it in bulk as the small town I lived in didn't have much in the way of stamps or embossing powders.

The Celebration stamp actually has confetti but it was too large to fit in the frame with all the details of the stamps so I stamped heat embossed and after applying both clear and gold Dimensional Magic cut the glasses out.

That is all for this year see you in 2016. Wishing you a Happy Frugal Crafting New Year with lots of crafting fun!

I Wish You Joy

Hi everyone I hope if you celebrate Christmas that you have a wonderful Christmas. I'm not ready for Christmas to be over so I want to share with you my last Christmas card for the year. I love the Just For Fun Stamptangle Joy Ornament stamp. I can see where this one is going to be around for awhile. Plus this stamp can be used even when it is not Christmas as the Joy in the circle can be stamped and cut out to be used.

Supplies used:
Metallic Poster Board from Hobby Lobby
Retired Sizzix Embossing Folder
Just For Fun Balsam Pine Stamp
 Just For Fun Stamptangle Joy Ornament Stamp
Stazon Cactus Ink
Gold embossing powder
Brusho Colour Crystals

I wish you Joy in the New Year also wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Last Minute Photo Gift

Hi everyone the clock is ticking away and Christmas will be here before we know it. Alas I have not gotten a single cookie baked so I'm going to have to find my snow shoes and walk to the store tomorrow for what I need. However, I just finished my last gift.

I was going to do a picture of the two dogs alone but realized the picture I had in mind is on my phone and I didn't feel like going through a million photos to find it. The person this is for has a birthday in February so I can do a photo canvas of them then. In fact now that I've done this I'll be playing with doing photo collages on canvas.

If you are looking for a quick gift which is personal then this is the project for you. As long as you are not faint of heart. I have tried this technique of printing on tissue wrapping paper with both my inkjet printer and my laser printer. I use the rear tray for printing with my ink jet printer. To print on tissue paper you will spray with a positional adhesive on a piece of copy paper. Follow the directions for drying time to use as positional. Position tissue wrapping paper on the copy paper and trim if need be. Then print like you normally do. Once printed pull the tissue paper off the copy paper. Cut slightly larger than your canvas board.

I then sprayed my canvas board with spray adhesive and placed my tissue paper on top.If you are worried about messing up at this point then you can wait awhile for the adhesive to become positional. I smoothed the print down with my hands from the center out. (Something I learned to do when hanging wallpaper in another lifetime. ;-) )I used a glue stick on the edges and the back  and then wrapped the extra around to the back. Then I took a marker and colored the edge. Because this was printed on my inkjet printer I didn't seal it. I haven't really found any sealer which plays nicely with inkjet prints.

This took me less than a half hour to do but don't tell my friend. ;-)

The canvas boards can be found at craft stores like Michaels and are relatively inexpensive compared to stretched canvas.

Presents to be wrapped are calling me. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Poinsettia Wreath

Hi everyone can you believe it is only five days until Christmas. I hope you have been getting done all the things you want. My shopping is pretty much done just a few stocking stuffers to buy.


 Although I've pretty much spent the last week and a half helping my roommate to move I did find time for some crafting.  The painted wooden piece I had on my front door would knock on the door every time the wind would blow when someone opened the front door to the apartment complex no matter what I tried to muffle it. Since I have dogs who would bark at the knocking it was not a good thing. I ended up bending a wire hanger into a wreath and cutting out with my Cameo poinsettias to use.

Sorry I don't know who designed the poinsettia cutting file but I think it was a freebie on the Silhouette Plus Forum. Anyway after my machine cut the petals out of white cardstock I painted them with Extreme Glitter Acrylic paint. I then cut out the stamens and painted those with gold glitter glue.

I wrapped my hanger with adhesive tape like what athletics use and then air brushed it green. The flowers were then adhered with 3D dots after I curled the petals downward a little bit.

I like how I can still look out the peep hole yet have something pretty on my front door.

I have a post scheduled to run the day after Christmas, In the meantime  I'll be trying to get some crafting done in between baking cookies and making candy.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

It's A Winter Wonderland

Hi everyone can you believe that it is getting closer to holiday time and the end of the year. Where did this year go.

Today I have two winter projects to share with you. One is a card and the other piece once I get a frame will be a holiday decoration. Both projects utilize experimentation which fulfills one of my crafting goals to try new things. As well as to marry stamping with mixed media.

Here is my first. Now to make a dash to thrift stores to find a frame.  Which will determine what size mat I'll be mounting it on. Another goal was to use what I have on hand. The base for this is from a box which has been cluttering up my play area.

For this piece besides the cardboard I used gesso, paint, alcohol markers, ink and color pencils along with of course Just For Fun rubber stamps and my die cutting machine. Of course being the glitter queen I had to use glitter. Images were colored with pencils that seem to mostly gather dust. Oh and let's not forget that inexpensive tissue wrapping paper. I seem to be using it a lot lately. I love the effect I got with the tissue paper airbrushed with a marker and adhered over the painted cardboard. 

This card I used Canson Acrylic XL paper so that it wouldn't buckle. Once again the wrapping paper, alcohol markers, and ink was used. Along with the Just For Fun Rubber stamps. I could have skipped the wrapping paper but I changed the direction I was going after it was glued down. I also used Texture Paste which is probably no longer being made as I haven't seen it anywhere. I've only had it for over twenty years. This piece has the addition of Golden Light Molding Paste. My first time playing with it. I also used my go to medium when I want shimmer by using Liquidtex Iridescent Medium.  I used DecoArt One Step Crackle and I must say I'm really impressed with the results. It was an impulse purchase which is not always the frugal way to shop but it was on sale. ;-) I also used pan water colors with a water brush to do the coloring for the snowman.

Details are on the Just For Fun Rubber Stamp Blog. The Winter Wonderland Post.

Stamps used are:

• Sleigh Ride
• Classic Snowman
• Pine Forest

I would love to see your projects marrying mixed media with stamping. Feel free to post at https://www.facebook.com/craftingfrugalway

Are you ready for the holidays? What projects are you working on?

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Another Stamptangle Stocking Card

Hi everyone I was busy addressing envelopes and realized I had forgotten to make cards for some people. I don't know whether they would have missed the handmade cards if I sent a store bought card but I hate to disappoint people. I'm loving the Just For Fun Stamptangle Stocking stamp so much that I just had to make another card with it. Of course I also had to experiment to see if I could foil over Liquitex Light Molding Paste. Here is my card.

Background panel, stocking, and Merry Christmas all come from scrap card stock. I don't think I have even put a dent in card stock left over from print and cuts.

I used my air brush with Dollar Tree metallic markers. The gold flowed nicely on my scrap but when I went to spray over the blue it speckled. That is all right because I like the speckled look.

I stenciled the stars on with the molding paste. When it was dry I brushed the transfer adhesive over them. The molding paste seemed to absorb the adhesive so in places I didn't get good coverage but that is all right as I think the stars have more character than if they were completely covered. I decided to give the stars a little more dimension by tracing around using an extra fine point Sharpie. The black was dried out :-( so I used a dark blue.

The stocking was stamped with Ranger Archival ink. I will try to do a video soon of the technique I used to color the stocking as well as the Merry Christmas. I will tell you I dusted off the oil pastels and used them. The oil pastels on the Merry Christmas ended up paler than I had anticipated so I'll probably dust some chalk over them to make them pop more.

O.K I still have not begun to decorate my apartment or make new decorations so as soon as i get this card ready to mail I'm off to do that.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Stamptangle Stocking Card

Hi everyone I really haven't fallen off the edge of the world. I've been busily trying to get my obligations for the design team out of the way for the year and now have projects finished and posts scheduled so I can play more on my own things.

I have a special friend who has in many ways been my mentor and encouraging me in my card making journey. She has answered questions I've had and given me advice. When I was really bummed out once again not making it on a design team she told me it was their loss. I think she was doing just as much a happy dance as I was when I was picked for the Just For Fun team. I wanted to make her a special card. I just finished it this weekend.

I started by mod podging white tissue wrapping on a scrap of card stock. The mod podge being so thick doesn't warp the card stock like regular glue would. Then I used a few different colors of acrylic paint including Peridot green which is a metallic paint.  When it was dry I edged  with gold ink.

The scallop panel is a Silhouette store frame cutting file I've been playing with. I converted it to a print and cut and made the scallop lines thicker so they would print darker and accept the foil.  I love knowing I can now turn cutting files into print and cut and print them with my laser printer and then foiling.

Merry Christmas is cut with my cutting machine and then heat embossed with holographic powder. It always amazes me how tiny I can cut things. The sentiment is a half inch tall.

I took out my gelli plate which would have been gathering dust if it was not in an air tight container. I borrowed some deli paper from my roommate's stash. (Hopefully Costco will have it in stock next time I go.) I love how the stocking turned out heat embossed. I didn't want to glue it down and take a chance on it wrinkling so it is adhered to the panel with a jewel brad.

There you have it a special card for a special lady. I hope she will like it. I'm off to find a cutting file for making decorations.

I hope you are having fun being crafty during the holiday season. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

A Bubbly Christmas Card With Shaving Cream Background

Today I have a fun card using the Just For Fun Bubble Light stamp and a shaving cream background.  When I saw the Bubble Light stamp I knew I had to have it. The stamp brings back childhood memories of the excitement of opening up the box of Christmas decorations and pulling out the bubble lights. Unfortunately one year my mom decided they were too old fashioned to go on the tree anymore so I talked my dad into mounting them on a piece of wood and the lights held a place of honor on my window sill.

I wish you could see this in person as the photo doesn't really do it justice. :-( In fact my camera kept distorting the card.

Just For Fun has several Merry Christmas stamps and I had a difficult time choosing just one. I finally decided on this Merry Christmas stamp. I stamped with Stazon Ink on vellum and then heat embossed using holographic embossing powder. Holographic embossing power is a little more expensive than some of the other embossing powders but I love how it looks using a color ink to stamp with.

I stamped the Bubble Light with Stazon Ink and then used Recollection Glizt  embossing powder only on the branches. Alas it does not show in the photo. I took the gelatos and scribbled on my craft mat and then picked up the color with a water brush and painted the colors on the branches and the tube of the light. I used the metallic color pencils for the rest of the light. Then I used Mod Podge Gold Dimensional Magic on the tube. I love the flecks of gold glitter and really wish you could see this in person.

/To make my background I started out by spreading shaving cream on a plastic lid. Any shallow container will do. A little goes a long ways.

Drop drops of reinker, water color paint or alcohol ink. I've use these successfully. Then with a straw or even the end of a paint brush make a design. You can then place your card stock on top and pull a print or go onto the next step.

I took a gift card with a zero balance and used it to make my design in the shaving cream and then pulled a print. When there was no longer enough shaving cream left on the lid to make prints I went ahead and loaded my gift card with the mixed shaving cream  and used it with a couple of different stencils.

I hope you will try this shaving cream technique. I would love to see your creations. Feel free to post them at:

https://www.facebook.com/craftingfrugalway/

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Do You Have Your Cards Made? Production Line Cards

Hi everyone sorry I've been missing in action but been busy with projects for the design team. Have one more card to make for an extra post in December. Than it will be starting next year's projects.

Also I had the dreaded apartment inspection. I thought for sure I was going to be busted when the apartment manager opened the refrigerator. Luckily nothing fell out. The next day I cleaned and organized it. What can I say I'd rather be crafting than cleaning any day. This year the whole apartment passed with flying colors. Now I can relax until next October or November.

My sister liked so much a card front I made with the snow person that I decided to make a few cards production line. Usually I do individual cards with every card being different. These have some subtle differences. Especially since I had to salvage them after a few stamping disasters. I couldn't understand why the forest was not stamping nicely like it had done in my first card. I discovered later that Stazon Ink and acrylic paint don't like each other. :-( Or at least the paint I was using. After all my painting, crackling,texturing,etc. I decided to see if I could salvage them. I think I actually like the first three fronts I salvaged with part of my stamping mess showing through tissue wrapping paper better than the one I painted on the back side of the tissue paper after stamping.

I had so much fun painting,airbrushing with a marker, using molding paste, and using one step crackling. Not to mention stamping with two Just For Fun Stamps. :-) I'm so in love with this snow person.

Each snow person was stamped and heat embossed with black powder. Then colored with water colors and cut out by hand using scissors and an xacto knife. I also love how the DecoArt One Step Crackle medium created my ice. I've used other crackle mediums but I have to say I'm impressed with this one. Plus the price is more affordable.

Stamps used are:
Pine Forest
Classic Snowman

Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to adhere the printed sentiment image I modified in Printshop so it would go with these cards.

Are your cards made? Stop by tomorrow when I'll have a card posted using a shaving cream background.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

We Three Wise Men In A Waterglobe

Hi everyone I have today a Christmas card using the three wise men on camels. I love this stamp and it is the perfect size to fit into the Waterglobe Woodbase.

I took purple card stock and used a Paper Studio embossing folder. Then I took transfer adhesive and brushed over the embossing. Once that was dried I used opal DecoFoil.  I had a difficult time trying to get a good photo which showed both the embossed background and the wisemen.

Here is another photo which shows the stamping better. I stamped the woodbase waterglobe and then airbrushed the background with blue and purple glitter markers. Then I stamped the wisemen on camels stamp. I painted the sand with gouache. The woodbase of the waterglobe was colored with a pencil.

It was tricky using Plaid Gold Mod Podge Dimensional Magic.. I masked off the wood base but if you look you may see where it went under the painter tape a little bit. The waterglobe must be a dollar store one. ;-) For some reason the gold glitter came out heavier covering up the stamped stars.I still like the extra dimension that Dimensional Magic creates.

To finish it off I cut a circle out of black card stock. Also I decided to not use a sentiment.

It was fun using the gold Dimensional Magic but I think if using it over a stamped image that using the clear and then lightly sprinkling glitter while still wet would work better.

If you make cards for the holidays do you have your cards done?

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Don't Walk Past That Party Aisle

First off before I get into my post I want to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. I have to go buy some more candy for the goblins tonight. Don't know how many I will have but there are more children now living in the apartment complex.

As the headline reads don't walk past that party aisle. You may be wondering why as a crafter you should go browsing in the party aisle. The reason being you can find inexpensive goodies to use in your crafting as well as inspiration. I will confess that I shop more in the party aisle at dollar stores than the larger one stop stores.

Today's project features a napkin for the background. Back in the late 80's Carol Duval did a segment on making note cards using napkins. The napkins were used alone but when I use napkins I usually add embellishments. Of course you can find more than cute napkins to use in the party aisle. ;-)

Enough jabbering on to showing you today's project.

This napkin has been in my stash for awhile. I love the vintage look of it. Only problem is until this week I couldn't come up with a way to use it. I kept discarding the ideas I had. I was looking through my binder of Just For Fun Stamps trying to find some inspiration and saw this Tea Party Dress stamp. Eureka that is perfect my muse whispered in my ear. Details are further down if you want to  use a napkin in one of your creations.

The Tea Party Dress is stamped on a light color subtle pattern of scrap paper. Alas I've never been able to get this paper to photograph correctly. No matter what I try it ends up looking white. Although the text in the napkin is black I decided to go with a dark brown ink. I used a color pencil on the collar and sash of the dress.

Liquid Pearls for the buttons finish the dress off. I was really wishing I had more colors of Liquid Pearls.

I printed my sentiment out on vellum using my laser printer and then used decofoil and my laminator to fuse the foil to the vellum. (I was kicking myself for not picking up the package of clear plastic which is designed to be used in a laser printer as I think it could also be foiled this way.)

For my foil frame I cut iCraft foam adhesive into strips and applied the foil to one of the sticky sides. No laminator needed. You can also use double sided tape but I find I get more of a shabby chic look with the double sided tape.

There you have it my rainy day project. 

How to apply a napkin to card stock:
The magic ingredient is plastic wrap in between your card stock and the napkin which you have separated so it is one ply. You will need that iron which is gathering dust and either copy paper or parchment paper to place on the ironing board and on top of your napkin sandwich. Cotton setting with no water and place iron on sandwich and pick it up and put down somewhere else. Keep moving iron that way and don't keep it long in any one area as you don't want to scorch your napkin. It only takes a few seconds in each area to melt the plastic fusing the napkin to your card stock. Pay particular attention to covering the corners. Don't try to iron the normal way or you will get a mess. Trust me I've messed up my napkin background more times than I care to remember. I'm not sure if a laminator will work or not so will have to get back to you later on that.

Have you used napkins or other party goods in your crafting? If you haven't used napkins do you think you would after reading my directions?

Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Tag You Are It!

Do you remember playing tag? Usually I would end up being "it".  I seldom play "tag"  now but I do play with tags. It can be a  lot of fun creating your own tags which can used on card fronts or used on packages. Today I have some Halloween tags to share which will be tied on latex gloves filled with Halloween candy for family members.

 Embossing folder used as a stamp with VersaMark ink. Wicked Stamptangle Spider heat embossed with black powder and painted with water colors.The spider is suspended with white thread glued in the web.

 Wicked trees heat embossed with black and background air brushed with Spectrum Noir markers. Hanging bat small heat embossed and glaze pen used for eyes and fangs. Sentiment printed with a label maker. The wicked trees stamp is actually three panels but who said you have to use the whole stamp.

 Tattered screen background heat embossed. Dripping blood stamped with Stazon and colored with a Glaze pen. Bat wings colored with Radiant Neon Amplify on the wings and body colored with glaze pen. Then airbrushed with Spectrum Noir marker. Mummy stamped with Ranger Archival ink and eye colored with glaze pen. Beware is printed with a label maker.

Raised side of Paper Studio embossing folder inked and debossed. Then airbrushed with Spectrum Noir markers. Stamped sentiment heat embossed and words cut apart. Scardy cat colored with Radiant Neon Amplify. Whiskers and eyes colored with glaze pens.

And here are the gloves filled and ready to be put in a bag for family members to grab.

All stamps are Just For Fun stamps which the company has provided me with.

Do you celebrate Halloween? If you do are you ready?

Tag you are it! Now it is your turn to create a tag or two. It doesn't have to be a Halloween one. Feel free to post your creations on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/craftingfrugalway

Happy Halloween! Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Autumn Greetings

Hi is Autumn your favorite season? It is mine and I love the Just For Fun stamptangle stamps. It is difficult for me to pick my favorite stamp. I had a lot of fun using the Stamptangle Maple Leaf stamp.

 I had fun creating the background using my pan water colors. I activated the water colors with water and used a stencil brush to apply it to the card stock using a pouncing motion.

I realized my original ideas were not going to work and when I saw the  b butterfly trail stamp in my binder I had an aha moment.

I also realized that the Colorful Autumn Blessing sentiment was not going to work. So I masked all but the Greetings part. Then stamped that on wrapping tissue paper. I then colored the wrapping paper like I did the background so it would blend in better. Don't be afraid to only use part of a stamp.

After stamping I used blending chalk on the white card stock. Then I had fun coloring using Sakura Glaze pens. I then used a fabric leaf as my mat.

I love how this card turned out. It was fun to use the butterfly trail in a way that the stamp was not originally designed for.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Happy Birthday!

Do you ever have  a crafting day where nothing seems to go right? At least for me it seems to happen when I'm in a hurry. Opps! I forgot about a birthday and needed to make a card. I had previously played with making backgrounds using shaving cream and re-inkers and decided to use one of those for my card. Luckily I had made several backgrounds as the first one didn't stamp right. I'll use gesso over it and do something else. Second time it stamped fine but I thought I would hurry up the drying process with my heat gun on the foil adhesive and it bubbled making ugly stars when I applied the foil. Being the salvage queen I am all was not lost.

I love how my background turned out. I used Azure Stazon to stamp using Paper Studio stamps. For the cupcake I stamped it again on tissue paper and cut out just the cupcake liner part. I colored it with a color pencil after I adhered it with a dot runner. Which added the dots. The top of the cupcake I used Radiant Neon Amplify. You apply it and then use a heat gun and it puffs up. I used glaze pens to color the candle and flame. I happened to have in my stash star gems which I bought many years ago at a dollar store. Luckily I had sizes and colors which worked. You can see a little bit of the glitter pen I used to trace around the stamped stars.originally.

What have been some of your crafting disasters? Please share in the comment section.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Makeover Feedback Please

I love watching shows where makeovers are done. Sometimes the results are really stunning. I've not been too happy with the looks of my blog and decided it was time to do a makeover. I wish now I would have taken a before shot.

I decided I wanted a personal header so added my blog name to a picture of an altered playing card I created. In case you missed that post foil is embedding in gesso. Then colored with alcohol ink. A stamped sentiment and cut out printed images including the steampunk one which I modified completes it. The post where this altered playing card and another is featured can be found HERE.

I did a lot of deleting of stuff on the sidebars and went to one sidebar instead of two. Sometimes I think less is better. What do you think?

Please leave me some feedback in the comment section. I really would love to hear from you. Thank you!

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again! I'm off to create a birthday card. :-)

Fall Bucket List A Look Back At Previous Fall Posts With Leaves

Hi do you have a bucket list for Fall? I printed out a regular Fall bucket list with things like wearing a hoodie, going to a haunted house etc. One of the things on my list is to gather leaves. But what do you do after you gather the leaves? If leaves are not readily available what are some ideas for creating Fall cards?  Perhaps you would like a Fall card or even a piece of art to frame but don't know where to begin. Hang on tight as I turn on the time machine.

First off  is a card I made using paint and the vein side of gathered leaves to make  my background.

Details for this card can be found here. Thanksgiving Joys Card

I want to do the technique I used for the leaves on this card again. It is a shaving cream technique but instead of using re-inkers I used water colors on die cut leaves.

Details can be found here Happy Fall

I'm glad that we are traveling back in time because I forgot about how I stamped and heat embossed with gold and then painted the leaves with metallic water color. I love the result.

Detail can be found here Pilgrim Children Thanksgiving

The final card is using a leaf as a stamp. You should still be able to find leaves to do this.

Details can be found here Leaf Print Card

I hope I've given you some ideas for some Fall cards. Come back on the 24th for a new Fall card.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Colorful Autumn Greetings

Hi everyone! I've been busy doing projects for future posts on the Just For Fun blog. As well as playing. Alas not all my play has been successful but that is the way it goes. I heard a good quote today "Give yourself permission to fail and then move on."

One of the things I've been trying to do is to foil stamped images without having to stamp them and then scan and print them with my laser printer. I thought perhaps my embossing ink was bad so bought a new pad but that didn't work either. I'm starting to think that my heat gun gets too hot for the Sticky Embossing powder because no matter how quickly I heat the powder it is not all that sticky. Anyway I was going to try the Sticky embossing powder using black ink but the card stock really absorbed the ink which I've used on other card stock for embossing and was dry before I could even sprinkle the powder. Being the frugal person I am I went ahead and used my Stamptangle stamped Oak leaf. Here is my colorful Autumn card.

Believe it or not the leaf was actually stamped on the same color of card stock as the background. I have so much fun changing colors of things. :-)

Details of how I did this card are on the Just For Fun blog. Colorful Autumn post.  As well as a closeup of the leaf.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back to see what I might be up. I have some interesting ideas to try out. As well as have scheduled some fun Autumn and holiday projects.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Haunted House Scene

Hi everyone here it is the end of September. Today I have one more Halloween card to share. Originally it was going to be a Shaker card but things don't always turn out like planned. I did have fun making it even though the leaves stuck when I shook the card.

The background was stamped with Just For Fun Bats stamp. I dropped Abandoned Coral and Fossilized Amber re-inkers on plastic and then stamped. I did some ghost stamping where I did not reink the stamp. Originally I was going to use the bats in the water globe scene but realized it would be too much.

The water globe was stamped  with Rusty Bown Stazon ink on white card and on plastic. I then cut the glass part out of the plastic. Where the stamped bubble is I added Dimensional Magic. In person you can see the bubble but it  didn't photograph well.  The base was painted with gouache paint. Yes, I'm a loving using gouache and wonder why it took me so long to purchase a basic set. I discovered that the Sakura Quickie Glue pen was perfect for gluing the plastic to the card. :-)

My haunted house was cut out with my cutting machine. I ended up having to cut off the extended porch to get it to fit. I was afraid if I resized it even smaller it might not cut out well. I airbrushed it with a black and navy blue marker.. It is then backed with scraps of yellow card.

The leaves were cut out of scraps of yellow and orange. It always amazes me at how small I can cut things.

The cat is stamped and heat embossed. I then took a yellow glaze pen to color the eyes.

I'm always intimidated stamping directly on a background. However, these stamps are of such a high quality that even using the rubber unmounted stamps without a mouse pad I've gotten clear stamped images. :-) This time I stamped with Ranger Archival black ink.

Now it is on to creating some Autumn and Winter Cards.As well as an Autumn decorating project.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Beware It's That Time Of The Year

Hi everyone I hope all is well with you. Can you believe it is already Autumn and Halloween will be here before we know it. Today I have two Halloween cards to share with you. I had so much playing with the mummy and open coffin stamp by Just For Fun as well as the Stamptangle Wicked Spider. If I was mean I would give the spider card to my son. Lol! He is totally freaked out by spiders.

I wish you could see the texture for the mummy. I glued an ironed used dryer sheet to card stock and when it was dried stamped the mummy using Jet Black Stazon ink. I like that the lines are not as crisp as they might have been with other inks. The coffin was painted with gouache. The card base was airbrushed with markers. I also airbrushed the spider web embossed panel with a silver marker.

I tried to stamp the sentiment on cheesecloth which I had applied to card stock covered in gesso but it didn't work out. I ended up stamping on non stick baking parchment and gluing the cheesecloth over. I love the added texture it gives. I also on purpose left it tattered looking. :-)

This was such a fun card to do. I used paint in my airbrush to get blood spatters on my spider web embossed panel. My spider web is cut with my electronic cutting machine since I didn't own a spider web stamp. I painstakingly glued white crochet thread on the spider and then while the glue was still wet sprinkled glitter on it to give it that gossamer look. The sentiment was stamped on a scrap of orange card with black ink and clear embossing powder used. I don't own any black embossing powder and in the past when I've used it I've gotten a  mess so stamping with black ink and embossing with clear works.

The spider is stamped on a scrap of black and copper embossing powder used. I then hand cut the spider out. and pop dotted it on the card.

If you are making Halloween cards you still have time to order stamps from Just For Fun. The spider, mummy and open coffin are from their Summer 2015 collection. They also have a lot of other neat Halloween stamps.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Angels Among Us

Hi everyone I will just meet the deadline for the Mojo Monday #415 challenge. Tomorrow will be a new sketch challenge. I modified the sketch but here is the sketch.

Here is my original take:

Here is my redo:

I decided to go with the narrow gem trim instead of the wider panel. Also my stamped feather is larger than what the panel used for the sketch is and I didn't want to make a larger card.

The background was done in response to a personal challenge to use a tool you haven't used. I hate to admit it but the square stamping gear had never been opened. It been sitting on a shelf collecting dust for over a year. :-( I just bought some Cut N Dry Felt as well as some re-inkers so wanted to play with that. I mixed three colors on the felt and then had fun stamping away.

I wanted to see how Brusho Colour Crystals would work on Ranger's water color paper. I spritzed sprinkled and spritzed again. Then dried it with a heat gun. For my first embossing try neither the turquoise or white pearl embossing powder showed up. Then I decided to use Ranger Black Archival ink with the Stamptangle Feather 3 stamp by Just For Fun. I then used gold embossing powder.  Alas I accidentally got some gold glitter embossing powder mixed in with my gold embossing powder but I like the resulting look with just a hint of glitter in places.

I don't know if I like the green tag but I can always redo and use a different color. The sentiment was printed using a Brother Label maker.  When trying to come up with something for on the tag I remembered being told as a child when I found a feather that it was a reminder that angels are among us watching over us.

Do you like my redo better or the first one? What color would you do the tag?

I have been busy organizing and re-organizing in my apartment. Right now I'm working on a bedroom makeover. I will be getting rid of a bulky dresser and replacing with a wire affair which can be closed when I don't need access. With the bulky dresser out of the way and the bed placed in a different position I'll have the illusion of the room being bigger than it actually is. As well as actually have more storage for my clothes and accessories. Lol! I'm sure my son will be happy to know that when it comes time to help me move he won't have the dresser to move. In the meantime I have a lot of sorting and purging to do so if you don't hear from me you will know why.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Down By The Seashore

Hi everyone school is back in session and my thoughts turn to going down by the seashore. I really miss not living as close but there are always trade offs. My recourse was to create a seashore card. Although where I've gone in the past I've never seen dolphins I just couldn't resist this Stamptangle Dolphin by Just For Fun Stamps.

Details of how I did this card and what stamps I used can be found here on this

 Just For Fun Blog Post

It was fun to do my first blog post for Just For Fun team and I get to post again on the 26th with two Halloween cards which are now not so patiently waiting in the wings. ;-) I think the hardest thing for me is to not be able to show you my projects right away.

This card uses two common household items can you guess what they are? My personal challenge if you are up for a challenge is to see what you might have around your place which you can incorporate in a project. If you decide to accept the challenge do come back and leave me a comment as I would love to know what you found to use.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Autumn Is On My Mind

Hi everyone I'm so excited. You may have noticed there is a new badge on the left hand side. Yeah! I'm officially part of the design team for Just For Fun stamps and my stamps are suppose to be here tomorrow. In the meantime I've been creating backgrounds as well as making embellishments.  I decided to take a break and do a card for Mojo Monday. This week is now challenge 414. Clicking on the Mojo image on the left will take you the site where you can find details.

Today was a beautiful Indian Summer day with the temperature being not too hot and not too cold. The nights are cooling down more and trees are beginning to drop their leaves. Thoughts turn to packing away shorts and sleeveless tops for another year and to unpack thermal underwear and wool socks. So it isn't really surprising that the card I made today is another Autumn one.

Here is this week's sketch:

Here is my take on it:

As you can see lots of layers. The background and top smaller panel is a paper towel which I used Brusho Colour Crystals and floor wax on. The band across was leftover from making my skinny tall card base. On top of that is a panel which I sprayed with a mixture of dissolved in water Brusho Colour Crystals and iridescence paint. Then I used my airbrush with markers and a stencil. The pennant was cut out of leftover dryer sheet/wax paper from the previous card. 

The leaf is stamped on foil using Bold Aspen by Hero Arts and Jet Black Stazon ink . After stamping I took a blunt pencil and went over the lines. Then I airbrushed with three different Sharpie markers.To get the speckles I held the airbrush up high. Then I cut it out by hand and pop dotted it onto my card. I love how it turned out.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Tall And Skinny 413

Hi everyone the last couple of days I've been playing in my playroom working on this week's Mojo Monday card challenge. The last Monday of the month is tall and skinny.  The one advantage to creating tall and skinny cards is that you can use a business envelope to mail them if you make a card three and a half by six inches.

Here is this week's sketch:

This is what I came up with:

I started out by cutting my base 6" x 7" and scoring at 3 and a half inches. My green background is from the video in my last post. I realized after I cut it that I had cut it a little too narrow. Eventually I will get the proportion correct. On top of the background is a panel embossed using a Paper Studio embossing folder. Then I applied transfer adhesive to the raised areas and used gold and rose gold deco  foil. The brown ribbon was a Dollar Tree find a few years back. I decided to not go with circles like what is in the sketch.

For my sunflowers I used a Hero Arts stamp from a set from 1994, I stamped using Timber Brown StazOn ink on plastic. Then turned the stamped image over and painted glue in one section at a time and sprinkled glitter.  Then I cut my glittered images out. By having the glitter on the back of the image you can see the stamped details. I need to buy a glue pen if I'm going to be doing more glitter painting but I was not happy with a Tombow one I bought. Perhaps I bought a bad one but it didn't last long and I had to keep scribbling to even get the glue to come out.

There you have my take on the tall and skinny challenge. It was fun to play with the foil and with glitter. Although I must confess that both my dogs and I are wearing glitter now.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!