Viva La Verve and Stampotique Challenge

Baby its' hot outside and getting even hotter with the temperatures quickly edging up to triple digit. Thank goodness I have an in the wall air conditioner in the living room. Between that and a window fan along with a fan in my hallway my apartment is staying comfortable. Much too hot to be outside so I've spent the week organizing and doing some much needed cleaning in my playroom. As well as some crafting.

Wednesday was the start of a new challenge over at Stampotique. The theme is "give wings"  which means to take a stamp without wings and to add wings. I already knew what I was going to do. If you wish to join in go to http://stampotiquedesignerschallenge.blogspot.com. Also today Viva La Verve posted week number 4 sketch challenge. You can find details here at http://vlvsketches.blogspot.com When I saw the sketch I knew it would work great with the Stampotique challenge. I just love the sketch and again another great way to use up some scraps and bits.

By the way I got my Scan N Cut after having to go to the city last night to pick it up. Don't know why the driver could not find my apartment to deliver it. :-(  I'm a loving it. Of course I had to use the scallop shapes which it comes with for this card.

Further down in this post I'll share some pictures of my playroom.  It might not be this clean again until time for another apartment inspection. ;-)  For now back to the card.

Here is the sketch for this week:

I love this sketch but I had to get fancy. After all that new machine was calling me and there are over 600 cutting files stored in it. Thank goodness there is booklet showing all the shapes. :-)

The only thing that was not from a scrap is the card base. I first cut out the scallop rectangle.  The scallop circles are from a scrap of Monet Waterlillies paper which I bought at a  warehouse store several years ago. I love how with the Scan N Cut I could cut exactly where I wanted on the pattern paper.  (I have some 12 x 12 card stock with words  and this will be great to cut some of the words out.)The  big scallop was from another scrap. I cut my circles too large but was able to cut them smaller and now have frames for  other projects.

The piece the sentiment from Verve is stamped on is a scrap of paper for acrylics. I used my spouncers with yellow and green acrylic paint. I like randomly pouncing with them. I have different sizes of them. For those who don't know spouncers are round sponges usually on a wooden handle. I wasn't sure how the sentiment was going to stamp since the acrylic paper has a texture to it. I used Stazon Jet Black ink and it worked great. By the way the sentiment is from the June release of  Sparkly Dreams. This set has all kinds of neat quotations and a butterfly. Of course since the set came in the mail today I just had to use one of the stamps. :-) * wink* the lottery is now up to 64 million so I'm going to have to buy the winning ticket just to buy more Verve stamps.

I also used the StazOn ink for the toad. Lol! This is one of my vintage stamps as I bought it back in the 80's. To be honest I didn't know back then the proper way to care for rubber stamps so am surprised so many of them survived.  He is stamped on a Martha Stewart paint chip. Not only did the paint chip take the ink nicely but the Scan N Cut cut  him out like a dream. :-) The wings were in mystash. Several years ago I experimented with shaving crayons and then using an iron to melt the shavings. At the time I wanted to see if my SD cutting machine  would cut the card stock so cut out several butterflies.I thought this butterfly was the perfect size to add wings to the toad. I did have to trim the bottom off to fit.  I folded the wings back a little bit and after adhering them pop dotted the toad on the card.

There you have it my fun card to make. I kind of enjoyed being a mad scientist and adding wings to a toad. Toadally  so out of the box. Sorry could'n't resist making a pun.

For those who are interested this is what my playroom looks like now. It will never be in House Beautiful or one of those other magazines but it works.

This is what you see when you open the door. I added the drapes because the windows are drafty and it was so cold in the winter even with towels being used to try to block the drafts. I  can't help but smile seeing the bunny cookie jar. I didn't really have a place for it but didn't want to get rid of. I got rid of a lot of things my late husband bought me but I just had to keep her. ( She was his last gift to me and he was already far gone in his dementia journey but had a lucid moment while shopping at Goodwill.)She now holds the wide wire ribbon that I don't use a lot. The rest of the regular ribbon is to the left in the plastic display rack that a store threw out. You can't see it in the picture but the sides of the rack have M&M on it.

In the foreground on my work desk is my air brush. The small box next to it holds the marker adapters. Then there is a letter holder which holds cards to mail out or to hand to someone in person. Of course I have to have my Mickey and Minnie Mouse clock  present so I know when it is time to take a break and eat. Otherwise I get so caught up in my crafting that I lose track of time. I bought the wooden lazy susan years ago to use in a playroom but I never had the space before for it.  Some of my Iris Herringbone dishes hold different things as well as a wine glass and a favorite mug on it.

In one of the cubbies is the Iris Herringbone pitcher full of bristle brushes. A mug my sister gave me which has fine cracks in it holds foam brushes and rollers. A butterfly tea pot from my late husband holds other brushes. Previously I had all the brushes in a large bowl but I would grab one brush and others would fall out. Also if I wanted a particular type of brush it was hard to find it. On the top  of the cubby to the far right is the Keurig carousel which holds distress paint, stickles, etc. The green cracker barrel on the top holds the adhesive jewel ribbons. They sparkle like mini lights. The large brass bowl holds skeins of yarn. My late husband bought it for me. We were out going to different yard sales and I picked it up but didn't want to pay what it was marked for. He walked up to the lady and offered her a ridiculous low price for it and she accepted. 

So sad poor Cameron and my demon of a sewing machine were delegated to being stored under the sewing desk.  To the right of the Scan N Cut is a fake book which holds the deep blade, drawing pens and spatula. I just today pulled out from under the sink the old toolbox on the far right. I wasn't sure if it was going to fit on the Baker's rack or not. After it is spray painted the drawers will hold many of my clear stamps. Lol! I'm thinking of painting it a girly color since my son was eyeing it when he helped me move.  The black and white print on top of the tool box is a potato and ink print my sister did  back in the 70's. I have always loved this print and whenever I move things have been left behind  but not this print. I promised my sister if I got tired of it I would give it back to her but now decades later I'm still not tired of it. :-)

It is such a joy to be able to put my hands on something without having to search. I still have some misplaced craft items but I'm sure I'll find them. as I sort through some other stuff. I did do a lot of purging of  ribbon and stamps and things. As well as things that for some reason migrated into the room. I still have boxes and things in the closet to go through. Most of it is non craft items. Although ten book boxes are stuffed with photos.If it stays hot it will be a good time to sort through the tons of photos.and get them in photo boxes. The out of focus ones will go in a plastic box to use in card making and to scan in for making kaleidoscope images. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this far. I hope I have inspired you. Stay cool if you are where it is hot and stay safe. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!