A Look Back At Five Of This Year's Projects

Hi everyone today I'm posting photos of five of this year's projects as part of a design team application.  Out of the 64 projects I've blogged about I thought it would also be fun for you my faithful readers to see five of the projects with the details of how they were done.

This year has been an exciting crafting journey and in a way I'm sad to see it go. Yet, I know that next year more adventures are in store as I play and experiment more stretching my creative muscles.

First off is a recent one where I dusted off a stamp which had been given me by a friend. The friend saw the card and asked if he could send it to his mom. 😁

I totally wasn't sure how this was going to turn out by stamping on photo paper using this post card stamp. (I believe the stamp is by Stampendous) Then coloring with gelatos and gel pens. Adding snow using a Snow Writer. Using a photo corner punch which had been gathering dust. Then not liking the white card stock frame using my eBrush with a Sharpie Bronze marker.

Second is the Just For Fun inspiration piece for their "Anything But A Card" challenge.

I had so much fun doing something other than a card. 😊 It was especially rewarding to take a stretched canvas found at a thrift store which someone had written on using a permanent marker. 

I've seen lately several canvas pieces using melted crayon. I decided to do my own thing. I bought at a dollar store a box of crayons and melted them with my heat gun. Being careful to not burn myself or make a mess all over my "play room". The smoke detector only went off once. Lol!

The wood frame was painted with DecoArt acrylic paint. Which I just happened to buy unopened at a thrift store. When dry orange ribbon was glued inside.

The stamps are by Just For Fun. I stamped the zentangle pumpkins on pattern paper. Then colored just the stems with color pencils. The pumpkin patch was stamped on white and colored with pencils.

"WELCOME" is scrabble pieces from a game found at a thrift store. Those games are really getting harder to find as people buy them up for crafting.

Third is the Let's Hear It For The Girls inspiration piece for the Just For Fun Rubber Stamp Design Team

When I saw the pattern corrugated poster board at a dollar store I knew I wanted to use it just not how. I play around a lot with different things before I start to create. When I saw the poster board on my work space I decided to see if  I could somehow work it in. I love the more modern look of the paper with the more Vintage look of the lady and the lace.

The background was created by placing Distress Paint on a piece of plastic. Then misting the paint with water allowing it to run. Placing my paper on the paint and pulling my print.

The lovely lady I think is one of my most favorite stamps by Just For Fun. The quote is also one of their stamps. For the lady I colored her with my color pencils which had been collecting dust for way too long. I had a lot of fun hand cutting around some of the letters for the quote.

Fourth is my card with the woven background.

 This was such a fun card to do. For the purple strips I first painted a light purple with a bristle brush and let it dry. I loaded my brush with a darker purple and after applying the paint but before it dried dragged my brush through the paint revealing the lighter color. When dry I cut into strips. I also took vellum and heat embossed. Cutting that into strips. Just like in grade school I wove them together to form my base. Then adhered to black card stock. Placed my frame which I cut out of white card and colored with a silver paint marker on top.

The Just For Fun Small Warbler Bird is stamped on deli paper. Then colored with pan water colors. Because the paint would bead up I kept mopping the paint with a paper towel.

The Be Happy is computer generated and printed on deli paper. Then cut out as a speech bubble.

Fifth and I think perhaps my most favorite is this underwater scene. For those who know me you know my projects had to include at least one beach scene. Yes, while some people leave their heart in San Francisco I left mine at the ocean.

I started by airbrushing both the water and sand with Spectrum Noir markers. Then I took my sea stencil and gold paint to do some stenciling in the sand.

I painted card stock with metallic green paint. When dry I cut it out with a corner leafy die. For some reason I have problems cutting this die completely out. Even trying the wax paper trick. However in this case it was alright as I was cutting it out for vegetation.

The Just For Fun seahorse is stamped on deli paper. My new favorite paper to stamp on as you can reverse the images if you wish on your project. I colored on the back  with color pencils which muted the colors and then in places on the front.

I used drops of Dimensional Magic on a page protector to create my bubbles. When it was dry I adhered it with Tombow multipurpose glue. I discovered that it is one of the few glues where you really have to look to see where the plastic was adhered using just drops of it.

There you have it a look back at five of this year's projects.  I hope if you have stayed with me reading this far that the things I've done over the year you can incorporate into your own creations.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back tomorrow when my first guest design project over at Shopping Our Stash goes live. I'll give you a hint it is not a card. 😉

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!