AN ATC FOR YOU!

Hi, there!  Welcome back to Traveling Down a Crafty Road!  I've been working on a bunch of ATC swaps and would like to share the only non-Christmas one that I've done.  Keep in mind that I've recently completed 4 swaps.  Three were Christmas or sort of Christmas themed and involved a grand total of 63 cards!  This one only required 12--one for each month and I was responsible for September.

I found the seed packet image on the internet (morning glories are the September flower) and I replaced the seed company name in MS PowerPoint.  I also accented the flower with a little Perfect Pearls painting technique.  The sapphire-like jewels are from Michael's Recollections brand.  Stampendous Royal Blue pigment ink finished off all the edges.

Now let me send you to fabulous places! 
Debby Lewis, Fiskateer of the Year for 2008, hostess of the 52 week long Dare Ya! challenges, owner of Debby's Dream Studio shop and a wonderful crafter is doing "12 Days of  Home for the Holidays" on her blog (link below).  The ever creative Debby has invited 12 guest designers to share their holiday traditions and creativity.  It's a fun time over at Debby's Dare and I encourage you to visit and maybe learn something new.  I've also signed up to participate in the Dare Ya! challenge for 2010 so you can look for my challenge layouts right here on my blog starting in January!  I would love to have your company in the challenges.  Find out more here:  http://debbysdares.blogspot.com/

Lisa Falduto, another amazing designer and fellow Fiskateer, is hosting a Week of Holiday Cards on her blog, Paper Fashions.  Lisa is always inspiring and her cards are absolutely beautiful.  Please take a minute to check them out.  They are really super!  And she's got a giveaway going : )  Here's the link
http://www.lisafalduto.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you are having great success doing all the crafty things you do and preparing for the holidays!

LONG TIME, NO SEE--A 10 x 13 LAYOUT

Hi, I've so missed being here but I haven't had much crafty time!  We've had some immediate family illness and some extended family illness in the last month.  I took a road trip to Chattanooga to visit my aunt--she had a little accident that turned into a rather big deal.  It is an ongoing "deal" and there have been a few set backs but she is recovering.  Not a bad thing since she will be 91 years old in less than 3 months!  She is the sweetest aunt I could ever ask for and I love her.  A BIG get well soon, Aunt Ruth!  Best wishes on walking on your own!

My Aunt Margaret, here in town, celebrated her 90th birthday on Thanksgiving Day!   Seventy family and friends celebrated by suprising her with a party on the Sunday before.  All 6 of the "first" nieces and my sister in law got together 3 months or so ago to start the planning process.  Don't worry about the women doing it all--we had lots of help!  We had grand nieces and nephews creating a banner and a slide show of photos thru the years!  We had help from the hubby's with set up, cooking, photography and all the stuff that gets forgotten at home during a big party!  Thanks to my Gary for his patience while I made party sandwiches and cut tons of apple and pear slices! 

I made this framed layout for the gift table and also as a gift for my aunt.  Sorry I couldn't get a shot without the overhead lighting!

I used an old 10 x 13 frame that I picked up on sale at WalMart.  I think it was $1 but no more than $2.  The background patterned paper is from Heidi Grace (a pack of 20 or so sheets for $1 from Big Lots) and the photo mat is a white shimmery card stock from Wausau Papers.  I also used mini white flowers from Heidi Grace, Prima pink flowers and gemstone flourishes, Floradoodles blue flowers, Offray ribbon and Recollections self adhesive pearls and brads.  I dotted the dots on the polka dotted blue/white Floradoodle flowers with Stickles!  I love Stickles!  The larger white flowers are from a JoAnn's bush that I cut to pieces using my Fiskars Stem Cutter--it is such a cool tool!

The photo was taken at my Aunt's retirement party from the "telephone company"--think it was South Central Bell or maybe Bell South by that time.  We lost my Uncle Earl about 7 years ago, he was a Fire Chief and we all miss him.  Happy Birthday, Aunt Margaret! 

FYI, I don't want to let "life" keep me away from the blog in the future!  I usually have something creative going on whether paper, fabric, food, garden, goofy, etc. regardless of what life hands me!  I do like to share and will do so with your indulgence!

BOO! HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Don't be afraid of ghouls and goblins; The Dynamic Duo is on the job! 

This is another layout from the Fiskateers Scrap Lift A Thon.  It was a very fun and frugal layout, too, because the supply list was short!  Here's what I used:  4 Recollections eyelets, Lion Brand Fancy Fur, cardstock (black and rust) from the Paper Studio, Tombow tape runner and a few All Night Media pop dots. 

Everything else is from MS PowerPoint.  Yes, that includes the patterned paper blocks, the bat emblem in the corner, the journaling block and the title oval.  Searching MS PowerPoint for the backgrounds and clip art proved to be efficient as well.  I don't have any Halloween themed paper in my stash and worked on this layout fairly late at night.  It took me about 15 mintues to find and print all the images on one sheet of white card stock.  I used my Fiskars 12 inch desktop trimmer to cut out the blocks and my #5 microtip scissors to hand cut the oval shapes.  I used a Making Memories eyelet setter.

I encourage you to investigate everything the internet and your existing programs have to offer--might come in handy late one night!

If your heading out to do the Monster Mash this evening or have alternative plans: have fun, stay safe and take care.  And thanks for visiting the blog!

BUMMER!

Welcome back to Traveling Down a Crafty Road!  I have a scrapbook page of my adorable, littlest nephew to share today.  This layout was originally a part of the Scrap lift a thon on the Fiskateers site.  Our nephew, Colton, is the star and he's 5 years old.  He's also not a happy camper!  The journaling is straight from Facebook and reads--"Lesa:  What's up with Colton?  He looks so sad!  Terri:  He wanted them to throw more candy! . . .Colton, Lincoln Highway Days Parade, Nevada, IA  8/29/09".  He is soooooo cute!

Supplies include patterned paper from The Paper Studio by Hobby Lobby, black ink Zig writer, DMC embroidery floss, Making Memories and Colorbok chipboard letters, sandpaper, Fiskars 12" desktop trimmer, Fiskars fingertip craft knife.  Photograph of Colton courtesy of Leanne Farrington.

A little tip for you:  I hand embroidered/sewed the running stitch border.  To make the stitches even, I placed a ruler along the edge of the paper and pierced holes with my needle at even intervals before sewing with floss.

Thanks a bunch for visiting.  I love your comments and read them all.  Please stop by again--LTL

ATC's

Good morning!  Ghosts and ghouls, and probably a few princesses, pirates and super heros will be haunting my street at the end of the week.  In the fun spirit of the holiday, I have a few of my recent ATC's to share.

All Hallow's Jazz

Supplies:  Wausau Paper Gold shimmery card stock, DCWV black textured cardstock sprayed with homemade glittery mist (gold PearlX in hairspray sealed with Krylon matte sealer), Fiskars Threading Water border punch, hand pieced top hat made with DCWV black textured cardstock and orange Stickles, Fiskars 12 inch desk top trimmer, Fiskars #5 Microtip scissors, Fiskars He Said She Said squeeze punch, skeleton image from the Internet, Tombo tape runner, All Night Media pop dots and Fiskars glue dots.  The cane is a toothpick painted with a black Sharpie marker.

Kona

Supplies:  Bazzill magenta textured card stock, Fiskars 12 inch desk top trimmer, Fiskars scalloped decorative scissors, ColorBox Petal Point pigment ink, Lion Brand yarn, Tombo tape runner, Fiskars glue dots and All Night Media pop dots.  The kitty photograph courtesy of Sylvia Brown.

Crow 

Supplies:  DCWV black textured cardstock sprayed with homemade glittery mist (see All Hallow's Eve ATC), hand cut images from the Internet, Stampabilities black pigment ink, Fiskars 12 inch desktop trimmer, Fiskars #5 microtip scissors, Tombo tape runner and All Night Media pop dots. 

These three were really fun to make.  Now I need to stock up on treats, and try not to eat them all, before the big event!

Thank you for visiting Traveling Down a Crafty Road!  Have a creative day!

A CONTEST & BLOOMING LACE

Not my contest, but Purple Cows contest!  My friend and fellow Fiskateer, Cristal Hobbs aka Pinky is on the Purple Cows Design Team and alerted me to the huge giveaway that they are having.  Find out more on Pinky's blog http://blueyecicle.blogspot.com/ or the Purple Cows blog sadiepurplecow.blogspot.com/.  As a DT member, Pinky has a chance to win $2000 in cash!!!  Please become a Purple Cow blog follower or a fan on their Facebook Fan Page and tell them Pinky sent you!  Plus, if you follow thru with a project you could win a big time Purple Cows product prize package--4 runners up ($1000 value prize) and a grand prize winner ($5000 value prize).  Now that's a cool contest!  Oh and Pinky has some blog candy to encourage you, too.  Thanks bunches!

Now for a little something crafty.  I'm participating in a homemade flower embellishment swap.  I decided to make ribbon flowers but saw a 50% off sale on seam and hem tape at the fabric store.  I can't resist a bargain so decided to try lace hem facing and this is how they turned out.

I used Wrights 2 inch hem facing and each flower is about 1/2 yard in length.  I basted along one one side.  Then I gathered and tied the thread ends off so it made a circle.  I punched 1 inch card stock circles to put on the back to provide a good spot to add adhesive.  Then I sewed the button to the front, thru the card on the back, with embroidery floss.  The buttons are from La Mode, La Petite, and Blumenthal Lansing.  I think these would look really neat as a pin, sewn onto bedroom throw pillows or on a gift or trinket box.

Thanks so much for dropping in!  Would love to know what kind of flower embellishments you make so leave a comment!

AN AUTUMN WREATH & A NEW TOOL

Look what I made for my front porch!

Well, actually we have a front stoop and I hung the wreath on the side wall because it was pretty, and stationary.  I purchased the grapevine wreath, flowers, leaves, and ribbon at Michael's (on sale or with a coupon, Yaaaay!)  The flowers and leaves are hot glued and the bow and streamers are attached with a pipe cleaner.  I also made a hanger for the back with another pipecleaner and hung the wreath from a nail (in the wood trim above the rock) with fishing line.  Here's a closer view.

The hardest part of this project was hanging it because I didn't measure my fishing line first and our smallest ladder  is 8 feet tall!  That ladder doesn't fit on the porch the right way so I felt, and probably looked, like a monkey. 

Making the wreath was a snap because I used my new Fiskars Floral Stem Cutter.  No more wire cutters for me!  That baby cut the floral "bushes" apart with little to no effort.  The individual stems cut like paper.  So much so, I started cutting bunches of 4 or 5 at a time and it was easy!  I did have to adjust some of the leaves to get the stems thru the cutting slot but that was no biggy.  The stem cutter is a table top model, cuts up to 1/2 inch diameter stems, and is covered by the Fiskars limited lifetime warranty.     

NOTE:  I was a lucky monkey and one of a few that "won" this fabulous tool on the Fiskateers site.  My only reward for giving a positive review is the good feeling I get by sharing a great idea with my fellow crafters.   

Hope you enjoyed my wreath!  Happy crafting to you!