Jacob's Ladder Book

The Jacob's Ladder book is a perfect example of a project that appears to be difficult, but in fact is very easy to construct. I won't give instructions here, because there's a great tutorial over at making-mini-scrapbooks.com. Don't be afraid to change the size of your book or add additional pages. I used the same paper on both the inside and outside of my book, so you won't be able to tell from my photo how it works, but if you've ever played with one of these, you know how much fun they can be.

This book is on its way to someone who appreciates the unusual. I'm afraid I'm long overdue on sending her a birthday package. I hope she enjoys it!

Happy Anniversary

A card I made for my Aunt Dottie and Uncle Jerry, who celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary today. Paper from My Mind's Eye, and cardstock, ribbon, and gold cord from Stampin' Up!. Starfish charm - unknown source.

Tip: Blade and Needle Disposal for Crafters

If you go through as many x-acto blades as I do, then you have probably thought about how you can best dispose of them. A blade is one of those items that I never throw directly into the trash. I don't think they're safe for me or anyone else who may be handling the bag at some point, and I'm not aware of a recycling source for this sort of thing. I used to collect used or broken blades in a film canister for eventual disposal, but I don't buy film anymore. However, medicine bottles work even better.

Of course, I had to turn this "medicine-bottle-turned-blade-receptacle" into a craft table accessory. I tried to remove the label from the bottle, but with very little success, so I just covered it with a strip of scrapbooking paper, using gel medium as my glue and as a topcoat to protect the paper.

This also works well for disposing of broken sewing machine needles, and many medicine bottles have child-proof caps, which is a nice feature for those of you with small children.

Paper Beads

I've occasionally considered making paper beads, but it was one of those projects that I kept moving down the list, then I would quickly lose interest. But yesterday I saw a tutorial on Natasha's blog, and I knew that I had to drop everything else immediately and make some now. I don't think I'm finished with the beads pictured above, because I'd like them to be shinier like Natasha's, but I wanted to go ahead and show them to you.

Natasha goes into a lot of detail on how to experiment with your beads using things like paint, pigments, and UTEE. At this point, mine are simply rolled and sealed with ModPodge.

Here they are in progress:

Stripes - Theme Thursday

Over at Theme Thursday, the current prompt is stripes. For the 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" piece above, I used a portion of Seurat's painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte; a free floral image from Dover; and a striped background paper of unknown origin. Thanks for looking!

Stars, Mini Composition Books, & Blog Giveaways

The theme this week at Wednesday Stamper is stars. Ha, I thought, I have lots of stamp sets with stars. This will be easy. Wrong! It seems that I gave all those sets to Erin and Tara before I moved. However, I did have one star remaining in my collection, so I was able to complete the card I had in mind. I had my heart set on making those little embossed star charms. All stamps and supplies are from Stampin' Up!.

I recently had the pleasure of winning this wonderful little inchies box (below) from Nikki Wheeler, who was a participant in the One World-One Heart event. It's even more beautiful in person! Thanks, Nikki! I'm now busy making some inchies to fill it up.

Speaking of blog giveaways, be sure to visit Susie at Creative Rainbows for a chance to win one of two great prizes. I have my eye on those little owl earrings!

And here's a mini composition book I decorated a few days ago. These little books are so easy to embellish. I simply covered this one with paint samples from the local home improvement store, used a Krylon gold leafing pen along the edges, and tied it with a wired ribbon and a bead.

Finally - An Update!

Finally. I seem to be saying that a lot lately. I can say "finally" about many things right now, but the biggest is that I finally have a small studio space set up. We are no longer using The Back Room as a storage area for construction items and boxed-up belongings, and it has been freshly painted and tiled. Over the weekend I was able to set up my table and a waist-high work surface with storage, and have unpacked most of my supplies. Funny thing is, after nearly 4 months of desperately wanting to create something (anything!), and not having access to any of my stuff, I had a hard time getting myself going. I was overwhelmed by all the supplies piled around me!

So, I chose to try out my new Cuttlebug machine, which I bought with a Hobby Lobby gift card from my parents, plus a "40% off" coupon. What a wonderful, easy-to-use tool! No more embossing by hand with a metal template and a stylus! I've been wanting a Cuttlebug ever since I saw it being used on so many of the amazing cards over at Daring Cardmakers.

For the card pictured here, I used the D'vine Swirl embossing folder. Cardstock and rubber stamps are from Stampin' Up!.

Wednesday Stamper - Open Theme

The challenge at Wednesday Stamper is currently an open theme, so I'm sharing a stamped greeting card in one of my favorite stamping styles. I love to do multi-layered backgrounds, typically with a text background stamp, or sometimes with musical notes or other all-over textures. Here I've used "French Script" from Stampin' Up!, and have added a floral stamp and a subtle leaf stamp. For the greeting, I've used the same layering technique, but without the background text. I also enjoy using gold cord, so I've wrapped it around my greeting here.

This will be going out in the mail in the next couple of days. Who will be seeing this in her mailbox? Hmmm, maybe it's you.....

Wednesday Stamper - Buttons

The challenge this week for Wednesday Stamper is to use buttons in a stamped project. Here, I've used stamps from Stampin' Up!, and a lonely button from my box of treasures (there it is, trying to hide in the bow). Unfortunately, this photo doesn't really show the metallic cardstock, or the metallic ink I used on the black background, or even the beautiful detail in the button. I may try another photo later.

Now, it's time to take a few days off from cards and stamping. I think I'll work on some bottle cap charms next, and maybe experiment with shrink plastic. I'm also working on a "seven" collage, but probably won't finish that today.

Happy Birthday Bubba!

Yesterday was my big brother's 50th birthday. When I was little, I called him "Bubba" because I couldn't say "Brandt" or "brother", and I do still call him that occasionally. We'll be celebrating tomorrow with a family party, so I made this card for him. He's not a blogaholic like me, so I think I'm safe posting it here. Since I'm on this "Photoshop background" kick, that's what I used here, along with some bronze metallic paper. The bottom section with the big stripes opens to reveal a personal greeting. Now, I'm off to bake a chocolate cake for the party...

Daring Cardmakers - Cartoon Crazy

Here's my shamefully simple offering for the mid-week dare at Daring Cardmakers - Cartoon Crazy. Inspired by The Flintstones, "yabba dabba doo" background printed on my laser printer (gotta love Photoshop!), and a Stampin' Up! background stamp.

And now I'm off to re-read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!

Wednesday Stamper - Hats

This is my first submission for the Wednesday Stamper challenge, where the current topic is hats. I was a little late getting around to this, so I had to stick with some basic stamping and layering, but it was still fun and stamping always makes me happy, no matter how simple my project is. All stamps are from Stampin' Up.

New Greeting Cards

Pictured here are some new greeting cards that will be available on the Jazzful Art website. I worked today on a variety of paper crafts, including assorted tags that will be packaged in sets. I discovered that my favorite crafting tools right now are the eyelet setter and my Xyron adhesive applicator. And the Fiskars paper crimper isn't so bad either!

Having My Cake

Here's a tiny peek at my final project for Wilton Course 1. I'm a bit tired of smelling buttercream icing -- both my studio and kitchen smell like it all the time now -- so I don't know what I will do with this cake, except maybe slice it up and freeze it, since Dan doesn't really care for non-chocolate cake. I have a 3-week break before Course 2 begins, so now I can put this out of my mind for a bit and get some other things done. I had planned some paper crafting for tomorrow, but it looks like I will be in the midst of a candle-making marathon, so the notecards will have to wait til Thursday.

By the way, for my friend who likes raw cake batter (don't worry, I won't rat you out!), Duncan Hines French Vanilla is pretty good...

Crafty Goodness

No time for creative work today -- we were busy setting up a space to make our candles so we don't have to use the kitchen. Then I baked a cake and made icing for my final class tomorrow of Wilton Course 1. On Wednesday I'll be making some tags, notecards, and a few other things, which will be for sale on our Jazzful Art website, when that gets finished. Check back for more information on that later. So for now, I'll just leave you with some crafty goodness -- photos of paper and formica chips I'll be using for some of my tags and cards and miscellaneous projects.