It's a Really Big Tag!

I recently joined a Facebook group called CreateExchange and this is my first swap with them!  I'm always interested in swapping, but I'm not a big fan of making multiples of the same thing, so one on one swaps suit me better!  Please feel free to let me know if you are interested in swapping with me! We can swap tags, mini albums, a small altered canvas, or something else that might make us both stretch our creativity!

 

The tag for the CreateExchange swap needed to be at least 4"x10" and the theme was Flowers. Easter and/or Butterflies. Here is what I came up with!



 

 

• The tag base is chipboard that I covered with paper from the Marion Smith Nirvana collection.
• I layered some turquoise jute that I bought at JoAnns in the flower department.
• I purchased the doily a few years ago I think at Homegoods.
• The flower center is a bead that I found on sale at Michael's a couple of weeks ago.
• The flower layers are a mix of petals from Prima and Recollection.
• The stick pins are made on 4 inch pins and the beads were collected over time.  

 

 

 

• The saying is stamped with Coffee colored Archival Ink using a Tim Holtz stamp.  I also used a couple of Distress Ink pads to colo r the background.
• The silver butterflies are Recollections.  They were first colored turquoise with one of my Spectrum Noir pens and then covered with a Zig Silver pen. A little stickle to give them some more shimmer and voila! 
• The flat back pearls I bought, I think from MB Treasurista's a few years ago!  I bought a whole big roll, so I still have some left!
• The silver and turquoise embellishment is from a bag of Spare Parts I purchased at Hobby Lobby.
• The butterfly between the rows of pearls was made using modeling paste and a stencil I bought from SaCrafters. I used a Spectrum Noir pen to give it a touch of turquoise.

 

 

 

• I bought the lace at an antique mall in Waynesville, OH last summer. It is an unusual shade of  greyish beige that is a fairly warm tone, for a beige, and works well with just about any shabby chic/antique stype project.
• The silver butterfly I got at Michaels. I shaped it and gesso'd the body then stickled it. It rests on a chipboard butterfly also from Michael's which I painted with a light coat of beige and then rubbed with some turquoise distress ink.
• You can see that I added a layer of turquoise ribbon under the antique lace bow.

 

 

• I wanted to give the tag a bit more dimension, so I dangled a bigger butterfly from the tag. I purchased this wood butterfly from Michael's.
• I used Americana paint to color the butterfly.
• I'm not quite sure where I purchased or got the silver butterfly, but I thought it brought in the silver elements from the main tag quite nicely!

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing this project, and that you will return to see what else I've got up my sleeve!

 

Thank you so much for stopping by! Please do leave a comment (one that pertains to this tag or this blog directly) to be entered in a future drawing!

 

Have a wonderfully creative day,

M-C

 



 

It's Really Been that Long???

I can't believe I've been away from my blog and YouTube channel for so long! What can I say but the obvious! I've neglected the sharing part of my craft!  I have created a lot of stuff since my last post, I've just not blogged or made videos!  I would promise to do better, but I'm not sure how well I'll keep the promise, so I'll just tell you that I aim to do better!

I've taught two card classes this year with 5 cards each. Here is the first batch:

 

 

Here are some of the fun things I used on the cards! I used the Tim Holtz decorative strip "Spring Greenery" to create the "Thinking of You" card. I must tell you that I'm not a fan of these dies!  Maybe it's me, but I can never get them to cut right!  Very disappointing!

 

I used Diemond Dies to make the Happy Birthday Banner card.  I can't remember exactly how many there are in the set, but it is something in the order of 8 or 9 dies that nest together.

 

 For the Christmas card I used one of the Graphic 45 papers from the 12 Days of Christmas collection.

 

I used the cloud dies from My Favorite things to make the Baby shower card.

 

Lastly and I used multi-colored polka dotted washi tape on the top and bottom of the Cupcake card to enhance it.

 



Here is a picture of the cards for my second class:

 

The Christmas card was made using the Sizzix Tim Holts Die and Stamp set and was colored using my Spectrum Noir pens.

The chicks and the bunny in a cupcake used on the Easter cards is from Cottage Cutz.

The banners on the baby card are from My Favorite Things.

I got everything to make the masculine birthday card at JoAnns, corrugated cardboard and plus paper and embellishments from My Minds Eye.

I just posted a You tube video showing a bunch of Easter cards including the two shown in the picture above!

Hope you enjoyed!  Happy Easter! And expect to see me post another article in the next couple of days!

M-C





 

My Altered Box Project

Hard to believe, but I had never altered a wood box before, at least not using paper, lace and paint! I had, a long time ago, added wood elements and a monogram to a box and varnished it as a special present for hubby's grandfather. But nothing like this!

I had a specific look in mind for the cover of the box and I spent days searching the internet. I finally found the image I wanted on Etsy from a buyer called Graphic Market Place. You really should check them out!

My video of the project contains more details about the lovely vintage lace I used and more!

Have a great day and I'll post another project very soon!

M-C

My Graphic 45 French Country Barn and Mini

 I had so much fun creating this project using the G45 French Country collection! Yet, when it first came out, I wondered what I would do with all the roosters!  I'm so glad that I was finally inspired to look beyond the roosters.  I'll admit that the fact that there were a lot of French words all over were part of what attracted me to use the collection.  I hope you will enjoy looking at what I've created!

This was a raw wood bird cage purchased for $6 at JoAnn's.

I wasn't sure how I would use the French Country paper! Love how it turned out!

I always knew I wanted to put a mini inside. So glad that I was finally able to pry the back open!

I made the mini from scratch using chipboard. That way I could be sure that it would fit perfectly!

Love the inside. Looks like it has an area rug, LOL!

Another look at the back and the mini.

I left the sides pretty plain, But yes, I did fussy cut the paper to have that diamond effect!

A look at the left front corner.

The big flower is from BoBunny and the little 1 inch birdcage is, I believe, Tim Holtz. I made those tiny flowers! Given the 1 inch metal birdcage, you can see just how tiny the flowers are!

I used a Creative Memories punch to create all the butterflies on the barn! A little bling simulates flying!

The binding of the mini, serves as the window background.

The mini is 5.5 x 3

The mini just pulled out of the barn!

Mini inside front cover and page 1. Note the small envelope and tag on the cover.

Page 1 unfolded.

Pages 2 & 3. The image on Page 3 is held by the flower and 2 clear photo corners.

Pages 4 & 5 and the tag that slides into the side pocket in page 4.

Pages 6 & 7 and the tag that slides into the top pocket in page 6.

Pages 8 & 9 and the tags that slide into the side and image pockets in and on page 8.

Pages 10 & 11 and the tags that slide into the top and image pockets in page 10.

Pages 12 & 13 and the tags that slide into the side pocket of page 12. I left the page pocket empty for now.

Pages 14 & 15 and the tags that slide into the top pocket of page 12. The page pocket holds a couple of images from the 8x8 paper.

Pages 16 & 17. Page 16 has a tag that slides into a side pocket and page 17 has a picture that is held by clear photo corners.

Page 18 & the back inside cover. Another pocket holding some images from the collection.

The last page unfolded.

Thanks for looking at all my pictures! Hope you enjoyed!

Have a wonderful week and please take a moment and enter my YouTube 1000+ subscriber giveaway!

M-C

It's Giveaway Time on my YouTube Channel

Good evening to all of you!  Well I am just about to reach 700 subscibers on YouTube abd so I thought I would do a giveaway there!  So my faithful blog readers are not left out, I will include all the comments that are made here by my blog subscribers, providing that they include the answer to the question on my video in the drawing for the big prize. Last day to post a comment is This Saturday, January 12th!  I'll be drawing the winners on Sunday!

Just to give you a hint, above is a picture of the grand prize.  Of course, I never reveal everything that you can win and sometimes what isn't included is the real treat.  Then again, sometimes not, LOL!

Here is the video, for you to watch! Good Luck!

Have a happy and creative week!

Marie-Claire (M-C)

Where in the World is Your Vagabond!

Are you the proud owner of one of  the Tim Holtz designed Vagabonds by Sizzix? If so you've got to rush over to the Sizzix blog and you just might get a free set of the new set of stickers for your vagabond and get a set of their new sandwich keys! Thanks to Mr. Tim for letting us know!

OK, so what are you still doing here????  Here is my entry:

CHA Summer 2011 - Day 4

The show may be over, but I've got so many pictures to post that I'm thinking that I'll be posting those for quite a few days more! I'm pretty sure that I'll have a wrap up post this Saturday, before we get back to coupon Sunday! And then there is the matter of a celebration both here and on You Tube, 200 blog subscribers and over 300 on You Tube, both reached this week!

So what can I tell you about today!  The show opened at 9:00 and I got there around 9:15.  It is a good thing that there are a lot of people working the show, because it was very, very quiet this morning. I'm going to post booth pictures next and you'll see what I mean about quiet.

 I did spend time going around and getting loads of pictures and I also stoped in at the Harmonie booth. Harmonie is a company from the Montreal area that has some seriously pretty things and for someone like me, nice to find stamps that come in both an English and a French version!  I am sure that they will see me put in an order shortly! The Harmonie and Pink Paisley booths were the ones that I did video's on today (http://youtu.be/_9NZ-IzEP9s) and http://youtu.be/37SGTWbKgsE repectively. In fact the Harmonie one has a French video where the owner, Marie-Eve, tells us about her new collections and an English version where I pretty much go over everything she did but in English!  Hope that you enjoy!

Then of course, there is the obligatory fun picture with "The Tim". I caught him in the Ranger booth, just accross from his idea-ology booth. The guy is so kind and such a charmer

I just loved the Ranger picket fence with the Distress stains!

Tim came out with two boxes that look like the old fashioned sewing boxes. One is smaller than the other, this is the smaller of the two.

Bellow is more Tim Holtz goodness.



Well there is so much more and so many pictures, but they will have to wait till tomorrow after I get home.  Meanwhile, have a wonderful evening and a great Friday!