Out of Practice - makes me blue....

Yep, its really me.

FINALLY posting punch art after ?? years.....

I recently started scrapbooking a little bit which is LOADS of fun.  Toyed with the idea of trying to punch but eh... didn't excite me.  Then I got an email request and thought "oh, why not"

I am soooooooooooooooooooooo out of practice.  It makes me feel a bit blue.  Just like this requested smurf.

He looks a bit like a blue ELMO.  His eyes need to be narrower and his nose smaller but hey, I tried.  You can tweak him a bit - and give him some props to cover any bits you don't like. I'm happy I could figure out how to post this.  

Its been years since I've even looked at a Stampin' Up! catalog so I don't even know what punches are current - I suspect lots of these are retired but maybe you have them deep in your stash...

Here's the how to help:

• Hat - Full heart - trimmed by sticking in a circle punch
• Head - 1 1/4 inch circle - trimmed by stick back in the same circle and just taking off a tiny sliver
• Nose and ear (not shown) the wing from two step bird punch
• Body - owl - ears and feet trimmed off
• Pants - owl - feel off - trimmed by sticking in a circle punch
• Hands - modern label - trimmed with circle (or oval punch)
• Arms (and legs) - medium oval hole with two slivers punched beside it - toss the oval - keep the slivers
• NOT SHOWN - brim of hat - large oval around small oval hole - giving you an oval ring - trim a piece of that 
• NOT SHOWN - eyes - circles - don't do what I did - it looks like Elmo - trim some circles down
• mouth is drawn on

Edit:  Couldn't stand the Elmo Smurf - did a quick eye change shown on the right smurf below- better - I can live with you copying THIS one.....  (drew on eyebrows too - he needs them)

Cleaning Lady

My favorite yahoo group has started up once again (only active Spring and Summer) and Kimm, our challenge leader is getting us ready for a season of creating with a series of challenges.  The first challenge was to find and clean your stamp area. Ladies are posting their before and after photos - gosh, I love seeing where other ladies create.

Because of all this activity,I thought I'd do a little cleaning lady...

Her face was borrowed from a  picture in an old stamp catalog - Stamps by Judith - Judith Kleinschmidt.
Her shoes were borrowed from my memory of Carol Burnett and her cleaning lady character.
Her hair is the postage stamp punch with another piece of it punched next to the hole to give a front layer
Dust pan is the pennant punch trimmed to have a handle
Collar is from the cupcake punch
The rest is the usual mess.

and here without any mess is my clean space....

Hopefully it will be covered in punch droppings soon (and for the next few months...)

Still Doing Laps?

Another stamp inspired punch art project - HERE is the stamp set that I saw - from Art Impressions - "Memory Laps".  I took it down to one girl (no lap) in a chair instead of two on a sofa...

Could be used for a pregnancy congrats card and certainly on a scrapbook page.

Prego Woman:
Head - 1.25 circle
Hair - 1.75 circle near a 1.25 circle hole - sponge edges
Bangs - Part of the 1.25 circle that you punched to create the hair hole - sponge to distinguish from base hair and cut a notch.
Eyes - standard hole punch in white and black - add highlight with white gel pen
Nose - standard hole punch - sponge top with pink ink
Shirt - wide oval for belly - full heart upside down for chest - tips of word window for sleeves - all sponged
Arms - narrow heart to heart next to hole of the same
Legs - narrow scraps
Ankles and feet - Full heart next to hole of same - color in black shoes with sharpie

Chair:
2.5 inch circle for chair back -outline in black
1 inch x 3 inch strip for chair seat - outline in black and draw dividing line
medium oval for chair arms - outline in black and draw center oval
black scrap chair legs

I know a mother of twins about to hatch - I think I'll finish this up for her - probably been awhile since she has "done" a lap - and very soon her lap will be FULL!

Mere Mortal

Yes, it is true.  I am no longer a Stampin' Up! Demo.  


I am a mere mortal.

sigh....

I never was a big SU seller.  Just a user.  And during my little break from paper crafts I declined to meet my quota.  The down side of this it that I now have to pay FULL PRICE (gasp!) for my SU goodies.  The upside is that I can talk about and link to other products and sites.  Full price = bad for me.  Linking = good for you.  You win!

Here is my "get back into punching" first project - Lady in Hat

I think she will go with any snarky sentiment you have for a girl friends card.

My inspiration came from an old (March 2005) Paper Crafts magazine and the stamp is Lady in Feather Hat by Victorine Originals.  (Don't know if it is still available).  But this is what made me want to punch again:

I was cleaning out some old craft stuff - saw where I had torn this page out. Her square jaw line made me think of the Curly Label punch and so I opened the second punch drawer, knocked the cobwebs off and tried it.  I think Betty Boop is the only other time I have tried using the Curly Label as a face.

Here is a shot of her parts:

Here is a list of her parts:

Hat - 1 3/8 circle, large oval, another large oval trimmed as shown in photo
Head - Curly Label - face drawn on (copying the Victorine Originals Stamp)
Neck/Chest - Blossom Petal Builder - feather duster one with the tip cut off - curve line drawn for cleavage
Dress - Full heart, point cut off
Arm - Full heart next to Full heart hole
Hand - end of Modern Label repunched with one of the smaller circles
Brim of Hat - small oval trimmed as in photo
Hair - scraps, cut fringe into one end of each and curl with your talented little fingers

Then I added a little flower but didn't have it added when I took the parts picture - you can figure that out!

Disclaimer - I have not yet flattened the hair, stuck it in an envelope and mailed it so I can't say what it will look like upon arrival at its destination.

My sentiment reads "The older we get, the more we should accessorize.  Or is that exercise?"  And here is where I accessorized her (well, at least I bling-ed her a bit)...

Random Woman

Sometimes you have some smart or snarky sentiment but no image to coordinate.  This is the type project/card that I like to use a "random woman" on.  So here is a random woman punch art

The hair was inspired by some of the "dos" from the 60s as I was watching DARK SHADOWS on Netflix.  Hysterical - the special effects are atrocious, the phones are rotary dial and you get an AWESOME idea of the 60s fashions.  Unfortunately, I've finished all the instant watch so I'll have to wait for them to mail the discs if I want to find out what happens to Barnabas Collins and the rest of the Collins family (imagine spooky music here) 

Here is the punch list if you need to make Miss Random:

Neck and Chest - feather duster looking petal from Blossom Petal Builder
Eyes - leaf from Blossom Petal Builder (trimmed a bit on one end - stack them and cut both at the same time for matching eyeballs) and 1/2 inch circle and black pen
Dress - Full Heart
Face - Ornament
Lips - circle from itty bitty punch pack at end of modern label hole
Hair - large oval and large ovals near large oval holes
Necklace - standard hole punch (anyone else think of Wilma Flintstone when you saw this jewelry?)

And here are some other random women I've made, in case you need 'em or missed 'em.
Sample A
Sample B
Sample C
Sample D

In Color Clown

This started out as a color challenge but I got distracted and missed the deadline, so now it is just another piece of punch art for the pile.  Maybe you can use the idea.

Nothing wildly different about this guy - the hands are part of the butterfly punch - repunched with a largish circle - the pants are the breast from the owl punch - and the rest is pretty obvious.

Here it the link to another clown I did back in the early days of the blog that I think I like better - Click Here.  Maybe you can mix parts of the 2 clowns and add a dash of your own creativity for a new and improved version.

I'm not "clowning around" when I say THANK YOU DEAR READERS!!  Yesterday the blink blog passed a million page views.  Yes, I said 1,000,000 page views in less than 2 years.  I sincerely appreciate your support, your inspiration, your comments, and most of all your hanging with me through my emotional upheavals and scrapbook phases.  Love y'all!

Tennis Power

Surprise!  Third post in a row...

I don't play tennis (I don't play sports - I think I'm "allergic" to exercise) but if I did, I would not want this character hitting a ball in my direction - this gal has some muscles!

Head - Owl punch (minus feet and ears)
Hair - NEW postage punch - as is, turned on the diagonal
Strip of something (I already forgot) for headband
Usual, usual usual  blah blah blah - legs are modern label with a line drawn to separate them. Lips are the tiny heart from the owl punch.

More Blossom Petal Builder Punch

Maybe if I write the name of this punch a few more times, I'll actually remember it.  As of now, I'm still having to look it up.  Blossom Petal Builder is the one that looks like a feather duster to me - Haven't used it too much so I tried another project and I think you might like this..

Ok, maybe you'll like it better next Easter instead of now but I haven't been turning out too many punch ideas so you best just take what I can give and don't be picky about seasonal timing.

Body - large feather duster petal from Blosoom Petal Builder
WIngs - large feather duster again (cut int half)
Beak - narrow heart to heart, trim bumps end off
Feet - I cut the little flower from itty bitty punch pack - but I should have just used the owl feet
Hat - medium oval
Hat brim - combo of ornament and large oval
Flower - itty bitty punch pack, standard hole punch center

Hornets

Saw a plea for a hornet over on SCS so I jumped into action with this:

Body and wings - large ovals
head - small oval
eyes - small heart cut in half
Legs and antennae - wide heart to heart next to hole of the same (antennae need to be trimmed)

Stripes were just drawn in - lay an oval down, trace the edge, move & repeat - color between them

What she really wanted was a "brown hornet" and when I googled that I saw the old cartoon The Brown Hornet from the Fat Albert show - Hadn't thought of this Super Hero in decades!  But he screamed PUNCH ME, so I did:

I didn't "fine tune" him since I have no use for him - but maybe one of you will need him - or he will trigger another idea for someone.

His face is medium oval and 2 small ovals
Hair - small oval
Neck - word window
Kerchief - wide oval, small heart next to same hole
His shirt is the butterfly punch trimmed
Muscles and Sleeves are the medium oval
Gloves are narrow heart to heart and  1/2 inch circle at the ends of the modern label
Narrow waist is the Blossom Petal Punch
Shorts - 5 petal flower trimmed
Shoes - wide heart to heart
Legs - wide heart to heart next to same hole

Never Give Up!

Never Give Up!

This post title could be talking about the Mavs - Thunder playoff game last night, where the Mavs were down 15 points with less than 5 minutes to play and came back to win by 7 points in overtime... but it's not.   (GO MAVS!)

Never Give Up, in this case, refers to talented crafter Barbara Diane, who also happens to be a faithful Blink Blog reader and commenter.  She has not given up asking me to punch Snow White since I did the 7 Dwarfs.  I kept putting her off.  I tried referring her to this beautiful Snow White but she wanted one in "my" style.

Famous characters are hard because they have to be "just right" since everyone knows what they are supposed to look like.  Famous PRETTY characters are even HARDER because those attractive faces aren't exactly your basic punch shapes.  But Barbara Diane, for YOU,  DEAR YOU, I have attempted Snow White.

I picked this pose because my vision of her is standing in the forest singing to all the woodland creatures with birds landing on her outstretched arms.  Too many years since I watched the movie, but that is what I remember.

Face  - 1 inch circle - trimmed in slightly on one side (for cheek bone)
Hair - 1.25 inch circle and 1/2 inch circle
Bangs - 1/2 inch circle cut in half - cut edges are hidden under the headband
Headband - 1 inch circle near same hole, top of small heart for bow (middle drawn with marker)
Face - drawn on (don't laugh at my attempt)
Neck - word window
Collar - 1 3/8 inch circle - trimmed
Chest - medium oval
Bodice - Owl punch (yes, you read that right) - insert head end into bottom of the ornament punch to get pointed part at the waist - repunch foot end with 1 inch circle to get curved neckline
Strip on bodice - word window at edge of paper (super thin) - didn't attempt to adhere to front - wrapped the strip around the bodice and attached in the back
Skirt - wide oval
Sleeves - large oval, both ends repunched with 3/4 inch circle, then throw away bits of the brand new Blossoms Bouquet Triple Layer Punch (in Summer Mini) in red
Arms - wide heart to heart next to same hole
Hands - small heart to heart trimmed down on the thumb side

Color your hair and find a new career...

Once a brunette baker, next a blond artist, this same "face" now belongs to a Red Headed Science Major.

or maybe a lab tech, or maybe a doctor - give her the prop you need for your project  (Graduation card perhaps?)

Face from THIS POST
White coat - large oval - cut flat on bottom, cut in V at neck.  I actually cut the thing in half to make her coat but it is exactly the same size so I recommend you just draw the line down the middle and keep the oval whole - draw on collar and buttons
Sleeves - 1/4 small oval
Arms - large oval around small oval hole - cut to get the pieces for her forearms
Pocket - end of word window
"dress" behind the coat - just a couple of tiny rectangular scraps (no punch needed)
Legs - one word window with line drawn down the middle to get 2 legs
Shoes -  drawn on - I tried the smallest heart to heart around a small circle hole  (small part and hard to attach - recommend you use liquid like Tombo Multi if you choose this option)

A Little Artist

So the baby steps continue... I took the first baby step face again and instead of making her a baker - I made her a blond...

This hair looks like one of kiddo's best friends, who happened to be in my kitchen at the time of creation so I asked her what she would like to be and she answered "Artist, artist with a green smock".

Just a few minutes later I had this done so I guess I am starting to find my groove.  I just need the I-fairy to find her way home and we'll be totally back in business!

Face, Neck and Hair info - HERE - from 2 or 3 posts ago  (I added another scallop oval behind her head to fill in the hair totally)

Beret - small oval and slot punch (slot is retired, use a tiny scrap)

Smock - half a medium oval at the top, wide oval trimmed (diagonally on each side) draw on the "gathers"

Sleeves  - wide heart to heart

Hands - itty bitty circle at ends of modern label

Palette - medium oval trimmed in, standard hole punch paint spots

Brush - tip of one of the Blossom Petals and word window on edge of paper

Another Baby Step

Slowly getting back to punching - continuing the baby steps....

Nothing fancy, no sponging, nothing complex but a character that you can use for just about ANY recipe card... or a card for a cook... or a scrapbook page about cooking up trouble...

oh, just use it for SOMETHING

How to:
Face from previous post
plus
Hat - 3/4 inch square (retired punch, just use your paper trimmer to make one) and small oval
Arms - large oval around small oval hole - trim to get the parts you need
Hands - itty bitty circle at ends of modern label
Chest - small oval - trimmed
Apron/Dress - first I punched the neck hole with that retired 3/4 inch square - then punched the 1.25 square around it, then trimmed the sides on a slight diagonal - so you might as well free hand this (sorry)
Bowl - 1 inch circle on edge of paper
Spoon - itty bitty circle - put on a post it note, the sticky part, and repunch with same to get oval spoon shape - add narrow strip of word window punch for spoon handle

Baby Steps

It really has been a loooooooooooong time since I punched.  I actually had to open a drawer and hunt for mini glue dots for assembly.  (I have plenty, they had just shifted to the back)

With the Inspiration Fairy MIA, (my MDS obsession must have hurt her terribly - but I LOVE me some MDS)  I will just have to start again with baby steps... baby steps back towards punching.

I saw some really cute stamps on a blog that I am FORBIDDEN to link you to because they sell competing product (GASP!)   but a cute stamp by a company that is NOT SU (GASP! again) is my inspiration for this start:

1 3/8 circle  - HEAD

word window on edge of paper to make a narrow strip - NECK

scallop oval punched next to scallop oval hole (and shifted so one end is narrower than the other) to make 4 locks of -HAIR

simple simple simple drawn on - FACE

now I just have to decide how to dress her?  Baker?  Princess?  Party Girl?

Tune in later for the results show...

Baby on a Blanket

Not a bald baby this time,some babies have lots of hair (niether of mine did)

I think I mentioned the pile of magazines I HAD to look through before I recycled.  Well, on the back of a 2004 magazine there was a Stampin' Up! ad with a baby stamp similar to this pose - awwww so cute!

But in case you need a change of outfit see this:

Face - 1 inch circle trimmed on one side

Hair - 1 3/8 inch circle snipped in with scixxors

Body - large oval - repunched with circle (blue shirt) 1 inch circle (blue bottoms) large oval (green)

Arms - wide heart to heart - repunched with same to thin

Sleeve - (blue) 1/2 inch circle

Legs - wide heart to heart - repunched on one end with 1/2 inch circle to shorten

Hands - usual with slot punch thumb

Feet - small heart to heart - trimmed

Nose - slot punch

Simple Pose Change

Same girl as yesterday - but she put on a clean shirt, found her hands, and decided to water her garden.

All you have to do is shift your full heart, shorten the cuff and attach the shoe at a different angle.

Nose in a book...

I wish, I wish, I wish I could show you what I used as inspiration for today's punch art but alas, I only saved the tiny photo and I cannot read the watermark to tell you where I saw it.  Cutest stamp - a little girl sitting with her head on her arm looking at a flower.  She had tendrils of loose hair hanging down, a wreath of flowers in her hair and was barefoot - just darling.

It inspired me to punch this:

Not as feminine and lovely as the inspiration piece but way more likely to get used in my scrapbooks.

face - owl punch feet and ears cut off
nose - small circle from owl punch
hair - 1.75 circle punched near 1 inch circle hole (the 1 inch hole is the curved part near her face) then the rest of the "face edge" was trimmed by hand
bun - 1.25 inch circle
eye - drawn on - (2 curves then fill in the color part)
neck that you don't really see - word window
arms - wide heart to heart
sleeves - small oval cut in half to get 2
shirt - wide oval trimmed front, neck and bottom (so not really recognizable as an oval anymore)
underside of shirt - small oval
torso peeking out - small oval
jeans - full heart - draw lines on as shown in photo below (only I left the pocket off this time)
cuff of jeans - modern label shortened with same
belt - edge cut from 1.75 circle that had been run through square lattice embossing folder
belt loop - scrap
book - bits and pieces
shoe - medium oval on edge of paper

If you don't know how to make the "denim" paper - look HERE and scroll down a bit in the post.

Rear View but not what you are expecting...

Haven't had any real punch art in a few days, so I thought I'd pop in an easy one for you

and here is the rear view so you can see that he really is easy - you don't even have to cut your punch to get the 2 ears and the 2 knees!  The feet are the only thing you will have to think about.

Head - 1 3/8 inch circle - draw on face
Diaper - 1 1/4 inch circle
Shirt - wide oval, trimmed at bottom
Sleeves - small oval (cut to get 2)
Arms - wide Heart to Heart
Knees - large oval
Ears - word window
Hands - modern label repunched at ends with 1/2 inch circle
Feet - scalloped oval repunched with small oval

Queen of Something...

Here goes another of those "I don't know why I made it" punch arts... 

or should I have said it makes me WONDER why I made a villain from Wonderland?

The Queen of Hearts is pretty complex - like a 4.5 on a 5 point scale so don't try this as your first punch art creation.  I don't want you shouting "off with her head" if you get frustrated!

Parts:
Skirt - full hearts
Chest - wide oval in red, 1 inch circle in black
Sleeves - medium oval
Her right arm (left side) 1/2 inch circle, modern label repunched with circle from itty bitty pack
Her left arm (right side) medium oval and same hand as above
Collar - 2 large ovals and medium heart to heart
Face - 1  1/4 circle, 1 inch circle
Mouth - 1 inch circle trimmed
Teeth - 1 inch circle around 3/4 inch circle
Eyes - small heart
Tongue - small heart to heart
Crown - hole from scallop circle - trim toward the hole so you have points on top
Eyebrows - leaves from 2 step bird
Hair - 3 tails from 2 part bird, 1/2 inch circle. circle itty bitty pack, scrap of red

I can't remember what I grabbed for her nose but a leaf from the 2 step bird would work.

Daisy Drives A Lot

Not Driving Miss Daisy (old movie title) but Miss Daisy, all I do is drive!

Ever feel YOUR name is Daisy Drives A Lot? 

Let me tell you it is WONDERFUL when your last child gets their license and you only drive when YOU need to. 

I hope you can find a use for Daisy here. 

Maybe you can use this character on a page about your long commute to work.

Or about all the things you overhear while carpooling

Or maybe you DRIVE ME CRAZY on a page or card

I used some parts from SU's two new punches, the cupcake and the flower one that I can't remember the name of (you know, the one that has the feather duster looking thing? -let's call it the Feather Duster Flower punch from now on.  OK?)  I'm sure there will be many fun uses for these punches but I spend most of my weekend scrapbooking and didn't play punches until the last couple of hours when I was too exhausted to think.

Daisy Driver Parts
Face - Owl (upside down, feet and ears cut off)

Hair – Full heart (upside down)

Bangs – medium oval

Eyes – circle itty bitty punch pack

Lips – modern label – punch tip with circle itty bitty punch pack

Neck – word window (1/2 lengthwise)

Shirt - feather duster from the new feather duster flower punch

Collar – slot (retired) or use a small scrap strip

Hands – modern label repunched with circle itty bitty punch pack

Car parts

Seat back – Key Tag (retired) or use a rectangle and round the corners

Steering wheel – 1 inch circle around the ¾ inch circle hole

Dashboard – wide oval

Rear-view mirror – word window repunched to shorten

Rear-view mirror mount – cherry from cup cake punch

 
Sometimes it is hard to judge the scale of these characters. Daisy Driver here is 3.75 inches tall.