Not a rear view...

NOT a rear view of a snowman (that would be kinda dull) but rather a top down view.

NOT my original idea (wish it was).  I first saw this done by Lynda Fraiser HERE.  But I hear that Sharon Field was the first to do it.  And I seriously copied the face from a card by Doris Denman that I saw on a Stampin' Up Demonstrator site.

So, since so many ladies have done these, you have probably already seen one - but this is one from me.  I used it on a tag for a swap with my upline/sideline/downline.

Base - 1.75 circle
Mid-section - 1 3/8 circle
Head  - 1 inch circle
Arms - snowflake punch - with twigs trimmed
Nose - freehand triangle using "deckle" edge scissors (remember all those fancy scissors from the late 90's scrapbooking?)
Hat - half  of a one inch circle in green - small oval near small oval hole in blue - 1/2 inch circle in blue

Face drawn on - cheeks are my finger print in pink ink.

How to Build a Hippie

No, you aren't using wood planks to build him - that is the faux wood technique taught on VC Rocks this year by Brandy Campbell.  See what you missed if you didn't join VC Rocks this year?   This pose is the lazy punchers hippie - you avoid having to do his legs and feet - and you can easily give him a protest sign to display your sentiment.

FULL hippie directions follow:

I'll throw up the photos and a few tips - you'll get it!   Parts you need are shown above - you don't really need the wide heart to heart - but you do need to punch twice offset from that hole to get his arms.  The headband is just a scrap of orange.  The round white ring is the 1 inch circle punched around a 3/4 inch circle HOLE.

Then you have to modify some of these parts - I didn't show the modern label before punching hands out - but the rest of the "parts" that need to be altered are shown PUNCHED and then MODIFIED (photo below)

Snowflake trimmed down

Word Window repunched for nose

Modern label punched with 1/2 circle for hands

Modern label trimmed to slant then knees rounded

Word window - cut ends for glasses

Word window - fold in half - trim toes by hand - cut apart (this way your toes are identical for both feet)

Scallop oval - repunched for beard and bangs - TIP: slide in at the "corner" of the scallop oval for bangs - if you stick in straight in for the tip - you won't get the shape you want.

Small oval - cut in half for sleeves

Now you can see how he takes shape.  Marker for eyes and earpiece of glasses.  Tip: attach middle of peace sign at the bottom, then at the top, THEN trim off the extra snowflake at the top.  Heels don't matter because they are hidden by jeans.
He will look weird in the face until you get the nose on - don't worry - just keep on sticking his parts on.
I use SU Mini glue dots for assembly.  If a piece is small I simply roll the glue dot up to a thin line (wad) of sticky.

So just follow the pictures EXCEPT make sure your peace sign is turned the correct directions (some idiot, named me, nearly messed this up)

Hey Man, that's so Groovy...

Here they are....

I'm going to let my VC Rocks students feel special for a little while longer - they just learned this last night.

But you all did great with your begging and pleading so...

Directions coming soon.

Right now, I'm  busy finalizing my order from the new catalog!.

Woo hoo - SHOPPING TIME!

There are NEW PUNCHES to be had!!!!!!

While we are on the 60s...

I'm in the midst of teaching this hippie and yesterday's character for an on-line class for VC Rocks.  If you beg and plead, I'll give you directions soon.

If you beg and plead and leave an impressive number of comments, I'll even show you the hippie chick that goes with him. (grin)

A Little Birdy Told Me

Just a quicky card using some bold bright paper that is being retired in June.  The bird was inspired by a card by Annaka Crockett on page 23 of the current Paper Crafts magazine.

SU Punches - beak just a triangle scrap.  Pattern Paper is from my stash.

Haute Holstein

OK, someone asked me for a cow but I can't find the email - maybe it was in a comment.  I'm thinking this isn't exactly what they had in mind but this is what the Inspiration Fairy did.

Well, it was the Inspiration Fairy AND Eileen the glitter guru....

I handed Eileen the cow to get a little shine on the black hoofs and the little spotted beast came back with shiny feet AND fake eyelashes.  So then I had to add the jewelry.  You can "un-glam" her if you need a basic cow.  But I think she is just FAB like this!

sorry for the blur - I guess I need practice with my camera for close-ups

Body - 2.25 x 1.5 rectangle rounded by sticking in large circle punch
Legs - Snowflake trimmed – black marker on hoofs
Tail – ring from large oval around small HOLE – small heart to heart snipped like grass
Head – designer label punched at top with 1 inch circle
Ears - ¾ circle repunched
Nose – small oval
Nostrils – word window re-punched
Mouth – piece of large oval
Eyes – piece of word window cut at slant – word window for white part too (these are pre-lash directions)

Love can sneak up from BEHIND

Doesn’t this rear view of Cupid just CRACK you up? (pun intended)

I grin every time I look at it.

The New Year baby got me thinking I could make Cupid. I started him while playing at my upline’s house but couldn’t remember what kind of hair Cupid had so Jenifer googled some images – lots to choose from –and it turns out Cupid can have lots of different hair styles.

However, one image had Cupid from behind.... So, of course, I had to try a version of that and well, it is all I hoped for.

Not that I spend a lot of time hoping to see cracks, but you know what I mean. The jokes and “suggestions” were flying around the room but I decided to keep this rated PG.

Body is wide oval reinserted into the butterfly punch - insert it from the opening so just one end of the oval is in the side of the butterfly – punch to get his rear cheeks. Then use the mat from the mat pack and an embossing tool to define the crack, add a little pink chalk to define his rear

Legs and arm are like the New Year Baby.

Butterfly wings - Iridescent Ice on the wings (suggested by my ‘glitter queen’ sideline, Eileen)

Snowflake and Heart to Heart for arrows

Word window for quiver

Scallop oval - re-punched to make smaller for hair

The first one I made didn't have the shiny wings or the chalk defined butt cheeks - and I positioned his legs a little differently - here they are side by side

I think I like the one on the left better for the leg out and the arrows spread - and the one on the right for the shiny wings and chalked rear.  Even using punches, nothing ever comes out looking EXACTLY alike.

Are any of you in the Valentine round of the HotSwappingMamas group?  This will be one of the 3D elements I make - sorry, one less surprise for you when your swaps arrive.

Dwarfs still on pause - I will get back to them but I am on Valentine mode for a few days.  Got to get these ideas out to you if you are going to have time to use them!

My Christmas Card

My friends and family should have received their cards by now so I can share this with you....

I told you all that I thought this snowman was cute.  And even after using him on so many cards and projects - I STILL like him.

This is what is called a "joy fold" card - I don't know how it got the name - maybe someone named Joy popularized it?  Whatever - it worked well for me this year. 

The blue part lifts up to reveal the sentiment.  The wish big circle element is on dimensionals and it holds the focal point down until you are ready to open the card.  This gave me space to have a cute card front, record my holiday message, include a short note about our family AND include a wallet size photo of my girls.

It is all Stampin' Up except I borrowed a snowflake embossing folder from a friend.  This has embossing, stamping, punching, texture wheel, sponging, ribbon, marker details and on and on 80 times.

I am not good about getting cards out during the year, but Christmas Cards are MY THING.  I know lots of stampers make a variety of cards at Christmas but for me that creates the AGONY of deciding "which card goes to who?"

It is much better for me to mass produce one themed card.  And I make a layout with the card, photo and  letter which serves as the "divider" in our chronological Christmas scrapbook to indicate the change in year.

INFO:  College girl should arrive home today or tomorrow so my posts may not be daily during the holidays.  You need to be finishing up your holiday preparations and enjoying your family anyway - not surfing blogs!  (grin)

I'll be here - just maybe not everyday.  Have a great weekend!

Honest Snowman

I commented a few days back that I live in the "land of little snow" and that got me thinking about what most of our snowmen have looked like...

Oue snow (the few times we get some to stick) is almost always gone by the next day and the snowmen are reduced to melting piles.  And the piles are not pure white, they have plenty of dead grass rolled up in them.  But snowmen are so magical, they can look good even when they are melting.  Snowmen just make you smile whatever their shape!

Ribbon is from my stash and was chosen to represent the brown grass in the yard this time of year.  And the sentiment was computer generated.

Obviously I was undecided on hats...

Kissing Snow-folk

Rather than just standing there as most snowmen do, when you "build" TWO snow-folk you can have them interact. 

The snow-boy here is the same character I make on my gift tag.  My snow-girl thinks he is kinda cute. (I personally agree with her)

I put this pair on a another gift tag...

and the pink mini tags are a sneak peek of the new Tiny Tags set and the new Medium Jewelry Tag punch.

The new tag punch doesn't have the hole in it.  I added that so I could string it on the linen thread.

Snowman by the Light of the Moon

Ever wonder what snowmen do to keep from being bored at night?  Well. if there is enough moonlight, they might look like this:

I realized that I had a couple of snowman posts this week so I thought I'd just make a series of them so this must be Number 3.   Pretty easy punching except the holly leaves. 

To get the holly I actually drew a holly leaf then pushed a circle punch into my paper just far enough to snip on the lines - of course I had to flip it over and use the back side so you couldn't see where I missed  and the pencil marks showed.  So it isn't an exact science but it works!

This snowman with his nose is a book (literally) goes on a gift tag as a hint to what the gift is.  It will be no surprise, we are all big readers in our family and come from reading families so lots of books have been given over the years at Christmas.  Just a little ribbon, the top note die and some dimensionals - and I'm done!

Chatter about punches now:

Thanks to those of you that participated in my silly poll this past week.  I feel so powerful knowing that I got 42 of you to purchase a punch!  bwaaaa haaa haaa  (evil laugh)

Now I need you two shy people to step on up and email me your requests.  I have several ahead of you that are waiting on the inspiration fairy to do her thing but you might as well ask in case she shows up with what you need.

And I got my first three punches in the new SU (EK Success) style.  I like them!  Of course even though they will stack nicely, I have NO ROOM for them so a punch reorganization is required.  Lots of potential in these babies.....   You can buy them starting January 5th. 

But dang I am going to miss the ornament punch!   I sure hope it winds up on some dormant list so you can still buy it during "off ornament" season.  Don't the powerful of SU read my blog?  Don't they know the versatility of  that punch?  DON'T TAKE IT FROM ME.  Oh, that is right, I bought it - they can't take it from me.  Have you bought yours?  January 4th is the last day of the Holiday Mini - and the last day to purchase it (that I know of).  Contact me or your demo - it may soon be gone forever...... OH NO!!!!!

Santa Series Number 3 - Traditional Santa Top and Bottom

This tag is from the exclusive Two Tags die that Stampin' Up! has for the Big Shot.  I took the head from yesterday's hat-less rolly poly Santa and gave him his hat back.  The "to" and "from" go on the back of the tag.  Pretty traditional so I felt I had to do something else...

Here is the bottom end of a traditional Santa...

And the masonry work on this chimney is just about as professional as I would be able to do with real brick.  It is amazing how many mistakes you see on your work when you photograph it - you see things you would never see looking at the real project.  (Maybe I should photograph EVERYTHING before I call it "done") Crystal Effects on the boots so you can see them on the black paper.

I was inspired to make this layout because of Sharon Field's post the other day about Santa's magic key.  She has a great idea about the key winding up as an ornament on the tree and her post reminded me that "Santa has a magic key" was what my parent's told us when we were children and had no chimney.  Thanks Sharon for giving me the key to unlock that memory. I can actually remember the sense of relief I felt when I heard that explanation.

The key is a Sizzix die that I have had for ages but I'm showing the close up hoping you can see the texture on the black paper (try clicking on the photo to see it better) - this one of SU's texture plates - they add just that little extra finishing touch to your cards and layouts.  If you have a Big Shot you need to try some texture plates.

Merry Christmoose

 

Kelly Mayou emailed me requesting a moose from punches so she would not be tempted to purchase stamps from a company that shall remain nameless.  Well, you know me, I'm always up for a challenge - I may not succeed but I will try.  I think this little guy came out pretty cute even if it does look like his antlers are made from Popsicle sticks.

I went ahead a put him on a standard size card so you could see the size although I think his head is cute without the whole moose body...

 

And if you ever need a non-holiday moose (maybe for some hunter's birthday) you can always skip the hat.

Filling 2 Requests

I really didn't feel like working on what I SHOULD be working on (4 swaps) so I decided to play with some of the requests I've gotten for punch creations.

First is Mrs. Frankenstein suggested by Robbe in the comments of my Frankenstein post.  She came out ummm, well,  ummmm, sorta of, ummmmm,  ... odd?

I recommend swallowing all liquids before looking....


She is a cross between Bride of Frankenstein and Boobzilla.....

Hilarious, huh? 

Obviously gravity has done it's work on her chest - this is no hot young bride for Frankie!  How sad that the butterfly punch that can do Blog Babes can also have this effect on a woman's body.

Robbe, I'm not sure you can use her, but maybe she can be a starting point for you to work from.  Small Tag punch for head and hair.  Butterfly punch for boobs and shoes.  Word window for arms and legs.  1.75 circle for belly.  Small oval for neck.  Snowflake for hands.  She was done all in white except hair, eyes and shoes.  Color is sponged on.

NEXT

I got an email from Kathy Crowley.  She laid on some thick flattery so of course I jumped up and down waving my hand volunteering to try to make anything she wanted.  And what she needed was a dachshund.  I gave her a suggestion for the ears - which is what she was struggling with, so she completed her project without further help.  But since I was procrastinating anyway, I went ahead and made this.

 tiny dachshund

dachshund with a forehead

Body - word window
Head - large heart from heart to heart
Ears - large heart from heart to heart cut in half
Tail - 1 inch circle - toss the circle keep the hole - punch again around the hole getting a curved sliver
Feet - modern label cut in half - punch out the middle "bump"  on each end with a standard hole punch
Forehead (option) - 3/4 inch circle punch put behind the heart

All in Close to Cocoa sponged with Basic Gray.  Black eyes and nose from 1/16 inch punch

I couldn't decide which head I liked better - but either way, with the long body, I'm pretty confident it is recognizable.  I will probably put it in my BOM since my childhood dog was part dachshund.  And I have typed dachshund enough in this post that I think I will actually remember the correct spelling - learning to spell, another plus to blogging that I didn't expect.

OK - Now I'll get back to my swap chores - love designing them but hate making multiples.  Why do I keep signing up for these?  Oh yeah, it is because I love getting back all the cool ideas.

Another Turkey

Similar to yesterday's turkey but smaller.  This time the 1.75 circle is the body and I moved the 1/2 butterfly up to be the head.  Same feet, waddle and feathers.  These colors were used since I did this for a LNS challenge to use old olive, really rust and ruby red.  I added the kraft paper, kraft button and natural hemp because I thought they NEEDED a neutral. 

Do you see the background behind the card?  That was me trying to get a different look on my texture paper by inking my brayer with vanilla craft ink. This is the back of yesterday's layout.  I liked the texture wheel that I showed yesterday better (obviously, since that is what is on the layout) but I will revisit this brayer on textured paper idea again someday - maybe you could try it and show me what you come up with.

My Biggest Blessings

Halloween is so close, I'm pretty sure you don't have time for any more ideas for that holiday, so let's get thinking Thanksgiving.  YUM! Turkey and stuffing and potatoes, and rolls and pie and...

Can you tell I'm still dieting? 

Back on task.
Here again are my two best blessings...

This is a little bit of false advertising - not that these are my blessings but that this is an Autumn picture.  It was taken during Spring Break when oldest was home from college (date recorded on back of layout).  But the colors of the photo worked with the paper and then I added the title - the first word that popped into my head and then the turkey just sort of jumped onto the page.   (Wild animals do that kind of thing, don't ya know?)

Body 2.5-ish circle (circle scissor plus)
Head 1.75 inch circle punch
Whites of eyes - 1/2 butterfly punch (vanilla of eyes, really)
Black in eye - standard hole punch, white gel pen
Waddle - 1/2 big heart in heart to heart punch
Beak - bottom part of the Full Heart (I don't type that much - I better get playing with that punch more)
Eyebrows - sliver from heart to heart punch (like clown eyebrows) but cut apart and adhered sideways
Feet - snowflake punch
Feathers - modern label punch, sponged with chocolate chip

Blessed title is the Jumbo Outline Alphabet - I LOVE that you can use this alpha set for more subtle titles and have your paper show through the lettering.

And this fab paper is Autumn Meadows from the mini catalog - talk about yummy, I love the colors!

The other papers on the page are straight from my scrap drawers - no cutting - I was challenging myself to use and position them "as is" (no measuring and no cutting) except I remembered the TEXTURE jumbo wheel so "size wise" they are as is - but I ran the texture wheel over them with chocolate chip ink - SO EASY - and I love the effect.

I'm just yakking now.  You can stop reading.

The sound just STOPPED on my laptop last night - I was rocking out with my David Cook CD and my headphones so that I couldn't hear the scary movie that baby girl and her two buds were watching and then NOTHING - no noise at all.

Got the girls to turn down that horrible movie so I could speak to two lovely young men (in India, I'm guessing) and the result is I have a hardware issue, under warranty BUT the only way to get it fixed is to mail them "my precious" and it will be gone for THREE WEEKS.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

I will be trying to keep up with things but since I will be sharing the lone dinosaur machine in the kitchen with the kid, I might not have posts daily.  But I'll do the best I can.  

I functioned for 51 years without this little box but I will be suffering SEVERE withdrawal while it is gone.  Oh how quickly we become addicted... I'm sure there is a life lesson here and I'll have plenty of time to learn it while I'm waiting for my turn on the other computer.

Get your head on straight

If someone tells you to 'get your head on straight' it usually means they don't think you are making the best decisions.

In the case of this card - it is rather literal.

Of course I could also use the sentiment "Sorry, I must have lost my mind"

Or how about "What was I thinking?  Must have a screw loose!"

Truthfully, the card was made this way because my Frankenstein (Becky Hill's request) was just a bit too tall to fit on my card.  And I didn't want to just throw up another punch project unfinished.  And I couldn't come up with a scrapbook project for him (I could have saved him until someone was acting like a monster... but that someone would probably be me so I nixed that idea)

Here is the full sized frank-ster

The head - I used the small tag punch three times. 

1. punch a portion of the small tag into your black paper - punch your 1 3/8 square punch around the hole to get his hair

2. punch the small tag in green for his face - tag part down - sponge edges

3. punch another small tag in green for his forehead - cut down to a little under 1 inch - sponge edge - add scar with marker - adhere hair then adhere to face with dimensionals

The neck is the small oval - sponged and for the card version I cut zig zags

The neck screws and hands are the snowflake punch - trimmed to the right shape, of course

The shoes are 1/2 the butterfly punch - cut straight in on top of shoe.

Arms are word window - Frankenstein had straight arms so I couldn't use the ovals like I did on the "chin men"  (Didn't you ever do the Frankenstein imitation - walking stiffly with your arms straight out in front - hands hanging down?  Of course you did!) 

I made sure the top of the word window arms were not behind the ovals of the jacket - I wanted his shoulders to look as broad as possible

So Becky, does this work for you?

Ostrich in Disguise

I made this ostrich for a scrapbook page - my youngest is terrified of ostriches due to a bad experience when she was four.  We lay all the blame on her "evil" uncle - my big brother.  It's a funny story and a REAL fear.  I was reminded of it when she refused to go anywhere near the ostrich in a petting zoo at our state fair a couple of weeks ago.

Alas, the scrapbook page would not cooperate and I can't make it come together so it has been temporarily laid aside and the ostrich donned these fake glasses and mustache for night of trick or treating. 

I think you can see the punches if you have been reading past posts - I tend to use the same "tricks" over and over again. 

But here are a couple of things you might not recognize:

The top of his legs is the the bottom half of the butterfly punch

The knobby knees come from leaving just a little in the middle of the snowflake punch as you cut most of the "arms" off.

Yell (by comment or email)  if you have a burning need for a punched ostrich and you can't figure it out.  

I have a sneaky suspicion most of you won't need an ostrich in disguise - hopefully he at least made you grin.

My 2 Cents of Humor

Another BOM page complete!


Sharing card ideas is no problem but sharing scrapbook pages is another thing. I have to weigh the excitement over sharing my ideas with you against my concern that I might be sharing too much personal info on the Internet.


Should I share this photo? 

But the idea is so cute!

Do I want everyone to read THAT? 

I’m really happy with the way this turned out!

Such HEAVY decisions!
And that adjective brings up the other thing I have to weigh. Fifteen lbs gone!  Plenty still to go...

Ok - Back on task

This page got the "go ahead" from my mental debate:

Hubby asked "What's HUMR"?

humor, honey

"I think you forgot a letter"

No, I didn't.  The pelican is the "o"

"You need something round there, no one can read that"

Yes, these ladies will read it immediately.  They may not make the "cents" vs. "Sense" of humor connection the first time they look, but they will all see HUMOR.

Then he read the journaling, repeated the punch line of his joke and went away laughing.

Just so you don't strain your eyes trying to read that journaling ('cause I know some of you would try) click on this and it will get larger.

Clues for making the pelican: 

Legs – snowflake punch – then I put one of the flower trio behind the foot to make it webbed

Body – wide oval - trimmed just a little to give him a pointy tail end

Head - 1/2 butterfly

Neck – word window

Beak – wide oval  (used parts of two ovals here, cutting one into two pieces just wasn’t fat enough for me)

Eyes – standard hole punch, white gel pen

Wing – small oval

I made him from confetti white paper not whisper white because this is a Pelican not a Swan.

Beach birds just don’t strike me as pure white – could be the influence of the Texas coastline on my thinking. I love my state but I will admit it is not absolutely perfect (But our governor’s hair is).

Oops I’m supposed to be using self depreciating humor not that other kind.

Here is the "pier" piece or whatever you call those wood poles that seagulls and beach birds are always landing on.  (NORTH Texas gal here - not that much experience with beaches)

Sherlock Kemper and the Case of the Case

I try very hard to be original for you gals.  If I am inspired by someone's work, I try to let things "sit" for awhile so I am not totally influenced by the original project.  I like to come up with a new spin on the stuff I case.  But I found a "new to me" blog and I had to do some immediate casing.  Patti Lee has a fabulous blog and I HAD to copy her card fold.  I copied it the day I saw it - no waiting around.  There is a lot of inspiration on her blog and Sherlock Kemper is on the case!

Now mine looks pretty normal on the outside - Sahara Sand, Taken with Teal and some of the new Holiday Lounge Designer Series Paper.

Snowflake punch and Simple Snowflake Stamp (only $7.95)
Frost White Shimmer Paint (from the mini catalog)











but then you open it and KAZAAM
Look at those cute flaps - you could go wild decorating them!

Since I had such BRIGHT paper, I kept it pretty simple  - I used the sentiment Ready Set Snow from the Best Wishes and More set and of course the snowflake punch and circle punches!    

Thanks go to my ever generous upline, Jenifer Lange, for sharing her paper and letting me use her snowflake stamp. My order should be delivered SOON - I'm on Brown Truck Alert!

And here is a top down view so you can see the fold.

Yes, I know you want see Patti's blog and you want to see HER card and her directions for this fold - Here it is:  Creations by Patti  Go check it out!

And after you check out Patti's blog, you need to check out Margaret Raburn's blog  She took my acorn from the ornament punch idea and took it to another level.  She punched it from designer series paper AND she created her own embossed background from die cuts.  Check it out!  SO COOL.  Margaret gave me permission to share her card here. 

I just love all these stampers who are so willing to share.  Sharing  makes us all better at our craft!