Monday Morning Moanings .... or not

Well, it IS Monday morning, here in Michigan anyway.  I said on Saturday that I will have another post on Monday, so here it is.

We had a great weekend - Saturday was my hubby's birthday so we went out to breakfast, met friends there ... went out to lunch with other friends, and out to supper with family.  Didn't eat as much as we talked, thank goodness!  Sunday was church then potluck picnic!  Always, always fun and loaded with yummy food.  Got home from that and needed a nap, or at least a rest-time.   And now another week begins, filled with appointments, fun times, a little work around the house and who knows what else.

Since we had ABC (Anything But a Card) as our VC Blog Hop theme over the weekend, I have a couple other ideas to share, so here is today's ....

 
I just love, love, love to alter tins (like from Altoids, but you can buy them to alter) ... the options available are as big as your imagination - you should see what kids come up with!  Here are just a few I have made that I found sitting on my shelf.  I made a new one for a swap but it has not been delivered yet so I will wait on it until everyone has seen their box of ideas - Gifts for a Dollar was that theme.  These tins are yet another super way to use up bits of designer paper and odds and ends of embellishments .... 'cause, anything goes with these!!!

Here are two up-close so you can see some details. No big deal, really, but I know it's hard to see in the other pix.  Depending on the tin, I sometimes add grosgrain ribbon around the outside edge on the lid - it's just the right size width!! - but depending on the color of the tin, you may want to love it as it is. 

The fun part after altering the outside is deciding what to do with the inside - some I have added mini-office supplies (stapler and extra staples, scissors, binder clips, pen, pencil, tape dispenser, paper clips ... all small sizes of course.)  Some I cut pieces to fit inside and hooked them together using ribbons or twill tape, brads, etc. and use them as scrapbooks or to hold kind and gentle thoughts to help you get thru the day.  And of course, the ever popular Gift Cards just fit inside!!  Some I leave empty so the recipient can add what they want - little kids love them for "stuff" - funny thing, I used to ask everyone for empty boxes but I could not speak very well yet, so always said 'hempty' boxes ... my family still teases me about that!  Come to think of it, I still love boxes of all sorts - and my stamp room and the rest of the house look like it too. 

Oh yeah, I don't know if I have mentioned it before (or if you even believe it), but I am not a hoarder, just a pack rat with loads of items just waiting to be used and altered and such.   

Hope you enjoy this idea - try it and I really would love to see what you come up with.  Like I said, I will have a post later with my swap samples and then all the samples I receive - I did two sets, so should have 10 additional "Gifts for a Dollar" to show you!

Have a great day and may God Bless You and Yours!  Hugs, Shirley

Hey, Today is ABC day

Today is our VC Blog Hop and I am stop #13 .... lucky thirteen out of a total of 35 stops plus one post on our home page, so be sure to visit there on your hop!!  Our theme this month is ABC - Anything But a Card, so the field is wide open and I know the gals have some terrific samples to show you! And I think everyone keeps their Blog Hop up for Saturday and Sunday, so you don't have to do it all in one day - and after Sunday, you can always find today's date for their hop post!

Now, you may have arrived here at my blog from the multi-talented Sharon Field's blog at http://createdbyu.blogspot.com - or maybe you are one of my friends who likes to check in to see if I have posted anything lately - and if I haven't, you hassle me a bit!  All in good fun, of course, because I am always slacking off on my posting here.  At any time during your hopping from blog to blog, you can go to our VC Rocks home page at http://vcrocks.blogspot.com/  and get a complete listing of all the bloggers this month. 

Just a personal note:  if you haven't seen Friday's post from me, check it out - I really would love to hear what you think of this technique. 

 The first thing I will post today are candles - I had a few of these candles left after an event I decorated for, and have been wondering what to do with them.  I remembered doing this several years ago so thought I would try it again.  PLEASE DO NOT BURN THESE CANDLES if you decide to do this yourself.

First you stamp on tissue paper, tearing it around the image works better than straight cutting lines, place on candle and holding in place, apply heat with your Heating Tool just enough to melt the wax to hold the tissue paper in all areas, but not so much that the wax runs down the candle ... tricky sometimes.  I used my Stampin' Up! Upsy Daisy stamp set and markers.  The only difficult one was the dark candle - I tried 3 times before I finally got it right, or as right as it is going to be.  I lightly inked it in pink, stamped on the tissue paper then filled in the flower images with White Gel Pen.  Looks like I wanted it to, but the white never has dried and I made these weeks ago.  lol   Oh well, it looks good on the shelf along with the other two!

Supply List:  Upsy Daisy stamp set; markers: Always Artichoke, Rich Razzleberry, Rose Red; Signo Gel Pen; tissue paper, Heat Tool

The next project is a new one to me that I made with a group, but I thought it is so cute so I am sharing with you.  It is a really different small Scrapbook idea and should really be embellished inside with flat objects and not bumpy ones - you'll see why in a later pix.  This is a great way to use up some retired cardstock and designer papers!   

Opened up this way, it looks quite 'normal' ... but wait until the next pix .....

Now you see the difference, huh!  I used a 12x12 sheet of cardstock, scored at 3 inches on all sides.  Then on one side only, cut thru 3 squares, leaving the 4th square attached.  The next block of squares, turn it around and cut thru the 3 blocks, leaving the end one attached, and then flip it around again and cut thru 3 blocks of squares.  Hope that makes sense, but I am attaching a pix of the pattern.  Before you attach the cardstock on the back, add a length of ribbon to the last folded square - I used a piece about 18-20 inches long - so you can tie it up.  When unfolded, you have 16 squares on each side! Then after you add pix, writings or whatever, it all folds back together, tie it up and give it or keep it for yourself.  If you have a lot of grandchildren like I do, it is great in your purse with all the pictures of those precious little (and big) ones!!

As always, cut on the solid lines, score on the dotted ...... let me know if this is not clear as mud!

 Supply List:  papers and colors of your choice, I used Confetti White, Rose Red, retired Apricot Appeal and Soft Sky; misc retired designer papers; White and Apricot Grosgrain ribbons; misc stamp sets for words, Paper Cutter for measuring, scoring and cutting


Tune in Monday for another Anything But a Card idea from me, but for now ... I have noticed that Angela's blog is not updated as of now, so your next stop is Veronica Miller's blog at http://bluegrassstamperstudio.blogspot.com   And remember, if you get lost on our blog hop, just go back to our VC home page  (http://vcrocks.blogspot.com/) and find your next stop!  Sometimes we have our post ready and set it to automatically post at a certain time and day and guess what, it doesn't happen!  So that is why you may find a blog not ready for this hop on that day.

 Take care, check back and keep me on my toes about posting here much more regularly (hey, it's not like I don't stamp something most days and have boxes and boxes of samples I could post!!!) and have loads of fun on the rest of your hopping fun!!  God Bless, Shirley

Black Beauty

Greetings on a Friday - hurray for the weekend!!  This has been a busy week (aren't they all - for all of us??!!) so this will be quick.  Don't forget to come back tomorrow for our VC Blog Hop where you can visit a whole bunch of blogs and see what we have been up to.

Here's a card I love to make - can be a bit messy (or is that just me??), but such beautiful results can happen with different colors. Let me know which you prefer and I will send one of you that card along with a blank one for you to finish as you like. 

These cards were done with the same color markers but using either   black or vanilla embossing powder - what a difference in the "pop" of the colors.After the marker colors dry a bit, you will see that the color on the embossed parts fades away, leaving the cardstock colored parts showing.  Hope that makes sense ... you will want to softly wipe with a tissue after they dry before you send them or your recipient may get other colors on their hands! 

For these cards, I used retired products - Lovely Lilac c/s and the markers are Lovely Lilac, Almost Amethyst (miss that color!!), Orchid Opulence, YoYo Yellow and (non-retired) Always Artichoke.  I used Mellow Moss for the Black but Always Artichoke for the Vanilla as the other colors were too dark or not dark enough, I thought. 

 For this card, I used current SU colors:  Rich Razzleberry c/s with these markers: Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette, Perfect Plum, Daffodil Delight and I did use Always Artichoke for both cards.

 I added this pix so you can see the shine from the embossing powder as the other pix didn't show it.  I added retired Lovely Lilac Grosgrain and a sentiment using a couple SU Oval Punches.

Send me pix if you try this yourself (at stampershirley@gmail.com) - experiment with your colors and have fun!! This is my fave background stamp to use for this, but SU has and has had many stamps that would work - I still like to use Stipple Rose too.  And no, I am not a hoarder, just a pack rat!!  After all, if I would have gotten rid of all my retired In-Color ink pads, I would have had to purchase some of them again after they came back in the line-up!  See, I saved money ....

See you right back here tomorrow!!  Come prepared to get excited and enthused with all the creations!!

Hugs, and God Bless you all, Shirley