moved

I have moved my blog to
http://morning-sun-studio.blogspot.com/

Chloe Stem

I made a simple card using the Memory Box Chloe Stem-I created a background paper using Victorian Velvet and Weathered Wood distress inks then cut the flower out of that-added some stardust stickles to the little "pods" on top. I made a puddle of the same colors of distress inks on my non stick craft sheet(watered it down) and used a small paint brush to "flick" some of of the ink onto the card. The sentiment is stamped in Weathered Wood(stamp is from Printworks). Easy Peasy.

thinking Spring

I made a few thank you cards for some friends-they were totally inspired by Pauline, I adore her style.

Spring is about burst here in NW PA...lots of birds chirping in the mornings, bulbs are poking up, buds are forming on the trees..exciting stuff.

Twiggy Tree

Memory Box Twiggy Tree die, Martha Stewart butterflies, Hope sentiment is from Catslife Press and the dotted border is a clear stamp is a mystery.

Tip for Memory Box dies

So the detailed steel dies from Memory Box are gorgeous right? But it is sometimes beyond frustrating to get the paper out of the darn die after cutting! I have ruined countless pieces trying to get them out...the die pick works sometimes but it is better for removing the small pieces that are supposed to come out and can actually damage the parts you want to keep. I love this Twirled Heart die... I mean L-O-V-E it but usually ended up mangling the top heart trying to get it out of the die until I simply took a piece of double stick tape,folded it in half to make it a little stiffer and used my fingernail to press it into the groove and TA-DAH, it pulled the paper out enough for me to be able to gently remove the entire thing without damage! Hooray!

new desk chair

From basic, boring black to super cute in 30 minutes! I used some checked cloth napkins and recovered the cushions-didn't even take the old fabric off. I had no idea it was so easy to take these chairs apart, a couple of screws and voila!
So i kind of dropped the ball on the 'creative everyday" idea..it's been one of those months. I'll try to do better.

Tags and Memory Box

A couple of small tags made today, it was a weirdly Spring-like day today in NW PA,so odd for the beginning of Feb. Usually we are buried under several feet of snow and the sidewalk and driveway are starting to resemble tunnels with the snow piled above my head on either side. Today there is not a speck of snow to be seen...I LOVE it.

Also today a fairly large order f Memory Box dies arrived and I managed to get them all listed in my Ebay store (link to the right)-grab them while you can, they tend to go fast!

Creative Day Three

Wasn't feeling the creative bug today...so i flipped through the new Stamper's Sampler and found a tag that caught my eye by Rachel Carver so I used that as my inspiration. I dug out a tag that was already inked up, stamped a Hero Arts fern in Weathered Wood distress ink,stamped a little sentiment from Printworks and punched out some squares from a different piece of inked cardstock I had in my stash. I threaded a few seed beads onto some wire and attached that around the squares and secured the wire on the back with masking tape. Added a punched circle to the tag hole and some fibers and called it done.

Day two

Cute card for Spring even though that darn ground hog said 6 more weeks. I can't complain though, we've had such a mild winter.
Entering this one in the current
Penny Black Saturday Challenge
The stamp is an oldie but a goodie from Penny Black. I used Twinkling H2O's to color and also for the background splatter. I distressed the edges lightly with Pumice Stone distress ink and a touch of Lipstick Pink and added a bit of Perfect Pearls(pearl) along the edges to soften it.

Creative Everyday

In my never quest for organization I decided to take advantage of the free color charts PDF's you can print from Ranger Industries website. I started with the Alcohol Inks since mine were a disaster-I had to throw out several bottles that had fallen over and leaked recently(a new plastic storage box from Creative Options is on order-I'll let you know how that works out). Well after all was said and done I realized I have a lot of holes in my collection!


My 2nd order of business was to fill up the awesome Ink Palette that Tim Holtz/Ranger came out with last Fall-a few drops of alcohol ink in one of the wells,let it dry(takes about 15 min) and you now have a fabulous palette of alcohol inks to color with using the Refillable Alcohol Ink pen(you fill it with blending solution, pick up a color and away you go!) I will be testing it out later this week.
































I also filled in a color chart with my beloved Distress Inks,only missing a couple of colors-I'll have to take of that ASAP.











And finally I decided to challenge myself to do something creative every day in February...here is today's offering. I had the distress ink background sitting on my table for months so I tore it to size,punched some butterflies from the remaining piece. Used a stamp from Unity that I have never used before( I have a lot of those,hoping to get more of them inky this month) and then used the same color distress ink(spiced marmalade) to spatter a little ink. I love that background-it is my absolute favorite technique!

I am entering this in the current Less is More Challenge

Memory Box

Just a few of the dies in stock...

http://pinterest.com/morningsun/memory-box/

I created a Pinterest Board just for memory Box ideas, I received a new order today and have another larger one coming by next Monday. If there is anything specific you are wanting please let me know, I plan to order twice per month for the next few months.

Work in Progress

Ummm, yeah I know-what a disaster but I swear there is some magic happening here somewhere.

Tim Holtz 12 Tags

Tim Holtz is hosting his 12 Tags of Christmas event again this year...it is beyond inspiring. Every year I think I am going to participate day by day but it never happens...maybe after the Holidays I can try out some of the techniques? This year he added the ability to upload your interpretation of his tag which is Fabulous...everyday there are hundreds of additional inspiring tags to look at!
My Ebay store is clearing out FAST...there are a few Tim Holtz dies,folders and embellishments left-I think one or two Holiday stamp sets, and a few of his tools. The place is echoing though..LOL..I have a very small order coming tomorrow with a few additional items. The week of Xmas I will do my year end inventory, clear out the old stuff and start fresh for 2012...are there any special requests for the NEW YEAR? I will continue to carry Memory Box dies(sorry the last order sold out with three hours of listing it) plus the additional of the Poppystamps dies. I am looking into dies and stamps from My Favorite Things..I adore their Pure Innocence line and would like to carry them along with their thin steel dies.
I suppose I should get my Holiday cards done(or even started before i end up having to make them into Valentines)...I have three or four ideas...I need to narrow it down to which one I can actually make multiples of within a reasonable amount of time. Sigh....

Memory Box Craft Dies

Have you tried the craft dies from Memory Box? The designs are unbelievable and I cannot keep these little gems in stock...I received two orders in the past month and have two more coming within the next 3 weeks. I haven't even been able to keep any for myself yet. These are super thin steel dies, made in the USA and are compatible with all the leading Die Cut machines. The basic "sandwich" is the same as you would use for the Spellbinder dies, you may need to "shim" it,every machine cuts differently. I am trying to get some Sizzix thin die adapters in stock but the darn things are always sold out.

In other news...have you started your Christmas cards yet?? yeah me neither...I have two stamps picked out to use but more than likely I will change my mind a thousand times and end up creating 5 or 6 different designs. Do you settle on all one design or do several?

my newest treasure

I picked up this wonderful chippy aqua bench the other day, it was filthy,sitting in some guys front yard...it is the perfect addition to my art room. I found a few other goodies that are in various states of being cleaned up, I will share more as they reach a reasonable "doneness"

Two in one day?

Here are my third set of banners...I will never understand how Blogspot photos work, it doesn't matter in what order I upload them they are never in that order when published?? Whatever-at least they are all there.

it figures

It figures, I sign up for a class and suddenly my life gets very busy. That's OK, I am still plugging away. I finally got the 2nd set of banners photographed and only need to assemble the third set. THEN I have to get caught up on three days of class...I will enjoy every second of it.
This class is helping figure out changes I need to make in my art room to make it flow better, my vintage stool, while VERY cute is not working for me, I need to be able to spin around to access the drawers behind me, I need to be able to wheel out to stand up ( I do a lot of standing while I am creating). I need a CLEARED surface to put my cuttlebug and paper cutter on...flat surfaces do NOT stay clear around me, this is gonna be a tough one...I think i will just have to keep the two pieces out all the time to prevent myself from piling things on the top of the cabinet I keep them in. I am going to have to index my clear stamps so I can flip through a book to see what I have..it is too hard to flip through the basket and know what is there ( love/ hate relationship with clear stamps...so many cool designs but I just find them frustrating to work with and put away so i end up with a dish full of random clear stamps that all need put away with their proper set.)
OK-I think I should have a couple of hours today to get busy in that room!

dry embossing on black glossy

I learned a little technique in the class I'm taking using your embossing folders on glossy paper and sanding lightly to expose the un-glossy paper and inking it...pretty cool but I got to thinking about black glossy paper...here is the result..oh the possibilities!!

Class Day One

Here are my pieces for Day One of the Inspiration Showcase Class. I decided to make a banner rather than a canvas because I am in the middle of revamping my art room and I thought a banner would be more versatile.
I just watched the Day Two videos and am so inspired to go back to my room and play some more!