Monday, March 26, 2012

Tooth Fairy Box

Hi there!

Here is a fun little project to share with you today: a tooth fairy box featuring Graphic 45's Once Upon A Springtime paper!


This little box is just under 3" all the way around. I saw these little boxes a few weeks ago and just had to turn them into something magical! 






Thanks for looking and have a great week! 

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Little Darlings Shadowbox

Hello again! Here's a project I just finished. I kept it more on the simple side, being that it will hopefully adorn someone's nursery. The Graphic 45 paper that I used for this shadowbox has got to be the prettiest baby paper I've ever seen! It's so vintage and soft; just the style I like! :)





That's all for now--the sun is going down and I'm running out of natural light! I think I'm going to head back over to the hub's sale and see how he's doing. Till then, have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

G45 Children's Door Sign

Hi there! Sorry for my lack of posts lately ... I've been busy working on my first class, as well as adding new things to my Etsy store. That, and I've been trying to help my husband with a big sale he's having--it's going on right now actually! His store received some awesome items from Pendleton's "The Portland Collection", a beautiful line of wool clothing. If you're in the greater Seattle area, just hop on I-90 headed East to Spokane and turn off at exit #31. His store is located at the North Bend outlet mall ... you can click here for more details!

I have a growing pile of projects ... things I want to do, but don't have enough time to complete. Below is one such project that I finally got around to doing ... a door sign for a little girl's room featuring Graphic 45's "Once Upon a Springtime" collection!


I bought a few of these door signs with the intention of making them into "do not disturb/baby sleeping" signs. Well, I think only one of them will have an actual baby theme; I like that the fairy theme on this sign because it's quite whimsical and something many little kids find magical! 


Thanks for looking and have a wonderful weekend!!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

More Mom's Day Cards

Featuring the lovely On The Boardwalk paperline from Graphic 45 ... it's a bevy of beach-bathin-babes! (I apologize for the alliteration ... )



Now really, onto those sketches ... :)

Mother's Day Cards (and an update!)

Happy Wednesday, dear crafty friends!

I wanted to share a project and some fun news with you today. Thank you so much for the encouraging words you gave me a couple weeks ago as I submitted my Graphic 45 design team audition. I did not make the top 30, but, I was genuinely thrilled to see quite a few familiar names make that list, including The Gentleman Crafter, Clare Charvill, and DeeDee Catron, to name a few. Current G45 design team members Gloria StengelTara Orr, Nicole Eccles, and Melanie Forbes also made the top 3; their creations are utterly stunning and I'm glad to see them possibly return for another year! I also discovered from the top 30 some new faces like Alberto Juarez Diaz and Maiko Miwa. When I visited their blogs, I was just blown away by their gorgeous creations.

As they say, when God closes one door, he opens another ... and he absolutely did! As of Monday, I am now a design team member for The Mad Scrapper, one of the greater Seattle area's local scrapbook stores!! Mad Scrapper has been around for 14 years and the ladies I've met so far are so talented and just a pleasure to be around. I am sooo excited and honored to be part of this great company, to be able to teach classes again, and to make some new friends. I wish I could have taught more classes at Paper Mermaids last year, but with my husband and me not knowing if we were going to move or not for several months, it really put a damper on my ability to commit to more classes.

Anyhoo, I will be teaching classes focusing on Graphic 45 papers along with Tim Holtz-style projects. Someone asked me if I would be teaching card classes and that is a possibility, but for now, I believe I'll be focusing more on mini books and either altered projects or Tim's configurations. I may teach some Donna Salazar-related projects, too -- but before my head spins out of control, I need to finish my first project for Mad Scrapper ... a top secret project that I'll announce later on! I can let you know, however, that my first class will be on Saturday, April 21st!

Finally, here is a project I made for my Etsy shop: an assorted pack of Mother's Day cards! I used the same paper for each card, but altered the orientation and design ever-so-slightly.


It was fun making the cards. I hadn't made one in what seems like such a long time. Last week, I bought some beautiful Teresa Collins paper from Mad Scrapper. I plan on making cards for Operation Write Home with it and will be sure to post that project once it's completed! 

That's my "newsletter" for you ... now, I'm off to do some sketches. I wish sometimes that there were 100 hours in a day ... the days go by waaay too fast! Thank you as always for looking!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

12 Tags of 2012: March

I hope you are all having a good weekend! How's the weather where you are? I'm always curious about things like that, especially when I see photos on Facebook of bright blue skies and palm trees. I've lived in the Pacific Northwest my entire life and would give my right arm to see it 70 and sunny in the winter! Well ... maybe not my right arm, because I wouldn't have papercrafting anymore!

So Tim's March 2012 tag is all about spring and one very beautiful technique: paper mosaics! You'll have to visit Tim's blog for all the lovely details. :) Here is my attempt at Tim's tag:


My mosaic pieces are just plain cardstock with various colors of Distress Stain. I visited a couple different Michael's but could not find the embossing powder Tim used, so I ended up embossing my butterflies with clear powder as grungepaper has a natural cement-like look already!




I do not have the same stamps that Tim used so I opted for a plain background and a different Stampers Anonymous stamp. I actually love the sentiment - not just because of the reference to rain, but just the meaning behind it. Life can hand us some really difficult challenges - but we must never lose hope or our joy.


At the bottom of my tag, I used one of Tim's spring Texture Fades embossing folders. It's hard to see the blades of grass because I COVERED THEM with foliage and a butterfly. Sorry!


Speaking of foliage ... I accidentally ordered 2 sets of these from Joann last month ... so I thought, what the heck, let's use up a bunch on this tag! Besides, I love flowers. :)


That's all, everyone! I can't wait to see what you've done with Tim's March tag. Stay warm! (Or cool, or comfortable - wherever you are! :)


Supplies:

Craft tag
Idea-ology Foliage
Sizzix Texture Fades - Springtime Background & Borders
Stampers Anonymous stamp
Movers & Shapers - Mini Butterflies die
Archival ink
Distress Stain

Friday, March 9, 2012

March 2012 Girlie Grunge Challenge

Hello again! Here is a mixed media canvas that I just finished for the March 2012 Girlie Grunge challenge. All you needed to do was create a project with butterflies, flowers, a hint of yellow, and at least one Donna Salazar product.



I'm really excited because my husband got me a new camera yesterday! It's still a pretty simple point and shoot, but it is leaps and bounds better than my current one. That, and we've had some clear weather lately, so I've been able to snap a few photos outside! 

Happy Friday to you all, and hope you have a very crafty weekend! 

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Spring tags

[3/25/12 update: My tags were featured on Graphic 45's blog post today! Thank you so much, G45! The lovely ladies over at Graphic 45 pinned my bunny tags to a special pinboard called "Hoppy Easter". So honored to be included amongst so many gorgeous creations!]

Hi there! I wanted to share the only project I've managed to get done this week: spring tags using Graphic 45 Little Darlings paper and my Tim Holtz Mini Bunny die!


I debated back and forth whether to include an Easter sentiment ... but because I want these tags to be as versatile as possible, I thought I would leave them as-is so that they may be used the entire spring season!


Thanks for looking and sweet dreams!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Graphic 45 Children's Book

Hi there! First of all, I just wanted to thank you dear crafty friends and readers for all the super sweet and highly encouraging comments lately! I appreciate you all so much, including my new blog followers, thank you for keeping tabs on Paperiah! I've had a blast making new friends all around the world and the U.S. ... it's amazing how our passion for papercrafting/scrapbooking/stamping/etc. has brought us all together. :)

So I want to share a project that I finally finished: a Graphic 45 children's book, featuring G45's beautiful and colorful Tropical Travelogue paperline! Who is hiding on my little island? (As told by the little yellow fish) is all about pretty hiding places, bright colors, and exotic animals.


This is just a 4-page mini book that, from the outside, appears to be 100 pages thick!

I had the idea for this mini when I was shopping for some birthday presents earlier this month. I was at Target and just admiring all the children's books and how imaginative some of them were. Then the idea struck me to make my own version of a children's book! I thought about all the paper collections I have on hand and I immediately thought of Tropical Travelogue. There's something exciting about a tropical island and all the interesting little creatures that love to hide on them!

My book is essentially being told by a little yellow fish, who has a sudden hunch that he's not alone on his little island. While we (the reader) flip open veils of flowers and tiki hut roofs, he proceeds to tell us about all the different animals that he finds.


For my cover, I used a Petaloo flower that I applied Aqua Stickles to. I created my paper flower using Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals die and Tropical Travelogue paper. I used my Tim keyhole die to create a window for a parrot to peek through! The first page introduces us to the little yellow fish.

On the second page, we see a parrot perched in a tropical setting. I used pop dots to add dimension to the colorful flora and fauna.




When you flip the page, a veil of beautiful flowers appears. 

The fourth page takes us to one of the deepest, most mysterious parts of the island. If it weren't for the sparkly red Stickles on the two lizzards, they would blend in quite well! 

Who could be hiding behind those flowers? 



None other than a trio of pink flamingos! I created this door of flowers using Graphic 45 Metal Hinge Staples. These things are awesome! Since my mini book was made from thick chipboard, I wasn't able to close the "door" all the way, hence the slightly funky angle.



On the next page, we're on a sandy beach next to a tiki hut. 

I fringe cut three pieces of Tropical Travelogue paper to create the tiki hut. Just like the veil of flowers, I attached the tiki hut roof using Graphic 45 Metal Hinges.

The very last hiding spot is underwater! We see two beautiful fish swimming through some vines and white Petaloo flowers. I applied Yellow Stickles to my fish, then applied some Glossy Accents on top to make them appear wet and shiny. Instead of blowing bubbles, these enchanted fish blow little green diamonds! Talk about island jewels ...

The anemone came from some postage stamp images. As for the coral in the background, I simply cut up some paper into funky shapes, then placed behind my vines.




Things look normal ... until you lift the tiki roof, where two tropical birds are hiding! (Now, I wasn't sure if these were toucans, so I left my description of them generic, just in case.)



While this project took a while complete (lots and lots of fussy cutting), I would love to make more of these children's books! They really push you to use your imagination. But in real life, am I seriously going to hand this uber-delicate mini book to a 2-year old? Probably not, but it's fun to imagine. :)


Supplies:

Graphic 45 - Tropical Travelogue paper
Graphic 45 - Metal Hinge & Alphabet Stickers Staples
Tim Holtz - Movers & Shapers Keyhole die
Tim Holtz - Tattered Florals die
Vintage Photo Distress Stain
Petaloo flowers
Stickles
Glossy Accents
Want2Scrap bling
Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist