Happy Halloween Everyone!

We had a very spooky "devil's night" last night.  It was cold, rainy and very windy....gusts around 50 mph.  I thought I would share my cute treats for tonight.  I made 220 of these little treats and stapled assorted candybars onto the back.  I used some of my rustic twine to tie a bow.  I love all the funny images on the front.  I hope the kids will too.

 Have a fun and safe night tonight everyone and enjoy your extra hour of sleep on Sunday for anyone that has been on Daylight Savings time.....I sure will  :-)

Spooky Tree

Happy Monday To All!

I wanted to share this fun card with you. This stamp reminds me of the book I used to read to my children The Spooky Old Tree with the Berenstain Bears.

I used the watercolor paper from Stampin' Up!.  I really love this paper.  It is 140 lb. 100% cotton.  I used the "Rich Regals" classic inks in the following colors:  Night of Navy, Brocade Blue and  Elegant Eggplant.  I applied the colors with a watercolor technique blending from the top to the bottom.  I let it dry and then embossed this crazy spooky tree.  The image has a hidden face in the trunk so I used a Stampin' Write marker in Going Gray to subtly enhance the face.  I also used some silver brads in the corners and black glitter to accent the edges.

The inside is just sstamped with Basic Black classic ink and then I added clear rhinestone brads in the text for the look of eyes.

I'm going to send this card to my Aunt who lives in the lower part of Upper Michigan.  She lives alone and I'm sure she'd appreciate a fun card for Halloween.

Have a great day,

Darlene

Scrapbook Room Re-Do Part 6

Hi Everyone!

I took some time today to finally apply the Butterflies and Definition wall vinyl that I purchased from Stampin' Up!'s Decor Accents line. I thought the nice dark brown vinyl would complete the look for my scrapbook room a.k.a. my "Creation Station" since it is a pretty small room.


In this picture I cut out all the butterflies and taped them in the location I chose with some painters tape. I then made registration marks lightly on the wall with a pencil for each individual image.

There are 23 butterflies total. Each individual image was then removed and the following process was followed.

Rub the grid side of the image with the applicator too. This causes the image to transfer onto the sticky part of the paper. I always rub from the inside out toward the edges.

Carefully peel back the grid paper SLOWLY to reveal the image.





Apply the image to the wall with the applicator using the registration marks made on the wall previously. Press down from the center toward the outer edges keeping the image smooth.

Slowly peel back the top paper revealing the final image. Rub the vinyl image lightly with your finger to make sure it is thoroughly pressed onto the wall.

Use a white eraser to remove the pencil marks from placement.

This is the final image. It looks very nice in person. Just the right touch for decoration on this special craft space of mine. LOVE IT!!!

I'll be posting some Halloween cards within the next few days. Check back for some Spooky ideas :-)

Darlene

Happy Wednesday

Hi Everyone!
I finally receive my starter kit from Stampin'Up! Way to cool of goodies in this box! I can't wait to start making cards and lots of other creations with their products. I've always enjoyed their stamps but now they have many other great products to offer. Below is the new Holiday mini-catalog. This catalog has a cute Build-A-Bear stamp set and awesome die cuts. It includes a boy and girl bear....click on the link below! I think you will love some of the projects.

http://www.stampinup.com/us/documents/Holiday09_US.pdf

I love the fact that Stampin' Up! offers online ordering now. Customers can order for the full price or use a demonstrator (hopefully me :-).... Darlene Plotinski) and get a discount. I also just started a stamping blog just for stamping projects. I have the link posted in my sidebar if anyone is interested.

I have also just finished taking a tour of the gardens in my backyard. The final flowers are blooming and I HAD to take a few pics. I hope to post the pics tomorrow or Friday. They are absolutely beautiful!

Til later.........
Darlene

Scrapbookroom Re-Do - Part 5 Cabinetry

Hi Everyone!

It's been a pretty busy place around here. My hubby and I have been working very hard assembling our oak cabinets for the scrapbook room. We used a beautiful warm stain with a satin urethane for the final finish. They will be installed against the east wall between the window. I will be able to store alot of my stamping goodies. I just became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator so I'm sure I'll have more supplies to store in the near future. I should be getting my starter kit maybe today so that is VERY exciting. I'll blog more about this later and give you info on my stamping website and business website too.


I did a few different layouts for this wall from my original sketch since I really need drawer space more than open storage. I ended up deciding on 11 drawers and 3 cabinet storage areas. That should work perfect for my use! This is not a very large room so the wall dimension is quite small.

These are the hardware pulls I chose. I am using the knob styled for the cabinet drawers and the other handle for all drawers. They are a pretty aged bronze finish. I found them at Lowe's and they were on clearance for $2.97 each. They will go really well with the warm feel of the room.

I have to sand the finish one more time and then put a final coat of finish on yet. Tom will install the hardware and then we should be ready to install them against the wall. We plan on putting a plywood countertop with oak veneer over both sets of cabinets since I will be having storage shelves mounted above them and then a black marble or granite slab set a few inches lower for my work area. I won't be using the area over the cabinets for a work area. I found it quite helpful to do a trial work area before I decided what I needed. I used my ironing board adjusted to the proper work area level sitting with my desk chair to make sure I felt comfortable working right in front of the window and having cabinetry to my left and right. It was perfect! Love the light from the window and love the availability of the storage on either side. I'll post more pictures when we install the cabinets so you can see exactly what I am referring to.

Well off to work!

Darlene

Spider Card

Happy Tuesday!

Whew has it gotten warm and muggy here in Michigan. We have had a pretty nice cool summer until now. I guess it's better than the ice and snow LOL!

I made a Halloween card today. I decided to make a window for my sentiment to show through. I also have not purchased any halloween patterned papers as of yet so I just made my own spider print with black archival ink and my spider stamp.

I altered my 3D origami flower design and used it for the spider body. I think he's pretty cute!
I also used my glue pen and drew on his head and body. He's pretty glitzy with that black glitter.

This is the inside. I added a bit more hand stamped spider patterned paper complimenting the front.

My peek a boo sentiment through a strip of transparency.

I hope you like him.....see you back here soon.

Darlene

A Mini-Vacation and stamps, stamps and more stamps!

Hi everyone!

I just returned from visiting my son and our grandchildren in St. Louis, Missouri. They were just a joy to watch playing together. It's hard to believe how fast they grow!

I went to a local stamp show this past Saturday and had a great time. I took my time slowly wandering from vendor to vendor. They have some awesome new products out but I decided to control myself and only by a few stamps for Halloween.

I played around today with my new cat stamp. I love to use my chalks to shade and bring a realistic look to my stamped images.

I decided to make a set of Happy Halloween gift tags to sell on Etsy. I think they came out pretty cute!

The black paper that I matted the cat image on has specks of metallic imbedded in the paper pulp. Pretty cool when it's in the light.

This is the inside. I just stamped the sentiment with black archival ink and added the rhinestone for the "O".

Well that's it for now. Thanks for looking......I'll be back with some more goodies soon :-)

Darlene

A Creating Day

Hi there!

I hope you have all been doing well!

I spent a few day in the woods at our cabin getting some "quiet time" and now I'm back and doing some paper crafting today.

I felt like getting down and dirty with the glitter. That stuff is always flying everywhere but I just LOVE it! My dogs even had some glitz on their back when I finished these flowers today.

These are my flowers that I named SPARKLERS for obvious reasons. I used two shades of blue on this first set and then a really pretty lavendar in the next picture. Just love them!

I also made a flower card this afternoon.

Each layer I decided to do something different on for a nice layered effect. The bottom layer was stamped with black ink and then I added clear iridescent glitter here and there on the petals. I hand cut around each petal too. The next petal layer I used my sizzix die for the patterned paper shape and then glued that on black and cut around it. The center was printed (as well as the stem) from printable stamps I bought on The Cutting Cafe'. I used my metallic gel pens and made a few accents and then glittered the center flower with a complimentary turquoise glitter. I glued each layer with 3D glue dots. I decided to also get out the sewing machine and do a nice thread border. It was fun to sew on paper!

I thought the ribbons at the bottom added a nice finishing touch to this card.

I think I'll start dinner and relax for the night. I wish you all a nice enjoyable weekend and I'll see you next week!

A Beary Cute Birthday Card

Hi all!
It's pretty warm here today so I decided to stay inside and crank up the air conditioning and create a card.

This is my bear birthday card from the stamps I shared with you on an earlier post. The image is hand chalked and I added some maroon glitter to all the hearts. I also added Glossy Accents to the eyes and nose so they would shine. The bear is layered with a few colors of cardstock and I used 3D glue dots to add some dimension.


I stamped an additional 2 wings and again glittered the hearts and attached them over the original stamped image. I had to have the bear look like the wings were fluttering!


This is the inside. I just die cut some hearts to accent the front design and then inked the sentiment.

I added an iridescent gold organza ribbon for the bottom to finish the front off. I wanted the image to take center stage on this card.

I hope you like it....

Enjoy your weekend :-)

Darlene

A Catch-UP Blog Post for Today

Hi everyone.....I hope you are all well and enjoying your week.

I've been playing catch-up here with many different projects. It seems like as soon as I finish and cross off one "to-do" item I add 4 more. The list keeps growing!

I did finish the gourd birdhouse I was planning. I love how it turned out. It has that nice "natural" look. I will be making a green, blue and orange one pretty much the same as this berry colored one soon.

I listed this house on Etsy today. I've been letting Etsy go more than I wanted. I need to start listing some more items soon. Before you know it fall will be upon us and that is when Etsy customers start purchasing. All the sellers need to have their inventory listed and ready to go. Things go FAST in the fall.

This is a close up of the beads I hand sewed on to the thatched roof. I wanted a nice simple touch and I think this is perfect.

Onto the rugs..... it took 3 days and 3 separate packages to finally get our rugs but the wait was worth it. They are incredibly gorgeous and thick! I love walking in the bare feet on these rugs. It's so soothing.

Here is a picture of one of the areas. I really like the hand cut beveled edges to the design.

This is a larger shot of the pattern. The burgundy is so rich.....LOVE IT!

It was also bath time for two little stinky doggies this week. They have so much fun in the yard but they were getting a little dirty with the sand and stain from the privacy fence. Sadie is our Brittany and she is in the tub with me. She was the first victim. Gretchen, our German Shorthaired Pointer, was right by her side giving her moral support! When Sadie was done Gretchen jumped right in and waited for me to lather her up. GSP's just LOVE water!

For some reason this week was a strange "nature" week in our yard. I had gone in the master bedroom to put away laundry when I heard this strange rustling on the deck attached outside our doorwall in the room. We have a copper bird feeder hanging there and I had just assumed the rustling was just a few birds feeding. My husband and I had just made a run to Costco to get more bird food earlier that morning but hadn't filled any of our feeders yet. This rustling continued and started to sound very dramatic so I looked around the side edge of the deck and found this horrible sight....yes a little sparrow who had completely forced his head between the copper metal edge (squirrel proof feeder) and could not get back out. He was reaching for a little seed way inside. Poor little guy!

I ran and got my husband who slowly pried the prongs of the copper surround gently away from his little neck. It was just awful to see this little guy so scared. I pet his back during the "surgery" and once my husband Tom got the surround out of the plastic feeder tub the bird layed on his side with it around his neck. I honestly thought that the bird has struggled so hard that his little neck had broken but Tom said "I don't think so. He'll be ok". As soon as he said that the sparrow pulled his head out and off he flew. He left so fast I couldn't even get a picture. Hmmm.....I wonder if he'll come back and feed here again or if he's done with this feeder and going to a neighbors for a safer dinner!

This guy here is just a really cool moth that landed on our deck light. I had to take a picture of him. His black and white colors were just beautiful. He stayed on this light from dawn til dusk the same day and then off he flew. Pretty cool moth!

Well I think I'm all caught up now. I'm off to make dinner and then tomorrow I'm starting some cards.

Enjoy your night all!

Darlene