Higgledy-Piggledy Crafts

Saturday, January 5, 2019

Welcome Little Clown

This card is for my new grand nephew. I had already wrapped the gift in a white box with polka dot ribbon. The ribbon reminded me of a clown, so that is what I went with. I remembered this Echo Park clown that I had used a few years ago for a card swap. You can see that card here.

I started with a sketch by Heather Hall.

Sketch 137 by Heather Hall

I made my own background using Gina K inks that coordinated with the colors on the polka dot ribbon.

I randomly applied the green, red, and yellow (which I added) using a dauber. I then placed a bubble stencil over this and added the blue polka dots. It is important to note that my first attempt was a "happy" failure, due to the fact that I used Gina K's Red Hot ink initially. It had too much pink in it. I ended up using the first attempt as printed paper for die cutting. I cut the clown's shirt from it.

I purposely used Gina K ink, because I have all of the coordinating card stock for it. I was able to die cut the clown elements using the same colors I had chosen for the background. I added tiny googly eyes to the clown, as well as red/white twine to the tag. I found the sentiment on an old Beth Silaika stamp set " Genevieve Giraffe". I added the beach ball for the circle on the sketch.

Inside of Card

The inside of the card is made using the same red and yellow structure. I added a sentiment from a Fiskar's stamp set and a clown hat from the scraps on the table.

This entire card was added to the package as a tag. We are headed to New Orleans this weekend to deliver this gift. This box is packed to the brim with little boy clothes and a Christmas board book (his Christmas present).

Materials List:

Card Stock: Gina K - White

Black Onyx

Cherry Red

Lucky Clover

Wild Dandelion

Blue Raspberry

Ink: Momento - Tuxedo Black

Gina K - Cherry Red

Lucky Clover

Wild Dandelion

Blue Raspberry

Stamps: Gina K - Genevieve Giraffe

Fiskars - Precious Baby Quotes

Dies: Echo Park - Clown Die Set

Burniston - Beach Charms

La La Land - Large Stitched Tags

Stencil: Dutch Doobadoo - Bubbles

Punch: ek - Dotted Wave Small

Embellies: Red/White Twine

Googly Eyes

Challenges

Send a Smile 4 Kids - Anything Goes - #5 - *

Stinkin' Inkers - It's News to Me - #5 - *
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Spots and Dots - #2 - *

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Santa's Belt

I have been playing with soda pop tops for the last 3 days. I think I have used 9 of them so far. It all started with some gift tags for under the tree. You can see these tags here.

When I started playing with this card sketch from Sketch N Scrap, my first thought was -- where is the pop top (Santa Belt) going to be. Once I had that figured out I located this Santa from an old set I had. Sometimes I wish I had dated my stamp sets, so I would know how old they really are.
One thing I know for certain is that this paper from Carta Bella is two years old. I have 6 or 7 sheets left from a Christmas tag swap. I chose it here because the red matched the red I wanted to use on Santa's suit.

Sketch #136 by Lisa Hidy

I used my Copic markers to color this Santa. I set the picture on large, allowing you to analyze my coloring out of the lines. You can see I took this pic before I added the bling to the tree.

Here is the inside of the card. I had several partial sheets of patterned paper, so finding scraps was no problem.

Inside of Card

Materials List:

Patterned Paper: Carta Bella - Christmas Delivery

- Festive Florals

- Black and Cream Plaid

- Christmas Tags

Card Stock: My Colors - Snowbound

Black Magic

Ink: Momento - Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Gina K - Christmas Magic

Dies - Stamps of Life - Ho Ho Ho

Copics: Face - E53

Beard, Fur - C00, 0, 1, 2

Red Suit - R22, 24, 29

Boots - N5

Tree - G94

Embellies: 3/8 inch stitched black ribbon

Soda Pop Top

Elizabeth Craft Designs: Starfoam Stickers - Red

Challenges

Creative with Stamps - Santa - #20 - Honorable Mention

Sparkles Monthly Challenges - Santa is Coming to Town - #6 - *
Try It On Tuesday - Guess Who's Coming - #25 - *

Monday, December 17, 2018

It's All About the Belt

It all started here with an ultra-small gift. I actually wrapped it with an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of solid black card stock. A gift so tiny that all of my tag dies dwarfed it. I decided to make the entire gift top the tag. This is when the first Santa belt - soda pop top happened. It was so very simple. I just added 5mm square gems for buttons and a cloud beard.

The next gift I wrapped was considerably larger but I wanted to play with the Santa belts some more . . . so I picked out a Spellbinders mat. I added a Santa head on the side and PRESTO . . . a tag for a larger gift.

I was starting to wonder about my sanity here, because I went to dinner last night with "The Dinner Group" (3 other couples that dine together monthly) and took up 4 more pop tops after dinner. Where this will end? I have no idea.
I do know that I will posting a Santa's belt card for my design team. You will be able to see it here after December 20.

Materials List:

Card Stock: My Colors - Snowbound

Black Magic

Firecracker

Coral Rose

Dies: Stamps of Life - Santa 2 Stamp

Spellbinders - Labels 23

Elizabeth Craft Designs - Rainbow Sky

Ink: Distress - Pumice Stone

Embellies: 3/8 inch stitched black ribbon

Soda Pop Top

Square Gems - Black 5mm

Challenges

Dies R Us - #41 - Christmas - *

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

John Deere Pyramid Mini

This card is in reality a very simple concept. Imagine 8 square cards ( 2 1/2, 3, 3 1/2, 4, 4/12, 5, 5 1/2, and 6 inch) with a mat (1/4 inch border) on the front of each. Attach them one on top of the other. Then add tri-folds, flaps, and pockets. It looks much more complicated than it actually is. I learned to make this in a class taught by Leslie Parlette at Scrappn' Savvy.

I have my hard-to-buy-for brother's name for Christmas this year. I decided to make a mini album with pictures of him thru the years with tractors - his favorite topic.

I used a piece of linen ribbon to tie the album shut. The pic on the front was taken in 1944. Gary is sitting on the tractor seat while our father steadied him.

On the inside of the 2.5 inch card are two pics matted in circles.

3 inch card: This had a horizontal tri-fold. I used this section to do a little journaling, added a die-cut Cheepers, the chicken and another pic taken the same day as the one on the front cover. In this picture you can see our oldest sister, Carol Ann. Patterned paper is introduced here. If you google "John Deere digital paper" you will find about 3 different choices on the web. I chose "Diggin Dirt" for several reasons.

There were 15 different patterns.
I liked the tractor and deer graphics.
I contained plaids, stripes AND polka dots, not to mention this great chevron.
It is purchased from an Etsy Store with an instant download for only $1.50. This is my second time to purchase a collection of digital paper. The last time it was Mario paper. If you have a decent color printer, it is a fun option for hard to find themes.

3.5 inch card: This is a simple layer. No fancy folds here. Even so, it is one of my favorite. Here you see my brother up on the corn picker and my dad standing below. On the right side are two more corn pickers. They kind of remind me of Heckle and Jeckle, but their names are Cawrl and Cawnie. Great names for crows!

4 inch card: Here I used a pattern with John Deere tractors on a vertical tri-fold. This provided lots of opportunities for pictures.

4.5 inch card: Here my brother is showing off a planter and a tractor that he restored. I grabbed the John Deere logo off of Google images (for my personal use). It is placed on a gate fold. Inside the gate I used my fun crow stamps again. The pic of Gary and his pride and joy 1944 tractor (Where have you seen that year before?) is split between two panels.

5 inch card: This section features a pocket on the left panel and a flap on the right panel. At 3 AM last Friday, I was laying in bed dreaming up this page. I couldn't get back to sleep, because I was trying to make it in my head. Finally the inevitable -- I gave in about 3:30. I got up and went to the craft room to put this together.

I placed Virgil, the pig and half a tree on the left pocket. There are two gift card envelopes die cut from the patterned paper as well as a fun tag for the pocket. On the right flap, I placed Brownie, the cow with the opposite side of the tree die. The cow has made an observation: "Herd there's a Deere in the barn!" When you open the flap, you see a barn with sliding doors. When you slide them open, you see a John Deere tractor, proving Brownie has made a good observation.

5.5 inch card: I used this vertical tri-fold to place a series of pics from my brother's weekend adventures. One of his favorite pass times is to load up one of his refurbished tractors and take it to a show.

6 inch card: This section is a regular fold, but with diagonal pockets. In the left pocket, are pics of my brother in his huge tractor shed where he works on his tractors. In the right pocket there are the words to a ballad written by my brother, Terry, to the tune of "Folsom Prison Blues". He wrote it about a two-seater John Deere tractor that Gary made, so Gary and his wife, Grace could ride together. I could not locate a picture of the John Deere tractor, but I was able to find a pic of Gary and Grace, as well as our brother, Lyle, sitting in different kinds of two-seaters.

Bottom of the album: I used this cute multi-colored gear paper here.

All totaled, I used 16 different die sets. 10 of these are those of Karen Burniston. I love going through my stash of dies, stamps, paper, embellies, etc. etc. etc. That is why I particularly love collecting die cuts.

Materials:

Patterned Paper: Happy Heart Creations - Diggin Dirt (Etsy Store)

Card Stock: My Colors - Holiday Green

Chocolate

Snowbound

Bazzill - Candle Glow

Die: Spellbinders - Long Scalloped Rectangles Large

Long Classic Rectangles Large

Elizabeth Craft Designs - Gift Card Accordion

Momenta - Gift Card Holder

Stamps of Life - Stitched Tags

Burniston - Cheepers, the Chicken

Brownie, the Cow

Virgil, the Pig

Chicken Wire

Western Edges

Fence Pop-Up

Barn Pop Stand

Hey There Pop Stand

Nature Edges

Tree Top Pop Up

Silhouette File: Corn Stalks by Miss Kates Cuttables

Stamps: High Hopes - Caunie & Cawrls Lunch

We're All Ears

Copics: Y00, 04, 06, 08

C1, 3, 5, 7

Embellies: Linen Ribbon - 1/8 inch

Twine - Ivory

Alphabet Beads

Challenges

2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Critter - #87 - *

Creative Fingers Challenge - Paper Craft - #36 - December 21

Paper Girls Challenge - Die Cuts - #41 - *

Sunday, December 9, 2018

Winter Cozy Snow Day

I just love a good snow storm a day when everyone is safe at home and I have no place to go. With the sentiments " It's Cozy inside!" and "SNOW DAY", I am reminded of just this kind of day.
I used the flourish as a background for this card, making sure that the birds were visible on the left. I pop-dotted a square from the Collective sheet and placed a short banner diagonally across. I love using these paper flowers from 49 and Market. The leaves are from the large Graphic 45 die.

There is even a red floral layer behind the Collective square from Patterns and Solids. I'm all about more layers. I added a chipboard button and brown seam binding. The snowflake is from a punch with a brown pearl in the center.

The inside of the card has a wide blue border across the top from Patterns and Solids, which is edge punched with snowflakes. I saved the punch poop to place on the ephemera at the bottom. I love using the "back" side of ephemera in order to provide a space for a hand-written message. I centered a "tag" of the ephemera. I liken this piece to a buckle and placed brown seam binding in it. You can see that I added some of the snowflakes that fell out of edge punch to the ephemera.