Oriental Briefcase

 Hallo,
   I have finally finished off this briefcase project - after over 2 and 1/2 years.....Its one of those things that I got started and then got side-tracked and kept getting side-tracked and never got done.
  Well one of my New Years Resolutions was to try and finish off a lot of the projects I have half done like this one and I finally got this one done :) I have had the briefcase recovered for 2 years now and the one of the main images done for about a year and ideas for other images and embellishments picked out for over 6 months and I finished it today!!!! (its about time eh ?)
  It started out as a big old black briefcase with a few scuff marks on the outside, the inside is in very good shape with only 2 places that are scuffed up.
  I started out making up a masterboard with a whole bunch of Oriental stamps from several companies. I then cut the master board into pieces and edged them with red ink and used mod podge to glue them all over the briefcase - cutting smaller pieces to fit around handles and the zipper for the file pouch and ect. Once it was dry I sprayed it all with several coats of acrylic finish to make it more durable.
  The front of the case has 2 main images and the top left  hand one is a stamp from Sweet Pea Stamps - colored with copics and her dress is paper pieced, and layered onto a fancy Spellbinders die.
  The bottom right hand image is a Spellbinders die with stamps from Stampin' Up embossed onto it.
  I glued the images on with mod podge and when dry sealed them too.
  The back of the case I used a stencil and a black copic marker to make the iris and sealed it with a layer of mod podge and then the acrylic sealer (mod podge first because the acrylic sealer doesn't play well with alcohol markers :)
  All for today - need to gather some supplies for my encaustic wax painting class tomorrow :) So excited, and sooo addicted :)
   Take Care
       tera

Mom's Chair

Hallo,
  Well a nice and WINDY day today here in NW Florida but not as much rain as I had expected, most of that seems to have stayed to the easy of us.
  Showing you a little projest that I finished off this weekend to send to a friend of mine who lost her Mom this spring.
  I found the phrase from Serendipity just a month or so ago and just loved it. I had 2 friends lose their Mom's this spring so all the more reason to add this atmp to my collection!!!
  The rose in the backround are from Stampin Up - colored with copics.
   The chair is from Flourishes - also colored with copics and cut out with Spellbinders dies (scalloped layer is a pretty purple although it doesn't show up well in the photo.
   The phrase was embossed onto vellum.
   I found this old frame at one of my favorite thrift stores and loved the old fashioned look to it and the gold color!

 Well all for me today - headed off to work tonight.
   Take Care
         Tera

Red, red rose....

 Hallo,
   A rainy saturday am today.....my DD's softball games got rained out last night so I came home and putter around in the craft room, finishing off this frame I have been working on.
  I have had a couple friends loose their Mom's lately and this phrase from Serendipity Stamps is so sweet!!!!
  I paired the phrase with an old stamp from Stampin Up. I stamped the background several times with memento london fog gray ink and then stamped the rose 3 more times on seperate pieces of cardstock. I colored 2 of them completely - with copics - and the third I just colored the roses and leaves. I used the third piece to do some paper tole on the main rose.
  I stamped the phrase onto vellum and embossed in black.
   All for me today - DD is working, DS is playing paintball (probably in the rain) and DH will be out and about too....I am headed off after lunch to a class at a local art gallery doing some work with encaustic wax which I have never tried before but looks like it could be fun!!!
    I will have this frame up on the Etsy site today - I plan to do a couple more versions sometime soon.....

   Take Care and have a great weekend!!!
        Tera

Gray Moon

Hallo,
Welcome to another Monday. I worked last night and am fixin' to get me a nap.....(southern for I am headed off to bed for a nap here in a minute :).
Thought I would get todays post up and running first as the DH, kids and I are going to Pensacola tonight to see 'Kid Rock' in concert.....I am not so much into it but it will be fun for the DH and kiddos.....
When I first did this wonderful image from Sweet Pea, I really didnot like how I did the backround....so I sat it on my desk and looked at it for a few days, then I came across my newest issue of Technique Junkie Newsletter and reread the 'neutral shadows' technique and aahh ha....
I cut out my little mermaid and then stamped her again onto white cardstock and embossed with white powder - then I shadowed the image with gray ink and colored the hearts red, and layered my colored and cut out mermaid on top....
For the background I stamped the flourish (from Stampin' Up ) onto red patterned paper and also did some shadowing with gray ink.
I edged both panels with silver metallic pen and added a silvery gray ribbon and some darker gray pearls too.
I am entering her in this weeks challenge over at 'In A Sweet Pea Dream' - the challenge being anything Sweet Pea.....
Check out all the fabulous Sweet Pea inspiration here - www.inasweetpeadreamchallengeblog.blogspot.com
I had to chuckle - had a flash back to a movie I watched yesterday - Does anyone remember the movie 'St. Elmo's Fire'? I watched it yesterday and the word 'fabulous' was used many times.....
Ohh KAy - time to sleep..... :)
Take Care
Tera

Briefcase Project

Hallo,
Well today is my 3rd 12 hour shift in a row and I am TIRED - glad its my last (at least for a couple days ) - I used to be able to do a bunch of these 12 hr. shifts in a row but not lately - does that mean I am getting old?
Any way I decided to show you pics of a briefcase that I am recovering. It was found at a thrift store and its in really good shape - except for scratches on the out side which I don't care about. This is a thicker briefcase - about 3 inches but as you can see in the photos - lots of room for files and such.
I started with the sheet of Faux Designer Paper that I made and made a bunch of copies.... Then I cut them up into random pieces - mostly triangles, and edged them with red distress ink.
The last pic for today is the beginings of my decoupage work to cover the briefcase. Once I have it covered I will seal with with acrylic sealer and then decorate it furthor - probably sealing it again after I decorate. I have plans for a sketchbook to match .

All for today - Thanks goodness its friday!!!!!
Have a great weekend!!!!
Tera

Designer Kimono

Hallo,
Not working today but have a ton of stuff to get rolling today. Yard work, hair appointment, eye appointment, housework - and hopefully some time at the craft table.
Tomorrow a few of the gals and I are going over to Fairhope Alabama to their Arts and Craft Fair for the day. Its always alot of fun - lots of great stuff!!!
This card is similar to yesterdays with the backround and then I stamped the kimono on the Faux Designer Paper and cut it out, and popped it up. I did shade the folds a bit with a gray copic but it is hard to see.
All for now - Take Care
Tera

Scenic China

Hallo,
Another quick post for you today - tuesday I had a bit of free time and made up 2 quick cards with some of the pile of oriental stamps I have laying out for another project.
This was super quick to do - stamped the red cardstock with the oriental writing in black.
Stamped the scene on white cardstock and colored in just a few little bits - just to highlight.
the stamp is an old one from PSX.
Stamped the teapot from Stampin Up also in black.
All for today - Take Care
tera

China girl

Hallo,

A quick little post today - I am at work today......

This card follows this weeks sketch from CPS which you can find here - http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/



I used the first sheet of Faux Designer Paper from yesterdays post.

Stamped and embossed the Girl - from Stampin Up - in red, and then cut it out with a nesties label die. I edged it with gold mettalic pen. The red layer is torn and distressed a bit for more texture. The base cardstock was stamped with the oriental writing.


While going through my stash for something to embellish with, I came upon these 2 little red dominos and stamped on the back with white staz on. And a bit of gold cord added for good measure....

All for today - Take Care

Tera

Sweet Treats

Hallo,
I broke out the glass etching again on monday - trying to use up my stash of great jars I have found at thift shops lately....
This one would make a great cookie or treat jar.
I etched on all 4 sides - it is blue in the pictures because I put some tissue paper inside to try and make the etching show up better in my pics. The etching does show up alot better IRL - I just can't get it to show up as well in my pics.
I also decorated the cork lid - the words are partial stamps from 'Papertrey Ink" The paper is Basic Gray covering some chipboards pieces I have had for ohhh about 3/4 years - I am, really I am, trying to use up my stash of schtuff.....
The stamps I used are from Gina K, Stampin Up, Hero Arts , Stampendous and Rubber Nature.
I did a 'spring' side with a butterfly and daisy type flower from Gina K. The 'summer' side with flowers from Hero Arts and Stampendous. The 'fall' side is done with flowers from Gina K and a leaf from Rubber Nature. The 'winter' side is a pine cone and branch from Stampin Up.

All for today - see ya tomorrow.
Take Care
Tera

Koi Relax

Hallo,
I hope everyone had a good weekend!!! I worked all weekend so now I am off for a couple days - house work, yard work, some crafting, running kiddos around. Both kiddos have had nasty head colds - DD last weekend and DS this weekend - so hopefully we are done with it....
I did this plaque for the 'Terrific Tuesday' challenge over at the Flourishes Blog - http://www.flourishesnewsletter.blogspot.com/

The challenge was to 'mix things up' and once I start to list all the different companies stamps that I used to make this you'll agree that I definatly mixed it up!!! :) and as usual I am getting in just under the wire for this challenge!!!!
All right - stamps list - First are several stamps from 2 of my newest sets from Flourishes - the Koi fish, water lilies, lounge chair, water swirl and palm trees with hammock.

From Cornish Heritage Farms - the palm trees in the backround and the tiny kitten by the chair - both from their 'Scene It ' line.
From Stampin' Up - 2 different grass stamps.
From Stamping Bella - the little cruise ship (I saw and ad in a travel magazine with huge koi fish and a small cruise ship so I had to copy it).
And finally the word is a partial stamp from My Favorite Things.
Do ya think that is 'mixed up' enough for ya? :)

I colored the Koi fish, hammock scene and cruise ship with copics and then colored over them with an embossing pen and embossed them with clear powder.
Then I sponged in blues for the sky and pond and stamped the backround palm trees, grasses, and water swirls. then spongeing some more browns on the risht side and added some highlights with a white gel pen. And lastly edged the panel with gold krylon pen.



The panel with the chair I cut with one of my nesties and then sponged it with blues while still in the die. Then stamped the chair and the kitten and colored them with copics, and highlighted with white gel pen. Then I inked up just the word 'relax' from the phrase and stamped it.
The waterlilies are colored with copics and cut out to layer on top.
Layers are glued down with gold shimmer mod podge which looks really cool IRL but the soft shimmer doesn't pick up very well in my photos. I then edged the plaque with gold krylon.
All for now - got lots of schtuff to do - anyone got any extra energy to spare? :)
Take Care
Tera

Birthday Fairy

Hallo,
Having some fun today with this fairy stamp from Stamps Happen. You can find this stamp and alot of other cool stamps here - http://www.janlynn.com/
You REALLY need to check them out - they have a ton of great stamps!!!! I have a couple stamps from their Fairies, a couple David Morgan's, and almost my favorite Easter stamp you saw last week with the little bluebird popping out of the egg.
I only used part of the stamp - I love this little boy fairy!!!
The fairy is colored with prismacolor pencils and cut out with my nesties in my cuttlebug. I stamped the image twice and colored the leaf and wings and cut them out, layering them up on top of the nestie layer.
The backround is also done with my cuttlebug - I gently ran my walnut stain ink pad over the embossed parts.
The phrase is from Stampin Up.
All for today - preposting as I worked the last couple days.
Take Care
Tera