Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter!

 Happy Easter everyone!


Here are some pics from our visit from the Easter Bunny!

Easter goodies for the kids.

Little tree from Target with my decorated glitter eggs on them. 

Made the topiary with a falling apart wreath found at Kmart

 Eggs ready for hiding!


 Flowers from Gwyneth


Hope your day is a blessed one!

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess






Sunday, March 24, 2013

Celebrate Oz 2013 Winners!

I am a day late but better late than never!  I have used that wonderful Random Number Generator from www.random.org to choose the winners of the Celebrate Oz 2013 Blog Hop. One will receive digital sheets from Gecko Galz Whimsical Jewel It Collage Sheets which includes the Wizard of Oz Dominos and the Alice in Wonderland Dominos.  I love these images, which originate from many different versions of each story.  Another winner will receive the Wizard of Oz Domino Book featured in my Celebrate Oz post.  I love this little book, and have plans of creating another to display at my work (whenever I return to the world of public libraries). I love creating art based on books!




Without further ado....

Commenter #9 - Winner of Domino Images


LOVE you mini book! So CUTE!!! And my gosh, I've done mini mini albums myself, where mine were still bigger than this, but the small size was still a challenge! So, beautiful work, Jess, and nice meeting you via Celebrate Oz! ~tina

Commenter #1 - Winner of Wizard of Oz Domino Book

Wow! Your domino book is amazingly good!...and totally Wicked!!! :D

Congratulations Tina and Gina! I will leave messages through your info left in the comments. 

Thanks again to everyone who visited and left comments, and thanks to Leanne, owner of Gecko Galz, for providing awesome images for this book and for the prize!

 Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Awesome Thrift Store Finds

Went to Savers and Goodwill this week and found some great items for cheap! Here are some of my favorites:

Spice Rack and Black Shelf - love these for displaying artwork in my workspace. After we move I plan to paint all the little shelves the same color. Got the spice rack for 99 cents and the shelf for $1.39.

Silver Tray - don't you love the shape and detail? The front is coated in age, so I need to clean it. I think it is real silver. Plan on doing a vintage Easter scene on it to hang up. We'll see. Cost was $1.39!!

Mail sorter with key hooks. We need this desperately. So plan on painting and minimal decor. Mail just a vintage text saying MAIL. Cost $2.99.

Ceramic tub - this spoke to me as a fun shabby chic item that could have flowers overflowing with some Victorian beauty inside! Cost $1.39.

Frame - this is one of those Baby First Year frames. I altered one last year for my girlfriend (click HERE to see) and decided to get another one for a future gift. Cost $3.99.

Cake Pan - I love old metal bakeware. I altered a pie plate last year and when I saw the cake pan, I snatched it up. It may just be used for a tiered organizer. Who knows?! Cost 99 cents.

Candlestick - I am always looking for small candle sticks to use in my art. this one has great detailed scrollwork. I may see what lies under the grime. I think it would hold my paper mâché project nicely. Cost 69 cents.

If you don't know how to find a thrift store in your area, check out The Thrift Shopper and plug in your zip to find one. Great finds are out there!

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess

Monday, March 18, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day Card

Here is a little something I made for St. Patrick's Day and a couple of challenges out there. I cannot remember where I got the embossed gold paper. I have had it for a while. I cut that to the size of the card, fussy cut the images, then just layered everything together.

Hope everyone had a lucky day!

Challenges:

Gecko Galz Yahoo Group - March Color Challenge
Little Scrap Pieces Fun Friday Luck of the Irish Challenge
Everyday Is An Occasion Sunday (Fun)day 7
Papercraft Star Challenge 136 - Green

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess



Friday, March 15, 2013

Altered Oz 2013

There is quite the event going on over at Linda's Olde Baggs 'n Stuft Shirts Blog, called Altered Oz, a tribute to all things Oz. This year the contributors were encouraged to provide an "altered" view of Oz, mixing it up.

There is a giveaway here, so be sure to read through to find out the details!

 
I didn't "alter" Oz, but I did try something new. I had Wizard of Oz (WOO) domino images from Gecko Galz so I decided to make a domino mini book using them. I love these images because they come from a variety of versions of this book! When you think of the WOO, you think of blue gingham, Judy Garland, , techni-color movie, etc. But there are so many other images and ideas out there.

Anyway, since these were domino images, I thought I would actually work with dominos. First, I used alcohol ink to color the dominos. In the end, the green and grey ink is barely seen since I ended up covering it with red glitter. **Hope you like the images, I applied a bit of Techni-Color myself, to ramp up the color a bit since my pics were a bit flat. Made everything a bit surreal!


I added the black and white pictures of Dorothy and the Wicked Witch onto the dominos, painted the edges of the dominos with glue then covered them with red glitter.  Once covered, I added a thick layer of Glossy Accents over the images to seal them in.  I also, once dry, coated the glitter in a thin layer of it so it wouldn't flake off when handled.

Next, I added the gold beads, as feet and as a topper.  The green ball is a stick pin head that was cut and glued to add a bit of "Emerald" to the piece.

Now for the inside. 


 I wanted to focus one side on the "Good" of Oz, with images of Dorothy, the Emerald City, Toto, Dorothy and the Lollipop Guild, The Yellow Brick Road, Dorothy and her friends, and Dorothy with Ozma.  The background paper, which I adhered over the folded cardstock, was a paper with the Emerald City already on it.  I added sequins to it to give it some flat bling.  I stamped out a few things, like Toto, and the phrase, "There's No Place Like Home." I also added some ruffle gingham ribbon that I bought for this project.







For the "Wicked" side, with the Wicked Witch on the cover, I used a newsprint paper as the background.  I used images that portrayed the Witch and her side of things.  The first image is of her and Glinda, embracing.  Then it progresses to bad deeds.  The phrase stamped is "I'll Get You My Pretty." I also added a brass broom and the word "sleep" under a scene in the poppies.


I added black seam binding to the back of the dominoes, then glued the accordion pages to them. 

I wasn't sure at first how this was going to turn out.  It is my first attempt at a domino book, as well as my first time using Wizard of Oz as my subject.  I was thrilled to try since it is one of my favorite books and I am a Children's Librarian! I love all projects made with books as the theme!

So, I hope you enjoyed my contribution to the Celebrate Oz event.  Please be sure to check out Linda's Olde Baggs 'n Stuft Shirts blog for more contributors to this fabulous event!

For the Giveaway, please leave a comment below.  Following my blog is optional, though I hope you do.  One or more lucky winners will get a special prize, which I will announce later.  Could be a piece of art...could be some cool images.  So please comment and I will pick a random winner on Friday, March 23rd.

**a lucky winner will get the Wizard Of Oz Dominos, and another will get a special Wizard of Oz art piece. So be sure to leave a comment!

Good Luck and Thanks for Stopping By!

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Cat in the Hat Birthday Party

Whew, what a party!  My kids, Gwyneth and Leo, turned 4 and 2 last weekend.  Since the party was on the 2nd, we decided to have a Cat in the Hat party to honor Dr. Suess' birthday as well!  And, as a children's librarian, I knew I could save all of the decorations for work. Bonus!

I used Pinterest a lot for this party, as inspiration and for instructions.  Here is a photo of all of my projects, and I will break it down below as to where I found my ideas so you can check them out too!


A) I made green eggs and ham!!  I saw green deviled eggs on Pinterest, HERE, and knew I had to do it.  I didn't look for how to make them, I just used it as inspiration and added green gel food coloring to my own eggs recipe.  They looked great, though the picture doesn't really do the green justice!

B) Party hats are a must!  Kids are too cute in them, especially when they are all around the table eating cake.  Leo, my birthday boy, really didn't want it on long, especially while he got down to the business of eating cake!  I had originally wanted to buy plain colored hats, since nobody on the island really sells Cat in the Hat party supplies.  But the hats come in multi-colored packs and that just wouldn't do for the party!  So, I found THIS pin about making hats.  Now, I didn't make them totally from scratch.  I did buy those multi-colored hats.  But I traced their shape onto wrapping paper, then used crepe paper to add a ruffle around the base, then a little tuft at the point.  I only did the tufts for the birthday girl and boy, as well as cutting out numerals with my Cricut. 

C) Well, this pic is just a side view of my table.  The red tissue paper ball I made, as well as a blue one that hung to the left of the banner, were so simple and cheaper than buying premade ones!  I didn't actually learn this one on Pinterest, but from YouTube.  But HERE is a pin covering the same technique.

D) Oh the lollipop tree!  My inspiration one was covered in blue ribbon instead of yarn, and I added yarn pom-poms and a Cat in the Hat to the top.  Check it out HERE.

E) Okay, there are a couple of items in this frontal pic of the table.  The banner was made using my Cricut.  I saw different banners on Pinterest, so I decided to use them as inspiration and just do a simple pennant shapped one.  I used cardstock for the background, cutting it on the cricut.  Then I cut one out 1/2" smaller and used the negative to trace in a beat up copy of Cat in the Hat.  I found it for 69 cents at the thrift store, with a very faded cover and water stained pages.  So, yes, the librarian cut up a book!  For my crafts, I will do almost anything!  But it helped that it was a crappy copy!  Then, after putting them together, I cut out my kids' names with the Cricut, in black, and glued them on.  Punched holes in each corner, then used small scraps of ribbon to hook them together.  I have already taken the letters off and saved it for a future library event.  Easy! Here is ONE similar that I used as inspiration!

Also in this picture...goodie bags!  I found inspiration HERE for them, but because of time restraints, only did the scallop scissors then sealed them with Washi Tape in the opposite color.  Buttons and twine would have been adorable too, but the dang hats too all day so I was running out of time! 

One more thing of interest, the wrapping paper on the wall.  Another Pinterest idea.  Check it out HERE!

F) The cake was inspired by many.  I knew I wanted a hat on top of another tier, but most out there are in fondant.  Here are a couple that I really liked as inspiration cakes:

CAKE 1
CAKE 2

G)  Ah, my wreath.  I love this thing.  Definitely a keeper for future events.  I didn't know where I was going to put it, but at the last minute we put it above the banner and it worked perfectly!  There were a couple of inspiration pieces that led to this creation.  I wrapped a foam wreath with yarn.  Then I made pom-poms.  I had never made them before, so here is the PIN where I learned that technique.  Then I cut my pennant banner out of felt, glued them to twine.  Then I used brads dipped into glue, poked them into the wreath, and strung up the twine.  I adhered sticker letters with a bit of glue too so they wouldn't fall off.  I covered the brads with printed images that I colored over with a brighter red to match the yarn.  Easy peasy!

Here are a couple of inspiration wreaths:  Wreath 1, Wreath 2

H) Last but not least, the Fish in a Cup Jello!  Saw this on Pinterest HERE and knew I had to represent Fish!  All it is...blue JELLO with a Swedish Fish in the bottom.  I think the kids were more excited for these than the cake!  I bought the cupcake stand after Valentine's Day at Target (love anything 50% off!) and covered the heart with the Fish in his bowl.  Easy! The cups fit perfect, though some were a bit cramped but it worked.

So, that was the party.  Here are a few more pics of that big day!

A quick note...their outfits were handmade from Etsy HERE.  Their invitation, which everyone loved, also came from Etsy, HERE.  All I did was send the file to Walgreens and print them out as pictures!

I am linking this post up to Glitter Tart's 2nd Monthly Pinterest Party, I Saw It On Pinterest & Did It! Please visit her blog and check out what other people are doing with their Pinterest ideas!

Enjoy!

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess



Friday, March 8, 2013

Spring Fling at Gecko Galz

Head over to Gecko Galz this month and check out the Spring Fling projects created by the Design Team!  Every other day there will be a new one so be sure to check often! At the end of the month, you can vote for your favorite project to win a $25 gift certificate!


For my project, I decided to use the March products from Gecko Galz to create an 8x10 scrapbook page that can be framed.  I plan on giving this to my mom for Mother's Day.  I loved all the shabby chic roses this month and I knew I had to make a soft girly page.


To see what I used and how I created this page, head over to Gecko Galz for the details!

Enjoy!

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess


Friday, March 1, 2013

Beautiful Girls Tag

Well, it is March 1st, which means new products from Gecko Galz!  There are some great new sheets available, just head over to take a look!


I was inspired this month by a fellow Gecko Galz Design Team member, Heather Hudson.  I love her tags and wanted to channel my inner Heather and create something a little different.  It is hard to know if you need more or less embellishment.  Heather layers everything just right, adding in so many different elements. 

For my tag, I used a tag image that was a freebie on Heather's blog, My Artistic Adventures. She makes many images for herself, selling them on Gecko Galz and in her Etsy shop.  This freebie was a quick sheet that she put together.  I used the tag image and the word "Beautiful" from it. 

Supplies:

Tag Image - Heather Hudson's Blog Freebie
Images of Girls - Gecko Galz
Pearls
Doily - Wilton
Pink Seam Binding Ribbon - Really Reasonable Ribbon
Vintage circle image - Gecko Galz
Flower Image - Gecko Galz
Pink Satin Ribbon - Really Reasonable Ribbon
Pink Twine - stash
Pink Lace - stash via artJOYstuff
Ink - Distress Ink Brushed Corduroy
Scor-Tape
Word - Beautiful - Heather Hudson's Blog Freebie
Word - Girls - Gecko Galz

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess