Matchbook Swap

Hello out there!  I'm still alive...I know my posts have been few and far between.  I was having a dry spell on the paper front as my photography has been keeping me busy.  So I committed to a few swaps in the month of July to keep me moving.  The first swap I participated in was the Matchbook Swap at Smeared & Smudged.  I had never made a matchbook so it was a little stressful but so much fun and I do really love the way they turned out.  And not only did I committ to making one, but I committed to making TWO!  I will also receive two matchbooks to add to my own collection.  In fact, I came home today from a retreat to find a package from Greece (see above)!  A big huge thank you to Ike for the lovely postcard and one helluva matchbook.  It's completely wicked and I love it!  THANKS, IKE!

{sorry for the crappy picture}

And now onto the matchbooks I made.  They are both Halloween themed, I hope you don't mind.  This first one is for Tori.  I hope you like it, Tori --it will be in the mail to you tomorrow!

I left space in the book for little pictures and I am also sending additional Halloween themed word stickers so that you can use them over your photos or wherever you'd like.

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This next one is for Trisha.  And this one is not just Halloween, but it's vintage too!  There's no room for pictures but it's a fun little book to look through.

/end Matchbook Swap.  :)  Thank you to Black Dragon for organizing this swap --it was so much fun!

Weekend Wrap Up

I had such an amazing weekend and managed to do a little bit of all of the things that I love.  Well, most of the things that I love.  I didn't exactly pick up my camera like I intended but that's okay --lots of those opportunities will be coming up as my schedule starts to open up a bit in June.  There was just one thing that drove me crazy this weekend --ALLERGIES.  I am having such a hard time breathing today.  I really don't want to break out the Afrin but I think I'm going to have to break down any second now.  :|

Anyway, as I mentioned I made a few things this weekend.  I did make a few pieces of jewelry but I didn't get to photograph them all...will have to do those at a later time.  I wanted primarily to highlight this piece right here...

^^^I found this pendant on clearance at Michael's for a $1.99 --it had some funky epoxy sticker that was peeling off but those are just minor details when you are used to tearing things down and then using scraps.  The girl at the register said "are you sure you want this?"  LOL.  So I took it home, peeled the epoxy off and then found my own image to put in the pendant tray.  I then covered the image with glaze and let it sit over night.  I was able to wear it to dinner on Saturday night and got a ton of compliments.  :)  In fact, I bought two of these, so I will definitely make some profit from selling the second piece of jewelry.  Oh, and it really is a significant size.  About 1.5" x 3". 

^^^A few posts ago I talked about how I poured Diamond Glaze in bottle caps.  Remember that?  They turned out beautifully!  Don't you think?  These will be pendants on a ball chains --will either gift them or sell them in my shop.

^^^I also made two more decorative coin purses.  Again, very NOT ME.  But they are not for me.  Someone asked me to make them as Mother's Day gifts.  I think they are truly perfect for a mom.  Plus, they are filled with MY garden photography!  Pretty cool if you ask me.  :)

^^^I acquired some new playthings in the past few days.  First of all I wanted to show everyone my beautiful canvas by Lia Lane.  Lia is such an amazing artist and I am so excited to own one of her original pieces of work.  This one is called Delicate and is on display in studio.

^^^I also bought some new stamps beacause let's face it --I'm not Ms. Ruin without stamps.  :p  Well, maybe I am...but that's not the point.  These are VERY VERY VERY me.  Don't you agree!?  The self-healing mat is new too.  It's 18" in PINK.  I'm trying to expand my horizons a little.  And maybe they didn't have these in black.  :p

Well, I will wrap this up for now...I have work as in at my real job to do (on a Sunday...Boo!) and then it's back to editing pictures.  I'm in the home stretch on this set and then I'm all caught up!  I'm only working THREE WHOLE DAYS this week and then I'm off to National Scrapbooking Weekend Retreat --4 days of creating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I will leave you with this picture of one of my sweethearts.  Yeller Trouser is the most loving Lab I have ever owned...I've had about four now.  People can't believe that she's only 9 months old because she is so sweet and well behaved.  Plus, she is an awesome subject for me in my photography.  Have a great week!!!!!

Artsy Fartsy Swap

Our most recent swap at Artsy Fartsy was an Artist Trading Card with the theme "Self Portrait".  I didn't want to give someone a project with a picture of myself on it - who would want that?  lol.  So I decided to think a little outside the box.  So here is my rendition of "Self Portrait".

The paper is by Graphic 45 from the Steampunk Debutante line.  I made the flower using Maya Road trim and then adhered a clock pendant to the center.  Pretty cool, huh?  I hope whomever gets this beauty will love it. 

Don't forget that you can follow me and all of my work on Facebook.  There's always networking and creative talk with old and new crafty friends at Ms. Ruin's Playthings!  Click on the image below to "LIKE" my page. 

Artist Trading Cards

We currently have two swaps going on at ARTSY FARTSY.  Remember, anyone can join - just need to have a facebook account.  One of the swaps is for recipe cards and is being facilitated by Genie Smith.  The other is an Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap that is being facilitated by yours truly.  We are each making a total of 3 cards which means we have three themes. 

The themes are:

1. Childhood Memories
2. A Favorite Song
3. Surprise Theme (you pick a theme)

So far I have completed Childhood Memories and A Favorite Song.  Details below.  For those of you that are not familiar with ATCs – they are “a tiny original piece of art created with the intention of swapping or trading it with another artist, not selling it. The one rule an artist trading card must adhere to is the size. An ATC should be 2.5 x 3.5 inches. ATCs can be made in any medium and using any technique, whether it's painting, drawing, or collage. You are really limited only by your imagination and materials."

This is what a card looks like when you purchase it – and heck, you don’t have to purchase these, you can simply use cardstock.  I buy the ones with the punches on the side so that I can put them on my Artist Trading Card carousel by 7gypsies.

Now…on with the magic.

ATC No. 1 of 3:  Childhood Memories

Who didn’t watch The Wizard of Oz as a kid?  Every time it comes on television I am mesmerized by the magic of oz.  It reminds me of the unique beauty in the Land of Oz and the journey of Dorothy and company along the yellow brick road.  I was able to capture the enchantment of Oz in this ATC with the help of Graphic 45 and their new line “The Magic of Oz”.  Scroll past the pictures to read steps/products.

    

Steps and Products for ATC No. 1:

• Using a VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad I juiced up the gorgeous vintage frame stamp by Glitz Design.  The stamp is from the “Fancy Frames” clear stamp collection.
• Stamped image onto a large tag.
• Covered with black embossing powder.
• Embossed with heat gun.
• “Generously” distressed with “Stormy Sky” distress ink by Tim Holtz.  When I say generously I mean I distressed the entire image – the embossing will serve as a “resist”, trust me, you don’t have to worry about getting ink on the embossed portion of the tag.
• Cut image out with scissors.
• Distressed a cream colored ATC with black archival ink (they also sell black ATCs).
• Adhered frame to ATC with scrappy glue.
• Using a glue gun, I adhered two layers of off-white colored lace to the center of the frame.
• Adhered Dorothy image from “The Magic of Oz” paper by Graphic 45 to the lace (I did use hot glue on this as well)
• “The Magic of Oz” title came from the cover of the paper pack (crafters don’t waste –hahaha!).  I cut it out and distressed the edges with a distressing tool and then inked it with "Vintage Photo" distress ink by Tim Holtz.
• I don’t care for stickles but I did use red stickles on the hair bow and shoes because it’s the Wizard of Oz and hello – YOU NEED BLING!

ATC No. 2 of 3:  A Favorite Song

I am a music fanatic and listen to all sorts of music.  Some you would like, some would terrify you.  HAHAHA.  One of my favorite songs is “Perfectly Flawed” by OTEP.  This ATC is about empowering yourself when faced with adversity.  Scroll past pictures below to read steps/products.

Steps and Products:

• Distressed ATC with “Fired Brick” distress ink by Tim Holtz.
• Applied “Mod Podge” to the entire card and then placed an ATC transparency by 7gypsies over it.  Let it dry.
• Applied “Zipper Trim” by Maya Road to the edge
• Printed a picture of myself that I graphically distressed and added the words “Perfectly Flawed” to it.
• Took a scrap piece of patterned paper and used it as a border for the picture.  Around the frame I hand wrote the following lyrics from the song:  “You’re perfectly flawed.  You’re perfectly incomplete.  A work in progress.  Imperfection makes you unique.”
• Adhered the mat with the writing to the ATC using pop dots (I love dimension!)
• Adhered picture of self to mat also using pop dots (more dimension – yay!!)
• Using hot glue I adhered a red rose by Prima to the picture.

ATC No. 3 of 3 is yet to come…stay tuned.  And don’t forget to join us at Artsy Fartsy!

Jewelry Magic!

Alright – it’s time to do some serious blogging!  I have been slacking off.  I know this.  :)  This is post number one in a series.

First and foremost, have you seen the new Magic of Oz line from Graphic 45?  Holy gorgeousness!  I love it.  Thank you to the folks at G45 for making me put some jewelry art together.  I am just starting out with this whole jewelry making stuff.  I don’t want to actually put necklaces together or anything like that.  But I do enjoy the mixed media side of it all.

Here is what I made last night – if you are interested in one or more, you can email me at stamptabulous@gmail.com and we can arrange payment/delivery.  Note:  These are WAY PRETTIER in person.  Just sayin’!  :)

This is Glenda the Good Witch and she can be yours for only $10 plus shipping.  This particular one is sold but I have enough material to make about 15 more of these.

I really dig this one.  It’s a compass with W’s for the Wicked Witch of the West.  Notice the witch legs serve as “arms” on the compass.  That’s pretty cool.  This one can be yours for $10 plus shipping and I have 7 available for sale.

This is my favorite and the one of a kind from the group.  I only have ONE of these and it has sold already for $20.

The following are not Wizard of Oz themed but they are still super cute.  I have plenty available of each and these can be yours for $8 plus shipping.

Hope you liked!

New Playthings

Hello bloggers!  As you know, I have admitted to having a problem with buying scrapbooking/art supplies in the past.  I have really become better about it and only shop BIG a couple times a year.  In the interim I stock up on supplies such as adhesive and whatnot.  However, there is an exception my rule of big shopping only a few times a year and that exception is stamps!  I am quite the stamp freak.

Anyway, I did have a bit of a shopping spree in the last few days at The Crafty Scrapper.  Carolyn and company always stock the latest and greatest.  I will make another post of some of the new stuff in the store but for now, let me show you what floats my boat.

As most of you know, I LOVE TIM HOLTZ, anything Ranger, anything Stampers Anonymous, anything - well, you get the point!  So I definitely stocked up on the latest Tim toys.  :D

Love the pocket clock!

 STAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo - new paper!

WOO HOO HOO HOO - NEW KRAFT PAPER!!!!!!!

Big fan of the lightbulbs! 

Another favorite of mine is 7gypsies.  I picked up a few of their stuff as well...

I love these bottles!  I don't know that I'll use them in my projects.  I bought them to display in my apothecary style studio.

One of my New Years resolutions was to be better about remembering birthdays and other special events.  So I finally broke down and bought this drawer.  My plan is to make cards ahead of time and then file them away until it is time to give to someone.  I am REALLY going to try to keep up with this.

Graphic 45 is probably my newest most favorite company.  They truly speak to my heart, just like Ranger and Stampers Anonymous.  Although I'm a little creeped out by clowns, I absolutely love their Le Cirque line.  Being afraid intrigues me.  I am a huge fan of vintage witches, so the witch on the broomstick is definitely my favorite graphic!  My intention is to make a mini album about our evening at the circus.  Intention --such a funny word!  Anyway, check out this awesome paper --front and back shown.

This is not from the Le Cirque line, but it is Graphic 45.  Cannot wait to use it!

I really try NOT to buy much scrapbook paper because I have TONS and I don't think I'll use it all in my lifetime.  But I do like to pick up random pieces that catch my eye.  Like these...

This one is by Webster's pages.  I tend to like just about anything vintage, especially if the theme is school houses or children.  I think I was born in the wrong era.  :)

This is probably one of the first times I have bought products by "The Girls' Paperie".  I didn't buy much, embellishments, some chipboard letters and acrylic stamps --oh, and I couldn't help myself to this paper - hello - birdcages!



 

And as if the Graphic 45 Le Cirque line wasn't enough, I couldn't help myself to these circus/carnival themed items by Glitz Design --these are from their Afternoon Muse line.  Sorry, I forgot to photograph the clear stamps so here is a graphic.

And now for the random portion of my post.  These are other little treasures I picked up...

Not sure who makes these beautiful wings --but you know me, I am a flight fanatic.

You can never have too many alphabets...these are by October Afternoon.

BIRDCAGES!!!!!  These are by Prima.

And finally...some goodies from Pinkpaislee.  These two packs are from the Daily Junque line.

PHEW!!!  Is your brain on overload?  My pocketbook sure is!  LOL.  Hope you enjoyed all of my new playthings. 

Peace, love, and playthings,

Ms. Ruin