12 tags of 2012 - april

this month flew by for me and with just a half an hour left to spare i completed and submitted my april project for the tim holtz 12 tags of 2012.

for the backgroud of my tag i was excited to use my new pocketwatches embossing folder by sizzix / tim holtz alterations. i then inked it with a few different colors of distress ink and then spritzed with a dark brown {homemade} glimmer mist.

next i got to work on my bird. i drew him onto some chipboard, inked him up, and then embossed him with a bright blue and dark blue mix of powders. after that i cut a little crown from my paperdoll dress up cart, embossed it with metallic silver, and added a couple of black hot fix jewels to the front. i used real sticks and moss for the birdie perch. i really like to incorporate these items into my papercrafting and other projects.

i added a mother of pearl button with hemp and a sentiment to the bottom, plus a couple of staples, and tied some hemp on the top to finish it all off.

{please excuse the visible glue behind the sticks and moss...my tag was not completely dry when i was taking pictures!}

harry potter bookmarks

when the harry potter books first started coming out i didn't really catch on to the craze. once the movies started, though, i really liked them and decided that once i had seen them all, i would go back and read all the books. i spent the past few years collecting the books and movies (watching them multiple times as i was happily crafting) and, at the beginning of this year, after getting the final movie for christmas, i was sooooo excited to start reading!

not wanting to dog ear the pages as i do in many of my books i thought about grabbing a bookmark but quickly realized that no ordinary bookmark would do! this is harry potter for goodness sake! and i had also just received the paper doll dress up cart and knew full well there were wizarding dies to be cut!

 for the background i used textured red and tan paper with tim holtz distress stain, distress inks, and glimmer mist. i then used my star cluster punch with metallic gold paper behind. this was also the first time i got to use my crop a dile big bite, which was fun! on the back of the bookmarks i wrote out many of the spell names they use in the books and movies. and because i have a harry-potter-loving nephew, i figured i should make a bookmark for him, too! hope he loves it!

project #13

with earth day coming up and spring cleaning on everyone's mind i thought that this month a *reuse and recycle* theme would be really fun and interesting. the requirements were to turn items that may normally be thrown away into crafting supplies or embellishments. i don't know about everyone else but i do already recycle and i also have a habit of looking at "garbage" items and thinking "now what can i do with this?" actually...i have an entire drawer and a couple of file folders dedicated to these items so i was anxious to see what i could come up with! here is my overall project...

i did a 12x12 *environmentally friendly* themed layout and when i get a chance to go out and take some pictures of pretty trees and things i will add them to the page. the reused and recycled items i used in this layout were a magazine clipping, a bottle cap, and the paper (dcwv green stack) which is 70% recycled paper!

 i love this motto! definitely one to live by, especially if you are one to go out and visit nature.

this was a fun thing to try. i embossed this bottle cap and then stamped into it. i do suggest being VERY careful if you want to try this. i did use needle nose pliers but the little cap is hard to maneuver and it will stay hot for a long time. i know this because i burnt myself...*twice*.