For You Cupcake

We have some beautiful little girls at church with birthdays coming up. I wanted to personalize a card for each of them. That was easy to do in the coloring of the stamped image girl. It was easy to color their hair the color of the girls' hair.

Alicia is  beautiful little Hispanic girl so I made her card with black hair and brownish skin. Leza is a sweetheart with red hair so that's what her card has!

Materials needed:
Sweet Thing stamp by Penny Black
Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set--Stampin' Up
Melon Mambo card stock--SU
Birds of a Feather patterned paper-SU
Word Window punch
Modern Label punch
Pastels
Q-tips/cotton swabs
hair spray
Coordinating patterned paper 2 1/2 x 3 1/2"
Dahlia adornments--SU
Brads
Glue Dots
Stampin' Dimensionals

I love using pastel chalks. It's one of my favorite mediums! I use cotton swabs to apply them and then apply a quick coat of hair spray. The hair spray is not acid free so don't use it in items you want to archive. The hair spray will brighten the color of the chalks and keep it from smearing.

Things are layered as you see in the picture. I popped the image with the Stampin' Dimensionals.
Have fun with this card!

Make Chalk Boards for Shoeboxes

I thought that small chalk boards would be good for shoeboxes so I decided that I would make some. Today, while I was out, I did find some already completed at Dollar Tree for $1 but these were too wide to lay flat in the shoebox. For easier packing, I feel that the chalk board needs to be able to lay flat. I figure that the ones I'm making cost about 17 cents each.

This can make a good project for a church youth group, a Vacation Bible School craft, a scout group or some other group. With a dozen or so people, these can be made pretty quickly.

Materials needed:

1 large piece of backing  board or plywood, 3/8 - 1/4" thick

sandpaper

sanding block

chalk board paint

paint brushes, sponge or bristle

lytex or rubber gloves (optional)

I recommend that you use some type of gloves for this project or your hands may look like this.

I used to be able to paint without making a mess but that time seems to have passed. You also might want to wear an apron or an old shirt.

 I made my chalk boards to be 4 x 6" so that they will fit flat into the shoebox without any trouble. 

Many lumber yards will cut the boards for you but be sure to ask what they charge. My local Lowes store would cut them at 25 cents a cut.  That could add up pretty fast. If you can find someone with a table saw or a radial saw, they can cut them for you. My son cut mine on a radial saw in about 30 minutes. For the 4 x 8' piece of board, he was able to cut 165 pieces. That's a lot of chalkboards! It helps to fill a lot of shoeboxes though and remember, every shoebox is a gospel opportunity. 

If you don't want that many, you should be able to buy a piece of board that is half that size.

Sand the edges of the cut boards so that there are no splinters. You can use plain sandpaper or put it on a sanding block. IMO, it's easier to use a sanding block. You can buy sand paper already cut to size for sanding blocks or it's easy enough to cut it yourself from a sheet.

You will want to spread out newspaper or card board to cover your surface before you paint.
Paint each board. I started out with a can Krylon spray paint but I was only able to do about 20 boards, one side, with it. When I got more paint, I got a quart can of Glidden chalkboard paint. This was more than enough to do all of the chalkboards. You can paint just one side or you can paint both sides. Painting the edges is up to you. Each side that you paint needs two coats of paint. I paint it horizontal the first coat and vertical for the second coat.

I set the slab of boards outside in our Texas sun and they dried in about 20 minutes. Inside it will take a little longer to dry.

You will need something for an eraser to go with the chalk boards. I took fabric scraps and cut pieces about 4 x 6" for this.

Be sure you also include at least 2 or 3 pieces of chalk for the children to use. Because chalk can be very dusty, you might want to put it into a zip lock type of bag so the dust doesn't get all over the other items in the box.

Cost breakdown:
1 sheet of board   $15
1 qt of paint           10
sand paper, misc      3
  total                    $28
Divided by 165 pieces = 0.16969 cents per chalk board

Left over fabric scraps  free--If you don't have any, ask your church members or mothers for some.
Chalk cost varies. Look for it on sale. I found some side walk chalk, which works just as well, in the Dollar Spot at my local Target. That was 12 pieces of chalk for $1.

Victorian Lady

Well, I've finished all of my January birthday cards now. Here is the last one.

Materials needed:
Victorian lady stamp set from Hot Off the Press
Warmest Regards stamp set from SU!
First Edition patterned paper from SU! 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
White card stock
Pastel chalks/mine are from SU! but they are now retired
Hair Spray
Certainly Celery ribbon from SU!
Large oval punch SU!
Old Olive card stock 2 3/4 x 2 3/4"
Doily from SU! or Wilton's
Mementos Black ink
Stampin' Dimenionals

This is easy to make just following the design you see on the card.
I think chalk is my favorite medium, even though I don't use it that often. There is so much you can do with it and it's so versatile! When I finish chalking my image, I spary it lightly with hair spray. This is not acid free so if you are doing something that you want to last for generations, find an acid free fixative at your local store. For cards, IMO, hair spray works just fine.

Have fun and I hope everyone who receives one of your cards appreciates the time you put into it!
Have a blessed 2015!
 

Pastel/Chalk

Pastels or chalks are really easy to work with because they are practically goof-proof. Many years ago, when I started teaching elementary school, chalks were one of my favorite things to use in coloring posters for my classroom. I think one reason that I like them, aside from the goof-proof factor, is that one the tools you use to work with chalks is one that you always have with you, your fingers. Fingers are great for smoothing and blending the chalks. There are many different ways to buy chalks but one of the best is in a set of small pastel chalks like you can get from SU! Stampin' Pastels (#120962) has 40 different colors and shades of pastel chalks and 6 applicators. The SU! Pastel set that you will see in these pictures is an older set than what is in the current catalog. I've had this set for about 5 yrs and it's still in great shape.

For this, you need your chalks, a stamp set, black classic ink, white cardstock and some cotton swabs(brand name is Q-Tips).

1. Choose the image that you want to use and stamp it in black ink. With the chalks, you can use either the classic ink or the Staz On, since you're not using water in this method.

***TIP*** Sometimes when you stamp an image, especially a larger one, I don't get the center stamped clearly, as you can see with this one. The solution to this problem is to use something soft underneath the paper you are stamping on, such as a pad of papers or a mouse pad. That will give some movement room for your stamping & you will usually get a better image.

2.  For today's project, I'm using the same image that I used on Tuesday with the watercolor pencils so that you can see the difference in the look of the two medium. The image is from The Nicest Things (#120531). For pastels, a larger image is usually easier to work with as it can be difficult to get the chalk in the small areas, even with the applicators that come with the set.
Using a cotton swab, rub the color you want on the tip of the swab. Then outline that area of your image, like you did on Tuesday. The swab will make a larger stroke than the pencils did so watch the smaller spaces. After you apply the color, use either the cotton swab, the applicator or your finger to smooth the color and pull the color into the other areas.

 The applicator works better in small areas for applying color. You can still use the swab or your finger for blending.

***TIP*** If you look closely at the picture on the left, you can see that I've smeared some blue chalk on the girl's face. Here we have one of the BIG reasons I call this goof-proof. Pastels/chalks are eraseable! Just take a white eraser, like comes with the SU! pastel set or an art gum eraser and erase the chalk away from where you don't want it. Very fixable!

3. Use either a swab or your finger to blend the colors together. Pay attention to where natural shadows would fall, like under the basker or in fold lines of the skirts.

Here the picture is colored. You can see how I rubbed color on the right edge of the cardstock to check the shades that I wanted and that I used several swabs for my color.

4. There is one more step to this process that is optional. That is to spray a fixative on the chalked image. This is not required but highly recommended. Without it the chalk may rub off. There are many fixatives that are available at your hobby or craft stores but the cheapest(and it's just as good) is your basic hair spray that you probably have in the bathroom. Just give it a light spray, far less than you use for your hair. Then let it dry and you are done. I do not guarantee the hair spray to be acid free for your scrapbooking projects but since most cards won't be archieved, it works fine for them. The hair spray will bring out a brighter look with the chalks, also.

Now compare the two coloring methods to see which you like better. It's totally up to you how you color your images. There are several other ways too but these are my favorites.

The image on the left was colored with the watercolor pencils on Tuesday. The image on the right was colored with the pastels today. It just depends on the look you want & the method you perfer.

Pop up cards

Yikes! I've been busy with other things this morning & almost forgot to post my card for you to see. Please forgive me.



Here is what the completed pop up card from yesterday looks like.
1. I covered my white pop-up that I made yesterday with a piece of designer series paper from Raspberry Tart (#113975) cut 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" scored & folded at 4 1/4."
2. I stamped the flower images from the Fifth Avenue Floral set (# 113734) on Whisper White cardstock using a masking technique and my Stampin' Pastels (#105542). Check back tomorrow & I'll do a tutorial on masking with lots of pictures to help you understand my directions.
3. I cut the stamped images to 2 3/4 x 2 1/4" cutting off edges of the outside flowers. I mounted this on Green Galore cardstock cut at 2 1/2 x 3." The Green Galore was then matted on Pink Passion cardstock cut at 2 3/4 x 3 1/4.
4. The thinking of you was from the Wonderful Watercolors set (# 113688). I mounted it on Pink Passion cardstock cut at 3 x 1 1/2" and placed it slightly over the matted & colored images.
5. For the images on the inside of the card, I used 2 step stamping daisies from the Wonderful Watercolor set and the flower in a pot from the Wagon Full of Fun set in the new Occasions mini (#113262). I just love the stamps in this set! They are soooo cool! The saying stamped on my card is from the Wonderful Watercolors set.

I hope you like my projects that I'm sharing with you. Check back tomorrow for the masking technique!

This little basket is so cute and easy to make. For the eggs, I used one of the stamps in the Wagon Full of Fun set that is brand new to Stampin' Up! It is in the new occasions mini catalog that comes out April 1. Email me if you're interested & I'll send you the mini now so you can be looking at all the cool new sets they've got. Actually, the Wagon Full of Fun & 2 more sets, plus a jumbo wheel can be pre-ordered so that you'll have time to use the Easter stamps before Easter gets here. The flowers on this little basket were stamped & cut out, using a stamp from Best Kind of Friend set. I stamped the flowers on Pink Passion cardstock & made the basket from Tempting Turquoise cardstock, both from SU! of course. The eggs were colored with my favorite Stampin' Pastels. I think chalk must be my favorite medium! I just love using it. Now, where did I get the Easter "grass" for my basket? I took strips of left over cardstock & just ran them through my crimper! So easy, even my youngest grandchild, Jacob, could do it! (Of course, all of my dgc are gifted anyway!) :-)

Oh, btw, if you want to make this cute little basket, let me do a workshop for you & we can make a bunch of them! Now, if you live too far for me to drive (like KS or ID), then email me & I'll send you the template.