"Crafts that will NEVER be cool" according to HuffPost

I just read an article via Twitter with the above condensed title. Needless to say several of us in the crafting community feel a need for a response. Here is mine that I commented on their website.

LMBO LOL slow news day? Obviously written by some uncreative 20 something that has no children, no life & thinks he/she is a journalist. I'm 53 and have been crafting/creating my entire life. You obviously do not come from a family that is multi-generational influenced. I treasure the times my grandmothers & great-grandmother taught me some of my skills. And over the years I have met & retained numerous friends because of my crafty interests. You go ahead and pay your $300 an hour therapist, we'll take the time we have with our friends scrapbooking, quilting, card making, or journaling. It's so much cheaper & better! Geeez get a life!!

I guess anything is open to ridicule & hate these days. I've always hung with the not so cool crowd so I feel right at home with the crafts mentioned. 

Here is the link to the actual article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/8-crafts-thatll-never-be-cool_n_3225621.html?ir=HuffPost+Home

Graphic 45 Design Team 2013 Audition

I have a confession to make! I AM A PAPERHOLIC! There I put it out there.  Since we do not have a locally owned scrapbook store I can't figure out how I have collections after collections and stacks & stacks? I have loved Graphic 45 since the first time I saw one of their collections.  For over 3 years I've been going through family pictures from my great-grandparents, grandparents along with my mom and dad's.  It started with the occasion of my parents 50th anniversary and I've been sorting ever since.  I have enough pictures to make at least a half a dozen Heritage books and I have been trying to hoard past Graphic 45 collections for this purpose.  I love it and think it's perfect for this purpose.  I have some but I'm still searching Ebay now & then for the past collections.  

Then came their last two CHA releases of papers and I knew I had to have a couple of them.  French Country and Secret Garden to be exact along with Little Darlings.  I love flowers and use to garden quite a bit.  I have collected sunflowers and chickens for over 15 years so the French Country is perfect.  We are waiting our 4th grandchild to be born so the Little Darlings is a fun collection to use.  Every time I looked at the G45 blog or other sites and saw these collections being used I had a running list in my head of things I would make with them.  

Now combine that with their 2013 Design Team call and I knew I needed to get busy.  The above picture is the culmination of a week of creating, self doubt, excitement, self doubt, accomplishment, self doubt.  But I threw the self doubt out the window, not an easy job in winter, and am throwing my hat into the proverbial ring.  

I have seven projects I'm going to include in this post with individual pictures of each item.  Bear with me as I couple required several pictures to capture the entire project.

Recipe Album

The first project is my version of a Recipe Album using the French Country collection.  I have one of my grandmothers box of handwritten recipes and I've been wanting to make a heritage album with them.  I also have several empty Cricut cartridge boxes that I have been wanting to alter in some way.  I sanded and took apart the box so I could easily add the paper to all sides.  

I covered all surfaces with papers from the French Country collection and added embellishments.  I then created library pockets to hold the recipe cards since they are written on both front and back.  

I punched two holes in the top of each holder and tied them together with black & white twine just to give it a better presentation (thinking gift idea here).

The picture in the bottom of the box is 4 generations, my great-grandmother, my grandmother (these are her recipes), my mom holding me when I was less than a month old.

Mini Album

The next project is a mini album using the Little Darlings collection and is made for a baby girl.  Our 4th grandchild that is due in June is a girl, this will be one of her mother's presents.  The front has buttons, embellishments from the collection and a tissue paper flower made from tissue paper I received in the mail with a purchase from Ebay.  No I'm not a hoarder but I like to re-purpose things.  

This album has 5 pages that are folded so you have places for pictures, journaling and tags.  I did not create the technique for the pages of the album.  The technique was created by Elsa from justafewdesigns and I discovered it on Pinterest months ago.  I will show you some of the pages of the album.

The album holds 12 pictures and has 11 journaling tags.  I used the Bind-It-All to put it together.

Altered Canvas

The next item is an 8x8 altered canvas board using the Secret Garden collection.  I used pages from an old gardening dictionary and Mod Podge to cover the base of this.  I then added color using glimmer mists.  The large flower is made from coffee filters that I sprayed with glimmer mist also.  

If you haven't noticed by now I like to alter items.  I'm always on the look out for something I can upcycle too.

Wall Hanging

The next project is also made with the French Country collection.  I used 3 of the cheap chipboard coasters that come in a pack of six from Michaels.  Since they were glossy I sanded each one to give it the tooth to hold the paper.  I used a variety of embellishments and some bling.  The flower is made from a sewing pattern tissue paper. It is one of my favorite techniques.  I used jute twine to anchor them together and to make a simple hanger.  This is destined for my kitchen.

12x12 Scrapbook Page

This page is made with the Little Darlings collection and a variety of embellishments from the collection, buttons, tattered rose ribbon and butterflies.

Sympathy Card

I have a group of friends that try to get together monthly for a crop.  We work on pages and make cards sometimes too.  At the last crop some of the gals requested making sympathy cards so they could have them on hand.  The sentiment stamp is a set from Close to My Heart.  I used the Secret Garden collection to create this card.

4x6 Tag

The last item is a tag I made for a tag exchange a few months ago.  I was in a very pink mood that day for this card.  

Well that is my submission for this design team challenge.  I am going to be anxiously awaiting the results and if you'd like to follow Graphic 45 here is the link to their Blog.  They will be announcing the first round finalists on April the 4th.  Wish me luck and say a little prayer please.  

The Twinery Challenge

I have been trying to find more challenges to participate in and this week The Twinery announced their first bi-monthly challenge.  I love Polka Dots so I was very excited to come up with something.  I chose to make a card using their Bakers twine in 3 colors, Pink Sorbet, Denim and Lemondrop.  They have so many colors to choose from and I happen to have a variety of them.  The prize pack for this challenge includes a sampler of their colors and a rubber stamp set.

Here is how my card turned out.

I love the pom pom's, they are easy to make using a plastic fork.  I know I have seen this technique on Pinterest. You just wind the twine around the fork several times, I think I counted 10 then tie off as usual.  I did try to cut the loops as I was taking them off the fork, made it easier to get the scissors in there.  Tie off as tight as possible, it will make for a better pom pom.  I then started fluffing, wetting my fingers to untwist the strands of twine.  It takes a little time but it's worth it.  I also gave each a trim at least once which helps them to fluff up.  

I was excited to use some Perfect Pearls that I just purchased and I thought the colors were fun.  The polka dot panel was done using VersaMark watermark ink.  I did not have the Perfect Medium but will be investing in some soon.  The VersaMark dries fairly quickly where as the Medium is made to stay wet longer so you are able to work with it.  I embossed the cardstock with the large dot embossing folder then "inked" it with the watermark ink.  This is how it looks when its wet.

I then used a soft paint brush to fill every Polka Dot with a color.  I tried placing the black directly on the pink cardstock but it was too bland so I added the yellow card stock positioned askew to give it a fun element and to showcase the black.  After adhering the black to the yellow I wound the same three bakers twine colors around randomly to give it a little more fun feel.  I think this would be perfect for a little girl's birthday.

I stamped the Happy Birthday on a separate piece of cardstock and used foam squares to give it dimension.  I then stamped the sentiment on the inside choosing again to use the yellow cardstock on top of the pink.

I have another Polka Dot idea and since you can enter as many as you like I may make a second one too.  The deadline for the Second Challenge of the month...deadline 11:59pm EST the 28th of the month.  So get your supplies out and challenge yourself to a polka dot project, you might win this great prize package!

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #161

Well that week went very quickly and I actually finished a card for the new challenge this week.

The colors are Evergreen, Gumdrop and Candy Cane Red, what a color combo!

Not sure my green is close enough to the color they called for but to me it is Evergreen.  I used a couple of Stampin' UP! sets Petite Pairs for the phrases and a retired set, A Flower for All Seasons.  I stamped the flowers/bird using Timber Brown Staz On then I used my markers to color the picture.  I edged the circle with Dazzling Diamonds glitter using the heat & stick powder to adhere it.

I again used my Cricut Artiste cartridge from Close to My Heart to make the red background for the round stamping and the banner for the Merry Christmas.  I love the lacy feeling of it.  The evergreen card was embossed with the Poinsettia plate from Stampin' UP! I then added some pink glimmer moist chalk to highlight the flowers.  I bought three sets of these paste or chalks in St. Louis years ago so I'm not even sure if they make them anymore.  And there is not a name on them anywhere.  The pink DS paper is from Stampin UP!  I think it was from a Valentines collection a couple of years ago.  I love using items that I've had around for quite awhile, makes me feel like I'm accomplishing two things.

I finished the card off with some bakers twine and 3 pink brads.  I'm anxious to see what the new challenge will be for next time.  Check in at The Play Date Cafe on Thursday evening to see what's new.