Sara Jane's Studio

Snow People

Over the Christmas holidays I had a lot of fun making a family of snow people.  They were inspired by a project offered by Joggles, a really fun multi-media online store.  There was not stamping involved in these cute creations- but boy were they fun!  I think the best part was figuring out how to dress each one up.

The bodies are simple clear glass or plastic, and range in height from 3-1/2" to 6" tall.  Some have long necks, and some have no necks. 

The heads are made from Creative Paperclay, which is an easily moldable, air dry clay. It only takes a 4 oz package to make three heads like these. Brads are used for the eyes and mouth, and the carrot nose is created from a small piece of copper sheeting.  After letting the heads dry overnight, they were covered with Aileen's Thick Designer Tacky Glue and "Diamond Dust", a large, chunky, plastic glitter-like material. 

 

This lovely ladies' hat started from a wooden wheel (for a little car?) painted silver, and covered with Diamond Dust.  Silver eyelash trim, wired beads and a pink flower topped it off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was further embellished with wired, pink organdy ribbon, and a white leaf trim, as well as some wired beads, and a rhinestone on a bow at her neck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bodies are partially filled with a mixture of inexpensive plastic pearlized beads - and in my case I added some micro beads in mica flakes in either pink or blue.

 

On the outside I smeared some clear Stickles glue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This handsome gent has for a hat a pastry decorating tip!!  It's covered with the same Diamond Dust, and a large rhinestone embellishment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a closeup of his hat.  You can also see his "earmuffs" which are made from silver bead caps, held in place by a hat pin with a pearl on the end.

 

Around the base of his had and at his neck is some silver eyelash trim.  And I added a piece of wired blue organdy ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A rhinestone trim was used down the center front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, this well-dressed snowman has a hat, also made from a small wooden piece painted silver.  It's topped by two bead caps, a clear bead, and a hat pin with a pearl on the end.  A piece of black 1/8" velvet ribbon is wrapped around at teh base. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His neckware is a combination of wired silver trim and silver leaf trim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Down the center are pieces of rhinestone trim, bordered by black 1/8" velvet ribbon.  And around the base is some Washi tape, also bordered by the narrow velvet ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course the skies the limit with the personalities you could make!!  I had a lot of fun making mine and I know that I will bring them out year after year to ward off winter's cabin fever.

Winter holidays

Yes, it's a little late for Christmas, but this card would work anytime during the winter for a celebration. I CASED this design from Ellen Hutson's site; it uses an Inkadinkadoo tree stamp, and some microfine red glitter. The blue (Baja Breeze) cardstock and ink and Whisper White cardstock, Versamark ink and clear embossing powder, and Signo White Gel Pen were all from Stampin' Up! You also need Sticky Strip (or Red Liner) tape in addition to your SNAIL adhesive.

 

I started by cutting my white cardstock for the image to size (4-3/4" X 3-1/2"). The tree image was stamped in Versamark ink and then embossed with clear powder. Make sure your Versamark ink is VERY clean so the image stays bright white. Take a scrap piece of cardstock and tear a wavy line across it; then used this torn edge as a mask to create the drifts of snow. Stipple with blue in very lightly, building up to the right amount of color as you go. It should be somewhat darker near the horizon line and lighter as you go to towards the top of the image. Use the white gel pen to dot snowflakes, and add an appropriate sentiment as shown.

Sticky Strip is one of the best ways to apply glitter so that it will stick.  On this card I cut a piece of cardstock to 5" X 3-3/4", and applied a 1/2"-wide piece of sticky strip along each of the four edges.  The finished image was centered on this, leaving 1/8" of bare Sticky Strip all around, and ted glitter was sprinkled around all of the bare Sticky Strip.  This approach did three things all at one:  1) & 2) the same piece of Sticky Strip adhered both the image and the glitter; AND 3) applying the cut image on top assured that there was a perfectly straight line around the image.

The framed image was mounted onto a piece of Baja Blue cardstock (5-1/4" X 4"), and then this was attached to a standard A2 card (5-1/2" X 4-1/4"). 

If you wanted it for a general sentiment for the winter time, you could use it as is and change the sentiment, or you could use a pale blue glitter for a monochromatic look.

Keep creating!!

Quicky Valentine

This little package comes together very quickly, thanks to the Petite Pocket Bigz XL Die, the new Heart Framelets Dies, and Stampin' Up!'s small cellophane bags.

To make this little treat holder, I used the Bigz die to cut out the petit pocket from Cherry Cobbler cardstock.  Then, I used SNAIL adhesive to temporarily attach the Heart Framelits die to one of the cutting pads for the Big Shot, and positioned the pocket over the die to cut the heart window. 

From there, it's easy.  Stamp the line of hearts repeatedly across the front using Cherry Cobbler ink.  Use Sticky Strip to close the sides of the pocket.  Add some treats to a 3" X 5" (small) cellophane bag, and put inside the pocket.  Stamp the "Sent with Love" sentiment and punch out with the 1" circle punch, adhere to the flap with a Stampin' Dimensional.  Wrap Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine three times around the pouch, tie in a bow, and you are done!!

Valentine Treats

As you have surely discovered by now, the Big Shot is a great way to make fun and creative packaging- either for one special someone, or for a whole party.  My Stamp Club made two such cute gift packages at our January meeting.

The first is a little gift box that uses the Pillow Box die. 

 

We used the P.S. I love You stamp set (from the Occasions mini-catalog) and the Distressed Dots background stamp.  The pillow box is made from Pear Pizzazz cardstock; and you'll also need some scraps of Whisper White, Early Espresso and Crumb Cake cardstock.  For ink, you'll need a Crumb Cake ink pad, and the Early Espresso & Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Markers.  

You'll also want the 1/2" Cherry Cobbler Scallop Dots Ribbon, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, and Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details.  For tools, you'll need the 1-3/8" circle punch, the Jewelry Tag punch, and the 1/16" hole punch.

Once your pillow box is die cut, stamp the Distressed dots using Crumb Cake ink.  Stamp the circle with the heart border with Crumb Cake on white, and punch out with the large circle punch.  In the center, stamp the strawberry image, also with Crumb Cake.  Use the markers direct-to-rubber on the strawberry, coloring the top half red and the bottom half in Early Espresso, and stamp on a scrap of white.  Cut this image out, and attach to the circle with Stampin' Dimensionals. Add some Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details to the red part of the strawberry and set aside to dry.

 

Make the ribbon trim element by attaching each piece directly to the pillow box, and then layering the next piece on top.  This method assure that everything is the right length and will lie flat.  Start by adhering a piece of the scallop dot ribbon.  Then layer on a piece of Early Espresso that has been cut so that only the scallops of the ribbon show underneath.  Then add a piece of white that has been repeatedly stamped with the line of small red hearts.  You'll have to trim very close to the edges of the hearts to make a strip that is narrow enough. 

Finish by creating a tiny tag from Crumb Cake, and adding a piece of Early Espresso Baker's Twine, and you have a very special package for a very special someone!!

For your Valentine

At our January Stamp Club we had fun making three kinds of Valentines- one is a card, and the other two make a great presentation for some sweet treats or a small gift.

The first is a 4" X 4" square card, perfect for a special valentine.  It uses Cherry Cobbler cardstock, Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details, Creative Elements and Valentine Love stamp sets, and the Lace Ribbon punch.  You also need a piece of Blushing Bride and Very Vanilla cardstock, and ink pads in Cherry Cobbler and Soft Suede.  You'll also want to grab some sponges to distress some edges, and the Color Spritzing tool, together with a Soft Suede Stampin' Write Marker.

Start by stamping the large flourish image from Creative Elements with Cherry Cobbler ink on the Cherry Cobbler card base.  Then trace the image with the Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details.  Stamp the butterfly from the same stamp set with Cherry Cobbler on a scrap of Blushing Bride cardstock.  Fussy cut the butterfly, and then apply the Dazzling Details to the wings as desired.  Set both of these aside to dry while you work on the other elements.

Punch out a strip of "ribbon" with the Lace Ribbon Punch from Blushing Bride, and distress the edges with Soft Suede ink.  Cut the "ribbon" in half, lengthwise.  Stamp the frame from Creative Eelements using Soft Suede on Very Vanilla, then stamp "LOVE" from the "Valentine Love" set in the center, and cut very close to the long edges of the image. If you have the Color Spritzing tool, you can add a little more distress to the sentiment by spritzing on Soft Suede ink, very lightly.  Adhere one half of the lace ribbon to the back of each long edge of the "LOVE" sentiment. 

Once your butterfly is dry, attach three small pearls from Basic Pearls embellishments.  Adhere the lace ribbon element to the card using SNAIL, as shown, and then add the butterfly using a Stampin' Dimensional, bending it's wings up to let it fly.

Yes, it's a teeny bit fussy, but isn't it beautiful?!?