Project Reanimate

Can Do

2011-12-11T11:47:00.001-06:00

I read a lot of graphic design and packaging design blogs because I'm obsessed with graphics, especially marketing and logo graphics.

I know some people remember where they were when Kennedy was shot or when the moon landing came on TV, but I remember things like where I was when I first saw my first Absolut Vodka ad, or more recently, when I saw that STUNNING new limited edition white Coke Can.

I love how bold and clean and pure the design is. I think I held my breath for a while when I saw the concept art for it. Stunning.

I normally only drink fizzy water and tea, but I had to get my hands on that can.

After a yummy and rare icy Coke, I carefully cut the can open, and ran it through my Big Shot with my new Framelits Label die from the upcoming Occasions Mini catalog.

It cut through the aluminum like a dream.

I cut a second, larger piece with the next biggest framelit from red glimmer paper.

And in a move completely unlike my non-traditional approach to holiday colors, I added some teeny, delicate, Lucky Limeade organdy ribbon.

The sentiment is from Grateful Greetings.

Don't those gorgeous, ghostly bears just make your eyes happy? I love that the design is built just with negative space.

Stunning, Coca-Cola, just stunning. I will miss this packaging when it's gone.

I'm off to see if there's something I can do with the similarly beautiful box.

Bottle Cap, Bottle Cap, oh Bottle, Bottle Cap!

2011-12-04T14:22:00.001-06:00

You know, sung to the tune of Lollipop! :) I guess I'm feeling musical today.

I saw some ADORABLE bottlecap ornaments on Pinterest (of course now I can't find the link, so if you saw them, please let me know) that had a little bottle brush Christmas tree inside and they were so cute!

I wanted to see if I could make something similar without buying anything new - always a temptation, and I came up with a few I like.

What you need is a bottlecap, a pipe cleaner (I like the metallic and iridescent ones), a 1" circle punch (or you can print and hand cut circles) and small die cut shapes, stickers, or stamp images and ephemera, mini glue dots and liquid glue, and an optional large plastic silver or gold bead.

Start by "training" your pipe cleaner so that it is easier to hold and assemble. Trust me, it will get a life of its own and spring from your hand in an unexpected way if not properly humbled. You also need to train a circle from another piece of pipe cleaner to line the inside of the cap if you want. When you are done training, your newly obedient pipe cleaners should look like this.

Leave yourself four or five inches of pipe cleaner above this crook for a hanger. See the little bent part at the end of the crook? That's important - that will secure the pipe cleaner at the end.

Next, run a little glue around the inside of the edge of the bottlecap and put a 1" circle of paper inside - this can be anything. I chose the First Edition designer paper because I wanted a text background.

Next, run a line of glue around the inside edge of the paper - this will secure your little circle of pipe cleaner to the inside.

Apply glue to your little die cut or image and glue that to the center of your paper, adjusting position if needed.

The die cuts in mine are cut from the Merry Details Sizzlit.

Put three glue dots on your bottle cap - one on the very bottom and one on each side. With the bent end of the crook at the top center of the bottle cap, press the pipe cleaner to the glue dots to secure.

Hold the little bent end against the straight stem of the pipe cleaner hanger and slide the bead down until it touches the top of the bottle cap ornament.

Bend the end of the pipe cleaner into a hanging hook and you're all done!!

Today, I found some things that might make this even more fun. 1" circle epoxy stickers and some blank bottlecaps in various colors.

This could get addicting!!

Happy Reanimating! Thanks for stopping by!

Animal Crackers In My .... PURSE!

2011-09-24T13:41:00.000-05:00

That's right - not in my soup - in my PURSE!

I got this idea from my brilliant sister-in-law, who found a cute designer box of animal crackers at a convenience store and thought they would make a cute purse.

I went out immediately and bought my childhood faves - the Barnum's Animals - you know, the ones with the little string handle.

And I made this teeny little purse. And I'll tell you right now - if you want to make this, you have to eat not one, but two boxes of animal crackers. :) Poor you.

Now the wax bag that the cookies are in is glued in several places to the inside of the box, so after you eat the cookies, remove the bag carefully from the inside of two boxes. The reason that you need two is that the flap that closes these boxes is not only undecorated, but it is also glued to the inside of the box, so it's pretty unattractive.

So you will want to take the lid from your second box, and trace it onto the front panel of your second box. You're trying to get the design from the front of the box onto your lid flap.

Here is my original box, with the two parts of the other box and the eventual feet of my purse. These are Tim Holtz Hitch Fasteners.

After you cut out the second box front to match the lid, glue it to the lid flap of the first box.

Then I took a piece of black wool felt, cut it into a "T" shape to match the inside dimensions of my box, and I glued it to the inside, being very careful to glue down all the top edges. I did a little trimming to make sure it was perfectly aligned with the top of the box.

Then, I didn't want to leave that cardboard not matching the inside of the box, so I painted it with Apple Barrel black acrylic paint. I love painting paper and cardboard mostly because it dries fast and I'm impatient.

Then I took my wide grosgrain black striped ribbon and ran it all the way around the box for a handle. I made the cut ends meet on the bottom so you don't see them, and I attached them to the box with Sticky Strip.

After that step, I made holes in the bottom for the purse feet. I started the hole with my piercing tool, but finished it with my eyelet setter, because it's nice to get a nice clean cut through the felt for your hardware, and the eyelet setter does a great job of that.

After I screwed in the little feet I ran around showing it to everyone for a while. :) This step is optional.

I added a strip of magnet sheet to both the box front and the lid flap to keep it securely closed while people admire my cute purse.

Here's a side view.

I would have loved this little purse when I was little and never seemed to go anywhere without a box of animal crackers.

Now go check out my sweet friend Micki, who did a little reanimating of her own this week!

Look around...

2011-03-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

And I promise you'll see something very pretty in an unexpected place.

Starbucks.

Don't you LOVE that they have completely new and adorable gift card designs every few months? Sometimes I get distracted and forget to order because I'm pawing through the new ones.

This spring has been no exception. A friend gave me a gift card that I couldn't bear to part with after the balance was zero. It sat on my desk for a really long time until I had what I considered to be a pretty brilliant idea - to cut it up with my Big Shot.

Yeah baby.

I ran that sucker through my Big Shot after carefully aligning it on my Circles #2 Die to be absolutely, positively sure I had the cute-most part inside the circle and voila!Bam! Adorable!! And it happened to coordinate with some cardstock I had on my desk - BONUS.

How fun is that for a birthday card - especially when you can give the recipient the matching gift card and really blow their minds??

Giving new life to unexpected objects is fun, no?

Who's Laughing NOW, Cow?

2010-12-12T14:34:00.002-06:00

Ahh, if only cheese had everlasting life! I love all things dairy, and every now and then, I grab some of my fave little low calorie cheese snacks from Laughing Cow. French Onion is my favorite.

And one of the coolest things about Laughing Cow cheese is their packaging. Their brilliant little triangular wedges that you can zip free with just one little motion, and, of course, that irresistible round cardboard box.

Well who can resist a round cardboard box? Not THIS crafter!

I painted my little box with a Ranger Shell Pink dabber, and then applied matte gel medium to the top. I attached a 4" circle of Stampin' Up! Candy Cane fabric to the gel medium, swiped a bit more of the medium on top, and then sprinkled that with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and set it aside to dry.

Then I colored my sweet little Starving Artistamps Juniper Elf (new holiday release!) with Copics, and attached teeny pearls to her outfit.

The greeting is attached with silver cord to two circles - one punched out of Candy Cane DSP with my 2.5" circle punch, and the second cut with Nestabilities™.

The box is filled with this year's yummy find that I've enjoyed crafting with :) - Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark squares - they are half peppermint bark, half dark chocolate.

That's darn near as good as cheese! :)

Hope you enjoyed todays reanimation!

All Washed Up

2010-09-09T17:35:00.002-05:00

Got a toolbox in the garage that's filled with small pieces of hardware you'll never use? Or, do you have washers and hex keys and all sorts of stuff left over from those Ikea bookcases that you can't bear to toss?

Well make jewelry out of them!
I made these washer necklaces back in December for a special project and you'll just faint when you see how easy they were!

First, measure your washer and the hole in the center of it. Then find two circle punches about those two same sizes. Punch the smaller hole first, then center the larger punch around that hole and punch the larger circle.

Paint a thin layer of gel medium onto the washer and gently place your paper on the washer, smoothing it if necessary.

When that is dry - and gel medium dries quickly - seal the necklace with a clear dimensional glaze - I used Stampin' Up!'s Crystal Effects, or you could use Judikins Diamond glaze or something similar.

I used a japanese book page from a book I got at Half Price Books for one, and some designer paper from Stampin' Up! for the other.

You could make about a squillion of these for a dollar.

Since we have a handmade only rule for Christmas gifts in my family, I gave these to the girls for Christmas.

Give it a try! It's great recession jewelry!

Password Book Tutorial

2010-02-24T17:47:00.002-06:00

I know - it was only the first project EVER on this blog, but finally I have a video tutorial for my Password Book!

And I'll be back later this week with an AMAZING transformation on an old dictionary, so don't stray too far...

Take care.

Happy Birthday and Thanks for all the Bills..

2010-02-01T06:15:00.000-06:00

NOT. But speaking of junk mail, there are a few things you can do with it.

After you're done being mad about your bills, look at the inside of the security envelopes. They're all different. I got some super interesting ones this week. Not bills, envelopes.

I thought I'd use them for a birthday card for my friend Lisa.
Stamps: On Your Birthday, Musical Score Paper: Graphic 45 Communique, Whisper White, Kraft
Accessories: Big Shot, Embossing Folder, Butterfly die, Butterfly punch Ink: Basic Black
To purchase Stampin' up! supplies, click here.

She's the one who sent me the GORGEOUS Graphic 45 paper the butterflies are made of.

I punched circles from the envelopes to serve as the backdrop for the butterflies. The larger two were cut with the Stampin' Up! Bold Butterflies die for the Big Shot. The smaller one was punched with my Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

To read more about Lisa, click here. Happy birthday, chickie!!

Foofy Phonebook Flowers

2010-01-27T19:50:00.006-06:00

Say THAT three times fast!!

Anyway, I'm enjoying both scrunchy and foofy flowers lately - even some fabric flowers, but more on that later.

I've been really mad about my junk mail lately. I don't understand why my trashcan gets smaller and more expensive, and why we are all supposed to drive glorified tic tacs and quit using hairspray, but companies can still fill my mailbox every day with pounds of unsolicited garbage that I have to throw away. And PHONEBOOKS. Who in the world uses a phone book? And why are they dumped on my porch when I certainly would say no if I were given the option?

But I'm not. So if the world gives you phonebooks,
Stamps: Vintage Vogue Ink: Summer Sun Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Phone Book
Accessories: Sending Love epoxy brads, Vanilla satin ribbon, Sizzix takeout box die

give the world foofy flowers. Hmph.

I saw a tutorial for these here, so I won't recreate it. Hers is beautiful.

(PS - I do NOT have the shredding scissors - I just used regular scissors!)

Make some. Foof it up!

Speechless

2010-01-18T07:14:00.002-06:00

This is the most incredible thing I've ever seen. If you don't see a video player, click here.

If I Missed You Enough...

2009-12-27T16:13:00.006-06:00

Would this bring you home?It's a suitcase, with a map of land and sea, so you can get your bearings. When you get closer, the little flower, which you can learn to make here, is a map you can use to find me.Stamps: Stampin' Up Old World Map Ink: Chocolate Chip Paper: Kraft, old atlas

Accessories: Big Shot & Bigz Box #2 die, Scallop Punch, Brad

Who needs a Tom Tom or Magellan, when there is such beauty in these paper routes?

Shimmery Russian Trees

2009-12-01T21:23:00.003-06:00

I love my used Russian dictionary so much it's hard for me to use big pieces of it, so I went small with this one, but did something very fun for this week's 2S4Y.

First, I took a piece of the page and painted some Stampin' Up! shimmer paint on part of my dictionary page. It was sooo beautiful and didn't obscure the print, just made it all silvery and frosty.LOVE this look.

Then I took the three little trees fromDoodle Factory Into the Woods and stamped them on my silvery text and cut the tops out so I could paper piece them.

The rest of the card is made with specialty Stampin' Up! brushed metallic cardstock, Basic Grey patterned paper, a Stampin' Up! rubon, punches and ribbon.

Stamps: Doodle Factory Into the Woods, Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Paper: Basic Grey, Stampin' Up!
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, dimensionals, Square and Round punches

One of the things I really like about the DF images is the amount of white space they have - great for filling with patterned paper or security envelopes or book pages. Perfect reanimation stamps!!

Hope you're having a great Tuesday!

Hallelujah!

2009-11-23T06:46:00.003-06:00

Hallelujah! I made a tag! :)

This is an often neglected part of my holiday preparations, for some reason, so I was determined to make tags this year. This is a Nativitag! :)

I wanted a light background for the little scene, but the white was too stark against my pretty metallic paper, so I went with a magazine page instead and I think it works nicely.

It's my fave reanimated magazine - Food and Wine - because of the matte paper it's printed on.

Stamps: Doodle Factory O Holy Night, Sentiments Christmas Nativity
Paper: Stampin' Up! metallic DSP, Whisper White, Magazine Page Ink: Copper Memento, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copics, Copper Embossing Powder, Stampin' Up! Ribbon Originals

I need to re-subscribe to a few magazines - my supply has dwindled! Hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

It's all About the Gifts

2009-11-23T06:24:00.002-06:00

Tis the season of gifts, right? Well today's card started with one of the best birthday gifts I've ever gotten. My friend Lisa gave me a little bag of antique findings she had had for many years. There were beautiful, one of a kind buttons, quilt squares, a gorgeous old pattern, and several varieties of vintage trims, including this one.I hated to even take it out of the package, with its fun retro typography and beautiful yellow label, which I carefully saved. But I promised her I would use it, so I did. It is black and stretchy fine mesh organdy trim, with the most delicate and interesting scalloped crocheted edge. It is a work of art.

It inspired me.

Great, thoughtful gifts like this are so rare and wonderful. Since it tis the season, I thought about three gifts in particular for a special baby boy. I thought I would do a little piece where the givers were not the focal points, but the gifts.

So I took the new O Holy Night set, and colored the wise men in shades of grey Copics. The only color on them is on their gifts, which I carefully glittered.
It's hard to photograph, but they are brilliant and sparkly, I promise.

I added the vintage trim under their feet, and put it all on some Graphic 45 Communique paper. I stamped the Noel and sponged it until the colors blended with the paper.

Remember this holiday season - it's the thought that counts!!

If You're Like My Family...

2009-11-18T20:48:00.003-06:00

We went through this phase where we all bought the same books for everyone at Christmas. One year, everyone got 4 copies of The Firm. One year, Into Thin Air. One year, Little Green Men.

It was hilarious. We'd open copy 1, copy 2, copy 3. We'd redistribute to anyone that hadn't gotten the ubiquitous book of the year, but then still have extras.

If this has happened to you, I suggest you make cards out of the book(s). :)

Here's a little Christmas ditty made out of books as homage to the Blakley conundrum.
Stamps: Patterned Pines Ink: Perfect Plum Paper: Very Vanilla, Book Page Accessories: Glitter, Sponge

PS - We've solved this by eliminating all Christmas gifts that are not either regifted - something you already own, or handmade with things you have on hand. Best Christmases ever!!

What are your holiday traditions?

For Jaimie

2009-11-02T09:00:00.006-06:00

Thank you for stopping by. If you are stopping by on the Spread the Love Blog Hop, since I'm pretty far down the list, you already know why you're here, and thank you so much for visiting me, and thank you to Denise and Erin - the wonderful women behind this.

If you came here another way, please click here for the first part of this story. I hope this hop inspires you to make a card and send it to Jaimie.

I chose a few things that might make a little girl happy. For the background, a reanimated Hardy Boys Mystery, which I was reading at about Jaimie's age. There's nothing like a good mystery to transport you to another place. Then, I added lots of pink, courtesy of Basic Grey's Indian Summer and Stampin' Up!'s Melon Mambo Ribbon.

The hedgie I chose for its symbolic contribution - most things that seem prickly on the outside can turn out to be sweet and soft and surprising on the inside. I hope that something awful turns into a positive and sweet life for little Jaimie.
This adorable image is from my new favorite Etsy seller - Niko Art. Nicole is an amazingly talented designer and her images are adorable and perfect. I hope it brings a smile.

If you want to help more, please visit the special blog that has been set up for this effort.

It's people like Denise and Erin that really put joy in creating art, and making sure that art connects us to people and not things.

Say your prayers for little Jaimie, and if you have time, send her a card.

Your next stop on the hop is the lovely and talented Amanda Newton .

If you'd like to start at the top of the hop, please click here to see Katharina's Card.

My, What Big White Teeth You Have...

2009-10-31T14:46:00.004-05:00

Every weekend on my walk, I see a pair of coyotes that live in the woods near my house. They are probably 200 yards from me when I see them. They stand perfectly still and watch me until I pass.

They are as big as timberwolves. I have never seen coyotes this big, and I always see them together.

I fear for the small creatures.

It always makes me feel like Little Red Riding Hood - one of many terrifying childhood tales...

So here she is. On an old playing card. With her friend, the wolf.Supplies: Stampin' Up! greeting, rhinestone brad, ink and paper, Stamps by Niko Art, Playing Card by Bicycle

Hope you enjoy your day, and that it is free from wolves with big, shiny teeth..

Caturday - Purr Like a Pirate!

2009-09-18T07:13:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is not only Caturday, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Splotchy finally said ARRRRRRRRRight... I'll dress up like a Pirate for ye!

Treemendous

2009-09-07T19:52:00.002-05:00

Fine - you want to turn trees into books? No problem - I'll turn them right back into trees when I'm done :)

Stamps: Into the Woods (Doodle Factory) Ink: India Paper: Basic Grey,
Accessories: Tangerine Tango Rhinestone Brad (Fire), Stampin' Dimensionals, Distressing Tool

Nesting!

2009-08-30T16:52:00.004-05:00

I've been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting to receive my Flower Folds Big Shot die so I could cut some nested foldy flowers and make 3D stuff!

When I saw these little birdies, I squealed because I knew I could punch them out and fit them down inside the flowers.

For the inside flower I thought it would be fun to use print - my original idea was newsprint, but I don't subscribe to any newspapers so I turned to my old friends, the print design magazines I have scads of. I found a cool one with a black background and white text! So I used it for the background and the inside flower. Hard to see the glittery nest in the photo, but it's sparkly and fun.

Stamps: Into the Woods Ink: India, Crushed Curry Accessories: Stickles, Blender Pen, Dimensionals,
Flower Folds Die, Big Shot Cardstock: Crushed Curry, DSP, Magazines

I really love these little guys. This would make a fun and different "we've moved" card.

Have a great evening!

Three Candles

2009-08-23T20:36:00.003-05:00

Someone on Twitter suggested three candles to me for my birthday dessert - Past, Present and Future. Besides cutting down on the fire hazard we all present as we get older, I thought it was really sweet.

For my guests at a little gathering last night, I decided to use the Past, Present and Future idea a little differently.

I thought your birthdays are a nice time to look at the map. See where you've been, find where you are, and plan where you're going.So, for favors - the maps signifying all those things.
I took an atlas I bought used for 50 cents and used my Sizzix Big Shot Fancy Favor die to cut bags. This is very quick - you can do two sheets at a time. Then just fold them up.

The tags are made from the latitude and longitude tables in the back of the atlas, which I could use for all sorts of things. I love them with their small, precise print. I hand cut the tags.

Enjoy the route :)

I Once Was..

2009-08-12T05:00:00.000-05:00

I once was an article someone read. In Food and Wine. I was about a summer place in Kennebunkport. I just wasn't destined for the trash.

I was destined to go into a Sizzix clear circle die, then to be clear embossed with a tiny bird, then brayered , because my special, matte Food and Wine pages absorb ink so nicely.

I'm better than I was.
Cardstock: Dusty Durango, Sahara Sand, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP, Magazine Page| Stamps: Autumn Days, Berry Christmas|Accessories: Autumn Harvest Rub-on, Soft Suede Ribbon| Ink: Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, Soft Suede, Basic Black |
All supplies Stampin' Up!

I am reanimated :)

Grim(m) is Right!

2009-07-26T12:32:00.004-05:00

I'm terrified of fairy tales.

The Brothers Grimm and other assorted HORROR writers (that's what most childrens' stories are, at least the fairy tale variety) pursued me through many a nightmare as a child.

I never understood why it was appropriate to read a child a story about a witch baking a brother and a sister in an oven, or a wolf eating a little girl in the woods, or assorted other hideous fates that awaited the mostly parentless tinies in the pages of these awful books.

I've heard the pointless rationalizations about how they were designed to keep children safe, but can we all agree that that is complete balderdash, and that the quite successful aim was, in fact, to give us all phobias?

Well bravo, Grimms. I'm still afraid.

I thought I would put together a few little creepy fairy tale ditties after discussing with a coworker how dark and dismal the subject matter most modern graphic designers choose is. Communication Arts magazine, which is really one of my favorite designer magazines, features some horridly dark illustrations.

I believe these designers were terrorized by fairy tales as children, and hence deserve our pity. ;).

To twist that all together, I took the pages of that magazine and an old used book to create three little scenes for you.

Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel and Alice in Wonderland.I cut the pieces freehand, and collaged them with the book pages to 4X4 canvases with matte Gel Medium, thanks to some instruction, found here, by Claudine Hellmuth.

After cutting, I just laid them out on the canvas one by one to help me cut the next piece and make it fit in the scene.Something about collage takes me back to my childhood, so this project was the perfect mix of memories for a Sunday...

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to look behind you.

My Heart For my Country

2009-07-04T09:24:00.003-05:00

For this card, I reanimated some old snare drum lessons in a book of sheet music I bought from Half Price books. I used my Stampin' Up! punch with two of the three hearts it makes. Very quick and easy card, using only scraps!

Happy Independence Day!

Petersburg, 2011

2009-06-14T19:16:00.003-05:00

Wouldn't that be cool?

I may get to do just that. We will see. St. Petersburg is a place of my dreams that is for sure.

So today I reanimated one of my old Russian dictionaries. I probably have 20 of them. It was okay to dedicate one to the fires of art, yes?

I started by making some "water" out of a reanimated security envelope. The insides of these are crazy cool.

If you want to use a lot of the real estate of these, use a heat gun to neatly undo the seals where it is stuck together. Just heat them up and the glue will let go. Then cut it up as needed. I just needed a little stripe.

I punched squares from my Russian dictionary and rounded their corners. I sponged them with brown ink to age them.

Then I stamped little fishies from the Stampin' Up! Just Beachy set and colored them with gel pens.

I outlined them in white to pop them off the page a bit.

I added some of the new dotty Stampin' Up! ribbon and voila - quick and easy double Reanimation.

Lots of paper in the world. Use it, don't buy it! :)