BFF Open House Link Party #94

Yep. I'm going to make my usual comment about where in the heck did the week go? If only the weekends didn't fly by as fast. So let's get right to it and see what everyone's been up to this week! 

St. Patrick's Day Printable Using Dingbats

Just a quick printable for St. Patrick’s Day. Found a really fun personal use “dingbat” font here . The text is a font called Emerald Isle.

If you’re unfamiliar with dingbat fonts, each letter is its own image. So the clover frame is actually the letter d.


a b c d e f g h I j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z


That’s the whole alphabet! Once you install a dingbat font, you can use in any program just like you would any other font, and the images can be resized. I made this printable using My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software.

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More Birthday Fun With Tim Holtz Stamps and Embossing Folder

I’m sharing a couple more things I made to celebrate Mr. Chocolate’s birthday. As we get older, we’re less about giving each other “things” and more about experiences. So for his birthday this year, I planned a day filled with stops at some favorite spots as well as a couple of places he’s mentioned wanting to check out.

Since he’s a good sport and comes with me on some of my crafting stops, I’ve discovered that he likes Tim Holtz designs. So Tim helped me out with my birthday plans.

You might recognize the stamped car on the front of the card from the altered cigar box I recently shared. That box held the card, along with the little altered box shown above.

For the card, I covered a blank 5x7 card with a piece of “wood paper”. It’s actual wood veneer over cardboard. I picked it up at one of my favorite stores before they went out of business. I added strips of paper from the Tradewinds collection by DCWV to the top and the bottom.

I ran a piece of chipboard through my Cuttlebug using a Tim Holtz gear embossing folder. Went over that with Ranger Distressed Ink in black and Fresh Ink pigment ink in grey, leaving some of the chipboard exposed.  Layered this onto more of the DCWV paper, alternating with black cardstock,  and added some gear charms by Bead Landing. I stamped the car and sentiment ( both Tim ) onto scraps of the wood paper and tore the edges. Finished with some coordinating washi tapes.

The other part of this present was a little altered “clue” box I made. I created vintage themed clue cards for  the places we’d go during the day (breakfast at a favorite spot, a tour of a local small batch distillery, a fun little 20’s / 30’s style tavern with a secret room, and a favorite restaurant for dinner)  numbered them and tucked them inside the box. I told  Mr. C. throughout the day when it was time to look at the next clue. In between our "scheduled" stops we had fun roaming around new neighborhoods and places we just stumbled upon. Including a CHOCOLATE FACTORY! More on that next month.

The box ( see how it matches my wood paper!) I found in the  $1 bin at Michaels. You know I had to buy a few of these right? I decided not to cover the whole thing but went over parts of it with printed tissue paper and washi tape, sealed with Mod Podge. I forgot to take pictures of the sides but I traced around them and used up the last of the DCWV paper from the card and Mod Podged them to the box.

Accented the button closure of the box with another of  the gear charms.

We had a wonderful day and even had cooperation from Mother Nature with the Seattle weather! 

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BFF Open House #93: Wrap Up and Features

No your clock isn’t off. Usually I post the features from Friday’s party on Monday mornings but let’s just say hopefully today is not a sign of the week to come.

First up, two of my favorite bloggers got together last week and held a weeklong jewelry tutorial extravaganza. You’ll want to check out the whole series by Michele at The Scrap Shoppe and Bev at Flamingo Toes. Two of their fun ideas:

Michele’s gorgeous braided chain and pearl necklace. Isn’t it stunning?

And how about these elegant gold dipped earrings that Bev made? The best part? Each of them has detailed tutorials of all the projects they shared last week.

Before you know it, St. Patrick’s Day will be here. I’m seeing some really great ideas around the blogosphere including this wreath from Sarah at Alderberry Hill:

I love that it’s multiple shades of green to which she added grey and white.

Easter is right on the heels of St. Patrick’s Day and these bright and festive bouquets from Jenn at RookNo.17 are “peeptacular”

And this week’s chocolate feature is simple and classic and  mouth watering. From Six Sister’s Stuff:

Yum! Thanks to everyone who linked up and hope to see you all again on Friday. Make it a creative week!

Mr. Chocolate's Birthday: Altered Cigar Box

Mr. Chocolate recently had a birthday and I made him an altered cigar box as part of his gift. He actually contributed to his own present because one day he came back from Total Wine with a bunch of cigar boxes he’d found there for $1.50 ea. I was thrilled since when I’ve tried to buy these at different places they’ve been anywhere from $5-$10 ea. Ridic.

Here’s my “before” cigar box. Can’t stand the smell of cigars, but love the boxes. Luckily the empty boxes don’t smell.  I panted the edges of my box in black and then Mod Podged coordinating papers onto the box.

I used a different paper for the inside of the lid.

And went around the edges with coordinating washi tape. I wanted a vintage 1920’s feel and was thrilled when I found this Susan Lenart Kazmer antique license plate pendant on sale for $2.99 at Michaels.

I loved it as it was but wanted it to coordinate better with my color scheme so painted it with black acrylic paint and then went over it with silver Rub n Buff .

I stamped an antique car and sentiment (Tim Holtz) onto a torn dictionary page and distressed it with Ranger Distress inks. Mod Podged that onto the lid and added some coordinating chipboard stickers I’d found at Michaels (Recollections). Added a watch charm I’d also found at Michaels.

I’ll share the other parts of his present in an upcoming post.

BFF Open House Link Party #93

Happy Friday Eve once again friends! Hope the week has been good to you. Was Valentine's Day really already a week ago? St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner. I don't normally do too much for St. Patrick's but College Boy will be home for break so crafter that I am, it's an excuse reason to go overboard right? Let's see what everyone's been up to this week. If you're new,  introduce yourself in the comments. Following isn't required but I do follow back! OK on with the show. 

Sunflower Card in Orange and Green

One of the reasons I like making cards so much is because they’re a  way to show someone you’re thinking about them. I feel like I can send some of myself along with the card and hopefully the recipient feels that.

We have a family friend who’s going through some health issues so I thought this card might brighten her day. I started with a Magenta brand Sunflower stamp which I stamped on white cardstock using black pigment ink.

I filled in the flowers with colored pencils and then went over lightly with a complementary alcohol ink pen. I used Spectrum Noir alcohol ink pens.

I chose an orange damask print paper and a green script paper, (both Recollections from Michaels) and covered the front of my 5x7 card as shown. I guess tearing paper is my “signature” card style.  Mounted my sunflower panel to scraps of the same papers, and finished with pieces of self adhesive scrapbook borders, coordinating ribbon, and a piece of washi tape.

Since I hate wasting pretty paper, I usually add some of it to the envelope. No reason the envelope can’t look nice too right?

The Unintended Urban Warrior Trilogy: Chain and Pearl Bracelet

OK so what became part deux of my metal and pearl “industrial chic” Urban Warrior necklace has now become a trilogy! Part 1 is here. Part deux is here .

I still had a lot of pierced ear wires left over so I made more eye pins out of them, strung pearls on them, and made double loop bead sections.

I connected these together with jump rings, making a bracelet out of them and attaching to a Blue Moon Beads hammered metal toggle clasp.

I could have stopped there but I like chunky funky stuff so I added two strands of Blue Moon Bead chain and twisted them around the pearl strand. I had one metal pendant left from the previous two projects so I mad a focal from it and some of the pearl “drops”.

Attached this to the middle of the chain and then randomly attached some of the pearl loops to the chain with more jump rings  to fill out the bracelet.

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WHIPPERBERRY

Industrial Meets Pearls Part Deux : Urban Warrior Earrings

This is an unplanned part two to the necklace I shared on Friday using materials from Blue Moon Beads Urban Warrior line. But first a little share. As much as I love making jewelry, I hate self promotion. I know…”you have a blog where tons (hopefully) of strangers can see your work and you say you don’t like self promotion?”

I didn’t say I was without contradictions. Anyhoo….I’ve gotten better when receiving complements on pieces I’ve made and comfortably saying “Thank you, I made it”. Anyone else struggle w/ that? Fess up! I wore the necklace on Saturday and got several compliments and pulled up my big girl panties and said “Thank you, I made it”.

I already have some earrings that I can wear with it but I had some of the pieces left over and then spotted some large charms in my supplies that would make perfect earring pieces. I don’t have pierced ears and wear clips which are hard to find so I'm always looking at things for their possible use as earrings.

I grabbed some clip earring backs, the charms and my leftover pieces and went to work. First I straightened some more pierced ear wires to use as eyepins and added pearls to them.

They don’t have to be perfectly straight…just enough to thread a bead. Then I glued my earring backs to the charms. I generally use Loctite’s Gel Super Glue. Low odor good strength for small pieces.

The one on the right isn’t glued on yet…just laying there so you can get the idea. Important to make sure you line up the bottom of the backing with the hole in the bottom of your charm. I’m not speaking from experience of having super glued these on upside down before or anything.

I attached the leftover dangly things to my pearl “eyepins” with a jump ring and added a couple of leftover connector pieces. Used another jump ring to attach these to my earring base.

I love that this hammered metal looks heavy but is very light.

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