Holy Shrinkin' Snowmen, Santa!

Hi, I'm Barb, and I'm the most procrastinating elf Santa's ever known. If that's naughty, then so be it. Some things are never going to change. Of course, that makes life... challenging. Especially when you're Mrs. Black's daughter and the one rule that you manage to adhere to is, "Never show up empty-handed."

We had a dinner to go to, one I knew about for a while. One I pushed out of my mind with an, "I'll deal with that later..."

Suddenly, it was later. Suddenly, my mate was saying, "Don't forget we have that di..." "OH, Nooooo!!!" Panic mode set in. I had nothing ready to bring. I had about fifteen minutes to come up with something.

Bring on the polyshrink and Fitztown's Winter Collection No. 1!

I raced to my computer, stuffed a sheet of polyshrink in the printer, and printed out two adorable snowmen.

I quickly colored them in using Derwent Inktense pencils and Sharpies. Then I cut them out.

Now for some Honey-I-Shrunk-the-Ornaments magic. Polyshrink, when heated, reduces to about 40% of its original size. Heat can be applied by using an oven (and a very watchful eye!) or with a heat gun. I didn't have time to wait for my oven to heat up, so I blasted 'em with my heat gun.

Once they'd shrunk, I used my white Pico Embellisher from ImagineCrafts and some glitter. After all, what's an ornament without bling?!

All that was left to do was to attach some thin gold braid so they'd be all ready to dangle.

With that, I sprang to my sleigh; to my team gave a whistle. And away we all flew like the down of a thistle. You probably heard me exclaim e'er I drove out of sight...

Merry Christmas to All!

(And to all, Good Crafting!!!)

A Crafter's Tribute to Veteran's Day

Tuesday is Veteran's Day. It is a day that I always feel deeply in my heart. Several of my family members and friends have served to defend and protect the country in which I am privileged to live. It is a debt that I am humbled by and can never repay, so I try to honor it and pay tribute to those brave people whenever I can.

That's what was on my mind the other day as I sat on my back porch, sipping coffee and watching eagles soar over the valley. And that's what inspired me when I came across this fierce looking eagle at Fitztown.

And, hey... is there anything more American than a pair of faded blue jeans? My beloved learned early on in our relationship to never ever throw away an old pair of jeans. I mean, come on! Old jeans are a crafter's cheap, but perfect playground! Am I right, or am I right?!

Along with a piece of denim from a pair of old jeans, I used an inexpensive, unfinished frame, and printed the eagle image out on  heavy watercolor cardstock.

I traced a line around both the inside and outside of the frame on the "wrong" side of the piece of denim. I made sure to use a bright color that I could easily see when I cut the piece. Once it was cut, I glued it onto the frame.

I used a multiple star stamp from Inkadinkado and, with craft ink, stamped stars in red, white, and gold directly onto the fabric.

Then I used a star stamp from Stampin' Up! to make the star cut-outs with red, white, and blue cardstock.

I arranged the stars and glued them down. For a little extra pizzazz, I added some rhinestone stars.

Time to move on to the eagle.

For this, I began by doing a quick watercolor wash with red and blue distress inks. I didn't worry about being precise because I wanted it to have that washed look so that the starkness of the eagle would stand out that much more.

I waited a few minutes for that part of it to dry and used the Inkadinkado star stamp and gold ink to add stars to the "sky".

After that, it was a matter of coloring in the eagle, and what else would I use besides my beloved Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils?

It's funny. I poo-poohed the need for these amazing pencils for a long time. Now I can't imagine how I ever lived without them. And I want all 5 bajillion colors because... well... 24 just won't do, y'know?

Anyway, that's all there was to this project besides putting the eagle into the frame. Total cost (even if you take into account the purchase of the stamps and pencils and how many times I've used them) was under $5.00.

Just imagine the gifts you could make with a minimal investment, a little bit of thought, and a whole bunch of love. Stuff like this? This is why I love crafting.

This is where I'd normally tell you to go craft something, and you should. But first, go hug and thank someone you know who has served your country.

Coffee and Templates

(Fitztown digistamp used: Halloween 9)

It's no secret that I'm a freak for coffee. Not only is it not a secret, it's probably a fairly well-known fact. Rumor has it that I can be a little scary if I don't get my coffee.

And it has to be decent, deep brew for me to be really satisfied and happy. Weak coffee only serves to make me fractious. But decaf? Boy, howdy. Serve me that stuff and you'd better just run for your life!

But enough about my (completely reasonable) demands.

Somewhat lesser known is my love of stencils. They can be used in so many different ways and combinations and on any number of projects.

I have a dozen or so of them and it's not nearly enough. Which runs frighteningly close to being the same as not having enough coffee. Yeah. It's that bad.

Anyway, when I saw this Fitztown spectre, I knew that poor ol' ghoul wasn't so bad really. He just needed some decent coffee to bring him back to life. So, I poured myself some and went to work.

I colored him in using Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils and a small brush dipped in water to blend them. Then I cut him out.

I felt like he needed some ghostly looking flames and I had just the ticket - a template from The Crafter's Workshop.

Using a template is ridiculously easy. All I did was to lay the template on black cardstock and sponge over it with ink. I shifted it slightly to vary the placement of the flames, and using a different color, sponged over it again. I repeated this four times using Brilliance Pearlescent inks in: Lightning Black, Poppy, Olive, and Ice Blue.

Your templates can simply be wiped clean and put away for later use. If they get really messy, you can gently wash them in soapy (dish detergent) warm water.

Here are a few other examples of cards I've made where I  used templates.

Another Crafter's Workshop template, 

combined with a Tim Holtz stamp (sentiment). 

I don't know what company made the bird stamp.

Tim Holtz template over Stampin' Up's Harlequin background stamp. 

Floral stamp is by Penny Black. Sentiment is by Sweetgrass Stamps.

Tim Holtz template. 

Stamps by Blockheads, Eclectic Omnibus, 

Stampin' Up!, Scottish Borders and Rubbermoon.

Get some templates and start playing! You'll be amazed at the creativity they inspire.

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright

William Blake penned the following lines at the end of his poem, Tiger:

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

I will forgive Mr. Blake the blatant misuse of an adjective in place of an adverb if he will forgive me attempting to frame a tiger. Because that's just what I did for this week's Fitztown Design Team post.

For this card, I used Fitztown's Tiger digistamp (available here).

I printed it out on ivory colored cardstock and then colored it in with Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils. If you're not familiar with these amazing pencils, you are missing out! I love working with them - they can be used as regular old colored pencils or you can dip them in water for a more intense color, or brush over them with a wet paintbrush for a softer watercolor effect.

I colored in the tiger and the leaves and then very lightly went over much of it with a damp brush.

From there, it was time to move on to the frame. To cut it I used my trusty old Coluzzal... does anybody use those any more?! I don't have any of the fancy cutting/embossing machines, and this has always worked just fine for me for mini matting/framing needs. It also takes up no room on my desk!

I wanted to give the frame a little depth, so I used my Tim Holtz canvas stencil and sponged in a little distress ink. Then I put some darker brown spatter effect on it using an old Stampin' Up! stamp. To give it some good border and draw the eye back in, I went around the edges of the rectangle as well as the edges of the oval with a sponge that I'd swiped on the same brown ink.

All that was left was to assemble the card and trim off the excess ivory cardstock.

For those of you who aren't satisfied with a mere taste of William Blake's work (I never am!), I invite you to read the entire poem (here). I promise, you read the entire thing and you'll be checking behind you to make sure there's not a tiger crouching and ready to pounce.