My Favorite Thing

Out of all the projects I made for Christmas this year my favorite has been packaging. Out of all the packaging I’ve created; this one for my Mother-In-Law is my favorite.

It’s called a Secret Box. I learned how to make it on YouTube
from MsPaperCastle.

The reason for the name is that when you open it there are 3 shelves inside.


I used Paper Trey Ink paper for the base and layers and the designer paper was in my stash.
The snowflake die is from Impression Obsession.

Inside I put photo magnets of of her boys.

I created those with Little Windows resin and color laser photos. I fussy cut the pictures and poured resin over them. The resin is crystal clear and dries over night.

I love that this “package” becomes a keepsake and can be used as home décor for years to come.

What’s your favorite thing you have made for Christmas even in the past or this year?

Merry Christmas
In His Hands
QP

Thanksgiving Traditions

 

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving Tradition? In my family we all hold hands and pray before the meal.  And love that there is always Turkey and Dressing and family from far and near. It would not be thanksgiving without my sister JoAnn’s Secret-To-A-Happy-Marriage yeast Rolls. We pour over the sale ads and plot our attack. We watch football, talk baseball and track (players in the family). We remember those we love who are no longer with us and give thanks for those who are.

But my favorite tradition is a crafty one. I try to mail out my Christmas cards on Black Friday. My friends tell me that my card is the first card they receive. Most years I make it. This year I have been working hard to meet my deadline. Here is what I have come up with so far.

I generally made multiples of each design but I won’t bore you with that.

close-up so many layers

This one is the tags I made:

And these are card components that I have not come up with the finished project for yet!

 

What crafty traditions do you have?

Wishing you a happy and safe Thanksgiving. I am thankful for you all!

 

In His Hands,

QP

Friends

Friends…everybody needs them or so the song says and I have to agree its true. I spent the weekend at the home of one friend and in the company of others. I could have stayed with family as I was in my home town, but this weekend was all about friends. When you live out of town and visit home everyone wants to see you; but you only have so much time. So this weekend I only saw my son cause he has the new Grand Guy and the rest of my time was spent with my crafting buddies.

Friday night we went to Ms. Vicky’s and I taught a bit of mixed media. We sprayed and applied gesso and modeling paste and matte medium and paint and on on mixed media goes. Our surface was a piece of mixed media paper and the completed panel is all well, pretty and good. But what do you do with it now?

You make a card to thank the home that received you, that feed you and chauffeured you around town.

I made a Center Step card. It is easy to do.

• Your card base measures 5.5” by 11.
• You cut a slit 1 inch in on the long side from 1’’ to 6.5” repeat on the other side.
• On both long sides score at 1”, 2”and 6.5” up to the slit (do not cross over).
• Beginning at the slit score at 5.5” in the center and end at the other slit.
• Mountain fold at the 1”score; Valley fold at the 2” score. Pinch a mountain fold in the center at the 5.5” score line and the 6.5 inch fold should fold itself. Burnish all your folds with a bone folder and your base is ready.

I cut up the mixed media panel to fit the card base both inside and out;

and also made 2 tags (Spellbinders labels ten) and a front pocket with a window cut in it for my sentiment. I added some stitching and my card only needed some personal words.

Its good to travel and its good to see Friends!

In His Hands,

QueenPam

It Beginning To Look

No matter when I start on my Christmas projects I seem never to get them all done. I’m starting now and hoping for a different outcome this year. Christmas time is stressful at work with end of the year projects, less time due to holidays and overdoing it in my personal life.

 

Paper Trey Ink is having a blog hop and the theme is tags. So I made these to top some packages. I’m ahead of the game by 2 Yay!

 

 

The Snowflake is Paper Trey Ink’s Stitched Snowflake as well as there

Tag Sale #8 die for the tag. The paper is from MemoryBox and the pearl was in my stash.

 

In His Hands,

 

QP

Featuring Poetspice

I came across a Digital Stamp from Poetspice on YouTube called Talula Girl Butterfly Belle. It was calling out to me to be colored. So I sized it up in Microsoft word and printer it out on some X-pressit paper (my personal favorite for coloring with my copics).

I printed a couple of sizes as I didn’t have a specific project in mind; I just wanted to color.

Coloring has always been one of my favorite things to do, it sort of centers me and I can lose myself in it for a time. I shot some pictures along the way but sorry I got lost in the process/fun of coloring.

This many copics later…

…all the stress of the day was gone. A bit of fussy cutting, some glitter nail polish

and white gel pen and she is ready for her closeup:

I bought her on Zibbet.

In His Hands,

QP

It’s a Match

Hey it’s your girl Queen Pam here for SOC with a copic tip.

I like to use die cuts and or fussy cuts and one of things that I don’t like most of time is that little bit of white that shows when you cut them.

Often times I will just ink the edges with a black ink pad. Today however I wanted the die cut to appear like it was cut precisely, so my white edge needed to be colored to match.

So I pulled out my copic swatch ring and tried to find a color that would give me the seamlessness I was looking for.

I choose B06 to do the job. I like to hold my marker from the back when doing this as it seems that should I slip, the marker slips toward the back of the image and not on top. And that way my image is not ruined or in need of an embellishment.

Here is how my images turned out. The ball jars look they were cut without a border.

 

And here is my final project a group of interactive ATCs for a swap.

In His Hands,

QP

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

As you know last weekend I played along with PaperTreyInk’s Stamp-A-Faire challenges and I won one of them.

In the next couple of days I will do a wrap up post of the event. But for now I wanted to share my excitement! Glory to God!

 

Thanks God for your unmerited favor!

 

In His Hands,

 

QP

SAF Mist and Clay Techniques

Still playing along with Stamp-A-Faire. We made our own mists with Alcohol and reinker. We also played with some Delight air dry clay.

 

Here is a card using those techniques.  My butterfly is vellum covered in Clay. I sponged on some Hawaiian Shores ink. My mist is made from Royal Velvet reinker. The stamp set is Mums The Word and the flourish is a Paper Trey Die.

 

 

In His Hands

QP

SAF Breakfast Bake and Take

There is a stamping party going on over at Nicole Heady's blog today because it is the 2013 Stamp-A-faire put on by Paper Trey Ink and I am playing along.

The first challenge is to use a supplied sketch and color recipe. I choose these:

And here is the card I came up with.

 

I hope you can go over ad play some too.

 

In His Hands,

QP

Winner

You know sometimes the voices in our heads should be ignored and sometimes not. Today I took lunch to watch Spellbinders live. And they announced that they were giving away a prize for the first person to type in the answer to a question they were going to shortly ask. Immediately the collateral noise started in my head. “You’ll never win because you can’t type, not to mention that your hand is hurting.” My spirits fell.

 

But then that still small voice that should not be ignored spoke and said “you never know…try.”

 

I did try and I won a set of dies, the new hatpin bezels and I think some paper.

 

So now which voice will you listen to today.

 

Thank You God for meeting me where I live and confirming your presence even in my crafting world and making me a winner.

 

Thanks also to Spellbinders for this prize and lesson in listening.

 

Psalm 42

King James Version (KJV)

42 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

² My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

³ My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

⁴ When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

⁵ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

⁶ O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

⁷ Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

⁸ Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

⁹ I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

¹⁰ As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

¹¹ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

 

In The Hand of Creator,

QP

Guess What

I am now a member of the creative team for the Scraps od Color Blog!

 

I actually started with the post prior to this one! Scraps of Color is a great community of primarily scrappers but more so all types of crafters.  Come check it out if you have not done so already.

 

QP

Drama Queen

Hey QP aka QueenPam here. Do you want a little Drama in your life or do you have too much already? I think a little bit and I mean a little bit makes life a bit more interesting. Likewise I think having a little drama in my projects makes them more interesting too. I went for the drama of color that is neon. It’s pow wow and holy cow Batman, it pops and it will not be ignored.

 

I chose Copic in FRV1 and Hero Arts Neon pink to bring on the drama in this 3D Prima Doll stamp inked in Momento Tuxedo Black.  I added those to her hair along with a bit of BV00. For her skin I colored her with copics in E11, E13 and E15.

For her outfit I went with Y11, Y13 and Y13.

I took my pop of color around the outside of the image by adding dots of the FRV1, BV00 and Y11. And even for me that was too much Drama so I toned it down with the Colorless bender.

For this doll to stand I have cut out 2 layers of cardstock and a layer of chipboard. I did this all with my electronic cutter. I adhered them together with liquid glue. IF you want to know more about that I can include that in an upcoming post.

 

So Drama does not only have to be achieved with color. What is your crafty drama secret?

 

In His Hands

A WEDDING IN THE FAMILY

Don't you just love a wedding. I do. The niece who is the closest in age to my own children is getting married soon. Of course I have to make a card and here is what I came up with.
Isn't it cute!

Here is the card open, I just love it.


Here is a close-up.


But you can see the sparkle better on the video where I gave you all the details on how I made it.  You may have to turn the sound up, I just found out that I'm speaking rather softly on my videos and I will fix that in the next one .

In His Hands,

My Organization

Everyone who crafts has some sort of organization. And whether or not they are good organization options depends on you. Organization is as much a statement of your personal preferences as your choice of car or bedroom décor. That being said organization falls into two schools of thought…is it functional or is it pretty. Now the better thing would be functionally pretty. I fall into the functional style with as many touches of pretty as I can incorporate.

 

When I got my new space in 2011, I thought I’d have this Kitchen of a craft room. One with all the cabinets and storage of a kitchen. But my husband’s practical side intervened and my dream of a kitchen craft room died.  So what I have is my hodge podge of mismatched metal office desk and filing cabinets with their plastic cousins and particle board counter tops.

 

Now less you think I’m unhappy in my space, let me say this; I often refer to my space as a sanctuary, a haven of rest. Sounds like heaven and for me it is heaven on earth. It is here that I am creative and without creativity I would be less.

 

I have some storage tips that I love to share and I hope that the ones I share with you today will be helpful to some.

 

I store dies (shown below) and punches on Bygel Rails from IKEA.

I bought some of the rails and the “S” hooks and hung my wafer thin dies in the original packaging. For those I did not have the packaging for, I bought some plastic zip lock style bags from eBay; punched a hole in the top so I could hang them. I went through several storing options before settling on this one.  I sort them by company. My dream is to one day sort them by company and by type; like all borders together and all labels.

 

I store my full size ink pads mostly in old cassette tape holders.(the one linked is not shown below but I have several of those)

For my mini pads; I store them in these Stuftainers by Stampendous:

 

My sprays, both homemade and commercial are stored on a frames from Ikea.

 

For my vast stamp collection; I keep all unmounted stamps in binders.

Inside the binders the stamps are stored on Wilson Jones index dividers when I can find them. If I cant I have made my own by laminating cardstock (I use the brand that I bought at Sam’s; that I was hoping was 110# like Paper Trey Ink’, sadly it was not).

For my clear stamps I keep them in their packaging and using my ATG gun, I tape the package to the dividers; being careful to make sure I can easily get into the packaging to remove the stamps.

 

To see my room you can watch the video tour on YT. I covered the bank of white cabinets with curtains as I have since removed the doors as they were in the way.

Tour My Stamp Room

In His Hands,