Julie Nutting Dolls

Bonjour my fellow crafters,

I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer.  Hard to believe that we are mid-August already.  I got back last week from a weekend scrapbooking retreat and it was a blast.

Just slept, ate and crafted for 2 1/2 solid days!  Awesome!!!  I'm going to start posting a few of the projects that I worked on while I was there.  Here is the first one using Julie Nutting Dolls by Prima...

I made a carry case from a tutorial video that I found on YouTube Mini Doll Cases Here is what the case looks like closed.  I haven't finished decorating the outside yet, so it's kind of underwhelming...

Here is what you see when you open up the case...

I was originally going to make her steampunk, but I was using the Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells paper and the halloween theme seemed to work better.  The drawers on the right are faux drawers, and here is a close up of the elements...

The gear is a sticker, the vial of "potion" is from Tim Holtz, filled with glitter while the clock is a charm I had lying around, now...

I free handed the hat, the flowers are from Prima while the word charms are Tim Holtz.

Now finally the cat is an old charm I've had for about 100 years and the hour glass is also a sticker.  These dolls are great to play with, I'm gonna try a beach themed one next also maybe play with a Christmas type carrying case.

Thanks for visiting and happy crafting,

Take care from Jodie - AKA The Caffinated Crafter!

Yes I'm Back

Good Day my fellow crafters,

Well, as you are all aware, life can certainly cut into your crafting time, and that is what has happened to me.  I couldn't believe that a month had gone by since my last post, but I hope to make amends with the inspiration of my lastest creation...

I've been working with the Julie Nutting girl stamps, even joined a challenge group for the stamps!  I paper pieced her outfit using "Collecting Moments" by Fancy Pants, then colored in her skin and hair using the following Copic Markers...

Skin - E000, E00, E02, E11 & BV02

Hair - E11, YR24, E37, E47

 

The dolls are great to work with, lots of space for coloring & paper piecing, I'll try to post more in the upcoming weeks, but here is Graycie helping me out with the presentation.  She wouldn't move, so what was I to do lol...

 

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful day, take care & happy crafting...

 

Jodie - AKA the Caffeinated Crafter!



Pigment Powders & Sprays

Bonjour my fellow crafters,

What is better to do on a rainy day than play indoors with your crafting supplies, of course while sipping on coffee goodness.
Today I decided to try out making my own shimmer sprays.  I have a ton and I mean a ton of colors of pigment powders so I decided today was the day. 
Here is the video outlining my exploits...

Making Your own Sprays

So just in case it's not clear in the video, the reason you must add the glue is that pigment powders have no binder elements in them.  If you just mix the powders with water, once the water evaporates, the powders will cease to adhere to the page.  The ONLY ones that will work by just adding water are PERFECT PEARLS, made by Ranger because they have a binder agent already in them.  Perfect Pearls are easy to use but a bit limited in their color choices.
Here are some samples of the pages that I did in my art journal using the sprays I made with the pigment powders...

Watch the video and see how easy it is to make your own sprays.

Hope everyone has a great day, take care and happy crafting!

Jodie - AKA The Caffeinated Crafter

Hero Arts Challenge

Good evening my fellow crafters,

I know it's been a few weeks since my last post, work has been seriously getting in the way of my crafting fun.  I have to admit working 10-13 hour days really zaps one's creative juices.  However, I came across this challenge by Hero Arts...

and decided to give it a try.  So here is my entry...

This is an older Hero Arts stamp, plus I only used a part of it.  Here are the details of how I created the card.  First I embossed the front using a Cuttlebug embossing folder, along with the Sizzix Embossing Diffuser.

Depending on what part you use it will not emboss certain areas of the paper.  Here is a look at the inside so that you can see how it works.

What I did was lightly trace the shape of the diffuser, then masked off around it using Post It Notes.  Next using Rich Cocoa Memento ink, I stamped the stamp in that area.  Next I put the card front into the embossing folder, applied the diffuser and ran it through my Big Shotz.  Next I used Copic markers to lightly add color to certain areas of the image.  I did this lightly so that the marker wouldn't go through to the inside of the card.  Here are the colors I used...

 Next to make the image pop, I added Class A Peel stickers around the image and also in certain parts of the embossed areas.  Then I added Stickles to the colored parts of the image.

 So once again, here is the finished card, along with the inside.

 I hope you find some inspiration in my creation, take care and happy crafting!

Jodie - AKA The Caffeinated Crafter!!!!!!!

What's New & Happening

Guten Tag my fellow crafters,

I know it's been a week or so since my last post, work has been crazy busy.  I have had some free time to work on projects, and this little darling is my lastest card.

I created the background a while back and decided the colors and glitter lent themselves beautifully to a mermaid card.  She is from Sweet Pea Stamps, Oceanessa, from Elizabeth Bell.
I colored her in with Copic markers, numbers BV02, B12, B14, B16, G12, 100, C1 and C3 to be exact...

Next I added a dash of sparkle with my Wink of Stella glitter pen in order to carry through the glitter from the background onto other aspects of the card.

I then added my bits & baubles to give dimension to the card...

Then finally I finished off the inside...

Here is the finished card once more.  I hope you can find a hint of inspiration to create your own masterpiece.

Take care everyone and happy crafting...

Jodie - AKA The Caffeinated Crafter

Wacky Wednesday

Bonjour creative crafters,

Hope you all are having a great hump day!  I'm trying to keep my word about each week tackling something in my "Ongoing Projects" drawer. 

This week I'm talking about organization, specifically ink pads.  In this short 5 minute video I show you how I go about organizing my inkpads.

Please keep in mind this system is what I do, this is what works for me.  You may have your own developed system and I'd love to hear about it, just send a comment.  Below is the link to the video...

Inkpad Organization

Hope this gives you some ideas, take care and happy crafting!

Jodie AKA The Caffeinated Crafter

Terrific Tuesday

Greetings fellow crafters,

I'm a little tired today, work was pretty hectic yesterday.  I think my coffee mug says it all...

I did manage however, to create a new video on how to use Molding Paste.  Here is the link if you want to check it out...

Molding Paste

I'll be posting the finished project later in the week, along with an update on my "Ongoing Projects" drawer.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day, take care and happy crafting!

Jodie - AKA Caffeinated Crafter

OWH Sketch #227

Hi Fellow Crafters,

Hard to believe we are in the month of June already, half way through 2014 plus in 3 weeks the final season of True Blood starts!
Below is my entry for the sketch challenge that they are having over at Operation Write Home.  Great Impressions stamp company is also donating part of the proceeds of four of their stamp sets to Operation Write Home.

Now this first one is more of a masculine card, particularily due to the colors. 

I kept the bling down to a minimum, basically just some brads, but I did pop up parts of the front and finished the inside of the card.

This next one is more feminine, plus has more bling to it.  This one would not be sent to OWH due to the glitter that I added to the embossed paper.

Also with this one the inside is finished as well.  I've started doing that lately, it seems to add a bit more punch to the cards.

I hope you enjoyed these two cards, have a great week and happy crafting!

Compendium of Curiosities 3, Challenge 3

Bonjourno fellow crafters,

I trust everyone is having a great weekend.  I wanted to post my entry for the above mentioned challenge of Tim's latest book, Compendium of Curiosities #3.  The challenge is being hosted by Linda Ledbetter and there are fabulous prizes being offered for each challenge.  Be sure to drop by the blog for more details...

I'm going to make her into a wall hanging, so I'm going to punch 2 holes at the top, thread some ribbon through and voila, fabulous wall art.  Most of the details as to how I created her are below.

I first started with a piece of mat board, cut to 5 1/4" by 4".  Then I used molding paste with stencils to add texture, then while the paste was still wet, I sprinkled glitter into and let the piece dry.  Once dry, I added the two colors of Distress Paint.  I'll be posting a video later on in the week to show how I got these results...

Now the challenge part was to create tea roses from one of Tim Holtz's dies, Tattered Pinecone.  I used cardstock with a pearlized finish, but any cardstock would do...

Next once the roses were dry, I wanted to bling them up a little, so I added Distress Glitter to them using the quick dry tacky glue.  I used a foam brush to swipe glue onto the tops of the flowers, then dipped them into the glitter!

Here is the final piece one more time...

Here is a closeup of the roses, plus I added glossy accents over the writing to make them stand out a bit more.  The stamp is from PaperBag Studios and she is one of my favourite images.  The butterflies were cut out using a Martha Stewart punch!

I hope you can find some inspiration from my piece and happy crafting!

Jodie - AKA The Caffeinated Crafter

Terrific Tuesday

Greetings and welcome fellow crafters,

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Unfortunately I had to work Saturday and Monday, but I sure enjoyed my Sunday off.

So I've decided the delve into my drawer of "Ongoing" projects...

 Inside this drawer are new stuff that I've bought, not exactly recently, and have not yet processed.  By this I mean not put away in their spots.

So each week I'm gonna give you all a little peek into how I organize my supplies or new projects that I've finally got around to making.  This week the latter is true.

Here is the finished card, which I'm thrilled with.  If I had known it was gonna turn out so great I would have finished it ages ago lol

Below is a background I created when I attended a fun workshop at The Stamproom.  I stamped the background with Versamark, then used Pan Pastels to create the background.  I haven't quite mastered these pastels yet, but they can give some spectacular results...

So next I stamped elements for the card using Chocolate Baroque rubberstamps set Butterfly Poppy Collage, this stamp set was also in the aforementioned drawer lol.

Graycie really liked the butterfly...

I fussy cut the elements out, pop dotted a few of them up, then using an old stamp I had from Hero Arts, I stamped the saying onto the front using Distress Ink then heat embossed it with clear powder,

So after I added my bling and doo dads, once again here is the finished card, along with the inside.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week, take care and happy crafting...

Jodie - The Caffeinated Crafter!

Watercoloring Stamping

Salutations Fellow Crafters,

I hope everyone is having a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend.  I just want to start off by thanking all the visitors I had to my blog during the recent Operation Write Home blog hop.  The comments were wonderful.

Here is a quick video - about 10 minutes long - about how to do watercolor stamping, using both water soluble markers plus Copic markers.  Yup you read right, I said Copic markers.

This is the project where I used one of the samples that I made. 

I added Wink of Stella Glitter Pen to parts of the flower, added Class A Peel stickers for the photo corners, and used a Tim Holtz rubberstamp set for the sentiment.  If you have any other questions just fire me off an email!
Here is the link to the watercolor video, enjoy and happy crafting!
Watercoloring Stamping

Operation Write Home Blog Hop

Greetings fellow crafters,

Here is the annual Memorial Day BlogHop from Operation Write Home.  I am just one of the many participants on this amazing hop Memorial Day BlogHop
Here is my contribution using one of their Sketches, #9 to be exact...

The stamp is from Memory Box, colored in with Copic markers and of course I had to add my bling in the center of each flower.  I also wanted to jazz up the inside so...

I partially put the insert into an embossing folder in order to get the embossing at the bottom.  Thanks for stopping by and a special thank you to all our military men and women.  Have a wonderful day!