Pop-up bench cards extraordinaire.....

Today's class was on pop-ups.  We learned how to make our own pop-up cuts in paper, the basic construction of pop-ups and then used the Elizabeth Craft Designs bench pop-up die to make our cards.  Amazing results!  Patti Jo made this wonderful card (and once again, the photos just don't do it justice at all.)  The swan is cut in white micro glitter paper.  The tree is a die cut from Dreamweaver.  You can order any product through our local scrapbook store by calling them at 719-275-2526.

This is the front of her card using Graphic 45 paper that has unfortunately been discontinued.  Wouldn't you love to get a card like this and when you opened it up the bench just popped up to greet you?

Rhonda's card would be a complete, total surprise.  The front is just so simple and sweet....

but what a great, wonderful surprise when you open it up!  Who knew a white tree could be so stunning???  Now, want to know a secret?  She's used holly leaves for her flower petals.  Cut and folded - you wouldn't have guessed that if I hadn't told you!!!

And don't those deer look like they are a foot deep in the grass?  How'd she do that anyway???

Mary used some vintage 12xtwelve paper.  The company, sadly, is no longer in business.  But look at what she did to the flower behind the bench!  Cut and curled the petals.  Then hand cut out all the smaller daisies to surround her bench.

Again, the front of the card is so simply, you'd never guess what's inside.  What creativity!!!

Carolyn didn't finish her card, but I can hardly wait to see it.  Just incredibly amazing work - they are all such one-of-a-kind pieces of art.  I had so much fun teaching this class.  We're planning a great pop-up class for April, so check the store blog often!

The bottle

The girls at the retreat drank this bottle Friday evening....it's 18" tall!!  And it came from Las Vegas as I understand it.  I had asked to have the empty bottle....

My "theme" for the weekend was dress forms so I decorated the bottle as such.  It is absolutely gorgeous!  Lots of rhinestones, bling, and pewter.

A second bottle showed up so I could compare the 2 together.  Never toss out a bottle again!  Just decorate it!

Around the top is a Spellbinders die in pewter with a layer of rhinestones and a teardrop crystal.

Next is a Spellbinders label with the word "Create" from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

Then an oval die cut with a dress form die cut in the middle of it.

The bottom border is another spellbinders die.  

I'm calling it "the bottle" - don't think you'll ever see another one like it!  :o)

Burlap Bling

All of a sudden, I am loving glass!  These are used Yankee candle jars from the thrifty store.  I melted the used was out of the 2 larger ones, but the candle in the small one had not been lit, so I left it.

I used sheet music paper, glitter ribbon, broken jewelry, and burlap on this one.  The die cut is from Elizabeth Craft.  That's a large distressed key hanging from the right side.

For the middle one - mostly the same things.  But dictionary paper this time.

for this little one, the front flower, I stamped music on fabric and then die cut it.  The flowers are all from Sizzix - the Tim Holtz line.

I think they turned out great.  Here's my tip when working with burlap (the kind you get at Walmart).  It is so loosely woven that when you die cut it, the leaves fall off.  Simply adhere it to paper before you die cut it.  It will keep the burlap from fraying and keeps the fabric from flopping around.  These little jars are going to be part of a larger display in a few more days.  :o)

Let it Snow!!!

Brrr!!!  How on earth did it go from 100 degrees to just 25???  And the Denver area got 4" of snow?  I'm soooooooo glad I moved "south"!  LOL!!!  This is my "let it snow" card.  My flowers are all still blooming but I have a feeling after it drops to 25 tonight - there won't be much left.  And instead of making cards, I'll be outside prepping everything for winter.

This is known as a double slider card.  You pull the string at the top and both the top and bottom slide open.  The mechanism is made using a walmart type plastic grocery bag.

I really wanted to title this "butterflies in the snow" - because the butterflies ARE still flitting around today.....plus, I think it makes my imagination fly if I can stop and think what it means to have butterflies in the snow.  Early winter....late summer....or just plain odd weather?

I was going to write this:

butterflies in the snow
dear that glisten
the magic is here

but then I couldn't think of the 4th line with something that rhymed with glisten that I liked other than "tradition" - if you can come up with a line, let me know!

Needless to say, I'm happy with the end results.  Tis the season when just about anything can happen.  And what's happening is I'll be teaching how to make this on November's First Friday Art walk at the Marketplace shops.  Just $5.00.  Sign up quick - only 20 seats!!!

How much can you put on a 2" x3" piece of paper???

Every third Thursday since last December, I've hosted the BackRoom Babes here in town.  It's a girls night out and I take a product or technique and show how to do it.  We've been swamped with 25 - 30 women every month!

I started out trying to put everything on an ATC and soon realized I simply can't keep up with myself!  LOL!!!

I really like how this one came out.

Here's what I used:
embossing folder
3 different dressform die cuts
spool diecut
fiber
crystal bling
pear bling
velvet flowers
distress ink
button
sentiments cut from scrap paper
diecut scissors
stickles glitter
background paper

It's on a 2" x 3" ATC sized card.

So how many products can you use on an ATC?

I like the message.....be silly....laugh....giggle.  I need to do more of the first one!

Diecuts under glass

I've been collecting dressforms for some time....and collecting dressform diecuts as well.  Then I picked up this 3" tall dome at a craft show and knew it was going to be the home of my diecuts.

I threaded some rayon ribbon around the bottom and some thin vines in the front.  

I think there's a total of 7 dress forms - each one a different size.  Only 1 is a wood diecut that I purchased, the rest are paper.

Isn't it fun to just play?  I'm teaching die cuts tonight at our BackRoom Babes group.....I just know we are going to have a blast!!!

Mom's Teacup

 The last time I posted, we were in Kingman AZ, and Kerry's mom had just passed away.  The very next day, I got a note that mom was failing and Kerry and I drove back to Colorado.  We got to see mom several times on Wednesday and talk with her.  On Thursday morning, we went to say goodbye and Kerry flew back to Kingman.  She knew who we were, but that was the last time.  Kerry's mom's funeral was on Friday (9/21) and mom passed away that day.

And while I have no doubt that she is in heaven, relieved of all of her pain and suffering and I should be so joyful...it is hard.  I am so grateful for so much.  Grateful that we moved here and I had the summer with her.  Grateful that we found a little house just 2 blocks from where she was living.  Grateful that I was able to tell her how much I loved her, and that I knew she loved me. So grateful that she believed in Jehovah Jesus Messiah and was such an amazing role model.   Grateful beyond everything else that God picked her as my mom.

The next day was a weekend crop here at the Abbey.  I decided to go.  What better way to remember mom than to make something so beautiful.  It's a teacup!

Well, really, it is.  It's a sizzix bigz xl diecut.  Cut it in pretty thick chipboard, then covered each side with Graphic 45 "Ladies Journal" paper.

And then I took my hot glue gun and went to town.  I don't remember what I was thinking - there were plenty of others around, and my dear friend, Kathy, was sitting right next to me.  I'm sure we talked.  But mostly the world went silent and I just kept thinking, "oh!  mom would think this was so cute....what can I put here?  there's a space there, what do I have to put in there?"  and one must take some serious time to find it all.  See the clear acrylic dressform?

Many of these are chipboard cutouts from Bo Bunny - "Little Miss" - but you won't find them in the store like this.  Loads of stickles, added the flower and heart to the teddy bear....see the dressform shaped paper clip in the center?  Little words cut out and inked.....

Phrases cut out and inked...."Life is about creating yourself".  I felt like mom would enjoy that as a theme for her teacup.  Most of the flowers were white - inked and stickled.  So pretty!

Even the little girl was inked, stickled, flowered....I love the chipwood laser cut dressform behind her.  

I did all that in about 4 hours as I was in and out all day long.  I'm so glad Kathy was staying with me.  I'm not sure I could have managed being alone at night.  Timing.  Who could have ever imagined my mom passing on the day of Kerry's mom's funeral?

To the ladies who were at the crop, I really am sorry.  Normally, I'm chatting with everyone.  But on this day, I was lost in my own little world.  Thank you for giving me the space that I needed.

I went back on Sunday.  And decided to start a journal to go with the teacup.  I think it's going to be glamorous!

I made my own templates, cut out acrylic cover and back and about 4 inner pages.  Each page has a different sheet.  You can click on any image to make it larger.  The fun thing about acrylic is that you have to cover the back of everything on the front and then put things on the back of the acrylic to cover up the front.  Makes decision making a little more complex.

 And what fun detail.  The lady is in the paper, but the stickled diecut above her hat was the perfect embellishment.  And note all the ink on the paper - you won't find it nearly this colorful in the store!

I put stickled diecuts on top of another laser dressform that was inked.  I think I could have played all day long.

Now everyone grieves their losses in different ways.  In November 2010, I wrote several blogs in an 8 or 9 part series titled "Does Art Heal?"  You can access it from the home page of my blog, down the right hand side.  Knowing what I do about grief and the healing process.....creating is probably the most perfect way for me to grieve.

Inside the journal, each page will have a journaling spot.....embellished....and I will write my thoughts about mom in this journal.

I have a long way to go!

The teacup and journal are over to the right on top of some glass cases.  On the left is a collection of things that remind me of mom....surrounded by her paintings.    A jar of her paint brushes, one of her coffee cups.  An artist doll I bought her once, red glass cats she had.  She did love cats!

And while I will miss her always, I will not grieve her passing.  My joy is in knowing her destination.  In having a home filled with her paintings, and the ability to create art in her honor.  Colleen and I made 30 more teacups (ok, nothing this fancy!) and stuffed one of her hankies and some candy in each one and took them over and passed them out at the retirement village where mom lived.  We will continue to sing on Mondays as mom really liked that.  I will continue to blog as she loved reading about what I was doing.  She always said I should write more on my if-isms blog...maybe in time I will add to that.

Kerry is staying in Kingman with his dad and I am here getting the house ready for winter.  We laugh and say we have a "skype" marriage.  Yesterday I skyped him the valve box for the sprinkler system and he was able to walk me through the steps of draining the sprinklers for the winter.  Pretty amazing.  It's really not much different than when he traveled all the time with IBM.

Life will never be the same, but we will slowly evolve what we knew into a new routine.  I know many of you heard about mom through the grapevine, but I wanted to write this blog for those who didn't and to share my celebration art.  Thank you for all of your kind emails and cards.  It's wonderful to have so many friends around the globe.  This has been a difficult post to write, but I'm sure I'll be back soon!

Video # 3 - nestabilities flowers

Could I have any more fun? I am so grateful to Kerry for all the video equipment and editing software he buys - I get his hand-me-downs to play with! LOL!

Tonight's flower is a little different because the way you fold it automatically gets you a built in background.



Direct link to this video is here

Give it a try and post back here and let me know your results!

Art for sale!!!

First....I just want to thank all of you who have asked me where you can buy my jewelry ! I finally have my own "store" - and we'll just have to see if it works or I trash the whole thing!

Click here:

Jen's Jewelry Art for sale

Published pieces may have a slightly higher price.

If you want specific measurement, just email me.

I will try to update as soon as an item is sold, but there may be times when a piece you want is already gone!

If you don't do paypal, I take checks and cash! If you have problems with the paypal buttons, just let me know.

And here's a slideshow just for fun!!!

Show samples for sale

I promised that I'd put some of my pieces up for sale and I'm going to start with these. Edie....this is for you!

Edie doesn't have a kiln and doesn't see one in her immediate future....so she asked if she could buy some "charms" already made up. These are paper type metal clay, diecut and embossed, or punched, fired, and have had a preliminary polish. So they are all .999 fine silver. You will need to back most of them with another medium as they are paper thin and will bend.

If you are interested in prices, just email me the name or number and I'll get back to you. Understand that a 3" x 3" sheet of paper type retails for $37.10....so most of these run $20 - $30. If they are backed with clay, they will be a little more. These are great for pendants, jewelry, friendly plastic and a whole lot of other mediums!

Edie - you get first pick!!!

1. Mardigras masks

2. Heart Medallion

3. Dancing face. This is the back medallion, a punched dancer on top with a punched flower and leaf. All have been fired together as a single piece.

4. Cupcake

5. Flourish

6. Heart
7. Mask 1. Background mask with layered flowers and leaves all fired together as a single piece.

8. Angel (one of my favorites!)

9. Seashell

10. Star of David

11. Flur de lies

12. paisley flower

13. dog (I know I have a cat somewhere! must go find it!)

14. Mask 2. This is a different mask layered with flowers on both sides. Fired as a single piece. Chain has been added (sterling silver chain)

15. Eagle

16. Swans

17. Butterfly. This piece has been backed with a layer of metal clay, so it is ready to use as a stand-alone piece.

18. geckos. You can buy both right and left, or you can buy just the left facing one - as many as you want, I have several of these.

19. Butterfly 2. This one has also been backed with a layer of metal clay.

20. Art

Now, if you don't like any of these, let me know what you'd like to see. I have hundreds of dies and punches and can probably put anything together. It's definitely cheaper than investing in a kiln. And if you own a kiln, but don't own all the diecut systems...this is still a great way to get what you want!