Shrinky Dink Monster Pendants

I had some time this weekend to play with my new Stampotique stamps some more! There are just so many things you can stamp... So I made three little shrinky dink pendants with little crystal beads hanging off the bottoms.

Here's what they look like before shrinkage. I use Creativity Kits shrink plastic, the kind with a shiny side and a rough side. The tag shape is punched out and then hole-punched at the top, then the bottom five times to attach the crystals. Then I used black Staz-On ink to stamp the monsters onto the shiny side. Staz-On is pretty much like the Sharpie marker of ink pads, totally awesome! If you use regular pigment ink on a real slick surface, it's really likely to smear. But I did use pigment ink (Colorbox) to stamp and edge the color on the rough side which always turns out nice. Stamping on both sides creates a pretty cool 2-level effect once the dinks are shrunk down the oven :) Oh, and the colors on the back darken a bit when shrunk, too!

Happpppppy Wednesday!

Altered Altoids Tins Christmas Ornaments

 Happy Thanksgiving!!! And what a sleepy Thanksgiving it is... I was up until 3ish then awoken by my alarm clock each hour thereafter to check if mysterious Best Buy had posted their Thanksgiving Sale prices yet (They kept it a secret but said "soon" at 11 PM last night! Go figure). FINALLY at 6:05 AM they posted my new computer at a steep discount and I got it. Whew. I'm stoked, because I've been doing ALL my blogging/computering/photo editing on a teeny tiny netbook since 2008. Anyhoo, I have some altered altoids tins to share with you today! :)

 Sledding!

 There are four levels in each, the snowy background scenes, then a snowy sparkly microball-covered hillside, the sledding boy, then the Christmas banner. The levels are separated and spaced by a couple squares of sticky-back foam.

 Santa Claus!

 The vintage images were all cutout of old 1950's era children's books.

 I used mod podge to seal sheet music to the outsides of the tins. I used Alene's tacky glue to stick little glass beads along the rim. Took forever to use tweezers to stick those guys on there. After the first bit of glue dried, I added another later of glue along the outside edge to make sure the beads were secure. The glue dried clear, so the beads are still sparkly. I love the look!

 This one is a small tin, the container for Altoids Smalls. Walking in a winter wonderland :)

I don't think that I mentioned that I removed the covers of all these tins. They come off pretty easy.

I hope everyone has a really great and happy holiday season this year! Eat some tonnage today, folks! Happy Turkey Day! 

P.S. I'm thankful for my readers and all the friends I've made through the online crafting community! Love! :)

Floating Dog Christmas Ornament

Folks have been asking... Is this a pug? SURE! (But I guess it could also be a bulldog if you colored him right) I suppose you could even crop the ears off and make it into a boston terrier! But anyway, it's cute with a Santa hat, no?

I made this ornament for a friend who has decided to buy local for Christmas this year! She needed an ornament for a sort of White Elephant game in a few weeks. I used my new Floating Dog stamp (available to buy here) and colored it with watercolors to achieve a pug-like look :) The santa hat is just cut out felt and white pipe-cleaner.

The base is cereal box-turned-chipboard by gluing a bunch of layers together. Then various layers of scrapbooking paper, book page, ink, paint, gems, craft foil, sparkly microballs and ribbon!

I've been working on some Altoids tins that I'll share next week. Have a lovely weekend! OH! And a BIG BIG thank you to everybody who has left oh-so-kind comments of congratulations on my new stamp line :) I always really appreciate your support and sweet words! It means a LOT! I have the best readers EVAR.

Stampotique Blog Hop! Dog House, Bird & Monster Ornaments

Welcome to the Stampotique Blog Hop!

  The Stampotique Design team and I have had the immense pleasure of getting to play with my new stamp line before the release date! But the release date is HERE! TODAY! Hooray! I've been working on a few crafty projects to share with you and show off my new stamps that you can buy over at Stampotique :)

My first project is an altered wooden birdhouse turned dog house! This project features the "Floating Dog" stamp.

 I used my Cricut to cut out some scalloped shingles for the roof, then used pigment powder and gum arabic to paint each row a different color before gluing them on.

 The plain wooden birdhouse came from the $1 bins at Michaels. The paper on the sides is the inside of a security envelope. The black sides were just painted with acrylic craft paints.

 I used white Colorbox pigment ink to stamp this little dude on the back and front sides. 

 More embellishings with paper leaves, circle punches, stick-on gems, sheet music, etc. 

 The second and third projects are a couple of ornaments. Bobby and I just bought a new (fake, but awesome) Christmas tree and it's already up and decorated...Yeah, it's way early, but we haven't had a legit Christmas tree since 2006! Needless to say, I'm excited about having one.

 The monster in this stamp is actually holding a blank sign so you can write in whatever. I added the "Merry Christmas" bit. Do you like his little whiskers?

Last but not least, I made this birdie ornament today! Ah, both this one and the last one, I glued together about 5 of the same shapes punched from cereal box. They combine to create an excellent, thick chipboard-like material that is really sturdy and hey! Super cheap.

The embellishments here are clear microbeads (aka sparkly microballs) on the edges, crystal gems, pigment ink, sheet music and crystal glaze on the bird.

SO! Do you like? Which ones are on your Christmas list?

Want a chance to win some of my new images?  Hop along with the Stampotique Design Team, leaving comments along the way, for your chance to win some flippin' sweet stamps.  A winner will be drawn randomly from one of the blogs and will be announced with our next challenge.

Make sure to drop little comments on each blog you hop to! A randomly chosen commenter will win some of these stamps, so don't be shy! Comment away! And while you're at it, take the opportunity to follow some awesome new blogs :)

  From here, HOP ON to:  http://kazscraftbits.blogspot.com/.

Below is a complete list in case you go off the beaten path and need some redirection.

Kira Nichols (You are here!)

Kaz Boughton

Jane Wetzel

Gez Butterworth

Valerie Wilson

Maria Sabina Raita

Lisa Somerville

Jo Capper-Sandon

Kim Howard

Nellie van Leeuwen

Vicki Garrett

Willy Anderson

Kate Crane

Monique Verbeek

Joanne Wardle

Teaser Pic! Blog Hop tomorrow!

Don't miss it! In celebration of my new line of Stampotique Stamps, there's a blog hop tomorrow :) You shall behold projects from many splendid designers featuring images from my illustrations! AND! A chance to WIN some of my new rubber stamps! Come back tomorrow to hop along, friends. Happy Monday!!! (I'm excited!!!)

Nerd Cat Altered Journal Page

 I'm finally home and the new place is up and organized with a fully functional craft room :) I've been playing with my new Stampotique stamps and it's so much fun! Last night, I broke out the old altered art journal and did a nerd cat spread.

The triangles on the left are cut out from the phone book. I think it's crazy they still pass them out every year... Wasted paper!

 Some ephemera!

I used a lot of crayons in this spread... Behind the blue watercolors, on the borders, blue bubbles! Too fun.

Here's the old art journal... I started it in 2009 I think, but I'll fill it up EVENTUALLY.

And since I forgot to post my pumpkin before Halloween... Here's what the toothy jack-o-lantern looked like! Happy Moooooonday!

And I almost forgot!!! Jen over at the Simply Pretty blog did a kind and lovely feature on some of my projects :) Go Check it out!