Monochromatic Clay Mother's Day....

Hello, Hello, hellooooo!

Well, it's time to unveil the Technicolor Trio of Tempting Treats Project B,

 and here she is...

Remember I told you that my super duper Grandma is with me? Well here she is!!

"Say hello Grandma..."

Awww, she's shy. 

She's not really shy. She's just helping to show some of the materials that we used to create this project for my mom's Mother's  Day gift.

The trio decided on these 4 elements to be somewhere in our creations:

* Cheesecloth

* Monochromatic

* Domino

*Sculpey Clay

The Bold and The Beautiful was on at the time, so I had to set up the work station here in the living room so that I could be with Grandma while she got caught up on her show.  

So, here's  where the magic all happened. I'm kidding, I mean craziness!

The base is a silver candle holder I found at the thrift store for 25 cents and I've cut a cork coaster down to fit inside and then glued a piece of driftwood for the base.

Here's her little shoes. They started out black, but I decided that I wanted them to appear more like rocks as she's a nature fairy.

Here's the sculpey parts that include the birds, her hands, and her torso.

Her head and torso painted with Antique Linen Distress Inks

The monochromatic aspect was difficult for me as I did sneak in a little green in the grass and blue for the birds, but the essence of this fairy is variations of brown and nature tones.

Here are the stick legs that we used from the bundle Grandma was holding earlier. I loved the knobs and bumps that gave the appearance of joints in a leg.

Here I've added a slip under her sculpey torso.  I wanted her wooden skirt to stand out so I needed a solid division between the legs and the skirt, so this piece of material worked perfectly.

Now here you can see where I've made a ring of sticks to create the wooden dress that will second as a birdcage/perch.

I didn't forget the domino either! 

I snuck in underneath so that you could verify it really is a domino.

The second photo shows how I use the domino as a nest base.

Here she is basking in the sun....

Now you can see the back side of her head as well with her little crown of grass and sticks.

Thank you also to Mitra for those gorgeous leafs that worked perfectly for the fairy's wings!!!

The sweet little lovebirds all huddled together atop the domino.

Okay, take a second to look at her face and see if you notice anything unusual? LOL...other than this whole thing is unusual, is there anything ELSE you see that stands out?

Hint...it's braided.

I confess...it's my hair!!!

My son and Grandmother had a hoot cutting that off of me.

 I'll be honest.  There was a pucker factor of 10 while that was happening.

I'm not sure if I find it endearing or just plain creepy, but I remember when my mom saved a lock of my baby hair; why not my aging hair?  

Now, let me explain the concave naval.  Since this is for my lovely mother, I wanted it to be from me and represent myself as well as her in this project.  My nickname since birth has always been Bird and so it seemed only fitting that a little baby bird nest in her stomach. 

Nature and all things in it, represent my mother and what she loves.

 Here she is sitting in a special place waiting for Mom to arrive on Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day. I'm very pleased with her, she's a patient little nature fairy.

So there you have it. My project B.

I hope you found some inspiration here and now it's time to send you on for more.

Also, for those celebrating, 

Happy Mother's Day to you!!!

I'm so excited to see what Sue and Mitra have done as well.

Thank you so sincerely for your visit and enjoy visiting the others.

Hugs n' Happy Crafting,

Lisa x

I love you, but please go away....

 That's got to be the sweetest sentiment ever! Right?

Well, it's kinda what's going on at my house right now.

I'm so happy to have my grandmother of 87 years staying with us since last Friday and on the 7th it will be her 88th birthday!!!  She's incredibly artsy fartsy too and she loves to help when it comes to making cards!   WELL...this week she's been keeping me company and that's been great, but she barely left me alone long enough to plop this Happy Birthday sentiment on this card before she came running right back in. And seriously, she runs...she's a quick little one!

She's seen the card and helped select the butterflies, but she hasn't seen the sentiment yet.

Did I mention that her little feet are dreadfully stealthy too?  She walks with the weight of a shadow, so I'm at the moment, looking over my shoulder as I type this post, paranoid she'll be watching as I type about her....  

So far so good, so let me tell you what files I've used from The Cutting Cafe. 

(Dangit! Here she comes...be right back)...

LOL! I think she knows I'm up to something now. She walked in and I'm looking at my screen saver. She shook her head and walked out.

Seriously...I love you, but Grandma, PLEASE!

I loved combining the Tulip Basket Shaped Card Set with May Word Shaped Card and then an independent sentiment from my cutting machine.  

So there you have it.  

Happy (almost) 88th Birthday Grandma!!

I LOVE YOU and you can come back in the room now ;)

Hugs and Happy Crafting...

Lisa xx

 The Cutting Cafe

Aspartame and Tuna Cans Birdhouse....

Oh boy have I missed you!

Remember how I said I lost my voice? Well, seems coughing up a lung causes one to be exhausted and I spent an entire week just sleeping; however, I am back up and running.

I'm sooooooo excited to tell you that we (The Technicolor Trio of Tempting Treats; yes, that's our moniker) are together again this year to showcase several projects we've challenged each other to make.

So, without further adieu, I present you with my project A.

Aspartame and Tuna Cans Birdhouse

We (Sue - Onion and Mitra - Mitza Pitza and myself Quirks) all pitched in a total of 24 ideas. We grouped the ideas into sets of 4 that will total 6 projects all together.

Here's what I started out with.

Project A entailed 4 details:

 *Ways to use numbers and letters

* Spoons

*Quote

*Ruler art

Glued and Gesso'd

The spoons were cut and glued to the can. 

 My attempt at making an inverted pine cone structure with them.

The little house needed to be sturdy with bricks, so metal embossed tape it is.

The process completed and painted with Distress Inks

While the painting, gluing, and designing was going on, I popped 2 clay sculpey birds in the oven to bake until I could paint them and rest them in their new home.

Using numbers and letters. I devised their address as being "established 2014"

All little houses need little windows to look out of.

Here they are again all ready to hang by their ruler hoop.

Just need to figure out the very best place for it.

So there you have it. 3 friends, 4 elements and all kinds of fun!

Now I know you want to pop over to Onion and Mitza's blogs to see what they came up with, so I'll let you go now, but THANK YOU SOOOO much for your visit and now that I am feeling human again, I cannot wait to visit you too.

Biggest of hugs to you and Happy Crafting,

Lisa xx

This, That, Grad and No More Snot Rag....

Hello, Hello, Hello and Happy almost Easter!

Just wanted to pop a few cards up that I've made over the last 2 days. It's a compilation of several themes, but thought some of them might be inspiring if you're in need of some more ideas.

Here is my commissioned card for a 65th Anniversary.

Another commissioned card for a 50th.

Gold Anniversary

You're Sweet

I'm not that brave at making sympathy cards because I never know if they should be bland or over the top pretty... but here's what I came up with.

Sympathy  Card

I just read the musical paper and not sure what corn and beans have to do with sending sympathy, but....

Also, while my voice was out, the Hubster and I celebrated our anniversary and he got a nice QUIET day (he says 'best gift ever' ) and this card! 

Anniversary

Also, have several graduation ceremonies getting ready to take place for my friends, so I thought of this idea as the money holder for my good friend's son.

Graduation Money Holder

The base is a 3D graduation cap box and I've covered the bottom in Washi key tape. The top is a 3D hot air balloon that is attached with wire down through the lid of the hat. The graduate is holding on to the balloon and going forward.  A homemade tassel, year, and Dr. Seuss sentiment added.  

When you grab the balloon and pull, it pulls the lid off the hat and the 'green' gift will be inside.  

Centerpiece, keepsake and gift all in one.

Well, it's time to go take more Mucinex (I'm feeling SO MUCH better now) and I'll be back later with a fun group project announcement.

Hope you all are doing well and thank you so much for stopping by to visit me.

HUGE hugs and happy crafting,

Lisa xx

Red Cross, Laryngitis, and Santa's Landing Pad...

Hi, Hello, Howdy!

It's now day 4 that I'm experiencing total loss of my voice.

 Spring has sprung and something came in like a lion and out like a lamb or in like a lamb and out like a lion; well, whatever it was, it went out with my voice. My favorite tag phrase has been, "I'm only gonna whisper this once!"  It's horrible when you try so hard to squeak out a sentence and all you get is, "What?" I hate repeating myself, but the family is having fun calling me the new Godfather with my scratchy barely audible attempts at communicating. All I need is a cat and a swivel chair and I think I could give Marlon Brando a run for his money!

OH..before that, our town was declared a state of emergency and Red Cross came in to help with the flooding!  It's been so fun, I tell ya. 

Well, so... before all that, I made this very VERY fun and cool Configuration Box from the latest cut file from The Cutting Cafe!

The concept is going to be Santa sitting in his configuration box airplane as he's just landed and dispersed the presents and toys below.  Thought it would make a cute vintage centerpiece at Christmas. 

I'm just sorry that I don't have it completed, but I promise to share the photographs when it's all done!

Regina has created the best configuration layouts and diagrams for easiest assembly.  The airplane was created by joining two of the boxes together and then I used my cutting machine to design the wings accordingly in size and add on plane like embellishments.

We'd love for you to stop by the Cutting Cafe blog and leave a comment.  Each week Regina randomly selects a person to win 3 cut files from her store, just for stopping in and leaving a message!

Thanks SO much for your visit and now that I'm feeling up to par, I will be around to visit you all soon!

HUGE Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Lisa xx

Updated Frame...

Hello and welcome back!

I get the feeling that Regina never sleeps over at The Cutting Cafe, because she is constantly revealing new items in her shop!

 Here's the set I've decided to use titled,

Bible Easter Verses, inside a re-purposed frame I'd made earlier here.

You'll find this and many more wonderful Easter files at 

The Cutting Cafe.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Lisa x

Bingo!! Found the Eggs...

 Saw a really cute idea for Easter egg hunting on Pinterest.

 Put glow lights inside plastic eggs and hide them for a night time search.  

My son says that defeats the whole purpose of "hiding" but I figure if these weird snow storms don't stop happening in Spring; you're not gonna find them buried under a foot of snow either!

Luckily, the conditions are just perfect for

  Big Girl Elisha Jean and Friends.

SUCH a cute cut file to work with!!

You can find them here at

The Cutting Cafe.

**BONUS**

Would you like to know more about the owner of The Cutting Cafe, Regina?

She won't ever boast about herself, but I will!!!

A story was published about her in the HGTV Magazine recently and they did a fabulous write up about her AMAZING craft room and how it came to be after so many years. So super cool!

Wanna see even more pictures? Check out this post here. 

Warning...I drooled! 

Hugs and here's to happy crafting and hoping you find all your eggs!

Lisa xx

Where the Twinkies Live....

 You've heard me mention her name many times before, but telling you about her once just isn't sufficient enough.  

I could literally spend all my time on my blog talking about OTHER bloggers.  I've met SO many people who have touched my life.  I could blabber on and on about their friendships, generosity, hilarious emails, texts, phone calls, surprise packages, prayers, laughter, inspirational ideas, support, talent and on and on. So if you're reading this and you've been one of those people in my life, I truly hope you know HOW much I appreciate YOU and ALL that you do. 

Not just for me, but for everyone in your life. 

The crafting community is truly one of the most wonderful places to spend your time and it's been one of the best experiences in my life to get to know you!! 

So, thank you from the bottom of my butt (because it's way bigger than my heart) for making me smile daily!

Now...about the Twinkies!

I don't know if you're aware, but the majority of them live in New York...or at least they did.

Here in the Midwest we heard about their incredible come back, but the stores were barren of them. I have a friend who I met blogging a long time back and among many things, she and I share a love for cream filled spongecake pastries!! 

Nothing says, "I'm a friend" like surprise boxes of Twinkies in your mailbox!!!  

We even shared a near orgasmic experience when we found a recipe for a Twinkie Cake on Pinterest.   

Okay, so next to loving that she's my junk food supplier, she also sent me 8 of these to help decorate our Easter tree!! 

How gorgeous are these??  

Here's the link to Mitra's blog where she describes all about the disco eggs.

On the tree..with their friends :)

Here's where I laid on the floor and literally shimmied under the tree to try and get a descent; which isn't really, picture of the ornaments without the blinding light, which is still obviously present in this photograph; which is weird because it's raining out, ah well....

And here's where I said,

 "Screw it..I'm done trying" and just shot a picture on the way back to the craft room.

Thank you SO much Mitra!!!

 They are beautiful and thank you to all that visit.

Biggest of hugs and happy crafting...

Lisa x 

It's Spring! So of course it's snowing....

"From there to here and here to there, funny things are everywhere!"

 ~ Dr. Seuss~

I'm posting of flowers on this Spring afternoon as the fluffiest snowflakes fall past my window and land on the gallivanting geese in my lawn. 

It's like waking up inside the pages of a children's book where the reality is like a fairy tail that truly is not a fairy tail at all but in all actuality the realest of reals.  

At any moment now, I'm certain Thing 1 and Thing 2 will be joining me soon!

And so before this happens, as I'm most assured it might, let me; without further adieu, show you the flowers I made before reality took flight...

Sniff if you may, sniff if you might, they'll never wilt, they'll never die and they'll forever bring delight!

The Cutting Cafe

The gorgeous files I've used here are:

Flower Pot Shaped Card Template 

and

Paper Flower Template

I thank you so much for your visit.

"Today was good. Today was fun.  Tomorrow is another one!" ~ Dr.Seuss

I'm off to shovel....

Hugs and Happy Crafting!

Lisa x