I'm excited to bring you my technique today. I guess you could say I was inspired by the bright and shiny necklace in the photo. And of course, I can't leave out the vibrant blue skies.

A light bulb came on when I was digging out possibilities for this month's challenge. I believe I was working on another project and had these two pieces of chipboard laying out on the table. For some reason they caught my eye and all I could see using them for was a robot. I could just envision his cute little boxy face. Almost immediately I went to work spray painting the little dude.

After mulling the idea around for a bit. I started thinking of supplies I already had on hand that I could use. Like pop cans. I washed a couple out before bed that night so they could be drying. Then the idea to use hardware came into play. So I dug around and found some in a kitchen drawer. All I had to do was dab some acrylic paint on them with tiny piece of a sponge.

Without further ado....Meet Ramsey the robot. I think he's such a cutie! He was so much fun to create. Hmmmm, maybe he needs a Mrs.?

Supplies: 2 pieces of medium plaques chip art chipboard (#551), blue redwork homespun chic paper, red and white card stock, 2 pop cans, silver metallic spray paint, 7 silver nuts (hardware), silver wire, 1/2 in. circle punch, rhinestone, stickers, blue acrylic paint, pen, hot glue gun, kid paintbrush, foam tape

Spray paint chipboard. Allow to dry (approx.15 min)

Cut two 1 in. strips from one can for legs. Accordion fold and adhere.

Cut two 3/4 in. strips from 2nd can for arms. Accordion fold and adhere.

Create two rectangles from a piece of scrap aluminum.

One will be cut for the eyes. The other will remain uncut for the neck.

Cut one rectangle in half. Fold to create eyes. Make a small square

out of scrap aluminum. Fold to create a triangle for nose.

Also cut small rectangle for mouth.

Wrap wire around end of paint brush to create antennae.

Complete instructions:

1. spray paint chipboard. allow to dry approx. 15 min. cut pop cans to create arms and legs
2. accordion fold arms and legs. adhere.
3. cut neck from scrap. adhere to head and body to connect. create eyes, nose and mouth. adhere.
4. paint nuts. allow to dry approx. 15 min. once dry adhere.
5. trace and cut middle panel. hand draw hearts, hands and feet. cut and adhere.
6. affix stickers to card stock. cut and adhere.
7. wrap wire around paintbrush. remove. punch out circle affix rhinestone. adhere to wire. adhere wire to robot.
8. cut card stock to create card base. cut patterned paper slightly smaller than card stock and adhere. Adhere robot to card base using foam tape.

~lori

Read more...

Is it really June already?? School is out (JOY, JOY) and it's the month we celebrate the fathers in our lives. Both events are special in my book. I enjoy my kidlettes being out of school. We usually have a long to-do list each summer. So far on our list. We have vacation (to a never been before state), summer reading program at library, baseball, camping, voice lessons, volley ball camp, church camp, Florida trip, garden (it's actually growing famously). Sounds like a summer of fun!

Father's Day becomes more special each year as our children get older. I enjoy watching my hubby interact with kids in such a wonderful way. Our children have been blessed with a father who is active in their lives. He goes on field trips, attends field day, cooks for the school cook out, helps with baseball practice and games, he's a good provider, attends church each service, makes sure they get the proper discipline, I could go on and on. He really helps make my job as a mom a joyful experience.

The inspiration this month evokes such carefree feelings. I was really pulled in by the hot air balloons. By the way they float so haphazardly through the cloudless, deep blue sky with such ease and beauty. I can hardly tear my eyes away from the bold colors and patterns. It's almost breath taking.

Needless to say, my first card was inspired by the hot air balloons bold color and pattern. I pulled some paper from the Smoothie Shoppe and Lydia collections. I added a Melody Ross chipboard tag, some bling, a doily, and a Melody Ross button. The flower was created with a scalloped punch. I have a small tutorial for it in the works.

Below is a close-up of the flower. The paper used for the flower is called Pinas (smoothie shoppe and the stems are called Linen (lydia collection) .

This card has many elements seen in the photos. The scallops (cloud necklace), green colors ( balloon), stripes (balloon), blues (sky), orange, bronze accents (dirt road and fields). How fun is that. Talk about inspiration. It's amazing what you can get out of a few photos.

Patterned paper used for this card. Smoothie Shoppe and Homespun Chic.

Since this is the month we celebrate our fathers. And masculine cards seem to be a bit of challenge for me. I decided to create something really simple but fun. I started out with a plain Kraft card base. I wanted to make a frame using score lines. To do that. Punch a square and use it to mark each corner. Then simply connect the lines. I then stamped a smaller panel with a wood grain BG stamp. Adhered it to the center of the frame with pop dots. To create the tie, I used a square punch and a straight edge. The "knot" is a square cut in half with each angle tucked under. I then faux stitched around the edges.

Patterned paper is Diamonds from the Lydia collection.

TSM for bearing with me this long. I guess I got a little carried away with this month's challenge. I just couldn't seem to stop myself!

My last project is for my sweet daddy. He likes to fly little airplanes and he thinks Snoopy is funny. It also matches his office. Which in turn will make my momma happy.

The paper is form the Artsy Urban collection. I also used Melody Ross Chip Art Tool and chipboard. I colored in the stars and DAD with Copics.

I hope your summer has gotten off to a great start! C-ya next month. BOOM Time! :)

~lori

Read more...