Christmas Ornament

Double Sided Christmas Ornament
Designed by Susan Johnson
Inspired by Robin Beam

Supplies:
Jumbo Double Sided Circle Pendant Trays™
Gluefoil™, Streuter Technologies,
Gluefilm™, Streuter Technologies
Cuttlebug™, Winter Jelly Emboss Folders, Provo Craft
Grungeboard™ Plain, Tim Holtz™ Idea-ology,

Adirondack Ink Metal Mixative Copper Adirondack® Ranger
Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Ranger Industries,
Craft Iron, Clover,
Fine grit sandpaper
High Gloss Acrylic Varnish, Liquitex,
Ribbon
Paintbrush
Towel

Directions:
Preparing the Pendant Artwork:
1. Create a template for the bed of the pendant using scrap cardstock. Hint: ink rim of pendant, press onto paper to use as a template, trimming until it fits into pendant snugly.
2. Turn on Craft Iron to medium setting. Cut plain Grungeboard and Gluefoil to the same size (cut to specific size of pendant or with a larger piece to make multiple pendants).
3. Layer glue side of Gluefoil to Grungeboard. Place iron to Gluefoil; do not move the iron around, as it will cause the foil to move around.
4. Pick up iron; make sure the foil stays inline with the Grungeboard. Press down with towel or scrap paper, allowing the glue to cure and bond to Grungeboard.
5. Place Gluefoil/Grungeboard “sandwich” into embossing folder; move to area of embossed pattern that would look best in pendant. Emboss with Cuttlebug. Repeat the above steps for the other side of the pendant.
6. Trim as needed so foil will fit into pendant; sand edges. Note: some pendants are deeper than others. With a deeper pendant, cut a second piece of Grungeboard and glue with a piece of Gluefilm cut to size. With the foil fitting flush with the edge of the pendant, it will look even more “finished”!
Adirondack Paint Dabbers and Stickles Glitter Glue
1. Shake paints to mix properly. Dab paint onto Craft Sheet and paint in image with Water brush. Paint background first, then details. Make sure there is not too much water on brush, as the paint will tend to bead onto the foil surface.
2. Let dry. If needed, add a second coat as necessary.
3. When completely dry, lightly sand surface to allow some of the paint to rub off and create a vintage or distressed effect.
4. Dab distressed surface with Brown, Black Paint or White and allow to dry.
5. Mist towel with water and rub off excess black, brown or white paint to further age.
6. Use Stickles Glitter Glue to create an extra sparkle.
Paint metal surface with 1-2 coats of Acrylic Varnish. This will prevent paint or alcohol ink from coming off the surface.
Adirondack Alcohol Ink
1. Place Copper Alcohol Inks onto piece of Blending Foam (this reduces any “lint” that is left onto inked surface). Tap onto Jumbo Double Sided Circle Pendant Tray and let dry. Add layers of Alcohol Inks as necessary until desired color is achieved.
Putting it all Together!
1. Cut Gluefilm to size of pendant bed.
2. With heat tool or craft iron, heat pendant. Carefully place Gluefilm into bottom of pendant. The heated metal will melt the glue.
3. Immediately (and carefully) place artwork into pendant, pressing down to create a solid bond between the glue and Grungeboard bottom layer.
4. Tie ribbon on loop and then add an ornament hook and add to your Christmas tree.

Happy Halloween!

Here are a couple of Halloween inspired projects that I have created lately. The first one I used metal tape and grungeboard, the second I used paper scraps to make a Halloween scene. Enjoy!

Cards

I've always been a crafter but about 10 years ago I started to stamp. When I started to stamp I my intentions were to use the stamps in scrapbooking. While I did use the stamps in my scrapbooking I usually used them to make cards. I have shoe boxes full of cards that I have made. Part of why I have so many cards is that I forget to give them out and then they are to pretty to hand out. Do you ever love something so much that you made for someone and want to keep it for yourself? I do that quite often when it comes to cards. I've been so busy with life and have not made any cards in I don't remember how long. With World Card Making Day I really wanted to make cards that day but just didn't have the time. I finally took the time to make a few cards the next day and remembered how much fun it is to make them. Enjoy this card that I made using Cosmo Cricket paper and circles cut with the Cricut (my new bestfriend), Perfect Pearls and Rangers White Gel Pen. I challenge you to make a card and actually give it to someone today! I'm going to try really hard to give this card up and send it to someone, tomorrow!

Where does the time go?

I can't believe that it has been a month since I posted last. I guess my only excuse is that the kids have started school and so has football season. I do have exciting news. I have been published in Jewelry Creations! I have the first page in the "Quick" section titled "Orangesicle Joy". I've had my picture in the newspaper before and other things but this is more exciting. I brought the magazine to my nieces birthday party and to my work to show everyone. CK Media sent me a copy but I still had to buy one at Michaels. It seems a little wierd that something little old me made is in a magazine and that that magazine is sold at Michaels!

Belt Buckles!

Did you know that Amate Studios carries Belt Buckles? In these samples I have used Robin Beam's technique with Strueters Glue Foil and Tim Holtz Grungeboard. What you can you do with these Belt Buckles? Have fun, Susan

ARGH!!! Burried Treasusre!

This is Amate Studios Regular Treasure Chest. I have been playing with a new technique by Robin Beam using Glue Foil by Strueter and Grungeboard by Ideaology and Tim Holtz. After applying the grungeboard skull and the glue foil to the treasure box I antiqued it with a variety of Alcohol Inks and Pitch Black Black Paint Dauber by Ranger. This is by far my most favorite piece yet! I think I will play some more tonight. I wonder what I will come up with?

Back from Summer CHA

I need to get better about taking pictures. I think I take great pictures, I just forget to take them! I had so many oportunities to take pictures of "stars" in the industry I just fortot to take the pictures. Setting up of our booth on Thursday was pretty easy. I think we were out of there by 5 pm. Other shows we were out around midnight. Friday things started out slow like they always do. The show seemed to have 25% less booths and about 10% less attendees that normal for the summer show. I had a great time with the make and takes. One day we did a scrapbook pendant, a tag with a pendant on it and then a bracelet with melt art. I had three chairs set up to make the bracelets and there was a line behind each of them.The bracelet was by far the most favorite. I was on my feet movin' and shakin' from 9 to 3 with barely one restroom brake! I actually left people at the table waiting for instructions so I could use the restroom. Time in the jacuzzi at our hotel was much needed that night but I was to tired to change and go down stairs. Robin Beam demoed at our boot on Friday and Saturday. She has such an imaginative brain! You can see one of my previous post to see what she demoed. I met many new people and created many new friendships.I was able to see the whole gang from Ranger because we were right across from their booth. I was also able to visit often with Kezia and her husband Paul from Tinkering Ink and saw a few others that I met at Ranger U. Here is a picture of a necklace that Kezia made using one of Amate's pendants and one of her digital designs.

Chicago

Wow! Jason and I went to Chicago for Summer CHA. Neither of us have been to Chicago before so, we went a day early to look around. Chicago is such a nice clean city and pretty easy to get around. We started out towards Navy Pier where we walked around for awhile. We saw people setting up for the Batman Movie Premier. Red Carpet and all. After Navy Pier we found our way to the Buckingham Fountain. The weather was pretty nice. It was hot like Phoenix except with humidity. As we were standing on one side of the fountain Jason suggested that we go to the other side and get a little of the mist from the fountain. Sounds like a good idea right? NOT! As we started to walk we did get a little mist but then the wind kicked up and we got drenched. I tried to get out of the way but couldn't. Once we were out of the water and looked at each other we laughed. Half of me was soaked like I had just gotten out of the shower (dripping wet, I could wring out the water in my hair) and the other side was completely dry! While walking around we also found some of the best Caramel popcorn at Garrett's. I am going to find out if they ship across the states. I could eat the popcorn all day. I think we will take the kids there someday. There is so much to do in Chicago. We barely scratched the surface.

Teaching at Mystic Paper

This Saturday I am teaching a Melt Art class at Mystic Paper in Downtown Mesa. You can visit www.mysticpaper.blogspot.com for more information and pictures of what we are making.

Almost ready for CHA

I would say that I am 90% ready for CHA. I leave in a week! In Anaheim we did one make and take for the whole show. This time we are doing a different one each day. I am still working on cutting paper for the make and takes. I even had my 14 year old son Stuart helping me. After a while he said he was bored and stopped. But I was sure grateful for the help he did give. Our final packaging is at the printers!!! What a long process to get packaging for products. I sure have learned alot about printing that I never thought I would know.

On a very happy and excited note - Robin Beam http://www.pearlesq.blogspot.com/ will be demoing at our booth! She will be at our booth #3051 on Friday from 1 to 3 and Saturday from 3 to 5. Here is one of her samples that she has made for us. Enjoy!

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Final Day at Ranger U

These are some of the great women that I was privileged enough to hang out with and learn with. I tride taking a picture of Tim but it didn't turn out. The third day was filled with more Ink, Ink and Ink. We made another 16 tags to complete an aweome technique tag book. To say the least I think it was information overload. I think that we could have easily added another day and know one would have complained. Ranger gave us so much stuff to take home that the next day when I went to the airport my luggage weighed to much. I had to shift my stuff around so I wouldn't have to pay an additional $50 for 5 extra pounds. I think the luggage thing had gotten a little out of hand with the airlines. But oh well. After a very long story I made it home 10 hours later than I was supposed to but safe and sound. And that is what counts. I am very grateful for my experiences at Ranger U and thank Ranger U for inviting me. I almost forgot the most important part of all - I am now a Ranger Certified Instructor!!!

Compact?

Did you know that you could fit 7 grown women in a compact car? OK well not legally or comfortably. Most of us that were attending Ranger did not have cars. After Day 2 we were on our own for dinner. There were few choices close by for dinner. So 7 of us wanted to go to Cheese Cake Factory witch was about 15 minutes away. How would we all get there? We all crammed into a compact car! Someone has a picture of us in the car. I didn't get one because I put my purse in the trunk to help with space. Although at this point it probably wouldn't matter. I was sitting on Pennys lap with my back to the window. At some point a police car drove by stared at us. The police man drove a little past us and then turned around. We kept driving normal expecting to get pulled over. Either he never caught up with us or he couldn't find us. Kezia sweet talked the Hostess at Cheese Cake Factory to getting us in sooner than the 2 hour wait. They said that we would still have to wait 1 hour. So we all went shopping. The trunk of the car was empty except for a couple of purses before we started. Now look at it!

Day 2 at Ranger U

Day 2 were just as busy as day 1. Each day I started off with free breakfast at the hotel. Then off to Ranger we went. We started at 9:30 in the morning at ended around 5pm. Day 2 was filled with Ink, Ink and Ink! OK we also learned about Perfect Pearls. All was taught by Tim Holtz. It was pretty cool how we learned about each of the products. We made tags. At the end of the day we ended up with 12 different tags. In the past I have had a hard time with making the collage look or distressed look. Now I have no problem at all. The technique tags are so great. One side has the sample
and the other has a label with the instructions. Oh the possibilities are endless!!! These pictures are actually samples that Tim made. I only wish that we were given some of Tim's storage containers.

I was accepted to Ranger U!

Guess what? Out of 125 applicants I was accepted! So off to Tinton Falls, NJ I went. I have been back a week and I think I am recovered now. It was such a wirlwind weekend that it was almost not enough time to learn everything! I started off by leaving my home on Thursday at 4:30 in the morning to get to the airport early. What was I thinking trying to leave early? I guess I was just excited to get there. When I arrived in Newark I was graciouly picked up by another attendie Terri Ventura http://www.dimestoredaze.com/. I arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon. We had no plans for the evening so I called Robin Beam to see if we could meet up with her. Terri and I were both able to go to dinner with Robin. She even showed us around town. I'm not sure where we were except that we were in New Jersey and by the water. We walked around some great shops and had great dinner. Then on Friday Ranger U started. The weekend was jam packed with information. We started out with a tour of Ranger Facilities. I was able to see Stickles made. I watched it being put into bottles, the tip put on, lid put on and then the label. Then we were each able to take one off of the line! WOW! Then we learned Melt Art instructed by Suze Weinberg, had lunch then instruction by Claudine Hellmuth.


I can't tell you what Claudine taught us. It is top secret. If I told you I would have to kill you! After Claudine we had a BBQ at Ranger. The BBQ was a nice way to relax and to get to know each other. At the BBQ I was able to chat alot with Suze and her husband Lenny. I also got to know Kezia Whitteker with http://www.tinkeringink.com/ and Vicki Boutin a CK Hall of Famer http://www.vickiboutin.typepad.com/ . Not bad for a first day at Ranger U!

Neck Tie Fathers Day Cards!

I had so much fun making these cards. I used the neck tie pendant from Amate Studios and paper from www.CosmoCricket.com and www.PiggyTales.com . I added a tie tack to the back of the pendant to make a tie tack out of a tie! Did I confuse you? I found the shirt pattern on line at www.SplitcoastStampers.com under patterns. These cards are standard size. To make the shirt fit I used a 1/2 sheet of paper. FYI copy paper works much better that card stock! If you use cardstock make sure to have a bone folder handy.

New Packaging!!!

No rest for me. I have been busy helping redesign our logo and packaging. Actually we will now have packaging!!! It has been fun and tiring at the same time. During Summer CHA 2008 we are a sponsor for Mark's 10 Minute Craft Challenge. We are providing a gift basket for one of the contestants and and free products for the audience. What about the make and takes for CHA? Well I have been busy working with different scrapbook companies (Cosmo Cricket and 2 Bugs in a Rug) to make our make and takes better than ever! I will have have a different one each day! Crazy for me but fun for you! We might even have a few new products for you to enjoy!

Tyree's Daisy

April 16th was the one year Anniversary of my sister in law passing away. In her honor I made "Tyree's Daisy" for each of the girls that attended a girls weekend away in her honor. Tyree was very sick with a blatter and kidney infection and was in the hospital in Cottonwood. She came home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon and still wasn't feeling good at all. She slept restlessly Sunday night Monday she woke up, picked up the baby and then called out for her husband doubled over and had what we believed was a heart attack. She was completely unresponsive and not breathing and no heartbeat. The paramedics arrived within a couple of minutes and on the way to the hospital, they were able to revive her. She was in the ICU in Cottonwood all in a drug-induced coma while they checked her out. She was then flown to Banner Estrella Mountain hospital in West Phoenix where whe remained in a drug induced coma and was diagnosed with "Post-Partum Cardio Myopathy". Basically that means that the birth of their daughter put a major strain on Ty's heart, causing it to enlarge and weaken. Because Tys heart was not pumping properly she was not receiving enough oxygen to her brain. We are not sure how long Tyree was not receiving enough oxygen to her brain. Because of this she was diagnosed with some brain damage. After a week or so stay it was decided that Ty would be moved to Barrow Neurological Center in Central Phoenix. After alot of test it was definate that Tyree has extensive brain damage and that she would not recover. All movements that we had been seeing are results of reflexs from her brain stem, not her actual brain. After less than a week stay at Barrows Ty was transfered to a hospise. After a 3 week battle Tyree passed away peacefully with her husband by her side. If you would like to read more about Tyrees story you can visit www.godisneverlate.blogspot.com. Tyree's favorite flowers were daisies. Her funeral was filled with daisies just the way she would have wanted it.

WHAT A MESS!!!

Actually this isn't to bad compared to what it actually look like right now! It seems like I work around my messes until I don't have space to create then I clean. I have been working on some projects for CHA Chicago. Who thought it would be so hard to decide what to do for make and takes. I wish I could post them now but you will have to wait for CHA! I am looking forward to my first time in Chicago. My husband and I might go a few days ahead to look around. Anything we should see?

Green Apple Pendant

When I made this I thought the color looked like a green apple hence the name. This is another creation using various colors of UTEE, Perfect Pearls and the Melting pot by Ranger. I actually dropped the pendant and created a crack in the UTEE. From experience I knew if I tried re heating it I would loose the marbling. I left is sitting for a couple of weeks not sure what to do with it when some baubles I ordered came in and I knew exactly what to do!