Busy Bees

I recently made a cute little card for my favorite cousin. It was her birthday, and I wanted her to have something pretty. I know she likes my layered pieces, so I decided to send her a hive of bees. 

I started out with some yellow and yellow green papers. I put them through the Cuttlebug with the first embossing folder I ever bought. It was the Honeycomb folder from Cricut/Cuttlebug.

 
I cut a few of the hexagons out here and there, and also cut pieces to go under the 'windows'. I also cut a few pieces to layer on top of the original layer.



I used a tiny bee stamp that I got with a small Prima set several years ago. I fussy cut them and colored them to look like bees. Then I layered the whole thing using foam adhesive squares to give the layers and the bees some dimension. I used two different thicknesses. The thicker foam I used to separate the layers of hive, and the thinner foam to pop the bees up just a tiny bit.

I was pretty pleased with the final results! This is a relatively simple process that results in a pretty high impact image. By far the most time consuming part of the job is the fussy cutting of the bees. 

I hope this has inspired you to go make something pretty today to send to a friend. It is totally worth the work when they open up the mail and see something other than bills in the mailbox. 

Have a happy weekend, and happy arting!

The last day of February...

What a glorious day! The sun isn't shining, the birds aren't really singing and nothing special in a good way is happening. But I woke up breathing, and everything seems to be functioning. So it might not be a beautiful day, but it is glorious nonetheless. 

I didn't blog on Monday. I was busily working on finding a supply I needed to finish a set of ATCs for the gallery showing and swap I participate in every year in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. It took me literally all day to find it. I hate when that happens. I seem to be losing things a lot lately. That means it's time for a reorganize. That means some things are going to get packed away. Other things will get put in the forefront, and everything will get revamped. More on that later.

I want to share the ATCs I created for the gallery swap with you, then I want to share the swap details with you, just in case you are interested in playing yourself. So without further nonsense...

I started out by going into a tub of 'junk' I've been putting bits and pieces into for a while. I have tried to keep things in there organized, but there's still a little bit of chaos. I pulled out some bags of scraps and bits that I've been wanting to play with for a while now. There are so many here that making a set of 7, and 2 full sets of 12 ATCs hasn't even really made a dent in the stash. :(  I was really hoping to do better. lol

I made a full set of these, all 'identical.' Identical being relative as there are always little random differences.

I had a full 8.5x11 sheet of this shimmery, textured paper. It was sent to me wrapped around a set of ATCs for protection in the mailing system, so I only got 8 cards out of the sheet instead of 10. I recently got this distressed filmstrip die from wish.com, and the stamp from my stash. The tiny acetate ticket came from another friend recently in a my stuff/your stuff swap. I think all together they make a striking image.

The second set I created were different, but I created 2 of each card. One for the swap, and one for my personal collection. I did use postage stamps as my theme this year. I had an ok time finding 2 of each of these, but that was it. Amazingly, I couldn't find any more of them!

 

This and all of the next papers have been in the stash for a long time. The acrylic piece and the flowers are from the my stuff/your stuff swap and the gems are from Paper Studio. That's what I spent all day looking for. lol...this card just wouldn't be the same without them though.

 

 The lace is vintage, and came from a thrift shop somewhere. The pearls in the center are also from Paper Studio. My favorite brand of bling.

 The button came from the my stuff/your stuff swap. I used 2 different kinds of glue for this set. I was worried about my tried and true Elmer's school glue on these funky papers, so I used Aileen's Paper Glaze and Aileen's Fast Grab tacky glues instead. I have to say. They did a stellar job on these super slick finishes.

 

 This paper was put through an embossing folder before it was sent to me. I kinda liked it, but have never seen the embossing folder. The gold braid and string of black beads were in my stash.

 

 This is probably the simplest one of the set. This is actually a vintage paper doily I found in a thrift shop. They are exactly 3.5 inches wide! They are hard to see in the photo, but there are also some teeny tiny red gems on the berries on the stamp. Paper Studio strikes again. Lol





This last one is my favorite I think. I used some leftover pieces of a window shade sample from The Shade Store. I loved how it looks like the parrot has his feet resting on the bamboo, and like he's going to nibble at the braided grass. I only wish his tail was all in the picture. This set was fun to make, and came together pretty quickly once I found the bling.

 The third set, are all the same, but used different papers and stamps. I started out with poker playing cards from the dollar store, and covered them with leftover scraps of paper from the stash. Then I cut up a couple of paint paper towels I had around for the next layer. The third layer is some thin packing paper that I put through the Cuttlebug in an embossing folder from wish.com. Next is a piece of clear plastic that I also put through the Cuttlebug with a set of tiny doily dies that also came from wish.com. They didn't cut quite all the way through, but the plastic is pretty thick. I really like the way they look. I topped the whole thing off with a postage stamp. I stapled the stamp, doily and embossed bit together before gluing the embossed bit down. I didn't think any glue would hold those doilies down. Tell me in the comments which is your favorite?

  

  

Now, as promised, here are the deets of the swap. Tis link may not work. Wen I find a better one I will edit this.

https://www.facebook.com/events/2060562907498792/?ti=ashttps://www.facebook.com/events/2060562907498792/?ti=as
Well, that's all I have for you today. I will try to have something on time for you next Monday. Even if I have no photos, or it isn't even art related. ;)

Bye for now> Happy arting!