A visit from Monique

Monique came over to craft and before we get to the artsy stuff....check out the dessert she brought.   YES! chocolate cup with chocolate mouse inside....OHHHHHHHH I love Monique!!!
So now that I wiped the drool, I can tell you what we played with.  She brought "Peel-Off" stickers and pens to play with.  The stickers come in silver, gold, white and black in a variety of designs.

I happen to have some of the stickers but never used them so this was a perfect opportunity to try them out.
Monique had two different types of pens one was the Glazed Gelly Roll and the other the Suffle.  I will ask Monique to give more information on the pens.  Here is what we made using the Glazed Gelly Roll which is thicker and creates a puffy effect.

The other type of pen gives more of a flat look and Monique used it to fill in this butterfly.  

THANKS MONIQUE FOR YOUR COMPANY,  SHOWING ME SOMETHING NEW AND GIVING ME AN EXCUSE TO GO SHOPPING.....COME BACK ANYTIME (and bring chocolate).

MEOW

If you are a fan of Pinterest then you saw the chipboard cats that I pinned from the Art N Soul blog.  For those that don't know, Art N Soul is a fabulous stamp store in Olympia.  Marcia and I drove down to the shop on Saturday and made two beautiful cards, more on this later.  Here is the blog site:
http://bellacartaatartnsoul.blogspot.com/
Anyway,  the cats come in three different poses and they can sit on a bookshelf or a door frame.  I covered my cat with decorative paper, cut flowers and layered them with foam tape to create depth, and finally added pearl beads to give her a "girl about town" look.  The chipboard cats cost $4.25 and are fun to decorate.

This is a fruit arrangement Caryl received for her Birthday!

Here are Caryl's kids enjoying the fruit!  A sweet treat for all.

Dawn didn't mention that SHE made the cute and delish arrangement.  Great job Dawn!!!

Calendar

Those snow days may have been a pain in the neck to deal with but for Caryl  they were a chance to craft.  She made a beautiful perpetual calendar for Christine's birthday.  I've asked Christine to post a picture of it.  And yesterday she gave me an early birthday gift (April is my birthday) and here it is....

 The supplies came from Artco with the exception of the stand.  The calendar grid is an overlay with a 12x12 decorative paper that Cooper chose for me (love it) and I can change it for each month if I want.  A metalic sheet stands in the back and all the items on the calendar have a magnet.  Caryl made the number beads and I can personalize special days with the bottle caps she made; birthdays, holidays and other special occasions.  I absolutely love it!   Thank you Caryl

A Barry Awesome Card

Christine received this card from Barry and to her surprise the skater started spinning when the card was opened.  The skater is suspended on a string in the center of the oval.  Caryl took pictures from different angles so we could see how Barry made it.  I love the color scheme and the cord detail, I just have one word for it.... BEAUTIFUL!

  

Christmas

We had a dinner get together in December and the challenge was to bring a decorated box for an exchange.  Christine, our hostess, had a number at each place setting and as the bags with the boxes came in she randomly put a number on each.  We matched our numbers to the bags and voila! we each had a beautiful item to take home. 

Caryl and I went to Value Village looking for a suitable box to decorate, she found this horrible  house shaped box  with colors from the 80's, funky flowers all over it, it was so bad I tried to discourage her from getting it.  Then who should get the box in the exchange?  Moi, but the transformation was amazing, I love it, she even made the bird, I used it to hold my Christmas cards and it looked great on my dinning room table. 

 Marcia's box has a sliding lid, she covered the inside with decorative paper adding cut out poinsettias to the glass lid.  Beautiful.

The flower covered lid is gorgeous, Angela decorated this charming box.

When I saw this box I really thought it was store bought and Dawn had just refinished the outside...Noooooooo - she colored the glass, added the stained glass details and antiqued the box.  I wanted this one too but Monique got it...LUCKY!!

Monique's  box has an "old Christmas" feel to it, I love the detail work. 

 Not a box but a tray, and a darn beautiful one too.  Barry decoupaged the center with festive holiday colors and painted the tray.  Love the colors and if it were mine (hint, hint) I would display it on my coffee table with a candle and some pretty holly.

 Christine, Santa called he wants his mailbox back! Whimsical, colorful and just plain FUN.

Lupine's box tells a  lot about her, no it's not that she drinks, it's the attention to color and detail.  It can hold a bottle of perfume, candy, a scarf or just about anything not necessarily alcoholic.

This is my box, Cari, I ended up making two boxes.  It all started with no inspiration to the point of wanting to drop out of the exchange, you know that feeling, and then creativity kicked in and I was unstoppable.  Each side of the box is different, I added wood buttons found at Michael's to raise it a little and a glass knob on the top for  a "classier" look.

Here is my second box which I kept.

We will be getting together at Angela's house next and the project will be calendars.....to be continued

A Thank You Card from Barry & Jerome

This was a thank you card I received this past summer.

The detail & layering is wonderful!

Nice work Barry.