A bibliophile's cabinet

I know I have said it before, but I love to read.  I love books and everything about them.  When I first got this china cabinet from Gina's Designs I was thinking I would make it a place to store my Frozen Charlotte collection, but it morphed into something else when I started picking out my papers.
Once again my book and writing papers took over.  I ended up making a little library vignette.

Little readers sit on top digging into giant reads.

Tiny books flank either end of the cabinet.

The top shelf has a little doll.  She reminded me of what people think of when they hear the word "librarian."  There are some reproduction flashcards and children's book illustrations on here too.  distressed the edges and wrinkled them a bit so they would look like they have been used.  

The bottom shelf has an awesome Nathaniel Hawthorne fact card someone sent me.  There's also one of my prized card catalog cards.  

Here's another angle so you can see the whole shelf.  

The drawers got some little knobs made out of buttons wooden buttons and then I added the October Afternoon pins on there.  

I hope you like my cabinet as much as I do.  

What have you been reading?

Jess

I am entering this into the 

Simon Says Stamp Due Date Challenge

Rhedd's Creative Spirit April

April showers

Living in Arizona we don't get much rain.  When we do it is time to celebrate! My project today on
The Robin's Nest reminds you what to do when it rains.

Hope you pop over!

Jess

Adventurous Bird Wallhanging

Hi everyone,

I made an altered canvas panel for you today.  

This is the first time I have used my Tattered Pine cone die.  Holy moly! These roses were so easy to make.  I used several shades of The Robin's Nest glitter card stock to make these.  

Once I made my roses I cut some greenery and just put everything on my canvas to see how I wanted to arrange it.  I used some of Gina's Designs laser cut birds on here too.  

I added color to the canvas using Heidi Swapp Sprays, Distress Spray Stains, and Distress Inks.  I also used Tim Holtz's Rays Stencil and a random chicken wire stencil for added layers.  

I dyed my seam binding ribbon using the above Distress Stains.  I wet the seam binding and then run it through the color I have smudged on my craft mat. 

To add my saying I used my clear alphabet clings and Archival ink in Potting Soil.  

Stamping this out took a long time, but I think it was worth it! You can see the birds got a little stamping on them too.  

Here's a close up of the flowers.  The edges are inked with Pumice Stone distress ink.  In addition to the roses I made some random curly flowers using my Tapered Fringe die.  The back of these were sprayed with Tattered Angels.  

I hope you enjoyed seeing my canvas today!

Stop by the Robin's Nest to check out their great product and sometimes I am featured on the blog too.

Try it on Tuesdays New Beginnings

Our Creative Corner- Color your World

Frilly and Funkie Spring time Die Cuts

Simon Says Stamp In the Middle

Simon Says Stamp Make Your Own Background

Rhedd's Creative Spirit April Challenge

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Keep your Chin Up!

I can't believe Linda Ledbetter and the crew are on the 25th challenge!  If you haven't joined in there is still plenty of time.  You can order a copy of Tim Holtz's CC3 on his website.  There are so many awesome techniques in there.  You won't regret the purchase!  I must not forget to mention there are fabulous prizes to be won from the amazing Inspiration Emporium.

The time the challenge focuses on Frameworks.

I made this out of a manila card you use in an index card box to sort things alphabetically.  You can see the extra little tab at the top.  

The background uses Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon, and Pumice Stone.  I speckled it with Weathered Wood Distress Paint and Black Dylusions Ink.  

The frame is tinted with Mermaid Alcohol ink.  

I am also entering this one into A Vintage Journey's Through the Looking Glass

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Easter Shadowbox

 One of my favorite things about Cavallini & Co is the wonderful tins their washi tape come in.

This little ceramic bunny fits in just right.  He has put some eggs under the Easter tree for you(by the way this Easter tree has been decorated with mercury glass beads).  

Another bunny sits on top with little blue forget me nots.  This little decoration looks so cute with all the other Easter bunnies.  

Hope you have a great holiday with family and friends.

Happy Easter! 

Jess

Signs of Spring

 Flowers are in bloom.  Bees are buzzing.  Nests are being made.  It's no secret I love birds. Over on the Robin's Nest I show you how to make your own nest!

What have you been crafting?
Jess

Recipes for Art: Robin's Nest Blog Hop

I was challenged by the Robins' Nest to come up with a recipe project.  I love to cook and bake.  The kitchen is covered with cookbooks.  I have at least two cookbook holders.  I pretty much have the food recipe thing covered.

So I made art recipes!  I took some quotes that inspire me and went to town.

I had this awesome, crusty, cracked spindle that I knew would work as a base.  I used a Tim Holtz memo pin and glued it into the top of the spindle.
To make my recipe cards I used an index card for my base and covered them with various papers.

I pretty much threw everything I could at this card.  The base is Saffron Honey Cardstock.  The edges are distressed and inked.  The right side has a smudge of embossing powder.  It's a mixture of black and brown distress powders.  The pen nib has alcohol ink on it to look like it's been used.  A small portion of a card catalog card is on the very bottom.  The tag was stamped with black Archival ink and then sprayed, inked, crumpled, and finally glued to the base.  

This is the back of the first card.  A completely different color scheme.  I used reverse side of the Wedding Cutout cardstock as the base.  I used my Tim Holtz stencil and modeling paste for the bubbles.  Once the paste was dry I smudge on distress paints in many colors.  I took the lid off and made some circles right on the paper.  

I took the paintbrush out of my brush bucket.  I terrible about cleaning my brushes.  Terrible.  I have learned my lesson and just buy cheap ones! I did smudge some extra paint on it to match the card.  

The quote is a sticker that I put an industrious sticker and some straw behind it.  

I stamped this image on watercolor paper and colored it using my kiddie set of watercolors.  The edges are inked with Broken China distress ink.  The background here is Tulip Wheels.  I painted a light layer of gesso on top to mute the color and spritzed it with Black Dylusions.  

This is the Wedding Swirl Glitter cardstock that has been sprayed with Dyslusions.  The glitter resists the spray.  I love how you can take a very dainty cardstock and completely change it with sprays.  This Wendy Vecchi stamp is so pretty.  I love the little fourish on the bottom.  The pattern mimics the pattern on the paper.  

My final card has a piece of dictionary paper as the base.  I used a stencil and distress stains to create the pattern on top.  The wings are a stamp from Finnabair.  I painted them with my distress stains.  I can't resist tiny fairies with giant pointy hats! He is mounted on a journaling ticket that has distressed edges.  The bow is made out of seam binding.  A tiny bit of washi tape finishes this one up.  

Don't forget to stop at the Robin's Nest blog to see the other hop projects.  Leave a comment and I get to pick someone to get a prize too!

Jess