Stamped Sachets

With all the rain we have been having this year  the plants have been blooming like crazy! I came home last week and noticed my lavender plant was full of gorgeous blooms.

So I went out and picked a basket full of the older blooms, leaving the newer ones for the bees and hummingbirds. I let the lavender dry naturally in the basket and then I broke the heads off the stems and crumbled them to put into satchels for drawers or to throw in with a load of laundry into the dryer.

To make the sachets I cut out pieces of thin fabric, such as muslin or linen, using the Sizzix Alterations Postage Stamp Frame 658572.

Then I put the large Movers and Shapers Rectangle in the center of the die and cut out a few frames from paperbacked fusible webbing. Iron the fusible web frame to the inside of one frame, then iron the left, right, and bottom sides of the postage stamp.

Be sure to leave the top open so you can fill the sachets.

Using Distress Paints and the lavender flower stamp from Flower Jars CMS297, stamp there lavender stems in the middle of the sachet. Applying a light neutral Distress Paint, such as Pumice Stone to small parts of the text stamps from Victorian CMS300 and Etcetera CMS302 around the outside edges of the sachet.

Fill the sachet with lavender, iron the top closed. Sew around the edge and tie with marching Linen Ribbon or Jute String. And just like that you have a lovely, wonderfully fragrant sachet for a drawer, Linen closet, dryer, or even a gift.

Believe You Can

This is a quick card I made using the lovely Victorian CMS300 and Motivation3 CMS291.

I stamped the images onto Distress Watercolor Paper in Ground Espresso Archival Ink. Then I just watercolored the images and background. Then I lightly stamped over the images with the text stamps in the Victorian set to add larded to the background.

I used the Ornate THS076 stencil on a tag and added it behind the  Motivation 3 stamp.

St Patrick's Day Vingnette Box and Finials

These are the two newest items in my March St Patrick's decor.
I used several bits of new and some old Idealogy.

In keeping with my theme of celebrating the real Patrick, a Scottish missionary to Ireland (his is a fascinating story including kidnapping, slavery, escape, forgiveness...worth reading about him if you haven't gotten a chance) I added these two vignette boxes. 

The small one says share, faith, courage from Small Talk stickers. I used the small Vignette Boxes,  small finial from the Vintage Finial Set, green design tape from the Design Tape Rose set, colored one of the Layers Botanicals Pack and added some Long Fastener brads as well as the Four-leaf Clover from the Souvenir Adornments.

Medium box used the same basic elements  but I added a key that says Life and a saying from the Chit Chat Sticker so that together it "says" the key to life -- live each day with grace and authenticity.

I love these new additions to my slowly growing St Patrick's day decor. Below are some other photos from this year.

Wanderlust Vagabond Society

This travel themed decorative frame project was born out looking at three sets of Tim Holtz's recent stamp releases and feeling a traveling theme emerge.

For this project I used a Framed Panel as the base. The background was a piece of Distress Multi Media Heavystock collage-stamped with parts of the stamps in the  Etcetera CMS302  set.  Then I added a little color with Antique Linen Distress Ink and a blending tool.
I added a piece of corrugated paper from the Textile Surfaces for texture. 
Using the travel themed images from the Tiny Things 2 CMS305 set, I stamped the compass in a pattern on a piece of Distress Watercolor Paper in Ground Espresso Distress Ink. Then stamped the globe on another piece. I watercolored over the whole background of each in different colors.
Next I cut a tag out of DMM Heavystock, stamped it in various places with bits from the Etcetera set.

The focal point was to stamp the globe from Tiny Things 2 in the upper middle of a piece of Distress Watercolor Paper. Then masked it and stamped the vintage suitcase from the Noble Gent CMS301 and stamped it, masked it, and stamped it 2 more times. Then I added Wanderlust across the top and Travel Society across the bottom. Then I finished it off by water coloring it.

To complete the piece I painted and distressed the frame, adhered the background and the the frame to the back panel. Then I layered the other pieces and added some travel themed Ideaology pieces.

On the Farm

My inspiration for this card were the French country prints that adorn the walls of one of my favorite local breakfast cafes.

The focal stamp set I used was On the Farm CMS303
I began by stamping the text stamp and log book stamp unmounted so that just bits of the stamp touched the paper. In doing it this way all over a piece of Distress Multi Media Heavystock paper I formed a collage background. I did all this Stamping in a brown Distress Ink. Then went over the entire background with Antique Linen Distress Ink and a blending tool.
I stamped the sheep in Black Soot Archival Ink and dried it. Then I watercolored the wool on the sheep and dabbed it dry with a clean cloth. I did this a couple of times and it turned an interesting white. I found that to be a serendipitous result and left it.

To make the frame I pounced three colors of Distress Paint onto Rosettes from
Rosette and Floret CMS279 then spritzed lightly with water and stamped it onto Ranger Black Cardstock. Then I cut it into a frame shape using dies.

Finishing touches were the bit of yellow Jute String and a Mini Plaquette stained with a little Butterscotch Alcohol Ink.