Les Miserables Papercrafting Project

When I think of France, the famous French novel “Les Misérables” by author Victor Hugo instantly comes to mind. I saw the musical at the Music Hall in Kansas City and truly loved it and of course shed tears throughout, but I am a softy.  Here's my stage and sign for the musical.

The novel is considered to be one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century and follows the lives and interactions of many characters. The character in the novel and musical I am focusing on is Cosette, whose story is quite moving.

I printed a portrait of "Cosette" by Emile Bayard, from the original edition of Les Misérables (1862) on an ink jet printer. Cosette is a fictional character in the novel whose mother, Fantine,  places her under the guardianship of the Thénardiers, where she is severely mistreated.

You may want to read the novel or see the musical to follow the life of Cosette.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ebcosette.jpg

I added some stains to the image for contrast, on the wooden door I used Vintage Photo, on the stones - Pumice Stone; on Colette - a little Barn Door on her hair; and on the water - a little Glossy Accent was added for shine on the water highlights.

I wanted to make a stage and a Honey Maid Graham Cracker box was the beginning of my stage.

I cut the front panel of the box to open it up like a stage and began staining it with Black Soot. It took several coats of the Black Soot.

For stage curtains, I started with white lace ribbons stained then thought I wanted red curtains so stained the lace with Barn Door Distress Stain. 

My first assembly came together pretty well but I wanted a Broadway type sign on top so wanted to add some lighting on the sign. 

I made a a sign for the top of the stage to resemble a Broardway sign and used dew drops for the lighting effect.

Now it was time to create a small sign to sit in front of the stage promoting Les Miserables. I used a Sizzix Nestabilities die to cut the small sign and stamped with a Hero Arts stamp repeatedly, added a fleur de lis, a ticket, some script, Tattered Banner. distress ink and a picture of Cosette from the musical.

There you have it, my stage and signs are complete - Judy.

Challenge:
Simon Says Stamp and Show: Inspiration Francaise

Remembering Family Scrapbook Layout

Today's post is all about family, pearls, flowers, and pastels. So expect to see a lot of each. This page will become part of an album honoring my parents and grandparents. The paper is by K&Company and seems so perfect for a bit of nostalgia. 

 I toned down the white streaming ribbons with a few swipes of Old Paper Distress Ink then tied the ribbon in a bow and trimmed the streamers to fit the space.
The flowers were white and I wanted to make them a shade of pastel pink by first inking them with a tiny bit with Old Paper for a little shading then inking again with Angel Pink Memento Ink.

I also sprayed the flowers with Perfect Pearls - Pearl for some added shine and glimmer.

As I was inking the flowers I remembered some pink ribbon roses  that I used over twenty years ago and thought they were in my sewing chest. I had stitched the three roses together and added the green ribbon stems for a project years ago. 

There was only one issue, the roses were a much brighter shade of pink, too bright for this pastel project. 

To solve the issue, I first dabbed on Picket Fence Distress Stain. Wow, it worked and my roses were a much softer pink! I followed by adding a little Pearl Paint using an Adirondack Paint Dabber and was pleased with my results.

While digging in my sewing chest, I saw some straight pins that had white heads and knew I wanted to add a few to the roses and stems.

Three pins were added to keep it an odd number.

The pearls for the flower centers is White Opal Liquid Pearls by Ranger. I could have used stick on pearls but I enjoy squeezing the bottle and making my own.

I used the same technique for the pearls on the ribbons. Now my project needed to dry for a while since the Liquid Pearls can be smudged very quickly with the slightest touch of a finger.

The K& Company paper had a small vine running around the border which gave me an idea to add pearls along the vine. Here I decided to used stick on pearls so I would not have to worry about smudging the pearls as I was working.

There you have it, this page is complete and ready for the album. Thanks for stopping by - Judy.

Challenges:
Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: Just Add Pearl
Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge: Pearls and Flowers

Christmas Pearls Card

Working with pearls, how elegant is that? The Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Just Add Pearl gave me the chance to work with Perfect Pearls Mist, TH - The Snowflake Rosette, a Nestabilities Label and lots of stick on pearls. This week's challenge at Joan's Garden is "A Winter Card" so great, I can enter both challenges with this card. 

I want to make use of the cutout piece from the Spellbinders Nestabilities Label so I made a second card. I wish you could see the Shimmer on the white paper and the blue paper. They add so much sparkle to the paper.

Supplies:
Tim Holtz Alterations: Tattered Banners and Snowflake Rosette
Ranger - Perfect Pearls Mists: Perfect Pearl and Heirloom Gold

Paper:
White Shimmer by TPC Studio
Ice Blue Metallic by The Paper Company

Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels 18

Crystal Stickers - Pearls Perles

Silver Elastic Cord

Make It Merry Card - Wendy Vecchi

The challenge for the week at Simon Says Stamp and Show is Inspired by Wendy Vecchi. I am very last minute getting an entry for the challenge because I haven't been home all week but I am finished just in time.

My entry is a Christmas card make using the stamp: Art of Making It Pretty LCS007. Take a look:

The stamp set has five different rubber stamps and between the outside and inside of the card, I managed to use all of them. My card began with vanilla card stock, then inked the background stamp in the set with Old Paper Distress Ink to keep the background light. I heat dried it a few seconds, then inked the poinsettia stamp with Forrest Moss Distress Ink and stamped over the background. Next I inked some red paper with Barn Door Distress Ink to get a little deeper red. On the poinsettia stamp I used the Ranger Emboss It Clear Ink Pad and Ranger Red Embossing Tinsel then heat dried it then cut it out and used double sided sticky foam squares to attach the poinsettia. I inked the edges of the card with Old Paper to stay with that subtle look then used Gold Stickles on the center of the poinsettia and Lime Green Stickles on the swirls of the flower.

I used a piece of the cardstock that had been stamped with the background stamp while I was practicing to stamp "make it Merry." I inked with Ranger Emboss It Clear Ink Pad and Ranger Red Embossing Tinsel then heat dried it then cut it out and used double sided sticky foam squares to attach it to the front of the card.

Wicked Witch Card

Do you remember you favorite costume for Halloween? Was it scary, funny or cute? My favorite costume was the year I got to be a witch. My Mom made the costume and bought an old ugly witch rubber mask. I was so excited to go Trick or Treating in that witch costume.

I made an easel card to reflect this memory and am entering the Simon Says Challenge: Your Favorite.  I loved making this card, from the easel fold, the embossed background, the witch to the tree. Gosh, it was all so fun!

Instructions to make and assemble the easel card are below.

Supplies:

Cardstock: orange, black and white

Background of card: Tim Holtz Texture Fades - Damask & Regal Flourishes. Inked paper first with Ripe Persimmon than ran embossing folder through machine then inked with Dusty Concord.

Stamp: Hampton Arts - Graphic 45 The Magic of Oz

witch body: stamped with Adirondack Black, inked with gray marker and Dusty Concord Distress Ink. Time Piece: inked with Tea Dye and Distress Stickles Vintage Photo to outline time piece.

witch face: Distress Ink Pad Peeled Paint, red marker for eyes, Ripe Persimmon for shadows under eyes.

witch hat: inked with Dusty Concord and gray marker, highlighted with black stickles.

broom - inked with Rusty Hinge Ink Pad then Distress Stickles - Vintage Photo

Inking around stamped image: Dusty Concord, Squeezed Lemon, Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo. Then applied strip of black glitter tape, stamped spider webs in corner and applied black stickles. 

Tree: Sizzix - Tim Holtz - Branch Tree: inked with Brushed Corduroy, applied Distress Vintage Photo Crackle Paint, inked again with Brushed Corduroy. Highlighted tree with Distress Stickles Vintage Photo. 

Banner: 

Stamp: Hampton Arts - Graphic 45 The Magic of Oz 

Sentiment: stamped with Ranger Clear Emboss Ink Pad, and Ranger Ink Embossing Powder Sticky, dried and added purple glitter.

Stockings: stamped with Adirondack Black Ink and colored with orange marker.

Crow: stamped with Adirondack Black Ink

Instructions:

1. Cut orange cardstock at 4 x 8.
2. Cut piece of orange cardstock at 4 x 4.
3. Score and fold 4 x 8 orange card at 2" & 4". Set aside till ready to assemble.
4. Cut piece of black cardstock at 3 3/4 x 3 3/4. Cut piece of white cardstock at 3 1/2 x 3 1/2.
5. Stamp on white card and embellish as desired.
6. Adhere stamped layer to black card.
7. Tape completed stamped card to 4 x 4 orange card. 

Assemble Easel Card: 

1. Take 4 x 8 base card and fold both score lines towards you which will create the easel part of the card.
2. Create a banner to tape to the bottom of the card.
3. Mount banner to bottom of card with pop dots. This is going to create the stopper for the easel card.
4. Tape the stamped card to the bottom half only of the top of the easel card. 

Spooky Halloween Tag

I have had so much fun playing around with ideas for Halloween, I can remember a house that was just a street over from my house growing up and always thought of it as a spooky house. I was too afraid to go up the steps by myself for Trick or Treating. My sister was older and much braver, went up the steps to the spooky house with me. What a Spooky Halloween that was!

I have created a tag for this memory, I cut out two tags for the project. The base or background tag was cut from cardstock, then I used a mask and inked with several colors of Distress Ink. The mask is Tim Holtz Idea-olgy Mini Compass mask. I moved the mask around the tag many times and used a different color of Distress Ink each time.

The next layer of the tag was cut from clear packaging then stamped using an Adirondack Black Ink pad then heat dried.

A little raffia and a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Metal Muse Token: Halloween was added. I enjoyed working with the mask in this project but also had fun stamping on the clear acrylic packaging.

Challenges:
Simon Says Challenge: Your Favorite 

Wicked Halloween Tag

Who doesn't love Halloween? Well at least many of us love the tradition, and for me, I have so many fun memories of Halloween. So over at Simon Says, the  challenge is Your Favorite. My favorite part of my card is the stamp itself. I was looking through some stamps and found this one by Close To My Heart and thought it would make a fun girly card. 

The paper for the card's base is by Authentique from the Enchanted Collection. The paper for the tag from my stash with a little extra inking of Dusty Concord. First I stamped Tim Holtz CMS125 Mixed Media with Archival Black then the cute witch with Archival Deep Purple and Black. The tiny spider is a punch then a white line was drawn for the web. A little pink bling was used for fun in the upper right corner.

The sentiment on the inside was stamped then placed on a peel and stick Action Wobble. 

A Little Rusty Card

At Simon Says Stamp and Show the challenge is Rustification. For my challenge, I made a  card that is A Little Rusty.

The base of my card was scored with horizontal lines across the top one-fourth  and vertical scores across the bottom three-fourths. For a little rust, I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Rusty Hinge and the Tim Holtz Distress Stains - Metallic Kit. The next layer is the Fleu De Lis Square from Spellbinders Nestabilities Collection. Then I cut a square and ran it through a Fleur De Lis embossing folder. I used Archival - Monarch Orange to ink the Fleu De Lis embossing folder. The next layer is Spellbinders Nestabilities - Fleus De Lis Dolly Accents. The Metallic Kit was also used on the second and third layers of the card.

Collecting Leaves Card

The Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge - Leaf-spiration reminds me of my childhood and collecting leaves. I remember having so much fun collecting leaves for a leaf project at school. Maybe you used a bag or large envelope to put your leaves in so my tag features an envelope and leaves to remember this school project.

The base of my card is Marbled Stains, then I stamped the Maple Leaf from the Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz - Cling Mounted Rubber Stamp Set - Autumn Blueprint. Next I made the small envelope and ran it through an embossing folder plus stained it with Festive Berries and Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink. The black letters are Him Holtz - Alpha Parts. The small leaves are all from the Maya Road - Autumn Mini Chipboard Set. Each leaf was run the an embossing folder, sanded then a little glitter from Ranger Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Dry Glitter - Clear Rock Candy.

Maple Leaf Tag

Don't you just love Fall and all the brilliant colors in Mother Nature, one of my favorites is the leaves of the Maple Tree. The Maple leaf is my favorite of all so my tag today features the maple leave plus the fall colors we are seeing around our yards. My tag is for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge - Leaf-spiration.

My featured stamp is Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz - Cling Mounted Rubber Stamp Set - Autumn Blueprint. Before I used the stamp, on base of my tag I used Marble Stains - page 46 Compendium of Curiosities 2, heat dried then a little Pearl-Ex. Next I stamped and used Ranger Super Fine Detail black embossing powder.

The sentiment Leaves is Tim Holtz Idea-ology Seasonal Verbiages with Glossy Accents. 

Fall Leaves Tag

Over at Simon Says Stamp and Show, the Challenge is Leaf-spiration. My first entry features my tag of leaves. I love a little bling, a little shine and lots of beautiful fall colors.

The base of my tag features Marbled Stains - page 46 Compendium of Curiosities 2. For a little shine, I used Pearl-Ex. The leaves are Sizzix die Tim Holtz - Tattered Leaves. The leaves were cut, run through a Cuttlebug folder, stained, sanded and then a little Pearl-Ex was added. The leaves are Maya Road - Autumn Mini Chip Board Set.

Reindeer Glitz Tag

My final entry for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: For The Love of Sparkle is my Reindeer Glitz tag. I have been working with Pearl-Ex this week and love the interesting effects I have been getting. 

Base: Base of Card: Adirondack Lights Acrylic Paint Dabber – Cloudy Blue

Pearl-Ex and Gum Arabic

Stamp: Inkadinkado – Reindeer

Ranger Embossing Powder: Copper

Ranger Embossing Tinsel: Gold

Stamps: Tim Holtz – Snowflakes, Flourishes

Ranger Stickles: Cinnamon

Snowy Day Tag

My third entry for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: For The Love of Sparkle is my Snowy Day Tag. I started the base of the card with Juniper from the Adirondack Lights Acrylic Paint Dabbers then experimented with three colors combinations of Pearl-Ex. Each swipe of my card through the Pearl-Ex on my craft mat makes such a unique swirl of color.

Base of Card: Adirondack Lights Acrylic Paint Dabber – Juniper

Pearl-Ex and Gum Arabic

Ranger Embossing Tinsel – Gold

Ranger Liquid Pearls – White Opal

Ranger Stickles – Gold

Sizzix Die: Movers and Shapers - Alterations Collection - Christmas Mini Reindeer and 25 Set and Mini Pine Tree and Holly Set

Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Snow Cap

Linked to:
Gettin' Krafty

PInk On Pink Tag

My second card today for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: For The Love of Sparkle is all about glitter, Pearl-Ex, and paint. I don't work with pinks very often so I had so much fun playing with the Paint Dabber - Pink Sherbet and the pink Pearl-Ex.

Base of Card: Adirondack Lights Acrylic Paint Dabber – Pink Sherbet

Stamp: Tim Holt Flourishes

Stamp: Inkadinkado - Reindeer

Ranger Embossing Tinsel: Snowflake

Stampendous Pearl Glitter Ultrafine- Rose

Ranger Stickles: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Fruit Punch

Ribbon:

·  misted with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist: Tutti Fruitti

·  Ranger: Picket Fence

·  Stampendous Pearl Glitter Ultrafine - rose

Heavenly Sparkles Tag

My first entry for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: For The Love of Sparkle is all about glitter, Pearl-Ex, paint and stamping. Wow, I didn't realize how much fun it is to work with Pearl-Ex. I love the sparkly shimmery effect that Pearl-Ex gives as you swipe your tag or paper through it on the craft mat.

Base of Card: Adirondack Lights Acrylic Paint Dabber – Juniper

Stamp is by Inkadinkado

Pearl-Ex and Gum Arabic

Ranger Embossing Tinsel – Gold

Ranger Liquid Pearls – white Opal

Ranger Stickles- Gold

Tape It Up Card

Tape It Up, how fun is that! This week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is all about tape.

For the challenge, I have created a card with a small gift inside. My card began with folded black cardstock for the base of the card. Next I used Tim Holtz Kraft-Core and a honeycomb embossing folder then sanded the paper so the kraft color shows. 

The next layer from yellow paper from my stash that was stamped using Archival Jet Black ink with a great stamp from Inkadinkado. I also used Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Tim Holtz for a vintage appeal. Next I taped the card with tissue tape to form a border and ink it with lightly with Vintage Photo. The butterflies on the card were colored using LePlume II and Close To My Heart markers. Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clock Face and Game Spinners were added for additional depth and fun.

The inside of the card was taped with Tim Holtz tissue tape then a sentiment from Close To My Heart was stamped on the yellow cardstock after it was lightly inked on the edge with Broken China. The number were stamped on yellow paper and mounted on blue. The banner edge was cut using a square punch. Fiber ribbon was added to the bookmark for fun.. 

Thanks for stopping by - Judy.

Challenge:

Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: Tape It Up

Simon Says Stamp Blog - Stamptember blog candy bonanza

Sing Like No One's Listening Card and Lots of Tape

For the Tape It Up Challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show, I have created a fun card using tissue tape and a beautiful Inkadinkado stamp.

I used a cream cardstock inked with Tim Holtz Broken China and the Sizzix die. Tim Holtz tissue tape was added and applied with Glossy Accents. I ran the card with the Cuttlebug again using the Sizzix die to cut through the tissue tape. Now that I know the Cuttlebug will cut the tissue tape, I would tape the card first then run through the Cuttlebug. The card was inked again with Broken China for a little added color.

The stamp was used on separate card then glued to the inside of the card. I stamped the bird again, cut out and popped it up. The card was colored with LePlume II and Close To My Heart markers. Distress Stickles Rock Candy was added to the center of the sunflower. Glossy Accent was applied to the border frame around the stamp.

Additional tisue tape was used on the inside of the card plus a music note highlighted with Glossy Accents

 I stamped the flower, leaves and branch to add to the outside of the card. Music notes were cut and Glossy Accents again was used for shine.

There you have it and it was fun to use tissue tape for the first time - Judy.

Challenge:

Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: Tape It Up

Simon Says Stamp Blog - Stamptember blog candy bonanza

Joanna Sheen - So Sweet

Raven Card and Tissue Tape

The Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge for this week is Tape It Up and that what my  card is all about.  For the challenge I started by card with a folded basic black paper then cut a piece of Canvas Corp Black & Kraft Ribbon Stripe paper and covered it with Tim Holtz tissue paper. I was hoping the black stripe would show through the tissue tape. and it did . I thought it looked like old boards at this point. I used Glossy Accents to glue the tissue page even though the tape is somewhat sticky. Vintage Photo Distress Ink was used very lightly over the tissue tape

The Raven stamp by Stampendous was stamped using Archival Jet Black ink on Tim Holtz Kraft-Core paper. I also used a Versa Mark Watermark Pen and black embossing power on some of the swirly lines for added depth. The stamped paper was cut using a Sizzix Die then repeated on a cream cardstock and purple cardstock from my stash. 

I tied black paper rope around the card and fastened a  Tim Holtz Idea-ology "Wicked" Seasonal Muse Token and two washers to the card. 

The inside of the card was also designed using Tim Holtz tissue tape and Washi tape. The inside was taped with tissue tape and orange Washi tape was added to form a border then another layer of tissue tape was added on top the orange Washi tape for some contrast. The cute spider web and spider were Sizzix die and I applied Glossy Accents on the web for some shine.

Tissue tape is new to me so I had fun designing this card - Judy

Challenge:

Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: Tape It Up

Simon Says Stamp Blog - Stamptember blog candy bonanza