We Interrupt This Crafting Blog...

... whilst I continue to work on a large project I hope to reveal very soon.

In the meantime, please enjoy the following Non-Arsty/Crafty Post.

A couple of weeks ago, I was extremely lucky to attend a medical conference in Orlando. I had never been to Florida and since I was going for free, I HAD to make it to two places I have been dreaming of seeing: Disney World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I've already posted on my other blog about my adventures at Disney World.

It was a lot of fun, but I must say, my favorite part of the trip was Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. Warning: there are a lot of magical photos ahead - wave your wand (or mouse click if you're a Muggle) to biggify!

The entrance

I will admit to feeling giddy upon walking into Hogsmeade

It was nigh-impossible to get a shot of this without someone posing in front

The clock tower - very surreal to see "snow" in Florida! But it was a perfectly-overcast cool morning

Inside the clock tower - the Steampunk lover in me adored all the gears!

The bathrooms (entrance at the left) even had Moaning Myrtle to keep you company

The Three Broomsticks - I would have loved to eat here, but sadly had to meet friends somewhere else for dinner (Rats!)

Hogsmeade is filled with shoppes - some open for business, some not. But each one had wonderful window displays to behold.

Potage's New and Second-Hand Cauldrons (some self-stirring!)

Zonko's Joke Shop!

Inside Zonko's

Large moving chess pieces in Zonko's window

Quidditch supply shoppe

The Owl Post

Loved this measuring-tape cat in front of Hermoine's Yule Ball dress at Gladrags Wizardwear

Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans at Honeydukes

Chocolate Frogs, natch (the images in the cards moved)

This huge box opened up causing the frog to jump and croak!

And gobs of other confectioneries

Of course I had to get a wand at Olivanders

After making some purchases, I finally made it to the castle.

I couldn't believe I was really there

Hogs (natch) at the entrance

Because I was on my own, I got whisked through a special corridor, past the crowds lined up and was able to tour the Castle all alone and at my own pace! It was incredible to walk up the staircases, the paintings talking to you, and no one to block my view.

Dumbledore's office

The Headmaster made an appearance asking us to please report any dragon sightings

Harry, Ron and Hermione appeared from under the Invisbility Cloak in the Defense Against The Dark Arts Room

I also took the Forbidden Journey ride... quite by mistake, however. More about THAT can be found HERE on my other blog.

After wandering about the castle, I went back outside and tried some Butterbeer. It's not beer at all; but rather a butterscotch flavored drink. I chose the "frozen" version which was like a Slurpee with a sweet foam topping. It actually helped me get over the effects of the Forbidden Journey escapade!

All this snow really made you feel cool!

The Snowman didn't mind at all when Sam (my traveling companion) and I sat beside him for a bit enjoying the frozen Butterbeer

There was even entertainment!

The Hogwart's Choir - complete with two croaking toads

Durmstrang demonstrated their martial-arts style skillz

Beauxbatons students performed a lovely ribbon dance

Of course I had to bring home a few souvenirs for daughter, hubby and my Studio:

Postcards, mugs, patches and my Harry Potter wand

Meggie modelling the latest in Gryffindor fashion

What a trip! If you want to go, wait until next summer... they are adding Diagon Alley!

Since we have a long weekend coming up, I am looking forward to staying indoors while the snow falls and finish my large project. Hopefully I will be posting about it by Monday!

Happy Halloween!

I wanted to get in one last Halloween craft for 2013... and I made it just under the wire.

After watching Anne of Anne's Paper Creations videos using Graphic 45's "Steampunk Spells" paper to make incredible books, it got me itching to try some of her techniques. I still had some of this very same paper; leftover from my Apothecary Cabinet project, so out came my scissors to try my hand at "fussy cutting".

Yep. "Fussy Cutting". I used to just call it cut outs, but when Anne says it with her Norwegian accent.... well, it's just too charming and my favorite current saying.

I cut out, er, sorry "fussy cut" all sorts of pieces from the 12 x 12 papers, used my Copic brush pen to outline them in black, and then slathered Multi-Medium Matte on the front and back of each piece. This makes them more durable, as some would be removable, tucked into other parts.

This is actually a table topper tent card - I just wanted something to decorate our dining room table. I started out by creating a side step card with black cardstock and added my "fussy cuts". Three bats were added to glittery and alcohol-inked wires, a few brads and a clock hand were also attached to the front.

As I said, some of the pieces slide in; the two cards on the main section are removable. Some pieces, like the top hat and flowers are popped up with foam dimensionals.

Thank you so much Anne, for the tutorials and wonderful inspiration. 

This wasn't all that I accomplished tonight... I also had to make sure this year's pumpkin was carved:

Yawn... time for bed. Geez, you'd think a black cat would be more excited about Halloween coming...

Cards And Cats

It's been a busy month; after working on my recent large projects, it was time to get back to some card-making. My parents celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary yesterday so I made this card for them. I started out with a regular white cardstock base and added quite a few layers. The first (lowest) is composed of an embossed white card with ivory lace attached to the back and pearly embellishments on the rounded corners. I added Frosted Lace Stickles to the edge and popped it up on a regular folded card with a solid base of foam core.

Here's a side view. The next layer is a set three large Spellbinder oval dies. Two sandwich more ivory lace and are propped up on an angle with the third oval folded underneath and secured to the embossed layer. I also attached the front of this layer to the card with Scor-Tape. I added a ring of pearls around the edge of these die cuts.

The third and upper-most layer is a smaller oval Spellbinder die popped up with foam dimensionals. To this layer I added white glittery Thickers numbers and letters, White Orchid Crafts roses, Michael's brand wedding pearl spray, Martha Stewart punched leaves, lace bow and a drop pearl from my jewelry stash.

Good thing this was a hand-delivered card; it would never fit into an envelope! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!! Love you so much!


Next up, I was asked to create a card for a co-worker who recently lost her mother. I tried something different and made a triple-fold out card in landscape from black cardstock. I added some beautiful black and white patterned paper to the top fold and embossed and multi-layered the bottom panel overtop a white ribbon. A Spellbinders die and Hero Arts stamp was added to the top panel. I used my Stampin Up slot punch to feed the ribbon through the top, tying a bow to close.

Since the cardstock base was black, I added three panels for co-workers' signatures. Using a Martha Stewart edge punch on the top and bottom panels, I layered each section three deep, cutting out the corners with  a small circle punch.

It was great to get back to some card making! Every day in my Studio is a pleasure and I am never alone as Dakotah my black cat always joins me while I work. Trying to be as close as possible, she is often found sleeping up on my desk rather than in the basket on the floor. I folded up a towel to make her spot more comfy, so it didn't take long for Sheba our grey tabby to park herself up there too. I was surprised Dakotah put up with this intrusion - they snoozed peacefully whilst I cut, taped, glued and stamped.

I seems Tawnee has yet to discover the new place to hang out. With three cats, it's a good thing I have a large desk ;)

Black Cat Carnival - Part III

On to the last item I created for my Black Cat Carnival. If you missed reading the first two posts, here are direct links:

Black Cat Carnival - Part I

Black Cat Carnival - Part II

This is the largest piece in my Carnival - a Swing Carousel. I really didn't know I was going to create it until I spotted this at Goodwill one day:

I took the pic after removing the glass and cardboard from each photo frame

I thought that if I could only get those frames off without damaging it too much, this spinning photo frame display would be the perfect start to my carousel. So I slapped down a whole $3 and took a chance. Much to my delight, the frames actually snapped right off when I bent them back and forth a few times - awesome!

Without the frames to hold them apart, both sets of five spokes slid down on top of each other. I asked hubby to do his magic, and he was able to saw the top knob off perfectly (I had hoped it was just screwed on, but no such luck). I slid the spokes off, glued a stopper near the top of the central post, glued both sets of spokes together and viola, they spun in unison - 10 spokes ready for swings!

Goodwill came through again when I picked up this M&M's candy tin for a whole 50 cents. The perfect shape, I simply used my silver tape to cover the top.

Silver brads were cut down and glued to represent rivets. Some glittered swirl brads were also added to decorate the top.

The decorative black edge was created from cardstock using a Martha Stewart punch. Silver brads and chain finished it off. I glued a clock gear under the knob and attached it to the top with E6000 glue. On the underside of this part, I glued a large nut so when it was placed over the center pole, it rotates independent of the spokes.

Making the swings was purely a hit-and-miss adventure... I thought I could fit 10 swings in, one on each spoke. So what did I do? Yep. I made ten seats. I punched out twenty "arms" (again, a Martha Stewart punch, folded in half to double it up). I counted out 80 rivets - 8 per seat to secure the chains. I designed the seats and cut out 10 of each, scoring and punching the backs for a decorative touch. I counted out 60 jump rings to attach the chains to the chairs and the spokes.

A production line was created at every step...  brads were painted and inked. Thirty gears were chosen to decorate the back of each swing and some needed to be painted and inked in black and silver. Pieces were lined up for assembly. I even made ten padded seats for each one... a piece of cardboard covered with fiberfill and cloth, glued together and two brads poked through for an upholstered look.

And then as I hung the first two swings it finally occurred to me...

It was way too cramped and I could only use half of them! Aw Crap!

Oh well, I placed the swings on every other spoke and added some lanterns onto the others.

Filigreed bead caps were glued to the spoke ends to finish them off.

Then I had to decide what the heck to do with the base. I had visions of either covering the three "legs" with cloth, or cardboard... but then I simply cut two pieces of chipboard in half circles, covered them with the silver foil tape, used my piercing tool to create pilot holes and inserted black brads for rivets. I used my Cuttlebug and Spellbinders die to create the center design around the pole. I also used the bottom half of the black cardstock decor I placed on the top for a fence of sorts around the base. I also finished off the edge of the base with more silver chain, just like the top.

Three black cats (okay they weren't black before I painted them and added Gold Stickles for eyes that glow when photographed) stand guard on the base. Oh and I added a pair of wings to the center pole too... matching it up with the Steampunk Airship.

That was a fun transformation!

So I guess that's it for now... until I figure out what to add next.

Well, at least I have five seats ready and waiting. :P