Green, Green, The Deals are Green

Spring Blooms! The March FSJ Blog Hop :D

It's time for the next Journey Blog Hoppers' blog hop!  Coaches from Fun Stampers Journey are sharing their "Spring Blooms" projects to inspire and delight.

I've got two projects going with this theme.

I knew I wanted to use this set of stamps: Flower Layers [SS-0106]
I chose this stamp set and the matching die set [DI-0067] in my Starter Kit (the stamps and die set is also available in a bundle [BD-0023].)  I was not sure how I would use the set but knew I was planning to use it for both projects.

First Project to Share:

I joined a group of swappers who make ATCs -- Artist Trading Cards.  We use products available from Fun Stampers Journey, send off 9 (make 10 but keep one for our own "files") and get back 9 others.  There is no theme for the swap -- it is "Anything Goes."  :D
(An ATC is a mini work of he{art} -- small -- 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" ... )

So, I got out white cardstock and began stamping out flowers using Blue Lagoon True Color Fusion stamping ink.  The largest flower, the next smaller and then the smallest.  While I have the matching die set, I decided to use detail scissors to cut out the flowers.

I don't dare share a photo of why I did this (cut out with scissors) instead of using my die cutting machine and matching dies ... LOL!  The "space" used here is actually the keyboard area of my laptop!  UGH!

Since I already had the "Spring Blooms" theme running around my head, I stuck with that.  And having so much fun with the "Stuck On You" ATCs from February, I decided to join in 2 swap groups this month.  18 ATCs.  It might help if I find my homemade MISTI before next month if I ever want to actually make 10 ATCs that match -- LOL!  So, this month, I made 20 different (but similar) ATCs.  Not all of them are shown since I had a small problem scanning them with my FlipPal ... I got a shadow on a few of the trading cards when I scanned them.  But here are most of them:

The background is simple enough and the reason no two ATCs are the same ...

Starting with something on the keyboard to make a "desk" (my Canson watercolor paper tablet), I randomly stamped out the doodly butterfly from the Butterfly Prints stamp set (this is the die/stamp set bundle:  [BD-0008];  the stamp set [SS-0017] is on backorder until 4/1/16) in Black Licorice True Color Fusion ink and cut that 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock into 2" x 3" panels.  (2 - 3" x 11" strips and 1 - 2" x 11" strip, then cut into the panels from there).  Or in Grape Fusion True Color Fusion ink with the Honeycomb ATS stamp [AT-0090 also on backorder] randomly stamped, to cover as much of the cardstock as possible without overlapping, in Blue Lagoon True Color Fusion ink then cut into the 3" x 2" panels.  (All 44 of the True Color Fusion inks can be found here.)

Then, more randomness in a way -- I did find what seemed to be the "right place" to put the flowers on each panel.  I used foam squares, tape runner or mini brads (Journey Brads - Mini [AC-0174]) to attach the flowers to the panels.  And then attached the panels to the Licorice Black 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" ATC cards.  (2 - 2 1/2" x 11" strips and 1 - 3 1/2" x 11" strip, then cut into the ATC cards -- getting 10 per 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock).

Next month I hope to attempt to actually make 10 matching ATCs.  We'll see what happens.  LOL!  I doubt I have ever actually made two cards that were really copies of one another ... similar but never the same ...

Second Project to Share

Since our move in September, I have been doing lots and lots of embroidery instead of my usual crochet ... Planning to turn one of the panels into Fabric Postcards or panels to use as card-fronts.  The leaf and flower images in the Flower Layer set are solid images instead of outlines.  I've wanted to use these shapes in my embroidery but could not decide whether to use the solid stamps or to trace the dies on the fabric.

I have a habit of using my hoop "backward."  It's how I have always used a hoop -- the flat side up instead of down (according to the "instructions" on the packaging).  Perhaps I should have followed the instructions since I did not get a good solid print of the flowers.  Let me show you instead of blabbing on about it, okay?

Hmmm ... maybe I did not shoot the hoop before I got to work on it but you can see here that the flower petal isn't as "solid" as when I stamped it on cardstock.  But in this case, it isn't a big deal.  It works (for me).  You can also tell that I like to stitch my own doodles in buttonhole stitch, blanket stitch, running stitch, back stitch and chain stitch.  At first I was working freehand but once I began to draw in the doodles, I gave up on freehanding and have kept pre-doodling.  Usually, I draw each section of doodling on the fabric as I move the hoop and don't pre-doodle the whole piece of fabric first.  (I am using 30" x 30" cotton flour sack dish towels, a rather loose weave but easy to work on.)

I've been using lots of DMC embroidery threads in these projects - solids and variegated and a couple individual color change skeins from joggles.com (blue/teal/green combos mostly and that is the only place I have found those skeins).  Then I found a package of "tie dye" DMC threads!  WOO HOO!  Very interesting color blends.

The turquoise thread I have is very similar to the Blue Lagoon True Color Fusion ink I used to stamp the flowers, yet it is just a hair different.  Years of doing counted cross-stitch taught me that those small differences make a big difference in the finished piece.  Even though this is a "doodle" of sorts, or maybe because it IS a doodle, I decided to experiment a little.

Digging a skein of white DMC from the package and cutting off a manageable length, I decided to "dye" it on the ink pad.  I ran the thread across the pad of Blue Lagoon, using a pencil to hold it down (and had to sharpen the pencil to get the ink off the wood ... :D  ) and while I did not perfectly color the entire 6 strands of the embroidery thread, ended up with a decent dye job.  (Thread in front of the hoop in upper photo ...)

Impatience made me start working with the thread before it was completely dry. A bit of Germ-X and the alcohol in it got rid of most of the ink on my fingers!  The ink did not, however, seem to be a problem on the fabric.  So, I kept going rather than wait for the ink to dry completely.

Mostly used either back stitch (if working left to right) or chain stitch (if working right to left) with an occasional couching of threads with blanket stitch, I outlined the flowers and stitched the doodles I added around the stamped images.

This is a technique I will be using more often, I think.  **grin**

And the Winner Is ...

Last month I offered a gift to a random commenter who stated that she or he "hopped to win" ... only one person actually used those words so ... she, of course, WINS!  Woo Hoo!  As long as the email link works, I will be contacting Wendy Zick  so I can send her her gift.  Thanks to Wendy and everyone else who visited and commented.

And, this month, for your chance to win a gift from me, visit the link where you can see the 44 True Color Fusion inks.  Tell me you "Hop To Win" and which ink color is your favorite.  ALL commenters are eligible (as long as they follow directions ...)

And Lastly ...

FSJ has an awesome promotion for the month of March.  This post is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY  too long already so this post will give you all the details!  Check it out!!!

The Blog Roll for March's "Spring Blooms"

The master list of participants can be found here.

You probably arrived here from Kerry Urbatch's blog.

And the next lilypad is Christine Pennington's blog.

It's a Lucky Month, Green and All but ...

There is a great promotion during March 2016 at Fun Stampers Journey.  The details are here.

However, March is a very important month for another reason!  The Spring Mini Catalog expires at the end of the month!  The Summer Mini will be out on April 1st ...


Check out the Spring Mini and don't miss out on lots of wonderful stamps and other products.  They will go into "hibernation" at the end of March but only a few will make it back to us in the Annual Catalog out this summer ... Don't miss out!

Leave a comment below, by the end of March 2016, and tell me which of the Bloom Benefits you like best in the Mini Catalog for your opportunity to win a gift from me. If you are reading this post after April 1, then visit the current Mini Catalog and tell me the same thing ... you never know, the Gift Fairy may strike at any time ...

Going Green ...

One March, way back in the Stone Age when I was in college ... I fell into the doldrums and lost track of days.  Friends decided to drag me out and stopped by to take me to lunch.  I don't remember the name of the little restaurant we went to in New Brunswick, NJ, but they had live music that day at lunchtime!  At lunchtime!  WOW!

It was a great group I had encountered two summers before at a Celtic Festival at Hunter Mountain in the Adirondacks of New York -- Trinity from Dublin, Ireland.  I loved their music.  When I saw and heard them, I was excited to have them to listen to during our lunch.

I wore a bandanna to cover my hair since I couldn't be bothered to do more than run a brush through my hair and throw on a t-shirt and jeans before we went out.

I think I was more than lucky, I was blessed, to have those caring friends.  But ... 

They did not say anything as I went with them, wearing a rust colored bandanna that day.

As you have probably guessed -- with an Irish band playing at lunchtime, it was St. Patrick's Day and I was totally clueless.

My only defense is that I always 'carry me green wi' me' since I have green eyes.  LOL!

The guys in the band glared at me as I entered the restaurant but kept on singing and playing;  they glared at me as we left.  It was only later that I realized why.  I asked Tracey and Dorothy why they had not told me I was wearing "orange" that day and they told me they thought I was doing it on purpose!  Oh, the horrors and embarrassment!

I remember hearing that the white in the Irish flag is a symbol of the hope for peace, tolerance and the ability to live together that was in the hearts and minds of many Irish following the withdrawal of the English and the Irish Civil War of the 1920s.  It took a long time but I am happy to see a much more peaceful Northern Ireland than was in the news when I was a kid.

When we think of Ireland, though, we think of 3-leaf and 4-leaf clover, pots of gold at the end of a rainbow, of leprechauns, tall tales, blarney, kilts and bagpipes, St.Patrick, Guinness, no snakes and GREEN.  Verdant green rolling hills due to its temperate climate.  

In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, March is "Lucky Me" month at Fun Stampers Journey!

Selected "green" items are on sale all month.  Ink pads and refills, cardstock, Irish-related stamps sets, some of the die sets too.  Plus there is an incentive to join FSJ as a new Coach during March.  A list of all the items included in the sale is available here.

New coaches who join in March and decide to attend this year's FSJ Convention will get $50 to spend on FSJ products at the Convention.   If you are not able to attend the Convention, there is this, though -- New coaches who place their first $150 order within 45 days of joining FSJ get an extra 10% commission back on that order.  On top of the regular commission, plus the sale price and the extra 10% off -- not a bad deal at all!  Aye, savin' the green on the green.

For more information, leave a comment, email me at suseadoodle at gmail dot com, and/or contact me at Facebook.

 
 March is a "lucky" time!   Join the fun!

For a chance to win a gift from me, leave a comment by March 26, 2016,  and say "I am lucky!" or "I am blessed" and let me know which of the "green" items on the sale list you would like to see me use in a project ... not promising anything but I will do my best ...

If you are reading this post after March 26 -- leave a comment anyhow -- you never know what might happen :D (especially when the Irish are involved -- and since that very embarrassing day in New Brunswick, I have discovered some Irish in my own family history ... )