Peacock Craft - guest post by ArtsyCraftsyMom

For January's guest post I wanted to do something symbolic of India .. and my thoughts were drawn to the gorgeous peacock - The National Bird of India. I had made a peacock earlier with my craft class , This time though I wanted it to be more magnificent and regal ..  I searched my supplies and found a good stash of craft goodies.. 

Googly Eyes, Sparkly pipe-cleaners, Feathers  big & small , Glitter sheets, shiny sequins, Foam sheet & craft sticks.

I drew out a large 8 shaped cutout from the blue glitter sheet. It almost looks like a Bowling Pin.

Then I cut 2 metallic pipe cleaners - one Blue & one Green in half & twisted them to form feather shapes.. I made 4, you can make a few more to add depth & shine. 

Now , I took 4 large blue feathers & 2 large green feathers and stuck them onto a craft stick using a Hot glue gun. Once they set, I stuck the pipe cleaner feathers on top .. I arranged the pipe cleaners  such that they could be seen from behind the peacocks body. Keep the 8 shaped cutout on top of this and adjust accordingly. 

Now it was time to create the Peacocks body. I cut a beak shape from the foam & a piece for its head.. Stuck 2 googly eyes. I used the cuter variety. The coloured googly eyes. These have pretty eyelashes. I also had blue sequins from the ItsyBitsy Diwali sale and stuck them randomly using a glue stick. 

We also stuck 2 yellow craft sticks ( the matchstick sized ones ) as legs. The picture doesn't show it. 

I then stuck the Body on top of the feathers and our peacock was ready.. My daughter loves it and is making up her own stories with her peacock puppet. 

If  this interests you, you can also hop on over to my post on Republic Day Crafts to make with your kids. What do you think of this craft? Love it ? Hate it? Tell me what you did on the Republic Day? Did you make any India centric craft? I would love to hear from you. 

Shruti Bhat is a Software Quality Analyst by profession who mostly exercises her left brain during the day at work and her right brain takes over at home. She loves crafting with her 7 year old daughter and blogs at ArtsyCraftsyMom.com. She can be reached at @ArtsyCraftsyMom on Twitter, Facebook & Pinterest

It's Time for Some Dazzle and BLING!!

One of the things I love most about ItsyBitsy is the fact that you can get so many crafty products under one roof. Whether you're into embroidery or paper craft, jewellery making or clay modelling, painting or quilling, you can be sure you will find everything you need right here. I got this idea into my head to do a Dazzle and Bling project for my friends' birthday. I specifically wanted a big crystal pendant to dangle from an oversized bow and of course, the Blue Moon glass pendants at ItsyBitsy offered a variety of options. 

Here's a look at my card along with a close up of the central feature. I took a piece of satin ribbon and added a blue moon silver finding in the centre combined with a large pearl. Then dangling from this pearl cluster, I hooked this fantastic Blue Moon crystal pendant. I also added some die cuts from the Spellbinders Jewel Fantasies die set, as a filigree flourish around the bow. The background embossing is from the Sizzix Textured Impressions Country Cottage folder and I scattered some adhesive pearls to add to the glamour!

For the I wanted to pretty much continue the design but there is no way such a large piece of card would go through my embossing folder. So I cut it into strips and left a little gap between each strip to bring out the embossing even more. Love that effect!

My entire project was originally inspired by a program I saw on TV a couple of years ago. It was a red and white engagement invitation with a giant jewel on the front. I guess that design stayed in my mind and I am thrilled with my interpretation of the inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by folks!

Supplies Used:

Little Darlings – go girl go card by pooja

Hello there ! 

Pooja here with you today to share a cute card 

I made using the lovely Little Darling stamps available now at Itsy Bitsy !

I will be sharing a lot of new stamping projects for Itsy Bitsy readers.

 Hope you are as excited as i am about this :)

I totally enjoyed making this card 

I have used some white cardstock for the base, on which there is another layer of Pattern paper.

There are a lot of beautiful paper packs and single 12 *12 design paper sheets available at Itsy Bitsy do check them out.

The stamp I have used here is Little Darlings Go Girl Go !

The stamp itself is so amazing it takes the whole attention on the card.

I colored it using copic markers and some watercolour pencils.

The stamp comes in unmounted so you will have to mount it yourself , self-adhesive foam sheets may do the trick too.

Let me also draw your attention to the lovely blooms by itsy bitsy !

They are handmade and there are so many choices! To be honest it was relief not to make your own flowers and just pick some from the large and amazing variety of blooms itsy bitsy has to offer.

The flowers I have used here are –

Teal flower - Antique Fusion Flowers

Glittered pink flower - Jewel & Pearl Daises

Pink and purple flowers - Tie Dye Gypsies Soft Touch

For the second layer I used some Distress Ink -Peacock Feathers for the teal base and added some Walnut stain Distress ink to the side and misted the whole thing with some brown mists.

Above which there is a doily die cut and then the stamped image with embossing enamel on the sides. 

That’s about it ! Hope u enjoyed my card and the lovely Little Darlings stamp!

Happy stamping!

Untill soon ! 

Thankyou !

 

 

 

Fun Kids Projects with Craft Rolls

I have 2 small kids and being the crafter that I have, they are constantly asking me to make things for them. I don't think of myself of much of a kids crafter but every now and then I get inspired and create something. 

My son is turning 5 and we're throwing a Dinosaur party for him. As I hunted online for party ideas, I came across a set of craft binoculars. I thought, what an awesome project to try out and given that ItsyBitsy has a whole range of craft rolls, I figured it would be easy to accomplish too. 

I wrapped the craft rolls in a pair of jute sheets and neatened the edges with some Fabric Tape also from ItsyBitsy. Then to bring in the dinosaur theme, I stuck a pair of dinosaurs on an OHP/ transparency sheet and glued that to one end of my binoculars, so that when Dhruv looked through them, he would see a pair of T-rex's.

And here's Dhruv tripping on his new craft present. He rushed home from school, got changed at super speed (a first for him) and then was hooked to his Dino Binoculars. 

There are a variety of projects you can try out with craft rolls! The ItsyBitsy team created the patriotic rocket you see above using some long craft rolls. Perfectly apt for Republic Day right!

Larger diameter craft rolls can be used along with card board to make elaborate projects like this road roller also put together by the Itsy Bitsy team of designers. Isn't it just amazing@@@

For your little girls, you can use the craft rolls to make dollhouse furniture as I did in my dollhouse project last May. The craft rolls are cut and modified to form the required shape and voila, you've got a lovely little dining set. Check out the original post here: 

I also used craft rolls to make a baby cradle. It was simply sliced in half lengthy wise and then decorated with lace and embossed scallop semi circles. Check out the original post here.

Have you made anything using craft rolls? Would love to see! Leave a comment with your blog and I will be sure to drop by!

Distress Inks make Wonderful Vintage Projects

In case you don't already know, ItsyBitsy has just launched Ranger Distress Inks in-store and online. These ink pads are just fantastic to create a fabulous distressed feel to almost any project. Of course there are a wide variety of techniques you can try out with distress inks but for my first Distress Ink project for the ItsyBitsy blog I decided to focus on the ink distressing.

So I decided to make a vintage themed card with a coordinating envelope. I had recently picked up the Spellbinders Ornate Square die and figured it would be perfect for my project. I cut out the frame and the label using the die out of white card stock. Then using my Ranger applicator tool along with Antique Linen distress ink, I edged the side of the frame and label. Here's a closer look at the distressing. 

For the centre of the frame, I used one of my favourite vintage blooms from ItsyBitsy. I also added a base layer of pattern paper from the DCWV Luxury Stack that perfectly coordinated with the distress shade I had applied. Love it!

Finally for the envelope, I created the flap using the same pattern paper along with the same Spellbinders Die. Only this time I ensured that the die cut just half the paper so it could form the flap on my envelope. I just love matching hand made envelopes!

That wraps up this post! Hope you like it and more coming soon!!

Supplies Used

Winners of the ItsyBitsy Make it Festive Challenge

Folks! We are here with the winners and finalists for the ItsyBitsy Make it Festive Challenge. This time we continued with the new methodology. We invited all your fabulous entries and then opened the gallery to audience votes. The judges made their choices after considering the audience feedback but  bear in mind that audience feedback was not the sole deciding factor, it was used to help choose a winner.

So without further delay here are your winners. For the first time the audience top picks were also the judges top picks. Jaya was the audience and judges favourite for this lovely origami box in the paper crafting category and Ann stole the hearts of audience and the judges with this adorable baby wreath in the jewellery making category. 

Here are the finalists for Paper Crafting/ General Crafting in no particular order.

Dr. Sonia for this fantastic Paper Christmas Tree Project

Ramya for this pretty and sweet floral desk organiser.

Ann for these adorable crocheted baby booties

Parul for this sleek desktop calendar!

Mihika for this clever and cool cake slice card.

Catherine for this festive and floral Christmas Card

Here are the finalists for Jewellery Making in no particular order.

Soundarya for this adorable porcelain set

Radhika for this stylish chain with matching earrings

Narmada for this dramatic pair of earrings.

Congrats to all our winners and finalists. Please write in to info@itsybitsy.in to claim your badges. Hope you are all working on your submissions for the 'ItsyBitsy Picture Bingo' Challenge. Can't wait to see your creations.

Till then, Happy Crafting folks!

The ItsyBitsy Picture Bingo Challenge

Folks it's time for another challenge here at ItsyBitsy and this time we've decided to make it a Bingo Challenge. Our spin on it? It's a picture bingo and as with any Bingo game you can create anything you like as long as you follow any of the rows, columns or diagonals. Of course, you can create something using everything as well!

For each category you are not compelled to use ItsyBitsy products, we'd love it if you did but you don't have to do it - for example if it is pattern paper, you can use any pattern paper and Die Cutting Machine doesn't have to be the Teal Big Shot but any die cutting machine.. However Mod Podge has to be Mod Podge not any veneer or sealant. You needn't have purchased it from us but it needs to be Mod Podge.

Also from this challenge onwards we are changing the structure a bit. 

• There will be only one entry category for all types of projects - paper craft, general craft, jewellery making, embroidery and anything else that is hand made. All projects will be judged together.

• We will no longer be choosing a single winner, rather the top 3 creations each of whom will receive a voucher worth Rs. 500 from ItsyBitsy. 

And to get you started here's my inspiration project. This time I decided to make a Love Album, something I've never made before. I think I've become a shade cynical about these matters, being 10 years married and with 2 small kids but I've seen so  many crafters create versions of this that I thought I would give it a shot.

For the entire album I used the DCWV Love and Marriage Scrapbooking kit which I have to say is JUST AWESOME!! First of all it comes with a whole bunch of coordinating pattern papers. Then it has a set of solid shade papers that match the pattern ones so that you can add accents. It comes with some themed sticker embellishments as well as sticker letters to create titles and what I loved most of all is the wonderful quotes on vellum all related to the 'love' theme.

As far as the PIcture Bingo goes, I decided to incorporate all the items in the grid. The pattern paper is the base of the entire album. I used the die cutting machine (my Big Shot) to cut out the border, frame and mask embellishments on the cover as well as in various inside portions of the book. The dies I used were just marvellous - all Spellbinders. For the cover I used the Venetian accents die, the ornate square die and inside I used the Cherry Pickin Die. Loved them all. 

I incorporated embossing powder by heat embossing the title frame and the masks on the cover. I also added ribbon in the same locations. To seal the title in place, I added a layer of Mod Podge over the sticker letters and this added a nice glossy finish as well. 

To incorporate stamping, ink pads and markers, I added a lovely corner stamp design to the vellum love quote from the same DCWV Love Scrapbooking kit. The stamp is one of the new acrylic stamp sets from ItsyBitsy and the markers I used are Copic Markers again new at ItsyBitsy. 

And for the final page, I added some of my favourite ItsyBitsy blooms as corner accents for the photo frame location. The title of the page 'Just Us' was created using the sticker sets that come with the scrapbooking kit. 

Rules of the challenge:

1. Your entry can be anything hand made as long as incorporates the items contained in any single row, column or diagonal of the Picture Bingo. Of course, you can create something using everything as well!
2. Entries can be submitted until 10th February 2014.
3. Entries will be open to audience vote from 11th to 14th Feb 2014
4. Following this, the top 3 and finalists will be selected after combining both audience feedback and judges feedback.
5. In order to submit your entry, click on the inlinkz button provided at the end of this post, add your image and link to your blog post containing the submission. 
6. If you do not have a blog, please create an album on any online photo gallery, ensure the settings are public and link it up as detailed in point 5. 
7. Each participant can submit a maximum of 3 entries.
8. Submitting old projects is not permitted. All submissions have to be created after 15th Jan 2014
9. In your blog post, create a link back to this page - The ItsyBitsy Picture Bingo Challenge.
10. Entries are welcome from all over the world however if you are one of the top 3, we can only ship your prize to an Indian address.
11. We will select the top 3 entries all of whom will receive vouchers worth Rs. 500 redeemable online at www.itsybitsy.in.
12. In addition 6 finalists  will be selected all of whom will receive a badge to display on their blog.
13. The top 3 will also be invited to send in guest post for the ItsyBitsy Blog in February / March 2014.

Right that's it from me! I'm eager to see your creations so start loading them into the gallery! I'm sure it will be a feast for the eyes!!!

Submissions for Paper Crafting/ Jewellery making/ General Craft etc

Going Clean and Simple with Butterflies

I wanted to do a CAS card today incorporating a new Butterfly trim I picked up from ItsyBitsy and as usual I went a little overboard. Now that it's done, I cannot honestly say my card is CAS i.e clean and simple. That said, I love how it turned out, filled with butterflies in the soft romantic hues of passionate purple. 

I used the ItsyBitsy scoreboard to create the diagonal line embossing on the left corner of the card. It's really easy, just score on the reverse side every quarter inch or half inch, as you choose.  Once you turn it back to the front, the good side will have the lines perfectly embossed. After embossing half the card, I added the felt butterfly trim from one diagonal to another as a central focus. I loved the colour, the design and the feel of this trim and since it had butterflies, I decided to incorporate a few more butterflies on the top.

For the 2 free standing butterflies, I used the Sizzix stamp and die set. This one is awesome - it comes with a set of 6 dies and complementary stamps. Just stamp on your card and them place the die over it to cut out the shape. Perfect isn't it! After stamping, I outlined the butterflies with a fine liner just to add some definition and of course folded them upwards so that there was some added dimension to the card.

Do you think my card is Clean and Simple? Would love to hear your views. Leave a comment and let me know!

Supplies Used

A Stamped Calendar - Part 2

I'm back with Part 2 of my Stamped Calendar project. Here I've done another 3 pages of the calendar. To see my previous project click here. These six pages have all been replicated for the latter half of the year so with this, my calendar project is complete. 

Once again I have used some more stamps from the new range of Clear Stamps over at ItsyBitsy. These are all designed by the ItsyBitsy team so they are indigenous Indian-made stamps. I'm personally so proud of that and additionally just love the designs. This time I used stamps from 2 packs - one is the continuation of cute animals and the other is a floral set full of pretty flowers and leaves.  For the month of April, I featured 2 adorable turtles and filled the corners with some pretty flowers.

For May, I featured a plumpy little dinosaur coloured grey using my copic markers. The flowers surrounding him are from the other floral stamp set and I just scribbled inside them with a pink liner to add some definition. 

Here's a closeup of the dinosaur - isn't it adorable. Loved the cute bow and hat which of course came with the stamp. 

For June, I used this ultra cute crocodile stamp for the same set. Isn't it just too cute!! There was a lot of white space when I was done so I filled it with some grapes from the floral die set. It was fun to do - inking one side with purple and the other with green. 

I used a fine liner to outline the grapes and leaves to give a really fun cartoony feel to the project. Isn't it clever how the crocodile's mouth is open towards the grapes as enough he is waiting for it! Love it!

Well that concludes my stamped calendar! Had so much fun with this project! Hope you liked it too and drop by for more great projects at the ItsyBitsy blog!

Supplies Used: