Wednesday 26 January 2011

The Ezee Pzee blog hop winner is........

We had 33 entries (people who commented at every stop on the blog). Shelley put the number into the randomizer and the winner is:
Michelle you need to send your information to engravit@albertacom.com so we can get your blog candy out to you!!!
Congratulations to Michelle and thank you to everyone who participated!!

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Ezee Pzee Blog Hop

Welcome to the very first Ezee Pzee Blog Hop! I think you are going to enjoy seeing the new products from Ezee Pzee as well as the exciting projects our Dezign Team has created.

To participate in the Blog Hop (and maybe win some Blog Candy) is Ezee Pzee! Visit each design team member's blog and leave a comment. You will get one entry into a draw from some pretty amazing blog candy just for visiting and leaving a comment on each blog. Posting about this blog candy on your own blog will earn you another entry into the draw (just make sure you leave a comment here letting us know).

Do you know what you are hopping for? Take a look- Some Ezee Pzee die-cuts along with a few other products such as Stickles, Spritz, ink pads, paper.

So what are you waiting for? The blog hop starts January 19th and ends on January 25th.  Here is a list of the design team members blogs with links.
If you leave a comment as an Anonymous ID, please add your name so we can contact you, and come back on Jan 25th to see if you won.
Good Luck and good "hopping" !!

Ezee Pzee Design Team Project Reveal

The January Ezee Pzee kit consisted of several die-cuts, with some extra items which included a die-cut of wheat, a piece of slate and a feather. There was a caveat attached that we had to use all the items in our kit.

Lovely wooden album covers were included with our kits and I took my cue from that, thinking that we had to make a photo album.

Now, I must admit I am not a scrapbooker so this project was a real challenge for me. Also, we are not big "picture takers", except when we are on vacation and then they are usuallly scenic shots. I went through the pictures on my computer and selected several that I liked, resized them and printed them.

Project #1
This is the cover of the album. Since it is wooden I did not want to do too much to it. All I did was paint  it with some wood stain, added some colour to the lettering and attached the  Ezee Pzee leather Maple Leaf and a little piece of ribbon that is in the shapes of maple leafs.


My first page is of Lily (a Dachshund) and Tigger the cat. Neither of these are our pets but we agreed to babysit them while their "parents" were away.

The background is done withClearsnap's Fluid Chalk inks, the Word stamps are by Hero Arts, the paw one-unknown. The little bone is a button that I had in my stash. The curlicue and the circle are Ezee Pzee die-cuts. The curlicue is coloured with Smooch ink and the little circle is covered with Glitter Ritz to simulate a ball.
The second page I used the colours from the picture to make the background. I stamped and embossed the Impression Obsession stamp with white ink and embossing powder, went over the whole surface with Fluid Chalk ink and sprayed it with Adirondack spray, then ironed it between two sheets of newsprint to remove the embossing powder. I attached the picture to a piece of red cardstock, then to a piece of white cardstock and stamped the Inkadinkado "kisses and hugs" with Versfine ink. I coloured the paper lace to coordinate with the page and attached it to the left. The Ezee Pzee die cut flourish was embossed with Distress embossing powder and dusted with Perfect Pearls.
Page three is my son and I on a day out when we went out for supper. The background is done with pigment inks on which I stamped the flourish background with Adirondack dye ink. I then framed the picture with a coral coloured Cuttlebug embossed piece then with a blue piece and stamped a Hero Arts script stamp around the edge with Brilliance frost white.

I stamped the Inkadinkado Word Stamp with Versafine ink, added some coral fluid chalk around the word, edged it with a blue marker and attached it to the page. I took some paper flowers and stamped over them with the HA script stamp and set them aside. I coloured the Ezee Pzee flower shapes with Smooch ink then stamped them with the script stamp and Brilliance Ink and added a little pearl as the centre.
 Page four is my Husband Joe in his truck while on a visit to my Sister.  The background is fluid chalk inks, and I stamped some hearts in alabaster white to give a soft background. After placing the picture on the page, I stamped the words in white ink and embossing powder then went over them with fluid chalk ink.  The words happiness and sweet are by Inkadinkado, Ride is individual Hero Arts Alphabets and the word MY is Tim Holtz die-cuts which I embossed with red pigment ink and clear embossing powder. The final touch was to add the beautiful Ezee Pzee leather leaves from a previous kit.

Page five, another fluid chalk ink background done in the 'stamp smoosh' technique I learned from the wonderful Cathie Allan. The pictures are of myself and my cousin-in-law who has been become one of my best friends. The frames are some from my stash. The Ezee Pzee flourish was embossed with Judikins Twinkle embossing powders. I used the piece of shale on this page because it made me think about the beautiful Rocky mountains in Jasper and Banff National Parks. 


Page six is the newest addition to my family-my great-great nephew Cohen. The background is a resist done on white glossy cardstock with watermark and Big and Juicy ink brayered on top.  The large C is a Hero Arts stamp that I stamped, cut out and embossed with Judikins Twinkle embossing powder; the other letters are chipboard pieces covered with Glitter Ritz.

The little buggy is a Cuttlebug embossed piece that I rubbed Tsukineko Versamagic Ink over to highlight the raised portions. The Ezee Pzee photo corners were painted with acrylic paint and Smooch ink and a gem added. The little rattle was an item I had in my embellishment container. 

Page seven is from a camping trip to Jasper and yes it really did snow in July!
The background is iridescent paper that I embossed with the Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder. I punched out the border with a Martha Stewart punch and added it to the top and bottom. The letters are a Tim Holtz die cut that I covered with Stickles. 

The Ezee Pzee tree was coloured with Smooch ink and the little pearls added. I used my labeler machine to print out Jasper National Park.
 In August 2010 we had a family reunion with my Sister, Brother-in- Law, their children and grandchildren. This picture is their 3 daughters and oldest son. The background is another resist page with the Big and Juicy ink brayered on glossy white cardstock. The letters at the top of the page and the jewelled flourish are stickers that I found at the dollar store. Instead of framing the image with cardstock I took a mica tile and stamped and embossed a Magenta butterfly on the edges. I adhered it over the photo with glossy accents.

 I coloured some glossy cardstock and stamped the Hero Arts stamp on it and punched it out to add to the bottom left. The Ezee Pzee flower die-cuts were inked with pigment ink and embossed with clear embossing powder, and the same Hero Arts stamp was used to add the words. I coloured three buttons with a Krylon leafing pen and glued them to the flowers.
Every year we spend the September Labour day weekend with my Husband's side of the family. We play games and share lots of good times with them and our extended family.

For this page I chose a shaving cream background and stamped a Magenta Flourish stamp with Versafine ink. The Lost and Found frames and PSX and Inkadinkado words were stamped and embossed with gold ink and embossing powder.  The Ezee Pzee die-cut was coloured with Smooch ink and the flower portion covered with Adirondack paint and a flower brad inserted in the middle.

  
Page 10.  My beloved nephew Jamie passed away suddenly in October 2010 and I  wanted to do a page in his memory. He truly loved his family and was so loved in return and we all miss him so much-we have very large holes in our hearts.

For this page I did the background in orange tones and greens. It was not until I had done it that I realized orange was one of Jamie's favourite colours.  The picture is one that my niece sent of her with Jamie and it so reflects how I think of him; smiling and joking. 

The Hero Arts words were stamped and embossed in black then fluid chalk inks applied over the top, and edged with a marker.  The frame is a piece of yellow cardstock that was embossed with a cuttlebug folder, and  fluid chalk inks applied over the top.

The Ezee Pzee tree die-cut was coloured with smooch inks and then I added some Glitter Ritz on the trunk and branches. To complete it I printed off "Jamie" and the dates on my labeler machine and attached them to the leaves.
Page eleven is a picture of my great niece and great-great nieces from Scotland and was taken at the Valley Zoo when they came for a visit.

The background was stamped with a thistle stamp and Alabaster fluid chalk and sprayed with Memories mists. I then stamped the thistle again around the bottom with green fluid chalks.  

I stamped and embossed the Sunshine Designs flower stamps several times and coloured them with coloured pencils and Smooch ink. I added a sequin to the centre of each flower. The little punch out flowers are from a piece of cardstock that I had covered with glitter. 

The word at the top is a portion of a Paper Inspirations stamp, stamped and embossed in green then covered with coral fluid chalk ink.  The Ezee Pzee die-cut was embossed with opal embossing powders and stamped into with a stamp while hot to give it dimension.

The final page is our Christmas tree taken a few years ago. I did the background with a Hero Arts pine needle stamp and fluid chalk inks. The frame is done with pigment inks and a snowflake stamp. Both were edged with markers. The chipboard letters were painted with white acrylic paint, added frosted lace Stickles then covered them with Cool Highlights Glitter Ritz. The three small snowflakes are white brads covered with Diamond Stickles. The large snowflake is an Ezee Pzee die-cut which I painted with white acrylic paint and added the Diamond Stickles over the top.
Project #2 and3  As I said at the beginning of this post, we had to use all the items in our kit so I had to come up with something to make with the remaining two items, the feather and the wheat die-cut.

The feather became an Artist Trading card. I took a ATC background piece that I had made a  year ago as the base. I stamped a Canada Goose postage stamp on glossy cardstock and placed it on the background, I attached a Maple Leaf brad and placed the feather under it and across the stamped image.

The wheat die-cut was made into a pendant. I took a pendant blank and stamped onto it with Stazon white ink. I then took the wheat die-cut and covered it with yellow pigment ink, added some Opals embossing powder and heat set it. I added Fantasy Film over this layer and clear UTEE embossing powder. Repeated this step twice and stamped into it while hot. This gave the piece a little bit of definition. I glued a gem to the top and glued the die cut to the pendant blank.


Friday 14 January 2011

Secret Santa Gift

On Artventures I participated in a Secret Santa swap where we made one gift and send it to our partner in time for Christmas. My partner was Maggi and I decided on a Christmas theme gift.

I had watched a video on the Hero Arts site where the designer used a switch plate to make an ornament and thought I would try something similar.

I had an old double switch plate cover that my DH gave me, so I covered it with some beautiful Poinsettia scrapbook paper by Magenta . I added some vellum snowflake paper to the background for the inserts.

I stamped and embossed  the little Christmas tree (Hero Arts)added a few pearls as ornaments and attached it to the background. Added some gold snowflakes and the alphabets chipboard which were covered with Glitter Ritz glitter.

I then coloured the little elf from Ezee Pzee, put some coloured paper behind his eyes and ears, then added beads for his nose and the package, and a pearl to his hat.

This is  at it's new home with Maggi, who had it displayed over the Christmas season.

Gothic Arch

The latest swap on AFTCM is a Gothic Arch with the theme of "Under the Sea".

I started by making my template on a piece of cardboard, then traced it on to a piece of 130lb cardstock.

I coloured the background with some dye inks then stamped the Postal Shell stamp in dark blue.

My idea was to make the piece look like an underwater cave, so I added embossing paste and gold mica flake paste around the edges. I then, coloured it with metallic blue paint and some mica watercolours.

I stamped the seashell stamp again on acetate with white Stazon ink and added some glitter to the back and attached it to the arch with some Glossy Accents.

I coloured some cardstoc with dye inks and stamped the fishes in Ancient Page Coal, then cut them out and attached them with some double-sided tape. I made some water bubbles by dropping glossy accents on a sheet of label backing paper (shiny side up) then when they dried, removed them and added them to the arch above each fish.

I wanted to add something else and found a mermaid that fit my colour scheme perfectly, printed it off; adhered it to cardstock and cut it out and attached it to the edge of the "cave".

To complete the arch, I added some starfish gems that I found at my little Dollar store, and some seashells that I brought back from a trip to Scotland a few years ago.

Rolodex Swap

On AFTCM we are doing a monthly Rolodex Card swap, with a different country featured each month. For this month the country was Greece.

I was lucky to get some Rolodex cards cheap at Staples and a friend who had been to Greece very kindly shared some of her pictures with me.

I printed of the pictures from my friend Christine and also some pics of the Greek flag. I added the pictures to the card then cut out the inserts with an Exacto knife. I took a punch with the Greek Key motif and punched out pieces of coordinating cardstock and attached them to the sides.

I then printed out the name of the Greek village with my labeler and attached them to the card.

Cinderella Slipper

I joined a swap in AFTCM where we make a 3-d or flat Cinderella Slipper.
The template was obtained from Terri's blog which includes a video on how to put the shoe together.

I traced the template onto some light cardboard and then covered each piece with some of my Faux Washi paper that I had in my handmade papers. Here is a link to how to make this paper on Trish B's site.

Once I had the shoe put together, I added some lace to the front, along with some fancy metal trim. I also added some plain metal trim around the top of the back portion of the shoe.

I wanted to add a flower but the ones I had did not work well. I discovered a tutorial/video on making flowers on Joanne's blog and decided to give it a try. I sprayed my petals with Smooch Spritz prior to putting the flower together. To complete the flower I punched out some leaves from a piece of Cuttlebug embossed cardstock, sprayed them with a coordinating colour of Smooch Spritz.










I added a heel using a child's alphabet block that I cut down, but it was a bit "wonky" so later on I removed it and added two wooden circles coloured with a plum fluid chalk ink.