Snailed it! Tooled Leather Journal Cover

Hello! Again, it's been too long since I last posted. I've certainly been productive though and creating like crazy. I've switched gears almost completely to leather crafting now, though I'll always do a little bit of everything. I still love, painting, paper crafting, wood burning, sewing, all of it! My full time job definitely cramps my artsy style!

Some exciting news though, I've finally opened an Etsy Shop to sell hand tooled leather items. Right now I'm obsessed with journal covers. I just love making them and can't stop! I have enough I need to start selling them and make some money to keep buying more leather!

All the journals I make will be one of a kind, no multiples of the same thing. I'd get bored doing that for sure. Half the fun for me is coming up with new ideas. 

This A5 size journal is made with Hermann Oak Leather, Fiebing's Pro Dyes and antique paste in medium brown and Angelus acrylic leather paints.

I use a Chinese shoe patcher manual sewing machine to sew my journals together. They require some tweaking and I'm still fine tuning mine. It certainly saves me from hand sewing everything! 

I created the shell from a separate piece of leather and popped it up a bit with a couple pieces of scrap leather. This way the elastic band attached to the back can loop around the snail shell to hold the journal closed. I used imported veg tan leather for the lining and kept it natural. I just love the clean creamy color.

Stay tuned for more projects! Make sure to stop by my Facebook and Instagram pages for more projects, updates and info.

Have a great day!

Pam

 Hello! I can't believe it's September already! I love the Fall but really hate to see the summer go. Loving these cool days and nights we've been having in NY! So better much to pound leather when it's not hot and sticky out, lol. 

Today I'm sharing a leather tooled cup sleeve I made for my guy. He's a huge Syracuse University football and basketball fan. He was so excited!

I used Angelus Leather paints and Fiebing's Pro Dye to color it in. Antiqued with Fiebing's Antique in medium brown.

 I textured the background with a pebble background stamp - looks just like the pebbling on a basketball or football.

He's a fan of both sports but Football is his favorite.

Of course I laced it together like a football! 😂 I love how it came out-he did too.

Thanks so much for stopping in to see what I've been making. I love making things but also love sharing them with my craftie friends 😁

Have a great day!

Pam

Changes and Turtles!

 It's been a really long time sine I've blogged and I've missed my craftie friends! I've been very creative, just haven't slowed down enough to blog any of it, lol. I lost my job in November of 2020 and went on unemployment for the 1st time in my life. I've been unable to find a job and I never expected to be unemployed so long! The good news is I finally found a job and start in a couple of weeks! Woo Hoo! The timing couldn't have been better since my unemployment runs out next week. The thing is...I loved being home and having that much time for myself. I was never bored, I had plenty to do and things to keep me busy. My dog was very happy to have me home so much too. I really wish I didn't have to work, BUT the reality is I have to earn a living. While I was off I was very busy painting (acrylic and watercolor), wood burning, mixed media, gelli printing (I made my own gelli plates), I even created a game for my family. That was a lot of fun but also a lot of work! It took me weeks to finish and then I mailed them pieces of the game weekly for 7 weeks. There were puzzles to solve with clues each week. so much fun! Most recently I've revisited leather crafting. I used to do a lot of leather tooling about 25 years ago. I forgot how much I like it. That's what I'd like to share today is some of my recent leather projects. I've been practicing a lot and getting my skills back up to par. Mostly making things for myself and my family right now. 

Anyone who knows me knows my "thing" is turtles. I love them. So...you'll see a few turtle themed things here 😀 The first thing is a mousepad I made for my desk at my new job! I painted the accents with Angelus Leather Paints and antiqued with Feibing's dark brown antique.

This is just after carving. I love the look of natural leather and always debate about painting and/or antiquing but it makes it so much richer when it's colored and antiqued.

            

I made a cup sleeve for my favorite tumbler. Turtles of course! 

Here's the work in progress. Notice the weight on the right? I made that too. Actually pretty proud of myself for that one! I saw a similar one in a you tube video about leather tooling and I loved it! I did a little research and most people use a weight bag they fill with sand or weights of some sort. I didn't even find one to buy anywhere.  

I had no idea what I was doing and just kind of winged it! I had some smooth round lake stones laying around and some scrap leather. I ended up taping 2 smooth round lake stones together with masking tape. One wasn't heavy enough so I used two. Then I cut 2 pieces of  leather a little bigger than the stones. I wet the leather and molded them around the stones. Then I sewed the two pieces of leather together with waxed thread. It's not perfect but it worked! I'm so impressed with myself that it actually worked! 😂

Of course I decorated it with a turtle 😊 Painted and antiqued.

It's the perfect size and weight!

I've been really thinking about trying to earn a living with my creative interests. It's intimidating for me for lots of reasons, but I'm also excited about the possibilities. As that gets closer I'll be sure to let you know 😊

I started this blog when I was on a paper crafting Design Team. I really enjoyed that and blogged regularly back then. Since I'm doing more that just paper crafting now I'll be changing the name of my blog.  I haven't decided on the new name yet but will let you know before I change it over. My blog posts will be a little more eclectic too! Paper, paint, wood, leather...who knows?! The possibilities are endless!

Thanks so much for checking out my latest projects!

Have a great day!

Pam

Valentine's Cards

 Hi friends! Today I'm sharing some Valentine's cards I made for my friends and family. I've been a fan of Stampin Up! for years now and they never disappoint. I made all my cards using the new Snailed It stamp set and papers and Playful Pets DSP.

All the cards have removeable book marks. I colored the snail in with Copics. 

All my Valentine's have or love dogs so I made the bookmarks using these Inkadinkado dog stamps I got on Amazon.

The sentiment on the back is from Club Scrap Literature collection.

Closeup of the embellishments on the string that's on the bookmark.

All the little bone and heart embellishments I made using shrink plastic. I used clear and white. I decorated them with Copics and then shrunk them with my heat gun.

I just love that little snail! :) I think I'll little googly eyes over his eyes on future cards.

I made all the same book mark cards but with different papers and image placement etc. All the same yet different :)

I'm glad you dropped in to check out my creations today :)

Have a great Day!

Pam

Engraved LED Acrylic Lights

Hello craftie friends! Today I'm sharing some engraved LED Acrylic lights I made. I got a Chomas Creations Precision Engraving Tip for Christmas. That thing is awesome! It goes in the blade holder of my Brother Scan N Cut 2 and engraves designs into acrylic and metal. 

I bought the LED light bases and acrylic panels on Amazon. My Scan N Cut can only take materials 2mm thick or less. There are different acrylic pieces that are thicker so I just have to make sure to get the thinner ones. You can get many different shapes to engrave on.

I made nightlights for my boyfriend's grandkids, They came out so cute and the girls love them!

I cut on the backside so the rough side is to the back. They look better that way. Just remember to reverse the writing when engraving :)

The lights come with remotes and you can change the colors.

Ignore the reflections in the acrylic - these were very hard to photograph!

A gift for my niece - it looks awesome in her dorm room.

I put together a bunch of free images to make the designs.

I can't wait to try the Chomas Creations Engraving Tip on other things! I'll be sure to share!

Have a great day!

Pam

 

Lighted Shadow Boxes

Hello! It's been too long since I've blogged! I was laid off from my job in November and have a lot of time to craft and am finally getting around to actually blogging about it. Before Christmas I got a little obsessed with lighted Shadow boxes! When Design Bundles had their $1 deals they had a few shadowbox SVG files that I purchased. I was instantly hooked! I started to design my own SVG files on my computer and cut them with my Brother Scan n Cut 2. 

Each layer is a separate page that you layer on top of each other. I found a great tutorial on how to assemble them here. I got the LED lights on Amazon. 

 I created the box with paper too. I used a heavy cover weight 120lb card stock for the box. I used a 65lb weight cardstock for the pages. I made all mine 8" x 8", which worked well for detailed pages.

They are so much more impressive when they are lighted up! I decided on plain white lights but you can get colored ones too. 

I covered this box with paper I stamped with a wood grain image.

The best TV show ever :) Supernatural. 

The possibilities are endless! I'm sure I'll be making more. Thanks for checking out my creations! 

Have a great day!

Pam

Hey, Sugar

 Hello! It's been too long since my last blog post. It's been a busy, crazy year and it's totally gotten away from me! I'm glad to be blogging again and today I'm sharing a card I made for a couple of challenges.

  Sketch Saturday #634  I used Sketch #390 from 2015.

Lost Coastal Portal to Creativity Challenge 110 - Spooktacular Florals

The stamped images are Club Scrap Dias De Los Muertos. I stamped onto Strathmore Marker paper with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored in the skull image with Copics. The turquoise colored background piece is stamped with images from Dios De Los Muertos as well.

I'm so glad you stopped in to see my card today. Check out the challenges to see the other creations or link one of your own.

Have a great day!

Pam