A phone is not for calling--plus a free ear worm!

We all have those special friends who just "get" our unique humor. Those are the friends to whom we can send our snarkiest cards.

This is one such card--a not so subtle reminder about how annoying phone calls can be.

To keep this site family-friendly, I blurred out some language on this card. If you want, you can see the original adult-language-version card on my blog.

Complete with a retro telephone dial, the dial actually turns, to reveal more numbers...

and a few key letters.

To make the card, begin removing the smallest of the Rotary Dials from the package and adding colorful ink.

Adhere decorative paper and the image from Questionable Characters 2 to the card base.

Determine placement for your telephone dial and punch a small hole in the card for the brad. With a pencil, lightly trace the location of the dial holes that fall onto the white card base.

Remove the phone dial, add rub-on letters and numbers within the traced circles and then erase the pencil marks. 

Next, place Post-it Notes over the areas you wish to mask and stamp a textured background onto the card. 

Remove the Post-It Notes, replace the dial pad, add the center "Miss You" sentiment, smudge white pencil around the image and lightly pencil fake telephone numbers onto the background paper. 

I can't tell you how many times the 867-5309 song went through my head during this process. You are incredibly welcome for that free ear worm. 

Print snarky sentiment and "Miss You" sentiment on your computer. Adhere the "Miss You" to the circle chipboard that came with the rotary dial and adhere it to the brad. If you wish, you can first carve out a hole for the brad in the back of the chipboard so it sits flat. 

Adhere the snarky sentiment to the card. The font I used would not print an apostrophe, so I had to do some printing gymnastics to turn a comma into a outline and then flip it upside down to create an apostrophe. This made for some tiny gluing!

Lightly ink the edges of the card with black ink and your card is complete. Have a great day everyone. Hopefully that song won't stick in your head all weekend--if it does, just use it as a reminder to get crafting! -Betsy

Great stuff

Rotary Dials

Questionable Characters 2

Brad

Decorative paper

White cardstock

Ink jet printer

Stamp by Seth Apter

Purple ink

Black ink

White Stabilo All Pencil

Black Stabilo All Pencil

Beacon Zip Dry

Wear it again tomorrow

Hi Guys,
Jess here today.

I've been in a bit of a snarky mood lately and when I saw this lady I knew she needed to be used for a project.

I started by taking my Laurel Frame and covering it with a layer of gesso using a foam brush.  Using the same brush I added some Dina Wakley Paint.  I didn't clean the brush between uses so there was still gesso in there creating different shades of blue. 

Using the script stamp from the Tim Holtz Entomology Set(CMS328). I stamped across the frame in Hickory Smoke Oxide Ink.  I sealed the ink using Micro Glaze. 

This photo was cut to fit inside the frame.

For the back panel I used a 5x7 canvas board and loosely painted it using the paints pictured.  I added some stamped bits from the Time Holtz Mini Media Marks(CMS364).  These were done with Archival Ink in Black Soot and Hydrangea.  Before I finished my project I added in a bit of Victorian Velvet Distress Paint to pick up the pink you see in the background piece.  

To mount the photo I used a piece of humble cardboard.  Peel parts of the top layer to expose the corrugate and then cover with gesso.  I did a couple thin layers to cover all of the brown.  I added some collage paper to the bits that still had the full cardboard using collage medium.  To color the cardboard and collage paper I used Distress Crayon(Victorian Velvet, Cracked Pistachio, Worn Lipstick, and Gathered Twigs) and water to give it a dreamy hazy look. Pearl details were added to the frame and the snarky sentiment. 

To complete the piece I painted a set of  Mini Petal Corners using Dina Wakley Ancient Paint.  

 A couple close ups of the finished details. I ended up going back with Jet Black Archival ink and restamping the script on the frame.  I added a bit of DIstress Crayon in Gathered Twigs to dinge it up.  There is a teeny bit of the Dina paint in Ancient on there too. 

I love the grungy look the cardboard gives. 

Layers and details.  

I hope you like her and take her sage advice!

Jess

Make your laundry room more fun with these retro signs by Betsy Skagen

Two of my favorite things in the world are mid-century graphics and snarky humor. I recently combined them to make one of my least favorite things in this world--doing laundry--a little more fun.

These retro laundry signs are sure to brighten both my laundry room and my spirits when I tackle my family's Mount Maytag of laundry.

Tutorial on how to make retro laundry signs

Begin by creating gel prints on white cardstock to use as your background.

Next cover the Retro Frame Set with gesso. Dry with heat gun and then paint each of the frames. I chose to make my frames metallic silver and teal.

Dry with heat gun and then cover the frames with embossing ink and clear embossing powder. Activate the embossing powder with a heat gun.

. Cut your background paper to fit each of the frames.

 Cut out images from Vintage Laundry #1 and personalize with messages.

 Adhere the images to your pre-cut background paper.

Glue the frames onto your images. Then adhere the images to white corrugated cardstock. Complete the signs by gluing the corrugated paper onto black cardstock. 

Great Stuff

Retro Frame Set

Vintage Laundry #1

White corrugated cardstock

White cardstock

Black cardstock

Acrylic paint

Embossing ink

Clear embossing powder

Black pen

Shine your Light

Hi Everyone,
Jess here today and I don't have a lot of steps out for this one because I was feeling a bit under the weather when I crafted and forgot to take photos.  I will still walk you through all the steps.

Cut a piece of paper large enough to cover your Large Chipboard Tag.  Using a piece of sticky fabric tape run it down the edge of you paper and stitch it on using your sewing machine.  Glue the paper to the tag.  Once your adhesive is dry cover the entire tag with clear embossing powder.  While the embossing powder is still hot using foil to add tiny bits of gold.

Paint your Wood Medallion using Mowed Lawn and Black soot Distress Paints.  Add gold accents using a gel pen.  Glue to the top of your tag.  

Paint your Scribble Leaves Frame using Mowed Lawn Distress Paint and buff with a bit of Dina Wakley Paint in Gilt.  

Using foam tape pop up your focal image and adhere her to the center of the tag.  Attach your scribble frame using a strong adhesive.

Glue down your sentiment and scribble around the edges using a Fude Ball Pen.  Add Distress Crayon in Black Soot to the edges of the tag. Add flowers to the woman's hair and to the tag.  

Enjoy!

Jess

Snarky New Year!

Happy New Year from this party animal!
Hey Everyone,It's Jess.
If you made it until midnight, then you stayed up later than me.  I never make it until midnight.  I have a little project for you today that shows you that I really know how to party.

I used the Tiny Matchbox Theatre to make my party animal box.

 I covered the box with old book paper.

I used Dina Wakley Paints to add some pops of color.  The edges have some Distress Crayon in Hickory Smoke and Black Soot. 

The image inside is from Lisa's Altered Art and it is popped up using foam tape.  I added the little party hat and book.  There's some fun washi tape behind her just for visual interest.  

I hope you have an amazing 2018! 

Jess

Having fun with a little snarkiness by Betsy Skagen

I guess this reveals the less classy side of myself, but lately I have been having a lot of fun making snarky tags.

To make this tag, simply cover a manilla tag with decorative cardstock. (Hint: instead of paying a small fortune for designer brand craft tags, I bought 1000 manilla tags on Amazon. This resulted in a cost of mere pennies per tag)

Next cover the Art Deco Border with ivory paint. After it dries, apply brown distress ink to the edges.

Adhere the Art Deco Border across the top with the tiniest bit of glue possible. Make sure to center it around the tag hole.

Adhere another piece on the bottom corner of the tag.

Cut out the Snarky Ancestors, ink the edges with brown distress ink and adhere to the tag.

Run a ribbon through the hole and either tie or glue together.

That's it! Your tag is finished. Now all you have to do is decide upon whom you want to bestow this snarkiness.

Great Stuff

Art Deco Border & Corners
Snarky Ancestors #2
Manilla tag
Decorative cardstock
Ribbon
Ivory acrylic paint
Brown distress ink