May 2009

I have moved my posts from an old blog to this one and I have moved one month at a time.....I have been blogging far too long to post each one on a separate day. Enjoy the below post for the month mentioned in the tag line.

Greatest Dad

I was working on Father's Day cards in my spare time this week (take note that I only have ONE card posted for the majority of the week...NO SPARE time at all....lol) and I have this little card to show for it.

I cut my circle and then printed the words around the outer edge to finish my design.  After punching my design into the edge of the top layer of background paper I  inked it with my TIM inks. Then I put all the elements together and voila' ......you're a card....hehehe

TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2009

Graduation card

Graduation is here!  I had a graduation to go to yesterday so I took a photo of my card before handing it over.  Since my recipient is in a Rock & Roll band I thought those cool wings from the Maya Roads keychain would be perfect!!

 

After removing the plastic from the wings I put a drop of the pearl and silver on the felt pad of the applicator (a dab of each color set apart from each other on the pad so they didn't meld together).  Then I dabbed them onto the wings, waiting a few minutes between each dab so it could dry and then keeping going until it was covered.  That's the magic.  Pretty simple actually, but a very cool effect!

Get crafty today!

THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2009

A page!

I visited a few places that served up margaritas when we were in Las Vegas last summer and I had to use this paper for the layout.  

I used the stickles on the rim of the glass and the green distress stickles on the lime for a little added fun.  I used the NESTIES to make my circles for the highlighted margarita glass from the paper.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2009

Altered Canvas creation

I have always wanted to try a canvas with all my fun scrapbooking tools and embellishments.  I bought an 11x14 canvas at a local art store and then set to work making a piece of art...note...this is FUN!  I got to get out some stuff I have been stashing away for a while.  Chipboard letters, big flowers, chipboard scrolls and more.

Most of this is not available at the store as I purchased most of it a long long time ago.

This will be on display in the classroom at the back of the store.

Remember you can work in the classroom anytime for free as long as we are not holding a large class or other paid event.  Call ahead to see if we have availability for you to create in our room.

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

Sunflower card

This little strip of sunny paper from Sassafras Lass was the inspiration for this card.  I dug out all the sunflowers I had.  I left the sentiment off because I am making some blank cards for future use.  Layering, layering, layering!  

MONDAY, MAY 18, 2009

Thank You Very Much

More rainbows to play with.  

After cutting off the border strip from the Sassafras paper I used it for the edge of the card....I am loving this option for that piece we used to just throw away!

SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2009

Thinking of you

More cute paper from the Sassafras Lass line. 

Another simple layering card  I used a piece of paper for my "ribbon" on the "slider".  The burlap look to the patterned paper adds a lot to the look of the card without the work.  I can see this as a Father's Day card.

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2009

Birthday Card

A little chocolate doesn't hurt right?  Chocolate paper that is.  This line from Bo-Bunny has a nice combo of Chocolate and aqua paper.  

The technique here is taking a small piece of cardstock and placing the mask on it.  Using a watercolor pen and some ink to drop color onto the masked area and letting it dry is the hard part.  Spraying it with the mini mister is the easy part! The water spray made it look more watery.  Once I had it to my liking I let it dry, then I removed the mask and embossed it.

FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2009

Count Your Rainbows

Another part of my marathon creating session on Monday.  I fell in love with this rainbow paper from Sassafras Lass.  The border edges on these papers are decorated so you can clip them off and still use them!  How COOL is THAT?

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2009

New technique

I tried this technique a while ago, but didn't get a finished project until today.

This is a new way to use the CUTTLEBUG folder with GLIMMER MIST.  Just spray the Glimmer Mist on the side of the CUTTLEBUG folder you want it to show up on.  The glittery stuff settles into the cracks and crevices and looks so cool!  The other thing I tried was "coloring" with my Cut-N-Dry sponge.  By dabbing a corner of my sponge in to the ink and then rubbing just the spot I wanted to color it worked pretty well.  Just a little subtle color to the raised image was all I wanted.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2009

Altered Art

Take a pre-finished piece of art and make it over.  I loved the frame work on this and bought it with the intention of making a cool display for our favorite TIM HOLTZ items.  This was a blast to do!  The wood was already painted and all I had to do was pop off the back panel to create the scene with all my favorite new products.

After removing the panel from the back (and the little nails that held it together) I put down a piece of paper to cover the back.  I used the embossing ink to stamp the weed and clock image on the background so that the paper color would show through when I did the color washing.  After heat embossing the images I used the Red Pepper Color Wash and the walnut ink to spritz the background paper.  Once it dried a bit I wiped off the embossed area leaving only color on the paper.  I waited until the whole thing was completely dry before I did the rest of the fun things.  

I stamped the quote on the paper (part in the top window area and then other part in the middle lower window.  By placing the window panels on the paper and marking it with a pencil I could see where the images needed to be without being obstructed by the panes when put together again.  After that I put together all the cool stuff I have purchased for my "TIM" collection and put them in the windows.  The other cool feature to this is the paper I put through the DYMO label buddy...yup, paper.  I saw this on the TIM HOTLZ blog and decided I NEEDED to try this.  I found a paper that had a white core...in this case a piece of My Mind's Eye scrap....and cut it to 3/8" strip.  I put the end of the strip into the DYMO and started punching my words in and it worked great!  Once done I removed it and sanded off the raised images...and then I used my dark into to color it in again (I know, I could make up my mind..lol)

So thats it.  Stop by the store to see it as it will be a part of our "TIM" display.

TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2009

Changito and a tree

I was playing in my crafty area and got a lot of cards made and a few other projects.  Lucky you, I will be posting a card a day for the next whole week!!

Today I have a simple card with the adorable Changito from Stampendous and the cool tree from Maya Road.  Super easy with lots of stamp brands.  Cute stuff.  I stamped the tree onto the cream cardstock in the Peeled Paint green and then I stamped the whole image onto a brown paper with the brown ink and then cut out the trunk only to place over the top of the green inked stamp.

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2009

Happy Birthday my little monkey friend

I stamped the CHANGITO image with my Tim Holtz ink and then blended his body with my blender pen and the ink pad.  When that was dry I filled in the body with my Glossy Accents to give him a shiny coat.  Then it was a matter of simple layering with my color coordinated papers and the Floral screen embosser.

SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day

Had to use a flash on this one...I was working into the wee hours making cards and it's pretty dark in my scrappin' space (even with the full moon..lol).  Can you see the shine off of the bling in the butterfly center?
I have been itching to use my sheer butterfly keychain from Maya Road since they came in last week and I finally got to do what I have had in my head since seeing them in the catalog. Since there are 6 butterflies on the keychain I can do several cards or other projects.

SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2009

Hip to be Square...

..or rectangular.  Ok, I was trying different things again with the leftovers from Thursday's project and I came up with this.  Not sure about it, but sometimes you have to try right?

I think I will put the sentiment on a tag in the middle of this one, when I decide what sentiment that might be.  I am making some "blank" cards for emergencies and I have several tag with sentiments already stamped on them.

FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2009

Glimmer and shimmer

This works for a  wedding/anniversary or even a birthday card.

I don't think you can see how shimmery it really is even with this close-up.
This is what happens when you create something and you have cool leftovers to work with. Can I just mention that the original project I worked on when I ended up with this was a complete dud.  In the second step of my original card I put my GLIMMER SCREEN on the card and sprayed my SILVER BELLS GLIMMER MIST on the card.  After removing the screen (carefully) I was left with an unattractive card...but the mist left on the screen was AWESOME!  I took an extra piece of white felt cardstock and placed it carefully on the screen to soak up the mist from the screen and the image you see above is what transfered to it....cool huh? So, having this cool piece of paper I had to finish it right? I found some buttons and matching paper flowers and the iridescent cord to create my card.  Roll the whole thing through the Cuttlebug before attaching all that and you have the above card.

THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2009

Bright and Cheery

We have a butterfly punch at the store that I just love...we actually have many butterfly punches at the store that are just gorgeous and in various sizes.

I was getting messy again with my inks and the craft sheet does a great job of cleaning up after me...ok, not literally of course!  One thing I did learn about my Craft Sheet is the colors that you rub on it don't dry very fast and if I take another sheet of paper or ribbon and rub along it you can pick up the color from it...kinda cool sometimes and other times not.  It depends on what colors I am working with.  It works amazingly with the GLIMMER MISTS....that works wonders for ribbon pieces.

Anyway, back to the card.  I cut the cool edge with my edgeabilities die, which comes with two by the way, and then put the two pieces facing each other on the card, leaving a space between.  I used the Cuttlebug folder to fill the space between the edges.  With the Tim Holtz Distress inks I rubbed on the raised areas to give just the bumps the color.  Then I glued down the edged pieces, pop-dotted the flower (with the brad in the middle) and then placed the butterflies winding up the Cuttlebugged space.  I left the sentiment off because I can go back and do whatever I want when I need it.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2009

Be Inspired Challenge #30

The ladies at the CUTTLEBUG CHALLENGE blog are doing some fabulous wedding inspired creations and since we are currently working on our WEDDING example album at PICTURE THIS, I  just had to share.

I made this into a tri-fold card again with a sleeve to hold the panels shut.  It is a standard A2 card when it is finished for mailing.  Doing all white (or a cream) makes for easy wedding cards, either an invitation to the wedding itself or a shower.  You could even take a coordinating color from the wedding and add it to the mix.

TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2009

Live Laugh Love

I had to play with my new tree stamp the other day but I forgot to take a photo before taking it to work for display...silly me!

This one is pretty simple.  I stamped the tree on both green and brown paper and then cut out the trunk from the brown (I cut in close to the edge) and the leaves from the green piece (not cutting as closely with these to leave a larger area for the canopy) . I adhered the trunk to the leaf canopy and then used my bottle of Glossy Accents to shine up the leaves.   Isn't it the cutest little tree??

MONDAY, MAY 4, 2009

Simple Graduation

Simple cardstock and some CUTTLEBUG'in make this card easy and eye pleasing.  Of course, as with all the cards, any color combo from any school can be used.  

SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2009

Graduation with vellum

Just to try something a little different I used a sheet of vellum over the top of the die cut year.  Layering the die cut graduation cap on top of the vellum was the finishing touch.  You could easily put a photo of the grad under that vellum layer as well.  Each corner is held in place by a brad.  

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2009

Graduation silhouette

A simple card with simple embossing and die cuts from the PAZZLES.  Any name or year can be cut at the store for a truly personalized invitation.  The cost is 25 cent per letter or number plus the cost of paper.  Even if you only had the year cut out and the graduate silhouette it makes a very nice card.  Any color combo will work with this all cardstock card.

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2009

Grad card with photo

This example shows a graduation card with a "senior" photo as the center piece. 

An easy card you can use for your graduation invitation or even a simple holiday card.  The clear photo corners hold the vellum down without hindering your ability to remove the photo from the card to keep.  I used a small piece of adhesive behind the photo to keep it in place.

At the store we have several school papers like the one used above.  Memorial, North, Altoona, Eleva-Strum, Mondovi, Blugolds...just to name a few.  Any color combo and any embossing folder will work for the top layer.