Thursday, January 26, 2012

Bling without glitter?

Not gonna lie. I do love to use glitter. But when making cards for Operation Write Home, glitter is a no-go, because it can be dangerous to the troops. The challenge then, is how to make blingy cards without it? Here are a few fun supplies.




Today I have used some paper with gold and silver foil. I used some "Dazzles" stickers from a Paper Wishes catalogue that I get in he mail. I used some gold thread, a gold gel pen and some Liquid Pearls paint that I picked up at Michael's. The pearl paint is new to me. . . I think it is a new favorite.





The gold butterfly sticker has holes in it where I stitched some interesting lines with the gold thread. I do love the gold Dazzle sentiments. They look embossed, without the work or mess of embossing powder. I used he gold pen to doodle a few lines when I was done. This card turned out very sparkly and fun, without glitter! I'm so proud. :) here is a close-up of the butterfly... It's so pretty.





It's finally snowing like crazy here and I am having a quiet day off... Time for soup and a nap maybe? :) Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Sketch 105

Ugh. Snow + rain + cold weather + little sleep + lots of working + gym time (I should really learn not to go outside right after my workout) = head cold of the century! I am going to be spending some quality time with my NyQuil this week, folks! The cards could get interesting!

Here is sketch 105 from Stars & Stamps:





My card:





I used pink ribbons instead of paper strips. Now that I look at it again, it seems like it needs a bow somewhere. Or maybe two or three.

And since I was in a pinkish mood and I had some leftover flowers from the other day, I used them to CASE one of Sandy's cards from last year. (hers was red white and blue with stars on it.)

The trick here is to glue the flowers and border strip down, then run the mat through an embossing folder. I used my new folder from Stampin'Up. Then I added the buttons and floss!






That's all folks... Thags for stobbig by!!! ( I'b so sduffy!!!)

-nancy

Monday, January 23, 2012

Moneysaver Monday!

Hello! Did you have a good weekend? I had to work. But it was great to see my work friends and as always... learn new things. It doesn't matter how long you work for, when you work at a hospital, you always learn new things. And never, never say that you have "seen it all." Because lo and behold, that is when something unique will happen. We will leave it at that! :)

It's time for Moneysaver Monday! I'm so excited! I have been continuing to sort and reorganize my stash and I came upon an idea that I thought I would share that is great for both scrapbooking and cardmaking.
I love to dive the clearance bins at my favorite craft stores!!! Here are just two of some cute note pads that I bought from the bins last year:

TWO CUTE NOTE PADS. 50 PAGES FOR 25 CENTS EACH!

Clearance priced at 4/$1.00 these will be great for projects - I'll tell you why. The little note pads are 4" wide, which is perfect for cutting down to a 4 x 5.25" size. I can use them to line cards made with dark cardstock so that they have a nice writing area. They are also great to use for journaling on a scrapbook page. I could build a whole page around that cute ladybug paper. . . cards for that matter, too. Compared to more expensive, packaged "journaling tags" or lined cards that you can buy pre-made, these are much less expensive. And when you make cards in bulk like I do, that is a great deal. 

A PAD OF SENTIMENTS

 Here is a little 100-sheet pad of note papers that my friend let me borrow. Each page has a different verse, saying, or scripture on it. They are meant for use as sticky-notes. Think decorated Post-It's. You can find cute note pads like these in lots of office supply or greeting-card stores. Each page is already decorated and they are on such cute papers! They are also already the perfect size. I could make 100 cards from this stack of papers, by layering each verse or sentiment on the front or inside of a card and adding a few cute embellishments. This is another great find... as 100 "sentiment" stamps would cost much more, or printing them would cost more in ink and paper than this little stack did. Thanks for letting me borrow your stack, Dee! Here, I made you a card. :)



That is all for this weeks' segment of, "Moneysaver Monday!" lol... thank you for stopping by!


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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Black and white

I'm joining in on a challenge today for Stars & Stamps. The challenge is black and white and just a touch of color... I used just a bit more than a touch of shiny paper to go with my b&w... but I couldn't help it. :) I love the shiny redness!





Also, I had quite a bit of "help" this evening from Alley Cat, the next-door neighbor fur-friend who seems to be visiting us a lot more frequently lately. I don't mind the visitation, but clearly... Alley needs to learn some scrap manners!



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Serious Organization Skillz!

Remember this header for my blog? Maybe I need to put it back up again. Actually, this photo reminds me of a time when I didn't have quite as many supplies as I have these days. It's amazing how your hobbies and supplies can expand and quickly grow... Sometimes out of control!




Over at the Stars and Stamps blog today, the Tuesday Tutorial is all about organizing. I am hoping that lots of the OWH ladies will be sharing their own organization ideas and photos. Here are a few of my own favorite techniques and photos.


One thing that I always have on my workspace is this small storage drawer. It's little but perfect for storing all of the little things that I use very often like chalks, clear acrylic blocks for stamping, dimensional squares, and other tiny embellishments... So I don't have to search for them. Next to it is a rotating caddy that holds frequently used tools like my bone folder, a stylus, pencils and pens, a craft knife, and several different kinds of adhesive. Oh, and my OWH stamp. :)


(left) This is one of my favorite storage pieces... my Cricut is perched on an antique shelf unit that I got years ago from a family member. There is also room in it for my cartridges, my Cuttlebug supplies, a bin with stamps and a few other containers with frequently used tools and supplies. (right) In the corner is an inexpensive cabinet that I bought at Walmart... I actually have two of these cabinets and I love them, here is why...


The cabinets are deep enough to hold the large 12x12 drawer organizers and wide enough to leave space for shoe-box bins to the side. In the drawers I store stickers, rub-ons, chipboard and other embellishments. The shoe-box bins hold flowers, scissors, punches, floss and stitching supplies and etc. I also purchase lots of the plastic 12x12 storage bins from Michael's. I sort them by Holidays... One bin for Halloween, one for Valentine's Day, etc. When the holiday I need rolls around, I just pull the bin and everything that I need is inside... Mat stacks, stamps, embellishments, etc. I purchase a lot of my papers and embellishments on clearance in the off-season and tuck them into the appropriate bin... By the time the holiday comes, I often open the bin and find goodies that I forgot about. What a fun suprise! My second storage cabinet is organized the same way.




Here is a fun way to store more clear stamps. I bought a pack of trading-card protector sheets and those little individual stamps fit perfectly in the pockets in a large 3-ring binder. I have them divided by seasons... Spring, summer, winter, fall. I have a hard time passing up these little stamps!!! But I do use them a lot.


One thing that I also like to do is cover containers with my favorite papers. These make pretty and functional storage places... That round tin has Mod-podge and sponge brushes inside! It is my dream to have a craft room some day with a fairy tale theme. I would love to paint a landscape scenery on one wall and have lots of greenery and decorations. These containers are a small first step towards my dream room. I figure I will keep making them from time to time, until my room happens.

Thought I would share my glitter storage box... Because it is unique... And because I just gotta be me. :)

Don't forget to stop on by the Stars & Stamps blog to link up with your own storage ideas. I can't wait to see what ideas you guys have to share! Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Money-Saver Monday

One thing that I have been pretty good about in the past is sharing ideas for saving money on your paper crafting adventures. . . I have decided to save up these ideas and share them on Mondays when I get good ones. . . thus, please allow me to introduce Moneysaver Monday - Baker's Twine!

That cute striped baker's twine is everywhere these days. . . I keep looking for it in stores, but haven't found any yet. That leaves me with online options. . . I have found a few sets, but they are pretty proud of them. One site was selling strings of three colors for around $20. Another sold them individually for around $3-5 but you only get a few yards of each color.

Last night I heard of an idea, and today, I decided to give it a try. As usual, it is impossible to credit the original thinker-upper of the idea, because now I have "Googled" it and found more than a few people. There are also a few ideas of how to get this done, but here is my tried-and-true method (I just tried it, and it's true!) for making colored, striped bakers' twine.

For this project you will need a roll of "10 size" crochet thread (I got 400 yards of the stuff for $3.00)
A small wooden dowel or chopstick (free, if you go eat some Chinese food, yum!)
A marker (I have tried a Copic, a sharpie, and a Bic Mark-It, they all work great.)
A Diet Pepsi  (optional)
Seriously, why did I leave my soda in the photo?

I began by taping the end of the thread to the dowel so that it would stay. Then I just started twisting, to get a single layer of thread to wrap around the dowel. Hold the tension equally so that it is not wrapped too loose or tight in any spot. Stop whenever you think you have enough twine for your project.

Use a marker to color the thread on just one side of the dowel. Make your "stripe" as wide or narrow as you like. Be geneous with the ink and try to color the thread equally, so that there are not any light areas. Don't worry - the ink does spread all the way through the thread and it does color the dowel a little bit. I don't care about this, I have about a million dowels. I also just thought, that you could use a pencil if you wanted to try that. Whatever you use, be warned, it will be inked.

I decided that it would be a good idea to use my heat tool (for heat embossing) to help the ink dry. I used it on the thread for a minute or two - being careful not to hold it too closely so that the thread would not burn or discolor. That was nice... it is pretty cold today. Got my hands warm. :)
Voila... I now have the means to make 400 yards of any color striped bakers' twine in any color that I want. . . and warm hands too. Bonus! Let me know if you try this, and what you think. I am super excited, and can't wait to make cards with twine on them. :)
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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sketch Challenge 104

I'm going to try to do a little better this year with keeping up with the weekly sketches at Stars & Stamps. Did you know that you can stop by there and get a .pdf file with all of the last 100-some odd weekly sketches? I have mine printed out and put into a binder... they are a great resource for when you just need a little kick to get your mojo going.

Here is today's sketch #104 and a link to the post so you can stop by and get your .pdf file if you like, or just participate in the sketch challenge. What a fun card, I might do some more following this sketch today. :)

Sketch:

Card:


If you love this little monkey as much as I do, you can find him and many more other great digi-stamps over at Dustin Pike's place. Thanks for stopping by!

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Oh and by the way.. Happy Birthday, Dustin! I didn't even know, how serendipitous is that?

Saturday, January 14, 2012

You Make Me Smile!

Here is a little card from today. I used a few old techniques and some new ones too.






I used some A-2 sized craft card stock bases. The patterned papers are by Close To My Heart. I used the new Art Philosophy CTMH Cricut cartridge to cut the flower pieces and stamped them with the "Hooray Bouquet" stamp set using Baby Pink, Tulip and White Daisy inks. I mounted the flowers to mats (with CTHM sparkle brads) of dryer sheet covered white card stock and a mat of craft paper that I used a border punch on. The sentiment is from the same stamp set - I stamped on white with Tulip ink. The marquee shape is an EK success punch. The dryer sheets that I used are a spring floral scent, so these cards smell delicious too. Here is a trial-and-error tip... When attempting the dryer sheet technique, use the heaviest card stock or even water-color paper that you have. The mats turn out much more crisp and flat than if you use a lighter weight paper.

Close up!!!





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Thanks for stopping by!