Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Tutorial Tuesday

I know that you will just love the video up at Stars and Stamps today. http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2012/02/tutorial-tuesday.html
(I do hate that it is difficult to link to a page using BlogPress, but I am too lazy to go fire up my computer, it was a long day at the office!) My new blog friend Ted generously shared his video today about heat embossing.

Heat embossing is one of those techniques that has a bit of a learning curve but, had I been able to watch this great video, I would have attempted it much sooner. I especially like the part of the video where he shows what clear embossing powder can do. Sigh. Thanks to Ted, I must now go buy some clear powder and that lovely copper color that he used for his lion card is also very beautiful...

Scroll down two posts and you will see the card that I made for sketch #110 with the seahorse on it. I heat embossed this seahorse stamp with black powder before coloring it with markers. Cindy, my CTMH mentor actually encouraged me to try this technique long before I ever gave heat embossing a try. The coolest thing about coloring a heat embossed stamp, is that the embossing powder leaves a raised edge, so there is NO chance of coloring outside the lines or ending up with a runny outline. YAY!




I am super worn out from work today... I don't know why so much more than usual... So thank you for stopping by and won't you please also stop over to Ted's place and see why I have just fallen in love win his cards and tutorials. :). http://www.happilyevercrafter.com

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Moneysaver Monday


Here's a quick tip for anybody following along with my Monday tips on saving money on Scrapbooking supplies. My tip is this - think "scrapbook" wherever you go. It's no secret, any time a product or embellishment ends up in the "scrapbooking" aisle, the price is marked up remarkably. This especially applies to sewing supplies, ribbons, buttons, and such. How can you save money on embellishments??

Some of my favorite places to look for buttons and snaps are dollar stores, drug stores, and second-hand stores. You can always get huge amounts of them for much less. Local Mom-and-Pop scrapbooking stores also tend to have great deals on these embellishments. Sometimes you can even buy them in bulk! Fun!

Scroll down to see yesterday's bear card that I made for Sketch #110 at Stars & Stamps and you will see the three silver snaps that I used on this card... Snaps can be found in lots of styles in the sewing supplies... I got 100 snaps for a dollar. You can attach the decorative side of them easily to a card with just a dot of glue. Compare this to similar decorative embellishments I found for $4 a dozen... What a huge savings!





Thanks for stopping by! Next week, I'll share a super cool trick about brads.

Sketch #110

If you stop over to Stars & Stamps today, you can grab sketch #110... I rather liked this one.





As you can see, I rarely ever end up using the exact measurements as the sketch has. Instead, I tend to work around whatever sized image I want to use for the focal point... Here are three cards and a few supplies used.



Background patterned paper was a scrap of something that I must have more of. I don't know the designer. The digi stamp is a new one by Bugaboo. I love her! I colored with my Bic Mark-it markers. I used a Dazzles sentiment and a few scraps of shamrock ribbon and some fuzzy brads. Oh... And an EK border punch.




I used Kraft cardstock and some of my precious denim patterned paper. (Denim paper is just one of my favorite things!) when working with denim paper, distressing the edges of the paper with a darker blue makes the edges really stand out. I did this with the three horizontal strips, and added the silver snaps, because they go good with denim. :) The stamp is one that I bought in a gift shop in Yellowstone for a hundred dollars. Ok... It wasn't really THAT expensive, but it was a bear stamp, so I had to have it. Bears are one of my favorite things too! I colored them with pencils. Oh, and that sentiment is heat embossed with white powder.




I used Kraft cardstock for my base and some wood patterned and map patterned paper from the Tradewinds DCWV mat stack. I used a Spellbinders Nestie punch for the mat that I stamped the seahorse on. That cute little seahorse came from the dollar bin at Michael's. I heat embossed with black embossing powder so he has a LOT of texture and dimension, then colored with markers. Doesn't he look real? I added pearl paint to the wood strips and thought to myself that I really must practice with pearl paint because my pearls are totally asymmetrical and lumpy. I do love that seahorse though... The seahorse stamp is the one that has caused the uproar of the weekend around here. I stopped for a few goodies at Michael's on Friday and came home with some paper and new stamps. Hubby got all judgemental and started asking if these were stamps that I really NEEDED or if I just WANTED them. I didn't particularly like his tone or the way he was eyeballing my stash... It was then that hubby declared me to be "...one rubber stamp away from an episode of Hoarders." The good news is, his doctors are hopeful and expect a full recovery, and he should be out of the ICU by some time next week. :)

Thank you for stopping by!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Thanks A Latte!

Just catching up this weekend with some Tutorial fun... This card was featured in last Tuesday's tutorial at Stars & Stamps. Although a ton of fun to make, there really isn't much room for writing on the inside so I souped mine up with some extra white liner paper on the inside and of course, I had to do some of mine in purple. :) I also used different embossing folders and some paper that was already corrugated and a sentiment by Bugaboo digi stamps.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Sailing Away...


Here's a little card about Sailing.. I cut a ship using the Paper Dolls Cricut cartridge (pirate boy accessory) and added just a few embellishments. I cut the ship first in brown and then white and paper pieced the sails. I added an extra layer of white to the middle sail to make it look a little extra billowy. I also added a few pieces of twine by piercing the card and threading the twine through, like big stitches. The sky background is from the DCWV Playtime stack and to finish, I inked some paper with different shades of blue. I cut the paper into strips using scalloped edge scissors backwards instead of the usual direction to make waves instead of scallops. Some creative layering of these elements turned out to make a fun ocean. I think that this would make a fun card for a parent to send home to a child. :) I haven't yet decided on a sentiment! Or maybe, I will leave it just like this.






Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Beachy Thinking of You!

Here's a beachy card with an idea that anybody can expand on. I used sand paper for a layer on this card to make it extra beachy! Here are some things about working with sand paper that you should know.




First, I would like to thank my dear hubby for his assistance with this card. I've never seen him quite so engaged! When I asked him if he had any sand paper, not only did he take me to his work bench to find just the right kind, he also gave me a few tips on working with sand paper that I will share! That brings me from my first tip...

When stealing sand paper from your husband, DO ask if you can use it first. It's only fair. I wouldn't want my hubby rooting through my paper scraps, even if they look like trash to him. :)

Sand paper comes in all kinds of different grains (roughness) sizes, colors, shapes and it even comes in sheets with sticky backing! Just peel it off like a sticker, and it sticks! I found the adhesive to be pretty serious so don't count on being able to reposition it after you place it on your card! The different grains of sand paper come in different colors, too... How fun!

When cutting your sheets of sand paper, do NOT use your good scissors. Hubby says that sand paper will ruin your blades. He suggested cutting it with a straight edge and a craft knife that I have a replacement blade for. I used that, and an old pair of scissors that I didn't care about, to make this card. Isn't that sweet? Hubby saved my blades!

Expanding on this, I would also recommend not putting your sand paper through your Cricut..l (whew, tempting! I probably would have tried this!) Don't use your favorite punches, or deco-edge scissors either, unless you don't care about dulling them.

DO experiment with paint or ink on your sand paper... I colored on mine with a Bic Marker to draw the little windows and footprints. This gives me ideas for making pretty sand painting cards later on. :)

DO take advantage of that sticky-back paper, and do use a strong adhesive to stick anything to the sandy-side of the paper. I used glue dots. They worked great!

DO take advantage of trips to Home Depot with your hubby... I have found that aside from good quality time together, you can browse the selections of sand paper together and have a good time! I owe mine coffee and a big kiss for showing me the sand paper ropes. Thank you, Hubby!

Have fun, and be sure to share your sandy cards with me!


Monday, February 6, 2012

Masculine, Nautical

I think that I deserve a little bit of a handicap this week... Although I do love to make cards with beachy, nautical, sea-themes, I live in Idaho. That's pretty far from any beach, and I can't say that I have had very much ocean- like experience apart from the occasional rare vacation or two in my lifetime. When I Googled "nautical" though, I came up with lots of fun photos, this one especially intrigued me...


I have seen these flags on boats before, but I wasn't aware that they meant anything special. So I learned a lot this week, and then I made this card by paper-piecing some 1.5 inch squares of colored paper. I figure that some knowledgeable sailor might enjoy sending this card to a loved one or family member... I think it is both masculine and nautical, and the flags spell out, "LOVE.".