Just Found… September 29, 2008

So I was on the internet looking for a snowflake image that I could use for a card, and I came across this:

And all I’m going to say is,  “This is going to be one heck of a card!”

I was totally inspired to use this idea as a jumping off point.  Check out the other things at: www.lightgarden.net .  I was blown away by the things that this creative person is doing with glass.

So, how do you get inspired?

A Purse Fit For A Queen! September 29, 2008

 

This card was created for my boyfriend’s niece.  She turned 16 last year, and is an absolute fashionisa!  I love the way it turned out, and I wanted to give you the idea to jump off from.

So, here’s what you’ll need:

1. 1  sheet of 8 1/2″ x 11″ turquoise or light blue paper
2. 1/2 sheet of 12″ x12″ brown patterned paper
3. Brown ribbon
4. Craft knife or hole punch
5. Hand made pattern of purse shape
6. Brown button
7. Coordinating stamps
8. Brown stamp pad

Steps:

1. I first drew out the purse pattern on a piece of scrap paper.  The secret was, I drew out the base of the purse first, then flipped it so that it sat on the bottom of the already drawn portion; that way I knew where the fold would be.  I call this my “mirror method”.
2. I then drew out the portion of the purse that would be the “clasp” or the “top” of the purse.  I tried to make it just under half of the size of the original purse size.  Anything larger seemed to be too much.
3. I cut out my pattern from the blue paper.  Then, you’ll want to fold it and see if there is any need for trimming.  My purse certainly needed it.  When I placed my folded purse together, I found that although my mirror method worked, it didn’t mirror the first piece exactly.  So, some trimming was required to make the purse seem uniform and whole.
4. I then placed the “top” portion of the purse on the wrong side of the brown pattered paper, traced that out and cut it.  Then, I glued that onto the front of the purse.
5. I then used that same piece of brown patterned paper to create a strip of paper approximately an inch wide for the accent on the front of the purse.  This wasn’t really necessary, I just thought it tied things together.
6. I then inked the edges of the purse both inside and out with my brown ink pad.
7. Next, I stamped my sentiments.  I wanted the sentiments to be seen as she opened the card..sort of a way to tell a story.
8. Then, I used a hole punch to punch in the places that I would add the “handle” for the purse.  I punched in four holes, as you can see on the last picture.  I then threaded the ribbon through.
9. Finally, I added the button on the front strip.  Once again, this wasn’t a requirement for the design, but I really like the way that it pulled things together.

Some other ideas to consider:

• If you want to make the purse completely shut, you can adhere velcro dots to the “top” or “flap” portion of the purse.  You may want to do that if you use it for a gift card or money.
• You can easily flip flop the plain paper with the patterned paper, to make the card have more depth or richness.  It would be great if you have any paper that looked like alligator or snakeskin…I can totally picture that.
• You could also make a different impact by sewing the edges of the purse with a blanket stitch.  It would add some depth and dimension.

The purse turned out really great, and she loved it.  I was a perfect choice for someone who loves fashion…especially those essential acessories!

Just a quick post today. September 22, 2008

Quick & Cute

I just wanted to share a recent project that I worked on last week. 

This card took just 5 or ten minutes.  It proves that if you have a few minutes and a few scraps, you can accomplish a cute card that anyone would love to receive. 

You’ll need:

1. A half sheet of 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper, cut so that you can fold it in half to create a card.
2. A scrap of another type of scrapbooking paper, such as the blue “boxed” pattern I used above.  I cut it into approximately 5 1/2″ x 4 1/2″  piece to adhere to the front of the card.
3. A third scrap of blue paper cut into a 2″ x 2″ square.
4. A star stamp, particularly one that you like the shape of.  You’ll be stamping this to the back of yet another scrap and cutting the stars out to adhere.
5. Any sentiment that you like.

So, I folded the cardstock in half to make a card shape.  I then adhered the “box” patterned paper to the front of the card.  (This paper came from Stampin’ Up! about two years ago.  I’m sure that it’s retired.)  Next, I adhered the blue “box” just off center.  I thought that it created more interest off to the side rather than just in the middle.  I had already cut out the stars, so I then adhered them after finding a pleasing arrangement.  Finally, I adhered the sentiment.  Viola!  Another beautiful card that I made quickly, and could be used for any occasion.

Why Don’t You….? September 12, 2008

I’ve decided to add a new tag to some of my posts and call it a “Why don’t you…?” segment.  The whole idea is that I give ideas about things to try.  These may be things that you’ve done before, things that you’ve never tried, or things you simply forgot about doing to make a difference in your cardmaking or scrapbooking.

I was inspired to do this because I have a couple of friends who aren’t necessarily new to scrapbooking, but they don’t know many of the tips and tricks that I troll the internet to find.  I spent a couple of days working on things, and teaching them to do new things; and was amazed by how it improved thier abilities and excited them to try new things.  I hope that I can pass some of that enthusiasm on to you.

So, for our first Why Don’t You..? we’re going to talk about making an assortment of cards.  Like this one that I made yesterday:

 I scraplifted an idea from the February 2008 Papercrafts Card Creations Magazine.  Awesome publication.    I love everything that Papercrafts publishes.  This original design was on page 14 and was called “Flower for Mom”.  I used the layout and jumped off from there. (The design was by Nichole Heady.)

The first in the series was this:

Number 1

So I set up the main layout, and used a few different pieces of colored cardstock to do this, as you’ll see.  I then used the flowers to create the difference in each of the cards of the series.  These flowers were a cut out from a local scrapbooking store’s die cut machine.  (I unfortunately do not know the names of the die cuts.  I didn’t write it down the day I was in there.)  On this one, I used a button to make the center of the flower.

Here is card # 2:

Number 2

To continue the series, I used a large brad in the center of the flower.

Number 3

For this one, I used an assortment of self sticking rhinestones for the center of the flower.

Number 4

For the 4th card, I liberated some of the items in my stash and pulled out some cute stickers that made the perfect center for this flower.

Number 5

For number 5, I used a simple round punch out of the same cardstock that is the polka dot in the background paper.

Finally, for the 6th of the series,

I punched two holes just off center of the flower, with a normal hole punch- and threaded ribbon through the middle of the flower.

So I hope that some of these simple ideas have spurnned some creativity.  I know that it sure did for me.

**I also have to apologize for the photo quality.  My phote editing software and the blogging software didn’t want to always play nice; and I did the best I could.**

I learned something today… September 11, 2008

I worked on a layout recently that called for some flourishes in front of a photo.

I learned that you cannot (easily, anyway) heat emboss on a photo.

Here it is:

Flourish layout

 

You’ll notice my placement of a flower in the lower right hand corner of the photo to cover the boo-boo.  The ink pad that I use to hold my embossing powders didn’t adhere; and when I used the gun, it blew completely away.

So, lesson learned.  No embossing on photos.  Check.

Yeah! Time to Scrap & Stamp! September 4, 2008

I finally got a chance to sit down with some friends and stamp last night.  It was wonderful.  I pulled out my copy of Page Maps by Becky Fleck.  (You can get it on www.amazon.com )  I love, love, love this book and the sketches in it.  I also looked on my demonstrator website..pulled some ideas from there.  Then, away I went.

Here are some of the fruits of my labor:

Floral Card with Brads

This card was really easy to make.  Black paper, white paper, black stamp pad, a cute floral stamp, some colorful brads & viola!  A cute card that I can use for a number of things.

Birthday Card, Turquoise & Brown

This one, also easy.  The toughest thing was to figure out the sizing of the squares within the layer of white.  They ended up being approximately 1″ x 2″ squares.  Then, I heat embossed the sentiment in copper embossing powder.

I have been spending more time experimenting with patterns.  This card is an example.  I used an idea from my demonstrator website, and jumped from it.  It used stamped backgrounds that were busy..but looked beautiful.  I used my favorite colors pink & brown, and went from there.  I like the results.

First Kiss Page

Had a slight technical problem..my scanner wouldn’t scan the scrapbooking pages I did last night, so I had to break out the camera.  I used some paper from a cardstock “stack” and inked the outside of the page to match the inked look of the “stack” paper I wanted to use.  This layout was a basic one from the Page Maps book from above.  It’s really versatile.  You could easily change the layout to orient horizontally, or you could change the pattern of the papers so that it was softer; or more masculine.  Luckily enough, I was able to find some paper that was appropriately “masculine” enough for my new nephew.

Easter 2008

This layout or “map” also came from an idea from Page Maps.  I loved the look of the layers of pattered papers that continued to bring your eye up to the photos.  This is probably my favorite thing I did last night.  I also liked the idea that I used the dotted circular pattern to hold my little bit of journaling to at least talk about the date and the occasion for the photos.

My boyfriend was actually the person who started this design.  I found the layout / general idea in a couple of books; and he picked out the photos for this layout as well as the colors.  Purple is his favorite color,and since this was a page about him and my nephew, it fit.  When I found the vellum quote, that was it.  It made it all come together.

See what I mean?  I got so many things down on paper, and now I’m going to put together a few more things.  It’s so nice to share it all with you!  Tell me what you think.