Fabulous Finds Friday — Lots of Embellies

In the June issue of Crafts ‘n things magazine, I highlight some new embellishments found at the hobby trade show. Take a peek at a small sample:

We’ll get to those later… First, I want to tell you about another new product — Color Me, an embossed paper from Hot Off The Press.

The paper doesn’t look like much to begin with — white embossed images on white paper. But magic happens when you add color (in this case, Distress Inks from Ranger):

After coloring, I cut a flower using a Tim Holtz Sizzix die cut. I found some similarly white-on-white embossed letters from Close To My Heart, and when I rubbed these with Denim Adirondack ink, more magic!

(Paper from Close To My Heart)

Here is a close up of the flowers:

In my efforts to cut down on my scrap supply (Ha! Like THAT will ever happen!) I am determined to use up the paper once I start. So here’s what I did with the other half of that navy blue paper used in the first card:

The flower is made by cutting several layers of tissue paper (I think I cut four or five layers) using another Sizzix flower die. Stack the different sized flowers, poke a hole and insert a brad (I used a pretty pearl brad from K&Company). “Fluff” the flower by gently crunching and “smooshing” the tissue layers. The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

Thanks for coming by. My next post will show what I did with the rest of those nifty embellishments.

Fabulous Finds Friday — Random Finds

There was so much to see at the Craft & Hobby Association show waaaaaaaay back in January… Here are a few of my random Fabulous Finds:

As I mentioned in my CHA report in the Crafts ‘n things February newsletter, big images were definitely … well, BIG! These lovely flowers from Outlines Rubber Stamps use a large, open image and add one of my favorite techniques — Zentangles. Zentangles are doodles on steroids. Head to the Zentangles Web site for more details about this art form.  In the meantime, check out these beauties:

Pretty cool, huh?

I love the concept of this new SMASH journal from EK Success (set to debut in May):

This is not your grandma’s journal. This is funky and freeing. It’s designed as a fresh blend of scrapbooking and journaling; a project book that is fast and easy, where being messy is not only okay, but encouraged. It comes with a SMASH Stick, a pen/glue combo. Fun extras include lists, stickers, pockets and more. Sorry I don’t have inside photos!

One more fun item coming soon: Laptop Sticks — fun ways to dress up your laptop. From Me & My Big Ideas:

Thanks for stopping by … Hope your Friday is Fabulous!

Embracing My Bad Ballet

My friend and writing colleague, Kathy Sena, who writes the popular Parent Talk Today blog, is embarking on another adventure — a new blog called Bad Ballet,  celebrating the”bad ballerina” in all of us.

Kathy, the mom of a 15-year-old son, was inspired by the fearless comedy of the late Gilda Radner. “Bad ballerinas,” Kathy says, are “women of any age who
are leaping onto the next stage of life — no tutu required.”

Why, she asks, do so many women give up on fun and exploration and silliness? Why not take that leap, even if we might fall flat on our tu-tus?

The world, she says, should still be our oyster! Who can resist that?

Bad Ballet is having a launch party tonight, and in honor of the new venture, I made a necklace to give away at the soiree:

The necklace was made using a wood base covered with the Bad Ballet logo and computer-generated words “Be Brave,” a good motto for anyone, dontcha think? A string of red sequins line the side and it’s hard to see, but there’s some Stickles glitter glue adorning her outfit.

I made a matching box, using some purple card stock and my Ultimate Crafter’s Companion (a great tool):

Before folding and gluing the top together, I used a decorative punch — here’s a closer view:

I used the boxmaking portion of the Ultimate Crafter’s Companion — a nifty tool that comes complete with various scoring lines, tools and a handy carrying case.  The box making function is so simple — one section has scoring lines for the top of the box, the other has lines for the bottom, just a smidge smaller. So you don’t need to measure a thing! I like that. I also like that it folds and unfolds neatly and has space for the necessary tools. Here’s one of the inside sections (the box making lines are at the ends.)

And here it is all folded up, neat and compact:

Do check out the bad ballerinas!

In the meantime, I’m cleaning my desk (yet again) to make room for more crafting.

Book ’em ….

There’s not a Fabulous Find today, but I did want to share my adventures in bookbinding.

A few weeks ago I took a class in bookbinding at the coolest paper store — *The Paper Source. They offer material for every level of crafter. The class used pre-made kits, which was great because the hard work was done — cutting the mat board!. The kit came with pre-cut covers, inside paper, binding and cover paper.

Here’s what I made:

Then I got one of their accordian book kits and made this using using decorative paper:

Here’s the inside:

I think I need to make a bunch of these as holiday gifts! I was surprised at how quickly this accordian book came together.

Thanks for stopping by! (And check out www.paper-source.com)

(*disclaimer — I work part time at the Paper Source! And yes, I am basically working to support my paper habit.)

Fabulous Finds Friday — More Flower Punches

Spring is definitely in the air (although weird California weather had us freezing and drenched last week; boiling yesterday and today.) But who cares? We can make our own spring flowers! A few weeks ago I talked about the new duo flower punches from Tonic. Today, I want to showcase the beautiful blossoms made using McGill punches.

Here are some of punches used to make flowers. Note that McGill has upgraded to using levers… much easier to work than the old button punches:

It does take several punches to create various blossoms, but the company gives the recipes, with detailed instructions, on the Web site, www.mcgillinc.com. 

Here are some cards (blurry photos taken with my OLD camera):

(cards by McGill designers)

What’s your favorite way to make flowers?