Rose Are Red … and Yellow … and Easy

I am addicted to these Rose Flurries dies from Altenew. Absolutely addicted.

Now, you know nothing makes me happier than using up my paper scraps. And then making pretty things. These dies let me do it all.

First, check out the card:

(Cover die is Altenew’s Watercolor Stripes over a watercolored background. Sentiment is from Altenew’s Persian Motif set. Gems from Studio Katia.)

As you can see if you look at the dies, there are a LOT of them in this set. So here’s what I did to keep them straight:

First, I used a Sharpie to label the back of each die (yes, they are skinny!) according to their set (1, 2, 3, etc.). Then I added letters to show the layering order (a, b, c, d). So it looks something like this:

While I was cutting, I separated the dies and the pieces in a box top. This helped me keep track of the dies and the pieces:

After all that cutting, I stored them in little baggies, which makes putting them together so much easier!

And now I have a nice stash of dies for easy card making!

More Valentines, 2018 version

I love these unique dies from Altenew and couldn’t stop making flowers:

The layering die (this one is Fantasy Floral, but you bet the others are on my wish list!) comes in three pieces, plus the leaves. I just went wild cutting pieces out of various card scraps, then I matched up colors:

 

I even played around with embossing and tone-on-tone:

These two were cut from some painted background pieces. The one on the left has Nuvo Aqua sparkle; the one on the right has about three layers of clear embossing powder.

Here’s a close-up:

And a white-on-white (one with sparkles, of course):

Have a lovely Valentine’s Day!

No Piece of Foil Unused!

It’s no secret that I haven’t met a scrap I don’t like. In posts here and here on foiling, I created some cards using various foiling products from Therm O Web. And lo, and behold, I had scraps of foil leftover!

What’s a gal to do? Why use them, of course!

From this card:

(The card above uses the Gina K.™ Designs pre-made Foil-Mates™ toner designs. Love these because I don’t have to worry about finding a laser printer to create my own!)

I had the leftovers of that pretty swirly pattern, which I used here:

™

To create the card, I ran a piece of black cardstock through my Xryon adhesive machine, then put the foil piece (shiny side UP) on top. (I carefully rubbed the piece to make sure it was completely adhered.) I then trimmed the piece and layered it to a black card front. The tag and gold leaves were die cut from bonus pieces in two  Therm O Web™ Gina K. Designs™ die sets.

I still had a tiny scrap left, so I did basically the same thing to create this fast tag:

The sentiment (from Stampin’ Up! Here’s to Cheers set) was gold embossed, the flourishes (from same set) stamped in black.

Thanks for checking in!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Balloon Bonanza

I love dies for so many reasons, but mostly because they make cutting easy and I can often USE UP MY SCRAPS!!!

Which is exactly what I did to with this set of balloon dies (*Party Balloons QF176) from Cheery Lynn. I gathered a bunch of scraps and did some serial die cutting.  Here’s my Cheery Lynn balloon explosion:

And a group shot of a few of the cards:

Once you have the dies cut, these cards come together quickly. Great to have in a card emergency.

A few close-ups:

(Cuttlebug embossing folder)

*(Sorry, I could not find a direct link.)

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Book ’em … the Easy Way

I love making little books for various occasions — some I keep, many I give away. But I also love taking the easy way, which I found using two machines: the Cinch by We R Memory Keepers and the Zutter Bind-it-all. Both are good and easy to use.

Here are some projects:

First, this one was made using the Cinch and coasters I picked up for $1!

Here’s a look at the inside and a close-up of the cover:

(I used a lot of scraps to make the inside pages — yay for using scraps!)

Stay tuned for a Zutter-bound book!

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Craft Month!

March is National Craft Month! Imagine, an entire month to celebrate making things!

I’m starting the month right with some cards featuring new “layering” items from Hero Arts.

First up is this great layering die, Large Lotus (Hero Arts DI 161). This die, like the other layering dies in the release (pineapple, star, etc.) is designed to just partially cut an image. (Although it doesn’t have to be limited to  a partial cut, as I’ll show you below.)

In this card, I used the die as it was meant to be used, with just certain portions die cut so you can pop up the leaves. Cute, eh? After cutting the panel, I decided I wanted to layer on some color, so I created a mask by cutting the die on plain copy paper.

To get the center “hole” I simply cut the flower out by carefully snipping the edges of the outer petals.

Which led to an aha! moment … wait for it…

I colored the lotus using Stephanie Barnard’s ColorBox die inks Banana, Tangerine and Guava. Here’s a close-up:

I couldn’t resist adding some clear Wink of Stella for extra sparkle.

I edged the white panel with gold Delicata ink and glued it on this Stampin’ Up! card stock (being careful not to put glue on the popped up petals! I added some Doodlebug Designs sequins and the sentiment. “Sending,” (Simon Says Stamp die SSSD111432), was cut from white card stock then colored using a black Wink of Stella pen. The rest of the sentiment is from an old Hero Arts Mini Message set CL307.

OK, now I can show you how I cut out the lotus and used it as I would any other die cut piece:

I die cut the lotus from some watercolored scraps leftover from another project, carefully snipped where the petals were connected to the paper and layered it over this embossed background, the new Em-Bossing Fold’ers Grid from Spellbinders®… such a contemporary pattern! Love it! I edged that panel using a gold metallic marker, added a sentiment (Hero Arts) and some gems.

Here’s another version, again using leftovers (old alcohol ink coloring), and put it on a gift tag using Glue Dots™:

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy a month of crafting!

 

Upcycled Greeting Cards

I love re-purposing paper items (okay, let’s be real… I love repurposing almost anything…) so having some gorgeous Cavalleni calendars as well as some Cavalleni wrapping paper to play with was absolutely thrilling.

Using old calendars and some discontinued purple card stock I bought on sale at the Paper Source, I made several gift sets. Here’s a batch:

I cut my card stock to a folded 3 1/2 x 4 7/8 inch card (4 Bar size) because I felt the smaller size fit the “mail art” look I was going for. Plus I could use just bits and pieces of the images. (The envelopes are also from Paper Source.)

To make the cards (and matching envelopes) I cut out images from the papers and calendars and glued them to my cards and envelopes. (Cutting out images is a great activity to do while watching TV or talking on the phone). I put the cut out images in a box and then rummaged through this “stash” when I was ready to create.

I also made some envelopes and/or envelope liners using Paper Source templates. If you love making your own stationery sets, these templates are great tools.  (OK, the purple is not quite my cup of tea, but I got it on clearance!)

I also made a cute little portfolio (using a pattern created by the manager of the Las Vegas Paper Source store! Thanks Melissa!).

I now have a nice stash of stationery to use myself or to give as gifts at the holidays. (Or maybe to bring as a hostess gift instead of a box of candy???)

Here’s a set made from a piece of wrapping paper:

(The tiny teapots are made using a punch and are the perfect addition to the envelope front.)

What have you recycled today?

Thanks for coming by!

Upcycling a Gift Box

Can you ever have enough gift box or bags? Obviously not!
Here’s a project I made using an old matzoh box (yes, left over from Passover!) and some old calendars (from Cavallini).
I love boxes. I love using up scraps. This was a project made in scrappy heaven.

Here’s the original box.

Notice how the covering is just that, a covering? So I could easily strip it off to get to the plain box:

I then used some heavy duty double sided tape and glue to fold the flaps to the inside. I clipped them until the glue was dry:

This beautiful calendar was the perfect cover:

To make the handle, I just poked holes in the sides and threaded some ribbon through, knotting the ends inside the box.

A little Stickles glitter glue for sparkle and I’m done:

Now, who do I give this to????

Quick Halloween Project with Duck Tape

In preparation for an upcoming craft project for Craftideas magazine, I’ve been playing with Duck brand Duck Tape®. Here’s a quick Halloween project using the tape and a recycled shipping box:

I’ll just toss some candy in there and be ready for any trick-or-treaters! For this box, I simply took the roll and started wraping it around the box, cutting where I needed to using a non-stick scissor. I used three layers so I’d have enough to cover the raw edges at the top of the box.

I’ve been having a little too much fun re-purposing various boxes (boxes my husband keeps trying to throw out!)

Here’s another quick one that went from this….

…to this:

I love the way the box was cut — a perfect way to hold some cards:

For that box, I used a sheet (instead of rolls). I set the box down on the paper-covered side of the sheet, then did a rough trace of the bottom and sides to get my cutting lines. I peeled off the lining and set the box bottom in the middle. Then I just folded up the sides, making slices where I needed to overlap or maneuver the tape. (I put the box on a large cutting mat and used a craft knife to slice. I didn’t worry about being neat or precise.)

These are so fast and easy, you’ll want to cover every blank surface!

Newspapers & Flowers

As we know, I love anything having to do with writing: newspapers, typewriters, pens, etc. So how could I resist these pretty posies wrapped in a newspaper? The image, from Stampin’ Up!, also has a sentiment attached. Here’s a detailed look:

This is the kind of image I love to emboss, color and cut in multiples, ready to go on any needy card front.

Which is perfect for this week, when I am into clean, simple and QUICK cards. I easily made several cards in a short amount of time and thought I would show just two easy ways to use this stamp. For the first card, I used the entire image, including the quote:

I dry embossed a piece of white card stock using a Stampin’ Up! embossing folder. I trimmed and layered that piece on my folded card front, then simply attached the entire flower/sentiment image using Therm-O-Web foam squares. (Coloring info at the end.)

Super fast, super easy.

For the next card, I wanted a different balance, so I cut off the “kindness” quote and just used the flowers:

The card with just the background section had been hanging around on my desk for a while — it was made using leftover background pieces from my Gelli Arts prints (see here, and here for more on Gelli Art printing.) The sentiment is from an old Hero Arts set.

The flowers on all these cards were colored using various combinations of Ranger Distress Markers and Stampin’ Up! inks. I applied both types of inks to my craft sheet and picked up color with my watercolor brush. Inks used include Distress Antique Linen (on the newspaper), Forest Moss and some other greens, and Stampin’ Up Old Olive, Positively Pink and Melon Mambo. A touch of pink Wink of Stella was added to the tips of the tulips on the “fabulous” card.

Thanks for stopping by.