Fabulous Finds Friday Typewriter Die

Yes, yes, I’ve been away a while… but here is a Fabulous Find that maybe makes up for it!

The journalist in me loves anything having to do with newspapers, typewriters, and all the things associated with writing. And I love dies. It’s a magical mix. Naturally, I went nuts for this typewriter die from Spellbinders.

I love how easy these cards were to make:

The typewriter was cut from a scrap piece of black paper. The background paper is a monoprint, made using acrylic paint on a Gelli Plate. The stencil is ColorBox Art Screen Jumbled. (I’ll have more on monoprinting with Gelli Plates in an upcoming article in Craftideas magazine.)
(My journalism friends went nuts over these!)

Two similar cards, using background paper by Basic Grey, from the Carte Postal collection:

Thanks for stopping by!

Boxed In

As we know, I love boxes and I love this box die from Lifestyle Crafts (now owned by We R Memory Keepers).

The wood-look papers are from Kaisercraft, the rosettes were cut using a Tim Holtz/Sizzix die.

The papers here are from Basic Grey.

These were so fast and easy to make — I used them as gifts for my co-workers.

That was a quick posting, eh? Have a great week.

Fun, Frilly Valentines

These Valentines are a bit of a departure for me. They started because I love the paper (from Basic Grey’s Out of Print collection) and was eager to use it.

Because these are two-sided papers, I cut a piece about a quarter of an inch larger than the normal front of my A2 card. I scored the top, then attached the small scored part to the back of a flat card. The hearts (Hero Arts) were embossed with American Crafts’ Zing Blush, Ranger Antique Claret, Ranger Antique Verdigris. Sentiment from Inkadinkado. Because the ribbon is so sheer I ran it through my Baby Xyron for adhesive.

Paper, sentiment, ribbon all from the vendors above. The chipboard butterfly is from my stash. I rubbed it Viva Décor Inca Gold (I love these creamy colorants) in Rose Quartz and Inca Gold (the only two colors I have. I think I need more.) I stamped the butterfly with a text background (Hero Arts) and added a few pearls. It’s a little hard to see, but I dotted the centers of the lace flowers with Viva Silver Pearl Pen.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Odds & Ends

So many fun and fabulous things happening in the craft world … here is a quick round-up:

There are two fun new products from Scotch Brand — the above Scotch Expressions Tape comes in vibrant blue, pink and purple. It’s colorful AND repositionable. You can also write on it. I haven’t tried stamping on it, but I bet you could easily stamp using a permanent ink such as StazOn.

Then there are new Scotch Restickable Dots:

According to the company, these double-sided adhesive tabs remove cleanly from walls, desks, windows, mirrors, etc. When you’re done, wash them with soapy water and they’ll be sticky again.

Spellbinders has pretty new additions – from elegant to whimsical – in the Die D-Lites™ line. What I love about these is that they are sized for cards, tags and Artist Trading Cards.

New dies include flowers, holiday and decorative pieces. Check them out here

The colorful world of Tombow is a little brighter thanks to an expanded website that features more than 50 craft projects using Tombow products. Projects include art frames, coasters, gift tags, mixed media projects and more. Check it out at www.tombowusa.com (where you can link to a blog, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.) Besides the nifty pencils, markers and adhesives, Tombow also has a line of recyled products.

BasicGrey has a fun a flirty new collection coming out … Fresh Cut. Perfect for a spring bouquet of stamping. Check out the fresh ideas here. http://www.basicgrey.com/files/catalog/FreshCut_Catalog.pdf

Have a crafty weekend!

A Real Card….

Today I’m sharing a quick card (with one of my favorite “lines”) and an alternative view:

The sentiment is from Hero Arts, the cardstock from Basic Grey, the ink is Hero’s Cup o’ Joe.

I love the chalk look and thought this sentiment would be perfect for that technique:

(Sorry, I don’t have a photo of the finished card … and I already mailed it! Doh!)

To create the look I embossed the sentiment in white on black paper, then smeared a little white pigment ink to make it look like a chalkboard:

Here’s my first attempt at using this sentiment, on this card I posted in January:

Thanks for stopping by!

Easy Peasy Texture

While playing with fabric (to add soft texture to cards) I also came across a few fabric-like items that are perfect for cardmaking.

Again, I found a stamp that mimicked fabric … Crazy Quilt CG477 from BasicGrey/Hero Arts. The burlap ribbon is from Close To My Heart and the bowtie embellishment is from Basic Grey. The sentiment is from Hero Arts, the ink Cup O’ Joe.

This shabby chic paper (Close To My Heart) looks like it could be fabric, so I paired it with a canvas sticker (also from Close To My Heart).
The paper rosette (from the same paper collection) is topped with a fabric covered button (Close To My Heart) stamped in pigment ink.

Who says fabric is just for sewing?
Thanks for coming by.

Camera Ready

This darling camera die captures two of my favorite themes these days: cameras and dies!

On Friday, I used a Sizzix ScoreBoard die that works with mat board and chipboard. Today I went opposite, using a new Thinlets die, also from Sizzix:

I combined the camera from the Retro Camera & Icons 658958 set and the banner from Arrows, Banners, Chevrons & Clouds. The brown basecard paper is from Stampin’ Up!, the patterned paper is from Basic Grey’s Hipster collection. (check out the groovy flip side of the paper:

The banner was cut from scrap paper then stamped with a Stampers Anonymous newsprint image in Hero Arts’ Wet Cement. The sentiment (Tim Holtz Simple Sayings) was inked using Marvy Heritage Timeless Sepia.

Simple fun.

New Year, Bright Beginnings

It’s the new year … and it’s been gloomy here in normally sunny Southern California. Which made it a perfect day for stamping something bright! Thank heavens I just read a newspapere article that said neon was still hot.

I pulled out my Hero Arts Neon stamp pads and some new-ish images and played … Nothing too exotic, just a slap-dash bit of fast and easy stamping to satisfy my stamping urge.

Been anxious to put this fun new set to work … Homey Patterns from Basic Grey and Hero Arts. Aren’t the house divine?  The pennants were mounted on a piece of baker’s twine from Close To My Heart.

Don’t these fish cry out for neon? This card needs a greeting, but again, it satisfied my stamping jones. Images are from Rubber Stamp Plantation. Tape is from EK Success.

Thanks for putting up with me!

Aloha! Exotic Images from Rubber Stamp Plantation

I swear I can feel the tropical breeze and smell the pineapples every time I use these stamps from Rubber Stamp Plantation, located in beautiful Hawai’i. I recently received some new images from Plantation owner Debra and have been having a grand time playing. In this post I showed some of the pieces I impatiently stamped. This week I put them together.

This paper, from the Basic Grey Soleil set, fit perfectly with the RSP stamps! The images were both embossed with black. The fruit bowl was colored using Ranger Distress Markers. I added some Liquid Pearl gold dimensional paint to the hearts in the aloha.

Again, the paper is from Basic Grey Soleil; the sentiment from Hero Arts, white embossed on black and cut out with a rectangular die from Lifestyle Crafts. The RSP image was black embossed on a scrap of background paper I made a while ago using Distress Stains on my craft sheet.

Here’s one more (using the same background paper for the RSP image):

And one more….

Sweet little tags. The food tray (RS Plantation) was embossed in black on a red scrap, cut out, then run through my Xyron “baby X” adhesive machine. I used a stylus to burnish around the edges of the cut out image to avoid getting extra hanging adhesive strings. (All stamped images from Hero Arts; black/white tape from Elmer’s.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Using Journaling Cards

I don’t often enter challenges, but this Journaling Cards Challenge in the Moxie Fab World sparked something in me. The challenge was to use scrapbook journaling cards to create something else. I have quite a few of these cards and since I rarely scrapbook, I didn’t really have much use for them. But then I was inspired by the Moxie!

These large cards from Bazzill Basics made me immediately think of a mini book! So I took the eight horizontal ones from the School Days set, added some plain cardstock cut to size, and used my Cinch machine (We R Memory Keepers) to bind them into a book!

(The apple was stamped and embossed in red. I think that’s an old Hero Arts image, but I’m not sure. Everything else is from Bazzill)

Check out one of the inside pages:

Then I cut apart this journaling card ….

To create this card:

(paper is still from Bazzill, Miss Teagen Sue Collection; woman with shades is AB10G from American Art Stamp, embossed in copper powder from EK Success. You can’t see it, but there is a touch of Stickles Diamond in various spots)

You know I can’t stop when I’m on a roll. Here’s something cute from Basic Grey’s Aspen Frost collection:

The papers are from Basic Grey, the ornaments from Heartfelt Creations and embossed in red and teal; sentiment from Hero Arts, die cut using a Lifestyle Crafts die and edged in Ranger Distress Ink Bundled Sage. The tiny pieces of sparkly red thread on the ornaments is from Kreinik.

Really… last one….

Journaling card from Bazzill Basics; “age” sentiment stamped using a small Hero Arts clear alphabet set; blue border is a scrap left over from Die Cuts With a View paper. Edges were distressed and colored with blue pigment ink.

Thanks for coming by!