Many years ago, my sister (-in-law), Judy, Retired2stamp, invited me to a Stampin' Up Party. I was drawn to the 6X6 recipe card swap our local group was doing and had wanted to scrapbook too. I wasn't really interested in card making because I had witnessed my brother (in-law) Ed fold up a handmade card and put it in his pocket. I almost fainted and I didn't even make the card. But after a few parties, I was hooked and now make more cards than I had ever thought I would. My most recent passions are ATCs, tags & altered art. As you look through my blog I hope you can see how I've grown in my crafting ability!

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Senior Night

I used the Mosaic Moments system for my next 2 page layout.  I had 13 photos I wanted to use so I scanned the Mosaic Moments Pattern Gallery & found Pattern #601.  The left page followed the pattern but the right page was turned.


I decided to use "Board Shorts" from Mosaic Moments' Summer Grid Paper Collection.  I love the different colors & they were a good fit for my photos.  I wanted to mat the photos but couldn't find the right color cardstock.  I used white but it was so stark against the bright colors.  I inked the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Broken China & Twisted Citron ink.  It's a little hard to see in the photo but it was just enough color.  The title & journaling were printed using Word's Comic Sans MS font.

I love doing Mosaic Moments layouts because I can use a lot of photos so I'll be doing more using this system.  I also have a lot of their dies so I'm hoping to use some of the specialty dies in my next layouts!

TFL!

Sunday, December 19, 2021

'Tis the Season

I love all the cute village dies & when I saw this tri-fold slim-line card using a Hero Art's die I knew it had to be one of my Christmas cards this year.  I watched the video by Ilina who made it look so easy.  After making a prototype, I did make a few changes. 

I used Hero Arts Tri-Fold Edge Village Fancy Die Set & Stampendous Tis the Season Stamp Set.  This stamp set is one of my favorites for Christmas sentiments.
In Ilina's video, she cuts white cardstock: 3 @ 4" x 8 1/2" for the card front & 2 @ 3 1/2" x 8 1/2" for the base.  I substituted 1 @ 3 1/2" x 8 1/2" white with SU Night of Navy for the base.  This eliminated one piece of cardstock & a lot of inking since I made quite of few cards.

These will be the tallest & middle panels of the tri-fold.  Looking at the back of the 4" cardstock on the right, you can see how I positioned the village die & on the left you can see the results.
These will be the mid-size & right panels of the tri-fold.  Looking at the back of the 4" cardstock on the right, you can see how I positioned the village die & on the left you can see the results.
These will be the shortest & left panels of the tri-fold.  Looking at the back of the 4" cardstock on the right, you can see how I positioned the village die & on the left you can see the results.
The 4" die cut for the tallest & middle panels had 1/2" cut off the left side so they are 3 1/2" wide.


The 4" die cuts for the mid-size & right panels have a 1/2" tab on the right side.  This tab will be used to attach it to right side of the tallest/middle panel.  To make the tab, I used a trimmer to make a cut down just past the house & 1/2" from the right side.  I removed this small section by cutting the cardstock at an angle to meet the trimmer cut just below the house.
The 4" die cuts for the shortest & left panels have a 1/2" tab on the left side.  This tab will be used to attach it to the left side of the tallest/middle panel.  To make the tab, I used a trimmer to make a cut down just past the house & 1/2" from the left side.  I removed this small section by cutting the cardstock at an angle to meet the trimmer cut just below the house.
Using my Scor-Buddy, I lined up the cut I had made on the right of the panel & scored it to finish making the 1/2" right tab.  After folding & burnishing the tab, the panel will be 3 1/2".

In Ilina's video, she scores first then cuts out the section at the top.  I wasn't getting a good cut on the score line.  Doing it this way it was easier for me to line up with a groove in the Scor-Buddy without measuring.
I repeated the steps above except I lined up the cut I had made on the left of the panel & scored it to finish making the 1/2" left tab.  After folding & burnishing the tab, the panel will be 3 1/2" also.
I forgot to take photos of the next couple of steps:

I lined up the tops of the 3 panels to get the spacing.  All the panels are different lengths so I held them together with the navy base to see how much to cut off the bottom.  After marking the white panels at the bottom of the navy base, I continued to hold the 3 panels together & placed them in my Cutterpillar to trim off the bottom.  For the remaining 18 of each panel, I measured from the top of a flat roof to the bottom & cut them to match.

The sentiments need to be stamped before putting the panels together starting with the front panel.  After positioning the stamp in my Misti I stamped all the front panels in SU Night of Navy.  I then stamped the middle & bottom sentiments after lining them up so they had the same spacing from the bottom of the panels.

To put the panels together, I placed 1/2" Scor-tape on the back of each tab of the top & middle panels.  I lined up the middle panel with the bottom panel then adhered them together on the right side.  With the middle panel closed, I then lined up the top panel & adhered to the bottom panels on the left.   

The SU Night of Navy base was stamped with Stampscapes Cloud Space in SU Night of Navy then lightly spattered it with diluted white paint.
I used double sided tape to adhere the front tri-fold panel to the SU Night of Navy base.















Here's the finished card with bling for a star.



TFL!

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Dip Anyone?

Maybe not my best design but this recipe is a must at our family gatherings!  The recipe card was for a swap I was in at our SCS Event.  I used the Italian flag colors & was lucky my good friend, Diane had a retired Stampin' Up Stamp Wheel of a hoagie!  I decided to use it for the background then color one with Copic markers, fussy cut it out & adhere over one on the background.  I used Stampin' Up Garden Green, White & Real Red cardstock & Real Red Ink.


TFL!

Sunday, December 5, 2021

Disappearing Birthday!

This card was really fun to make!  In a SCS Weekly Inkling, I saw a tutorial for the Disappearing Nine Patch Card by Betty Traciak.  It came at the right time because I needed a couple of birthday cards for my friends, Lisa & Renee, who is a quilter.

I didn't take any photos as I was doing the card but Betty's video is awesome.  I used SU Raspberry Ripple & Very Vanilla cardstock, SU Birthday Basics DSP & CTMH Stitched Circles Embossing Folder.  The sentiment is an Elizabeth Craft peel off sticker.  

A little fun fact...this was Lisa's card & her birthday is on the 6th.  I was able to punch it out of the DSP & place it in the upper left corner!

TFL!!

Never Ending Birthday Wishes

I saw this technique on Splitcoaststampers called Never-Ending Card by Lynn Mercurio.  I thought it sounded interesting & I needed a cool birthday card for Tina, who is an amazing card maker.  The first one I made didn't turn out so I had to watch the video frame by frame to figure out where I went wrong making my folds.  You really need to watch Lynn's video to see this card in action.  Not sure I'd make a 100 of them but I glad I mastered the technique!

I used SU Baja Breeze (I think) as the base & a couple of different coordinating SU DSPs.  The "Wishing You" is from Wplus9's Sending Hoping Wishing Die Set.  The letters of this die cut are not separate so once I adhered them to the card, I snipped them apart so they would move when the card folded.

Before die cutting all the sentiments, I ran pieces of cardstock through my Xyron Sticker Maker
This is the 2nd fold & the die cuts are from Tim Holtz Alphanumeric 1" Tall Dies.
This is the 3rd fold using Tim Holtz Celebration Words Script.  Boy, I sure didn't get that one on straight!
On the 4th fold, I added 2 panels in SU Very Vanilla.  I stamped the sentiment from Paper Tray Ink's 
Quilter's Sampler Sentiments in Versafine Black & the needle is stamped in silver.

I had to give a demo on how to work the card but it was a hit with Tina & the others in our stamping group.  Wish I would have made a video turning it to the different panels.

TFL!

Sunday, November 28, 2021

A Gift for You!

I made 11 of these gift cards for our NEPA Stamp & Swap that was held a few weeks ago.

I wanted something fairly simple so I decided to use the Stampendous Gift Card Wallet Dies so I didn't have to do all the cutting, scoring, etc.  This is a very nice die set with several options of accessories to go with the basic gift card die.
I chose a DSP with snowflakes for the mat.  I was going to try to cut the notches for the gift card at the same time but I couldn't get it centered so I decided to make a 2nd pass.
Once the mat was cut, I used sticky notes to hold the notch die in place.  Probably could have done that when I cut the mat.  Oh well you know what they say about hind sight...LOL!
I used Stampendous Penguin Gift Stamp Set stamped in Memento Lux Back Ink.  I probably wouldn't use this ink again because it dries VERY slow even after heat setting it.  I just love those penguins & that cute snowman!
I recently rediscovered coloring with pencils & gamsol blending solution. 
After coloring the penguins, I used a light gray marker under them.  I stamped the snowflakes around the penguins in tumbled glass.
This was the finished inside.
I made a small tag with one of the sentiments in the stamp set & add a silver brad.  It was attached to the back of the outside after I had stamp "to:" & "from:".


 

O' Christmas Tree ATCoin

I was looking for an idea to make 11 ATCoins for our NEPA Stamp & Swap.  I'm not sure where I first saw the idea, probably Pinterest, but there is a video on the Sizzix site that I watched. 

I used the Sizzix Bigz Die w/Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Tree Rings, Mini by Tim Holtz.  ATCoins are 2 1/2" & the smaller die is about 1/8" smaller.  For each coin I cut 3 layers - 2 from SU Brown Sugar CS for the front & back of the coin & 1 from a coaster which made it sturdy without a lot of thickness.  

Once die cut, I paint the edges of the coaster brown.



I went around the edges of the cardstock with a brown Sharpie.

 


  



Next I stamped the 'O Christmas Tree sentiment from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Scribbly Christmas in Ranger Coffee Archival Ink,  I wanted the sentiment to curve so I used a little adhesive to stick it to the block.  It worked OK but I did have to occasionally adjust the stamp on the block. 

I also stamp one of the trees from the same stamp set in Ranger Olive Archival Ink.







All the pieces of cardstock were then embossed.










The embossing was quite deep & some of the stamped image seemed lost.  I decided to flatten them out a little.  My thought was if I ran them back through the Big Shot it would lose all the embossing.  I tried a brayer but I couldn't apply enough pressure.  I used a rolling pin & that was just enough to achieve the look I wanted


To adhere the front to the coaster, I used a small paint brush to apply Tombow Liquid Glue to the coaster so I would save full coverage without it oozing out the side.



I printed all the backs on a sheet of cardstock & cut them out in squares with scissors.  I carefully centered the printing on the bigz die to cut them out.  They were adhered to the back of the ATCoin (& I didn't get this one on very straight...LOL).

I did touch them up a little with the brown Sharpie then added a mirrored star to the front.

TFL!