2009 October » fresh & fun

Tutorial on SCS - Altered Spiral Notepad

3-D items, Creatopia, Nestabilities, Tutorials, Unity Stamps, Video Tutorial 10 Responses »

Oct 072009

Here is another tutorial published this Wednesday. This one is about altering spiral notepads. I wrote it to show off Creatopia‘s permanent adhesive and laminating cartridge, but you can alter bought spiral notepads without the machine as well.

It’s pretty self explanatory, so I will just add the supply list:

Stamps: Unity February 09 Kit of the Month stamp set

Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento Ink

Paper: Paper Salon Patterned Paper, Black cardstock

Acc.: Button Late, retired SU’s Sage ribbon

On the inside I stamped each notepad page in second generation Soft Suede ink with another stamp from Unity’s February KOM set.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

WCMD challenge - Scor-Pal: Swan Song

Challenge, Nestabilities, Verve Stamps 13 Responses »

Oct 062009

I made this card for the Scor-Pal Challenge back on WCMD. Valerie asked us to create a Vertical Z-fold card. Well….I had to make it into a square. I just couldn’t help myself.

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Core’dination Cardstock from the Chocolate Box collection. I scored it a 2 1/8″ and 4 1/2″ and sanded the edges and score lines to make the rose colored core show through.

The inside is layered with layers consist of a large black scallop square cut with Square Nestabilities with a 3 5/8″ square of Basic Grey Patterned Paper from the Scarlet Letters collection. The edges were sewn with zigzag stitches.

The main image is from Verve’s new set Swan Song. It was stamped with Tuxedo Memento Black ink on Gina K.’s Pure Luxury White cardstock. The Swan was colored with Copic Marker (R00, R02, R32), the circle with C01. The image was cut out with Circle Nestabilities and layered on the next size up Black Circle cutout. The next two layers were cut with Spellbinders Label Three Nestabilities. The first layer is the same cardstock as the card base, just the backside. I sanded it to give it an even softer look and then layered it on a Olive sponged Artichoke cardstock cut out.

The sentiment is from the same set and was stamped in Tuxedo Black on Pure Luxury White cardstock. It was cut out with Oval Nestabilities and air brushed with Copic Marker YG95. It was layered on a slightly bigger black scallop oval. I dressed up the sentiment as well as the main image with Prima Flowers and Rhinestone brads. Underneath the sentiment I added three Swarovski Crystals from the Spring Collection.

On the bottom fold I added a 1 1/4″ x 4 1/2″ strip of Whisper White cardstock that had been punched with the Eyelet border punch. Over it a tied Rose colored Grosgrain Ribbon from Stampin’ Up!

WCMD Challenge - Unity: I like big bows and I don't know why...

Challenge, Copics, Nestabilities, Unity Stamps 13 Responses »

Oct 052009

Unity’s challenge on Saturday was to use Quotes in your card. I have Unity’s beautiful Quote Bundle and used that. Everything on my card is BIG. BIG quote, BIG card and GINORMOUS Bow.

I am having fun with my sewing machine. Usually it’s sitting in the basement. I brought it up and store it under my stamping table now. Easier access and harder to forget about it.

The card base is 4″ x 12″ folded in half. A 3 5/8″ x 5 5/8″ piece of My Mind’s Eye (Bohemia) Paper was sanded and stitched to a slightly bigger piece of Whisper White cardstock. 1 1/2″ wide May Arts Taffeta Ribbon was tied around the lower half. That ribbon is so easy to tie, I love it.

The sentiment was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and cut out with Spellbinders Label Four Nestabilities. The image was airbrushed with Copic Marker W2 and then colored with R14, R22, BG11 and BG45.

The Prima Flower (sorry, I can’t remember what package it came from) was topped with a button from my Mom’s button collection. I added Crystal Twinkles in the flower centers of the sentiment.

The inside of the card is similar to the outside. I added my last of those pretty teal flowers to the left hand side with another button and black hemp.

Have a wonderful day! Hugs and smiles

Anniversary Card

Challenge, Copics, Flourishes, LLC, Nestabilities 25 Responses »

Oct 042009

Saturday was our 16th anniversary. Time flies. When we first started dating I just turned nineteen. I hit forty this year and the gray hairs are starting to sprout. It boggles my mind that I know Rick for more then half of my life. (for all your Bejeweled player…, can you hear Incredible…in that Bejeweled voice? LOL)

Thursday I had some time to play. It’s been too long since I could participate in a challenge. I checked out the sketch and had fun with it.

My card base is bigger then usual, only for the fact that I already had that cardbase cut and in my scrap pile. It turned out it worked great that way. The card base is 4″ x 12″ piece of Chocolate Chip and is folded in half.

A 3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ piece of Patterned Paper from BasicGrey Cupcake collection was adhered to a slightly bigger piece of Very Vanilla Cardstock. The edges were first sanded with a sanding block, then zigzag stitched. The horizontal strip measures 2 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ and is from a different BasicGrey collection (sorry, my 6×6 paper packs are falling apart and I have no idea where it is from). A Vanilla strip as added to the left hand side. That strip had been punched with the Eyelet Border Punch. The long sides of these layers were straight stitched. Then blue Taffeta ribbon was tied around the right hand side and a hat pin from the Pretties Kit was added.

The main panel pieces were cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Label Two. The bigger layer was cut out of Chocolate Chip cardstock and sponged. The smaller layer was cut out of Very Vanilla Cardstock. After embossing that layer, I left the Nestabilities die on the cardstock and airbrushed it with Copic Marker B21.

For the top panel I stamped the flower pot from Flourishes Chairs For You stamp set in Memento Black ink. It was colored with Copic Markers E43, E44, G21 and G24.

For the sentiment I cut two extra layers with Circle Nestabilities. The Vanilla Circle was airbrushed with G21, then paper pierced. The sentiment is from Flourishes I love Roses and was stamped in Chocolate Chip. The flowers are from the Prima flowers from the Botanical Mix. I added Ice and Clear Rhinestone brads in each center.

For the inside I taped a 2″ x 3 5/8″ wide strip of BasicGrey paper on to a slightly bigger piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. The top had been cut with the Eyelet Border punch. The long sides were zigzag stitched. The sentiment layers were cut with Oval Nestabilities. The Vanilla layer was airbrushed with G21. The sentiment from Flourishes I Love Roses was stamped in Chocolate Chip.

Have a wonderful Sunday! Hugs and smiles

Celebrate World Card Making Day with Splitcoaststampers

Challenge, Creatopia, Stampin' Up! 9 Responses »

Oct 032009

Are you stamping ? Are you knee deep in creating cards for the challenge posted on Splitcoast yet? You better drink something with lots of caffeine and head on over. SCS member companies are hosting challenge every hour. It started at 10:00 a.m. EST and it will end at 11 p.m. EST. As long as you upload your card by Sunday at midnight, you are eligible to win PRIZES!

Stamping and a chance of free stuff? I don’t think it can’t get any better. But wait…it does. Because…you can send the cards you have made to Operation Write Home and donate them to this wonderful cause. Okay….so get your stamps out and get started!

This hour the SCS gang hosts a challenge. Our requirements are to make a card that

includes chocolate
follows the theme thankfulness
and uses the WSC100 sketch!

Here is my sample. And yes…that’s four days in a row that I posted a card with this sketch. I took my liberties and my circle turned into a BIG heart. But heck…if you read my blog you know I always just use sketches as starting points.

My card base is a 4 1/2″ x 9″ piece of Pink Pirouette cardstock, folded in half. The front was embossed with Cuttlebug’s Swiss Dot Embossing Folder. The Chocolate Chip square measures 3 5/8″ . It was layered with a 1/4″ smaller piece of Aruba Core’dinations cardstock. The edges of that layer had been sanded and then zigzag stitched. Stampin’ Up!’s white Satin Ribbon was tied around the lower half of these two layers.

I adhered Fabric (bought as a fat quarter at JoAnn’s) over my chipboard heart, cut off the excess and inked the edges with Chocolate Chip Craft ink. Next I straight stitched around the edge (I was surprised my machine did that! Yeah for me and my Pfaff!). The flowers are from Prima Quick Picks Flowers Hydrengea Strawberries pack. They were attached to the heart with a big rhinestone brad I got from sweet Charmaine a while back.

The thank you from Stampin’ Up!’s Enjoy Every Moment was stamped on Pink Pirouette ink in Chocolate Chip. The cardstock was cut down to a strip and the left edge was punched with the photo corner punch. Next I rolled it up and down over a pen and adhered it with dimensionals.

Have fun participating in the challenge!

Weekend Sketch Challenge #100

weekend sketch challenge 15 Responses »

Oct 022009

Can you believe it’s our 100th sketch challenge this weekend? Crazy how fast time goes by. The sketch this week is really easy and of course…a square! Check my last three post for my samples.

To participate in the challenge, make a card with this layout and upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery.
If you upload your card on SCS, put WSC100 (NO SPACE INBETWEEN WSC AND 100) in the keyword section. That way we can look at all of them at once! Add a link to your card to Mr. Linky, to be entered in a raffle. Our Craft Lounge was sweet enough to donate some these goodies to be raffled awas:

Granny’s Secret Rubber Stamp Set
Sparkly Fluff
Chunky red and crystal Glitter

The winner will be picked on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. EST. To see samples made with this sketch now, check out the blogs of

Cambria Turnbow

Charmaine Ikach

Jenn Balcer

Laurie Schmidlin

Lori Craig

MaryJo Albright

Sharon Harnist

Have fun creating! I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

SCS submissions

4th annual World Card Making Day

Challenge, Copics, Tutorials, Verve Stamps, Video Tutorial 131 Responses »

Oct 022009

Tomorrow is the 4th annual World Card Making Day. It is a holiday especially for us paper crafters to get together and create and start your holiday card making season. Card makers from all over the world will be celebrating the joy of creating and giving handmade cards.

Head on over to the WCMD site and check out event ideas and the WCMD gallery. Upload a card to the gallery there to share it with other cardmakers worldwide and be eligible to win a great prize on both the PaperCraft Connection and the Moxie Fab World. Enter the WCMD contest and you have a chance to get published in the March/April 2010 Papercrafts magazine. Categories for this contest include: Birthday, Christmas/Season’s Greetings, Hello/Thinking of you, love and Thank you.

Check out the WCMD Blog tour to see 25 more cards made especially for today and receive a 25% off coupon for the online store.

If you are planning on posting a blog entry specifically for the WCMD, you can add a link your post on the WCMD website with Mr. Linky here.

Make sure you comment on this post and go to the Moxie Fab World blog and leave a comment there as well. It will increase your chance to win a great prize. Comments will close at midnight October 4th and prize winner will be announced on Tuesday, October 6th.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

For my card today I used this week’s tutorial on SCS called Acetate smash.

My card base is created out of Core’dinations cardstock from the Roy G. Biv Super Assortment. It uses a 4 1/2″ x 9″ piece of cardstock folded in half. I paper pierced and sanded the edges.The main panel was cut with Label One Nestabilities. The large layer was cut out of Basic Black cardstock, the smaller one out of Acetate and once out of Whisper White cardstock.

I stamped the Acetate with the dotted background from Bountiful Backgrounds in Black Stazon, turned the Acetate around and added Citrus and Pool Acrylic Paint with Dabbers from Adirondack. The White cut out was pressed against the Acetate. The cool thing is, once the Acrylic Paint dries, the layers stick together! The layers were adhered to the black die cut. I punched out an oval with the large oval punch, trimmed it to match the Label cut and adhered it to the top left. A Filigree brad topped with an Ice Rhinestone brad were centered over that. On the lower half I tied White Satin Ribbon from May Arts.

The frame image is from the stamp set Kindred Spirits, the sentiment from Bountiful Backgrounds. It was stamped in Black Stazon on Whisper White cardstock and cut with Oval Nestabilities. The created a reverse mask, leaving only the center of the image exposed and airbrushed it with Copic Marker YG23. It was layered on a slightly bigger black scallop oval.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Make sure to stop by Splitcoast tomorrow to check out the hourly challenge that will be posted there in honor of WCMD! Just click on the blinkie on the site bar to get you there.

Have a great weekend! Hugs and smiles

More Smashing :)

Copics, Verve Stamps 29 Responses »

Oct 012009

I had too much fun with the technique from yesterday’s tutorial. I created this card to show off a slight variation. Stamp your Acetate, then run through Die cut machine with embossing folder. Then create the background.

I had received my latest Verve order on Tuesday and had to play with the stamps right away.

My card base was cut with the Clear Scallop Die for the Big shot out of Chocolate Chip cardstock. The edges were sponged before a 3 1/2″ Old Olive Cardstock square was adhered to it.

I stamped my 3″ square of Acetate with Leaves, before running it through my Big Shot with the Diamond Rough Cuttlebug Embossing Folder. Next I added Acrylic Paint in Butterscotch, Terra Cotta and Lettuce. A 3″ Whisper White square was pressed over the back of the acetate and taped on a 3 3/8″ Basic Black cardstock Square.

The main image and sentiment are from the stamp set Harvest Blessings. They were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on Gina K White Paper and colored and airbrushed with Copic markers. Then they were cut and embossed with Circle Nestabilities and adhered to a slightly bigger black circle.

Wide Chocolate Grosgrain ribbon was tied on the bottom of my Acetate layers and Martha Stewart self sticking pearls added to the top left.

The inside of the card is layered just like the front. The edges of the white cardstock were sponged and paper pierced. A branch from Harvest Blessings was stamped on the lower right hand corner and colored with copics.

Stampin’ Up! update:

I decided not to sign the IDA. I called and cancelled my Demonstrator website and I will resign after I ordered goodies for my Great Reward points. I will still use Stampin’ Up! products, but probably not quite that often as I used to.

Have a wonderful day! Make sure to check back here tomorrow! WSC100 is coming up! Can you believe it?