Watch Us Wednesday-Carnivals, Parades, or Parties

Hi everyone! Can you believe we have hit mid-week already? My word, but the days just seem to zip by so quickly. But here it is Wednesday, and that means it’s time for me to share my card for this week’s Watch Us Wednesday tutorial over at The Kraft Journal.

I knew as soon as I saw the Carnivals, Parades, or Parties challenge line-up that it was the perfect excuse to break out one of my all-time favorite stamps. I wanted the image to have a lot of color to look bright and festive, like there’s a party in town, but this design doesn’t lend itself well to traditional coloring with its thin outlined detailing. Time for a little emboss resist.

Emboss resist is very easy to do with just a few simple stamping supplies. Start by applying color directly to your stamp using ink pads in various colors. You’ll want to use pigment inks for their slower drying times and cat eye pads or removable wedge pads like these Petal Point inks by Clearsnap make getting in all the little corners much easier than using regular-sized pads. Once I was colored up, I stamped my image onto a Large Manila Shipping Tag. Immediately pour clear embossing powder over the stamped image and heat set the powder using an embossing tool.

Give the image a few seconds to cool, and then apply color to the entire tag, rubbing your ink pads over the entire surface until you get the desired depth of color. Here I used both a lime green and a light blue ink pad to create a background scene for my carnival.

As a final step, rub a cotton ball, tissue, or cloth over the stamped image, removing any excess ink. The embossing will “resist” the ink, leaving a crisp and clean design underneath. Now you are ready to use your tag on any number of projects, like my festive party card.

The bottom of my tag got some lace trim, while the top got a hand-stamped sentiment strip cut into a banner. Layered the tag onto a stamped Library Pocket and library card, and finally onto a card base made from Brown Kraft Coverweight Cardstock and patterned paper. Wrapped the card with Blue Baker’s Twine and finished it off with a pair of toothpick flags.

So what do you think? Is the circus in town?

Hope you’ll play along with us this week at The Kraft Journal. You still have until Sunday, 6 pm EST to upload your kraft carnivals, parades or parties project to the gallery. All participants in our challenges for the month of August have a chance to be featured on our “Feature Me Fridays” posts as well as be entered to win a $15.00 Kraft Outlet Store Voucher!  The more challenges you enter this month, the more chances you have to win!

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Watch Us Wednesday- Flowers

On Monday, I teased you all with a little sneak peek of my latest Kraft Journal project featuring this week’s theme challenge-flowers. And today, I’m excited to share with you the project in its entirety, including a very fun and very funky dimensional flower I created for our Watch Us Wednesday tutorial.

I love the look of handmade flowers on my projects. They are fun and playful and work well for any number of themes and styles. They add a ton of visual texture and the best part is, they are super easy to make using only a few simple supplies most of us already have on hand.

This little number was created from patterned paper, Vintage Dictionary Pages, and a few paper punches from my stash. It’s been thoroughly dowsed with water, scrunched, flattened, layered, and sprayed with mist. I added a simple stamped sentiment on a Round Metal Edged Grungy Prim Tag, and a button center tied with my favorite hemp cord.

Added the flower, along with another strip of Vintage Dictionary Pages, Natural Twill Tying Tape, and a paper doily to a plain Kraft Coffee Bag for a fun and festive gift bag idea, perfect for just about any occasion.

For detailed photos and step-by-step instructions for creating this flower, please click here. And don’t forget you have until Sunday, April 3rd at 6 pm EST to upload your kraft and flower projects to The Kraft Journal for your chance to win this month’s $15 voucher to The Kraft Outlet store. Can’t wait to see all your fabulous creations!

Enjoy!

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Emboss Resist in Black

It seems like every year at about this time, I take a step or two back and think about the state of things and try to set a goal or two for the coming year. Although I don’t tend to set resolutions for myself, I do like to make a few general plans, such as get more organized, spend more time playing with my kids, or learn to bake. And every year I tell myself that this is the year I WILL use my rather large collection of stamps more often, instead of just letting them collect dust and take up space. So with that thought in mind, I decided to break out my stamps and little-used supplies and revisit an old favorite technique of mine, emboss resist in black.

If you’re not familiar with this emboss resist trick, I’ll show you how to do it, so you can play, too. You need a few basic stamping supplies to get started. Here is what I used.

You’ll need clear embossing powder and a heat tool, along with pigment inks in the color of your choice. Pigment inks are slow drying, making them the perfect medium for heat embossing. Dye inks dry too quickly, and will set before you can add the embossing powder. I used Petal Point colorwheel inks from Colorbox, a couple of beasties that haven’t seen the light of day at my house in many a moon. Next choose a solid image rubber stamp. You’ll want a bold image for this technique, as outline stamps won’t give you the same results.

Apply color directly to the stamp image. The nice thing about the Colorbox colorwheel is that each wedge of ink is removable, allowing for easier coloring. I applied two colors of green and two shades of yellow to my stamp, starting with the lightest color and moving into the darker. This will muddy your ink pads slightly, but gives depth and dimension to your stamped image. Once all the color is applied, stamp your image onto white cardstock, add clear embossing powder, and heat set your image.

Give your embossed piece a moment to cool, and then liberally swipe the entire panel with black pigment ink. Don’t worry about your image, just smear the ink across the whole thing, repeatedly, until you get full coverage.

Now take a piece of tissue and wipe over the image, removing the ink from the embossed image. Here you can see where I’ve wiped a small portion clear on the bottom of the flower stems. Continue to wipe until all the black ink is removed from the embossed image.

Now you have a fun emboss resist image to use on your next crafty project. I used mine to make a card, along with a few of my current fave scrappy goodies.

More Lunch Box Kraft cardstock from the Kraft Outlet. My favorite go-to cardstock. And more Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934 patterned paper. Just can’t get enough of that stuff.

I’m loving these new sentiment cling stamps Babette has just started carrying at the Kraft Outlet. I vow these little cuties will get a ton of use. Don’t want to have to revisit them come January next year.

So, how about it? Do you want to set a goal to USE your supplies more often this year with me?  Tell me….

What crafty goody needs to see the light of day more often at YOUR house?

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Week of Winter Wonderland

Welcome everyone! I’m so excited to kick off our Week of Winter Wonderland event at Webster’s Pages today. All week long, the design team is partnering up to bring you fun and festive mini-classes and challenges chock full of wonderful ideas for gift-giving this season.

Jaz Lee and I worked together to create an altered recipe card box and hybrid-digital recipe cards using our gorgeous Sweet Season collection.

These recipe cards were a snap to make using the fun Digi Motifs from the Sweet Season collection. Dress them up with a bit of pinked edging or machine stitching, and add detailing with glitter glue, puffy paint, or liquid applique. Tie sets together for a great gift idea this holiday. They would look fabulous in a hand-crafted recipe box, like Jaz’s stunning creation above, or more simply packaged in a clear cello bag or a layered jute wrapping. The possibilities are endless.

Now it’s YOUR turn! Play along with us this week, and you could win a Webster’s Pages Christmas Paper Collection of your choice. Each design team member will be choosing one winner from each mini-class, giving you 10 chances to win. So the more classes you participate in, the more chances you have to win! For information on today’s projects, including a full supply list and step-by-step instructions, go here.

Enjoy!

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Tag, You’re It

Good morning everyone!  Happy Monday and Happy Labor Day to you all! I hope you’ve been having a lovely long holiday weekend. We’ve had a very peaceful and relaxing time, with such beautiful weather to enjoy. What a huge relief after the long, scorching summer. I do believe that fall is in the air. My very favorite season.

Today we have a new challenge for you over at The Shabby Tea Room blog. This week’s challenge is to create a card or project with a tag included on it. Easy and fun.  I do hope you’ll come and play along with us.

I created a birthday card for this challenge using the new WonderFall collection of patterned papers from Webster’s Pages. These colors are some of my all time favorites and I just adore the patterns and images. So perfect for the upcoming season.

I’ve been playing with my Webster’s trims again. Used a strip of the green ruffled ribbon and a Glittered Sparkler to create my focal flower. Simply attach the two ends of the ribbon together with a spot of strong glue to make a circle before adding the Sparkler to the center. It’s as easy as that!

To the flower I added more trim and a pair of fancy swirls that were printed and hand-cut from the Butterfly Border 5 digital stamp provided by our sponsor, Bugaboo Stamps. Bugaboo is graciously offering seven free digital images to this week’s winner in the Tea Room.

For my tag on today’s project, I used a tiny jeweler’s tag hand-stamped to create the birthday wishes greeting. I’ve had these little treasures in my stash for years and years, and they remain one of my favorite ways to attach a sentiment to this day.

I hope you take a moment to check out the inspiration for this week’s tag challenge from the rest of the Shabby Girls, and come play along with us, too. And tell me, sweet friends…….

What did YOU do this weekend?

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WonderFall Smile

Hello everyone!  Happy Sunday! Hope your weekends have been wonderful, my friends! I know I have been having a great time, but not everybody in my house is very happy right now. Somebody is a wee bit upset with me for giving her a bath….

because now her hair looks all frizzy.

She knows I’ve been on a cleaning streak, but she never thought that would include her.  After all, she couldn’t help getting in my friend’s koi fish pond when we went for a visit today.

It’s not her fault it’s so hot outside….

Happily for me, even with the dog bathing, I’ve had some time today to play.

Dove into my new stash of gorgeous Webster’s Pages Summer CHA papers to make a card. This is the new WonderFall collection. Isn’t it beautiful? Although this paper line has touches of seasonal motifs for autumn, you can see how easy it is to use it for everyday projects, as well, like my card here.

Don’t you just love that paper rose? I had so much fun creating it using this simple tutorial that Steph Devlin has posted for us all on inspireME. It’s just one of the many special things we have going on for you this month at Webster’s Pages.

I just love this teal and green color combo.  And I love the beautiful images Webster’s infuses into their paper lines.  That lovely frame image is part of the patterned paper.  I simply cut the panel out and layered it on the fun polka dotted background, stitching it in place for a bit of detailing. I highlighted the frame motif by adding some Blue Skies Glimmer Mist painted on with a fine-tipped paintbrush. I also added a touch of mist to the finished rose petals.

How fun is that funky flower?  Once I finished my elegant rose, I decided to jazz it up further by layering it with another fun handcrafted flower. That base is actually one of our Fabric Fancies.  I created a floral design by cutting “petals” into the circular Fancy and doing some stitching/gathering at the bottom base for a bit of a scrunched up look. I finished the flower with a couple of our fabulous trims from the older collections.

The banner sentiment was created using a strip of patterned paper and a cardstock sticker from the Lullaby Lane Cardstock Phrase Stickers. See, even the Lullaby Lane collection can be used for things other than baby projects.

I hope you all get a chance to try Steph’s awesome paper flowers. You’ll be amazed at how easy they actually are to make. You also have several days left to participate in our Design Team 1..2..3 Contest going on now through the end of August.  And in other Webster’s news…

It’s that time again…LIVE CHAT time. Mark your calendars for Thursday, August 26th at 6pm PST/9pm EST.

Here is a handy time converter to see what time the chat will be in your neck of the woods: TIME CONVERTER

This chat will be your chance to ask our design team any questions that you may have, dish about our newest products and of course, have a few giveaways. Join us for an hour of crazy fun!

Oh, and I’ve just had a message from Miss Crissy. She’s feeling better now that she’s nice and fresh and clean.  Even if her fur is all frizzy.

Thank you so much for stopping by everyone!  I hope YOU have a wonderful Sunday!

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Happy 4th of July!

Hi everyone!  I just wanted to make a quick stop at the old blog here today to wish all of my family and friends in the States and very happy and safe 4th of July! Whether you’re off to a big soiree, having a BBQ with the neighbors, or just spending a quiet day with the family, I hope you have an absolutely fabulous holiday. I’m heading out the door soon to join the festivities, and am looking forward to a day filled with good friends, good food, and good times! But before I go, I have a little share for you.

Here is a fun 4th of July project I made as a hostess gift for today.  I created this dimensional star from corrugated cardboard and several star templates I downloaded from the internet. Used adorable Report Card papers from October Afternoon for a perfect touch of Americana flair, and added a tag with a vintage holiday image from Crafty Secrets.

The Pink Paislee blog shared a tutorial for making these 3-D barn stars this week, and they are amazingly easy to do. Super fun and super fast, too. And great for so many projects. Think I’ll be making a ton of these come Christmas time.

Time to head out!  Happy 4th of July, everyone!

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A Touch of Patriotic Pride

Hi everyone! So happy it’s Friday today, and the beginning of our long 4th of July weekend here in the states. I always get a bit excited for a holiday. Those of you who have been following my blog for awhile probably already know I’m a fool for a special occasion. Any excuse to do a bit of decorating and spend some extra time with my family is a good time, in my book.

For today, I’d love to share with you all some peeks at my patriotic home decorations, including these fun crafty goodies I made this week.

Aren’t those pinwheels fun? I had such a good time making these for a project earlier that I decided to make some bigger versions for the 4th of July. They truly are a very simple process and take no time at all to create. I know some of you out there have templates for these, but once you see how easy they are, you will be whipping these out in whatever size suits your fancy, no template needed. If you missed my post, you can see all the step by step directions here.

I made my pinwheels using patterned papers from Webster’s Pages’ Home For the Holidays collection. I love that these versatile papers can be used for way more than just Christmas projects. I paired the papers with Webster’s trims and their gorgeous Bloomers, along with some shabby painted wooden chop-sticks stems.

If you’ve got kiddos around, this is a great project for them!

And now here’s a look at my dining room table, all decked out and ready for a party.

This table arrangement truly makes me happy.  I’ve combined some of my most favorite things here, including some vintage family pieces, a couple of recent antique store finds, handmade goodies, and brand new treasures just joining my collection.

Love these primitive wood pieces Mom and I found on her recent trip out here.  I knew as soon as I saw that red tool box that it would be perfect for the 4th.

I filled the tool box compartments with white petunias, wooden candlesticks and one of my brand new Lori Mitchell figurines.  Yup….I’m still addicted to those guys.

I layered an American flag table runner under my large wooden tray, and added a second flag for depth and color.  The Ball glass jars and the red glass vase were pieces passed down to me from my grandmother.  I am so lucky to have them. The barn star is a precious handmade gift I received from a friend last year. Thank you, Kathy!

Aren’t those figures adorable? I just cannot resist those little cuties. Why, oh, why, oh why did I ever stumble upon you………….

Sigh

Thank you so much for stopping by today and letting me share some of my patriotic goodies with you.  I hope you have a wonderful day!

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Popsicles & Pinwheels

Good morning everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We are back from our quick trip to the Great Wolf Lodge, and boy did we ever have a good time. We spent hours on the slides and in the wave pool, and even got in a round of mini-golf.  And this old momma kept up with the kiddos step for step…….but I have to admit to being a bit on the sore side now. That wave pool can really knock you around a bit!

Today I have a card to share with you that I created for the new challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room. This week’s challenge, Popsicles & Pinwheels, is to create a project using hot pink, lime green, and turquoise. Such a fun color combo for a bright summer look.

I not only used the colors of this challenge, but I also took my card a step further and created a pinwheel to go along with this week’s theme. It’s really a simple process, and is so much fun to make. I’ll share the directions with you in a minute.

I absolutely adore the patterns and colors in this Pink Paislee Bayberry collection.  Paired the papers with a journaling card from Little Yellow Bicycle, and some trim from Making Memories’ Passport line. Added a tiny tag stamped with my favorite Hero Arts alphabet, and  a Prima flower spritzed with Gold Glimmer Mist and edged in pink chalk ink.

If you’d like to create a pinwheel of your own, it’s really an easy process, and you can make a pinwheel in any size you wish, from teeny tiny to ultra large.  Simply start with a perfect square of pattern paper or cardstock.  I used a 2.5″ square for mine.

Using a pencil and ruler, draw an X through the center of your square piece. Put a pencil dot in the exact center and in each corner as shown here.

Punch a hole in each dot using a 1/8″ circle punch and then using your scissors, cut approximately half way up each drawn line towards the center. Erase your pencil marks.

Place a brad in the center hole, prongs facing up, and then bend each punched corner onto the brad in the center.  Secure the brad once all the corners have been folded up.

For my pinwheel, I wanted a double-sided pattern, so I added a second square of paper to the pinwheel before I folded up my arms.  Using a double-sided paper would work great for this, but since my papers were single-sided, I needed two squares to get the look I was aiming for.

I then added a flower to the pinwheel center to hide the brad prongs, but anything here would work.  I think this would look wonderful with a button center, too.  And wouldn’t these pinwheels be adorable decorating for the 4th of July coming up?

I hope you enjoyed my little card today and that you have some fun creating your own pinwheels.  I’d love to hear about your projects! And I hope you take a moment to check out The Shabby Tea Room blog and play along with us.  This week’s wonderful prize is sponsored by Cosmo Cricket, and we have some great inspiration from the rest of the team, including this week’s guest designer, the fabulous Debbie Olson.

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone!  Hope you have a lovely day!

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June Challenge at inspireME

Good morning everyone! Is it just me, or did the long weekend make this week go by extra quickly? I’m loving that it’s Thursday already, though.  That means it’s almost the weekend, and……..we’re down to the last few days of school. What could be better than that?

Today I have a project to share that I made for a special challenge I am hosting this month over at inspireME.

It seems like every time Webster’s comes out with new products, I fall in love all over again. In my book, these are the prettiest papers and embellishments around, and whatever Webster’s products might happened to be mentioned in conversation, I will pipe up that that is my “favorite”.  I just can’t help it! And nothing gets me going more so than Webster’s stunning array of ribbons, trims, and Bloomers.

So with that thought in mind, I used some of my absolute “favorite” Webster’s trims to make a little keepsake box to hold my daughter’s secret treasures.  And my challenge to you, for the month of June, is to create a project showing us how you use Webster’s trims in unique and creative ways.  Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

I altered this tin box with papers and Phrase Stickers from the Life’s Portraits, Lullaby Lane, and Seaside Retreat collections. Added some gorgeous Green Lattice Trim and Fabric Ribbon from Garden Gala.

I created a fun, layered flower using a combination of wet paper strips that I pleated, folded, and stitched into a circular shape, Seaside Retreat Fabric Ribbon that was gathered into a rosette, and a stunning aqua Bloomer.  For a tutorial on making the Fabric rosette, check out Lucy’s great video here.

Now it’s your turn!  I hope you will come and play along with us.  The winner will receive a Webster’s Pages paper collection of their choice.  Head over to the inspireME forum here for full details.

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone!  Hope you have a wonderful day.

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