Conversation Hearts

I love making my own embellishments.  The creative challenge of making an embellishment instead of purchasing that embellishment at the store is really a fun exercise for me.  Enamel dots are all the rage these days and they are fun to make and use.  But dots just won't do for Valentine's Day!

 The Valentine's cards I am making are calling out for enamel hearts so..........I decided to make my own.  I purchased these assorted color bling hearts from Joann.com (they may sell these in the store, but I ordered mine online for $2.49 for a bag of 78 hearts in assorted sizes).  Next I  painted the hears with white paint.  I did this to take away some of the translucency of the hearts. You can skip this step, but it may take you more coats of nail polish to give the hearts that enamel look.  Next I stuck two flat-topped toothpicks in a piece of foam packaging and put a glue dot on top of each toothpick. I did this so I could affix the heart on top of the toothpick in preparation for painting them with nail polish.  Next, I took out my collection of nail polish (most purchased at the Dollar Tree) and started painting the hearts.  Most colors only took two coats to achieve the enamel look I was after.  

The next challenge in this project was to find stamps small enough to fit on the medium, medium large and large size hearts.  I used my Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags and Tiny Tags II to stamp on the hearts with StazOn ink.  It is important to use a permanent ink that is formulated for slick surfaces - otherwise whatever you stamp on the hearts will wipe right off.

That's it.  Really fun and cute embellishments.

Thanks for visiting my blog and let me know if you have any questions.

I Am Guilty Of.......

I am guilty of major blog neglect!!!  It has been months since I last posted and my only excuse is that other things in life took priority.  I am hoping to post more regularly on this blog - the goal is at least once per week. My intentions are good so we will see what happens.

Valentine's day is a few weeks away and so I have been busy making Valentine's cards.  These are hands down my favorite type of card to make.  It's probably because I love the colors often used on these cards - the pinks, the reds, and the aquas.

The card featured on my blog today was made using the following materials:



SimonSaysStamp Heart Rainfall die
Silhouette Two-Tone Umbrella cut
My Favorite Things Flat Bottom Cloud die
Papertrey Ink Confetti Garland Border die (Hearts)
Paper Studio Tiny Hearts Embossing folder
Papertrey Ink White card stock
American Crafts 6x6 Valentine patterned paper
Wink of Stella glitter brush pen

When I purchased the SimonSaysStamp Heart Rainfall die I knew I wanted to make this card.  Don't some dies just speak to you like that?  This one certainly did for me.

I hope you like the card and thanks for visiting my long neglected blog!

Birthday Wishes

I made this card for a friend who is celebrating a birthday (a rather significant birthday!).  She is definitely not a day over 29 (again).  I wanted to make her a special card for the occasion. She likes pink so I made sure to incorporate plenty of shades of pink on this card.

I used the Pink Paislee London Market 6x6 paper pad (one of my favorite paper collections), some lace from Hobby Lobby, a pink grosgrain ribbon from Martha Stewart Crafts and die cut frame (I made this card about a month ago and cannot remember the die I used for that frame).  I also used the Spellbinders Decorative Labels 8 die to cut Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush card stock to back the frame.  I had to cut two of these frame backs and piece them together because one die cut was not wide enough to back the frame.  I don't think it shows where I did that.

The card base is cut from a piece of Rustic Cream card stock by Papertrey Ink.  The image in the frame is from a CD of ephemera that I purchased on ebay about 6 years ago.  If you do a search on ebay you can still find CDs of ephemera.  These images are such fun to print out and use on cards and projects.

On the inside of the card I cut a Spellbinders Classic Rectangle out of Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush card stock and used the rest of the Spellbinders Decorative Labels 8 piece to give a decorative edge to the rectangle.  I stamped a happy birthday sentiment and added a bling flourish to complete the card.

The card measures 4.25 x 5.5 inches and is a side fold card.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Letterpress Madness...

I recently purchased the Lifestyle Crafts Letterpress Starter Kit on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  I have always been a fan of letterpress cards, but had never tried to craft my own.  When I saw this kit on clearance, I decided to give it a go.

The kit comes with black letterpress ink and a few letterpress plates so it does contain everything needed to get started.  While I know I will use the black ink that comes in the kit, I did want to expand my color choices.  One look at the price per tube - $6 on Amazon.com - had me rethinking that desire.

Before I had even opened the starter kit box, I was back to Hobby Lobby to find some letterpress ink at a more affordable price.  I found some Speedball Block Printing Ink.  This is a thick, sticky ink that is very much like the ink used in letterpress. The price per tube is $6.99 but you get 2.5 ounces compared to One ounce of the Lifestyle Crafts Letterpress ink.  You get a lot more for your money buying the Speedball ink and I used a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby that brought the price to just a little over $4 per tube. Much better.  Then, I happened to be at Michael's picking up some resin and I browsed the clearance aisle and found 12 different colors of the Speedball ink for $2.48 each. But wait- it gets better - clearance items were an ADDITIONAL 50% off so I was able to buy each tube of ink for $1.24!!!  Score!!!!!!

Okay - so I also ran to Joann's this weekend and found seven of the Lifestyle Crafts Letterpress Plate kits for $2.97 each (one of the kits was $5.97). The cheapest I have been able to find them online was $15.  I was so excited to find the plate kits at such a great price that I was almost jumping for joy in the store aisle.

Now, onto the paper needed to letterpress.  The kit came with several sheets of the letterpress paper which is a thick, soft paper.  It is really a nice quality, but again, not cheap.  I wanted to experiment with other papers I had on hand to see if they would letterpress well.   I used a Canson Watercolor paper, the Lifestyle Crafts letterpress paper that came in the kit and a piece of Pure Poppy card stock by Papertrey Ink.

The best impression was achieved with the Lifestyle Crafts Letterpress paper (no surprise here). The Canson Watercolor Paper (purchased at Hobby Lobby some time ago) was a close second.  I misted the Canson paper with water and let it dry a bit before letterpressing to soften it up a bit.  I did like the results with this paper.  The Papertrey Ink card stock did not letterpress as well.  It looks nice but there is not very much de-bossing on this paper.   I may need to add another shim and see how that works.

The photo of the silver Christmas tree is letterpress with the Lifestyle crafts paper.

The damask design at left is letterpress with the Canson watercolor paper.

I also included a photo of the Canson watercolor paper  (on the left) and Lifestyle Crafts letterpress paper (on the right) side-by-side so you can compare.  It is hard to get a sense of the quality in photos and I am planning to do a video on this soon.

And lastly, below is a photo of letterpress on the Pure Poppy card stock from Papertrey Ink.

Using the kit is a lot of fun and I am planning to make some letterpress holiday cards.  This craft can be a little messy so make sure you have plenty of wet wipes on hand for clean up.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Masculine Thank You Card

Masculine cards are always a little challenging for me to create.  I would much rather make a card with lots of frills, flowers, lace and other embellishments in a variety of soft pastel colors.  That recipe obviously won't do for a masculine card.

I recently needed a masculine thank you card and thought about using one of the cork embellishments I cut a few weeks ago.  I selected one of the cork tags for this card and stamped a border design on it using Saddle Brown Staz On ink.  The Staz On ink stamps beautifully on the cork.   Stars are usually my go to motif for masculine cards, but this time I decided to use some geometric stamps to decorate my card base.  Not one star on this masculine card - yeah me for using something other than stars on a masculine card!

I used another cork tag for my cardlift video on YouTube last week.  This one slipped into a pocket on the front of the card.  You can watch that video HERE.

















Thank You Card Materials:

Papertrey Ink Rustic White card stock
Inkadinkado Clear Stamp Thank You Words
Arrow and Zig-Zag Border from the My Mind's Eye Indie Chic Ginger Pictures stamp set
TPC Studios Dots and Stripes (border stamp used on the cork tag)
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (I don't know what this one is called)
Fancy Pants Summer's End patterned paper
Spellbinders Labels 21
Spellbinders Standard Circle Die (1 3/4 inch size)
1 1/8 Inch Circle Punch
Saddle Brown Staz On Ink
Button
Twine

Cork Anyone?......

I really like to add texture to my cards and have done so using wood veneer and other materials for quite some time now.  Cork was the next material on my list to add to projects and I set about looking for cork thin enough to die cut. A few weeks ago I was browsing at Hobby Lobby and found a huge roll of self adhesive cork.  Eureka!!...PERFECT.

90 minutes and many cranks of the Sizzix Big Shot later I had a lovely pile of cork embellishments!  Large tags, small tags, circles, ovals, rectangles, arrows, hearts, flourishes and on and on.  I have not yet made a card using these embellishments, but will be doing so soon.  Right now - I just like to look at all this cork goodness.

When cutting out the cork shapes I also cut a corresponding shape in light weight chipboard and glued each of the cork embellishments to the chipboard to make them a little sturdier.  Even though the cork was self adhesive, the adhesive was not strong enough to work in my humid climate.  A little Scotch Quick Dry glue applied to the back of each of the cork shapes solved that problem.

Aren't these cork embellishments fun?

The Christmas Card Making Countdown Has Begun!

Yes, I know it is still July, but that is when I have to start making cards in order to get them all finished before the holidays.  Anyone who makes holiday cards knows exactly what I am talking about.  I don't tend to make cards in bulk - meaning I make two or three cards in the same or similar design and then move on to another design.

So let's see - it is July 18 and I have exactly two holiday cards made.  I have quite a few more to make  (I don't even want to verbalize the number because when I think about how many still need to be made I get a little panicky), but I usually have other projects in the works so holiday card making gets squeezed in between other projects at least until mid October. When October rolls around, I really ramp up production.  At this point full blown panic usually sets in when I realize that cards need to be made and mailed in 6 or 7 weeks time.  One way or another it all gets done and I enjoy making my own cards.  At this point if I purchased a card to send/give to a friend or relative, they would be highly insulted becausethey enjoy receiving handmade cards from me.

Here are the two cards that are completed. They are the same design - the only difference is that one of the trees has silver enamel dots on it and the other has burgundy enamel dots.

Materials used on these cards include:

Papertrey Ink Kraft card stock
Papertrey Ink Fine Linen card stock 
Basic Grey basics notebook paper patterned paper
My Favorite Things Insert It 3x4 Notebook Paper
Sizzix Framelits Snowman Die and Stamp Set
Handmade Enamel Dots
Craft Store clear gems
Sentiments Stamps from The Paper Company Studio Vintage Christmas stamp set
EK Success Small Snowflake Punch
Rock Candy Glitter