Archive for the ‘Tips’ Category

First, let me say this is not my idea and unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the person or website I was on that showed how to do this.  I was so excited to try this because I’m always in need of Pop Dots.

Fun foam comes in an array of colors and for this project you need to get the one with a sticky back.  M’s was running a sale on this and I got 30 sheets that are 6″ x 9″ for $2.99. 

It was on sale down from $7.99  to $4.99.  I had a 40% coupon that I was using for another item but the young girl put the coupon against the sale item.  I told her I thought it was incorrect but she insisted that it was automatic.  Unfortunately, for me she was wrong.  She had manually put the 40% off coupon against the $4.99 sale item instead of the $6.99 item. 

I cut the 6″ x 9″ fun foam down so it would be able to run through the Xyron.  I placed the side with the protective sheet side up so the adhesive from the Xyron will be laid on the opposite side.  The side that does not have the sticky back.

 

 

 

I pressed down the adhesive to be sure it is distributed over the fun foam.

I couldn’t wait to see if I could use my hole punch to make a pop dot and sure enough it was effortless to punch right through the protective adhesive sheets and the fun foam.

 

 

I trimmed off the excess Xyron adhesive sheet (which by the way I save to use on other items)  and you can see there is a protective sheet on both the front and back of the purple fun foam.

 

 

 

You can use a hole punch or you can cut a strip or what ever shape you need from this fun foam to use as pop dots or add dimension.  If you need squares use a square punch, or a heart or just free hand it.

The other nice thing about these pop dots are they are various colors to match your project, not just white. 

I get a very small sheet of pop dots for $2.99 and usually one size. If there are multiple sizes one of the sizes is not large enough to use.  This fun foam gives me 30 pieces, 6″ x 9″ in multiple colors for the same price ($2.99).  The fun foam is the same thickness as the pop dots you buy, I have had the same cartridge of Xyron adhesive for years so I was excited to use an old supply that has just been sitting dormant. 

I will not put Xyron adhesive on all the fun foam at once, instead I’ll see what colors I need and do smaller pieces as I need them.  This will keep the use of the Xyron adhesive to a minimum and not wasted on colors I might never use.  I also have the little “X” Xyron and it doesn’t seem to waste as much adhesive when you send items through it.  In other words, just think before you Xyron 30 sheets of fun foam all at once….that can be expensive.

I’m wondering would you call these “Designer” pop dots, because they come in colors?  Whatever you call them, I’ll not be buying Pop Dots for a long time!

I’m really into the alcohol inks and distressed pads from Ranger products.  But as you know when you get more than one or two of these bottles they begin to all look alike.

Tim Holtz, in several of his Youtube videos, makes reference to putting a dot of the color on top of the bottle.  That way you can easily see the color you need.

 

 

I took my regular hole punch and cut some holes from scraps that were white.  I placed them on the craft mat and dropped a drop of ink from the various bottles on them and let them dry.

 

 

 

Once dry, I used a piercing tool and picked up the colored dot and glued it onto the top of the appropriate bottle.

I used Glossy Accents to glue the paper onto the plastic cap.

 

 

 

Here is the finish product.  This is a perfect solution, especially when you store these inks in a drawer.  When you open up that drawer there are their pretty little heads with their pretty little color dots telling you what color is sitting under that cap.

It reminds me of a childhood game we used to play called “rotten egg”.  One of you would be the grocery person, one would be the person buying eggs and all the rest would be assigned a color (the grocery person would whisper it in their ear).  You would say, “Do you have any yellow eggs today?”  If yes, that person would come to the front and you would have them swing in a chair that you and the grocery person’s arms would make.  If the arms broke……pew whew! They were a rotten egg.  Hmm, sounds so silly now, but then we had more fun making fun of each other and no one got their feelings hurt.  It was a simpler time back then, when we played outside all day and our parents didn’t worry about where we were.  If you were in the neighborhood you were safe.

 

So this last week was the trifecta of the craft store world.  All three (Michael’s, Hobby Lobby and JoAnn) had 40% off coupons.  I know, I know, this happens more than less but for some reason it was the perfect timing.

MS came out with her holiday punches.  Halloween stamps and embellishments appear in abundance (actually Christmas decorations made it out before Halloween). 

So, I’m doing my usual stroll around JoAnn’s and I had picked up a couple of small things when as I walked through the impluse buys, toward the check out, my eyes saw these $1 acrylic stamps.  Being the sweet, kind person that I am….;-), I told the lady behind me to feel free to go in front of me.  I needed time to dig through the stamps unrushed.

Tip: Just click on the picture to get a larger and better look at the stamps.

 

Now I’m not much on the Halloween celebration, but the more I looked at these stamps the more I realized that they could be used beyond Halloween.  The pirate is actually the mascot of one of our High Schools.  The leafless tree could be used for a winter card or layout.  The leaf flourish reminds me of fall and the birds on the fence or gate reminded me of Tim Holtz line (or the Raven quoting “never more”).  Love the sunflower and the spider and web could be used for a GS (or GD) card or layout exploring the outdoors.

Keep your mind open and don’t get turned off by things just because you might think they pertain to something you are not interested in.  Try to take a fresh look and see if they can be used another way.  You might just end up with some jewels for your stash for just a buck or so.

This is my entry for the August MCPT (Magic Color Pencil Technique) Challenge on the Circut Message Board.  The finish card is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2.

Everything on this card (except the glitter) is MCPT.  I used the technique to even put the “inking” (or should I say pencilling (is that a word)) around the edge of the card and the large heart on the inside.

This card is going to be sent to my Pastors.  Every Sunday we are feed the Word of God and then a bunch of us goes out to eat afterwards. 

It started out with the new QuicKutz A2 embossing folder that I just feel in love with this week.  This one is called “vine label”.  This is a picture of the card it was mounted on. 

The entire challenge card is made out of Bristol Smooth 300 Series 100 lb paper.  Since I was going to use the MCPT on the entire card (not just the stamped image) I wanted to have the smoothness of the paper so it would take the pencils and odorless minerals spirits well.

 

I took the stamped image and scanned it into my computer and made it a digital stamp.  I scanned the chicks separately from the hedge hog. 

Then I resized the chicks so they would fit inside the label of the embossed card.  Then I inserted some text boxes and put in my captions.

 

 

On the second page of my digital stamp, I did a couple of more text boxes and played around with the placement until I got them where I wanted them on the card.  Flipped the card over and ran it through the computer.

Tip: I made a lot of test prints to be sure I had the position of the elements on the paper, aligning with the embossing on the card correctly.  Once I got the placement of the elements on the test prints I taped the card in the exact place on the paper so the words aligned up and printed the words again on the card.  I use repositional tape so the card would not tear when I removed it from the paper. 

Love this MS “THANKS” stamp.  It fit perfectly down the side of the card to create a border that expressed our gratitude.

Tip:  With the stamp you need to make sure you know how many stamped words you can get down the side or else you could run in to an incomplete words.  That’s not a bad thing if you want that look of continuous incomplete words.

So when you look closely you’ll notice a space at the ends and a slightly large space in the middle.  I did it this way so I could have two complete “THANKS” on the side of the card.

The flowers and leaves of the emboss card are colored with MCPT and then the leaves have green Stickles on them to give a little shine.

There is also some yellow Stickles on the grain that is along the path.  You can’t tell in the pictures but the chicks are slightly a different color.

 

 

The two “THANKS” are also colored using MCPT.  The hearts on the white space are from Cloud 9 and they echo the gratitude for the time and effort our Pastor, his wife and family gives to our church.

 

 

 

The hedge hog is printed and I used a Spellbinders scalloped heart die cut that has 3-D glue dots to add dimension.  I used yellow Stickles inside the bag the hedge hog is holding and on the fallen grain.  I added additional grain off the heart to show that it is flowing from the left side.  There is also some additional grain in front of the word With to make it look like it is coming from the front of the card.  The inking on the heart is MCPT and there is a charm that says “thank you” one more time.

This was actually my first attempt to take a stamped image and make it into a digital stamp that I could use over and over again.

I like the way the front looks with the wording and the chicks printed exactly in the right place.  What this means is I need to stamp off all of my stamps and covert them to digital stamps.  That way I will always have them, even if I let some friends borrow the actual stamp.

Thanks for looking and let me know what you think!

 

I’ve made this card a couple of times and I’m always amazed at how a little paper folding and some embellishments makes this card look like a shirt.

This is a great card for a man and the directions and templates can be found on the Paper Wishes website:   http://www.paperwishes.com/webisodes/?page=high&id=165.

My Father usually wears a cross on his tie, so I thought I would place one on the tie on his card.

There is not a lot of room inside but it is big enough to get a sentiment across to the person you are giving it to.  It also helps when you tuck in a gift card or a check that drives that sentiment home.

TIP:   Be sure and use paper that has color on both sides.  This helps if your folding is a little off.  The pattern or color on the other side will be complimentary to the side that is showing.  If you use paper with a pattern or color on one side and white on the other, the white will show up usually in a place you do not want it to show.

The Happy Birthday is a $1 stamp from M’s (love those sweet finds) and then I took a glaze pen from Sakura to embellish the stamp, a little glitter (not too much, so I could keep it masculine.

We attended his birthday party on Sunday.  He is turning 85  on August 12th and still going strong.  I hear you get your longevity from your Father.  Looks like I’m in for a long, full, great life!

Ever since I learned about this technique I have become fascinated with the pencils.  Maybe it is because I never got that big box of 64 Crayola’s like the other kids.  By the way, I own one of those boxes of 64 Crayola’s today. 

To learn the technique there is no better instructor than Sue on this Youtube clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCCo9799dWo).  You can also go to her website www. heartprints.net and see a different demo.

 

I started out with a small 24 Prismacolor set (using a 40% off coupon) and added to my stash as Michael’s put their open stock Prismacolor pencils on sale for $1.  Unfortunately, it didn’t take me long to collect all the various colors that M’s had to offer.

I found the cute carosel at a store locally call Home Goods.  I love the colors against this black background and it makes me want to color each and every time I see it.

When I first got the 24 color set, I used my electric pencil sharpener to get the pencils ready to use.  However, I discovered there is actually a sharpener designed for the Prisma pencils and the difference in how this hand sharpener sharpens the pencils and how the electric pencil sharpens is very different.

I can get a finer point with the Prisma sharpener and it is achieved without eating up a large amount of the pencil. 

Tip:  Do not press the pencil in the sharpener to hard it will break the soft lead.  Also, you will need to empty the sharpener often, to keep the shavings from clogging the sharpener.

Since these pencils cost around $1.59 – $1.99 (depending on the color) I want to keep as much pencil as I can to use instead of being chewed away to get a point the way the electric pencil sharpener did.

 

Although, Sue in the clip said you can use cotton swabs to blend, I have not had any luck with finding those that are tight enough to achieve the blending I like.

So, I buy stumps to use with this technique and like the results and the control I have over where they are traveling on the picture as I’m blending.  There is a sanding pad utensil that you can buy to use with stumps, but I found a good emery board works just as well to clean the stumps off and keep a good tip on them.

 

Sue mentions Gamasol in the demo.  That is a manufacturer’s name for low odor mineral spirits and a small bottle from them is about $5.  I went to our local hardware store and bought a can of low odor mineral spirits for about $5 (4-5 times as much for the same price) and I’ve had it for over a year now.

I found this bottle with a sponge applicator on top and a lid at M’s in their art department.  You need to keep this up out of the way of children and pets. You also need to keep it sealed so the mineral spirits don’t evaporate away.

This bottle sits inside one of the cubbies of the carosel along with the stumps and the emery board.  That makes a neat little compact organization tool for holding everything I need when I get ready to color.  I just pick-up the carosel and move it over to my workstation.  I have grouped the various colors together (pinks and purples, reds and orange, blues and grays, etc.) that way I can see what will be used as shading and highlight for the various colors.

I only have one concern.  I found a new source for open stock Prisma Color Pencils and they have a lot of colors I don’t have, including metallics.  What’s a girl to do?

Well, this girl went onto the Heartprints web site downloaded the PDF file for the chart ( http://www.heartprints.net/pdf/Prismacolor%20Pencil%20Chart.pdf).  I took all the colors I had and matched them to the number on the chart and then blended the color so I could see what it looked like after it had been blended.

This really serves two purposes: 1) I now have a list of all the colors I already have and I just tuck this in my purse and carry it with me so I don’t buy duplicate colors, 2) I can also see what each color looks like blended so when I’m doing a project I don’t have to guess.

Well, I am now sitting me up a monthly budget for Prisma Color Pencils so I can get all the colors I don’t have and I can fill up that chart.  By the way there are more colors than what that chart shows, which must mean I’ll have to sit down and build a complete chart.

Who needs 64 colors of Crayola’s when you can have 100′s of Prisma Color Pencils.  It’s not just coloring anymore it is being artistic and designing…..now where is that duckie I was coloring?  Is it in my Big Coloring Book 1 or my coloring book I got for $1.

I confess, I love the $1 bins at Michaels and I also love the $1 Scrapbooking supplies at JoAnn’s.  You have to watch, pick and choose, and monitor often, but if you are patient you can get some cute stuff.

We have several Michael stores close to either where I live or where my #1 Daughter and I work, so there is no lack of incentive to check them out.

So, just because one Michaels doesn’t have it doesn’t mean the other won’t.  I found these cute $1 stamps this week at Michaels.  Six $1 stamps and lucky me I had a coupon for 20% off the entire total purchase.  I like to use these type coupons on these type items rather than using a 40% off coupon on one item that only cost $1.  So that equaled out to me only paying $.80 for each stamp.  Wait it gets better…I still had over $5 dollars on a gift certificate from Mother’s Day.  By the end I got all of these stamps and still had $.35 left on my gift card.

So at JoAnn’s they have $1 Scrapbooking Supplies.  I like to purchase the rub-ons because they are usually the right size for the cards I make and have great sentiments.  Bonus, some of them were only $.50.

As you can see some of them are colored and some black and white.  They are just a good all around sentiments touching on different things like friendship, get well soon and inspirational words.

As I started to check out at JoAnn’s I looked down and they had these clear $1 stamps on a bottom shelf of the impluse buy line.

They are nicely detailed and well worth the $1/pkg they cost. 

So, I think if you just keep your eyes peeled you might be surprise what you can find for $1.  Oh by the way, I already had the Friend to Friend stamp from Michaels…no biggie, I’ll give that to my Mom, she loves stamps also!

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget you can click on the picture to get a closer look.  Be sure and leave me a message and let me know how you are liking the site.

Recently on the Cricut MB, a contributor by the name of Nilda showed us how to use chipboard elements as embossing elements for the CuddleBug (CB).  Check out her sight and videos at http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo141/sherribenson1/IMG_2587.jpg.  She is one talented lady!

Here is what the embossing looks like after it has been run through the CB.

I cut the owl and the flourishes out of chipboard using the Storybook cartridge (SB) and I cut the word “Dad” out of card stock using the Plantain cartridge (PLN).

I use recycle cereal boxes, frozen dinner boxes, and cracker boxes for chipboard.

 

I made sure I used my stickiest mat, and then I also taped down the top and side to ensure that the chipboard does not move around.  I also used a deep cut blade and placed it on #6.

Tip:  Some chipboard (i.e., boxes from file folders, some frozen dinner boxes) have a plastic coating on them so you may want to make an extra pass with the cutting.

The mutliple cuts, pressue and speeds will very according to your machine.  My machine used this combination:  Multiple Cuts = 5 times (4 +1); Speed = low; Pressure= High

When choosing your element to cut out of chipboard, be sure and choose an element that does not have fine detail.  The element will cut cleaner and emboss clearer if the detail is large.  It also makes it easy to clean up the chipboard after it is cut if the details are not fine.

This is the owl and the flourishes that was cut with the recycled staple box.

 

I used a small blade craft knife, the pick instrument from the Cricut accessory tools, and a small file to clean and remove the cut areas that didn’t easily come out when I removed the elements from the mat.

 

 

 

Here it is with all of it’s detailed elements punched out, sanded and trimmed.

The cleaner the chipboard element the cleaner it will emboss.  So take a little extra time to get it just the way you want it.

 

 

 

I’m making a 6″ x 4″ card so I cut a mat @ 5-1/2″ x 3-1/2″.

The sandwich for the embossing is as follows:

A plate; B-plate; Embossing Pad (tan pad); card stock mat; chipboard element using for embossing; 2 shims (made from cereal boxes); second B plate.

 

Tip:  The Embossing pad is from Spellbinders; however, you can go to your local home center and get a similar item in the plumbing department.  I believe they come in a red color and have to be cut down but the price is a lot cheaper.

Be sure and pay attention to how and where you are placing your chipboard elements that you are using to emboss. When you emboss, the results will produce an embossed side and a debossed side.  If you are wanting to use the emboss side, be sure and place the chipboard element as though you are looking at the card or mat from the reverse side.  If you want the embossed element on the left side you would place it on the right side at this point.

I couldn’t leave well enough alone.  If you haven’t figured it out yet I’m in to all the details and insist that my cards are full of detail.

I chalked the Owl and flourishes and added some eyes.  I inked and doodled on “Dad” and the photo corners.  Added a little ribbon and a tag that says “Happy Father’s day” and of course buttons.

 

 

Carried the theme on the inside of the card.  The Owl is the $1 stamp I found at JoAnn’s and I used the MCPT to get it a little umph!

I did discover that I could use the photo punch and punch the corners on the folded card to get the photo corners at the top.  So I folded the card, stuck the corner into the punch and it cut through both layers…..that rocks!

 

Nilda is going to put a “How To Video” on how to do this technique so be sure and check her blog out over the next week or so. 

Tip:  If you don’t have a Cricut, you can still use this technique by just using purchase chipboard and using that as an embossing element.  I’m also sure this will work with other dye cutting machines other than the CB.  Just play around with the different plates until you find the sandwich mix that works.  My CB is still new so it would not take the “C” plate like Nilda’s, but I just kept switching things out and around until I got the mix that worked.

Thanks for looking and don’t forget to get a closer look just click on the picture.  Thanks for stopping by and be sure and leave me a comment, I love hearing from you.

Hi Everyone!  I know it has been several days since I posted.  I have been busy and took a few days off from posting.

When I was at the American Scrapbook Convention I stumbled upon the booth of Best Craft Organizer.  They had this organizer for stamp pads for $39.99.

A couple of years ago my #1 Daughter and I went in together and bought 50+ Stampin Up stamp pads off the internet at a good price.  Since that time we have had them stored in clear shoe boxes.  Then when I created the craft studio they ended up in three drawers of JetMax cubes.

The stamp caddy has a place on top for the re-inkers and it also came with a strap and side pieces that you can attached to keep the stamp pads from coming out if you decide to carry to a crop night or need to move it.

Tip:  Just in case you are not aware of this tip I thought I would add it here since we were talking about stamp pads.  You should store you stamp pads upside down and flat.  Stampin Up pads are designed to automatically store the pad upside down when you close the pad.  I turn my other pads over so they will be stored upside down.  This keeps the ink at the top surface of the ink pad.  So you know what that means…..I have to get out my label maker and label it.

I have found the stamp caddy on the internet but they are always so expensive and then you have to pay the shipping cost.  So, when I saw this price, I knew it was the prize of “my” day.  Little did I know that the lady at Best Craft Organizer was going to add to my delight.

I left the stamp caddy at the booth so I could finish the convention without having to carry it around.  When I went back to booth to pick up the caddy the lady said, “Here you go and I’m giving you the piece that holds the pens.”  Wow! I felt so blessed and was so grateful.  I think that additional piece was somewhere around $10.00.  I feel I certainly got my monies worth and what a great organizational tool for the stamps.

By the way the Butterfly was a give-a-way from the PKGlitz booth.  It was too pretty to throw it away so I used it to bedazzle the stamp caddy………….sweet!

I realize there is a lot of ways to store your acrylic stamps and you have probably gone through several of them.  There is the clip-it-up method, there is keeping them in binders using protective sheets, Jim Holtz has a system and I’ve seen several others.

My problem is I forget what I have if I don’t see them and the clip-it-up method was a little more expensive than what I wanted to get into.  So I saw this storage used with some Bo-Bunny acrylic stamps and I’ve also seen DVD cases used.  This is fairly inexpensive, depending on how much recycled items you have.

Items Used: 

Standard Jewel Cases (pk of 10 for $3.99 – Office Depot)

Cardstock – Your choice of color

Acetate – You can get this at your craft store or Office Center – I used recycled acetate from packaging and sheets that covered the acrylic stamps.

Staz-On Ink – Black

Large acrylic stamp block

Scor-Pal

 Let’s begin….

This system uses a “standard” jewel case.  This is important because the slim jewel cases do not have a removable center that holds the disk and it does not have enough depth to allow the case to close when you put the stamps inside.  It usually takes two standard jewel cases to hold a sleeve of stamps. 

Tip:  If you buy Music CD’s they can be recycled to use in this system.

Pop the center out and you are left with the front and back of the standard jewel case.

Since my craft studio is in black/white/yellow, I chose a light yellow card stock to use as my cover for the cases.  The cover does a couple of things.  The top of the cover is where I write the information about the mfg and the stamps and there is a 1/4″ lip on the cover that labels what is in the case.  I used categories  (i.e. flourishes, floral, words, medallions, etc) so I put like things together.  This helps narrow down the packages and it puts the various styles and types together.  To me this is a time saver.  I don’t have to dig through everything trying to find that one stamp I know I purchased but can’t seem to remember what set of stamps it came with.

I used a Cricut E. and the George cart. to cut the top cover sheet and the bottom acetate.  The top measurements are 4.625″ H x 5.6888″W and the bottom is set at 4.935″H and 4.75″W.  I cut the top cover out of cardstock and the bottom sheet out of acetate.

Cut several bottoms (see measurements above) out of acetate.  Mark one to use as a template and place it in the bottom of the jewel case and arrange the stamps to fill the template.  Be sure and keep the stamps off the small lips in the jewel case that holds the template in place.  This enables you to slide the bottom acetate out and in easily.

Tip:  I marked the template so I knew which one I was using for a template so I would not get it mixed up with the acetate bottoms I was stamping. That way only one acetate bottom was getting ink smudges on it.

Once the stamps are arranged (cut side up), ink the stamps with Staz-on Ink then place another acetate bottom on top of the inked stamps.  Make sure you have the bottom turned correctly to match the widths and the heights correctly. 

Using the acrylic block press down to transfer the image to the acetate bottom. 

Remove the stamped acetate and let it dry.  Once it is dry turn the stamp side over and slide it into the bottom of the standard jewel case.  This will mean the stamped image is against the jewel case.  This will turn the images correctly and you can place your stamps in the designated places.

The acetate bottom being stamped with the predetermined places will help you keep your stamps in the right jewel cases and give you a road map as to how they go back in the case.

From here cut the top cover to go in the lid of the standard jewel case.

I ran the covers through my printer giving them  the general categories (i.e., floral, floruishes, words medallions). 

You can get as detailed as you want but I just hand wrote the information on the top just in case I needed it later.

 

  

Using the Scor-Pal I ran a fold at the 4-1/4″ mark, placing the edge of my cardstock on 4″ and the next line over is the 1/4″. 

Using a ruler to make the crease sharp creates the label for the standard jewel case.  Yes, you are correct the label is upside down at this point; however, when you slide it into the top of the jewel case and turn it over it is right side up.

 

 

 

 

Here the acrylic stamps are lined up on the stamped acetate bottom inside the jewel case in their designated area.

Slide the top cover in the top of the standard jewel case, making sure the folded label is in the middle of the jewel case.  This enables the label to show when the standard jewel case is closed.

Here it is!  Now I got a little carried away and inked the edges of the labels so they would have a little dimension to them.

 

 

What I love about this system:

1. They are neatly stored, like items are together (words, Christmas, florals, etc).

2. I can pull out a category and just turn it over and look at what is stored in that jewel case.  If that is not what I’m looking for slide it right back in it’s slot. 

3. If it is what I’m looking for; open it, use it, easily put it back in the jewel case exactly replacing it where the stamped image is marked.

4.  It sits on top of my jetmax cubes at arms reach and a reminder that they are available.

5.  It’s compact and all the same size.

6.  It can be added to, changed or reduced easily.

7.  The various mfg’s information is written on the cover and easily accessed.

Thanks for taking the time to read through and be sure and let me know if you discover a step you would like to know more about or information on.  The clear CD case is from the Container Store and cost about $6.99.  I like using the clear items because it keeps the room feeling light and airy.

I apologize for the placement of some of the pictures and text.  I tried repeatedly to get them straightened out but at last the system was being rebellious.

Be sure and leave me a note, let me know what you think,  I love hearing from you.