Tuesday, December 28, 2010

My first loom knitting project

My son has been telling me he wanted me to knit him something. I don't knit! A lot of my friends do though, and he's seen them knit. I do crochet however I had been wanting to learn to knit anyway. I am kind of put off by how long it takes to knit things though... then I discovered ProvoCraft's Knifty Knitter looms. I read on the Cricut message board that they are easy to learn and fast to do. So I made this poncho for my son as my first project. :)  It's not that great but I'm learning. :)  My son picked the colors!

I used 2 skeins of Red Heart super saver yarn, a strand of blue and orange together on the green round loom. I flat knit on that round loom... I used all the pegs but did not go completely around, just stopped and turned and knit the other way at the end of a row.

It was fun! I'm going to make me a hat next. :) Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Thank you cards #4

Oooh I love love love this new punch around the page punch! My new favorite! Too bad I don't own it! LOL... the punch belongs to the store I work at. But still, it's a lovely punch.
I love the simplicity of this card. I could make a bunch of these, happily, to send out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Thank you cards #3

This one was a little more complicated. I saw an elegant and beautiful card last year and was inspired to do something similar, but was going purely on memory!  The light green is embossed below, then I embossed another piece of the green. I swiped both pieces with versamark ink, then cut out some of the branches to layer over the bottom layer of leaves.  I pushed too hard on my "merci" stamp. Grrr.
This was a cuttlebug embossing folder by the way, and one I wished embossed deeper.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Thank you cards #2

This is a SUPER simple card. Cut the hearts on my cricut though if you have a punch of the right size, that would work too. Some string, pop dots and a stamp. All done! :)

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Thank you cards #1

I know most of us are still thinking of the coming holidays, but I'm thinking of the after the holidays! All those thank yous that will need to be said. :)  So here's a first thank you card of the season. Fairly simple... the embossing is a sizzix embossing folder. I love both cuttlebug and sizzix embossing folders, but the sizzix ones emboss really deep! I love that.

Thanks for looking!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Camera strap!

Friday I took a break from scrapbooking to make this present for myself!  I never liked the strap that came with my camera. Wasn't anywhere close to long enough, nor was it comfortable.

Then I happened to see Megan's camera strap, Penny mentioned she'd seen straps for sale on etsy. I went and looked at some of those etsy straps... I just couldn't get past the idea that I could make one for myself, for considerably less!  Don't get me wrong... I'll dish out the money for handmade items, even stuff sewn by someone else in spite of the fact that I can very well sew myself... But seriously, I usually buy sewn things that I'm totally unwilling to make for myself because the item is either way too complicated or too boring for me to make for myself. :)

But a camera strap? Super fast and easy! Well, until I got down to making the part that joins with the narrow strap that I took off the original strap, the part that goes onto the camera. See, my real sewing machine needs to visit a Singer doctor. I can't sew with it. I sewed this strap with a Janome Sew Mini. Except for that leathery part that attaches to the strap that goes on the camera. I had to hand sew that with a glover's needle. I have 3 puncture wounds on my left thumb. But HEY! I have this beautiful camera strap now! It cost me $3.50. I bought the pre-quilted fabric (1/8th of a yard) and the tiny chunk of leathery stuff with coupons from JoAnns so I barely spent anything on it... not counting the blood and cuss words. ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Parisian Anthology #5

My final project for the Scrappinista Scrapbook Club kit this month is this little tag. I actually cut the tag with my cricut but I happened to size it the same size as the Sizzix Tim Holtz tag die since that's a hot item this season and I wanted non-cricuteers to have another option.

I used scrap printed papers that were left from my other projects with this kit. However, the Flair that I got from this line came in a bubble pack that I realized I could cut up to make treat packs with. I've already eaten up the rest of the M&Ms from the bag I bought for this tag. :(

The big thing I want to say though, is what happened when I made that red poinsettia. That is made from the chip banners that were in the chip embellishment box we got with the kit. I inked them up heavily with Aged Mahogany Distress ink... they were really nice and red. I thought that I'd add some Rock Candy stickles to them for a touch of sparkle. I did that, and went away so it could dry. When I came back, it looked like this... the ink had wicked away into crevices around the rock candy. What a neat effect! I love it!

Thanks for joining me for this exploration of the Parisian Anthology line from Pink Paisley!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Parisian Anthology #4

My second to last project with my Parisian Anthology kit from Scrapaganza's Scrappinista club is a year in review mini book. The box held the chip embellishments for the Parisian Anthology line. When I surfed over to the Pink Paislee blog, I saw that one of the designers had used the box to hold a mini album, and I thought with the year coming to a close, that was a good idea to do an end of the year review in photos and journaling.
I took 6 #10 envelopes, and folded the flaps down narrower than usual, making sure that the sealed envelope would be narrow enough to fit within the box. That ended up being 3 1/2 inches wide. I sealed the envelopes with glue. Then I cut off one end to make them 7 1/4 inches long. I covered the envelopes on both sides with my left over printed papers and some cardstock. Inked them up with Distress inks in Forest Moss, Rusted Hinge and Wild Honey.  To attach the pages together, I did not want to use rings as those would be too bulky to fit in the box. Instead I took 1 1/2 inch strips of scrap cardstock and used border punches on both sides of the strips. Cut them down to 3 inches long approximately and used those as "hinges", glued on the ends of two facing pages. I also covered the outside binding with an outside hinge (cut on my cricut with Storybook) so that it would look more finished.
I printed out 33 photos that summed up our year, at wallet size. With the photos and remaining chip and artisan elements, I filled the mini album and decorated it. I wrapped the outside hinge with a thin ribbon that I could tie in some jeweled charms, and added a few extra ribbons for texture.  The little mini calendar months that mark each page are from the Tim Holtz pad of paper "Lost and Found". They were perfect for this project.
The envelope pockets hold a tag; the tags were cut on my cricut with Plantin, sized on my gypsy to be 3x7. Coordinating ribbon is stapled to the tags as pulls. The tags will have all my journaling about the year, one month per side of tag. I just haven't had time to write it all yet as I had to get this kit stuff done! LOL

This was a fun project! Not only to make it, but also going back through pictures and remembering everything. I've never done a "year in review" type project before and I think I will be adding it every year to give myself a chance to remember everything!  I highly recommend everyone doing a layout or mini book to remember your year too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Parisian Anthology #3

Hello again! Here's my 4th page with the Scrappinista Scrapbook Club kit from the store I work at, Scrapaganza!
For this page, I used a piece of taupe cardstock as a background, then cut down a piece of the printed paper. I misted the paper with Meadow Green and Red Velvet glimmermist and wiped off the excess to reveal the paper's embossing.  Then I adhered the paper to the background cardstock, then sewed it down for that extra touch. By the way, both cardstock and printed paper were edge distressed before getting sewn.
Then I used my Cricut and Gypsy to cut out a tree from Create a Critter cartridge but I used the Gypsy to stretch it taller without making it wider. I cut the tree out of acetate packaging (recycled from a cartridge clamshell, cut at depth 6, pressure 5, multicut 2). I used the negative of the tree as a mask, but what I did to make it work was put my background stamp on the table, stamp side up. Got it inked up. Then I put the mask over the stamp and then the paper on top and pressed the paper down on the stamp. I did this because the acetate is thick enough that pressing the stamp down on the mask and paper did not leave a stamped image so I had to flip them over to get the image.
Now, because I did not practice this in advance, I ended up messing up my paper. However, there are no mistakes, only creative opportunities! So rather than pitch out the whole thing, I tried to think up a way to hide the mess up, which was that some ink had gotten smeared around the tree that I had stamped.  So, I got that acetate tree that I had cut out (remember, I'd used the negative) and I put the actual cut out tree over the stamped background that I like to mask it, then took a silver paint dauber that I'd only squeezed a very little paint into, and painted some silver very lightly around the tree mask, radiating out from the tree. When I took the mask away, it left the tree image looking as if it were glowing in silver radiance... hence how I came up with the title "tree magic"
The little bit of silver paint covered up the ink smudging and I really liked the effect. So, there's a lesson here! Don't give up if you make a mistake. :)
I also used Artisan Element borders on the left, they had been sprayed with Red Velvet, Walnut Gold and Graphite glimmermist and carefully wiped off so that the only glimmermist left had remained in the debossed patterns. I did the same with the parenthesis framing the journaling.
The Flair flower I colored red with red alcohol ink so it would look like a poinsettia. I glued that on top of a pleated "flower" made with Tim Holtz tissue tape, which is layered over a "doily" that I cut from another sheet of the printed paper. Glued to the center of the poinsettia flower are two jingle bells I found in my jewelry making stash. I love raiding that stash for scrapping. lol The title is in American Crafts Thickers.
Shortly after I took this picture, I added tiny Artisan Element stars to the tree. I decided not to take another picture, so you'll just have to imagine them there! :)

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Parisian Anthology #2

Here's the second layout I've done with the Scrappinista Scrapbook Club kit for this month. I am so lovin' this Parisian Anthology line! 
When I saw the dressform chip embellishment, I remembered my getting-dressed wedding pictures and realized they would be perfect together.
This printed paper had embossing on the side, so I only inked the edges of the paper to reveal the embossing. The color I used is Pumice Distress ink. In addition to using the Parisian Anthology embellishments (chips, flair, tickets, Artisan elements) I also added a few of of my own... I took a piece of acrylic packaging and stamped it with a Tim Holtz stamp and stazon ink. I also cut out a doily type shape with my cricut and misted it, and added a few maya road pearl pins.  The title is silver glitter Thickers and MM mini alphas.

I've watched some scrappers sit and pile embellishments on like this, but sometimes when I try it, it doesn't seem to work right. However, this time I feel like my "pile" of embellishments worked well. I am very happy with this layout! I think this line has really sparked my desire to create!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Parisian Anthology #1

This month's Scrappinista Scrapbook Club kit is one of the new lines from Pink Paislee and House of 3: Parisian Anthology.

The printed papers come in neutral colors with printing and an embossed layer. If you ink up the papers, paint, spray with mist or whatever, you can wipe off the color from the embossing, and reveal the pattern that is embossed. This allows you to custom color your projects!

In addition to the papers, the line has corrugated chip pieces that have shapes like birds, tables, branches, banners, flowers, eiffel towers, dressforms and butterflies. The line also has ribbon, flair, bling, fabric flowers, tickets, stamps and artisan elements (rubbery sticky backed embellishments that can be colored or left in their natural off-white color).

On this layout I took a single sheet of the printed paper and cut it into strips so that I could make it look like I had two sheets for this two pager. A taupe colored cardstock sheet takes up the rest of the space with some strips of off-white cardstock that are border punched to fill in the space. I inked up the printed papers with Aged Mahogany and Black Soot Distress inks to reveal the embossing pattern.  On the left is a doily I got at the dollar store. I cut out letters on my cricut and used them as masks with Licorice Maya Mist.  I embellished with the Parisian Anthology chip birds and flowers, the Flair and cut up and inked one of the Artisan Element borders to highlight a few of the pictures. A few spiral 3D roses added as well.

Love this line from Pink Paislee!!! If this kind of stuff might be your style, you definitely need to get your hands on it! And if you are local and not in the Scrappinista Club, you need to join! The kit is awesome and you'll learn great techniques with it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Playing with my Imagine

I've had my Imagine since October. :)  I was one of the lucky ones who attended the launch party at CHA in the summer, and got a voucher for a free Imagine from ProvoCraft. I have to admit, it would have been way out of my price range so it's a good thing I got one free, or I'd never have gotten it!

I had done a couple things on the machine to make sure it worked, when I first got it. But I have to also admit that I haven't done much with it since. I can't afford the extra cartridges for it right now, and there's only a couple I would be willing to buy anyway. I'm also leery of the cost of replacing the printer cartridges. However, I had to come up with some to do with it, because I promised to take it to Scrapaganza where I work to demo it.

I discovered a few things while I was playing with it that I wish were different. You can break images out into layers which is cool, but to combine layers, you can only do that in one way, the predetermined initial image. You can't combine just a couple of those layers, which disappointed me. In the finished project above, I wanted a layer that had the birds and banner combined with the "simple joys" title, but you can't combine just 2 layers. 

The image the banner and birds came from had a different background shape and colors, so I went to another image and used it's background instead. The red shape layer is the same as it's original, but the oval layer shape I changed the pattern to go better with the banner words.
I printed and cut all my different layers, and then pop-dotted them all together to make this embellishment. I will probably slap it on a card when I take it to the store for the demo.

If ProvoCraft could add more manipulation functionality to this machine, so that we could combine some of the layers, and even combine layers from different images, this would be a really powerful tool. I'm hoping that they add a lot more manipulation tools to it or to the gypsy so we can do more with these images.

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Gift Packaging - Poinsettia "bow"

I found this idea on the Custom Crops website, in their designers' how-to section. The link to the tutorial for the 3D Poinsettias is here. There's also a cut file you can download but it was simple enough that I made this without the cut file. You just need Plantin or a similar leaf on another cricut cartridge.

The original tutorial was for 5 leaves of 3 different sizes, plus 3 green leaves of the largest size. I ended up not using my smaller leaves though, and I had cut extra of the larger size (due to technical difficulties) and when I started putting my poinsettia together, I ended up liking the way I made it with more of the larger leaves and less of the smaller anyway.  So, here's my recipe. You can do yours like Tanya's on the Custom Crops site or like mine or do it your way! :)

10 leaves from Plantin cut at 4 inches in red printed paper
5 leaves cut at 3 inches
3 leaves cut at 4 inches in the green for the non-flower leaves
pearls/beads for the flower center
pop dots and ink to ink edges if you like

The first layer is 5 leaves, pop dot the second layer on top of that. I overlapped the second layer in the center more to make the petals look smaller than the first layer. Pop dot the 3rd layer on top. Glue beads or pearls or use self-adhesive flat-backed pearls in the center. Adhere the green leaves at the bottom. Affix to your gift package. All done!

I remember when I was a kid, my grandma used to dress up her gifts by crafting the packaging. These days, it seems like everyone gives gifts in gift bags and the care and love in the packaging has given way to convenience and speed. I hope to add a little more care to the gift packages that I give this year.

Thanks for visiting!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Gift Packaging - Box Bag

One of the customers at the scrapbook store brought in a project for show and tell, and I loved it. She sent me the link for the tutorial, it's at Split Coast Stampers here.  Totally easy and so cute!  So I made one. Go check out the tutorial, and give it a shot!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

True Love

The store I work at, Scrapaganza, just received the next line from We R Memory Keepers! Be My Valentine!  (I know right? valentines stuff ALREADY? I wish they'd slow down over there at WRM).

Anyway, it's a gorgeous line of papers and embellishments!  And yes, there's lots of hearts and valentine theme in it. But I decided to show that it doesn't all have to be Valentines. WRM always has a couple sheets of sewn cardstock, and I LOVE this one, that says True Love if stitching! I had to use that with this photo of my son the day he was born. I also adore the little typewriter stamp!

So check out this line at Scrapaganza if you are in town!  Thanks for stopping by!