Time for Fiesta!

Last month Hero Arts sent a really fun Mexican-themed card kit. When I first saw it, I was hesitant as it really isn’t my style. But I get card kits for a reason, to challenge myself, and the images looked fun to colour. Also, the large ornate die was amazing!

My kids had been begging me to make a Chibitronics card so I combined the kit with some fun lights. The concept was that in the day, the sun in the desert is so hot, it’s practically white hot. But later in the day, it glows orange as it sets. The mouse is coloured with Rather than colour the cacti, I used Distress inks, some Oxide, some regular, to sponge on some colour. After, because the Oxide somewhat covered the stamped lines, I re-stamped using my MISTI.

In this photo, you can see that pulling out the tab both completes the sentiment and actives the lights with a switch. I’m not thrilled with the obvious three lights rather than an overall diffused light so I may try to add some vellum over the two layers of tissue I used to see if I can get it to diffuse more. Once you get the switch set up properly, it works really well.

I’m not into scrapbooking much anymore though I always intend to go back to it some time. I kind of stalled out after my second son turned about 18 months. I never got a decent photo of him because he was obsessed with my camera; so every photo has his face next to the lens, massively blurred out, his arm in front of his face as he reached for the camera or was crying from being told he couldn't have the camera! But it is International Scrapbook Day so I thought I’d wish you a good one!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Back to School Card for The Shabby Tea Room

Hi crafty friends! I have another edition of The Shabby Tea Room for you today! This week we were inspire by a lovely back to school photo with yummy fall colours in it.

Aren’t shaker cards fun? Keep in mind that you can add things other than just beads, sequins, micro beads and glitter! There are lots of  new dies out there that make shaped confetti (though you may already have some small dies for flowers hearts and stars) AND you can use some larger 3-D items if you add some extra foam! I used some shaped buttons and brads, I just cut the backs off! I glued the school bus in place as I felt it would look weird upside down being so large. But everything else moves!

This week we were sponsored by Paper Temptress. I received quite a few different papers as part of my design team sample. My favourite was the Antique gold paper I used for the frame of my shaker. It’s such a deep rich gold! The links to all the papers I used are on The Shabby Tea Room website just under my name. Just a note: The Cryogen White is my card base. I sponged it to a rich brown to better match my card front.

I hope you will visit our challenge blog! Maybe you can be our next Top Three or our Winner! And even if you don’t enter, you can take in all the gorgeous projects by The Shabby Girls and leave comments! Thanks so much for joining me today!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Graphic 45 An ABC Primer
Ink: Archival Brown, Vintage Photo, Fired Brick, Scattered Straw, Walnut Stain-Distress, Memento black
Paper: All Paper Temptress except Patterned papers by Graphic 45 and green leaf-old olive CS-SU!
Accessories: Jesse James buttons (inside shaker), sequins-various, red button-Basic Grey, hardware-SU!, flowers-Really Reasonable Ribbon, measuring tape twill, lace-stash

Rugged Sympathy Cards

My FIL passed away recently and while we weren’t close, it was hard to see my teenaged son and my husband so sad. So I made them both sympathy cards.

Of course, as with many of us, I struggle to make masculine cards that aren’t super boring. Sure it’s easy to layer a few papers but that’s so blah. I used some ephemera I’d been saving and a cool technique to jazz it up some.

The background is crumpled cardstock which I then smoothed and DTP added some light brown ink. I spritzed it with water to soften the look, let it dry then applied a slightly darker shade orange  ink with my fingers to really work it into the paper. It if was closer to the same shade, I might have been able to use a sponge applicator but this seemed to really bring out the texture in the paper. A sponge might have applied ink too evenly. My fingers were only orange for one day :).  I wish more of it showed.

I’m entering this in the Simon Monday challenge to make new friends but keep the old. I used an old technique to make the paper look like leather and an old stamp. I used ephemera I’ve been saving for ages and new veneers. I also used Mojo Monday 379 for the sketch. for Mojo Monday Judges: I’m entering both cards. But I can only link up one card for each URL. So I entered the other card by clicking on it then using the URL for hte photo. Sorry but no way to link back to the challenge for that card. HOpe that’s OK.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamp: Justrite Stamps
Ink: Ranger Archival brown
Paper: cardstock-PTI, DP-Authentique, ephemera envelope
Accessories: Veneers-Studio Calico, grommet-WRMK, twine-repurposed, Copic markers YR 68, BG75, E59

Blush Pearls and Hearts Bracelet

I’ve been making lots of jewelry lately but I’m a bit behind posting. This one tinkles a bit as I wear it and so reminds me of faeries!

It is made almost entirely of jump rings. So except for the pearls, it is all made of wire! The jump rings silver plate for the non-coloured ones and coloured aluminum for the pink ones. The pink is quite subtle so enlarge the pic by clicking on it if you’d like a better look. The little hearts are made from silver wire which I shaped then soldered closed. I also made my clasp, from the same wire I think. 18g silver.

Considering I’ve never made anything like it before, I am thrilled with it! I’m really new to anything made with jump rings, called chain maille, and new to soldering too. I am going to be selling these so let me know if you are interested! The jump rings and pearls come in lots of other colours too. And if hearts aren’t your thing, I can substitute your choice of charms. If you know jewelry, it’s a basic chain made of the silver rings with two pink rings in each silver one, one on each side.

Enjoy, Rebecca

All supplies available at Fire Mountain Beads or ArtBeads.

Feel Watts Better

I decided I’d better use up my SSS card kits so I made 3 cards at once. I needed a masculine card for my FIL at he last minute and realized I have very few masculine cards. I usually make them just when I need them and so don’t have a stash.

The third card is identical to the right card. I just liked the splatters better on this one! They are the same size; weird the right one looks larger. Must be the angle.

For this light bulb, I stamped it on white cardstock and coloured it with two colours of Copics. The white splatters are MrHuey’s mist. I just flicked the stem of the sprayer onto the card.

For this one, I stamped with yellow ink on white cardstock using the solid stamp included in the set. I prefer the Copic coloured one tho. Just as a note, I quite shamelessly CASEd the cards from the inspiration sheet they include with the kit. Why reinvent the wheel right?

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Love You Watts-SSS, Feel better Mega Mixed Messages –PTI
Ink: Memento black, summer sunrise-PTI, Archival black-Ranger
Paper: SSS card kit, HAwaiian shores CS
Accessories: Copic markers R27, 29, Y35, 38, foam dots-The Sticky Stuff Store, Mr Huey’s mist

I Love You Watts

I was so inspired by last week’s Unscripted Sketches that I made two cards. This one was for hubby; he’s been behaving himself lately so I needed to let him know. ;)

It’s hard to see but I coloured the backside of the vellum bulb bright yellow in the center of the heart and lighter yellow just outside of it. I love colouring hte back of vellum; such an awesome look. I wish it showed up more. The hearts are coloured with a Copic and then I added Glossy Accents to the top.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Watts and Watts-SSS
Ink: black Archival-Ranger 
Paper: SSS card kit, scraps white CS
Accessories: holiday shapes die-SSS, Copic R27, Glossy Accents

Miss You School-Themed Chalkboard Card

I’m entering a few challenges with this card. But mainly I want to encourage my son who is going into grade 1. It’s a big step and frankly, I’m worried how he will do. He’s plenty happy though, he has new markers! :)

So this is for Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Back to School.  And for Card Maker Blog’s Card Corner Challenge: Chalkboard. I thought I could enter this week’s Fusion challenge too but apparently I was thinking of last week’s. Bummer.

Very CAS (for me anyway) but it suited the papers, sketch and my kiddo. He’d just rip off fancy bellies and play with them anyway!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: alphabet-Graphic 45, sentiment-PTI
Paper: red, kraft-PTI, black-?, DP-OA
Ink: Versamark, archival black-Ranger, Frost white-Color Box
Accessories: buttons-Basic Grey, white EP-Hero Arts, twine-Divine Twine, foam dots-Jody Morrow

SAF Sugar Coated Ingredients–Star Hero Card

My son had to have an MRI a couple Fridays ago. He has autism and is now part of a research study. He really didn’t want to do it but I was so proud that he was brave and did it anyway. Afterwards, I asked him if he knew what you call it when someone is scared of something but is brave and does it anyway, especially when it is for other people? Of course he said no. I told him that’s what a hero is. So this is a card for him.

He doesn’t care much about how embellished a card is so I kept it minimal. He will just have fun tearing the strip off. Underneath it says “You are my hero” from the Father Knows Best set. He’s been really trying lately, even destroying a $700 TV this week so I really have to work hard to not resent him for many days at a time. So I was sort of proud of myself that this was the project that came to mind when I saw the video for adding stripes to a die cut.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE: cardstock, stamps, dies-PTI, glitter-MS

SAF Custom Accents from the Oven–Star Key Chain

For this one, I was kind of stumped, I’m not a huge fan of skrink plastic. So I made a key chain for my son, it coordinates with a project I will show later (but made first) for the glitter challenge.

I cut the shapes with my die cutter and coloured them with Copic markers using my air brush system for smooth colouring. Colouring them before heating also keeps them from being sticky and gives you more intense colour. Maybe too intense. R59 turned so dark red that it looked brown and I had to do it over again!  I mounted it on a tag to give it to my son. He thinks I’m making it for his baby sitter, too funny!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE: dies, poppy cardstock-PT, Copic markers and airbrush system, gold craft wire (to make jump rings), twine-Divine twine,

You Rock for Unscripted Sketches

A whole bunch of kids in our extended circle of friends graduated this year. We don’t know them well enough to get invited to grad parties (which is why I found out so late and am still making cards)but I still wanted to send something! It is so hard to make teen boy cards, I should get brownie points from the judges of the sketch challenge!

The bottom is done with a Tim Holtz embossing folder. I misted the cardstock so it wouldn’t crack and Yea! it worked. I added ink direct-to-paper while the cardstock was still wet and liked how the ink softened so I added more ink and more mist. It accents the embossing without looking harsh. The black strip is thin washi tape.

Next I used two colours of ink to stamp the funky blob under the guitarist. Why is it that SU! seems to struggle to get bright turquiose/teals colours to match the colours on the ink case? Does the ink fade over time? Do they just not match it correctly in the first place? In the case of both Bahama Bay and Taken with Teal, I thought they were too bright so used neither when they were new. As I developed a love for teal, I got them out only to find neither is nearly as bright as the case shows. They aren’t just a little off but WAAAAY off. So I used Hawaiian Shores rom PTI (which does match the colour on the case!) to finish the stamping of the sentiment which is why they don’t match.

I used the Flashback Summer sketch #27 but you only have a few hours to play so get going if you want to join. But you have a bit longer to play Flashback Bingo so take a look at the post before the one I’m linking to if you’d like to play.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Taylored Expressions
Ink: Bahama bay-SU!, Hawaiian shores, harvest moon-PTI, archival black-Ranger
Paper: white, chartreuse, Hawaiian shores-PTI
Accessories: foam dots-Jody Morrow, washi tape-Recollections, star dies-Simon Says Stamp. TH embossing folder-Sizzix

Thanks Coach

My 6 yo is finishing his gymnastic lessons this week so I made a thank you card for his coach.

Pretty CAS so not much to say. I joined the new challenge called Fusion where they basically have two challenges, a sketch and an inspiration and you can use one or the other or combine them. Then the really nifty part, you can vote on your favourites! Cool right? Click on the graphic below to visit the challenge.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: PTI Thanks All Ways
Ink: Ranger Archival black
Paper: Echo Park, terracotta CS-PTI
Accessories: chocolate bakers twine-PTI, E08 Copic marker, Cork adhesive sheets-DCWV

School Magnet Board for Moxie Fab Fall Challenge

I wanted to enter the Fall Home Decor Challenge in the Moxie Fab World but I couldn’t decide what to make. Fall is my least favourite season as far as decor goes and my second least favourite season as far as weather goes; I’m a fair weather lover. So a school themed project seemed perfect! Be sure to visit and play along.

The base is a plaque which I painted black on the edges and covered with the black DP. The metallic part which hte magnets stick to is under the lighter DP. I wasn't sure how to cover it up but it was pretty ugly metal so it needed some kind of covering. I might have painted it but I wasn’t sure my paint would stick since it wasn’t specially formulated for metal and wasn’t the new MS paint for any surface. It all came as a kit from my favourite cheap online store, ScrapbookSteals.com and included a stand in case you want to table mount it.

I will eventually cover or paint the magnets, I was just short on inspiration tonight. I added my children’s initials to the top so I can use this for school photos or inspirational back-to-school messages. That button isn’t orange, no idea why it looks that way!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Ink: Vintage Photo Distress
Paper: black CS-SU!, DP-Graphic 45
Accessories: red baker’s twine-Masterstroke ribbon, buttons-PTI, SU!, other twine-PTI, Glossy Accents-Ranger

Vintage Masculine Card for Sweet Sketch Wednesdays

This is the last card I needed to make for our most recent group of baptized young people. I am so proud of them.

Again, I went to my son to find out what kind of card to make for this young man. Apparently, he was checking out the vintage car my sister drove up in at her wedding so I went with this vintage paper. I rearranged the layers a bit but I hope the people deciding the results of the challenge don’t mind. I enjoyed coming up with an alternative to paper or ribbon for the horizontal strip. I loved substituting the tickets.

I used Sweet Sketch Wednesday for this. Click on the sketch to visit the site.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: ticket-PTI
Ink: archival black-Ranger, fired brick Distress
Paper: DCVW, grey CS-PTI
Accessories: foam dots-Jody Morrow, ticket die-PTI

Graphic Masculine Card for Sweet Sketch Wednesday

This card is so different from what I usually make but it suits the person it was made for very well.

This is a congratulation card for a young man in my congregation. He was recently baptized and I find it so hard to make cards for young guys especially when I don’t know what they are really into! I asked my son and he likes dark purple and sports so this was the best I could do. An actual sports theme just wouldn’t be appropriate for a spiritual card.

I used Sweet Sketch Wednesday for this. Click on the sketch to visit the site. It’s my first time participating in this one so I’ll have to see how it goes! Wish me well!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: WMS
Ink: Archival black-Ranger
Paper: pumpkin pie CS-SU!, DP-DCWV
Accessories: ribbon-stash, buckle, ticket corner punch-SU!, pinking shears, foam dots-Jody Morrow

Robot Thank You Card

I made another thank you card for my sister to give to someone in her wedding party. This time it happens to be her ring bearer who is also my little guy, Spencer. I’d show you a picture of him in the wedding but every single one of my photos turned out blurry. I take so many still photos, I didn’t have my camera settings right for people moving down an aisle. I’m looking forward to the pro ones.

I used a stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps and did my best to make the head look like it was made from very shiny, reflective metal. Then I made the rest fun, happy colours which matched the paper and ribbon colours. This was the Mojo sketch from a week or two ago and once again, I didn’t get it linked in time, ugh! I hope my little guy likes it!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: CDS, thanks all ways-PTI
Ink: Memento black, archival black-Ranger
Paper: black CS-PTI, green CS-SU!, DP-scraps
Accessories: copic markers, red grosgrain ribbon-stash, foam dots-Jody Morrow, pinking shears

Girl on a Summer Day Water Coloured Card

I made this card for my sister to give to her flower girl as a thank you. I used a sketch but as usual, I missed the deadline to enter. Dang it.

Isn’t this just the girliest card ever? I’m sure the young lady in question will love it! At least I sure hope so! It’s pretty simple so not much to tell. The flags are hand cut from double layered washi tape. The focal image is stamped on water colour paper and coloured with Distress markers. The dress is worn lipstick, much brighter IRL, more like the colour of the background and even closer to the scalloped border. No idea why it isn’t showing up brighter. Huh? I have to remember to add my WMS ‘do not discard, please recycle’ on the back. If she doesn’t want this card anymore, I at least want the buttons back! I used my favourites!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: SU!, thank you- Flourishes seaside life
Paper: watercolour paper-stash, DP-Girl’s Paperie, pink CS-PTI
Ink: Memento black, worn lipstick Distress, chocolate-PTI
Accessories: rhinestones-Dollarama, buttons-SU!, PTI, washi-MME, twine-Divine Twine, Distress Markers, Circle Nestabilties

Miniature Doll Bedroom with Matchbox Bed

As I’ve mentioned before, I swap quite a bit with Swap-Bot. I love getting fun mail, it makes an ordinary day much happier. I run a smaller subgroup which allows like-minded people to have even stricter rules and swap specific themed items which is fun but lots of work. One of my groups is Matchbox and More and I hosted a swap to make a doll bedroom.

The requirements were to use a matchbox as a bed, make a floor and two walls, one with a window and decorate the window and the room in general. And make or buy ‘someone’ to ‘live’ in the room. The matchbox used is approximately 2x1.5x0.5” so it’s pretty small. I used swatches from an online fabric store to make the sheet and blanket. The bottom of the blanket is loose so the drawer can come out then tuck back in. The headboard is actually part of the matchbox sleeve that folds up.

The room was sent flat so it is hinged on two sides but only temporarily adhered on the third side. The table is designed to fold flat too. The doll is made from felt and her features are sewn on using  thread as even one strand of embroidery floss was too thick! The curtain rod is part of a BBQ skewer and the curtains are more sample fabric with brad tie backs. The outer part of the window was cut with a square die but I didn’t have a die that perfectly cut the inner squares as the muntin bars would have been too thick so I used a die to cut the outer part of the square then trimmed the rest with an x-acto knife.

If you ever decide to join Swap-Bot, look me up. My username is thebragal.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Paper: Spring Moss, ivory CS-PTI, floral DP-Cosmo Cricket, wood DP-MME, chocolate CS-scrap, wall art-Little Darlings-Graphic 45
Accessories: all stash unless otherwise listed, brads-CTMH, square Nestabilities

Interactive Card Zipper Card for PTI Challenge

Nichole challenged us to make an interactive card in honour of their 6th anniversary. We were to be inspired by one of the team’s projects. Seeing Jessica’s fridge magnet with a photo of her son on it made me think of my son whose 12th birthday is today.  And I loved how Heather used die cut letters on one of her projects. While we don’t celebrate birthdays, this rather important milestone was on my mind. I guess the inspiration is a rather loose interpretation but still…

So I made this card for him. Inside it has the following words. Energetic Fun Silly Caring Friendly Amazing. I won’t give it to him for a while so it doesn’t seem like a b-day card. It isn’t easy to line up the stamping underneath the tear strip unless you plan ahead so I’ve got a tutorial below showing you how I do it. It isn’t too hard but I have a couple of tips.

The grey keyboard keys are actually off a flexible keyboard. The kind you can roll up. My 5 yo tore it apart so I saved the keys for embellishments! At least something good came of it. The numbers at the bottom are from Boy Basics-Out of this World. I taped off most of the numbers so I count just ink some numbers individually and stamped the additional numbers to create an 11 and a 12.

So here’s how to line up whatever you hide beneath the tear strip.

1. Die cut your tear strip die (aka zipper die) and choose a scrap to use underneath the tear strip. Using a pencil, draw two parallel lines just less than 1\2” apart. Using slightly less than the width of the tear strip will ensure your stamping doesn’t touch the edges of the zipper opening on the finished card since they won’t be smooth and straight. Place the paper with the lines on it under the die cut, line it up with the tear strip and trace the notched end. Slide the paper so your notched pencil line disappears slightly under the die cut. Trace the other side of the die. Again, by making your pencil marks slightly smaller than the die cut opening, you ensure you leave space where the zipper strip attaches in case the recipient doesn’t tear it off completely.

2. Stamp your choice of images or sentiments within the pencil lines. Then erase your pencil lines so you can barely see them. I didn’t trim the notched end now because it makes it hard to line up later.

3. Add Scor-Tape or other strong adhesive to the back of the die cut close to the tear strip. As close as you can place it. Remove the backing except for the small portions shown.

4. Line up the stamped scrap using the faint pencil lines. Make sure no stamping shows from either end and you need to leave enough room to trim your notch.

5. Trim off the straight side flush with the die cut and trim out the notched end while looking at the back. Because you left the backing on close to the notched end, it is easy to get your scissors in. When you are satisfied with the trimming, remove the last bits of backing. You could cut the notched end in advance but it would be hard to line up the scrap. If you wish to cut it ahead of time, I recommend you use a larger scrap and when you draw the lines, mark another where the bottom of the die cut would be so you can use that to line it up. (Next time I’ll be more careful and cut it smoother.)

6. Add more Scor-Tape. You want to be sure that tugging the strip doesn’t pull the die cut off the card! For the top portion, I just used my usual adhesive. Burnish the adhesive well. Apply to your card or project!

I hope this helps you line up your die cuts!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: tag and words (inside) CTMH, countdown numbers, ink splotches-PTI
Ink: Walnut Stain, Vintage photo Distress, Teal Zeal-Memento, pumpkin pie-SU!
Paper: kraft, natural white, chocolate CS-PTI, DP-MME
Accessories: foam dots-Jody Morrow, stencil letter dies-Sizzix, interactive die-PTI,

Masculine Gamer Card

If you are anything like me, you struggle with cards for teen boys and men. This card was made ages ago for my son’s teacher. When I asked my son what he likes, I always like to customize my cards, I didn’t get much input. Finally, I got that he likes video games. I guess he’s pretty young!

This card would also be perfect for a teen boy, with a different sentiment of course! I used the small circular image several times with out reinking so it would fill the square better. I could have stamped it again similar to how I stamped the Wii controller image. But I wanted to try something different for that square.

The base is a brown/grey stamped with a grunge pattern in the same colour. I was using some sketch that I obviously missed entering, dang it, so that’s why I used the vellum panel. I needed a panel there but didn’t want to cover over the neat micro squares pattern on the DP. I love the pop of colour the button gives enhancing the lime DP under the micro squares layer and the focal panels. I don’t remember for sure but I think I cut the smaller squares from the areas of the paper that are covered up anyway. Way to save paper! I think the black strip across the vellum was a thin washi tape; love that stuff!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Gamer-Papertrey Ink, teacher sent-MFT
Ink: sahara sand-SU!, black archival-Ranger
Paper: sahara sand-SU!, DP-Basic Grey, vellum-stash
Accessories: buttons-Basic Grey, washi tape-Recollections,
foam tape-Jody Morrow, Spellbinders squares dies

Let It Snow Scrapbook Page

I can’t believe I haven’t posted this before. It is one of my favourite scrapbook pages of all time!

I’m afraid I’ve forgotten what supplies I used so this post will be short! The red doesn’t look very red but it is a either real red or riding hood red by SU! IRL. I guess I had trouble editing this photo. Sure wish my then almost 10 year old would smile nicely. He’s even more ‘tween-y’ now! {{SIGH}}

The journaling card records my kids answers to ‘why do you like the snow?’. Click on the photo for an enlargement.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps and Die: PTI ticket
Paper: night of navy CS, red CS-SU!, DP??
WRMK corner rounder, Masterstroke seam binding ribbon, MFT snowflake die?, SU! word window punch, Tim Holtz mini paperclip, Let it Snow stamp-?CTMH, white, white pearl EP-stash, Lumiere paint (diluted)