Spring Into Summer Card - Clear Scraps Blog Hop

Welcome to the Clear Scraps 'Ideas For Summer Crafting' Blog Hop!  If you're here from Wendy's blog then you're on the right track!

For this blog hop I decided to do a Summer themed card.  I've used the Half Scallop Send It Clear Card by Clear Scraps.

I've decorated it with designer paper by Authentique & have highlighted the border with a Blue Sharpie Oil Based Paint Pen.  All the flourishes & decorative elements seen in the pictures are rub ons which work wonders on acrylic!

Here are a few more close ups...





I love the subtle yet visually appealing effect you get by highlighting the edges of a 'Send It Clear Card'.

Your next stop is Pinky's blog.  Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to leave comments on each blog that you visit in order to qualify for a Clear Scraps prize!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Thinking of You Criss Cross Card Tutorial

 Good morning fellow scrappers!  Hmmmm, seems like almost a whole month has flown by & I've been a bit quiet.  Well, you can blame work for that.  I've been a bit swamped since I went back.  I've made it a point to keep my sanity by taking the time to scrap here n' there--I just haven't had the chance to post any of it!  So, to start myself off here's a DT card I've made for Authentique.  I've used their lovely papers from the 'Remembrance' collection. I've decided to go with a non-traditional card & opted for what is called a 'criss cross' card. 

'Remembrance' is one of Authentique's petite collections full of beautiful papers in shades of deep purple & olive greens with elegant patterns and sentiments of sympathy, thoughtfulness, and good memories.  These papers can be used for sympathy cards, to honor memories of loved ones who has since left us or to pay tribute to a dear family member or friend.

There are several tutorials and how to's on the internet on how you can make your own criss cross card.  I simply decided to add to this collection of tutorials with my own version.  What I like about the criss cross card is that it's essentially one large pocket that you can embellish as desired with a sentiment that easily slides in & out of the card.  It's not a complex card to make if you wish to go with a slightly different sort of card.



Here is what the inside sentiment of the card looks like.

Following are a couple of close ups.





Now onto the tutorial...

Step 1: You'll need 1 piece of solid colored card stock cut in 1/2. A 5 3/4" x 5 3/4" piece of contrasting paper & two 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" pieces of coordinating paper.

Step 2: Score the two 12" x 6" pieces of card stock in half. With a trimmer, scissors or craft knife you will then need to cut at a diagonal from one corner of the card stock to the bottom corner of the center fold. TIP: The photo came out a bit too bright to see this, but with a pencil & a ruler I lightly draw a line marking where I intend to cut. This serves as a guide so that I don't cut way off.

You will repeat this step on the other piece of 12" x 6" card stock. NOTE: when you cut the second piece of card stock make sure you do so on the opposite side so that when you join the two pieces of card stock the two middle sections will overlap to the form the base of your card.

Step 3: When you adhere the two 12"x6" pieces of card stock--this is what they should look like.

Step 4: Cut all of the remaining pieces of paper diagonally as shown. Once again I first drew a line lightly as my guide with a pencil & ruler prior to cutting. I don't know about most of you but I'm very lopsided! I can never just cut away without some kind of guide!

Step 5: Adhere the patterned paper to the contrasting piece of paper. You will have the other halves of the patterned paper left over. Keep these for future projects. NOTE: If you do not wish to have leftovers or if you want your card to have just one design--simply use one piece of 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" patterned paper cut in half diagonally.

Step 6: Take the two triangles and adhere them to the base of the card as shown. At this point you have your criss cross card pretty much done. All that's left is to glue it closed & decorate it!

Step 7: With two sided tape (or glue with a fine tip) place one strip on the base of the card at the very bottom to adhere the first flap. Then take a second strip of tape & place it on top of the first flap to adhere the second flap as shown here.

Step 8: For the inside of the card you'll need 1 piece of patterned or solid colored paper (whichever works best for your project) sized 5 3/4" wide by 5 1/2" high.  This next step is optional--to make the tabs with the brads seen on my card simply take a 1" circle punch & punch out 2 circles--fold them in half, pierce a small hole into one half of the circle, attach the brad & finally adhere to the card.

Step 9: Here's your finished card. Now just embellish away!

Hope this tutorial will inspire some of you to create a criss cross card for you next project.  Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the rest of the week

Send It Clear Christmas Card

Good morning fellow scrappers! Today I bring you an acrylic card by Clear Scraps.  I finally found the opportunity to play with one of their Send It Clear cards & I have to say that I really enjoyed the versatility these transparent cards provide.

As the base of my card, I used the Deco Send It Clear Card. To add visual interest to the cover of my card I added a variety of elements such as Stickles, tinsel ribbon, acrylic beads, flowers, a doily, paper etc.

The paper doily you see peeking out from behind the large green fabric flower is actually adhered to the inside of the card.  This is where you would write your sentiment.  However, since this is an acrylic card--it peeks through and gives the impression of being tucked behind the large flower.  That's the beauty of acrylic!

This lovely large green fabric flower I bought from an Etsy shop called Funtoolas.  This little shop carries several lovely fabric & silk flowers in addition to coordinated scrapbook kits & other smaller embellishments.

The poinsettia, beaded flower and small white fabric floral spray are from my stash.  The mulberry paper white flat flower is by Manor House Creations.

You can see in this screen shot that I highlighted the edges of the cover with dots of Stickles.  On the right side I used Xmas Red Stickles & on the left side I used Silver Stickles.

I tucked a brad underneath the green & white flowers.  The clear flower gem cabochon I bought from yet another Etsy shop called Oh What Fun.  I found this little shop to be fun indeed with tons of cabochons to pick & choose from!

TIP: I highlighted the border in the inside of my card with a bit of Diamond Dust.  This gives the border a bit of a snow/tinseled look.  I followed the same steps as seen in my Snowy Tinseled Frame Tutorial.  Except here--there was only one simple step.  Just adhere your double sided tape along the edges--peel off the liner & then apply your Diamond Dust & you're done!

Here's the card with only the left side open--can't get enough of those transparent effects!

Here's the card with the right side open only.

Finally, here's the card fully opened.

I hope this inspired some of you to play with acrylic cards--they really do make for very unique & innovative cards.

Have a great rest of the week!

Clear Scraps Projects

Good evening fellow scrappers!  Today I thought I'd share some of the projects I've made in the past where I've used Clear Scraps products.  I've loved the concept of acrylic for a long time now.  At first, acrylic may be a bit intimidating since it's see through--but after a bit of experimenting I found that it's this clear nature that makes acrylic such a great product for scrap booking or card making!

You can apply paint on it, dry emboss it (you can even heat emboss it with a bit of patience), apply alcohol inks to it, punch holes through it with your crop-a-dile, stamp on it etc...

My first project is actually a new, never before seen criss cross card.  I used a scallop acrylic circle by Clear Scraps on this card.  I inked it with alcohol inks and dry embossed it.  Finally, I wrapped a bit of string around it.

A close up of the chippie brick wall.  This chipboard is by Dusty Attic.  You can find a tutorial here on how I give the brick wall it's texture.

Here you can see a better look at the acrylic and the effects/texture the embossing & alcohol inks gave it.

A close up of my little flower cluster.  I tucked a bit of pink tulle from underneath my flowers

The image is a stamp by Kenny K called "Queens Cutie".  I colored her in with Prismacolor Pencils.  I wish I was better at coloring.  I honestly do my own thing when it comes to coloring images.  I was actually experimenting with a new coloring method with this image & I ended up with a light/pastel sorta coloring.  I liked it though!  As usual I dressed up my image a bit more by highlighting parts of her hair and outfit with Star Dust stickles.

On this next layout I used an XL heart shape by Clear Scraps in the background.  I once again used alcohol inks on the edges.  Since the heart is see through you can see some of my splatter stamping right through the heart. I also used my crop-a-dile and punched a few holes underneath my photo where I strung a bit of black tulle through.  Finally I randomly added a bit of stickles along the hearts edge & also added some eyelets.  You can find more close ups & details on this page here.

For this page I used yet another XL shape by Clear Scraps.  This one is a large scallop circle.  For this one I applied a bit of molding paste on the edges & sprinkled some Mahogany Distress embossing powder on it. I then very carefully heat embossed it.

As mentioned before, you actually can heat emboss acrylic...but you have to do it with patience.  If you just hit your acrylic directly and too close with the heat gun--the acrylic with warp & twist.  So you heat emboss it a little at a time and from a good enough distance where it doesn't really warp the acrylic but does manage to emboss.  It may take a little time & practice--but the results are really worth it!  You can find more details & close ups on this layout here.

Finally I have this really cute mini owl album.  The entire album is made from acrylic and is also by Clear Scraps.  This lil' guy measures approximately 3" inches in height!

As you can see from the various photos...I did a couple of things here.  I adhered paper directly onto the acrylic, I embossed some of the acrylic, I applied some alcohol ink, I punched holes and thread ribbon through it & I applied stickles along the edges.  I really love how this little keepsake album came out!  You can find more photos, details & how to's on this mini album here.

I hope these projects motivate some of you to experiment with acrylic!  It truly is a versatile product!  Enjoy the rest of the week...

Birthday Friends Card

Hello once again fellow scrappers!  Today's project is one I don't do very often--a card!  As you can see it's not your typical card--after I made it I realized that you probably wouldn't be able to fit this card into any nomal envelope!  So I guess it's made for putting in a padded envelope or for giving to someone in person.  Just added way too much dimension on this one!

I did a lot of matting and went with very simple to hardly any coloring at all with this one.

The stamp is called 'Friends Don't Mind' & is by Tom Allen.  His stamps used to be sold via Cornish Heritage Farms--but that is no longer the case.  At this point I wouldn't know where to find his 'kritter' stamps.  They were really cute!

Where I really added some bling was to the balloons.  I used a glue pen to color in my balloons and one by one glittered them with coordinating glitter.  I tried to get the best picture as possible--in person these balloons are very shimmery.

I kept the critters in the stamped image pretty much to the black ink they were stamped in.  All I did was add a bit of pink color to the flowers in the background and I also added a dot of Diamond stickles to the center of each flower to dress them up more.

With a Perfect Pearl pen by Viva Decor I added those pearly dots all around the border of my image.

This mini vine is actually a vine I bought from my local Michaels some time last year around Valentine's day.  I trimmed it a little & placed it behind my stamped image.  I then adhered a ribbon to it and added a handmade paper flower to the center of the ribbon.

I tucked a bit of light pink tulle underneath the two flowers to soften the card a bit.

My image is matted on card stock cut with Spellbinders circle & scallop circle dies.

A very simple card to give to a special friend or special someone in my life!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Winter Fairy Card

Good evening fellow scrappers. I thought I'd quickly upload this card I made in early December. I wanted to upload this while we were still in 'winter' mode.

I bought this very adorable stamp over at Whimsy Stamps titled 'Winter Fairy'. This stamp gave me the opportunity to take out my Prismacolor pencils & do something I've loved to do since I was a child--color!

I used Stickles to further decorate my image.

I stamped the image on a piece of transparency & layered it over my original stamped image. You can see in this photo the very cool dimension the transparency provides--especially for the wings.

I handmade the stick pin with beads from my stash & tucked a small white doily in the upper corner.

I used small dots of White Liquid Pearls to simulate snow flakes falling in the background.

I tucked a bit of gauze in the lower right had corner of my image to simulate a bit of snow.

The pine cones were made with Tim Holtz's Pine Cone die. I dabbed a bit of white acrylic paint on them along with some Rock Candy Stickles to give the effect of snow--a tip I got from Mr. Tim Holtz himself.

The metallic red poinsettia is by Prima.

All the papers I used to make this card are Christmas themed papers I've had in my stash since forever. It was great to finally get the chance to use some of them up.