TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

MONEY SAVER!

So we all like saving a little money.  I have noticed that Tim Holtz uses those silicone craft sheets when he's inking edges on cards, tag, embellishments etc.  Well I went to the local craft store and was surprised that those super thin brownish colored sheets come 1 to a pack and are about $17 a piece..well no way is this girls spending that. Even with the 40% coupon your still paying over $10.  So off to the local Dollar store.  Here in the cooking supplies aisle I find those super thin cutting mats.  They usually come 2 in a pack and they are kind of an opaque white color.  Perrrrfect!!!!  AND it's only a DOLLAR!!  So I grabbed a few and headed home.  They work great.  I inked my blending tool and started inking the edges of a tag. Beautiful.  Plus they washed up real well with just water.  Bet you could just wipe with a wet wipe too.  So there you go....if you really don't want to invest in the silicone pad right now, these dollar store cutting mats work great.  I'm going to try using them for putting together embellishments with various glues too and see how they hold up.  
                                 HAPPY CRAFTING!


I slipped a piece of paper under the open 1 on the right
to show you how translucent they are.

Monday, December 30, 2013

REPURPOSE

Well do I have a tip for you!  While reading one of my British card magazines one of the ladies stated that she uses those toe separators for pedicures and use them with ink or ink pads to shade edges on her cards!  When cut they provide a little handle for you to hold on to and the end piece is rounded just right to use on circle or curved edges.  They are inexpensive and can be washed up too.  I got some in a gift package and they do work pretty well.   Bonus for me was that mine were free! Yea!  Give it a try and thanks to Lesley Pyle from Leyland UK

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Thursday, December 19, 2013

YIKES IT'S THE HOLIDAYS!

Wow....Christmas!  I have been busy making the cards and the tags and then I mailed all the cards and forgot to take the pictures!  What a Faux Pas!  I had some pretty cool folds on these cards.  I have not used all my tags yet so here are some of those.
Oh wait I just found 2 lonely Christmas cards that have not been sent yet.



Aren't they cute?  Both are Northwoods stamps and both are on one of my fancy fold cards.  I cannot remember where I got the ideas but they are not my original folds.  If I ever figure out who designed these folds I will surely give them the credit.  All I remember is that they were both very very easy.  If anyone is interested in how I did them just let me know and I'll try to do a tutorial for them.

Now...here are the tags.  I made a ton and it is so easy to use only scraps for these.  I save everything.



Saturday, October 5, 2013

WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

Wow I can't believe it's October.  I have been so busy traveling to and from my cottage that I totally missed getting this up and running.  I will work on that this week and see about getting this out to the public for viewing.  Hoping to add great tips and ideas.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

So Sad Archivers is Closing

So we just got the word that our local Archivers is closing.  That makes me so sad because now the closest one is an hour away.  For a store that is closing I'll have to admit the discounts are not all that fantastic.  The entire store is 25% off which is nice because that never happens but they close their store doors on Sunday the 14th and that's only 5 days away.  You'd think they'd  have super sales.  I'm not saying I didn't particapate in the deals,  I did.  Spent well over $240 in a  trips to the store.  I also took my last class there on this past Sunday the 7th.  It was the Tombow color technique class which I must say was very fun.  The three cards I made turned out great.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

So I said I'd post a picture of the "Explosion Box" that I worked on.  It turned out really beautiful and I gave it to my best friend just because she's the "Best".

Here's the top....I love the flower which I made using spellbinders and a butterfly that I strung pearls on a wire and topped it with the butterfly.  The "I Believe in Me" is from som Tinkerbell stickers that were left over from my granddaughters birthday party.!

The inside is filled with little pockets and sayings on each flap.  I love the colors, so girly!  If you search YouTube for exploding boxes there are a ton of tutorials explaining the construction and just go wild with your imagination and decorate, decorate, decorate!!

It's hard to tell but the middle has a flower and more wired pearl butterflies.
  Hope you enjoyed seeing this and have fun making your own.  I like to think of them as a card that's a box. Or a box that's a card!  I love this idea and have already started making a few more to give away to family and friends.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Happy Friday!

So it is still chilly here and the weekend will not be any warmer so I decided to work on Exploding Boxes.  I saw them on You tube and they were just so adorable.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013




Some recent cards I made for Halloween and some Thankyou cards for my husband to use.  He retired and needed some masculine cards to give out at work.  Being an Arborist by trade I came up with these birch bark embellishments using some bark from our firewood.  Pretty clever I might say!




I have been wanting to start a blog for some time to give out ideas for cards and other papercrafts but never had the confidance to try and figure this stuff out.  Hopefully this will be idiot proof and I will be able to succeed.  Wish me luck!