TGF Lily Cameo

Since I bought all those Copic Markers a while back I've been having a grand ole time experimenting with digital images. Here is a digi image Lily from The Greeting Farm. I used her to make a Thank You card for one of my close friends.

She has red hair and a weakness for Tiffany Blue right now. I was sorta at a loss for which colors to choose. Thank goodness I started a Color Inspiration Board on my Pinterest. Here is my inspiration photo.

Here is a close up of Lily. Skin: E00, E000, YR00, R11 Hair: E18, E37, E07, YR24 Lips: R24, R29 Bow: RV02, RV04 Eyeshadow and Skull: C3, C5, C00

You Make Me Purr

Just had my four year anniversary with my DH. Of course I had to make him a card :)

I know more feathers right?! Well I'm on some kind of feather kick right now. lol. Plus I did buy a few packages while they were on sale at JoAnn's so I do have an excuse.

I used a digital stamp from TGF: Cheeky Kitty. She didn't come with fishnets tsk tsk, so I added them in with a ruler. I mean seriously, you can't expect to wear kitty ears without fishnets!

Graffiti Thank You Card

Remember the 80's when Hip Hop was just hitting the mainstream? You remember... Run DMC, Beat Street, Break Dancing, tape cassettes? Well thank goodness for us (or maybe not so great... neon.. gawd) 80's culture is back in vogue. So what better way to thank my Gen X, Y, Z friends but with a Graffiti inspired Thank You card.

Front of Card

Materials
Sizzix Texture Fades: Bricked embossing folder
Stencil 1: Spray paint can, headphones
Cricut Imagine: JT Art Cartridge
Jute fiber
Font: A Dripping Marker from FontSpace (donation-ware & free fonts)
Cardboard: from old packaging
Small brown envelope
Silver paint
Gel pens: white, black

I printed out "Thank You" on white card stock and textured with Bricked embossing folder. I cut out some of the white spaces around the bricks for interest. Adhere your embossed piece to a piece of recycled packaging. If you carefully rip one side of the paper off the cardboard packaging you will reveal the corrugated innards. Leave a little bit of the paper you ripped to added a more distressed look. I grunged up the cardboard with Black Soot distress ink. I used Walnut Stain distress ink on the bricks to make them stand out. Then I wrapped the whole thing with Jute fiber.

Here is the inside of the card.

Ribbon Swatches

How irritating is it to muddle through a bunch of different spools of ribbon just to find the right one for your project. I've had this problem more than once. So what to do besides pull your hair out? Make Ribbon Swatches! I know this isn't a new concept, but I didn't really put two and two together until I saw a rendition of them at Costco for their ribbon display. Here is my take on them.

You'll need:
Deck of playing cards from the Dollar Store (or other sturdy card stock)
Binder Rings
Staples
Pinking Shears or Straight Scissors
Candle (optional for sealing edges)
Standard Size Hole Punch (I used a Crop-A-Dile)

Here is how I did it...

Ribbon Storage- Several Options

I've looked around and tried a few different things. Each example has it's positives and negatives. You'll just have to look at the space you have and what would work best for you.

RAIN GUTTERS

Materials
White plastic gutter (4in x 10ft) from Home Depot $6.98 They also come in brown, $1 more I believe.
White end caps $5.78 (comes in a pair) Also in brown with added cost.
White vinyl hidden hanger $1.72

After you buy your gutter the nice people at Home Depot will cut it for free. I asked them to cut my gutter into 2ft sections. I ended up with five sections.

I also decorated mine using  black vinyl cut out on my Cricut. The nice thing about this set up is the ribbon can stay on the spools. You just need to pull out the length that you want. Here is a top view.

Another example

Galvanized Gutter

Click below to see more ideas...

DIY Copic Organizer

I finally invested in some Copic Sketch Markers when Micheals had an awesome sale. Daily deal was buy one get one 50% off and I also had a 25% off total purchase. So after all was said and done the markers were 50% off...OMG I bought one of each. But now where to put them... Recycle cans, foam board, plastic containers? I wasn't really happy with any of those choices. And then it hit me, I still had 3 plastic gutters sections that were left over from my ribbon storage project. Thank goodness for my hoarding tendencies. Here is what I came up with.

White plastic gutter (4in x 10ft) from Home Depot $6.98 It also comes in brown, $1 more I believe.
White end caps $5.78 (comes in a pair) Also in brown with added cost.
 
Here is how I did it...

Distress Ink Swatches

Make your own Distress Ink swatches by inking up and labeling some plain tags. Put them on a Binder Ring for easy access.

Don't forget to label them. I always arrange colors whether it be ink, paper or pen in the order of the color wheel. I like to start with yellow and end in black.

DIY Magnetic Tweezers

Does it ever drive you crazy having to spill out your mini brads to get to just the right one? And then trying to pick it up with your fingers or your tweezers? Maybe it's just me, but what a hassle! Solution? Magnetize your tweezers! Yep think back to elementary school when you made that compass with a needle, cork, and water. So simple, but it's a time and sanity saver.

Here's what you need. I used one of those really strong magnets, but I'm sure any magnet will do.

Cheeky Beauty Card

Here's a card I made for a friend Pydrah's Bday. I didn't take a picture of the inside, but I embossed vellum with a happy birthday folder on my Cuttle Bug and used it as a pocked for a gift card.

Clip It Up Knockoff

It's been a long time. Things have finally started to settle down at work and I can post again... Yay!

Stickers... I am overloaded with stickers. I tend to make everything from scratch, but who can resist when stickers are 40% off at JoAnns/Micheals or 65% at Tuesday Morning?! Not I. Just like all crafters Sale events are my weakness. So what to do with all those dang stickers? I first tried putting them in a three ring binder with sheet protectors and plastic envelopes. This worked well for a while until I evolved into Scrapbooking. Doh! I swear they multiply when I'm sleeping.

Here's a awesome solution that I found on YouTube

From this video I created my own Clip It Up knock off with a couple different tweaks.

Blending Tool Holder

If you are anything like me you like to have tools you use often well within your reach. I decided to buy the Micheals Desktop Carousel ($29.99 on sale) for more organization. The problem was where to put my Inkssentials Blending Tools? Solution: Pedicure Toe Separators!

What?! Pedicure Toe Separators?! Why yes, they work awesome and they are super cheap. They were a $1.29 for a set and I had a coupon for buy one get one free at Sally's Beauty Supply.

I started off with Micheals Desktop Carousel and 5 Toe Separators. *Note there are several different types of Pedicure Toe Separators. Some are rounded or don't have a straight end. You can use these types, but I preferred the look and stability of the squared off ones.

Thank You Easel Card

My Hubby asked me to make him a card for a co-worker since he was transferring to another job. I thought an easel card would be perfect.

I hope she likes pink. Lol. Here's how I made it...

I Heart U

My hubby and I were getting rid of some old computer keyboards and being the hording crafter I am, I popped off all the keys with a screw driver. I ended up with a lot of keys which I used to spell out " I <3 U"  For those of you who aren't versed in Gen X speak, <3 is the grafic representation of a heart on its side, thus I {heart} U.

I didn't really like the look of two separate keys to represent the "< " and "3" so I made my own using a larger key. I used a black sharpie to black out the existing symbols on the key. I then used a white gel pen to write my own symbols.
The die cuts are cut out using my Cricut. I made my own back ground paper out of vellum. I used MS Word Papyrus font size 8. I typed out my husbands name and my own for about 4 lines, then I just cut and paste to get a full page. I backed the vellum with the same shape in white card stock.

The flowers are fabric flowers from Micheals. I buy the flowers used for flower arranging when they are on sale or use a coupon. You can get a lot of flowers like that. These happen to have a velvet texture. Distress Ink Black Soot, brads, and little staples finish off the look.

Distressing w/ PediPaws

So as most males do, my husband succumbed to "As seen on TV" advertising when we were at Petco. "Oh that PediPaws thing would be so much easier than cutting Tatonka's nails (our very big boned English Bulldog). I was very skeptical, but whatever he can give it his best shot. LMAO is all I can say to the fiasco that was trying to grind the nails of a fully awake, very strong English Bulldog.  Needless to say the PediPaws went into our Bermuda Triangle drawer of misfit gadgets.

Forward to a few weeks later when I was working on a scrapbook and needed to distress oodles of cardstock. I was heading out to the garage to grab my Dremel when I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a battery operated grinder... Whoa! wait a minute... didn't we have something like that?! Oh my, yes we do... and its called a PediPaws!

You do have to unscrew the orange guard, but it works great. I use it on pictures, paper, and cardboard. It really saves my nails from using sanding blocks and emery boards. But just like other grinders watch your fingers and if you are doing multiple items use a mask. And I suggest you practice first to get a feel for the grinder. Here are some examples...

Xmas 2011

I'm posting it a bit late or am I just incredibly early for 2012?! Here is our Xmas card from 2011.

 

I ended up making about 35- 40 cards. Twenty five of them I embroidered with my friends names on the ribbon. Here are the items I used and yes I do like to lay out my desk in this manner. I also like to make components ahead of time so cards are easier to assemble.

Here's how I did it...

Desk Organizer

I went grocery shopping the other day at Safeway and as my hubby and I were walking around the produce aisle I spotted several empty plastic produce bag rolls. I can only speculate as to why there were so many. Maybe because it was late at night, the staff were to busy to replenish the rolls, or thieving plastic hungry gnomes got to them before anyone noticed. In either case, I gathered them up since I'm positive they don't reuse them. (just to be safe the checker girl said they would just toss them so I was free to take them home). Here is what I made with them...

A Desk Organizer!! Why yes, I try to minimize clutter as much as I can because for me at least I feel more productive. lol. Besides before this little holder I was laying everything out and holding my glue upside down in a roll of foam tape. Not a very efficient use of space.I like this so much better and the best thing was I had all the stuff to make it for free! Here's how I did it...

DIY Sponge Daubers

I saw this tutorial on luvleescrappin and thought it was a great idea. However, I used a different foam applicator because that's what I had in my stash. I also used plastic bands from the dollar store to attach the foams. **UPDATE** There has been some discussion on how to prevent the foam from ripping when you distress. I found that covering the foam with a small piece of swimsuit material keeps the foam from fraying and does not effect the look of the distressing.

Nestabilities Storage

On Splitcoaststampers there are several threads on how to store Nestabilites Dies. Some people use photo boxes, CD cases, binders, page protectors, cork boards, etc. the list goes on and on.  However the common thread is magnetic strips or sheets that hold the Nestabilites Dies in place. Here is what has been working for me.

I use a 3" D-ring binder that I got at Costco (2 in a pack for $5.99). Page protectors from Office Max (I had this in my stash from years ago, but I found a package of 25 for $7.18 at Walmart). The cardboard is from the backing of tablets of paper and paper packs from my work. Since they would eventually recycle or throw them away I got those for free.

Ruffled Ribbon

I often visit the remnants bin when I go to JoAnn's. You can get some really good deals and fabric choices. After the holidays they had a nice selection of organza fabric. Here are a couple.