Bounce! {add crochet to a card!}

Happy Monday folks! I don’t want to jinx things by saying this out loud (wait, I ‘m typing, this doesn’t count then, ha ha) but this morning went so smoothly.  I taught one of my girls to crochet this weekend , she was inspired by the totally rad poncho I was working up, she was instantly “hooked” (‘scuse the bad pun!)  The kids were all up early and after breakfast the girls sat knitting and crocheting quietly in the living room. What a relaxing way for them to start the day, much better than me nagging them to get up for school! Why am I talking about crochet you ask? Because I crocheted a border for this card:

This was for a birthday we went to yesterday. To make the crochet border you simply punch holes in a strip of cardstock and pull the yarn though as if the holes are your foundation row. It is the same technique I showed you in the Crochet Heart Video.

I love to use yarn on cards because then you can use the yarn to tie on a tag to the present or even use in place of ribbon on a gift. Yarn comes in so many textures and colors (remember the comedian Gallager and his bit about “colors only found in yarn” LOL!) and it is pretty cheap. A great use of yarn leftovers!

Another fun tip is to decorate the envelope if you have the time. All I did here was press 3 small inkpads along the edges of the envie (wow, it would totally rock to use this technique as a border on a scrapbook page!) and stamp 2 of the stamps I used on the card and tag over it. I colored the presents because the pink ink was a bit dark and I wanted them to stand out.

So, how is your Monday going? If you are feeling stressed might I recommend some yarn therapy? Thanks so much for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Mess up a technique? Make up your own!

Yep, that is what I did here. I got a wonderful skeleton stamp from Lost Coast Designs. I mounted all of the pieces on cling foam and placed them randomly on a clear block and inked it with clear embossing ink then set it aside. I was setting the stage for what was to be some highly successful soot stamping (mind you I have NEVER tried it in my life but the tutorials looked easy enough-famous last words.)  So, I lit a candle and held my glossy cardstock face down over it….hmmm, not much happening…well, maybe if I get the paper a little closer to the flame…!!!, oh no paper is on fire, dunk the paper in my painting rinse water and try again. OK second try, easy does it, OK I am seeing some ghostly smoke on the paper, nice! Oh @%*#! the *!@$%&# paper is aflame again! Well, 3rd time is a charm right? Nope, it really wasn’t. Let’s not go there.  So, I stamped the image on the remaining panel of glossy cardstock, grabbed a cotton ball and rubbed some black chalk over the panel, it’s not soot stamping but it’s not a fire hazard either.

In case you were wondering what was supposed to happen with the soot stamping I’ll tell you. The candle would cover the paper in a fine layer of black soot. You would then ink up a stamp with clear ink and stamp on the paper to lift up the soot and have a white image. The object is not to catch the paper on fire. It turns out that NOT catching a piece of paper on fire is harder than it seems.

Of course the card is a nod to my favorite TV show BBC’s Sherlock, can’t wait for the next season…well I guess I will have to won’t I In the meantime I realized that I can stream BBC radio4 on my computer and I love the radio shows they have! They even have a Doctor Who radio show and just about the funniest thing I have ever heard, a show called Cabin Pressure and you can listen to the most recent episode on demand. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch (the dude who plays Sherlock) as a pilot and sometime Anthony Head guest stars (He was Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well as the Taster’s Choice guy from the 90′s-great voice!) And the actor who plays Douglas has a voice like honey, the woman who plays Caroline is also top notch, the casting is perfect! The writing is by John Finnemore who also plays a hilarious part in the show (Caroline’s inept but lovable son Arthur)   it is really worth a listen! And while I was listing to the live streaming I heard that John Finnemore has a sketch comedy show too! Ahhh, all for my listing while crafting enjoyment! Why don’t we have anything like this in America? Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Orange & Pink: A fun color combo!

We were challenged to use the colors orange and pink at Oriental Stamp Art this week. Since I had to make a card for a little girls birthday party my daughters were invited to (at a swimming pool no less) I thought this Asian inspired mermaid stamp from Sweet Pea would be perfect! Hey, I used my new baker’s twine from Papermart on this set too!

I grabbed a bunch of orange and pink markers and quickly colored the image and grabbed some animal print stencils and home made spray ink to do the backgrounds on the tag, card and muslin bag. I also stamped the birthday girl’s name on the bag. As you can imagine there are lots of girly goodies in the bag!

I like to make a pretty tag for my gifts, I often get told by parents that the kids save the tag and use it as a bookmark or decoration. Awww. Totally worth the extra few minutes to make it special!

Well, I better go or I am going to be LATE for the party! Til next time happy crafting!

I’m a little bit rusty..in a good way!

Hi there crafters! I was in need of a birthday card for a guy and came up with this:

 

I die cut some gears from cardstock and wanted them to look like metal so I inked them with pigment ink and used copper embossing powder and heat it…but wait? Where is my shiny finish?!? My old embossing powder had tarnished from either age, humidity or both and my gears looked rusty…but wait, I like it!

 

I even bent the gear in the center to crack the embossing and it flaked off like real rust, score! I never thought I’d be so excited about rust LOL! In case rust is not your thing you can get a metal look too, check out these tags. The one on the left I inked with tumbled glass distress ink and swiped with a gold inkpad (I also tried it with gold powder eyeshadow and it worked great too!) then I inked up an embossing folder with brown ink (the side that will face the right side of the tag) and ran it through my big shot. Since the tag was damp with ink I quickly dipped it in clear embossing powder and heated it for a glassy shine. Since I used some gold ink it look rather metallic but to enhance the effect you can use more metallic inks, it is all up to you.

 

To grungify the tag on the right I did all the steps as the other tag then brushed some acrylic paint over the raised area and sprinkled my tarnished copper EP on top. I heated it and the paint cracked and the EP got all rusty, overall a great old distressed look I think!

I guess I won’t be throwing away my old embossing powders after all Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Clean & Simple Dragonfly Card

Edit 5/4/12: Hey, Annette over at About Art Accents/Art Neko gave me permission to offer my blog readers 10% off regular AND sale price items in her shop (and her prices are reasonable to begin with!) just use the coupon code: Lindsay10% in the PayPal customer comments box. Now, go on, check out their stamps, you won’t be sorry! Thanks Annette for letting me pass on the savings to may awesome blog readers!

I was puttering in my studio last weekend playing with some stencils and spray mist making a mess when I took my wet stencil and pressed it on a scrap of cardstock. I liked it so much I used it as a base of this card. All the stamps are by Art Neko/About Art Accents:

 

I like how the ATC frame has spots for rhinestones but unfortunately I did not have any oval ones so I made do with round ones.

TIP: Rhinestone are expensive, whenever you buy them get the clear ones and color them with a permanent marker like I did with an emerald-green one. that way you will not end up with a bag full of colors you will never use!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Bring on the cuteness!

As I am writing this blog post I am listing to the sweetest cheep-peeping noises coming from our six new baby chicks! More on that later. Baseball season has started and I have two ball players in the house this year! We had a birthday party to go to over the weekend for a ball fan so I made this card using my Baseball Party SVG & Printable kit:

Here is a look at the Baseball Party kit, the printables are full-color so just print, cut and glue! Or use the die cut files to cut from colored cardstock and assemble. They make great embellishments for cards and scrapbook pages too!

…back to the chickens…

I have never has chickens before and I can’t believe how snuggly and cuddly they are. My kids adore them, they will perch on my girls’ arms for the longest time.  Check out how cute they are:

They are Rhode Island Reds in case you were wondering. They are so funny, all of a sudden they will all stop what they are doing and take a nap.

Do you know that a lot of famous people raised chickens? Martha Stewart and Al Gore come to mind.

A bird in the hand…awwwww….

Well, there is your dose of cuteness for a Monday morning! Til next time happy crafting!

Off the Grid {love card}

Still enjoying my computer free week! Here is the card I made for my husband on Fathers Day!

 

I flocked the bee with black and yellow, the glue is still wet in this pic but you get the idea:)

 

All the stamps are moldie-oldies: Anna Griffin (flower), Anitas (bee), Stamp Fransisco (text) the classics never go out of style!

Thanks for dropping by and til next time happy crafting!

40% off last day and DT wrap up!

Wow, where did the week go!?! Where did the month go in fact! I had pland to make May Baskets with my new Basket Bonanza kit this week (who knows, maybe I will today), repaint my kitchen and clean my studio but none of those things happened. There is still time to save 40% on everything at Lindsay’s stamp Stuff, the sale is on until midnight tonight!

Now let’s see what the DT has been up to {apparently more than me LOL!} this week!

First up is Margie with this super fun bowling layout-she is my scrapbook idol, you need to check out her “counterfeit kits” she will have you using up your stash in no time making the cutest pages ever! She used the Bowling Fun Papers and bowling fun SVGs/clip art kit here:

Here is Cindi’s sweet and happy birthday card, i love the mix of Up, Up & Away clip art and papers and the cupcake from the sweet stuff set (that was one of my first digistamps for sale, appropriate since April is my 2 year anniversary of opening the shop!)

Micki is my marker idol, man that girl’s got skills! and get a load of the sumptuous ribbon on her card, oh my! She used the Birds and Branches stamp set on her card today:

Here is one classy card from Karin, it is a birthday card but wouldn’t it be pretty for Mother’s day too? She used Bold Black and White papers and All Around Phrases digistamps:

Jennifer is such a cheerful happy person and she comes up with the best sentiments on her cards, she used the Sew Much Fun stamp set on this one:

Rhonda has another card that would be perfect for mothers day. She also used the Posh ‘n Trendy and the Bold Black and White papers . Tres chic!

Last but not lease is Diane with 5 (yes! I said 5!) cards using the Bold Black and White papers kit. She simple recolored the prints and made 5 clean and simple card, that would make a nice gift set don’tcha think?

 If you see something you like be sure to grab it today at Lindasy’s stamp Stuff while it is 40% off (or you can wait til my 3rd anniversary sale next year LOL!) There is even a brand new party kit I just added last night in the shop! Here is a look at some of the kits the DT gals used today:

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Mother’s Day Photo Display

Happy Friday folks! I seem to be mostly over the illness that knocked me down yesterday and here is a Photo display I made with the Gothic Arch SVG templates from Lindsay’s stamp Stuff:

It was so easy. Using Sure Cuts a Lot software and my Cricut machine I welded some of the arches that came in the kit to make the base and die cut the borders, frame and legs out of contrasting paper, added a photo and some of my homemade buttons and viola! A mother day card and gift all in one!

Here is a look at the Gothic Arch Template kit:

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

A hot cup on a cold day…

I have been nursing the coffee all day today (which probably means I’ll be up all night) but I had a lot of projects and articles brewing in my brain so what’s a girl to do?

 

PAper: GSD Studios, CArdstock: Neenah, GP, Markers: Copic, Stamp: Kristen Powers, Other: Ribbon (dollar tree), buttons, stick pin and hand crocheted flower

This is a card I made for the December issue of Ready-Set-Create! magazine. I love anything with a coffee cup on it…that and cupcakes…coffee and cupcakes, now wouldn’t that just be perfect!?!

 

This card qualifies for the following challenges: 2sisters (girly), alotarubberstamps, (ribbon/bow), craftyourdaysaway, creativecraftworld (anything goes) and craftycatzweeklychallenge (food/drink)

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!