Altered Stationary Box

I bought this stationary box many years ago and knew one day I would alter it! Well that day came last week and I love the way it turned out:

Altered Stationary box by Lindsay Weirich 2008

Paper: My Minds Eye, Wild Asparagus Collection

Stamps: Rubber stampede, Hero Arts, Hampton Art, Crafty Secrets, MSE!

To make the realistic looking montage on the top I masked my images. It’s easy, here’s what to do. First stamp the scissor, label (both Crafty Secrets) and the Pen (Hampton Art) on a smooth cream card. Then stamp the same images on a thin scrap of paper, a post-it note works great for this, and cut them out. Then lay them over the images you stamped to keep ink from getting on them and stamp the postage (Hero Arts) again stamp the postage on a scrap, cut and place on top. Everything you have stamped is cover with a mask! Now ink up your script stamp (MSE!) and stamp over your montage randomly. The stamping part is done. You can mask any type of scene you want just remember to start by stamping the object closest to you (or on top) and work backwards.

I then colored the scene with Prismacolors and chalked the background lightly. Adding shading will make your objects “pop”, just make sure the shadows are on the same sideds, pretend that there is a lamp on shinging light on your display, the side of the stamped object that is facing the light will have no shadow and the side away from the light will. Good Luck and happy stamping (and crafting too!)

Lindsay

Some easy Christmas cards and some cute Christmas freebies I found!

Happy Sunday! I will soon be addressing my Christmas cards (right after this post actually) but first I thought I would share some quick and easy cards (10 minute or less!) I made this year.

Download the word search here

Easy Cards by Lindsay Weirch

Chipboard, Taggetr Tails: Around the Block, Paper: DCWV

The word searches are from an earlier post and the chipboard is by Around the Block (they came in the “Mystery Tote” and there were like a hundred of them!) I attached them with Tagger Tails so the chipboard ornaments would jiggle and have fun movement ans so they can be removed from the card to be used as ornaments or scrapbook accents by the recipient. All the paper is by Die Cuts with a view and the stamps are by Inkadinkado and Plaid.

Now the didi-scrappin designers areoun the globe have been outdoing eachother this holiday, man, I’m worried about filling up my hard drive LOL! here are a few if my faves this week:

Here is a cute kit at digital freebies:

Digital Freebies Friday Freebie

And this cute Tag Album:

Luggage Tag Album by Beth Long

And this “Merry” kit by Krista:

Merry kit from Designs by Krista

And last but not least this blog, Digital Imagery Plus, has been giving away great set of vintage images each day for over a month! Be sure to grab all of their past freebies, here is today’s:

Digital Imagery Plus daily freebies

Remember to leave a comment if you download, it’s the least you can do and it makes their day! Until next time Happy Crafting!

Crafting with kids!

Ahhhh, the first Saturday in December, we will put up our Christmas tree today. Long ago I gave up the dream of a Martha Stewart tree and this year with 3 kids and a puppy I’m just hoping the tree stays standing! I don’t care if my ornaments don’t match anymore, I love the Popsicle stick, yarn, tin can lid pipe cleaner masterpieces that my kids make each year. Come to think of it I don’t remember a tree looking so beautiful than when I was little staring up at huge sparkling lit up tree covered with my creations. I’ll have my “Martha” three when the kids are grown (and I’m not looking forward to it!) Here is a fun craft to do with your kids this weekend.  In addition to adding bling to your tree it will help with hand-eye coordination and it will keep the 3-6 year old set busy for a while! You will need a bag or clear plastic beads (500 pc, bag $2 at wal mart, makes 5 flakes) I used the triangle stacking ones but the round faceted ones would be pretty too and it wouldn’t take as many. You will also need a package of white or metallic pipe-cleaners and wire cutters or old scissors.

Directions: Cut pipe cleaners in half. Gather 3 peices and twist them together and form them into a snowflake shape. Slide on beads and fold over the end of the pipe-cleaners to secure. Hand with fishing line.

A fun craft to do with kids!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

A gift in itself

I love boxes! It’s a sickness, I can not part with a box unless I know it will be loved. My favorite are cigar boxes with their seals and labels, they are perfect to alter because they have so much character to begin with. Here is one I made to wrap a holiday gift in…if I can part with it that is:-)

An altered cigar box by Lindsay Weirich

Supplies: Felt: Quuen & co, Chipboard: Colorbox, Paper MME, Buttons: Wal-Mart, Stick Pin: Jo-Anns, Other: Tiles, silk flower, homemade shimmer spray (from earlier post)

Try altering a box to wrap a gift in this year, it’s a great way to recycle and I can guarantee the box will get reused…especially if you send it to a fellow frugal crafter! Come back tomorrow for a craft to do with the kids! Until than happy crafting!

Stamping with photo realistic stamps

Don’t you just love beautifully detailed rubber stamps? That is until you stamp with them and your image is smudgy, too light and completely missing in parts. Well don’t blame the stamp, I’ll show you how to get a great impression with any detailed stamp and it is shockingly easy!

Stamp: Sunday International, Paper: DCWV, Card by Lindsay Weirich 2008

Isn’t this a wonderful stamp, the lady’s expression is so hysterical. To get supreme detail I stamped her on Stampin up Glossy Cardstock.

Ahhh, nice and crisp!

This is a printmaker’s trick and it will work whether your stamp is an unmounted die (just the rubber, no cushion), on a clear block or a wood mounted stamp. First lay your stamp on the table with the rubber facing up. Next use a brayer to roll over you ink pad and ink up your stamp. If you don’t have a brayer just tap your inkpad on the rubber like always, you may get a few uneven lines but it will still be better than the normal way! And Finally lay your cardstock on top of the stamp being carefull not to move it and rub over the paper with your fingers giving smooth, even pressure. Lift off the paper and marvel at your perfectly stamped image! This works so well that i rarely buy ez-mount foam anymore since this method always yields perfect results. Try it, you’ll be amazed. Until next time Happy Crafting!

My article is up on Scrapbooking.com!

Howdy there crafters! I have a article and Christmas Scrapbook page in the December issue of Scrapbooking.com Magazine and you can read it here. Be sure to check out the rest of the issue too, it is fabulous and best of all it’s free! Enjoy your Tuesday and Happy Crafting!

Make some “Magic”, exciting news and a freebie!

Magic? What? Magic Mesh, remember the self adhesive rolls of colored mesh that was wildly popular a couple of years ago for scrapbooking and card-making? Sure you do and it is so easy to make. If you have rolls of colored magic mesh that don’t match your next layout you can recolor those too! Here is a project that I made with my homemade mesh, it appeared in the April/May 2008 issue of Ready, Set, Create! magazine:

Project using my home-made Magic Mesh

And here is a better look at the Mesh

first buy a roll of drywall mesh at your local hardware store. It’s about $5 and it will last a lifetime unless you are some kind of crazy magic mesh addict. Cut off 12 strips of the drywall mesh and lightly stick it to a piece of cardstock (just like magic mesh it is self adhesive.) Squeese out a small amount of acrylic paint and use a foam or flat paint brush to pick up some paint that dab off the excess before swiping it across the mesh. Take the mesh off the cardstock and stick it to a piece of wax paper to dry, then it can be rolled up and stored in a plastic bag until you are ready to use it. How cool is that? As a bonus you get a snazzy sheet of custom pattern paper to use on a project too.

And you get nifty patterned paper as part of the deal! Download link below.

To download a hi-res jpg of this paper to use on digital scrapbook pages or hybrid projects click here.

OK, we learned how to make Magic Mesh, got a freebie and now for my exciting news (drum-roll please:) I have been picked as a guest designer in 2009 at Creative Cuts and More! Wow I can’t wait to play with their wonderful die cuts, it will be nice to use some die cuts that someone else designed and they are all beautiful. Go check them out, they have an adorable 3-D sleigh that would be perfect to fill with candies for a holiday gift!

On that note I’m off to spend some time in my art room tonight and I hope you have fun trying this project or playing with the paper freebie and if you make something leave me a link, I’d love to see it!  Happy Crafting!