Published again!

Not that I want to toot my own horn (OK I’m Tootin’ here!) I just really love this card and I have waited months to be able to share it with you, see it was in the May issue of Vamp Stamp News as part of their stamp masking challenge and they want to keep their stamp art as fresh as possible for their readers so I waited til now to show you (cuz the June issue is now available and I think it’s OK 😉

Stamps: Crafty Secrets, Inkadinkado, Paper: DCWV, Die Cuts: Cricut Accent Essentails cart

I had a ball making this card and can you blame me the stamp is darling, it is by Crafty Secrets. First you stamp the girl/swing on a die cut shape then again on a scrap and cut the scrap out, place the scrap over the girl, ink up a brayer with a blue Kaliadacolor ink pad and roll right on over, then stamp a larger script stamp in black on that. Remove the mask and color with pencils. It’s really quite easy!

If you have never had the pleasure of reading VSN check them out, there is a list of stores that carry it here and it is only $4 an issue! If you subscribe it is less and it is packed with hard core stamping info. You can still order the May issue from the website if you want to learn more about masking, in the June issue it is all about die cutters (and yes, I have a card in there too but you will have to get the magazine to see it 😉 It is a good investment if you are considering a die cutter purchase in the future. BTW I have no affiliation with VSN except being lucky enough to be published in there from time to time, it’s just a good magazine I think you should check out.

Have a great weekend, I hope the sun comes out after a week of rain, if not we will just have to stay inside and craft 😉 Till next time Happy Crafting!

K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Silly;)

Many years ago I worked as a radio disc jockey which was perfect because I have the gift of gab but my PD (boss) would always tell me to “Keep It Simple Stupid!” Although he irked me to no end with that he did have a good point, do we need to agonize for hours over what button or ribbon to put on a project or should we just do it…or should I say “glue it”

I challenged my design team to create a card (or whatever) in 15 minutes or less. Some are using the brand new card kits I released this week (you can snag a freebie from this post) and others are just using stuff from their stash. Here are my 15 minutes or less attempts, I had so much fun I couldn’t stop so I made 5! You can find the supplies used here.

each pocket with card took 15 minutes to make!

I used my Elegant card kit and a daffodil stamp on this quickie

Another card using the black and cream Elegant kit.

used an image from the Alice ATC sheet and the birthday kit for this invitation

another with the Birthday Card Kit and the Cherry on top digital stamp.

The cute little pocket envelopes are from the dollar tree, a pack of 25 is only a buck! see what else I found:

Wow, look what I picked up at the dollar tree yesterday!

And one more card made with the scraps of the Birthday kit because I just couldn’t stop:

I used the Birthday kit and the Sketchy Orchid stamp on this.

Lindsay’s time saving tips:

1. Set up a place where you can work and leave supplies out. I have the luxury (I use the term luxury loosely, I work in the basement;) but everything is out an available and I don’t have to clean up until I am done. A card table in the corner works wonders.

2. Work in steps. I keep a Ziploc bag full of images that need to be colored along with a set of markers so I have something to do when being a couch potato 😉 you can also print out kits and cut them out while watching tv or quill or crochet a pretty flower. Make every minute count.

3. Don’t fret. Go with your instincts, the first button you chose to embellish a card is probably the best bet, trust your self and glue it down!

Thanks for reading through this long post. Now check out the other nifty quick projects the design team has for you today!

Kim

Tracey

Tamara

Lisa

Margie

Katt

Row

Melissa

Janet

Michele R.

Olena

Michelle H.

Enjoy the DT’s work and don’t forget to leave them some love, until next time happy crafting 😉

Moldy Oldies and a Blog Award!

Admit it, you have a drawer (or 2…or 5!) filled with supplies that you loves so much that you couldn’t bear to use them, maybe you were saving them for that “special” page and a couple of years later your treasures are outdated! Don’t throw them away, mix them up with some new product and use them, after all you loved them when you bought them, they don’t spoil. Can you find the moldy oldies in this page? They are over 5 years old!

Die Cuts: Cricut, PP: DCWV, Making Memories, Creatrive Memories, Stickers: EK Success, Design by: Lindsay Weirich

I’m sure anyone who has been scrapping for a few years recognizes the typewriter stickers from EK success, I loved everything that Rebecca Sower designed and I horded these stickers like crazy. And how about the antiquated journaling block, it was a free gift for attending a Creative Memories party 5 years ago! Speaking of CM I know a lot of you have the circle and oval cutters, I made the clips on this page with them, simply place an oval cutter on a piece of pattern paper and cut 3/4 of the way around with the green blade then replace the green with the red blade and cut all of the way around. I found a bag of those I made may years ago hanging out with those stickers! Oh yes, the pattern paper scraps behind the photos are oldies too (about 4 years) the only new stuff was the background paper (DCWV new boy stack) and the cricut cartridge (opposites Attract) that I cut my free vinyl from a sign shop with. Don’t be afraid to use old product!!!

…And now for something completely different…

An award from Dawn, thanks 🙂

Dawn sent me this lovely award.  Thanks hun!

There are a few requirements to accepting the Honest Scrap Award and they are as follows.

A) I must thank the person who gave me the award and list their blog and link…

B) I must list 10 honest things about myself.
1) I am a huge Sci Fi fan, my favorites are Battle star Galectia, Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the X-files and I can’t wait to see the new Star Trek Movie!
2) I don’t like to travel (although I wish I did)
3) I create something everyday;)
4) I once considered clowning as a profession (and I have the unicycle and juggling paraphernalia to prove it)
5) I love being lazy and hanging out in the backyard with my kids.
6) I have never been camping
7) I almost always have shoes on
8) I’ve been a vegan (strict vegetarian) for 15 years
9) doing housework makes me angry
10) I swear when I drive and clean but I try not to if the kids are with me;)

C) I must put a copy of the The Honest Scrap logo on my blog.

D) I must select at least 7 other worthy bloggers and list their links.There are so many wonderful blogs out there… Here are at least 7…I’ll try to pick some newer blogs this time:

Linda

Diane

Cindi

Erin

Leanne

Cheri

Ceal

Check out their awesome blogs! Thanks for stopping by and until tomorrow happy crafting!

Call it “Artistic Licence”…

I was so happy to have time to do both sketch challenges over at 2 Sketches 4 You today. There are two pretty sketches this week and I used Kazan’s sketch #27 for this one…

Stamps: About Art Accents, Paper: K&co, Ink: SU! other: twig, yarn, silk flowers, brad, shimmer spray

…or, at least it started out that way 😉 As soon as I saw the sketch I knew I wanted to use one of my new ATC fairy stamps from About Art Accents.  I stamped it with SU! basic black and colored it with Tombow watercolor markers then painted over the image with Prang metallic tempera paint that I got at the dollar store. I stamped “be yourself, everyone else is taken” on a white scrap, painted it with the metallic paint and trimmed it with my oval Creative Memories cutter. I added silk flowers and took some of the leftover leaves and sprayed them with my homemade shimmer spray and hot glued them under the stamped fairy. I grabbed a stick from the back yard, wrapped it with eyelash yarn and hot glued that on to. Finally I used a marker to stamp the butterfly and I glued him to the twig. This card was so fun to make (even if I did use some artistic licence on the sketch!)

Here is an ATC I made with Angela’s bonus sketch:

Stamps: About Art Accents, Paper: SU!, K&co, Sticker K&co, Markers: bic

Thanks girls for the awesome inspiration!

Frugal tip: Want cheap glossy paper for stamping? Try lazer color gloss paper, I got a 300 sheet ream of color lazer gloss by Hammermill and it is a wonderful surface for stamping and doing the polished stone technique and it is cheap! 300 sheet for less than $10! Note, test both sides first because one side works better!

Thanks for stopping by and until next time happy crafting

Card Kit Freebie!

I am a hybrid crafting kinda girl. I love the flexibility of digital but I still love to get my hands dirty with traditional supplies. When I make cards I usually just use scraps leftover from other projects. I love digital paper but I wouldn’t want to print out a full sheet just for a card, ink is expensive you know. So I designed some printable card kits. each kit has enough paper and embellishments for 3 cards. Just print, trim and glue it to a pre-folded card, add a stamp and you’re done.  I made this kit in a school theme for my lovely blog readers just in time to make end-of-the-school-year teacher cards. All of the pattern paper and elements came from one printed sheet. Take a look:

these 3 cards were made with the freebie cardkit printed once, the middle card uses the freebie digital stamp (Lindsay's Stamp Stuff) other rubber stamps are by Inque Boutique.

Here is a closer look at the digital stamp. I colored it with colored pencils and blended it with a pointy Q-Tip and goo-gone:)

Here is the card kit sheet:

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Card Kit Freebie (download links below)

Here is a digital stamp I made to coordinate with this kit but if digi-stamping isn’t your cup of tea you can use a stamp from your stash.

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Digital Stamp Freebie (download link below)

Download the printable card kit here

Download the digistamp here.

here is a preview of the other card kits available at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff:

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Card Kit: Elegant Black and Cream

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Card Kit: Birthday

Here is the same Elegant kit but without the color. You can print this on white or whatever color of cardstock you like and save on ink!

Since this id the first time I am offering the kits I’d love your feedback, let me know what you think 😉 The kits will be $2 each and you can print them as many times as you like!

Have a great Memporail Day, thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

toot toot!

What can I say, I’m having a good month 🙂 I just got the June issue of Vamp Stamp News in the mail and I have a card in there! Woohoo! The magazine had a challenge to make embossed backgrounds with a die cut machine and well, I love my die cutters so I made a couple cards to send in. Here is one that did not make it into the magazine but I like it just the same so I thought I would share it here:

Stamp: About Art Accents, Cardstock: SU!, PP: Basic Grey

I used a Fiskars Texture plate in place of one of my cutting pads, placed my folded cardstock on top then a sheet of rubber gasket material (form the plumbing section of a hardware store) then the other cutting plate and ran it through my Big shot. Then I distressed the card with brown ink and white acrylic paint. The focal image is from about Art Accents and a colored it with chalk and a blender pen for a vintage look.  made the die cut shapes with my cricut and scal software. SCAL is on sale for 10% off until the 26th with the coupon code:3847758. SCAL lets you cut any font on your computer and svg files with your cricut machine!

Speaking of Cricut, and die cutter in general, the June issue of VSN had a great article on choosing a die cutter and it review most all of the consumer grade machines out there so if you are in the market for a die cutter check it out!

Have a great Memorial day weekend, we are building the kids a playhouse, so much fun, I hope the weather stays nice for us, it have been lovely all week (hence a couple of days I didn’t post, I was too busy enjoying the weather!) Until next time happy crafting!

Fun (and free) ways to dress up a card!

Simple is nice, isn’t it? I have more tools and gadgets at my disposal than many scrapbook stores but sometimes it is nice to get back to basics, use up my scraps and make stuff from scratch. Last year I got the crocheting book “The Happy Hooker” and there was a cute scarf made from crocheted flowers. I made a few small ones planing to put them on a scrapbook page but they sat in my UFO (unfinished objects) drawer because quite frankly I thought they were too gaudy…buy hey, who am I kidding, have you seen my work? I’m pretty gaudy! So I used it on this card:

Digital Stamp: Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, Paper: MME, DCWV, K&Co, Cupcake Sticker: Borders, Rubber stamp: Stampin Up

I used my Carousel Horse stamp and colored it with watercolor crayons and a blender pen (this, BTW is the fastest method of stamp coloring I have found) and added glitter glue to the mane and tail.I made the card with scraps lying around my craft table.

To Shape my paper I did not use use my Cricut (gasp!) I did it by hand and it is sooooo easy, here’s how: Grab a scrap of paper that is 1″ or so wide and cut it the length of the border you want to make. Fold it in half and sketch a curvy line on it (or scallops, zig-zags or whatever you like) then cut it out. Unfold the paper and you have a custom template. Trace it on the paper you wan to shape and cut on the line, easy peasy! I did the same for the scallop panel too except I folded my paper in quarters and drew one bump on it and trimmed it so when I unfolded it I had 4 scallops. You can save them and use them over and over again too!

Fold a strip of paper in half and draw a curvy line. (sorry about the blurry photo;)

Cut on the line and unfold. Viola, a template!

For another fun effect I used my Cutter bee Peircing bugs to make freehand sewing lines around my papers before I glued everything down. Just lay your paper on a foam pad and firmly roll the piercing wheels around the edges. you can use a ruler if you like but I prefer to do it freehand. Then use a pen to trace over the holes to simulate stitching.

I had so much fun with thi preoject! Now let’s see what the rest of the Lindsay’s stamp Stuff Design Team has cooked up for you this week:

Michelle H.

Kim

Tracey

Tamara

Lisa

Margie

Katt

Row

Melissa

Janet

Michele R.

Olena

Be sure to check out their creations and leave them some love. Have a grat day and happy crafting!

Coffee, Tea or Three?

Happy Monday folks! Nothing softens the blow of a Monday like a freebie. There was a challenge over at Oriental Stamp Art last week to make a tea themed card and this weeks challenge is to include a dragon in your card design so I decided to combine both challenges in one and share the template with you:

Stamps: About Art Accents, Paper: K&Co, Template: Lindsay Weirich (download below)

Same stamps different paper!

See, I did use a dragon 😉

And one more for you retro fans…

Stamps Crafty Secrets, Paper: K&Co

I added chunky glitter to the sugar cubes to make them look..well, sugary 🙂

You can cut this card with your Cricut Machine if you have SCAL software.

*Note: I just found out that there is a coupon code to save 10% off SCAL! Enter this code during checkout if you buy it: 3847758 it is good through 5/26/2009!

Download the tea cup card SVG file here.

Download a printable template here.

Want more freebies? Then sign up for my “what’s Digital Stamping” yahoo group and get a new free digital stamp every week! Have a great day and happy crafting!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

…OK you are thinking that I have officially lost my marbles, right? Not quite, it’s just that I have been working on Christmas cards all week to make the deadline for Just Holidays! Magazine (I told my girlfriend that I finally got my Christmas cards done yesterday and she looked at me like I had two heads!) It’s weird designing for magazines because you kind of live in a time warp! I can’t share the full card with you now (you’ll have to wait for the magazine:) but I can show you sneak peek:

A few holiday projects I have been working on.

That’s all for today, be sure to heck back this week because I have freebies planned and lots of fun projects! Have a happy Sunday folks and Till next time happy crafting!