DIY Pull-Strip for Cards & WOYWW!

I have been having the brainstorms this week! I loved the look of the cards the Papertrey Ink design team had made that had a pull away strip (think of the pull strips on cardboard ice-cream boxes you use to open them) and I really wanted to try that technique. The PTI girls used a die which I don’t have. I am picky about dies and almost only buy ones that are thick and can cut a variety of materials such as foam, burlap, mat board, metal etc, so I was not really interested in buying a die for such a novel purpose. The good news is that you can replicate this look many ways. Here is my attempt at it:

I am quite pleased with the results. In case you are wondering the seed packet and flower stamps are from Papertrey and the pointing finger is from one of those old Making Memories magnet mount stamp sets and the letters to spell “pull” are from a $1 wood peg mout Studio G set. Here is a close up of the pull tab:

There are so many ways to make the pull strip.

• You can use a perferator wheel on your paper-cutter to cut two parallel lines and connect them on the pull end.
• You can use a cutterbee perforating bug (this is the method I wanted to use but I could not find my perforating wheel!) and proceed as above.
• You can use a Basic Grey Notch and Die tool to make 2 series of strait notch lines and connect then at the pull end with the tab notch.
• You can use an x-acto knife and a metal edge ruler to cut two lines of slits and connect them at the pull end.
• You can make a template in SCAL2 (or snag my free one here) so your electronic die cutter can cut it for you. For an explanation on how to make your own custom templates in scal2 please check out my screen shots:

The file I designed will cut 4 cardfronts for a 8.5″x11″ paper, if you are using a smaller cutter like a Cricut Personal just delete the bottom two designs and use a half sheet of paper. I am using SCAL2 and a Cricut Expression and the oval end perforations did not cut all the way through but I think it has more to do with my finicky Cricut than the cutting file 🙂

***FYI SCAL3 does NOT work with Cricut Machines****

Now Let’s put it together! You want to decorate the cardfront with the strip first. Then you need to stamp your sentiment on the card base. For placement I centered my cardfront on the card base and made little pencil marks on the edge at the top and bottom of the strip. Then I stamped my sentiments.  Put a strip of adhesive on both sides of the pull-strip, this will keep the card from tearing when the strip is removed.

Since it is What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday I snapped a pic of mine:

I hope you try this technique it is so much fun! Thanks for stropping by and til next time happy crafting!

Ahhh, rainy mondays, love ‘um!

I love a rainy monday, it’s kinda like an excuse to putter around the house, listen to an audio book and craft. It seems like I have more hours on a rainy day than a sunny one. I can put dinner in the crock-pot, clean, and still have time to scrapbook:

 

My friend Glenna gave me these photos of my kids she took one day last fall when they were playing in her yard with the leaf blower. I love the natural happy expression on my son’s face. It is so hard to get a natural photo of him, he is either making a cheese-face or trying to look cool by not smiling. He obviously did not know he was being photographed! 🙂

I used the stencils from my new Chevron Chic SVG kit to design the page. The background paper on the second page was spritzed with ink through the stencil and the chevron zigzags on the first page were the cut-outs from one of the stencils that I saved and sprayed with ink. I hate to waste anything LOL! I love how easy it is to make a boy-themed page with chevrons, it can be hard to get decorative with a page for a boy without is getting too frou-frou. Here is a look at the new Chevron Chic kit:

Have a great Monday and til next time happy crafting!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chevron!

Oh, wow, I love chevron patterns! After spending a frustrating time making a chevron scrapbook page last week (with lots of time and paper wasted) I decided (after my friend Cindi suggested it) to create a chevron template set to make my life (and hopefully other crafters) easier. Here is a 10 minute scrapbook layout I made with one of the stencils in my Chevron Chic SVG & Printable template set:

 

I used my die cutter and SCAL software to cut out the stencil 1 design and simply spritzed it with ink, easy peasy! I was almost a shame to cover this pretty background up but I have to say the photos of my cutie-pie nephew definitely improves it.  🙂

 

Here is a look at my stencils made from plain cardstock (yes, cardstock works just fine but if you want to get fancy you can cut it from a transparency-be warned, it will dull your blade.)

 

The stenciled stars on the layout were also sprayed, I saved the leftover piece from some stars I die-cut out a while ago and it was perfect. You can watch this quick tip video if you are curious on making your own stencils (it only takes 2 minutes .) 🙂

Here is a look at the Chevron Chic set, I will have a bunch more projects for you with this because it is just so fun to work with and best of all no waste!

 

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

PS the basket freebie I mentioned in the video will be up shortly…I had to Easter-ify it:) Check back in a day or two!

Need some quick Easter favors?

Howdy folks, just a quick post today to share a new template I created. It is a cute bunny shaped basket that can be crafted in minutes. The Bunny Basket kit comes with an SVG cutting file and a printable template. I think it would be fun to print off the bunny templates on white paper and let the kids decorate and cut them out. It is really that easy!

And of course our bunny has a “cotton tail” it would be cute to use a white pom-pom in place of the tail cutout, don’t you think?

You can grab the kit here at Lindsay’s stamp Stuff and be done way before Easter rolled around, ain’t it great to be early for a change 😀

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

A Geisha Paper Doll& Oriental Screen!

So, when I first saw the challenge at OrientalStampArt to create a folding screen card the first thing that popped into may head was making a dressing screen for my Daughters’ “Barbie Dream House” but since my girls never play with their Barbies I made this instead:

I cut the screen out with my die cutter using SCAL software using my versatile Gothic Arch SVG set (it has printable templates too if you don’t own a die cutter) and it was easy as pie to put together. The stunning rubber stamps I used are by About Art Accents and I got really clear crisp impressions by using the curved rock-a-block stamp mounts and stamping on a squishy mat. I stamped the geisha 3 times; on cream, green and purple washi paper then cut out the parts and assembled the green and purple papers over the cream to make a sturdy paper doll.

I wanted to be able to mail this card eventually so I made a belly band to keep it closed.

I can even fold up the doll if I like by unhooking the back of the stand. There are slits on the cardstock strip to hold it together so it will stand.

I employed some fun techniques with this project. Here, me share my tricks with you 😀

I made these buttons out of clay out of moulds I made from vintage buttons (full tutorial on this post):

For a super quick crinkled ribbon I sprayed purple and pearl ink on a piece of seam binding (it is cheaper to buy a 100 yard roll of seam binding and dye it as you need it and it is always just the color you want!) scrunching it up and blasting it with a heat tool, the heat shrinks the rayon and sets the wrinkles. Just be careful not to heat it too close or one spot too long or it will scorch!

These leaf embellishments were made by breaking up bits of Friendly Plastic (AMACO) into a silicone mould and heating it with the heat gun. I am actually using a pretty silicone fondant mould made by Wilton. Be aware that many of the clay moulds out there are not silicone and you might melt them with this technique! I have been playing with Friendly Plastic a lot lately, look for a tutorial coming up soon!

 

I don’t know why I didn’t think of making paper dolls with my geisha stamps before, they are such beautiful designs. I hope you have some time to get crafty this weekend, til next time happy crafting!

Now that’s what I call recycling!

Howdy folks! I have spent the last couple of days working on centerpieces for the Cub Scouts Blue and Gold banquet this weekend. I made a bunch (24) of blue and gold centerpieces for last years banquet (you can see them here) and they are going to reuse them but this year we have a bigger space to fill and more boys in scouts so we need more centerpieces. The theme this year is “Freedom is not Free” and the color palette is red, white, blue & gold so I came up with this:

I used 10 soup cans (free), 9 sheets of red cardstock (from of a pack of 50 that was $2.75), 2 sheets of white cardstock (.02 each), My electronic Die cutter and SCAL software, random 4th of July pattern paper from DCWV stacks (about 6 cents a sheet), a dollop of white and red paint (I have no idea how to figure that but I had it in my stash;), red and blue ribbon (I used part of a spool, each spool was .25 each), glue sticks and skewers (bag of 100 for $1) The flags were already owned by the pack but they had a price tag on them are were .50 each, we have enough so all of the other centerpieces will have a flag in it too. Counting the flag the cost of each centerpiece was less than $0.75! And I really did not have to buy anything because it was all from my stash! Here is a look at all the centerpiece parts boxed up and ready to go, I love those rosettes, they make me happy;)

Keep in mind when you are making a project like this that there ar many ways to lux up a design without spending a dime. Use the tools and supplies you have already bought and paid for instead of going out and buying new or going without. For instance. I use my embossing folders to add texture on the construction paper I wrapped around the soup can. A quick swipe of white paint makes it look like old denim! I also used an embossing folder on the red stars. It is not a patriotic pattern but it works and I already owned it. You won’t wear your embossing folders out so it costs you nothing! Also, the small stars on the rosettes, I remembered that I has a star button stamps and it happened to be just the right size as the sheet of stars I die-cut, nice! Using that stamp didn’t cost me a dime and it adds such a nice touch! I can hardly count the wee bit of ink and paint I used but it adds so much interest to the design.

Oh, and speaking of the star die cuts I saved the leftover scraps to use a stencils. When I dry-brushed paint over my embossed stars I did it on an inexpensive sheet of kraft cardstock and I love the grungy star (white) then I took the leftover piece from my white die cut stars and laid it over and dabbed metallic blue paint over the white then I grabbed the leftover from the red star die cuts and stenciled a big star…How fun! Now I can use it to scrap my 4th of July pics next year or pictures from the banquet this weekend!

Leftover die-cut waste = free stencils!!!

 

Now, I was going to use the centerpiece printables from my USA Mega Party kit but I found out that there is going to be a pitcher of water on ever table and there will be kids at every table and I only have an ink-jet printer (are you feeling me?) so rather than risk having my ink-jet printer in run I used stuff from my stash. But I did want to mention that the party kit as well as everything else at Lindsay’s stamp Stuff is 40% off through tomorrow😉

I hope I inspired you to recycle and create and look at your scraps in new ways. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

And Yet Another Way to Make Stamps…

Happy Weekend! I hope you have a bit of time to fit some crafting in 🙂 Yesterday I showed you how you can carve your own custom stamps. Today I am going to show you another way to make stamps and yes, I made ANOTHER cameo:

Isn’t she pretty? I used thin stamp material in my electronic die cutter to make this. I found a pretty dingbat font called DB Cameo Busts for $3 from Lettering Delights and used my SCAL software to alter it a bit for cutting. Basically I removed a few nodes (there was a detail cut into the neck of the cameo that would not cut well from this material) and cut it with my Electronic Die cutter (OK folks, I cut it on a Cricut but you can’t buy SCAL for Cricut anymore and I used the Cricut stamp material but I bought it long before Provocraft bullied SCAL into not selling Cricut compatible software, phew, thanks for letting me get that off my chest LOL!)

There are a few things you need to know about using the stamp material:

1. It is a clear thin (1/16″) film you can cut with an electronic die cutter.
2. You need a deep cut blade & holder and a brand new sticky mat or the stamp material will shift and move.
3. Don’t try to cut anything too small or detailed. I had to go in with scissors to clean up this cameo stamp.
4. This materail is much thinner than traditional stamps so you have to be careful not to get ink on your stamp block because it will easily smudge on your stamping surface.

Keeping that in mind it is a fun product to work with. I bought a pack of 2 6″x6″ sheets for $6 last year from JoAnn Fabric. It was regularly $10 but JoAnn let me use a 40% off coupon (at that time anyway-I’m not sure about now because I have not bought a cricut product since they sued SCAL.) I think I might try and use the other sheet of the stamping material as a faux gelatin printing plate, I’ll let you know how it works;)

Here is another fun tip, I needed a frame to stamp around my cameo and I remembered this Stampin Up sentiment stamp I got years ago, I used a marker to ink only the frame up and stamped it, then stamped my cameo on top. I think I am going to cut that stamp apart now that I see how pretty the frame is on its own!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Hello Doily!

Howdy folks! I’ve had the idea for a doily SVG set rattling around in my brain for a while but I held off because I did not want to design a set that would be slow, snaggy and frustrating to cut. I use a Cricut machine and SCAL2 software (no longer available) and the Cricut is fickle when it comes to intricate designs so I know that If I can cut this on a cricut with a month old blade and moderately used mat anyone will have success with it! Here is a cute valentine made with one of the SVG files in my Decorative Doilies set:

Card size: 5"x5", SVG die cuts from Decrotive Doilies set (Lindsay's stamp Stuff), rubber stamps by Pink Persimmon

The fabby rubber stamps I use are by Pink Persimmon and can be found here.

Have I mentioned before that I am not a fan of intricate die cuts? Don’t get me wrong, I love the way they look.  In the past I have purchased Cricut cartridges with beautiful lacy designs only to waste paper, time and blades trying to get them to cut properly. I was not going to release a set that would cause others the same frustration so I tested and tweaked each doily file in this set until they cut clean and fairly quickly. Even then I decided to create a tip sheet so you can start cutting with the optimal conditions. There is also photo tutorials on the tip sheet on how to create perfect custom mats and shaped card bases. You can use that tutorial on any SVG file you already have so it makes your cutting file collection much more versatile! Here is a look at the Decorative Doilies kit:

And a couple more pics:

So, let’s say “No!” to frustrating intricate die cuts and say “Yes!” to fabulous, fun-to-cut doilies! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Fast & Easy Gift Card Holders!

Wow, Christmas is 11 days away and it really snuck up on me (which is quite odd since I have been working on Christmas projects since June because of magazine deadlines) so I made these cute gift card holders to wrap up my last-minute gift cards for the hard to buy for folks on my list. I used my new Gift Card Holder SVG set on this:

My favorite part is that the cuff of the mitten slides off to reveal the gift card:

Wait, did I say that was my favorite because I think I would love this one the most:

You could substitute movie or theater tickets for the gift card in the wine hanger for a truly personal gift.  And I must admit I do enjoy that wine in the pic and it is only $7 a bottle-score!

I like that these gift card holders can be hung on the Christmas tree so they won’t get lost or buried in a pile of presents and they are pretty to look at too. You can whip up a bunch of the ball ornaments and add a little embellishing for a tree full of charming treats:

You can snag this set instantly right here. Well, I have presents to wrap and cards to address so I am gonna scoot, thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!