Wanna Win Some Templates from GreenSneakers?

Hi Friends! Today I want to show you a fun papercraft project and give you the chance to win some of the templates I used OR you can pick different ones!

My Friends at GreenSneakers are letting you pick your prize! All you have to do is visit www.greensneakers.com and find 2 templates you would like to win, then come back here and tell me what you would like to win by leaving a comment. How cool is that? Maybe you would like to win a Kreate-a-Lope envelope maker, A2 slider card, or the baker’s box templates I used in today’s tutorial. It is up to you! I will draw a winner at random next Wednesday the 26th. If you feel like shopping you can get 20% off your order with the coupon code Lind20 and don’t worry if you shop and then win, they will let you pick a different prize, that way everyone can take advantage of the sale and the contest! Happy shopping and picking! Now watch the video to see what you can make with some of their awesome templates!

I’m sure you can think of a lot of ways to use these templates! I hope you didn’t freak out too badly when you saw what I did to my stamp but hey, sometimes you have to take drastic measures for your art! I want to thank GreenSneakers for partnering with me to bring you this fun giveaway. I hope it gets your creative juices flowing and maybe inspires you to make a batch of Christmas cards or note card sets for Christmas gifts or craft fair items. The coupon code Lind20 is good though 11/30/14 so don’t delay, they only run this sale once a year! Thanks so much for playing and til next time happy crafting!

Contest and Coupon Details: Contest is open to US residents only. Winner will be selected at random 11/26/14. No purchase necessary. Coupon code Lind20 good through 11/30/14 and 20% off sale is available worldwide. You must log in at www.greensneakers.com to see the discount in your shopping cart, don’t worry, it’s easy. Good luck to all who play!

 

 

I can’t believe I didn’t post this card yet!

This poor card, I stamped and colored the image ages ago, all it really needed was to be adhered to a cardbase but it sat neglected on my shelf for months until, during a cleanup, I tossed it in to my “papercraft UFO (that’s un-finished object by the way)” drawer and I discovered it during the lonely crop last month. I needed a card so I finished it up, it really only needed 5 minutes of work, and the recipient loved it!

I was thinking about what project to share tonight and it hit me, share the forgotten flower fairy, the image has been waiting on my computer Long enough I think! Here are the details: The stamp was one of the amazing flower fairy sets I got at Custom Crops when they first came out (so glad I did because now they are hard to find) they are manufactured by Crafter’s Companion but they did not have this one anymore on their website either.

I stamped with waterproof black ink and colored with inktense pencils and a blender pen. I stamped some of the individual flowers from the set, colored and cut them out and adhered them with hot glue for dimension.

I’m not sure why it took me so long to post this, I think it is like clutter, you see a pile of paper on the coffee table, at first you think, “I need to take care of that” a week later it’s like “I really should deal with those papers” and in a month you’re all “what papers?” because you get so used to seeing something that you don’t notice it. That is my theory, it explains why my coffee table is a cluttered mess too! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Another Stamp Giveaway! Yay!!!

Howdy folks! We went to my 4 year old nephews birthday party Sunday and had a great time! He had a bounce house and it looked fun, the kids were having a ball in there when my sister says to me “go ahead and try it, the guy from the rental place said that it is safe for adults!” Well, I had to try it! Somewhere between the toe-touches and the somersaults (I was having a grand old time!) I pulled something in my back because an hour later when I reached down to pick something off the floor I felt it. I’m gonna feel this tomorrow I think, better keep the Advil handy:) Before this nonsense I made a card and earring set using a Victorian style stamp from About Art Accents and I am giving this stamp away, just leave a comment and I will draw a name in a week! Well, that’s easier than a cartwheel in a bounce house, aint it?

I had to make a thick envelope-box to hold the card and tag so I used my envelobox creator by crafter’s companion, boy it is slick! The earrings I made (I stamped the image at the end of a paper strip, colored it and rolled it up before adding two coats of UTEE for shine) are about 3/4″ thick and 2″ high, they are lightweight but bulky!

I originally thought I would put the full stamped image on the card with an earring on each side for embellishments but it did not work well so I opted for simple and made the big image into a bookmark.

To get the vintage enamel look I coated the design with utee and let it cool then I bent the paper to crack the embossing. I rubbed it with a brown inkpad and wiped off the excess so the cracks would show. Oh, and The coloring was done with Gelatos. If you want a better look at the stamp you could win by simply leaving a comment (hint, hint) you can see it here. Good luck and til next time happy crafting!

Cute Little Berry Boxes & Sandwich Board Cards!

I hope you are enjoying summer. I am! I wanted to have some little berry boxes to use in projects but it was hard to find ones that were not stained by berries (and I didn’t want plastic ones) so I made my own:

To make them sturdy I used a sheet of kraft cardstock and a sheet of printed cardstock to make the box!

I have been loving the trend of chalkboard art (not that I’ve mastered it) so I wanted to try stamping some. I made this card that looks like a sandwich board that would be on display on a sidewalk in front of a cafe:

You can get my printable templates & SVG cutting files here. I designed the printables to be printed right on your good cardstock so you don’t have to trace. You get two cards on one sheet of cardstock (2 different sizes) a box and tags. The project makes up in minutes perfect for summer crafting!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

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!