Envelope and liner free template!

Here is a fancy envelope and liner that you can cut with your Cricut if You have Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) software:

Stamps: The Paper Co., Paper: DCWV, Around the block, Chatterbox, tool: Cricut and Scal Software

This envelope can be re-sized however you like.  To re-size it  stretch it out to the size you need, see below. After you resize it turn it 45 degrees to make best use out of your scrapbook paper.

how to resize the envelope, the light blue area is the size it will be.

If you want a square envelope jut check the “keep proportion box and re-size as needed.  To get the liner to fit the envelope: Re-size the envelope and cut it, make sure it is the size you want. Measure the with of the folded envelope and subtract 1/4″ (or 1/2″ if you want more space around the liner to show), cut the liner at that width from scrap paper. Slip in in the envelop and see how it looks, if you are making a square envelope it should be perfect but if you are making a rectangle envelop you will need to shorten the liner from the bottom, just drag up the bottom arrow in scal to squash the liner a bit and cut it again. It should be perfect in a try or two ;). You can copy and paste the liner so you can get 4 to a page (let the strait end fall of the mat if you need to because the liner can be a bit shorter and still look the same. Save this file, if you are using scal2 you can save the envelop and line in one file, each on its own page, you can title it “fancyenvelope4x6” so you won’t have to measure it again. If using old scal just save both files separately 😉

Download the SVG envelope file here.

Download the SVG envelope liner here.

Download a printable envelope and liner here (overlapped on one file).

Download .png files (for use as a clipping mask with digital scrapbook paper), here is the envelope, here is the liner (be sure to download both files.)

Make these envelopes in seconds with your cricut!

Thanks for stopping by and till next time happy crafting!

A Freebie that is Cute as a button!

Well, my goodness it has been a while since I gave a away a free template! I had the design itch the other night and came up with this:

Library card: Lindsay's stamp Stuff, Rubber stamps, Pink Persimmon (buttons), SU! (words), Technique Tuesday (Stitches), Paper: DCWV, K&Co., Punch: Martha Stewart

I made the bracket edge card in PSP and save it as a .jpg file then opened up my handy-dandy Sure Cuts a Lot 2 clicked the “trace” button and poof! saved it as an svg! I imported in to the original scal just to be sure it would cut there too and, good news, it does!Here is the scalloped bracket edge card:

Scallop Bracket-Edge card, download links below 😉

I used brand new paper from DCWV (it’s from the Be Mine and the Mod Retro stacks) The Library Card is one of my Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff digital stamps (only a dollar folks!) and the cute buttons are brand new from Pink Persimmon! This next card is a bit simpler, I used the regular bracket edge card template:

Regilar Bracket-Edge card, download link below 😉 Makes a great minialbum too!

And this one was the easiest! I simply stamped my image and embossed it with white EP on brown card and trimmed it into a circle, hot glued a flower on a 4 1/2″ card, hot glued my stamped panel then hot glued vintage buttons all around. I also used pink metallic rub ons (remember that shiny paste from back in the day) to give the edges of my card and the embossed circle a bit of shabby bling!

This only took minutes to make!

Here are the download links:

For a printable template click here. Both scallop and strait edge are on this template.

For the regular bracket-edge card svg template that you can cut with you Cricut if you have SCAL software click here.

For the scalloped bracket edge svg template that you can cut with you Cricut if you have SCAL software click here.

I hope you like this freebie! It is very versatile, in fact, I have used this template to make a mini album that I will share with you in a few days 😉 Thanks for stopping by and till next time happy crafting!

Spray it!

Looking for a fun way to make a background for a card? Try using mists and sprays on cardstock then cutting up the cardstock for card bases. Here I used my home made sprays to cover the cardstock then I placed a sheet of plastic wrap over it and let it dry:

Stamps: About Art Accents, White Cardstock (sprayed) Georgia Pacific, Pattern Cardstock: DCWV (once upon a time stack)

I used watercolor and water mixed in a spray bottle to make my color sprays (If you don’t have watercolor you can use re inkers) and I put fine pearl ex plus gum arabic/water (or use hairspray) and watercolor in other bottles. All the stamps on these cards are by About Art Accents and the paint is by M Graham & co. (2 of my faves there!) I love the effect and it’s Oh so Thrifty! To read my in depth article on making shimmer spray click here. Also the new issue of Vamp Stamp News features sprayed backgrounds, get your copy today!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Stars and Stripes Forever!

This is the first week of summer vacation. Imagine my surprise that I had a chance to finish a card using the sketch over at 2 sketches 4 You today. I had given my kids a stack of magazines, glue sticks, scissors, some old scrapbook paper and glitter and they collaged happily long enough for me to make this:

Digital Stamp" Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, Rubber Stamps: Hero Arts, SU!, Crafty Secrets, Paper: DCWV

I must say I wasn’t in love with the sketch because I was a bit to symmetrical and I am an asymmetrical kind of girl…you could call me off-balanced, I guess 🙂 but you know what? This is what a challenge should be about, to push you to create something that you ordinarily wouldn’t.

I used many stamps on this project: The Flag Bunting is one of my Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff Designs, the star stamp is a jumbo wheel from Stampin Up, The “4”  is from Crafty Secrets and the ribbon stamp is from Hero Arts.

Well that is all for today, I hear a soccer game breaking out in the hallway and I feel that parental supervision may be required (hey, at least the kids are playing together LOL) thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Happy Birthday Buckaroo!

I must admit that I have a soft spot for cowboys, or rather cowboy/western themed scrapbook products! I love this Free -Form Horse stamp from The Rubber Cafe, it was the first stamp I ever got from them, isn’t he wonderful?

Paper: DCWV, Stamp: The Rubber Cafe, Die Cuts: Cricut/scal

I used Kazan’s card sketch from 2 sketches 4 you to make the card. I cut all of the elements with my cricut using Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) software. I used the fonts: SaloonEXT and WMDesigns1 to make my scut file. You can snag my file for free here. You will need to have the above fonts installed to use it or it will look weird 🙂

The paper is from the new Die Cuts With a View “boy” premium stack and I LOVE every sheet of paper in that thing! To get a distressed look I inked the edges of all the elements and tapped the flourish with a  gold ink-pad before heat embossing with gold Emb. powder.

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check back tomorrow because I will be announcing the brand new Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff Design Team! These crafty chicks rock and I can’t wait for you to meet them! Til then Happy Crafting!

Masking how-to

Masking is one of the best tricks a stamper can have up her sleeve. It gives depth, perspective and lets you use your stamps in totally different ways. There is an awesome feature on masking in the May issue of Vamp Stamp News (I just so happen to have never-before-seen work featured in that issue too!) so if you want more techniques be sure to pick up a copy at your local stamp shop (I think Barnes & Nobles carries it too) or subscribe on line before it is sold out! Here is a card I made last night using a positive and negative (mortise) mask:

Wow! that card is bright! Paper: DCWV, Stamps: Stampin Up!, Watercolors: M. Graham & Co.

Here is how you do it:

Easy masking step-by-step!

Well, I am off to a 6 year old’s birthday party and the card is for him. I know the kid will be more interested in what is in the present than the card but his mom is a scrapbooker and she always recycles my cards of her scrapbook pages so I always try to make something they both will enjoy and I hope you enjoyed it too. BTW the stamp set I used is by Stampin up, it was a splurge for me (around $30) but worth every penny, it is such a fun easy set to use. To color it I used my M. Graham & Co watercolors on plain cheap Georgia Pacific white cardstock. I love the easy fun look it gives it (plus water-coloring is the quickest coloring method I know) and I love the results! Have a great weekend, It is going to be sunny and near 80 in the northeast!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Make your own double-sided paper!

I LOVE double sided paper (esp. Bo Bunny, Cosmo Cricket and K&Co.) I like to use it on cards where you can see the opposite pattern peeking out from the inside. But sometimes the opposite side of the paper isn’t quite right, of course I could head down to the local scrapbook store to see if they have paper that is just right or I can make it myself. Guess what I am going to do 🙂 . If you are like me you have stacks of pattern paper lying around, many with 3 sheets of each design and you could scrapbook 3 lifetimes worth of photos before you made a dent in your stash…I’m not the only one am I? Anyway to make double-sided paper simply find two sheets of pattern paper and adhere them back to back with a glue stick. That is what I did here:

Stamp: Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, Pattern Paper: My Minds Eye (blue), DCWV (pink), clear stamps: Inkadinkado, Cardstock Georgia Pacific (white), SU! (green), Twill Tape: Home Sew, Brads: Miss Elizabeth's

The two sheets of pattern paper are sturdy enough for a card and this way I can use two patterns that I like from different paper companies. The stamp is one I designed called Flourished Chickadee (only a buck folks and you can print and use it as much as you want!) and boy it is so quick to use. I scribbled some watercolor crayon on the image, blended it with a SU! blender pen, trimmed it and added it to my card. I used natural twill tape as a ribbon, it is super cheap if you get it in bulk at homesew.com, they even have white cotton ric-rac there that you can dye to match your projects with reinkers and every once in a while they have free shipping. check them out.

That’s all for today, till next time happy crafting!

And the big news is…

that I am opening a digital stamp store! I’ve already put in 10 designs and I have many more to add and I’m working on getting the shopping cart up and then I will share the link. I’m very excited! I have sold illustrations to a couple rubber stamp companies in the past so I have experience but I wanted people to have inexpensive access to my other designs. Since the products are digital there will be no shipping fees either! He are a couple quick cards made with my digi stamps:

The cupcake is a digi-stamp designed by me!

The chick and egg image is also a digi-stamp of mine, you can download this digi-stamp below, enjoy!

You can never have too many cupcakes right? Another digi stamp design I will put in my shop!

To use digi stamps just print, color and attach it to a card or scrapbook page. As a thank you for visiting my blog you can get the Chick and Egg stamp for free here. I would love your feedback on the design and I’d like to see what you make with it. I will have some other freebies in a few days when I launch the store and will will have a design team call shortly for interested designers. Thanks for visiting my blog and until next time happy crafting!

Quick and Easy Birthday Cards for Kids!

Wow, April must be a popular month because my daughters have 4 friends celebrating birthdays in the first week! When you make birthday cards for children they should be fun, bright and quick to make (kids may not appreciate the hard work that goes into a card when there is a gift to open and cake to eat you know.) These are for a set of twins turning 5 and since I have twin girls myself I decided to play it safe and make identical cards, that way there will be no drama over who’s card is the prettiest or who got pink…it’s true, these are REAL issues, with my girls anyway…and milk DOES taste better in a glittery pink princess cup, you know what I mean?

Double Gate-Fold Cards closed and open. Paper: Die Cuts With a View (the glitter stack), Stamps: Inkadinkado, Crafty Secrets

The coolest thing is that these took only minutes to make! I cut a 12″x12″ DCWV glitter cardstock sheet in half then I used my Scor-Pal to make the double gate-fold card but if you don’t have one just fold your card at 2″, 4″, 8″ and 10″. Then I stamped some cupcakes and colored them with markers, punched them out and adhered them to the card (this by the way justifies the new clear stamp impulse buy I made the other day, I’ve used this Inkadinkado set 3x already, I think it is called Sweet Stuff.) I stamped the frame (also by Inka) ans then stamped “Happy Birthday” inside, that stamp is from the Crafty Secrets “girlfriends” set.  I cut the label on the inside of the card with my Cricut (Accent Essentials cart), inked the edges and drew on the stitches and adhered it with double stick tape. Try this next time you need a quick card!

It’s fun to make cards for kids because you can use all the fun unsophisticated stuff you wouldn’t use on a grown up card and colors, the brighter the better! Don’t forget to stamp on the envelope too, especially if you are mailing it, kids get a real kick out of getting mail! I hope I’ve inspired you to make something fun for a kid or just a kid at heart! Thanks for stopping by and until nex time happy crafting!