Fun with {old} Friendly Plastic!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! We had a sweet morning before work and school exchanging valentines goodies and cards:) The kids are looking forward to the valentine party at school and as a classroom treat we cut hearts out of watermelon (cut the rind off a watermelon and slice it 3/4″ thick and use a cookie cutter to cut hearts or other shapes) and made a fruit plate that I will bring to school in a bit. Here is the valentine card I made my husband. Stamps are by About Art Accents.

I used Friendly Plastic to make the charm  I was given a bunch of old friendly plastic sticks last year. Friendly plastic has a shelf life, after a couple of years it becomes brittle and snappy, not bendy and pliant, so you can’t use it for all techniques. Luckily I discovered ways to use the old stuff so if you have some friendly plastic from long ago or if you bought some recently and discovered that it breaks rather than bends here are some techniques you can try. Get a cuppa coffee folks, this is a long, but hopefully entertaining and informative video. You can do any of these techniques with new Friendly Plastic as well!

And, yes, I found something else to use my coffee cup warmer for! Yay, it earns a place on my worktable:) So to recap the following techniques will work with old FP: Marbleizing, inlay or crazy quilt technique, ooze technique (pressing metal mesh or wire into the melted plastic so it oozes up around it) and breaking up and melting in molds.

Tips: Snap off bit of plastic (like I did in the video.) Cutting the old stuff with scissors will make it shatter (the new stuff should cut just fine.) If you are buying new Friendly plastic, check it in the store to make sure it bends, if it snaps it is old.  Don’t buy more than you can use up in a year, short shelf life, remember.

A word of caution: The charms made with old friendly plastic should probably be used for card or scrapbook embellishments as they are not the most rugged unless you use several layers and re-enforce with wire or if the pieces are small (earring size.)  I tried snapping some of the larger pieces and they did snap with a bit of pressure so not ideal for long lasting jewelry. I have not used new FP so I am not sure how jewelry would last after it was a few years old, weather it would become brittle with age. There are a ton of fun tutorials on the Friendly Plastic blog to give you an idea of what artists are doing with the new pliant sticks. I highly recommend you have a look and if you have any question on the new Friendly Plastic they would be the ones to ask and they have beginner kits at a reasonable price.

That’s all for today! I hope if you have some old sticks of Friendly Plastic around you will give this a try rather than becoming frustrated and throwing them away, til next time happy crafting!

My thoughts on scrapbooking…

Happy Sunday folks! I always think the Sunday is a great time for scrapping, especially during football season. Working on a page with the “game” on in the background and the family milling about is just kind of nice. I was putting the finishing touches ona pile of scrapbook pages I made at a crop last month and I was getting ready to photograph them for my blog when I thought “Nah, no one want to see 10 pages of summer camping” well, no one except my family and that is OK. I did photograph one layout to share because I thought someone might find the paper pocket I made useful to stash maps and other ephemera on a page:

 

I used to approach each scrapbook page like it was a painting, it had to be completely different, artistic and take hours to complete…Did I mention that was back when I had one kid? Now my priority is getting the photos printed and in books. Sure, I like to try new techniques and play with cool crafting product but If I don’t have a perfect embellishment or paper I still scrap it and put it in my album. Why? Because no one who is interested in my pages will care if I used 5-year-old paper and buttons or if I ran out and spent $20 to make the page. They want the photos and the story. I wanted to write this post today for all of the “collectors of scrapbook supplies” out there who think that every page has to be perfect or it is not worth creating. It is worth creating! The products mean nothing it is your special personality that will transform your photos, story and supplies into a meaningful memory. Don’t worry about being perfect, just do it! I was reminded of this when my daughter Maizy asked me if she could make a video after seeing me film a scrapbook page video. I said sure. I think it represents the fun carefree way we should all approach our scrapbooks, like a child, with no judgements just joy, have a look:

I’m so proud of her! And I love how she makes double-sided tape work for everything LOL! thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Shaker Box Tutorial & WOYWW

Happy Wednesday folks! A week or two ago a blog reader asked me to do a tutorial on making a shaker card. The shaker tag I had made was roughly slapped together (it looked fine from the outside though and that was all I cared about) but I wanted a more elegant method if I was going to show someone else how to make one…I know “Lindsay” and “elegant” are not commonly associated but I came up with a rather elegant method of making a shaker:

 

All the stamps are from About Art Accents, they carry the best Oriental themed stamps, use the coupon Lindsay10% to save on your order! This fun shaker card only takes 10 minutes to make and it is easy. Also I share several stamping tips in the video:

Here is a close up of the window:

 

You can use confetti, glitter, beads, buttons or small punched shapes in the window, be creative!

 Oh and before I forget, today is Wednesday (as in What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday) so here is a pic of my desk after I made my card:

 

In case you are wondering I promptly cleaned it up after taking the photo! No, really! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Another Camera Phone Scrapbook Page!

Another thing I love about my camera phone is that I can hand it off to my kids and not worry about the lens getting smudged or scratched and also people do not run away from someone holding a cell phone like they do if you are holding a honest-to-God camera. Look at the great pic my daughter Maizy got of me, my sister and her husband, my other daughter and my parents…oh yes, and my dog Hazel:

I’m pretty sure Dad would not have smiled at me holding my big DSLR LOL! It just proves my motto: Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without. Don’t fret about missing a moment because you left your ‘good’ camera at home, grab your phone and get scrappin! Til next time happy crafting!

PS In case you are wondering my phone is a cheap Samsung Trac-Phone, nothing fancy and less than $50 (and I think that included a year’s worth of minutes…I don’t talk on the phone much 🙂 )

A scrapbook tool (in your purse!)

OK, I am pretty sure I poo-poo’ed camera phones on my blog but that was before I got one! My phone is not fancy, it is a trac-phone. I was happy with my old one but when my husband ordered a new one with a camera on it he asked if I wanted to trade…hmmm..I’d give it a shot…and you know what? I love it! The pictures are not great. It is a 2 megapixel camera with a teeny lens but ya know what? It’s good enough. I am not going to carry my camera with me wherever I go, I rarely carry a purse so if it can’t fit in my pocket I’ll do without it.  I wouldn’t use it to take pictures on Christmas or my kid’s birthday but at the beach or the park, heck yeah, I’ll use it! Here is a scrapbook page I made with shots from my camera phone…hey, it’s better than nothing!

 

Did I mention our boys WON the packwagon scramble?…oh I did…sorry. 🙂

So, if your phone has a camera why not use it once in a while to capture something scrapworthy.

BTW, I get my pictures from my phone to my printer by emailing them to myself…I felt real tech-savvy when I figured that trick out 😀 Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

DIY “Distress” Stain!

OK, I have been keeping way too clean this week with the knitting so today I just had to get inky and make my own version of Distress Stain. Here is my first project with my homemade stain:

 

The only thing you need to get to make the stain is the bingo-dauber top bottles. If you play bingo you might be able to reuse actual bingo daubers but I don’t so I found this set of 12 dauber top bottles at Oriental Trading Company for $7.50, they are good quality and refillable! I also got their mini mister bottles that are wonderful and half the price of the ranger ones. I just did not want to recommend either of them until I had the chance to use them but they both get 2 big thumbs up from me! 🙂

 

The homemade stain is so easy to make and you can use the supplies you already have. Simply fill the bottle 2/3 full of water then I added some cheap student grade watercolor paint in it. I used a whole tube per bottle but the paint was cheap: $7 for all 12 paint colors. Try the Reeves brand, they have it at AC Moore. But you could also use reinker, gouache, liquid watercolors or even fabric dye! I actually used a bit of reinker to adjust the colors a wee bit. 🙂 I will say that the student watercolor paint will not stain your hands like reinkers do!

 

You can see how vibrant the stain is I made. Since I used a tube of cheap watercolor in each bottle the color is semi-opaque (cheap watercolors are more opaque than artist grade due to the chalk filler they use but still, the paint will not fade as dye or ink is wont to do.) If you want a more transparent stain stick to reinkers or dye. I love how you can scribble on the color like I did under the sentiment or smack down the tip on the paper for a starburst effect like I did on the background paper. Yep, I got good and inky today! 

You can also use this to dye fabric, ribbon, crochet flowers…you name it! I have some other cards I’ve been working on with these stains and I’ll share them with you later, til then happy crafting!

2 Trash-to-Treasure projects for Earth Day!

Nothing makes me feel quite as virtuous as using something that I would normally just throw away. I have two projects today that use supplies that nay normal person would have thrown away (but I think we all know by now that I’m not normal 🙂  )

The above layout uses several throwaway items, the backing paper was my table protector for when I used spray mists, I love the colors of all the over-spray and couldn’t bear to toss it to I trimmed off my favorite area and used it as the base of this page. The circles were cut from the boxed my letterpress plate came in:

 

It is much like, if not the same is, grunge board. I inked up my plate with a pigment ink pad (I DO NOT like the letterpress ink at all.) and debossed the design on the cardboard before cutting it out. I have been collecting the letterpress plates for a while when I’ve seen them here and there on clearance and I think I have all most all of the sets made by Lifestyle Crafts. I think it is a shame that they don’t seem to be making them anymore, I’m glad that I can make my own plates now with my Stampmaker…more on that in another post. I did not like the packaging the plates came in, it was bulky and hard to get them in and out so I used an inexpensive binder and clear page protectors to store them so I can quickly access them and see what I have. I love this system, it is the same way I store my stamps. I snagged some of the new Martha Stewart divided page protectors from Staples (with my ink cartridge rewards of course) and they are the best, I like the ones that are split in half because they are very useful in storing stamps and these kits and they have flaps so your stuff does not fall out AND they cost the same and the generic page protectors, go Martha!

 

OK for my next trick…ha ha, my friend ask me if I had any ideas on how to make a pinata for her son’s Super Mario Bros party. immediately I thought of the mushroom guy:

 

How fun is that! I just cut the mushroom  shape twice from a cardboard box, then I cut 4″ wide strips from the rest of the box. Tip, cut the strips across the corrugations so the strips ill shape and bend easily. then I used plain masking tape to tape the strips to the mushroom shape at a 90 degree angle and then I taped the other mushroom shape on top. You need to leave a section untaped so you can get the candy in. Then wrap it with crape paper glueing as you go (I like hot glue) and I cut paper circles and ovals to decorate it! Easy and it cost nothing because I hade the crepe paper left over from another project.

 

It kinda makes you look at your trash in a new way huh? Happy Earth Day and til next time Happy Crafting!

Frugal Fun With Easter Egg Dye!

Yesterday morning (as we were waiting for the school bus) my kids asked if we could dye eggs afterschool. “Sure!” I said. I boiled the eggs that morning so I wouldn’t forget and then and idea hit me as I was staring at the $1 store egg coloring kit I bought…hmmm, I thought, I wonder If I could used this to make some perfectly matching scrapbook paper and embellishments for my egg-dying photos? Well, I had to try it. How did I do?

 

I think it worked marvellously! And I’m gonna tell you what I did! First you need to gather your supplies: An egg dying kit (I bought this one with the 5 baskets for $1 at the Dollar Tree, I am saving the bowls for next year or until the next crafty dye project strikes!), White cardstock, paintbrushes, a ceramic plate (to mix colors on) and a colorless blender colored pencil (I use prismacolor but you can use a white crayon or white colored pencil of another brand if you don’t have a PC one) and a digital image printed on white cardstock (I used the eggs and chick from my Cute Easter digistamp set from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff)

 

To prevent the ink from smudging when I painted the digistamp image I traced over the lines with a clear colored pencil (yep, just like we used to use white crayons on our eggs before we dyed them-it’s called a resist.) To mix the dye place one tablet in each bowl and add 1/4 cup of water, it will be stronger than the solution you use to dye the eggs but you can add more water later.

 

Use a round brush to paint in your design. I made a swatch of colors on the corner of my image to test them…I really like these colors and I’m thinking SPRAY INK! But that will have to wait until after Easter and I grab some more of these on clearance LOL! You can mix the colors on the plate if you want a different color.

 

Now this will match your photos perfectly!

 

While we are at it let’s make some paper! Use a wide brush to paint a rainbow stripe on the paper then splatter on some color for good measure.

In case you are wondering I am working on my kitchen table. I cut a large world map to fit my table-top then went to Jo-Ann and bought some clear vinyl to go over it so clean up is a breeze! (And my kids will always know where Zimbabwe is LOL!)

 

After you are done painting you can prepare the dye for egg-dying by adding a tablespoon of vinegar and 1/4 cup of water to each bucket…now you can let the kids have some fun 😀

After the kids were done dying eggs I laid out large sheets of paper and let them paint with the leftover dye, they had a blast! And best of all no waste!

Happy Easter and til next time happy crafting!

WOYWW #147 & Hand-Cut Cheverons

Well, folks, I had some friends over to craft last night so I had to tidy up a bit lest they find out what I slovenly pig I am! 😀 So, my desk is actually quite tidy this week:

 

Not, just my desk, check out my room:

 

Now, Let’s just pretend it looks like this all the time shall we?

 

I did manage to get 2 pages done while the ladies were over last night (now that’s a surprise!) I wanted to attempt to hand cut some pattern paper into a chevron stripe and let me tell you, that is for the birds! I glued a bunch of strips down to a sheet of cardstock on the diagonal, then repeated my pattern on another sheet of cardstock going the opposite way and cut it into strips and assembled it. I’m not going into more detail because it wastes paper lining it up and it a total time-suck. I’ve already thought of a better way. I’ll share it later.

 

And since one page was enough of that technique I just zig-zag cut some of the paper scraps and slapped it on this paper. Good enough.

 

So, what’s on your work-desk this Wednesday? If you want to have a peek at some other crafty desks head over to Julia’s blog (the gal who started the WOYWW phenomenon) and have a gander, heck, why not snap a pic of your desk and join in the fun? Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!