Tim Holtz Flowers

Yesterday I made these Tim Holtz flowers. I am not going to explain the building process but you can look that up in various places. My flowers are a little different though. I used card stock instead of grunge paper. I heard that if you are using card stock though you should cover the back in mod-podge so the card stock doesn't crack. So after I cut out the three flowers I covered the back in some mod-podge.

I don't have a Big Shot though or the sizzix dye you need for this so I went on the sizzix web site and printed out the sample image.

To make it easier to cut out on the card stock I put some zig two way glue on the back and let it dry so it was removable. Then I stuck the print out on the card stock and cut out three flowers.

Tim Holtz cuts the points off but I saw someone on youtube just squish down the point.

Topiary

Here is my latest crafting project. It's a dictionary topiary. To make it I started with a Styrofoam ball I found when I cleaned up the craft corner. Then I cut up 2" squares of dictionary paper. To put it on the ball, I put the paper on the end of a pencil and then dipped the end in glue. Push the pencil into the ball a little bit and you've got it. Now repeat this step a thousand times. * Once you finish half, it's a little hard to hold so i placed it on an empty toilet paper roll so it wouldn't get too squished. Once dry I stuck in a dowel that I painted black. Then I stuck the dowel into a piece of Styrofoam I put in the pot. But before I stuck in the dowel I used a piece of dictionary paper to hide the Styrofoam.

I had the old terracotta pot lying around but it was pink and sparkly. I just painted it black along with the dowel to bring out the black text.

Here is a close up of the ruffled paper ball.

Trash to Treasure

Does this picture remind you of anything? Well If you guessed a 5 gum box you're right! You could use this box for a gift card holder or something. If you want to make one of these, do the following:

First GENTLY unfold the box. Be extremely careful not to tear the box. Then peel out the weird foil thingy that is there to hold the gum in place.

Lay the unfolded box onto some paper and trace around using your favourite writing utensil. I used pencil because then I can erase the pencil marks after (Didn't end up doing that anyway but I would recommend it).

Once I cut out the traced picture, I scored it just like the original gum box. That's pretty easy to do except one part. It was so hard I almost died trying to do it............. I had to measure the gum box to figure out how far away the score line on the flappy lid thing was away from the other. Ya right! That was super simple, but if you don't want to measure it, it's a half an inch.

If you look on the original gum box there is this complicated web of slits that are there to keep the box closed. On my box, I just took an X-Acto knife to make one slit.

Tag Technique

Here's a really pretty tag I made yesterday. It might look complicated but it's really not.

To make the tag above you will need one colour of distress ink (I used broken china), an applicator tool, a stamp, a tag, a spray bottle filled with plain water.


First cover the tag in a generous amount of ink. It helps to work on a craft sheet.

Spray the tag with water. This will create the cool blotchy look.

In the same colour ink, stamp your image.

By using the same ink colour you will get a tone on tone effect.

I went to put the string back on the tag but the bright white made it stand out to much.

To fix the problem I covered the string in more blue distress ink.

And there you have it, a super simple tag.

Birthday card

To make the card above I started with a dark chocolate card base 8 1/2 x 5 1/2. Then I scored at 4 1/4 to make a standard size card. I added a piece of white card stock that is 3 1/4 x 4 1/4. On the white piece I stamped the birthday wishes in dark chocolate ink by Papertrey ink.

For the main element of the card I started with a circle (not sure of the size) the same colour as the card base. I glued on a Prima flower and a button with some thread in it. I found the best way to adhere the flower and button are with glue dots. For added interest I tucked some ribbon under the flower. This ribbon is dark chocolate from Papertrey ink.

Simple Box

Here is how to make a simple box suitable for a party favour or mini gift box.


Start with a piece of paper 7 1/2 x 8 1/2. Score at 3 inches on all four sides. Cut slits on the score line to the intersecting score line as shown above.
To make this box actually work you have to cut off most of the big squares. this will create little tabs you can put the glue on.
You want to put the glue on the outside part of the flaps.

Fold the little flaps in not out so you get a nice finished look on the outside. To finish the box I punched a hole on each side and threaded the ribbon through, tying a knot on the other side. To make it fit any occasion stamp a sentiment or image on another piece of paper and glue that to the front.

Happy Valentine's day!

For Valentine's day I made my friends mini pizza boxes with chocolates inside. To make the box you will need a piece of paper 5 1/4 by 9 1/2. Score the paper on the 5 1/4 side at 1", 4 1/4", 5 1/4" and 8 1/2. On the 9 1/2 side score 1" in at both ends. I can't really explain the rest so watch dawn5377's mini pizza box video on You Tube. For my box I used dark chocolate card stock by Papertrey ink. If you watch the video on you tube you can see she has a little trouble opening the box so I used a circle punch so you can grab onto the bottom of the box while pulling up the lid.

To keep the box closed I tied some red ribbon aroung the whole thing. It didn't look very valentiney though so I adhered a sparkly felt heart sticker.

I Love Patterned Paper

Have you ever had a piece of paper you loved so much you didn't want to cut it up? Well that was the issue I had with this piece by K and Company. I loved the colours so much I didn't want to do anything with it. At the same time I really wanted to make a card with it. What I did is used a craft knife to cut out a few flowers but leave the rest of the paper in one piece. Then I popped up the flowers with dimensionals. As you can see in the picture one flower wasn't cut out of the paper. This is because I'm not very good with a craft knife and accidentally cut into the paper. To fix this problem I cut a flower out of the remaining 12" x 12" sheet.

Here is a better look at the dimension.

Inspiration

The inspiration for this card was a a shelf full of different coloured magazines. To make this card you will need striped patterned paper of slivers of different coloured paper, two longer strips to go on the top and bottom of the shorter strips, butterfly stamp, sentiment stamp, and ink. First stamp the butterfly using the second generation stamping technique. For those that don't know what that means ink the stamp then stamp off the paper before stamping on your card, to get a lighter image. Then adhere the striped piece to the card for the "magazines" and the longer pieces for the "shelves." The longer pieces are the green stripe from the patterned paper I used. Then I stamped the happy birthday in the same colour as the butterflies but going straight from ink pad to paper. Finally round the corners and you have a very simple but pretty card.

Stampin Up Ideas

Above is a card found in the Stampin Up catalogue. I thought it was really pretty and thought I would make my own version.

Above is my creation. Completely different colour but it has some similarities. To make this card I started out with a kraft card base. To make the distressed piece, I crinkled up a piece of paper and swiped an ink pad over it to highlight the raised parts. Then I tore the edges for better distressed look. To make the main element I started with a piece of white card stock and rounded the corners. The scallops are made using Fiskars threading water boarder punch but didn't show the the holes. The ribbon is made by folding the ribbon over, putting some adhesive down and folding it back. Repeat to cover the piece of paper. Towards the end I got bored so I glued the rest of the ribbon down, I think it looks good that way though. The butterfly is stamped with a Martha Stewart stamp set in pixie pink ink and popped up with a dimensional. To finish it off I stamped thank you and popped the whole thing up with dimensionals.

Pom Poms?

It's a little hard to tell in this photo but the background's actually fuzzy. To create this effect, cut up a large pom pom into lots of fuzz. If it's staying in clumps, fluff it a little with your hands. To adhere, cover your base completely with a glue stick. Then you will rub your pom pom fuzz on the base until covered. Rub off any excess. If any spots don't have enough fuzz, rub more pom pom fuzz over the area. Keep playing with it until you're happy with the outcome. TIP: Don't put your glue stick back on the base because you WILL get fuzz in the glue stick, EWWW! This is a messy craft and you can't really avoid getting fuzz on your hands. To finish it off I added:

Popsicle sticks covered in card stock

Chip board covered in card stock

Chip board butterfly with a glitter body

Prima flower with an dew drop center

butterfly stamp

Dollar stamps are great!

Even though some studio g dollar stamps seem a little weird, with a little creativity they can be really cool. I used the clear make a wish with a floating candle stamp for this project. When I was at the store looking at this stamp i thought it looked really stupid with a random candle on it but then it hit me. Why not make a cupcake to go under the candle? So for this card I stamped the stamp onto brocade blue card stock by stampin' up. The ink I used for the stamp is dark chocolate by Papertrey ink. For the cupcake I used some patterned paper and dark chocolate card stock. To make the cupcake I cut a circle of patterned paper and cut it in half. After I used a corner rounder to round the points of the semi-circle. Then cut a square of the card stock. To make the square look like the base of a cupcake cut a small triangle off one side, and to get it to have the same angle on both sides use the cut off piece as a guide. Then I glued the cupcake base on the blue paper and the top with stampin' dimensionals. Once done the cupcake, glue the blue paper to some patterned paper, in this case matching the cupcake top. Make a card base with dark chocolate cardstock and tie brocade blue grosgrain ribbon to it. Then adhere the paper piece with dimensionals.

Favourite You Tube Crafting Channels

I am obsessed with You Tube. I get lots of inspiration from various You Tube crafters. One of my favourites is starofmay. I enjoy her videos because of her artistic cards. Cards can get very repetitive like "paste this paper here and stamp this there". Her videos use lots of patterned paper instead of boring card stock. As well as other mediums including chip board and velum. Another You Tube channel I watch regularly is My Pink Stamper. I like those videos because they feature quick and simple cards you can make with only a small variety of supplies. I know these two channels are completely different but I like the variety. I also like watching dawn5377's videos because she does tutorials on not just very interesting and unique style cards but because of her box tutorials. I find them very easy to follow and informative. APieceofCraftdotcom's videos are very interesting too. I am just starting to get into mini-albums and I like the vintage look of some of her's. Other channels I enjoy watching are Chic n' Scratch, CpeilScraps, MandJSchecter, scrappinwithhunter, StampWithHeather and TwoPeasInABucket. I also enjoy watching craft room videos. They provide great storage techniques for craft supplies. I highly recommend watching some if you are planning to redo your craft space.

Distressed Tag

To make this lovely tag you will need the following items:

- tag
-distress ink by Ranger
-distress ink applicator
-water
-spray bottle/mini mister by Ranger

To start, cover the tag in distress ink. For the tag above I used the colour vintage photo. To achieve the watermark look follow the next few steps:

Fill the spray bottle/mini mister with plain water.
Spray the tag lightly.
You will start to see the distress ink bleed away from the wet areas.
Let dry.

If you desire a distressed edge do the following:

Swipe your ink pad along the edge of the tag.
Open your scissors as if about to curl ribbon.
Run scissors along the edge to fray the edge as much as you would like.

And there you have it, a simple watermark distressed tag.