No Time To Stamp?

Keyword ssnotime55 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

For today’s challenge let’s Sing n’ Stamp with Becky!!!   Today’s featured stamper to inspire us is Becky Oehlers, a/k/a Sing n’ Stamp at SCS and by her blog title of Hemidemisemiquaver.  Becky is quite the interesting woman and she has always intrigued me — perhaps because her life seems to be so different than mine.  Becky’s card designs are very clean, crisp and classy — ALWAYS.  And I love how she uses ribbon to add that final touch to most of her work.  And she is also very clever and creative as is evidenced by the large number of projects she does with and for her girls and their home.  So Becky is a paper crafter and a Mom, that’s not so different — LOL!!! But where the difference and interest lies is in her professional life as a classical singer.  Becky’s love for what she does just oozes out of her, and I LOVE that, so I could not possibly let this challenge go by without adding some element of music.  So, if you want to earn some bonus points today, add some element of music to your project — anything, anyway, anyhow — as long as the viewers get the idea of music or song.  How fun!!!
 
Please check out Becky’s Blog here to be inspired by her creations.  And while you are there, take the time to read — there’s a lot of interest to be read, videos to be seen and check out her free downloadable paper designs in her sidebar — fun stuff!!!
 
So, to summarize today’s challenge based on Becky’s style — here’s what we’re after:
 
Overall style:  Clean, Crisp, Classy
Embellishments: Beautiful Ribbon
Creative License:  Make any type of 3D or Home decor item, if you so choose
Bonus Points:  Incorporate some element of music or song into your project.
Required Element:  SING while you are stamping!!!  LOL!!

Here’s what our DT did, but if you are viewing this late Thursday night or early Friday morning, please bear with us as everyone is uploading their projects — thank you!!!

And we do have a Guest Designer for the entire month of October — how lucky are we!!! I’d like to introduce you to Darlene Pavlick, known as akronstamperdpk at SCS and by her blog which is Dar’s Crafty Creations.  Darlene was the winner of the October Guest Designer spot during our Blog Anniversary Celebration a few weeks back, and I just couldn’t be more pleased!!! Stop in at Dar’s Crafty Creations to view her beautiful workmanship, check out her kitchen creations, see a gift from her loving DH, read her bio and check out her DT gigs on her sidebar.  Very impressive, Darlene, and we are all so happy to have you with us for this month!!!

Check out Darlene’s sample here.

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here. 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample  here.

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here.

Check out Becky Oehlers’ sample here.

You can see all Gallery Submissions here.

Aren’t these girls just FABULOUS!!!  Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!  

Here’s my project for today’s challenge:

It’s a gift card holder in a style a bit different than I usually do, but it was super quick and fun.  A tutorial will follow.  There are many sides to Becky, and I decided to go with the ultra classy side, as would be fitting a classical singer.  Wouldn’t it be fun to present concert tickets in this holder?  Well, no concert tickets here, so I’ll use it for something other.  The pocket can hold whatever you like — even cash!!!  I used a gorgeously scripted scripture quote from the retired SU set called Elegant Inspirations, swirls from Baroque Motifs and the notes were from a Cuttlebug die I just got — fun!!!  The sentiment says:

“By day the Lord directs His love, at night his song is with me.” Psalms 42:8

A very beautiful and reassuring scripture quote that I thought fitting for Becky’s challenge.  In fact, I will also upload this card at SCS to this weeks WT where Julia called for *quotes* and to the Divine Design 2008 Bible Verse Challenge that I have missed again for so many months!!!  Check it out — it’s a wonderful challenge that *challenges* us to memorize scripture!!!

The first photo shows the actual holder in the envlope and the next photo shows the back side of the envelope.

The envelope makes up in just a mintue using the Scor-It Mini (the full size Scor-It would work as well). 

Cut your paper 8.5 x 5.5″.

Score 3 15/16″ from one short edge.

Score 1/2″ from the other short edge.

Score 1/2″ from the bottom edge.

Cut the two bottom sections out as shown, leaving a flap on the back only, angling as shown.

Stamp design on both front and back as desired.

After your design is stamped and your envelope is adhered together,  find the center point at the top (opening) of your envelope and punch a hole as shown, going through both layers (front and back) at once.

To make the actual gift card holder, cut your paper 3.5 x 7″.  Score 2″ from one short end.  Round all 4 corners.  Punch a circle out of a scrap of black, adhere about 3/4″ of it to the center top, then cut off the remainder left sticking out on your paper cutter.   Tape the bottom flap up to form a pocket and punch a hole in the center of the black circle to run ribbon through for the pull.

That pretty well sums it up!! Hope you get a chance to play today or anytime this week, or anytime, really!!! There is never a time limit — play when you can!!!  We have a wedding to go to on Saturday, so we are hoping for a beautiful day up here.  Hope you all have pleasant plans for your weekend as well!!! Thanks so much for stopping in — I surely do appreciate it!!!  Many thanks!

Sometimes stamps need a good conditioning to give you a good, crisp image.  And taking the few minutes it takes to condition your rubber stamp is so well worth the time, you will certainly never regret it!  This post will show you how to condition  your JustRite rubber stamps and admitedly, this will certainly NOT be the most attractive post you have ever seen, as I prepared these samples this evening to try to make it easier for you to see the difference a good conditioning can make.  So please just bear through these photos and my scribbles for notes as I do believe the information is well worth your time to read.

We are all familiar with conditioning our clear stamps (see this post by Leslie Miller), but all too often we don’t condition our rubber stamps, as most often they just don’t need it; however, the situation is different with reverse image stamps where you have a lot of surface area to cover with ink.  These are the rubber stamps that most often benefit from a good conditioning.  I know we’ve all had those reverse image stamps that just don’t give us a good image.  Today I’m going to show you how to fix that problem and get beautiful, full and solid images from your reverse image stamps (stamps with a lot of rubber surface to be covered with ink).

The stamps I’m using for the samples today are from the Christmas Ensemble by JustRite made to be used on the Harmony Classic Circle Stamper III — that’s the large 3 1/4″ circle which, as you may know, is my FAVORITE of all the new products.  Oh, how I LOVE those large circular images — so FUN!!!  But a warning first, if you are one who loves a vintage shabby/chic type of look, then DO NOT condition your stamps.  The way the solid image stamps in this set stamp straight from the factory is very much a shabby/chic look, blending so well with the Basic Grey and other more distressed looking papers — just a word of warning — LOL!!!  But, if you want a cleaner, crisper look, read on.

The first thing we need to do is clean the rubber with a good solvent stamp cleaner to remove any films or coatings on the rubber from the factory.  Once that is done, we need to give our rubber some *tooth*.  That’s the reason some of the solid image stamps don’t stamp so well — there is such a large area of rubber and it is so smooth and almost slippery, when the ink is applied it just pools up and moves about on the rubber, yielding a splotchy and poorly stamped image.  We need to roughen up that rubber surface a bit to make the ink stick.  Here’s a few items I use to accomplish this:

These are items from Wal-Mart, 97 cents each, in the fingernail file section, near the nail polish.  That’s what they are — for filing your nails, but they work fabulously to give our rubber the tooth it needs.  The file on top has 7 different grits of paper on it — all numbered in order — how handy!!!  Below is a succession of 6 photos, showing you how the stamped image looks after all the different things I tried.

• Photo 1 shows the image as stamped with nothing done to the rubber.  Just used it straight out of the box.  I think you can see the problem — splotchy, uneven — rather shabby/chic — LOL!!!!
• Photo 2 shows the image after it was cleaned with a solvent cleaner.
• Photo 3 shows the image after it was then erased with a pencil eraser.  On occasion, some of my monogram letters haven’t accepted ink the best — and a few times over the letter with a pencil eraser always solved that problem on such a small image — however, it did not solve the problem on this larger image to my satisfaction.
• Photo 4 shows the image after I then sanded it with the white block.  The paper on this block is quite coarse, so I sanded with a soft hand, but went over it a lot.
• Photo 5 shows the image after I then tried side #4 on the longer file.  I still wasn’t quite satisfied.
• Photo 6 shows the image afer I then tried side # 3 on the longer file.  Now I’m happy!  A nice, crisp image!!!

Please bear in mind, this was my experiement that I tried to photo for you.  It’s not nearly as complicated as this may appear.  Check out this before and after of Happy Holidays:

What a difference!  Here’s what I’ve ended up doing on most of my solid image stamps to achieve this result:  Clean with Solvent, sand lightly with either the white block OR the #1 on the file, then go over again with #’s 2, 3 and 4 on the file, the grit gets finer each time.  That seems to do it for me!!!  And it truly only takes a minute or two!!!  Here’s another photo:

First stamping, then after doing the process as I just listed above, then trying it in black.  I am satisfied with both the red and black.  For this experiement I used a new pad of SU Riding Hood Red.  The last one in black was Versa Fine Onyx Black.  Papertrey Ink White is my white paper of choice — love that paper — but I will say I got a better result using these stamps on SU Whisper White.  It is a smoother paper and I got a crisper, clearer, more solid image on this paper.  It is not extremely noticeable, but since that is what I was paying attention to tonight, thought I’d pass that on.

Now let me show you something else.  Remember the other day in this post I showed you that I cut a monogram letter to make things fit properly.  Well today using the last stamp pictured above, check out the first photo.  See the ring — kind of a hickey mark from the edge of the rubber.  Granted I did not have the outer border ring on the stamper, but still, I often use the centers without the borders, and I want them to stamp well.  So, out come the scissors again.  I just cut off the edges and the problem was solved, as evidenced in the next 2 photos.  Here it is:

Once again, it’s OK to cut your rubber!!!

Before closing, I’d like to direct you over to the Blogs of Michelle and Taylor.  They have both recently written some great posts addressing the issue of  “Where do I Start?”.  I know so many of you would like to make your first purchase of JustRite products, but you just don’t know where to begin — well, check out both of these posts and it just may help!!!  Michelle Wooderson, Taylor VanBruggen.

Thank you so much for stopping in again.  I hope this was of help to someone out there.  These stamps are so beautiful and so fun, we all need to make sure we are getting the BEST out of them!!!  Hope you are having a wonderful week!!! And tomorrow is another fun Stamp Simply Challenge — check it out if you are so inclined!!! Thanks much!!!

A quick note on another subjet:  Feedblitz totally missed sending out notices on 2 of my posts in the past week.  I try to post 5 to 6 times a week, so if you want to make sure you see them all, just scroll down or click in each morning.  Feedblitz is a wonderful service, when it catches them all — LOL!!! 

I made a project today that I am totally  happy with — quick, simple, clean, fresh and something I can use for a gift!!!  I was cruising Tammy’s blog  earlier today, saw an adorable box/bag type thing, clicked the link and found a fabulous site I had never been at before — the 3-D Design Challenge Blog.  How fun!!!  A challenge was issued to create a One Sheet Box and a printable template was provided.  This was one of those times when I just had to drop everything else and do it!!! I LOVE this little box — SO quick and easy — and just adorable!!!  I know I’ll be making a lot more of these.  I added a rounded top to my box, but it’s the same template, and then I made an ornament to coordinate with and put in the box.  Here they are:

The box is made using a full 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.  I followed the instructions exactly, except I did NOT score those diagonal lines for the corner folds.  It was much easier to just fold it in my hand, easily lining it up, then crease that inside fold with my fingers.  I then used tape to secure all those folds on the inside of the box (between the layers of paper).  Adorable box!!!  (Editing:  I used a thinner DP that was 1 sided with a white back.  The thinner DP allowed for crisp folds in the corners.)  To  decorate the box  I decided I would make a large snowflake for the top to round it off and give it some extra height and stability.  Once the snowflake was made, I thought it looked like an ornament so, there you go — a box AND a gift!!!  Here’s how I made the snowflakes:

• Using the Cuttlebug Ice Crystal die on about a 4″ square of white c/s, run it through and cut.  Press out the snowflake and save for another project.  We are going to use the negative part for this project. (Editing:  I ordered this die from Jacksonbelle Embellisments, and to my surpise when it came there is ALSO a folder, same design, in the pacakge!!)

• Using a Circle Nestability, center it over the negative snowflake, cut and emboss.

• Using SU Bashful Blue c/s, apply double sided tape to one side, and using the same Circle Nestie as above to cut the snowflake, cut out the circle.  It will have tape on one side.  Those of you with Xyron’s large enough, could just run these through the Xyron instead.  I just don’t have one.

• Now take your circle negative snowflake and adhere it to the Bashful Blue circle above, on the sticky side.  The sticky tape will be exposed in the snowflake opening.  Sprinkle with fine glitter.  This technique is called a Glitter Window, and instructions can be seen on this SCS tutorial.

• Using Prism Iced Cobalt, cut a Circle with the Nestability Die just a bit larger.  This Iced Cobalt circle serves to frame the snowflake.  When adhering to the box, the snowflake is on the front of the box front, while the Iced Colbalt frame is on the back of the box front, so the box appears finished both inside and out.  Make 2 of these — one for both the front and back of the box.  Here’s a good look at the box:

I just added a little tag with ribbon trim. The tag was cut and embossed on the Spellbinders die called Tag 5.  It cuts 5 tags at a time — I like it a lot.  These tags are a bit bigger than the other sets of Spellbinders tags I have, so it allows for sentiments a bit larger.

To make the ornament I made 2 more of the snowflakes and sandwiched the Iced Cobalt Circle in between them, punched a hole with the Cropadile punch (gosh that thing works great for going through so many layers!), then ran my ribbon through the hole.  Done!!!

• Stamps:  Star Studded Season by SU

• Paper:  PTI White, SU Bashful Blue, Prism Iced Cobalt, very old DCWV Spring Stack DP

• Ink:   Versa Fine Onyx Black

• Accessories:  Cuttlebug and Ice Crystal Die, Petite Circle Nesabilities and Tag 5 by Spellbinders, Double Sided Tape or Xyron, SU Dazzling Diamonds, Cropadile, SU Ribbon, Dimensionals

That’s it for this project!  I’m sure you’d LOVE this box, too — give it a try.  Once you do it once and figure out the corner thing, it’ll go together in just a minute or two — truly that simple!!!

See 2 posts above with a Contest to Enter and more Blog Candy links!

Thanks for stopping in!!!  Are you getting tired of the party yet — LOL!!!   We’re about 1/2 way through!!!

This evening I went down to my stamp room to create a card for the Sketch Challenge at SCS, and before I knew what  happened I had this little gift set about done.  Here it is:

The card I did for the Sketch Challenge is on the upper right.  This set was so quick, easy and cheap to make — it truly was amazing — LOL!!!  All items are from the $ Bin at Michaels.  The black and white cards were in a pack of 8, with envelopes, for $1, and the journal was also $1.  I made the little pouch that the gift set of cards is in, and I’ll show you how below.

Above is the card I did for the Sketch Challenge.  This is the card to present to the recipient of this gift along with all the items.  Can you see how the purchased card base is shorter in front and the scalloped circle main image is hanging over?  I like that feature!  These cards are a bit smaller than normal, at 5 x 3.75″.   The circle image is stamped using the Harmony Classic Circle III Stamp Ensemble.  This is the new 3.25″ round wooden stamper that will be available real soon — but it IS AVAILABLE to preoder now at the JustRite site.  I stamped it in black ink.  I then masked all but the center sentiment and then stamped the center sentiment in red on a scrap of paper, then cut and embossed it using the Double Ended Tag die by Spellbinders.  My image was cut, embossed, matted in black and then framed with a red scallop, all using the Petite Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders.  I wrapped the card with red ribbon before adhering the sentiment circle.

And here’s the journal to coordinate.  And this just couldn’t be any simpler!  The white Journal was already on it, so I wanted to use it as is.  I just added a monogram above it.  This monogram was made using the Damask Monogram Stamper Kit and the Times New Roman font that comes with the kit.  I used the same monogram on all of the gift cards in the pouch.  Now this is the original round wooden stamper that so many of you already have.   And what really pleases me is that this Damask border coordinates so well with the border I used on the 3.25″ stamper above, making it very easy to incorporate both stampers on the same project.  The red ribbon is actually a book mark.  It runs down the length of the inside back cover of the book, where is it adhered for the entire length with red sticky strip.  It can be placed anywhere in the Journal to mark your place!

I made the little pouch to hold the set of 4 monogrammed cards and 4 envelopes.  Now, granted, this is not the fanciest of pouches or card holders, but it’ll do the trick in a pinch for a quick little gift.  It is merely made from 2 of the cards that were in the set of 8.  I’ll try to show you:

Using 2 sided tape, I securely attached 2 card together to a length I thought would be adequate.  I then took red ribbon and ran it around the card covering the seam that was showing on the outside of the card.   There is red sticky strip holding the ribbon on in the card inside.  The seam you are seeing on the right is not on the outside, only on the inside, so it doesn’t matter.  Then I adhered more red sticky strip to the ends to hold it closed and together.

This is what the pouch looks like on the outside when complete.  This pouch easily holds 4  of the gift cards I made using the monogram  and 4 envelopes.  I forgot to photo the gift cards separately, but I think you can see them in the pouch and in the first photo.

And here we have all 4 gift cards plus the 4 envelopes in the pouch.  Easy peasy as they say!!!

• Stamps:  Harmony Classic Circle III Stamp Ensemble and Damask Monogram Stamper Kit, both by JustRite
• Paper:  Michaels $ Bin cards and journal, PTI White, SU Black and Real Red
• Ink:  VersaFine Onyx Black, SU markers in Real Red and Black
• Accessories:  SU Red Grosgrain Ribbon, SU Brads, Petite Circle Nestabilities and Double Ended Tags both by Spellbinders, Red Sticky Strip.

Thank you all so much for stopping in today!!!  I hope you can all come back tomorrow to join in the festivities of the week to come in celebration of my 1 yr Blog Anniversary.  A bit of detail is included in the post prior to this — just scroll down!!! Hope you are all having a wonderful week!!! Thanks so much — see you soon!!!!

There’s been several things that I haven’t done in ages — boxes and accordion fold cards.  Thought I would start today by doing an accordion fold card — love these!!! They are so fun to make, to give, and for the recipient to display!!!  And yes, I must admit, I was dying to use up that sheet of Penny Black stickers I started the other day, so — here you have it — almost all of the stickers (just a few left) and a few stamped sentiments.  Here it is:

I’d like to start with how I made and scored the card base.  Cut 2 pieces of cardstock for your card base — one is 5 x 11 and the other is 5 x 7.  I used my Mini Scor-It  for this project, but the full size Scor-It would work just as well. 

Starting with the 11″ piece, score at 3.5″, flip the paper over to the other side, and put your score line on the 3.5″ ruler marking and score, then flip the paper over again, putting the last score line on the 3.5″ ruler marking and score — you will have 1/2″ left over, and that’s correct.  Now, take the 7″ piece and score it in the center at 3.5″.  (The reason we are flipping that first sheet is because we want each score to fold the way it is supposed to, and with an accordion fold, each one folds the opposite way — so we need to flip the paper over — is that clear??  When you look at your score — one side is dented in and one side is humped out — see?  OK, the side that is dented in is the side that is on the OUTSIDE of the fold.)  Here are the sheets once the scoring is done:

It’s really hard to see on this purple paper, but on that 1/2″ strip, can you see the strip of red line sticky tape?  Well, just adhere the 2 pieces together as shown in the photo and your card base will be done, ready for decorating!  Now each panel  of the card is 5 x  3.5″, so I’ve cut my plum colored mats at 4.75 x 3.25, and the white panels 1/8″ smaller.  Here’s a close-up of the first 3 panels:

• Stamps:  Penny Black Stickers.  SU Small Script and Small Sayings
• Paper:  SU Elegant Eggplant, Prism Plumish color, PTI White, Basic Grey DP.
• Ink:  Versa Fine Onyx Black.  Love is written with a black Copic fine tipped marker.
• Accessories:  Ribbon from Wal-Mart (gingham and velvet), SU Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware, White Pearls, Black Rhinestones by Kaiser, SU Black Brad, Cuttlebug Corner Dies, SU Photo Corner Punch, Long Rectangle Nestabilites and Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Red Sticky Tape.

And these are the last 2 panels.  Love was handwritten.  Hello is a sticker.

Quite some time ago I did a post comparing the Scor-It to the Scor-Pal.  That post generated a lot of interest, and especially interest in a brochure produced by the people at Scor-It.  It’s really an interesting brochure that teaches us a lot about paper, grain and scoring. I have an improved copy of that brochure which I am happy to email you — again, I just can’t figure out how to link it, but I’m happy to email it to anyone who would like to see it — just shoot me an email (click CONTACT ME on the left sidebar) and put SCOR-IT BROCHURE in your subject line and I’ll forward it to you right away.  And you may have to SAVE the brochure before opening it. It is a full color brochure with pictures, and saving before opening will usually insure you get to see it in it’s completed form.

I demoed both the full size Scor-It (pictured above) and mini Scor-It (pictured below) at our small SCS gathering last week.  The girls loved them, but the universal question was — which one do I need — big or small?  Well, that depends on what you do.   They both are exactly the same, work the same, constructed the same — the only difference is the size.  The full size Scor-it has a longer measuring ruler and bed (6″ on each side of center) as opposed to the shorter measuring ruler on the Mini (4.5″ on each side of center).   For instance, the way I make cards, I always cut my paper 11 x 4.25 and score it at 5.5 for a top fold, or tent fold, card.  I realize this is not the common fold for most people, but it is MY common fold.  I can not do this score on the Mini — I don’t have enough ruler to be able to score at 5.5″.  But I can easily do this on the full size Scor-It. 

The Scor-It Mini works wonderfully when you score a standard side fold card — you need to meausure in on the ruler 4.25″, and you can — so for most of you — the mini works wonderfully on how you do your cards.  The Mini worked great for my Accordion card today.  Just remember, the ruler on the mini is only, 4.5″ from each side of center, so beyond that, you would need to use a full sized board.  And if you like to pack up and go, the Mini is really small and easy to tote along!!!!  (Though the full sized one is not hard to bring along either!)

Whichever board you use, the full sized or mini, the superior score made is the same.  Although you can get a ton of info on these boards from the Scor-It site, I don’t believe they sell directly.  I found both boards at Ellen Hutson, and her service is exceptional!!!

Well, hope that was helpful to someone out there!!!  Love my score-boards!!!

Hoping you are all having a great week!!!  Our Stamp Simply Challenge will be up as scheduled tomorrow (Friday), so hope to see you then!!!!  Thanks for stopping in!!!

Hi everyone!!! Today’s May I Suggest… is going to be a little different than it has been the past few weeks, but change is good — right?   What I am going to suggest today is a technique — masking.  Probably one of the first techniques you learned as a beginning stamper, and if you don’t know how to mask, well, we’ve got a video tutorial for you to watch, so you’ll be ready to go in no time at all.  Here’s the card I made:

• Stamps:  Coffee with Friends by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Black, Boxer and Scarlet’s Letter by Basic Grey***
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black
• Accessories:  Black Sheer Ribbon, SU Brads, Petite Oval Nestabilities, Eclipse Masking Tape, Dimensionals 
• Size:  5.5″ square

***Please note:  A few lines of our Basic Grey paper are either sold out or dangerously low.  If the pad you are looking for does not appear in the store, please just check back in a day or two.  The shipment is due to arrive any day!

This uses Coffee with Friends, one of Flourishes latest releases, and the first set in the Stamp Simply line.  We all knew from day one that this set was a dream to paper piece.  Well, it is also a super simple set to mask. It took hardly no time at all to create this main image with the 2 mugs on it.  And they are not only masked, but paper pieced as well.   How fun!!! And such impact for very little effort –

I first stamped my mug in the forefront on the white cardstock, then stamped again on a piece of Eclipse Masking Tape to make my mask.  I cut out my mask, layed it onto the mug, then I stamped the mug again where I wanted it.  The mask totally protected the first mug.  I then stamped my mug again twice on designer paper for the piecing, then I stamped on a flourish from the set (right over the printed paper),  cut out and adhered onto the card.  Fun!!!

And if you have never tried the Eclipse Masking Tape, you really MUST.  This is a low tack tape made for masking.  No more trying to find the sticky spot on the sticky note — the entire mask is a low tack self-stick tape when made with the Eclipse Tape.   How wonderful!!!  OK, now check out this little glimpse at a card:

As my sample was really quick and simple,  I’d like to direct you over to the Blog of my good friend, Susan Roberts, who created such a gorgeous card using the beautiful, newly released Peony.  She took her masking a few steps further than I did and, WOW!!! Wait until you see the result with that stunning Peony.  You can see it here.  Susan also includes some great instructions for you.

And speaking of instructions, here’s a few places you can check out to see tutorials on masking.

• Nancy Kirk has prepared a nice video on both masking and reverse masking and she is using Flourishes first stamp set, Cake Decorating 101.  When you watch this video, you not only get a good overview on how to mask, but you can actually see the cake and pedestal come together — fun!!!  See Nancy’s tutorial here.
• Beate Johns over at SCS has a basic masking tutorial in the Resources section there.  You can check out Beate’s tutorial here.

I apologize for this abbreviated version of May I Suggest… , but time constraints prohibited me from doing much more this week.  And I am so thankful to Susan for her beautifully done Peony masked card and instructions, and also to Nancy and Beate for their great tutorials on masking.  Hope you check them all out. But to recap, what I am suggesting today is:

• Masking — it’s so easy and fun and brings so much depth to your images – check out the tutorials linked above to get you going
• Coffee with Friends and Peony — Flourishes latest releases — 2 completely different sets, but both adapt so well to the masking technique
• Eclipse Masking Tape — a fabulous replacement for the sticky note — LOL!!! Truly, it is!!!  Makes masking a breeze!!!

While enjoying my morning coffee, I made the rounds to see what all of our DT was up to last night and MY OH MY!!!! I MUST share these with you — take a look — you will NOT be disappointed:

Leslie Miller — Coffee Gift Card Holder with tutorial — and check out what she did with the saucer — brilliant!!!

Julie Koerber — Coffee Gift Card Holder with altered Take Out Cup and tutorial — what a wonderful, wonderful gift!!!

Faith Hofrichter — Fabulous card featuring Fantasy Floral Garden, a la Markie’s Mom style!!!  You must check this out — with a little birdie, too!!!

Linda Duke — A delicate and beautiful Siberian Iris card done in Linda’s signature Paper Tole style.  She offers instruction and a close up view.  Be sure to click on the smaller floral image to get a nice, large closeup showing all the Paper Tole detail.

Thank you all so much for stopping in — I truly do appreciate it!!! Hope you are all having a great week!!!

This post comes a day late, but at least it’s here now!!!  And 10 Minute Tuesday will be about a 1/2 day late as well, but it’s coming!!!  Trying real hard to get caught up!!!

This is a fairly quick and easy grad card for a guy, featuring a *somewhat personalized* monogram made with the JustRite Monogram Stamper (C-45) and the Harlequin stamp set by Flourishes.  When I say *somewhat personalized* what I mean is, rather than having the graduates name on each card I make (I had 8 cards to do for grads from this school), I found it much quicker to put on the year and a simple *Congrats BHS Grad*.  This way they get their year and their school name on the card, though not their own name = somewhat personalized!!!  Using the C-45 I can kick out 8 of these in a matter of seconds, as opposed to the time it would take to change the grads name on each, so — it works for me!!!  Oh, and I loved the colors to work with — our school colors are purple and gold and the class colors were black and white — a great combo!!!

I used the Small Letters and the Medium/Large Numbers on the Monogram Stamper (C-45) to make this monogram.  However, since all the letters and numbers are interchangeable from the C-45 to the smaller wooden stampers, and vice versa, I could have just as easily done this with one of the smaller wooden stampers.  Personally, I just prefer the ease of being able to stamp out many of the same monogram super quickly with the C-45.

The grid pattern is done with Harlequin by Flourishes, stamped tone on tone on the Eggplant Paper, with the diamond centers being gold embossed.  The gold matting layers on the grid image and the monogrammed image are made with gold metallic cardstock.  The monogrammed image and all layers are cut and embossed using the Circle Nestabilities.

• Stamps:  Harlequin by Flourishes and the JustRite Monogram Stamper C-45 by JustRite.
• Paper:  White, Black Textured, Elegant Eggplant, Gold Metallic.
• Ink:  Black, Elegant Eggplant, Versa Mark.
• Accessories:  Gold Embossing Powder, Tassel (tutorial below), Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Mini Glue Dots, Mounting Squares.

The tassel on this card is home made and a tutorial follows.  I have received a lot of questions from readers as to where I get these — well, it is getting to be a problem.  I have picked up the bookmark sized tassles with the longer strings at craft stores often times.  The short ones that I’ve been using for graduation tassels have become hard to find.  They used to always be in the sewing section of Wal-Mart, but I haven’t been able to find them in black for months, though the last time I checked they did have the gold.  Here’s a picture of what I’ve been buying, and what I just made and used on the card above:

The tutorial that follows will all be done in thumbnails, so just click the photos if you’d like to see larger views.

The first thing we need to do is make our little template.  I used a lightweight chipboard coaster, but I think a heavy one would have worked better.  I cut it to 1 3/4″ wide and then  measured 1/4″ down from the top and drew a line with a ruler and pen.  Then I  used my Word Window Punch and punched just under that line, and off the end of the chipboard, as shown.  The black string I am using is Crochet Cotton from Wal-mart with all the other crochet threads, near the yarns.  I think DMC Embroidery Floss would work as well, but I didn’t have the right color and our Wal-Mart doesn’t carry that anymore either.  But this Crochet Cotton worked just great!

Start by wrapping the Crochet Cotton around your template as shown, over the opening.  I wrapped mine about 15 complete rounds.  Let long tails hanging  down when done.

Now take a nice big darning needle with a large eye and run a length of Crochet Cotton through the eye and just tie the thread on at the eye so it doesn’t keep falling off as you wrap a band around the threads — see photo — you are wrapping this band in the open area.  I wrapped it around about 10 times.  Then tie it tightly in the back.  When I was done tying it, I put a Mini Glue Dot over my knot, just so I can see that tiny black knot again and to make sure the knot holds.  Let your leftover strings hang down.

Thread your needle with another length of thread.  Run it under the top portion of the loop, as shown in the photo, keeping your thread doubled. Cut the end so you can get the needle off, and then tie it into a knot that you can slide down close to the base.  I don’t know what knots are called.  I just loop it around my finger and pull it through itself, then slide it down and tug to make it tight — if that makes any sense.

Now you can take your scissors, insert them under the threads right at the bottom and cut them.  Now you can slide the entire tassell off the framing and give it a little haircut to take care of those long ends that were left hanging, and it should be done!!!  When I attach it to the card, I make sure the Mini Glue Dot is on the back, and use that to help adhere it to the card.

I hope this helps some with the tassel dilemna!!!  10 Minute Tuesday will be late, but hope to get it up sometime on Tuesday!!! Sorry, but I’m trying to get back on track!!!  Thanks so much for stopping in!!!

I didn’t have time to make a card today, so I thought I would show you what I did spend my time on.  I am making 2 matching display boards for cards — I know you’ve seen similar boards both in stores and in crafting magazines.  Maybe you’ve even made one yourself.  Well, once I was doing it, I took a few pics along the way, so if anyone would like to know how to do one, just follow along.  It’s really very simple.  Here’s the end product:

I made 2 exactly the same.  I have visions of these being framed in a thick, white semi-ornate wooden frame; however, that part of my project involves my DH or DS so, for now, these will have to do as is.  Here’s the supply list (for 1 board):

• 1 - Foam Board, 20 x 30 x 3/16
• Polyester Batting, 23 x 33
• Fabric, 26 x 36
• 7 yards of Velvet Ribbon (got my Chocolate Velvet from Flourishes)
• 9 Buttons
• Double Sided Carpet Tape
• Red Sticky Tape
• Large-eyed Darning Needle
• Piercing Tool, Mat Pack or Self-healing Cutting Board
• Heavy Hemp

To start, lay your board on top of your batting.  Completely cover the perimeter of the Board with Double Sided Carpet Tape.  Then first pull up one side and adhere to carpet tape, then do the opposite side, then do the other 2 sides, clipping and folding in your corners neatly to avoid bulk as you go.

Next, cover the perimeter of the board with 2 rows of the same carpet tape.  The first row will be going right over your batting, and the 2nd row will be going just inside from the first.  Now, just as above, very neatly pull up one long side and then do the opposite side, pulling tightly as you go.  Then to do the next 2 sides, view the photo below –

Before folding up the 2 shorter sides, cut out the corners as shown above to reduce the bulk, and then apply a piece of the same carpet tape on the diagonal in the corner to hold the corner down as it is folded.  See below –

By cutting out the corner as shown above, you will be able to neatly get a corner, similar to this.  Now, flip your board over and continue as below –

Take your ribbon and lay it out as you feel it looks best, or suits your needs best, and secure with common pins.  Once all ribbons are secured, flip it over, apply Red Sticky Tape to all the ribbon tails (I left 6″ tails everywhere) and secure them tightly on the back.  Everything on this is held very firmly with the tapes I have mentioned.    Next, you’ll need to sew on the buttons –

This was really very easy to do, using the right supplies.  You’ll need a large-eyed darning needle and sturdy hemp string.  I started by taking my piercing tool, with the mat pack underneath, and poking a hole right where I wanted my string to come up from the bottom.  By poking a hole all the way through, you can now look at the bottom, see your hole and insert  your needle with hemp and it’ll come up exactly where you want it.  Once it is up, string the button on (these buttons have a shank), and then take your needle and go back down through the layers.  Once all strings are on the back, securely tie them off.  This is what the back looks like when done:

I’d like to cover it neatly with fabric just to clean it up, but I first have to wait to see if I have any fabric left over once completing my other projects.  If I don’t have any of this fabric left over, I can use another, since it is just the back!!!  But I would just like to clean it up a bit!!!

That’s it — a relatively simple project and a fun and attractive way to display cards, and also very easy to change them out when needed.   If anyone should try making one of these, I’d love to see it — please come back here to link so that I can see it!!!

Hope you all had a great weekend and are looking forward to a good week ahead!!!   Thanks so much for stopping in!!!

This is unreal!!!  If you signed up for the Scor-Pal I have posted as Blog Candy — well, your chance to win just doubled!!!!  Diana Crick, inventor of the Scor-Pal, has decided to throw a ”Deluxe Scor-Pal Package”  into the ring since interest seems to be so high.  The “Deluxe Scor-Pal Package” consists of one Scor-Pal, a Scor-Tote, extra Scor-Tool and a roll of 1/4″ Scor-Tape.  How cool is that!!!

So on Monday night, March 17, at midnight Eastern time,   I will be having the random number generator select 2 numbers.  The first number to pop up will receive the Scor-Pal I originally listed (the original Blog Candy), and the second number selected will receive the “Deluxe Scor-Pal Package” that Diana has just donated.  So, in this case, the 2nd prize is actually the larger prize — but that’s OK — it’s still a win/win situation for 2 people!!!

VERY IMPORTANT:  All sign ups for both Blog Candies are still at my original post HERE.  Only 1 entry per person.  If you signed up before, you now have a chance to win either prize — do not sign up again.  One entry per person.  If you have not signed up and you’d like to, click HERE and sign up at the original post.

COMMENTS ON THIS POST ARE NOT IN THE BLOG CANDY DRAWING!!!

OK, now that the excitement is over, I’d like to share a fun little project with you I did this evening, using the Scor-Pal.    This is a little gift — it’s a recipe box with 12 index cards inside on which recipes can be written, using the new SU set called Tart and Tangy and their new Summer Picnic Designer Paper.  Fun!!!  Here it is:

Isn’t it cute — love this paper!  This is a simple box base, no top. It is made to easily house standard 4 x 6 recipe cards.  The Real Red box is covered with the Summer Picnic DP and decorated with a ribbon and tag made from Tart and Tangy. The *Recipes* label was computer generated.  The recipe cards are fun and so quick!  I corner rounded the tops on a standard 4 x  6 index card.  I then cut strips of coordinating DP 1 1/4″ x 6″ each, corner rounded the top two corners on each and adhered them to the index card.  I then added a Round Tab punched tab on top and I was done.  Oh, those tabs were stapled on — quick and easy!!!

• Cut  your cardstock 10 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches. 
• With the short side up against the ruler edge on top, move the left edge of the paper out to the 1/4″ mark on the ruler, then score at 3 and 5.
• Turn your paper so the long end is up against the ruler edge on top, and score at 2.
• Slide the paper to the right so the right edge is up against the rail at 12, and score at 10.
• Cut on the score lines as shown in the photo, trimming a bit away on the center tab to allow the box to fold easily.

Such a quick project!!! I’m sure you’d have fun with it!!  Here is the supply list:

• Stamps:  Tart and Tangy
• Paper:  Real Red, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Summer Picnic Designer Paper
• Ink:  None, but markers in Real Red and Old Olive.
• Accessories:  Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Round Tab Punch, 1 1/4″ and 1 3/8″ Round Punches, Cropadile, Eyelet, Crafter’s Tool Kit, Staples, Computer Generated Sentiment

Remember, a comment here DOES NOT sign you up for blog candy, you must go to the orignal post HERE

Thanks so much for stopping in!!!  Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

Challenge #24- Keyword ssnotime24 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here. 

The challenge this week is to either make a purse or use purse images on your project.  Yes, a 3-D purse fits the bill perfectly here, but if you aren’t inclined to do a 3-D project then just make a card or any flat project that either contains purse images, which could be stamped, stickers, rub-ons, cut-outs, chipboard, anything at all — as long as there is some purse related feature to your project.  And a purse can also be construed as a tote bag, book bag, shopping bag, etc — anything you would carry with you to hold your belongings. Doesn’t this sound like fun!!!!  I LOVE purses!!!

Now, if you do a 3-D project – PLEASE — if you can — share your instructions with us.  We would all love to try these things out!  If you took a template from somewhere on the net, please link it for us in your upload.  If you did a super simple project and can talk us through it, that would be great.  If you are a Blogger and can show us a photo of your home-made template, that would be great, too.  HOWEVER,  I don’t want to scare anyone off by making them feel they have to get involved in producing some huge tutorial - that is NOT the point — OK?  If you can’t share instructions, that’s OK — please play anyway — but I just KNOW when everyone starts seeing cute purses, questions will arise — as, generally speaking, we are all a very curious bunch!  LOL!!!

And remember Julie Koerber from last week — known as outtoimpress at SCS and Out to Impress by Julie in Blogland — well, she’s still with  us!!!  And that’s a good thing!!!     Here is Julie’s SCS upload and here is her Blog post, and oh my goodness!!!  It is drop dead gorgeous, you have GOT to go and see it!!!

There are just a ton of purses out there to make, and I could be linking here forever to give you ideas, but what I’ve done is create a link to a search in the SCS galleries for Purse — there are tons!!!  Some have instructions, some have links to Blog tutorials, some have links to instructions on the net — if you are stumped, just browse and see what inspires you!!!!

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so I can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

OK, here’s my sample — I made a 3-D purse, super simple (tutorial at the end of this post), with 3 coordinating cards to put inside of it — super easy too!!!    It holds 4 1/4″ square cards.  This truly was very little work.  I used the luscious Crush Collection by Crate Paper (and that’s the only paper in this project) and it’s coordinating chipboard letters.  My stamped sentiments are from Many Sentiments by Flourishes. They worked perfectly for this fun project!

Here’s  the purse front.  The green bands were all cut 1″ wide and then pulled through the Key Tag Punch to round the ends.  If you don’t know how to do that, you can see my instructions here on this graduation upload.  You could also just use a corner rounder.  Either works.  Measurements are listed below on the photo of the template/tutorial.  There are no sides to this purse — it is just an 11 x 4.5″ piece of cardstock, scored and folded.  The little straps on the side *make* the sides and hold it in shape – easy!!!  The buttons/trim are the Crate chipboard pieces adhered with Zots.  The S is also Crate and is attached to a punch-out from the paper pack.  The key is vintage and the chain was in my collection of  *things I just might need*!!!!   The handle is the 5/8″ wide grosgrain ribbon, attached inside with red sticky tape and knotted on top. 

Here’s a view of the back.

Here’s a view of the side so you can see what I mean.  Can you see the self-adhesive Velcro dot that holds it shut?  There are 3 cards inside.

These are the 3 cards inside — can’t get much easier.  I used the same Crate paper for these 4 1/4″ square cards and merely stamped my sentiments, from Many Sentiments by Flourishes, but I masked off (taped over) the first letter of each sentiment as I wanted to use these chipboard letters.  I like the look!!!  I’d like to add that I REALLY like the quality of these Crate chipboard letters — so much better than many others I’ve had!!!  Just love them!!!

Here’s the template.  Cut the purse 11 x 4.5″ and score as indicated above.  If you can’t read my writing, here they are:

• The front bottom flap is 2 1/2″
• The purse bottom is 3/4″
• The purse back is 4 1/2″
• The purse top is 1/2″
• The front top flap is 2 3/4″

Cut all the strap pieces 1″ wide. The center strap can be 6 1/2 or 7 inches.  The side straps should be cut 4″ if you are going to run them through the Key Tag Punch.  But they can be cut 3 1/2″ if you are just going to corner round them. 

I think that should about do it!!!  I couldn’t believe I did not have 1 single purse stamp anywhere in this house!!!  Must have been in the batch I sold — LOL!!!  Anyway, hope you all can get adventurous and try a purse of some sort, or at least a card!!!  Hope we see some fun and funky purses!!!  Thanks so much for stopping by, and have  a great weekend!!! Continue Reading »