WOYWW 121

It's the aftermath of the Club Ruby Designers Design Team storm lol. I've used an mat that I didn't use for a project for a paint pallette. I have been putting my Beacon 3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue through it's paces and so far it's worked splendidly, especially on those difficult slippery surface to paper scenarios. And the odd triangle on the left is a makeup sponge I was using to apply Distress Ink (Tea Dye) to a project. I actually had to purchase them special for this as I don't own makeup lol. There's also some bits of galvanized tin step flashing and my deluxe ProMag magnets. And my empty Grumpy mug which needs to be washed and refilled with coffee.

Here is a sneak peek of one of my projects to be published at Club Ruby Designers for the October kit on October 1. Other than crafting, I'm trying to cram in all the warm weather chores I didn't get done this summer, like painting DD's room and and planning to strip the paint off a pair of chairs that have been overlooked for 7 summers lol. We'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks. Optimism or delusion, I can never decide lol.

So if you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a picture of your workdesk and join in the fun :D.

Paper Trey Ink September Blog Hop

Today is the Papertrey Ink September Blog Hop.  Kraft cardstock, with Hawaiian Shores and leaves stamped on Stamper's White Select. The stamp set is Papertrey Ink's Falling Leaves. The leaves are stamped with Memento Cantalope, Tangelo and Lady Bug. The tree trunk is Distress Ink Weathered Wood and the sentiment is Distress Ink Black Soot.

WOYWW 120

Happy Wednesday everyone :D.  I broke into my stash of Papertrey Ink Glassine envelopes and applied a rub-on I made with my Cricut Imagine (with Lori's Garden cartridge). There's room for improvement in my making rub-on skills, but I'm liking it anyways. The green embellishments are the clear ones covered in Viva Decor paint. The bag to the right are the leftover coins and pearls from my banner. The Beacon 3 in 1 glue is amazing! It really held those jewels on and didn't warp the paper. 

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a picture and join in the fun :D.

It's a Banner-arrrgh Day! (and International Talk Like a Pirate Day too).

Just in time for the last bit of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I finished my banner for the Cricut Contest using my Imagine and the Buccaneer cartridge. I used Stone Script cartridge with the ship's wheel pattern for the letters  (with gold Stickles) and Art Nouveau for the mat (edged with Tea Dye Distress Ink). The cheese cloth was tea-dyed and the doubloons were made with circles of gold foil paper run through the Clockworks Cuttlebug folder three times. The pearls were made with clear decorative accents (sold in the candle section at Michael's) also called "skittles" with a drop of Ranger Pearl Alcohol Ink. Beacon's 3 in 1 Glue held all the "booty" on the fabric. And the ever-trusty Papertrey Ink Rustic twine : D.

Make It Monday #31 Creating Backgrounds with Non-Background Stamps

Warning!!! This process has proved to be completely addicting lol.

This week's Make It Monday is using a non-background stamp to make a background. I'm starting my Christmas Cards and used a sentiment stamp for the background. The mat is what's leftover from a cut made on the Cricut Imagine and transferred from the mat with the use of painter's tape.

cardbase: Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy
mat: AC Cardstock white, Martha Stewart Elegant Cake Art cartridge, cut with the Cricut Imagine.
sentiments: both from Papertrey Ink 2009 Holiday Tag Collection, Merry & Bright stamped with K Marcella Red Dye, Happy Holidays stamped with Versamark.

This is a "just because" card, perfect for a book reader. I used a sentiment stamp for the background.

cardbase: Papertrey Ink Stampers Select White
stamps: Papertrey Ink, All Booked Up, sentiment stamped with Tattered Rose Distress Ink, Image stamped with Memento Black Tuxedo
patterned paper from scrap stash
edge: Spun Sugar Distress Ink and American Craft black gel pen (from Club Ruby Designers September 2011 kit).

Soup's On!

I love mason jars. And one of the best things to do with mason jars is to fill them with gifts. There are so many options, just google "Gift in a Jar" and you'll be dazzled with choices. This is black beans and rice, something I grew up eating. The rice is measured out and put into small plastic bag. The beans need to be rinsed, so they are ready to be poured into a colander.

Except for the "Soup's On", everything comes from my Cricut Imagine (it prints and cuts) using the Cosmo Cricket Kate's Kitchen cartridge. Thank you Everyday Cricut!!. I printed out two of the 12 x 12 patterned paper. The blue is cut about 1/8th of an inch smaller than the bag. The red is cut 1/2 of an inch smaller than the blue. The pots image is cut in layers, and the background was embossed using the Cuttlebug Seeing Spots embossing folder. The stove is adhered to a mat which is glued to the red mat on the side and bottom to make a pocket for the recipe. This goes on the back of the bag, but I photographed it before I adhered it so everything could be seen in one go. The "Soup's On" is cut from black cardstock using the font from the Nifty Fifties cartridge. I made the apostrophe using the semi-colon which I flipped, hid part of it and rotated it with my Gypsy. There was also welding involved.

The front of the bag.

The completed back of the bag with the recipe sticking out of the pocket.

The small pot has double dimensional dots on the right side and single on the left and handle. The larger pot is also attached with dimensional dots. Better view of the embossing.

WOYWW - 118

Before I show you what's on my workdesk, I want to brag about my oldest younger sister (there are 4 of us!). She is amazing, smart, funny, compassionate AND she makes stunning things with paper (and she quilts like a dream too). But after months of people saying she should start a blog, she finally did!! Paper, Craft, and Scissors. Needless to say, I'm tickled pink to be her big sister :D.

I was too tired last night to put away my Paper Layerz embellishments left over from my earlier post. I use this box that once held spools of thread to hold embellishments while I get to the project or figure out what I'm going to do with them lol. These don't go bad, some of them go back to September 2009. And sometimes when I'm stumped for an idea, I just start pulling them out and I find I'm usually not stumped for long :D.

After I got them all in the box, I saw that I'd forgotten to put away the bookmark blanks I'd cut from some Papertrey Ink Kraft cardstock scraps, using the Papertrey Ink bookmark die. And inspiration struck. So I made a bookmark for myself :D.  The background stamps are from PTI Background Basics: Woodgrain stamp set (Tea Dye Distress Ink). The "Let me Save Your Spot" sentiment is from PTI All Booked Up stamp set (Memento Black Tuxedo Ink). The cord is some cotton twine from the hardware store with two of the small Owl die cuts from the August Club Ruby Designers kit glued back to back. And the bead is one that I made (did I mention I'm a craftoholic?!?) in the one lampworking glass I've been able to take. Then I untwisted the ends to make a faux tassel.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW business, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a picture of your workdesk and join in the fun :D.

One Cut, Two Cards

Today is my day to be the guest designer at The Bug Bytes :D.  I love using PaperLayerz by Megan Elizabeth with my Cricut (it cuts like butter!).  I made these two cards with one cut. The first one is the "offical" cut (the snowflake using the silhouette feature on the Damask Decor cartridge).

The second cart is made from what was left on the mat, framed by a mat made from what was left on the paper. Stickles were used on both :D. And the card bases are made from Stampers Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink. 

There are nine 4 inch squares on one side of Paper Layerz and a full sheet of a complementary color on the other. This is one of my favorites, All Stressed Out.

But if you have an E2, the best way to line the cuts up with the colors is to use the Gypsy. I made a 4 inch grid on the first layer (which is visible all the time) and then hide all the other layers so there is no confusion about what cut is going where. It is a good idea though to triple check the paper and the Gypsy are facing the same direction.

After the cuts are made, carefully lift the paper off the mat and set it aside, it still has use, which I'll show you in a minute. The cuts I'm working with today are the Silhouette Feature on Damask Decor. These are cut at less than 4 inches. I forgot to change my cutting blade, but they still turned out pretty well.

The silhouette cut is on the right, on the left is what was left over after the silhouette cut was carefully removed (sometimes it helps to use a paper piercer to make sure small pieces stay on the Cricut mat. I cut a mat from what was left on the paper and put it on the Cricut mat.

I took a piece of co-coordinating paper and cut it about the size of the mat, then I put glue on the paper left on the Cricut mat and set the co-coordinating paper face down on top of the glue. Wait a little while and then carefully remove everything from the Cricut mat. You want to have an idea of the backing papers before you start cutting because you don't want to leave the "leftovers" on the Cricut mat too long (the mat adhesive starts to stick more).

Here are all 6 cuts and their leftovers made useful, and all at under 4 inches each :D.  Two cards down, ten to go lol.



Bugs & Kisses

This is one of my projects for Club Ruby Designers from the September 2011 kit which was just released. All the materials except the Stickles, Distress Ink and adhesive come from the kit, including the black gel pen. The photomats are cut with the Cricut, using my Gypsy to weld the bugs to the rectangles.

These are some of my favorite pictures of DD when she was younger, and even though it was Halloween, I want to display the layout throughout the year (in one of those Scrapbook 12 x 12 frames), so I used a more year-round color palette. When I found these frames, I really started embracing single page layouts. BTW the frames can be purchase for $10 when Hobby Lobby is having a 50% off sale :D.

Outline the bugs. Use the kit's black gel pen to outline all the bugs on Kaisercraft's Muddy Mess. (Wobbliness adds character btw lol).

Add the ribbons and the title. Attach the ribbon in your preferred manner. I used Scor-Tape on the back. I measured where I wanted the purple ribbon (2") to make it easier to lay it in a straight line. Usually I'm more of an eyeball-it measurer.

The felt letters were put on the large green ribbon for the title. An extra "s" was made by cutting the top off a bracket.. Using the upper and lower case "s" makes the extra "s" seem less out of place.

Add more paper. Add 6 inches of the orange paper with lots of Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink.
 

Weld bugs to the mats. A ladybug, a bee and a caterpillar are welded onto the photo mats using the Gypsy. The bee is from Live Simply and the ladybug and caterpillar are from Walk in My Garden. The mats are edged with the black gel pen.

Dots of Waterfall and Lavender Stickles are put on the dots of Kaisercraft Dirt Trail to add some extra sparkle and to tie the colors together a bit more. A large dot of Lavender Stickles was used in the silver button embellishment in the "i" of the title.