simple dreams

Candy Corn "Boxi-Bag"

Bring a designer look to your gifts this season! FIll these little bags with candy, cookies or your favorite crafting treats. If you are on a diet fill them with craft supplies Ü If you need a gift for you teacher fill it with pencils, erasers and other fun little "school" items. Make something special for your kids or grandkids to include in their backpacks or to have awaiting them upon their return from their first day at school. Oh the ideas I have - now just for more time to actually do it - LOL!

Mish introduced me to these awesome little "Boxi-Bags" when she created her Candy Stand Kit. Well, we have some "leftovers" in our inventory and so if you would like to grab them up before we run out then head on over to our store today. (Please note that the ribbon and other items are not included with the bags and bases.)

As you can see there are so many ways to dress these little "Boxi-Bags" up. I decided to take a different route with these and used an Inchie and brads to add additional embellishment to the little box base. 

Being that the box is a separate unit from the bag it was easy to attach the Inchie and insert the brads.

To complete the Inchie I inked the edge of the white Inchie Square with my YG95 Copic marker and then covered it with Memory Box Twiggy paper. Using the 1" punch it is easy to locate what portion of the pattern to select. Just flip your punch upside down and view where it is that you are locating your pattern on the paper.

Next I stamped the IB Scarecrow on Solar Crest cardstock. I then quickly colored it with Prismacolor pencils and added some glitter to his nose, patch collar and leaves using Spica glitter pens. Simply cutting out the Scarecrow and adhering to the Inchie made for a cute little focal point on this package.

Finally I created the little tag by cutting a piece of Craft-a-Board and then cutting and embossing Key Lime cardstock. The sentiment "enjoy" seemed so appropriate for this little treat. I glued these two pieces together using Perfect Paper Adhesive. Adding a layer of Craft-a-Board to the tag added substance and made it much more durable. Simply tie the tag to the cello bag with a pretty piece of ribbon and you have a fabulous looking little gift item to share! 

Be certain to return tomorrow for a very special announcement and a link to our brand new blog "the CLASSroom"!

Paper Gardens with Susan Tierney Cockburn

Today I had one of those days that you just get to dream about most of the time. Even though my life is spinning in circles I knew that there is no way I wanted to miss out on the opportunity of spending time with the oh so talented Susan Tierney Cockburn.

Gardening is one of Susan's passions and this love, added together with 120 inches of snow, lead to the development of a craft that is absolutely exquisite - paper flowers. These are no ordinary paper flowers though as you can see on the cover of the latest book Susan has authored - Paper Bouquet.

What an absolutely delightful and gracious lady Susan is. I had a wonderful time learning how to create a simple paper flower with Susan today!

This is Susan showing me the beginnings of a Tiger Lily I hope to complete on my own. We colored with Copis, airbrushed, glitterfied (just slightly)... oh what fun to see the workings behind these beauties. Gardening was once my passion as well and many of the flowers in Susan's book grow in my garden here in the Pacific NW. Can you tell that I would like to create more of these? Ü

This is one of the beautiful creations that Susan shared with me today, showcasing how she is using the Inchie Squares to create an interesting background. Susan also designs the stamped backgrounds for some of her flowers and I will give her a ring tomorrow and put a link into this post to share the site where you can purchase the supplies and information regarding this wonderful craft should you be interested. I also need to follow up and learn where it is that Susan will be teaching classes in the future so that you can have the privilege of learning firsthand the delicate workings of these gorgeous flowers. So please check back tomorrow for these links and additional information.

This is my very first paper peony. (So please don't  look with too critical an eye - LOL!)

As Susan and I talked, I shared with her how I thought I would use it on an oval nestibilty - she finished my sentence for me - "almost like a cameo pin." Perhaps it should have been placed just a hair higher, but I just couldn't bear to possibly destroy it by tearing it if I lifted the glued flower from the paper.

Susan, if you are reading this, I thank you for sharing a bit of yourself and your love of flowers with me today. You are an absolutely wonderful teacher and I enjoyed having you here so very much.

I will close by sharing the beautiful peony card that Susan gifted me with and wish you all many gorgeous blooms and smiles brought to your lives today.

ETA: Supplies to create these beautiful flowers and Susan's book can be purchased from Scrappily Ever After.

Going Crazy...Wanna Come?

When thinking about what to create for today's blog post Rummage Bins, Round and Round We Go! was the first thing that came to mind.

We have just returned from a long road trip where we drove back home to the Calgary, Alberta area to visit with my Mom and siblings. It was so nice to see them, but now the reality of life is back - LOL! We are getting ready for school and let me tell you that between work, back to school shopping, fall sports, dance and then more work - oh man I am spinning in circles!!!

Other new products I used to create this project and that are now available in our store are:

• Basic Grey, Ambrosia  (also available are Eva and Offbeat)
• Hero Arts, Assorted Clear Round Gemstones

So I thought I would leave you with a smile, a quick note to tell you that it's good to be back and a silly invitation to join me as I spin circles - LOL!

Christmas Triptych

Being that our product focus was soldering during the month of July, I wanted to showcase yet another way to use your supplies to create gifts for the upcoming holiday season. Each year we have the girls pictures taken with Santa. The reason I love these pictures so much is because it is the one record in time that shows their growth at the exact same time each year. The other reason of course is the wonder that is in their faces as small children - their expressions almost appear "magical" when they talk with Santa.

As I shared in the newsletter it has always been a bit of a dilemna as to how to showcase these pictures. I have to admit I am thrilled with this little "resolution" to my problem. Another awesome way would be to turn each picture into an individual ornament for my tree! I still have to try this one being I think it might be the direction that I take. I can just envision my tree with these precious little pictures hung all over it. Perhaps this one is best suited for Grandma's house.

This piece was created by soldering each individual element and then using the little hinges to turn it into one larger piece. (I used the Rectangle 2" x 3" glass pieces for this project.)

One of the elements that usually stands out when creating soldered pieces are the embellishments that are added to the corners. My work is usually a little "lumpy"  in appearance and then there are the prestine corners that I add - it just doesn't jive.

My solution to this problem was a result of a happy accident I made on one of my creations. I happened to overheat one of the embellishments and it changed color on me. Needless to say I was very sad after working on my piece for some time and then having this happen. This is when I began to experiment. One of the first things that you do when preparing your copper foil is to "tin" the foil, so I thought - I'm going to try "tinning" my embellishment. For complete step by step directions on soldering you can find two fairly complete tutorials on our newsletter blog - Simply Soldered Stamp Stuff (tinning is covered in Step 10) and Itty Bitty Lavender Soldered Charm, by Debbie Olson.

I love the look of these embellishments "roughed up". I find that this look is more suitable for the look that I am able to create when soldering.

The center piece of this design was created using a combination of this Millinery stamp, Christmas from Ledger Me, and Cheer from Heart Warmers. Being I wanted to have some texture in the paper I added some piercing as well using the soon to be released, S4 166, Ric Rac Scalloped Pierceability as my guide.

The trickiest part of this project was figuring out how to add my hinges. I couldn't find any information showing me how to do this and so it was an experimental process figuring this one out. Needless to say my first try didn't succeed and therefore I also learned how to remove pieces from my project that are substandard - LOL!

Let's start with the correct way in hopes that you won't need the removal process Ü What I found to work the best was to place my images face down on my solder mat. I then spaced my project out placed my hinges at a distance that would allow me to solder and still keep the hinges operable. Be certain not to get solder on the actual hinge being it won't operate then - LOL! (Guess how I know that!) I then proceeded to solder on each hinge one at a time. Carefully pick up one hinge at a time and apply flux to the hinge (avoid getting flux on the actual "hinge portion") and to the picture frame. Melt a piece of solder on to the tip of your soldering iron and run this drop of solder along the back edge of the hinge. The solder will dip down into the holes and fill the holes attaching the hinge to your finished project. I gently held my hinge in place by pressing down lightly on it with my hemostat pliers as I applied the solder.

Now if like me your first attempt, and perhaps your second and third (like mine - LOL) don't work right you will too figure out how to remove crooked hinges Ü To remove the misplaced hinge I found that if I locked the hemostat pliers on to the hinge and then gently placed the hot tip of the soldering iron between the hinge and the "frame" my hinge would easily pluck right off. I then would need to "reflux" my frame and smooth out the solder I had just glumped up. My project was then ready for attempt number two (or three) at attaching the hinges.

You would have thought this was rocket science by the time I figured out to place the whole project out flat on my work surface - LOL! Needless to say I did laugh at myself when it finally dawned on me that this simple positioning would do the trick. Forget the clamping, etc. just lay it flat girls Ü

Lastly, I polished it with Super Shiny Polish and cleaned it all up. Believe me when I tell you that it was not so pretty covered in flux and residue. But a little buffing with a soft cloth and some Polish and it is now so pretty and sparkley!!!

I encourage you to just pull those soldering irons out of the packages right now and GO FOR IT! There is nothing quite as fulfilling as seeing such a beautiful, shiny little piece created by mastering these tools. Start with something simple, something square, something small and just do it! Yep, go for that Nike slogan ladies!

"Beautiful", at long last my Clear Mini Scrapbook

It's about time I shared the details of this little Clear Mini Scrapbook that I showed back when we announced the new Spellbinder products and I shared my first projects using the Pierceabilities. I have to admit that I love to scrap pictures of family and friends, but rarely have the time. These little mini scrapbooks may be my answer. I always find it so fulfilling to create a project that uses pictures of my children. It brings a huge smile to my face as I see their smiling little faces appear on the papers before me.

Clear albums are all the rage and I have been wanting to try my hand at one. This is my first attempt and so it was very much an exploration into this medium for me. It became one of those - hmmm - "what can I do with this?" sort of projects. It began with my curiosity as to what plastic would look like pierced. I was thrilled with the look of the completed project!

Taking a picture of a clear project is quite challenging though - unfortunately these are the best photos I was able to get.

It began with finding a plastic that I could cut with my Nestabilities. This has been something I have been looking for. Unfortunately I have not yet found the perfect solution, but this one is pretty close. To complete this project I had to "cheat" a little.

I have found this Crystal Clear plastic that I have packaged and am now selling in our store, but as you can see I only get a really deep impression in the plastic - it does not cut all the way through.

To cut all the way through is quite simple though. The deep impression allows me to use my little Scissor snips to glide along this line and finish my cut. I don't think I would want to do this on a complicated piece, but for the basic shapes that I would like to create books with it has been extremely easy to complete the cuts on these projects. I am still looking for that "perfect" material, but until then I am thrilled with the results I can achieve with this product.

As you can see it is covered on both sides with a blue plastic film. Once I have completed work on the plastic I then peel this film off of both sides and reveal the clear plastic.

Before peeling the plastic I would suggest doing the piercing. This keeps you from marring the surface, as well as reduces the number of fingerprints that may end up on your project Ü

I found that by placing a stick pin through each end of the template it held my piercing template firmly in place and reduced the movement as I pierced.

As you can see in this picture the piercing did "reshape" the plastic slightly, but when the project was complete it ended up just perfect.

First the blue plastic was removed. I then positioned my pierced piece with the "rough" side up. The side you pierce into will be smooth - the opposite side will have a rough appearance to it which catches the light and has the appearance of little pieces of glitter. I added clear gemstones to the center of each square to add some additional bling and then using Palette, New Canvas added a flourish and the word "Beautiful" from this awesome Rummage Bin set. I am finding this set so versatile and useful and so I apologize if I'm using it too much - that's what happens when I fall in love with something though - LOL! Be certain to allow plenty of time for the Palette ink to dry. In this case I left my project untouched overnight. When I returned the next day it was dry and ready to go.

As you can see in the top photo I added a layer of Lagoon cardstock. I cut this using the label die, I then cut the opposite end of this segment with the Victorian Pierceability. Once again using a flourish from the Beautiful set I stamped and embossed the blue side with Versamark and used white embossing powder to really add pop to it. On the opposite side I stamped another flourish using Memento, Rich Cocoa.

This next page is a picture of my littlest sweetie in her dance recital attire. It is on rare occasions that we get to do something with her beautiful blonde hair to take it off her face. She's my wild haired, little free spirit - LOL, and so this slicked back look is indeed rare. Texture was added to the background of her picture using yet another portion of a pierceability.

The back side of this clear page has a picture of my older beauty at her eighth grade promotion ceremony. It is so incredible to see one's children growing and learning; becoming an adult right before your eyes! To pull this little book all together I once again used the Lagoon and Vanilla cardstock and added yet another layer of piercing.

You can see the back page of the album peeking out on the right-hand side. I recently learned that this plastic sent through Cuttlebug folders creates THE most awesome texture. First I cut out the label shape and then I placed it in my Cuttlebug folder and sent it back through the Wizard again. WOWIE - the result is SO cool looking. I can now envision playing with alcohol inks on this way cool surface. If one of you tries it please link us up - I'd love to see your results!

The last thing I did was punched a hole in each layer using my Crop-a-dile and then threaded a pretty little Chandelier crystal through to hold the whole book together. The jump ring was even the correct size for this little project - yippie!

Thank you for letting me share my "beautiful" girls with you once again. What I am most proud of is that they are not just beautiful on the outside, but they are more beautiful on the inside (at least most of the time - LOL!).

Harvest Lantern and Selective Piercing

Coloring is one of my absolute favorite things to do. The moment I laid eyes on the new Harvest Lantern stamp I began salivating - LOL! This image is a coloring dream Ü Being I was just coloring for pure enjoyment this time I failed to write down which colors I used. I have to admit that it was so enjoyable to just color for fun, so I apologize for not writing down the colors I used this go round. I promise that I will color this image again and then list the colors.

To color this image I used my Copic markers together with Prismacolor color pencils. I am only guessing here, but I think perhaps I used at least 12 of each to add the depth to this project. I then used my Clear Glaze pen to add a glassy finish to the Hurrican Lantern, as well as some Spica glitter pens to add a little shimmer and shine to the whole creation. Marianne has talked about the Copic Opaque White - I have found that I am too lazy to use a paintbrush, so instead I pull out my Inkssentials White Opaque Pen. With this pen I can achieve similar results without the hassle of cleanup - as Martha would say, 'It's a good thing". Ü

The Mango notecard was stamped with the Oak Leaves backgrounder. Rather than inking it up in one solid color I used three different colors of Ranger Distress ink to add variation to the image unfortunately this detail is really hard to see it in this photo. I inked the entire image with Scattered Straw, added a little Mustard Seed and then topped it off with Tea Dye.

I then used one of my new Pierceabilities, S4 173 Fancy Scalloped, to add the piercing and embossing to the right edge. As we get closer to the arrival of the Pierceabilities (sometime in September is still the projected date) I will continue to do tutorials showing how to use them in different ways. Our list is growing and so if you would like to be added please be certain to email us at customerservice@ellenhutson.com.

The last little tidbit I would like to share is this little envelope liner template. Using some of the new Twiggy paper from Memory Box I was able to add a colorful decorative liner to my envelope above. Adding a liner to your envelopes is just one of the things that you can do to make your cards appear even more unique and special.

Be certain to take a peak at Debbie's blog today to see how she used the Pierceabilities on her project. It is absolutely gorgeous!

The Stockings Were Hung

My absolute favorite part of Karen's new stamp releases is seeing the images as colored by Karen. If you ever get the opportunity to take a color pencil class from Karen, jump on it!!! Karen is teaching in Missouri this month so if you live in that region of the country be certain to check with the stores listed here on her site to see if she still has space available in her classes. I promise you it is well worth the trip to learn from Karen!

I am also interested in knowing if there is interest in heading here to the Pacific Northwest for some special classes sometime next spring. If you are interested leave a note in the comment section or send us an email at customerservice@ellenhutson.com because Karen and I have put our thinking caps on and would love to be able to meet your needs if you are interested in attending some classes, almost retreat style, here in the Seattle Metropolitan area. Talk it over with your friends and have them send their emails as well being we will do our best if there is enough interest.

Today I am going to share three cards that Karen Lockhart has created to showcase the new stockings in the Lockhart Stamp Company line. I absolutely LOVE the simplicity of the simple styling of these cards and I know that it is something that could most definitely be translated to a larger grouping of cards to send out this holiday season.

Just a simple variation in color tones can bring a whole new look to a card. Starting from left to right Karen used the following stamps and notecards:

• Christmas Tree Stocking, Memory Box Blueberry Notecards and Envelopes
• Candy Cane Stocking, Memory Box Meadow Notecards and Envelopes
• Candle Stocking, Memory Box Crimson Notecards and Envelopes
• Sentiment - the stockings were hung

Be certain to double click on the picture above to view the image larger and look at the detail in each stamp.

Thanks for popping by today - I know it's a tad early for Christmas, but if you are anything like me you need to get started now in order to get it all done - LOL! Don't wait get your supplies out and make a Christmas card today Ü

New Lockhart Stamp Company Images - Final View

The final piece to the puzzle!

KathyN you were right on Ü First I used the brand new Memory Box Twiggy paper. Dave has come out with three new 6x6 paper packs for the fall and winter. You can now find these fantastic collections in our store. I used Cheesecloth Backgrounder to add a little festive Halloween spirit to the paper and then balanced the corners and edges with some of Lesley Langdon's awesome Rummage Bin stamps - one is from Photo Op and the other from Beautiful. I am finding so many ways to use these stamps. I can hardly wait to play with some of the new goodies we have!!!

Just a little touch with a Sketch Copic marker to create a few hearts, a little bit of glitter and voila - a new twist on a Halloween card for this upcoming season.

Now on to the 32 new Lockhart images! Potions and Spells, along with the sentiment, "bippity...boppity...boo" are amongst the fabulous new images you will find in our store. Most of the additions have a Fall or Christmas theme to them, there are some very cute little Itty Bitty's, and a couple of new sentiments mixed in to the fun. So head on over to our store and start your own little treasure hunt in the "New" section.

I have finished uploading all the new Lockhart stamps - whew. You will notice that we have added a few new Copic colors to our stores. These were added especially for those who are purchasing the new CHF Thomas the Tank Engine stamps. I will do my best to collect a list of all the Thomas the Tank Engine colors and post them for those who are looking for those colors. I still have a few new Liquid Pearl colors and some new pearls to post, but I'm just too tired to finish tonight - LOL! Tomorrow is another day - right?!?

We will do our best to get your orders shipped out on Monday, but as you well know with the onslaught that occurs when new product is released it might take us a couple of extra days. We will most definitely try our hardest to get you your brand new goodies asap though!

Thank you for hanging in here with me today! Enjoy the remainder of your weekend and a huge thank you to all who stayed with me and kept me company today!

New Lockhart Stamp Company Images - Part 3

Well I had to take a little break and run down to Tuff Shed and Ikea. We are looking for a little shed for our back yard for our bicycles and garden tools and being Ikea is so close to the Tuff Shed place I just had to take a spin through to get some additional storage "stuff" for our new office. I LOVE Ikea - LOL!

Thank you for helping entertain me with your responses!!! I see several of you have gotten really close. Only one piece to go after this and then I can make everything go live Ü I'm getting closer!

I thought it would be fun to send this to someone special and leave the three pieces loose in the envelope. Or you could just put it in a special little box and have them put the entire puzzle together. It is also just the right size for smaller children - not to overwhelming with only 20 pieces to it.

New Lockhart Stamp Company Images - Part 2

Hmmm - it must be a pretty busy day out in blogging land - only two people are here with me today Ü Well, here comes the next piece of the puzzle.

Now do I have any guesses? Thanks for keeping me company today Ü

New Lockhart Stamp Company Images - Part 1

Karen Lockhart has done it again!!! I think that with each release it can't get any better, but then it does! As I work on readying the store today to bring all the information up-to-date and put the new products in place I thought I would begin with a little project that I created yesterday. You know how it is when you get your hands on new stamps - you can't just let them sit!

I have had this idea for some time and haven't been able to act on it so I decided that yesterday was the day. It all started with the Puzzle Madness die by Spellbinders. I purchased a bunch of these dies to carry in our store in anticipation of how they would work with the Craft-a-Board being many of my family members love to put together puzzles. I discovered that it did a pretty good job for being so highly detailed, but even with the Wizard I still needed to do a little handcutting using my retractable blade knife to separate the puzzle pieces completely.

Following is the first part of the card I created showcasing this die, along with a sneak peak of two new Lockhart stamps that will be released shortly - perhaps even later today, or at the latest tomorrow some time. How quickly can I work is the question?

 

As well there is one other item in this picture that is brand new. Can you figure out what it is? What do you think the new stamps are? What do you think the other new product is?

Be certain to keep checking back throughout the day today being I will reveal more of the puzzle as the day goes along. Hopefully your comments will come in throughout the day so that I can keep myself awake as I sit here at the computer entering the time-consuming little pieces of information one little piece at a time - LOL!

Blog Candy Winner and Craft-a-Board Updates

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Congratulations to Mary in Chicago! Please email me with your snail mail address and we will get your prize out to you promptly! Mary wrote:

    "I like the idea. When you heat set the embossing powder did the leaf become pliable like an acrylic piece that you can mold it and it holds the shape? I would have a lot of fun working with the product. Thank you for the inspiration. M - Posted by:Mary in Chicago | July 31, 2008 at 08:31 PM "

Thank you to all who shared your questions with me - I hope to try and begin answering them and sharing more information regarding the Craft-a-Board as time allows. It is already up for sale on our store - just follow this link and it will take you right to our site. We have located it in a couple of different sections of the store - Alterable Items and Die Domain: Accessories. There are 12 sheets per package, with each sheet measuring approximately 9 1/2" x 13 1/2". You will most definitely be able to cut it into smaller pieces using a rotary cutter such as a Carl Cutter or a guillotine style paper cutter. I even use my small Tonic guillotine style cutter to make smaller cuts. I didn't have one of my old Fiskars at work, but I will take it with me tomorrow to see if it will cut this material as well.

The above picture shows Craft-a-Board next to medium weight chipboard. As you can see it is considerably thinner. The neat thing about Craft-a-Board is that it is heavy enough to act similar to a "book board" or chipboard. One layer of Craft-a-Board makes for a lightweight book, but if you want your book covers to be thicker you can adhere two pieces together after cutting.

When looking at the picture above you will note the "cutting line" of the dies. It is imperative in selecting materials to be used with these dies for the material to be no thicker than the height of the "blade or cut line". This is the main reason for my quest - I wanted to find a material that the Spellbinder dies would work with. I wanted the added value of being able to use my dies to create books and other projects that typically use chipboard.

The use with embossing was one that I just happened upon after determining that it would cut shapes for books and mini albums. The embossing became this amazing added bonus!

I can tell you that Craft-a-Board is nothing like Grungeboard. I do not know what Grungeboard is made of, but it leaves an almost glycerine like feeling on your fingers after you run your fingers over it. Grungeboard is very "bendy" and will not crack when wrapped around items. From what I can remember Grungeboard is also not stable enough to be used as a "Book Board". Now I need to order some Grungeboard to really make a comparison - LOL! I will most definitely make a comparison when I am able to pick up some Grungeboard. Now you have me wondering if the Spellbinder Dies will cut through Grungeboard!!! Does anyone have an answer to that question?

UPDATE: Cutting Craft-a-Board with the Cuttlebug

Guess what - having a B plate that is not already cracked makes a WORLD of difference Ü! As I said in my first experiment my B plate was on it's last legs and well... you saw the disaster. I picked up a new B plate and tried it all over again. Easy peasy this go round! Please be aware that I do want to test this further, but just haven't had the time yet. So watch for more information to come on this category.

The first time through I used the following sandwich to cut my label die (note this is not a highly detailed die):

• A plate
• B plate
• Craft-a-Board
• Spellbinders Die - blade face down
• B plate

To emboss the Craft-a-Board I used the following sandwich:

• A plate
• B plate
• Spellbinders Die - blade face up with Craft-a-Board inside die
• Tan Embossing Mat
• Extra piece of Craft-a-Board cut to the same size as the Tan Embossing Mat
• B plate

This time there was not even a cracking sound. I think the difference was that I had the sandwich correct this time. The last time I wasn't getting a nice embossed image and so I ended up using (2) Tan Embossing Mats and that is when my plates splintered. I will test this some more and make certain that this information is accurate, but with all the different things I was trying and the limited amount of time I had I have not had an opportunity to try this with a variety of dies yet. So please know that I will do more testing when I have the opportunity.

I then applied Crackle Distress paint to my cut out and look how cool it is! Now I just need to stamp on it and make it into a project. But who has the time - LOL!

Being that I was also wondering about the Cuttlebug embossing folders, and this being a question that many of you had, I decided that would be my next test. The piece on the left was embossed using the Cuttlebug and the piece on the right was embossed using the Wizard. TOTALLY COOL!!! I am going to warn you that the pressure exerted when using my Wizard was incredible and so I was very careful to be ready to catch this project as it exited my machine. The difference in detail is not as obvious in this picture as it is in real life, but I can tell you that you will more than likely be thrilled with the result no matter which machine you happen to choose to use with the Cuttlebug folders. This texture is wicked cool!!! AND you can use it as a book cover!

I then proceeded to do a couple more tests with these boards. Using chalks I quickly colored the image and then added crackle paint around the edges to define them. Next I punched it with my Bind-It-All. Using the new Bind-It-All corner rounder I softened the look of the corners (these will be available in our store hopefully by September - they are on order and just awaiting shipment from the manufacturer).

As you can see in the above picture and the post that I shared last week I used the Bind-It-All on "My Christmas Wish List" book as well. This book was created using the Craft-a-Board. The interior is filled with Natural White cardstock pages and the cover with Craft-a-Board. As you can see I first added color to the board using my Copic Airbrush system. I then stamped it using Distress Ink and the Vintage Ledger ScrapBlock. The next layer was added by selectively covering it with Basic Grey's paper. Many of you asked if it can be glued and the answer is a resounding yes! I used Perfect Paper Adhesive to adhere the paper to this project and ribbon glue to adhere the twill.

Cuttlebug dies work like a charm, or should I say tag - LOL!

Unfortunately Sizzlet's just don't cut it - ha, ha! Sorry I just couldn't resist the stupid pun - it is most definitely a sign that I should not be working right now - LOL!

Sizzix dies work great! So I am only guessing here, but my guess is that Big Shot dies will work awesome as well. I will test it though and communicate that in a future post to be certain.

The question was asked about flexibility. I have found that once the Craft-a-Board is inked it becomes much more pliable. This particular piece I used my Adirondack Red Pepper Dye ink pad to completely cover both sides with color. I had a couple of different tests in mind when doing this with the first being flexibility.

After releasing it you can see that it still had some of the curve still in it. I have found that I can flatten it back out again, but left to it's own accord this is how it reverted to shape.

I then did the tear test. As you can see you can get a very interesting look with this technique. I added a brad and though that this could make a cute napkin holder, or ???

The last test I am going to share tonight is the scoring test. I only own a Scor-It because of the true score that I can achieve with this tool. When using cardstock I have never had any cracking on the backs of my cards and I have crisp, precise folds - so needless to say I'm a huge Scor-It fan. What I found is that the Scor-It did a fairly decent job of scoring this material, but it is just a hair too thick to achieve optimum results. As you can see there is slight cracking at the top and bottom of this fold and with time I am wondering if it might totally fall apart. I guess I'll just have to try that when I have nothing else to do. Perhaps when I'm on our roadtrip to Canada in a couple of weeks, I'll take this little guy along and just bend and unbend to my hearts content Ü

Thanks for stopping in again tonight to learn more about Craft-a-Board. Thank you for your questions! I will continue to peg away at determining answers and hope to share some actual projects with you soon. My mind is abuzz with ideas - now for the time to create them!!!

Stamp of the Month, August

I can't believe that school is right around the corner! We just got out a few days ago - didn't we??? I know that in the mid-West kids will be heading back to school shortly. Here in Washington State we have summer vacation until Labor Day weekend and then it's back to school for our kids.

Once again I am trying to get a little bit ahead of time by preparing some notecards to give to Katrina's teacher this year. It is a gift that teachers always seem to appreciate and are able to put to good use. So for this month's Stamp of the Month I thought I would share a little project that might help some of you get a head start as well. Not only will you be able to use this months stamps for Teacher projects and gifts, but I think that they will also be suitable for scrapping with as well.

In this month's kit we have elected to include three (3) stamps - IB Apple, IB Ruler and this wonderful AlphaNumber Backgrounder. We did not include the paper clips that are shown here being I felt that most individuals would have a supply of their own and we didn't want you to have to pay for something you probably already own. The addition of the paper clips just made it feel a little more "school-like".

This month's project doesn't really have the typical WOW that I like to include. The WOW factor for me this time round was the new Ranger Pigment pads. I could not believe how beautifully the Snow Cap or white pad stamped this image on the black cardstock. It is supposed to resemble a chalkboard. Ü 

I am going to share a picture of the ink pad being I was so surprised to open it and find a cover inside the cover. I do believe that this may help it retain its' wonderful moist surface.

I colored the white Inchie Square using Y19, Napoli Yellow - I wanted it to resemble one of those old cloth tape measures. After allowing the Copic ink to dry I then stamped the Inchie Ruler using Memento Tuxedo Black. I found that by stamping on a piece of scrap paper first and eyeballing where the image was it was fairly easy to get the stamp to line up nicely with the Inchie Square. Always remember that there are two sides to an Inchie Square and you can use the back if you mess up on the front Ü

The IB apple was stamped on a scrap of Solar Crest White and colored using R14, R27, R29, YG00, YG95, YG17, E55, and E47. Yes, perhaps I went a little overboard for such a tiny little apple - LOL! But you know a girl has to have depth when coloring Ü

I finished the card by adding some basic piercing for texture. I hope that you enjoy the simplicity of this sketch and will be able to use it to create other Inchie based cards in the future.