PaperFections

MFT DT October Creative Challenge: Cork

Time again for the My Favorite Things Design Team monthly Creative Challenge! MFT's line of Die-namics cuts such a wide variety of materials. This month, the team's challenge was to put dies to use with MFT's Cork Sheets. We hope to craft some cards and projects you’ll want to stick a pin in for inspiration you'll return to over and over! My cork project for you today is a set of four holiday drink coasters! The Cork sheets cut extremely well with MFT's dies -- as you can see with the variety of intricate die shapes I used! Here are the easy steps: TUTORIAL 1. I started by die cutting the Cork Sheets eight times with the largest Circle STAX 1 Die-namics (which measures about 4" -- perfect for a coaster!). Four of those circles will be die cut again and the other four circles will remain solid -- to give my coasters a double layer of stability and also to have a base circle on which to adhere all the die cut pieces together. Here's a look at my assembly process: 2. After die cutting the circles, I then ran a circle back through my Big Shot with the... Read more →

Spooky Halloween Home Decor

Happy October, everyone! With Halloween just around the corner, I made a cute home decor piece out of My Favorite Things fabulous Felt and Die-namics. You can find the full tutorial over at the MFT blog today here. I hope you'll join me there! Don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY in the post below this one -- you still have until the end of Wednesday, October 8 to do so . . . Good Luck! Read more →

MFT DT September Creative Challenge: Halloween

Are you in the midst of preparing for a frightfully sweet Halloween season? This time of year presents so many opportunities for crafting -- everything from party invitations and spooky greetings to decor items and delightfully wicked favors. My Favorite Things has challenged the design team to up our Halloween game by creating a plethora of seasonal projects! Here's what I have for you today -- a bunch of felt Halloween decor items! A dimensional pumpkin and drink coasters (click on any photo for a larger view): First is a 3D pumpkin I made out of the Red Delicious (apple) Die-namics -- just change the color and you instantly change it from an apple to a pumpkin! To create the pumpkin, I die cut two layers of Orange Fizz Felt at once. I just folded the piece of felt in half and ran it through my Big Shot, along with MFT's Metal Adapter Plate to ensure a good, clean cut. I did this five times. The dies cut through the felt like butter! Next, I picked up each double layer of pumpkin and folded each pumpkin in half, held them together and machine stitched on the fold (you could also... Read more →

MFT Sept Release Countdown-Thankful Falling Leaves!

Welcome back to the 5th day of My Favorite Things September Release Countdown -- just ONE more day until the new products are available in the MFT Boutique tomorrow night -- Tues, Sept 16 at 9pm Central! Today's new September featured products are some gorgeous new Falling Leaves Die-namics, along with a wonderful Thankful Thoughts stamp set and coordinating Words of Gratitude Die-namics. I combined them all on this 8-1/2" x 11" photo mat frame / decor piece: I started with a white photo mat, sized 8-1/2" x 11" with a 4" x 6" opening and stamped it with the new Burlap Background in Natural Hybrid Ink ... I love all the texture this background creates! Note: When creating decor projects, or anything to do with photos, I prefer using Hybrid Ink, so I'm assured the ink won't run if it accidentally gets wet. Below is the last portion of the frame about to be stamped: The edges of the frame were sponged with Chocolate Brown Hybrid Ink. Above, you can see the fantastic embossed details of the Falling Leaves, especially on the tan metallic cardstock I used. Here's another close-up (click any photo for a larger view): The leaves... Read more →

Patriotic Luminary

I saw a patriotic luminary idea on Pinterest and wanted to re-create it, so today over in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom I share how to make it. I hope you'll join me there! And I hope you are enjoying your Summer! Read more →

MFT June Creative Challenge-Hybrid Inks

Time again for My Favorite Things' Design Team Creative Challenge! With the introduction of MFT's new Hybrid Inks over the past couple of months, a whole new world of stamping techniques have opened up. This month, the design team is challenged to present to you ink techniques featuring the rainbow of colors MFT's Hybrid line offers. Here are a few details about the inks: These pigment-based inks dry like dye inks and are permanent on paper surfaces. They are acid-free, archival, and fade resistant. Inks can be heat set on glass, fabric, wood, plastic, metal, and clay. As these inks are fast drying and waterproof, they cannot be embossed with embossing powder. As with any permanent ink, this product contains a small amount of solvent. These inks feature a 3 3/8" x 2 1/8" raised felt pad. Color-matched to MFT's fabulous array of Heavyweight Cardstock, and coordinates with our complete line of Replenishments ribbon, buttons, and felt. Hybrid Ink Refills are available, sold separately. Here's my first project I made for you ... a tumbled tile coaster: (All supplies used are linked below each project. Click on any photo for a larger view) My coaster was made from a 4"... Read more →

Gina K Designs September 2012 Release Inspiration Hop 2

The Design Team for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop, with the September release stamp sets! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas! And as you hop through the blogs listed below, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a Gina K Designs Grab Bag that could have anything from stamps to paper to embellishments in it! To see the list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops! Today’s first featured stamp set today is Wicked by Beth Silaika: I wanted to make a subway art style framed home décor piece and Beth’s coordinating Wicked Studio Cut File made this project a breeze! I just cut all the images with Gina’s Heavy Base Weight White Cardstock (with a blade setting of 10), and then placed them on a 5”x7” piece of white cardstock and moved them around until I was pleased with the layout. Then I stamped the images in alternating ink colors. I think I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it... Read more →

Gina K June 2012 Release Hop

The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration blog hop! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas! And as you hop through the blogs listed below, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of deeply etched, pre-cut Gina K. Designs stamps! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops! Today’s featured June stamp sets are: Tropical Nature by Theresa Momber: I always adore any kind of tropical, island, beachy, summery, flowery stamp set and this one has it all! I decided to make a keepsake photo frame, accented with the beautiful plumeria (frangipani) flowers from this set: The 4.50” 3D frame is a Silhouette Studio cut file, made from one sheet of 12” paper. It holds a 2.25” photo of my girls having fun in the sun this past holiday week! I stamped the flowers with Memento Desert Sand ink onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card and colored with these Copic markers: Copic Tip: Stamping with... Read more →

Framed Fleuriste Newsprint

Today's JustRite Papercraft new stamp set reveals are two gorgeous background stamps designed and illustrated by Amy Tedder. This week we are revealing a fresh new look for JustRite Papercraft and launching the beginning of a new stamp line called Amy Tedder Designs. Aren't they gorgeous?!! Amy just started her own new blog, so I hope you'll visit her for more upcoming inspiration! I adore both of today's new background stamps and chose to use part of this beautiful Fleuriste Newsprint stamp: to make this 3.50" framed piece of artwork: I stamped it with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto kraft cardstock and then colored it with these lighter Springy Copic markers: YR31, YR23, YR31, B12, G21, V15, W4. The butterfly was stamped again onto Copic's X-Press It Blending Card, cut out and popped up over the background. A light green seam binding bow and pale yellow paper rose finish it off. I thought this would make a nice Spring home decor piece for my guest powder room! I also wanted to mention -- if you still have some of the older JustRite stamp sets on your wish list, now would be a great time to check out the JustRite Original... Read more →

Pear Tile Coaster

Happy Sunday to you! Today is my last Limelight guest designer post for the month over at the Flourishes blog. I hope you'll join me there, to see how I made this 4" x 4" tumbled marble tile drink coaster with my Copic markers and beautiful Flourishes Pears stamp set! Read more →

Photo Canvases!

I had so much fun making these photo canvases, using a transfer technique! (Photo credit: Susan Karlsson from Five Days Later Studio) I hope you'll join me today over in the CLASSroom for all the details on how you can make some, too! Read more →

Holiday Snowglobe Shaker Art

Today over in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom, I show you how to make this 4" x 6" framed snowglobe shaker artwork . . . I hope you'll join me! That sweet snowglobe is this year's Lockhart 2011 Limited Edition stamp, Nicholas Sings Carols, colored with my Copic markers of course! Read more →

JustRite Christmas Linky Party

Welcome to JustRite Stampers first Linky Party! This is a great opportunity to share your JustRite Christmas projects with JustRite’s blog readers and find new places for inspiration. The Linky Party lasts until tomorrow, so you still have time to participate and share your JustRite Christmas projects on THIS blog post. For the party, JustRite is celebrating with a JustRite Christmas Stamp Sale -- 25% off every JustRite Christmas stamps, JustRite Original Christmas sets, JustRite Cling Christmas sets and JustRite Clear Christmas sets! These are some of JustRite’s most popular stamp sets ever! Christmas stamp sale ends November 17, so shop early for the best selection! I used one of my favorite holiday/winter sets, Blizzard Bunch, to create this mini framed home decor piece: This little frame measures approximately 3.50" x 4.50" and is one I picked up from Michael's dollar bin a few months back. It was the perfect size and shape to fit this JustRite Original large oval stamp set! I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card and colored it with these Copic markers and Black, Olive & Red Atyou Spica Glitter Pens: I added Polar White Flower Soft to... Read more →

JustRite Frugal Friday Challenge 057

If you are here for the Want2Scrap™, Spellbinders™ Paper Arts and JustRite® Stampers blog hop, please scroll down two posts. Remember, you still have until tomorrow, Saturday, September 10 at midnight to enter for the chance to win these three fabulous companys' gift prizes! Another JustRite Friday Challenge has been posted today and the challenge is Frugal Friday -- to recycle and reuse something from around your house and give it renewed life as a frugal gift idea! Here’s my recycled spice jar, jazzed up and made pretty for gift giving to a friend who loves gourmet French cooking (front and back of jar) -- click on any photo for a larger view: The labels, which match Spellbinders Labels Six (above left) and Labels Four (above right) were airbrushed with Copic markers. I kept seeing a gourmet South of France blend of spices mentioned in some recipes called Herbes de Provence, but could never find the blend in my local grocery store. Online shopping turned up some results, but most were quite expensive. Since I already had most of the individual spices in the blend, I Googled how to create my own and found MANY mixture recipes! I created my... Read more →

Gina K Design Team Masculine Blog Hop!

Members of Gina K's Design Team have come together to host a hop with cards and projects featuring a masculine theme … just in time for Father’s Day! If you came from Melanie Muenchinger’s blog, you're at the right place. If not, make sure to head over to StampTV, where you will find a complete list of all those participating in today's hop. I made a tumbled tile coaster for a Father’s Day gift –- I thought one of the lighthouses and seagulls from Theresa Momber’s By The Sea set would be perfect for a masculine themed occasion! Stamping and coloring with your Copic markers onto tiles is quite easy. Just follow these general guidelines: - Before stamping, clean the tile with a damp cloth and let dry thoroughly. Tiles will usually have a white chalky dust on them. - Choose a stamp with not too much detail to it – i.e. not a lot of stamped lines. - The best stamping ink I’ve found to work well, be permanent and moisture-resistant when using the tile as a coaster, is StazOn. - After stamping, heat set the StazOn with your heat embossing tool/gun. - Yes, you can use Copic markers... Read more →