kard mkr : March 2011

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

SSDT Creative Partner Thank You Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stamping Scrapping Design Team Creative partner Thank You Blog Hop!

Today the design team will feature products from just a few of our Creative Partners. Recently our design team were gifted with products from the following companies:

• Spellbinders™ Paper Arts-Grand Calibur
• Scor-Pal-Scor-Pal Scoring Board
• Basic Grey-Patterned Paper
• LaLa Land Crafts-Rubberstamps

Without our Creative Partners our design team members could not create the great projects you see on their blogs. We would like to thank these wonderful companies for their generous donations!

Come hop along with us and enjoy the creative projects our design team members created using these wonderful products. You could win a New Scor-Pal just by leaving a comment on all 13 blogs.

Cindy Echtinaw
Anary Baumgarth
Billie St. Clair
Cindy Close
Dawn Saenz de Viteri
Janine Blackwelder
Karen Stark
Leanne Garner
Sheri Willshire
Stephanie Hester
Vivi Casale
Wini Bell
StampingScrapping Designs

To enter: You must comment on each blog by using the Inlinkz button at the bottom of this post to be eligible to win. Contest ends 11:59pm 04/03/11. All comments will be verified and a winner will be chosen from those who comment on all 13 blogs. The winner will be notified via email and on 04/05/11.

I have a very generous husband. Every November I leave a wish list on my craft room door and every December everything on my list appears under our Christmas tree. Santa is ALWAYS very good to me. Consequently, I have oodles of tools. I could spend all day here just telling you what they are. And since I dabble in other things besides papercrafting, I have tools for those hobbies, too. Yet, with all those fun things to play with, I have certain 'go to' tools that I use consistently. One used to be my Cuttlebug which has been replaced by the Grand Calibur. I can cut and emboss as many dies as will fit on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper at one time. If you have lots of 'flat' dies, the Grand Calibur might be just what you need; their new Grand Nestabilities Rock. The new ScorPal sits behind me all the time. I use it with every card I make. I've just started making my own envelopes and this is a terrific tool for that.

This sweet little matchbox was scored with the ScorPal, assembled, and edges inked. Then I created an Easel Card which I glued to the top. The box measures 3.0" x 5.0". The paper on the top of the card was cut using a Grand Nestability Label 4, the sentiment was cut using the smaller Label 4 Nestabilities. The flourish on the matchbox was cut on my Cricut using an SVG file I found on the internet.

Paper: Cryogen, Kraft, Basic Grey; Stamp: LaLa Land Marci with Rose; Stampin' Up; Flowers: PaperTrey; Flourish was an SVG file; Crystal Stickles, Glossy Accents; Brilliance Cosmic Copper Ink; Copics: [Skin E000, E11, R20, E13][Clothes RV10, RV11, RV13, RV14, G24][Hat E30, E31, E33, RV10, RV11][Hair Y19, Y11] To enter your name to be counted for both prizes:

Sunday, March 27, 2011

A day at the Fair

As well as Magnolia stamps, I am a HUGE fan of the Make It Crafty digital backgrounds. They work so well with all my rubber stamps and you can find a great background for almost every Magnolia or Gilli stamp. How about Chef Gilli or Chef Marci and the wonderful Kitchen Isle background? Zoe's digital backgrounds can be sized to work with any rubber stamp you have, are easy to store and can be combined with any other digital images. I cut the circle and frame with my Spellbinder Classic Circles using the Grand Calibur. This card was scored using my Scor-Pal.

My pennants were cut on my Cricut using Make the Cut and the library of MTC files that are accessible through the software. I could not find a pennant on any of the Cricut cartridges I currently have. I stamped the pennants with a SMP rubber background stamp and drew the lines with Crystal Stickles.

I also added Crystal Stickles to the Stamping Scrapping.com flowers (3 were used on this card) after I used my Copic Airbrush system to airbrush B93, B95 and B97 on them. The ribbon was cut and placed under the flowers. I believe I purchased it at Joann Fabrics.

This card is entered for two challenges: Magnolia Stamp Lover's "ribbon" challenge and Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central "sparkle" challenge.

Paper: Michael's Recollections, Kraft; Stamps: Magnolia Circus Tilda, Make It Crafty Carousel, Papertrey Ticket, SMP Rubber Stamps; Spica: Clear, Sky Blue, Lipstick, Baby Blue, Melon; Pennants from a Make The Cut file; Spellbinder Standard Circle; Ribbon: Stash; Flowers: Stamping Scrapping.com; Glossy Accents; Crystal Stickles; Distress Stickles Stormy Sky; Copics: [Carousel B97, B95, B93, E31, G24, C3, N1][Hair Y11, Y38, Y19][Skin R20, E000, E11][Clothes G24, B97, B95]

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Magnolia Stamp Lover's 'Dies' Challenge

This is my card for the current MSL challenge. I have been a huge fan of Spellbinder dies since I first saw them. I have three books full of them now and use them on almost every card I make. A great addition to the dies is the new Spellbinder Grand Calibur Machine which cuts multiple dies at one time and will take an 8.5" x 11" sheet of cardstock and all the dies that sheet will hold. The three dies on this card, Standard Circle, Fancy Tags, and Classic Rectangle Large were all cut at the same time which is a big time saver.

I love this image. It reminds me of "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard. She's poised to be able to sit on almost anything and look spectacular. The lace was dotted with Spicas, her shoes were covered with Glossy Accents. The rectangle and one edge of the circle were touched up with Crystal Stickles (don't cha just love Stickles?). The sentiment is mine. Tilda was popped up on foam tape and the white dots on her cheeks are Sharpie Extra Fine White Poster Paint.

Note to Laurie: You didn't leave your e-mail address so I will post the '11' you requested on my next post. "Thank you so much--these are awesome--will be needing an 11 by sept--hint hint. Laurie". If you are requesting a special number, please leave your e-mail address in your post and I will do my best to get it to you.

Paper: DCWV Nana's Nursery, Bazzill; Magnolia Circus Tilda, BlueBirdFlats Sentiment; Spellbinders: Standard Circle, Fancy Tags, Classic Rectangle Large; Spica: Clear, Blossom, Pink; Crystal Stickles; Glossy Accents; Sharpie Extra FineWhite Poster Paint; Copics: [Skin E000, E11, E13, R20][Hair Y02, Y11, Y19][Clothes R14, R17, R20, R21]

Monday, March 21, 2011

I just don't understand...

how Mr. Madu Alihadji from BURKINA-FASO, WEST AFRICA knows that I am so trustworthy he can put $11,300,000 in my bank account and know without a doubt I won't steal it. I have never been to Burkina-Faso, West Africa nor do I know anyone there. I don't understand where "Judith" found the sexy on-line profile of me that made her so excited to contact me for mutual romantic friendship. I don't understand why people I've never met want to sell me drugs to make parts of a body that I don't even have 'more ready for love'. Everyday I'm bombarded with offers and requests that usually have to do with money or love. Let me be very clear about this: if it costs me $187.00 for you to transfer millions to my account, I couldn't afford it. I'm happily married and am not interested in you romantically. I don't have the kind of equipment your drugs work on. I know this won't stop you and I even get a giggle out of some of the requests. Now that I have that off my chest, let me introduce you to two of my favorite things: digital images and Magnolia stamps. The entire background of this card was created in MemoryMixer using Fly Pixel files and then saved as a .jpg. The .jpg was imported into Word and printed out as a 4" x 5.25" picture. This particular set was called 'Togetherness'. I used the background paper, flowers and the circle. Maggie was stamped, colored, cut out, popped up and placed sitting on the circle. The sentiment was Stampin' Up. The background was layered on red cardstock and then placed on a Kraft card. For a printed background, I think it looks pretty good. Even if you don't scrapbook, there are some really nice digital paper and embellishment sets on the market for low prices and they are soooooooooooo easy to store.

Paper: Fly Pixel Studio; Stamps: Magnolia Tilda w/Big Ribbon, Stampin' Up; Copics: [Skin E000, E00, E11, R20][Clothes E30, E31, E33, E34, E35, E41][Bow R37, R35] Spica: Gold, Red, Sand

Saturday, March 19, 2011

A little teaser....

For those of you that have expressed an interest in my kitchen, here's a little teaser. The 12" x 12" floor tile is to the right. It's beige, tan and touches of blue that match the accent tiles and will be installed on the diagonal. The center glass accent tile on the left (2" x 4") is the one we will use to run a line all the way around the kitchen through the 12.5" x 12.5" sheets of watery blue 1"x 1" glass tiles. The white block of wood is our cabinet color. It's called canvas and it's white with a hint of grey in it. Work starts 4/6. The Range Hood arrived on Thursday along with the switch plates and new phone. Except for my stainless steel canisters, hand-towels and accessories, we are done purchasing materials for the kitchen.

SSCC Pastel Challenge

My entry for the Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central 'pastel' challenge is a postcard. I have been dabbling in postcards. A 4" x 6" postcard takes 28 cents to mail and are great for a brief note, a happy hello, or just a new medium to use. There are several ways you can make these:

1. Using Copic Markers: Copics will bleed through your paper. If you plan to use Copics, you will need a backing for your postcard. If I plan to use a digital stamp, I create a 4x6 page in CorelDraw and import my stamp(s). I save the file as a CorelDraw file and export it as a .png file. I import the .png file into Microsoft word, select the file, right click, select 'text wrapping' and click on 'square'. Right click again, select size, and make sure your picture is 4" x 6". At this point you can print or you can copy your picture and paste it so you can print two at once.

After you have your file printed, you can color it. Use the attached postcard backing file. Import into Microsoft Word, follow the above instructions and print two postcard backs. When both postcards (the front and the back) are cut out and colored, use a high powered adhesive to adhere the two together back to back. Any bleed-through will be covered up by your postcard back.

2. If you plan to use pencils, just import the back of the postcard into Microsoft Word, print it out once or twice, turn it over, stamp your images and color.

3. It gets a little more complicated if you plan to use digital images and pencils. The first time I did this, I used printer paper, printed out two postcard backs, cut them out, and inserted them back into my printer. I have an Epson Artisan 50 which feeds from the back. I inserted the sheets clean side up in portrait mode. I created a file in Microsoft Word, adjusted the page layout to 4" x 6", imported my digital stamps, adjusted them for size and printed them out setting my printer at 4" x 6". This might require some experimentation but it's no different than printing a 4" x 6" photo. I never print these out in CorelDraw, they just never seem to print correctly. Word is so much easier to manipulate.

On this postcard, I printed out the back, cut it out, stamped my bunny, covered her with a mask and stamped the fence behind her. The background was sprayed using my Copic airbrush.

Paper: Beckett Radiance; Stamps: Magnolia Bunny Tilda, Spring Fence, SMP Rubber Stamps; Copics: [Skin E000, E11, E00, R20][Suit Y00, Y02, Y11, Y35, R81, R83][Hair E31][Daffodils Y11, Y35, YG25, G24][Background B12, G24][Ground E35], Spica: Lemon, Peach

Download Postcard Back

I removed the 'created by' in the generic download version.

For those of you that have expressed an interest in my kitchen, here's a little teaser. The 12" x 12" floor tile is to the right. It's beige, tan and touches of blue that match the accent tiles and will be installed on the diagonal. The center glass accent tile on the left (2" x 4") is the one we will use to run a line all the way around the kitchen through the 12.5" x 12.5" sheets of watery blue 1"x 1" glass tiles. The white block of wood is our cabinet color. It's called canvas and it's white with a hint of grey in it. Work starts 4/6. The Range Hood arrived on Thursday along with the switchplates and new phone. Except for my stainless steel cannisters, hand-towels and accessories, we are done purchasing materials for the kitchen.

Monday, March 14, 2011

I apologize...

I apologize for my long absence and share with you my tale of woe. Last Friday my computer tried to update some software and decided not to reboot. Apparently it was a partition error. I immediately ran it up to the local computer repair store where I was told it would be a priority. Tuesday morning I still hadn't heard anything so I called and was told it was 'next on the list'. By Friday I was getting angry. I called again and was told they were working on it and I would hear yet that day when I could pick it up. No phone call. Saturday I was furious. When I called, I was told that I could pick it up by noon (it was 11:31 and we live about 20 minutes from the computer store) so I said we could pick it up a little later. I was told no, we close at 12:00, but their ad in the phone book said 4:00. So, we hurried up and picked it up. The upside is now it boots, the downside is half of my software didn't make it back on (I started reloading on Saturday and I'm still working on it). All reloaded software had to have the parameters set again. My font list has gone 'walk about' and can't be found so all my digital sentiments that have fonts other than the normal 'Windows' list are replacing the fonts I don't have with the fonts I do have. And remembering the names of the fonts I like best is going to be a problem. What a mess!

In the kitchen remodel, we finally got all of our ducks in a row and went after our backsplash tile at Lowes on Wednesday evening. We found out that our tile selection was discontinued and that the Peoria Lowes didn't have enough of the two tiles in stock to do our kitchen. I nearly cried. Our whole kitchen was designed around that tile, the 1x1" moonlight glass tile and the 2x4" accent tile. The young man at the desk was kind enough to call the East Peoria store and found out they had 24 of the 1x1" tile in 12" sheets. Still not enough. So we went to Menards and Home Depot with no results. When we got home, I searched on line but that tile must be made exclusively for Lowes because that's the only place we could find it. But we did find Lowes stores in Decatur, Bloomington and Champaign - each one had some of the tile we needed, none of them had both kinds. So, Thursday morning I went to Peoria and East Peoria and picked up everything they had. Decatur had 18 of the 2x4" tiles, Bloomington had 56 of the 2x4" tiles and Champaign had 6 of the 1x1" tile sheets. So, we are good to go. The range hood, switch plate covers and the new phone are in route. We picked up the floor tile on Saturday and work actually starts on April 6.

For those of you that have been so encouraging about the kitchen remodel, I thank you all for your kind words. We are very excited and will be sharing pictures as the work commences. For those of you waiting for more digital sentiments, these are for you:

I apologize...

Monday, March 7, 2011

Magnolia Stamp Lover's Buttons & Bling Challenge

I waffled over this challenge. I pulled out a 4x6" acrylic desk frame and a 3x3 Post-It Pad and played around with it for a while. I thought "let's stamp flower stems and leaves and add the buttons for the flowers", then I thought, "let's not". So, I let this stew for a while before I got serious. It was due in two days by the time I had a vision. And THEN, I couldn't find the frames I had purchased several weeks ago at Michaels. I was beginning to think I was wrong about having purchased them. Have you ever 'thought' about buying something and were sure you actually purchased it? That's me, in a nutshell. This frame took a while to decorate, some due to drying time.

I started with a plain wooden unfinished frame from Michaels. I paid $1.00 for it and it has a 3.5 x 3.5" opening. I sanded the front and inside of the opening with large grit sandpaper and then wiped it off with a tack rag. I painted primer on the front of the frame and silver metallic paint on the edges and inside the opening. When that was dry I coated the front of the frame with Mod Podge and put the paper over the frame. I used my bone burnisher to rub the paper down firmly, especially on the edges. You want to make sure and get all the bubbles out. I turned the frame over and cut out the inside fairly close to the opening (do not try to cut it exactly). After the paper was dry, I sanded the edges of the paper both outside the frame and inside the opening. When you sand, sand the paper from front to back, NOT back to front (which may lift and tear your paper). After all the edges were sanded and the paper was smooth, I painted the flowers with Twinkling H2Os. They shimmer and shine and you never have to worry about them drying up on you like some other 'shimmer' type products. These flowers color beautifully whether you paint them or spray them, they look fabulous. The flourishes are Spellbinder cut out with my Grand Caliber from an embossed piece of paper. Not all the embossing showed after I re-embossed them in the die, but enough shows to give interest. Before I attached the flourishes, flowers and buttons, I took a 1" brush and painted the front of the frame with Mod Podge to add some texture. I turned the frame 90 degrees and added a second coat. It gave the frame a nice linen look.

I stamped Edwin on Cryogen paper, masked him, and stamped Tilda next to him. The sentiment in the frame is mine. After using Mod Podge to glue Tilda and Edwin down, I used the Mod Podge to cover the images using up and down strokes on the first coat and side to side strokes on the second coat. I attached the flourishes with Mod Podge and the buttons with white glue.

Stamping Scrapping.com Flowers; Spellbinder Flourishes; Recollections Adhesive Rhinestones; DMC Metallic Embroidery Thread; Twinkly H2Os Garnet, Ginger Peach; Craftsmart Acrylic Paint Metallic Silver; Mod Podge; Smooch Illuminate; Copics: Him [Skin E000, E11, R20][Pants B97, B95, B93, BG07, E37][Hair E30, E33][Hat G24, G21][Shoes N5, N2] Her: [Skin E000, R20, E11][Pants G24, G12, G21, R81, BV01, BV04, Y17][Hat/Top V01, B000, B0000, V04][Hair Y02, Y17][Shoes R29, R24]

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Floor tile...

We have finally selected our floor tile for the kitchen. It's a sand colored 12x12 tile with splashes of our backsplash tile color in it. With the 'water' color on the walls and the 'sand' color on the floor, everyday will look like a beach day. Our track lighting is on an "s" curve. It's brushed nickel with white ceramic shades on the lights. Very modern, sleek and bright. We only have one design selection to make now, the stove hood. That won't be installed until after the cabinets are finished so we have time.