Cathy's Favorite Projects of 2013

Happy Friday!  It's Cathy here. My turn to share my favorite projects from 2013.  As I went back through the year to find my fav's, I could really see that I did far less creating in 2013. I've got to work on that! I'm a much happier person when I get to create!

Wanted: Lost Socks

Wedding Favor Tic-Tac covers for my niece's wedding. (Apparently I never posted this to my blog!)

Spring Bouquet Box

Never a Dull Moment

Sketching with Silhouette

A Little Hello Card

Mixed Media Journal

Silent Night Canvas

They are each linked back to the original blog posts so you scan see the details on how they were made. Except for the wedding favors, which I apparently never shared. Ooops!

Pam shared her favorite pages from 2013 HERE. Over the next week or so many of the other Contributing Artists will also be sharing their favorite pages and projects too.  We hope this gets you inspired to create!

VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S BLOGS/GALLERIES
Cathy Dippolito
Dolores Schaeffer
Cindy deRosier
Lesley Walker
Gael Spence
Sarah Routledge
Sharon Fritchman
Tanya Ham
Sheila Burns
Pam Callaghan

Hybrid Mixed Media Journal

It's been a while, but I finally got to do some more She Art work!!  I love doing this type of art. The mixed media is so very pleasing to all my sensory needs!  It allows my creative process to flow, while I think through some deep thoughts and capture some!  It's an art journaling process.

For this one, I got to also play a bit digitally. Arty Pants Digital Stamps has released some really awesome digital stamp goodies that help make Femme images a real breeze!  Check them all out here.

I laid out my design in Photoshop, then printed the background. That got Mod Podged to a composition book.  I then printed the girl, the word strips and the embellishments separately. I fussy cut the girl and pieces and Mod Podged each layered on the journal. I used paints, bubble wrap, punchanella, inks, pens etc to shade, color and highlight.

Some areas got built up with gesso and modeling paste. Glitter got sprinkled on various layers including the lace, and the girls hair. Unfortunately we did not get any sun today to help with the photographs, so you'll just have to trust me that the bling is really nice!

Some gems were added to the flowers on her dress and in her hair. I doodled around the word strips that are layered on the journal.  Can you see how much fun this is?

I didn't need to add any rub-ons since the Extras by Arty Pants include some awesome stamps to make this super easy!

This beauty has already been delivered to a friend.  I hope she enjoys exploring her dreams and releasing her true beauty!

Another Way to "Color" Digital Stamps

Hi everyone! It's Cathy here with a post for you today!  It's been a while!!  Life has taken on some new directions for me and crafting has not had very much time in my life. It feels so good to be getting some creative time again!  And for that I am really thankful!  I got to play with a brand new digital stamp by ArtyPants Digital Stamps called Butterflies and Filigrees, come on that name alone shouts "beautiful"!!  There are so many things that you can do with her digital stamps. She includes a layered file too! So you can clip digital papers or colors to them. You can incorporate them right into your scrapbook or photos designs!

I chose to make a card with this stamp. I brought the .png image into my Silhouette Designer software and resized it for a 4.25"x5.5" card.  I offset it to allow an area for the ribbon. Then I print and cut the card.

So. I'm not so great at using markers to color in digital stamps. But I thought I would share some things I did with this stamp to create a shiny (wish I could photograph the glitter better so you could see just how shiny!) card with texture, color and a bit of grunge.  I got out my copics, glitter and embossing materials.  I used some transparent glitter on the main filigree frame in the design. I wanted to keep it kind of grungy, but add a little dressy to it.

I also traced the 2 butterflies and created cutting shapes for those. I cut them out of vellum.

Each of the butterflies got a sparing layer of glitter on the card face and a rim of opaque glitter on the edge of the cut vellum. I set the vellum on the card with the wings lifted.  The greenery in the stamp was enhanced with color and texture from some gritty moss embossing sand.

Hope this gives you some ideas of how you can use digital stamps in your designs!

Bath Bubbles

"Calgon take me away!"  Remember those commercials? Am I dating myself if I remember those commercials??  :-)  A soothing bubble bath just oozes relaxation. So when I was asked to work with the Bubble Bath digital goodies by Kate Hadfield, my mind went to calming thoughts of lingering lazily in a warm bath.

Cute stuff isn't it?  Here's how I created the sparkly bubbles for my card.  I opened the elements that I wanted to use (tub, bubbles, duck, towel) in my Silhouette software. I resized them to fit my card. Then I print and cut them.  You can also cut them by hand.

On the bubbles, I applied a bit of Glossy Accents mixed with some fine blue glitter. The Glossy Accents gave it a wet look, while the glitter added that bubble shine.  Once it was all dried, I layered the pieces on my card front.

Birthdays are a good time to remind friends to unwind and enjoy life. So I thought this made a splashy cute birthday card.

Hybrid Interactive Layout using Silhouette

On a vacation in Wyoming we had a ton of fun trying on cowboy hats.  We didn't get pictures of all of the hats that we tried on (believe it or not), but we did take a few.  I just had to create a scrap page to remember all the fun that we had.  When I started to lay it out, one page got to be too crowded. So I made it a double page.

I designed the layout in my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software. I set my design size to 12"x24" to accommodate the 2 12'x12" pages.  Then I set out the photo blocks and elements that I wanted to include. 

The digital kit that I used is a collab by the designers at The DigiChick called Howdy Ma'am. It's a great kit for travel, outdoors, edgy,  camping, hiking, you name it.

When I look at each of the photos, I think of a western "wanted" poster. That's where the title of the page came from "Wanted Cowboy Hats". I used a few western and cowboy inspired shapes from the Silhouette online store to create the title. The letters for the word "hats" is a font called Outlaw. I typed the letters in the Silhouette software, then filled them with a color to match the digi papers.  I then used the offset option in the software to create an edge around the letters, like a sticker.  I turned the cut lines off ("no cut") for the actually font, but kept them on for the offset. I then print and cut the letters.

I also print and cut the swinging saloon doors.  My Cameo cuts pretty spot on for print and cut (yes I have calibrated it), but sometimes it might be off just a tad, especially if there isn't enough light when it reads the registration marks. So rather than just fill the door shapes with the digital papers, I create a box shape around the shape I want to cut. I then fill that box with the digi paper and turn the cut lines to "no cut" for the box, but let the shape still be set to cut. This way I get the color/pattern paper all the way to the edges of the shape that I'm cutting.

To get the look of metal for the hinges, after print and cutting them, I coated the top of them in Top Emboss. I then covered them with copper embossing powder and heat embossed them until it melted all nice.  A little bit of ink on the edges gave them a worn look.

Here's a look at each of the 2 pages

Left side

Right side

And here's a peak at the photo behind the saloon doors

Hybrid Halloween Card

Hello there, it's Cathy here today to share a hybrid card with you.  6 days until the little trick-or-treaters come about. At least here in the states. Do you celebrate Halloween where you are?  It's one of those "holidays" that people seen to either love or hate.

It's also another reason to share a greeting with others. As a card maker, I love that!! Any excuse to create a card!!

I designed the layout for this card in the Silhouette Studio Software. I find myself doing that more and more. For a hybrid crafter it makes things less complicated.  It's easy to layout the shapes and design, drag in the digital papers that I want to use. Then I print and cut the various elements and assemble my card.  For this card I used Halloween Party Kit by Quirky Twerp. The kit is adorable with lots of cute stuff for making scrapbook pages, invitations, party favors, decoration and more!  

The vintage image gets a bit of updating sitting atop all those sassy upbeat patterned papers. To cut the vintage image, I dragged that element in from the digital kit. I traced it in the Silhouette software before printing and cutting it.

Dress up a Tin Box

Hi there, it's Cathy here with a hybrid project for you today.  What's hybrid? It's the combination of digital and tradition crafting. You may think that it requires an extra step of getting the digital products out of the computer and into your hands, but there are some great benefits to hybrid. The one I like best is that I can re-use digital papers over and over again!

The project I'm sharing today is dressing up a tin box. You could use this for presenting a special gift, or keep some cherished items in.

The digital papers that I used are from the digital Kit "Cherries Jubilee" by Kristin Cronin Barrow.
Here's how I made this box:
1. Select two digital papers to use for flowers and one for leaves.

2. Open digital paper selections in photo editing software and prepare for printing.

  3. Print selected digital papers on inkjet cardstock ( I used Red River Linen 60lb)

4. Use large and medium flower punch (Paper Shapers Retro Flower)to punch required number of petals to create flowers. For the twisted rose, punch three large flowers and one medium flower. For a rose, punch three large flowers. For the open rose, punch one large flower and two medium flowers. For the small rose, punch three medium flowers.

5.Work on a soft surface such as the back of a foam mouse pad. Create two twisted rose flowers. Use three large and one medium punched flower for each of these. Spritz the flowers lightly with water to make them easy to manipulate. Using tweezers, hold the middle of a petal and twist it about 90 percent.

 
6. Push the twisted petal in towards the middle of the flower. Repeat for the remaining petals on all three large punched flowers.

7. Using your fingers, scrunch medium punched flower in to a ball. The image below shows one punched medium flower and one that has been scrunched.

8. Lay one of the large punched twisted flowers on the work surface. Place a drop of liquid adhesive in the center (I used Beacon Adhesives 3-IN-1 Advanced Craft Glue). Layer another large punched twisted flower on top, alternating the petals. Use the handle of a small paint brush to push the center of the flower into the foam work surface to shape and adhere the flower. Repeat with third large punched twisted flower.

9. Add a drop of liquid adhesive in the center. Using tweezers, place the scrunched medium punched flower in the center to complete the twisted rose. Set aside to dry.

 

10. Create three rosettes. Use three medium punched flowers for each. Push the center of one of the flowers into the foam surface using the handle of a small paint brush.

11. Repeat step 10 for the two remaining medium punched flowers, making them each slightly tighter than the previous flower. There will be three shaped flowers pieces of varying openness as shown in the image below.

12. Layer the three shaped flower pieces starting with the most open on the bottom. Add a drop of liquid adhesive in the center and layer the middle open flower piece on top. Add a drop of liquid adhesive to the bottom of the tightest flower piece. Using tweezers, insert it into the middle of the two layered flowers to complete the rosette. Set aside to dry.

13. Create one rose. Use three large punched flowers. Use the handle of a small paint brush or stylus to curl the petals on one punched flower under.

14. Using the handle of a small paint brush, push the center of the remaining two large punched flowers into the foam surface.

 
15. Make one of the flowers tighter by squeezing it against the handle of the paint brush.

16. Layer the three shaped flower pieces using the same technique that was used to layer the rosettes. Start with the most open flower on the bottom and end with the tightest flower on the top. The image below shows the three shaped layers, most open on the right and tightest on the left.

17. This completes the creation of the flowers. See image below to identify each flower type.

 
18. Punch leaves from green digital paper.

19. Prepare the tin by coloring it with inks. Color the outside of the lid and base. Simply place dots of alcohol ink on the tin surface. Use an alcohol ink applicator tool to spread or overlap the inks if desired. Allow the inks to dry. Below is a picture of the tin prior to coloring with the inks. The inked tin is seen below in step 20.

20. Once the ink has dried, spray the lid and base of the tin with Beacon Decoupage Gloss Sealer. This will seal the inks and provide a nice smooth, glossy surface to the tin.

 
21. Wrap ribbon around the lid of the tin using fabric adhesive (I used Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac)

22. Adhere rhinestone sticker to lid.

23. Cut dimensional glue dots in fourths using non stick scissors

 
24. Use the cut glue dots to adhere the flowers and leaves to lid.

Here are some additional photos of the tin.