Tanya's 2013 Favorites

Happy New Year, everyone!  Tanya here, to share my favorite projects of 2013! To narrow it down, I picked 5 layouts, 5 cards and 3 projects that I really love! :)  I have included links to the original blog posts too, where you can get more description and close up pics of each creation! :)

LAYOUTS:
RIP Droopy-Doo
I die cut this rainbow and used happy, fun colors on this tribute to my Basset Hound, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in January 2013.

In Sickness & In Health
My husband spent Valentine's Day in the hospital recovering from a second surgery in two weeks.  I used Doodlebug's Love Birds collection, and carried the 'birds' into the theme of the layout.

First Bloom
I used white-on-white and covered the background in die cut patterns.  It is a little hard to tell from the photos, but I think the stark background paired with the vivid color of the hyacinth is just beautiful.  The link above has some better close-ups.

Say Cheese
I love all the die cuts and messy stamping, along with so much going on with this fun layout.

9
I stepped outside my box for this anniversary layout.

CARDS:
Valentine
My favorite thing about this card is actually the envelope!  I die cut it from a Kerri Bradford Studio file and love the tear-open flap, along with the hearts on the front.

Whoo's Turning 8?
This was a fun card for my nephew using a die cut file from Miss Kate Cuttables.  I also carried the theme onto the envelope using an owl stamp for the "o" in his name.

Wedding
I love the colors, stamping, embossing and everything about how this card came together.

Party This Way
I liked how this card came out so much, I made several of them in different color schemes!

Thinking Of You
A simple card with lots of texture and dimention that could be used for many different occasions.

PROJECTS:
Mother's Day glass etching
I finally tried my hand at using etching creme with vinyl cut with my Silhouette Cameo to make personalized gifts.

Boat Vinyl
I made several decals for our boat using vinyl cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

Project Life title page
This title page from my first year of Project Life encompasses everything my life is made up of - love, my dogs, home, fun and bright colors, scrapbooking ... it makes me happy to just see it. :)

Thanks for looking back at 2013 with me!  I can't wait to see what others chose as their favorites! :)

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.

National Stamping Month

Cindy here!  Did you know that September is National Stamping Month?  I don't really consider myself a stamper, but I own enough stamps and inks that it would be a shame to let National Stamping Month pass without joining the celebration!

I dug through my scrap stash and came up with a lightly-patterned green piece that would work as a background, a piece of colorful grid paper for my sentiment, and some cardstock pieces for the card base and accents.  The first step was stamping a really fun and whimsical cake.  I fussy-cut it, then shaded it with color pencils.  I added Stickles over the top of each color.  Next, I used Versamark to stamp 'Happy Birthday' all over the green background.  (It's hard to see in the picture, but it's easily visible in real life.)  I used a different stamp and ink for the main sentiment, then grabbed a fun border punch to add a background. 

Have you celebrated National Stamping Month?  It's not too late!

Designer Showcase: Machine Die Cuts

Happy Wednesday!  It's Cathy here to walk you through this weeks Designer Showcase.  We are sharing projects that include machine die cuts.  With the popularity of Cricut and Silhouette die cutting machines, more people are able to include die cuts in the designs of their projects.  Used to be, you could only purchase pre-designed die cut elements. Now with these personal cutting machines, you can purchase cartridges or cut files, or even design your own cut files (with the appropriate software).  This adds even more possibilities of creativity for your pages and projects. Here are a few from the Contributing Artists.

Marlene shares this sweet page about a not-so-sweet time. They had to catch and release a skunk family from their yard.  Marlene used her Cricut to cut the cute little critters and her title for this page. Being able to cut your own title allows you to include coordinating designer papers. This really pulls the page together.

Gael used an SVG file to cut the gate and fence on this page on her Cricut.  She created this gorgeous scene to accent her beautiful photo of Le Chateau de Cheverny in France. I really like how she continued the garden feel by fussy cutting floral papers to create a frame around the photo.

I used a set of files from the Silhouette store to create this shadow box frame.  I then decorated it with digital papers and filled it with photos.  I used the print and cut feature on the Cameo to cut elements from the digital kit to coordinate with my theme.

Electronic cutter are great for making cards.  You can use pre-designed files (top photo) to create quick cards with any papers that you have. Or you can combine files and elements to create your own card design (bottom photo). I really love the print and cut feature and the ability to fill shapes with digital papers. I create a lot of hybrid cards and projects using these features.

Angry Birds Shaped Cards

It's Cindy here!  Today's post is a little bit different than usual because I didn't make the cards I'm going to be showing you... my 5 year old son did!

I've been making shaped cards for an assignment (which I can't share yet), so of course Trevor wanted to make his own shaped cards.  I demonstrated how to cut out a shape from folded cardstock, keeping the fold line intact.  He started with red cardstock, carefully cutting out a circle.

He did the same thing with a piece of green cardstock.  Then he cut out cardstock features and carefully glued them to his cards.  Finally, he added detail with a black pen.  And what shapes did he make?  Angry Birds characters!

Here's a closer look:

Trevor is really excited about his finished cards. It will be interesting to see if he is willing to give them away, or if he ends up keeping them himself!

Don't forget to include the children in your life in your crafting.  The scrapbook supplies you have on hand are just as great for kids' crafts as for your own scrapbooking and cardmaking!

Eggtravaganza of Cards

Happy Sunday! 

Today, Im sharing with you a bunch of cards that I made for this coming Easter for your inspiration. With Easter coming in one week, it is not too late to make some fun cards to give to your family and friends and loved ones.... 

This first card has an adorable bunny just stamped on cardstock and colored only the flower part. 

This stamp is from Stamps By Judith

 This next card can be used pretty much for anything in spring or even a get well card. 

The stamp Simple Filler Stems is from Heartfelt Creations. 

The same goes for this pink card, since there is no title to the front. 

The stamp Scenery Builder is from Heartfelt Creations. 

This card has NO patterned paper, only embossing and the flower was made with Rose creations from Spellbinders. The sentiment is just printed from the computer. 

Here is a fun and fast Chocolate Easter Bunny Card...who doesn't love chocolate! 

The tutorial for the wreath can be found here. 

Here is a beautiful cross made with a Heartfelt creations diecut, Cross and Lilies Die and flowered stamps, Malabar Clemitis Stamps

The sentiment is also from the computer. 

This last but not least Chocolate Bunny Card was made using lots of Donna Salazar's Artistic Papers and only too minutes to make! Love when that happens! 

Hope you enjoyed and are inspired to make some Easter cards for the upcoming holiday!
Thanks for stopping by!

Marble Painting

Do any of you remember marble painting from back in your preschool days?  I love marble painting.  It's quick, easy, inexpensive... and just as fun for adults as it is for kids.  The finished marble art is beautiful on its own, but you can also use it anywhere you'd use patterned paper.  Here's a quick card I made using a marble painting as the background.  

To make a marble painting, you'll need: marbles, washable paints (I like Crayola), paint cups (mine were once applesauce containers), white paper, low-stick tape, and an empty shoebox.

Put some paint into each paint cup.  If the paint is thick, dilute it with some water.  You'll want the paint to be a bit runny.  Drop a marble in each cup.

Make loops of low-stick tape, then attach a piece of paper to the bottom of the shoebox.  Pick up a marble and drop it in the shoebox.  Pick up the box and wiggle it to make the marble roll around.  When there is no more paint left on the marble, put it back in the paint cup.  Continue with different colors until you are happy with the design.

Here is Trevor's finished paper.

 

Of course, you don't have to drop the marbles in one at a time.  You can put them all in at once if you want.

You could use a larger cardboard box if you wanted to marble paint on a 12x12 sheet of paper.  You could add glitter or a pearlescent powder to the paint for a different look.  You could start with colored paper instead of white.  The possibilities are endless!