As we are getting near the summer I already miss the sea. We vacationed in Sardinia this year and it was wonderful! Very relaxing!

I made this card to give to a friend of mine that I met this summer. Hope you like it! It was made with Cuttlebug dies. I used my Black Cat cutter for the seaweed as I didn’t have a stamp nor a die.

It’s been a while since I have last posted but this summer has been rather busy and I have not worked on cards at all. One can only do so much! 😛

Since it is summer, I wanted to create at least ONE summer card. I bought Impression Obsession’s Beachcomber stamp because I fell in love with its simplicity of childhood theme. I also had bought the IO Die 190-C Chair and flip flops. 

As I was playing around with the stamp, I wanted to try doing paper tole. I colored using copic pens. I had done a number of ones with colored pencils but the colors were too bright for the effect I wanted.

For the second card, I wanted to do something I hadn’t done before. I saw on Pinterest a tri-fold shutter card and wanted to try it out. The instructions though were confusing. But, I found a site, http://misspinkscraftspot.blogspot.it/2015/11/i-couldnt-help-but-bring-out-my-snow.html, which gave instructions. I changed the size down to make it a standard A2. I also used Graphic 45 paper, which I love! I almost hate using it because it is so pretty!

Once Upon a Sprimgtime mini album

Finally! After the first fiasco of my mini album falling apart, I began another one with the idea of following Paper Phenomenon’s instruction (which I purchased because I loved it), but knowing me, I just don’t follow directions very well and I would be kept awake at night with different ideas on pages.

I began this album with idea of giving it to a friend of mine as a gift. I had a problem with the binding and, while I followed Kathy King’s instructions, my glue just wasn’t holding up so I changed the hinge by inserting the pages into the folds instead of gluing them onto folds I glued and then stapled them. The hinges themselves are hidden and yet, the pages still turn nicely.

Arrrgghhhh! After working hard on the scrapbook, as I was working on the last page, the whole thing fell apart! I am saddened and a bit frustrated that it did this but trying to learn from my mistake and figure out how to improve upon it.

I think the back binding hinges were too narrow so I have increased the width from 1/4 ” to 1/2″. Hopefully this will help I am also changing the individual page styles. While I loved the interactive fold overs from one 12 x 12 piece of paper, it just got to be too thick. Still working on it and will post photos soon (as soon as I figure out what to do).

 

In the meantime, I went back to making some cards as I needed them for some upcoming birthdays.

I love clocks and have a La-La Land Crafts Steampunk Clock Di, The Paper Studio Clocks embossing folder and Hero Arts It’s a special time (clocks) stamp set. I wanted to have a more or less same card but was trying different techniques for the metallic look.

This is the first one. I used Tim Holtz foil paper for the embossed background and my first attempt at the clock was to cut the die with foam and the foil. It was very delicate and it didn’t work so, I took it off and cut a new one out of silver mirror cardstock.

 

The second one was with gold embossing powder on the embossed background. I used American Crafts ZING Gold embossing powder (2 coats), -the clock was die cut and then embossed using Ranger’s Gold embossing powder. I really like this look and the slight difference in Gold really makes the clock pop more.

My last card is just using Gold mirror cardstock. It took a lot less time and the effect is still nice.

Hello all,

I have been lax on working on the blog but I have been working on the challenge. I have taken a small break from making cards and have shifted my attention to working on a mini scrapbook for my friend. I am using some beautiful papers that I have had for a while and using Sizzix and Spellbinder dies. I have been following Annes Papercreations video on how to make mini album from start to finish. She is from Norway and extremely talented but uses only Graphic 45 papers (which I adore) but did not use on this project.She (and I) used Kathy King’s (Paper Phenomenon) according binding technique. (I think that is what it is called). So far so good.

I will post photos soon.

…….Ciao!!!!!

Here’s a tweet card using Sizzix dies following an inspiration from Jennifer McGuire. I used acrylic paint on the background and Brusho highlights at the end. Instead of layering 5 layers of cardstock for the images, I used white foam. I also used foam to make stamps from the dies to tie everything together and used clear embossing powder to make everything pop.

Another Penny Black stamp birthday card. I just love these stamps! They are fun to work with and inspire a lot of ideas!

It’s been a few days since I posted but I have continued to make cards…well, maybe not one a day but sometimes two in a day. Here it is using Penny Black stamps this time. I made this card for a friend’s birthday. Enjoy!

Total Hero Arts Challange using Floral background and Thank you die. Inspired by Jennifer McGuire watercolor lifting technique. I love the floral background!