Indigo Inklings

SURPRISE!

2011-12-13T10:32:00.000-06:00

Yes, here I am, appearing out of the crafting void. Life has been keeping me busy doing things other than stamping and cardmaking, but I had to make cards for the holidays!

Here's what I made for this year's holiday card exchange (at an author fan site of which I've been a long-time member):

Since I knew that I'd be making a bunch of cards, about forty, I tried to keep it simple. HA! Never works out that way. I just had to keep embellishing and adding small touches here and there. I do like how this turned out though.

So I started with precut and prefolded cards from Michael's Recollections line, conveniently already on clearance. The snowman was made using a Sizzix Bigz die and embossing folder combo (Snowman & Hat)—make your die cut then run it through your machine of choice inside the embossing folder. Worked great! I'll just add in here that I used the Sizzix Vagabond machine for this part of the process and it made it extremely quick and easy. I even cut out the hat from black cardstock in the same pass. I just laid the white over the snowman and the small piece of black over the hat and ran it all through. The snowman was embellished with Glaze pens for the eyes and carrot nose and then a snowflake from the Martha Stewart line of punches. I added the silver hat band with a silver metallic marker and dabbed on a spot of Frosted Lace Stickles. Another Martha Stewart punch, this time a border punch, helped me create the plaid border. Martha's baker's twine formed the scarf. The final touch was a couple of spritzes of Perfect Pearls Perfect Pearl Mist. Love that added shimmer and snowy look!

Happy Holidays!

out of the deep freeze

2011-02-03T14:14:00.001-06:00

This week I got to experience a first--I've lived in the Midwest all of my life and am used to seeing winter storm watches and warnings. The blizzard warning was a new one for me! Now as it turned out, I live just far enough east that the worst of the storm missed us. It left some snow and ice though, which look rather pretty.

This photo struck me. I happened to catch her just as she was taking off from her rather snowy perch.

In a way, that's the way I feel about this blog. I've been frozen in the same spot for a while, now it's time to take off again.

So, here's what I worked on today.

This is a Pop-Up die by GEO-dies. It looks like a sun or a sunflower, so it appealed to me.

I used it with my Big Shot like I would any other wafer-thin die, between the two clear cutting pads on top of my multipurpose platform, tab 2.

After turning back and folding the cut outs, I adhered it to the yellow cardstock and put it through my Big Shot inside the Sizzix Flowers & Vines textured impressions folder. I inked the embossing using Memento dye ink then embellished with a Prima flower, some bling, and a sentiment by Studio G.

Here's a closer view of the embossed pop-up die.

This technique is a twist on inlaid embossing that I've seen done several places. It's been done with simple die cuts and with Prima flowers. It struck me as being similar in concept to Cuttlebug quilting. Here I liked the added visual interest that the pop-up die cut lends to the design.

Cuttlebug embossing plus

2010-09-06T11:07:00.020-05:00

When I first heard about this product, I was intrigued. These folders sounded a lot like the embosslits by Sizzix and I wondered what Provo Craft would do differently. After playing with a couple for just a bit, I now have a better idea.

Here are a couple of the CB emboss plus folders as they'd arrived after I ordered them. The larger one is the 5 X 7 Brocade Window. The smaller one is the Elegant Ellipse.

Removing the folder from the packaging takes a bit of care. Don't tear or cut any of the plastic. The clear plastic makes up the outside of the folder, just like in the home-made embossing folders that I've described here on the blog, and like the modified CB folders that I described here. All you need to do is unsnap those two pairs of green buttons and slip the folder out from under the cardboard flap.

This is the folder once it's been removed from the packaging. This is the front view.

This is the folder opened up. The green parts that you see are thin metal dies that do the cutting and embossing.

If you flip the folder over and look carefully at it from the back, you'll see that there's a flap that's been cut out of the plastic. This flap can be lifted out of the way so that this side of the folder can be used as a stencil. Clever! This is a plus over the Sizzix embosslits.

The smaller folder works exactly the same way.

This is the back. You can see that there's a rectangle outlining the design of the embossing folder. That's the outline of the flap that I was talking about up above.

Here I'm lifting the flap away. It can be tough to see if you don't know what to look for.

Okay. So let's see how these actually work. I like the minimal packaging. Here you see the back of it. They show how to run the folder through, use it as a stencil, and use it as a die. Wonder why they didn't say what the stack should be though? Seems like a big oversight. For CB users, I've read that it's the A plate, then the folder between the two B plates. As usual, we Big Shot users will get to experiment. :-)

So, I have a nice big folder, let's try a nice big card. I think you can see that I already have a dilemma. That's a 5 X 7 inch card with the fold on the side. It's the design of the embossing folder that is 5 X 7. If I want to die cut and emboss my card front, I can't do it. The folder is too big.

See what I mean? Usually I place the card front inside the folder and wrap the rest around the back. Can't do it. The design will be way off. The other method that could work would be to put the card front inside the folder and run it through sideways. That won't work with these larger folders either. They're too wide for the opening of the machine. I've always felt that was a drawback with the larger sized folders. It cuts down on versatility. Hate that.

Here I've settled for trying this out on a half-sheet of white card stock.

This is the card stock inside the folder, sandwiched between the two clear cutting plates, on top of the multipurpose platform open with No Tabs. Roll it through. It wasn't a super tight fit in my machine. It rolled fairly easily. And don't be alarmed if you hear cracking noises as the die goes through. I've heard the same sound with the Sizzix embosslits. It's fine. Nothing is cracking.

This is the folder opened up. You can see the debossed design. You can also make out where the die has cut through to make the window.

Here I've removed the center and poked out the other pieces that had been cut. It's also flipped over so that the embossed side is showing. This could now be trimmed down to fit the front of that 5 X 7 card.

I wanted to give you an idea of the quality of the embossing.

And here's a look at the debossed side. You may also be able to make out the fact that the window cuts were not perfectly clean. You can see some bits and pieces hanging on the edges of the opening. It's nothing that a bit of fine grit sandpaper can't remove, but it's an annoyance. I'm not sure if a thin shim might help eliminate this, but I'm also not sure that I want to add a shim since the fit was already fairly tight.

This is a photo with the card stock back in the folder. Again, this is a view from behind with the flap lifted so that you can use this side as a stencil to pounce chalks or inks or whatever you'd like to use to add some color to the embossed design.

Since I didn't get to emboss my card front with that bigger folder, I thought I'd give it a try with the smaller one. This is an A2 size card. I'm placing the front inside the folder and wrapping the back behind. I like that the plastic folder allows the die to reach close to the center of the card front. I used the same stack as last time. From the bottom up: multipurpose platform using no tabs, clear cutting plate, embossing folder with card front inside, clear cutting plate.

After rolling it through and again hearing some cracking noises, here's the result.

It's nicely cut and nicely embossed, but there are a couple of issues. I left the photo a bit dark up there because I wanted you to be able to see that there was some buckling of the card front below the embossed design. I'll have to play with that to see if it can be eliminated.

I left this photo dark, too, so that you can perhaps see that the top edge of the die left a crease in the card stock up above the design. That's a second annoyance to try to minimize. Just not a great look, you know?

Overall, it was a nice improvement made by Provo Craft over the embosslits by Sizzix. The construction of their folders show the thought that went into this and added some versatility. I like the fact that they can reach the center of a card front. I like that you can fully emboss the front of a 5 X 7 card edge to edge. I also like that you can use part of the die to stencil.

There are drawbacks though. I still find the larger size to be limiting (as in the folder cannot be run through these particular machines--Cuttlebug and Big Shot--sideways), and the fact that the folder itself extends beyond the design makes it problematic to emboss and die cut a card front. Then there's the pesky problem again with the creasing and the buckling of the card stock, at least with my Big Shot. I'll give it a whirl with my CB and see if the results are better. If not, it'll be time to do some tweaking unless I decide that I really like cutting and adhering layers to my card fronts.

Hope everyone is enjoying the Labo(u)r Day holiday, if you're celebrating where you are. :-)

Fiskars Continuous Stamp Wheel

2010-09-03T12:29:00.009-05:00

I don't think it will come as a surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I'm kind of hooked on tools and gadgets. They're just so much fun! Well, we had a brand new Joann's open not too long ago. It replaced the old grungy one and was big and bright and beautiful, occupying the space that was once a Circuit City. I'd browsed through there once just to take it all in. Okay, yeah I bought some stuff, too. I'll admit it. But the last time I was there, I had a coupon that just had to be used on something. That something ended up being the Fiskars Continuous Stamp Wheel. I was curious, and with the coupon, the price was right. The original price was $9.99 USD.

So, pictured above are the Continuous Stamper and a couple of clear stamps made for use with this tool. I liked the stamps, even if the stamper might be a bust.

This is the stamper out of the packaging. It's small and lightweight. You can see the roller that the stamp will be attached to. There are also some plastic guides on the housing, front and back, (one is near the tip of my thumb) to help with aligning your design. Simple really.

Here's a view of the bottom.

And here's how the roller looks when it's been popped out by a simple push from above.

Those two orange knobs pull away from each other to unlock the roller and allow it to open up. Once open, you can see the small square hooks that hold the ends of the stamp in place. My left index finger is conveniently pointing to them.

Here you can see that holes at the end of the stamp that fit over those hooks.

Above you can see that I've attached one end.

Now I've wrapped the stamp around the roller and am attaching the other end to the hooks. There is a slightly raised edge on each side of the roller to help align the stamp.

Now the roller is closed.

This is just a view of the other side so that you can get a sense of that raised edge.

Pop that roller back into place. By the way, it takes a lot longer to explain this than to actually do it. :-)

The starter kit comes with a black ink cartridge that's shown above.

It has a couple of knobs that fit into a couple of notches. To help make sure that it's loaded correctly, one set of knobs and notches is bigger than the other, so take a good look before trying to force something that might not be lined up properly.

This is the bigger set.

Here's the smaller pair. The fan-like grooves will be what lock the cartridge in place.

Click the ink cartridge into position.

Remove the cover over the ink roller and set it aside. Don't throw it away. You use it to cover the ink again when you're finished. Rotate the cartridge to lock it into place. Now you're set!

Here's the tool all prepped and ready to go.

It's time to roll! I'd advise using your dominant hand for this. I'm using my left hand because the right one is taking pictures.

I have to say that this was easy to roll and keep straight, even left-handed. I've seen better ink coverage though.

And here's how the design looked after I made a second pass.

What do I think of this? It is a little work to set up, but I like the idea of continuously stamping and not having to reink. That's a plus over using these stamps with clear blocks. Now I didn't really prep the stamp that I used, and to be fair I should probably do that before saying the the image quality wasn't the greatest, but I have liked results better using other inks, like Versafine or Memento which tend to cover better. This system does force you to use their ink. Clean up was a little messy, too, but not bad. They recommend removing the ink cartridge and then replacing it with a damp towel and rolling on scrap paper. I just "stamped off" the ink after removing and putting away the ink cartridge. You're also limited in the colors that you can use, though they do offer several colors to choose from. I haven't had this long enough yet to know how long the ink will last.

So, for the price, I think that this tool can be very useful for its specific purpose. If I'm making a bunch of cards and using similar designs on all of them, I could see pulling this out and having it be a time-saver. Would probably be fun to stamp in multiple colors and perhaps even combine some of the designs as well. I may have to give that a try. At this point I only have the black ink though, so that'll have to wait--at least until my next trip to Joann's. :-)

Whoa, it's a blog-a-versary!

2010-07-21T16:48:00.004-05:00

A cheery "Hello!" to anyone still following after my unscheduled hiatus from blogging. Life got busy, followed by a creative slump, then I had some issues with what I think was a disc problem in my neck that kept me from crafting comfortably when I start feeling that urge to create, and now we've had a busy summer filled with the usual summer activities, home improvement projects, visits to relatives.... etc. You get the picture, I'm sure. :-)

Anyway, I absolutely HAD to post since I knew that I'd started this blog back in July of 2006, never dreaming that I'd keep it going this long. I appreciate all of the messages that I've received from folks who were wondering if I'd quit blogging or who were just checking up to see if things were okay over here. Crafters are such a lovely community of people. :-)

I still haven't been crafting much lately. We've been working on my girls' "shrine" to dance. They've both danced since they were not quite three years old--they're now 13 and 15. Each year they'd dance in a recital and each year they'd have professional photos taken in costume. All of those photos had been sitting in a nice stack in a cabinet. The individual 8x10 photos are now in albums. Yay! That wasn't so bad. Finding the albums and pages for them was the toughest part.

The bigger part of the project has been tackling the group pictures. For each number that they danced in, they have a photo of the group. Early on, it was usually just one photo/year. Now that they perform in more numbers, they're in more photos. Last year they were in nine of them. So, over the course of 12 years of dance, we'd accumulated 46 photos. It seemed a shame to have them just sitting in the envelopes in the cabinet, and the girls wanted to use them to decorate their dance space in the basement where they have a mirrored wall and a dance barre.

We pulled down the old Spongebob, Barbie, and Scooby Doo posters and decided that we had a large enough space that we could put the photos in frames and somehow artfully hang them. I was excited to find that Target had those packaged pairs of very simple frames for 8x10 photos in various colors for only $6 USD. After raiding most of my local stores for those black frames, we decided that a mix of black and silver frames would be okay, since I couldn't find enough of just the black ones. Then came the labor-intensive pulling of photos, labeling the backs with songs, years, dancers' names, and placing them in the frames. I was thrilled to find that our photo collection was complete! I was sure that we'd be missing some.

But then came the hanging issue. It was going to be tricky, eh? That's a large number of photos, plus we know that we'll be adding to them. It was daunting to think of using picture hangers and trying to keep any semblance of order with that many photos--imagine just trying to hang them in straight lines or trying to keep each one straight over time. Yikes! This is when it pays to have a husband who loves woodworking and doing home improvement projects himself. He came up with a way to mount the photos in a wood framework on the wall that would still allow us to have fairly easy access to them, as needed. They slide in from the sides on a narrow ledge and are held in by a narrow lip at the top and bottom edges. All I had to do was paint all of those wooden pieces black. I think it turned out great! Much better than trying to measure and place hangers for 46 photos.

Okay, since the really astute among you would probably notice that there are only 42 photos displayed, we do have another partial row to put up. Just haven't gotten to that yet.

So, no cards and no nifty tricks or tips for using embossing folders or any other tools today. I do have some of the new stuff and want to play with it. When I do, I'll post results. Just thought that I'd show you a crafting project of sorts that we'd been working on here at home. :-) And YES! It's a happy celebration of four years of IndigoInklings, even if the posting can be sporadic at times. Thanks for hanging in there with me! :-)

glittered embossing

2010-03-05T19:19:00.005-06:00

Every once in a while I like to add some glitz to my cards. I tend not to use glitter all that often because it can be so messy. That's why I tend to use Stickles or hot fix crystals instead. But glitter can add such a splash of color!

I used Ritz microfine glitter on the following card....

I'd applied three 1/4" strips of double-sided tape and then embossed it using a Cuttlebug border folder. I then exposed one strip and glittered it. I removed the next liner and added glitter of a different color. You can guess what I did next--yes, I stripped off the last bit and added the final color of glitter, burnishing after each addition. I then stamped my images and sentiment which are all by Hero Arts and were stamped using Memento dye inks. The score lines were made using the Scor-it.

This is a close up of the card. Here you can appreciate the embossed diamonds of the glittered border. Glitter and embossing can be a striking combo. :-)

accenting with the Scor-It

2010-03-02T13:00:00.004-06:00

If you've arrived via the Scor-it newsletter where I'm featured "In the Spotlight" this month, welcome! The following post is essentially what was linked in the newsletter. I decided to post it here as well since the photos here can be clicked on and enlarged and the effects of the scoring can be better appreciated, I think.

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Originally I purchased the Scor-it because of the great scores it would make for my card folds. I use it for a lot more than that these days. I like to use scores as accents on my cards, and I really enjoy using the Scor-it in combination with some of my other crafting tools.

One of my more recent crafting acquisitions has been the Slice by Making Memories. This small electronic die cutter is fun for card making and pairs up nicely with the Scor-it and the sorts of things that I like to do with it.

Pictured above is a tag that I cut with my Slice and scored with my Scor-it.

This is simply a piece of card stock that I scored with the idea of using it later as an accent on a card. The Scor-it ruler made it really easy to score this quickly.

Here is the card that I made with the tag. I'd applied glue to the raised score lines with my Essential Glue Pad and then dusted them with Pearl Ex. The sentiment and die cuts were also made using the Slice. The additional scoring on the green layer was made using the Scor-it.

On this card I used the scored card stock to add some visual interest behind the flowers and the sentiment. Again the die cuts and sentiment were made using the Slice. The stamped image is by Studio G. The embellishments are butterfly shaped Robin's Nest Dew Drops.

Here I combined an accordion fold that I made using the Scor-it with a sentiment that I'd made by cutting out the individual letters with the Slice. I thought it was a fun 3-D look. The flower embellishments are by Prima.

Now for a quickie tutorial. Sometimes I like to make pretty edging even more interesting to look at and to feel.

The above border was made using the Garden Trellis deep edge punch by Martha Stewart. It's gorgeous, but I wanted more! :-)

I decided to try adding a little texture to it by running my scoring tool along the junctions of the trellis.

Here's how it turned out. I liked the effect! Gave it a little more pop.

Here's how it looked when I turned the whole thing into a card. The sentiment is by Hero Arts. The decorative paper is by Autumn Leaves. The background floral stamps and the sentiment were stamped using Memento inks. The flower embellishments are Primas with copper half-pearl centers added.

This is a closer look at that decorative edge. I thought the scoring was a fun addition. :-)

I hope that this post serves as a reminder that there are lots of great crafting tools out there--they can look even better when used to complement each other. Score lines made using the Scor-it can look particularly good when used to embellish die cuts made using manual and electric die cutters. I hope I've shown that scores can add some pop to punched edges, too. It's fun to think about the possibilities. :-)

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Thanks to Tim Hammonds for asking me to be featured in his newsletter. I was happy to oblige because I do love to use the Scor-it board and ruler in my crafting. And no, I'm not being compensated for saying that--I'm just a happy customer/crafter. :-) If you aren't a Scor-it newsletter subscriber, it's easy to become one. Just click over to the Scor-it, or rather, the Scor-it-All site, as it's now named. The sign up form is on their homepage. There are lots of great ideas in the newsletters and on the site. And just an FYI, I just published another post that I'd held until the newsletter came out. It features another card made using the Scor-it in combination with a border punch, if you're interested in seeing another example. :-) I also recently added a page to this blog that contains links to the cards/tutorials/info about the Scor-it and Scor-it ruler here on IndigoInklings. The link can be found at the top of my blog page, just underneath the header image.

score lines and border dies, a fun pair

2010-02-28T13:12:00.004-06:00

One thing that I really like about crafting tools is the way that they can be used together to effect some fun looks. *ahem* Not to mention that this also helps justify buying more tools. :-)

I've been having fun recently by finding different ways to incorporate scoring into my card-making. My latest forays have involved my Scor-it and border punches.

Here's an example of what I mean....

For this card, which is the second half of the pair that I mentioned the other day, I used the Martha Stewart Iron Gate border punch on the red card stock layer. I then made the score lines using my Scor-it to add some visual interest. The stamped images are all by Hero Arts and stamped on decorative card stock using Memento inks. I added some glitz to the fleur-de-lis and the peacock with my clear Copic Atyou glitter pen and then added the tiny hot fix bling crystals to finish it off.

thinking of you, part one

2010-02-26T13:33:00.004-06:00

Ahhh, the urge to make some cards came on earlier. I pulled out the Making Memories Slice machine since I recently got my hands on the Studio Expressions design card and I wanted to play with it a bit. I also used some of my old stand-by techniques.

For this card I took a scrap of designer card stock and ran it through my Big Shot inside the Stampin' Up!/Sizzix Finial Press textured impressions folder. I accented the embossing with some Tuxedo Black Memento dye ink applied direct to paper and then adhered the layer to my card front. I added the score lines to my card using my Scor-it. I cut the labels using my Slice and a selection from the Studio Essentials design card, layered them and then attached them with foam tape to pop them out a bit. The stamped image is by Studio G and stamped and colored using Memento inks.

Interestingly, I'd made a second card with a similar sentiment, only in French. Sheer coincidence! I didn't even realize it until later. But I'm going to hold off on posting that one for just a bit. It ties in with something else that I'd worked on this week. Don't want to say more about that for the moment though. :-)

Now it's about time to see how Team USA will fare in hockey. I should be able to catch the 1st period before heading out on the afternoon drive to school.

a suncatcher? really?

2010-02-14T19:15:00.005-06:00

Recently I posted about improvising with the L Letterpress plates. I remarked in the comments that these plates are not like clear polymer stamps; it had seemed to me that some folks had that mistaken impression. In trying to come up with a way to describe the texture of these plates it occurred to me that they're not that dissimilar from those plastic suncatchers that you can find in kids crafts sections of stores. I know, it's almost a sacrilegious notion, so real life printers, I ask your forgiveness and your indulgence. Turn away now. Ha! As if any real life printers would be reading. ;-)

So here's what I did....

Pictured above are my Big Shot, the multipurpose platform open to No Tabs, two clear cutting plates, a plastic suncatcher that cost me 48 cents, and a sheet of fairly thick handmade watercolor paper. The paper was torn from a tablet that I'd found on clearance at Hobby Lobby. The impression that was made by running the suncatcher through is the image at the top left. I hadn't applied any ink. The color that can be seen is some of the black that had transferred from the plastic. It's tough to appreciate, but the debossed image was really quite distinct.

And here's the card that I made using the image. I colored the design with watercolor pencils, tore around it, then mounted it on a layer of Core'dinations card stock that I'd punched using an EK Success border punch and distressed using sand paper.

Now, I'm not saying that these can be used in place of actual letterpress plates. It's just something that I did on a whim. I'd have to say though, that if I come across other fun suncatcher designs, I'd probably pick them up knowing that there's a fun way that I could use them to add a different look to my cards.

spring cleaning on IndigoInklings

2010-02-14T11:22:00.005-06:00

It must be that time of year. I've been feeling the need to do some sprucing up on the blog. No big changes at this point. I just wanted to reduce some of the clutter and mayhem in my sidebar. I'd been considering going to a three-column layout, but then Blogger made pages available and I decided to give that a go instead.

So, up above, you now see a row of navigation. It's supposed to look like tabbed navigation, but I haven't worked with getting that row to be a different color yet. I'd like to be able to set that off from the rest of the page. First things first though--I wanted to see if pages would even work with my layout since I've done so much tinkering. Looks like it does! And it was really quite easy to do. I basically did all of the grunt work for this while watching the Blues game and the Olympics last night. LOL! I just followed the instructions on the Blogger site.

I've moved a number of my sidebar elements to the top. I think it's reduced some of the busy-ness of my sidebar. I thought about moving the tutorials etc up there, but I think they're more accessible where they are now with those drop-down menus. I may move all of my stamping resources up there on their own separate page. I need to get motivated to copy and paste all of those links though--the way I have it set up now I'd have to copy each one individually, so it's a bit of a daunting task. We'll see. It's a gray and cold day here and some snow is falling intermittently, so it's a good one to spend indoors and that may become one of my multitasking efforts.

Anyway, if you're thinking of tackling pages in Blogger, I can now say that it was really easy to do. Just be sure to download a copy of your template before playing so that you have a safety net should anything not work out quite the way that you expect. :-)

Happy Valentine's Day and/or Happy Chinese New Year, all!

oh, those ProvoCraft Asian folders

2010-02-12T14:13:00.006-06:00

For a while I was holding out, several months actually, not purchasing any more embossing folders from ProvoCraft. That ended up changing after I was given some of the Asian designs over the holidays.

Here are some of the cards that I've made with them....

This card was made using first the Kimiko folder on some Core'dinations card stock. I turned the folder over and debossed the image then sanded it to remove some of the black and bring out the color underneath, leaving the image nicely outlined. I then ran that through again, this time inside the Bamboo folder. I sanded that again to remove the black. The sentiment was cut out using my Slice.

For this card I again pulled out the Bamboo embossing folder. I then added a few of the lanterns from the Lanterns folder at the top. The stamped image is by Inkadinkado and accented using Spica glitter pens. The sentiment is by Verve.

For this last card I did some double 'bossing. I debossed my white card stock layer using the Plum Blossoms embossing folder and applied the Angel Pink Memento ink DTP. I then embossed that piece using the Kimiko folder and accented the embossing using Memento London Fog ink. I like the way that the kimono took on some of the blossoms. The sentiment is again by Verve. I embellished using Brides flowers that I also embossed using the Plum Blossoms folder.

smiling

2010-02-11T14:05:00.004-06:00

Ugh. I think all of the gray days have been getting to me. Not much enthusiasm for crafting lately. The sun was out today though, and that put a bounce in my step. Got going early. Did a morning work out. Made a card! It was simple and quick, but maybe this will get me going.

The stamped sentiment and images are by Hero Arts and stamped using Memento ink. The embossing was made using the Japanese Scales folder by ProvoCraft. The "friends" punch is by EK Success. By the way, this punch was not with the other punches if you go looking for it. I found it at Michael's in the American Girl section near the kids' stuff. I added color to the owls with Spica glitter pens.

improvising with L LetterPress printing plates

2010-01-27T21:03:00.013-06:00

L has come out with accessories for the QuicKutz Epic 6 Machine that let a crafter do home letterpress printing. Letterpress printing is basically relief printing of text or images; that is, the printed word or text is debossed--think engraved invitations. Sounded neat to me.

I did a little research. Their starter kit came with a platform, plates to which you adhere your various printing plates and attach your paper, black oil-based ink, another plate for holding ink, and a roller for rolling out that ink and applying it to the plates. It also came with some specialty paper which sounded a lot thicker than the usual card stock, even heavy weight card stocks. It was the paper that sounded like it was the key.

Well, I wasn't sure that letterpress printing was something that I really wanted to invest a lot of time or money in, so I decided to just see what the paper was like and maybe try one set of plates. I didn't buy the starter kit. I decided that I could improvise for now.

My apologies. I took these pics with my cell phone. I was in a hurry. My supplies included duct tape, Versafine ink, two clear Big Shot cutting plates, a sheet of letterpress paper, a damask printing plate and repositionable poster tape as well as a few pieces of painter's tape.

I attached the two cutting plates using the duct tape. Placed end to end as you can see above, I left a gap of about 1/4" between them. This made a hinge that allowed room for sandwiching the printing plate and paper between them. I used the straight edges of the painter's tape to mark the position of my paper.

In this photo you can see the paper placed on the plate in the foreground. The damask printing plate image has been adhered to the other plate with the poster tape.

Now, I tend to shy away from using my brayer. I just don't like dealing with having to get the ink evenly applied to it and then having to clean it up again later. I applied the ink directly onto the plate using the inkpad. It's probably not as even as it would have been had I rolled it out, but I think dealing with less mess is worth it. I used the Versafine ink because it's oil-based and because I like the detail that it picks up and the easy clean up.

I rolled the sandwich through my Big Shot using my multipurpose platform open to Tab 1. I thought it needed to be just a little tighter, so I added a shim--the Cuttlebug embossing folder backing material that I typically add. This is another time when it's best to start thin. These printing plates are made from a clear plastic that definitely feels like it could easily crack.

Here's how it looked when I opened up the sandwich. The debossing was nice and deep, but hard to appreciate just by looking, even in real life.

I thought I'd try running an uninked plate through the machine. That's the Thank You that's in the photo above.

I think the debossing is easier to appreciate now, despite the low quality of the photo.

So, this is a fun twist on traditional stamping and embossing. It's neat in that unlike the debossing that you can do with embossing folders, the back of the paper remains nice and flat. My method is admittedly full of ways in which things could go wrong. A real hinge on the plates to keep them nice and stable would be a big help. Not sure what the plates are like in the starter kit, but I've heard that there's a bit of play in them, so they don't sound quite perfect either. My poster tape method doesn't cover the entire back of the printing plate so it's possible that I'm not getting as even a deboss as if I used a sheet of adhesive over the whole thing. I'm sure that I wasn't able to apply the ink quite as evenly as I could have with a brayer. Like I said, I was willing to sacrifice that quality for this quick test. I also used a more crude method of keeping my paper in place. The starter kit comes with some paper positioners that sound sort of like rectangular pop dots. Since I was only running the image through in one color, I wasn't really worried about precise positioning. I think I could have safely used more painter's tape to hold the paper more steady without harming it though.

Bottom line? This was a fun technique to try. I think I'll definitely be using the plates for doing some debossing, inked and uninked. I haven't tried any other paper yet. Watercolor paper would be tempting. The thickness of the paper made for use with the LetterPress plates is key though. Makes a big difference and a beautiful result!

news for C'bug owners

2010-01-24T11:04:00.007-06:00

If you're a crafter, this is a fun weekend! Most of us didn't make it to Anaheim for CHA, aka the Craft and Hobby Association Craft Supershow, but I've been having a fun time checking out blogs and updates on the new items coming out from various manufacturers.

Making Memories has a system for making the Slice a hands-off machine. It involves using a cutting pad that is glass on one side, an embossing surface on the other, and a metal plate sandwiched between. The metal allows the Slice to be affixed to the glass or embossing surface via magnets that are attached to a plastic collar that's fitted to the Slice's base. That was very slick design work! Looks like it works like a charm. I also read that they'll be releasing some colored pen attachments later this spring, which sound like fun, and there are new cards on the way as well.

Spellbinders already held their week of sneak peeks at their new dies. Some of those looked great!

The other items that caught my eye were the new embossing folders and dies made by Sizzix in association with Tim Holtz, his Alterations line. He has his own machine, too! It's electric and looks like a vintage suitcase--very cool. And Tim has new colors of Distress Inks being released, among many other fun things. Check out his blog for more details, but his embossing folders will not only have great designs but vary the depth of the embossing as well. Fun stuff! Love innovative ideas like that! These will be in the larger size of the usual Sizzix folders, too, so they'll emboss an entire A2 size card front.

What I saw just a little while ago is that ProvoCraft is finally catching up with some of the items that have been missing from their arsenal. They're coming out with some 12" border dies that look similar to the ones by QuicKutz, at least in the photos. They'll be releasing some dies that cut and emboss and that sound quite similar to the Sizzix Cut 'n Emboss dies. And they're finally making long cutting plates available--13" A and B plates, which is good news for those of you who want to use those long borders without having to make two passes or want to use the Sizzix XL Bigz dies without having to figure out how to resize the Sizzix plates to fit. For pure aesthetics, they're going to release the Cuttlebug in a couple of new colors, a red and a blue, both with flourishes. Sounds like the machine is otherwise unchanged. Then there will be a new batch of embossing folders released later this spring. I read most of this C'bug info on Pezadoodle's blog, so click over there to see her take on these and her photos as well.

Lots of fun stuff being released over the next few months! I just touched on some of the stuff that sounds intriguing to me. Hope you've been saving your pennies!

Edited to add: Just saw another video of Cuttlebug's new product that cuts & embosses. I shortchanged them. This line is called the Emboss Plus. These are A2 and probably 5 x 7 size folders, multilayered--they do cut and emboss in one pass. One layer can be peeled back so that the design can be inked (worked like a stencil). The flip side shows the image(s) of the design(s) on the folder. Looked like about 10 folder designs being released. Should be interesting!

Sizzix ScoreBoard XL dies

2010-01-22T13:05:00.008-06:00

I couldn't resist trying this new offering from Sizzix. These are similar to their other XL Bigz dies but they cut and score matboard and chipboard, with the recommended thicknesses of the board being between 0.04" and 0.055" for the best results. I thought I'd get the most use from the Memo Holder and I was excited when this die arrived in the mail yesterday.

Here's how things went....

I started with getting out my Big Shot and the extended cutting pads. I also pulled out my rotary cutter, cutting mat, ruler, and some matboard. I cut the matboard down to a size that would fit nicely through my Big Shot--this was roughly 3 3/4" wide and 18" long.

Here's the usual sandwich. It rolled easily through my machine. From the bottom up: clear cutting plate, die cutting side up, matboard, other clear cutting plate. Yes, the die will fit through the opening of the Cuttlebug, but the extended cutting plates made by Sizzix are too wide--this is the same as with the other Bigz and XL Bigz dies as noted before.

Here are all of the pieces, cut and scored.

Here it is folded along the score lines.

In this photo I wanted to show that I used adhesive Velcro dots to keep the flap closed over the 3" x 3" size Post-It note pad that I'd adhered using my ATG. I think ideally I'd use the magnetic snap closures, but I couldn't find mine. I hate it when I clean up and then I can't find stuff! LOL!

Here's the finished product. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo where the memo pad was actually showing. But the holder was made from matboard. The flowers were chipboard by DCWV and the I used self-adhesive pearls for the embellishment. The finished measurements are roughly 3 3/8" x 3 1/4" x 1/2".

This Sizzix ScoreBoard Memo Holder die worked beautifully. It cut through the matboard and chipboard without any problems at all. The scoring was perfect. It assembled very easily and the end result is that I made a very nice sturdy memo holder in a very short amount of time. I think it probably took me longest to locate all of the paraphernalia that I needed. :-) Typical.

scoring late in the game ;-)

2010-01-21T12:33:00.011-06:00

I wanted to share a few cards that I made over the holidays that I didn't post here. They were originally made for sharing in the Scor-It newsletter, but it looks like they've started up their own design team now so I'll go ahead and share these here.

I made these using the full-size Scor-It board and Scor-It ruler. I like finding unusual ways of using scoring on my cards and these are a couple of great tools for doing just that.

Starting simply, a grid pattern can be easily made using the new ruler and it can add visual interest to a card front as above. This is a card that came in a box of premade, prefolded, blank seasonal cards. I added the stamped sentiment, the punched bird, and the grid scoring, and just like that it became a more interesting and more unique card. Some touches with a glitter pen would add some fun sparkle, too. I may have to do that.

I also like stamping bolder images on designer cardstocks and papers for making a quick card.

Here I added the flourished bird design to the preprinted card stock.

For a special touch, I added some diagonal scores in a pattern that resembles a beam of light. Again, very easy to accomplish using the Scor-It board and ruler. I scored right over the top of the design, after making sure that the ink had dried, of course. :-) I've used this scoring pattern before, using stamped images at the upper and lower corners where the cardstock is unscored. I like the look of scoring over the images themselves, too.

And finally I have a card that took a little more time to make, but I thought that the effect was worth it. This was inspired by a card that I saw on Splitcoast Stampers but done a different way.

I started out with a piece of A2 size white cardstock and stamped a flourish image multiple times in a couple of colors to make a subtle background.

I then turned this face down onto my Scor-It board and proceeded to score a brick-like pattern. I started with horizontal scores 1/2" apart then added short vertical scores to make 1" wide bricks. I staggered the scores to make it look more realistic.

So now I've got that nice background pattern and the scored design.

Another thing that's fun about the Scor-It is that it makes such crisp, deep scores. I took advantage of that in this step where I stamped a flourished bird onto the front using black ink. The bird image helped bring out that brick pattern of scoring even more, and I really liked that effect. It's even more stunning with a more solid stamp design, as you might imagine.

This is my finished card. I trimmed some of the bricks away to give that central image more interest.

Here's a closer view....

It can be a lot of fun to using scoring in decorative ways. The Scor-It board and ruler can add more than just a professional hinge score to your cards, though that's definitely a great start. :-) Creating 3D projects and using scoring in creative ways on card fronts, layers, and die cuts with these tools opens up a world of creative possibilities.

BTW, it also looks like the Scor-It folks are coming up with more ideas for accessories. The latest newsletter shows pics of their new Position-It. It looks like a fancier version of a stamp positioner. I'll be interested to see what advantages it has to offer over my tried and true Stamp-a-ma-jig. They also have new pink Scor-It boards being released soon. As I recall, it'll be neat because the rulers will have both inches/metric measurements, plus there'll be another size board added to the arsenal, smaller than the original but larger than the mini--made to accommodate A4 size European cards. Oh, and the tool will be stainless steel rather than wood.

Oops, almost forgot to include credits--all of the above card images were by Inkadinkado and stamped using Memento inks. The cardinal in the first card was made using a Martha Stewart punch. The snowflake embossing in the last card was made using a Sizzix textured impressions embossing folder.

quick peek

2010-01-19T13:22:00.005-06:00

Over the holidays I managed to acquire a Slice at a good price. I'd never been all that interested in computerized die cut machines, but the Slice seems to fit exactly what I'd use an electronic cutter for, and that's card making.

That said, I'm sharing a project that I made using my Slice. Is it a card? Of course not! LOL! But I found out that the Slice can cut adhesive backed vinyl quite nicely. I'd been wondering if vinyl would work--it's used with the Cricut, eh? I gave it a try. When I saw that it would work, it started the wheels turning.

Some time ago, I did some glass etching using stamping supplies. It was great fun! It was a little tricky to etch words though, especially if etching the bottom of a plate or something like that. Stamp your words and they'd end up being backward. I left that alone for a while, but then I started playing with the Slice and BINGO! You can cut out letters, letters that could spell words, especially if they didn't already have the words you needed on one of their nifty cards, AND you could mirror the letters! Backward writing would work! That's my theory anyway. I haven't actually tested it yet. I did test the vinyl in unmirrored form. First things first. Had to make sure this would work.

This is several steps into the process. I'd not been planning on sharing this, but then it turned out well and I had to share. So, up above is a glass container with black vinyl letters and flourishes adhered to one side. I used painter's tape to mask off the area that I wanted to cover with the glass etching cream. This is the stage where I'd just rinsed off the cream. The cloudy look to the glass is the etched effect. It was quite clear at the start.

Here I've removed the painter's tape and pulled part of the "H" away. This is the fun part, the point where you really start seeing the effect of the etching.

Here it is with all of the vinyl removed. Worked out nicely, I thought! This is a four-sided jar and I etched the other sides using the vinyl technique as well as the Versamark and embossing powder technique that I've described before for some of the images. I can't share those right now (since this is a gift-shhhh!), but they turned out quite nicely, too. :-)

And I'd thought that I'd just be using the Slice for card making.... ;-)

Martha stamp/punch pack: how-to

2010-01-18T08:22:00.013-06:00

I'd been browsing stamping forums and had seen the question of how to use the new Martha Stewart Stamp & Punch come up a few times. From what I'd gathered, they did come with instructions, apparently vague instructions. Hm, sounds like those corner/border punch combos. I also wondered if they were perhaps like the EK Success Punch & Stamps sets. I like these. They're fun in that they stamp and punch at the same time. I've described how they work here on this blog before. I thought that maybe these new punches worked the same way. I hadn't seen one to check it out.

Well, after dropping the younger daughter at a friend's house the other night, I popped into Michael's to see if they had any of these punches in stock. I had a coupon for the week that I hadn't used yet. They had some! They were also on sale and my coupon would have gotten me a better deal, but I did what any good stamper would do and bought a set then found something else that I "needed" to use my coupon on. The bottom line? These do not work the same way as the EK Success punches. These should be called Stamp Then Punch packs. When you buy a set, you get the shaped punch and three small clear stamps that you use to decorate your punched shape; you do ink and stamp before punching it out though.

Here's how it works:

Above you can see the bird Stamp & Punch pack as it's meant to be stored once it's out of the packaging.

It has a removable cover over the storage space for the clear stamps that coordinate with the punch shape. I found two stamps separate, in a compartment with the cover in the original packaging. The other stamp was inside this storage space. So, you should find three clear stamps. If you don't, check that storage area, and also take a good look at the clear stamps that were separate--they may be stuck back to back.

These are the three stamps that came with my bird set. They're round, clear stamps with a smooth flat side and a tab that sticks out at one edge.

The cover of the storage compartment doubles as the stamp mount. If you look at the flip side, there's a smooth area at the center and a raised rim around the edge. This is where the stamp is seated. My curved red double headed arrow is showing a gap in the rim--this is where the tab should go. This orients the stamp image properly when you go to stamp it--it'll match up with the image on the flip side.

This photo shows the three images that I stamped using the three stamps. I used Memento ink because I like it and because I have all of the colors in that nice small dewdrop shape that makes it easy to ink up small stamps in tight spaces. Notice that I stamped along the top edge of my card stock. Regardless of what shape punch you buy, if you're using a large piece of paper or card stock you'll want to take care to punch along the top edge so that once you stamp the image you'll be able to insert it into the punch in the right direction.

See? This is what I mean. If I'd punched along the side or bottom edge, I'd have had to cut my card stock so that it could be oriented properly. Of course if you're using a small piece of paper or card stock it might not matter that much. Just leave yourself enough extra room to maneuver it into the right position. You can see that I lined up my first image with the punch opening. Yes, you're now looking at the bottom of the punch. You flip it over to use it.

This is how it looks once it's punched out.

Here are the other images once I punched them out.

And here's one last closer view so that you can see how the different stamps give different looks--same punch, same ink, same card stock, just used the different stamped images.

For those of you who've been having trouble using these, I hope these instructions and images help a bit. I agree that the instructions that came with this Martha punch set could have been more descriptive and more useful, but that seems to be the way of things with a number of her items. This isn't a difficult set to use, and it's fun to have a punch that exactly matches the stamped images. I think I still would have preferred something similar to the EK Success set up of stamping and punching simultaneously though--more efficient and more foolproof.

Chewy chill-axin'

2010-01-10T11:14:00.004-06:00

Most people would probably think that a cold snap would be a great time for hunkering down at home and crafting. Well, that would have been great if we hadn't had to start replacing appliances that have all begun to have issues. UGH. We now have a new washer/dryer. We're orking on replacing the wall oven/microwave combo. Such fun! But enough of that.

Since some of you have commented on Chewy, the white furry half of my profile pic, I thought I'd share a photo that I took of him this morning. It had been VERY cold for the last several days, with the thermometer outside reading 0 degrees F in the morning more often than not. Today it was about 10 and we're supposed to get into the mid-20s by later today. Whoa! It's a heatwave! LOL! Really! Apparently Chewy thought it was a heatwave.

See? He did his usual patrol of the perimeter of the yard then plopped himself down in the snow for a little rest. He chilled out there for a minute or two and then trotted back to the door to be let inside. What a rough life. :-)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T21:31:00.004-06:00

Belated holiday greetings to those of you who are still checking in here. :-) It's been a busy holiday season, but a fun one. I wanted to share one of the versions of my holiday cards for 2009. I made these in various colors, keeping the same general theme.

This one happens to be the light green. I used pre-folded, textured cards by DCWV, embossed the trees across the bottom, adding some sparkle to them with Copic Spica glitter pens. The sentiment is by Hero Arts. The die cuts were made using Martha Stewart punches.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm ba-a-a-ck! :-)

2009-11-20T13:26:00.009-06:00

I took an unplanned hiatus from blogging for the past several weeks. Life got busy and unfortunately crafting and blogging tend to be the first to head to the bottom of the to-do list. Thanks to those who have written to ask how things are going or to mention that they've haven't seen any new posts lately. It's nice to be missed. :-) I did a lot of catching up this past week and made time to do some card-making today. Felt good to get all crafty! :-)

Here are some of the cards that I made....

This first card was made using a couple of the large QuicKutz border embossing folders. The sentiment was added using the Joy border punch by Martha Stewart. The cardinal was also made using a punch by Martha Stewart then set off with dimensional adhesive. I also added a score line at the top so that the ornaments wouldn't just be floating on the card front.

I got on a roll using the border punches by Martha. Here's another card using the Frosty Village punch. I scored and folded a small "card" to attach to that A2 size blue cardstock that I'd embossed using the QuicKutz snowflakes folder. I punched out the border (both layers at once, actually) then added the stamped snowflakes and sentiment by Inkadinkado before attaching it to the blue layer.

Here's a card that I made in similar fashion to the one I just described. For this one I used some Cuttlebug embossing folder designs instead of stamping. The background is Winter Trees and the other Season's Greetings. (These were RAK'd to me, btw.)

For this last card I decided to add a bit of a twist. Okay. To be honest, I was going to follow the same design as with the other cards but use the evergreen trees edge punch in the background instead. Well, the frosty village ended up looking backward to me because of the way I'd punched it. Looked good when I folded it the other way. Hm. So, I decided that I'd try to go with that. I think it worked out. I added the stamped sentiment by Studio G to the bottom corner and attached it to the front of a card that I'd embossed using a Sizzix textured impressions folder. It was a nice change from the typical A2 card and a fun departure from the other two cards that I'd designed earlier. I love it when "mistakes" like that work out. :-)

That's it for now. Again, thanks to those of you who've written, and thanks to those of you who are still visiting and reading here despite my absence. I'm hoping that the holidays won't become so busy that I won't have at least some time for crafting and for blogging. :-)

Feels like fall

2009-10-01T12:46:00.004-05:00

And since it feels like fall, I made a couple of cards that have to do with fall.

Here they are....

This first card was very simple. I used an Inkadinkado image that I stamped on decorative card stock. I added the sentiment from TPC Studio. I layered it onto green card stock, but thought that it still needed a little something more to add interest, so I added some decorative scoring with my Scor-It before mounting it on the kraft card front.

This is another card that was fairly quick to make. I found another Martha Stewart punch around the page set of punches that I hadn't seen before. Since I'd gone into Michael's specifically looking for something that I could use my 40% off coupon on, I had to buy it. :-) So the punching above was made using the Deco Fan set. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado and stamped using Memento dye inks.

We interrupt today's crafting....

2009-09-22T14:14:00.002-05:00

Sorry, no crafting being done here today. I am celebrating the release of Diana Gabaldon's 7th book in her Outlander series. Picked up my copy this morning....

No worries, crafting will resume soon. I just need to get my Jamie and Claire fix. :-)

punching around the page

2009-09-21T13:55:00.006-05:00

I have a quick post with a couple of cards that I made using two of Martha Stewart's Punch Around the Page corner and edge punches. They were called continuous edge punches before. Different name now, but the same idea, and this time there were even instructions included! LOL! Progress!

This first card was made using the Scallop 3-Dot punches. Same deal as before. You still need to cut your card stock to specific sizes for the corner design to match up with the edge. The two white squares that I started with were 5 x 5 inches and 3.25 x 3.25 inches. The edges need to be cut in increments of 1.75" to work, so 6.75 inches and 8.5 inches, and so on, would work as well. That background stamp was by Hero Arts and the sunflower is by Inkadinkado and colored using Copic Spica glitter markers.

For this card I used the Fall Leaves punches on a 3.25 x 5 inch piece of orange card stock. The stamped images and sentiment are by Inkadinkado and stamped using Memento inks. The embossed flourish was made using a Cuttlebug border embossing folder from the Organic Flourishes set.

That's it for now. We've been playing the guess if this is a cold vs the flu for the past week and a half. Been a bit of a challenge, but I think everyone is on the right track again and back in school so I had a bit of time to craft while also trying to catch up on errands. Fun stuff! :-)