Saturday, April 30, 2011

Happy Mother's Day Card

I felt so excited that I was able to make nice masculine Father's Day cards for my dad and my father-in-law, based on Mojo Monday sketches, that I thought I would try another sketch for a Mother's Day card.  I liked sketch #184 and was inspired by a card posted by one of the Mojo Monday designers, Sarah Bigelow (blog link here).  Here are cards for my mother and mother-in-law, I just hope I get them in the mail so they can enjoy them.



The paper is from the K&Company Cut N' Paste paper pack which is one of my favorites.  The stamp set is an old Stampin' Up! set.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Happy Father's Day Card




While at my crop in La Porte, Indiana, I made this Father's Day card.  I used a sketch for the first ever!!  The sketch was from Mojo Monday (#188).  I used the Sense of Time stamp, Decorative Label Punch, and Scallop Border Punch from Stampin' Up!.  The scallop circle was cut using my Classic Scallop Circle Large Nestibilities and the "W" metal is a Tim Holtz Philosophy Tag.



If you guys ever get the chance, I HIGHLY recommend Michelle's Memory Loft in La Porte, IN for a crop if you are in the Illinois, Indiana, Ohio (or in our case Colorado) area.  It was worth the 16 hour drive (each way).  Truly a great location!!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

It's a BABY

I am in La Porte, Indiana at "The Loft" for a 5 day crop.  We are having a blast and I actually completed 2 projects on the first partial day!!!

Here is the first project - I have a friend who is pregnant and due in mid-July.  I made this for her shower which is May 21st.  She does not want to know the sex of the baby so she is decorating the room in brown and light green with elephants.  I used the elephant from the Holiday Cakes Cricut Cartridge and the rest of the animals are from Create a Critter.  I hope she likes it!





Friday, April 22, 2011

ScrapbookPal.com Blog Hop

Are you ready for Spring??  I know I am although we've had a very mild winter here in Colorado.  The tulips and daffodils are just starting to come and the grass is getting green so it is the perfect time for the ScrapbookPal Flower Power Blog Hop!!


For your chance to win a free Cricut Cartridge from ScrapbookPal.com, you will need to hop along to each blog and leave comments along the way and then return to the ScrapbookPal blog to become a follower and leave a final comment for a chance to win a Cartridge of their choice.  You also get a 2nd entry by "liking" ScrapbookPal's facebook page and leaving a comment there.  See the ScrapbookPal blog (first and last links below) for more details.

For the blog hop, I made this magnetic bulletin board.   More photos and instructions for my bulletin board project appears below the blog hop links.


Blog Hop Links - Be sure to visit each blog and leave a comment at each.  Then stop back by the ScrapbookPal blog and leave a comment when you finish.  Those who visit all of the designers blogs will be entered into a drawing for a free cartridge!

ScrapbookPal Blog (http://scrapbookpal.blogspot.com/)
Amy Crockett (http://www.scrappingmommy.com/)
Tomi Ann Hill (http://tomiannie.blogspot.com/)
Cheryl Walker (http://sweeetdesignsbycheryl.blogspot.com/)
Leah Cornelius(http://paperblossoms.blogspot.com/)
Jamie Cripps (http://jamielanedesigns.blogspot.com/)
Crystal Butler (http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/)
Tammy White   YOU ARE HERE!
ScrapbookPal Blog (http://www.scrapbookpal.blogspot.com/)

I made a magnetic bulletin board using a 12 x 16 blank painter's canvas, metal roof flashing, a cork sheet and inexpensive magnets from Michael's.  You would never know it from looking that it is magnetic would you??











I took some left over roof flashing (you can buy small rolls at your local hardware store) and cut it to fit the left side (approx 12" tall by 10" wide) of my bulletin board using tin snips.  Be careful because the cut edges are sharp.  I adhered the flashing to the front of a 12 x 16 painter's canvas.  I used E6000 adhesive and some clamps until the adhesive was dry.  Then I took a 12 x 12 piece of designer paper and wrapped it around the back of the canvas.   I used 1/4" Scor-Tape along the edges of the flashing to hold the paper down on the front side.  This is one of my favorite tape adhesives!  If you have not tried it, I highly suggest your order a roll or two or three from ScrapbookPal and try it.  I adhered the paper on the back of the canvas with Tombow Mono Aqua glue.  Because the 12 x 12 paper won't cover the whole canvas and have room to wrap around, I wrapped it around the left and bottom edges only.  I trimmed the corners so I had a nice looking edge.   I used black satin ribbon to create the diamond shapes on the right side using the Tombow adhesive to adhere them.   My ribbon sections are about 2.5" apart.  I used Craft Glue Dots under each intersection/cross point of the ribbon to hold it in place.  I then added a rhinestone at each intersection for some bling. On the left side, I cut another piece of coordinating designer paper to about 7.5" wide by 12" tall.  I again used the Scor-Tape to hold the paper in place and wrapped the edges around the right and bottom sides.  Again adhering the back with Tombow Mono Aqua Adhesive.  I tried to keep these edges nice and even so the back would look almost as nice as the front.  I cut a piece of cork I purchased on a roll approximately 5" wide by 10" tall.  I adhered this with the E6000 adhesive and used small clamps on the edge to hold it down until dried.

Because the bulletin board is longer than my 12x12 paper, for the top I used a striped paper to help cover the seam which I then cover with a ribbon anyway.  I cut 2 pieces at approximately 3.5" wide.  I wrapped them over the top and around the edges and then trimmed away the excess paper.  Before attaching the top paper to the canvas I cut some circles on my Cricut and then ran them through my Cuttlebug with the the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder.  I lined these up and then adhered them to the back side of the paper.  I then adhered the paper to the canvas.  To cover us the seams I used a ribbon.  I made 3 small flowers using the Paisley cartridge on my Cricut.  I cut 3 scalloped circles at 1.5" (Doll1 Button Icon, p. 66) using Real Dial Size on white cardstock and then 3 scalloped circles at 1" (same button) on pink.  I spritzed the cuts with water and crumpled them up.  I unfolded them and then began to shape the flowers.  I used my emobssing heat gun and dried the flowers shaping as I went.  Using chalk (or a blender pen and ink pad work great too), I colored the edges of the white cardstock.  I then layered the flowers and used the Tombo Adhesive to hold them together.  I then spritzed the flowers with Dazzling Diamond Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.  I adhered them to the ribbon using the Tombow Adhesive but glue dots or hot glue work great too.

For the magnets, I purchased the $1 packages of glass magnets at Michaels.  Using an exacto knife to loosen the glue, I peeled off the magnet and removed the paper (very easy to do).  I cut small circles out of my matching designer paper to fit under the glass piece of the magnet.  Using Matte or Glossy Accents, I lightly smeared some on the back of the glass piece and then placed the paper under the glass.  Once dried I used more of the Matte or Glossy Accents to attach the magnet onto the back of the glass again sandwiching the designer paper in between. 

I hope you enjoyed this project and try it for yourself.  Thank you for joining us for the ScrapbookPal Flower Power Blog Hop.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - ScrapbookPal Design Team

This month I received 2 of the Pink by Design stamp sets from the wonderful people at ScrapbookPal.com.  These 2 particular stamp sets (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Shopaholic) had to be made with me in mind!!  The sayings are perfect for so many cards but this time I wanted to do a layout and again PERFECT!!

My best friend, another friend, my daughter and I went to the Mayan Riviera in Mexico last Spring Break.  The trip happened to fall over St. Patrick's Day so we all had to have green drinks, in the case of the pictures below, it was the Grasshopper.  I thought about journaling on this page (something I rarely do) but you know the saying...What happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico!!





Layout by Tammy

This layout took a lot more time in planning and thinking than it did in actual work.  Isn't that the truth for most layouts??!!

Using my Spellbinder Classic Scalloped Circles Large Nestabilities (on sale now at ScrapbookPal.com for only $19.99), I cut out out the pictures using the 3rd largest circle in my Cuttlebug.  I then cut the frames with the 2nd largest circle.  I inked the edges of the frames using a ColorBox Fluid Chalk Cat's Eye in Sour Apple inkpad.  I adhered my pictures to the frames using my GlueGlider Pro (one of my all-time favorite adhesives).  I used Pop Up Glue Dots behind the picture frames to make them stand off the page.


I cut "Mexico 2010" on a dark green cardstock at 1.5" using the Don Juan Cricut Cartridge.  Then using my Signo Uni-ball White Gel Impact Pen, I added some doodle dots to the letters and numbers.  I used Tombow Mono Aqua Adhesive to adhere the letters.


I selected several of the phrases from both the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Shopaholic Stamp Sets by Pink by Design and stamped them on white cardstock using the ColorBox Fluid Chalk Cat's Eye in Sour Apple.  I cut the sayings out by hand and adhered to the page using my GlueGlider Pro.  I stamped the "Well behaved women" saying on white cardstock and cut it out using my Stampin' UP punch.  I inked the edges with the Sour Applie Cat's Eye.  I also punched out a couple a frames in dark green cardstock and cut the frames in half and used pop up glue dots between the layers for dimension.


For the lace on the left side, I took a length of lace from my stash and using a needle and thread I gathered the lace.  I used Craft Glue Dots to hold the lace in place.  I added some roses from my stash on top of the lace also using the glue dots.

I added some rhinestone stickers and gems to the page for the finishing touch.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

A New Technique I Came Up With - Grungeboard and UTEE

Here is a technique I came up with last night.  I won't say that I am the first person to ever do this, but I have not seen videos or tutorials specifically for it so I did come up with it myself.  This is a technique that is a combination of other techniques I have seen on youtube videos and blogs, I just combined them into a new technique.  I have taken some photos of the steps I did along the way and hope these are helpful.

Here are the supplies I used:
Grungeboard or chipboard shapes
Versamark Ink Pad
Pearl Ex or Perfect Pearls Powder
UTEE Clear Embossing Enamel
Coffee Filter
Non-stick Craft Mat
Paint Brush (soft bristles)
Tweezers
Embossing Heat Gun


The first part of this technique was inspired by a tutorial at SwirlyDoos.

Make sure you are using your non-stick craft mat for this project.  Not only will you be able to easily remove the powder residue and the UTEE, but it is also heat resistant.  To clean the powder and UTEE of my mat, first I used some water which took some of it off, then 409 which took a little more.  The think that worked best was to make sure the UTEE was totally cooled off and then spray the mat with Stampin' Up Stampin' Mist Stamp Cleaner and a paper towel.  With minimal elbow grease it came right off.

Step 1: I covered the front of the grungeboard or chipboard shapes very well in Versamark ink.

Step 2: Using a paintbrush I applied Pearl Ex powder to the front of the shape.  For this project I used "Super Bronze" color.  You can also use multiple colors as you will see in some pictures below.  The Pearl Ex goes a long way so just dip the edge of your brush in the pot and spread it on the shape.  Once covered, I used the paintbrush to remove any extra powder.


Step 3: Once covered, stamp the Versamark ink over the front of the shape again.  Some powder will likely come off onto your ink pad so I use one of my older ink pads for this portion of the project.

Step 4: Place the object in the coffee filter and cover with UTEE. 


Step 5: Shake off the extra UTEE and use an Embossing Heat Gun to heat the UTEE until it fully melts.  Use your tweezers to hold the shape in place so it does not move around.  I find that if I turn on my heat gun and let it heat up for 20-30 seconds before using it on my project I get much better results. 

Repeat Steps 3-5 at least twice more until you have a nice smooth finish on your shape.  I found that if I was not heating the UTEE enough and was having trouble getting the smooth finish, that I could use the heat gun to heat the UTEE more and then it would even out.

Optional Step 6:  For a few of my pieces, I wanted a antiqued or distress look to the shape, so once the UTEE was smooth and while still fairly warm, I put the shape in my freezer for about 20 minutes or so.  Once cold, I removed the shape and then bent the shape (this works best on grungeboard), until the UTEE cracked (do this many times).  Then I used a ColorBox Fluid Chalk Cat's Eye Inkpad - Blackberry on the edges of the shape and rubbed it over the top to fill in some of the cracks.  I hope you can see the cracks in the picture below.  I got the idea for the "Cracked Glass" technique from InkStains blog.


Here are the results of this technique.  I found that Perfect Pearls works just as well for this technique.  You can see one a few of the flower and large scroll where I used multiple colors of Pearl Ex and Perfect Pearls.


Saturday, April 2, 2011

Make Margaritas - Scrapbookpal.com Design Team Post

This month I received 2 sets of Pink By Design Stamp sets from ScrapbookPal.com.  These stamps have the cutest sayings!!  I am definitely going to be ordering more of these sets which are a steal at $14.99 plus free shipping with a $25 order!!  The set I used for the card below is "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and the Life's A Beach Cricut Cartridge.  


Project by Tammy White

Using the Life Is A Beach Cricut Cartridge, I cut the Palm Tree (p. 40) and the fronds layer at 4.5".   I adhered the fronds to the base and then I cut the fronds again and used Pop-up Glue Dots between to give some dimension.  I then covered the frond on the left with Peeled Paint Distress Stickles and the right frond with Shabby Shutters Distress Stickles.  I used Antique Bronze Distress Stickles on the tree base. 

I cut the chair (p. 81) at 2" once on a dark gray for shadow and then again on white.  I used a Tombow Dual Brush Pen - Sand 992 to highlight the slats and edges of the chair on the white layer.  I used Pop-up Glue Dots between the gray and white layer for dimension.

I cut the Sun at 2" and then trimmed it to fit in the corner of the card and covered it with Yellow Stickles

Adhere blue card stock cut at 6.5" x 5" to the front of your card base.  I used some old wall paper samples for the sand layer which I hand cut and adhered to the bottom of the card.  Adhere the palm tree, chair and sun to the front of the card.  I stamped the sentiment  with a Colorbox Fluid Chalk Cat's Eye Inkpad in Blackbird.