A Little Outside My Box

This is a little outside my box.

These are not the "normal" colors that I use.

I do a lot of layering and using various decorative scissors, but this

design was the first one that I tossed in the flourish

and the offset little greeting.

It turned out well.

How to:

1. Cover card base with gold/tan floral scrapbook paper.

2. On red paper stamp in black dye ink various flourishes .

3. Layer strip of red paper on black paper and trim

with Fiskars small ripple decorative scissors.

4. Cut black and white striped paper, center red strip over

and glue OR place red strip on black and white stripe

and measure and cut with layering rulers.

5. Layer your stripe on black paper and trim with

decorative scissors or use a Create A Cut scallop blade.

6. Center all of the above layers on the card base.

7. A BossCut flourish die is used for the two flouishes.

8. Using a tan that coordinates with the rest of the card,

stamp in black a small flourish and phrase. Layer on black,

trim layering with layering rulers.

9. Accent the phrase/flourish with a punched and shaped

red flower. Glue slightly off center.

Products list:

Scrapworks - All Dressed Up paper stack

various flouish stamps

Ranger Archival Ink - black

Fiskars small ripple decorative scissors

Create A Cut scallop blade

Boss Cut flourish die

Punch Bunch floral and star punches

Scrapbook Paper Is Not Just For Scrapbooking

Since I am primarily a card maker that is

how I view all paper and accessories - as

card making and stamping accessories.

I think that some of the paper companies

are finally realizing they have a huge

untapped market in the stamping and card making sector.

The die cut industry is

also starting to catch on. I am noticing smaller

alphabets and dies coming onto the market that are

designed mainly for the card makers.

This is all to the detriment of my poor stressed money tree.

Karen Foster discontinued paper. (sob)

Stamps by Peddlers Pack Stampworks.

How To:

I always lightly dust the paper with talc first, then

flicked the paper to remove the excess. This lessens

the chances of stray bits of embossing powder where it shouldn't be.

Image is stamped with Versa Mark ink,

embossed with fine line black embossing powder.

Carefully cut the image out to be as square as possible

and then layer, layer, layer. I may deckle cut one layer

to add a little interest.

You can achieve marvelously even layers by using

layering rulers. I got mine several years ago on QVC.

I use them ALL the time. They are a God send

since I am very obsessive about even cuts

in my layering.

(I seem to be obssessive about a lot of things in my crafting, LOL)

UNTAPPED PAPER SOURCES

There are some unusual sources of paper that

are available to card makers that can not be used

by scrapbookers due to archival considerations.

gift wrap - oh, in the baby gift wrapping and accessories

section of Target I found the most delicious

tiny pastel striped gift wrap yesterday.

You know it came home with me and

will make an adorable card.

metallic gift wrap - a little bit of glitz

will liven up a design when used as a layer.

(see above card, the gold in the layering

is metallic gift wrap) The heavier the paper the better.

I hit the stores as soon as they start putting out

their Christmas gift wrap to replenish my stash.

paper shopping bags - some store have the most

beautiful bags for their merchandise

gift bags - gasp! they are practically works of art.

I have gotten some that I even hate to cut into they are so pretty.

newspaper and magazines - bits and pieces of

articles and ads have some glorious colors and ideas

What do you use as paper sources that I have not

thought of??? educate me!!!

A Little "Patchwork Quilting"

Patchwork quilting with paper is beautiful way to use all

those paper scraps that you have been saving for a "someday" project.

We all just hate to throw away paper of any size

so here is finally a way to use those scraps

and make an attractive card as well.

Try some paper quilting. Just as our ancestors began quilting with clothe

to use up their scraps, so we can use paper quilting to use up our paper scraps.

I glue the paper directly to my card front and use the card itself

as a guide to trim the edges where possible.

The covered seams also allow you a little leeway

so you don't have to be as exact in your measurements and cuts.

The "Love" clear sticker is from Serendipity Stamps.

Sunsets and God

Some sunsets are better than other and this one was spectacular.

The combination of clouds and dust or smoke in the air

make for evening beauty like this.

Now I will be the first to admit that my photos can't even come

close the beauty that God has created for us to witness first hand.

In my own small inadequate way, with a camera, I attempt

to capture just a little of the glory of God's creation.

Everyday the creation of God's hand around me reminds

me just how small and insignificant I truly am,

and yet I know that God has a plan for my life.

That He sent his son for my salvation.

Just amazing. All that can be said is, "Thank you, my Lord, my God."

Glimmer Mists

Glimmer Mists have glimmer, sparkle and soft shine.

They are a LOT of fun to play with.

How to make these backgounds with Glimmer Mists:

1. cut card stock into 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch rectangles

2. using a craft mat (or page from old magnetic photo album), mist with GM

I have then misted with water for a softer color,

but you will have much less glimmer.

3. lay cardstock over misted area and smush,

you can swipe it through the misted area too -

4. iron or use heat gun to dry, if you want more color

or a different look, mist the mat and smush your

cardstock again, then iron again

5. Other things to try as well are -

splash with drops of water or

spray the GM and let it pool then dip finger in and sprinkle or flick over paper.

Use a rather bold stamp and emboss in black.

I cut the Glimmer Misted paper to 3 1/2 x 4 3/4 inches by

making a template out of acetate to lay over the stamped

phrase or word, carefully marked it and then cut with a straight edge.

This template has the center lines marked on height and width

to make it easier to position over the stamped words.

Layering on black, then gold gift wrap, then glued onto A2 size

coordinating cardstock really pops your GM colors. (A2 is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch)

All of the above layering is then glued onto a card base.

Glimmer mists are manufactured by Tattered Angels

and can be found at www.mytatteredangels.com

Their website has some helpful hints.

Most of the techniques that can be used with Distressed Inks

can be used with the Glimmer Mists.

The scans just don't show the subtle glimmer.

There are gold, silver and copper glimmers.

You can make your own shimmery mists with Pearl Ex powders,

liquid gum arabic and distilled water in a mister bottle.

I have done this and it works fairly well.

Beautiful Blooms

Stamps by Hero Arts and Rubber Stamp Avenue.

The phrase is a stamp that is unmounted and I have no idea who made it.

The die cut is by Cuttlebug. This one fits perfectly down the side of

an A2 card. The card base is made from DCWV's Old World stack.

The edges of the card base are sponged with brown ink to give

depth and add an aged look.

The flowers and folage on this card are made using

Colorbox Chalk Inks. I really really like their chalk inks.

Unlike other brands, they stay nice a juicy for a long time.

The flower and phrase image is torn out and then the edges

have been inked with 3 shades of Ranger Distressed Inks.

The flowers can also be stamped using markers and misting the flowers.

You can even get a second "shadow" stamping of the flowers

by remisting and stamping again.

Western Cards

This is one of my favorite designs.

The stagecoach is stamped and embossed on real leather.

Dust your leather with talc first to get a clean embossed image.

I used a Coluzzle to get the nice clean shape.

The blade will not cut all the way through thicker leather,

but it does give you enough to enable one to

finish the cut nicely with a shape scissors.

Then the edges were sponged with dark brown ink for depth

and just because I like the look :-).

The leather is mounted on a torn and heavily sponged piece

of cardboard box. You can easily seperate the cardboard

with a plastic tooth pick that has the floss holder on one end.

Just slide it down the channel and "magic", the top

layer just comes right off. You may have to do

a little tweaking to get a technique that works well

for you, I personally have worn out several of those

toothpicks to get my treasured cardboard.

I used Distressed Inks to get that deep lucious brown

and finished the edges with black for the burned look.

The sponging really adds a lot of depth and character.

Decorative scissors were used on the layered borders.

This is not the best scan, but the card is now residing on someone's

mantle so I can't rescan for a better image, LOL.

Ginni's Card for her father

I am sharing this design with the permission of my friend Ginni.

Ginni lives in western Colorado and we have become

aquainted through the Lucy McGoo Yahoo group.

We share many thing in common.

We are both Christians, we both like the western

stamps and creating western style cards.

Ginni and I have managed to meet several times

over the past year at JLo's and we

both worked a stamp convention in August of 2007.

She is one of my treasured and talented friends.

Thanks, Ginni, for letting me share this special card

that you made for you dad on my blog,