Weekend Project! Scratchpad Holder!

On Saturday I demonstrated how to make these FABULOUS refillable scratchpad holders. I had forgotten to write down part of the measurements and I also forgot to meantion where I found the idea when I was up front demoing. I get VERY nervous up there!!! Lisa Somerville at Splindiferous Creations came up with this idea. Or she was the first to post it. Either way I got it from her blog a LONG time ago. I like to make them!! They're a LOT of fun and SO easy to make. The step by step instructions that can be found on Lisa's blog are very clear and precise.

I find decorating them to be the best part. Not only because of how cute you can make them but because you can spend a bit of time decorating them and not feel bad that they will be tossed out right away because they are refillable!!! Yup, you can refill them!!! How cool is that??? You just slide the old one out and slide the new one in and it's good to go again!! I add my business label to the back of them so my information is always available!

Aren't they fun? You can use them for Customer Appreciation events, Hostess Gifts, Make N Takes, Craft Fairs and Gifts. Lots of possibilities here!!

For more Weekend Projects, click here.

I had purchased my scratchpads at Staples online. They had the best price. I bought them about a year ago. You may want to do a bit of shopping around to check and get the best price. I was a bit shocked at how much scratchpads were. I mean, it's just suppose to be leftover paper that is made into notebooks! One thing I did find out about Staples pads as opposed to the ones at Office Depot. Staples ones are uniform in shape. Office Depot ones are not only all NOT the same size but they are cut crooked too.

These items were made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,

Wanda

Technique Page Problems

Many of you are having problems connecting to the Techniques Class Booklet. I had clicked on the link that I provided for you and I was able to get there. I also entered in the SplitCoastStampers (SCS) search window "Techniques Class Booklet" and I was directed to a page with many classes and somewhere in the middle was the "Techniques Class Booklet." I couldn't tell if it was a "demo's only" site or not. If you and can not access it you will need to sign up somewhere on SCS for that. I did it several many years ago and I don't know remember how to go about it. I think I may have asked one of the forum people how to do it or maybe I asked one time when I got that "you don't have permission to access this page" pop up that you have been getting.

I'm sorry you are unable to access it. It opened up to a word program and you printed out the information on card stock and made a small booklet that you add the technique to after you do it. It's a bit old but it did have the earlier basic techniques in it.

All I can do is suggest that you contact SCS and ask how you can access it.

Best wishes to you there,

Wanda

Faux Eyelets Technique Page

At the Stamp Share on Saturday I had demonstrated a couple of things. One of them was the Faux Eyelets. This is a fun technique. It allows you to make Faux Eyelets using any of the Stampin' Up! colors.

You take your Crop-a-dile and with the smaller punch, punch a hole in your card stock. Then you take the 1/4" round punch, line up the hole you just made so it's centered and then punch it out. That's it. Simple as that you have a Faux Eyelet. Add them to your cards or scrapbook pages. It allows you to not only have eyelets in many colors but it helps in not having to pay that extra surcharge when it comes to mailing it!!!

I even took the time to make a technique page of this for my Techniques Book. The book is starting to look a little fuller now and it's even getting impressive!!! LOL I have LOTS more quick and simple techniques to share with you and add to my book!

Here is a link from SplitCoastStampers that I found some easy pages to make your own Technique Book. The link contains a file for you to download that has techniques already typed out for you. All you do is print them out and add your personal copy of the technique. The gal who did them, Craftdoc put a lot of time and effort into making this and then sharing it with everyone. Just click here for the link to the page on SplitCoastStampers website. They are fun for starting out your technique booklet. I prefer the 6 x 6 pages myself and you can easily copy the wording onto 6 x 6 pages and follow the technique so you have an image to attach to your page.

Click here to see a few more Technique Pages I've made. I plan on posting more of them as I create them.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Fun Folds!

I was able to participate in the every SO fun Shoebox Swap last Saturday. A shoebox swap is where yaou design a card and make and bring all the supplies for everyone in the swap to stamp and assemble your card. This is a VERY fun time. You go from table to table making cards. The theme for this one was FABULOUS and SO fun. It required using different folds on your card. Mine had two folds. Nothing out of the ordinary, nor too fancy. Just quick clean and simple. The rules stated that the cards should be something that could be done in 5 minutes. To me that was a bigger challenge than coming up with a design!!!

And this is what I had come up with. I used the designer paper from the "Berry Bliss" collection. I wanted something soft looking. I used the "Birthday Wishes" stamp from the "Sincere Salutations" set. I had pre-folded my cards so it would stay under the 5 minute deadline!

I took a photo of the card open on one side so you could see how it opened and all went together. At the swap there were some simple folds and some a bit more complicated too. A very nice variety of fun folds to keep a person entertained!! I have quite an array of samples to show my customers!!

Measurements for this card are as follows:

I'll add the measurements to the post.

The card stock measures 11" x 5-1/2"
Score (going from left to right) at 1-3/4", slide down to 3-1/2" slide down to 8"

With the scored piece facing up, fold the first score outward.
The next score folds inward and the last one also folds inward

I actually cut out a half circle to accommodate the scallop. It helps the scallop to lay flatter when the card is open. For this you just punch out a 1-1/4" circle and use it as your template. Place half the circle on the fold where you'd like the scallop to go and trace it. Cut around it with an x-acto knife. This will lay open over the larger fold on the right side of the card. It won't show once the scallop is put on.

The layers of card stock and decorative paper are as follows:
1-1/2" x 5-1/4" (Chocolate Chip) and the decorative paper is 1-1/4" x 5"

The larger side is cut:
2-1/2" x 5-1/4" (Chocolate Chip) and the decorative paper is cut 2-1/4" x 5"

There is a 1-1/4" on the pink circle and the smaller circle is 3/4"

When layering the larger (right) side. Line up the layers on the top, bottom and right side only. The left side will show more vanilla but that's ok, when the card is folded shut it won't how.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

A Bit of Vellum!

Here is another card I did for the "Vellum" theme swap. I had stamped the image from the Stampin' Up! set "Fresh Cuts." A preview set that will be in the new upcoming catalog!!! Such a fun and exciting stamp makes me anxious to see what other fun and exciting things are waiting for me to purchase!!! LOL

I layered the vellum piece on top of some More Mustard and that was layered on top of a piece of Basic Black. I secured it in place with 4 gold brads. I put Dimensionals on under the black layer and set that on top of the Taken With Teal and More Mustard layers. I had used the stamp from the set and Versa Mark and made my own background. I used the "For You" words on Taken With Teal, punched them out with the 1-1/4" circle punch. I then punched out a white 1-3/8" circle and layered both of those on top of a Basic Black scallop. I used a couple of Dimensionals under one side of it to keep it level with the rest of the scallop.

I tied the black grosgrain ribbon around the More Mustard (1") and Basic Black (1-1/4") layer. For the ribbon I usually wrap it around the piece and tape it to the back. I leave about 3/4" of ribbon on the back for taping. Then I adhere it to where I want it on the card. After that I take a piece of ribbon and slip it under the taped one and tie a bow. Doing this allows me to slide the bow along the ribbon and get it exactly where I want it!!! Wrapping the ribbon around the entire strip can cause the strip to buckle a bit plus the knot will lay differently and is not easy to move! There is no right or wrong way to tie a knot, I just prefer to do it this way.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

It's Blog Candy time!

Yup, Chatty Cathy time! I have over 800 posts on my blog now. WOW, and a big UNREAL in there too!


Close up of the clear stamps set by Scrappy Cat. LOTS of fun flowers. Plus I'm adding some stick on rhinestones, double sided tape and some foam dots. The other photo shows the other items. And many times I add some extra fun "stuff" as I run across it in my workroom supplies!!



Nothing is FREE so here's what you need to do!!!! Just leave a comment on this post only. Leave your guess as to what bird this baby bird is in the photo!!! Hint, it's NOT a bald eagle!!! LOL Please don't include your email address in your comment.




I will draw a name using the "Random Name Generator" on Friday evening on June 27th. Check back on Friday evening to see if you're the lucky winner.











Have fun!
Wanda

Using That Decorative Paper!

What a better way to get yourself to use your decorative papers than to participate in a sway. The theme for this swap was to make a card using the Stampin' Up! "Prints Designer Series" paper. I was going to save this striped paper for the origami masculine shirt folding but I thought it would blend well with these colors so I used it. I know, it's better to use it than to hoard it. Like I don't have a ton of paper I'm hoarding as it is. But there is still some paper left so I can make a shirt sometime down the road. Does that day really ever come??? LOL

I had to try to figure out a layout that would allow me to make the cards using the decorative papers but I need to make sure I could make the 16 cards and have enough paper to do this. I liked this layout and did the math to see if it would work and I actually had just enough paper to pull it off!!!

Originally I wanted to use the "Lots of Dots" jumbo wheel but I just couldn't get the dots straight nor could I get them to line up evenly on the second row of dots. The first one I did was pretty good and after that, well let's just say it was the very reason why I decided to go with the "Dotted" background. It was SO much easier to work with!!!

I used Almost Amethyst card stock and ink with this card. The "thank you" is from the Stampin' Up! "Holiday Blitz" set. That is one little "thank you" that I find comes in VERY handy for LOTS of cards. The words just fit so nicely inside the 1-1/4" punch plus it layers up so nicely with the 1-3/8" circle punch and the scallop punch!!

I had added some 1/4" white grosgrain ribbon to one of the panels and as I was lying things out I noticed that the other panel just screamed for something. Another strip of ribbon looked silly there. And then I thought I should add some black brads. Well 5 black brads for 16 cards just didn't work because I didn't have enough of them. But I had LOTS of eyelets. And I got to play with the Crop-a-dial to install them. There was no hammering involved so I was able to do them at 1 am and not wake up anyone!! It sure makes punching and setting eyelets in place a breeze! And a quite breeze at that!!! LOL

It's basically a simple card to make. It's got a few layers to it but it goes pretty fast. I enjoyed making this card and it was nice to be able to use the decorative paper too!!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

To the Moon and Back!

This is a card I made for the Stamp Share card swap. The theme for this swap was to make a card front using two of more of punches from a list provided. I chose the Large and Small Star punches. And what goes well with stars??? The rocket stamp of course!!! The rocket stamp came from the Stampin' Up! "Fun Pun" set. I've used the rocket stamp a lot and I think I have a lot more cards to come using it. It's just a cute and fun stamp to play with.

I also used "Priceless" set for the "smoke" coming out of the back of the rocket. The background was done using the jumbo "See You Around" wheel. That wheel reminded me of asteroids. I used it on Sahara Sand and Old Olive ink. It was layered on top of Soft Sky card stock. The decorative paper came from the "Fall Flowers" decorative paper. I sponged the edges of that piece using Old Olive ink.

I stamped the rocket using Black Staz-on and watercolor paper. I colored the rocket with markers. I colored directly on the watercolor paper with the markers. The colors were subtle enough to be able to do it without making the color too dark. They blend well with the rest of the colors on the card. I used the jumbo eyelets on the window part of the rocket. It gave it more of a spaceship look adding those. I have never used them yet and thought it was time to give them a try too!!! I have too many supplies I have never or hardly ever used. I think I need to challenge myself to start playing with those items more. They do add a lot to cards and scrapbook pages.

This was a very fun card to make!!! And I have to say that the Stamp Share was such a blast. There is a wealth of information at this event plus fun things to do and see. I always bring my camera and a notebook because there is just SO much that you can't remember it all. And it's a time to visit with some fun and talented ladies I only get to see at this meeting. Terri (the gal who puts this on) is an incredibly talented lady. I always look forward to her Stamp Shares.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Chalkboard Technique Technique Page!!

I had a lot of questions come in on the "Technique Book" that I am adding pages to. I purchased a 6" x 6" scrapbook from Stampin' Up! Plus I purchased the 6" x 6" sleeves. I cut my main piece of card stock 6" x 6". The white piece (usually white) is cut 5-3/4" x 5-3/4" and I decorate from there with the technique I have on the card.

This technique was done on SplitCoastStampers a month or so ago. I don't always get around to getting the technique page done quickly. I should really do one a week and then my book look pretty impressive!!!

This was a very fun technique and it really does look like a chalkboard effect.

I type my wording up on the computer. You will need to either set your margins so your typing area is 5" x 5". When typing up the instructions I try to leave out wording that doesn't need to be in there. It's one of those "just stick to the fact" type thing. Keep it simple but yet be clear on the technique. Sometimes some techniques are a bit more wordy and you'll have to change the font to a smaller size. Try not to go too small or it will be difficult to read. I usually use a 12 font.

Once you have your wording typed in you can change the length of your sentences so you can fit in your sample of the technique. And once you do this you can save it and work with it for more of your techniques. I have changed the layout a little bit and I switch between the two of them for a little bit of a variety. I print one out on copier paper and see if I like the layout. If I'm satisfied with it I will then print it out on the white or light colored card stock.

I try to decorate the background of the printed image too. Pick the colors that go well with the technique. Try to avoid ribbons, eyelets, brads or buttons for decorating with, they tend to make the album bulky plus they make marks on the pages between them. Just keep it simple and keep it fun.

So for today's post I have the Chalkboard Technique featured. I pretty much followed the layout I used for the "Scratch N Sniff" technique page. My other (few) technique pages can be viewed here.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

I was going to be posting Blog Candy tonight but I am unable to. I have a busy night ahead of me plus I will be at the Stamp Share tomorrow so I don't have much time to tend to this. I will post it in a couple of days, I PROMISE!!!

Thanks SO much for stopping by,

Wanda

Slowing Breaking It In!

I got a new stamp set on Friday. Last night I finally sat down and mounted it on the blocks. I didn't have to cut it out because Stampin' Up! did the die cut thing on this set. I LOVE it when they do that. The set is called "Fresh Cuts" and will be in the new Stampin' Up! Catalog coming out soon!! Not soon enough for some. I believe it is August 1st that it will be available. I'm so confused on the dates of things now because of the two catalogs a year thing. But then again it doesn't take much to confuse me!!! LOL

For this card (a very quick and simple card!) I used the "Paisley" background stamp with white embossing powder. After it cooled I attached the ribbon and tied a knot. Then I used the "for you" words from the new set and punched them out (a bit crooked too - I'll have to fix that - I didn't notice it until I saw it on the photo UGH!!!). Anyway, I liked the words and how they fit into the oval perfectly. And if you like this little stamp, wait until you see the rest of them!!! Now it's a matter of using the other 4 stamps in the set!!! LOL I plan on playing with them later tonight.

This really was a quick card to make. The embossing took a few minutes because it added an extra step but the background needed something more than just plain.

I will be posting the "Chatty Cathy" Blog Candy tomorrow. I have 800+ posts now!!! WOW, I can't believe I've had that many posts!!! I also have some fun cards and projects coming up too. And I will have some things from the Stamp Share to show you too. LOTS of new things happening here!!!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Good Thing it was Free!

I had gotten an offer in my email from Snap Fish. They are an online photo processing center. The offer was for 50 free prints. It wasn't totally free, I did have to pay around $3 for shipping. But still not a bad deal for 50 prints! And for me it sure was easy to gather up 50 pictures to have printed. I found some pictures of flowers I had taken a few weeks ago and I especially wanted the lilac one since I took the picture just for a card like this. I had the flowers offset so I could stamp words on the other side. And as many of you know it's not easy to stamp words on glossy paper. I actually planned for me to make mistakes with the stamping because I've done it before. SO I ordered two of that photo. I ruined both of them. I guess I don't know myself as well as I thought I did!! LOL

Now on to plan B. I located the photo on my computer (not easy to do, my desktop is as messy as my worktable!!!). I printed it out on glossy photo paper that I had gotten (get this) at the dollar store!!! And they were almost as good as the ones from Snap Fish.

The first photo is the one I printed out and the other one is the one I ruined with the stamp. The snap fish one is a bit more pink than the one I printed plus their photo paper is a bit more glossier than mine. I'm going to have to send in the image to Snap Fish again and have then print a couple dozen so I can get at least 6 good cards!!! LOL And they only charge 9 cents per picture! Not a bad deal and their service was pretty quick too!

And after I finish up those flower photo cards I'll just stick to rubber stamps and card stock!! LOL

Thanks SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Rocket to the Stars!

When "superimposing" stamped objects to your photos you want to make sure the image blends in well and is as real looking as possible!!! It didn't happen here!!! LOL Click on the photo to have a closer view! But be aware that the closer you look the less the rocket ship looks real!!! LOL!

Here is how I came upon this idea. (Sorry to let you know how this strange little mind works!!!) I had opened an email and it contained a slideshow of space shuttle and outer space pictures. Now in the last wonderful (NOT) update from Microsoft, I can no longer access my slide viewer on my XP computer. But that's ok it makes it easier to remove those photos I want from a slideshow. There was also another part of the update I don't care much for either and that is the search part. I click on search and my cute little wizard guy would come up. Now as default (I HATE it) a different search screen comes up but at the bottom of it I can access the old search. WHY?? Does Microsoft like messing with us??? We can save that discussion for another time!!! And my poor laptop is on it's last legs. The fan is starting to make even worse noises. I had purchased it several years ago. I had it for a couple of weeks and all of a sudden the fan started making a horrible noise. I called Toshiba and they told me they couldn't do a thing about it until it failed. Can you believe that??? They sell us defective merchandise and won't do a thing about it until it fails. I use to purchase Toshiba with every laptop I replace but no more. DH bought a HP and likes it except for the Windows VISTA! I have yet to find anyone that likes VISTA.

Anyway, back to this card. I had printed out the photo onto glossy photo paper. Once the ink dried I took the rocket from the Stampin' Up! "Pun Fun" set and stamped the image on watercolor paper and colored it in with markers. I added the jumbo eyelet to make it look more like a window in the rocket. I set it in place on the photo where the space shuttle was and there you have it. A stamped image "superimposed" on a photo!!!

It makes for a fun card, doesn't it?

I think the photo is a NASA file photo, though there was a website http://www.geoman.net/ after the NASA wording but it showed the domain name is for sale. Which means that the original owner of the website (if there was one) no longer owns it and it's up for sale. I did try to give credit here for the photo.

Have fun with your photos too. Stamping isn't limited to just card stock and decorative papers! Keeping it fun (even if you're the only one enjoying it) is what it's all about, don't you agree???

Thanks SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Faux Cloisonne Technique

Here is a page I made for my 6 x 6 Technique Book. I wish I would make a page each time I do a technique. I think about doing them. I add it to the list of things to do but don't make them as often as I would like.

If you click here you can see the card I had made using this technique. It's a very fun and simple technique. Just make sure you use old catalogs. Even with old ones I tend to "shop" around a bit too much too. I thought an old catalog wouldn't grab my attention as much as a newer one would but NOT true!! LOL Anyway for the card I looked for red pages and for the page I had looked for white pages. The design inside the flowers is from a ruffled bedspread. Just click on the page and you can get a much larger view of it. You will see the ruffles in the photo much better too. On the card I had made if you click that picture you will get a larger view too. You may even see that for the leaves my greens came from Christmas trees (complete with little white lights!!!). It's a very fun technique and you can get some pretty cool effects using it on your cards!!!

I'm not sure if you can read my instructions from the photo so I will add them here:

Page through some old magazines or catalogs and find a color you would like to use. Here I picked white so I looked for items in white. I stamped on the white area with Versa Mark and then sprinkled and heated up the embossing powder. When I was done I cut out the flowers and used several of them in a grouping on a card.

It's pretty simple. A bit time consuming with all the cutting but SO worth it!!

These pages are great to have for future reference. I'd like to have my book contain a lot more pages so my stampers can get more benefit from them. But it's coming along, slowly but surely!!!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Link Corrected

In my post yesterday I had a link to Shellapoo's story and the link lead to a dead end. I hate it when that happens. I did fix it on that post and you can go there to view it or you can just click here and be taken to the correct place on the web.

Sorry about that!
Wanda