OMFG....(easy there peeps, in the scrapping world that means Oh My Flocking Geeze).   Two and a half weeks till xmas.....have you made your cards yet??  Well, in an effort to multi-task and move like an assembly line, and still keep individuality in tact, I believe I have a fool proof method for making alot of cards at once.   Also, a good way to use up scraps and last years do-das...guaranteed no-one will recognize them.    I suggest using a glue dot runner for making cards.  I've tried many different kinds of adhesives, even a tape runner, but my latest and greatest is the glue dot runner. I don't know the scientificalities of it, but it holds like no one's business!

So, whether you buy pre-made or make your own, you need a card form.  I have my own template to fit envelopes I cut out with my cricut.  I like to round the corners, and maybe on the corners that open, I will use my corner cutter that embosses a design also.  You want two coordinating scraps of paper that fit on the front of your card body-just eyeball these to get them centered.  Round their corners too.







 

 





I antiqued and roughed up the edges of the polka dot paper...a good contrast to the prim and proper gold.  Now you're going to cut a strip of paper to cover where the other papers meet.

Embellish as you wish :)  On the snowfake band on these cards, I used my snowflake punches to punch out the red.  I attached pearlized white paper to the back of the red, then stuck it down. That holly bunch is a left over do-da from last year :)  And here's a tip:  when stamping on your cards, use dye based ink so it dries instantly.  If you use pigmented ink, you will need to spray it with a clear coat sealer or it will smudge and smear. They say pigmented ink will dry overnight but they lied.  Trust me.

 

This pattern/layout can be used with any combination of paper scraps...so it keeps the individuality of the card but allows for assembly line ease :)   More to come...





**ATTENTION**

Get out your snowflake punches and crystal glitter.....I got some kick-ass xmas ideas coming here very soon!!!  Wait, you don't have a snowflake punch??   omg,there are craft store coupons coming out in drifts!   Get out there and get a snowflake punch already!!   xmas is only two months away!!  Geez people!!  xoxox  lol

Ok....the vinyl rocks my socks!   yes it sticks to walls.  But also to the car and windows, just like store bought vinyl clings!!!  Well, the car thing is a trial run...we'll see how it fares over the next few days...but yeah, you don't need the deep cutting blade.   Just set the blade to 6 and the pressure to "med" or 2 on the pressure setting dial.  That way the blade doesn't go all the way thru the backing paper.  This apparenty i scalled a "kiss" cut.   :/  really Provocraft, that's the name you came up wih for that?   Wow.   But whatever, it is sweet!!    Ok, here's your first no fear challenge:   Go get you a roll of vinyl, cut out something unique and post it on FB.   I'm doing a couple wall sayings for a friend and some car decales.  Have fun! xoxo

Don't you love it when the aplicator stick that comes with new scrapping toys is a tongue depresser?   lol, anyways......Vinyl:   omg....this is an interesting material.  Made by cricut, it comes in various basic colors and sells for $9.99 a package.  Each package contains two 12x24" sheets.   It's stinky too lol.  Remember how a new beach ball used to smell when you'd take i tout of the package?  Now, I borrowed the deep cutting blade and housing for the cricut as I was under the impression you needed to use it on the vinyl.  But according to the instructions, it doesn't specify a kind of blade.  Gonna checkout the instuctionable video on the company's website.  Hmmm....

Ok, haven't made it to the scrap book store to rent a halloween cartridge for the cricut yet.  (FYI, check out your local scrapbook stores for cartridge rental.   Mine has a club you can join to rent the cartridges for $4, and keep them for a week-thanks to keith for my membership for my birthday last year :)  So anyway in the meantime i used my flying bat stamp to emboss the front of the cards and my jack-o-lantern stamp to emboss the back of the envelopes.  Looks great!  

Now, before embellishing the rest of the front of the card, i used my embossing corner punch on just the lower right corner of the card (the card opens "up" rather than from the side) I backed the doo-das I cut out of theHalloween paper with a thin cardboard.  I'm mounting them on foam squares so they "come off" the card.  If I would have left them as just the paper they would sag in between where the foam squares were placed.  So keep this in mind!!   I used dye-based black ink to "edge" around the doo-das and then attached the foam squares to the back of the doo-das, then placed them on the face of the card.   Snap! Done!  You want to use dye-based ink for edging rather than pigmented ink because the dye based ink dries instantly so you won't smear it across the doo-da.

I glued another doo-da cut-out to the lower portion of the inside of the card.   It still looked naked......hmmm   (if your scrap-book  gut feeling says you're not done, THEN YOU ARE NOT DONE!!  lol....)    Using the "Ashlyn's alphabet" cartridge, i cut the word "Boo!"  out of yellow paper that has tiny black polka dots on it.  I ran them thru my 2.5" xyron sticker maker.   My intention is to ink them with orange ink and antique them with a chestnut color.  If you have the xyron, leave the cut outs on the stickerpaper so you can make a mess inking them.  When you pull them off the sticker paper, you have nice cleanly inked cut outs. So those got stuck to the inside top of the cards.  And whammy! Halloween cards.  If this seems like a long, drawn out process, thats because it is!  I've said it before and I'll say it again: scrapping is a hobby-you are supposed to set aside personal time to do it.  That's the whole point of a hobby.   Remember people, work smarter not harder...I mass produce the elements for my projects.  I cut all the cards at once.  Then I cut out all the envelopes.  Then I make all the doo-das, etc.....then i can come back whenever I need some ME time and I'll get instant gratification  from slappin' em all together.  

Well, i have a few other kinds of cards to make.  Let me see if I can come up with some good ideas on those to share with you.  I'm not sure how to link photos to this blog thing, so in the meantime I'll post photos of these Halloween cards on FB.   xoxo!

whoah, that time of the year already?!?!

Well, here I am flocking my stamped black kitties and all I can think  about is this year's holiday cards.....

Just got a new heat tool:  "Martha Stewart's heatingtool",  $24.99 at Michael's....I rarely payfull price for any scrapbooking tool or doo-da...ugh...so this sucked a bit.   But, I have to say I like it.  I wore my last on out in six months lol.  A friend of mine has had hers for 10 years.  Hey, I don't mess around man!   I'm working on mini Halloween greeting cards.   The front of the  card is going to have a black ob black embossed spiderweb.  I mix flat black embossing powder with "marcasite" by "Stampendous!"   It's a sparkly silver powder.  I'd say it's about five parts black to twoparts marcasite.  mix it in a container so you can spoon it out onto the embossing ink.   As for the web, I have not liked any web stamps I have seen and can't justify paying $8 for one when i can use an embossing pen and draw my own.    I'm using paper by Graphic 45 with vintage Halloween details you can cut apart to make your own doo-das.   I'm mimicking the spiderweb design on th paper.

Ok, so that did NOT work, lol.   The black cardstock absorbed the ink from the embossing pen so well, there is no way you'd be able to finish even a portion of the design without the ink drying up to quick.  Argh.....well, I have been saving, for just this occasion, stamp making maerial.  you use your cricut machine to cut out designs on this matrial so you can make your own cling stamps.  Rock my freak on!!!    Gotta go rent a halloween cartridge.  I will keep you posted peeps!

Introduction: suck it up! get over yourself and start scrapping already!

fear:  a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. something that causes feelings of dread or apprehension; something a person is afraid of.

So basically, fear stops you from doing anything or possibly everything.  Ok, fear of death, disease, hunger, or the end of the world is understandable, I'll give you that. But a fear of scrapping?  Seriously?  What's the worse that can happen by cutting and gluing bits of paper around photos?  c'mon, lets be honest;  most of our family pictures can use all the help they can get!   I know alot of people thatare afraid to put a scrapbook together, or make cards, or do anything "creative" with paper.  If paper is the biggest thing you have to be afraid then I want your life!  I am here to break you all out of your tiny, safe little boxes of reality.  I am not gonna hold your hand down the path of scrapbooking.  I am going to play the part of the big sister that was ordered to teach you how to swim.  Who took your hand lovingly to the deep end of the pool and shoved you in.  :)   I don't do wah-wah's.  If you wanna do what the rest of us do, then drop and give me  50 soldier!!!  (50 handmade embelishments that is ;)