PTI Anniversary - Our Favorite Things Challenge

Hello crafty friends,

I am participating in the Our favorite things challenge.  PTI has the most awesome design team and they always have such amazing projects!!  They are such an inspiration. I am constantly amazed by the things they do.  

This project is inspired by Betsy Veldman's favorite project.  This was a really fun project to do.  I don't think mine is as beautiful as hers was but I had an enjoyable time putting this together. 

I used a ton of sets including - birthday basic, botanical silhouettes, Tag its 10, big birthday wishes, Birthday Bash Sentiments as well as some SU birthday stamps. 

A Die cut Christmas and my two bits

I have been using my die cut machine a lot this Christmas - for tags, stencils, word art, pillows, cards, ornaments etc.  How did I EVER live with out it.  I have no idea. 

I have to say though if I was just buying one for the first time I would definitely chose one that had its own software like the cougar, silhouette etc. It seems like I am always designing stuff the way I want it, with the fonts I want.  

 I think cricut is the only one that doesn't allow you to use software with it anymore.  I think they shot themselves in the foot on that one. 

I love my cricut and the flexibility to use cartridges but I also like the flexibility of having a software for fonts.  There used to be a couple companies that made software that would work with the cricut but Provo Craft sued them and they can't sell it anymore and the new firmware (the machine brain) blocks it.  That is the only reason I would go with the silhouette over the cricut.  If they had the 3rd party software still I would say cricut is the way to go but it is not anymore.  Especially since Silhouette came out with the Cameo a couple months ago and it has the same cutting capacity as the cricut (12x12). 

The one thing I will say about Provo Craft is they are trying to be more accessible.  They have all kinds of sizes of machines at different price points, they started Craft Room which is a free design program that allows you to design with all the cartridge but you could only cut what you design if you own them, they also started a magazine and a new site cricut.com/fun with tutorials on how to better use the machines and cartridges.  I know you can also buy things from design room like you can from Silhouette.  The big difference is with Silhouette fonts are free and you can buy one shape or as many as you want.  You can design anything and there are a lot of SVG files online that other people designed and give out for free - boxes, flowers, anything. 

So if you are going to use fonts a lot go with the Silhouette.  If you just want shapes and a few fonts then cricut is better.  I get all my cartridges on eBay and the most I have paid is 30 but usually 22-25 and you do get a lot of shapes but how many you actually use depends. 

I couldn't live without mine and I think it is a great present for anyone who likes home decor, scrapbooking, cardmaking or is a teacher.  I am off to make little tags to put on the baggies of cookies I am preparing for my Son's Holiday party Monday.  Yet another reason to use my die cutter. 

**(stencil made with diecutter for the pillow - I made these for several people in my family.  The tags and flower were also cut with my diecutting machine - I didn't cut the box but I could have...I got them on clearance a few years ago for a couple bucks.)

PTI reverse applique

I love participating in the PTI (Papertrey Ink) challenges. I wish I would make time for it more so that I could participate every week and learn all these new techniques. It it also a good reason to pull out my ink and paper and get my creative juices flowing.


Here is my take on Reverse Applique. I used the whale die and sentiment from Whale Wishes stamp set. The paper is from the Fly a Kite paper pack by October Afternoon. I used the Straight from the Nest cricket cartridge to make the border - I cut two of them at .5 inches. I love the borders on that cartridge.

Combining sets

Over the last few months I have become a big Papertrey ink fan. Here is a cards I have made recently with their stamp sets.

This one is a birthday card I make for my sister. I used three PTI stamp sets - butterfly dreams, text style 11 and Just the ticket. I love the text and the butterflies. They are a pefect pairing. I used the ticket to date the card so she could use it in a scrapbooking album of her birthday too. I also used Straight from the Nest cricut cart for the brown border strip.

New skill - crochet flowers

Hi everyone - It's Sizzle. I thought I would check in and share some projects I have been working on lately. It has been pretty busy around my house - family reunion, potty training and an upcoming special birthday -so I have been doing a lot of different things. I love to try new things and when I see something I like online - even if it is a skill I don't have - I want to learn how to do it myself. So this week I have been learning how to crochet so I could create these:

A close up of the white one:

As I am getting more and more into the scrapbook making/stamping world I have come across all sorts of awesome blogs! I found the pattern for these here.  I learned the basic stitches by reading a book and referring back to it as I went through the pattern. My friend whipped out her first one in minutes. I spent quite a bit more time but I am learning a new skill and it is SO worth it.  (learn something new - it is fun)

These could be used as broaches for purses or a jacket, clip into a headband or a hat, as baby accessories or a doll accessory.

This is one of the dolls I made for my daughters first birthday with the flower in her hair. I am going to create two little orange ones for her pigtails but I had to try it out on the doll. Isn't it darling?  I designed and hand painted the face and did my own hair line (not the patterns). I am not an artist but I think she looks pretty good.  What do you think?

Hi friends - it Sizzle today. I wanted to update you on what is going on with our blog here in blog land. We are going totally laid-back. No schedules. We will just post when we have something to share. It could be anyone- at any time. That makes it more fun - right?

Today I am sharing a card I made for a girl who is having a baby. I am going to her shower tonight.

I have been trying out some new techniques and I think I am coming closer to finding my own style. Everyone has one but they are hard to find because we look at other people's stuff and like it so we try to do it just like that instead of working to find our own style. I am finding I like color and texture so I look for products that will help me with that. I have got a lot of coloring tools- chalk, colored pencils, ink, and now distress inks and the blender tool.

Here is what I came up with today:

I am always looking for boy stuff (hard to find but I AM finding stuff) this stamp set is all boy and has a bunch of cute boy stamps and sayings. I am always looking for ways to add texture - that's why I love my cuttlebug. The circles right of the mom with the baby is just white card stock that I "cuttlebugged" and colored with distress inks (antique linen, weathered wood and broken china).

I stamped the staying with ink on a white piece of card stock as well and colored that so it blended in with the other papers. The mom and baby I cut with my cricut at 3" out of navy and inked it black.

Quiet in the storm

Today has been a storm of letter writting to city officials and zoning commissions as I am trying to protect my neighborhood and my investment (my home) so today's post is going to be brief.

I thought I'd share yet another card I made. This one was for my wonderful mother-in-law for her birthday. I wanted to do something a little more mature and I always loved when people stamped with multiple colors so I tested it on these trees and birds:

I used a stamp by hero arts and inked it with green then rubbed off the ink on the birds and used a brush pen to color the birds blue.

At first it was just a brown background with the green strip but then I desided to add the scallop skirt to bring out a little more blue. Inside it reads happy birthday. I used a ruler when I stamped this time, it made a big difference.

Thank you for following!

Mothers card -NSD

Okay this is the other challenge I decided to do - a Mother's card.  This is what I came up with:

I used some of the stuff I bought from SEI last week.  I used happytape for the border.  Rub-ons for the i and u (making memories) and I covered a chipboard heart from making memories and wrapped it in string - like a hug.  I used a stamp for the border and stickers for the mother which I inked so they stood out a little more. 

Building blocks for grown ups

Happy Thursday!  Thank you for all of your comments about my new door.  I am glad you like it as much as I do.  I can't wait to get started working outside.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.  Today I am going to show you something totally different with some tips for getting cheap supplies - like brayers at hardware stores.  Here is the project:

The other day I went to my local hardware store which happens to be Lowe's and came home with this:

Yes, that was the day it was snowing - see all that snow in my car...ick.  Anyway I bought a 2x4 one that is used for studs in building and had the Lowe's people cut it every 5 or 6 inches.  (6 seems big but 5 is perfect)

A 2x4 costs you less than $2.50.  You can get 15 or so blocks depending on the size you use. 

Then I came home and painted three of the blocks in coral (making memories) or hot pink (the craft store brand)...yum

I covered them with mod podge and scrapbook paper.  I cut the paper 4.5 inches wide and trimed it a little.  Then I creased the end around the block and cut it to the exact length.  I adhered with mod pogde.  Make sure you smooth it out as soon as possible. 

which leads me to brayers.  These are so expensive at craft stores it is ridicious.  I swore I had seen the same thing at Lowe's so I went looking.  You will find what you need in the wallpaper section for 1.98.  Seriously, compared to 8 or 9 dollars it is a steal. 

This is what you'll find at a craft store for 9 bucks.  It is rubber and nice but you don't need it.  This is what you'll find at Lowes for less than a quater of the price. 

You can use either tool - you just need something to smooth.  I discovered the secret to working to mod pogde is to make sure only one side is wet at a time and to dry between otherwise the paper can stick to your brayer or your fingers- discovered the hard way.

So put the mod podge - or other sealer (note:you can also get something similar at a hardware store which is probably cheaper but I haven't looked into it yet because I also use a 50% off coupon but when I run out I am checking the hardware store.) on the block, smooth your paper down really good.

Let dry.

Do second side.  Dry.  Adhere lettering.  Dry.  Seal over the top part.  

Done.

 

Decorate.  Smile.

Note:  Joann's has paper including cardstock 5 for a dollar this week! 

Bascially this whole craft -with a ton of blocks left over costs you $3 dollars. 

Here is a link to what you can find at Lowe's similar to Mod podge but I couldn't find the price online.

http://www.liquitex.com/Products/fluidmedglossmedvar.cfm