Mickey Thank You (08/15/2012)

You just gotta meet today's card!  But, before we do - here is a hint:  M-I-C ... K-E-Y ... do you know what it is?  Yep, a MICKEY MOUSE Thank You card!  Woo hoo - let's say HOWDY shall we?

I needed to make a Thank You card with a Disney theme (I just had to!).  I used a card base from a set I got at a big box store, and used two different Disney patterned paper.  I created a card panel with a patterned paper with lots of little Mickeys.  I cut out a Mickey Mouse close up from another Disney patterned paper, and matted it with black.  I needed to frame my sentiment, so I pulled out my current FAVORITE Spellbinders die (Reverse Wonky Rectangles), stamped my sentiment, die cut it out and cut out a larger one to frame it.

I used some Antique Linen distress ink to ink the sentiment and the edges of the card.  This helped soften and highlight both.

Then, just to add a little more texture and movement, I slapped on a strip of Disney washi tape across the base.  I adhered everything on, and had my Disney Thank You card.

I am really happy with how it turned out, and I hope Nyla enjoys it and knows how much I appreciate her!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Labels! (08/13/2012)

Are ya ready for it? Today's post is NOT a card, not reallly a project ... but actually an organizing thing I did!

I use Distress Inks a lot, but the thing that I like least about them, is that I can't identify which ink is which, when I have them all stacked up on my shelf.  Here are what the ink containers look like:

Notice, the color and name is on the TOP of the ink pad container, not on the edges.  When I use them, and I use them a lot!, I hate having to sift through all the containers looking for whatever color I am trying to get my hands on.

A while ago, I tried marking the edges with a silver sharpie to label the ink colors, but it was hard to read:

So, I decided to come up with a way of marking both the name and the color ... and decided to create labels, using white paper.  I cut strips of paper, wrote the ink name on it, and then colored each strip with the ink color.  Here is one of the strips cut out and colored:

Then, I adhered each strip of paper to its respective ink container, and viola!  I have easily identifiable inks!  No more stacking and restacking looking for the ink I need.  Here is how it turned out:

I am thrillled with my labels :)

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Magic Wands! (08/10/2012)

Another day, another fun (hopefully!) post ... but today's project is NOT a card.  Nary any paper in sight, and no stamping ... it is a passel of magic wands!  Let's check them out:

Before you get all excited, and think that TWO isn't a passel..., just you wait!

My better half is in a local production of "The Changeling" that is being performed at our county fair.  It is an original production about the changeling boy and his journey reclaiming his belief in fairy tales.  The writer and director wrote in several parts in the script for children in the audience to "wave their magic wands" to help Puck fly and to help strengthen spells.  The troop will perform the show five different times during the fair run, so they, ah-hem, asked for TWO-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTY wands!  So, I got cracking!

After several attempts at designs, and ways to adhere the toppers to the wand sticks (lots o' discussions and ideas on wand sticks too!), I settled on black chip board stars and hearts for the toppers, and pre-cut packaged dowels for the wand sticks.

Because the director wanted this interactive, I had to design the wands so that the children could "build" their own wand as well, as the play was getting underway.  More prototypes and designs later, and thanks to several friends - especially Terri - who gave incredible advice, I decided to die cut the toppers and adhere curling ribbon streamers with hot glue.  I also decided to wrap the wand stick dowels with curling ribbon too.  And, obtained some silver and gold glittery sprays.  I also used 3D pop dots to adhere the ribboned topper to the ribboned dowel.  The idea was for the kids to choose their topper shape (heart or star), with one of three color choices (red/purple, blue/green, or orange/yellow), and then choose their wand stick color (red, purple, blue, green, orange or yellow) and then decide if they wanted some glittery "fairy dust" in either silver or gold.

So, for the past few weeks, I have been die cutting stars and hearts; cutting, tieing and gluing ribbon streamers to the toppers; and wrapping wand stick dowels.  Plus, the first performance was on the Main Stage, and we had to have 50 pre-made wands to hand out at this venue due to the other events scheduled on the stage.  Again, had to get crack-a-lackin' to get this all done ahead of time :)

Here is a pile o' wands that were pre-made for the Main Stage performance:

Here is our table, where the magic happened during the other shows:

To prepare for the plays with the interactive-wand-creation, I separated out each shape and color for the toppers, into 6 large baggies.  The wand sticks were separated out by color as well (you can't see all six of them, but they are there!).  Kids approached the table, chose their shape and color combo, then their stick color (stuck them together with the 3D glue dots) and what color fairy dust glittery spray.  It went really well, and was pretty easy to do. 

However, the prep was where it all paid off.  I spent countless hours wrapping each dowel with the curling ribbon, cutting the topper shapes, and adhering curling ribbon streamers to each topper.  Here is how I covered the dowels in curling ribbon:

I laid down some hot glue at the end of the dowel, to anchor my ribbon and hold it tight while I wrapped the entire dowel.  Start with lots of glue!

Then, start wrapping.

As I neared the end of the wand stick, I added more hot glue to finish off and hold the curling ribbon.

I also realized that it worked best to keep wrapping the ribbon over the top of the ribbon at the end, and kinda work backwards a few wraps.  I added a drop of glue at the very end of the ribbon too, to hold it all together:

Here is one happy little girl, with TWO wands!

And, a happy big girl:

And some happy boys:

All in all, I think the wands were a hit, and really helped The Changeling come to life!  And, the wands were really fun to prep.  But the best part was to see the big and little kids enjoying their wands and waving them to help make Puck fly!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Black & Red Make & Take Shaker card (08/08/2012)

At the Puyallup Scrapbook Expo, I did a couple Make & Takes.  I attended the all-day crop, and part of our evening's entertainment at the crop was vendor sponsored make & takes as well.  This card was one of them.  We did a dramatic shaker card!  Check it out:

The card parts were pre-designed, and we just basically put it together.  But, it was fun - and an easy way to make a shaker card.  In the past, I have used acrylic, foam tape, lots of adjusting, etc.  This was super easy - we had a pre-cut heart shape in our red cardstock panel, and the plastic raised heart box fit right inside.  Here is a close up:

This was a quick and easy way to make a shaker card, and I really like the colors of the card too - I like the dramatic red & black colors, and the embossing on the red panel.  Fun card, fun to make, and oh-so-pretty!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

An Under the Sea Card for my Mommy! (08/06/2012)

Today's card is for my Mommy!  My Mommy loves dolphins, and she is so supportive of me (these things probably aren't related...) and I wanted to make her a card just to say Hey!  So, this is what I made:

This card was fun to make, and very different for me.  It is a card that flips open, like a messenger bag, and then has two gates that open to get to the inside of the card.  There are lots of spaces to fill with images and/or sentiments, plus a space to write something.  It was made from one full sheet of 8-1/2" x 11" paper as the card base.  Here is the card with the first part flipped up:

After the gates open, this is what is inside:

Here is a photo farther away, to show the card all folded open:

I used Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Sea and Grand Greetings for this card.  I knew I wanted to do a dolphin and sea theme, but needed some coordinating paper to go with the card base and images.  The Close To My Heart paper pack was just exactly what I needed - and I had purchased the paper pack at the Puyallup Scrapbook Expo when I visited there recently.  I can't remember the name of the card pack, but it was perfect! 

Here is a close up of the dolphin - and notice the little bit o' glittery bling that I traced inside the outine of the dolphin for extra pizazz:

And,I had to add a little glittery bling on the turtle too:

I used patterned paper from my stash for the critters.  And, I used Spellbinders dies to make the beaded oval shapes.  Here is how I inked the larger oval, after cutting and dry embossing it:

Back to the card itself ... I made the card based on an idea I scraplifted from the fine ladies at Sparkle N Sprinkle's blog.  Check out their post with directions here.  At first I was intimidated by the volume of the directions, but after I re-read them, it seemed pretty do-able.  All-in-all, this was pretty fun and easy to do.  I really like how it turned out and I hope my wonderful Mommy enjoys this card just saying hello and sending love.

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Happy Birthday Expo Make & Take (08/03/2012)

I recently attended the Puyallup Scrapbook Expo and did some make & takes.  Here is one of them:

This make & take was at a big box store's vendor booth.  I was really happy that they had a free make & take, and this is one of the cards I made at their booth.  They had a whole bunch of paper, with a fairly vague idea of what to do - so I chose my paper combinations and the embellishments.  I loved the green patterned paper, so that had to be front and center.  I used a yellow cardstock card, and matted my green patterned paper with a cream cardstock.  I popped up a flower die cut and added a little bling in the center.  I also adhered a ribbon around the patterned paper and mat.  I don't like ribbon inside my card - so I adhered the ribbon around the panel before I adhered it to the cardstock base. 

I also am not very skilled at bows, so I cut a small piece of ribbon, and tied it in a knot around the ribbon stretched across the card panel.  The "knotted ribbon" then is slideable, and I slid it along the ribbon until I found exactly the right spot for it.  Check out the closeup:

To finish off the card, I added a Happy Birthday sentiment rub on, and put two little colored rhinestones at the ends.

Easy peasy - and fun.  I like make & takes!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

So Sorry for your Loss card (08/01/2012)

Today's card is a sympathy card.  They are so hard to make, literally and figuratively.  Let's look at what I made:

I wanted to make a card with a sunset framed by trees.  I decided to use Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Forest pine tree, and stamped it with black ink on a dark green paper.  It wasn't quite dark enough, so I inked over it with Dusty Concord Distress Ink to darken it even further.

I made a card from cream cardstock, and made a cream panel as well, that I scored to make a frame.  I used a white cardstock for my actual stamping, so the stars would be whiter than the creamy background.  I needed a late sunset-sun, so I stamped a solid circle with a orangey Distress Ink, then covered it with clear embossing powder and heat embossed it.  I also stamped Lawn Fawn's Critters Ever After stars in versa mark, and added clear embossing powder and heat embossed those.  I did this so that the stars would resist the ink in the next step.

I decided to color my own sunset, so I pulled out several Distress Ink pads in yellows, oranges and reds, and my inker.  I covered most of the sun & star-stamped panel with the lightest of my inks.  I then kept layering the ink in sequential darker colors, as I worked my way up the card.  I wanted to give this card an almost-dusk feel and wanted the sky pretty dark, but still lit up. 

I framed the inked panel with pine trees, and trimmed off the tree that poked off the edge, and then layered this panel onto the card.

I used Technique Tuesday's So Sorry by Ali Edwards sentiment.  I stamped it on cream cardstock, then cut it with my new Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangles die.  I LOVE this shape!  I softened it with a blush of ink to match the sunset, popped it up and adhered it to the card.

All-in-all, the card came out like I planned it to be, and I think it helps show how I feel about the loss a friend has endured.  I hope it helps the family know I am thinking of them during this difficult time.

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris