Loves Tea & Paper

My Top 10 continued - layouts

Here are my favourite layouts from this past year. This one was at first discouraging, because as I started in my January files and moved ahead, there was alot I was bypassing. Once I got to the summer and fall, I saw a lot more that I really liked. I suppose this might be because of a couple of things. One, I was producing more in the 2nd half of the year, and when you produce more, chances are you hone your skills, experiment more, and just generally improve what you do (Mom was right - practice makes perfect). Also, maybe I just like my recent work better because I'm closer to it. What about you? Do you prefer your more recent work? So in the order they were produced or blogged about, here are my fave 10 layouts from 2011:

Wow! I worked with a diverse selection of manufacturers. From top to bottom: Echo Park, Bella Blvd, Bo Bunny/G45, Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, Jenni Bowlin, EP, American Crafts, Harmonie, Teresa Collins. If you spot a trend between these layouts or papers, let me know. It's been a year of growing and self discovery as a scrapbooker and I know the journey isn't over yet!

If you do a top 10, let me know - I'd love to see it!

Thanks as always for coming by my blog. I am so grateful for each of my readers! If you enjoy what you see and learn here, be sure to let your friends know too!

Blessings,

Ann

Top 10 Cards of 2011

I find the plethora of top 10 lists that proliferate just before the end of a year fascinating and enjoy reading them as they encapsulate and highlight a topic. Here are my own top 10 cards that I created this past year. These are about the same order as they appeared on the blog, and I as I created them:

I'd love to see your top 10 from 2011! Leave me a link in the comments!

Blessings,

Ann

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Here is the last card I created for Christmas this year.

This is a fun shaker card that I know the recipient is really going to enjoy! Assembling the shaker card is actually quite straight forward, thanks to the Shake It kits available at your lss through Impression Obsession. You can purchase the square or round plastic bubbles and the perfectly cut out cardstock pieces that fit over top separately. What I did underneath the shaker is a fun masking technique that I wanted to show you. I decided that the cute penguins needed a snowy environment, so I ran the white cardbase through the Cuttlebug using the Snowflakes folder. Stamping on top of the embossed surface would leave a very uneven impression and I had just one penguin stamp, the right facing one.

I decided to use a transparency. Here's how I did it:

1. I measured and trimmed the transparency to be slightly larger than the square bubble, about 3.5" x 3.5". I stamped the penguin on the left, using StazOn ink, which is ideally suited for non-porous surfaces, and it dries quickly. I then flipped the transparency over, and stamped the penguin again. This time I inked the stamp using a Copic marker, omitting the fin that carries the gift, so this penguin could be the recipient.

Now there are 2 penguins facing each other.

 

 

 

2. Next, I stamped the penguin using ordinary dye ink on a scrap of paper, and cut it out. I then used temporary adhesive to stick it on top of the penguin. If you have post-it notes handy, you can stamp on the post-it note, right up at the top where the gummy stuff is, cut it out and stick it on top of the image.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Ink up the background stamp, in my case the Christmas tree, with StazOn ink and stamp the it, allowing yourself to go right over the covered penguin, but not going so far as to stamp on the uncovered penguin.

Now, remove the mask you made with the scrap paper or post-it note and flip the transparency over. Repeat your background stamping.

Alternatively, you could create 2 masks and adhere one wrong side down on the penguin on the right, but I find this just as easy.

Use Copic, Sharpie or other permanent markers to colour in your images.

 

4.With your stamping done, you are ready to assemble the card. I placed the diecut cardstock on my cardfront and used a pencil to make light lines to indicate where I needed the transparency and bubble to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Using strong, clear adhesive, like Beacons 3 in 1, adhere the transparency to the cardfront. I find embossed surfaces sometimes don't adhere as well, so the Beacon's is good for ensuring the card won't fall apart. You can see my pencil lines under the transparency. Remember I made it bigger than the bubble, on purpose.

 

You can see the pile of "snow", about a teaspoon, piled in the centre of the transparency.

 

 

 

 

 

6. Remove the adhesive from the bubble and adhere it to the transparency (with all the transparent surfaces here, the photo is a little less than ideal, but I hope you can see how this is coming together).

 

Then adhere the cardstock panel to the front. Again, I used the Beacon's to ensure it adheres to the slick transparent surfaces and the embossed surfaces.

I stamped a sentiment, added a little bling and adhered it to the cardfront with double sided foam adhesive.

Have you made shaker cards? I'd love to see them! Leave me a link in the comments.

Merry Christmas, friends! May all the blessings of the season fill your heart and home with joy! - Ann

 

 

 

Merry Christmas, Sweetheart!

This year I was inspired to make as well as purchase a gift for my dear husband. His list of wants is small and his family is his blessing - at least he makes us feel that way. So to commemorate his love for us, I thought I would make him a gift with a photo of Sarah and me in it. Photo time usually becomes silly time - Brian almost always pulls a funny face or sticks out his tongue when I turn the camera in his direction, and Sarah, being a chip off the ol' block, has taken to doing the same. When I wanted to snap a few photos at the restaurant where we were celebrating Sarah's birthday, out came the bunny ears behind people's heads, the silly faces and overall goofiness. Even when Sarah moved to my side of the table for Brian to get a few photos of us, the temptation to be silly lingered. So this is the best photo I have. I changed it to black and white to make make the rest of my design selections less limited by the colours we were wearing and the colours in the background less distracting. When I was exploring a lss that I literally had not been in for years, I saw this fabulous shadow frame by Pink Paislee and knew immediately that I had my gift idea.

Can you see all the colours in the frame? It started out as plain wood, ready for paint, mists or inks. I have played with the colour on this so much, that there are probably at least 6 spray mists on there, as well as 2 or 3 ink colours, and some Glimmer Glam, which for those of you unfamiliar with that product, is a liquid pearl paint from the folks at Tattered Angels.

I selected the patterned papers, also by Pink Paislee, because I really liked the paper with the words from the Soiree paper. I didn't use as much of it as I thought I would, but I think it's use is effective:

I cut the banner by hand from the patterned paper and inked the edges. Because I knew that this needs to be robust, since it's not going to be protected in a page protector like my regular layouts, I decided to mount the banner on some canvas. This added a great deal of sturdiness as well as visual texture. Those pearls add a lovely touch of femininity without making the project too girly, don't you think?

 

 

Another mixed font and colour title - I think it is one of my signature things. I couldn't do a multi-word title without mixing things up. I used white foam letters and inked them yellow for the word 'my'. The coral coloured letters match one of the patterned papers I used in the vertical strips perfectly, and since they are smaller, I used them for my longest word, 'beautiful'. The word 'girlz' is misspelled, I know, but I was out of s's, so I went with the 'z' for fun. I love those puffy letters and since I'm getting low, I'll have to get more ordered.

 

These muslin flowers are ready for ink and mist and are part of the Pink Paislee mist-ables collection. I didn't realize when I purchased them that they are actually hair accessories, but you can't really see the pin, so I'm using them here. I misted them with 3 different spray inks, including one called Dazzling Diamonds that adds a subtle glimmer. Do you see the tiny pearls I used as bullet points on the journal card? I also used the sewing machine again - I really like the zigzag stitch - another signature, maybe?? I also used some twine on this. The frame came with internal measurements, and although I cut my papers around those measurements, the piece didn't quite fit, and once trimmed down, there was a slight gap. The twine functionally fills that small space and adds tactile and visual texture.

I hope he likes it - I was really trying to make it not too girly, despite the subject matter, since it is for a man and will likely hang in his home office work space.

What do you think of my off the page art? I have another scrappy gift to show you, but I have to wait about a week before I can. Are you curious? I will  tell you that creating both these pieces this month has taught me: 

• I don't mind getting a little messy with my artwork afterall, in fact, I really like it - it makes me happy!
• Even the dry time does not bother me as much as I thought earlier in the year. I can usually work on another part of the project while I wait for things to dry.
• I don't like the clean up after messy projects. Now maybe I'm just saying that because my scrap space is a disaster right now. I've been on a bit of a creative frenzy between gifts and cards and my last few projects have been created on the floor because I cannot see the table. I know that during the break between Christmas and New Years I will do a HUGE clean up in here again. And then, I will get back to cleaning up after every project, because starting out in a tidy space makes me happy.

Have you been creating gifts to give for Christmas? I'd love to see them!

Thank you for visiting me today! Blessings,

Ann 

 

Ever Have This Problem?

You decide to give a gift card as a gift (that happens a lot this time of year) and you get to the store and they don't issue gift cards, they issue gift certificates? Not all establishments use plastic, especially small, independently owned businesses (Let's hear it for the local, independently-owned businesses!!!) So you get home with your gift certificate and think... Now What? How can I pretty this up with my crafty stash? Well, you can decorate the envelope with stamps or stickers... or you can cut some cardstock or patterned paper a little longer and little bit more than twice as wide and fold it in half (i.e. you are making a cardbase into which you can insert your gift certificate, perhaps using a slot punch to get it to stay.) Or... you can spend an hour on google finding no creative ways to deal with the gift certificate like I did earlier this week! Finally, I tweaked to the idea that a gift certificate is like money, sort of, and started searching for creative ways to give money. I ended up on the Hero Arts blog where Jennifer McGuire showed a way to fold a $20 bill into a scarf for a snowman, and into a Christmas tree. I had my aha moment:

Following the instructions in the tutorial by Jennifer here, I made my tree. I tied a beautiful glitter ribbon around the middle of the tree to help keep it closed, and to the top of the tree, I attached a gorgeous blingy chipboard snowflake that works as a star for me. The gift certificate paper is much thicker than the paper money is printed on, so this really sticks out, but I am very happy with it anyway. You'll probably notice how both of her cards inspired this one.

I love clear cards and seeing Jennifer's reminded me that I haven't made one in awhile, so I started out with a transparency sheet (Stampin' Up! used to sell Window sheets, and this may be one of those - very similar). I cut it to 11 x 5.5" and then folded it half, creating a 5.5 x 5.5 square. I used white opaque StazOn ink to stamp the snowflakes. StazOn is perfect for these kinds of surfaces that are non-porous, because it will dry. I stamped the tree using silver ink, then sprinkled on the silver embossing powder and put it under the heat tool to melt the powder. Then I cut the 4 trees out. The papers are from a winter/Christmas collection from last year by BoBunny - gotta love using up that stash!

I trimmed 2 pieces of light blue cardstock using the wavy blade on my trimmer. The more narrow strip is adhered on the back of the front page, and the slightly wider one is adhered on the front of the back page, creating a layered landscape. After attaching my certificate tree to the cardfront, I added on to finish the landscape. Two of the embossed trees are adhered with clear drying adhesive (Beacon's 3 in 1 to the rescue again!) to the front of the card, and 2 are adhered to the back of the front page. This is the fun part about working with a clear card: all the dimension you can create by working with all sides!

I used a bit of border sticker along the folded left  edge for more colour and to finish the card added some lovely silver cord. The sentiment is a rubon that I applied to the front of the card. It took a little longer than usual to apply, but it did go. The greeting and signatures for the card will all go on the blue strips so they are not seen through the card.

I considered stamping or inking the certificate tree, but decided I like the simplicity of the white and it works with the white snowflakes. Hopefully, it will also be obvious that this tree is "different" and that the recipient needs to do something with it.

Thank you, as always, for popping by my blog. I love sharing my ideas with you and I hope you are inspired by what you see. Blessings,

Ann

 

My Sketch World - Sneak Peek

I don't always remember to do these, but I have had my January work for My Sketch World done for a week, now, and I'm itching to show you!!! I'm very excited about it, but, of course, I can't show you until January 1st. So... for now, I'll show you this:

Hmmm... that probably doesn't tell you much, does it. Let me just say I used some yummy Echo Park papers, and it got messy!

Christmas Cards in a Jiffy!

Some of my friends at My Sketch World started a thread in the forum for posting addresses to mail Christmas cards. I didn't want to just pick and choose a few and leave some friends out, so yesterday I found myself needing 17 cards. Even though I've been making cards this year (I've done MUCH better than last year!), I just didn't have 17 on hand ready to send. How would I crank out 17 cards when a card can take me just about as long as a layout sometimes? Solution: simple design produced manufacturing style. By manufacturing style, I mean piece-work and production line.

So I chose my card style: it would be stamped.

I selected a technique: heat embossing - it's a super simple yet super quick wow, and no colouring means perfect what I needed.

I chose my stamps: a clean line image that would like great embossed, plus a sentiment.

I chose my colours: for this image, I wanted it to look like it was dark, so I chose a nice dark navy cardstock and added white.

I cut 17 cardbases - fortunately I have a rotary paper cutter that can take 5 sheets of cardstock at  a time, so slicing 8 sheets of 5 1/5 x 11 went quickly.

I cut 17 cardfronts - again using the rotary paper cutter, this was speedy.

Working with 4 cardfronts at a time, I stamped with white pigment ink and sprinkled on white embossing powder. (Pigment ink is perfect for embossing, especially production line embossing, since it dries slowly). Melt the powder with the heat tool on all 4 cards. Repeat.  Then do the same thing with the sentiment.

Adhere the cardfronts to the bases. Wrap with silver cord for a finishing touch. Stamp a greeting inside and sign. Address envelopes and they went in the mail the same day. 17 cards done in about 1 1/2 hours. For me, this is good! Oh, did you want to see it?

I know that some of the recipients follow my blog, so I'm not sure I should show it to you...

... but then if I don't, and you're in a time crunch... Well, my blog is here to teach and inspire, so I guess I better share. If you are from MSW and you follow my blog and your name was on that thread and you don't want to see the card before you take it out of your mailbox, stop reading now. For the rest - here is my very clean and simple card:

Now if it weren't going through the mail, I'd be inclined to add a rhinestone brad to the centre of that star, but I've seen envelopes tear from larger brads or buttons, so for this purpose, really simple does the trick.

What do you think? Have you done mass-produced cards? I'd love to see your design!

Thanks for dropping by!

Blessings,

Ann

Birthday Card: Authentique

Last month, I enjoyed heading out for a card class with an old friend of mine. We blasted through about 12 cards in about 3 hours (because she had so much prep done in advance). Included in those cards, we made these:

Isn't that fold fun? These still fit in a standard sized envelope, it's just the cutting and scoring that change things and add interest. Carolyn emphasized that we must trace the cards, or something, before giving them, so that we could make these again. Remember when I said she had prepped a lot in advance? That included already cutting, scoring and folding these, so we didn't actually go through the process then.

Well, fast forward a few weeks. Today, my bff Christa is celebrating her birthday! (By the way, Christa has a really great tutorial and a giveaway on her blog today, so pop by there, when we're done here!)

Since she did not attend that card class with me, I thought I'd share this great card technique with her by using it for the birthday card I'm giving her:

I also tried to include a few of Christa's favourite things on her since I made it especially for her.

She loves Authentique, so I used some gorgeous Authentique papers from the Free Bird line. Christa loves playing with watercolour paint on her layout, so I splattered some on the sentiment (that is a digi stamp that I downloaded some time ago and I don't know the source anymore).

I added a detail to the punched layered butterfly. The bottom butterfly (can you tell that there are 2 layered there?) is the flip side of the top butterfly. I used my skewer to gently curve the butterfly to give it some dimension. I then added Crystal Effects to the centre of the butterfly and poured on some clear microbeads - just a fun little detail that is more noticeable in person, but it adds visual interest and texture. The top butterfly is adhered to the bottom with dimensional adhesive to make it pop/float.

Now, since Carolyn urged us to use and share the technique, and so that I would have the dimensions for the future, I quickly drew out templates. Would you like to see them?

This is the template for the longer card (like the one I used for Christa's card, and the top card with the stocking on it. My drawing might be a bit off, but the numbers are correct, so that's the important part.

Here's the template for the wider card (the Santa card).

If you make some of these, for Christmas or another occasion, please let me know with a comment. I'd love to see them.

What do you think of the card I made for Christa? It's not overembellished, but has a few little details that I think she'll appreciate.

Thanks for popping in today.

Blessings,

Ann

 

 

Stamped and Cuttlebugged Christmas Card

My friend Majo at My Sketch World issued a challenge to incorporate music into a card. I knew this stamp set with with the lyrics for the carol "Joy to the World" would be a perfect way to answer this challenge.

The card base was run through the Cuttlebug (can you go wrong with Swiss Dots - such a classic) to create a lovely subtle background. I stamped on the navy strip and used an edge punch on the silver strip to create a double vertical border and layered that lovely stitched grosgrain on top.

The focal point starts with a red circle cardstock base which I outlined with a glue pen and sprinkled microfine glitter on. Then on the white circle, I stamped with a silvery grey for the lyrics. Then using a pigment inkpad, I stamped the word Joy in red and stprinkled on glittery embossing powder and hit that with the heat tool.

Three rhinestones add even more sparkle, play on all the rounded edges,  and finish the card.

How about you? Are you challenged to incorporate music somehow into a card? I'd love to see it!

Blessings,

Ann