My First Circle Album

This is the first circle album I've ever made. Since it will be for my shop, I didn't make it too fancy, and didn't put any sentiments on it. The top photo is the front and back covers. All of the DP is from Walmart. I used my Xyron to mount thin acrylic over the covers and then Xyroned them onto the card itself. The ribbon runs under the whole width of the card under the DP. I figured this would add strength with tying and untying, and also add strength to the spine.

These two photos are of the inside. One is looking down from the top. I added generic ivory card stock cut with my Grand Calibur and Spellinders Labels One and Tags One, and distressed them with Ranger Antique Ivory. The squares are for mounting Photographs or ephemera, and the tags below are for labeling them. It looked round to me while I was working on it, but looking at the photos, it doesn't appear to be perfectly round. I traced an average sized dinner plate, (about 10"), to make the card.

Pink Roses Card

All of the flowers really are a salmon shade of pink to match the design in the background paper, but some of them look red, and some look lavender in the photograph.

Before my husband got laid off, I was looking through the book they order supplies from at our closest craft store. I was actually looking for a certain Martha Stewart border punch I see on a lot of European cards, but I never see that punch in the US. Well, it wasn't in the book, but I did find this Heartfelt Creations Die by Spellbinders that I've been wanting for a long time, and also the Martha Stewart Branch punch so I ordered them. They came in last week, so we picked them up on Sunday. They had also gotten the McGill branch punch, which is very similar to the MS one, but it is a bit larger.

I have seen comments at SCS and other places where people were wondering what the difference is. Well of course since they were different sizes by a small amount, I bought both of them. It's sort of nice to have one that is a bit larger, I like the size of the McGill one better, but I think I will use the MS one more because it is much easier to punch. I tend to sit down with scraps and punch leaves and flowers a lot, so I have a bunch ready to use. I really need to be able to turn the punch over to make sure I'm not punching over parts of the paper that are already punched. With the MS one, this is easy, you can just squeeze the punch while it's upside down. With the McGill punch, you have to set it down on the table and really use a lot of force to punch with it. I guess it's not really a big deal, but the MS one is so easy to punch with that I tend to punch a lot more branches at a time than I do with the McGill one. I'm still glad I have both though, it will give me more variety!

For this card, I chose an Anna Griffin dp for the background. It was a salmony shade of pink, so I chose the most salmony shades of Prima and Recollections flowers I had. I mounted the dp onto generic salmon and white, then added the white die cut.

I added some of the branches before the flowers, and some after. I started with daisies, but after I applied them and started adding other things, they looked very flat, so I scrunched up some little Recollections flowers and layered them over the daisies.

The roses around the center are my favorite discontinued Prima ones. I curled the stems around my embossing tool point to make curly tendrils. I did find those little roses are still available from Wild Orchid Crafts in the UK,and they ship to the US and are much cheaper, so hopefully, when my husband gets working again I can place an order. Then I will have all of the colors I wanted originally!

The card needed something around the outside, so since I didn't have any salmony colored perals, I colored some white ones with Copics.

I can't quite decide whether I really like this card or not, it looks sort of messy to me.

Vacation Journal

This is a journal I made with my Cinch Bindery. I made it to sell in my summer shop. I didn't put writing on it in case someone wants to use it for a journal that has nothing to do with vacations.

Each page has a pocket on it with a card in the pocket to write something or paste photos or paper souvenirs on.

These are the front and back covers.

Most of the paper is Anna Griffin, all of the stamps are Just Rite, all of the dies are Spellbinders. The ink is Ranger Distress and the square knots are tied with hemp twine.

Marianne is giving away more candy! Click the image to go to their blog.

Yellow Roses Card

Today is very dark and stormy, so I decided to make a cheerful card that makes me think of spring and sunshine.

The background was embossed with a Cuttlebug ef, the mat was cut with a Spellbinders Die, and the branch is a Sizzix die. The roses were made by layering Recollections flowers and scrunching them up. The pearls are Queen & Co and the little yellow dots on the points of the Spellbinders mat are Liquid Pearls.

Butterfly Magic Box Revised and Finished

I added a lot more to the butterfly box I posted the other day, and finished the outside. The dies are by Spellbinders and the "non flying" butterflies are Cheery Lynn, the flowers are Prima and Recollections. I forgot to scrunch the roses on the sides back up after gluing them onto the box. They were made with three Recollections flowers scrunched up and glued on top of each other. The ones on top are the Prima ones. I curled the stems by rolling them around my embossing tool.

The pearls are Queen & Co and Liquid Pearls, and the "flying" butterflies are Martha Stewart. The paper is DCWV, Core'dinations Pearl and Anna Griffin.

Pink Flowered Diorama Card

This is my first diorama card. I made it while I was waiting for the glue on my butterfly box to dry.

The patterned paper is from Walmart. The openings, label and frame were cut with Spellbinders, and all of the shading was done with Antique Linen Distress Ink. The flowers are Prima, the ferns are McGill, and the leafy stem is Sizzix. The flower centers are liquid pearls.

The saying is from Just Rite Fancy Frames and it is stamped with Crushed Olive Distress ink. I added green Pebbles cream chalk to the leaves on the stem to give them dimension.

Teal Cross Card

This is another card for the Just Rite Friday Challenge #064.

For this card, I distressed the ivory card and all of the die cuts with Antique Linen.

I used an Anna Griffin teal patterned paper and Spellbinders dies for the inner frame and around the Just Rite Stamps. For the cross I used Just Rite's Rejoice set stamped with versamark and embossed it with fine detail gold ep. I colored it with Copic Markers. The die below it is stamped with a Brilliance stamp pad using Just Rite's Elegant Frames. All of the die cut layers are mounted with dimensional tape, although it doesn't show up in the photograph. The pearls are Queen & Co and the flowers are Recollections. I added gold stickles to the centers of the flowers.

Magic Butterfly Box

Over a year ago I saw some Magic Boxes at this site. I thought they were beautiful, but never got around to making any. Then, yesterday, on one of my favorite blogs, Monia made one. She has made a bunch of them, which you will see if you click on her name. The link goes directly to her exploding boxes where there are two or three pages of them. (Be sure to look at the rest of her blog as well, because she has made a lot of really beautiful things).

Anyway, today I decided to make my own. I haven't finished the cover yet, and can't show you the outside because my glue, Stickles and Liquid Pearls are still wet. I won't get a chance to finish this box at least until Monday, so I will add photos of it all together then. I kept sticking my fingers into the Stickles and Liquid Pearls, so I decided to stop and wait to finish it.

The paper is DCWV Linen Stack, Core'dinations Pearl, and Anna Griffin. The flying butterflies are Martha Stewart, and the ones on the sides are Cheery Lynn. The flowers are Recollections.

I added crystal Stickles to each butterfly body, and buttercup Liquid Pearls to the centers of the flowers.

I'll add more photos in a couple of days when I finish the box.

I'm adding a lot more than I expected to this box, and a lot of things need to dry before doing more on it, so I haven't added the rest of the photos yet.

A real book I Made with my Cinch

Since my husband got laid off, we have been trying to figure out how to make some money to eat and pay bills. Selling graphics files doesn't work, I all that does is cost money. In my area, a lot of people are very interested in old photographs of the area, so I decided to make some books with scans from my hundreds of postcards and photos, to see how they would sell.

I have an old, cheap laser printer and tons of Staples paper for it, and I have my Cinch, so I started putting pages together yesterday, and printed them out and made two books today. I am going to change the photo on the front to make it cover the whole front rather than have borders, but other than that, I like it. There are no captions because everyone here knows where the photos are taken, and I don't have dates for them. Besides, we need money fast!

I'm going to do a series of these from all over the island. Each book has 40 photos, plus the covers, then I will have to go out and peddle them.

My only problem right now is that I could only get four sets of bindings in the right size when we visited the kids in NY, and I am going to have to send away for more because no one within four hours of us sells wire bindings. Staples is useless, and they are the only office supply around, not to mention that the gas to get there costs as much as a box of 100 bindings. I do know where to get the inexpensive ones online though. I just hope they are fast!

My first project using the WRMK Cinch V2

I was very lucky, I got the Cinch V2, (the blue one), for Christmas, before I knew my husband would be laid off. If I had waited, I wouldn't have been able to get it!

I wanted to try something small and simple for my first project, so I chose this one page pocket book, which I made from a tutorial on Angel Stamper's blog. I changed mine a bit by cutting all the way down on the six inch center line so each set of pages were unattached. It made it so I had to make covers from more paper, but it also made it so I didn't have to glue the pockets. The fold is on the outside of each set of pages, and the open inside is against the binding. The card stock I used is Anna Griffin.

I haven't decorated it yet, because I was really excited to get it up on my blog, and tell my experiences using the Cinch.

First, as advised, I punched some scrap paper to make sure there was no oil left from the manufacturing process. Nope, no oil, everything looked perfect. I read the instructions, which were very short and simple, and punched the covers and pages. It was simple, and they were perfectly centered. Then I cut the binding wire to size, put it into the peg things and threaded the book. That was easy too. I did it the way they advised to hide the ends of the wire inside the book. Then I adjusted for the size I used, which was 5/8", and cinched it. It came out perfectly round, and I couldn't have been happier. I made the covers a little wider than the pages, but I decided to make them the same height since this was my first time, and it looks fine. including picking out the paper and cutting and scoring it, reading the instructions, and binding the book, it all took less than an hour. Now I'm ready to make more books, and decorate this one!

JustRite Friday Challenge #064: Inspiration butterflies

When I was doing the last JustRite Friday Challenge #064: Inspiration card, I saw this beautiful teal paper from the Mariposa Stack by DCWV and knew I was going to have to use it for another challenge card.

I wanted to make it into a sticky note holder, and as I was choosing the colors to go with it, I decided on using gold mirror card rather than brown, so the only brown in this one is in the printed butterfly's body.

The pen and the ribbon are really teal, but they both look blue in the photo.

I used a saying from Just Rite Stamps "You are my Anchor" set and cut it with Spellbinders Fancy Tags Three. Then I outlined that with Liquid Pearls, but that didn't look as nice as I had envisioned it. :-( I also added Liquid Pearls to the filigree butterfly body and as the centers of the flowers.

I also stamped two of the corners with a corner from Just Rite Stamps Elegant Frames. The stamps were done with Versamark, and embossed with Superfine Gold EP.

The filigree butterfly is from the Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly punch, and the flowers are Recollections. The fern leaves are from a McGill punch, and all of the white paper is Core'dinations pearl.

Just Rite Inspiration Challenge #064 Shells

This is another card for the JustRite Friday Challenge #064: Inspiration.

Since the colors in the challenge are the colors of the sky, the sea, and the sand, I used the Just Rite stamp set "By the Sea". I cut a folded ivory card out with Spellbinders Grand Big Scalloped Ovals because they remind me of a sea shell, then cut another piece of ivory cs out with the same die and layered it over the card so it wouldn't have a flat top. Then I cut a sheet of brown cs with the same die and layered it over the ivory. Next, I cut a piece of Anna Griffin teal stripe paper and a sheet of teal DCWV paper from the Linen Stack with the same die and put half a sheet on top, and half on the bottom.

I had a piece of leftover brown ribbon with gold lines in it which I didn't even know I had, and I decided that would work perfectly over the seam. I couldn't believe I found that, because I was looking for something else and it just appeared at the right moment!

I stamped the "By the Sea" design with an Anna Griffin stamp pad, and cut both layers with Spellbinders Label Eighteen and layered them with dimensional tape, then
added three teal Queen & Co pearls on either side.

I looked all over the house for jute twine, but couldn't find any, so I made "rope" from light beige crochet cotton and tied a square knot and glued it to the bottom, then my husband found a really thick piece of jute, so I separated it, and tied another square knot and glued it to the top.

I am really loving this color scheme, and keep finding more paper that would work with it. Halfway through this card, I came across a gorgeous piece of teal in my Mariposa stack. It's going to be difficult not to make another card for this challenge!

Just Rite Inspiration Challenge #064

I made this card for the JustRite Friday Challenge #064: Inspiration. It's the first time I have entered a challenge, but I had gotten quite a few Just Rite stamps recently, and I really love them, so I decided it would be a good time to try a challenge for the first time.

The challenge uses a photo with tan, brown and two shades of teal, and is light and airy with an intricate design on a pillow in the photo. While choosing a paper for the project, I came across this one from the Mariposa Stack from DCWV. It was shades of brown, and the butterflies were light and airy. It also had an intricate pattern in the band, so I trimmed that much smaller to fit the card and placed it below the center. Then I looked for teal paper. I only had one shade, from the Linen Stack, also by by DCWV so I decided to go with that, and use ink and embellishments for the other shade. (Living on an island, we can't just run to a scrapbook store for supplies).

One of my newest Just Rite Stamp sets is the Elegant Frames set. It also was intricate like the design in the bedding in the photograph, so I stamped two of the designs with the closest shade of brown I had, which was an old Anna Griffin stamp pad. Luckily, when ordered the stamps, I also ordered the Nested Frames dies at the same time. The dies are made by Spellbinders especially for Just Rite Stamps. I really ordered them for my JR nested frame stamps, not realizing that they are perfect for the square stamp I used for the first layer. I cut the square frame with that die, and cut two of the oval dies, one with Spellbinders Labels Ten and one with Labels Four.

Then I matted the labels with the teal paper, and tried them all to see whether I liked the top one with Labels Ten, or Four. I decided that Four worked better with the rectangular shapes I was using on my card.

I was planning on using a teal ink for the saying, but unfortunately my teal stamp pads were both very old, and didn't work, so I used Versafine and the only teal embossing powder I have. The color was perfect until I embossed it, then it came out much lighter, but it wasn't too terrible. All of the die cuts are applied with dimensional tape.

Then I added a bow from Offray ribbon. The bow isn't wonderful but I don't have a bow maker, and that was the widest teal ribbon I had. I added Teal Queen & Co pearls and Prima Mini Roses to the border at the bottom. The Mariposa paper is matted with the teal, and it is all mounted on a light ivory card.

It was dark when I finished the card, so it doesn't show up well in the photograph. I will try to replace the photo with a better one tomorrow when it is light.

Nautical Happy Birthday

I had this double sided paper which I wanted to use for a card with one of my Just Rite stamp sets. Since I live on an island in Maine, and we have the largest lobster landings in my town, I wanted the lobsters to show up on the card as well as the brown striped paper on the other side of the card, which worked better with the stamps, so I cut the paper out as the whole card so the lobsters would be on the inside. I probably should have trimmed the white on the inside circle since it partially covers up the Happy Birthday on the larger circle. You can read the happy birthday on the card in person though.

The DP is from Websters Pages, and the stamps are from Just Rite and Stampendous. The blue paper is Mulberry paper applied to CS with my Xyron, and the red paper is from Walmart.

I stamped it with Stazon because I couldn't remember which inks were waterproof, and I wanted to color it with watercolor pencils. The little anchors are from a Martha Stewart punch.

The die cuts were all done with Spellbinders.

Not a good day for cardmaking.

I worked for four hours today on a card, trying several new techniques. I sponged light blue onto my Cuttlebug dotted swiss folder and embossed paper. Then I cut out a ton of Spellbinders fancy dies and layered them. I stenciled them all with Pebbles cream chalks and went around all the edges of the card and die cuts with a matching ink. I stamped a saying on my labels three die, and put it all together with layers and layers of dimensional tape.

When it was done, it looked so messy I decided not to show it. I was inspired by the weather to make the blue and white card, since it's so snowy here today, but like the weather, the card was terrible! It would have been pretty if I had only made it white on white.

This is my messy card. I photographed it at an angle because it looked so flat straight on. It is still difficult to see all the layers, even photographed like this.

Cosmetics Labels for Sale

Maybe selling images on Etsy isn't such a good way to make money. So far, it's costing me, and there have been no page views yet. :-(

Anyway, for those who haven't seen yesterday's post, my husband was laid off the day before yesterday, and there are no jobs on my tiny island, so I'm trying to earn some by selling digital graphics on Etsy.

To see these files, visit my Etsy Store.

Santa Graphics for sale

My husband was laid off yesterday, and there is no work available, so I am trying to sell some graphics on etsy to try to make some money. These are very high resolution scans from my collection of Antique Christmas postcards. If you have downloaded any of my cards from the free downloads, these are the same resolution.

The cards are listed here.

Quilt block card

I got 2 comments on my SCS gallery that my last card looked like a quilt square, so I decided to try another card with more quilt like papers. It still isn't my favorite card though.

I used two shades of generic blue CS, and two patterns I made on my computer. (The blue and white one was made from designs on Chinese porcelain).

The flowers are Recollections from Michaels. The centers of the layered ones are brads, and the centers of the smaller ones are Liquid Pearls.

The center two layers are Spellbinders.

Kaleidoscopic Flower Card

Today I got two McGill punches. One was the leaf punch, and it had an interesting card on the back of the packaging. My card isn't exactly like the one on the package, but that was my inspiration.

It's not my favorite card, but I don't hate it either. I used the McGill punch, an EK Success punch, and a Recollections one for the flowers and leaves. The circle in the center is one of my Spellbinders dies. The green paper is a Bazill linen textured shiny paper, the pink is Core'dinations pearl, and the cream colored one with the pearlized flowers is from my stash. I can't remember where I got it. The pearls are Queen & Co.

Anna Griffin and Lace Card

This card was made with parts from an Anna Griffin card kit. I added lace and Queen & Co. pearls.

Very Nice Corner Punching Tutorial

It's really a strange coincidence, but right after I posted my first Punch Around the Page card, the blogs I follow on the right refreshed and I checked a new post on one of the blogs. At the bottom of her newest card was an interesting thumbnail, so I clicked on it. It was a very very cool way of using these punches to make another corner inside. The post is on Wenche's blog check it out!

Floral card using Anna Griffin and Spellbinders

I wanted to try my new Martha Stewart Punch around the Page, and thought it needed a background that reminded me of my great grandmother's handkerchiefs, so I chose an Anna Griffin paper from my stash. The background I mounted the punched paper on is iridescent blue CS. I used a Spellbinders die to cut and emboss the AG paper, then embossed a piece of green CS and cut around it with scissors to frame it. I wasn't planning on using an ornate die, but this one followed the punches so nicely that I used it anyway.

I wanted to use Spellbinders tags three for a saying, and the only saying that fit well and had the right dimensions was this Anna Griffin one. I used to have tons of Anna Griffin stamps with sayings and things, but lost all of my clear stamps a year ago. I think I had every clear stamp she made, but now I only have the rubber ones, so my selection of sayings is quite small. I have always been a huge fan of Anna Griffin.

Anyway, I stamped the saying with Peeled Paint Distress Ink and stenciled around it with Pebbles Cream Chalks. It really needed a background to show up against the floral paper, and Spellbinders Labels Eighteen fit the shape of the tag quite well, so I cut and Embossed that with green paper and mounted it with dimensional tape.

Now that I've been looking at it on the blog, I think I may try adding a bow to it.

This is the same card after adding an offray ribbon and Queen and Co. pearls. The line above the bow isn't on the card, it's a shadow.