New Supplies Challenge, Part 3

Way back in February I issued to myself a "New Supplies Challenge." (Part One and Part Two) It's been a while since I made anything from those new items, and to be perfectly honest, I have added to my stockpile supplies. Repeatedly. I know how shocked you must be, and I'm sure that I am the only one among us who has ever done anything like that. Mmm-hmmm....

Chalkboards are as trendy right now as chevrons. (I just don't get all the fuss about chevrons!) My chalkboard-ish stamp is from Stampin' Up! Chalk Talk. The phrase on the oval, "I'm so grateful there's you in the world," ties right in to the World Map background stamp and a Tim Holtz embossing folder called Airmail. My main goal tonight was to play with the new SU! Thinlits Label Card die. 

I started with kraft cardstock, a bit of natural parchment, a scrap of black cardstock, the stamps, embossing folder, dies, and ink. The picture shows white craft ink (to look like chalk on the black paper) and black ink, but I switched out the black for Crumb Cake, which is about the color of my kraft paper.   

 Let's begin now. Ooooh! In my head I sounded like the voice on the old 45's that came with Disney story books. You know the ones: "This is the story of Lady and the Tramp. You can read along with me in your book. You will know it is time to turn the page, when Tinkerbell rings her little bell. *brrrriiiing* Let's begin now...." Have I mentioned I'm sleep-deprived? That's when my nearly-ADD kicks into high gear.

So, the first thing I did was run a piece of 6x6 kraft paper (for the card base) and a piece of 6x6 parchment (for stamping and embossing) through the BigShot with the Label Card Thinlits die. It cuts part of the label shape from the center of the card and scores the fold lines. The fold lines do not go across the label, so do not fold the label. The left score line on the card base will be a mountain fold and the right score line will be a valley fold. When folded properly the card base will measure 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches.

Now for the parchment. Trim 1/8 inch off each side of the piece you will stamp and/or emboss. Next, cut along the score lines. You won't need the long strip from the middle or the two pieces of the label. The two pieces you have left are the perfect size to adhere to your card base. AFTER you play with them a little!

I embossed the smaller piece and stamped the larger piece...

then I used Crumb Cake to ink around the edges of both pieces with my fingertip, and slid my ink pad across the embossing to bring it out.

The label die is one of eight smaller dies included with the Label Card die set. I stamped the oval in white craft ink on black cardstock and ran it through the BigShot with the label die. I cut one more black label for inside the card. Then with a paper towel over my finger I smeared just a little white craft ink. (Craft ink is stickier and messier than dye ink.) Go easy on the ink--you can always add more. See how that makes it look chalkboard-ish?

Now it's time to put it all together! When it's laid out flat, you will see both pieces that you decorated and the back side of the label, which I left blank. When I give this to someone I will sign on the blank label with a white gel pen. I had mine all put together when I decided it needed something, so I had to use some Un-Du to remove both black labels. I tied a piece of red seam binding around the kraft paper label, then replaced the black pieces on top of the ribbon so only the bow shows.

If I wanted to add another sentiment I could run it along the strip in the center or, since I used such a light ink for the background stamp, I could stamp on top of it in black.

Here is another look at the front of the finished card....

There you go! It seems like a lot of work, but it's really not. I just wanted my directions to be very clear, since it's a new die that few people are familiar with. 

So, let's see.... 

one new embossing folder (Airmail)

one new background stamp (World Map)

one new stamp set (Chalk Talk)

one new die ( Label Card)

Cool! I used four things from my New Supplies stash! I hope I've inspired you to use some of your stash! Please let me know if I did. I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

Thinking of You...and All of Your Still-In-The-Package Goodies! (AKA New Supplies Challenge, Part 2)

Oh! Hi! Did I forget to tell you all that I'd be taking a three week hiatus? Hmmm.... Well, I've been very busy (I think I mentioned that in a previous post!), but I believe I'll have time for a couple of posts before everything gets nuts again!

I spent a few hours earlier this week just surfing around the internet, bouncing from blog to blog looking for inspiration. That usually starts with my seeing something that triggers an idea. Then a whole free association type process follows, and by the time I get finished there's no resemblance to what started it in the first place.

  

Whatever I saw the other night made me want to play with embossing folders, foil tape, and alcohol inks. Sounds messy, right? heehee.... Fortunately, I had some embossing folders in my New Supplies Challenge! So I got out a few things to play with:

That's a roll of foil tape up in the top left corner. I think most of the time it's used for duct work or maybe even flashing. Something construction-ish. But I LOVE using it with alcohol inks. I picked a few spring-y looking colors this time. I've used an embossing punch to make leaves with the foil tape before, but it's pretty hard to clean the goo out of the inside of a punch, so I decided this time I'd go with Nesties and Framelits. The silver Framelits are from the Stampin' Up! Holiday Ornaments set. I don't remember the name of the Nesties flowers and leaves. Sorry. And the last shape is just a plain old Nestabilities oval.

I used a felt applicator to ink the tape with some bright pink, teal, and blue before cutting any shapes.

As it turns out, I couldn't use the two larger flowers. They were too big for the tape. But I could certainly see a larger flower hanging over the edge of a card or mat the same way an image does when you stamp off the edge. 

I thought the flowers seemed a bit blah, so that's when I got out the embossing folders. 

I cut an oval of each color and several of the light bulb-shaped ornaments and embossed them all with a different folder. I'll come back another day and finish up with those. First I'm getting back to the flowers....

The embossing shows up much better if you give it a light sanding. You can see the difference on the finished card.

I embossed the front of a blue card with the same paisley folder that I used for the flowers. Then I cut an oval from a piece of orchid cardstock and tied a piece of lace around it. The sentiment is the SU! Just Thinking stamp, run through the Cuttlebug with a Window Frames Framelit. The stamp and the dies are also from my New Supplies Challenge. WooHoo!

I wanted the flowers to stand up a bit, so I cut two matching flowers from scrap cardstock and adhered my foil flowers to them. One of the great things about using the foil tape is that it serves as its own adhesive! The leaves are adhered directly to the mat and the card, but the sentiment and flowers got some dimensional adhesive so they didn't get lost in the lace. 

There you have it! I ended up using more of my new supplies than I thought I would! Have you used any of your stock pile--I mean new supplies--lately? I'd love to see what you've created!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

New Supplies Challenge, Part One

*March 10, 2013*   I posted this a couple of weeks ago, but I just joined the Crafty Secrets Linky Party at the Heartwarming Vintage blog, and I wanted to add a link so you can pop over there and see some of their beautiful vintage products and ideas. I absolutely love the postcard kits! That's where I got the image I used on this tin.

If you are visiting from the linky party, welcome to my humble little blog. Hope to see you again!

How many of you sometimes feel more like a collector of scrapbooking supplies than an actual scrapbooker? I can so relate! I made this adorable little photo tin for a new baby girl after I issued a challenge to the scrapper in me. I think it will be barrels of fun! Maybe you'd like to join me....

These are the newest items in my "collection." Some are from a trip to Archivers in KC, some are from Stampin' Up!, and some come from Crafty Secrets. Their blog is a great place to find inspiration, and I just love the vintage look of their products. OK--back to the challenge. I decided that I (I mean she--the scrapper in me!) that SHE needs to dig into these supplies and play! So that's what we did!

We started with this dvd tin. We've decorated these before, but a lot of the metal still showed. We really wanted to cover that up somehow, so we brushed ModPodge all over it and smoothed on a piece of crinkled purple tissue paper. We let that dry then brushed on another coat of ModPoge to protect the paper. Here's how that turned out:

The tissue paper is sheer enough to allow the sheen from the metal to come through a little. I thought it looked pretty cool just like that. But SHE said it needed more, so....

We dug into those supplies and found...hmmm.... We only used ONE THING from that table full of new supplies?! Oh, well, at least we did use something! The picture of the baby in the buggy is from a Vintage Postcard Kit from Crafty Secrets. We cut it out with a Nesties Grand Labels Four (only the largest die of that set will not fit through your BigShot), and used the next bigger die to cut a shiny purple mat to layer behind it. We also cut a strip of patterned paper, rounded the corners on one side, and scalloped the other side. Then we tied some sparkly purple ribbon and fuzzy pink fibers around it.We layered those pieces on the top of the tin using lots of glue dots to make sure everything is nice and secure. 

Then we cut a frame for the inside, using the same paper we used for the scalloped border. Just pick two sizes of die and run them through at the same time like this:

Those thin metal dies can get pretty jumpy when you're trying to be very precise, so the blue painters' tape holds everything in place without tearing your paper. One roll of tape will last for-ev-er. You can even reuse the same piece several times!

The inside of the lid is covered with cardstock and the frame is adhered with pop dots--oops! I mean "dimensional adhesive." Before putting the frame in place I inked the edges. Yes, I said "I!" The inner scrapper didn't want to get her index finger all inky, but that was the best tool for getting around all those little curves, so I inked the edges! Then we punched several flowers from pink and purple tissue paper, layered five or six together, and held them in place on the frame with gemstone brads.

The bottom of the tin is covered with matching cardstock. We used card sleeves for our photo pages, but anything that will hold a photo would work. We repeated the big scallop from the outside and used more gemstone brads to hold everything together. If you can't find pockets, make regular pages using plain or patterned paper cut to size and held together with brads, staples, grommets, or stitching. 

OK. There's one project completed for the "New Supplies Challenge." I need to get it sent to that adorable baby girl! And I need to get back to work on a couple of weddings! And make another one of these for a baby boy.

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Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!