Joy

Hello crafty peeps! So, you’re in for a treat this week, because I am guesting on the Everyday Cricut blog! That’s right, every single day. Before I get into my project for today, I want to thank Joy and Melanie for having me, it’s an honor.

I think most people that read my blog, know that I am a cardmaker. That’s my passion, but would it surprise you all that I did something, “off the page,” to kick off the week?

Joy to the world . . . Kidding, I have a terrible singing voice. But, this makes me want to sing! I wanted to offer some ideas for the upcoming holiday season, and banners are great décor items. I opted to keep it simple and small, but if have a mantle, why not go all out?

The inspiration for this came from the Fontopia Art Cartridge. When I looked through the handbook, I knew I wanted to make a banner with the letters. I just love the typography. But, I digress! I’ll walk you through the process, it was really easy, and I worked on it for a few days (I have this job . . . I know, ugh. Joking, I love it.), but it really wouldn’t take long to do in one sitting.

I woke up my Imagine from a deep slumber, and printed out three patterns from the Teresa Collins Black & White Pattern Cartridge. Because everyone loves a visual, I took a picture of the patterns I printed:

I am a big fan of options. Know what I’m saying? In the end, I went for the sheet music because I think it conveyed Christmas the most; to me, anyway. Also, as you can see, I printed on Kraft cardstock and it came from Jo-Ann. I think I spent more time deciding on and printing patterns,  than anything else during the making of this. Trell’s creative method is to sit and stare at the paper. It works though!

I sized my cuts and everything with my Gypsy. I have the file for those that want it. And, I might even make a Craft Room file. I used Birthday Bash for the pennant cuts.

I am a man of few embellishments. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but I can’t afford to buy everything under the sun, so I tend to concentrate on a few. I will sing the praises of paper doilies. I love them and you will see them again this week, I’m sure of it. They’re cheap, and we all have at least one place where we can find them. Anyway, I used my Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Inks to age the pennants and doilies. I then adhered them with some Tombo Mono Multi. I punched a scallop border strip from cream cardstock and adhered them to the bottom of the pennants. And, I added a little trim to the top of the pennants.

In this case, I also use paper as an embellie. I make my own rosettes with my score board. I measured my the width of my pennant, and I deduced that my rosettes should be 3 inches. So, I cut my patterned paper, from the Echo Park Merry Christmas collection, to 1.5” x 12.” Inked them and adhered them with my hot glue gun. I find it to be the fastest and best adhesive for rosettes. I adhered them to the pennants with hot glue as well.

Next up were the letters, I cut out three of each letter because I wanted them to be like a lightweight chipboard. I adhered them all together and sprayed them with Krylon Spray Adhesive. I then coated them with Melissa Frances Glass Glitter. I got that, and the Melissa Frances Pom-Pom trim from Liz’s Paperloft Boutique. I like spray adhesive because it cuts down the drying time, and it holds glitter very well. I also adhered the letters with hot glue. In the center of the O, I used my small star punch to cover the center of the rosette.

Lastly, I used some twine from Liz’s Paperloft to tie some loose double bows and connect them. Little extra nugget, eyelets would have been great, but I didn’t have any! I finished it off by tying some double bows with some ribbon I picked up from Hob Lob eons and eons ago.

Welp, sorry for the super looong post, but I like to leave no detail spared! Thanks for stopping by, have an amazingly blessed day!

Stars and Stripes

Hello Friends! I am here with another card to usher in the weekend, AND I have an announcement. A little less than a month ago, I received an email from a dear friend that wanted to know if I was available for a design team position. So, just to cut to the chase, I am now a member of the Platinum Scraps Design Team!

I think my readers that have connected with me through Facebook or from the Cricut board know that I am not your mainstream paper crafter. I am male, which is rare, but I am also African American, which is basically a double whammy in the paper world! Platinum Scraps is a team of African American scrappers and card makers. My thought is that maybe there is another African American, male crafter waiting to be inspired, so it is with great pleasure that I join the team.

Now, for today’s card! I think for the first time, I made a card based on a sketch – maybe the second time. It’s not generally how I go about creating, but nonetheless, I tried to put my own spin on it! You can see the sketch an get all of the details by going over to the Platinum Scraps blog.

I’m calling my card Stars and Stripes – the design evolved kind of effortlessly. I even glittered the rosette without making a gigantic mess! I know that when I first got into crafting, glitter was one of my first purchases. I think I have maybe 6 colors, but they rarely see the light of day. I will admit that I am quite partial to the Martha Stewart Crafts glitter. I dare say it is the best on the market. I digress!

My card base is Soft Stone from Papertrey Ink. Until they release a medium toned gray, this is my absolute favorite. I used my Distress Stripes Cuttlebug embossing folder to give my Spring Rain layer texture, and to embody the stripes of the flag. From there, I selected some patterned papers. The antiqued book print is from an oldie, but a goodie, Lost & Found Portobello Road by My Mind’s Eye. I used some Tsukineko Gold Shimmer Spritz and water so I could ball and crinkle the paper. I dried it with my heat tool and ripped the bottom edge. I also did a bit of inking with my Antique Linen Distress ink. I adhered it to my card and did a bit of stitching with some red thread.

Next, I adhered another pattern from the Portobello Road pad. I rounded the corners with my Corner Chomper. The ribbon is gold satin from Offray. The Distressed Stars and Handkerchief (the rosette) are from Hobby Lobby. I added the postage stamp border for two reasons: first and foremost, I like the way it looks, and second, it’s thin paper. I also did a bit more stitching.

I used my Martha Stewart Scoring Board to make the rosette. I cut two 1.25” x 11” strips and scored them at every half inch. I glittered it with Jasper glitter, again from Martha Stewart. It’s a beautiful deep red that has incredible depth. It’s dark, but there is definitely a lot of glimmer as well.

My sentiment is from Here’s Lookin’ at You, from My Creative Time. I absolutely love the font combination that Emma used in this set. I used my Versamark Dazzle Frost ink to stamp my sentiment and I embossed it with Gold Metallic Zing embossing powder from American Crafts. I am happy to add that I finally have an embossing buddy! No more dryer sheets!

Thanks for stopping by. Have an amazing weekend (I’ll be working.)!! And, have the most blessed day!

MCT 12 Days of Christmas ~ Day #2

Hello everyone! If you arrived here from Tracy’s blog, you’re on the right track. If not, start at Emma’s blog here: My Creative Time.

We’re on day two and I’m here today with a card. With the exception of the card that I made today, this card came together relatively fast. The only hiccup occurred when my scallop border punch broke, but I came up with a solution to save the design! I know this a nontraditional card, but this is how it popped up in my head and I just went with it!

Here are the details/directions:

• Cut cardstock to form a standard A2 base and score at 5.5.” Stamp card base with background stamp using watermark ink. I used VersaMark Dazzle in Frost.  The polka dot stamp is a wood mounted stamp I got from Hobby Lobby.
• Cut a 2.25” x 5.5” mat from patterned paper. I printed this paper from the Mr. Frosty Pattern Cartridge for the Imagine.
• In a coordinating color of cardstock (I used Hawaiian Shores from Papertrey Ink.) , trim cardstock to 1” x 6” and punch with a scalloped border punch. As I mentioned, mine broke, so I got my Gypsy and found the scallop I used in Accent Essentials. I sized them to 3.16” x .41” and I welded three together. I copied it to make two. After you cut your scalloped borders, adhere them on each sides on the back of your patterned mat. I try my best to line my scallops up so they are even on both sides and then I trim the excess with paper snips.
• The rosette is made with two strips of 1.25” x 12” patterned paper,. Again, I printed my pattern from Mr. Frosty. Score at ever .5” Ink edges with Tea Dye Distress Ink using blending tool. After I adhered my rosette, I took my snips and “distressed” the surface of the rosette.
• I cut the holly image from Winter Woodland. It’s found on page 41. I filled it with patterns from Mr. Frosty. I cut a scalloped circle in felt from My Creative Time to create a medallion for my embellishment.
• Tie ribbon down the center of your patterned mat and tie it in a bow. Trim ends. Adhere mat to card base with dimensional adhesive. I used Stampin’ Dimensionals because I like the smaller thickness for this type of application.
• Stamp sentiment on tag. I used Mixed Holiday Sentiments from My Creative Time. My ink is Melon Mambo from Stampin’ Up. Thread twine through tag. Loop one end around bow knot and thread through button. Thread other end through button and tie in a bow to secure.
• Adhere rosette to center of card and round bottom corners of the card with .5” setting on Corner Chomper.

I know this sounds very involved, but it really isn’t, lol! I like my instructions to be thorough. AND, I made a video, but I still sounded horrible, but I am going to shoot it again so check back later.

ETA: Okay, so the video is lot longer than I planned, and I am self admittedly scatterbrained, but here’s the vid. It’s my first time, don’t be too hard on me. I gotta practice!! Also, the noise is from my camera, I don’t know why it does it, but I’m getting another one AND, I didn’t zoom enough, but again, this was my first time.

***12 Days of Christmas Give Away Alert***

To qualify for ALL the AMAZING giveaways for the next 12 days, you must comment on every blog in this hop! You will have until Tues, Dec 13th @ midnight to have all of your comments in! VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE LEAVE A WAY FOR US TO CONTACT YOU IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE WINNER'S!

There are some AMAZING giveaways for this special 12 day event & some SURPRISES to help celebrate "My Creative Time's" One Year Anniversary! Yep, Emma released her 1st set of stamps one year ago! So make sure you are tuned in because this is ONE hop you do NOT want to miss!;)

Blog Hop Line-up:

Emma

Cassandra

Cathryn

Cindy

Jeanne

Katie

Leanne

Linsey

Liz

Nancy

Nikki

Rosy

Ruthie

Shar

Tracy

Trell (you’re here)

Veronica

Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed day.

Happy Halloween!

 

Hello! I hope everyone had a great weekend. It’s starting to really feel like fall here in North Alabama. It’s what I call hot chocolate weather!

So, I’m totally going to throw out the better late than never excuse for my lack of Halloween cards! Honestly, I really tried. I even bought paper specifically for Halloween, but it’s just not my favorite holiday. This is the first year that I’ve been paper crafting, so I hope that next year will be different.

I knew going into making this card that it was going to be orange, black, and white. When I saw that ribbon at Hobby Lobby, I got it for the specific purpose of making a Halloween card. The same can be said for the paper. Don’t be surprised if it pops up again, as I really love those patterns. I don’t fall in love with a lot of the Paper Studio designs, but these are both timeless. You really don’t have to worry about it being, “last season.”

The card base is True Black from Papertrey Ink. The orange mat is from the Primary Colors Paper Company pack (sold at Jo-Ann). The cream transition mat is Papertrey Vintage Cream, and the patterned paper is Vintage Black Damask from Hobby Lobby.

The orange mat was stamped with the Stampabilities Polka Dot Background stamp (wood mount) and embossed with black Zing! embossing powder from American Crafts. I used my Martha Stewart Scoreboard to make the rosette. I found that in the absence of a hot glue gun, Zip Dry is a great adhesive for putting together rosettes. The 31st stamp is from Studio G. And to finish it off, I used my white Gelly Roll pen to do some stitching.

I embossed the cream transition mat to tie it in to the main orange mat and to add some texture. I then used my Fiskars Scallop Sentiment punch to create small border to adhere to the bottom portion of the mat. I did some white gel stitching to tie it back to the rosette. There’s a method to my madness!

I tied a bow with the stripped ribbon before adhering the rosette. I used Microsoft Word to generate the sentiment. The font is Blackletter and it was printed at 22 points. I printed it on Vintage Cream and adhered to the same orange used on the rest of the card. I used my square punch to make it into a banner. And, to carry that ,”notched,” element to another portion of the card, I used my pinking shears to trim the ribbon tails.

I might try my hand at another Halloween card later today. I’ve had a rather busy week in terms of work. I went to Jo-Ann 6 days this week. And two of those days, I went twice because I’m currently teaching two cake decorating classes.

I hope everyone has a great week! Thanks for coming by. Have a blessed day.

Masculine Birthday Card

 

Hey everyone, I’m back with yet another birthday card. My sister’s dad had a birthday last Friday so I made him this card using a few cuts from Elegant Edges and some Bo Bunny paper.

I’m doing my best to expand my horizons and try new things. I decided to put my Martha Stewart (LOOOVE her!!!) score board to good use, and the result was the rosette you see. I’m sure y’all are tired of me saying this, but once I get my computer situation settled, I’m really going to try and make some videos. Also, I think more layouts and maybe a few 3D/altered items might be coming. One thing that I’ve definitely decided is that I’m going to diversify and do more stamping. AND, my Imagine should be in the house by the end of the week! I digress . . .

All of the patterned papers used came from the Bo Bunny Timepiece collection. I knew I wanted to use the paper and it helped that I had sentiments that made allusions to time and getting older and vice versa.

Here are the details:

• Card Base: Papertrey Ink Kraft 5.5” x 5.5”
• Red Mat: Hobby Lobby Open Stock, 5” x 5”
• Patterned Papers: Bo Bunny
• Rosette: My Mind’s Eye
• Colorbox Chestnut Pigment Ink
• Stampin’ Up Early Espresso Ink
• Fiskars “Make a Wish Quotes” Stamp Set
• Gold Sakura Gelly Roll
• Elegant Edges Cricut Cartridge (Scalloped Circle and the Oblong)

Thanks for coming by! Have a blessed day.