Card making Saturday

I am blessed with being surrounded by wonderful friends.  A week ago Rachel and Kelley came over to help me make belly dance cards for my dear friend Susan in Montana and to see and play with all the goodies Rachel purchased the main toy being her new Circuit machine; wow!!!

Susan wanted 3 styles of cards a reverse open card, a pinwheel card and one of my favorites a card using micro beads.

The reverse open card is not one of my favorite cards to make I need a better tool to cut the half circles with.  Once I find this new tool I'll like making these cards again.  Rachel learned a new card style and cut all the reverse cards for me! :0)  Kelley embossed all the camels for the cards this was a new technique for her.

Camel reverse card



The pinwheel cards are made with a tag punch and folding 8 tags to make the pinwheel.  That day we made a different color scheme that is what pictured.  The next day I didn't like our color choices so I made new cards and placed vintage belly dance slides in the middle of the pinwheels.  Kelley had made smaller belly dance slides on Saturday and framed the edges with micro beads.  I took these slides off the cards and made them into magnets and sent them to Susan; she loves belly dance magnets!

pinwheel card 1

pinwheel card 2

pinwheel card 3



The last cards we made on March 20th were the micro bead cards.  This card is very plain but striking; I love it!  I stamped the veiled dancer on card stock and Rachel covered the card stock with clear micro beads.  You can also cover the card stock with micro beads first and than stamp the image either way works it gives it a different look.

micro bead card



When we finished with the cards Rachel showed us all the new things she's been purchasing.  We got to play with her new Circuit machine.  I had no idea how much this machine could do I was totally amazed at all the features.

Our day was cut short when the hubby came home from working :-(  There are more Saturdays in our future for crafting :-)

Thanks ladies for all the help we need to do this again.

More Mini Albums

I finally had a chance to post the last two mini albums we made in class on Saturday!

The envelope album is really cool for holding lots of folders.  I added a piece of card stock into each envelope with it's own unique title to journal on; this helps to organize your album and the days event.  Very simple album to make just takes forever to decorate but that's were all the fun is :0)

envelope album closed with a ribbon

envelope album open inside view

close-up of inside view

photos and journal card from one envelope

back side of envelope album




The CD holder was a huge hit in class.  A great gift idea for music or photo CDs and a great keepsake for those special memories.

CD album of my photo shoot from July 2008

opening the top and bottom of album to reveal the first flap

view of 2nd flap after opening first flap

CD album completely opened

close-up of CD, I stamped the label along with computer generated text and photo

back of CD album that covers ribbon and brad that holds the CD in place


Next months class will be April 10th with more fun techniques. 

May 22nd will be a special class on making the cookie sheet calendars I'll have lots of photos when my calendar is finished!!!

Enjoy your week...

Mini Albums

I'm having so much fun making these mini albums for our class on Saturday March 13th.  So far I have finished making 2 of the 4 we will be creating.

Name badge mini album

Treat bag mini album






Each mini album has its own theme and they are great little scrapbooks.  The first one I used plastic name badge holders to create a little book of my class’s performance at the County Fair in 2009.  Photos, bits and pieces, lots of fiber and quotes make up this little treasure.

inside pages

back side of inside pages

inside view of 2 pages

back of album





The 2nd mini album I used small treat bags and added a cover out of designer paper.  I call it "My Garden" and went around our yard and snapped photos of trees, bushes, garden art and plants I have in my garden.  Of course the book is full of embellishments and garden quotes and poems.  I love using paper bags no matter what size; there are so many places to create pockets to slide photos in plus the main pockets for journaling.

Inside treat bag mini album

photo behind grow flap

pocket created from bottom flap of bag

one of 3 pull out tabs




For class we will be making a CD holder, a special album for music or a photo CD to remember an event in your life and an envelope album to place lots of photos for those special moments we have.

If we have time I'd like to create a password journal from a journal refill and an old hard back boo; more on this when I find all the bits to make it.  This journal is a place to house all those passwords we have for various websites, user groups, etc.

Enjoy your week and see some of you on Saturday for class...

Catching up on Crafting

It has been way too long since my last post, super busy with dancing and life and it will be so great to get back to crafting again!!!

I taught a technique card class at the Mesa Art Center on Feb. 8th. There were 5 different techniques I taught: shaving cream, marble, rubber band, smacking acetate and burnt batik.

group shot of all the cards we made in class

The shaving cream technique we did the tag on top of the box. It's amazing how you get such a cool marble effect from cheap shaving cream and ink refillers.

shaving cream

Placing rubber bands on your brayer and running them over a stamp pad gives you cool effects on plan paper. We did the front of the valentine card using red and pink ink and crossing the paper in different directions. The inside of this card the valentine hearts are attached to thin pieces of acetate for a very fun card and a total surprise when you open the card. This would be great for any occasion by using candles, Halloween ghosts; whatever.

rubber band

inside card


We made a very simple card with the smackin' acetate technique. Using markers and a spray bottle of water along with a piece of acetate gives you a nice water color effect on your paper.

smackin' acetate


Marbles some ink refillers and a container with a lid creates a fun design on your paper and a whole lot of noise!! :-) This is a fun technique and very simple for the results you get.

marbles

Have you ever over heated your embossing? Well turn it into burnt batik were you over heat your embossing on purpose! Once your paper has cooled add ink refillers by using a sponge and wipe the ink from the paper when it has dried. The ink comes off the areas that you over embossed.

burnt batik

The valentine card with all the hearts coming out of the envelope we didn't make in class this was my hubby's valentine card for this year. I didn't have a picture of it so I placed it in with this lot of cards :0)

hubbies Valentine


On Feb. 20th I taught a card class at my hope studio where we learned 4 new techniques. The techniques were Joseph's Coat, paper frame, cracked glass and bouncing brayer.

group shot of cards we made on the 20th

Joseph's Coat is similar to the crayon technique we did as kids. To start the process brayer on color from a multi-colored ink pad to you have it to the desired brightness. Emboss your design and when it cools brayer over the piece with black ink. After your paper dries rub the background using a paper towel to reveal the image in all it's color.

Joseph's Coat (sorry the photos dark)


The paper frame is quick and easy way to display a photo or cute stamp image. It really makes the subject of your card pop!

picture frame


I have always wanted to try the cracked glass technique and finally did and it was much easier than I thought it would be. Stamp your image and color it in. Emboss your paper using thick embossing powder around 3 - 4 times making the embossing really thick. Let it sit and cool than when you bend the paper the embossing cracks like glass when it's been hit with something. I rubbed the piece with a dabber and brown ink to bring out the cracks.

cracked glass


The last technique was the bouncing brayer that was a lot of fun. The real colorful background I used a multi-colored ink pad which I liked the best. I cut out a circle using my 1 1/4" circle punch and taped it on my card stock before I bounced my brayer to create the sunset tye dye effect. Using black ink I silhouetted the flowers on top and added butterflies from my Sizzix embossilits die cut.

bouncing brayer


Our next class will be mini albums on March 13th so I need to get busy and start crafting!

Belly Dance Magnets

Last week was so busy I didn't have time to post any crafts. My belly dance classes start this week and my annual swap meet is on Saturday!!!

Today I crafted and made some new style belly dance magnets using puzzle pieces, stamps, vintage belly dance photos and bits and pieces for embellishments.

I also made more magnets using the vintage belly dance photos and microscope slides and silver, gold or copper tape around the edges to finish them off.

I love how both styles of magnets turned out so I see making more in my future :-)

Hi Crafters...Finally I have all the cards made for this Saturday's card class!!!!

This is going to be a fun class with techniques like acrylic paint smash, acrylic paint resist, two baby wipe techniques using them as a stamp pad and making a plaid background, kissing technique and adding color with an embossing folder.

Below is a photo of all the cards we will be making in class.

The first valentine card we will be making is using a vintage valentine that I found in an antique store a couple of years ago.  I'm finally having a chance to use them.  I found a bag full of old valentines some dating back to 1939.  I love this card if I do say so myself :-)  The background is embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I dabbed ink on one side of the folder than placed my paper in the folder and ran it through my Sizzix machine to get the colored effect.   The inside of the card I embossed one side of the paper and used a dabber and lightly rubbed ink over the embossing for a different look.  I folded the ribbon, added a heart shape button, a little piece of red netting behind the vintage valentine to complete my card.

The next valentine card is the acrylic paint resist.  I used the acrylic paint dabbers that I picked up from Michael's.  The colors I used were silver, gold and copper.  I used several of my Grandmother's buttons on these cards also along with cream netting, a paper heart, small clothes pin, cream trim and a February calendar from Mystic Paper.  I embossed very vanilla card stock using clear embossing powder, dabbed the acrylic paint, blended the paint and let it air dry.  Using a paper towel rub the card stock and the paint will rub off where the embossing is; very cool effect.  I'm going to make my Mom's birthday card using this technique and add some of my Grandmother's buttons; she'll love it.

The below card is the kissing technique.  I used a butterfly stamp as the base and inked it up using cameo coral ink.  Taking a stamp with a pattern and inking it up in chocolate chip I stamped the butterfly stamp with the patterned stamp then stamped the paper.  This is a very simple technique with a cool effect.

I really like the baby wipe techniques especially using the wipes as an ink pad.  What a great way to customize colors you want to use instead of being limited to the rainbow color stamp pads on the market.

The acrylic paint smash is a blast to do.  This is really messing which makes this technique so much fun!!!!  To get the smash you apply the color or colors of acrylic paint and smash it between acetate and paper.  No need to glue the pieces together when the paint dries they are stuck together :-)  I first used the Top Note Sizzix die to cut the acetate and card stock than I stamped the acetate with StazOn ink, applied the acrylic paint to the wrong side of the acetate and smashed it to very vanilla card stock for the card with the button and white card stock to the other card.  I like the very vanilla card background the best.  Add embellishments to your card and you have a card that people ask "how did you do that?"

Enjoy your week and have fun crafting...

Antique Button Charm Bracelet

Today's craft is a button bracelet I made using my Grandmother's buttons. 

When my Grandmother passed away I received 3 bottles of buttons and stored them away for years not knowing what to do with them.  I was surfing the web the other day and came across a bracelet made with buttons and knew what I was going to do with my Grandmother's buttons. 

This is my first attempt at making a bracelet and I'm pretty pleased with the results.  I was going to sew the buttons on a piece of elastic and found a charm bracelet kit at Jo Ann's.  The kit comes with two lengths of chain, two clasps, headpins and two different styles of jump rings.  I used the antique brass finish on this bracelet since I was working with brown buttons.

It didn't take very long to make the bracelet once I figured out what I was doing.  I laid out the pattern of buttons first and than started to assemble the bracelet.  My original pattern didn't work I couldn't use some of the buttons I wanted to so I just started to play and below in the photos is what I created.

I will be using the buttons I couldn't in this project on the elastic band, they are better suited for sewing not attaching with jump rings they are too large.  I'll post more photos when I've created more button bracelets.