Month: September 2010

Polymer Clay Embellishments

Posted on by debbrooner

Since I really don’t have a gift for polymer clay I have a lot of bits and pieces- mostly happy accidents.  Unfortunately they do not lend themselves to jewelry making so they just sit there.

One day last year I got an idea- why not use the pieces as ambellishments on cards?  I liked the idea, and so did the magazine Polymer Cafe, so my cards were published in the December 2009 issue.

You might assume that after the article I would have used all my polymer pieces up, but boy would you be wrong!  I sometimes wonder if those little buggers get together and make baby polymer pieces.  Since I still have numerous clay pieces left I decided to make several more cards to share with you. All have clay pieces on them, and most have other embellishments as well.  Hope you enjoy them and maybe start a fire in your imagination.

Have a great week.

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Insider Trading

Posted on by debbrooner

 

I just finished going through Peggy Jon Ackley’s book “50 Nifty Collage Cards” and had an epiphany-  decorate the inside (the guts) as well as the outside of the card!  For all you out there who already do this I apologize, but for the rest of us this is a great new way to add more zing.

I went through my older cards and picked ones I thought could use some updating and would benefit from some inside sprucing up. 

 

As you will see, I used rubber stamps, PearlEx, small flowers, punch-outs, and stickers to add some interest.

Fall Is In The Air

Posted on by debbrooner

 

I can’t believe that it is almost fall.  I have very mixed feeling about this time of year.  I love the cooler days and  the color of the leaves.  I don’t, however, like the fact that after fall is winter. Fall would be perfect if spring came after it.

While thumbing through the above book (it has some awesome ideas), I found a Shadow Forest Wallhanging.  I thought that the design would make interesting ATC’s as well.

Here’s the tutorial for the 3-D ATC.

You’ll need:

4 sheets of cardstock in 4 different colors

Bare tree pattern (make your own or use a pattern such as the  Silhnouette “bare tree” one)

Tiny leaf paper punch

Glue

From the darkest color of cardstock cut out an ATC- 2.5″ x 3.5″.  Cut out 1 tree and one frame from the remaining 3 colors of card. The dimensions of the frames are 2.5 x 3.5 (outer dimensions) and 2″x3′(inner dimensions).

Because the tree cut out that I used was a bit too busy for this project I trimmed a lot of the tiny branches off.  The dark gold tree has been trimmed and the light gold tree has not.

Next I glued the trees to their matching frames.  Notice that each tree is placed in a different spot on its frame.  This means that you will need to trim tree parts that go past the outside edge of the frame.

In order to make the card more dimensional I  glued 2 pieces of card together, cut them into tiny squares, then glued the squares   the corners of the  back and middle frames .  You can see them in the picture above on the darkest frame.  You could use dimensional foam, but it would make the card too bulky to put into a sleeve .

All that is left to do is to glue   layers together and add your punched leaves.

Here is another Autumn-themed card that I made for one of my Yahoo groups.

And finally, while this mini ATC’s theme is oriental, the colors remind me of fall as well, so I am including it.

Have a great week!

Card and envelope sizes

Posted on by debbrooner

I find myself using the same 3 card sizes all of the time .   This happens for several reasons: 1)I am afraid of making a card with dimensions that don’t correspond to available envelope sizes, 2) I don’t want to send a card to someone and have them pay postage due because the post office doesn’t like the size , and 3) I would always get confused when trying to buy envelopes.   A-2, 2, 5 1/4- are they trying to drive me crazy???

 I surfed the web without success for a list of possible card sizes, but I did find lots of sites listing envelope sizes. Although it is not hard to figure out what the dimensions of a card should be for a specific envelope (subtract 1/4″ from both height and length), I decided to make a chart of card and envelope sizes to refer to quickly.  I am guessing that I am not the only one out there who would appreciate this chart, so here it is.

I also added cutting dimensions for all cards, and if a card size is listed twice it is because it can be cut in 2 different orientations. 

 While the chart may be helpful, it is not pretty to look at, so I am also posting a few more of the projects that I have made using my Silhouette.  Hope they inspire you, even if you don’t own an electronic cutter.

This cute flower stalk is one of the HeroArts files.

Wow, can you say busy?   I do love the circle lace, though.  The polka dot ribbon got me started on this card.

I got the file for the lace background on this card from this Swedish site.  The lady does wonderful work!

This is another MOJO monday sketch. 

Do you have someone that you can get together with and just have fun creating?  Last Thursday I spent time with my friend,  Ellen, and it was great!  Though we mostly spent the time cutting out all sorts of different shapes (bad, bad, me- I would say “have you seen this shape?”, and off we would go in another direction), we both profited from each other’s ideas. 

Even if your friend doesn’t think of herself as “crafty”, you might be able to introduce her  to a whole new world!  Sharing ideas, materials and tools ends up being one of those activities that blesses and inspires you as well as your friend!

So who are you going to call this week?  Let me know how it went!