cuttlebug | If The Glue Sticks…Embellish

Stick To It- Tapes of All kinds

Posted on May 19, 2014 by debbrooner

I love tape! Any kind will do, whether it is Washi Tape, decorative tape, handmade tape, or print and cut versions. Even small bits can add a real oomph to a project.

Up first-real Washi Tape cards. I am especially fond of applying the tape to the cardstock and then running the piece through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. The embossing gives the tape just a bit more dimension.

The second type of tape I use Decorative Tape ( Scotch brand). It is shinier than the Washi tape but comes in some really fun patterns, like this arrow pattern which reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright’s stained glass windows.

“Faux washi” is also fun to make and use. Any artist paper can be used by applying double-sided tape to the paper and then trimming it down to the width of the tape. Here I used a transparent pink rice paper.

Silhouette has several files for washi tapes. They can be cut out of any solid paper or cardstock or can be filled with designs or patterns and treated as Print and Cut files. I used white cardstock and printed these tapes to match my embellishments. I like the slightly thicker look as a result of using cardstock instead of paper.

If you need ideas for the use of tape Pinterest is a great place to look. So what are you waiting for? Grab some tape and start embellishing!

Deconstructed DS 112 and 113 Challenge

Posted on August 9, 2013 by debbrooner

You get 2 Deconstructed challenge cards this time because I didn’t get 112 done until after the deadline. I’ll start with 113.

I came up with a technique I hadn’t thought of before. I decided to place a row of pearls at the bottom of the card and I wanted them evenly spaced. Most of the time I just eyeball it but the more pearls there are to be placed, the more likely that they will go wonky. I laid my row of pearls (still on their backing) where I wanted them on the card and then placed a sticky note directly below them. I then made little tick marks to show where each pearl was to be placed and then put the pearls on the card. The sticky note ensured that not only were the pearls evenly spaced but that they were all the same height. Wish I had have thought of that a long time ago! Here is the picture with the sticky note in place:

All of the papers are from American Crafts “Color Crush” 6×6 pad.

I white embossed both the turquoise hexagon and the sentiment and then used an embossing folder to add dimension to the sentiment hexagon.

Sentiment: unknown; Hexagons: Hero Arts Hexagon Stamp and Cut ;Martha Stewart edge punch: Lattice Arch; Cutttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dot

This is DS112. Love the colors of the striped paper! All of these papers were from the My MInd’s Eye 6×6 pad called “Memorable”. I really liked this pad because the papers are two-sided. There are lots more color options that way.

Sentiment: unknown; leaf die cut: Sizzix Little Leaf; Stickles

Silhouette Sketch Cards 2

Posted on July 18, 2013 by debbrooner

This is round 2 of the cards I have made using sketches from the Silhouette Store. I am really getting to like these sketches. They are kind of like having a rubber stamp that can be made into any size. And they don’t take up space in my stamp drawer! I am still using the Amy Chomas pen holders (see this post: https://ifthegluesticks.com/2012/07/25/silhouette-ske…as-pen-holders/) and love them. I will say one thing however, while I ordered both the small holder and the large holder it is the large one that I use all the time. I can’t seem to find pens small enough to fit in the small holder. Something to think about.

This could have made up as a one layer card by stamping a border under the definition and using a bit of yellow stickles on the dandelions.

Dandelion Sketch #32314; Laughter Definition: Stampabilities Definitions

Okay, this card has it all. Sketched flowers, rubber stamping, distress ink, die cut banner, dimensional adhesive, and letterpress using an embossing folder. Gasp. I started out by sketching the floral motif and then used a Hero Arts shadow stamp to highlight the blossoms. It still looked like it needed something so I brayered the concave side of an embossing folder with distress ink and ran the panel through my Cuttlebug. Since I cut out my banner in white cardstock I was able to use the same ink for it that I had used for the background. When I placed the banner on the card I found that the background was showing through the word cutouts so I traced the banner on another piece of cardstock and inked it with the purple ink. That looked much better! I glued the bottom (purple) banner directly to the card and then used dimensionals to add the top banner. Lots of fun.

Flower Motifs: #43709; Banner Words-Life: #37895; Hero Arts Scalloped Solid; Paper Studio: Horizontal Script; Distress Inks; Pumice Stone, Ripe Persimmon, Dusty Concord, Shabby shutters.

I sketched these little guys and then stamped the dots on the blossoms. I like the wonky kind of look I get with this technique. Remember what I said about being able to make these any size? The original file for each flower was a little over eight inches. I scaled them down to an inch and a half.

Flower Sketches: #30091, 30092, 30093, 30094

These cheery dots just screamed “use the word ‘happy'” , so I did. Sketched dots, distress ink and rhinestones made a very fun panel. The nice thing about having the word happy on the outside of the card is that the inside can say “birthday’, “day”, etc. Very handy, especially for me as I never seem to have the right sentiment at the right time.

Polka Dot Sketch: #19374; Sentiment: 38773; Distress Inks: Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Ripe Persimmon, Shabby Shutters

And finally, this card. Am I happy happy happy with the white gel pen that I used to shadow the letters? No, no, no. This copy is for my portfolio so no one will receive a card this messy!

I typed the word “happy” in my Silhouette and then played with spacing of the letters until they touched. Using white cardstock letters and words is really a good idea. Just a bit of ink in the color you need and you have coordinated your card elements.

I used 3 different inks for the flowers and loved how they coordinated with some cardstock I had on hand. I used the middle value of the purple inks to edge the flower panel. It is not obvious but it does help give it a finished look.

Flower Sketches: 44160, 44161; Distress inks: Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves

Kraft Cardstock Mania 4

Posted on April 2, 2013 by debbrooner

This is the last of my Kraft + color posts. Hope you have gotten some ideas to try for yourself.

This is hands-down my favorite of all of the cards. It is fairly flat so it could be sent through the mail without any problem. This was pretty much a Cuttlebug card- the honeycomb background, the sentiment, the poppies, and the embossed dots on the side of the card were all done with my mighty bug. I am not a big fan of a lot of the Tim Holtz stuff but the Papillon stamp set is awesome.

Cuttlebug: Honeycomb; With Love; Friends Forever

This one looks a little wonky because it is. If you tilt your head a little to the right…never mind, it doesn’t help.

I am choosing to leave this one in because of a technique that I have started using a lot. I have been gluing gold Momi , which is a medium weight , gold crumpled paper. It looks like this:

When it is glued to a piece of cardstock and then run through an embossing folder it looks like it has actually become part of the cardstock. It almost looks like the cardstock is gilded.

Inkadinkadoo: Illuminata; Cuttlebug: Paper Lace 2

Now for two completely random pictures-

I love the way this store used chevrons. There is a card idea ready to pop out.

Okay, this is weird, I must admit. Does anyone know what this is? Is there anyone else out there who photographs their trash? This reminds me of a Jeffrey Dever polymer clay piece.

My next series will be dealing with small wall quilts so it won’t be paper related. However the ideas could certainly be used for paper arts. Stay tuned.

Kraft Cardstock Mania 3

Posted on March 13, 2013 by debbrooner

This red card uses the negative space left after cutting out the flower shape. It always looks like this type of design is really hard and took a lot of fussy cutting or gluing, but the fact is it couldn’t be easier. Cut the flower design out of Kraft cardstock, back with your favorite designer paper (or in this case marbled paper), add other embellishments and the card is done. Adding dimensional adhesive to the flower panel gave some extra interest to the card.

Silhouette: Flower Rectangle #33935; Cuttlebug: With Gratitude

Do any of you have a basket full of die cuts or stamped pieces that never quite make it to the front of a card? Well I do, and this card is the result of determination on my part to use several pieces in my basket. The paisley square, the background lace, and the sentiment were all lost pieces looking for a home. I colored the lace with Distress Ink and then layered it over a gold metallic paper so that it pulled the background and the paisley square together. The glittery sentiment matched the green PearlEx paint on the square- yay! I had had the purple ribbon for a very long time and hadn’t used it because the color never seemed to match anythingI was working on. It was really a serendipitous thing that it was exactly the right color as well.

One more week of Kraft Mania left. I would love to see what you have been doing with your Kraft cardstock!

Stampendous: Paisley Texture Cube; Silhouette: Floral Lace Background #3924; Cuttlebug: Friends Forever

New card bases from Silhouette

Posted on April 28, 2012 by debbrooner

I just purchased the new card bases and envies from the Silhouette Store. I thought I’d show you what you can do with them. Since I don’t have the Cameo I couldn’t cut out the envelopes, but since the cards are a standard 4.25 x 5.5 inches I can just use rather boring but servicable white ones. This first picture shows what the card bases look like when open.The only difference in all of the cards is the shape of the card front. Now for the finished cards which, by the way, refused to stay in an upright position when placed in the frog, hence the thumb showing in each one. Sorry about that.

Card base 1 has these fun scalloped edges. I cut the overlay out of white cardstock and then used the internal offset to cut a slightly smaller overlay out of patterned paper. The bird file is one of my favorites and the ability to cut out the ” beautiful you” so cleanly still amazes me. Due to the size I did end up double cutting the phrase. I found some yellow butterflies in my “yellow” box, so I put 2 of them together and added them as well. I felt the yellow cardstock needed some help so I ran it through my Cuttlebug Polka Dots embossing folder. Doesn’t the background now look like a giant yellow Lego? Oops.

card_base_1_C01686_20509; bird_on_branch_C00648_19547; beautiful_you_phrase_C00987_20509;

I love the colors on this card. They are all from then Tropical AC Cardstock pack. Originally I had intended on using rhinestones to cover some of the black polka dots but I didn’t have the right colors so I just punched out several of each color of cardstock, added them to the card, and then covered each of them with Glossy Accents. Easy cheap coordinating embellishments.

card_base_2_C01688_20509; paisley_C00413_31857; background stamp Stampabilities Polka Dot Background; sentiment Fiskars All Year Greetings

This next card is pretty busy for me, but I did get to used up several bits and pieces I had laying around. I cut the fancy border in two parts and used them to border the top and bottom of the card front. I used the Cuttlebug Forest Branched folder on the red cardstock and then turned the pattern sideways and cut a strip. I ran the black butterfly through my Xyron, front side down, and then pulled the backing off of just the butterfly wings and added glitter. I learned a very important lesson about black cardstock and colored glitter. Yellow glitter appears green and orange apppears brown. Tricky stuff, that glitter. I then removed the backing from the body and added black glitter. I got the idea for the butterfly from yesterday’s A Cut Above online class.

I made the flower on the tiny label by cutting 3- 12 petal flowers, covering them withDistress Ink, and then curling the petals and layering on top of each other. The flower almost looks like a small dried one.

card_base_3_C01690_20509; elegant_border_C00105; assorted_butterfly_filigree_C01438_20387; 12_petal_flowers_C00667; 5_petal_flowers_C01237_20509; leaves_C00027_23445; 5_labels_C01207

You know how often farm dogs are “outside dogs”? Well this bird is an “outside bird”. He hangs around the cage but never in it . Just thought you’d want to know.

This is a pretty simple card, actually. I really like the birdcage and sentiment. The set comes with 2 more birdcages, several birds and one more sentiment that is bird related.

card_base_4_C01629_20509; 3_bands_C00965_20509; TAC Studio Vintage Birdcages

This last card is probably my favorite. I really like the teacup and the frilly edges of the card front go well with it.

The dotted background is from a blogsite called Mel Stamps. If you haven’t been to her site then you are in for some fun! She has lots of free templates and background papers as well as cards she has made. Prepare to spend some time there, though.

This is one of those cards that ended up being a “flub fixed” one. I ran all of my letters throught my Xyron but found out that I had run one of the T’s and O’s in backwards. I really didn’t want to have to recut just 2 letters, so I used the misglued letters for the word “two” and addeds glue to the front of the W. I then added clear embossing powder to the word and heated it. Now it looks like I intended that word to be glossy. Take that, goof up monster.

card_base_5_C01694_20509; 4_flourished_tea_cup_set_C00656_19210: background stamp Hero Arts Word Pops

Six more cards to go. See you next week!

Easter Cards

Posted on April 5, 2012 by debbrooner

I love little cards! For Valentines day I made 3×3 inch cards (40 of them) and gave them away.You can see all of them here What fun!

The size is big enough for me to do pretty much whatever I feel like doing yet small enough to finish quickly. The amount of cardstock is also minimal and I can hand them out without envelopes if I feel like it.

I decided to stick with one design for the cards that I made for the ladies I play bells with. With my trust Silhouette I was able to cut out lots of teeny tiny flowers, greenery and baskets. I used one of the new teeny tiny cards files to make the cards. Since the cards were very dimensional I decided to put them in envelopes. I had 12 envelopes cut out and ready to fill in a very short period of time! Here’s what the cards ended up looking like. Cute, huh?

teeny_tiny_card_kit_-_25_x_4_bracket_C00054_96084; decorative_ easter_egg_C01413_20387; flower_basket_C00778_31857; flower_set_C01289_20508; leaves_C20090902002518_18816; star_leaves_C00497_20387; leaf_spray_C01298_20387; cute_grasses_2_Coo237_41853; nature_set_C00970_20387

This next card is small too. It is 4″x2 1/2″ and is another of the tiny cards files from the Silhouette store. I embossed the card front with a Cuttlebug folder.

I used a woodgrain cardstock for the cross but found that the lily spray included in the file was just too small to cut nicely so I used a die from Memory Box and cut it into pieces for the spray. This is the Floral Square:My only problem with using this die cut was that I had to cut it into pieces, resulting in a lot of waste, so I didn’t make more than 1 of these. Maybe next year I’ll make more.

teeny_tiny_card_kit_-_25_x_4_rounded_C00055_96034; cross_with_lilies_C01045_20508; Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder; Memory Box die Floral Square

I love this holiday! Because of Jesus’ death on a cross for our sins and His resurrection the grave has been defeated. We can know for sure where we will spend eternity. Take some time between now and Sunday to crack open your Bible, read through one or all of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) and ponder the gift that has been given for you.

It is fitting that I will go to the funeral of a brother in Christ on Monday and celebrate the fact that he is with Jesus. We will grieve with family, but we will also celebrate. It’s an amazing thing, this eternal life with Christ.

Faux Poste Card

Posted on March 23, 2012 by debbrooner

This is a quicky since I really need to get going on my Easter cards. The card design is from Becky Fleck’s Card Maps. I liked the postage placed on little tiny artisan pages. I embossed the card itself with the Cuttlebug Polka Dots folder and used the “Viola” paper collecxtion by Memory Box.

I used the Silhouette for the artisan pages, the stamps, the butterfly and the flourish then stamped the cancellations and the sentiment .

filigree_butterfly_set_C01045; flourish_C02802_; 3_artisan_pages_C00135_24282;postage_stamps_C00046_41853;

“Thinking” by Fiskars’ “Just Between Friends”; “Luxe Cancellation” Hero Arts

Stay tuned for two and three-inch Easter cards!

St. Patrick’s Day and baby cards

Posted on March 15, 2012 by debbrooner

I have 3 cards to share today. The first is a St. Patrick’s Day card. I have never made one of these before, but since I have a friend who celebrates the day I decided to make one to send to her. This card has it all- stamping, distress ink, Silhouette images, and glittery brads. Love the brads! The size is 4.5z’ x 5.5″ and the fold is at the top.

cut_out_shamrock_banner_kit_C00001_96084; clover_flourish_C00994_179086, Inkadinkado background and Great Impressions Scroll & Leaves; Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters Distressed Inks

This bunny is so cute, and quick to put together. Next time, though I will probably run all of the pieces through an embossing folder before I assemble it. Each piece was edged with distress ink before I put it together for more definition. I used a Cuttlebug border embossing plate at the bottom and then the stamped sentiment and a pearl. Is it just me or are baby sentiment stamps hard to find?

bunny_Coo784_2581; Cuttlebug Just My Type border;Studio G stamp

After I made this card I realized that I had made this little outfit out of the same paper as the last card I made. Hmm.. guess I really like this color combination! I used a Cuttlebug border for this card as well but I added a bit of pencil to the indentations to give the design more definition. This card is pretty close to being clean and simple.

baby_boy_motifs_C00257_31857; Cuttlebug Just My Type folder;Studio G stamp

25 Christmas Cards Part 5

Posted on December 14, 2011 by debbrooner

I had cut out the green background quite a while back, not even thinking about using it as a Christmas embellishment, but I needed something to use as a backdrop for my stocking and it seemed to work. Again, I used the offset function to cut out a red mat . Easy peasy. I thought the stocking turned out super cute, and the Silhouette cut through my glitter paper like butter.

irregular_squares_mesh_background_C00378_21585, 4_christmas_icons_C01274_20509, Sizzix Dotted Flower Rings, Hampton Arts A Very Merry

I would NOT recommend this next card if you are doing a whole bunch- unless you plan to start making them in January! The cutting out? Very quick. The gluing to the card? Not so much! After I got all of the pieces on the card I decided it needed something more so I ran it through my Cuttlebug using the triad leaves folder. I don’t remember what font I used for the Joy banner but it is great to be able to use any TrueType font with the Silhouette. Because the berries were so small I used Stickles instead of red cardstock.

whimsical_tree_C20091012182328_20508, Sizzix Triad Leaves

I don’t usually do square cards because I don’t like either the extra postage due if the card is mailed in a square enelope, or the half-filled envelope that you get from mailing a square card in a regular rectangular envelope. However, this card needed the square format to work, so half-filled envelope here it comes. I added a some Stickles Icicle glitter to the doily that I cut out and embossed the Noel with a swiss dots folder. This was a very fast card to do.

If you don’t have a Silhouette you could use a purchased paper doily and stamp the Noel on a piece of cardstock.

noel_title_C00539_20387, doily_lace_decoration_C00600_20387, Cuttlebug Swiss Dot, A Lost Art background script

I used the same resist technique that I did for one of the Tiny Bundle cards, but the background stamp I used this time was an alphabet collage. This too was a very quick card. The silk ribbon I used was some that I had purchased quite a while ago. It was so pretty I was hesitant to use it, but use it I did, to good effect.

Ali Edwards Good Cheer, Tim Holtz Seasonal REflections, Unknown Alphabet Collage

What can I say? This card is busy ! There’s the embossing (2 different folders), 2 different patterned papers, 3 colors of cardstock, and 3 different die cuts. MOJO Monday would probably be proud of me, but I must admit it gave me a bit of a tic to look at it after it was finished. I did like the bird on the branch embossed piece , though. The sentiment was stamped with Versamark ionk and dusted with Spring Green PearlEx.

3_borders_C00678_20509, artisan_label_set_C00178_41853, Sizzix Bird on Branch #2, Cuttlebug Paper Lace #2, Hero arts Holiday Sayings

Not quite enough room for the last 3 cards, so see you tomorrow.

Corrugated Valentine ATC’s

Posted on February 11, 2011 by debbrooner

It’s a nice feeling to get back into the rhythm of my life after the holidays and traveling!

These ATC’s are for my Yahoo ATC World group. It was fun to come up with ideas using corrugated paper (cardboard to those of us who are older). The corrugated heart above (Cuttlebug ) seemed to fit with this collage backing, courtesy of Somerset Studios.

The backing for this ATC is a Kleenex box. It is a shame to throw away boxes that have such great patterns on them and they are very sturdy. I like the color combo as well. Not conventional but fun.

I am being very brave and actually using the copper guilded paper that I got from Paper Source a while back for the backing. I really love this stuff and will be sad when it is all used up. The corrugated honeycomb (Cuttlebug) was a good place into which I could tuck copper embossed hearts.

The background for this ATC is a relativewly new texture plate by Cuttlebug. In the past my Swiss Dot plate has been the most used but I have a feeling this larger dot will be my new favorite. Some Stickles, ribbon and red ink finished this card. Funky but fun!

The flower spray is a die cut from Silhouette, with Stickles adorning it. I should have done more for the background but didn’t think about it until after I had sent the cards. Oh well, sometimes that happens.

This last one is on the home page of the group- yipee! I got the idea for cutting the heart shape out of the upper layer of the cardboard from the book Collage Lab by Bee Shay. I covered the whole thing with Lumiere Grape and then dry brushed the card with Burnt Orange Lumiere. I didn’t want to use any glue so I first cut 3 thin copper tubes just a tad shorter than 3.5″, threaded them into one of the valleys of the cardboard. After I could see it in the cutout I then slipped a bigger copper tube over it and pushed the little one up behind the top of the heart. I wrapped a piece of silk ribbon aroud the card and then finished it with 3 wraps of copper wire.

Hearts Are Many Colored Things

Posted on February 2, 2011 by debbrooner

You’d think that since red is my favorite color I would go crazy with it for Valentines day cards. I guess it is contrariness on my part-nobody is going to tell me what color to make my hearts!

So here is an overview of Valentine cards I have made over the years.

Red , gold and wire

Copper, purple and black

Pink and silver. Fusible web, cupboard lining, silver embossing powder.

Blue, green and purple. Watercolor.

Red, green and blue. Guilding.

Assorted browns. Copper leaf.

Pink and black.

Gold and black. Metal tubing.

Pink, brown and copper. Copper mesh.

Blue and yellow

Russet and gray. Russet PearlEx.

Purple and green. Alcohol inks on polymer clay.

Kraft and gray. Cork paper background.

Pink, gray and kraft.

And finally a red one!

Black and red. Die cut letters and texture plates

I missed a few colors…I wonder what an orange hearts would look like? Oh, the possibilities.

Art Deco Texture and Silhouettes

Posted on January 20, 2011 by debbrooner

I got back from Haiti a couple of days ago and now that I am a bit more rested I’d like to show some of the cards using my new Art Deco texture plates from Cuttlebug and also two silhouettes of women cut using my Sihouette.

I lightly brushed some interference gold on the background, wrapped it with eyelash yarn, and added some beads to the silhouette.

Love these backgrounds, and love these silhouettes. Some rhinestones and a black Sharpie complete the look.

Card and envelope sizes

Posted on September 2, 2010 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!

B&R (Black & Red)

Posted on August 5, 2010 by debbrooner

I can’t help it, but black and red is my all-time favorite color combo. This is a journal of my color journey from the very beginning of my cardmaking days to the present. I hope you enjoy it and learn a thing or two.

Made in 1998, this card was one that I assembled into kits (75 of them) and took to Haiti for a class I taught there. It was crude, but I was new at this card making thing. It used the newest toy at the time- a crimper (how far we have come)!

In 2001 I acquired some shadow stamps, so I used them on this card. Seeing some mesh background over-stamp on scratch paper gave me the idea of first stamping a mesh background and then stamping and embossing red flowers on top.

I learned a bunch about PearlEx in 2003 . PE brushed on an image inked with Versamark gave a lovely shimmer, and polymer clay and PE were made for each other. Combining PE and embossing powder greatly extended my color repertoire. The flowers above used this embossing powder. Finding out that I could make watercolors out of the stuff really cranked my tractor! I ended up making little pots of all the colors of PE there were. I used black PE watercolor to fill in the centrs of the flowers.

My 2005 “Black and White Series” included this red floral one as well black/green, black/yellow, black/purple and black/green cards.

In De3cember of 2009 I submitted an artricle in Polymer Cafe showcasing my cards that contained polymer clay embellishments. I decided not to put this one in the article, but I did love all the textures.

I just finished this ATC for a Black White and Red challenge. The card had to be mostly black & white and the red had to fit in with the theme of the card. Somehow a sunburned zebra seemed to fit the bill and the caption reminded me of a Far Side cartoon.

The card at the top of the page is my most recent endeavor, made for the MOJO Monday challenge. I love the papers I used. The black and white print which has a plastic covering was acquired from Paper Source . I don’t remember where I got the black paper with the shiny dots, which is a shame because there in not much of it left.

The winners of the Blog Candy from last week are Kim Machrer and Nicole Ewing. Congrats, and have fun with them!

Button It Up

Posted on July 23, 2010 by debbrooner

Bollybutton

I signed up for an ATC swap. The theme is “buttons”. While I have a fairly large collection of buttons, but they are rather uninspiring. Fortunately I had just come back from a trip to San Francisco. While I was there I made a stop at a Paper Source store (when, oh when, are they going to bring a store to Denver???). The three papers I used for “Bollybutton” reminded me of India, hence the name. Plain orange buttons never looked so good.

That card was the only one that I used apparel buttons for embellishment. Since the directions didn’t say that only clothing buttons were allowed I cruised around my studio looking for other materials that I could drill two holes into. There were a lot of possibilities.

Copper Mine

I found some polymer clay discs that I had made some time back – they were just shouting out “pick me, pick me”. Since I had highlighted the discs with copper PearlEx I decided to brush some of it onto the ATC as well. Did I mention that I love PearlEx? A copper gel pen and some beads finished off the card.

Birch Grove

Several years ago my hubby and I took a trip back East. As we were tromping through the forest one day I spied some birch bark on the ground. I was sure that I would use it somehow, so I brought it home. I saw it in the drawer and decided to try to punch circles out of it. To my surprise it punched beautifully with no cracking .

Also sometime in the past I hadpurchased a large background stamp that looked like a grove of trees- tree trunks, actually. Once I got it home I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so it became another one of those neglected stamps. As I was going through my background stamp collection for this ATC I came across the stamp and realized that it would be perfect for the card. I used cocoa pigment ink and clear embossing powder for a subtle texture. I’m not usually a beige/brown kind of girl, but I really like this card. It is very simple, but the buttons seemed to demand simplicity.

Gators Love Oranges

I also found some discs that were made of shrink plastic. They had great computer-generated graphics on them so I got out my trusty hand drill and “voila”, buttons.

I used the polished stone technique on the card itself and the strip of green paper on top reminded me of alligator hide. I enjoy this card because it has lots of colors and lots of textures.

Blueberry Buckle

The blue button on this ATC is a computer-generated art piece that I laminated on both sides and then embossed using the CB “Tiny Bubbles” folder. I also embossed the ATC itself with the “Forest Branches ” folder.

I found a ball of crochet thread that had the same colors as the button so I punched holes in the ATC and threaded the thread through and around the card using the channels left by the embossing folder as a guide.

Vanda Lemon

The button on this ATC is simply a yellow piece of corrugated cardboard with Stickles flooded into the grooves. The yellow and orchid paper was another purchase from Paper Source.

I was sorry to have only needed 6 cards because there was still Paper Clay, Friendly plastic, and other materials out there to be plyed with. Oh well, some other time. Maybe some inchie group will have a button challenge-hint, hint!

What is in your studio that you can’t bear to get rid of but can’t seem to use? Think outside the box and “repurpose”!

The Old 1-2 Lace Punch

Posted on June 2, 2010 by debbrooner

I have been playing with my border punches lately and thought I would show you the results. It is possible to use the punches to make paper lace strips to jazz up your artwork.

The first method I tried was punching cardstock strips on both sides, with the designs matching like mirror imaging. The secret to this is marking your strips before you do any punching. First, place your paper strip in the punch and then take a pencil and mark both edges of your punch.

I’ve used red pen so you can see what I have done more clearly. These will be the marks you will use to line up the second edge.

Punch the first edge, rotate, and line up the punch with the marks.

Punch the second edge. If you lined up the punch correctly your lace should be symmetrical .

Depending on the punch, changing the width of the strip of paper used may result in very different looks. You will need to play with your punches to see what you come up with. I found out it is possible to use a strip that was only ½”, but a 1” strip is a good place to start. These are the test strips I came up with:

You will notice that I also made strips with offset punching. These have to be done a little differently. Marking the edges of the punch on the strip will not work with this method because the marks won’t be visible.

After punching the first side of your strip, decide where you want your offset to start. In this case I wanted it to start between the flowers and halfway through the little dot.

Take a Post-it note and lay on the table, sticky strip face up and on the right hand side. You are going to align your strip to 2 places on the sticky note: the un-punched edge of the strip sits on the bottom edge of the sticky note and the marking for the offset lines up with the right-hand edge, on the sticky part.

Note: I trimmed the top off of the sticky note before taking the picture, so it looks shorter than yours will look. Line the middle marking on your punch up with the right-hand edge of the sticky note