Aspiring to Creativity

Best Wishes For A Friend

This is a card I made last week for a friend. Surprise! It's not for a class or DT challenge submission! Though I must say it was inspired by a class I was working on earlier.... the chalkboard cards. My friend loves black, so I thought I might try a chalkboard card with pink ribbon. She also like big bows.

In this next photo you can see, from the side, that the "Best Wishes" is a separate piece with some white embossed flourishes under it on the black card base itself. I made two 3/4" x 1/8" slits with my ruler and craft knife to pull the 1 1/2" ribbon through.

The stamp I used is Inkadinkado Framed Expressions cling and a set of flourishes from an old set I no longer know from where it came. All in all a pretty easy card to make.

Have you tried chalkboard cards?

Thank you for stopping by today! Happy papercrafting!

Evergreens - DT Christmas Card Challenge #37

Hello everyone! Hope your summer is going well and that you are all enjoying some good weather, great family times, and finding time for relaxation as well as some private time for some papercrafting.

Another week has gone by which means it's time for the weekly Christmas Card Challenge. This week's challenge is to include evergreens on your card. Of course you can enter the challenge without them, as long as it is a Christmas card.

I decided to use non-traditional colours this week with my laser cut chipboard evergreen trees.

I'm not normally a 'glitter' girl, but when it comes to Christmas, that's an entirely different matter. You can see that I added Star Dust Stickles around the edge of the purple mat for the green which is edged with white ink and a blending tool. I also used it over the stamped sentiment and on the laser cut chipboard trees after dusting them a little with white ink on a blending tool.

Let's look at the card from the other side and have a closer look at the button detail.

You can see that I pulled natural coloured hemp cord through the top holes of the buttons and a medium purple 1/8" ribbon through the bottom button holes like I would if I were adding string through the hole of a tag. There is a trick to doing this using thread. If you would like a demo on how to do this, let me know in your comment, and I'll do a quick tutorial video for you.

Here you can see what the card looks like from the side.

Make sure to have a look at the other DT cards at Christmas Card Challenge #37, or click below to go to their blogs and see their creations.

Alanna - DT coordinator

Anne C

Anne J

Jenn

Monica

Sabrina - That's me!

Sparkle-- Owner

Thank you for joining me today, and having a peek at my card. Hope you all have a great week, and happy papercrafting!

Christmas Stars Greeting

Yes, I'm adding more Christmas class projects. Everyone here seems to plan way in advance to make things for Christmas. When you think about it, there is about 4 1/2 months left! Yikes! This class is scheduled for the beginning of October.

This project is a Christmas decor item that can be placed on the mantel, sofa table, sidebar/buffet, dining table, or in an office at home or work, can be given to someone that no longer can put a tree up, someone in a nursing home, to a friend that just loves Christmas decor, a grand-child that wants something 'Christmasy' of their own, in their own space; and list goes on and on.

You'll be surprised that there is only one photo from me today! Me, who usually has a gazillion photos! I won't keep you waiting any longer. Here it is.

Takes longer to make this than you think! I really like the wooden spools.

This is what I used to make this set.

10 1/4" x 12 " wood dowels trimmed to various sizes, 10 wood spools, Teresa Collins Christmas Cottage 6 x 6 pad (2012), My Favorite Things Star STAX Die-Namics, By The Letters Uppercase Die-Namics, Martha Stewart Alpine Snowflake punch, Spellbinder's Poinsettia, 1/2" wood buttons, 7/8" grosgrain ribbon, 7/8" jingle bells, Star Dust Stickles, Gold Stickles, Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy ink pad and blending tool, Mini-Bowdabra & gold wire, Bazzill Kraft & Beeswax cardstocks, and a brown journaling pen.

Thank you for coming by today for a peek. I would love to know where else one could display this greeting, beside what I listed before above, so let me know.

Happy papercrafting!

More Chalkboard Fun

Last year Scrapbook Parade had their first Chalkboard Technique card class. We had so much fun, I thought it was time to have another Chalkboard class. These are the cards we'll be making.

I always show each individual card so that those taking the class here in Victoria, can have a better look. So here are the details.

This is what I used in the making of this card.

My Favorite Things Chalkboard Frame Builder Die-Namics, Flower Medley Die-Namics, and Chalkboard Greetings stamp set. I also used Tim Holtz Sizzix Woodgrain folder and Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy ink pad on the frame. Buttercup Liquid Pearls for flower centers and random dots.

Next card...

And this is what I used to make the card with...

May Arts Burlap Ribbon (I cut off the wired edges), My Favorite Things Chalkboard Greetings stamp set, Woodgrain Fence Die-Namics, Fall Leaves die-Namics, and Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy ink pad.

For the last card...

For this card I did a lot of colouring on the black with coloured pencils. Here are the things used in making this card.

My Favorite Things Chalkboard Greetings stamp set, Sweet Roses stamp set and Roses and Leaves Die-Namics, Jumbo Fishtail Banner STAX Die-Namics, coloured pencil crayons, and a white Gelly Roll pen for the borders.

I white embossed the flowers and leaves, die cut them with the coordinating Die-Namics, and then had fun colouring them in and arrange them.

That's it for this card class. Look out for a Christmas Chalkboard class a couple of months down the road.

Thank you for stopping by to have a peek. Happy papercrafting!

Sketch - DT Christmas Card Challenge #36

The challenge this week at Christmas Card Challenge #36 is a sketch! Of course as long as you are making a Christmas card, you can enter the challenge.

I turned the sketch and made this...

Here is the sketch (to the left). I used gold metallic Bazzill cardstock to mat
everything, and gold embossing powder for the three kings. I even used the gold embossing powder on the gold star's sentiment! The wisemen stamp is from Inkadinkadoo and is one I haven't used until now.

I rather like how it all turned out. I used lighter shades of blue for the banners, again matting them on gold.

In the next two photos you can better see the banners and all the layers popped up.

Just love those blues! Blue goes well with either gold or silver and since I tend to use silver more with blue this is something different for me.

Hop on over to the challenge blog and check out the other DT cards or go to their blogs by clicking on the links below. Play with us too, and see what you create using the sketch. Oh, and being the first challenge of the month, there's a prize for a winner!

Alanna - DT coordinator

Anne C

Anne J

Jenn

Monica

Sabrina - That's me!

Sparkle-- Owner

Thank you for checking in today!

Graphic 45 French Country Matchbox & Tags

Many of you know that I love Graphic 45 paper and staples. At Scrapbook Parade, where I teach classes, we are starting a Graphic 45 Club in September, with classes every month. For the first club class, this is our project.

Mainly the Graphic 45 French Country 6 x 6 pad was used with a little leftovers chipboard pieces, some of the cardstock die cut punch outs, and two images cut out and leftover from the 8 x 8 pad. The flowers are made using My Favorite Things Mini Hybrid Heirloom Rose Die-namics, and the tiny butterflies made with a tiny punch, and the leaves punched out with Martha Stewart's branch punch.

You may be asking what is inside this matchbox? Well there are 6 tags in there! But first a couple more detail photos.

A few details - There is no opening for the box. The clasp is just decorative. I died the kraft box using a sponge foam brush and a few drops of my Memento Tuxedo Black ink refill. It was so easy to cover the box this way and the black is beautiful.

Now for the tags!

Now do I show you each tag separately, or as a collage. Showing them individually would make this a very long post, so I'll use the collage of the tags. Change that - the tags aren't large enough for those that don't finish the class and need to see them close up to complete them. So Individual it is. Oh, and there is a video at the end!

So if you'd like to hear me say a few things about this project, you can view the video.

So after all that, I thank you for stopping by for a longer visit than usual. Hope you enjoyed the project and it's details.

Happy papercrafting!

File Folder Scrapping

Some of you may be familiar with Heidi Swapp's Memory system she created. From the first time I saw her idea, I was intrigued and have wanted to see if I could make my own twist on her concept using regular office file folders, and have a class on making them. So here is one I came up with. It was quite fun to make, too.

When you open it, you see this-

Whenever I make a layout or a mini I usually like to crop my photos, but this time I left the space for them at 4 x 6. You can also see the two attached booklets inside. In the video below, you can see more about them.

When you flip the top booklet to the left, you can see the back of it and the front of the other one under it.

I used washi tape throughout the folder along with some scrap strips from cutting up the pieces for the folder. When you flip over the bottom booklet, you see this -

So that's it fr the photos, but you can see more in the video as well as further ideas for this project. The class is at the end of August, so I will have the instructions for this folder on "Paper Architecture with Sabrina" after that.

Oh, do you see the spine from the inside of the folder? Notice that it is cream? I forgot to place the strip I had cut in there! Can you believe that. I couldn't help but laugh when I was nearly finish and came upon the strip.

Any way, here is the walk through video.

Thank you for stopping by to have a look. Have fun papercrafting!

Background Stamping - DT Christmas Card Challenge #35

I was so looking forward to this challenge at Christmas Card Challenge #35, because I so seldom get the chance to play with backgorund stamping!

I used Hero Arts Pinceone Wreath and stamped it in the center with VersaMark. Then with the same stamp I repeatedly stamped around the outside of the wreath. When I completed that, I then used white ink and restamped the same stamp just slightly off to give it more dimension. Hopefully you can see the background stamping better in the next photo.

To give the wreath even more dimension, I used Frosted Lace Stickles dotted on the pinecones.

Here is a side view to show the layers and banner.

I really like making those crinkled banners to look old.

So that's it for this card! I hope that you will have fun making a Christmas card using background stamping. Have a peek at the other DT submissions at Christmas Card Challenge #35 or click on their links below.

Alanna - DT coordinator

Anne C

Anne J

Jenn

Monica

Sabrina - That's me!

Sparkle-- Owner

Happy Papercrafting!