Use Your Household Item for Crafting

Hello friends!

I am super excited to share today's project. My pace of blog-posting is not as fast as before, but my heart is still in this blog and I still have the passion for paper-crafting.  I finally gave in and ordered myself a BetterPress! I absolutely love the clean and crisp images from the BetterPress system. I look forward to sharing more with you about BetterPress.

Here is the closeup of my project. 

 Today's collection is absolutely amazing that you can easily use any craft supplies that you have on hand. It occurred to me that I can use one of the common household items....

Shop Through the Arbor Garden Collection at Spellbinders, Scrapbook. com

 

In my project, I am highlighting the Carnation Die (shop Spellbinders, Scrapbook. com, 

Simon Says Stamp).

 

 

About the Carnation Etched Dies: This set is from the Through the Arbor Garden Collection by Susan Tierney-Cockburn. Assembled, this set of three thin metal cutting dies creates a wonderful and delicately ruffled multi-petaled blossom. Finished Flower with Foliage measures approximately 0.75 x 2.75 x 3.00 in./1.90 x 7.00 x 7.60 cm.

As you can see the colors of the carnations are super vibrant and the petals are thin and fluffy.

 

The carnation paper? Wax paper. I have lots of exam room paper from Dr. John's office. These wax paper are not super thick, but it's still durable. I inked up the paper with Alcohol Pearl (like this and this and this).

 

 

I was so pleasantly surprised that with so little effort ( simply inking up the wax paper with Alcohol Pearls and die cut), the results are fantastic. I enjoyed creating these projects that I made another. I will share the process photos in my next post.

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Recycle with Packaging

Hello friends! 

It has been a while since I share projects with recycling elements. Well, well, I am back to share a project with "nearly-trashed" piece. 

I have this gorgeous  Nasturtium and Galvanized Wash Bucket Etched Dies 

 

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Shop Simon Says Stamp

 

They are from the Through the Arbor Garden Collection by Susan Tierney-Cockburn. This set of four thin metal cutting dies includes a wash bucket as well as bright and colorful Nasturtium five-petal blooms to fill it. A fun set for flower loving papercrafters! Finished Flower with Foliage in Container measures approximately 0.63 x 5.25 x 5.25 in./1.60 x 13.30 x 13.30 cm.

 

You might say that you can't see the recycling piece. You are absolutely right.

 

My recycle element is a piece of acetate which was used as an underlay of the wash bucket and flowers. If you look closely at the top of the card, you can see the clear acetate!

With the acetate piece, I can easily adhered the random "flowers and leaves" on the upper left.

I also want to point out a "mistake" ... not really a mistake. It's how I used the leaf die. I turned the leaf die into flowers (see the tiny dotted lines on the "flowers"?). Yeah, those are meant to be just leaves!

I just love paper-crafting ....there really is no right or wrong. It's however you want to make/fake it. I am sure you'd agree to some degree (if not all).

Thanks for stopping by!

Focal Point Made Easy

 Hello friends!

I am finally feeling more back to normal after getting over the cold. What a difference when you do not feeling achy and sneezing non-stop.... anyways, hope you are keeping healthy and happy!

  Let's get to today's project about adding a focal point. I am using the following as my example.

Cupped Flowers Stamp ( Simon Says Stamp HERE)

Cupped Flowers Die Set (Simon Says Stamp HERE)

 As mentioned in my previous post, Cupped Flowers is easy to stamp. I am using all the leftover pieces from my previous projects. With the random pieces, it is more of a task to arrange them in a cohesive way. I realized that I need a focal point!

To start my focal point, I took out the Cloud White Pigment Ink and swiped it over the kraft cardstock. After repeating this process for 4-5 times, I now have a white circle in the middle of the card.

With the circle, I started to build up the floral arrangement.

The white-stamped focal point was helpful to help me compose and arrange. I later stamped smaller leaves around the stamped dies.

For extra interest, I added splatter and gold sequins. What do you think? The focal point help elevated my card design. Hope you are inspired and try out this idea, especially if you have a few loose pieces on your craft desk!

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Working with Fine Die Cut Details

Hello friends!

Hope this post finds you well. Today's project is super Spring-y and colorful! Even though our winter has been really mild so far, but the thought of Spring is always a welcoming one. 

Shop Through the Arbor Garden Collection at Spellbinders, Scrapbook. com

 

In my project, I am highlighting the Carnation Die (shop Spellbinders, Scrapbook. com, 

Simon Says Stamp).

About the Carnation Etched Dies: This set is from the Through the Arbor Garden Collection by Susan Tierney-Cockburn. Assembled, this set of three thin metal cutting dies creates a wonderful and delicately ruffled multi-petaled blossom. Finished Flower with Foliage measures approximately 0.75 x 2.75 x 3.00 in./1.90 x 7.00 x 7.60 cm.

 

 

 

The impressive part of this Carnation dies is that is super detailed and easy for layering. I only needed to apply colors from Distress Oxide (Lumberjack, Spun Sugar, Kitchen Flamingo, Fossilized Amber, Antique Linen)

 

 

 For the Bamboo Trellis Background Die (all part of the Through the Arbor Garden collection, I used the brown paper from the Boho set).

 

 

 The details and dimension are absolutely outstanding. It is perfect for Mother's Day card. This Carnation die has SO man possibilities.... I hope to come up with more versions.

 

 

I am keeping this post sweet and short. Hubby and I are recovering from a cold... 

Yeah, we both got a cold after the cruise! Boo!

 

 

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To Die Cut or Not To Die-Cut....

 Hello friends!

I am BACK after taking over a month-long break. First, I went back to my home country Taiwan for two weeks. Then near the end of January, I took a cruise to the Caribbean. The warm weather and sea air, relaxing time on the ship, Dr. John and I had a fabulous time. I have not taken a this long of blog break since 2009. I am hoping to get back to share more new and exciting projects. Thank you for hanging out with me here.

My project today has some die-cutting.... I enjoy stamping and sometimes, I just want to let the stamping be the focal point. However, with the convenience of die-cut, I do want to make good use of the dies. After all, they are expensive.

Cupped Flowers Stamp ( Simon Says Stamp HERE)

Cupped Flowers Die Set (Simon Says Stamp HERE)

 For today's post, I am using Cupped Flowers as the example.  This stamp-layering set is easy to follow. by using the guide, you are able to stamp the flowers with depth and dimensions.

In order to keep the stamping as focus, I die cut the flowers and added many layers of dies (without any stamping ) for dimensions.

To add interest, I ink-blended the the background with teal ink. This is such an easy way to add colors and contrast. Notice that I still kept the white bits of dies (within the branches and flowers)?

I like the details of the small bits of die and kept it white as a contrast to the background.

Have you tried adding pieces of dies  (instead of foam) for dimensions?

I have one more card with this set of stamp and die.  Hope your enjoy today's inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by!

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