I Love the Great Lakes

If you are in Michigan, you are never more than 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes.  I visit them every chance I get.

Whether we are swimming, rock hunting, watching ships, exploring lighthouses or just sitting with our toes in the sand, I enjoy every minute of my time at the lakes.

I made this tag to showcase my love of Michigan’s Great Lakes.

I found the cork tag at Michael’s. I coated the backside with a very thin layer of Picket Fence Distress Paint. It helped soften the deep orange-brown color and I think it looks similar to tree bark …

I used Kreaxions Punch 902 with the “A” plate inserted in the punch. The plate comes with the punch and prevents the corner from punching out — nifty, eh!?!

I trimmed my strip of paper down so it was close to the edges of the punched out areas. I placed another strip of cardstock behind to create contrast.

I took the tiny flowers that came out of the punch and colored them with Fossilized Amber Distress Ink.

Then I glued them on top of the white strip, turning the flower so the blue petals still showed underneath. I added some tiny gems to the centers and then adhered the entire strip to the heart tag and trimmed off the edges.

I punched two additional flowers from the blue paper and added them and gems to the strip. And, finished it off with letters cut from a Tim Holtz die.

What do you think?

Let It Snow, Let It Snow Banner

Since things were so busy before the holidays and I had so many plans for the new year, I decided to make my holiday banner a winter banner, so I could leave it up on my tree all season. Of course, I still have the holiday stuff up, so this photo shows the banner with all of it’s holiday attire, but I assure you, the ornaments and Christmas cards will soon be packed away…

I started with a 6×6 paper pad from Michael’s and cut out tags using dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs to make the banner. I added a few cut outs from the paper pad, as well.

Then, I embellished with silver glitter paper using dies from Impression Obsession and a deer punch. I used the Sizzix Precision Base Plate to get the thin metal dies to cut through the glitter paper.

Then I added ribbon and buttons and strung it up with a bit of twine … since the tree is in my hallway where the lighting is poor, the photos on the tree never look great, but you get the idea!

At the Beach

I’m on the Elizabeth Craft Designs Blog today with this design … check it out, here. 

Ready for Summer?

This month’s challenge at Scrap It Girl is to create a project using arrows, numbers and the color blue.

I decided to make this tag …

I started with a plain office tag. I used a layer of Texture Paste and a stencil to create the background.

Once dry, I covered it with a few layers of Distress Ink and some water … blotting randomly. Then I edged the tag with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and got to decorating …

The papers are from Graphic 45. The bicycle was a gift from a friend. The numbers are from Tim Holtz and the arrow is a die cut using a Tim Holtz die. I added ribbon to the top, fibers at the bottom (another gift from another friend) and a little bit of bling.

Now it’s your turn … create a project — in can be a card, tag, ATC, scrapbook page, home-decor project or whatever else you want to do — using numbers, arrows and the color blue. Submit it to the Scrap It Girl website and you could win a great selection of prizes!

Snowy Cards

I love winter … wait …  before you throw snowballs at me, let me explain … I love all of the seasons. I enjoy the changing views out my window. And I always enjoy those first few snowfalls of winter, when the sun shines and the sky is blue and everything is white and sparkly and beautiful.

Yes, soon I will be complaining about the cold, but for the moment, I am enjoying winter.

Which leads me to this month’s card for my card swap … our theme was winter and we were also asked to make a tag this time.

I used Stampin’ Up cardstock and patterned paper, Close To My Heart stamp (on the tag) and glitter paper, Sizzix tag die, Tim Holtz snowflake die, Memory Box sentiment, cork ribbon from Michael’s, twine from Prima and, my favorite part, an embossing folder from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

What do you think of this creation?

 

Celebrate Winter

Our challenge this month for the Elizabeth Craft Designs’ Design Team is to make a project with the new Tags & More die sets. I decided to turn them into a little mini album.

And since I am obsessed with foxes at the moment, I used Authentique’s new Cozy papers (with foxes and snowflakes) and ordered Dutch the Fox, one of the newest dies from Karen Burniston for ECD.

Cut four strips of paper 3 1/2″ x 12″. Use Tags & More 1 — Lace and cut the tag on one side. Then, snip and trim the edges so you have four long tags.

Score at 5 1/8″ and fold each tag. Then ink all of the pieces.

Take two tags and put them back-to-back so the ends match. Tape the ends together to make a page. Line up another tag so the tops of the tags match and adhere. Then, do another set of bottoms to form the book. It will look like this:

Cut out the pieces of Dutch the Fox (I used black cardstock, white velvet paper from ECD and some of the Authentique paper) and adhere him to the front of the book. Cut out six flower hole reinforcers and two corners (included in the Tags & More 1 — Lace set). Adhere the corners to the front. Adhere the flowers onto each side of the tops of the tags — making sure they are lined up so you don’t see any backs.

 

Add letters to spell Winter and a few Glitter Dots to the cover. Tie ribbon through each of the tags.

Then, complete each of the inside pages as shown …

The tree is also a die from ECD.

I love how the book turned out.

Now, see what the other designers created with the new tag dies on the ECD blog!

Celebrate Fall

Welcome Fall! I love fall. It is one of my favorite times of year. I love those crisp, cool evenings and mild, sunny days. The sky seems bluer and the sun seems brighter in the fall. And then Mother Nature offers a generous treat as leaves turn orange, yellow and red. It is beautiful!

So, when we were asked to make a fall project for this month’s Elizabeth Crafts Designs’ Designers Challenge, I jumped at the opportunity to bring some of those fall colors into my house with a banner.

This banner uses BRAND-NEW TAG DIES from Elizabeth Crafts Designs. The dies come in pieces so you can make dozens of different tags out of the same set of dies. I chose to use Tags & More 3 — Leaves to make the banner.

The banners are easy to use and I wanted to give you step-by-step directions to show you how. 1. Cut cardstock 4×5″. Tape outer die onto cardstock with removable tape (I use Washi Tape). Run it through die-cutter. 2. Remove first die and lay on leaves die — matching holes and making sure it is even. Tape it down and die cut it. 3. Use scissors to trim the edge of the die-cut portion off. Then use a paper trimmer to make the rest of the tag the same width. With this system, the tag can be any length.

4. Use the circle die (included in the package) to cut holes on each side of the tags. This is where they will attach to each other.

5. To create a back panel to provide color behind the leaves, cut a piece of cardstock (or paper) 4×2″. Tape the curved die and die cut it. Then adhere it to the back of the tags.

6. Use a variety of colors and patterns to repeat the tags, so they look like this. (I used paper from Doodlebug’s new fall line Friendly Forest).

7. Cut out a variety of photo corners, flowers and leaves from the die set and adhere as shown. I also added some strips of paper. Coat fall Peel-Offs with Elizabeth Craft Designs Silk Microfine Glitter and color with Copics. Cut out designs and adhere as shown.

8. I painted chipboard letters and included those, as well. I used brads to cover the hole in the flowers, but you could also paper or a gem.

9. Tie tulle (May Arts) to first and last tags at the top. Also use it to connect each of the tags together.

10. I decided to go back to my finished banner and add hangers. I used a Crop-A-Dile and decorative eyelet, but you could also use the circle die to make the holes, if you did it before the tags were all decorated. Then, attach twine (May Arts) to the tags to serve as hangers.

Here’s another look at my completed banner … I love it!

 

Give them a Gold Star

As an alternative to a boring gift tag, I created this beautiful gold star out of bookboard.

Head over to the Globecraft & Piccolo blog to see how I made it.

 

Technique Thursday: Fall Leaves

Today’s technique is an oldie-but-goodie from Tim Holtz — used to create these fabulous fall leaves.

 

Tim calls this Wrinkle-Free Distress.

To start, you need your non-stick craft sheet, a mister of water, a piece of cardstock and a few Distress Inks.

The type of cardstock you choose will make a difference in the final outcome. I used plain, white cardstock and the inks soak right in. If you use a treated surface, like Manila tags, your colors will be more vivid.

Next, swipe your ink pads across your non-stick craft sheet so they are close together, but not touching.

Now, spritz them with water — a lot of water — until the color beads up, like this …

At this point you are ready to swipe your paper through the ink. Tim says to just lay the paper flat on the craft sheet and press it down to absorb the color. I dragged mine through the different colors to mix it up a bit.

Then, I dried the paper with my heat gun and did it again. On the second time through, I used a bit of Dusty Concord and Mustard Seed to help brighten it up a bit. Had I used a manila tag, the inks would have been brighter on their own. After drying, this is what mine looked like …

Next, I used the Tattered Leaves die by Tim Holtz/Sizzix to cut out my leaves.

Before attaching them to my tag, I took a bit of Brushed Corduroy and Walnut Stain inks to the edges. And, I thought they needed some sparkle so I spritzed them with Perfect Pearls Mists in Heirloom Gold. I bent them a bit to add dimension and adhered them to my tag.

For the rest of the tag, I applied a saying from We R Memory Keepers, wrapped around a bit of twine, and added some ink. You could easily apply the same technique to a card or scrapbook page.

If you’d like to try the technique out for yourself, I’ll be at Capture-A-Memory in Flint Township from 2-6 p.m. today. Hope to see you there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technique: Metallic Distress Stains

You probably already have metallic paint, so why do you need Metallic Distress Stains?

Well, because they act completely different from paint and offer a quick and easy way to add a bit of bling to your card, tag, page or paper-crafting project.

Metallic Distress Stains are not as opaque as paint and, like the rest of the Distress line, they react with water. I could share all of their great features, but it is better to just enjoy the master explain …

Tim’s Video

So, now that you understand how they work, it is time to play with them yourself.

Stop by Capture A Memory in Flint Township from 2-6 p.m. Thursday and try them out. I hope to see you there!