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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Shapelies - Nestie type files For Cricut

I have to admit that in the past I haven't been great about keeping up with my blog or the comments that follow a post. I apologize for that and I promise that I will from now on, do a better a job.

I was going through the comments from a past post about Nestie type files for the Cricut and some people were asking about a corrected link for Penny Duncan who creates these great files.

The correct address to get to Penny is:
http://pennyduncancreations.blogspot.com/

On her site you'll see a link to "Shapelie" files and these are your nesties.
Penny also has a lot of other great files on her site and I use them quite frequently. I love to use her files for various cards like the center step and side step. She gives the cut file for the step card and also for the additional pieces to cut and mat. That is one of the best things since I hate to cut and I really stink at it. With the Cricut they come out beautifully!

Thanks again for visiting!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Card for My Airman - Courage from Stampin' Up!

As a mother of a US Air Force Airman  I found that one of the first stamp sets I HAD to have when I signed on to be a demonstrator for Stampin' Up! was the set called "Courage." 

The feature stamp is simple but powerful. I honestly wish I could make a card for every US military member with this stamp on it.

My son was coming home last weekend so I put together an easel card for him with the hope he'd like it enough to take it to work to display on his desk. After he read it the first thing he said is "I want to take this to work to set on my desk."  I have a hard time making cards for guys because I love frilly embellishments. Putting this card together I had to remember it was for my son and then try to keep it masculine without being too boring.

Of course I made this card with rubber stamp,  cardstock, ink, buttons, sticky strip and Stampin' Write Markers from Stampin' UP!. I also used Shapelie files by Penny Duncan(her version of Nesties) for the shapes and bubble stickers from my scrapbook stash.

Thank you for stopping by and if you'd like to leave a comment, I'd be glad to have them.

Take care!






 

Peek-a-Boo Tilda

Hello and Happy Wednesday to everyone! I hope everyone is having the same beautiful weather that we are having here in Central Ohio.

I dont know about you but when it starts cooling down my mind definitely starts turning towards all the little projects I'd like to get done before the holidays.  I am one of those people that starts thinking months before an event about a card I need to make and I am such a procrastinator that I will still wait til the last minute and then rush around trying to get things done. I am also one of those people who cannot make a decision on what paper to use, what shape to cut, what embellishments I want to use etc...so I spend hours and hours laying each choice down so I can make up my mind.

I did manage to complete a Peek-a-boo Tilda card for my son's girlfriend who had a birthday on September 18th. Jordan couldn't come home for a break from the Air Force until this past weekend so I even had extra time to finish her card but still had to run around.

I decided to make a slider card that had Tilda on the front and then Tilda popping up from behind the front embellishment. To get Tilda and the sentiment to pop-up you had to pull up on the ribbon, You kind of expect the sentiment but the front pop-up which is Longing Tilda is an unexpected surprise. The final pop-up was a water-colored sentiment from Stampin' Up! wishing her Happy Birthday.

This is the first card I'd made since I signed up to sell Stampin' Up! so I'm acclimating to their products and I'm really happy with everything I have used. The stamps are cut so well, nice and deep so I get a great impression without fighting for it and I love the inks and papers.

For Katie's card I used Stampin' Up! cardstock, ink and  Stampin' Write markers, Copic markers, Recollections mulberry roses, Martha Stewart border punches, Stickles glue on roses and leaves, Stampin' Up! classic ink to ink edges of cardstock, DCWV cardstock, and ribbon and lace from my stash. I also used my Cricut to cut the cardstock and slot for the slider. I had a great time putting it all together but figuring out the pop-up peek-a-boo part was time-consuming. I hope you like it and will leave constructive criticism to help me along. Thanks!







Thanks for stopping by Party On the Paper! Hope you'll come back again soon!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Adventures in Papermaking!

As always I've been on a quest for beautiful paper or stock for cardmaking and yeah, sometimes I find some pretty paper but its hard to find a lot of coordinating Victorian style papers with the soft, beautiful florals and lace. Its just not out there.

I love paper almost as much as I love fabric.  When I go into the sewing room and start looking through my fabric, I find some of the most beautiful prints. I always wish I could find those beautiful prints on paper.
Just seems that those of us who love those prints aren't as plentiful as those that love the more modern prints or those that are "theme based." Like the papers and stock used in scrapbooking.

The other day it hit me, like most things do, kind of out of no where.... why can't I make those prints myself? No, I have NO idea how to actually make printed paper like you'd use for cards or scrapping but then in thinking about "digital scrapbooking" it seemed pretty clear that somewhere a printer had to come into play. Hey on top of that,  I worked for the government for YEARS managing MILLIONS of digital images. Now, they weren't Victorian flowers or ribbons and lace but a digital image is a digital image.  Pixels, spots, dots etc... How much different could the manipulation of those spots, dots and etc be anyhow?

 I have no idea how to use any of those  great  programs like PhotoShop or Gimp etc... but I do have fabric and I do have a scanner and a printer.  I'm not that good at using either of those either but that'll come with practice I'm sure. One thing I am good with is a computer and a mouse and with as much beautiful fabric as I've stashed away in my quilting years, why can't "I" have all the beautiful paper I desire? The only limit to my supply has been the limitations to my imagination!

I got out some of my most cherished prints, ya know, the ones you buy in yards and yards to make that one, heirloom quilt. But then you love that fabric SO much you can never force yourself to run the scissors through it. Finally, I heated up the trusty Rowenta... after pressing for a little while I started scanning.

As with any project I dream up, I had some issues but most were due to my own ignorance in adjusting the scanner and then the printer but eventually I came up with some quality cardstock that I find I'm proud to use in my cardmaking.  Now, new problem.... I can't quit.... I'm a crazy woman on a mission and I am on the  perverbial roll. I cannot stop my ADD-OCD self from scanning and printing this wonderful fabric!

I've been burning up the printer making my own coordinating paper and stock. It is a brilliant idea.  Why don't the same people who make all this great fabric also sign themselves up to make stock and paper? Don't they realize there is a big market for this and they're completely missing the mark?  Someone needs ME on their PR team. I have so many ideas bouncing around in my nugget and no one to bounce them off of.

I share my ideas with Eric but he usually gets scared. When I say "oh I have an idea" he curls up into the fetal position and his face looks horrifed as he starts to cry. For some reason it appears that my ideas bring about fear in most normally sane human beings because I have do have some hairbrained ideas sometimes and I really do think WAY outside the box.... well I do think outside the box because I refuse to believe that there really is a box... I dont see anything wrong with that...I dont know why they're afraid... hmmmm... I'll ponder on that awhile.

In the meantime, see if you don't agree that these papers come out great and especially the batiks... I LOVE the batiks!!  I'm not even 10% trough my stash but I'll get there.... eventually....