Heartedly Handcrafted Inspiration Sticks

Hello crafty friends! I started a project recently to help myself with future projects. Yes, you read that correctly. We can all use a little help from time to time with coming up with ideas and even when we do have an idea it doesn't always carry us to the very end. I have found myself staring at a sheet of paper to make a card while not having a clue where to start. I've also had those moments when there just seems to be something missing and this can help with that too.
A crafty friend shared this video

Inspiration Sticks Challenge - Art Journal Ideas - Mixed Media

and I just love it! The video is from +Claudia Rossi and she talks about a challenge her and her friend is doing/did with what she is calling "Inspiration Sticks". Under that video is a link to how to make them and she provides a link to a list of what to write on your sticks to get you started. Claudia's list idea is for art journaling, but can be easily carried over to other types of projects. My list will consist of things that I do specifically for cardmaking and therefore be different, so what it comes down to is, YOUR list can be for anything you want. When I've completed my list I will be sure to share it right here.

UPDATE: List for card-making
Scroll down for another project using this idea, "Spontaneity Sticks".
Here are some of the sticks I've made so far. I haven't decided yet how I want to store my sticks or if I want to further embellish them.

To make mine I used large tongue depressors that I coated with pastel chalk ink by VersaMagic. Then I used rubber and clear stamps with Rubber Stampede ink in the color Wheat to make designs on them. 

Once the ink was dry I used a fine tipped, black, permanent marker to write with. I had a little trouble with bleeding, but unless I were to use a magnifying glass or hold it close to my face the bleeding is really not noticeable. I would suggest experimenting with what you have and see what works best for you.

The great thing about the idea of "Inspiration Sticks" is that they can be used for anything, even outside of crafting. How often do we skip over all the sightseeing opportunities, museums, etc. in our own towns or regions. You could write down all the places to visit on sticks and then randomly pick one on a nice day. Maybe in this case you might call them "Spontaneity Sticks"  and as you accomplish each one, you might frame, or place in a scrapbook, your stick as your title with the photos you took. The possibilities are endless :)

Handmade Card for a Wedding: The Happy Couple

Hello crafty friends!

Today I'm sharing an embossed white, silver and black card that I embellished using stickers and ribbon.

During the month of December I won a prize for a challenge I entered and included with the awesome rubber stamp set I received were a couple of sheets of foil stickers. I hadn't used stickers much before, aside from adhesive backed gems, but the foil stickers were so pretty I began incorporating them into my projects. 

Now when I go to the craft store I look at the stickers too and that is how I found the gorgeous silver butterflies by Jolee's Boutique that I used on my card. In fact one thing I realized while looking at the 3 dimensional stickers is that I can learn what steps to take to make specific embellishments and when I need a card quickly, I can make a beautiful one without having to produce every detail myself.

I used Recollections Adhesive Rhinestones to make the butterfly trails.
To make the sentiment I used Sticko stickers and I added a rhinestone to the engagement ring. To make the label shape I used Spellbinders Labels Eleven (S4-246). After making my die-cut I used black Rubber Stampede ink around the edges and then to get a very deep black defined line around the edge I finished it off with Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black. 

I used the Darice Butterflies embossing folder to make the decorative background and on the other side of the card I used Cuttlebug's Polka Dots Page embossing folder.

Since the theme of my card is butterflies I decided to add a bow that also gave that feeling. The white bow in the background is actually two bows hot glued together and then I glued a small bow on to the front of them.

Supplies List Click on photo to enlarge

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by!

Handmade Greeting Card: Celebrate You Today

Hello crafty friends! This has been a heck of a week, but I managed to make at least one card in some pretty colors with a lot of bling. My favorite color combinations involve green (pink and green, blue and green, purple and green) so this card, with it's bright yellow-green accents and shades of purple, is right up my alley.

The gorgeous paper is from the DCWV Violet Leaf tablet. To make the sentiment I used one of the Spellbinders Valiant Honor Card Creator dies, made two die-cuts (one on purple paper and the other on white) then I cut some of the edges off the white die cut, used two green inks to color it and adhered it to the purple one. 

For the pretty purple ribbon flowers running up the left side I cut the mesh off the back of a pre-made dimensional ribbon and only left mesh were the ribbon flowers attach.

Supplies List

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by!

Handmade Gift Tag: Sunset Silhouette

Hello crafty friends! I'm back with a gift tag I designed with Spellbinders Die D-lites. I used the die-cuts in silhouette and I was completely amazed once I placed them on my colorful background. My tag glowed! I was inspired when doing a Google search on sunsets and came across many beautiful handmade cards and tags.

I was so excited about the results, I made it a challenge over at Sketches4All. 

The first step I took in making my tag was to cover the tag in color. I began from the top with the blue and worked my way down. I used the same blue behind the Cattails, but first I lightly applied the yellow further toward the bottom of the card, (just in the center), and then lightly went over it with the blue. By mixing these two colors I got a bit of a green cast and glow down the center that the sun would cause on the water.  To make the sun I used a circle and adhered it to my tag. I wasn't sure where I wanted the sun initially, which is why I didn't add it until after I colored my background. This allowed me to make it match up wherever I wanted it.

Using the Cattails die I cut out two die-cuts and then cut one of them into sections while removing the Cattail that is laying down through the other ones. To do this, just use your scissors to cut it at each point it joins another Cattail. I also tried to cut away or change certain areas so it wouldn't look like I used just one die-cut twice.  

I used the Stampabilities Rubber Stamp, Dragonfly 02 which is my favorite dragonfly stamp since it is so realistic looking.

Supplies List

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by!

Handmade Valentine's Day Card: Love is in the Air

Happy Groundhog Day!
Today I'm sharing a Valentine's Day card and a link to the challenge I made it for, then on to what Punxsutawney Phil had to say this morning.
First things first. There's a lot of inspiration over at Sketches4All. I made the card below for the February DT Challenge from a sketch. If you prefer to do scrapbook layouts, there's a sketch for that too, so come join us and have some fun. 
There's nothing that says Valentine's Day to me more than seeing the colors red and pink together and roses and hearts together. So once I saw the sketch I wanted to incorporate those ideas as well.  

To get that pink striped paper to look like it's part of the white paper beneath it I used a border punch on the bottom edge of it and then taped it in place before embossing it with the heart embossing folder.
The red stripe is made from the same red cardstock I used to mat the front. To dress it up I placed silver, vine shaped, tape on it.
To make the pink border on the doily heart I cut off the edge of a pink colored heart and glued it onto a white one. 

Supplies List 

Punxsutawney Phil says we have 6 more weeks of Winter. From the way it looks right outside my front door and all the snow coming down I would have to agree with him this year.
Pictured below is right out my front door. There should be a sidewalk and a road. You can see where my husband shoveled the sidewalk recently and it's being covered back up, but the road has vanished and has been gone for quite a while. My home is marked as a historical house and the wooden sign out front is half under snow. Love it!  

  Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by!

Handmade Valentine's Day Card with a Modified Border Punched Edge

TGIF craft lovers! I'm sharing a card with a modified border punched edge. I decided to bring attention to this simple modification because it opens up new possibilities that I didn't even realize I had until I needed to change the size of my card border. As I sit here studying the rest of my border punches, I see that I can cut them to not only make them my own, but to make new things. The modification description can be found further down in this post.

To make this card I used two border punches, one embossing folder and some ready-made Valentines Day themed embellishments. Oh, and I can't forget to mention those cute little foam flower stickers made to decorate flip flops, but found their way to my house during a clearance sale one day. 
To make this card...
NOTE: After cutting all of your cardstock pieces and BEFORE adhering the pieces together remember to border punch your edges and add your ribbon.
Special NOTE: I modified one of the border punched pieces, details below. Paper Measurements 5" x 7" White base card 5" x 7" Pink plaid mat 5" x 8" White cardstock mat 5" x 6" Pink with white polka-dot cardstock mat 5" x 4" White cardstock mat
Border Punch - the modification 5" x 8" White cardstock mat - Use the Martha Stewart Crafts Around The Page Double Arches Large Punch. After punching the top and bottom of the cardstock, cut the two outer rows of arches off, leaving only one row of arches remaining.  Cut where you see the red lines

5" x 6" Pink with white polka-dot cardstock mat - Use the Ek Success Pointed Flower Border punch on the top and bottom and then attach your ribbon.
To complete your card Place a doily heart on the back of your foam glitter heart and a couple of flat backed adhesive pearls on the top and bottom and your finished!
 Supplies List

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by!

How To Get More Out of Your Cutting Dies: Looking for Usable Shapes in Die-cuts

Hello crafty friends!
Today I'm sharing something I was messing around with recently. I decided to take one of my fancy die-cuts to see what I could do with it and below are a few of the things I discovered. 
I found a really cute flower among this design. You can also use this particular shaped piece to make wings for a dragonfly, leaves, a cross, etc.

Cut the corner designs away and you have a beautiful butterfly or corner designs for any shape card. Turn one corner upright and you have a crown. Turn it upside down and you have the entire body, hands and feet of a Christmas Caroler (just add a head). Remember you can always cut little pieces off to get a more specific shape. Place a doily or another piece over it and have it as a pretty background filler. Those little loops in the middle of the die-cut could be the trail of a bee.

I found that even your odd shapes can have many purposes. In fact when you look at the photo below on the left, imagine the corner brackets I made as scary pumpkin eyes. 

For one of my recent cards I used a piece of my die-cut just to make the corner of my card a little more interesting. 

So grab a die-cut and start seeing what you can make out of it. 

I used the Cricut Cuttlebug Flourish Emblem die
If you like this you might like these...

How to Get More Out of the Cutting Dies You Already Own: Making an Assymetrical Die-cut, Symetrical

How to Make Die Cuts a Different Shape to Match Your Image

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by :)