Artfully Sent Happy Birthday card

30 minute card made using CTMH Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge, sized 7", unknown brand papers, CTMH dots embossing folder, and stickles glitter glue.  The "Its time to celebrate" stamp is included with the Cricut cartridge.

I've been purposely using non CTMH papers, because I seem to have a bunch in my stash, and mixing with CTMH products.  I've found that all CTMH products, including inks and papers, really cooperate nicely with other brands.  To me that is the hallmark of a good company practice.  I'm still an independent CTMH consultant, if you need goodies or just want to look at pretty things have a look at my online business address:  http://karenrichardson.ctmh.com/ 
Thanks for stopping by!

Your stamping notebook: Front Cover, page 14 of 14

This is the front cover, I know its funny to do it last but I enjoy irony.  I put washi tape on the edge since I goofed up and bound the folded edge.  Oops.  I like the way it distinguishes the cover so Hooray for a goofy win!

I stamped the black image with Archival black ink, and the "ticket stub" in White daisy ink.  I poured clear embossing powder over both and used my Tim Holtz heat gun to melt it.  I am not very experienced with heat embossing, so a sample book is a good opportunity to try it again.  Of course, stamping white ink on white paper is clearly not my forte.  I sponged Pacifica ink over the white embossed ticket stub, the technique is "Embossed Resist Stamping."  If you have allergies or sensitivities, I recommend heat embossing in a well ventilated area since embossing powder is essentially powdered plastic.  Heat + plastic = fumes.  Gotta protect our health!

That's it, we have finished  the project, 14 pages, 22 techniques, and a cute lil booklet to not forget them!  Thanks for playing along with me!

Your Stamping Notebook: page 13 of 14

This is more effect than technique, in my opinion.

Stamp an image with White Daisy pigment ink on dark paper.
Pour white embossing powder over it, over scratch paper to catch the overflow.
TIP:
A gentle tap-tap will let loose embossing powder slide off = more smooth look.
A more aggressive flick-flick of the paper will let more embossing powder fall off = more mottled or distressed look like mine is.
Heat from the front or the back with a heat gun.  Its a good idea not to overheat embossing powder, it is powdered plastic.  If you are sensitive to fumes of any sort, it would be best to do this in a well ventilated area.  Heat + plastic = fumes.

In the picture I cut out the image and glued it in, because the booklet is white paper.  I bet a whole booklet could be done with heat embossing techniques?

Scrapbook page re-do

I've been looking at this scrapbook page layout for some time now, and decided to re-do it.  I detest re-do's, my free time is precious and limited.  I did learn a few things:  a redo is still creative time; a redo is a chance to step out of habits; a re-do is okay because it says no one is perfect; I really like this re-do so it wasn't a waste of time.

I did this layout of my boys as a rush job at a November crop.  I don't know the paper brands or anything, they were part of the crop goodie bag.  It's okay, it shows the humor of the pictures, but the balance & details are wrong.

This is the re-do using CTMH products.

The redo was inspired by Make it from your heart Volume 2, page 9 pattern 2 adaption.  The base paper is "white Daisy" with a 3/8" border of "sky" blue paper.  The large "Sorbet" colour gear is cut from Cricut CTMH Artiste cartridge 10", and sponged with twilight ink.  The border gears are cut at 1.5" from "twilight"colour paper.  The centre band of paper is "Twilight" colour, textured with the Quatrefoil embossing folder.  The stamp in the upper right corner is B1433 Hostess Rewards "Family photo" set.  The stamp in the lower left corner is C 1566 "Tech speak", inks used are sorbet and twilight.  I used the Masking technique, a blending pen #3174 to highlight, and the "Rock and Roll" technique.  Between the pictures is faux matting of Lagoon Houndstooth Washi tape #Z1850 on strips of the "sky" coloured paper.  Sorry to be so link heavy, I don't know a simpler way to list all the stuff simply without getting too wordy.

I hope you are having fun playing with your supplies too.  Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

Another card swap

I joined another card swap on the cricut circle message-board.  Everyone is creating 2 cards.  I chose thank you cards, since they're handy to have.  I dug out my old Fiscars "Scrapboss" manual embossing system, and the stencil template "Whimsical letters"  to hand emboss the word Thank you on the negative cuts of the butterfly. I did do a practice emboss to gauge the size, and found I could place 2 at a time between the stencil layers.  Once I set the centre letters, they were fairly quick to do.  A lucky find was I accidentally embossed the "y" not quite right, so I redid them right over the mistake & its not obvious at all.

 I used coordinations colour core paper, 3 are sanded, the one in the lower left corner is only half sanded to show before & after.  These are for the inside of the cards.  Can you see which one is goofy?  hint, look for the "h."

 I used gypsy wanderings cartridge, butterfly top layer cut out at 3.68"x3.53" and the corresponding base layer cut at 3.87"x 3.47".  The base layer is embossed using sizzix brand  "dotmatrix" embossing folder and sanded before the top was glued on.  The lil bows are "peapod" coloured twine, a gift from a sweet friend.  Its a lucky bonus that the same twine looks nice with both colour variations of this card.

I'm a bit blocked about the second card, I have the inside all planned out but the outside is not cooperating.  hmmmmm, I'll have to show those when they're done.

Organization: Embossing Supplies

Merry Christmas to me!  I received a Cuttlebug (WARNING: LOUD Youtube video).  With this comes new organization issues.  This tool gives me ideas.  Many people have even made their own embossing folders from rough fabric, mesh grocery bags, coins etc.  All sorts of things can be texturized with it, paper, tissue, vellum, aluminum foil, but nothing thicker than 1/8."  Cuttlebug was one of the original manual cutting systems, cutting "die" plates can still be used.  I can't be bothered to invest in those since the cricut does that, any size I need.  I determined I needed to label each folder so I would know which was what.  That might help prevent purchasing a duplicate down the road.  I read that it is best to put the labels at the very edge of the folders, just the thickness of the label can affect the embossing.  I still need to label the machine itself with a reminder to always put the fold of the folder through first.  Prevention of inadvertent folder destruction?  I took apart all the packaging, trimmed away the bulk & kept the flat parts.  Never know when clear plastic is needed for a window or something.

My first label-maker, that lil guy is handy for all sorts of things.

I cut down a package of Recollections brand paper 8.5x11" into 4 pieces per sheet and punched holes into the corners using my crop-a-dile tool, and then my bind-it-all corner rounder.  I figured out a colour coding system & just kept the paper packaging for reference.  Erasing some of the brown becomes tan for TimHoltz, green for Provocraft, fushia for Sizzix, and plum will be for Fiscars texture plates when I figure out how to use them in this machine.  I still have room for 2 more brands if I should need them.  I did a reference emboss of each folder & put them on a single ring.  I noted the size of each folder on the sample, that may save an oops someday?

 Here is the box I found that fits them perfectly. 

The lid has a spot that I can tape the colour code against for easy reference.

  This box has a nice adjustable bookend thingy in it to keep the growing file from flopping over.  I used leftover cardboard for the dividers. I made the tabs with my McGill tab punch.  That is a heavy slightly clumsy punch to use, but it always works well.  I haven't quite mastered how I want them organized, but I'm starting with floral, theme, and texture and can improve as I go.  Some people have over 200 folders!  Not me, this is almost 30 since I found a decent sale last week.

I have learned a lot from the circle message-board members, the Provocraft message-board, and youtube is a great resource too.  Sometimes the hardest part of organizing is figuring out what to do with it all.