May Crafty Things and Obsessions

I know it’s almost June, but I did a lot of crafty things in May, and obtained new things and became obsessed with other things.  So I thought I would share them here.  I was writing posts for my personal private blog today and discovered a bunch of these fun photos from May, so I thought I’d post them over here on my public blog as well.

I Copic colored a bunch of things, because my Copic collection is finally at a place that I have enough colors to use!

I got a laminator and started foiling things.

I cleaned up and messed up my craft room many times over.

I got obsessed with traveler’s notebooks (Midori + fauxdoris) and ordered this Sojourner (Field Notes sized) from Rowena Curtis (@retrowtures on Instagram).  It arrived on 5/20.  I love it and have used it a lot!  I have four notebooks in there currently:  a calendar, a brain dump one, a sketch/draw one, and then one for lists (such as movies I’ve watched this year, crafty ideas to try, etc.)

I got obsessed with making DIY folders to go into my traveler’s notebook. 

I also got obsessed with Hobonichi planners and did a lot of research.  I finally ordered a Hobonichi Techno Avec from Japan at the end of May.

I got some more new pens from Jetpens.  That combined with my new traveler’s notebook obsession, I tested pen and ink pads on papers and notebooks quite a bit.  This was on the 32 lb Hammermill copy paper that I had a ream of already.  None of my pens bled through this, even the fountain pens.  Some of my inks bled through, especially the dye inks.  I think pigment and chalk inks work best in notebooks/planners, if you plan to use the other side of the paper.

I got two $9 containers from Amazon to hold my Copic markers and my pen collection!  Best thing is they stack, so it’s an expandable system.

I also re-discovered my Pilot Hi-Tec-C 05 pens and used them a lot.

I made Monika’s baby a softie kitty.

I made Peppermint a nerdy cat pen pouch for her birthday.

I made a bunch of cards in May.

For Todd’s mom Sylvia for Mother’s Day.

For Jen Carlson’s birthday.

Foiled cards.  This one for Sally’s birthday.

The next two for Paper Issues sponsored by Therm O Web.

This one for Monika’s baby shower.

This one for Peppermint’s birthday.

This one for Todd’s dad Tim’s birthday.

I got this set of stamps from Kelly Purkey and I love the pile of crap emoticon stamp!  I want to stamp that on my work notebook every day!

I actually do a lot of crafty things that aren’t for creative teams.  Those hardly ever make it onto my blog anymore.  If there’s anything you want to see more of, or that you want me to discuss in more detail. please leave a comment.

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Design A Softie | Pen Pouch Birthday Gift

After making that first softie for a baby shower, I decided to make a pencil pouch birthday gift for Peppermint.  I followed the same basic design, except that instead of a stuffed animal I turned it into a pen pouch.  And since it’s a pen pouch, I thought I would make him a nerdy cat! :-)

And I included two Uni-ball Signo DX Hello Kitty Limited Edition pens.

I used two pieces of felt for each side, front and back.  The outside is cream felt and the inside lining is gray felt.

I sent him off with a handmade card.

He got to Peppermint safely!

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Paper Issues | Therm-O-Web Deco Foil

The new issue link party is up on the Paper Issues blog today!  It’s called “Hooray for the Red, White, and Blue” and it’s all about these three colors, patriotic, parades, Memorial Day, nautical elements.  This issue is sponsored by Therm-O-Web and it’s all about their deco foil! 

Therm-O-Web sponsored this issue and sent me a few different colors of their Deco Foil and different adhesives to work with them.  I was so intrigued and wanted to experiment with it all!

The first project I did was to foil my red Moleskine Cahier notebook. 

I simply used some AC double-sided tape and adhered them to the notebook.  Then I pressed the gold Deco Foil onto the tape and peeled it off.  The Deco Foil adhered to the tape and I have a beautifully striped foil notebook!

For my next project I used two methods to add foil.  I printed the cat graphic from Simple Stories with my laser printer and ran it through my laminator with the rainbow Deco Foil on top of the print. 

For the numbers, I used the balloon numbers die from Avery Elle and diecut them out of Scor-Tape double-sided adhesive sheets.  Then I adhered them onto my card first, then put the gold foil sheet on top of the numbers and pressed down.  I removed the foil sheet and the numbers were gold foiled!

For my next project I used a couple of different methods of foiling.  I stamped the background images with cameras onto my cardstock with Versa Mark ink.  Then I heat embossed it with clear fine embossing powder.  After that I ran it through my laminator with the teal foil on top of the embossing.  This method doesn’t yield as crisp of an image as graphics printed with a laser printer, but it does give it an artsy look.

I diecut the “thanks” using Therm-O-Web’s Double-Sided Foam Adhesive sheets and Lawn Fawn’s “Scripty Thanks” die.  Then I pressed the Deco Foil down onto the diecut word and removed it.  The foil adhered to the word and looks so pretty!

For my last project I used Therm-O-Web’s Hot Melt Adhesive and diecut stars out of them.  Then I used my laminator to hot melt the adhesive to the cardstock.  After that I peeled off the papers on top of the stars and ran it through the laminator again with the foil on top.  The blue foil adhered to the hot melt stars and turned out so cool!

I hope you enjoyed a look at the various methods I used to add some foil to my cards!  Be sure to link up your projects to the Paper Issues blog post for a chance to win a prize pack from Therm-O-Web!

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Make A Card | Hello 40 Shaker Card

I made this card for my friend AJ’s 40th birthday.  I decided to use gold elements for some elegance and masculinity.  I didn’t think cutesy was the way to go this time,  ha ha!  I made it a shaker card by adding some gold sequins behind the diecut numbers.  There’s acetate backing the 40 so that the sequins don’t fall out.

Size: 4.25” x 5.5” vertical

Techniques:  manual diecutting, shaker elements

Project Supplies:

• Papertrey Ink - Stamper's Select White cardstock, Gold Shimmer cardstock
• Simon Says Stamp - Stitched Rectangles dies
• Simon Says Stamp - Simple Numbers die
• Lawn Fawn - Scripty Hello die
• Simon Says Stamp – Kelly Purkey flat gold sequins
• DCWV - Foiled Vellum Stack 6x6

Tools:

• Fiskars - Procision Trimmer
• Martha Stewart – Scoring Board
• Scotch - Advanced Tape Glider
• Scotch - Foam mounting tape
• Fiskars - Stamp Block Set
• Sizzix - Big Shot

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Make A Card | Congratulations

I made my friends Monika & David a congratulations card for expecting a baby.  You can read about Monika’s pregnancy story here. 

Size: 4.25” x 5.5” vertical

Techniques:  stamping, manual diecutting, stitching

Project Supplies:

• Papertrey Ink - Stamper's Select White cardstock
• Simon Says Stamp - Stitched Rectangles dies
• Simon Says Stamp - In Stitches Heart Die
• American Crafts – Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm paper
• DMC – red embroidery floss
• Studio Calico – people wood veneer
• Lawn Fawn - Scripty Sayings stamp set
• Hero Arts - Ombre Pool to Navy

Tools:

• Fiskars - Procision Trimmer
• Martha Stewart – Scoring Board
• Scotch - Advanced Tape Glider
• Glue Dots
• Fiskars - Stamp Block Set
• Sizzix - Big Shot

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Make A Card | A Couple of Thank You Cards

Hi everyone!  I’m sharing a couple of thank-you cards that I made a week ago to give to friends.

The first is a thank you card for our next-door neighbor Fred.  Fred takes very good care of Noodle when we go on vacations and trips.  He took care of Noodle all week when we were in Hawaii in March.  So I made him a cat-themed thank-you card and put a gift card for him in there.

Size: 4.25” x 5.5” vertical

Techniques:  stamping, ink blending with stencil, manual diecutting, Copic coloring

Project Supplies:

• Papertrey Ink - Stamper's Select White cardstock
• Simon Says Stamp - Stitched Rectangles dies
• My Favorite Things - Paw Prints stencil
• Simon Says Stamp - Premium Dye Ink Pad SLATE Gray
• Lawn Fawn - Thank You Tags stamps
• My Favorite Things - I Knead You stamp set
• My Favorite Things - I Knead You dies
• Memento ink - Tuxedo Black
• Copic Sketch Marker - R22 Light Prawn, W3 Warm Grey No.3, W5 Warm Grey No.5

Tools:

• Fiskars - Procision Trimmer
• Martha Stewart – Scoring Board
• Scotch - Advanced Tape Glider
• Scotch - Foam mounting tape
• Tombow - Mono Multi adhesive
• Fiskars - Stamp Block Set
• Sizzix - Big Shot

 

The other thank-you card was for Peppermint, who gave me the cupcake stamps & dies for my birthday!

Size: 4.25” x 5.5” vertical

Techniques:  stamping, manual diecutting, Copic coloring

Project Supplies:

• Papertrey Ink - Stamper's Select White cardstock
• Patterned Paper - Studio Tekturek Sweet Memories #01
• Simon Says Stamp - Stitched Rectangles dies
• Papertrey Ink - Baker's Dozen stamp set
• Papertrey Ink - Baker's Dozen Die Collection
• Memento ink - Tuxedo Black
• Hero Arts - Ombre Pink to Red
• Copic Sketch Marker - R22 Light Prawn
• BIC - Mark-It Ultra Fine Permanent Marker
• Zig Wink of Stella - Clear Glitter Brush Marker
• Ranger - Glossy Accents

Tools:

• Fiskars - Procision Trimmer
• Martha Stewart – Scoring Board
• Scotch - Advanced Tape Glider
• Scotch - Foam mounting tape
• Tombow - Mono Multi adhesive
• Fiskars - Stamp Block Set
• Sizzix - Big Shot

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Make A Card | Lots of Cupcakes

On Friday 3/27, I had a birthday girls happy hour with my friends from work to celebrate all of us who have March birthdays.  I decided to make birthday cards for all the other girls who have March birthdays.  I used the same stamp & die set to make each card assembly-line style.

Size: 4.25” x 5.5” vertical

Techniques:  stamping, manual diecutting, coloring 

Project Supplies:

• Papertrey Ink - Perfect Match Cardstock Sampler
• American Crafts - POW! Glitter Paper
• Papertrey Ink - Baker's Dozen stamp set
• Papertrey Ink - Baker's Dozen Die Collection
• Hero Arts ink pads - Ombre Pink to Red , Ombre Butter to Orange, Ombre Mint to Green, Ombre Pool to Navy, Ombre Gray to Black
• Memento ink - Tuxedo Black
• BIC - Mark-It Ultra Fine Permanent Marker
• Copic Sketch Marker - R22 Light Prawn
• Zig Wink of Stella - Clear Glitter Brush Marker

Tools:

• Fiskars - Procision Trimmer
• Martha Stewart – Scoring Board
• Scotch - Advanced Tape Glider
• Scotch - Foam mounting tape
• Tombow - Mono Multi adhesive
• Fiskars - Stamp Block Set

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Paper Issues | Cards Using Stamps, Dies, & Patterned Papers

Good morning!  I am up on the Paper Issues blog today to show you some cards that I created using stamps, dies, and patterned papers! Usually when I make cards I use my stamps & dies the most.  But I challenged myself to use some patterned papers this time.  I’m loving the layered paper look on cards and it’s such a bonus that you can use scrap leftover patterned papers!

For this birthday card that I gave to my next-door neighbor Fred (who takes care of our cat Noodle when we go on trips), I used a piece of rectangular patterned paper and I sewed a border around it with Caribbean baker’s twine from The Twinery.  I stamped the handdrawn frame onto patterned paper using Lawn Fawn’s Flirty Frames stamp set.  Then I use the coordinating Flirty Frames metal dies to diecut the frame out.  I love how the Lawn Fawn dies are an outline and not solid through the middle, so it’s really easy to stamp first, then line the metal die up and make the perfect cut!

I made this next birthday card for my nephew.  I used Lawn Fawn’s Year Five Otter stamp set and coordinating dies to make this card, along with some patterned papers.  Otters are one of my favorite animals and I love the punny sentiment “Have an otterly great birthday”! 

For my last birthday card that I made for a friend, I used the same stamp from Lawn Fawn’s Scripty Sayings stamp set with different colored inks to create a festive rainbow background.  I love how colorful it looks.  On the bottom of the card, I used the Happy Birthday Border Die to create a bigger “Happy Birthday to You” that stands out.  I love how the die cuts the sentiment just long enough for a horizontal card!

Lawn Fawn has also come out with some brand-new inks that I can’t wait to check out.  I just received some new Hero Arts ombre inks that I’m excited to use.  It would have worked really well with the Scripty Sayings stamps, but I didn’t have the ombre inks yet when I made the card. That just means I need to play with my new inks more and make more cards!  :-)

Hope you enjoyed having a look at how I used some new stamps, dies, and patterned papers to make some birthday cards for family & friends!  Don’t forget, you can use my code LISTGIRL to get 20% off your entire Paper Issues order!

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

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