handmade cass

I'm done! I am so happy to have all of my Christmas cards in the mail and I love the way they turned out. I didn't have to buy any new materials (aside from the postage and photo prints) and got to use some supplies that I really love. Hooray!  They were done on December 1st but it took me a few days to get photos.   I wanted to use clear envelopes without mailing labels, so I needed to address the dark purple metallic paper that was the card backing. Originally, I tried using copper ink and pens to tie in with the copper metallic thread I used, but the white stood out much better. The return address was stamped with Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment Ink and then embossed with WOW Super Fine White Embossing Powder. I had to learn the hard way that the white pigment ink never dried on the metallic paper. My Christmas cards evolved a bit from the sketch I made a few months back . After I started die-cutting all the layers and did a test version, I streamlined the process ...

I had some crafting time with my daughter a few days ago and I was able to stamp and die cut all the shapes from the Avery Elle "polar pals" stamp set. This morning I'm spending some time coloring and learning to love my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers. I don't know if it is due to the marker colors in the 36 set or if it is a user error, but I am having some trouble blending the pinks. However this shows that I am getting better. Celebrate the small stuff!

This is the year I promised myself I would start making handmade Christmas cards again. And since it has been years since I have attempted it (4 years since I made these honeycomb Christmas tree cards ) I have a really complicated idea for what I want to accomplish. It is a book style card, with layers and a pocket inside for a photo. I have it sketched out and have a month and a half to get all 51 cards finished up. So far, I have the Lawn Fawn trees stamped on Basic Grey paper (Copic colored trunks) and they are waiting to be fussy cut. Ironically, I think it is going to be more difficult to get a good photo of my two kids to include than to finish all of these labor intensive cards. If you need me anytime soon, I'll be working on these! 

I had this crazy idea to build a king size bed frame. We moved in 2014, but saved our own room as the last one to paint, decorate, and furnish. After sleeping in a deep, dark red room for two years my mom offered to paint it for us. That really got the ball rolling because I was in love with the room again once that dark red hue was gone and I was surrounded in serene Benjamin Moore "Misted Green" paint. But once it came down to actually buying new furniture my budget got the best of me. I have expensive taste and limited secondhand furniture options because we live in a small town. I picked out this set of instructions for a DIY West Elm Alexa reclaimed wood bed frame . My mom also agreed to help me out with the construction and teach me how to use some new to me power tools. It took me three weekends, and cost just about $260 for all the supplies needed - I had the wood stain and power tools, but needed to buy everything else including a Kreg jig. There were a f...

We kept busy this summer with crafts for the whole family. I started by making a book with all the best scraps of patterned paper I had after cleaning up my craft room. There were spots for my daughter to color, draw, and write stories. My trusty, old Zutter book binder pulled it all together. I took the time to fussy cut some of the stamped images I had mixed in with the scrap paper. This matryoshka from Hero Arts is one of my favorites. A friend was having her first baby and I wanted to make an extra special card. I used Distress Stains to ink smoosh a background. The stars are hanging on gold thread. When my daughter saw that I was making my own coloring sheets (with a stamp from Paper Source), she insisted on helping me watercolor it. Then I had to give it to her because she loved it so much (even though I did too). Update: she still has this hanging up in her room 2 years later We took some visiting family members to the local ceramics painting studio and I made a b...

I wanted to send cards to a couple family members that visited recently, and the Hero Arts paper layering pineapple die was the perfect thing to get me started. To start, I outlined the die on watercolor paper and colored it in using ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens (from the set of 36). When the watercolor was almost dry (because I am super impatient) I used the pineapple die, bent the layers back, and glued it onto a pre-made card. I also used a die cut sentiment from Avery Elle's Stay Fresh set, and adhered it to the interior of the card. This also happened to be the perfect project for the Simon Says "Anything Goes" challenge this week. Supplies: die cuts - Hero Arts (paper layering pineapple), Avery Elle (stay fresh) watercolor - ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Pens watercolor paper - Loew Cornell adhesive - Tombo Mono Multi liquid glue card base - Michael's

I received a set of Inktense pencils for Christmas and was so excited to try them. Why did I wait so long? The bright colors are so beautiful! I was working on a set of cards for my stamp club and started with the floral image top, left. By the time I was done (bottom, right) I was pretty happy with myself. Supplies: stamp - Stampin' Up (Birthday Blooms set) ink - Ranger Distress Ink watercolor pencils - Inktense water brush - Pentel watercolor paper - Canson

I originally started this blog in 2009 when I was just trying Tim Holtz Distress Inks for the first time . I always got so frustrated when I would get rectangle shaped dark ink spots that were impossible to blend out. I eventually got a bit better at the blending but never really enjoyed it. But all that has changed and I have a renewed love for these distress inks! The new mini ink blending tool from Ranger is so much easier to use. And how great is it that the blender pads fit into the bottom of the mini ink pads?! I'm most excited to start making some night sky and sunset backgrounds. But today I needed to make up a sign for our guest room because we have a summer full of visitors. This sign will have all of our Wifi info so they can stay connected during their vacation with us. Does anyone else have a crazy complicated password? I guess I could try to figure out how to change it but that would take time away from crafts. This project also forced me to do some heat embo...

I am going to call this the card with the best intentions. I had taken a break from paper crafts for a while because life was crazy, and jumping back in was more difficult than I hoped. I tried to take a shortcut and do some background blending without the right tools. Big mistake. Especially since this technique is new to me. Time to go watch some more Laura Bassen videos . But at least my daughter's friend will love this card for her My Little Pony birthday party. So in the end I'll call it a success. Supplies : stamps - Lawn Fawn "Critters Ever After" ink - Memento | Tim Holtz Distress Ink markers - Copic | Wink of Stella cardstock - Neenah Solar White | Michael's card base