Show & Tell - Boho backgrounds shabby chic card

Here’s the card I came up with for the shoe box project swap I’m participating in tonight.

Yesterday I did a post showing you my altered shoe box. As promised here’s a look inside the box. Everything to create this card {see list below} are in this shoe box. I also pre-cut all the papers and ribbons needed for this project. There’s a total of nine bags, one for each of the attendees. Each baggie holds the paper, ribbon, string and mesh. Also inside the box are the supplies: stamps, inks, punches, blender pen and sand paper.

I’m looking forward to the shoe box swap tonight and will share more with you later. If you have the boho background stamps and want my how-to for this card I’m happy to share it with you. If you want to order the stamps or supplies for this, feel free to email me. Anyone who orders the Boho Background stamps from me will get the Spring/Summer 2008 catalog for free {$10 value}!

XOOXO

Products used
Boho Background stamps $15.95 {set of 4} - you can see these on page 109 Whisper White & Old Olive cardstock
Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive & Close to Cocoa classic stampin’ pads
Blender pen
White grosgrain ribbon
Craft string
White mesh
Scallop punch
Circle punch
Distress Ink {Antique Linen}
Sandpaper or distressing tool

Homemade portable scrapbooking organizer

I’ve seen a couple of the portable scrapbooking organizers and thought I could make one myself for a lot less. Here’s what I came up with…I went to Storables and got this 12×12 magnetic board that came with 12 magnets for $16.95. I already had a display for it to rest on and it works great! Pictured to the left is a layout I’m working on. Nothing is adhered yet just hanging on the magnetic board with the magnets.

The magnets are super strong and will hold everything I’ve tried, including chipboard and buttons. I’m really enjoying using this magnetic board for designing my pages. I can easily move photos and embellishments around the page, and it keeps my desk cleaner.

To make this portable I just slip it into my portable page/paper protector I got on clearance from Oriental Trading for less than $2. Another option is using a 12×12 box. If you order paper online or get monthly kits keep those 12×12 boxes, they would work great for this too.

Creative flower tutorials

Check out these creative flower tutorials. I love a big chunky flower and this flower is all that!! It’s so fun. Go to the Lookin on the Bright Side blog for this wonderful fluffy flower tutorial.

Martha always has such fabulous ideas. Look at this paper carnation made with cupcake liners!

Here’s a funky flower made of painted jute posted on the Scrap Magie site. The tutorial is by Marina Simakova.

These 3D flowers are really cool. Laine at the Of Photos & Paper blog has a simple how-to posted on her blog.

A book review - lots of fun scrappy techniques!

I got this book last week and it’s so awesome!! Artist Trading Card Workshop {Create Collect Swap}, by Bernie Berlin. Don’t let the title fool you into thinking this book is only for ATC crafters. There is a wealth of information and versatile techniques that can be applied to scrapbooking, cards, tags, canvas and altered items.

There are a ton of techniques in here that I have not heard of…and you know I search around looking for stuff like this all the time. There are 32 clever ideas with close-up, step-by-step photos. The range of techniques she shows is awesome. Some really cool stuff like watercoloring on baby wipes, painting on paper towels, creative ways to use magazine images and phone book pages. I’m very visual and this book is great, lots of eye candy and inspiration on every page.

Specifically for ATCs, there is great information and resources for trading, swaps, creative ways to store your ATC’s and an inspirational gallery.

This is a wonderful inspiration/reference book to have in your collection. I recommend this for anyone who enjoys experimenting with different techniques and textures. I’ve looked at this book every day since I’ve purchased it! You can check it out on Amazon. They have a {Search Inside} feature for this book and you can see the baby wipes tutorial, so cool!

To learn about the author, Bernie Berlin check out her blog. Lots of great pictures of her ATCs are posted there. She also founded A Place to Bark, a wonderful non-profit animal shelter. So much good stuff!!

Friday Freebie - CD album template

I’ve been wanting to make an altered CD album and came across these awesome templates made by Digital Scrapbook Memories. There’s a total of 10 PSD files to download and customize. There are also template instructions, display, and mounting ideas too. Note: You don’t need an account to download these, but if you are trying to view the samples you do need an account. Shown in the image to the right is a sample I made using today’s freebie and papers and embellishments from this freebie here.

Get the Friday Freebie

Happy Friday! XOOXO ~ Cathy

Show & Tell - Altered chipboard tags

Here’s some altered chipboard tags I made for a couple of my Fisk-A-Teer friends. These were fun and quick to make. These were very similar to making the ATCs.

The blue bird tag is from the VersaMark tags I made the other day. I had a little more fun playing around with those and sprayed Glimmer Mist on them and they look really cool. It’s hard to see in the photo, the Glimmer Mist added a nice sparkly sheen. I also sprayed the top flowers on both tags with Glimmer Mist too.

Products used

• Chipboard {Repurposed from my recycling bin}
• Die cut tags {Sizzix}
• Chipboard bird {Collections}
• Flowers {Prima}
• Glimmer Mist {Pearl}
• Yellow Brad {Kimberly Polson}
• Pink flower brad {Portafolia}
• Ribbon {Really Reasonable Ribbon}
• Flourish stamp {Stampin Up}
• Boho stamp {Stampin Up}
• Bird Stamp {Rhonna Farrer}
• Date stamp {Staples}
• Pink Cardstock {Stampin Up}
• Monogram Stamp {JustRite}
• Fiskars pop-up butterfly punch
• Versamark pad
• Adhesive {Gluedots}
• Crackle Paint {Tim Holtz}
• Mesh {FibaTape}
• Stickles {Cotton Candy}
• Raffia {repurposed from some packaging}

Fun with VersaMark

I’ve been experimenting with the VersaMark ink pad. Check out these tags I made.

I just inked up my stamp with VersaMark and stamped directly onto the chipboard for a watermark effect. I’ve seen this done on cardstock, but not chipboard. I really like how this looks on the chipboard and loving this ink pad right now. Check out all the cool techniques for using it.

Not sure what I’m doing with these tags yet. I’ll be sure to show you them when they’re done. XOOXO

Show & Tell - Girls of the world mini board book

I made this mini {Girls of the World} board book for my 3 year old niece. I intentionally left this as a picture book so she can make up her own stories. I like how it came out and it was a ton of fun to make.

I didn’t do any prep to the board book and used my Xyron for adhesive. I’ve done several board books before with different types of adhesive and find that the Xyron works best for me when adhering paper to the chipboard. I also used the Xyron 150 to adhere the girl images onto the paper. Next I painted the edges of the pages with metallic gold paint. I remember when I was little having books with gold pages and thought that would be fun for this book too. I finished off the book by applying modge podge to the pages and black book binding tape to the seam.

Products used

• Chipboard book {Creative Imaginations, Melodee book} **awesome book for altering, love it…great quality and going to buy more of these**
• Paper {My Minds Eye}
• Girls of the World Images {free download from Stampin When I can}
• Adhesive {Xyron 900 & 150}
• Yellow cardstock {Portafolia}
• Gold Paint {DecoArt}

Show & Tell - Altered baby wipes box

I made this altered baby wipes box to hold my daughter’s hair clips. I had been keeping the clips in here and it has been a good storage box so I decided to try and make it a bit more pretty.

This was an easy project. I used a ruler to measure the areas of the box that I wanted to cover with paper. Then cut out the paper and sprayed it with pearl Glimmer Mist for a little sparkle. Next I ran the papers through the Xyron for adhesive. The brown ribbon was adhered with wet glue.  The blue ribbon was just wrapped around and then tied a knot in the back. The pink flowers were put on with glue dots.

For the clear flower layered on top the pink one, I made this using my Sizzix Bigshot. I ran some acetate {it really was old transparency film, the kind you get at the office supply store for making overheads} through my Sizzix and then used black StazOn to stamp a French script stamp on the die cut flower. I like how it came out. I’ll be using more of these transparent flowers on future projects.

Products used

• Baby wipes box {Huggies}
• Adhesive {Xyron & Ultimate Glue}
• Patterned paper {My Mind’s Eye}
• Flowers {Prima}
• Mesh glitter ribbon {Really Reasonable Ribbon}
• Brown ribbon {repurposed from some packaging}
• Blue ribbon {Portafolia Gifted Memories}
• Pink brad {SEI}
• Clear flower {die cut using Sizzix}
• Glimmer Mist

ATCs

I received this awesome ATC from Lisa today. It’s so fabulous, I just love it. She also sent me this way-cool card. Her designs are so fun!

Here’s another ATC I received from my friend Don. He is super crafty! I love the Asian theme and embellishment he added to it.