Scrapping by Design

This 4 x 4 art card is intended as an addition to a fat book or chunky book. I made it for a Swap at Art for the Creative Mind. The theme was “strong” and the color was to be gold.

I started with a 4 x 4 piece of gold scrapbook paper, and layered that with gold and white designed scrapbook paper.

I used a piece of thin gold metal and embossed it using the Big Shot and an embossing folder.

I then used the Big Shot to cut out the Tim Holtz rosette die and made the rosette that appears in the upper left side.

Since the theme was strong, I used a quote found on the Internet and applied it manually using a Micron Pen.

The text reads, “It is in herself that she will find the strength she needs…”

This project is a page for a fat book or chunky book. These books are 4″ by 4″s.

Since this was made for a swap at Art for the Creative Mind, there was a specific technique and theme. We were to use blue crackle for the technique and the theme was allure.

I began with navy blue card stock, then painted it with crackle medium. When the crackle was partially dry, I painted over with white paint.

The result reminded me of a snow storm or blizzard. I made this during the time that much of eastern North America was experiencing the worst snow storms in years, so perhaps that is why it brought a snow storm to mind.

How to make a snow storm alluring? By adding a beautiful ballerina dancer, of course.

The dancer is a die cut. I covered the black card stock with double sided sticky tape and then ran it through the Big Shot die cutting and embossing machine. I used black micro beads to cover the dancer and then glued the dancer onto the page as shown.

To add a touch of warmer color, I glued in place a small red-borderd strip of text, which reads “Speak Without Words.”

This Christmas card features a holiday ornament with a die cut angel.

I cut the ornament and angel using the Cricut and the Joys of the Season cartridge.

I backed the angel cut with double sided sticky tape and sprinkled with blue glitter.

The background is embossed using the Big Shot and an embossing folder.

I layered the white on white over dark blue card stock and added a ribbon and some brads for decoration.

Seasons Greetings is a peel away sticker.

It’s a bit late to be posting Christmas cards, but oh well, what can I say? I am a slacker from time to time.

Anyways, I made these two kid’s Christmas cards for my friend’s grandchildren.

The boy gets the train one and the girl gets the other with the rocking horse.

Both of the die cuts are made using the Cricut and the Joys of the Season cartridge.

I put double sided sticky tape behind the cut outs and then sprinkled with clear glitter.

The green card is dry embossed using the Big Shot and an embossing folder.

The “rick rack” is cut using a Bigz die and the Big Shot. I used glittery chip board to make the die cuts.

Merry Christmas is a gold peel away sticker.

I made these altered wooden spools for an altered art swap at Art for the Creative Mind. The theme was “wintery glitter”. Unfortunately, I forgot about the wintery part until the spools were completed. They are not as wintery as I would have liked, but they are cute.

I made a few afterwards in blue and red and gold, hoping for a more Christmassy look.

I made the frills using the Sizzix Sizzlits Decorative Strip Dies By Tim Holtz: Mini Paper Rosettes
and the Big Shot Universal Die Cutting Machine.

I painted the spools with craft paint and glued a decorative element on top and on the side. Mostly, I used old snap-on earrings that someone gave me.

I added glitter to each “skirt” because the theme is Wintery Glitter, after all.

Someone told me that the spools remind her of ballerinas in skirts. They sort of do look that way, don’t they?

This is an Easter card that I made for a little girl. It opens up from the top to display the inside, which is a similar lavender colored circle with a stamped sentiment.

The white, yellow and lavender circles were die cuts with embossing made with Spellbinders Nestabilities dies and the Sizzix Big Shot.

The stamped imaged was done with an assortment of acrylic stamps from Crafty Secrets. I did some masking to create the scene.

I colored the stamped images with watercolor pencils.

The “handle’ is a label die cut from Spellbinders, and it is decorated with two strands of colored ribbon.

This card is entered in the Playing in Paradise Challenge 60

I made several of these fleur de lis snowflake ornaments last year. This year I made only two.  One was a gift in a Secret Santa swap and the other is a gift for my aquafit instructor.

The snowflake is made using the Spellbinders Shapeabilities Pendants – Fleur De Lis and cut on the Big Shot.  The ornament is mounted on an empty ribbon spool and decorated with ribbon and beads.

I made a video last year snowing how I made the ornament.

The video is here for your convenience.

I learned how to make these Clutch mini albums at a workshop at Scrap Arts, our local scrapbook store here in North Vancouver.

The albums are intended to resemble a clutch purse, and can be used as a small mini scrapbook, as a journal for what whatever purpose you desire.

These small books are put together with a unique type of accordion spine. The spine is created with a series of accordion folds, and the pages fit over top of the mountain folds.

Each book has six pages plus front and back cover.

The flower over the clasp is made with the Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals Die.  On one, the flowers are made with a combination of black scrapbook paper and white ribbon. I discovered that you can cut ribbon nicely using the Tim Holtz die and the Big Shot.

On the other book, the flower is made using wedding tulle and a black, velvety material.

I made one of these clutch albums into a wedding album, and the other has pictures of a martial arts event. Both will be Christmas gifts.

I made this artist trading card for a swap with an online group. We are systematically working through the alphabet. Each month we create an ATC using a consecutive letter of the alphabet. This card represents the letter E. The technique is Embossed Metal.
Although the color doesn’t show well in the photo, the metallic square is actually a brilliant gold metal. I don’t know how to describe the metal I used. It’s more than a paper but less than a solid metal. You can sometimes buy it by the yard in some arts and craft stores.

The metal is flexible enough that you can emboss it using the Big Shot and a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I suspect you might be able to cut it using a die and the Big Shot, but I have not yet tried that.

After embossing, I rubbed some metallic rub-ons on the raised part to give some colour.

I layered the embossed metal on white card stock, which I also embossed using a Cuttebug Folder. I layered that on lavender card stock in a color that matches the colour of the embossed flowers.

In real life, this ATC is quite attractive.

Granny’s Brag Book is a small baby book or scrapbook that I made using a Zutter Bind-it-all cover with  inner pages attached with o-rings.  This link goes to a similar product on Amazon: Spine Cover-All 6X6-Flt/Cr .75

I made this book as a gift for a friend who became a grandmother for the second time.  Each page contains a photograph of the new baby girl and/or the older child, an almost-three year old boy. Granny’s pet cat and bird show up from time to time as well.

To make the layouts, I relied heavily on the Spellbinders S4-247 Nestabilities Labels Twelve Die Template which I used in two different ways.

First, I used the Sizzix Big Shot to cut a shape using the second largest die. I scanned this image into the computer and then edited my photos to fit into this shape. I’ll do a second post later showing how to do the photo editing using Photoshop CS. I printed the photos and cut them manually. This meant that each photo was the shape and size of the second largest die.

Next, I blocked each photo using shapes cut from card stock cut using the largest die in the package. As always, I used the Big Shot.
This link leads to a Video Demo of the Big Shot

The little album is decorated in pinks and blues, using baby themes and sometimes cat themes. For embellishments, I used items from my stash — including chipboard flowers and chipboard shapes. I also used rubons, stamped images, alphabets and animal shapes cut using the Cricut Disney Cartridge, Pooh Font Set , ribbons, rickrack,  and on one layout, I used hand crocheted floral shapes.

Here is a video demonstration of Granny’s Brag Book Scrapbook.