Scrapping by Design

I made this birthday card using a layer of blue card stock, a layer of glossy blue card stock and a layer of embossed, floral card stock.

I did the embossing using the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, D’vine Swirls and the Sizzix 655268 Big Shot Cutting-and-Embossing Roller-Style Machine.

The green flower and stamens is a  product purchased from the craft store. I added ribbon tied in a bow and stamped Happy Birthday on the bottom using a rubber stamp from Hero Arts.

I really think the embossing is a great touch to card making. It turns a simple card into something quite lovely — and what a time saver that can be if you are as busy as many of us are.

This birthday card was made for my friend’s mom on her 92 birthday.

Awhile back, I posted a video tutorial showing one way to make paper flowers with punch art.

I invited site visitors to show me their punch art flowers. A few days ago, site visitor Carol Westover sent me a picture of these these lovely flowers she made with punches.  One of the punches is by Stamping Up. I don’t know who makes the other two.

Carol’s blog is Welcome to my Home. She teaches classes at Picture Perfect and Stamps of Approval craft store in Tehachapi, CA.

Carol writes: “It’s (my web site) fairly current right now (for a change) as I’ve recently pulled off the very old work and posted the newer handmade greeting cards, ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards), and color postcards. I’ve made handmade cards for 20 years and have created Artist Trading Cards for the past 6 years. I teach workshops on techniques, greeting cards and ATC’s at Picture Perfect and Stamps of Approval. I was stamping artist of the quarter last fall so my photo is (hopefully) still there under the artist of the month/quarter area.”

Thanks Carol, for sharing your lovely floral punch art and the link to your site.

Note: Carol sent me an email saying, ‘The other two punches are by EKSuccess, and I believe they’re sold by SU, but am not positive about that.” TY for clarifying.

Kim Prince from Creative Diversions blog is giving away the most amazing list of items as blog candy.  It’s a draw. Between now and March 15, you leave a comment on Kim’s blog.  If your name is drawn, you will receive a wonderful supply of stamps and various stamping related items.

Kim is Canadian, but she has stated she will ship to anywhere in the world so every one can play.

Why not throw your hat in the ring and go leave a comment?  The link is Creative Diversions Blog Candy.

At today’s Make and Take at Making Memories with Scrapbooking in Vancouver, we made a delightful card using dies from Spellbinder Nestabilities

The purple circle and the yellow circle are the Nestabilities shapes. The black circle with the word “Smile” is a stamp.

We Used the Nestabilities dies with the Sizzix Big Shot.

To use them as a die, you make the “sandwich”, placing the card stock and the die between two acrylic  cutting surfaces, then placing that on Tab 2.

Nestabilities dies can also be embossed.  To do the embossing, we put the die and the card stock between the two acrylic blocks, but added a Spellbinder Embossing Mat.

This went on Tab 1, cutting and embossing simultaneously.

This cut the circle and created a ring of embossing around the edge. Very attractive.

I don’t have any Nestabilities dies yet, but I certainly want some.

Here are a few scrapbooking tips for using stickers. I saw an excellent post about this on a blog a couple of days ago. Now I can’t find the blog to link to it. Pity. The writer had some great ideas about altering alphabet stickers to make new letters.

I do this as well, so these are my tips:

1. Create new vowels with your alphabet stickers.

E is the most used letter in the alphabet. The other vowels come next. Therefore, we tend to run out of those letters first. With a little thought, you can often alter an alphabet sticker. For example, if you have a pen the same color as the sticker, you can sometimes draw an extra line on F to turn it into E. Turn a V upside down, draw a line and you have an upper case (capital) A. Cut the tail off a lower case “g” to make an “a” or an “o”. Cut the tail off a “y”, add a little line and you have an ‘a’. Turn an ampersand (&) upside down, do a little trimming and you have a small “e”. Cut an 8 in half and you have two “o”s. Cut one side away from an X, turn the remaining side vertical and you have an upper case I. Add a curved line to a c to get an o or an a. Cut a straight line from any straight alphabet to get an I or an i. Cut the tail off a Q to get an O.  Turn an n upside down, cut away anything that doesn’t belong and you have a u

2. Modify the consonants in alphabet stickers

Draw a line on an “N” to get an “M”. Conversely, cut one line away from an M to get an N. Cut the tail from an R to get a P. Draw a second loop on the P to get a B. Cut the tail off a Y to get a V. Turn a P upside down to get a d, and vice versa. Turn an W upside down to get M. A straight line added to a c gets you a d.

3. Interchange numbers with letters.

Ones and zeros can be used as I’s and O’s, for example. Curly 9′s and 6′s are interchangeable, if turned upside down.   8′s can become o’s. With a line added, a 3 can become a B.

4. Alter Stickers for an Aged Look

Shiny, glossy new stickers simply don’t work with a heritage  or shabby chic style. However, you can distress them by sanding, then possibly add a little distress ink and you have a wonderful addition to your layout.

5. Alter Stickers by Adding Glitter or Dimentional Glue.

Stickles is a wonderful product to give a stamp some bling. Dimensional glue in various colors is another good item to use.

6.  Apply glitter to the back of a sticker.

Like the shape but don’t have a use for the sticker?  How about turning it over and coating the sticky side with glitter, micro beads or decorator sand?   If you want to really innovate,  punch or cut a small shape from release paper. Release paper is the paper that stickers come on. It’s called “release paper” because the stickers release.  So punch a shape from release paper. Turn your sticker with the sticky side up. Place your punched out release paper shape ON the sticky side of the sticker. Sprinkle with glitter. Remove excess glitter. The sticker is coated with glitter, except for the part covered by your punched shape. Peel away the release paper shape and sprinkle with a second color of glitter. Shake away excess glitter. You now have a gorgeous shape with two colors of glitter.

If you have any sticker tips, please a comment and share your knowledge with us.

Pergamano Parchment Craft lends itself to so many uses. The two pictures shown here are both birthday cards. I made Girl in a Hat using a pattern from M22, one of Pergamano’s official pattern books.

I made Morning Glory from a free Pergamano pattern that I found somewhere on the Internet. Unfortunately, I have lost it. Too bad. I like this pattern a lot.

I do not claim expert status when it comes to this craft. At an advanced level, Pergamano Parchment craft is truly an art form.

I have discovered a few tips and techniques that make the work faster, simpler or more attractive.

1. Use varying force when embossing. Strong embossing gives you a lovely white color, as shown in the girl’s hat.  Less strong embossing gives a pleasant gray tone, perfect for shading. I have managed a little of this in the frill of the girl’s collar. You can also purchase special tools for shading, such as the Hockey Stick tool.

2. Handle the Tracing Pen and the Tinta Ink correctly.  I posted a question about this at the Pergamano Forum, because when I traced, the pen either did not release ink at all or else the ink came out in great blogs. Thanks to a helpful forum member, I now know the secret to good tracing.  First, when you purchase the pen, wash it well with hot, soapy water to remove grease. Dip the pen in the Tinta ink at a ninety degree angle (straight up and down). Do not dip it into the ink any further than the hole in the nib.  The pen should trace now, but if there are still problems, dip the very tip into a bowl of water to break the surface resistance. Also, wipe the pen each time before you dip it in the ink. Tinta White (and also the Tinta metallic colors) leave a chalky residue that can clog the pen.

3. When embossing, you usually emboss the outside edges first, and then fill in the center.

4. More advanced Pergamano patterns often call for an array of perforating tools in addition to the basic I tool. The I tool has one “needle” and therefore makes one hole when punched.  Other Perforating tools come with various numbers of needles, which may be shaped to form a cross, a circle, a semi -circle etc. Although having these tools is certainly a time saver, you can work all of these patterns with the I tool if you aren’t ready to invest in an extensive Pergamano tool collection.

5. Pergamano Parchment Craft is often colored in specified areas or completely, using Pergamano Dorso Crayons or Pastels, Pergamano Perla Ink, or other coloring products. I have found that you can also create lovely colored effects by using artist chalks or Brush Art Markers such as those produced by Marvy Uchida.

6. You can enlarge or shrink any Pergamano pattern to fit the project you want to work on. Use a photocopier to change the size, or edit your pattern digitally using Photoshop Elements or similar software.

7. You can modify a Pergamano Parchment Craft pattern to include or eliminate an element. If your pattern reads “Happy Birthday” but you want it to say “Get Well Soon”, simply open your word processor, write Get Well Soon using a script font, and print it on regular printer paper, at the size you want.  Position this where you want it on the pattern and trace in the usual way.

8. Skip the Tracing Pen completely and use a White Gel pen instead. It’s not “authentic”, but if it works for you, then go for it.

9. Use a Pergamano Easy Mesh Grid if you’re planning on doing any of the more complex patterns with intricate designs. You can skip using some of the tools and get acceptible results, but the mesh grid is not one of them.

10. Incorporate your Pergamano projects in your scrapbooks and mini albums. A beautifully done Pergamano project is a great stand-alone embellishment, but you can also make wonderful frames for your photos or journaling, fancy corners for your photos or small embellishments that you mat on colored cardstock or paper.

You can get supplies fromPergamano.com and of course, you can always get Pergamano Parchment Craft Supplies at eBay.

I made these two Pergamano Parchment Craft projects using Pergamano’s basic starter kit. These two items are included in the kit, which contains seven project patterns, parchment paper, a Dorso crayon, Tinta ink, a tracing pen, an embossing tool and an I tool used for both stippling and perforating.
The little gift box is tinted a lavender shade, decorated with embossed flowers front and back and tied with a ribbon. The Valentine Envelope has two perforated hearts that “seal” the envelope top as it folds downward.

I have heard people say that Pergamano requires many, many tools. This is a misconception. Although it is true that many tools are available, one does not need all of them to create a lovely project. In fact, you could make any number of projects with the tools in the kit. You would eventually have to replace the ink and the crayon, and of course, buy more parchment paper, but that is it.

You can often find free Pergamano patterns on the web. In fact, the official Pergamano Web Site has some available to people who join the My Pergamano area, which is also free to join.

Here is a video demonstration of me making the small gift box shown above.

You can get supplies for Pergamano Parchment Craft at Ebay

What do toilet paper, a rubber stamp and a scrapbook layout have in common?  Well, believe it or not, you can create unusual, attractive, and extremely economical scrapbook embellishments using a rubber stamp and a few squares of toilet paper.

The pictures show a toilet paper casting I made using a mushroom stamp. I have used it as a focal point in a hand made mini album.

How to Make a Toilet Paper Casting

1. Locate a deeply cut rubber stamp. This will not work well with a fine cut stamp.

2. Optionally, tap your stamp with an ink. Depending on how your ink reacts with water, this will give you various tints and shades of color.  This is arguably the cheapest embellishment you will ever make, so live it up. Experiment with lots of inks and colors. Alternatively, you can omit inking your stamp and opt for a pure white casting. (Or use colored toilet paper).

3. Tear or cut several squares of toilet paper. The squares should be larger than the stamp. You could also use tissue or perhaps even serviettes or napkins. I have not tried the latter, but I see no reason why they would not work.

4. Get a small bowl of water. Dip one toilet paper square into the water so you have a wet spot in the middle.   Place this wet paper in the stamp. Pat it down with your fingers or use a Q Tip.

5. Repeat with additional squares of toilet tissue. Continue layering until you have five or six layers. You will get differing results depending on the ply used.

6. Using a paper towel, squeeze down over the layers of toilet paper, blotting away excess water.

7.  Remove your wet casting from the stamp. Move carefully.

8. Allow to partially dry, then tear away excess toilet paper, leaving as wide a border as you wish.  Avoid tearing into the casting itself, as this is likely to cause it to pull apart.

9. When fully dry, color your casting or decorate in any way that comes to mind.  Attach to your scrapbook page or or project using a glue or adhesive.

Please understand that these toilet paper castings are not acid free or lignon free. Avoid using them in any proeject that you wantto be archival.

Other than that, have fun with these unique scrapbook embellishments made with rubber stamps.  I’d love to hear your experiences with this technique.

Sometimes magic happens. Or at least, amusing and interesting accidents happen,  so why not call it magic?

Prominent crafty lady Suze Weinberg posted a picture on her blog this morning. She created a couple of items of cloisonne art using a Formica chip, black UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel), a rubber stamp and a melting pot. Purely by accident, one chip has a perfect picture of a woman’s face.

You couldn’t make that happen if you tried.

Some people (including me) can see a second face in the same chip, although the second one is less exact and requires a little more imagination.

Check it out at Suze Weinberg’s Amazing Formica Face.”

Formica chip art, which is another example of altered art, can appear as stand alone small pieces of art, or you can use it to embellish your scrapbook and paper crafting projects.

Formica chips are the counter top samples you can pick up at many hardware stores or home improvement depots.  Grab some craft paint, some stamping ink, some UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel), a few rubber stamps or acrylic stamps, some scrapbook paper, some stickers, some ribbon and get ready to create these small and beautiful collages.

The video below demonstrates four samples of Formica chip art, all suitable for scrapbooking purposes. It also gives a demonstration of  using UTEE, Versamark waterproof ink and a heat tool to create interesting surfaces.  You can get most,or all of these items at Joann.com

Formica chip art also makes a great tag, key chain, magnet, pendant or other item of altered art.