Spellbinders Foiled Fall Card

Decided to make a card for Fall using one of the foiled/stenciled card fronts I recently hot foiled using the Spellbinders BetterPress Raining Pumpkins Plate. Here is a photo of the foiled piece after hot foiling and then after stenciled:

Wanted to use a pumpkin coloured card stock for the card base but with that colour and all the pumpkins on the stenciled piece it was too much. So I decided to add white to the card front to break this up - here is the finished card:

I cut and scored at the top the pumpkin coloured card stock base. Cut a piece of white card stock to the size I wanted for the card front. Put that on the card base using liquid glue. Trimmed the hot foiled pumpkin piece to the size I needed for the card front. For the greeting I used the "Happy Fall Sentiments" die set from Spellbinders:

For the shadow pieces behind the words I used scrap pumpkin card stock and for the words I used scrap gold poster board from the Dollar Tree. I used liquid glue and put the words onto the shadow pieces. Did not want to put them right onto the foiled/stenciled pumpkin piece so I decided to cut a piece of vellum to go behind the words. I cut the vellum longer than the width of the card front and wrapped it around the foiled/stenciled pumpkins piece to the back. Then put the foiled/stenciled card front onto the white card front using liquid glue. 

Now to add the words and shadow pieces -- did not want to glue them to the foiled/stenciled pumpkins so I pulled out a scrap piece of card stock and put that behind the vellum piece. Then I added liquid glue to the shadow/word pieces and put them on the vellum for the card front:

Removed the scrap card stock once the words were dried and here is the card again:

And a photo to show the poster board letters on the shadow pieces:

The foiled poster board also has a brushed gold finish to it so it goes well with the gold background on the card front. Closer to time to mail the card I will add a little bling to the card front for some sparkle. 

Spellbinders BetterPress Raining Pumpkins Plate

Recently bought the Spellbinders BetterPress Raining Pumpkins plate at a store that was closing but they did not have the matching stencil set for that plate. I found a scrapbooking store in Georgia that had this stencil set in stock and they ship orders so I bought the stencil set from them. I do not have the BetterPress system but I planned to hot foil this pumpkin plate anyways. Here is a photo of this plate with the matching stencil set:

Using Hammerill white card stock I foiled this plate in different colours of foils. I wanted to use a brushed gold foil for my background but the brushed gold foil I have in the stash curls each time I cut it off the roll. To fix that problem I pulled out the mint tape and had to tape these foil pieces to the white card stock to keep it flat to hot foil:

After it was hot foiled I removed the mint tape to reveal the pumpkin pattern:

Once the foiling was done I used the stencil set to add colours to the pumpkins - here is the photo right after the foiling and again after the stenciling:

I use a Wilton cake decorating turntable from Walmart to stencil on and it is so easy to just spin this turntable while stenciling to add colours. Here is the second foiled pumpkin piece I stenciled and each stenciled piece I used different inks on:

These stenciled pieces will be used for Fall/Thanksgiving card fronts. I also foiled the negative foil pieces and I can use those for tags and such:

Will say my Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine does not release the hot foil platform easily so in the beginning when I would use it I had a lot of over foiling from trying to get the platform off the machine. Then I saw Carissa Wiley on YouTube show how she hot foils and since then I do the same and have not had any over foiling - she puts the plate on the platform and lets it heat up with the timer. Then she removes the platform, puts her foil and card stock over the plate and then runs this slowly through her manual die cutting machine. So now that I remove the platform first and then put the foil with card stock on it each project foils perfectly! Thanks to Carissa for sharing that tip! 

Hot Foiling Morning #1

Decided I would hot foil some projects since I have some new Betterpress Plates and new hot foil plates to use... Recently a paper crafting store in Greensboro closed and I was able to pick up a few hot foil plates to add to the stash. First is a hot foil plate that is from LDRS and I did not know they had any hot foil plates. Here is a photo of that hot foil plate and they call it the "Merry Christmas" Press + Foil Plate:

This hot foil plate foils perfectly and is a great plate if you have to make a lot of cards. I used various foils from my stash for each sample:

Also foiled the negative for each one:

Laid these out on card fronts (nothing is attached yet) to show them on a card base:

I used a set of the Spellbinders frame dies to cut out all the card fronts. The foils are poster boards from the Dollar Tree. Easy card to hot foil both positive and negative with great results. Easy cards to put together.

Hot Foiling Morning #2

Recently a paper crafting store in Greensboro closed and I was able to shop her closing sale. I picked up a BetterPress plate from Spellbinders and it is called "Festive Circle Sentiments". This is a nice BetterPress plate set for the holidays - Although I do not have the BetterPress system from Spellbinders I have bought a few BetterPress plates and I have hot foiled them with my Glimmer machine . They foil beautifully and this set was no exception. This set has the sentiment circles, the die cutting plate for the circle sentiments, as well as three different solid circle dies for the pieces behind the sentiments. Here is a photo of that set:

I foiled the sentiment circles in different colour foils and I used both the positive and negative foil pieces:

The die cuts out all six circles with one pass in the die cutting machine:

The negative foil circles:

Here are the circles die cut:

I cut out two of the decorative solid circles in the set for the backing to the sentiments using the foil poster board from the Dollar Tree - once again I have not attached anything I just laid the sentiment circles on top:

Another BetterPress sent I bought was the Spellbinders "Essential Tag Accessories" set and I foiled a couple of the words:

I used those words and turned them into tags using the tag die set from FunStampersJourney from the stash and again the foiled poster board. Did both the positive and negative foiling. To foil the negative pieces I used the solid foil plate from PinkFresh for the negative pieces. I also foiled two of their foil plates that I bought on sale after Christmas:

Nice that each one of the foil plates comes with a matching die to cut it out:

Fun to foil new products for the holidays ahead . The above PinkFresh plates are large enough to use on a card front, a tag, treat holder or to tie onto a gift. 

Brown Bagging It Junk Journal

Used a brown lunch bag to make this mini junk journal. Long ago I had seen these little journals made by "Scrapbooking with Me" on YouTube and I have wanted to make one and I finally did. Already had a pack of the brown lunch bags in the stash so I used one of those. 

For this journal you leave the bag flat and fold it into thirds:

Here is a photo of my paper bag junk journal decorated, folded and tied closed:

The hardest part making these is the paper bag is not folded perfectly so I decided to measure as I made it. . . Once I folded the bag into thirds I used the bone folder to crease the folds. Then I decided the paper bag was very thin so I cut open one side of the bag on the middle line of the side gusset and I cut three pieces of kraft card stock to put into the bag for each folded section to make it sturdy:

Then I used liquid glue to close each side gusset. I measured each fold and I cut my printed card stock for each section. Best to show the finished journal to show all the areas I used printed card stock and decorated with pockets, washi tape, and card stock scraps. I used 2 6x6 paper pads as well as a 6x8 paper pad for this journal:

The page on the left has the opening of the bag on the left side of it so you can put things in there as a pocket. Then I used a green print for to decorate that first page and added a scrap piece of floral card stock to the right side and glued it on the top and bottom and the right side so you can use that as a pocket as well. The striped piece to the right with the tab on it has copy paper inside that as a notebook and that is tied to the inside of the bag with twine.. will explain that later.... 

Next page is:

Left side shows the back of the copy paper notebook and the right side of the photo is actually the bottom of the bag folded to the inside as the third flap. I used the small Seed Packet die from The Ton Stamps that I picked up last weekend at the stamp show in Columbia, SC and that can hold small items in the seed packet. I added a cut out from one of the paper pads to the front with scrap solid card stock and added a red glittered heart. Put a small piece of washi tape in the lower right corner. 

Opened that flap and here is the center of the bag under the striped notebook:

The center of the bag inside has the floral print and I used a coral piece of card stock and cut out a piece to be a pocket and I used a circle punch at the top for a tab. The gray printed item in the back of the pocket is a cut out from one of the pads and the green top piece is printed card stock that I cut longer than I needed and I cut scraps of copy paper and folded over the printed piece for the green at the top and used a small stapler to keep the copy paper in that like a note pad. 

Inside the bottom flap is printed card stock and I cut a piece of peach printed card stock to make a tall pocket. Put washi tape along the bottom and a scrap of a card stock print along the top of that. Added another cut out to that pocket. Now to the back side of the bag/journal:

Used a green print for the center back piece and cut a pink print for the pocket and used a circle punch for the top of the pocket piece. Used a tag die from the stash and cut out a green print tag and put washi tape across the pocket as well as the larger washi on the tag. Used two small circle punches to make the tag ring at the top of the tag. Tied twine on that. Now to the notebook and attaching that to the paper bag..... 

I wanted to use washi tape to reinforce the fold on the paper bag so that the bag would not rip from the twine holding the notebook inside or tear from handling:

The above photo shows I put the washi along the fold and then tied on the notebook using twine. I used a long piece of the washi and covered this fold on the bag on the outside and wrapped it around to the inside of the bag -- here is a photo to show the twine tied on in the center of the notebook:

I used a stiffer twine - more jute like - so I tied a knot and then ran the twine ends around the twine a couple of times to keep it in place. At the very bottom of this photo you can see where I did wrap around the spine washi tape to the inside. I did not have any problem with the washi tearing or the bag ripping or anything so I am thinking I will use washi again on the spine.. To close the journal I used crinkled seam binding and glued it to the center piece of the bag of the bag and then put the printed card stock for that piece over the seam binding to help hold it in place. 

For the front of the journal I used a half doily die set from the stash and cut out a green printed card stock doily. It is very detailed so to add adhesive to this I used my new tool for that:

Used the cut off basting brush to tap into the liquid glue and tap all over the doily die cut piece to put the glue on that and then put it on the journal front piece:

Put the doily on the front journal piece and then added a cut out to the front and ran the seam binding under that and tied it closed. Added pearl gems from the stash to the front of the journal. (The basting brush idea is from NB Cards on YouTube) Here is a photo of the basting brush and you cut off the bristles and tap it into liquid glue - it rinses clean in water and ready for use again:

Put your liquid glue on your mat and tap the brush into the glue and tap it onto your detailed die cut piece and you are good to go:

The paper bag journal was easy to make and also uses up smaller scraps. But remember all the creases on the bags are not perfect so I found it easier to measure each section as I went along as all the pieces are not the same sizes. Fun project to make and keep in your purse for notes.......

Stamp Show Columbia, SC

Well.... yesterday was the Stamp Scrap Art Tour (SSAT) stamp show in Columbia, SC.  My PIC (stamping partner in crime) and I have gone to this stamp show for a few years now and it is always in February and it would be the first show of the year we would attend.... so thinking after yesterday it may well be the last time we go to the show in Columbia.... 

As usual DH is our Cuber Driver - "Crafting Uber Driver" for us and he drops us off at the show and then he will go to a flea market or swap meet in the area while we are at the show. Before we attend the show we always check to see what vendors will be there and then plan our shopping..... this year there were maybe 6 vendors after you take out the local Stampin Up booth and the local Close To My Heart booth selling off the rest of their stock since CTMH has closed.... but we still wanted to go to the show so plans were in place. 

Since DH was driving us he wanted to take his truck as usual so the night before I put things in the truck for the trip - my tote bag for shopping, my printed out list of things I was looking for as well as my print out of ink colours I had just bought. So the next morning I loaded up the cooler with our drinks, water, snacks, and ice for our trip and headed out to the truck in the rain with that only to find the truck was leaning to the right in the front - it was dark out so I got out my phone and turned on the flash light..... right away I knew why the truck was leaning..... flat front tire but luckily only the bottom was flat.... haha

DH was not laughing when I told him so I suggested we take the car instead so everything had to be transferred to the car for the trip. I did not want to try to deal with the flat since it was dark out with us leaving so early for our trip.... and raining.....  so everything was put into the car, my PIC pulled in and we headed out for our 3+ hour trip to Columbia in the rain..... Along the way we stopped at Buc-ee's and picked up a breakfast and headed to the show. With road construction all around Columbia we did not arrive to the show until shortly after the opening at 10AM but we were happy we made it... 

We filled out the door prize ticket they give you and looked at the program they hand out and we were not too happy.... usually at these shows vendors will have coupons or sales. Maybe buy 2 get one free for the first hour or two of the show or they will have different specials throughout the day. This is the first show we have attended where there were NO specials/coupons/sales or freebies. We looked at the vendors set up and there were not too many of those.... We shopped the CTMH booth but that seller's prices were too high for us as many of these items sell for less on Ebay. We walked around and we stopped at The Ton booth - they were the only vendor that had a show special - spend $300.00 and get a free tote bag but only one per day..... Certainly no tote bag for me....  I did buy a few things from them but I will say their prices are high. They have their version of the popular postage stamp sets with matching stencils and dies but their prices are $5.00-$7.00 higher than Waffleflower who also sell the postage stamp products. This is what I bought from The Ton:

I also shopped the Northwoods/Verses stamp booth and picked these up:

We also stopped at the Eyelet Outlet booth and then we were finished. Called DH and he said he was in the parking lot so we headed to the car. Our plan for this day was to shop the stamp show in Columbia and then drive another hour and a half to shop at a recycle/reuse crafts store in Greenville that we have shopped at in the past when we went to the show in Columbia. Last year we shopped that store and I bought a few things there -- a stamp set, metallic thread, wooden stamps, steel ruled dies but that was it.... 

We arrived at the ReCraft Creative Reuse Center store in Greenville around 2:30PM after DH had stopped at a classic car place also in that area. Since we arrived so late in the day I certainly was not expecting what we found!! I saw a heat press and I sent a photo to my DSS to see if she wanted that but she said it was the same size as the one she already had... I walked over to the paper crafting section and they had a sign to fill up a small bag of wooden stamps and pay a flat price. I was looking through the stamps when my PIC asked if I wanted any ink pads?? I do not buy ink pads from these places unless they are in mint condition or sealed - she said these ink pads were sealed and brand new.... so I looked and there were a lot of the Distress Oxide ink pads that were new and sealed so I checked those against my list I had of my colours and I picked up those for $4.00 a pad. For these inks alone I saved well over $100.00 buying them yesterday there than if I had bought them online and plus then I would have to pay shipping.... I also got two of the Iris bins for $2.00 each, a few wooden stamps, some Simon Says Stamps stamps/die set bundles, and a few dies. Here are the Oxide ink pads:

Also picked up a sealed ink pad from Catherine Pooler, Sage. Here are some of the stamps/die bundles:

Bunny stamps/die set is from the SimonSaysStamps "Just for You" release and these are brand new and the set was $8.00. Another SSS bunny die - $1.00:

Next to the bunny in that photo is a holly/berry die set from My Favorite Things (MFT Stamps) and that was $4.00 but inside is two sets of that die set so I am giving the extra die set to my PIC. Picked up a Halloween stamps/die set from SSS:

WaffleFlower holiday lights die set:

I picked up a package of the Stik-It sheet from Ken Oliver as well as a stamps/die set from PaperTreyInk. This set has flower stamps, a second sheet of leaves and stems stamps, and then the matching die set as well:

My PIC also found the clear bottle holder by Scrapbook.com for me - it was new in the box:

I also picked up a few of the wooden stamps and a couple of them are garden related as I am working on a project for Spring and these stamps are perfect:

As I was looking through the stamps and die sets I also looked for items I pulled out that my PIC maybe would be interested in -- she wants to make a postage project using a stencil and I told her that Waffle Flower sells small stamp sets that have the stamp price stamps, or a holiday postmark, etc.. When I was going through all these sets I did find two of the WaffleFlower postage stamp sets for her - $1.00 each! Plus not only did she get them for a great price but she did not have to pay shipping from an online order! So I must say I was certainly happy with all I found but that was NOTHING compared to my PIC and her finds!

She found 76 BRAND NEW, still sealed, Simon Says Stamp ink pads for $4.00 each! With what she paid for those at this store she said she saved over $265.00 just by buying the ink pads for $4.00 each and not having to pay for shipping. (Those ink pads sell for over $7 each online)  She also picked up other things she was happy to find and off to the register we went with all this stuffs... The cashier told us they had just put all the ink pads and stamps/die sets out and that we really scored with this stuff --- my PIC and I were thrilled that that late in the day we would be able to find such great items to bring home to our craft rooms!

I took all the wrappers off my Oxide ink pads and swatched the inks using scrap white card stock from the stash. I use card stock rather than a label so I have a true shade of the inks:

Put all the ink samples on the ink pad cases:

Put all my new ink pads on my new Scrapbook.com acrylic ink pad holders:

Once I started buying the Oxides I bought a set of the blending brushes on sale with the coloured handles and I keep those in a cup near the inks. My other blending brushes have black handles and I bought the coloured snap on plastic clips for those so I know which brush is for which colour. Keeping the Oxides blending brush separate so they will not get mixed up with the regular Distress Inks I have and the blending brushes I use for those as well other inks. 

Will have to say we both agreed we did so much better at the ReCraft store than the stamp show!! After we left there we headed to Olive Garden and then the drive home.... left in the dark for the show and got home in the dark from our trip....... Happy to get to spend the day for our craft rooms but I am thinking this is the only show I may go to this year as they are getting smaller and smaller... also -- 

Franticstamper.com  is closing her store and having some closing sales and she said she will be adding more items to the closing sale as she gets closer to her closing date. My recent Happy St. Patrick's Day card I used her Shamrock cover plate die and I have a lot of her brand die sets. Great designs and great quality! Sorry to see her close but more and more this is happening......