Shine without the time - -

Recently bought the small Sunflower Bag Topper die set from Scrapdivadesigns.com and I made 6 of these bag toppers using printed card stock from my stash. My projects were inspired by Carol Hurlock on YouTube. Here is a photo of the bag toppers I made:

For all my bag toppers I used solid #110 weight card stock as the base. Then I die cut printed card stock for the front of the bag toppers. I used the small Sunflower die and die cut my flower pieces. As Carol had suggested in her video I die cut two of the small flowers and two of the larger flowers from white card stock for each sunflower. Using the inks she suggested I inked the flower petals on the pieces using distress inks: Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, and Spiced Marmalade and a dauber:

I also layered the flowers as she suggested:

For the center of the flowers I die cut the grid piece using brown card stock and then the backing and circle frame I die cut those using gold foil card stock. Set all the flowers aside.  Die cut two base pieces of the bag topper die and used tear and tape to put the front and back bag topper pieces together. Die cut one piece of the bag topper die using printed card stock. Glue the printed card stock to the front of the bag topper piece. Set these aside. 

Went through the leaf dies I have in the stash and found one I could use to make the leaves for the sunflower. I die cut those out and sponged the edges of the leaves using green ink and a dauber. I used liquid glue and put the leaves onto the front of the bag topper. Used hot glue and put the finished sunflowers onto the bag topper. 

Went through my die stash and found the word "fall" in a die set from Fun Stampers Journey "Snapshot Frames":

Another crafter on YouTube had a video on card making tips and she talked about saving time adding shine to a card without having to heat emboss it -- so I gave this tip a try -- clear packing tape.... took a scrap piece of coloured card stock and put a piece of clear packing tape over it:

After I put the tape onto the card stock I went over the tape using an old gift card to be sure the tape stuck to the card stock well. Once that was done I put the die on the taped piece and die cut that:

The die cut through the tape and card stock with one pass through the machine. I also die cut the word from two pieces of scrap card stock and used liquid glue to put the die cut pieces together for layering. To put this shiny word on my sunflower piece I used Glossy Accents:

This photo shows the shine of these packing tape die cut words:

Very easy technique to add shine to die cut words.  I also wanted to add a pumpkin to my bag toppers so I pulled out some clothespins from my stash and used liquid glue to add washi tape to the front of the clothespin. Set that aside to dry. Used a small oval punch and punched out three ovals using scrap card stock. Sponged the edges of the ovals. Used tear and tape to stack these ovals into a pumpkin shape. Added a die cut stem to the top and a die cut leaf cluster to the top of the pumpkin using liquid glue. Used tear and tape to put the pumpkin on the clothespin:

And the finished bag toppers again:

Thanks to Carol Hurlock for sharing the assembly tips of the Sunflower Bag Topper die set. When I sponged my flower petals with the inks I put the darker ink, Spice Marmalade, on the end of the petals that are attached to the inner circle so the inks are darker in the center of the flower and get lighter on the tips of the petals:

Easy project to put together and happy I bought this set! Good project for Fall or Thanksgiving holiday projects. 

Spooky Halloween Greeting Tip

Not long ago KatScrappiness.com held a sale and I bought three items - this post is about their Spooky Happy Halloween die set. Here is a photo of the first greeting I die cut and assembled:

I die cut the shadow piece from black craft foam. Once that was die cut some card stock "hairies" were on the foam from my cutting plates:

To remove the "hairies" I ran my lint roller over the die cut foam piece:

I die cut a piece of black card stock also using the shadow die and I used liquid glue to adhere the black card stock shadow piece to the black craft foam piece. Set this aside to dry.  Used the second die piece in the set and die cut the greeting from green card stock:

The above photo shows the breaks in the words this die cut cuts. It is easy to put this greeting set together on the shadow backing piece. Using liquid glue I put all the attached letters onto the background shadow piece and then glued on the four loose letters one at a time:

Both the holographic card stock and the green glittered card stock are hard to photograph to show their sparkle and shine but here is a photo of the two of them together:

Easy greeting die set to assemble and the black craft foam gives these greeting pieces some dimension. 

BOO Day Pokey tool and markers - -

DSD ordered me a set of Halloween coloured beads off Amazon and she brought them over for me to use. She suggested I use them to make a BOO Day pokey tool for myself and so I did:

For my pokey tools I use the scribe pins sold at Hobby Lobby in the jewelry supply department. They are sold in packages of 2 and they are on sale often so it does not cost a lot to make a pokey tool. Except for the larger beads my DSD gave me the rest of the beads/charms are from my stash. 

To adhere the beads to the scribe pin I use E6000 adhesive. Once all the beads are in place I leave this to dry overnight. For my beaded dangle I used a ghost and a spider web charm from the stash and other beads that I thought would match well with the larger holiday beads:

Here is a photo of this pokey tool standing up so you can see the dangle better:

Recent trip to the Dollar Tree and I found the glittered markers in the craft section. They are sold in packages of 2 so I picked up a pack of each color:

Ran them across scrap white card stock to show the colour and how much sparkle they have:

I will use them to add sparkle and shine to embellishments and such. I ran my finger over them to see if they rub off (after they dried) and the shine did not smear off so I will have to see how they stand up with use.... but happy with them so far.... no smearing......

Cleaning tool - - -

Cleaning up products before storage - - over the weekend I shopped a used stamping sale and I was happy to be able to bring new to me items into my craft room. Before I store it all I clean it all -- some of the wooden stamps I bought were used and still had inks on them. I wanted to clean off as much ink as I could before I sorted and stored them for later use. 

To clean inks off my stamps I use a mixture of half water to half Simple Green in a small spray bottle. I spray this mixture onto the inked stamps and let it sit for a minute. Then I use a cleaning mat from the Dollar Tree to clean the stamps - here is a photo to show this gray cleaning mat with a sprayed stamp on it:

the photo after I have rubbed off the cleaner/ink from the stamp:

This cleaning mat even cleans the inks off the smaller stamps where the words are smaller and closer together:

I have a second cleaning mat I use to clean my steel ruled dies before I store them after use. Many times if I should use a glittered card stock with these dies the glitter gets all over the black backing of the die. To clean this off after I die cut my image I rub the die across the cleaning mat and all the glitter or paper fuzz comes off and the die is ready for the next use before I store it again:

I have marked the back of the stamp cleaning mat so I know which mat is for which use. These were only $1.00 (or now $1.25) and they get a lot of use in this craft room. Storing things away from this weekend's sale but I wanted to share these two cleaning tips that have worked for me in my craft room. 

Road trip and sales......

 Another road trip to Lewisville, NC yesterday to attend the yearly Enchanted Cottage Customer Yard Sale in their parking lot. I usually take a photo of the filled parking lots with the sellers tables and canopies but I forgot to yesterday..... A big thanks to the hubby for driving me and my DSD to this sale once again... Enchanted Cottage had sent out an email earlier this week listing some of the items that the sellers would be selling at this sale..... One seller was selling machines at this sale so certainly a good find for a crafter looking to buy any of them... 

When we got in the parking lot to shop a woman was all happy and screaming cuz she was able to buy one of the Sizzix electric die cutting machines that was for sale -- the seller had 2 of these machines, new in box and never used, for $200.00 each.  I do not know what colour they were as when I got to her table she only had her sign for them left but IO do know depending on what colour the machine is you could pay a higher price -- she was also selling a brand new in box Cricut Joy for $80.00 so another good find for a crafter that could be looking for that I am sure. I had told my DSD besides finding a large acrylic block that I would be happy to find a Sizzix Sidekick machine but it would have to be dirt cheap as it was not a necessity.... well she found one of those for me for $3.00. It is the original red one and it had four plates -- and a pound of dust on it -- in a plastic bag. I asked the seller if it still worked and she said it did so I brought that home with me.  Cleaned it up for the photo:

It will be helpful for die cutting tiny items on the craft table when I have everything spread out and just need a little skull or bow or bell die cut or something tiny... Happy to say I tried it out and it does work so for $3.00 happy to add that to the craft room....

This year the only thing I had on my shopping list was to look for a used large acrylic block as I said... but even tho I did not find one...  I did find lots and will share those photos.... Will say almost every sale table was loaded with Stampin Up products -- one seller had three tables at her spot. One table had the SU scoreboard, the punch boards, ribbons, ink and carousel holder, two SU Big Shot machines, stencils, tools, etc. One of the other tables had all her clear/cling and wood stamp sets, punches, and die sets all for sale for $3.00 each.  She also had her SU printed card stocks in a box on the other table for sale. Good deals for anyone looking for a particular SU product. 

My DSD also found a few good deals -- she picked up a framed bulletin board, new in box, for $5.00 and the frame is in the colour she wanted. She also bought a Recollections (Mikes) white storage cubbie new and in the box unassembled for $10.00 so she was happy to find that. She also bought a mini trimmer from another seller so she was happy with her finds.... 

Here is a photo of dies I picked up from different sellers at the sale to add to my craft room:

All the dies I picked up were priced from $3.00 to $6.00 at most. Was happy to pick up the Pink&Main pink Happy Birthday die set -- die and matching shadow die -- for $4.00 for the set. The older Turkey die from QuicKutz will go with my little Pilgrim dies I have in my stash from that company.... 

The above bag of wooden stamps was $10.00 and only four of the stamps in the bag were used. I was happy to come across this bag of birthday themed stamps as I can use a lot of them for the insides of my birthday cards as I do not have many birthday sentiments in my stash. 

Found these eyelets at a sellers table - the box of eyelets were $4.00 and the little clear boxes were all in a bag together for $1.00 so I picked those up.  Will use the eyelets on projects to hold dangles and charms and such. Picked up the candy corn from Tim Holtz also for $1.00. 

My DSD and I shopped and walked this sale and went back around a second time as sellers were still unpacking items as buyers were buying things. I had seen this set of the photo boxes my first trip around but wanted to shop the whole sale for storage items and then I would know what was available and prices.... second trip around I did buy this and I paid $8.00 for it -- happy me that this is the IRIS brand photo box set and in mint condition... Happy it was not the Mikes brand but IRIS.... 

The above photo shows my one package of Tim Holtz candy corn with a package of beads I bought for $1.00 from another seller from HobLob. Liked this package of small beads due to the size and all the colours inside. 

When we first arrived at this sale the first table we shopped we each found items we wanted.... this seller also had a few card making kits from different companies she was selling..... I had seen this one kit she was selling for $20.00 brand new and it had all the dies in it, the matching stamp set, and the project sheet the brand enclosed with the kit... I really liked this kit but wanted to think about it.... as we shopped and went around the second time I thought about this kit for sale..... I already have my BOO Day cards started and my Thanksgiving cards I have all products in a clear box ready to be used but I have not been able to decide on anything I would like for my Christmas cards this year.... but this kit would help with that problem.... she was selling this brand new kit, never used, for $20.00..... even though it includes the three dies and matching stamp set I was not sure of the price.... so I looked it up....

It is a it from ElizabethCraftDesigns. This kit originally sold for $46.95 so our third and final trip through this sale I decided if this kit was still available I would pick it up and happy me it was still there and now it is here!!  So Christmas cards will now be taken care of.... 

Once we finished shopping my DSD called her dad, (he was shopping a church yard sale nearby), to let him know we were finished at the sale. I also wanted to go into the Enchanted Cottage store and buy something to support them and not just their customer yard sale vendors. My DSD and I went into the store and I bought a die set and card stock sheets for Thanksgiving projects ahead. While we were inside the store my DSD saw they were selling the Pink&Main Happy Birthday die set for $9.00 that I had just picked up at the customer yard sale for $4.00 for the set so happy me to save a little money on that.... 

My PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) did not go with me yesterday but she had suggested we stop at the Reconsidered Goods store that is nearby Greensboro.  We have a Scrap Exchange store in Durham and it is a store that has all these donated or recycled items for sale. Here is a photo of the flyer from the Reconsidered Goods store in Greensboro:

They also have parties for kids and craft classes for kids that teach them how to recycle items and turn them into other things. The Scrap Exchange offers this as well but I will say the Reconsidered Goods store is VERY nice... They have everything organized and labeled and sorted and it is an inspiring store to shop! Here is a photo of the front of the store:

From the front awnings on the store they have all these corks hanging in different colours and fabric strips on the handles of the front door -- hard to take a good photo of the front of the building with so many customers coming and going.....  they sell furniture, fabric, craft items, a scrapbook section with machines, stamps, dies, inks, card stocks, stencils, etc.. a fabric section with fabrics, sewing machines, threads, trims, buttons, etc... Knitting books, supplies, yarns.... cross stitching books, threads, candlewicking, crochet, etc.. Acrylic paints, beads, plastic storage section, frames, holiday decoration items, glassware, dishes, linens, lamps, decor items, tools, etc.. Even how they display their items is inspiring!  A great find for sure! Here is what I picked up there:

My items were $1, $2, and this smaller IRIS photo keeper was $5.00:

My DSD bought wooden items that were $1.00 each that still had the $6.49 price tag on the back from HobLob. She also bought a plastic storage holder for markers and such. So a good trip for the two of us!  Certainly happy to find this store!!! Thanks to my PIC... after we left there off to Mario's for our lunch... followed by a quick stop at HobLob nearby to buy craft foam sheets in black - my HobLob I shop at did not carry any in black.. 

We were home shortly after 3 and I was able to clean everything up and get it all sorted and ready to add to the craft room for future projects... another fun shopping day and road trip!

Another Altered Clipboard

DSD recently had a birthday.. she had seen the altered clipboards from the Dollar Tree I have made for me and gals at work and she wanted one for herself so for her birthday I made her one --  this first photo shows how I painted the front of the clipboard with craft paint to match my colour scheme for the clipboard. I paint about an inch in on the front and back of the clipboards as well as the edges of the clipboard:

Once the paint has dried I trim my card stock for the front and the back of the clipboard and using ModPodge I put the card stock on the clipboard: 

I put the ModPodge on over the card stock using a foam brush. I put on the first layer and let it dry thoroughly and then apply a second coat. I go from side to side with the ModPodge on the clipboards. Here is a photo of the front of her finished clipboard:

Here is a photo of the dangle I made her using beads from HobLob and my stash:

She has a cat so hubby saw this cat charm at HobLob when I found my larger green beads so I included that at the bottom of the dangle:

With the clipboard completed I put a new spiral notebook on the clipboard also from the Dollar Tree for her for her birthday. She seemed very happy when she opened it so I am thinking she liked it! ;0)

Halloween Embellishments

Last year my favorite embellishments I had made for BOO Day projects were made using the Witch Bow Die Set from Scrapdiva Designs. This year she has a new Halloween die sets release and I picked up two of them for my embellishments for this year. 

First is her Ghost Tags Die Set. I had seen a video by Amy Vitriani on her YouTube channel showing the Ghosts made up and they were too cute -- here is a photo of my ghosts all inspired by the video:

For my ghosts I used scrap white card stocks and die cut the ghost tag. I made my ghosts with two layers of the die cut ghosts to make my tags more sturdy. For the eyes I used a small circle punch and punched out two eyes from black card stock. Added those to the face of the ghost using liquid glue. For the little pink cheeks I used a new cotton swap with pink ink on the tip of it and added cheeks below the eyes. I used the clear Wink of Stella pen to add sparkle and shine to the eyes:

I used the Ghost Tag Die Set and cut out more ghosts using scrap white card stock. I also used scrap printed card stock and die cut out more ghosts. Put the printed card stock onto the white card stock using liquid glue. Using scrap solid card stock and glittered card stock I die cut out some of the words that come in the Ghost Tag Die Set for my tags. I layered the word dies and put them on the front of the printed tags. I also added washi tapes to my tags and all the washi tapes are from my stash:

On some of the tags I used pop dots behind the words to give the tag some dimension:

The tag with a ghost on it uses a small ghost die from the I-Crafter die set Ribbon Rosette, Halloween Add On. I also used a spider web die from that set for the middle tag "Treat".  The word dies that come with the Ghost Tags Die Set are:

Scary, candy, eek, boo, trick and treat. The nice thing about these word dies are all the letters in the word are connected so it is one piece. And with it as one piece you do not have to position the letters or misplace a letter die cut piece. Very easy to die cut and layer.  This die set cut all the card stocks well and with one pass in the machine -- even the black glittered card stock. 

My second favorite die set from this Halloween release is the Spider Bow Die Set. This die set has two sizes in it - small and large - which is very nice having the two sizes in the same die set for a good price. Here is a photo of the large and the small Spider Bows made up:

For all my Spider Bows I used holographic card stock from my stash for the web piece. I die cut that and then die cut another web out of scrap white card stock. I used liquid glue put these two web die cuts together to make the spider web piece sturdy. Used black glittered card stock to die cut the spider. For all my bows I used scrap card stock prints and die cut those. I assembled the bows and put the pieces together. With those assembled I used hot glue and I added a sparkly pom pom to the center of the bow. Here are photos of other spider bows I made:

Many times bows can come apart over time -- so the design of this die set will eliminate that problem. On the backside of the assembled Spider Bow you can see the center piece to the bow fits into the slits the spider die makes on the spider so all layers are attached together with this bow center piece:

Very cute embellishments for Halloween -- will be making more but wanted to share these if you had also ordered these dies or wanted to see them made up. These photos show the Witch Bow Die Set from Scrapdivadesigns.com from her Halloween release from last year:

Happy to have these Halloween dies in the stash for fun embellishments for projects this year. If you should order from the Scrapdiva website she ships quickly and her shipping costs are reasonable. All her dies cut both the thin and thicker card stocks easily as well as the holographic and glittered card stocks on the first pass in the die cutting machine. Fun holiday die set additions to the craft room!