Paper Transformer

Just For The Girls

Yesterday I showed you a card I made just for the boys. Today I have a card just for the girls.

Isn't she precious. Her name is  Beauty, which is a perfect name for her. She is among the new images from Wink Wink Ink . With the purchase, you receive 3 files each for 3 images, the horse, wings and a horn. With the 3, you can mix and match to make many different images out of one purchase! I say among because Melanie is turning out new images faster than I can make cards!

Here I merged the wing twice to give the look of her just landing, kicking up a bit of the glitter dust with her front paws. I added glitter by applying my glue pen to areas I wanted the glitter. This works wonderfully to add glitter or embossing powder to a digital image. 

TIPS: I have a couple of tips to offer when applying glitter/embossing powder this way. First, only do small areas at a time so the glue does not start to dry. For this card, I did the  mane, wing, tail, feet and ground all separate. Second, I found that when rubbing the glue pen back and forth over the ink, the glue will start removing the ink. It is best to just go over the area once if possible.

I added these tiny...actually, itty bitty star shaped gems also, to dress her up a bit. She is a girlie girl after all, LOL

She has a sweet little charm friend I added to the bottom with some really pretty shimmering cord. I wish I could remember where I purchased it. It is so pretty, I would love to get more. Do you have anything like that? It is a sad case isn't it!

The paper is from Paper Temptress. If you have not seen her paper yet, you certainly are missing out on some of the most beautiful paper I have seen. So many shimmery, sparkly, metallic lines of paper. If you are not so much into bling...she has plenty for you too. 

 I kept the inside simple. The sentiment says "May all your wishes come true". Doesn't that go perfect with the image!

I am using this card for once challenge. One Stop Craft Challenge this week is to "let it shine". You still have time to join the fun, just click on the link and you will be brought right to this weeks challenge. Good luck!

Hugs, Sandy O

 
 

Paper Stitching and Paper Piercing/Pricking

I was up to some challenges this week so I searched though all my bookmarked challenge sites. It really is quite interesting to see all the unique challenges as well as the paper crafters take on them. Among all the unique challenges, I did find 5 challenges that I could use just one card for.

Here are the challenges I am using this card for:

Pile it on: One color and a neutral

Crazy 4 challenges: Paper piercing

One stop craft challenge: Sew simple

Stampin' B's designs: Spring or Easter

Splitcoast stampers: Ways to use it challenge WT261, to use something that is new to you

Here is the complete card:

The piercing pattern is from Fred She Said and the butterfly pattern is from Stitching Cards. Combined they really look stunning. To compliment the sheen of the embroidery floss, I used Paper Temptress White Diamond (you will find this under the "drop dead gorgeous" category) and Mountain Rose Glimmer paper. I love how the Mountain Rose peeks just a bit through the paper piercing.

For my something new that I needed to use for the Splitcoast Stamper challenge, I used the Stampin' Up Beautiful Wings embosslit die. This fantastic die has been on back order and I finally received mine this week! I absolutely love it!

 
 

Once run through my big shot I was able to layer 3 of the smallest butterflies for a pretty embellishment inside the card.

I hope this week has encouraged you to try something new or to think a bit outside your comfort zone. It took me a while, but I am loving all these new techniques, projects and site that I have been sharing with you. I know you will love the new, too!

Hugs, Sandy O
 

 

Faux Nestie and a Mini Photoshop Elements 6 Tutorial

It has been a while since I entered a challenge. I was entering one every day, it seemed, for a couple of weeks, then I started to miss just creating on my own. I tend to be an all or nothing girl, LOL, I dive in full force or don't bother, ha ha ha, moderation being something I am still working on.

Two days ago, I checked out this weeks Splitcoast Stampers "Try a New Technique" challenge. This happens to be my favorite type of challenge since it leaves just about every aspect of creativity open.

This weeks challenge (#262) is to make a shaped layer without using nestabilities. Hmmm...I decided to use a....yup, you guessed it...paper piercing frame from Fred She Said. I wanted to use one of the new digital stamps, Lily of the Valley, but did not want to have to cut it out and attach it to the inside of the frame. This causes the edges to show and I did not want to deal with that. The idea of merging the 2 images in my Photoshop Elements software came to mind, though I had only done it once before. 

Here is the finished image and card I made with it:

As you can see, the image looks so much neater than cutting and attaching to the center of the frame.

Here is what I did using Photoshop Elements 6:

1. Open both files into Photoshop Elements. I used the jpg. image not the png. image, so you should be able to do this with digital stamps that do not come with a png. You would use these same steps if both images are png. (transparent)

2. Make sure the image you want to merge (what will be your TOP layer), for me the lily of the valley, is in the edit screen.

3. Go to "image" on your tool bar, click on "mode" in the drop down menu and make sure it is in "RGB Color".

4. If your bottom layer is white also you can skip steps 5-8, if it is transparent (a png. file with the background being a bunch of black and white squares) continue to next step.

5. Remove top layer and put the bottom layer in the edit screen.

6. Drag the top layer onto the bottom layer

7. Go to ""layer" on the menu bar and in the drop down menu click "simplify layer".

8. Using the magic wand tool on your top layer (for me it is in the menu on the left of the sceen) click on a section of white, then click delete on your keyboard. The black and white boxes should begin to show in place of the white, this tells you that the section is now transparent. Continue deleting the white until they are all transparent. You may find it helpful to enlarge the image to get to smaller sections.

9. To resize the top layer, go to "image" on the menu bar, click on "resize", then select "scale". You can now resize as needed.

10. Under "layer" on the menu bar, click "merge visible". Save file.

It really is easy once you have done it once or twice. If you have ANY questions, just leave a comment or email me. I will do my best to answer it for you.

 If you are using a paper piercing layer, the pattern (black dots) will show on the right side. I found that if I pierced the size of the dot, I could put a dot of my white gel pen on the hole and it masks the black. I tried it on a few of the piercing on this card, but ran out of time. The look a bit dark without the white, but in real life the black does not appear, just the holes look dark.

Here is the inside of the card. I hope this little tutorial helps you. Merging and resize are a couple of the wonderful thing you can do with digital stamps, which will take your creativity to a new level :o)
Hugs, Sandy O

 

Digital Stamp Calendar

Not to long ago I purchased a blank digital calendar from D.A.I.S.I.E. Company. This calendar came in a wonderful package with both the .jpg and .png files. Though it is the 2nd month of the year, I wanted to make a calendar to keep in my craft room. I spend a lot of time in there and it is so easy to forget what day it is, LOL

I did start this project previously, having printed it out about 3 weeks ago. Yesterday I finally finished it and can hardly wait to hang it in my room. Now there will be no reason for any project to feel neglected for 3 weeks!

I used the Wink Wink Ink images for this calendar. Not only are they adorable, she has a big enough variety of images to use  for the 12 months. The images come with one each .jpg and .png as well as a colored image. I chose to use colored images for the cover and August (why just August? Phhhhh, IIIIIII'daknow, LOL) The rest of the calendar I used the transparent images in the .png format and colored with my copics.

This is the cover of the calendar. You can can click on the photo to get a better look at the colored images. I used my Bind-it-all so that the pages will move freely when changing the month. I chose the larger eyelets because they had a bigger hole for hanging. You can always use the smaller eyelets to strengthen the paper for hanging, since the larger ones do make the calendar more bulky.

Here are photos of each month. Again, you can click on any photo to see more detail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Aren't those images perfect for this project! And they were really fast to color since they are so small. Due to the lighting, the grid of the calendar looks like it did not print out properly in some areas. This is just an illusion, LOL. In real life the grid printed out beautifully.

I am using this project for this weeks challenge, #27, on Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge , which is based on the scripture Esther 4:14:

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

The challenge is to make something using a time piece or something denoting time or the passage of time. What a perfect time {{[wink}}} to finish this fun project.

Hugs, Sandy O

Designing Elements: rule of uneven numbers

In the crafting world, there are certain basic designing elements that help to create a visually appealing project. I will go over some of these elements tomorrow for you, but today I am going  to focus just one, the "rule of uneven number". Uneven numbers are much more visually appealing. For example, using 3 or 5 brads instead of 2 or 4. The first time I heard this, I instantly went to the Splitcoast Stampers gallery to see for myself. To my surprise, it was true most of the time, but...like any "rule" there are exceptions.

One of the challenge sites I like to visit and participate in is Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenges. This weeks challenge (#25)  is based on the scripture Mark 10:7-9

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become on flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate (NASB)

The challenge: Create a card/project/layout that reflects the sentiment of this scripture by following this formula: use whatever supplies/stamps you like to create whatever kind of card/project that you like, BUT you must use TWO kinds of each item to make your ONE Creation.

Interesting I thought. This challenge will certainly bring about many exceptions to this rule. You can see all the entries for this challenge here.

This is the card I made for the challenge. As you can see I had a hard time putting only 2 pearls on the corners, so I used 2 sizes on 2 corners.

• Stamp is a 2 step stamp set called Soft Summer from Stampin' Up. There are 2 flowers and 2 leaves above and below the flower.
• I colored the flowers, the leaves and the hand made designer paper with 2 colors each.
• I used 2 different nestabilities for 2 layers and have 2 square layers
• There are 2 different designer papers being 2x2" sq. each
• Using two ribbons; one to hold the charms on, one to make the two bows
• I attached 2 charms on two corners and 2 sizes of pearls on two corners.
• There are 2 sentiments inside 1. Kind people are the best kind of people 2. Thanks so much both of which came in the set

This made for a lot of uneven numbers but it did not come out to bad. I had fun making this card. It was good to feel the wooden block of a rubber stamp again after so many digital stamps.

I love using both kinds of stamps but am currently learning the in and outs of digitals. I love to learn new things/techniques and taking on new challenges. The digital stamps offer all of these things.

Though they are quite easy to download and print, there are lots of uses for them that I am learning. If you have been a bit leary of trying them you can read more about them in my post here. But...try not to leave you rubber/acrylic stamps to get dusty, LOL.

Have you tried digital stamps yet? If not, can I ask why? If you have, what do you think of them? I really would like to know, so leave me a comment :o) OK? Thanks so much...

Stop by tomorrow if you get a chance and read about more of the designing elements. See you then...

Hugs, Sandy O

 

 

 

Pocket Handbag and Paper Stitching

I am so much looking forward to spring. The sun, fresh spring air after the rain, birds and flowers. When I saw the SCS challenge last Monday to make a Pocket Handbag, that is what I thought of, spring. I thought the perfect stamp for the tote is the cutest squirrel stamp from Digital Stamp Oasis called Susie Watering Flowers.

The template for the handbag is given in the post here. It is a free template made by the incredible Mel M. M. that she has on her blog Mel Stampz.

You can click on the photos to get a better look at Susie, How cute she is...look at those feet, LOL. I just want to reach out and pet them, tee he he They remind my of my doxies feet so cute and fluffy.  and how about that hat, so precious to keep her eyes shaded, ha ha ha

The tiny flower pots you see fit perfect in the tote along with some mini gardening tools I had. Wouldn't this be the cutest gift to give a little girl "just because". How about a Mom to keep the flowers on her kitchen window sill. I bet she would like it better than the dandelions she had there when you were little, ha ha ha

Now for the something new. I happened upon some paper stitching sites while searching for paper piercing patterns. This pattern I found on Stitching Cards. Like so many other companies with digital images, they have some you can try for free. I chose this one because it seemed like the easiest to do, perfect for my first.

When I went shopping for the floss, I forgot the needle. They suggest a #10 embroidery needle, but since I did not have one, I used a sewing needle. I am sure the holes would have been smaller had I had the proper needle.

I hope this encourages you to try something new. It really give a sense of satisfaction that only a new technique can give.

Have a great Sunday.

Hugs, Sandy O

Pugs Big Day

Oh My gosh, have you ever seen a pug that was not just the cutest! I know they can't realistically ALL be the cutest, yet whenever I see one I am certain that "THAT" one is definitely the cutest. This one is no exception. Isn't she the cutest!!! She is an image from Wink Wink Ink.

How much fun she is having and how much fun she was to color, as are all the WWI images. The only problem I have come across is that my 1 year old copics are starting to run dry :o(  As far as I know, there is no one who sells the refills locally. If you know of anywhere that sells the copic markers and refills in the Manchester/Nashua, NH area, PLEASE let me know!

Fortunately, the colors I used on Miss Pug stayed nice and moist. Here is the complete card I made

Ha, see how happy she is with her big doggy nummy! (that is what my dogs think they are called, LOL) I know, a bit on the strange side, but...this is a dogs birthday card. I know that my dogs would love to get this for their birthday, or any day for that matter. They were all over me as I took the photos, they just knew there was a "nummy" in the area...bwaahahahaha

The sentiment, which is darker in real life, says "Wish Big". And she sure did! That "nummy" is twice her size!!! She will be busy for quite some time, maybe even until next year.

I have so many ideas running circles in my head that I want to make and share with you. I hope you will be able to stop by again really soon (tomorrow, LOL) and see some of the new to me projects that have been jogging about!  

Hugs, Sandy O

These are the challenges that I am using this card for:

Fred She Said: Fun With Fred Ribbon Challenge to use a ribbon that has been perplexing you.  I purchased this ribbon as soon as Stampin' Up came out with it. It was one of those "I love it and have to have it" items, you know the kind. Well, since it arrived I had yet to use it. The color, style, width or something would always be wrong. I really thought it would be inherited by one of my kids, LOL

Stamp Something: Delightfully Delicious...I know you may not find this so yummy...but...my pups do, LOL

Pile it on: To use non winter colors