Category Archives: Crafty Techniques

The 2012 “baby” themed designer paper is “Nursery Nest” and features these 2 designs (of 12 total) that I used for the June and July pages of the “Baby Scrapbook Calendar” project that I have been working on.

One of the (many) things that I love about Stampin’ Up is that there are stamp sets that coordinate with the designer papers, as the bird cages and little blue birdies do from the “Aviary” stamp set.  I stamped the bird cages on Vellum card stock, so that I would NOT have to cut between the wires of the cages to see through them!

The bird on the July page is from the new Sizzix Bigz die, Elegant Bird, available in the Occasions Mini catalog through April 30, 2012.  (This is SUCH an awesome mini release!  I have already used a goodly number of the products in the mini catalog, just for this project!!!)  The layered frame on this page is also from the mini, Sizzix Framelits Labels (6 graduated dies are in the set). 

I think I did mention that there were a few items that are not Stampin’ Up just because of the challenge to make every page different, and I was really searching for embellishment ideas.  The fence on this page is a border punch that actually is for Halloween and had little bats on some of the posts.  Clip Clip Said my Scissors!!! LOL!  I did use the Stampin’ Up Scallop border punch to make the bottom of the fence a little more interesting.

Until tomorrow…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

Onward with our calendar pages!  As the “blessed event” is supposed to happen in early March, the 2nd and 3rd pages for the calendar are for April and May.

April is, of course, Easter and the beginning of spring here in Maryland, so the “Heaven Blessed” stamp set from the Occasions Mini Catalog was perfect for the job!  Did I say I like to paper-pierce?  This is a perfect example!  All the little rabbits, chicks and the adorable little girl with her Easter basket are from that stamp set.

So far I am going with the lacy border idea.  The Lace Ribbon Border punch was so easy to use to make this border!  I spritzed it with the gold smooch spritz for a littel extra bling!

The pink doily page was an idea that I think started percolating when the onesie jumbo roller came out a year or so ago.  I finally CUT APART the roller *GASP* and made 5 separate stamps so that I could position them around the scallop circle frame for this page.  The details of how I did that will be posted tomorrow.  I also punched holes around the inside edge of the lacey part and threaded the ribbon through those holes for the embellishment.  This page is a real WINNER as far as I am concerned – LOVE it!

Ed. – when I actually attended the baby shower, the father-to-be recounted a story about one of his friends who had become a new dad.  Apparently he had not heard the word “onesies” pronounced and thought for quite a long time that it was pronouced “On-E-Z’s”!  THAT was pretty funny!

Until tomorrow…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

As I said yesterday, I had the bright idea of creating a baby scrapbook and calendar together for an upcoming baby shower.   Well the idea came to me in a flash, however, the actual construction of same did not!  It was quite a challenge to create all 12 pages as I did try to make each one different!  I used tons of paper, stamps, punches, inks, and techniques….

To recap, for the calendar part, I decided to make clear pages, printing the calendar for each month so that you could see the scrapbook page underneath.  Here’s the clear part:

The calendar page overlay with the scrapbook page behind it:

 …and finally just the scrapbook page…

I love the baby and baby carriage – I paper-pierced the image and attached it to the top note label, then stamped the baby on the label.  Do you recognize the lace border?  I re-purposed the bottom of two “Designer Cuts” cards from the Occasions Mini Catalog!

Since this is a special gift, I did use some retired Stampin’ Up products.  Nursery Suite was a designer paper pack from last year and I could not resist the adorable doily pages (the pink and blue lacy pages peeking out of the edges in the photo).  The patterns from the rest of the pages were so versatile that I used them on many of the calendar pages. 

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, and several more after that, for the rest of the story!

Until then… Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp! 

Nothing like a last-minute project (gift!) to stir my creative juices!  I am so excited – there is a baby on the way (noooooo! not me! – it’s the branch of the family tree belonging to my second cousins!) and lots of family is gathering on Sunday for a SHOWER!  It has been a VERY long time since I have had to have a baby gift, so I am quite unprepared.  I could take the easy way out, sure, and BUY a gift, and I MIGHT have to resort to that if this project is not nearly complete by Saturday, but I’m going to make a supreme effort for two reasons.  FIRST, I am just a crafty person!  Someday I will put my metalsmithing skills to task and make a little silver cup for some lucky baby, but that won’t be now.  SECOND, I am woefully lacking in the scrapbooking area and I have been mulling this over for several months with no project that has called to me.  Until.now.

Coincidentally I received an email from “The Craft Channel” about a product that they had on sale, ring binders without the notebook.  (The story of whether I will or will not acquire these is for another day!)  The important part is their video of how they used one of these in a project!  They adhered the ring binder to the top of a plastic picture frame, the kind you might see a store sign in (this will become more clear as the project progresses!)  So my idea is to use the plastic frame as a calendar base, and, since I don’t have those binder rings quite yet, drill a couple of holes in the top for split rings, and hang calendar pages from the rings.  I know you are saying, at this point, so what is so scrapbooky about this?

AhA!  I am going to make the calendar pages CLEAR!  Underneath each one will be a scrapbook page with one or two places for photos of the new bundle of JOY!  BRILLIANT Yes?  Well, as you might have guessed by now, not ALL of my plans go smoothly! 😉

First I thought that vellum would be good, the photos would show through with an artsy kind of haze.  Ummmm the printer did not agree to this plan!  See the shadow pink lines????  They are NOT on the original.

What to do…….to the rescue, Stampin’ Up Window Sheets!  I chopped one down from 12×12 to 8 1/2×11 and fed it into my trusty Color LaserJet, keeping my fingers CROSSED!

Voila!  I am totally thrilled! 

If you are wondering how I created the calendar, I did use Corel Draw.  I am not as fast as I would like to be with Stampin’ Up’s design software, My Digital Studio, and while I am sure I could do this with MDS, I don’t have the TIME to fiddle with it! 

Now onto the scrappy pages!  I will have to use some retired paper – Nursery Suite Specialty – since I hadn’t gotten ANY of the current “baby” Designer Series papers, much to my chagrin!  But it will be beautiful, because, retired or not, that paper is cute, cute, cute! 

Stay tuned for the next installment!  Until then…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

The new Designer Series Paper, “Twitterpated”, from the new 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, has this awesome graphic design on one side of one of the papers.  When I measured the circles they were exactly 1/4″!  Yowsah!  Get out the paper punch!  I wasn’t sure where I was going with this, but since it was neutral (basic gray), any color will pop with it.

I do have a “fiddley” nature, and don’t mind cutting little details (whether it is paper or metal), but any time I can use a tool to speed the process, it is all good.  First I paperpunched each hole in the line across the paper,  which was interesting and left me with 2 pieces of paper and the “reverse scallop” edge on each.  Next I did every other one…better.  Now I can see 1/4″ ribbon woven through the holes.

But, do I use a straight edge when I have those interesting potential scallops?  Checked the scallop punch – it did not line up.  It’s up to my trusty detail scissors to hand cut the scallops….

Here’s what I ended up with…gosh I want to use all the “remains” on SOMETHING!  maybe a future project.  BUT the little sample in the center is the bomb!

You will have to wait until tomorrow for my finished card – I think it was worth the effort!

until then…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

I wanted to create a little vintage look, like a lace curtain across the card.  So I threaded some twine through the holes at the top of Victoria crochet trim (pg. 194, 2012 IB&C Catalog).  The ends of the twine and the lace were adhered with “snail” to the back of the card.  It was a bit droopy, but tape or adhesive would have made it too stiff, so I decided a strategically placed brad would be perfect. 

Here’s a pic of the way I threaded the twine through the holes at the edge of the ribbon – easy-peasy!  I just gathered it a little and once it was adhered to the card, evened the gathers across.

Searching for the perfect embellishment, I realized that we had these adorable buttons as part of the 2012 Occasions Mini catalog, to match the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper, but the pink one was just too pale by itself. 

Hmmm, I wonder if the brad “feet” would fit through the button holes? 

A little assistance from my handy pliers, and I had my “button” brad!  Perfect!

Until next time…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

White Pearls can become custom colors with just a swipe of a marker.  However, the marker has to be alcohol based or other permanent ink. 

Here’s what happens when you use the water-based markers – at first it looks great, then it pretty much wipes right off!  I have a nice selection of copic markers and since they are alcohol-based, they work.  Sharpies would also work.

Another detail that I have just fallen in love with is an envelope liner.

I did a little research (no sense re-inventing the wheel!) and found a great little video by Mary Fish.  She recommends cutting a piece of patterned paper 4″ x 5 11/16″. Yes, 11/16ths.  It works perfectly.  Insert your paper piece inside the envelope, leaving just a bit past the flap.

Run adhesive or glue around the edge of the envelope flap.  Flip over and trim the excess off with scissors.  For a perfect fold, score the flap again on the original fold line.  Downside: you will have to add glue to the flap.  Just about anything will do.  I have seen a formula for making glue that you can brush on, dry, and then lick to stick.  I’ll try to find that and post at a future date.

Until next time…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!