score lines and border dies, a fun pair

One thing that I really like about crafting tools is the way that they can be used together to effect some fun looks. *ahem* Not to mention that this also helps justify buying more tools. :-)

I've been having fun recently by finding different ways to incorporate scoring into my card-making. My latest forays have involved my Scor-it and border punches.

Here's an example of what I mean....

For this card, which is the second half of the pair that I mentioned the other day, I used the Martha Stewart Iron Gate border punch on the red card stock layer. I then made the score lines using my Scor-it to add some visual interest. The stamped images are all by Hero Arts and stamped on decorative card stock using Memento inks. I added some glitz to the fleur-de-lis and the peacock with my clear Copic Atyou glitter pen and then added the tiny hot fix bling crystals to finish it off.

thinking of you, part one

Ahhh, the urge to make some cards came on earlier. I pulled out the Making Memories Slice machine since I recently got my hands on the Studio Expressions design card and I wanted to play with it a bit. I also used some of my old stand-by techniques.

For this card I took a scrap of designer card stock and ran it through my Big Shot inside the Stampin' Up!/Sizzix Finial Press textured impressions folder. I accented the embossing with some Tuxedo Black Memento dye ink applied direct to paper and then adhered the layer to my card front. I added the score lines to my card using my Scor-it. I cut the labels using my Slice and a selection from the Studio Essentials design card, layered them and then attached them with foam tape to pop them out a bit. The stamped image is by Studio G and stamped and colored using Memento inks.

Interestingly, I'd made a second card with a similar sentiment, only in French. Sheer coincidence! I didn't even realize it until later. But I'm going to hold off on posting that one for just a bit. It ties in with something else that I'd worked on this week. Don't want to say more about that for the moment though. :-)

Now it's about time to see how Team USA will fare in hockey. I should be able to catch the 1st period before heading out on the afternoon drive to school.

a suncatcher? really?

Recently I posted about improvising with the L Letterpress plates. I remarked in the comments that these plates are not like clear polymer stamps; it had seemed to me that some folks had that mistaken impression. In trying to come up with a way to describe the texture of these plates it occurred to me that they're not that dissimilar from those plastic suncatchers that you can find in kids crafts sections of stores. I know, it's almost a sacrilegious notion, so real life printers, I ask your forgiveness and your indulgence. Turn away now. Ha! As if any real life printers would be reading. ;-)

So here's what I did....


Pictured above are my Big Shot, the multipurpose platform open to No Tabs, two clear cutting plates, a plastic suncatcher that cost me 48 cents, and a sheet of fairly thick handmade watercolor paper. The paper was torn from a tablet that I'd found on clearance at Hobby Lobby. The impression that was made by running the suncatcher through is the image at the top left. I hadn't applied any ink. The color that can be seen is some of the black that had transferred from the plastic. It's tough to appreciate, but the debossed image was really quite distinct.


And here's the card that I made using the image. I colored the design with watercolor pencils, tore around it, then mounted it on a layer of Core'dinations card stock that I'd punched using an EK Success border punch and distressed using sand paper.

Now, I'm not saying that these can be used in place of actual letterpress plates. It's just something that I did on a whim. I'd have to say though, that if I come across other fun suncatcher designs, I'd probably pick them up knowing that there's a fun way that I could use them to add a different look to my cards.

spring cleaning on IndigoInklings

It must be that time of year. I've been feeling the need to do some sprucing up on the blog. No big changes at this point. I just wanted to reduce some of the clutter and mayhem in my sidebar. I'd been considering going to a three-column layout, but then Blogger made pages available and I decided to give that a go instead.

So, up above, you now see a row of navigation. It's supposed to look like tabbed navigation, but I haven't worked with getting that row to be a different color yet. I'd like to be able to set that off from the rest of the page. First things first though--I wanted to see if pages would even work with my layout since I've done so much tinkering. Looks like it does! And it was really quite easy to do. I basically did all of the grunt work for this while watching the Blues game and the Olympics last night. LOL! I just followed the instructions on the Blogger site.

I've moved a number of my sidebar elements to the top. I think it's reduced some of the busy-ness of my sidebar. I thought about moving the tutorials etc up there, but I think they're more accessible where they are now with those drop-down menus. I may move all of my stamping resources up there on their own separate page. I need to get motivated to copy and paste all of those links though--the way I have it set up now I'd have to copy each one individually, so it's a bit of a daunting task. We'll see. It's a gray and cold day here and some snow is falling intermittently, so it's a good one to spend indoors and that may become one of my multitasking efforts.

Anyway, if you're thinking of tackling pages in Blogger, I can now say that it was really easy to do. Just be sure to download a copy of your template before playing so that you have a safety net should anything not work out quite the way that you expect. :-)

Happy Valentine's Day and/or Happy Chinese New Year, all!

oh, those ProvoCraft Asian folders

For a while I was holding out, several months actually, not purchasing any more embossing folders from ProvoCraft. That ended up changing after I was given some of the Asian designs over the holidays.

Here are some of the cards that I've made with them....

This card was made using first the Kimiko folder on some Core'dinations card stock. I turned the folder over and debossed the image then sanded it to remove some of the black and bring out the color underneath, leaving the image nicely outlined. I then ran that through again, this time inside the Bamboo folder. I sanded that again to remove the black. The sentiment was cut out using my Slice.

For this card I again pulled out the Bamboo embossing folder. I then added a few of the lanterns from the Lanterns folder at the top. The stamped image is by Inkadinkado and accented using Spica glitter pens. The sentiment is by Verve.

For this last card I did some double 'bossing. I debossed my white card stock layer using the Plum Blossoms embossing folder and applied the Angel Pink Memento ink DTP. I then embossed that piece using the Kimiko folder and accented the embossing using Memento London Fog ink. I like the way that the kimono took on some of the blossoms. The sentiment is again by Verve. I embellished using Brides flowers that I also embossed using the Plum Blossoms folder.

smiling

Ugh. I think all of the gray days have been getting to me. Not much enthusiasm for crafting lately. The sun was out today though, and that put a bounce in my step. Got going early. Did a morning work out. Made a card! It was simple and quick, but maybe this will get me going.

The stamped sentiment and images are by Hero Arts and stamped using Memento ink. The embossing was made using the Japanese Scales folder by ProvoCraft. The "friends" punch is by EK Success. By the way, this punch was not with the other punches if you go looking for it. I found it at Michael's in the American Girl section near the kids' stuff. I added color to the owls with Spica glitter pens.