SURPRISE!

Yes, here I am, appearing out of the crafting void. Life has been keeping me busy doing things other than stamping and cardmaking, but I had to make cards for the holidays!


Here's what I made for this year's holiday card exchange (at an author fan site of which I've been a long-time member):

Since I knew that I'd be making a bunch of cards, about forty, I tried to keep it simple. HA! Never works out that way. I just had to keep embellishing and adding small touches here and there. I do like how this turned out though.


So I started with precut and prefolded cards from Michael's Recollections line, conveniently already on clearance. The snowman was made using a Sizzix Bigz die and embossing folder combo (Snowman & Hat)—make your die cut then run it through your machine of choice inside the embossing folder. Worked great! I'll just add in here that I used the Sizzix Vagabond machine for this part of the process and it made it extremely quick and easy. I even cut out the hat from black cardstock in the same pass. I just laid the white over the snowman and the small piece of black over the hat and ran it all through. The snowman was embellished with Glaze pens for the eyes and carrot nose and then a snowflake from the Martha Stewart line of punches. I added the silver hat band with a silver metallic marker and dabbed on a spot of Frosted Lace Stickles. Another Martha Stewart punch, this time a border punch, helped me create the plaid border. Martha's baker's twine formed the scarf. The final touch was a couple of spritzes of Perfect Pearls Perfect Pearl Mist. Love that added shimmer and snowy look! 


Happy Holidays!

accenting with the Scor-It

If you've arrived via the Scor-it newsletter where I'm featured "In the Spotlight" this month, welcome! The following post is essentially what was linked in the newsletter. I decided to post it here as well since the photos here can be clicked on and enlarged and the effects of the scoring can be better appreciated, I think.

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Originally I purchased the Scor-it because of the great scores it would make for my card folds. I use it for a lot more than that these days. I like to use scores as accents on my cards, and I really enjoy using the Scor-it in combination with some of my other crafting tools.

One of my more recent crafting acquisitions has been the Slice by Making Memories. This small electronic die cutter is fun for card making and pairs up nicely with the Scor-it and the sorts of things that I like to do with it.

Pictured above is a tag that I cut with my Slice and scored with my Scor-it.

This is simply a piece of card stock that I scored with the idea of using it later as an accent on a card. The Scor-it ruler made it really easy to score this quickly.

Here is the card that I made with the tag. I'd applied glue to the raised score lines with my Essential Glue Pad and then dusted them with Pearl Ex. The sentiment and die cuts were also made using the Slice. The additional scoring on the green layer was made using the Scor-it.

On this card I used the scored card stock to add some visual interest behind the flowers and the sentiment. Again the die cuts and sentiment were made using the Slice. The stamped image is by Studio G. The embellishments are butterfly shaped Robin's Nest Dew Drops.

Here I combined an accordion fold that I made using the Scor-it with a sentiment that I'd made by cutting out the individual letters with the Slice. I thought it was a fun 3-D look. The flower embellishments are by Prima.

Now for a quickie tutorial. Sometimes I like to make pretty edging even more interesting to look at and to feel.

The above border was made using the Garden Trellis deep edge punch by Martha Stewart. It's gorgeous, but I wanted more! :-)

I decided to try adding a little texture to it by running my scoring tool along the junctions of the trellis.

Here's how it turned out. I liked the effect! Gave it a little more pop.

Here's how it looked when I turned the whole thing into a card. The sentiment is by Hero Arts. The decorative paper is by Autumn Leaves. The background floral stamps and the sentiment were stamped using Memento inks. The flower embellishments are Primas with copper half-pearl centers added.

This is a closer look at that decorative edge. I thought the scoring was a fun addition. :-)

I hope that this post serves as a reminder that there are lots of great crafting tools out there--they can look even better when used to complement each other. Score lines made using the Scor-it can look particularly good when used to embellish die cuts made using manual and electric die cutters. I hope I've shown that scores can add some pop to punched edges, too. It's fun to think about the possibilities. :-)

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Thanks to Tim Hammonds for asking me to be featured in his newsletter. I was happy to oblige because I do love to use the Scor-it board and ruler in my crafting. And no, I'm not being compensated for saying that--I'm just a happy customer/crafter. :-) If you aren't a Scor-it newsletter subscriber, it's easy to become one. Just click over to the Scor-it, or rather, the Scor-it-All site, as it's now named. The sign up form is on their homepage. There are lots of great ideas in the newsletters and on the site. And just an FYI, I just published another post that I'd held until the newsletter came out. It features another card made using the Scor-it in combination with a border punch, if you're interested in seeing another example. :-) I also recently added a page to this blog that contains links to the cards/tutorials/info about the Scor-it and Scor-it ruler here on IndigoInklings. The link can be found at the top of my blog page, just underneath the header image.

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.

scoring late in the game ;-)

I wanted to share a few cards that I made over the holidays that I didn't post here. They were originally made for sharing in the Scor-It newsletter, but it looks like they've started up their own design team now so I'll go ahead and share these here.

I made these using the full-size Scor-It board and Scor-It ruler. I like finding unusual ways of using scoring on my cards and these are a couple of great tools for doing just that.

Starting simply, a grid pattern can be easily made using the new ruler and it can add visual interest to a card front as above. This is a card that came in a box of premade, prefolded, blank seasonal cards. I added the stamped sentiment, the punched bird, and the grid scoring, and just like that it became a more interesting and more unique card. Some touches with a glitter pen would add some fun sparkle, too. I may have to do that.

I also like stamping bolder images on designer cardstocks and papers for making a quick card.

Here I added the flourished bird design to the preprinted card stock.

For a special touch, I added some diagonal scores in a pattern that resembles a beam of light. Again, very easy to accomplish using the Scor-It board and ruler. I scored right over the top of the design, after making sure that the ink had dried, of course. :-) I've used this scoring pattern before, using stamped images at the upper and lower corners where the cardstock is unscored. I like the look of scoring over the images themselves, too.

And finally I have a card that took a little more time to make, but I thought that the effect was worth it. This was inspired by a card that I saw on Splitcoast Stampers but done a different way.

I started out with a piece of A2 size white cardstock and stamped a flourish image multiple times in a couple of colors to make a subtle background.

I then turned this face down onto my Scor-It board and proceeded to score a brick-like pattern. I started with horizontal scores 1/2" apart then added short vertical scores to make 1" wide bricks. I staggered the scores to make it look more realistic.

So now I've got that nice background pattern and the scored design.

Another thing that's fun about the Scor-It is that it makes such crisp, deep scores. I took advantage of that in this step where I stamped a flourished bird onto the front using black ink. The bird image helped bring out that brick pattern of scoring even more, and I really liked that effect. It's even more stunning with a more solid stamp design, as you might imagine.

This is my finished card. I trimmed some of the bricks away to give that central image more interest.

Here's a closer view....

It can be a lot of fun to using scoring in decorative ways. The Scor-It board and ruler can add more than just a professional hinge score to your cards, though that's definitely a great start. :-) Creating 3D projects and using scoring in creative ways on card fronts, layers, and die cuts with these tools opens up a world of creative possibilities.

BTW, it also looks like the Scor-It folks are coming up with more ideas for accessories. The latest newsletter shows pics of their new Position-It. It looks like a fancier version of a stamp positioner. I'll be interested to see what advantages it has to offer over my tried and true Stamp-a-ma-jig. They also have new pink Scor-It boards being released soon. As I recall, it'll be neat because the rulers will have both inches/metric measurements, plus there'll be another size board added to the arsenal, smaller than the original but larger than the mini--made to accommodate A4 size European cards. Oh, and the tool will be stainless steel rather than wood.

Oops, almost forgot to include credits--all of the above card images were by Inkadinkado and stamped using Memento inks. The cardinal in the first card was made using a Martha Stewart punch. The snowflake embossing in the last card was made using a Sizzix textured impressions embossing folder.

Happy New Year!

Belated holiday greetings to those of you who are still checking in here. :-) It's been a busy holiday season, but a fun one. I wanted to share one of the versions of my holiday cards for 2009. I made these in various colors, keeping the same general theme.


This one happens to be the light green. I used pre-folded, textured cards by DCWV, embossed the trees across the bottom, adding some sparkle to them with Copic Spica glitter pens. The sentiment is by Hero Arts. The die cuts were made using Martha Stewart punches.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm ba-a-a-ck! :-)

I took an unplanned hiatus from blogging for the past several weeks. Life got busy and unfortunately crafting and blogging tend to be the first to head to the bottom of the to-do list. Thanks to those who have written to ask how things are going or to mention that they've haven't seen any new posts lately. It's nice to be missed. :-) I did a lot of catching up this past week and made time to do some card-making today. Felt good to get all crafty! :-)

Here are some of the cards that I made....


This first card was made using a couple of the large QuicKutz border embossing folders. The sentiment was added using the Joy border punch by Martha Stewart. The cardinal was also made using a punch by Martha Stewart then set off with dimensional adhesive. I also added a score line at the top so that the ornaments wouldn't just be floating on the card front.


I got on a roll using the border punches by Martha. Here's another card using the Frosty Village punch. I scored and folded a small "card" to attach to that A2 size blue cardstock that I'd embossed using the QuicKutz snowflakes folder. I punched out the border (both layers at once, actually) then added the stamped snowflakes and sentiment by Inkadinkado before attaching it to the blue layer.


Here's a card that I made in similar fashion to the one I just described. For this one I used some Cuttlebug embossing folder designs instead of stamping. The background is Winter Trees and the other Season's Greetings. (These were RAK'd to me, btw.)

For this last card I decided to add a bit of a twist. Okay. To be honest, I was going to follow the same design as with the other cards but use the evergreen trees edge punch in the background instead. Well, the frosty village ended up looking backward to me because of the way I'd punched it. Looked good when I folded it the other way. Hm. So, I decided that I'd try to go with that. I think it worked out. I added the stamped sentiment by Studio G to the bottom corner and attached it to the front of a card that I'd embossed using a Sizzix textured impressions folder. It was a nice change from the typical A2 card and a fun departure from the other two cards that I'd designed earlier. I love it when "mistakes" like that work out. :-)

That's it for now. Again, thanks to those of you who've written, and thanks to those of you who are still visiting and reading here despite my absence. I'm hoping that the holidays won't become so busy that I won't have at least some time for crafting and for blogging. :-)

Feels like fall

And since it feels like fall, I made a couple of cards that have to do with fall.

Here they are....

This first card was very simple. I used an Inkadinkado image that I stamped on decorative card stock. I added the sentiment from TPC Studio. I layered it onto green card stock, but thought that it still needed a little something more to add interest, so I added some decorative scoring with my Scor-It before mounting it on the kraft card front.

This is another card that was fairly quick to make. I found another Martha Stewart punch around the page set of punches that I hadn't seen before. Since I'd gone into Michael's specifically looking for something that I could use my 40% off coupon on, I had to buy it. :-) So the punching above was made using the Deco Fan set. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado and stamped using Memento dye inks.

punching around the page

I have a quick post with a couple of cards that I made using two of Martha Stewart's Punch Around the Page corner and edge punches. They were called continuous edge punches before. Different name now, but the same idea, and this time there were even instructions included! LOL! Progress!


This first card was made using the Scallop 3-Dot punches. Same deal as before. You still need to cut your card stock to specific sizes for the corner design to match up with the edge. The two white squares that I started with were 5 x 5 inches and 3.25 x 3.25 inches. The edges need to be cut in increments of 1.75" to work, so 6.75 inches and 8.5 inches, and so on, would work as well. That background stamp was by Hero Arts and the sunflower is by Inkadinkado and colored using Copic Spica glitter markers.


For this card I used the Fall Leaves punches on a 3.25 x 5 inch piece of orange card stock. The stamped images and sentiment are by Inkadinkado and stamped using Memento inks. The embossed flourish was made using a Cuttlebug border embossing folder from the Organic Flourishes set.

That's it for now. We've been playing the guess if this is a cold vs the flu for the past week and a half. Been a bit of a challenge, but I think everyone is on the right track again and back in school so I had a bit of time to craft while also trying to catch up on errands. Fun stuff! :-)

three more cards using Thanks edge punch

I made an informal challenge to myself this weekend to come up with more ways to use the Martha Stewart Thanks edge punch. I came up with a few more ideas.

Here are three more cards....


For this card I punched along the edges of a strip of card stock and embossed Cuttlebug images between. I mounted that strip on a card front that I embossed using the C'bug Stylized Flowers A2 embossing folder. I accented the card with a bit of bling and some colorful hemp fibers.


This card was made from a base of gray Bazzill card stock that I embossed using the C'bug Thanks embossing folder. This time I used the Thanks edge punch by punching two different colors of card stock and then offsetting them just a bit to get sort of a drop shadow effect. I then embossed those two layers using one of the Sizzix thank you textured impressions embossing folders.


The photo above just shows what I meant by the drop shadow effect.


And finally, this is a flip card that I made using the Thanks edge punch and Taj Mahal decorative card stock by DCWV. The lantern image is by Inkadinkado and stamped using Brilliance Graphite Black ink.


That's the view from the front as the card is opened.


This is a view of the back as the center panel begins to flip around.


And this is a closer view of the back panel. The sentiment says, "You brighten my day" and is by Hero Arts.

So there you have three more cards that illustrate how this new Thanks edge punch by Martha Stewart can be used. :-) Have I enabled you enough yet? ;-)

two more Thanks edge punch cards

I mentioned in a comment on a previous post that I really like these new Martha Stewart edge punches. Fun designs and I like the idea of having a sentiment punch. It also doesn't hurt that these new punches also have the fold-up "wings" so that they're easier to store.

But on to the cards....


For this card I used the Martha Stewart Thanks edge punch on a 2 3/4" square piece of ruche paper. This is a thicker paper with wonderful texture. The die cut accent is from the Tulip Pendant set by Spellbinders. The decorative scoring on the card front was made using my Scor-It and Scor-It ruler to make the embossed and debossed lines in a diamond pattern.


I used the same punch on double-sided decorative cardstock this time, scored and folded so that I would have two edges for my sentiment. I offset the layers a bit with dimensionals which also left room for some Prima flowers. The embossing on the card front was made using one of the newer releases by QuicKutz, the polka dots A2 embossing folder. This is the folder with the larger dots, by the way, since for whatever reason QuicKutz decided to give the two polka dot pattern folders the same name.

I'm really enjoying the versatility of this edge punch. I know that people have had trouble punching through thicker card stocks with some of the Martha edge punches in the past. I've used this one without any trouble on Georgia Pacific 110# card stock. I haven't used anything thicker. I'll just add a caveat that punching text weight paper can be difficult because the letters can easily become caught in the punch if the paper does not happen to be cut cleanly or if the paper is bent or creased. And here I'd thought it was such a good idea to use scrap paper for a test run. Wrong! Anyway, those are just two more ways of using these new edge punches that I thought I'd share.

two more quick cards, no stamping involved

We're getting ready for school to start and have been busy with preparations and getting in all of those last minute tasks that we suddenly have little time left to finish.

In that spirit, I have two cards that were very quick to make. They involve embossing, but no stamping, so these were very fast and easy.


I used the QuicKutz 12" retro diamonds embossing folder for the bottom of this card. The sentiment is a Martha Stewart punch and I accented that strip of kraft card stock with the Spellbinders Scalloped Edge Petite borderability die.


For this card I used the Stampin' Up/Sizzix Finial Press textured impressions folder. I love this one! It's so pretty. Again, the sentiment is a Martha Stewart edge punch and I accented that with the Rose Border Petite Borderability die by Spellbinders.

I really like the look of the edge punches combined with the borderabilities dies. I think I'll have to do more experimenting to come up with more looks.

more info RE: Martha Stewart continuous edge system

I've received a number of questions regarding these punches. They're new releases so they're not widely available yet. I can get so lucky with my timing sometimes! Not sure how that happened.

As you'll see below, I came across them at More Than Ink. They offer the option of buying both punches as a set at less than the cost of each punch purchased individually. That's where I bought mine. I've also seen them available for preorder at Frantic Stamper. Fran also had the instructions that I thought should have come with the punches, so that's worth a look. I didn't realize that the corner punch is designed so that it can also be used to punch an interior corner of a card front. I'll have to check that out. By the way, I'm comfortable mentioning both of these vendors here since I've had good experiences with both.

I haven't seen them at any bricks and mortar stores that I frequent, at least not yet. It'd be great if they do start showing up at places like Michael's. Each punch costs about the same as the usual edge or corner punch, so a coupon would be great to use. I've clipped some of the other designs to show you as well.

Hope that enables you just a bit more! ;-)

clipped from www.morethanink.com The NEW Continuous Edge System by Martha Stewart consists of two companion punches. A Border Punch and matching Corner Punch. They can be used together to continue the design all the way around your project without interuption! These punches can be purchased separately, but are offered together for a discounted price. Please click the picture to the right for a larger view of how this works! Way cool!! Loops"> Fall Leaves"> Snowflakes"> Spiderweb">

Martha Stewart continuous edge system

I've mentioned before that I have this weakness for crafting tools. I saw this online and was intrigued. It's called the Martha Stewart continuous edge system, and it's called this because a corner punch and a border punch with coordinating designs are supposed to, when used together, allow you to punch a continuous pattern around your paper or card stock.

Here they are. This set is called Loops, for obvious reasons. There was also a spider web set, a leaves set, and one other that was also clearly seasonal.... snowflakes, as I recall. I went with this one because I could use it anytime.

Now the first thing I noticed was that these weren't like the usual Martha Stewart punches. The packaging was smaller! That's because the punches themselves fold up in order to make them easier to store. Now that's kinda neat! They are certainly more compact this way.

I can see how these could take up less space than the usual border and corner punches.

Here's how they look as they're opened up. The right sides are fully open. The left sides are only partially open to give you an idea of how they work.

So, the packaging had instructions describing how to open up the punches for use, even though that was rather self-explanatory. There were no other instructions, and believe me, I looked. Now, I'll admit that I played, and I tried measuring and being analytical about the whole process. It was late though, so I quit and headed for the computer and some internet surfing instead.

You see, the problem is that the border punch needs to meet up with the corner punch properly at each corner, so you need specific measurements. Sure would have been nice to have had some included with the punch! I did find my answer online. Basically, the continuous edge system is supposed to be able to handle squares from ranging from 3 1/4", increasing in increments of 1 3/4", up to 12". I would imagine that if you had bigger paper than 12" you could keep right on going, but I guess they're figuring most of us would max out at 12" x 12".

So, okay then. I cut some Georgia Pacific card stock, and I decided to include rectangles since that's what I tend to use most. I figured that as long as I stuck to the prescribed sizes, I should be alright. This was one way to find out. The sizes I cut were 3 1/4" x 5", 5" x 5", and 5" x 6 3/4", typical sizes that I might use for card-making.

Once again winging it due to the LACK of instructions, I decided that it made the most sense to punch the corners first. That was easy. No problem punching through the card stock at all.

Having done that, I set the corner punch aside and pulled out the border punch. As you can see, there are marks that show you exactly how you need to place the punched corner design so that it will line up properly with the border. HA! This is why I punched the corners first!

And just like that, I had the beginning of a nice continuous design running along one edge and two corners. Nifty! This border punch went through the card stock easily, too.

Did the same with the longer edge. It just required having to line the punch up twice to punch the full length. What I circled up above is what can happen when your measurements aren't quite exact. I was probably a shade over 5" when I cut that edge of the card stock. It wasn't anything that a little snip with some sharp scissors couldn't take care of, but it's something to keep in mind if you're planning to try this system.

You do exactly the same thing for the square design--punch the corners, then punch twice using the border design along each side.

This is a photo of the 6 3/4" x 5" size. That long edge needs to be punched three times to cover the distance.

If you look at the border punch, there are silhouette marks so that you can line up your design properly to make it continuous. By the way, it doesn't have to match up perfectly. I found that you can be a tad off and it'll still work, so there's a little wiggle room there.

That's the photo that shows the now continuous border.

And here's the whole piece. The whole process actually goes very quickly.

Just thought I'd mention that the corner punch can look quite nice by itself.

And if you get in a bind and can't remember what those card stock measurements are supposed to be, or if you didn't know because there were NO instructions included with your punches, you can still punch a fun non-continuous design.

And here's a card sample. The Loops design is a fun one to use with bright colors and with designer card stocks, too. The sentiment is by Studio G, the flower is by Bazzill and the leaves are Primas.

Overall my experience with this continuous edge system was positive. I like being able to punch a design around a corner for a different look. Fiskars has a system for doing this, too. Unlike this set though, they included instructions for how to use theirs and what size to make the card stock! That was my big gripe. There really should have been some mention of the dimensions that are needed to make this system to work. They're going to have some unhappy customers when they can't get the punched designs to line up properly.

It's a bit of a drawback that you have to go up in size in 1 3/4" intervals, too. If I remember correctly, the Fiskars went up by 1" intervals, so that's a bit more flexible in terms of sizes of layers that can be punched. It's a minor issue that you have to be somewhat precise in cutting your card stock or paper to size.

I did like that these punches are easier to store. They made it easy to line up the designs for continuous punching. The punches worked well for me, too. I know that some folks have had issues with punches not going through card stock. I didn't have that problem.

Hope that helps if you're thinking about buying one of these sets for punching continuous edges. I'm going to have to start making more square cards now so that I can get more bang for my buck. ;-)