Waving goodbye to 2012

This was a very lean year for crafting for me for various reasons. I kept up with the crafting world, but didn't sit down and create. Maybe I just needed a break. Who knows? 

But when the holidays rolled around, I felt the need to jump back into it. I've been a longtime member of an internet fan club devoted to Diana Gabaldon and her Outlander series. For the past several years, many of us have participated in a holiday card exchange, and it's great fun to send cards and receive cards from all around the world. I've always made my cards and decided that I didn't want this year to be different. So, I started brainstorming, and this was the first card that I came up with.

The Penny Black hedgie image was fun and has a humorous connection to The Books. I got to use an embossing folder (Sizzix) and my Vagabond that had been sitting and gathering dust. (GASP!) I've always liked the look of the kraft card stock  I liked the card, but I didn't love it. Plus, I thought it was kind of the same old thing that I'd done before, from a design standpoint anyway.

It was back to the drawing board... but wait! I'd been "saving" cards that caught my eye on my Cards to CASE board on Pinterest. I knew that I'd been attracted to the simpler and cleaner designs lately. I browsed the board to see what else they had in common and to see if I could find some inspiration. The following card is what I came up with.

I went the cleaner and simpler route with a panel of color on solid white card stock and the sentiment in the lower corner. Since I was making a large number of cards, I opted to go with a panel design that would allow me to make many in one fell swoop. I ended up doing a resist on glossy card stock using Perfect Resist and dye inks, then stamped over the whole sheet with black and navy blue permanent inks, collage-style. All stamps used in making this card front were by Scottish Borders Stamping, by the way. I cut out the strips, mounted them on black card stock and adhered them to the fronts of the cards, later adding score lines and the sentiment.

This is a closer look at the front panel. I liked it! The whole design felt more up-to-date.

But after looking at the card a bit more and trying to decide how and where to add just a bit more embellishment, it occurred to me that the center panel of the card front could double as a bookmark, for when the holidays were over and the decorations and cards taken down. On subsequent cards, before adhering the stamped panel, I added a couple perforated score lines that I tried to show in the above photo, taking care to run my adhesive between them so that the panel could be detached easily. This in mind, I added the ribbon to the edge of the panel using a mini stapler. Done! Happy! Finished in time to send them out in timely fashion, too.  :-)

So, this is my 2012 post. I hope this gets my creative juices flowing again. To those still checking in, I wish you a Happy 2013 with lots of time for creating and doing all of the things that let you relax and recharge.

glittered embossing

Every once in a while I like to add some glitz to my cards. I tend not to use glitter all that often because it can be so messy. That's why I tend to use Stickles or hot fix crystals instead. But glitter can add such a splash of color!

I used Ritz microfine glitter on the following card....

I'd applied three 1/4" strips of double-sided tape and then embossed it using a Cuttlebug border folder. I then exposed one strip and glittered it. I removed the next liner and added glitter of a different color. You can guess what I did next--yes, I stripped off the last bit and added the final color of glitter, burnishing after each addition. I then stamped my images and sentiment which are all by Hero Arts and were stamped using Memento dye inks. The score lines were made using the Scor-it.

This is a close up of the card. Here you can appreciate the embossed diamonds of the glittered border. Glitter and embossing can be a striking combo. :-)

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.

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.

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.

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.

one pass, two cards embellished

These are a couple of cards that were fairly quick and easy to make. I used the Cuttlebug Damask Frame A2 die to cut some patterned Die Cuts With a View card stock. I think this was from the Taj Mahal collection.


I adhered some of the die cuts to the front of this card, backing the opening of the damask design with white card stock that I'd embossed using the A2 embossing folder that made up the other half of the Damask Frame combo. The sentiment is by Hero Arts.


Here you can see that I embossed the entire card front using the A2 embossing folder, or at least as much of the card front that I could fit into the folder. I scored some lines near the top fold using my Scor-It. I didn't like the blank space that had been left up there. This time I used the 'negative' of that die cut over some white card stock. The images are by Technique Tuesday and stamped using Memento dye inks.

I wasn't sure if I'd use the die part of this combo very often, but now that I've given it a try, I'm starting to see more possibilities, not to mention that I was able to get a fair amount of mileage from a single pass through the die cut machine.

scored die cuts

Two or three weeks ago, I had this idea of using the Scor-It board and ruler in a different way. I wanted to decoratively score die cuts instead of card layers or card fronts--not that there's anything at all wrong with doing either of those things. I just wanted a change. I tried it. I liked it. I wanted to share it, but I also enjoy posting cards as examples. Well, that's what caused the delay. Took me a while to get back to my crafting because of the beginning of school and all of the activities that go along with that, and also because omigosh, I have a high schooler now! LOL! Time really does fly!

Things are settling down now, so here are a couple of cards that I made earlier using those die cuts....


I used Spellbinders scalloped circle Nestabilities dies for this card and scored it using my Scor-It and Scor-It ruler. The background stamping was done using an image by A Muse Art Stamps and Memento dye inks. The sentiment is by Hampton Arts and stamped with Versafine Black Onyx ink.


For this card I used another Spellbinders Nestabilities die, this time from the scalloped hearts set. The stamped image and sentiment are by Hero Arts. Again the scoring was done using my Scor-It board and Scor-It ruler.

I think that venturing into the realm of scored die cuts ended up being a not-so-bad idea, even if it did take me quite a while to get around to showcasing it, and it's an idea that I think I'll be using again. :-)

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.

just dropping you... a post and a card

This is a card that I made with one of the new 12" QuicKutz border embossing folders. It's called circles. I think it's a fun design. I added the scored lines along each edge with my Scor-It. The stamped sentiment and image are by Inkadinkado and stamped with Memento London Fog dye ink. I colored the fish with a couple of Copic markers and added the texture with the colorless blender.

some Scor-It decorative scoring samples

Life is getting in the way of crafting today, but I did find some time to cut some A2 size pieces of card stock and play a bit with some decorative scoring using my Scor-It and the Scor-It ruler. I mentioned in a comment to a recent post that I felt like I'd only barely started scratching the surface as far as coming up with fun decorative scores. I was trying to see if I could get some good scuff marks in. ;-)

Here's what I came up with....


The upper left is the diamond/grid pattern that I've described before. This time I used different intervals to get a slightly different look. At the center is some scoring that I thought resembled a plaid pattern. The upper right almost looks like weaving. The bottom left is the beams of light pattern--maybe I should have called it spotlight instead?--but with two sources of light coming from each of the upper corners. The bottom right is what you get when you use that same technique starting at each corner but not extending all the way across the card stock.


This is just a slightly angled view so that the light would catch the scores a little differently and make the pattern show up a bit more clearly in some cases.

Now I'm off to continue taping and painting a bedroom, then drive my girls to dance... and at some point perhaps make one or more of the above samples into actual cards! :-)

catching up

I wanted to make a separate post to address a few things that have come up over the course of the last couple of weeks or so.

First off, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who participated in my blogaversary giveaways. I read and appreciated all of the comments, even if I didn't say anything at the time so that I wouldn't throw off the numbers for the random drawings. :-) You all made the celebration a lot of fun, so many thanks to you all.

Crystal Joy, you'd commented in one of the giveaway posts that it looked like I'd done something to alter my ATG. Yes, you're right. I did. I added a comment to that post earlier, but I thought I'd address it here, too. I use the Scotch 714 which is red. I have nothing against the color red. I just wanted my ATG to look a bit more unique, so I altered it. I painted it, added rub-ons and bling, and basically just changed its look. I can say, now that I've looked up the old post (HA!), that after two years of steady use it is holding up nicely.

I've also had a question come up a couple of times now with regard to the Scor-It ruler. It's one that hadn't crossed my mind, but apparently others had thought about it, so I thought I'd bump the discussion to a more prominent spot. The question is whether the Scor-It ruler could be used with the Scor-Pal. Well, the Scor-Pal is about 1/2" wider than the Scor-It board. The ruler is metal and does bend, and it's possible that it could be manipulated so that it could fit on the Scor-Pal, but I didn't try it. First of all, I don't want to mangle my ruler. I like it too much! But here's my other reason, 'cuz you all know that I'm willing to sacrifice stuff in the interest of "science" (LOL!)--I don't think that even if you could fit the ruler to the Scor-Pal that it would help all that much. The tools are too different. The Scor-It and Scor-It ruler have zero centering marks and very precise measurements that correspond quite nicely to each other. So moving an inch at the top and moving the card stock the same amount at the bottom of your score is easy. By the same token, you can move 1/8" without any trouble if you want to. Can't really do that with the Scor-Pal because it has set grooves at specific and irregular increments, so it's hard for me to see that this would be nearly as helpful for Scor-Pal users as it is for Scor-It users. That was my main reason for not trying to force the ruler onto the Scor-Pal. Plus, I like it too much! Yeah, I know. I'm repeating myself. But it's true! I didn't want to hurt it and to have to live without it.

A few folks have also written to ask where these Scor-It rulers can be purchased. The easy answer is at the Scor-It site at their online store. There are other online vendors though, some of whom I've done business with and been a satisfied customer. They include Ellen Hutson, Bonnie's Best, California Paper Goods, and Innovative Stamp Creations.

I think that covers the issues that have come up but that may have been buried amongst the giveaway comments. If there are more, I'll just edit to add or post again, eh?

Hope you've all enjoyed a great weekend!

double take time

So tonight I was catching up on reading my Google Reader subscriptions, Tweets, and emails. I happened to browse through the August Scor-It newsletter that had landed in my inbox today. Cool! A mention of the new sliding ruler caught my eye, so I quickly perused the rest of the news. After all, I've been enjoying the addition of that ruler to my board and if there were new tips or tricks, I wanted to know about them!

Well, there were no tips or tricks that were new to me at this time, but you know what? THIS blog was mentioned under the header of Press! Hey, I love the Scor-It board, its scores, and I think that the addition of the Scor-It ruler just made it even better, but I'd just been singing its praises here on my personal blog because I think it's a great tool that became more versatile, and I wanted others to be in on the fun. :-) I'd never thought of myself as the Press. Wow. Maybe I should get a Blackberry, eh? ;-) I did a double take when I saw that though.

Anyway, if you happen to have found your way here by way of that newsletter, I wanted to point out that in my sidebar I have menus to help navigate the posts of this blog. There are labels and a search engine. I also have a section in the sidebar specifically for the Scor-It. Since I've been gushing over the Scor-It ruler, I decided that it deserved its own link in that section. I think that'll make it easier to zero in on the newer posts where I've talked more specifically about the decorative scores that can be made using the ruler and how they can be achieved.

Last but not least, if you'd like to sign up to receive your own copy of the Scor-It monthly newsletter, go to the Scor-It site and then click on the link in the upper right hand corner of their home page to sign up for it. That's how I happened to find out about the new ruler, so I'm definitely keeping that one coming to my box.

another quickie card

This is another card that was quick to make. It's mostly monochromatic--I couldn't resist adding that layer of gray as an accent.


The die cut images are by Spellbinders. The die cut sentiment is by ProvoCraft. The decorative scoring in a beams of light pattern that I've described before was made using my Scor-It and Scor-It ruler.

some Scor-it ruler how-to's

I've been asked by some readers to give more details about using the Scor-It ruler. I love this accessory, so I'm happy to oblige.


That's my 12" Scor-It, the Scor-It ruler, and three pieces of 4 X 5" card stock since that's what I had handy.


The ruler is great for making diagonal scoring a lot easier, so let's start with diagonals and some designs that can be made with diagonal scores.

Up above I've lined up my card stock so that I can make my first score from corner to corner. Yes, you can make this first score easily without the ruler. It's the scores that follow that are made easier.


In this photo I've moved the corners (ends of my scored line) to the 1/4" marks--I moved the bottom to the right of the zero centering mark and the top to the left of the centering mark.


Now I've made my second score and am getting ready to make the third. I've rotated the card stock just a bit more so that the corners (ends of the scored lines) have moved to the next 1/4" mark on the rulers.


And here it is one more time, moving at 1/4" intervals. The ruler is great because you can quickly and easily see just how and where you need to position your card stock so that the score will be exactly where you want it to be. The fact that the ruler can slide up and down the board makes it easy to position it so that you don't have to guess or eyeball where the scored line may end up. You just slide it to where it needs to be.

That's a quickie demonstration of what Scor-It describes as the starburst pattern on their site.


Here's my twist on their pattern. Using the same card stock (no need to waste, eh?), I made my corner to corner diagonal score to start out.


My apologies for the funky lighting in this one. I was just trying to show that I scored at 1/2" intervals this time.


Now for my twist: I've flipped my card stock over and started scoring in between my 1/2" scores. That is, I'm scoring at the 1/4" marks.


Here I'm showing a few more of these scores, lining up the ends of the score lines with the appropriate marks on the rulers at the top and bottom.


One last score, just for effect.


And here's the end result when you alternate scoring from the front and from the back. Gives a fun twist on the original starburst look.


I also made some light beam scores on a card. Here's how I accomplished that. Again I started with the corner to corner score.


This time I kept the end of the score line at zero up top and moved the bottom to the 1/4" mark.


Keeping the top at zero, I continued scoring at 1/4" intervals along the bottom, moving my card stock and ruler as needed.


I made all of these scores from the front, but you could alternate these, too, for a slightly different look.


Here are those light beams.


Diagonals are quick and easy. I started at the corners and then just moved my card stock, scoring at 1" intervals. I think you can see how easy it is to line up the ends of the scores with the rulers.


Here I gave the card stock a quarter turn and started scoring in the other direction at 1" intervals.


Here it is with more of the scores done.


And this is how it looks when you've made those scores.

But wait! You can still have more fun with this.


Here I flipped my card stock over and started scoring at the 1/2" marks.


And after making all of those scores, this is how the card stock looks. It's a fun diagonal grid pattern, but with the added twist of having embossed as well as debossed scores.

The nifty thing about using the ruler is that you can score at whatever interval you want. I made all of these scores at regular intervals, but you can certainly score in a less regular pattern and create a plaid look. You can also create scored frames. Because to make a decorative embossed score you score with the top side of your card stock facing you, you can also score designs around a stamped image. Lots of possibilities!

I hope this helps show just how this ruler makes decorative scoring a lot easier. :-)