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This is another card for our deacon family ministry. The background is spritz with walnut ink. After that, it was stamped with the lock and star from the SU set called "Artifacts" using Brilliance silver and copper. The Happy Birthday oval was punched using the SU big oval punch, and the star was stamped in Brilliance copper on Creamy Caramel and cut out (I just love cutting things out ... NOT!). Hemp twine is the only real embellishment.










Here are a couple of close-up shots. The oval and star were mounted using SU Stampin' Dimensionals.















Hope you have an awesome day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!

As promised, this is the Walnut Ink Resist. The TJ newsletter calls for matte paper, but I messed up and used glossy. I still really liked how it came out. I think it was a little more .... spotty this way. The card base is basic gray by SU and the stamp set used was Artifacts, also by SU. Creamy Caramel is the layer behind the resist sheet. This is another card for one of the adult males in our deacon ministry. This was also my first card using the Walnut Ink. I bought the crystals and mixed my own spray. The edges of the Creamy Caramel were distressed using the SU distressing tool. Other things used - clear embossing powder, hodgepodge hardware, hemp twine, heat tool.



Have an awesome day!

Cruisin' with Mickey

I've been working hard on several projects for our cruise, and I *finally* have one to show. Whew. I've had a tough time finding time to create.


This book is for Jonah's cruise notations. His response? "Awesome!" :) I think it passes his test.

The back and front covers, as well as the spine, were cut using a file that I created for this purpose. I am going to make one (with different papers) for myself. Carts used - Going Places, Mickey Font, and George. I substituted the Mickey head for the "o" in notes. And, yes. I KNOW there's an apostrophe missing. It's actually already been put on. Lost the first one and had to find another one.... real red and yoyo yellow SU papers were used for the words.

My Cricut was also used for the words and the ship. The shadow of the words, though, was cut by hand. I didn't want the shadow to be quite as exact as the Cricut would have done it - and I didn't want to take the time to create the welded shadow, either.

The ship was created with a basic black foreground, yoyo yellow shadow, real red stacks, white Mickey brads, and brilliant blue water.

Paper from a Mickey pack was used for the base on the front.

Here's a picture of just the ship. I really liked this part!! :)

A New Creation!

Wow. I actually created tonight - and used a *technique*!! :) Yippee! The technique is called "Captured Beads" and was featured in the June/July edition of the Technique Junkies' Newsletter (link on the right, side panel of this blog). Fun stuff, but a little tedious for me. I will probably do it again .... some time. :)


Stamps - a Disney set with Mickey's head, flourishes from SU, and wish from SU.
Ribbon - white organdy (SU)
Eyelet - Mickey Head from Disney
Punches - Mickey Head from Disney, circle from Fiskars, small oval from SU
Beads - silver microbeads (unknown source), and AMuse clear jewel stickers
Coloring - WWC from SU, SU Blender Pens
Ink - SU Basic Black, Brillance Silver
Paper - SU Whisper White, SU Basic Black

It was a little different technique for me. I was looking for something to enhance a focal image instead of making a background. This did it. It was fun, and I like the outcome. It's hard to see the little silver beads in the picture, but they are all around the colored Mickey head that's in the punched part. Since we're going on a cruise, I thought this might be fun to send to someone special to get him/her more excited (if that's possible!!). Hmmmmmm .... who will it go to???? Do I need to make 8 more?! ::::Yikes::::!!!! :)


As always, have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!!!

Something a Little Different

I didn't make a card today, but I did try out a new product. There are several folks waiting to hear what I thought of it, so I thought I would do a short "Product Review." :)

The product is the Stamp Kit from scrapbookdiecutter.com, and it was something that I HAD to have when I saw it. The kit is located here. This kit comes with a blade for your Cricut that is used to cut clear, rubber material for do-it-yourself clear stamps (a 6x9 sheet is included in the kit) and it's $19.99. What a concept!!!! Cut your own stamps with the Cricut?! Had to have that!!! There is even a video on the site to guide you through cutting with it for the first time.

Here are a few pictures of my adventure tonight.

These are the images still on the mat after being cut.













The cut images. Taken off of the mat and punched out of the rubber sheet.












One image on an acrylic block.













One of the images stamped.













The 2-step stamps that I made tonight.














The images on a clear, acetate sheet for storage.













Now, is the product worth it?? Is it wonderful and a 'gotta have?' Well, it definitely has it's pros and cons.

Pros -
You can cut any image you can create with your Cricut.
You can cut any size available on your Cricut.
You can cut and words or phrase you would like to have.
You can cut stamps to match the die cuts from your Cricut.
With the silhouette feature on some carts (George, Paper Pups...), you can make 2-step stamps (terribly fun!).

Cons -
The stamp images are not as good as normal acrylic stamps.
The material isn't as thick as other stamps, so it can be a bit fragile.
Need to practice with the stamps to get them to stamp the way you'd like.


Would I give up my other stamps for this? Absolutely not. These stamps will be wonderful additions to what I have, and the set expands the (already endless) possibilities of the Cricut machines. They are not, however, the best stamps in the world. They are thin and a bit fragile.

Is the kit worth the price and would I recommend it? Absolutely. It's fun to have the ability to cut what I want any time I want to do it. Backgrounds, specialty stamps, personal 2-step stamps, 'signature' stamps, hard-to-find phrases or sizes, and other things that I've not thought o of yet make this a fun, inexpensive way to continue the usefulness of my bugs. Do not expect Stampin' Up! quality or the quality in clear stamps like Clear Dollar, but for fun, this is a great kit to get.

Just a note .... I used the Paper Pups cart and Cricut Design Studio (to size and arrange the images) to cut the images. My settings were - Pressure - Max, Blade - 6, and Speed - Low. Those settings seemed to work very well. I *did* still have to punch out the images from the sheet, though. BE CAREFUL doing this as the images can tear.


Please let me know if this review helped you and what you thought about it.

As always, enjoy the evening, and have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!