GASC 2009

This is the Make & Take project I designed for the LSS table at the Great American Scrapbook Convention (GASC) which was yesterday and today. I had to cut 350 tags, and cut and emboss 350 butterflies in preparation for it. I also sat at the table for a good part of both days, where we taught the customers how to do chalk popping (the softer colored designs on the tag) with Versamark watermark ink and chalks.

The black dots are Stickles, which many customers had never used. The butterflies are cut from the Core'dinations cardstock. I used the Cuttlebug butterfly die, but instead of the embossing folders that came with that die, I used a brocade style embossing folder (also by Cuttlebug) to emboss them. The stamp set was by Inque Boutique, and is the Mini Escape set released last year. It's a fun and versatile set, though.

I love the GASC, but I always spend too much money and come home exhausted after, even though all I do is some shopping and demonstrating techniques at the Make & Take table.

Lighthouse Father's Day Card

I raided my stash to make this Father's Day card for my dear husband. He loves the beach, so I found papers by Reminisce (2008 release) and some metal charms. I'm not sure who made all the charms. The Lighthouse might be Making Memories, no idea who made the seashell, but the metal Love plate and heart brads are JoAnn Fabrics brand. Stickers by Jolee's. Stamps by CTMH, various sets. Maybe I'll look them up later.

This is the same basic Tri-fold Shutter card design that was used for the Get Well card shown previously in my blog (try the next "page" of entries). A link to a tutorial on how to make a Tri-fold Shutter card was given in that earlier blog entry.

Mix & Match stamping

Close to my Heart (CTMH) and Stampin' Up (SU) are competitors in the home party stamp world. I'm not a rep for either of them, and I buy from both companies. I love stamps, and have quite a serious collection of both rubber and acrylic stamps.

I used a CTMH acrylic stamp for the cowboy on the bucking bronco, from their "Yeehaw!" stamp set. All the rest of the stamps are from a set that was discontinued long ago by SU. I don't know the name for certain, but it might have been "Happy Trails" or something like that.

If stamps seem to go together, I use them together, whether or not they are supposed to.

Once again, I used a Spellbinders Nestabilities set for the center die-cuts.

This is a get well card I made for someone who has had a really difficult time. The top image is the front of the card, and the bottom image is the inside of the card. The message inside was typed on the computer, using the Rope font (a free font you can find at www.dafont.com).

Topiary made with scrapbook products

When I was in Utah a little over a year ago, I visited the local scrapbook stores. One of them, located at the shopping center of I-215 and Redwood Road (sorry, don't remember the name of the store) had these topiaries. You used a flower Whale of a Punch and any two sided scrapbook paper that you liked. The topiary base can be found at JoAnn Fabrics. They have a double topiary and a single topiary. The double topiary takes much longer to make. Even the single topiary takes about 3 hours. You need 4 sheets of the double sided paper, and small pins to fasten the paper to the topiary styrofoam ball.

I made this particular topiary for a relative.

Yeehaw! Surprise Pop-Up card

I guess it's because I'm a Western gal originally, but I love cowboy stuff. The above card was made with cowboy related stamps from the following CTMH sets: Yeehaw, Genuine Country, and Be Happy. I also used a Nestabilities die by Spellbinder.

This is another Surprise Pop-Up card like the one a little further down. The link for a tutorial on how to make this type card is in that post (3rd one down from this one).

Like my first attempt at making this type card, I didn't use the measurements given in the tutorial. I was trying to make the card fit a particular size envelope. Unfortunately, I forgot that the cowboy hat was going to poke up too high, so my card won't fit the envelope after all. I'll have to make my own envelope to fit it.

Sorry about the shadow in the photo from the flash. It make it a little hard to read the pull-out tag at the top. The saying in the tag says, "There's a little cowboy in all of us." (Louis L'Amour)

Simple Sympathy Card

This card was made awhile ago, and I have no idea who makes the paper. The saying in the center is from a CTMH set called "Come Unto Me." The dragonfly punch is Whale of a Punch (by EK Success?), and the dragonfly stamp is by Purple Daisy. I found the Purple Daisy stamps at GASC a couple of years ago. One of the things I like about them is that they are made to fit the Whale of a Punches. You stamp your cardstock, then hold the corresponding punch upside down over your stamped design, line up the design so it falls within the punch outline, and punch. Simple and easy. Besides the dragonfly, I bought a couple of their butterfly stamps, leaf, and flower stamps. They all have matching punches. Purple Daisy has other stamps, too, some scenic, some sayings, some religious. They are all wood mounted rubber stamps in a bright purple color!

I'll be looking for their booth at GASC again this year to see if they have any other new stamps. I rarely buy wood mounted stamps anymore, but I make an exception for this company.

Sculpting Foam and Sculpey mold

This is a simple card that I did to send to someone going through chemo. It's also my first real use of the Sculpting Foam by CTMH. I pressed the foam into an alphabet tiles mold by Sculpey. I think I found the mold at JoAnn Fabrics, but it can probably be found most places that sell Sculpey products.

Surprise Pop Up card

The directions on how to make this card can be found at SplitcoastStampers:

Surprise Pop-Up Card Tutorial

I didn't follow the directions exactly. I just kind of winged it as to measurements, and a couple other little things, but it's the same basic card.

The card sentiment is from the CTMH "Follow Your Dreams" acrylic set. The single pansy is from Rubber Stampede, and the pansy cluster stamp is by Comotion. The latter stamps are both rubber stamps instead of acrylic.

I used the Nestabilities Labels One dies to cut the background and mat for the single stamped pansy. It definitely works best to cut and emboss it first, then stamp it. I tried it the other way first and ruined it.

I have no idea who made the patterned paper. It's an older scrap I had.

It's probably more than obvious, but you pull the tag upward to see the sentiment. Another name for this style of card is "Garage Door Pop-Up Card." It does sort of make one think of a garage door. I have absolutely no idea who came up with the original template for this card, but my hat's off to whoever it was. It's a very creative idea for a card.

Another simple card

I just received my CTMH (Close to my Heart) order from my rep, and decided to make this little card with the CTMH "It's a Zoo" set. The die cuts were made with the Spellbinder Nestabilities Label dies, and I used Cuttlebug embossing folders. The top image is the card front, and the one below it is the message inside the card.

The words on the stamp were very close together, but I wanted a different color for the "Zoo" word. I inked it, then used a baby wipe to clean off ink from the word I didn't want to stamp in that color. Then I stamped it. I cleaned it completely with the baby wipe again, inked it with the second color, used the baby wipe to clean off the other words, and stamped Zoo. I did the same thing to stamp the word "Wild" since it actually was the phrase "Wild & crazy" and would have taken up too much space on the card front. Using just "Wild" let me punch it out with a rectangular window punch. It's one of those easy squeeze punches, but I don't remember who makes them.

Using acrylics makes it really easy to see where you're stamping, so it lines up the way it should. Otherwise I would have had a hard time getting "Zoo" placed just right in the stamped phrase. I really love the CTMH acrylics.

I found my rep through the CTMH website long ago. She said I was the only referral through the site that she ever got over several years time period. We became friends, although it was a bit of a distance to drive. I suspect there are reps closer driving time, but they didn't pay the fee to be listed in the site CTMH dealer finder. My rep eventually moved to another state, but I still order through her instead of finding someone closer. She's my friend now. Why would I order from anyone else?