Happy Birthday + Memento for Android

A mid-week post from me? I know I'm shocked as well! I just wanted to share the card I made for my sister-in-law to give to her daughter who is turning 1 this month.

Here's a side on view to show the wonderful dimension and sparkle:





Oh Glossy Accents - how I love thee. This effect was VERY trial and error but was salvagable in the end. And I took pictures of the process!

See at first I just had the balloons (from this set by Goodness & Fun on MyGrafico) printed on the cardfront. I showed my husband (as I always do) and he hemmed and hawwed and said it needed a little something. I seethed a little inside (as I always do when he doesn't exclaim and declare it the most beautiful! card! in the universe! immediately) but then thought a little bit of sparkle would do the trick. I used my clear atyou spica pen (which I also love) which made the balloons sparkle but looked awful and blotchy whenever looking at it from a non-sparkly angle (see image below) - I think because the 'clear' pen is really a sort of light greyish colour. Back to the drawing board.





I then thought STICKLES. Gosh I'm clever. So I squeezed a blob of Frosted Lace onto some acetate and painted away with a fine little paintbrush I have just for these types of jobs. Hmm. My husband declared it 'better'. However they just looked sharp and pointy to me, not balloon-like at all (see below and click on it to see it up closer!)





Then I had another lightbulb moment - GLOSSY ACCENTS. I usually make a hash of it so I was very careful - I applied it over the large areas first and then moved or dotted more Glossy Accents into the teeny tiny areas using my little paintbrush. I left each balloon to dry quite a bit before moving onto the next as Glossy Accents has a habit of spreading if you join two circles for instance.

So that's the wonderful journey that this card took me on. I enjoyed sharing the mistakes today, as I read other blogs that do this and always like seeing the 'before' and 'afters'.

Size of card: 11b (5 1/2 x 3 7/8)

Card: Matte photo paper, Bazzil cardstock
Ink: Printer
Stamp: Birthday Girl stamps by Goodness & Fun on MyGrafico
Tools: Pixma printer, Carl rotary trimmer, Helmar glue runner, clear Spica atyou pen, Glossy Accents, Frosted Lace Stickles, paintbrush

Oh and the second thing I wanted to talk about was Memento for Android. I recently got an android phone which uses Google's operating system for mobiles (it's a Samsung Galaxy S i9000 in case you were wondering). I'm not really big into the whole application thing - I have my mail and my internet and that's about all I need, however I discovered a fantastic database app called Memento which people normally use to catalogue their dvd collections.

I thought it would solve the problem I have with remembering which Prismacolor pencils I currently have in my collection, as I have to admit I've come home from the art shop more than once to discover one of the colours I bought is already sitting in my pencil caddy - usually still unused. So now when I go to the art shop I can bring out my phone and check the pencil I'm holding against my collection.

And tonight I made a database for my meagre collection of Copic Ciao markers. I really don't want to buy duplicates of those because they aren't cheap! At least with the Prismacolors while it might be annoying to buy duplicates, it isn't an expensive mistake - they only cost a couple of dollars each.

I buy the majority of my markers at my local craft shop so this database will come in handy there too.

Here are a few images of my device and database in action:

It's a very easy to use application and versatile too - you can catalogue just about anything you want! I've just started one for my custom card sizes to fit certain envelopes because I kept losing the little bits of paper I had lying around with the measurements on them.

Another great thing is that you can sync with Google Docs which means that you can never lose your database if something happens to your phone or memory card.

Find out all about it at the developer's website: Luckydroid

I hope I haven't bored you silly with this extra long post! I promise to do better next time!

 



Happy Birthday

This is the final card I will be entering into the Helping Hudson challenges, as it is nearly the end of the fundraiser! Good news though - the team have raised enough for Hudson to get his walker! It's such a lovely feeling to be involved in something (however tenuously!) that will bring such joy to people I don't even know! That's charity for you I suppose :)

So here's my card for the final technique challenge - embossing and sponging. I went through alot of different ideas before I hit upon this one. Nothing was working! Luckily inspiration hit late last night and I created this:



Technically it's 'debossing', but I'm sure it still counts! I sponged around the edges of the patterned paper layers with my "Sand" versacolor cube to give them a bit of definition.

And that isn't a word window punch I used for the sentiment - I faked it! To make your own word window (which has the added advantage of being as long as you need it to be - think of the possibilities!) I cut a strip of paper a touch thinner than my 3/8" circle punch. I then slid one end in from the back side of the punch. I stamped the sentiment and then did the same to the other end. I thought I had a page bookmarked that showed this technique but I don't, so I've modelled it for you below:



I think the strip of paper I used was slightly too thin to make the perfect rounded edges, but you get the idea.

Size of card: 4" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill black cardstock, Chatterbox Designer Paper "Botanico Garden"
Stamps - Hero Arts "Classic Messages"
Ink - Versafine "Onyx Black", Versacolor "Sand"
Tools - Carl rotary trimmer, Big Shot, Big Scallop nestabilities, Circle nestabilities, Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" folder, Helmar tape runner, Papercraft foam dots, Sullivan's 3/8" circle punch

Challenge: Helping Hudson Challenge 8 - Technique

Many thanks

The card in my post today is one I am entering into a couple of challenges - the Helping Hudson challenge #9, and the Pink Elephant ribbon and sparkles challenge.



The Helping Hudson colour challenge for this week is to use one colour (as many shades as desired), plus a neutral colour (I just realised that technically I used two - black and white... oops!)

The polka dot paper is my first foray into printing digital papers and I must say, I'm now hooked! I bought this digital paper set from Lilly Bimble on Mygrafico, and recoloured the polka dots paper using PSPX2 to make it suit my needs.

I find it's best to use heavier weight paper than ordinary copy paper to print the pattern onto. I use cartridge paper which is 110 gsm (copy paper is 80gsm so it's just a little bit heavier). I find that it prints better, and doesn't buckle as the ink saturates the paper. My printer is an inkjet but from what I know about laser printers I don't think this would be a problem.

The beauty of printing your own patterned paper is that you only have to print as much as you need for a particular project, and you can have the cake and eat it too (that is, you can use the paper, and print out more when you want to use it.)
I'm sure I'm not the only one guilty of buying beautiful patterned paper and then not wanting to use it because it's soooo beautiful, and it must be kept for a SPECIAL occasion. Well that isn't an issue with digital patterned paper!

And you can't go past the convenience of being able to change the colour to suit your project/colour scheme! How fantastic is that?!

I got started with printing my own paper a short while ago when I was reading a post on Lucy's blog and saw that she was using digital patterned paper and it looked like the bought stuff!
Lucy has some excellent videos on all manner of things digital on this page.

I've just started making the tissue paper flowers featured on this card, and I've taken a couple of photos on how I do it so I'll post a little tutorial tomorrow (edited to add - the tutorial is here). I was going to do it in this post but it became a little bit long-winded with my digital paper ramblings. ;)

Size of card: C6 (top folding)

Supplies:
Card/paper - Quill white cardstock, Cartridge paper (Lilly Bimble Carolina Patterns digital paper from MyGrafico)
Ink - Printer
Extra - Papercraft rubon, ribbon, tissue paper flowers by me (tutorial is here)
Tools - Fiskars paper trimmer, Canon Pixma printer, Helmar tape runner

Challenges: Helping Hudson Colour Challenge 9 / TPE80

Scrapping Essentials Designer Pack - Diamonds - Card #1

This is another lovely pack I was given to work with by Narelle of Scrapping Essentials.


It features Bazzill Bling (cardstock with a lovely pearly/metallic shine), 1 A4 sheet of Blue Diamond vellum, 1 foot of white grosgrain ribbon, 4 eyelet studs and 1 pack of Kaisercraft Blue square rhinestones.
I also used up more of the Kaisercraft Birthday Cards rubons from this designer pack.

I made four cards with this pack, and tried to make them as masculine (or unisex) as possible. I used everything except for one eyelet and a couple of scraps of cardstock and vellum.

Here's the card I am sharing with you today:



True to my word, I bought some vellum tape (3M Scotch to be precise) and because it's the only vellum adhesive I've ever worked with I can't compare it to other brands, but I have a couple of remarks in case you're interested:

• It works best on light-coloured vellum on top of light-coloured cardstock/paper. I tried it on the dark blue Bazzill I received in the pack and it had a 'wet look' even when I burnished the surface with my bone folder. It's not perfect with white vellums either, as I noticed on the white parts of my vellum that it had a slight yellowish tinge. To counter this I was careful when cutting to try to get the diamonds in the corners as much as possible so that I could hide the adhesive better.


• I found that, much to my frustration, it stuck to my fingers and I was getting the vellum and card all dirty and sticky... yuck! It reminded me alot of removable adhesive actually. I developed a way of getting it stuck down without touching it with my fingers, and that was to leave it on the edge of the scissors after cutting and then positioning it on the vellum still on the edge of scissors, and then press it down with a finger from the other hand. No more sticky fingers!


• The absolute worst thing about using vellum and adhesive (I think this would go for ANY adhesive) is that EVERYTHING shows through. Got a bit of cat hair caught in there? Yep, that shows! What about a teeny tiny miniscule bit of god-knows-what? Yep that shows too! I ended up only adhering in the corners for this reason (as well as the reason in my first remark above) as it's easier to keep little 1cm bits clean than long strips.


• That all being said, I liked how easy the vellum was to reposition right after sticking it onto the cardstock base (allowing me, the crappy layerer that I am to actually have a well-lined-up card). It didn't stay repositionable though, as I came back to it 20 mins later and gave it a test 'tug' and it wouldn't budge!

The rubons worked great with the vellum - just try to rub them on before sticking the vellum onto the cardstock layer! This will speed up the process as the rubbing tool won't get caught down in the little textured crevices, and it will have a smoother finish when you're done.

I hope you've enjoyed my vellum adhesive ramblings, and the card. I'll post the rest of the cards from the pack over the next few days.

Size of card: C6 - A5 folded in half

Supplies:
Card/paper - Bazzill Bling cardstock, Blue Diamond A4 vellum
Extras - Kaisercraft Birthday Cards rubon, Kaisercraft Blue square rhinestones, white grosgrain ribbon
Tools - Fiskars paper trimmer, Helmar glue runner, Papercrafts foam dots, Provocraft bone folder (for rubon), Scotch Vellum Tape

Designer pack - Baby Boy - Card #3

This is the third (and final) card I made with the Baby Boy pack from Scrapping Essentials. You can see the other cards I made with the pack here and here.



Vellum Tip No. 3: Photographing vellum is kinda tricky because it's transluscent. It depends on the vellum though, and the image printed on it. As the vellum I'm using for these baby cards is clear with pastel writing I found it quite difficult to photograph, and this card was the worst.
The solution I found worked the best was simply adjusting the brightness (when using the P - Program setting on my camera) to make it neutral (0). It was way too dark to begin with but it allowed me to capture the subtle text. The off-white backdrop also helped - I was able to lighten the image quite dramatically using my photo editing software without the card disappearing into the background.

Once again, I tucked in the edges of the vellum, adhering them down using sticky tape on the backside of the white layer. I really ought to get some vellum tape - it would allow for so many more possibilities.

Size of card: A5 folded in half

Supplies:
Card/paper - Bazzill cardstock, Vellum A4 Patterned - Baby Words
Tools - Fiskars paper trimmer, Helmar tape runner, Sticky tape

I hope you've enjoyed these cards, and perhaps found some inspiration. Next up are baby girl cards from the same designer pack.

Designer pack - Baby Boy - Card #2

This is the second Baby Boy card I made for Scrapping Essentials with the Baby Cards pack. See the first card in yesterday's post here.



Vellum Rule No. 2: Always cut with a sharp blade! (Unless you're after a distressed look...) I made a couple of boo boos because I was using the blunter side of my Fiskars trimmer blade (I always, for some reason, cut from right to left and this causes me to wear out one side of the blade much, much faster than the other - If I take off the cutting blade to score I always have to do a practice cut when I pop it back in to find out which side is the sharpest!)

I haven't adhered the vellum down with the eyelet hands - good lord no. They just *look* like they're holding onto it. I cut more from each side of the vellum words than I needed and folded the excess behind the white layer, sticking it down with sticky tape on the back. I only got 2 eyelet hands in the pack for the boy cards so I had to be extra careful not to blow it! Thankfully the card-making gods were smiling down at me that day ;)

To get the corners of the white layer slightly rounded I used my Fiskars scallop scissors which I never use to scallop with. They are very small scallops which make very cute rounded corners.

Size of card: A5 folded in half

Supplies:
Card/paper - Bazzill cardstock, Vellum A4 Patterned - Baby Words
Extra - Blue hand eyelets
Tools - Fiskars paper trimmer, Helmar tape runner, Sticky tape, Provo Craft silent setter, Fiskars scallop scissors

Oh and before I forget - I just want to share that the other day when I looked I saw I had 20 subscribers! From what I can gather everyone who follows me in Blogger becomes a subscriber, and it isn't as much as other people have (not by a long shot!) but I never would have thought that I would have any subscribers, much less 20 people who read my posts and hopefully get something out of them!
That's what I set out to do when I started up this blog - I wanted to put my ideas and creations out there and inspire others, and I hope I've done that for you today :)

If you're a subscriber please come out of your lurkdom and say hello - I'd love to see who you are :)

Scrapping Essentials: "His and Hers" cards - Part 3

As promised, here are some of the "Hers" cards I've made with the cardmaking pack from Scrapping Essentials.



Size of card: 4" square
Size of white layer: 3 1/2" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Bazzill cardstock (red and white)
Ink - none
Extras - Kaisercraft "Birthday Cards" rubon, Kaisercraft rhinestone "clear", Kaisercraft paper flowers "Poppy"
Tools - Fiskars paper trimmer, Bostik glue tape, Provocraft bone folder (for rubon)

~ ~ ~ ~



This one is very sweet and cute - I think it's my favourite!

Size of card: 4" square
Size of red layer: 3 3/4" square, white layer: 3 1/2" square

Supplies:
Card/paper - Bazzill cardstock (red and white)
Ink - none
Extras - Kaisercraft "Birthday Cards" rubon, Kaisercraft ribbon
Tools - Fiskars paper trimmer, Bostik glue tape, Provocraft bone folder (for rubon)

~ ~ ~ ~



Rubon Tip: Since I used alot of rubons when making these cards I developed quite a knack for them. I've actually got heaps but never use them, I guess because I never was very good at using them. What I found was that a hard (untextured) surface underneath the rubbing area (unfold the card if you've already folded it) and the narrow edge of my bone folder over the letters only worked really well. This is especially important for textured card like Bazzill. I found because it is a soft card perhaps because of the texture, the rubbing area where I put more pressure was more noticeable.

Size of card: C6 (A5 folded in half)

Supplies:
Card/paper - Bazzill cardstock (red and white)
Ink - none
Extras - Kaisercraft "Birthday Cards" rubon, Kaisercraft ribbon
Tools - Fiskars paper trimmer, Bostik glue tape, Provocraft bone folder (for rubon)

Stay tuned next post for the classiest cards of the bunch.

Thanks for looking!

Best Wishes and Roses

I only realised today that I hadn't thought at all about this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch challenge - and thought, if I could, combining it with the My Grafico challenge this week would solve all my problems!



I punched out the roses using my supposed 1.5" square punch which, in actual fact, is 1" square... someone sure screwed up in the punch factory that day!

I don't know how it happened, but when I stamped on my scratch paper my sentiment stamped fine... and then when I stamped on the card the bottom of the s of 'wishes' and most of the 'w' were paler than the rest of the sentiment. It looked weird the way that it was, so I got out the plain ol' black sharpie and filled in the gaps. It looks a little strange, but better than it did.

Digital stamp tip: I print all of my pictures out on ordinary A4 copy paper and then use a photocopier to get them onto the paper I want, in this case my Monte Marte sketch pad. I've found this paper deals really well with watercolouring so I use it often. The toner won't smudge or smear when wet like my inkjet printer does.
I don't throw away the pages I use to copy from - I use them again and again. It saves trees as well as time!

Size of card: C6 (A5 folded in half)

Supplies:
Card/Paper - Quill cardstock, Optix paper "Tula Pink", Monte Marte sketch pad
Ink - Versafine "Black Onyx", Toner
Stamp - "Roses and Posies" Stamps by Sarah Paris, Kaisercraft sentiment
Embellishments - watercolours, Victoria Spencer ribbon
Tools - Fiskars paper trimmer, Zig H20 pen, Bostik glue tape, Sullivan's 1.5" punch (which is actually 1")

Challenges: CPS#164 and MyGrafico #46 'Punch out Crime'