My first video!!! A shaker card trick - applying foam tape the easy way

Yikies, can you believe I made a video?!? I found this trick on a video by Sandy Allnock, and she seemed surprised at all the comments from people who had no idea to do this. She thought it was common knowledge, well apparently not! Seriously, do you know how many shaker card videos I've watched by all the top names in the paper craft industry, and she is the only one that showed this!!

So for your viewing pleasure (it's 5 minutes long, sorry I tried not to talk too much), here it is:

Sorry about the annoying Kizoa advertisement, it's a free program. It works pretty easy once you get the hang of it, but if you have any suggestions for other online editor programs that are free, please let me know!!

A couple of comments about the cards. First of all, that card isn't truly finished. I haven't even put it onto a card base yet! What I meant is that the shaker part is finished. Also, it seems kind of plain to me. I thought the colorful Christmas bulbs would be enough to 'carry it' but I feel like it's missing something. If you read this within the next couple of days, please feel free to suggest how I can jazz it up without too much overkill. If you've followed my blog at all, you'll know I'm a 'clean and simple' type of person, but my constant challenge is how to add that last little touch that takes it up a notch without overwhelming the look of it.

I truly truly would love to hear your thoughts on my video. Was this a helpful trick? Did you already know to do this, and if so, where did you learn about it? As I said, I saw it in a Sandy Allnock video and she is the only one I've seen do it! And trust me, I have watched a ton of shaker card videos.

If you liked my video, I would love a thumbs up on YouTube. It's easier than commenting but it's also encouragement for me to try to make more. :) Thanks for watching!

Reindeer Kisses - TCP Tuesday Anything Goes challenge

Do you realize, as of today there are exactly two months left till Christmas?! Are you ready?

I signed up for a shaker card exchange on SplitCoastStampers, and I've been working on some ideas. After a couple of epic fails (like glueing the darned thing closed *before* putting in the shaker bits!!) I finally completed a working prototype. Not sure if I want to make 5 more of these, but I do like the end result. And as it happens, this week is The Cats Pajamas Anything Goes challenge. Since this is from TCP set 'Reindeer Kisses' how perfect did that work out, huh? I haven't played in a TCP challenge for ages, so I think I deserve that part lining up for me... since I spent the weekend working on my failed cards. ;) They were both completely different ideas so maybe this one is meant to be!

 

I could point out all the glitches, but I won't! It's not like anybody reads my blog to learn stuff so I'm sure I can just keep those things to myself, hehe. I colored in the penguin and reindeer with Copics, and used Tumbled Glass distress ink for the 'sky'. I tried a new-to-me trick for the glitter. I used my clear double sided tape (the tape with the red liner that sticks to your fingers like crazy when you peel it off! lol) and covered it with glitter. Sure enough, once you've shaked and rubbed off the excess glitter, it still looks shiny and glittery but nothing comes off. I love that tape, it's pretty much my favorite adhesive. I just bought two 50 meter rolls for super cheap, I think I'm set for a while now. :)

One of my biggest pet peeves is the photography part. I suck at it. My hands are really shaky so I have a teeny tiny tripod that I use, but it's not very stable so I still need to steady it with my hands. And my camera isn't that great. Honestly, some days I get better pictures with my iPhone! So I'm bummed that you can't see that the sentiment is heat embossed. I used Crimson Red Versafine ink and Judikins clear detail embossing powder. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the light to catch the gleam of the embossing so it just looks flat in the picture. 

Both the big and little circles were done with the Simon Says Stamp stitched circles. The stitching really takes it up a notch without any extra effort. Really glad I finally bought that set! I just need me some squares... and some rectangles... and, and, and... :D

I hope you're all having fun working on your Christmas cards. I'm not going to start mass producing till my MISTI arrives this week. Super squeeee!

Alright, I'm done for today.

I finally bought a water brush!

Today I picked up a Pentel Aquash water brush at Michaels. I've wanted one for a while, but it's always a matter of prioritizing. Couldn't think of any other one thing I wanted to use my 40% off coupon on, so there you have it. Mine mine mine!

That's it, that's all! Maybe I'll post something in the near future that I used it for. :)

A card with more of my Paper Smooches haul, and another Anything Goes challenge!

I'm really in love with all my Paper Smooches stuff, but I specifically bought the Crystal Clear set with shaker cards in mind. I bought the Crystal Clear stamp set, along with the Crystal Clear 1 and 2 die sets which make up the mason jar.

Back a few months ago I won a Bella Blvd prize pack which contained the Rover (dog) and Riley (cat) release. Of course that prize was a match made in heaven. Thank you Bella Blvd!! I was hoarding it... silly me... and decided there was no better time to break out some of the paper than to use with my Paper Smooches mason jar.

Now I have to say, because I don't think I mentioned it last time, Kim Hughes from Paper Smooches really deserves a shout out. She does a new release EVERY month. She must be a crazy lady. ;) On top of that, she is super duper generous and during the design team's release blog hop she gives away several Paper Smooches gift certificates. I was a lucky girl in September and won a GC. I promptly spent it and several dollars more to stock up on some stuff I'd been coveting for awhile. So thank you to Kim for her kindness, I hope it comes back to her a hundred fold. :)

You're gonna think that all I do is go around from blog to blog looking for prizes to win, but I swear I don't! I have to admit I've been pretty lucky, but I also think it's because the stamping/scrapbooking industry is truly one of the most generous out there. I'm starting to have a hard time convincing my husband that I'm actually winning this stuff every time it arrives in the mail. First world problems, right?!!

So back to my card. Here it is:

As mentioned, the paper is Bella Blvd and the jar die and stamp are Paper Smooches. The 'Ruff day'  and bone outline stamps are also Paper Smooches from the 'Paws for a Cause' set, and the other bone stamp (in white) is from the Lucky Dog Two set.

I was looking around online for bone shaped confetti to use in my jar. I didn't really find anything that appealed to me so I thought why not make my own? I stamped the bone outline multiple times on velum, then fussy cut each one out. I used a different bone stamp with Versamark ink and white embossing powder for the three bones you see on the kraft paper. I took three of the vellum bones and strategically glued them on the kraft paper as well. That's a tip I learned from Jennifer McGuire, she usually glues a few sequins directly to the card when she makes a shaker card so that they don't all fall to the bottom. It's much prettier that way. She's one smart cookie! Another tip I learned from her is to use your powder tool (the one you use when heat embossing) on the acetate clear plastic piece to prevent your sequins and other bits from sticking to it. I made my own with cornstarch and a trouser sock and that works just fine too. It's just to remove some of the static.

If you look closely you might even see my reflection in the jar, LOL! Now, here's my own tip for you. Do not do what I did: the card seemed to be curling a bit, so once it was finished I ran it through my die cutter machine (I have a Fiskars Fuse) between the plates just to flatten it out. Bad idea! It smooshed it down too much and the bones stopped moving around as freely as before. Fortunately I followed the 'glue a few' tip and so you see a couple sticking out. :)

I hand cut a banner out of vellum and stamped 'Ruff day?' on it with black pigment ink and used clear embossing powder to give it some texture. You can't really see that because I suck at taking pictures, but it looks nice in person. I felt I couldn't see the sentiment well enough when putting my vellum banner directly on the card, so I cut out a slightly smaller one out of a light kraft cardstock and glued the vellum to it. Then I used some adhesive foam to pop up my banner on the card.

I'm pleased with the overall card. I don't normally add sentiments to my cards because I don't know what I want to use them for but I've realized that when blogging, the cards look more polished by adding a sentiment. By popping it up on foam, I can always swap it out with something else later on. Besides, if you were having a 'ruff day', wouldn't you want a jar full of dog bones?!! ;)

I'm entering my card in the Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes challenge again, I love the wide variety of entries we see during the Anything Goes weeks, they're all very inspirational! Already I've spotted a favorite, you have to go check it out! It's a circular card with rainbow colored butterflies, by Dasha in Slovenia, you will love it!

Okay, I think I've carried on enough for one blog post. I hope you enjoyed this card. I'm thinking of tackling a Christmas shaker card next, any suggestions? I'm kinda coveting the new Holiday Lights dies from Paper Smooches' October release... I have a thing for Christmas lights... payday is Friday. Hmmm... LOL.

Paper Smooches Linked Hearts and Anything Goes challenge

I fell in love with this Linked Hearts die the moment I saw it used in a card, so it was a no brainer for me to buy it! It arrived in the mail last week, and I needed to make a quick card to send out with a pendant that a Facebook friend asked that I send on her behalf so I knew right away that I just had to use this die.

This is a super simple card, the die is such a rock star that it doesn't really need anything added to it!

Perfect timing that the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge this week is Anything Goes, dontcha think?!

 

I wish I had more time for card making, I would love to play with my PS stamps and dies all day. They always put a smile on my face!

This is the pendant that I made and will be sending for my Facebook friend, in case you're curious:

 

Sometimes you just have those 'ah ha!' moments... the Linked Hearts die was one, and the "I Love You to the moon and back" charm was another. I knew immediately that it would be perfect for making Scottie pendants. Here is the original pendant I designed, but since most Scotties are black rather than wheaten (cream), I'm also using the bronze Scottie above until I can get my hands on the perfect black Scottie charms. :)

Scotties and cardmaking. Love them, what can I say!

My first shaker card... for Kiki

I have a confession to make... I love sequins, and I even sell them in my Etsy shop... but I've never made a shaker card before! I've wanted to, but as you know my cardmaking slowed down to less than a snail's pace after I went back to work in June.

So last month I decided to put together a shaker card on the fly, and I'm just now getting around to posting it on my blog. I like blogging, but when I haven't made cards I don't feel like I have anything to say. I really need to find my groove again, but I'm not going to force it... it'll happen when it happens. :)

Back in July, when at last after over a year without any income at all I had a regular paycheque again and a bit of cash to spare, I splurged and bought a set from Unity Stamp Co. that I had been coveting for a really long time. For my regular readers (though not sure if I still have any since I dropped off the face of the earth!) you'll know that I love dogs more than I love humans, and the loss of a dog hits me harder than anything. Even as I type this I'm sniffling and blinking back a rogue tear or two. So I decided that it would be appropriate for me to use this stamp set for my first shaker card. Here it is:

This isn't a particularly great shot, I just quickly snapped it with my iPhone when I made it a few weeks ago. You may remember my friend Teresa's Kiki... In February we fundraised $5,000 for her chemo treatments. This helped give them half a year more with their beautiful girl. Well, this past week Teresa and her husband came to the realization that it was time to let Kiki go to the Rainbow Bridge (okay the tears are fully flowing now). On Friday September 4th, Teresa and Dave said goodbye to their beautiful 12 year old Kiki. She's been kicking cancer's butt for the last two years, and now it's time for her to rest. This card will be going to them.

Dance and play little girl, you will never be in pain again. ♥

Where did I go?!?

Nowhere really! I wish I'd gone somewhere, how cool would that be?!

I started my new job about a month ago, and it has been sapping a lot of my energy. I am a residential support worker in a transition home for women, I work an overnight shift and I thought it would be perfect for cardmaking since it's usually pretty quiet... but either I have a lot to do, or I find extra stuff to do, lol. The other night, I made a tasty tasty pasta sauce for the worker on swing shifts who prepares the dinner meal everyday. She doesn't like to cook (go figure), and our food budget has been a little out of control because her heart isn't in it... consequently she doesn't always follow the preset menu, and doesn't really try to stretch our food budget dollar. She doesn't really cook veggies other than frozen peas and carrots, so to her a pasta sauce is meat and tomato sauce. In her defense, she's 70 years old and can't afford to retire. She does a lot of the maintenance type stuff (change lightbulbs, etc) so we don't have to do it. She's a really nice lady, and I try to help her out when I can so I offered to chop up and saute some veggies for her, but since I actually like to cook I got carried away and made the whole sauce. It make the night go by fast, I really don't mind. :)

Anyhow... since I haven't been blogging (or commenting on my blog group's posts!) I thought I would make amends by running a small giveaway. Some of you may know I have little Etsy store called The Paper Haberdashery. I sell scrapbooking supplies, mostly just for fun. I could probably jack up my prices but that sucks. When I wasn't working and started getting into cardmaking, I really had to make do with what I had on hand. It seemed like anything I wanted to try I had to buy in too large of quantities for my budget. So that kinda motivated me to offer some basic scrapbooking supplies at low cost. My sequins are a kick ass deal (at least in my opinion!) and you get a really 8 different shades or colors in each pack so you don't get stuck with a whole bunch of just one color. 

I'm in the process of adding a bunch of listings for washi tape that I recently stocked, and I also have more on order though I don't know if it will arrive or be listed before the giveaway ends. You have till the end of July to enter. I don't mean to be a pest, but I highly recommend that you reblog about my giveaway, because I'd like to add a second prize if I get enough visitors/entries. ;) I'm also trying to get some Pinterest followers, hint hint...

I've been thinking of selling enamel dots, I found some wholesale that I like but it'll cost me a minimum of $50 upfront to get a good price on them. I just can't figure out if enamel dots are on their way out yet... it's so hard to keep up with what's popular and what's not! Let me know what you think, I could sure use some advice!

So, good luck to all and if you have any questions just let me know!!

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