Izbzee

Holiday card making - part 1

There's a new collection out at Simply Crafty SVGs.  I fell in love with the penguin card as soon as I saw it and decided to jump and get the set as soon as it was released and put my spin on it.  I had ideas swirling!  

Here's my take:  
I cut an extra layer of the solid blackout version of the penguin.   I wanted to make sure the insert was stable enough to handle the wobble.  I also cut a vellum version of the lights and then trimmed the "bulbs" from the black cut.  I used an embossing tool to add a little dimension to the vellum bulbs.  You could also color them if desired or color the light different colors with alcohol markers if you didn't have any colored LED lights.

I used some lights from a chibi kit I'd purchased a while back.  Create your circuit.  I did cut a slot in the panel that goes on the card base back after coloring the panel with distress inks for a night sky.  The panel had been altered by adding some small holes in the spots where the bulbs would be.  You can do that before cutting or marking the panel after cutting.  Mark the back piece of the card base for placement of the LEDs.  Create your circuit.  Since I'd added a slot, i used a slider switch to complete the circuit to turn the lights on and off.  It is hidden behind the insert but very accessible.  The "handle" will fold down for mailing and doesn't add a lot of bulk to the card.

You'll assembly the card pretty much as directed in the video on Sandy's site -- I added some inking and used a small piece of cotton for the pom-pom on the hat for a little more fun.  

Hoping you'll find some creative time soon as well!  

A little creative fun

Andrea shared a pic posted by an art teacher sharing a project on Instagram with me.... we decided to try our own version and this is what happened. 

We used a Crayon SVG file from Creative Fabrica as our base.  We only used the tip and the crayon stick from the file.  We wanted to have some fun with the rest.  Our details were created using the SCAL Library shapes and a few designing commands in the program.  So fun to create and cut.   And we're looking forward to having some fun with the grands this weekend helping them create their own personal version of FrankenCrayon or Bride of FrankenCrayon. Some of the pieces are small and will take a little adult help to assemble, but it should be fun.  And maybe a few of the adults will also join in and make their own too!  

The character FrankenCrayon comes from a book written by Michael Hall and is available on Amazon in print, audio or kindle versions.  

3 Tags of Fall - Tag 3

It's the last day of the 3 Tags of Fall reveal on our FB page.  It's been a fun couple of days to see what the other makers have created and while our numbers are few, we know that there are others creating, but not posting.  

For my last tag, I created this Pinterest inspired BOO tag using SCAL 6 and cut with the Skycut.  I filled the letters with some paper from Lori Whitlock's digital  I Love Halloween collection from Echo Park.  


The tag base was created in SCAL 6.  It has been inked and the sentiment (Avenir and Ballegand fonts) is foiled with black foil.  Using the Magic Moon Font, I've used the Pattern option to fill each of the letters.  Follow the print 2 cut directions for your software and machine.  I've added foam behind the printed letters which have been lightly inked with Black Soot (distress ink) and there are two shadow layers beneath the top layer.  The bottom is a blackout shadow cut in black paper.  The middle layer is a burnt orange color and is glued directly to the bottom blackout layer.  I've added a small wiggle eye as the period of the exclamation mark for a little more dimension and interest.  



Materials:
AC Cardstock
Printer
Distress Ink, blending tool
Foil Quill (standard nib)
Black Foil (Spellbinders)
Bearly Art Glue
Black foam tape
Wiggle Eye

3 Tags of Fall - Tag 2

Fall mean harvest time around here.... and we've been canning, dehydrating and freezing everything from our garden.  We didn't get enough apples to do much with, but this shaker will be the perfect addition to a gift of apple bars.  

I've  had this file in my stash for quite a while.  I can't find the original information, but it is similar to this one,

I started with white paper and added color as needed.  Leaves are colored using the ink refills (dragging the paper through drops of ink. The bow was done the same way.  Once dry, the pieces were "painted" with a light coat of collage pauge for added sheen.  The leaves are from the SCAL library and the bow is from a file another file.  I used a silver marker -- and added a little sheen with the collage pauge after gluing it to the top of the shaker once it was assembled.  

I had a couple of packages of polymer clay apple slices in red and green I could use in the shaker.  

You'll find a few more tags being shared on our FB page:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/eclipsecal

MATERIALS:
AC cardstock (smooth white)
Watercolor Brush Ink Refills (Poetique)
Shaker Sprinkles (Etsy)
Zig 0.08 black pane
Bearly Art Glue
Glossy Collage Pauge by Aleene's
Small flat brush for acrylics
Transparency Acetate
SCAL 6 Pro
Skycut C24

3 Tags of Fall - Tag 1

I haven't done a lot of paper piecing items lately -- and this file has been in my stash of files for quite a while.  I thought it might be fun to make it slightly smaller for a fun tag for an autumn gift bag.  The original file is for a mini album, so I just used the pieces that were necessary for the front and back of the album.  

This file, Owl Critter Book, is from My Scrap Chick.  I reduced the pieces across pages in the SCAL 6 software to 75%.  I was able to use some scraps from the stash too to put this one together! 

All the pieces are inked before assembly and you do need to look at the image that is included in the file to determine placement.  This tag also has a finished back.  The to and from could be added there.  I also added some shimmer to the pieces for a little extra shine.  The hanger is a piece of wired twine formed into a hook. 

You can see this tag and others on our Facebook Group page:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/eclipsecal

Materials:  
Bearly Art Glue
AC cardstock (all scraps from previous projects)
Ranger Distress inks
Wink of Stella
Sakura White Gel Pen
SCAL 6 Pro
Skycut C24

Halloween... 2023

We've gotten a little early start as you can tell... having made this typewriter previously, it wasn't difficult to give it a different feel.  

One of our daughters is in her final semester of her undergraduate studies.  Since she's majoring in Creative Writing, she asked for a Halloween themed typewriter similar to one she saw online.  The Typewriter SVG file is from SVGCuts and is a box.  The skeleton hands are from Creative Fabrica and the vintage collage is also from a collection found on Creative Fabrica. 

I was originally worried about the colors, but after grunging things up a bit, it actually reminded her of an old typewriter we had a number of years ago... an old Royal manual that you had to push the keys so hard, to get the ribbon to print the image on the paper.  

Now to finish the rest of the display.  Hoping to have it cut, assembled and on display with the typewriter very soon.  

Make it now not later challenge

This was a fun Halloween decor piece to create.  I'm using two files from Simply Crafty SVGs (listed below) and a few other things to embellish.  

Oh, my!  I got to HL too early to find one of the items I needed and wanted to use for the tail in the Christmas section (now about 1/2 of the store!)  LOL... however, after a quick trip to Joann's I found a  pick with feathers for a fluffy cat tail that I think will work.  The giant curly chenille stems weren't at the store either in the color I wanted... so the pick will have to work.  

For the base:

I used the Halloween Witchy Luminary found here.  I created the base using the solid pieces (just copy and paste to get eight of them)  I reduced these pieces 25% so the finished size was 75% of the original design.  Repeat the process for the panels.  You need eight solid panels, also reduced.  The luminary base will be flipped and used for the topper.  I cut a circle for the bottom of the luminary closing off the bottom of the box.  

The cat is cut at 125% and is from the Vintage Halloween Bags.  The Orange piece is a solid background shadow of the gray piece of the stacked images.  Cut two of each shape.  I also created a folded tab to help the piece stand in the base.  Cut a slit about 1 inch wide in the bottom of the base (which will become the top)  Once you've completed assembly of the cat with the folded tabs glued between the two orange pieces, slide the edge in the slit and glue them to the underside of the base.  The cat should stand up without any additional supports. The head will be heavy and I did need to add an additional support.  I used a large paper clip and secured it in place.  

Make a rosette to go around the cat's neck and cover the shape on the base.  4 patterned paper strips were cut at 1 3/8" x 6".  Scored every 1/4" along the long edge.  Fold each strip accordian style.  I glued the four strips together to form a rosette.  Use a glue gun to secure the rosette (the hole is large enough to slip over the head of the cat... you then adjust the fan folds around the head as evenly as possible

Add any other embellishments desired.  Glue on the tail using hot glue to secure in place, under a panel in the back. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Hoping you have some creative time on your calendar this week, if it's not inked in yet, I hope you'll make some time to nurture your creative spirit very soon. 

 

trying a few new "to me" things

When I purchased the Skycut C24 a couple of years ago, I also purchased the embossing and etching tools.  I don't use them often, but a current project required use of the etching tool.  I was a bit wary and also glad that the acrylic blanks were fairly inexpensive, so ruining a couple wouldn't cause lots of worry.  

Here's the "test" result using a the Premium Monogram Font I found at Creative Fabrica.  

The steps to achieve this are pretty easy to do using SCAL and the Skycut.  
I chose an old grungy mat.  Not a lot of tackiness but using some redline tape  provided the tack needed to keep the 3 inch blank in place during the etching process.  In SCAL, I placed the image on the mat and set the X and Y to the bottom right corner at 11.00 inches.  Set the image to draw.  Hide the blank shape (the circle).  

As with most images, you may need to use line fill to complete the etching and fill in the shapes using the line fill option in the effects dropdown menu.  

Prepare the mat:  I placed the tape vertically on the mat so the tape was straddling the 11 inch mark on the right side of the mat and then straddling the 8 inch mark.  The strips were just a little more than 3 inches in length.  These strips held quite well for several etched pieced.  

Insert the etching tool into the holder.  Make sure that you have the mat and the post-it note stack (10 count) to set the height of the tool.  If you don't do that, the tool will drag across the blank and leave a few extra scratches that you really don't want!  Remove the protective sheets from both sides of the blank and center the blank between the two strips of tape.  Making sure that the blank doesn't extend beyond either 11 inch line on the mat.  Press the blank to the tape and to the mat to make sure it won't slide during the etching process.

Load the mat, and make sure that you have the tool centered at the bottom right corner in portrait orientation.  My Draw settings for this particular project was force 20, speed 6.   Click on Cut, Click on Draw -- and let the magic begin.  This etching took about 25 minutes.  Remember, I slowed down the speed a bit.  

Once the process has completed, remove the mat and carefully, remove the blank.  Wipe away the "sand," and clean carefully. 

Again, this is a test image and not the final version, I'm really happy with the outcome and plan on using the etching option for several other projects!  

Have a great day... thanks for dropping by and I hope you've carved out some creative time in the very near future.  

 

 

baby shower

Grandbaby 13 arrived a bit early... it's baby shower time!  I used the Photo Popup Card SVG File from Simply Crafty SVGs for them.  All 30!  Mom and Dad sent several pictures for us to choose from.  I chose one that used the portrait option and using SCAL 6 Pro I was able to use the Clip Path command and insert the pic right into the blank photo file piece.  Once the file and photo were grouped, I could copy and paste as many as I needed to fill a page.  These were printed on photo paper and I let them dry for 48 hours before cutting them. 




Some woodland background digital papers from Creative Fabrica as well as the black and white silhouette of a baby gnome were used. I used the pattern fill option in the SCAL software and filled the panels with the image and printed the panels on buttercream textured paper.  

I set up the gnome in png format as a print to cut option... sizing to fit on the front panel of the card.  After printing, I hand-colored each gnome using the colors in the photos we had and then set things up in SCAL to finish the print 2 cut.  This was a great stress relieving activity after a very stress-filled week.  ;)




The base of the card was cut using some Mossy Meadow from Stampin' Up.  I guess the humidity was still a little high and the first couple of cuts didn't cut as smoothly as I'd have liked, so I did some additional test cuts and finally got some settings that worked much better.... and finished cutting all the bases.  

Details for the shower are on the back of the vertical pop up piece.  

Assembly for the card is very easy.... and it folds flat enough to fit in a standard invitation envelope for mailing.  Feel free to watch the video found here  (scroll down the page a bit) to see just how easy it is!  

August cards....

Canning, making jam and dehydrating has filled quite a few of our days lately.  The garden is also beginning to produce so veggies are just around the corner and the fruit trees are showing their bounty as well.  HOWEVER, we have managed to squeeze in a bit of crafting time and now that a few of these are already on their way, I can share some of them:

My FIL turned 91 in July.  I've always wanted to make the expanding candle card and this celebration let us do it!  

It was fun and he enjoyed pulling it out and trying to refold it.....  I only lost one cut out of the 270 flame pieces.  Not bad!  The papers were from an Echo Park Let Freedom Ring kit I had some scraps left over from.  He loved all the plaids and prints since he lives in plaid shirts!  

Birthdays abound in August... so I got a little ahead of those and put a couple of them together early.  This one is for my Granddaughter who is turning 16.  She's had some health issues and thankfully, we're able to celebrate the fact that she'll be able to go a full year before having another MRI as her last scan was clear!  

I used several digital papers and images from Nitwit Collections and a tuxedo card base for this one.  It folds flat for mailing and then will pop open a bit to stand.  

The cuts for the two cards above were made using the Skycut C24 and SCAL 6 Pro.  Bearly Art Glue and Scor Tape were used as adhesives.  

My ministering cards for August were made using some unbranded dies - - I purchased the dies through Amazon.  I saw something similar on Pinterest and then decided to flip it to horizontal for about half of the makes.  I used distress inks and a blender tool for the background and some tombow markers for additional interest.  The stamp is from Bear Essentials by Ellen Hutson.

There's more -- but this is enough for today!  Hoping you have a creative day!