Back at it – New Sketch Sunday!

Welcome back! Well, that was more for me than you all. I have been missing for awhile, I know. Things have been crazy here. I moved, lost a job, got a new job and have already decided that the craft room that I set up about a year ago doesn’t work for me. I am in the process of redoing the craft room, so that will keep me busy for awhile.

Anyway, I started up the Sketch Sunday series again yesterday. I made my first card based off of the sketch from My Favorite Things. The link will be listed at the end of the post. You have until 12:00 Noon EST to enter their contest. But don’t worry – there’s a new one every week!

When I was redoing my craft room, I found a bunch of supplies that I thought I had lost! One of those things was my heat gun. So, of course, I had to use it on this card.

 

Here is the link to the video I made if you want to see how I created it.

The supplies I used are:

Martha Stewart Heat Gun

Martha Stewart Ebony Embossing Powder

Versamark Ink

Distress Inks in Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Worn Lipstick

Mini Ink Blending Tools

Copics: E000, E00, E11,E15, E18 (all ciao) R14, R17 (both Sketch)

#coloring Markers (from Michael’s) : R3, R17, B2

Nicole Premiere Marker (from AC Moore): Slate

Promarker:Ice Grey 1

My Favorite Things RazzleBerry Ink (sentiment and wallpaper background) and Hybrid Black Licorice (main image and stamping for mask)

My Favorite Things Background Stamps: Fleur de Lis and Roses All Over

My Favorite Things Stamp and Dies: Time for the Bubbly

White card stock: Michael’s Multipack

MISTI Stamping Tool (regular size)

Fiskar’s scissors

V5 Pilot Pen in Black

Thanks for stopping by! Here is where you can find me :

IG – scrapsecrets1120

YouTube – chelebelle1120

Sketch Sunday #36

So, I have missed a couple of posts lately. Whoops! Life here has been crazy. I put my house up for sale before the summer and spent the entire summer (and part of fall) cleaning for open houses and showings. Needless to say, my crafting was put on hold. My craft supplies were packed up in so many boxes that they probably outnumbered boxes in all other rooms (combined)!

I moved into my new house at the end of October and started to set up my craft room. Unfortunately, it was the last room that needed to be worked out, but the one I wanted to the most! It’s almost complete – I will be posting a room tour video soon! The last pieces should be arriving at my house tomorrow, if the snow storm hasn’t delayed their delivery.

I have started to get back into a crafting routine, which includes Sketch Sunday. I even was able to participate in this month’s hashtag event! (You can see the videos over at my YouTube channel – link listed below).

For this week’s sketch Sunday, I used the sketch from MFT Weekly Sketch Challenge: http://www.cardchallenges.com/search/label/sketchchallenge

I started with a pre-made kraft card stock card base that measures 8″ x 5 1/2″. I used my Martha Stewart bone folder to score the card at 4″ and make the creases more crisp. This made the card 4″ x 5 1/2″.

The front of the card was made by using a piece of green Recollections card stock that was cut 1/8″ smaller than the card base. I then cut a piece of white Recollections card stock 1/8″ smaller than the green mat. I took the white piece of card stock and placed it in the MISTI. Placing the My Favorite Things cling stamp Birthday Background in the MISTI, I inked it up with My Favorite Things Gumdrop Green and stamped it on the white card stock piece. Then, I used washi tape to secure the white piece to the Heidi Swapp stencil. In the open areas of the stencil, I used Tim Holtz Mermaid Lagoon distress ink and a mini ink blending tool to create the two blue bands over the words.

I took the same green Recollections card stock and ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Simon Says Stamp die that says “Brothers”. I did this four times and then I took all four pieces and secured them together with my Zig Two Way glue pen. After they were stuck together, I used my CutterBee scissors to cut off the “s” in Brothers. Using the same glue, I attached the word “Brother” to the right side of the top blue band.

For the inside sentiment, I used another My Favorite Things stamp set called Delicious Birthday. The white layer is 3 1/4″ x 3 3/4″ and the green layer is 1/8″ larger than the white layer. The sentiment I chose was “It’s Your Day Get Your Cake On”. I inked it up in the same Gumdrop Green My Favorite Things hybrid ink that I used for the background stamp on the front of the card. I also stamped the set of five candles that comes with the set in the bottom right corner.

That is the card for this week. Here is the link to the video:https://youtu.be/ivxEvKVNeqA

Here are two pictures of it:

 

Sketch Sunday #32

I can’t believe that I have done 32 weeks of challenges! True, it wasn’t 32 straight weeks. I have never been that great at consistency, unfortunately. But lately I have been trying to be better at it. Sometimes life just gets in the way!

Anyway, this week’s sketch comes from My Favorite Things. I like doing their challenges because it doesn’t take long to look for the sketch and I get a chance to win an awesome prize! Here is the link to the sketch if you want to play along:http://www.cardchallenges.com/2015/08/wednesday-sketch-challenge-sketch-242.html

I made a video for Sketch Sunday showing how I put the card together. I also did a voice over in this one, which is something I haven’t done for awhile. Usually I don’t have much time to edit the video, so it goes up as is!

Here is a link to the video:https://youtu.be/ywGsfOCcBPM

And here are some pictures of the card:

Thanks for stopping by!

Michele

List of supplies:

ATG
Zig 2 Way Glue Pen
My Favorite Things Geek is Chic Stamps and Dies
My Favorite Things Razzle Berry Ink
My Favorite Things Grape Jelly Ink
Hero Arts Shadow Ink Mid – Tone Navy
Distress Ink Worn Lipstick
Martha Stewart Heart Border Punch
Recollections White 65 lb Cardstock
Recollections Patterned Paper (paper scraps)

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Did you ever have one of those days…..

where no matter what you did, nothing would go your way? That’s how tonight’s crafting adventure ended up! I was working on my last project for the #pawgustart event and every thing I started wasn’t to my liking. I started out trying to watercolor with distress inks, but couldn’t find my heat tool to heat emboss the image. So then I decided to paper piece the image. That turned out ok and I continued to work on the card. The next step was to use ink on an embossing folder to create trees and a blue (inked) background. When I added the paper pieced owls onto it, I did not like the way it looked.

I decided to scrap that project (after making two video parts for it, totaling over half an hour!) to work on making a flip card from a steel die. I have never really done one, so I thought I would give it a try. First attempt was poor at best! I tried to cut two pieces of patterned paper and glue one down to each side. The card would get stuck as you were flipping it. I gave up on that idea and decided to cut a new base out of white card stock, use the center pieces from my failed attempt and go from there.

I took a Heidi Swapp 12 x 12 heart stencil and used Barn Door distress ink to create the background. Next, I glued on the pieces that I cut out from my “failed” attempt at the flip card to cover the middle piece that flipped. I used the stamps from the Simon Says Stamp Circle Friends stamp set to create the background, bear and the sentiment. I added some clear gems for some sparkle to the card.

Here is the video that I made for the event : https://youtu.be/VZSunbePruI

Thanks for stopping by!

Michele

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Sketch Sunday #31

I don’t have the best track record at this blogging thing. I will try to get better. I have been making YouTube videos, though! A lot is going on here. My new house is almost done, but this one hasn’t sold. (No pressure!) My twin nieces’ turned one yesterday, which is a huge deal. (They were born 3 months early and only weighed a little over 2 lbs each). We had a huge party to celebrate them turning one and all the milestone they have hit. It’s been a long road, but there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. Of course I went overboard with decorations. Not just me – my sister and I did all the decorations. Okay, and so if Andy reads this (her husband, which I doubt he will), I will give him some credit. He did help put the toothpick holders together! HA. (I will do a separate post and show pics of everything we created!)

Anyway, I did another Sketch Sunday this week. The sketch is a My Favorite Things Sketch located here: http://www.cardchallenges.com/2015/08/wednesday-sketch-challenge-sketch-241.html?m=1

Here are the supplies I used:

Birdie Brown stamp set from My Favorite Things called You Have My Heart

MFT In and Out Stitched Diagonal Rectangle Dies (largest one)

Gourmet Rubber Stamps Stencil (paw prints)

Distress Inks in : Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn, Festive Berries, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Black Soot

Mini Ink Blending Tools from Ranger

ProMarkers in: Royal Blue, Sunflower, Saffron, Vanilla, Terracotta

Marvy LePlume No 48 – Leaf Green

Zig 2 Way Glue Pen

ATG with General Purpose Tape (Brown)

Washi Tape

Circle Nestabilities Dies

Genius Platform and Cuttlebug

My Favorite Things Black Licorice Hybrid Ink

Gelly Roll Pens in: Black and White

Here are some pictures of the card:

Here’s a link to the video to see how it was created: http://youtu.be/7sf8tOQv2pE

Thanks for stopping by!

Michele

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Sketch Sunday is BACK!

So, yes this post is a day late. But, I did make the video for it Saturday night (technically VERY early Sunday morning!). I finally found some time to create and let me tell you, it felt amazing to start making crafty things again! I made several cards this weekend and here’s the YouTube video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIqj8XPY568

First, I started out with 120 lb white card stock that I got from Michael’s. I decided to make it a side folding card. I then used 60 lb white card stock to cut out the largest My Favorite Things In and Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle dies in my Cuttlebug. After it was cut out, I used the My Favorite Things Myriad Dots Mixable stencil with some Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean distress ink with a round ink blending tool to create a dot pattern. I cut out a piece of white card stock a 1/8 of an inch larger than this piece and inked around the edges with the same two distress inks so that it would create a nice mat that would match the first layer perfectly.

The second largest die from the MFT In and Out Diagonal Stitched dies was used with one of the blue paper packs I got from the Michael’s Dollar section. The last thing I used the Cuttlebug for was to cut out three layers of letters from My Favorite Things. (I can’t remember the name of the letter die set that I used. It’s an all lowercase alphabet die set from them though). I used the Salty Ocean distress ink on some white card stock and cut out the first set of letters. The next two sets were done in plain white card stock and then I layered them together. This gave the card some dimension and took the place of the banner from the sketch.

The last element on the card was a circle I cut using the x-large Fiskar’s circle punch. I used the same white card stock that I used for all the layers (except the base). The sentiment was from the My Favorite Things Beautiful Baby stamp set and was inked up using Hero Arts Shadow Ink Cornflower in Mid Tone. I also inked around the edge of the circle in Salty Ocean distress ink.

Here is a picture of the card:

Here’s the link to the MFT Challenge: http://www.cardchallenges.com/search/label/sketchchallenge

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave comments or questions.

Michele

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Sketch Sunday # 28

I have so many supplies that I haven’t used. I have been trying to be good and not buy more, but it’s so tough when companies come out with such adorable things every month. However, since I am unemployed (just for a week in between my old and new jobs!), I decided that I need to be extra good and not buy anything. Plus, with my sister in law’s baby shower coming up next week, I need to focus my time and energy on finishing the decorations for her shower.

So, instead of browsing the normal websites, I decided to browse my collection of stamps and find things that I haven’t used (or haven’t used that much). I used the usual sketch challenge this week and drew the sketch on a scratch piece of paper. I labeled parts of the sketch with what stamps I thought I would use. For the most part I think that I did use what I said I was going to use.

I started off with the background of the card. I bought the My Favorite Things Happy Birthday background stamp in one of the last hauls and I inked it up with MFT’s hybrid ink in Grape Jelly. It was the lightest of the three purple inks I chose for the card. The card base is 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ and the birthday stamped piece is an 1/8″ smaller. When I use background stamps like this, I ink up the stamp and then bring the paper to the stamp. This makes it easier to line up the stamp straight and it easier for me to apply even pressure so that I am sure that the whole piece got inked up.

I then took a piece of scrap card stock that was 3″ wide and stamped the cupcake tower image from the MFT Cupcake Cuties stamp set. I placed it on the happy birthday stamped layer to see what angle I needed the piece at, stamped and then cut the piece down. Then I placed the cupcake tower mask over the stamped image and inked up the MFT burlap background stamp in My Favorite Things Pure Plum hybrid ink. I took the piece, image side down, and placed it over the background stamp to give that piece some texture. When I removed the mask, there was a small white border around the image. It didn’t bother me, but if this will bother you, you can use masking fluid or rubber cement on the image, stamp the background over the image and then peel up the “mask”.

After I attached the smaller piece to the background, I rounded the top left corner and attached them both to the card base. I then stamped up the sentiment “Let’s Celebrate” in Hero Arts Shadow Ink Grape Juice. The finishing touch on the card came when I added the sequins that I made to match the three colors of ink I used to stamp the card in. I had taken some scrap card stock, swiped all three inks in a line and used my MFT sequins dies to create the embellishments.

This is where I stopped in the video. After I was done filming, I decided to take a bunch of markers and glitter pens I had in purple and colored in the cupcake tower. Since I wanted the card to remain monochromatic, I made sure to only use purple colors. I thought the card needed a little more so I also used some glossy accents on the sequins and the table cloth for the cupcake tower.

Here is a picture of the final card:

Here is the link to the YouTube video: http://youtu.be/eCDduB4h08Q

Here is the link to the sketch challenge website: http://www.cardchallenges.com/search/label/sketchchallenge

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave comments or questions and subscribe.

Michele

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Creating Ink Swatches

So, I have a first world crafter problem! When I am trying to decide on what ink color to use for my projects, I go by the lid color. But lately, I have been finding out that this is not a good idea. The color on the lid is often very far off from what the actual color looks like when it is stamped. It frustrates me because I often pick the closest color to my scrapbook paper or other accents and want it to look as close to matching as possible.

To remedy this problem, I decided to create ink swatches. I took regular 8 1/2″ x 11″ white scrapbook paper and cut it into 2″ x 3 1/2″ pieces. This allows enough room for a stamped image on the front and for me to write what ink pad it is on the back. I punched a hole in the top left corner of each piece so that I could put them on a ring. I used the My Favorite Things Abstract Art stamp set to stamp my images with each color. I then let the ink dry and then wrote the manufacturer’s name and the ink color name on the back.

All of the pieces are organized by color so that I can find things easily. I stamped out my dye and hybrid inks, but not my distress inks. I will do that over the coming weeks. I may also add in some pieces that are a little larger so I can easily pick out where the blues, pinks, reds, etc are on the ring. I do have some tab dies that I haven’t used yet……… : ) If I do update it, I will show a picture here!

Here is the video of how I created this ring: http://youtu.be/nTB_6Y4tUn8

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave comments or questions and subscribe.

Michele

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Voiceover on iMovie for my Sketch Sunday video

So, I will be the first to admit that I don’t know much about iMovie. I know I upload my video into it, do some basic editing (and by that I mean add a title, an info page and maybe some music) and then export it. I have read a little about editing and have watched a couple of YouTube videos awhile ago about it. But I haven’t really tired adding a voice over or creating fast forwarding frames. I have added some music, but that was usually just for the intro and the ending slides.

Today’s video was LONG. And by long I mean almost 40 minutes. Who wants to sit and watch me watercolor for over half of that? Not even me!! So, my only choice was to edit and do some voice over work. I attempted it, but am not sure how I did. I tried to play the video back, but then I realized that it is already after 11 on Monday (and yes this is a Sketch Sunday video and NO not for next Sunday. As in yesterday Sunday. Whoops!) So I better start exporting!

Here is the link to the video: http://youtu.be/hCe_2I1fdWw

I’m not an expert in watercoloring by any means, but I do enjoy it. I use distress inks to color in my images and it’s fun. Again, I’m not the best so this isn’t a watercoloring technique video. I am so-so with shading – I just like to color!

Here is what the card looks like: 

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave comments or questions and subscribe!

Michele

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Hayden’s Heart and Sevenly

I’m a day late (and a dollar short, right?), but I wanted to let you all know about a great cause that I am hoping my readers will support. Hayden’s Heart is an organization I stumbled upon by accident. On Facebook one day, one of my friends had commented on something and I noticed that a co-worker of mine had commented on the same post. They don’t know each other and live hours apart. So, I decided to investigate and see how they knew each other!

Turns out they didn’t. They both commented on a post by Hayden’s Heart. Hayden was a little boy who was born with CHD (check out Hayden’s Heart’s FB page or the foundation’s website for more info – https://www.facebook.com/haydensheartfoundation or http://Www.haydensheart.org/) that unfortunately passed away. In his mom, Addy’s grief, she found the strength to start an organization honoring Hayden. She has done an amazing job and worked tirelessly to promote his foundation and his memory. My friend, that I’ve known since high school, has a daughter that needed a heart surgery. While she was in there, she met a little boy who actually became one of Hayden’s Heart warriors. My co-worker knew of Hayden’s mom through a mutual friend and because friends with her after Hayden’s passing.

So, in a crazy six degrees of Kevin Bacon type situation, I became familiar with Hayden and his story. I have supported the cause by donating during the ice bucket challenge (I also donated to ALS, so please don’t say that was just for ALS. I know people affected by both, so I donated twice!!) and I’ve also bought sweatshirts and blankets for my nieces. My nieces wore those blankets in the NICU and my co-worker told me that they were going to be fine because Hayden was watching over them!! (They’re doing so amazing btw, so he must have been. Thanks Hayden!)

When a message went out on Facebook asking for help from anyone who has a personal blog, I said that I would. I was asked to blog about this great opportunity for the Hayden’s Heart organization. Here’s the deal: They were chosen to partner with a company called Sevenly (Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/sevenly.org and website – http://www.sevenly.org/?gclid=Cj0KEQiA9eamBRDqvIz_qPbVteABEiQAnIBTEKGLRKA2w_0w7U7orRW8RUpmb134gyrcsL1JK8OCC5kaAmUs8P8HAQ). They design apparel for the cause that they choose, which this week is Hayden’s Heart, and will donate from each sale to the charity. Please go over and support Hayden’s Heart! I don’t often ask for help with things like this, but it’s a cause that is special to me. Thank you. Hayden’s Heart will be the charity from February 9-15.

Michele

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