...another snowflake card

It has been a busy week here - the first full week of school for two of my babies - we're all tired. Added to that i've just got home from the hospital with my wee mum, had to take her over to casualty this evening, but i'm happy to report that it doesn't seem to have been anything serious.

Haven't made much that i can put on the blog this week - I'm working away on something for the GSS at Papertrey which I want to keep secret till then!! I'm addicted to the bloghops and the GSS events at PTI.

Anyhow - here's a wee card I did make this week - moving on from the air dry clay I wondered what would happen if i used my stamps to make an impression in Fimo (I think Sculpey is a comparable product in the US).

I found a big tin of Fimo recently while clearing out a cupboard, together with a hand-full of sculpting tools that my dad made for me while I was at University. My dad was one of those people who could do anything. Must admit I had a lump in my throat when I found them - they brought back a few memories.

Rolled out the red fimo and stamped an impression of a snowflake (Snowflake serenade), then I baked it in the oven to harden it. Ink didn't seem to want to dry properly on the fimo so I heat embossed it with white embossing powder and that did the trick. Used the green fimo for the sentiment snowflake. I cut both snowflakes out using a set of snowflake cookie cutters.

I really like the leathery look it takes on and the way the deep impression of the snowflake stays red against the white embossed ink on the surface. These will make great tree ornaments this christmas.

TIP - if you plan to do this yourself, wet your stamp with a little water before impresing it into the Fimo/Sculpey - it will come out so much easier and leave the detail behind where it's meant to be.

I have a couple more of these to post over the next day or two.

Thanks for stopping by.

...a tutorial for my CD Receipt Organiser

Many thanks to loads of people who asked for a bit of info on how to make my CD receipt organiser that I made for the Blog Hop!! - Here are the instructions. If you click on the pic it should get bigger.

These are loads easier than they look.

Please note I made this sample with scraps of paper and card in response to the comments on my Blog hop post - it looks a lot simpler than the original because it is not decorated.

Personalize yours by stamping and adding decorations and embellishments but remember to keep them as thin as possible or it won't all fit in the CD case.

These directions work for a CD case only, they will not work for the Calendar CD cases.

Step 1
Cut two pieces of paper each measuring 12 inches by 4 and 1/8th inches.

Step 2
Score folds across the short width of the paper at the 2", 4", 6", 8", and 10" intervals - this is really easy if you have a scorepal.

Step 3
Turn the page over and score on the 1", 3", 5", 7", 9" and 11" intervals.

Step 4
Fold the paper concertina style noting the direction of the folds in my photo.

Step 5
Squash the folds together making sure your paper stack is nicely aligned on top of itself and doesn't veer off to the side.

Step 6
Repeat steps 2-5 for the other piece of patterned paper. It is real important that when you squash the 'concertina' together that you see the white side of the patterned paper.

Step 7
Cut 6 pieces of thin card each to measure 4 and 1/2 inches by 4 and 1/8 inches. Set one aside, it will become the front of your organiser file.

Step 8
Stand the concertina papers (white sides facing each other) up on the surface in front of you. Drop 5 of the thin cards in between the folds. You will notice that the cards should be oriented so's they match the height of the concertina paper. Spend a while looking at the step 8 photo so that you get the placement right.

Step 9
Squash it all down flat and punch 4 holes along the bottom all the way through. Do not go too close to the edge of the stack.

Step 10
Cut a 20" strand of thin ribbon in a co-ordinating colour and thread it through the holes. Tie a sturdy knot.

Step 11
Retrieve the piece of thin card left over from step 7. Stamp it or decorate it now.

Step 12
Adhere it to the front of the file section. I used extra strong double sided tape.

Step 13
Cut a piece of matching card 6 and 1/8" wide by 5 and 3/8" tall. Score and fold 3/4 inches in from each side - be very accurate here. Check it fits in your CD case, re-fold if necesssary. Trim the top 1 and 1/4" off the top of each flap.

Steps 14 to 17
Fold both flaps in and add extra strong double sided tape to each flap - now adhere the front section to the flaps to complete the file. The completed concertina file may be stck into the CD case now - I used extra strong double sided tape in discrete areas and attached some decorated paper to the exterior to mask the adhesive.

Step 18
Cut a front panel from the paper or card of your choice - I cut mine 4 and 7/8" by 4 and 3/4" and added stamping and decorations. I used extra strong double sided tape in discrete areas over patterned paper and rubbed it well down - it was nearly invisible over the patterned paper so didn't have to camoflage the front.

Stand back and admire your work - wasn't that easy peasy?

Well I'm off to bed now - I hope this works well for you - I'd love to see any that you might make!!

Thanks for stopping by.

...some snowflakes

Two cards inspired by Alli Miles little air dry owls. I'd been wanting to try this since I saw it on her blog - the only differernce was that I stamped the images (all from Snowflake Serenade stamp set, PTI) without ink into my Air dry clay and then left them to dry. I sponged the Dark Chocolate Palette ink (PapertreyInk) on afterwards so that the snowflakes would show up as white.

The simplest of simple treatments for the first card, I used three pieces, two snowflakes and a sentiment, outlined by embossed boxes courtesy of my ScorePal. Tiny little bow to set it off. I like how the white clay looks against the Dark Chocolate card from PTI.

For the second card I layered two pieces of ribbon (Spring moss and Dark chocolate ribbons - both PTI) and used my Ribbon flower technique to create a little frame to show off my snowflake. Little sentiment stamped on Spring moss card and two co-ordinating mini brads to finish.

Hope they tickle.

...an Open House card

I absolutely love the Boards and Beams stamp set from PapertreyInk and I wanted to make a wee card using the Palette chocolate ink. I also wanted to use a little of the ribbon I bought in Westport, Mayo when I was there recently. I liked the cream, aqua and brown colour combination.

I stamped the house in chocolate ink onto patterned paper (Basic grey) and then stamped it again onto cream cardstock - I cut the shutters and door from the cream image and stuck them to the Aqua house for a little interest.

I punched curved slots to poke my ribbon through - which I just folded back on itself to show off the pattern.

I shaped the text panel with a nestabilities die, and I stamped some polka dot basics (PTI stamp set) above and below the longer sentiment. I used versacolour celadon ink for this.

It's the sort of card I might give out to friends if I'm going to have a get together at my house.

Hope it tickles.

...something for the Bloghop

This was tough. I went through loads of ideas (most awful) before deciding to make a Christmas receipt keeper. I always end up losing the receipts for gifts that i buy people and sometimes those gifts need to be exchanged so I thought it would be a great idea to create somewhere to keep them. The CD case is fab because it is slim enough to fit in my bag (purse to all you American ladies) and sturdy enought to last a season at least.

I used a standard CD case (scavenged from a PTI stamp set which is temporarily homeless!) as I had already placed my PTI order before I read the bloghop challenge for this month. I can't wait to see what you ladies did with the Calendar CD cases!!

I managed to make a mini expanding file, a note card for keeping a reckoning of my spending and a little pencil which I stamped with snowflakes to match the theme. My pencil is a little slimmer than most to allow it to fit inside the CD case - I went rummaging through my girls' stationary drawer to get it - I think they're common enough.

My only regret is that I didn't have a 'Receipts' stamp or a 'notes' stamp - I'm waiting on the simple alphabet set from PapertreyInk (PTI) so I won't be caught out again. I used sentiments from the Believe set by PTI that seemed to work with the theme.

I used Basic Grey Papers that were sent to me by Beverly (Thank you again Beverly, they're yummy). The Stamps are from Believe and Snowflake Serenade sets by PTI. Inks I used were, Spring Moss and Dark Chocolate from PTI.

If you click on the pics they should get a bit bigger.

Hope you like this wee item - I think they might make good gifts. Thank you for stopping by.