When I think of summer time, I think of cold drinks, shade and cool treats. I still remember the homemade popsicles that were made from Kool-Aid (at least that’s how they were made in my house). I love those memories as a kid playing out in the pool and then cooling off with a Popsicle. This treat was usually shared with my Golden Retriever, Rocky. I guess when you’re a kid germs don’t seem to bother you as much!
I love flowers, is there anyone who doesn't? They come in such a abundance and variety of shapes and sizes. I never cease to be amazed at their simplicity and yet they can be so complex in design. I have a large number of flowers in my cutting file collection already, but I am always looking for more. Apparently, one can never have too many flower designs. Today, I have created a video tutorial that will guide you through the process of using the Rotation feature found in the Transformation window. Using my method you can create an infinite number of flowers for your cutting file "garden".
Summertime is the time for picnics, family reunions, BBQs, etc. and with those events, there is almost always my favorite VEGETABLE and FRUIT (yes, it is considered by many to be both)... WATERMELON. In addition to loving the way it tastes, I love the memories that are attached to it for me from my youth. Whether it was putting it in a net and tying it off so we could put it in the river to keep it cold, or the actual first time I got to see a watermelon bust (they actually dropped it in the middle of the table and it made a yummy mess) or making watermelon balls for grandma's salad. I have always associated watermelon with summertime fun.
We get together with good friends often, and most of the time it is at my house. That means I’m in charge of providing snacks and drinks. Nothing says summer like a glass of cold, fresh lemonade. Not only is it a great way to decorate for adults getting together, but it’s a great way to decorate the kid’s lemonade stand too. I hope that you’re enjoying your summer—there’s going to be plenty of warm, sunny days. Just make sure that you have plenty of ‘fresh lemonade’ on hand to help cool you off!
Elegance does not need to be expensive. Your Inspiration can help you make beautiful etched glass accents for any summer occasion. These etched wine goblets, mirror, flat glass marbles and candle make elegant pieces for an outdoor wedding, wine tasting or birthday party. You can custom create any design you envision and convert plain, inexpensive glass into a look that any hostess can be proud of.
A great 4th of July vintage banner that you can make as you are getting ready for your 4th of July celebrations. Just change out the text and colors to use this rosette banner any time of the year!
Stick Pins and Hat Pins are items that remind me of my grandmother’s jewelry box. They were something I rarely saw her wear but were fascinating to me as a child. I do remember seeing them on occasion when she wore one of those little hats with the veil over her forehead. My mom had one with a top shaped like a teapot that she wore stuck in her coat lapel. Now I see them added to cards and scrapbook pages as an accent to the design. Most often I see them with beads but I also see other tops to the pins that add interest to the page or card theme.
Being ‘Green’ can mean a lot of things. In my grandparents day you had a green thumb if you could grow plants well. The ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ movement has been gaining momentum but really started in the 70’s about the same time as the advent of Earth Day. More recently it means to be aware of the impact your everyday life has on the environment. My grandma would probably say that reusing and recycling was just a way of life for her generation and they would have called it being thrifty. However, it seems that having a thrifty mindset is something that the rest of us have to work at. Today’s project is a great way to use some “found” objects that you might have thrown away in the past. You can also use up those small bits of vinyl you have after cutting a larger project. It makes a great gift for someone who loves to garden or just something fun for your own green thumb!
Father’s Day cards tend to be either funny or sentimental and often the meaning is lost on young children. Cards for the graduate become one of many that are quickly discarded and forgotten. This week’s lesson shows you how to make a meaningful word book as a card for a grad or dad. The Grad card becomes a special memento of a milestone in the young person’s life by including pictures and copies of the graduation announcements, programs and school logo. The book has plenty of pockets to tuck a gift card or money and include pictures of favorite moments at school. The word books shown are a variation of the traditional word book and are a little less complicated to create.
I have always loved the look of stenciled wood and walls. It has long been a standard in home décor. Did you know that you can stencil almost any surface? I have seen beautiful projects using stenciling on walls, windows, furniture, plaques, fabric and even plastic. I have also used stenciling in my card making and scrapbook pages. I used a stencil to create the background for this scrapbook page and also used it to stencil fill the wings on the main butterfly.
I love to make scrapbook pages but I have to admit that cropping the photos can be a bit hit or miss. I am sure many of you have created your design or frame and then found out that you printed the picture too large or too small. I am also guilty of the “I’ll just trim a teeny bit more off this side” disease and OOPS, now my photo is too small. I end up wasting a lot of printer ink and paper in an effort to get the picture just right. Another problem I encounter is that I am well into my project and realize the paper I thought would work to mat a certain photo is ALL wrong and I have no substitute. Several months ago I taught you how to make oval scalloped frames and then crop the photo to perfectly match the frame in size and shape. Today I want to expand on that lesson to encompass an entire project. I will show you how you can edit your photos in the Inspiration Studio Software to print exactly the size you want for the frame or mat you have created. You can even save on ink by not printing the parts of the photo that you don’t need.
Every month I write an article for a web based magazine called Scrapbooking.com. I feature the Pazzles Inspiration and show a project that highlights one of the many amazing tools in the software. I always have the instructions to make the project included but only Craft Room members get the video tutorial and cutting files. The project was inspired by a wedding invitation I helped a friend create. The colors were from our very own Amanda's wedding; that's her and Josh in the photo! I loved it so much that I made a total of 5 cards for the video. This is one of those truly versatile cards that can work for almost any occasion.
Every month I write an article for a web based magazine called Scrapbooking.com. I feature the Pazzles Inspiration and show a project that highlights one of the many amazing tools in the software. I always have the instructions to make the project included but only Craft Room members get the video tutorial and cutting files. The project was inspired by a wedding invitation I helped a friend create. The colors were from our very own Amanda's wedding; that's her and Josh in the photo! I loved it so much that I made a total of 5 cards for the video. This is one of those truly versatile cards that can work for almost any occasion.
Every month I write an article for a web based magazine called Scrapbooking.com. I feature the Pazzles Inspiration and show a project that highlights one of the many amazing tools in the software. I always have the instructions to make the project included but only Craft Room members get the video tutorial and cutting files. The project was inspired by a wedding invitation I helped a friend create. The colors were from our very own Amanda's wedding; that's her and Josh in the photo! I loved it so much that I made a total of 5 cards for the video. This is one of those truly versatile cards that can work for almost any occasion.
Every month I write an article for a web based magazine called Scrapbooking.com. I feature the Pazzles Inspiration and show a project that highlights one of the many amazing tools in the software. I always have the instructions to make the project included but only Craft Room members get the video tutorial and cutting files. The project was inspired by a wedding invitation I helped a friend create. The colors were from our very own Amanda's wedding; that's her and Josh in the photo! I loved it so much that I made a total of 5 cards for the video. This is one of those truly versatile cards that can work for almost any occasion.
This week I chose this card created by Pinkalicious of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate. I thought this would be a wonderful way to honor such a special occasion for our friends in the UK. I will admit that I was very excited to watch the wedding. Our family line is actually related to Princess Diana of Wales so it made the royal wedding even more special to me.
There’s nothing like a great project, but a project that’s easy to assemble and has a big impact—that’s even better! I loved these cute Easter egg flowers that Chris designed. What a fantastic way to dress up your eggs and display them. When she brought them in to the office I instantly started assembling the perfect flower. Then the next thing I knew I had created three, and if it wouldn’t have been in the middle of the work day well I probably would have hung out at her desk all day!
I think that we all know that creating fun projects like these still brings out the kid in all of us. So maybe we are just all kids stuck in grownups bodies! When I created these little ‘Easter Buddies’ I right away thought not only are they cute decorations, but they would make great place settings to write the names of friends and family members on them to reserve their special spot at the table for Easter brunch or dinner.
I would venture to guess that there are a lot of you that were into sewing in a previous crafting life. I know I used to sew all of my daughters’ clothes but they grew up and sewing clothes got expensive. I also discovered that scrapbook papers fed my love of all things patterned and colorful, so I haven’t done a lot of sewing in the past few years. I think that working on this fabric cutting tutorial has fanned that flame alive again and I will have to figure out where to make room for my new/old addiction! It was so exciting to see how well the Inspiration cut fabric that I had try as many kinds of fabric as I could find. Don’t misunderstand me, the Inspiration won’t cut every kind of fabric but it will cut so many of the commonly used ones that I can’t go to sleep at night without coming up with a new idea.
Traditionally these beautiful May Day baskets are hung on friends door knobs on the first of May. Often they are filled with flowers and treats as a way to celebrate the arrival of spring. What a fun way to get in to the spirit of spring! Even if you aren't in to the idea of May Day baskets, these hanging baskets are perfect for Easter! I even think that some of these baskets would be wonderful for wedding decorations.
Have you discovered the Photo Cut feature yet? Maybe you have stumbled across it in the Image menu and wondered what it was and how to use it. Often, when I mention Photo Cut, I get a puzzled look. It doesn’t take long for the puzzled look to turn into one of determination when that person begins to understand what it is. They become very determined to find a way to use it in their projects or home décor.
Sometimes we read a little more in to something than what is actually said. This card takes advantage of that by cleverly promising a prince. Hey, the card never said what KIND of prince, there can be frog princes too! This adorable card is great for any occasion and is sure to give the recipient a smile.
We thought it would be a great idea to make April Fool's Cards as one of our projects. When we went looking around for inspiration though we were surprised at how little there is out there! What we could find was usually tasteless and/or unkind. Perhaps April Fool's day isn't exactly the kind of day most NICE people think to make a card, but we were determined that it could be done!