Holiday Craft Project

This holiday I experimented with Acrylic and made these cute ornaments for hanging from car rear view mirrors. I started with an acrylic flower from pageframe and then stamped on it using Staz On inks. That was an adventure in itself. The Staz On inks were very messy, but worked beautifully on the acrylic. Then I added some vellum in the center and finished it off with some Prima flowers, a crystal star, and some matching ribbon. I sealed it with SuperSeal to make it UV resistant but was so disappointed with it made the acrylic cloudy and no longer clear. I hope it is worth it and it doesn't fade in our hot florida sun. We'll see. I made one for each of my family members so they can put them in their cars too. Everyone loved them. Hopefully you will give them a try as well.

New Online Course: 20 Ways to Use Acrylic Paint in Scrapbooking

I am offering a new class all about Acrylic Painting in Scrapbooking. Its going to be lots of fun. Check it out!

More than just for coloring, learn new ways to use Acrylic Paints. Learn various painting techniques to apply paint on paper, chipboard, brads, eyelets, ribbons, stickers, embellishments, acrylic pages, and so much more. Use these techniques to embellishments and page elements that match your layout perfectly.

In this class you will be introduced to each technique and then apply them to complete 3 projects (2 scrapbook pages and 1 card). After completing this course you will be able to make new scrapbook designs that are one of a kind.

Difficulty: Beginner
Class Duration: Two Weeks
Class Start Date: October 13, 2008 (Enrollment will be possible until October 18, 2008.)

Price: $30.00 class fee

Fun with Fragments, Epoxy stickers, and Say it With Crystals

This page was made with clear Heidi Swapp ghost flowers that were altered by affixing patterned papers behind them, and gems on them. Also used were clear acrylic rectangles called Tim Holtz's Ideology Fragments which were altered by affixing matching pattered papers behind them. Both tabs were also altered with markers or gems. And lastly the crystals were cut apart so I can lay them in a direction that best fits my page design.

This layout is very special to me. I went into labor to deliver my beautiful baby girl. I spent most of the labor at home sitting at my dining room table scrapbooking this page. In between each contraction I just continued merrily to work on my scrapbook page. lol! I figured that the best way to get through something painful like labor was to spend my time doing my favorite activity - scrapbooking.

Now, days later I go to put into my album that special scrapbook page and I am just amazed at how beautiful the page came out. I guess those labor hormones made my creativity soar.

World War II Monument Page

This is a page I created today using Bazzill Bling cardstock and Bo-Bunny (Bella Journee - Santorini Poppies) paper. I cut out the red flowers with the faux gems pictured all around it and layed it on matching Bazzill Bling paper. I kept the gem theme and used Say it with Crystals in a couple other areas of the page to match. Then I inked the word peace which was on that same paper and used pop dots to give it dimension.

This page is about a World War II monument I photographed in Liberty State Park (NJ) last year. I also took a picture of the new york skyline to document how it looked in 2007 before the new tower gets erected.

Its a Zip-e-Mate Day!

I had so much fun today experimenting with my recently acquired zip-e-mate manual die cutter. I knew that it was a universal die cutting machine, so I did some research to find which of the compatible dies would be the best buy. I chose the Spellbinders Cutting and Embossing dies because they could both cut and emboss allowing me to make these adorable elements with depth, texture and personality. And to my delight, the dies arrived on Saturday! So I got to play with them for most of Sunday morning.

I found it most difficult to build the sandwich so that it would cut and emboss correctly. I followed the instructions from the manual but did not effectively get the embossing to work. I found myself experimenting a bit with the various plates and this is the combination that worked for me:

For Cutting:

1. Place the ZEM Cutting and Embossing block at the bottom

2. Place the die on the block

3. Place the paper face down on the die

4. Place the cutting mat on top

5. Place the sandwich into the ZEM and cut the shapes

Then Embossing:

6. Carefully remove the sandwich so your pieces do not shift.

7. Remove the cutting mat from the top of the sandwich

8. Place the embossing foam on top of the sandwich

9. Place the embossing mat underneath the sandwich

10. Now put the sandwich back into the ZEM and emboss the shapes you just cut.

What I got were little shapes full of dimension and personality. I just loved them! The letters had raised sections near the middle of each letter, and the hardware and flourishes were just georgeous. It made normal cardstock look like thick chipboard, and I can't wait to start adding these to my pages. Here is a picture of what it looks like: