Scrapping my stash – Christmas Edition

I have a hoarding tendency with all pretty papers that gets exponentially worse when a paper has sparkles or gold foil. I got this adorable pack of foiled Christmas-theme designs last year and couldn’t bare to throw away my scraps. Instead I cut them into little strips and punch anything else into one inch squares, figuring that I would do SOMETHING with them at some point. That point has arrived and I love how this die cut inlay effect turned out! The pow glitter paper joy die cut was just perfect and another illustration of something I can do with a simple metal die cut that would not be as clean-looking using my Silhouette Cameo.

Mama Elephant Christmas Card Tags

December Daily 2014 – Traditional Papers, Title Page, and Homemade Foundation Pages

I couldn’t find any foundation pages online this morning that matched my December Daily color scheme so I decided to make my own. I used an awesome stamp from Blinks of Life, an old Ali Edwards Technique Tuesday stamp, and some washi I got on sale after Christmas last year from Crate and Barrel to create my own foundation pages. I love them — I think the circle will be great for writing in the date.

After putting using some stamps, washi, and Becky Higgins graph paper project life cards, I realized that I didn’t want to use blue in this album and removed all the light blue papers I had originally included. I ended up with a very traditional black, white, red, green palette that I really like. A lot of the papers and embellishments are from Pink Paislee’s Merry and Bright Line which I got for 50% off from this awesome seller on ebay.

This year, I also wanted to incorporate more white space and see through elements. Using my Silhouette and the digital cut files from last year’s Studio Calico kit, I created some diecut transparency embellishments.  

I’m planning out the album much earlier this year than last because I’ll need to bring my homemade kit on the road during the holiday season. I feel a lot more confident in doing this album on the road after seeing all the foundation pages come together. I can’t wait for December to arrive!

Seasonal Silouette Cameo Love

My fondness for using certain tools seems to wax and wane depending on the season. Since the sun started shining more brightly, I have been using my Silhouette Cameo to create unique die-cuts. I thought about my Momma a lot while designing this card — though I need to find a better technique for applying Delicata ink to the edges of white card stock, I think the spinning circle makes the card happy and charming, just like my mom.

 

This next card uses an image from Two Peas, which I edited somewhat so that the size and image ratio made more sense for my white card base. I cut the “Love” image out on water color paper twice. At first I colored directly on one of the diecuts and then spritzed it. The color was quite deep and dense; it was quite lovely but I was looking for something lighter and less precise. I colored the markers directly on my craft mat until a little bit of ink pooled, spritzed the mat with water four times, and then carefully dipped and dabbed the second diecut. The flower is from a Martha Stewart sticker pack — I love her flower stickers. 

 

 

I love using the Delicata gold ink to edge the cardstock!

Stamp-Scan-Cut-Stamp – Digital “Die Cuts” for Stamps

I’ve mentioned a few times that I really don’t like to fussy cut and I thought I’d create a little graphic to show people what I do to create digital die cuts for my stamped images.
1. Stamp all images on white printer paper using Versamark ink for smooth and crisp lines.

2. Scan image on my flat bed scanner to ensure that all the proportions are right. I don’t have any evidence that using the automatic document feeder warps the image scale but using the flatbed ensures that the proportions and scale are perfect every time.

The file can be saved in any format that your Silhouette software can support. My scanner defaults to .pdf.

3. Import .pdf into Silhouette Studio. Use trace function to create cutlines and offset window to create an offset so that the cut file image is slightly larger than the stamp outline. This helps create a border for your stamps.

4. Voila!

Some may argue that it’s easier to use dies, they’re just not for me. I’ve only purchased a few dies and don’t really like them. It’s a quirk of mine but I really don’t like how my Cuttlebug folders get all cut up and I don’t even want to start figuring out the best way to store die cuts so instead I use my scanner. I keep multiple die cuts on hand for future stamping projects and save my files so I can always easily cut out some more. This technique was awesome when I used last year’s blockbuster Wplus9’s Fresh Cut Florals set.