Be Creative

My Name is Deena

and I am a stamp hoarder. My third bang for your buck tip is to use stamps you've had for a long time. If you're like me you have plenty that you've never used. Even if you have used them but now they're collecting dust pull them out and use them in some new way or even just in a new project. I started on a few projects today after I pulled some stamps out of the depths of one of my craft closets. But I got distracted by going to lunch with my friends, cleaning out old emails and back to school night. I'll finish them up and post them soon but in the meantime I challenge you to do the same.

Have a beautiful day!

Sizzix Texture Impressions

Today I bring you another one of my favorite techniques for getting alot of bang for your buck!

May I introduce you to the Texture Impression folders from Sizzix. They'll run you about 10 bucks for four folders (different designs)

I'm not being biased to Sizzix here... I just can't keep my cotton pickin hands off of them. So here we go let me show you how it's done.

Put your shape or piece of cardstock into the folder and then run it through your die cut machine.

That's it... Really that's all there is to it. Your paper is now textured with the pattern of your choice. Think of the possibilities... any color cardstock and a ton of textures or patterns to choose from.

You can emboss the heck out of a dang lot of paper for 10 bucks!

I hope my pictures show the texture ok. See that little subtle cross hatch pattern? On this card I just used a strip that I embossed. I love lots of pattern and the subtlety of these embossing folders lets me do that by not adding to much bold pattern.

Here I cut out a tag and embossed it then added the rest of the elements. Always die-cut first otherwise if you emboss first when you die cut the cardstock it will flatten out the pattern.

I was going for super simple classic black and white here.

I really loved all the comments yesterday. So tell me today... have you ever embossed like this before? Tomorrow i'll have one more favorite, it's kinda a challenge too. Have a great day!

Glimmer Mist Halloween Card

One product i've been turning to alot lately is this Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. I've played with a product like this before but it smelled like dirty feet. I couldn't stand it long enough to get anything done with it. But this new brand has no smell at all!

Mine cost me about 5 bucks. A little goes a long way so if you're not doing over 100 pumpkins like me then you're gonna have it for awhile.

First be sure to use newspaper or something so you don't get over spray all over the place. Husbands don't like glimmer mist on the furniture!

Lay down a mask over the item you want the mist on. The Tattered Angels brand does sell masks but I opted for this felt spider web border by Martha Stewart. Got that on clearance as well. One other note is that the felt seemed to soak up the extra spray where the plastic mask seem to puddle up and make more of a mess.

Next spray a light mist over the mask and remove to reveal the pattern. At first the spray may look dark but as it dries it will lighten significantly. The pictured pumpkin here has wet mist on it.

When the mist is dry it will be very subtle. In fact on these pumpkins I like the results because at some angles you can't see it and then when you tilt it it's there. It's very Halloweenish, like a disappearing act.

Oh and of course every pumpkin needs a little glitter so I added that as well. Here's a close up of the dried glimmer mist.

Its a fun product that I wasn't sold on at first but i've come to enjoy the results on my projects. One thing to consider is that as with almost all sprays it has a tendency to blob so i'd recommend using very light sprays and be forgiving if it happens and go for the distressed look.

Here's my finished card. So tell me have you used Glimmer Mist yet?

Oh, you say you like this card and want to know where to get one? Well.... you're in luck, its one of the cards in my Card Kit this month. Look at the top of my blog page right under the banner and click on Subscribe, there you'll find all the information you need. Or come to class on October 6th.

I'm getting totally excited for the giveaway on Saturday! Did you miss yesterdays post? Check it out below.

Have a great day... I'll be back tomorrow with another bang for your buck product.

I Love Give Aways!

And I really wanted to show you what i'm giving away on Saturday but its late late late on Sunday night and I can't get the picture to load. So mad! I'll be trouble shooting in the morning with a fresh new outlook (I hope). Sorry...

  Oh, so happy... Finally I got this loaded. Even if it's a little blurry, i'll work on that. Yeah, now I get to share!

This my friends is what i'll be giving away for World Card Making Day! 

This is a power panel that I helped design with the help of some great artists and direction at Sizzix.

Let me tell you about it... The best part is that all the dies and stamps work together.

First the card bases, fun shapes that you just won't get from folding and cutting. Now check out the top 6 die sets. The star, bird, heart, and the party hat, present and cupcake all fit inside of the card with the little hole. They also fit on top of the scallop circle, square and bracket shape which fits inside of the circle cut out card. The flower set fits perfectly over the flowers on the gate fold card.

Now check out the stamps. The circle sentiments stamp around the circle cut out card. The straight sentiments work with the larger label set (which layers). The flowers stamp over the flower dies perfectly. And the swirls, those babies outline the swirl dies so beautifully.

There are so many possibilities with this card line. 

So on Saturday 10/3/09 check back for your chance to win this set. Yep, someone is going to get the whole line  (one of each die and stamp). All together this set is valued at over $300!

Please feel free to spread the word to all your crafty friends. 

Wow, I feel so much better now that I got that picture to load. I almost threw the computer out the window last night. 

For the next three days i'll be posting some projects with my favorite products lately that give you a lot of bang for your buck! We all are trying to stretch our crafting dollars these days so I hope you'll find these post helpful and maybe even turn you on to something new.

Hope you have a beautiful day. 

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of my card line. So excited to share this with someone... 

Don't forget that who ever gets this set will be  the first outside of the Sizzix building because it hasn't even been released yet!

 

On Monday

I'll be revealing the big give away that will be happening next weekend for World Card Making Day. Hope you can stop by fora little teaser of what could be yours. I'll also be giving a little insight on my inspiration for the products.

Have a great weekend!

Yeah the weekend is almost here!

Sorry i've been away from the blog a bit this week. So much has been going on behind the scenes. Like this little baby... Have a blog? Well if you'd like grab my new button.

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Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Winner

Let's hear it for Madelia from San Antonio Texas. You're the winner of yesterdays card! Congrats... Shoot me an email with your address and i'll send it off to you.

Here's some totally random stuff that you probably don't want to know but i'll share because I have no other blogging prepared.

Today i'm getting my hair cut and colored. I have an on again off again relationship with my hair. Lately we're off! I want to break up with my hair... I just don't like the way it's been falling out and breaking off and ugh... the gray. I only have a few but I think a few is worse than alot. At least with alot you'd have alot doing the same thing, instead I only have 6 doing a totally different style than the rest of my hair. Oh, sorry did I say that any part of my hair has a style... If style is limp on the top and frizzy on the bottom then I have awesome hair.

Today I'm starting to meditate again, I used to do it all the time and with motherhood I got away from it. I really need to take some time to focus each day to draw goodness towards me and repel all the negative crap-ol-a. For example, yesterday I took the girls riding (the goodness) and then I scraped my bumper on a stucco wall (the crap-ol-a). And my favorite part of meditating is that I usually fall asleep and this could result in a few extra minutes of rest for me... Love that part.

Today is a short day at school for the girls and we'll be lunching with friends. This is one of my favorite parts of each week. Time with my Mom friends when we chat about school, our kids, hubbies and all that good stuff. I always walk away feeling better, more "normal", and mostly feel blessed because I have friends to share all this with.

Today I need to get crankin' in the craft room and finish up the October cards for my kits and classes. I'm loving what I have so far... about half way done. Planning to play some good music to motivate me so I don't procrastinate and mop the floor or something crazy like that.

So that's about it... boy when I said yesterday that we should get to know each other better I bet you never thought you'd get all that about me. Hope you have a great day!

World Card Making Day and Card Give Away Update

Oooopppss... It seems somehow my post for Tuesday posted early. Oh well... here's the update.

World Making Day - October 3rd. The details of the big giveaway are still being decided. Like when the post will go up and when the drawing will be. It will all be around that weekend. Remember I said it wasn't even available in stores yet... well its so new it's not even available to me yet. It's on its way from China and will be here in the next two weeks for the give away. I'll reveal little bits and pieces as it gets closer. If you need a reminder make sure you're signed up for my email list (top right on the sidebar).

This weeks Card Give Away posted early... hop on down to the next post and leave me a comment with your name and where you're from and i'll draw a name before I post on Wednesday Morning.

Have a great day!

Card Give Away

Live... Love... Laugh... Who ever it was that tagged this phrase was brilliant. If they had copywrited the phrase they would have been even more brilliant because they would have made millions off the scrapbooking industry.

Regardless its great advice. Simple, but sometimes hard to do.

Let's get to know eachother ... tell me your name and where you're from. As usual i'll pick a winner from the comments.

See if you can make someone laugh today.

Mark Your Calendars

for Saturday October 3rd... WORLD CARD MAKING DAY! I'll be hosting lots of fun activities and a HUGE prize giveaway from Sizzix. A huge prize that I had my hands in designing... A huge prize that's not even available in stores yet... A huge prize valued at over $300!