Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Long time, no see!

Hi all - I hope everyone is doing well! Just wanted to get a little blogging in tonight. I'm so excited to say the house is ALMOST ready for us to move in - the painting is done and there's just a little more to do before the big day. We've started moving the boxes over, and speaking of the big day - that will be the 10th. I truly can't wait! The only bummer was that I was signed up for the Nikki Sivils class at The Paper Niche, but I had to cancel (there's an open spot now if anyone wants it!). At least I don't have to cancel the Marah Johnson class. I had to miss Scrap Pink weekend last week, too - but I when I stopped in, everyone was having a blast. It's so great that so many wonderful ladies came out to support a great cause.

I've been able to squeeze in a little art in the form of my November class at the Niche. I had the pleasure of using some of the Heartwarming Vintage goodies to make an adorable desktop calendar - here's a sneak peak:


Plus some of the Prima goodies - I had a lot of fun making it.

Now it's finally time for me to cave in and pack the art supplies for the move - totally reluctant to do so.....Humph.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

A trip to San Diego and Card Set Instructions

Well, I'm on the plane, headed to San Diego for a few days on business. SO cool that Delta now has onboard wifi (for a fee, of course!) Now I have time to catch up on blogging and purusing my favorite art websites. Actually, I was just reading a thread on twopeasinabucket.com and saw the funniest "signature" on a post by beckyRN97: "My husband said it was him or scrapbooking...so I took picutres of him packing and made the cutest page ever!" I was cracking up in my seat and the lady next to me looked at me funny (oh well!) I'm so grateful I married a man who encourages my creativity instead of discourages it - I can't imagine Scott ever saying that to me. Ok - he would say it - but not seriously!

My second inchie card set class was held on Saturday at the Niche and Christina joined me for a one-on-one class. With just her, it was more of a mini-crop than a "class" and I got to make another card set for fun. Thanks again for hanging out with me, girl - I appreciate the support!

As promised, here are my directions for my card set. Beware - it's heavy on the measuring in the beginning, but totally worth it. Just be patient and invest in either a scoring blade for your paper trimmer, or a good metal edged ruler and bone folder. Once you get the hang of it, you can mass produce these babies for holiday gifts. :) Have fun - and please let me know how yours turns out!

P.S. - my apologies for not including more pictures - the wifi isn't THAT great.


Inchie Card Class
Designed by Amy Geller




Supplies Needed:
Inkadinkado® Inchies Stamps (this project uses the Special Thoughts set)
Two 12 x 12 pieces of patterned paper
Two 12 x 12 pieces of coordinating solid colored cardstock
Two 8 x 10 pieces of white card stock
Four 4 x 5 ½ plain cards and envelopes
Pencil
Four medium to large eyelets
Eyelet setter
Thin, flat ribbon to match
Liquid adhesive
Tape adhesive
Circle “bling”
Chalk ink for edges
Solvent or archival ink for stamping
OR Pigment ink and embossing powder if embossing
Scoring blade for the paper trimmer or sturdy ruler and bone folder

Instructions:
Cutting and Scoring
1. Cut one piece of 12 x 12 solid color cardstock to 12 x 7
2. Set aside
3. Cut one piece of 12 x 5 paper from the second piece of cardstock
4. You should now have one 12 x 7 piece and two 12 x 5 pieces of cardstock
5. The larger piece will be the Card Holder and the two smaller pieces will form the pockets on the inside of the Card Holder
6. Take the 12 x 7 piece of paper and score vertical lines in the cardstock at 5 ½, and again at 6 ½
7. Set aside
8. Score vertical lines in the two 12 x 5 pieces of cardstock at 3 ½, 3 ¾, 8 ¼ and 8 ½
9. Score one horizontal line on the bottom at ¾ in from the edge and again at ½
10. Cut out the shaded areas shown below

11. Fold along lines and glue to create a ¾“ deep pocket
12. Set aside

Front and Back Panels for the Card Holder
1. To create the Card Holder front and back cover panels, cut two 5 x 6 ½ rectangles from the patterned paper
2. Ink edges
3. Mark where the eyelets will be set (be sure to come in around ½ inch from the corner so that the eyelet doesn’t overlap off of the edge
4. Punch holes for eyelets and set them
5. Measure and cut two 10” strips of coordinating ribbon
6. Adhere ribbon to front and back covers of the Card Holder, taking care to adhere at least an inch in from the edge so that the tape is hidden underneath the panels
(Tip – use flat adhesive so that it doesn’t show through)
7. Stamp inchies on plain white paper with solvent or archival ink (if embossing, use pigment ink or embossing ink and coordinating embossing powder)
8. Use 1 ¼ square punch to create inchie squares
9. Ink edges
10. Set aside
11. Cut six 1 ½ x 1 ½ squares from glitter or textured paper
12. Use liquid adhesive to adhere inchie squares to glitter paper
(Tip – liquid adhesive works best with textured paper because it gets into all the “nooks and crannies”)
13. Adhere matted inchie squares to front panel
(Tip – measure the placement of inchies in a grid, using a ruler to mark pencil lines ¾” in, all the way around. Erase pencil lines once glued down)
14. Adhere “bling” circle
15. Adhere front panel to the Card Holder
16. Adhere back panel to the Card Holder
17. Fold Card Holder into shape

Panels for the Pockets
1. Cut two 4 x 3 ¾ inch panels for the front of the pockets
2. Ink edges
3. Adhere to inside of Card Holder
(Tip – use a strong adhesive to adhere the pockets to the Card Holder – the pockets will be subject to extra movement while taking cards in and out of them)

Creating the Cards
1. Cut four 3 ¾ x 5 ¼ panels out of the patterned paper
2. Ink edges
3. Set aside
4. Stamp inchies on plain white paper with solvent or archival ink (if embossing, use pigment ink or embossing ink and
5. coordinating embossing powder)
6. Use 1 ¼ square punch to create inchie squares
7. Ink edges
8. Set aside
9. Cut six 1 ½ x 1 ½ squares from glitter or textured paper
10. Use liquid adhesive to adhere inchie squares to glitter paper
(Tip – liquid adhesive works best with textured paper because it gets into all the “nooks and crannies”)
11. Adhere matted inchie squares to panel
(Tip – measure the placement of inchies in a grid, using a ruler to mark pencil lines ¼” in, all the way around. Erase pencil lines once glued down)
12. Adhere panel to the front of the card

Friday, September 11, 2009

Inchie Card Class

I had so much fun last night in my September Class for the Paper Niche - the Inchie Card Set. I had five wonderful ladies join me. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but believe me when I tell you that every student applied their own creativity to their card set and came up with wonderful ideas. We used two Inchie sets to make Thank You and Birthday Cards. Thanks for joining me, ladies!


After my next class tomorrow, i'll be posting the directions for the Card Set and Card Holder on the blog.

I hope everyone is doing well - life is crazy for me right now between packing and get the new house ready to move into. My crafting time has been a bit comprimised, and I haven't been to a crop in what feels like ages, but I'm trying to get art into the mix here and there. :)

Take care everyone!