Jennifer McGuire, ink.

How-To Video: Mini Photo Album & 7Gypsies Binderie GIVEAWAY!

Hello.  I have a video and great giveaway today.

You all know what a big fan I am of great crafting tools.  Well, I was putting together a little mini photo album the other day (a simple design that I make often) and realized that it used many of my favorite tools.  So I decided to do a video showing the creation.

This video gives a peek into the 7Gypsies Binderie, Corner Chomper and Silhouette.  The mini photo book is a quick one, using Grungepaper from Tim Holtz and more.  I made it for my girl who is at her grandma's and then camp.  Wanted her to have some photos and notes from the family.  I will explain the album more below.

Please forgive the bad photos.  I apparently didn't have my camera settings right.  (This is common for me.  Ha.)

Supplies: 7Gypsies Binderie Tool, Corner Chomper, Silhouette, 

I really like Grungepaper or Grungeboard - they are great to use for making little books.  It is flexible and durable and easily painted.  Rounding the corners really adds and nice touch, and the fabulous Corner Chompers cuts through it all easily.

The pieces on this were cut with the Quickutz Silhouette.  Ah... my sweet baby Silhouette.  I love this guy.  He cuts the most intricate shapes and makes my crafting easier.  About once a week, I go and cut a ton of different shapes and designs from white cardstock.  That way I have a bunch of shapes ready to go for any project.  I just ink them up and get crafting.  (Oh, and you can get tons of great shapes online HERE.)

Next up is the 7Gypsies Binderie tool.  This tool rocks.  At first, I wasn't sure I had a need for it.  But once you play with it and see how awesome it works, you quickly become addicted.  Basically, it punches binding holes through just about anything, with the quick touch of a button.  Ahhh... so easy to use.  I was excited when 7Gypsies asked me to decorate one for an artist challenge.  (You can see all the other artists HERE.)  It started out red and black, and here is what I did with mine...

In my video, I show a quick way to use it.  But there are more thorough videos on the 7gypsies site HERE.  I recommend checking them out!  Oh, and this tool is fun for cardmakers, too.  I like to use it to punch holes for adding ribbon, or holding several cards together for an extra special gift.

And!  I get to give one of these awesome Binderie Tools away!  Just leave a comment here by Saturday at 11:59pmEDT telling me what your favorite crafting tool is and I will pick a lucky winner.

Thanks for stopping by.  See you tomorrow...

Fabulous color combo...

Hello! 

I have a long post in the works, but wanted to jump in quickly for two reasons.

One: It is a very special person's birthday: Tami Hartley.  This girl is a dear angel.  Adore her and so happy to work with her and call her a friend.  If you have a chance, go leave a birthday message over on the Hero Arts Blog - she is leading it this week.  Love ya, Tami!

Next, Ken and Colin went flying tonight.  And what is a girl to do with a quiet house all alone?  Stamp, of course! :)  I never take time to create for fun.  But I needed a card for a friend.  Also, I always struggle with color combos.  Kristina Werner shared a great one this week - very inspiring.  So, here it is...

Supplies: 2Peas digital greeting (by Kristina Werner), Hero Arts stuff (stamp, white embossing powder, flowers, buttons, pearls, notecard), October Afternoon paper (teal floral), Bo Bunny paper (teal dot), Sassafrass paper (yellow heart), Making Memories (brown dotted and ledger), Quickutz embossing folder (on notecard background - hard to see), Tim Holtz inks (Scattered Straw - for over the white embossed stamped image - and Vintage Photo to distress), Tim Holtz Foam Inking Tool, sewing machine, Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch

If you are looking for good color combos, check out Kristina's site.  Very helpful.  She does great challenges, and it was fun to play for the first time. 

OK, I must enable for a bit.  And I only enable for the stuff I really love...  :)

I always am looking for Christian messages for my cards.  I LOVE these from Kristina Werner - it is a digi kit.  Easy to use - just open, size and print.  :)

Run.  Run fast.  Don't walk.  You must go buy this new 8x8 paper pack from Making Memories.  It is delightful in every way.  I bought two packs.  Must. Get. More.

Also, the Corner Chomper.  This is my new best friend.  It resides on my table within reach at all times.  Does big and small rounded corners through any thickness.

And!  Embossing folders from Quickutz.  Yes, you can use with your Cuttlebug.  I am in love.  Totally.

Ok... more later!  Take care.

More Ranger U photos...

Just some more shots to share from my fun at Ranger U this past weekend...

Grungeboard flourish + Shabby Shutters Distress Ink + Antique Linen Distress Stickles = Gorgeous.  The Antique Linen Distress Stickles are a new must-have.  When you smear it around and let it dry, it looks like flakes of fool's gold.  Not shiny and tacky, but very subtle and lovely...

Here is a pile of goodness.  Hero Arts and Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz stamps.  Yummmmmmm...

An odd shot here.  This is a cookie cutter sitting on a piece of collage paper.  I then poured in some hot UTEE from a melting pot.  Once it cooled, I ended up with a clear butterfly with a collage backing.  Fun...

And I have gotten lots of emails.  Yep, I will be sharing the techniques I learned.  I promise.  I have something up my sleeve. :)

And, if you are interested in the camera I used for these shots, it is a tiny cheap one that I love.  HERE is the link.  I love love love it!  It has a great macro setting.

More soon!  I am exhausted tonight.  Night!

Home!

And for good for awhile. :)  Whew.  I was starting to miss normal life.

Ranger U was incredible.  I can't say enough how much I needed that escape... where I could just drown in creativity with many others.  I do plan to share lots and lots of what I learned, along with other fun things I learn on my own playing with everything over the next few weeks.  Lots of big things planned.  And I can't wait.

I hope you liked my random iPhone pictures I shared here on Sunday and the Facebook photos I added on Saturday.  I had fun. :)

I have lots of photos to share... and I thought I would show some tonight, and more throughout the week.

I took my little camera (I love THIS baby so much) and took some funky ones.  This is one of my favorite Ranger products - Dabbers.  My oh my, this product is a must have.  If you have any acrylic paints, throw them out and get every single one of these.  I promise you will be happy.  (I will be sharing lots of techniques with these.)  Oh, and they are cheap.  As Tim says, they are practically free. :)

These small canvases were from a designer challenge Tim arranged a few CHAs ago.  Check out the green one - recognize that boy?  That was fun to do.  But boy does mine look poohy next to all those great ones up there...

Ah... my favorite tools EVER.  That spinning rack is calling my name...

And then there is my other favorite product - Crackle Paint.  This stuff is too much fun to play with.  Fun shot, huh?  The Pool color makes me weak in the knees...

 

And then there is the photo that every woman is dying to have...

Tim - thanks so much.  I won't go on and on about how great you are for fear that all those ladies who are already crazy about you will just adore you more.  But I do have to say that your kindness surpasses your incredible talent, which amazes me.  It is always good to spend time with you.  That semi of Blue Moon is coming your way... :)

In the excitement of the weekend, I did forget to pick a winner of the punch!  Sorry.  The lucky one is Loriann!  I emailed you.

Also, I will announce this week the winners of some prizes for some of you who sent in cards for the Aussie folks.  We got TONS of cards.  Thanks!!!  More on that later...

Off to go catch up on email.  Hugs all around.

Valentine's Share

Happy Friday!  Those words are music to my ears...

I thought I would let you all know about those great EK Success border punches I showed HERE.  I got a ton of emails asking about these. I talked to the dear Tara over at EK and she said...

From EK Success - www.eksuccess.com
EK Success introduces new slim profile punches powered by the Paper
Shapers(r) patented thumb punch lever.  Creative engineering gives this
medium punch a longer reach and makes the squeeze action of punching
even easier.  The Edge Punches have a template plate to line up punched
images for any length edge. These new lightweight punches lock shut for
stackable storage and are labeled for easy identification - no more
messy drawers of unorganized punches! 
MSRP:  $8.99 Medium Punches, $14.99 Edge Punches. 
Availability: Product will be sold online and in all stores April 2009
(note: special set up for Michaels Stores in February)

Hope that helps!

Next, I thought I would share the Valentines I made for the girls.  Nothing fancy, but I thought it would be fun to share them since they are moneyholders.  These cards were made using one of my current favorite stamp sets - Heart Prints from Papertrey Ink.  LOVE this set.  And Papertrey is another company who has good people and good products.  Always happy to use stuff from companies like that.

Supplies:
Heart Prints Papertrey Ink stamps
White Memories Ink
Colorbox Primary Chalk Ink
Hero Arts gemstones and kraft notecards
Other: Sewing machine and some cash

Tomorrow I will share the Valentines Colin and I did for his classmates and teachers.  I just love his school - such amazing people there.  And, don't tell Elsie (Jamie's girl) or Addie (Ginger's girl), but Colin has the sweets for a girl named Anna at school.  She is darling, has the same mellow nature as him and her parents are so kind.  Is it too early to arrange a marriage?  Hee. :)

Did you all get a chance to make any Valentines?

I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day.  I will post tomorrow.

How-To Video: Info on Inks & Large Stamps

Hey there.

Just wanted to make sure you all say the party going on over at the Hero Arts blog HERE. :)

Today I added a video sharing some information on inks and how to stamp large stamps...

Here is a project showing some stamping with large stamps with different inks.  The blue piece is Distress Ink, the green with chalk ink and the brown with Shadow ink.  There is more information HERE.

(c) Hero Arts

And all you scrapbookers out there - you should enter the Hero Arts challenge, too.  They have a $50 prize for a scrapbook page... plus you are eligible for all the other prizes, too!  Come play. 

Sorry for the short post.  I am hungry... off to raid the frig.  Night!

So much to share... and giveaway!

Can you believe Christmas is only 10 days away?  Eek.  I fell like we got shortchanged only have 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. :)

But, I have lots to share.  And as a reward for listening, I have a giveaway.

First, many of Hero Arts stamps are now available in stores!  Woohoo!  Here are two online stores I know that have tons of it: 2Peas and StampinTreasures.  You can buy the whole catalog there, too.  The stamps available now are only the ones that were part of the Catalog Debut. There will be more new ones coming out at the beginning of January!

And since Hero stamps are made in the USA, we know they will be available on time and rarely on backorder. :) 

Wanna see my faves?

• Designer Leaves
• Scallop Borders - oh my!
  
• Three Ferns
• Vintage Collage Flowers
• All Occasion Messages - this is a must-have.
  
• Four Leaf Grid
• Heart Winged Butterfly
• Japanese Dolls
• Background Scallop Circle
• Hello Circles
• The Catalog!  It has everything - even things not in stores yet.

Come on... aren't they too cute??

Great stuff, huh?  Watch those wallets. :)

Also!  I am the blogger this week on Hero's blog HERE.  Please come say hi and tell Kelly Goree how much we love having her on our blog.  She is a gem.  A true sweetie. We are doing some fun things with sketches... with lots of prizes for this week's challenge.  Today we used new hero stamps and BG papers.  Here is another card I did with my scraps/reject pieces...

Supplies:
Hero Arts Pattern Hearts and Thank You
Basic Grey Bittersweet papers and buttons
White embossing powder
Versamark
Black Memories Ink
Hero Arts Pearls
Fiskars border punch

OK... giveaway talk.  I have a bunch of things to pass along.  And thanks to a donation to help with shipping, I will be giving a lot away between now and Christmas.  I would say that there will be a giveaway every single day, but I fear I may miss a day.  :)  So lets just say there will be many - so keep coming back.  Today's is a small one but a good one.  Just leave a comment on this post by Thursday at 11:59pmEDT telling me if you have sent your holiday cards yet (if you are sending them) and I will pick a random winner of these two BasicGrey rub-ons.  (I love them!)  

And... no... I haven't even recieved my card order.  And I have to add to them.  And address them.  And mail them.  And finish my sister-in-laws cards.  And address them.  And mail them.  Eek. :)

Off to work!  Night. :)

Happiness from CHA

Hi!

Just thought I would share some of the fab stuff from CHA.  I didn't get to get out and about much - I tend to hang out in the Hero Arts booth a lot doing demos and I had a TON of meetings this time.  But of the little I did see, here are my favorites, in no particular order...

1. October Afternoon - Oh. My. Goodness.  I cannot tell you how much I love this line.  They have the most amazing papers and such.  Amazing.  Perfectly perfect.  I can't way to play with it all!  Truly my favorite product line right now.  (You can buy the recent collections HERE.  The pack HERE is my favorite!)

2. Bazzill Dotted Swiss Cardstock - Prayers answered.  Honestly.  I have wanted to have a paper like this for so long!  Ask Jana - it is my dream come true.  It is like the Cuttlebug Swiss dots, but on a whole 12x12 sheet!  It will be the same cost as their regular textured cardstock.  I am in heaven.

3. Doodlebug - They have some yummy dotted flocked paper. So gonna be hoarding that.  No images - their website isn't working.  But I promise it is lovely...

4. Hero Arts - Well, I may be a bit biased, but how can you not love this? :)

5. Bo Bunny - You all know I am so very addicted to their dotted paper.  And now they have even more colors?  Oh dear - I will be buying a ton.  Here are just a few of the rich colors...

6. Ranger Stickles - You know I love these - so easy to use.  Now they come in the gorgeous Distress Ink colors.  Ooooooo... so pretty. They aren't really glittery, but instead like a colored, pearly sugar.  Sweet.

7. Collage Press - Although I didn't see their booth, I just checked out their website since I knew I would love any new release they would have. And, I was right - it rocks.  You can see it HERE.  If you are in front of my in a store when I first see this, please step aside.  Hee.  This may be tied with October Afternoon for me!

8. Basic Grey - I have always been one of those who buys BG, but freezes when it comes to using it.  (I am not great at working with distressed papers, but I LOVE them.)  So, I was so very happy to see these new papers from BG.  Cannot wait to get my hands on it all, especially the Urban Prairie!

9. Melissa Frances - They had the coolest altered bra display in their booth to support the battle against breast cancer.  Wow.  Love their rub-ons and Little Boy Blue line.  (You can see the bras, new lines and such HERE.)

10. K&Company Amy Butler - Check out these butterfly die cuts!  Yummmm...

10-and-a-half. Stampin' Up Border Punch - This isn't really from CHA, but it is coming out soon and I can't wait to get my paws on it!

I know there were a lot more fabulous goodies out there, but I didn't get to look much.  If you saw or heard of anything else great, let me know!

A few people asked for me to share some samples I made for CHA.  However, I didn't really do any this time except for Hero Arts.  (I really only work for them now.)  But I can share some of those soon.  And how about one while you wait?  This uses new holiday images...

Oh... and I updated the Card Drive list.  You all rock!

Off to work on my article.  Night!

I am a ditz...

... at heart still.  I completely forgot to pick a winner for the stamp set from last week!  Der.  I am so sorry.  But better late than never.  The winner of the Close To My Heart stamp set is Holly!  I will email you. :)

Hey... if I owe anyone a prize or CD of Keith's and you haven't gotten it yet, please email me.  My greatest fear is that something gets lost in the mail and someone never gets it.  Would hate for that to happen!

A few random things...

On my post from yesterday, a few people asked what white pen I used.  It was the white Sharpie pen.  Worked pretty well.

Someone also asked if you can use Cuttlebug embossing folders with the Big Shot.  I believe you can.  I would recommend doing a google search - there is likely even a youtube video on it.

I have gotten emails about the yummy silk ribbon.  It is from Creative Impressions - I believe you can buy it from their site!

Want some amazing inspiration?  Be sure to watch Hero Arts Blog this week.  Shari is sharing some amazing stuff.  Wow.

Just a quick card share using a new Hero Arts stamp.  I did this for the catalog work but didn't like how it turned out so I never sent it in. :)  It is a transparent Hero Arts card over a Chocolate Hero Arts notecard.  Yum.  Love that look.  (The card just took a turn for the worse when I started embellishing... hee. :)

 

Supplies:

Hero Arts stamps (background, hearts and greeting), clear tag, clear card and notecard

White Staz-On Ink

Artprint Brown Ink

Primary Chalk Ink

Creative Impressions silk ribbon

I think that is all for now.  Have to go work on gathering photos for holiday pages for Hero Arts!  So hard to do when today was the most beautiful summer day...

Night!

The card to go with the page... and a giveaway!

Back to that old saying of mine: "Every time you make a page, go ahead and make a matching card."  Might as well since you have the stuff out!

This is the card to go with the page I did for 2Peas using Close To My Heart products.  CTMH is wonderful - they make high quality goodies and are incredibly generous.  Simply good people.  I like that!  This is a card I used with my leftover/unused pieces.

All supplies from Close To My Heart.  For more details, and a matching layout, look HERE.

And, since CTMH is so generous, I ended up with two of my favorite sets - the Spot On Backgrounds.  (It was used for the the background on this card.)  If you leave a comment here by 11:59pmEDT on June 20th (you have a long time!), I will draw a random winner to send this set to!  In it, tell me what your favorite TV show is.  (I am looking for something new to watch.)

Have a good one!