Thanks Dena for this inspiring project. I love the color scheme, very retro and fresh. Its the perfect project for a young tween or teen and it would make a great gift. Change up the color selection and you have a project that can be recreated for all seasons. Have Fun, Jewels
With school back in full swing and Fall at our front door, it's easy to forget that Winter is right around the corner. To embrace these very colorful days of Fall , I embellished a fabric journal with some vibrant, die cut felt flowers! This project is fun and easy and only requires a few basic materials. So go ahead... put some breezy music on, grab a cup of warm tea and invite your friends to join the fun soaking up these Fall days!
All you need is a cute fabric, paper or leather journal, some colorful felt, buttons and your Sizzix materials.
Gather:
Create:
I made this banner as a gift for a friend of mine. When using the Texture Fades, try coloring the image with a brayer and ink or paint. It's a different kind of look than sanding. I used some of Tim Holtz's dies and Texture Fades (656942) and eclips Cartridges (656345, 656858) as well as some Sizzlits Decorative Strips (656931), Movers & Shapers (656633), Bigz (656929, 656925) and Bigz XL (656698, 656093) shapes. I attached the decorated pieces to the twill with my sewing machine and then embellished the twill with rag pieces, ribbon and fru-fru. I added glitter, a safety pin and flocking to nearly everything else.
Beth is always coming up with amazing die designs. She had a BIG hit with the 3-D Flower, which has been so popular it's been out of stock over and over again. Be sure to be watching for that to come back in stock because it is a must-have for your die collection.
But today I wanted to share with you some of my other favorite Beth designs. At CHA Winter this year, Sizzix released her line of Frames and Phrases dies that I instantly fell for. They are sized perfectly as to not overpower a card but not get lost on a scrapbook page either. Guess what I wasn't the only one who thought they were great ... they returned for the Summer show as a best seller.
Here are some cards I made using my most favorites in the line.
Dies Used: 656581, 656579, 656576, 656567
Have a great creative day!
Deena
First, select the pen you would like to use and the shape. I used the new Happi Cartridge by Dena Designs. Select the size the you want, select the Fill button and go. I also used the center point feature to fill in the design with the same shape, just smaller.
Once I had the design I wanted, I used a rubber stamp and stamped over the shape. I used the patterned paper to create the base of my card. I also used the eclips to cut out the decorative border and dress form from the same Happi Cartridge. A rubber stamped sentiment, ribbon, buttons and decorative flowers add dimension and finish the card.
Cara
Hi to all of my Sizzix friends,
The kids are back to school, and all of their evening sports have become a huge part of our daily routine. Sometimes, with all of the running around, it's hard to imagine having the time to actually sit down and document all of these "proud moments" we have of our children. I would like to encourage you today that even if you only scrapbook one page out of an entire pack of photos, you are still ahead of the game. Now, on to the fun part.
Our son Jacob started his first year of tackle football. Over the summer, he attended two football camps, and he became very excited about the sport, so he signed up for the Strongsville Mustangs youth football league. I have to admit, as a mom, it's not too fun to see your son get hit by another child full force on a football field; however, for some reason, I am doing pretty well with being calm.
Here is our Jacob during his first scrimmage last weekend:
Materials needed to create this layout or one very similar:
The elements that were cut by the eclips are:
Enjoy!
Kim
These new dies make decorating for Halloween so easy, it's scary.
Trick: For a great "glittery" result, apply a sheet of adhesive to the front of your colored cardstock before cutting. After die-cutting, peel away the backing and sprinkle a generous amount of glitter onto your shape. Also, I have found that some glitter is more transparent than others, so I like to match my paper to the color of glitter for the best effect.
Trick: A mat board frame is the perfect base for a spooky little sign. I covered my mat board with patterned paper before cutting. After adding my glittered embellishments, I attached a short length of beaded chain as a hanger and added a piece of chandelier glass at the bottom.
This artificial pumpkin had definitely seen better days …
Trick: A coat of orange paint and orange glitter created a great base for this decorated pumpkin. I painted from the bottom up and poured glitter over the top while the paint was still wet. The Candy Corn was glittered using the same adhesive technique as before, but this time I used white chunk glitter on colored paper.
I found this frame at a local discount store. It was gold and silver.
Trick: A coat of flat black paint gave it an oh-so-creepy look. The Scary Tree is a simple black silhouette and if you look real close, you can see the Ghost that is cut out of plastic. The numbers are from the eclips Sassy Serif cartridge.
I can think of so many fun ways that this might be decorated, especially around the holidays. This picture shows a very simple version that I did right before leaving for CHA. I just added crystal glitter to the roof and made a small button wreath for above the door. A scalloped oval cutout and more glitter tells whose house it is. How would you decorate this house?
Hold on to your hats and get ready – there's a blog hop coming and it's going to be BIG! More info soon ...
Also there's a new social networking spot that everyone is buzzing over to called The Hive. It's a crafting community where people can share projects, network, connect with others who work in similar mediums, and best of all, you can hang out with your peeps and they speak your language! Make sure you join the Sizzix Lovers group, where I hope you will post some of your latest projects. Hope to see you there!
From my (bzzzzy) studio to yours,
Eileen
Gather:
Create:
This is the time of year for weddings and showers. I was trying to figure out what to get for my friend's daughter's bridal shower. Marissa is a unique person – a poet, lover of books and all things organic. I didn't want to pick something from her registry – she is just too special for that. So I looked through what supplies I had on hand.
To make the dress, you will need:
The frame had been purchased recently at a discount store, but I already knew I was going to paint it. It was too dark, and the embossed areas didn't stand out enough. I took some cream paint and dry brushed all around the frame and embossed mat. In one of my thrift shop adventures a while ago, I had found a cool old book titled "Vogue's Book of Etiquette" from 1948, which goes into some detail on any possible event and how to dress for it. I tore out an appropriate page and placed that behind the dress. Then I matted the dress on a piece of mat board for contrast, added some foamboard on the back to give it dimension and adhered that to the backing. I layered everything in the frame, and it's ready for the shower!
Congrats and wishes for many years of being together to the happy couple!
From my studio to yours,
Eileen
Smiles, Deena
I used my Sizzix Big Shot and some of my favorite dies.
Sizzix Big Shot Machine, Bigz Tattered Florals Die by Tim Holtz, Originals Phrase, Enjoy Die, Originals Phrase, Dream Die, Bigz Flower 3-D Die and Bigz Decorative Accent, Swirl #3 Die
I painted my chair Turquoise Sea SR1109 Valspar Signature Color Seaside Retreat from Lowe's.
Then I laid out my designs in the form of tattoos on what I would call the shoulder, arm, belly and ankle of the chair.
Here's the shoulder with Hot Fix crystals running down its arm, titled Enjoy Life!
Here is my chair's belly, titled Dream Big!
This frame is an old junky frame from a garage sale that was painted glossy black. Super easy and inexpensive. Then I used Core'dinations paper and embossed the Spider background. I sanded the image to show the colored core of the paper. Then I embossed the same Spider background onto a piece of craft plastic. I turned the embossed craft plastic over and colored in some of the spiders using a colored pen. When I put the two pieces together, I offset them just a little bit to create a shadow. I glittered the Phrase, Boo and attached it to the top of three box tops from eclips Albums, Bags & Boxes Cartridge. The final details are the Spider #2 that I cut out of felt, so he is creepy and furry. I also added some decorative ribbon and a vintage button.
Cara
I've never really invested much in paint created for paper, but after playing with these dies and Texture Fades, I'm hooked. To create the Wings for the Heart, I applied the Texture Fades folder to the die-cut image. I then used a brayer to apply the gold paint to the image. I also applied the paint to the Crown and Swirl. Outlining the Heart with a gold paint pen finished the look. Try adding a stamped image to our 3-D Flower. Buttons, ribbon and glitter finish the look. Give it a try!
My husband and I went on a spur-of-the-moment closet cleaning frenzy the other day. Believe me, this does not happen often! He had a big pile of shirts that he claims had mysteriously "shrunk" while hanging in the closet, sitting by the door and ready to donate. I made off with a few shirts thinking I could recycle them somehow.
There was a question in my email yesterday about the Checkbook Cover Die and whether it really worked to hold a checkbook and register. It sure does! About checkbooks ... it's funny, I used to carry mine with me all the time but now I almost always use my debit card and rarely write checks, except for paying bills. So this checkbook now sits on my desk. And if it's sitting on my desk, I want it to look pretty. Here's what I did with my husband's shirt!
I cut the shirt up into 6" strips and adhered it to the back of a piece of mat board with spray adhesive. I then used the Checkbook Cover Die and cut out two sides and the flap. The binding strip was cut from plain white mat board. I assembled the checkbook with brads and added daisy trim to the bottom of the project. In the center of each daisy, I added a little dot of blue Stickles. I added my checkbook to the top flap of the folder with a few lines of double-sided tape. To hold in the register, I opened it to the middle and tied a piece of ribbon around the folder and register. The flap is attached on the back using an eyelet. I added Velcro dots on the flap and checkbook cover as a closure. Sometimes that Velcro is very sticky, so I reinforced it on the mat board with Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher – love that little gadget!
The shirt has new life! I hope you keep your eyes out for all of the possibilities around you to reuse items for other purposes.
From my studio to yours,
Eileen
I used the Ornate Frame Back #2, #8 and #9 as the base for all of these tags, and then I added embossing. I cut around the embossed images and attached them with pop dots for dimension. I also added chalk and glitter glue, jewels, ink and ribbon. You name it, I got it. Have fun and make some one-of-a-kind Christmas tags your friends and family will love.
Cara
