Sweet Sister

Hello crafty reader!  I'd like to share this card I made for my DSIL.  A lot of the elements in this card are leftovers from previous projects.  I even used clear stickers, which you see in two corners of my card front.

I do want to point out my favorite part of this card, which is the birthday cake from a Unity Stamp Co. set, which I colored with Copics.  I like stamping images on the inside of my cards to break away from the typical.  It gives the recipient a little surprise when they open the card.  

 Stay safe everybody... 'til next blog!

Change is a Good Thing

This is not the first time to blog about a couple of stamp sets from Unity Stamp Co.:  Ah Crap and Change is a Good Thing .  I like to use them for masculine cards, especially for retirement.  I've always gotten a good response.  

This card was for my BIL who's retiring at the end of the year.  I colored the images with Copics.  One thing I like to mention about thiscard is the graphing paper on the front, which I snagged from my old planner from The Happy Planner. 

 Hope you're enjoying the rest of the summer despite all the restrictions.  Stay safe everyone!

Let's Color!

It was early 2015 when I discovered this new trend in the crafting world: coloring books for adults.  I'd like to say it's one of the highlights of 2015.  I'm not sure who started it, but I think when Johanna Basford released "Secret Garden", it exploded into something big.  I remember it was hard to get a hold of this book.  I was lucky at the time to get a hold of the Secret Garden postcard edition at Joann's.  I colored the first page last year with Copics, and I really liked it.

So just like any other, I started collecting these adult coloring books.  I found lots of themes everywhere - from mystical, gothic, florals, animals, ocean, oriental, steam punk, Christmas, even movie-themed like Starwars.  It came to a point in which they were everywhere - including Walmart.  They have also released "magazine" type coloring books.  Yeah, the ones that come out every month or so - the ones you can pay for a subscription to.  I didn't go that far though.  When I realized they were everywhere, I raised my standards.  I wanted to make sure the quality is good, the designs are one of a kind, and the thickness of each page is vital.  If the page is thin, and there are designs on both sides, I don't buy them.  To me, they are just like regular kids' coloring books.  I thought it was cool that some stamping companies jumped in the band wagon and released a coloring book edition of their stamp images.  One perfect example is Unity Stamps.  They already have 3 editions of their coloring books.  I have one of them, and I think it's really awesome.  The size is big and the quality is really good. Ann Griffin released her own version too, only available at HSN.  I did get one of them also, and I thought the quality is really nice.

After "Secret Garden", my next coloring books were from Sam's Club.  One of them was Dazzling Patterns by Barron's, which I really love!  Both sides of each page have a design, so it's a bummer if you like them both because you have to pick one to color, especially if you're using markers which bleed through.  I used Chromatix Alcohol Markers by American Crafts (I got them for a good price at TJ Maxx).

The other book is the Posh Coloring Book by Andrews McMeel Publishing.  Each page has design on both sides too.  For this one, I used Prismacolor pencils with the aid of Gamsol.

Design Originals released a bunch of coloring books as well.  I got the Creative Coloring Animals.  I thought the pages on this book is not as thick as the others, but I still bought it because there is only one design per page.  The image below is colored with Chromatix Alcohol Markers as well.

The Color Me Happy book by Lacy Mucklow is a good one too.  There is also one design per page, so you won't have to worry about ink bleeding through.  This page below is colored with Sharpie markers.

I thought the colors are more brilliant when you color with markers.  That's why for these coloring books, I try to avoid using my Copics as much as possible.  I've been on the lookout for cheap marker sets, and those I use for coloring.  I still have yet to try actual water color, pastels, gel pens and other mediums.  I'm actually considering buying a good box of crayons too.  But for now, I'm fine with cheap pencils and markers.

But it didn't stop there.  Somebody was brilliant and came up with a coloring app.  And of course a lot followed suit.  I only use two of them.  The first one I tried was Momi Coloring, which is a free app. I liked the interface, and it was easy to use.  My favorite part is that all images are free. There are so many designs available - you won't have enough time to color them all.

Colorfy is another app I like.  You can also get this for free. But what you can color is limited, and to widen your color pallet, you have to pay.  I have bought a pallet, but to me it's really not worth it especially if you don't use the app often enough.  

I stopped at these two apps.  I don't see any point of downloading any more coloring apps.  I'm sure there's a lot out there, maybe even better ones.  But I'm good with Momi Coloring and Colorfy. Plus I think these two apps are trustworthy and I don't have to worry about security issues.

And just like I promised for 2016, I haven't bought another coloring book.  I think I have enough to last me a long time.

'Til next blog!

Everything Recycled P4

Last month, I started a series of Everything Recycled cards made from leftover Unity stamp packaging:

Listed below are the links to the first three sets:

• Part 1 - everything is explained in this post
• Part 2
• Part 3

And here's another glimpse of the box that I made for these cards, all made from recycled materials:

And finally, the last of the bunch of the 24 cards, again using a different but similar style DP.

 TGIF crafty friends... 'til next blog!

You're Invited

Happy Saturday, crafty reader!  Earlier this week, I mentioned about a project I've been working on.  Well, I finished it just a few hours ago.  I made 30 birthday invitations for a special girl who loves horses.

The stamp used in the front is from the "Easier With You By My Side" set by Unity.

The sentiment is a dollar stamp by Imaginisce.   I'm not sure if this is still available from the market, but this is one of my favorite invitation sentiment stamps because it goes well with almost any Spellbinders die.

For the inside, I used the image from "And For A Moment" set by Unity.  I used Photoshop Elements to print the party details.

I also put a pink punched paper piece in the bottom right corner for the celebrant to write her name to personalize the card (not shown).

The invitations are now in the hands of the celebrant.

Have great weekend.... 'til next blog!

The One That Wasn't Chosen

20 days??!?  I can't believe I wasn't able to post for 20 days.  Real life sure gets in the way of craftiness.  But that doesn't mean I have neglected my planet.  I have been busy with some projects actually.  Just didn't have the time to share them online.  I have had some fun hauls also, even though I promised not to buy any more craft stuff.  But I how can you resist some really good deals, right?

I am proud to say though, that most of the house is clean.  Yeah!  My planet was too, until I started working on this latest project.  It's a set of birthday party invitations for a special girl who just turned eight.  Her name is Brooklyn and she loves horses.  When I was asked to make her invitations, I already knew what stamp to use.

When I make birthday invitations, I try to make them as simple and clean as possible.  I also don't put too many layers, taking into consideration the possibility of the invitations being mailed.

I originally made two designs.  The card I will share with you today is the one that was not picked, which I converted into a birthday card to give to Brooklyn.

Materials used:

cardstock/dp:  Georgia Pacific, leftovers

image/sentiment:  Unity, Stampin' Up

ink:  Tsukineko

tools:  Cuttlebug, Spellbinders

embellishment:  rhinestones

misc.:  Ranger embossing power

adhesive:  Scotch, mounting tape

As for the invitations, I just finished the first prototype last night.  And if that passes quality inspection, I will be making 30 of them.  I can't wait!  My last big project was the wedding invitations I made for my best friend's wedding last year (click here to see).

Well, that's it for now.  'Til next blog!  

Everything Recycled P3

Happy Monday!!!  Guess what?  My planet is pretty decent today.  Yep, I cleaned my craft room during the weekend, and it's so nice to see my desk for once.  Well, my computer desk is still piled up with stuff, but I'm very satisfied with my planet's condition for now.

Anyway, here's the 3rd batch of cards from my Everything Recycled Project. 

Hope you all have a good week... 'til next blog!

Everything Recycled P2

Here's Part 2 of my "Everything Reycled" Series showcasing cards made from rubber stamp packaging:

The box is made of recycled materials as well:

This second batch of cards uses the same 12 x 12 sheet of dp. to match the Unity Stamps packaging.  Just like the rest of the cards from Everything Recycled Part 1, the images are colored with Copics.

See what I did with the ribbon with the card below?  I used glue dots to achieve that look.

 

I sprayed Smooch Spritz to give the "glow" look on the card below:

To make the bandages stand out, I applied Glossy Inkssentials on them:

 

If you have scrolled down this far, maybe I might interest you in an international card, image or anything crafty swap?  I'll be hosting it in the Tinker Planet Facebook Page.

'Til next blog!

Everything Recycled P1

Hello crafty friends!  I had a very very very busy week, but that didn't keep me from playing in my planet.  That is if I wasn't a couch potato when I get home from work.  I did say last weekend that I was going to clean my planet.  That didn't happen either.  But wait.  I'm not done.  I didn't clean because when I saw this pile on my craft desk, I just had to do something.

Just like you, I have bought a lot of stamps in the last month... or year.  And I haven't gotten around to using them.  The picture above just shows one brand - Unity stamps.  Well, I have put 90% of these new stamps in their place, thus the pile of packaging material on my desk.  

Guess what?  With this bunch, I was able to make 24 cards.  Yep.  And the goal was to make several card sets with them, complete with its own packaging.

Let me show you the first packaging I made out of leftover packaging.  See the cover?  That is actually part of a diffuser box.  How can you throw that thing with the lovely green gem sparkling back at you?  So I kept it for a future project.  Which happens to be this box.

I had to create a custom box to go with the cover, and everything you see here is recycled.  And the best part?  This box can take 24 A2 cards perfectly.  Yes.  24 cards, but not including the envelopes.

The goal with this recycling project is to maximize every material possible.  I picked four 12x12 designer paper to go with the Unity stamps packaging.  Each sheet should cover 6 cards. Then I colored the images with Copic markers, and cut them with mostly Spellbinders and Sizzix/Tim Holtz dies.  I also used the same inkpad (Colorbox Chalk inkpad in Chestnut Roan) for the edges of my cut pieces.  I also stuck to the same ribbon and embellishments on all the cards for uniformity.

Here's the first set.

 

 Yeah, I got lazy on this one.  What can I do?  I had a brain fart. 

I have an excuse to feel better despite my planet being in its still chaotic state.  I'll share with you the next set of cards on my next post.  'Til then!

His Presence

Merry Christmas!  If I offend you for saying that, I am not sorry.  You can greet me back with Happy Holidays or something else, and that's something I will respect.  Christmas is celebrated by Christians around the world, the same way as the Jews celebrate Hannukah, the Chinese with their Kung Hei Fat Choi and the Muslims have their Ramadan.  Every country, race, ethnic group, or religion have different holidays and events they celebrate in their own ways.  Celebrations that are not recognized and/or practiced by a lot of other countries, races, ethnic groups or religions.  We should just accept and respect that.

Anyway, here's the last batch of cards I made this season, using the Christmas Tree embossing folder by Darice.  I embossed on metallic cardstock, then sanded the raised image.  For final touches, I added bling.

When I saw "His Presence" single sentiment stamp from Unity, I didn't have second thoughts to get it.  And I made sure to use them in this year's Christmas cards.

Materials used:

cardstock/dp:  Paper Reflections, DCWV, leftovers

image/sentiment:  Unity

ink:  Stampin' Up

tools:  Tim Holtz paper distresser, Stampin' Up, EK Success

embellishments:  bling

adhesive:  Scotch, Glue Dots, mounting tape

Again, Merry Christmas... time to spend time with family and to reflect and be thankful for all the blessings we receive.

'Til next blog!