Make Your Own Tea Bag Tiles

I saw a very cool kaleidoscope creator on Craft TV Weekly and just had to get it.  It is perfect for making tea bag tiles and you can even print them right from the program.

The program is very quick and easy to use and has over 50 different templates for a variety of effects and shapes.

Here are a few of the tiles I made this evening using free graphics I downloaded through Dover's weekly newsletter:

 

 

 

Here is one I made from an Iris Fold card:

You can download an evaluation copy of kaleidoscope creator at:

http://www.kaleidoscopecollections.com/

Pink ATCs

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) are something new for me.  One of the groups I participate in has an ATC swap every month or so and I have resisted until now.

This months theme is Pink. Pink makes me think of Valentine's which makes me think of hearts, so I decided to go with that.  Here are the two ATCs I made:

I think they turned out OK for a first attempt. I've been looking for an excuse to use those heart buttons.  The lacy-looking square mat is from the Cuttlebug Victorian collection.  The rest is leftovers.  ATCs are a great way to use up scraps.

If you've never made an ATC or would like to learn more about them, here is a site with some pretty good information:

http://www.cedarseed.com/air/atc.html

Of course there are lots more, just Google "Artist Trading Cards."

Ice Cream

It is HOT here and there is nothing quite like ice cream for cooling down, but if you're trying to watch your weight like I am, ice water would be a much healthier choice.  With that in mind, here is a guilt-free triple-scoop cone just for you!

This card is a combination of techniques.  The background behind the ice cream cone is iris folding and the ice cream cone itself is paper piecing.  The corners and the border between the upper and lower sections were made with decorative scissors.

The ice cream cone is base on clip art from PCCrafter's Summertime collection.  I printed out the line art, then used my light box to trace it onto different colored pieces of scrapbook paper.  Paper piecing is a really good way to use up small scraps.

I cut the diamond shaped aperture for the iris folding with my Coluzzle nested diamond template.  Here's the pattern for the iris folding:

I had initially planned to include the writing around the outside of the iris folding, but I didn't think it would work well for this card.

The corners were made with paper that is green on one side and blue on the other.  I cut the paper into four one inch squares and then used my decorative scissors to cut the squares in half diagonally like this:

I flipped the lower-right half over (the paper used in this example was blue/brown instead of blue/green).

Then I layered the brown paper on top of the blue paper like this:

Here's the card I used the brown/blue corners on:

Now, go make an ice cream cone for a friend!

"Green" Cleaning

Ever since I took a Sustainablilty class last spring, I have tried to seek out environmentally friendly alternatives for solving every day problems whenever possible.  Sometimes it is surprising how simple it can be.

After I finished up my shaker cards a couple nights ago, I was left with a pair of very sticky scissors because I used them for cutting the double-sided foam picture hanging tape.  My first thought was to try nail polish remover, but then I started thinking about all of the chemicals involved and decided to try something different.

I don't know why I thought of it, perhaps I read it somewhere, but it seemed like vegetable oil just might do the trick.  I put a little spot of oil on a towel, began rubbing it on the blades and in no time I had a pair of clean, oiled scissors.  They cut better now too.

Shaker Cards

I joined a shaker card swap this week.  It's the first time I have joined a swap in months.  I decided that maybe all I needed to get back into card making was some inspiration and a deadline.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am a clip art junkie, so I decided to peruse my vast collection for this swap and was not disappointed.  Since it's getting hot here, I decided to go with a beach theme.

The frame and the background picture are from PCCrafter's Summer in the Sun collection. The seagull tag is from the Summer Seashore collection, and the wording is from the Summer collection.

I didn't have any sand, so I decided gold glitter would do.  Besides, I like sparklies! :)

You can find a very basic pattern for a shaker here: http://www.handcraftedgreetings.com/pdf/ShakerCards.pdf.

Best Friends

I cleaned off my desk today and decided to make a card with what I found. Even the string is a leftover scrap. The result is rather, ummm... primitive, but I prefer to call it "Folk Art." :)

Oh well, after being away from card making for so long, I guess I can't expect a masterpiece.

The embossed heart has been floating around my desk for months and was begging to be used.  I used my Sizzlits alphabet set (I think it's called "Bounce") to cut the letters from the inside of an old Christmas card.  The heart and letters are mounted on a scrap of handmade paper, which is mounted on light blue card stock.