Tags plus Inchies - Grand Finale

My friend Kay (aka Kopperhead) organized a swap this Spring for something she invented called "tags plus inchies" or "TPIs." TPIs are just what they sound like - any sort of tag with at least one inchie included on the tag. We did three rounds with two sets of 20 TPI's with different themes each time. Here is a LINK for the posts showing the first six Tags plus Inchies I did for this swap (just scroll down to see the prior posts).

When the swap was over, everyone had been having so much fun that Kay decided to host one more mega-TPI swap. Through magical rocket scientist calculations, Kay determined that once 28 of us had signed up, we should do groups of seven in whatever multiple (1, 2, 3, or 4) we thought we would like to make. Of course, I decided that I had to do all four groups(!) The theme for this final swap was "Lucky Seven."

For some reason, I had a hard time deciding what to do and, since the due date was far away, I kept procrastinating (sometimes short deadlines are better!). I also had a hard time with the concept of doing completely different tags for each group. I finally decided that I would do "the same but different" tag for all four sets.



My concept was to use seven different techniques or tools for each tag. The bottom layer incorporates dry embossing (1), corner rounder (2) and a border punch (3).



For the top layer, I used regular hole punches (4), wet embossing (5), inking (6) and stamping (7).



I made groups of eight so I had seven to send for swapping and one of each left over for my collection.



Each group was a different color combination and I used similar but different stamps for the inchies and the image on the top tag.



If you would like to see all of the fabulous TPIs that were created for this swap, please visit KAY'S BLOG - you will be amazed! Thanks again to Kay for running a great swap.

(We are home again after a fast but fun trip - I haven't had a chance to catch up on all my mail and comments yet but I will work on that tomorrow morning. I hope to have a quiet and productive week. Jen and I are teaching several classes later this week so be sure to check the Let me Show you How to Do that blog for details).

History (Or Her Story) Tags plus inchies swap

As I mentioned a few days ago, the last two sets of Tags plus Inchies (TPIs) for the swap my friend Kopperhead organized were themed "Weather or Not" and "History. Or Her Story." For my "His(her)story" TPI, I decided to honor my maternal grandmother, Cora. She lived with us when I was in high school and was a great knitter and crocheter, making hundreds of pairs of mittens and slippers and many, many afghans over the years. If one of our children had been a girl, we planned to use "Cora" for the middle name (but I live in an all boy plus Mom household and love it!).



Here is a photo of Cora, taken in 1912, shortly before she married my Grandfather. Can you believe how tiny her waist is! I love these old family photos and have been planning on doing some heritage albums but I am still working on collecting all of the photos I need.



I scanned the old photo and then created my top layer for the tag using my Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus software. I cropped the photo in an oval to eliminate the dark mat frame it was in and softened the edges. Then I layered the cropped photo on some digital paper with a textured overall design and added the words "Remember When" from one of my CM digital kits (but I altered it a bit by making it narrower and taller to fit my image). I printed these images out nine to a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 heavy matte photo paper and then cut and embossed them using the scalloped rectangle Nestabilities. I cut and embossed my colored cardstock backing from the next larger size rectangle in the "nest."

I still needed an "inchie" for my tag so I decided on a sort of "stealth inchie" (!) I cropped the photo of Cora's face with the "circle punch" in the CM program. I use a circle size a bit more than an inch so I wouldn't have a problem punching inchie sized circles after printing,




Above you can see my sheet of faces in circles which I printed on glossy photo paper. (I know there are more than I needed but I decided to fill up the page and may use these little faces on another project). I punched out the faces using my one inch circle punch. Below is a close up view of the glossy inchie, adhered to the large photo with a large dimensional glue dot.



I have created many .cut files for scalloped shapes, and there are now a number of Cricut cartridges that have scalloped shapes, but there is just something irresistible about the embossed edge that you can achieve with the Nestabilities. Here is a closer view... isn't it pretty?!



I punched a hole in the top left corner and added a bit of thin ivory ribbon. Below you can see are my 20 His(her)story tags ready to send for swapping.



I received the other tags in these two swaps yesterday and they are all amazing - it always seems like a lot of work to create multiples of the same item but it is a lot of fun to receive all of the different variations from the other participants.




I must apologize - I know I am behind in my emails and answers to comments but I have been working on an exciting new project - I can't tell you everything about it for a few more days but I may leave a "hint" or two here and there - maybe you will guess what I am up to...! Thanks for all the feedback on the videos I have been making - it has been helpful to hear from so many of you and I have a long list of suggested topics! There will be a new video tomorrow unless my day gets totally crazy...

Orange Bunnies!

Last month I explained how the "cuttable area" of the baby bug mat is a bit larger than the "cuttable area" on the Expression mat and I used this set of tags as my example. (Here is a LINK to the post with the explanation and the file for cutting these tags).



Since these tags were cut for a swap, I couldn't show you what I was making with them until the swap was completed. I made these for the second round of the Tags Plus Inchies (TPIs) swap organized by my friend Kopperhead. The theme for this set was "Orange" or "If You Carrot All." If you would like to see all of the tags that were made for this theme, they are posted on Kopperhead's blog - here is a LINK to the post.




I added two stripes of thin orange border stickers to the base of the tag. I used my Scor-Mat to help align the stripes. The markings on the Scor-Mat are great for helping you make multiple items with embellishments in the same place on each item. In the photo above you can also see how I used the angle lines on the Scor-Mat to help place my inchie squares. I positioned the tag on the black line labeled "10" with the lower right corner on the white half inch mark. Then I could use the 45 degree angle line to align my two diagonal squares by using the angle line as the base for placing the squares.



Once I had the squares in position, I added the bunnies I had punched from orange glitter cardstock with the Martha Stewart standing bunny punch. I had to remember to punch half glitter side up and half glitter side down so I could have glittery bunnies facing each other on the tag. The bunnies are adhered with foam squares to give some dimension to the tag.



I used a brown pen to "stitch" all around the tags and shapes.



Above you can see all 20 TPIs ready to be mailed for swapping. I will tell you - that is a lot of pen stitching!

Tags plus Inchies - Wings and Footwear

I am participating in a swap group through the Cricut Message Board organized by my friend Kopperhead. She came up with the idea of "Tags Plus Inchies" or "TPIs" with lots of creative themes. Check out Kopperhead's Blog to see what our group has done so far!

Inchies seem to be a big craze right now. They are tiny and cute - one inch squares (or other shapes) that can be decorated in any way the maker desires. For the TPIs the requirements are that the tag be embellished with from one to three inchies. The tag can be any shape, cut from a cartridge or hand cut.



The first theme was "Wings" and I immediately thought about butterflies and sparkly wings. I cut my tag from ivory DCWV textured cardstock, rounded the top corners and used the Fiskars "Threading Water" edge punch on the base.



My inchie was a pale pink square with a butterfly punched from deep rose DCWV glitter cardstock. I used was the Martha Stewart royal butterfly punch. The edges of the tag and the inchie were inked with brown for some definition. A small flower with a gem in the center is the second"inchie" on this tag.



I like this quote about change and I printed it on parchment paper that was close in color to the tag cardstock. I used my StoryBook Creator Plus software (again!) using the "Tall Paul" font. The words are in brown and I added a custom shadow in pink, making it fairly deep and soft.



When I glued the butterfly to the pink square, I put Creative Memories Precision Point adhesive just along the body of the butterfly and, when it had dried to clear, I bent up the wings and adhered the butterfly along the line of the body.



Above you can see my 20 TPIs just before I packed them up for mailing.



The second theme was "Footwear."



I cut my base tag from blue textured cardstock and edged the base using the Martha Stewart cornice edge punch. I used a blue pearl ink on the edges of the tag (a bit difficult to see in the photo - the tag on the left is inked the one on the right is not).



The inspiration for this tag was Cinderella's glass slipper and I cut some DCWV paper from the "Once Upon a Time" mat stack for the top layer of the tags. I needed two stacks to have enough pieces for all 20 tags (each mat cuts four). I also inked this layer with brown - you can see the inked (left) and uninked (right) tags above.



The inchie was embellished with Cinderella's slipper. I cut these from white glitter cardstock using the Happily Ever After Cricut cartridge. When I cut glitter cardstock, I use "multi cut 2" to be sure to get a clean cut. I also remove the blade housing and get rid of any "glitter dust" when the cuts are finished. I adhered these to reddish brown inchie square that I had inked with the same blue pearl ink I used on the blue bases.



I used the corner rounder on both layers of the tag before adhering them. The ribbon at the top is sheer white with silver edges (it reminds me of Cinderella's dress!).



Here are all 20 tags just before I sent them for swapping.

My second two sets have been sent for swapping and when they are received by all the participants I'll post them here too.

Be sure to check out Kopperhead's Blog to see all the great TPIs made by the other swappers.