Quick Tips - Eggs and Punched Borders

With just a couple of weeks left until Easter, egg decorating (of emptied eggs) should be in full force!  I thought I'd give you a couple of links back to my posts about experimenting with vinyl and dyeing eggs.

There are so many possible variations and lots of great choices for shapes that you can cut and use. 

I wrote about this a couple of years ago when I was a guest designer on Everyday Cricut - you can click for two of the posts about dyeing eggs HERE and HERE.

I went to my local stamping store Wednesday - I wanted to get a few more colors of archival ink to do one of the projects from the Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 101 online class that I am taking.  When I got there I discovered that Dyan Reaveley had arrived to teach her classes.  I met her last summer at CHA - she is a marvelous artist who does amazing art journaling.

Here is a sample page from one of her journals.  I knew that she was coming but I had decided that I'd be too busy getting ready for the show that I need to hang next week so I didn't sign up.  I love art journaling but it isn't really my "thing."  Well, once I saw the class samples, I knew I had to give it a try.  I was happy to find out that I could join in the afternoon class tomorrow.  I am sure it will be a lot of fun!

With all of the excitement over my shopping trip and some other errands that took longer than expected, I didn't get a chance to put together the card with the rose that I showed you yesterday.  I do have a tip that is related to the final card (that you will see...eventually...).

I used the Martha Stewart Garden Gate Deep Edge punch for the layer that will go on the front of the card. I tried to center the design but this particular pattern does not end evenly if you use it across the full card front.

After you punch one edge, if you turn the paper around and punch the other edge from the same side your finished topper will look like this.  It's pretty, but it just didn't look "right" to me.

By flipping the paper over and then punching the second edge, you can produce a much more symmetrical border.  This one is much more pleasing to my eye - what do you think?

In this photo of the two borders together you can see the difference quite clearly.

Noting earth shattering - just something to think about when you are punching with a border punch...

Today is supposed to be the hottest day yet!  I can't wait to go to the class this afternoon.  I'll be sure to share some photos.  Have a crafty day!

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Another Collection (in progress)

In the midst of all the projects I am trying to finish up for the gallery display, I have also been hit with the Spring Cleaning bug.  This includes more than my physical environment and filing paperwork.  Unfortunately, my computer photo files have fallen into a sorry state. 

I take many photos for a blog post and edit them to show the project or the process as clearly as possible.  I used to be good about immediately deleting the "also ran" images but somewhere along the way I got out of the habit.  In order to catch up and clear the backlog, whenever I have a few minutes to spare and the laptop is up and running, I tackle a week or a month and delete the excess photos (thousands so far - I can hear my computer breathing more easily!).

One of the reasons I have so many photos is that I always seem to notice things that I think are interesting and want to save for a reference.  I also like to make my own digital scrapbooking elements and when I see something that would make a good page background or accent I "need" to take a few photos to preserve the idea.

When I was walking back from town last week, I noticed this light pole labeled with the letter "A."  I have walked past this spot many times but the letter caught my eye that day and I had a camera with me.  For a long time I have had the idea in the back of my mind to put together an alphabet of letters that I have photographed. 

So, now the hunt is on - the only question is whether I need to find the letters in order.  I am sure I have a few other letter photos in the thousands I am working through as I clean up my files.  How long do you think it will take me to get the full alphabet?

One of the other things I noticed that day was this soggy ice rink.  In our area, it is fairly common for people to put up a small backyard ice rink.  I think this year it probably wasn't worth the effort!

Another problem I have (and I know I share it with lots of other crafters) is dealing with the scraps from my projects.  I hate to waste anything so the offcuts tend to accumulate until I get around to trimming them down to workable pieces - or punching images from the edges.

It's a little embarrassing to admit that the leftover piece that I finally punched a day or two ago was from a card I made and posted last October (you can click the photo of the card to go to the original post if you missed it).  Another reminder to myself - deal with the leftovers as you finish each project and then they won't pile up and cause craftroom chaos!

That's all for today - I'll leave you with this lovely rose that I printed and cut out with my Silhouette SD.  I am so excited to be able to take any of the thousands of digital images I have in my digital scrapbooking files and easily print them and cut them out so perfectly.  This is an Echo Park image from the "For The Record" collection.  I think I'll be able to post the card tomorrow - unless I get distracted taking photos of letters or punching shapes from scraps!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!  We are expecting the temperature to be in the 80's. Don't forget to check out the new deals at Blitsy today - there may still be a few of the Tim Holtz items from last week available.  If you haven't joined yet (it's free), please use my LINK to sign up.  Then you can get your own link and refer your friends to earn credits.

Speaking of Tim Holtz...the Creative Chemistry 101 class has been great so far.  You can still sign up - you'd just have to catch up watching the videos.  When you take the class you have life long access and the interaction during the original two week session is a lot of fun.  Here is the LINK to the information page.

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Happy First Day of Spring!

Today is the first day of Spring and Easter is not far away.  I thought I'd share this post from a few years ago with photos some of my hand painted Easter eggs.  Most of these were collected during the years we lived in Germany. (click the photo or the red words to go to the post)

I love to decorate eggs for Easter but most of mine are the more typical dyed eggs.  If you want to decorate eggs that you can keep from year to year, it is probably best to empty them.  There is a nifty little tool for this that I learned about when we lived in Germany. 

This is the specific model that I have.  If you do a search for "egg blower kit" you will find various sites that sell these and similar devices.  The price should be under $10 and you'll have to shop around to find the best deal including shipping.  If you have a large specialty hobby store near you you might be able to find this tool but I have never seen one in a store in the US - they were easy to find in Germany at this time of year.

The tool creates a nice round hole with the drill and then you blow in air to force the egg out.  You can save the eggs to use in a recipe so there is no waste.

I have some new ideas for egg decorating that I want to try - as soon as I get my other big projects finished.

Upcoming Creative Memories Cricut Cartridge Sale

If you have been wanting some of the Creative Memories exclusive Cricut cartridges, I have good news about an upcoming sale.  The sale will be for just 12 hours - 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Central Time on March 26th (next Monday) so mark your calendar.

If you don't have a regular Creative Memories consultant, I would be happy to help you with any questions.  On the day of the sale you can order from my Creative Memories personal website - here is a link to the Cricut cartridge page on my website.  

When you buy one cartridge at the regular price ($55) you can purchase a second cartridge for 30% off ($38.50).  If you buy two at the regular price, you can buy two more at 30% off.  If you want an odd number of cartridges, it might be a good time to get together with a friend to order and share the discount (and the shipping).  You'll want to order early since there will be no backorders offered.

All seven of the cartridges are included in the sale - Cheerful Seasons, Reminisce Accents, Stork's Delivery, Traveler, 'Tis the Season, This and That and the newest Divine Wedding cartridge.  You can click on each name to go to the webpage with the description and on that page you will find a link to the artwork on each cartridge.

If you are a digital scrapper, I have some more good news.  Creative Memories will start selling digital artwork in universal formats (jpeg and png files) beginning April 1st.  I find the Storybook Creator 4.0 program very easy to use and until now, all of the CM content was packaged to install directly into that program.  Beginning in April, even if you are using another method of digital scrapping that you prefer, you will be able to purchase some of the great CM artwork to use in your digital projects.

Have you started decorating for Easter yet?  Do you like to decorate eggs?  Do you have an egg hunt?  Do I ask too many questions?!?


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Simple Background Box for Card Photographs

We had a glorious day on Sunday - the temperature was in the 70s as predicted and I even got a chance to sit on the deck and get a bit of sun (well...about ten minutes worth!).  My very handy husband has started another home improvement project - this one is in the lower level just steps away from my craft area.  One thing leads to another and I ended up doing a lot of sorting in the storage room - it will be great when it is all done.

I didn't forget that I promised to post some directions for making the photo backdrop I use for my cards and other small projects.  I'll give the basic directions to make the box today and share some more pointers in another post. This is not my original idea - I saw a similar box online a few years ago but I don't seem to have the site bookmarked.

To make the photo backdrop you need:

four sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 white cardstock (the kind from the office supply store is fine)
a scoring tool
a scoring board if you have one
and some clear tape.

That's it!

Here is the layout for the pieces.  The two sheets of cardstock in the center do not need to be folded at all.  The two sheets on the sides are turned vertically and scored at 8 1/2 inches so the fold will be even with the bottom of the top center piece.

It is a bit difficult to see in this photo but you just tape one side together - first the long side of the two center pieces and then the short sides of the top piece are taped to the side pieces, up to the fold line.  Be sure to tape only on one side (the side that won't be facing the camera so it can be a bit messy).

Here is how it looks when it is all taped together.  I took these photos last summer when I was at my sister's B & B before I went to CHA.  This "box" is very portable - you can just fold it up and pack it flat - or, if you forget to bring it, you can easily make another one!

The side flaps tuck under the center section.  You may have to fold the seams a few times to make them bend easily.

When the side are folded in, it will look like this.  You can put the box in a room with good natural daylight (try to avoid direct sun which will give too many shadows) or you can use some lamps to provide light in the dark hours.

If the day is a bit cloudy or you have a nice spot with open shade, you can take the whole thing outside - just be careful if the breeze is strong!  This card is one of a series I did with Cosmo Cricket papers and Creative Charms.  I was visiting my Dad and needed to take photos of the finished cards.  I put the box on a tray table on his balcony to shoot my photos.

If you want to see the rest of the cards from this series, you can find them close ups on my blog HERE and the full post on the Creative Charms blog HERE.

If you have a large sheet of white paper, you can tape it to the wall or window and take daylight photos in a bright room.  I did this to take photos of the chick egg cozies and egg cups that I posted last week.

If you hold your camera even with the table (get on the same level as the items you are photographing) you can get a nice clean background for your image.

I used to do something similar in my craft room by clipping a piece of paper to a box and setting up cards with the lights shining from either side.

This works pretty well but when you make the little box there is a lot more reflected light to brighten your photos.  (In case you are wondering, these cards were made with the Lyrical Letters Cricut cartridge).

I use a couple of "Sunlight" lamps that I bought years ago at Costco to get a bright light on the cards if I can't take a daylight photo.  There are many types of lamps available with daylight bulbs.  You do have to be careful about the angles to avoid getting too bright "hot spots" on your white background if the lamps are shining too closely.  I keep meaning to try putting some tissue paper or fabric across the top to diffuse the light more evenly.

Please let me know if you have any more questions about this little box.  It is quick and easy to make and provides a nice consistent background to show off your projects.

Have a great Monday!

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Nick Kelsh Photo Tip Site - give it a try!

I love to take photographs and I take a lot of them.  People often compliment me on my photos (thanks!).  But I still feel like there is so much more to learn.  With better techniques, I might not need to take quite so many photos to get the "keepers!"  I have been wanting to try a class or just spend more time working through the manual for my camera but there simply aren't enough hours in a day. 

In order to keep me thinking about ways to improve my photos, I subscribed to a new website.  Nick Kelsh is a photographer who has a great way of explaining all of the ins and outs of photography.  Nick is the author of nine books and has appeared on Oprah and the Today Show.  He wrote a column for the Creative Memories magazine for years.  He has a great sense of humor and entertains you while you learn little nuggets of photographic wisdom.  The website is called How To Photograph Your Life and the subscription is to Nick Kelsh's Photo Tips.

There is a free "lite" version and I did try this first.  I quickly realized that it would be well worth the subscription fee to get the full version.  You can read more about the subscription in a letter from Nick HERE.  The site is new and the fee of $19.95 is a bargain.  When you are a member you can go back and read all of the archived tips so you won't miss anything and you can watch some of the great little videos over and over if you want to.

You can spend hours on the site looking at things but if you subscribe and get the emails you'll have nice bite sized lessons that you can easily fit into your day,  There are so many interesting ideas on the site and there will be lots more to come.  I am not in any way affiliated with the site (I'm sure Nick has no idea who I am!).  I do think that it will help any of you who are interested in learning more about photography.

a couple more things...

I will post the directions for the little light box set up I use to take photos of my cards.  If today isn't too crazy, I should be able to write it up for tomorrow.

Videos are coming but I am really working hard on getting my projects completed for the exhibit I am doing here in our town.  It will be going up in less than two weeks and I'll show you some of the projects soon.  I also have been experimenting with some new products that I think you will like...

Just to make my life a bit crazier, I did sign up for the Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 101 online class.  It is an interactive class and starts on Monday.  I think you can still sign up if you are interested.  It's sure to be a lot of fun and if I get behind the site gives you life long access to the class - so I'll catch up eventually!

The image that I used to create the cutting file for the Celtic medallion in yesterday's post was a free sample from Dover Publishing.  You can sign up for their weekly email to get the sampler - usually a couple of images from eight books.   The image is from a book called Celtic Clip Art for Machine Embroidery - here is a LINK to the sample page.  I cut the vector file with Make the Cut in a large size and then used the regular version of Silhouette Studio to trace the image and create a file that would cut at a small size for a card.

It is supposed to be over 70 degrees today - and for the next four days. Are you having a nice weekend?  It's been a bit quiet with comments lately, but I think a lot of people with children had Spring Break this week - I hope it was fun! 

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