Card Creations 10 by Paper Crafts Magazine

I love to make pretty things with paper.
Not only that, I am really lucky that sometimes some of the things that I love that were made from paper end up being published  <3
Card Creations 10 is where my most recent projects can be found, and it is a gorgeous special issue from Paper Crafts Magazine.

This is one of my projects that can be found in Card Creations 10. An interesting little designer insight, it completely irritates me that I didn't cut the text leaf to go the other direction, but I didn't catch it until I was writing up the supply/instruction list to send in with the project and it was too late. I do love this card though, and was so thrilled when it was selected for publication in this high octane special issue!

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Ruby Rock-It! Bella! National Scrapbooking Day Blog Hop Happiness!!

Welcome to the Ruby Rock-It! Bella! National Scrapbooking Day Blog Hop!

It is an exciting day as we get prepared and excited to celebrate a very happy and crafty day on Saturday May 5th! If you are a scrapbooker and looking for some wonderful inspiration, I want to thank you for making a stop at my blog to say hello and I hope that you will take away some enthusiasm and love for memory keeping!

The Bella Girl line has been one of my favorite lines since I joined the Ruby Rock-It team! The fun color combination and playful mix of patterns always inspires me and I have paired it with the beautiful silver dotted vellum that was just released at the winter show.

I had a lot of fun removing the patterned center and replacing it with the dots, the play of classic elegant with the bold colors is a fun spin on the story I am sharing about Laurel.

And of course I had to add multiples of butterflies punched from the vellum to kick up the texture and add some whimsy!

Now here is where you get to have even more fun! Hop along and leave comments as you go, the more blogs you comment on the better your chances of being selected for a fabulous goody box that is sure to be exciting!

RRBF blog

Sarah 

Sandy

Rebecca

Keely

Jodi

JJ

Gina

Debbie

Carrie

Benedicte

Becky  <---------- You are Here! ---------->

Amanda   <------- Your next Stop!------------->

Erin

RRBF blog

Thanks so much for stopping by, and Happy National Scrapbooking Day!!!

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Copic Marker and Ranger Alcohol Ink Colored Easter Eggs

I created these beautiful Easter eggs a few years ago, and we are still using them to decorate for our celebrations, so why not share them again and how to create them as well.

Start by blowing out the contents of a dozen or so eggs, there are a few methods of doing this. Some of the supplies I used are:

Alcohol inks by Ranger in a variety of colors and metallic finishes
Alcohol ink applicator and clean felt pads
Copic Markers in a variety of pastel colors
Gem and pearl stickers
Butterfly punch
Milliners flowers
White glitter paper
White silk ribbon
Fabric adhesive

For Ranger Alcohol Ink eggs

Step 1: Apply colors to applicator pad and directly to egg if desired. (this gives spots of "clear" color)

Step 2: Gently dab applicator directly to egg, muddling the colors to achieve desired results.

For Copic Marker colored eggs


Begin by selecting an assortment of markers in the desired color range, I used some beautiful pastels.

Step 1: Color random sized areas of different colors with the markers.

Step 2: Apply a metallic Alcohol ink to the applicator on a clean felt pad.

Step 3: Loosen the metallic up (it will come off very heavy otherwise) with some Copic Blending Solution applied to the applicator.

Step 4: Randomly and gently dab the applicator onto the egg.

Step 5: Look and admire, adjust any spots with more metallic or alcohol ink as desired.

Embellishing both types


Embellishing is the fun part! Use a paper punch on some white glitter paper, apply some of the alcohol ink from the applicator you have been using on the punches and then adhere carefully to the egg. Add some milliners flowers or other small items like gems or pearls.
Tie a small loop with a bow and use fabric adhesive to adhere the ribbon to the egg, I like to cover the holes, but they aren't usually really obvious.

Most importantly, have fun!!
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A Quick Tutorial on Blowing out an Egg to Get an Empty Shell

Emptying an eggshell (otherwise known as a blown eggshell) is a relatively simple thing to do, but there are a few steps and tools that can make the process much easier and I want to share them with you real quickly today with some photographs to help the steps more easy to understand.

Start with a clean egg and using a paper piercer or similar tool (a thumbtack with the little handle is a pretty good option!) gently press the sharp, pointy tip into one of the ends of the egg and make a hole that is a little bigger than the size of a pinhead.

Next, repeat by poking a similarly sized hole on the other side. Use a corsage pin (the longer ones with the beads on the end) to swirl and scramble the contents of the egg. The yolk won't be able to pass through a hole if it is intact, so breaking it up is very important.

Wipe off one of the ends, gently hold the egg to your mouth and carefully blow the contents of the egg into a  container.

Keep going until the egg shell is completely empty.

Carefully rinse the shell in water and then dry. It is now ready for use!

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Hey Tweety!

Happy Monday tweet friends!

Just sharing a sweet card that uses Ruby Rock-It and Bella Fundamentals. The die cut bird, cage and hearts are so cute and the different sized tags are perfect for popping out the colors of the chipboard and sticker letters.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!
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Creating Keepsakes Guest Blogger Today!

Hi Everyone!

I was so thrilled when Nicole Larkin contacted me about sharing step outs on the CK Editor's Blog for a technique I used on a layout in the March/April issue of Creating Keepsakes.

It is a pretty easy technique, but does take a little time and patience. The perfect activity for watching movies or catching up on some of you favie tv shows.

The supplies used:
Bazzill kraft and white card stock
Hambly Overlays and rub-ons
Ruby Rock-It Vintedge patterned papers
Authentique letter stickers
American Craft thickers
Maya Road kraft tag
Prima wood buttons
May Arts fine black twine
DMC silver embroidery floss

If you try this technique and post it online somewhere, leave me a link so I can come visit and leave some love!
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Ruby Rock-It Bella Boy Banner

Delivering a cute Bella Boy banner as promised!

The panels are being suspended by a wood pants hanger for photography, and I have shared the front and back of each in order.

The burlap was die cut first and then the paper was machine stitched onto the burlap. The die cut stars were then adhered to the paper side for extra dimension.

Please come back tomorrow as I have another fun bit to share!

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Bella Girl Banner

Rachel asked the design team if we would all contribute banners for the Ruby Rock-It Bella Fundamentals booth at the CHA tradeshow. I LOVE making banners and was so thrilled to make a banner with the Bella Girl collection! (Tomorrow I will share the Bella Boy)









To make it even more interesting, I made it double sided so that it could be viewed from all sides. It also is in separate pieces so it can be tied together in any order or any amount of sections and the little rosettes just tie into the knots between each panel.














The burlap was die cut with my Tim Holtz movers and shapers heart in my Sizzix Big Shot.

The pieces of paper were then machine stitched onto one side and the other side would show through the heart!

The hearts that were die cut out from the burlap were then adhered to the center of the stitching on the other side for a little more dimension.

Cute felt, chipboard and sticker pieces were then added for the fun details.

That is some very happy crafting right there my friends!

:o)
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Ruby Rock-It Tiling Tutorial

I shared a fun and easy to make (just takes a couple of tools and some patience!) on the Ruby Rock-It blog last week. The luscious August Moon collection is perfectly complimented with a beautiful picture of Laurel and some machine stitching.

If you are from Australia or New Zealand and interested in becoming a part of the Ruby Rock-It design team, there is a ton of great information and dates on this post.

Thanks for visiting!
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DST Monday

DST, otherwise known as Daylight Savings Time.
It is the hardest time of the year for me, my biological clock is set to Pacific time, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and it is where my clock was set growing up. So moving to Utah 16 years ago was a little hard on my system, and you think I would have adjusted by now (It is okay when the clocks go backward) but I haven't and I really struggle to get my brain to bed at a reasonable hour and an even harder time getting it to wake up in the morning. This isn't helped at all by the fact that I am a hard core night owl!
So today unraveled from the beginning when I got up on time, went to play tennis and someone hadn't gotten a sub so there weren't enough of us to play. No exercise or cathartic hitting of the tennis ball. Big Bummer.

Today was a deadline today as well. Paper Crafts had a deadline for submitting to their Sept/Oct issue. No submissions for me, just no juice in my coconut!

Top all of that off with other pressing expectations and I am ready to crawl under the covers and wait for tomorrow to start all over again...

But I didn't, I kept it together and followed through with what needed to be done. I am looking for the silver lining in all of my frustrations. I think it is in tomorrow when I will feel so much relief that my deadlines are dealt with properly that maybe my brain will be willing to shut off at a reasonable time of night and let my body have a good nights rest.

Are you having as hard a time as I am? Does it wreak havoc with your system, or do you love the change?
(I do love the extra light at night, but that doesn't help me get to bed any earlier, lol!)

Well at least it is a sign that Spring is just around the corner, and I do love that!!
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Card:
Authentique patterned paper
Hambly silver and white cloud overlay
Webster's Pages letter stickers
American Crafts glitter thickers