Tip Archive

Tip for the week of June 27, 2005

A great texturing technique, I use white card stock, I take 3 of my favorite acrylic colors and dribble paint from the top left corner in an S shape across the paper working with the paper on the horizontal or landscape direction, the second color is in a backward S shape and the 3rd color just randomly across in an X shape. Now take a piece of wax paper twice as long as your paper and crumple it up in a ball, now gently open it up and with the waxed side toward the paint lay it on your paper, take a credit card or putty knife and only one drag it from side to side moving from the top left to right all the way down the paper. You will get a wonderful texture and color effect. Use to punch out letters, as mat blocks, frames, tags, just go for it. (View a sample.)

Happy Texturing.

Tip for week of June 20, 2005

Don't forget to rub your paper down with wax paper when dry embossing, it works and helps to keep you sane. Happy Dry Embossing.

Tip for the week of June 13, 2005

When impressing images with your die cutter into a very thin or heavier paper try putting a piece of regular computer paper behind the paper you are cutting. It really works.

Tip for the week of June 6, 2005

I have come to know that if we do not pamper ourselves every once in a while it causes creative block. Here is one of my favorite summer block busters:

Supplies: 1 bath towel
your favorite body lotion
a paper plate

spread the towel on the floor by bed or couch or favorite chair, take the paper plate into the kitchen, squeeze a dollup a little bigger than a sand dollar into the middle of the plate, nuke it in the microwave for about 15 secs. test to make sure it is not too hot, set the plate in the middle of the blanket and set both feet in the plate, squish it around and then rub the lotion into your feet and legs. Yuuuuum. If you are doing this before retiring try putting on a pair of white cotton socks, when you wake in the morning your feet will love you and they will send creative bursts to your brain. Happy Pampering.

Tip for Week of May 30, 2005

As hard as I try to clean off the tops of my acrylic paint bottles every once-in-awhile I will miss one, so up from the studio and into the kitchen to work it off. I finally bought a pair of laytex gloves, I cut the right thumb and index finger off and they now sit with my studio must have tools and you would be surprised how many times they have come in handy and they really work.

Tip for week of May 23,2005

So what do you do with the junk credit cards you get in the mail? The ones offering that business name or new rate? Keep them, they make great spreaders for your adhesives and paints. Yeah! Happy Recycling.

Tip for the week of May 16, 2005

For those of you who love distinctive chalked edges but get frustrated, try this technique. Delta Ceramcoat makes a product called "Color Float", use one oz. water to two drops of the Color Float. I used blue chalk, take a lighter blue than you are planning on using and chalk the sides, then with a small brush that has been dipped in the mixture and blotted off go around the edges, this will create a faint watermark with some color, let it dry and then with your darker color go around the edges, I use a cotton swab, the paper is more receptive to the chalk and you get a wonderful distressed look. View a sample.

Tip for the week of May 10, 2005

Are you making cards? Here is a fun way to turn it into a present. In the paint department of the hardware store is a product by Duck, they are repositionable corner protectors for windows. They come on a roll. Take an envelope, does not have to be a new one, recycle. Place the Duck repositionable corner on the back side of the corner of the envelope and then cut along the edge using the Duck product as a template, remove and stick it back on the roll, it can be used a couple of times. Now you have a pocket corner, color with acyrlic, pencil, inkpad, stamp on it, embellish it. Then attach it to one of the corners of your card by using a small piece of double sided tape on the inside back of the little pocket. You now have a place to tuck in a bookmark or special handmade tag.

Tip for the week of May 2, 2005

I love working with the micro beads, they give great texture and color to pages and cards. I have begun storing them in small individual salt shakers, I found a dozen for $7.95 at Cost Plus. I use a sushi plate as my base to work on, the plate is curved upward and holds the stray beads. I then empty the leftovers into a #10 envelope that has been cut in half and return them to their shaker. Happy Beading!

Tip for the week of April 25, 2005

Gel pens are a wonderful tool for journaling, it allows you to get some wonderful colors, however they do tend to skip occassionaly, put them in the refrigerator for a few hours before you are going to use them, it improves their flow. Happy Journaling.

Tip for the Week of April 18, 2005

Are you reorganizing your space? All by yourself and have something that is a little heavier than you can pick up? Use a small floor mat, position it under the item you are moving and drag it into place. Happy re-organizing.

Tip for the Week of April 11, 2005

Working with small punch outs, beads or alpha letters? Take a small pinch of polymer clay work into a nice round bead and position on the end of your needle tool, it will pick up those items without leaving a greasy residue.

Tip for week of April 4, 2005

On those special pages, preserve your fonts and supplies on a mini cd. Copy the font and scan in your paper, fiber and embellishments, identifying them. In years to come when the font is no longer obtainable, you will have saved it for future generations. A decorated library pocket will hold the cd securely on your page.

Tip for the week of March 28, 2005

For those of you using the mini cds for your digital scrapping, you can store them in the library pockets, perfect fit and then decorate a nice label for the outside identification and tuck them into a basket.

Tip for Week of March 21, 2005

When working with acrylics or dyes for your cards or layouts, keep a sheet of 6X6 water color paper at hand to blot your brushes, over time you will have a 6X6 block of wonderful random colors, use it to cut out alphabets and numbers.

Tip for Week of March 14, 2005

When you are using your chalk to create a distressed look try this: Get a finger dauber, it looks much like a thimball but is plastic and has a round spongy end. Gently slide the end over a clear embossing stamp pad, not too wet just damp and a little tacky, with your exacto knife scrape some of your chalk onto the waxed paper and dip your dauber into chalk, now chalk around the edges of your paper or tag, you may have to go around more than once to get your desired look but it works great.

Tip for Week of March 7, 2005

Do you have ink pads all over your table, cannot find the one you want? Here is a great storage suggestion for them. The Sizzix Tower Storage on the lazy susan, will hold two ink pads per slot and will rotate for easy accessibility. They are available at Michaels or the Sizzix web site.

Tip for the Week of: February 28, 2005

When working with the tiny alpha punches from the QK and Sizzlets an easy way to get them to lay in perfect order is to lay them face down on a piece of double sided repositionable tape, when they are the way you want them then just flip them over to your layout or card and pull away the repositionable tape strip.

Tip for the Week of February 21, 2005

On those days you don’t have enough time to create a full layout or are just not in the mood but want to do something. That is a great time to create tags or embellishments for future use, it will also make things go faster on the days you are ready to create layouts. When you have finished be sure to provide a good storage place, an index box is great for holding completed tags and small embellishments.

Tip for the Week of February 14, 2005

For those of you who use the QK and Sizzic Alphas. Do you get frustrated with adhesives? Try this one, use a remoistenable envelope glue, I coat the letter after I punch it and just set it face down on tin foil or plastic wrap and let it dry. When I am ready for the letter, just lick it like you would an envelope and adhere.

February 7, 2005

Next time you have a really big glue job to complete, prior to starting rub a little baby oil into your hands. It will help get the glue off your hands when you are finished. If you forget, then take some cooking oil, about a tspn and work into hands then take some powdered cleanser and work that in, when you rinse, most of the offensive glue will follow.

January 17, 2005

When you are working with inks, dyes or acrylics for your scrapbooking pages, go to your local restaurant supply retailer and purchase condiment cups -- they are clear plastic and hold enough paint, etc. for a small project, they are washable and reusable.