Clothesline Thanks Card

O.K. I must confess I was having so much fun making this card that time got away from me. All of a sudden I looked at my watch and it was way past time for me to go take the dogs on a walk. No wonder poor JR had his legs crossed. I really couldn't help it though because I kept getting ideas and the card evolved from its bland conception into this unique card.

The card base is a deckle edge announcement card. The person this card is for gave me the blank cards as a gift. So being the frugal crafting person I am I have to use them even though usually I make standard size cards.

I knew I wanted to have dresses hung on a clothes line. Alas I could not find a dress template I had. Paper Crafting Connection came to the rescue with a cute little girl dress jpg. The back piece had the sleeves and then the front like a jumper. Originally I was going to cut the back out of rice paper but I discovered that it just won't cut with my Cameo. Oh well I will use it for something else. Then I found a scrap of pink vellum and I thought aha that would be perfect. The front is cut out of two different pieces of scrapbook paper. One  from Monet water lily scrapbook paper and the other from a sailboat paper. I cut the dresses out sideways and got these interesting patterns. It would be fun if a person had a lot of scraps to cut the dresses out of different papers. The person who is getting this card gave me the glitter alpha stickers. Usually I don't use stickers even though I must confess I have a bunch of alpha stickers in my stash.

I must confess I have had this embossing folder with clothes on a clothesline for ever and never used it. It came in a set which I bought for the other folders in it. I am reorganizing my embossing folders and when I saw it I thought why not emboss on card stock and then cut out. So the line with the clothes was cut out and I cut around the grass,basket,and poles. Since the folder was designed for a larger card I had to lop off the poles. I chalked the grass and basket. Then I heat embossed the poles. I tied the scrap floss to the poles and after gluing the panel down glued the clothespins down.The dresses are held on by the clothespins I didn't see a reason to glue them down. I will be hand delivering this card tomorrow so I could indulge myself by adding the clothes pins. I love them but alas they are not practical for cards which are mailed.For mailing a card you could use digital clothespins. (By the way this clothesline looks like the last one I owned. The cord had stretched due to the weight of clothes over time. Alas where I live now I am not allowed to hang my clothes out to dry. I miss not having a clothesline.)

There you have it my thank you card using the stickers and blank card that were a gift. Also after cutting out the embossed piece I am looking at my embossing folders in a new light. Thinking how I might emboss on card stock and just use part of what I emboss. Perhaps it is also time that I start using some of the alpha stickers I have. LOL!

O.K. I'm off to play with the Hot Boss Embossing tool that was in the package from the North Pole. I want to do something with it for another thank you card.

Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Thanks Card

Christmas is over for another year as far as most people are concerned. However, for me since Christmas is all year long you may if you chance to stop by hear Christmas music playing even during the heat of  July or August.

 I hope if you celebrate Christmas that you had a wonderful one. I was spoiled by my roommate. LOL! Which is probably why he gave me a lot of bath products with different scents. His mother and sister gave me a few crafting goodies. Then I had a surprise waiting for me at the Post Office. I know you might not believe this so I might have to take a picture of the box and some of the contents. Yes, as unbelievable as it may sound I received a box from the North Pole filled to the brim with crafting goodies. It was left at the Post Office on the 24th. My dogs were giving me a funny look as I unpacked the box and was jumping up and down in excitement. I'm sure they thought that I had drank a little too much hooch. O.K. I know you want me to get on with the post. Just had to share my excitement.

I was taught to write and mail thank you notes before I played or wore anything that was a gift. Although I verbally thank people who give me something or write an email to thank them I still make a point if I know their address to send a thank you note or card to them. That is just the way I am.

 Here is my first thank you card. I broke my rule about not using anything till the person is properly thanked because I was given the stickers and decorative tape.

My dear friend Alice Golden had an assortment of tags strung on scrap floss on a scrapbook layout and I really liked the look of it.(If you are stuck for inspiration check out her blog Golden Moments. She always seems to have ideas that can be used for other projects.) Although her tags were not all the same I decided to go with the same ones. This is the free tag file in Studio. My Cameo cut them out of a scrap of left over calligraphy paper. The letters were cut out of scrap card stock. The scrap floss (which is not really scrap) is by Karen Foster. I am so in love with this floss and it comes in so many scrumptious colors.

The dragonfly is a vinyl sticker that was in the sticker sheet. I love how it shimmers. I would have loved to have stuck it on card stock and cut around it so I could pop dot it but the Post Office is getting more fussy about having bumpy things on cards.

I used the Touch 'N' Slide daisy tape on a narrow piece of scrap card stock. Then I went and chalked over the tape with my green chalk to give more the impression that the daisies were growing in grass. 

Since the person who gave me the Touch 'N' Slide Decorative Tape Pen with the daisies tape probably won't be reading this I can tell you to skip it. In my honest opinion it is not worth the money. Although the tape cartridges are easy to change you are limited as far as getting designs. As well as limited as to the colors. Plus I had the experience of the tape tearing when I tried to apply it to card stock. I wasted a lot of the tape before I got a nice border. Now having said this let me say that I do appreciate the fact that I was given something different which I had never played with nor heard of before. It probably would be fine for children but not necessarily for someone who is serious about their crafting.

For me this is a better alternative. Although I don't know if I can chalk over the tape.Just for fun I used my warm wishes stamp with Stazon ink on clear tape. It works and you can have a personalized tape for less money. Especially if you have a lot of smaller size stamps like I do. I have not tried  marker stamps yet so I don't know if the marker ink would smear on the clear tape. The Stazon ink didn't smear at all. Now to find another craft yard sale where they are selling Stazon ink.

I will be using  tags on floss on another card which I hope to post next. Since I will be hand delivering the thank you card I'll use small clothespin which are in my stash.Alas when mailing cards they are not practical to use.I also will be busy playing with my new toys and I'm sure will be posting some projects using those. I think I can come up with some unique cards which can be mailed without paying extra and without the cards getting destroyed.

Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again! Just in case I don't get around to posting till the new year I want to wish you a Happy New Year! May 2013 be a year full of frugal crafting and fun.

Heat Embossed Photo Christmas Card

I have no idea how I managed it but while I was cleaning out both of my blades for Cameron today I broke the housing. Although I have a couple of blades which will get me by they are either clogged or dull enough that I can not cut intricate shapes with them. That meant it was back to the drawing board for a card for someone special. I was still able to use the heat embossed vellum I had already made just ended up trimming it to fit the card I made.

Then I didn't like the photo collage I had originally made so it was back to the drawing board. The pictures were not as good of the dogs as I would have liked. No matter how I tried to enhance them. Getting good pictures of the dogs is as bad as trying to get good pictures of some children. Usually at least one of them is looking away from the camera or one of them moves just as I snap the shutter. Anyway I thought I had lost a lot of pictures when my laptop broke and at the same time the card in my camera became corrupted. However, for some reason when I had backed up the laptop onto my external hard drive it had put all the pictures in a folder for the date I backed it up. So of course when I transferred them to my new computer they went into that folder. Anyway while looking through the folder I found the perfect picture.

So into Photoshop Elements I went to make a new photo to use on the card and to do cropping and enhancing of the original photo. Well you know how it goes one thing leads to another. I was looking at the artwork design I planned to use for my background and was thinking I bet I could stamp a sentiment on the photo after I print it. Then I thought why not heat emboss the sentiment. Of course that meant spending some time seeing what ink might work for heat embossing.

After a few hours of playing around today this is what I finally came up with.(Click to enlarge)

For the card base I ended up using a piece of double sided card stock I bought at a dollar store.If I can find more of this card stock I will buy it as it really cuts nicely. I bought several colors and patterns.

The snowflake swirls are stamped on vellum and heat embossed. I rubbed blue metallic chalk on the back of the vellum. I don't know if that is what caused the vellum to not stick to the card stock using a glue stick because usually I can use the glue stick and the vellum will stick. I ended up lightly spraying the front of the  card  with spray adhesive and after carefully rubbing the vellum down placing it under some books.

In Photoshop I did not like the color that the snowflake artwork was so changed the color of blue. Then added my cropped, enhanced image.  After saving my image I printed it on glossy photo paper. Then I trimmed the photo and edged it with sky blue metallic ink. Then I heat embossed the sentiment. Letting my breath out when I was done as I had been afraid I was going to mess up the photo.

I buy my photo paper at a dollar store when they have it. I usually buy several packs of it. So I don't mind using some of it to play to see what works. I'm glad I did play before trying to heat emboss the sentiment on the printed image. My embossing ink did not work, nor did many of my pigment inks. However, I had found while looking for a certain ink for my sister Brilliance gold and silver ink which I had to buy. They both worked great.  Maybe because they were really moist. Now that I know that heat embossing can be done on photos a whole new world has opened up for me. As well as I may just find myself printing and using more of my photos on cards.

Thank you for stopping by and thank you if you have read this far. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again and a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it.

Vellum Heat Embossed Winter Card

LOL! I have nothing to do this time of year. My roommate called me last night on his break and said" can you make a card for so and so. I'll pay you for it. Oh and it has to have a winter theme and not be too frilly. Something suitable to be displayed in a cabin." Luckily I had the day before been working on a card idea and had the card file in Studio ready to be cut out.(Click image to enlarge)

I used the frame file that can be found. Here I took the frame and was able to weld a plain rectangle the same size to make my card base. I also cut out a frame to use.  After the pieces were cut out I cut out a piece of vellum. I stamped with my snow flourish stamp with white embossing ink. Then sprinkled Recollection Snow Pearl embossing powder. Carefully I used my embossing gun. I then glued the vellum on the frame piece and then glued it on the card base carefully matching up the cutout snowflake. I think it looks more finished this way. Then I stamped my sentiment on vellum and using a glue stick glued it on the inside.

You could also do the same thing using a printable transparency. Just be careful heat embossing on a transparency. It is a little more trickier than heat embossing on vellum.

Off to deliver cards and ornaments in boxes.  Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Star Ornament

Last year I downloaded somewhere a folded star. I thought it was a  12 Days of Christmas cutting file from Silhouette but it appears not to be. However, the Silhouette store does have a cutting file for a 3D star.

I had planned to put  together two stars to make a 3D ornament last year but time got away from me. It then ended up on the back burner for this year until my good friend Alice Golden posted a ornament Here . Don't worry if you don't have a cutting machine you can still make this ornament. You will find a link on her blog which will send you to where the instructions and pattern is. So here is the ornament I made today.

I used the green card stock that came in a package of a Recollection Christmas collection for the front and back of  the star. Then used two different pieces of pattern card stock from the set. Of course if you have scrap paper or card stock this would be a great way to use it. The silver star in the middle was cut from a scrap of shimmer card stock I found. Then of course I had to use one of my dollar store star gems for the very center.

I need to do some tweaking of the cutting file and replace my blade but on the whole I'm pleased the way it turned out. Anyway I think the woman I'm giving this star ornament to will like it. After all it is the thought that counts.

O.K I'm out of here as my roommate just called from work an hour ago and asked if I would make a special Christmas card for someone. Thank goodness I designed a card yesterday but haven't cut or put it together with the theme he had in mind. LOL! He is insisting on paying me and will not take no for an answer. Also unlike most of his requests he doesn't need it in five minutes.

Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Dressing Up Boxes

I don't like to wrap packages. Also for the most part I think it is wasteful. LOL! Most people are not like me who carefully opens packages and then saves the paper to be reused in some way. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying for you to not use wrapping paper this is just my preference. However, I also don't like to hand someone a gift in a plain box. Whether it is a handmade box or a store bought box I like to gussy it up a little bit. It can be a lot of fun to see what I come up with. Besides if the box is gussied up the person receiving it is more apt to use it instead of throwing it away. Here are two boxes I just made for ornaments. The one I stamped all over before putting together was the quickest. It also fits more the personality of the person who I'm giving the ornament to.

The all over stamped box I used my foliage cube stamp and Stazon Cactus ink. Since it holds the tree ornament I thought the stamp was perfect. The second stamp I used a flourish stamp from my stamping gear and just used it on the paddle not with the gear stamping in the corners on the top of the lid. I felt like the box needed something and after playing with several different ideas this is what I came up with. I cut panels from Recollection Christmas card stock to go on the side. The Gingerbread man is a free Studio file or I think he is. He might have been a 12 days of Christmas last year. I just cut out his outline from scrap gray card stock. I used chalk to change his color. He looks more like a Sugar cookie but we won't tell anyone. I added his eyes,mouth,and buttons with gel pens. Glued ribbon for a scarf and he was done.

 I had to cut out an extra one though because one of the four  ran away. Luckily there was just enough room on the scrap card stock to cut an extra out. I'm sure I'll find the missing one and use him on another project. Unless one of my dogs decided he was so yummy looking and ate him.

I encourage you to get out those bits of paper,ribbon,the stamps that are collecting dust and gussy up those plain boxes. Go ahead and use the Christmas paper and card stock you are hoarding. You know you really aren't going to want to use it next year anyway. There will be new Christmas stuff out and you are going to want to use that instead.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. I'm back to seeing if I can figure out how to design a pop up card for someone special. As well as making more ornaments and boxes for neighbors and local friends.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

3D Tree Ornament

When I saw the free file in the Silhouette store of a 3D tree I knew I wanted to use it for something but wasn't sure what. On the Silhouette Blog they showed the large tree used in a jar as a snow globe. There was also  a mention of layering the circles. So I decided to see if it would work as an ornament. For some reason when I tried to cut out the pieces Cameron my Cameo cut wacky. I think he didn't like the way the circles were placed. I've noticed he can be very particular and will not cut where he is suppose to if an image is overlapping another even if it is just empty space and not where he needs to cut.

(Click Image To Enlarge)

I ungrouped the shapes and left only the three smallest circles and the plain circle on the mat. I was able to get all four shapes on a letter size piece of heavy white card stock. I made accordion folds on all the pieces with perforated lines. It is easier to fold them back into shape after the paint has dried than to paint a shape with perforated lines and then try to fold. I learned that on another project with perforated lines. Especially since the paint hides the perforated lines. 

I first painted with Folk Art Peridot Extreme Glitter paint the perforated pieces. Then while the paint was still wet sprinkled some Martha Stewart coarse crystal glitter in places. After the paint was dried I refolded so that I had crisp folds. The paint has a tendency to flatten the pieces out a little bit. I took wire cording and formed a loop then pushed it through the perforated pieces. There is a small hole in the center of the circles. After all three pieces were strung on the cording I tied a knot on the under side so that the cord could not be easily pulled out. The plain circle I poked a hole in the center. Then I brushed Elmer's glue on it and sprinkled with the Martha Stewart glitter. In some places I then squirted a little more glue so that it would look like snow drifts. I then poked the cording through the circle and glued the ends of the cording on the bottom of the circle. I had bought some gem stars at a dollar store and decided to glue one on each side of the loop.

I will be giving this tomorrow to a woman whose Mother was just diagnosed with Alzheimer. I hope it will bring her joy when she looks at it. If her Mother is up to it I'll also take the Mother out for an hour or two. This way the woman will get a short break. Alas being the sole caregiver for my late husband with Alzheimer I know how important getting a break can be. So I'm going to try to give her some time to herself off and on.

If for some reason you did not get the 3D tree the file is still available through the Silhouette store. Right now it is $.75. So it is a little bit of a saving. Also don't forget that Silhouette is having their 12 days of Christmas. Every day there is a free shape just for that day.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. I'm off to making more ornaments for gifts. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Double Holiday Pocket Card

My dear friend Alice Golden posted on her blog here some adorable double pocket cards. They were part of a make and take by Karen Foster at a crafting shindig. Alas I don't have any Karen Foster Christmas paper but I do have some Recollection Holiday card stock. So I didn't use card stock on the inside of the card. I did use a piece of card stock on the front. I had forgotten that the words would be upside down inside when I folded the Happy Holiday card stock. Not being one to waste I cut a panel from the Happy Holiday card stock. LOL! I'm sure the rest of the card stock will be used for other projects.

I put a photo in the front pocket but anything could go in there and the inside pocket I placed a letter.  This card would be great for putting tickets in, a letter,photos or other things that you might want to give to people. These cards are quick and easy to make. You could add any embellishment you wanted. I used the free snowflakes from last week which I resized.

That's all for now folks. Hope you are getting everything you need done. Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting.

Wallpaper Wrapping Paper

*Sigh* If anyone sees the cleaning fairy please send her my direction. I know I have brown wrapping paper and white but where it is I don't know. Anyway I didn't want to take the bus to go get a roll of wrapping paper. Plus I've discovered that so much of the wrapping paper on the market now tears easily. Then I spied a roll of vinyl wallpaper and the light bulb came on. Why not use it for wrapping paper. Here are two packages wrapped with my wallpaper wrapping paper.(Click image to enlarge)

Since the roll of wallpaper I had on hand I paid less than a dollar at a thrift store I figured I could do some experimenting with it. I discovered after trying different inks that Stazon was the best ink to use for stamping. The small package was stamped using my leaf cube stamp and Cactus Stazon. Then I took my G Studio joy stamp and used Royal Purple Stazon.

 I was going to heat emboss joy over a leaf background for the larger package but discovered that the embossing powder stuck to the leaves even after it had been sitting for several minutes. That gave me the idea to stamp heavier in some places where the embossing powder would really stick and lighter in other. Then when I flicked with my finger on the back of the wallpaper where it was stamped lighter the powder came off. I love how some of the branches are copper and some are the original Cactus green. To finish the package I carefully made a loop of tape and attached it to the back of the ornament from the previous post and then pressed the ornament onto the package.

One advantage to using wallpaper for wrapping paper is that it doesn't tear as easily. Which is good when you have a present like the big one here which is not flat but has things sticking out. The disadvantage is that it can be bulky so difficult to get nice corners. But then I flunked present wrapping 101.

There you have it. My frugal tip is to look around and see what you can use when you don't have something instead of making a trip to the store.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Not Exactly A Star Ornament

This ended up not exactly looking like the star ornament that was posted Here Next time I'll be more precise and make sure that both pieces are the same size. As well as be more precise when gluing the points. Still I like the way that it turned out and I'm sure that the person who gets this on a package will love it.

I had Cameron my Cameo cut the strips a quarter of an inch by 8 inches. Next time I'll cut them shorter. As it is too big for any tree that I would place it on. I used Learning Tree double sided card stock which appears to be a medium card stock. I decided instead of dots on the points to use star gems since I bought a package of assorted sizes for $1 at a Dollar Tree store. Instead of using a strip of card stock for the hanger I decided to use some sheer ribbon.

That's all for now folks. I managed to get a package in the mail and trying to finish the inside of cards to get them in the mail tomorrow. As well as finish some cards for my roommate.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back again. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Getting Inky

I had so much fun getting inky making some tags. (The tags are on the presents that are in the mail and I didn't take pictures.) So I thought since I'm tired of printing out sentiments for the inside of cards and doing plain stamping to do what I did making tags. This could easily be the front of a card but in this case I glued it inside.(Click image to enlarge)

First I stamped my antique linen distress ink all over a scrap of white card stock left over from a print and cut. Then I sprayed water on the card stock and crumpled up the card stock. Since paper products are delicate when wet I carefully unfolded the card stock. Then I sprayed Stream alcohol ink which I mixed with water. The alcohol ink really brought out the lines where the card stock had been crumpled. Because I didn't want to wait I dried the card stock with my heat embossing gun. Then because I wanted the card stock to be fairly smooth for stamping I ironed it in between two sheets of copy paper.

 I used my foliage cube stamp with Stazon Cactus ink for the background. First I inked and stamped on scrap paper to get a lighter stamped image on the card stock. Then inked and randomly stamped the normal way to get a heavier color. I used my G Studio Christmas stamps with Black Tuxedo ink. I got several cute sets for $1 each which I love to mix and match. I had been playing with a red gold ink on the Merry Christmas stamp and had not cleaned the stamp off. If you look carefully you can see some of the letters outlined with the red gold. LOL! I may on purpose do that again.

I could have been finished at that point but discovered when making tags that heat embossing with just a coat or two with Ultra Thick Clear Embossing Enamel gave the impression of melted snow or ice crystals. I love the texture that resulted.

There you have it my ten minutes of inky play. Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

3d Snowflake

I have been as busy as Santa's elves trying to get things ready to get in the  mail this week. I like to include an ornament that I have made so when I saw this 3d snowflake Here I decided to give it a try. I have to add something to hang it on the tree with but as you see it can also sit on a shelf,mantle,etc.

I downloaded the gsd format. If you don't have a cutting machine which will use either gsd or dxf format there is a pdf file you can download. I decided after heat embossing one with winter wonderland embossing powder that I liked my Martha Stewart coarse crystal glitter the best. I sprayed the pieces with spray adhesive before putting the ornament together and sprinkled my glitter on them. The biggest pain in making this ornament is to get the tabs on the half pieces into the slots on a full piece.

That is all for now folks. Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Butterfly Box

I must confess I have a box fetish and I love giving gifts in pretty boxes that people can reuse. Or at least I hope they will reuse them. LOL! Even if it is using them to give a gift to someone else. Anyway here is the box I came up with today.

 I had so much fun decorating this box. Especially since I finally got to use my Stamping Gear. I'm hooked now and will later do a post on it.

For the box I used the 3d snowflake box from the Silhouette store. I just deleted the snowflake which was on the lid. I love the size of this box and can see all kinds of possibility for decorating it. I love when I can use a file in a different way.

I had fun playing on scrap card stock before committing myself to stamping on the lid. I tried out different stamps that came with the stamping gear intro set placing them different directions on the paddle. Also tried out different inks. It is a good thing I did as the red I was going to use smeared something horrible on this card stock. I ended up using my Red Gold. Although you can't really see in the picture it has a bit of shine to it.

The butterfly was a free Studio file. I used a scrap of  plaid scrapbook paper with the butterfly on the diagonal when I cut it out. I then set the cut lines for edge only and cut out the metallic backing. The butterfly I thought was too flimsy with the scrapbook paper alone.I love how it turned out.

There you have it my cute box which although not perfect I hope will be treasured. If you have a cutting machine look at your files and see how you might modify them. Especially if it is something you like. It can be a frugal way to craft.

If you love stamping you might want to check out Inkadinkado Stamping Gear. You can make all kinds of fun designs using it. LOL! Not that I'm trying to enable you to spend money. Of course if you do decide to buy use a coupon or try to get free shipping. I found the intro set for under $14 and paid $7 using a coupon. With all the fun I had today playing it was worth the expenditure.

O.K. I need to finish wrapping some gifts,get tags on gifts,and get things ready to mail Monday or Tuesday. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Paper Bead Necklace

After seeing how easy it was to make paper beads I decided to make a paper bead necklace for a Christmas gift. See my post paper beads for the how to on making the beads. I already had some beads in my stash which I added to the paper beads I had made. I  used my Cameo to cut out a charm from card stock. This necklace was so easy and quick to make and no special jewelry making equipment.

The charm I cut out is a free cutting file by Mrs. Miles also known as Barb Derksen. Thanks Barb for so generously sharing this swirly heart.(Her free files can be found here) The card stock was actually redder in color with a sheen but changed color when I melted Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel over it. It is easy to make your own charms.  I did with this one cut two charms out and glued them together for a little more stability. Stamp the charm with embossing ink and pour the embossing enamel over and melt with your embossing tool.

These beads I cut from a plaid scrapbook paper I had on hand. I coated them with two thin layers of Mod Podge but didn't like the brush strokes showing or the finish. The bead was on a toothpick so I decided to roll it over the embossing ink pad.  Then I poured out some of the embossing enamel powder. I poured the powder into a glitter tray but if you don't have one a sheet of paper will work. I rolled the bead through the enamel powder and then melted it with my heat tool rotating the bead as I heated it. It was easy and no messing with melting the UTEE as it is called in a melting pot. If you don't have clear UTEE you can use regular clear embossing powder but it will take more coats.

The silver beads I have had in my stash for a couple of decades. I did see some similar beads for 20 cents a piece recently in a bead shop. I bought a yard of the cord for 35 cents but the price will vary. You should be able to find  the cord for under a dollar.

The clerk at the bead shop where I bought the cording showed me how easy it is to knot the cording to make an adjustable necklace. If you don't know how Here are instructions for making a simple knot. Of course there are fancier knots you can make for making an adjustable necklace.

Alas bead stores seem to be going out of business. I went earlier this week to a neighborhood where I used to buy beads and the store was gone. My local bead store is closing which is a shame as it was within walking distance and beads and cording was considerably cheaper than in craft stores like Michaels. I am going to have to walk over there and stock up on cording and beads.

That is all for today. One more gift made and the books are bought for the grandchildren. I may actually get gifts mailed out the first of the month instead of mailing them at the last minute.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. I'm off to make a box for the necklace. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Dresser For Ali

I just finished making a dresser for Ali. I wanted something special to put the jewelry in that I have made for Ali for Christmas. When I saw the 3 drawer dresser in the Silhouette store I knew it was perfect. This is the second one I've made. I messed up the first which was made with white card stock and covered with paper. I thought I would use Mod Podge to coat it so it could be wiped down. For this one I used my plastic coated glitter paper. I must have gotten a good blade because I didn't have to double cut the card stock. Only thing I don't like is that the fold lines are ugly. I will find my Stazon teal ink and ink the edges or buy some washi tape for the corners.

For the drawers I coated the front with Gesso which I had mixed soap dye in. Next time I'll use fabric dye or something else. Only because the dye is water soluble and so when I put Mod Podge on the drawers it was acting like a paint and smearing. I did get some interesting looking drawers though.

Although this dresser has finger holes for the drawers I thought it would be easier for Ali if she had knobs to pull open the drawers with. After much thinking I came up with these. I saw this pattern when looking through my images and thought it would be perfect for knobs. I printed and cut them out. Then glued three together to give the knob substance. Then heat embossed with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. I glued a bead for the knob shank.

These are stickers which I have had for a few years. I attached them to card stock and then cut around them. I used strips of card stock to glue them on top. Don't overlook stickers you may have on hand or overlook stickers at a dollar store as they make nice embellishments when stuck on card stock.

 I  happened to have these left over beads from a project a few decades back and thought they would make excellent shanks for the knobs If you are going to make knobs like these use a good adhesive to glue the bead on. For these I used E6000.

As you can see the drawers are a good size. In fact I'll have room to put other small gifts in for her. I already found at a dollar store a small plastic purse with lip gloss in it.

After the Holidays are over I'll be making more of these dressers for putting craft things in like buttons and brads. I think they will be cute in my crafting area.

That's all folks for now. Off to make more gifts and finish cards. Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Pop Up Christmas Tree Card

When I saw this free file provided by Debbie who is the administrator of Silhouette Plus and is the blogger for Paper Pulse I knew that I had to use it. Her file was for the card base and the pop up tree part. The front of the card is from Christmas Cheer Coloring Book by Dover.

I added the text in Studio. Then took the flourishes from a Christmas card kit I bought last year and filled it in with green and turned off the cut lines. I copied the Dover image and set it to cut out the ornament separately. The gold on both the ornament and background is painted with gold water color paint. This is the first time I used a water brush and the first time painting a print without the ink smearing. I chalked over the paint on both the ornament and background. As well as the white panel the ornament is on. I pop dotted the ornament over the printed image of the ornament.

I painted the tree using extreme glitter paint. Before the paint was totally dry I went ahead and carefully popped out from the back the cut out sections. It is a good thing I did as parts of the cutout sections were sticking together and I don't think I would have gotten them apart when the paint was dry. The ornaments were cut out of scrapbook paper. They are a Studio freebie which I just deleted the cutout sections on them and of course resized.. The gold balls were cut out of a scrap piece of gold. I went ahead and decided to chalk the background.

It was fun to craft while listening to Christmas music. I love Christmas even if there does seem to be a lot to do and every year I keep telling myself I'm going to start earlier and I never do. I do now have the front of all the cards done up and just need to add sentiments inside which shouldn't take me long. I should next week get the cards I mail in the mail. Usually I mail them on Black Friday but with Thanksgiving coming early this year I'm a little behind.

 This card has to wait until I finish making presents to go in a box for my son and his family. Hopefully I'll get things finished and the box along with this card in the mail by the first week in December.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. I'm off to start work on a 3 drawer box by Lori Whitlock to put some jewelry in for a granddaughter.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Birthday Card For Bug

Oh the shame. I totally forgot Bug's birthday. She will be two tomorrow. Which meant that I needed to quickly come up with a card for her so I can mail it tomorrow. Although she will get the card late at least she will know that Grandma did not totally forget her. Thank goodness for my Cameo and for Studio. Here is the card I made today.

The card is from the Studio library and it must have come with the software. It was originally I think designed to use the happy birthday panel separate and cut everything out. I decided though to turn off cutting lines and fill in with color and pattern. I bought  Michigan J Frog last year from the Silhouette store and he was printed and cut out separately.  I used my clear star pen to color the strings of the balloon and to outline the balloons to give them a little more definition.

If you celebrated Thanksgiving I hope you had a wonderful day. Now the Christmas crafting begins in earnest. ;-)

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Right now I'm working on a pop up card and hope to post it sometime over the weekend.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Another Snowman Card

What can I say another snowman card. As well as another Dover image. I don't know what it is about snowmen but I have a thing for them. Well to be honest snow people in general. Perhaps it is because I fell in love with Frosty the first time I saw him on television. Or perhaps it is because growing up there wasn't a lot of snow but when there was my sister and I would attempt to make a snow man. I say attempt because usually there wasn't really that much snow.

(click to enlarge image)

Originally I wanted to cut the snowman and animals out as one piece but after two hours of hair pulling I gave up. I even tried to extract him using Photo Shop as well as erasing the background.

The panel the snowman is on is embossed using the Divine Swirls embossing folder. Since I did a print and cut on white card stock I went ahead and cut the panel out at the same time. I used my metallic chalks to color the card stock after it was embossed. I felt like the blue was a better match than my regular chalk. Don't you love how the embossed panel echos the background in the image. I thought of just taking my swirl stamps to do a background but decided that the embossing would give the card more texture without a lot of extra bulk. I think I can mail this without having to add extra postage.

I used my clear star Jelly Roll pen on the image in different places to give it that snowy/icy look. I decided to just do the buttons on the snowman instead of coloring his body. In the snow I basically scribbled to give it more of a dimension.

Anyway it was a fun way to spend time indoors on a blustery, rainy day.  From the looks of things I'll have no excuse not to craft as the weather forecast is for more wet weather.

I have one more card I'm working on. No,it is not a snowman. LOL! Also I need to get busy making gifts,boxes,etc. Of course I also bought a new toy and stamps so want to play with those.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving if you live in the US. Also wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Vintage Children Christmas Card

When I was looking through images for a certain image I came across this image offered by Cajoline for free and knew that I just had to use it. These children are so precious. Also I find the background shape intriguing to say the least. Although it was a little bit of a challenge to trace for a print and cut the way I wanted it to cut it was worth it. I am a lot more pleased with the decorative cut outs then if I had just traced the edge.

Oh you wanted to see the picture of the card. Here it is. Sorry about the quality it is a dark overcast day and foil is hard to photograph. LOL! If I waited till a sunny day I think Christmas would be over. (click to enlarge)

I must confess that I embossed the foil background over a year and half ago when I was visiting my sister. I had just gotten my Big Shot and wanted to see how it would emboss foil card stock. I found this panel while cleaning over the weekend and thought it would go perfect with this image. The embossed folder I used is Rebecca (If you like this embossing and can't find the folder it is available online at KMart and probably other places as well,)

The image as I said is a Dover Publication image. I edged it with Peeled Paint Distress ink using a cotton swab. I like edging vintage images because I feel like I don't have to be exact. I went and dotted red extreme glitter paint on the holly berries.

There you have it my elegant vintage Christmas card. LOL! Now to figure out who to give the card to. There are several people on my card list who would love to have it.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. I have two more cards in the works and I'm working on a paper bead necklace for one of my granddaughters.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Stain Glass Snowman Card

Last year I bought a book of stained glass Christmas coloring pages. I had already made my Christmas cards so thought I would scan and use the images this year. I forgot about the book and then found it while cleaning. LOL! Of course I could have saved myself the trouble of scanning in the snowman image as Dover Publications offered it as one of the samples this week. Although I printed it on vellum it could be printed on a transparency. I did print the snowman on white card stock.

Here is my card:(click to enlarge)

The card base was painted with Folk Art Extreme Glitter Hologram. It was too pinkish looking and I was going to put another coat on but accidentally picked up my patio white paint. I didn't realize I had used the wrong paint until I coated over the glitter paint. I went ahead and rinsed out my foam brush and immediately painted the Hologram over the white paint while it was still wet. I love the way the card base turned out.

The image is from Dover as I mentioned. I traced the snowman part so I could cut it out of card stock. The whole image is printed on vellum. Although I'm not sure you can really see in the picture I rubbed white metallic chalk over the vellum. It did give the natural vellum more of a white color. I used metallic chalk to color all but the red berries and the black eyes and mouth on the white card stock. I used color pencils on those and went back and use the black color pencil on the coal buttons I then went and wiped white chalk over everything. You really have to look hard though to see the sparkle.

The snowflakes are a Silhouette free file. I was going to paint and glitter them but changed my mind. I also decided to make them larger than I had originally planned. The snowflakes hide where the vellum was glued to the card base. As does the card stock snowman panel.

I am disappointed with the Inkadinkado Metallic Chalks. I love the colors but at least on light color card stock or paper they don't have the Metallic shine that I was expecting. I will later on see what happens using them on dark paper. The colors are different from my other blending chalks so it does give me more colors to work with. Also they are easy to work with using either the poms that come with it or something like Fantastik.

That all folks! Thanks for stopping by and do come back.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Making Paper Beads

My roommate asked me a couple of months ago to make paper beads so he can make his mom some jewelry for Christmas. Well, I must confess that for two months I've had the cutting file made. My excuse for not making them sooner is I could not find the paper. With Thanksgiving next week I knew that I really needed to make the beads if he is going to get his present made for his mom in time. Lol! As luck would have it the paper I wanted to use was with the other papers all along. So today I cut out the paper and started rolling my beads. This goes really quick and you could make a lot of beads in a short time.

You are going to need to cut your paper into a triangle shape. The width and length of the triangle will determine the diameter of your finished bead. I made mine .75" X 6". The .75" is the squared off end of the triangle which tapers down to a narrow point. This is what mine looks like cut out.

I am using some Monet Waterlily scrapbook paper I found on sale over a year ago. Pretty much any paper would work as long as it rolls nicely. If you are using a program like Studio for the Silhouette cutting machine you could fill in your triangles with pattern and make them print and cut.

I am using a paint brush to roll the paper on. A skewer would work, a thin dowel or whatever you can find. Remember the diameter of what you roll the paper on will determine how big your hole is for your bead.

To make the beads you will need a glue stick. To start your bead spread glue on the squared off end on the pattern side. It is important that you put the glue on the pattern side as you don't want the bead to stick to what you are rolling it on.(Wonder how I know that. LOL!) Then tightly roll holding it a moment for the glue to stick. It should look like a pennant on a stick.

In this picture you can see the beads I've already rolled with another bead ready to be rolled. Roll tightly you may want to add glue as you roll that is up to you. For me it is easier to roll until there is about a inch left. Now on the plain side you will apply your glue and finish rolling.(Sorry I can't take a picture and roll at the same time. And my dogs are too busy napping.)

All that is left is to finish these beads with some kind of sealer. It depends on the effect you want. You can use clear nail polish which is quick and easiest way. Leaving the beads on what you used to roll them on will make that easier to do. They can be dipped in Ultra Thick Embossing enamel which will have them looking like glass beads. They can be sprayed with a polyurethane sealer. You will want to seal your beads some way.

I can't wait to see what my roommate makes. He wants to add some amethyst beads along with these. I was going to cut some triangles out of metallic paper for beads to go with these but he said no.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back.

Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Word Art Christmas Cards

Word art is trendy right now and although I have thought of doing a word art project I never have until now. Over at the Silhouette Plus Forum one of the members posted a link for Tagxedo. The Tagxedo Creator allows you to create word art in shapes. Here are the cards I made after playing with Tagxedo.

The diagonal background is decorative card stock by The Learning Tree which I purchased at Dollar Tree. The frame was cut from glitter card stock that reminded me of Christmas ornaments. After saving the tree in Studio I did a trace so I could have Cameron cut it out tree shape. I did a little bit of point editing and could have done more but I think it has charm. I pop dotted the tree onto the panel. The blank card was the perfect color.

Taking the same words but using a different font,shape,and theme I came up with this. I know this is non-traditional Christmas colors but I loved the way the colors looked when I was playing. Besides I have all of these card blanks in the burnt orange color to use up. I cut a panel out of a scrap of metallic card stock. Then embossed the top section with Sizzix's Dancing Stars embossing folder. I only wish the folder was a little wider because if you look carefully you can see the metal plate edges.

Two quick and easy cards using word art. One word of caution it can become addictive playing on the Tagxedo site.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. I am planning on making paper beads this week and hope to have them posted soon. I really need to get busy again crafting for Christmas gifts.

Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Another Vintage Christmas Card

When I saw this image this week as part of Dover Publishing Samples I knew I had to make a Christmas card with it. If you have not signed up yet to receive a weekly email with the link for samples you really should. It is a great way to get images to use in crafting. There is a real variety of images.

Originally I had wanted to cut out the boy and have him pop dotted. However it ended up being too complicated for me to figure out how to do it in Studio. I really did not want to cut out by hand. Anyway after looking at the image I realized that it probably would not look right.

This is what I ended coming up with. A few changes along the way. Yes,inspiration came while I was in the tub. LOL!(click to enlarge)

The background was made by cutting out card stock. Then tearing bits of calligraphy paper which has been hanging around unused for years. Then I glued my torn pieces onto the card stock. When the glue was dry I rubbed tea dye distressed ink over it.

The image came from Dover Publication. I made a copy of the image so that I could trace it to cut out the trees. I had to do a little bit of playing around to get the one tree to cut right. I pop dotted the trees over the trees in the image.

Originally I cut out four snowflakes but decided to go with the two. I had brushed twinkles glitter paint on them and then sprinkled a fine glitter on them. I am pleased at how nicely the small snowflakes cut out. They are from the free file in the library.

I love how the background turned out. I have never done a background like that before. Don't be afraid to try something new. You might be surprised at the outcome.

Thank you for stopping by. Do come back again.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

The Stars Are Out

 After seeing a card which used a star border die  I decided to make my own star border in Studio. Only thing is that once I made the border I was totally clueless with how I was going to use it. So for a month now the cut out border has been sitting around waiting. I had ideas but none of them really looked good to me.

LOL! Then while soaking in the tub inspiration hit. I could cut a panel with a star cutout and place an image behind it and use the star border as a border. The smaller star cutouts could be used on the panel. The inspiration for making the file used the cutouts as part of the layout so why not.

 I just love seeing how people do things. Most of all though I love my Studio software and Cameo as I'm not limited to size like I would be with a die. Also I have more money to buy crafting goodies as I can make my own files. :-)

OK I'll show you the card. I know you are holding your breath just waiting to see it. Here is my bath tub inspiration. (Click to enlarge)

Originally I was going to use my blue glitter card stock for the panel with the cut out star. However, Cameron my cutting machine was doing weird things. The next best thing was cutting it out of pale blue card stock which I happened to have. I just had to try out my new metallic chalks so I added chalk. The sheen is really subtle.

 I have no idea where I got the graphic nor where the original one is.  This graphic I added the butterflies in a program which is no longer available online. It allowed you to add animated shapes to your static image.

The gold star frame was an after thought. After I had glued my image behind the cutout I realized that something was needed. I ungrouped my panel in Studio and took the star and did an external offset. It ended up being a little larger than the panel but I think I like the two edges hanging over.

The star border was easy to make using the star in the library. Resizing and offsetting the star and then duplicating and welding the stars together. Originally I was going to heat emboss with gold both the cut out stars and the border. I decided instead to use my Twinkle glitter paint. I really like the contrast it gives.

Where do you find inspiration? If you have a cutting machine do you see a file or even a commercial die and think I can make my own file? OK last question. Should I put this card in my generic stash or my holiday stash? It really could go either way.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving comments.I have more Holiday/Christmas cards in the works. Ideas were coming fast and furious while soaking in the tub. I really need to have in the tub area a waterproof notepad and pen. LOL!

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

A Winter Tale Challenge Card

I must confess I do not remember reading Shakespeare's The Winter Tale nor A Winter Tale by Mark Helprin. Nor have I seen the movie that came out in 2007 where a bullet meant for a local drug dealer kills a child. There appears to be a couple of different songs with the title A Winter Tale. Who knows there may be more. Anyway I took these lyrics as my inspiration from the song "A Winter Tale" by Queen.
So quiet and peaceful
Tranquil and blissful
There's a kind of magic in the air
What a truly magnificent view
A breathtaking scene
With the dreams of the world
In the palm of your hand
Here is my card for entry in A Winter Tale Card Challenge over at Silhouette Plus.(click image to enlarge)

The background panel was embossed using the Polka Daisies texture plate. It was as close as I could come to snowflakes and snow. I then rubbed white crayon over the embossed parts. I thought I had rubbed the crayons well over the embossing but perhaps the cheap crayons weren't waxy enough. I then painted over the panel with blue pearl water color. Taking a paper towel I rubbed the blue paint off the embossed parts. The snow flake was in the Studio library. I sprayed adhesive on it and then sprinkled Martha Stewart coarse crystal glitter on it. Originally I was going to use an image of a village and children playing in the snow but in the small size all the detail was lost. I found this cardinal image and thought it would be perfect. I did use a clear glitter gel pen on the jewels.

Thank you for stopping by. I will be playing more with crayons and my pearl water colors. I am a loving these water colors. Also I should get my metallic chalks tomorrow. So hopefully I'll have some cards using those soon to post.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Fun With Glue And Foil Butterfly Card

On Sizzix's blog there was a tutorial for making glue sheets using an embossing folder or texture plate so I decided to play with the technique. My first attempt came out good but alas when I spritzed homemade glimmer mist after I had removed it from the folder it stuck to the paper I had it on. Second attempt I squirted glue on the folder and then a few drops of  Wild Plum Ink. I used a plastic pan scraper to spread the glue evenly on the folder but an old credit card or foam brush would work. The color mixed in while I spread. It looked pastel pink until it dried.  Here is the card I made. (click to enlarge to see the beautiful detail of the embossing folder)

 I played with different things underneath the glue sheet and finally decided to go with crumpled foil which I glued to the front of the card base.  Then I used the white school glue I had used for the glue sheet and brushed it on the sheet. I goofed and put the glue on the wrong side but I think I like the debossed better.

The butterfly image is a print and cut. I have no idea where I got it from. I did take it into Photoshop to extract as much as I could of just the butterfly. I will confess that near the top of the butterfly I had to do a little hand cutting after Cameron cut it out. It is attached on top of the graphic with a 3d foam dot. I think it gives the illusion of being in motion.

There you have my glue sheet experiment. I do have a folder with words which is too large for the size cards I make and I am going to make a glue sheet with it and then cut the words apart to use. The glue sheet cuts nicely with scissors but I think my trimmer blade is dull as I've noticed lately that even card stock is not being cut cleanly.

If you don't mind having an embossing folder out of commission for a few hours I encourage you to try making a glue sheet. I used Elmer's glue but any non-tacky glue which dries clear would work. Hint: Spread the glue just thick enough to cover the embossing. If you start to gently peel it off and it is not easily coming off wait awhile longer. I found it was easiest to start peeling near the fold if using a folder.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. I was going to make a card using a graphic that I will chalk with metallic chalk but alas my order of chalk arrived with the chalk broken. So that is on hold until my replacement chalk comes. In the meantime I do have some pearl water colors to play with. As well as I'm working on a card for the Silhouette Plus Card Challenge.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.

Don't Forget The Foil

Sometimes I get so caught up in crafting using regular supplies that I forget about using  household supplies like foil. So what can you do with foil? For starters you can glue it on card stock and emboss with an embossing folder or texture plate. Or you can dry emboss with a dry ink pen and maybe even gently rub ink over it. The foil can be crumpled up and unfolded and then inked or left as is.

I went and glued a piece of crumpled foil on the front of a blank card and glued an embossed glue sheet over it. I'm still trying to decide how to finish the front but will post when I'm done. In the meantime here is a card I made using crumpled foil which was then inked.(Click to enlarge)

 On top of the colored foil I glued mylar film. I bought the textured mylar years ago at a dollar store and alas have not been able to find more of it.

The scallop panel is another that I had the paper wrong on the mat and so the scallop did not cut on an edge. I inked it with Brilliance Sky Blue. Then I brushed Deco Arts Twinkles paint over it thicker in some places to give the illusion of snow drifts.Martha Stewart coarse crystal glitter was sprinkled on top of the paint.

The snowman is a print and cut. He was glitzed up with glitter gel pens.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. I am not very patiently waiting for a bunch of goodies to be delivered so I can play. They arrived at my local Post Office this evening so I should have them in my hot little hand by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Sketch Challenge

Normally I don't do sketches. They seem to take me longer. However when I saw on the Silhouette Blog the Thursday sketch and that it was a challenge I knew I was going to want to come up with something. I started by looking through the Studio library. There are lots of files in there that I have never used. Many of them free files. The" love you bubble" was one of them. The different tags I have used. The tag I used for the card I made is one of my favorite ones. In fact I even made a shaped card using it.

Here is my card. (Click to enlarge)

Here is the sketch for the challenge:

This is how I did the card and what supplies I used.

The background is a pattern paper by Me and My Big from the Specialty pad. I decided that it was about  time I started to use card stock from that pad. 

Originally I had cut out a piece of gray card stock and had even swiped black ink over it as I was going to heat emboss hearts on it for the narrow strip. I couldn't find my small heart stamp and decided that the black was too stark. So instead I cut a scrap of the pink diagonal card stock. I think I like it better. I wish the dollar store had more of the card stock as I really like it.

The tag is cut from gray card stock and then inked with distress tea ink. I played around with different craft floss and decided to stick with the variegated brown for the bow. The pink I had looked to me like it was more orange. 

The pennant was part of a free cupcake topper file from last year. I just cut one end off. Originally the speech bubble was filled with a polka dot of pink and blues which is why I inked this piece pink and blue. I decided rather than  cut out another piece to go ahead and use it.

The speech bubble I rotated and mirrored after ungrouping as I didn't want the text to be backwards. Since I goofed and forgot to set the heart to no cut and didn't like the polka dot printed on gray paper I decided to fill it in with another paper. I decided to also fill the heart in with a different paper and to pan so that a small heart was in the heart.(Don't be surprised if the gray speech bubble is recycled in a future project. LOL!)

The hearts are foam hearts leftover from a package I bought years ago. I wish I would have had light pink but I only had the darker pink and white left. I had played around with some glam rocks but decided that I liked the foam hearts better.

So how did I do? It is not exactly like the sketch but it was fun to play with the love you speech bubble file. As well as to put my own spin on the layout.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. I have new toys coming and still have the embossed glue sheets and other techniques to share with you.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Why Not Just Emboss?

Some people like to just run their card stock or paper through an embossing machine and call it quits. Me, well if you have been following my blog for any length of time you know that I like to play. As well as I like to try out new techniques of things I've seen on blogs. For today I have a card made doing more than just running the card stock through an embossing machine. I love how my embossed panel turned out. It is so elegant that the card only needs a ribbon on the card for a pop of color. Because it looked off balance I went ahead and used a border punch on the card base. LOL! I really need to play with that punch more but I decided to not waste the card base.(Click on image to enlarge)

I was playing around with my camera but I just can't get a picture showing the real beauty of this with the pink and blue colors.

I took a scallop shape which I had messed up by placing my card stock the wrong direction on the cutting mat so one edge ended up with tiny notches instead of scallops.  LOL! The ribbon is hiding the notches but I could have just as easily  trimmed that edge. First I embossed my scallop panel using a Sizzix embossing folder. I believe it is damask but not sure as two folders came in the pack and I got rid of the original packaging.( I guess I need to print labels for the outside of embossing folders so I know what they are.)

Then using a plastic scraper for pans although you could use a piece of cardboard or old credit card I scraped Gesso over the embossing.  Once dry I swiped orchid and sky blue pearl ink over it. (I wish I had more pearl ink pads but alas I only have these two.) I could have used blending chalks or other ink pad but I decided I wanted the soft look of pink and blue. Of course I could have left it white or even added color to the Gesso before applying it.

 I like how the Gesso turned out applying it over the embossed card stock. It gives it sort of an old plaster look. LOL! Also it disguised the fact that the card stock is gray. Oh and the Gesso usually dries fairly fast so don't worry you don't have to wait 24 hours.

My frugal tip is to use your mistakes. Also if you spill coffee on your card stock,or it gets discolored in some other way don't throw it out. Gesso it or paint over it.

I use Folk Art Gesso because I can buy it inexpensively at Michaels. Also it is a good size container for me as I worry that in the larger sizes the Gesso might become too thick. Any Gesso would work. Remember that Gesso can be colored. I've used alcohol inks and soap dyes left over from my soap making days as well as acrylic paints.

I hope I've inspired you to try Gesso if you haven't and to used your embossed images in a different way.  So why not just emboss well the answer is because for me it is fun to play around and see if I can make an  art piece.

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. I've been playing with making glue sheets using an embossing folder and will have a card soon to show you using one. I'm still in the playing stage trying to decide what I want to back the glue sheet with.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!