Thanks for creating with me

Distressing

The distressing technique, according to Dictionary.com is an antiquing process used in a wide variety of crafts:

Distress: (noun) to dent, scratch, or stain (furniture, lumber, or the like) so as to give an appearance of age. Dictionary.com

It’s more well known to the general public in wood or metal crafting, but paper crafters use the technique with different tools to give an aged appearance to cards, scrapbook albums and other paper projects. For most of my card projects, when I say distressing, I usually mean to apply a distressing technique around the edges of the paper, as opposed to applying it to the entire piece (if that makes sense). With a lot of card and layout designs I have seen, distressing isn’t used so much as a method of antiquing but as a way to add depth and a frame to the paper you’re working with. It is also a great way to add another coordinating color to your designs. A lot of paper I use isn’t really designed to have an aged feel, so using distressing to give it an antique feel would be a little odd.

The Tools

Seasoned paper crafters can correct me or suggest more tools to use, but the three main distressing tools I use and know of are:

1. Sandpaper or sanding block
2. Ink
3. Scissors or Xacto knife

I will go through each tool to explain the different technique and the various effects it will have (also what paper and materials are best for each) in the next section. For my time and money, I generally use ink over sandpaper or the blade of my scissors or Xacto knife. Simply because with ink, I can use a variety of colors and tailor the distressed effect with whatever paper I’m working with. For instance, if I’m designing with blue paper I can use a variety of blue inks to make my cards and layers of paper stand out more (or green and reds with Christmas cards, etc). In contrast, with sandpaper or scissors, the effect will always be a lighter edge, rather frayed. While this is a really cool look, it doesn’t work for every project and can get messy with all the “paper dust” rubbed off. Unless you’re real good with scissors and razor blades, I would caution against using the Scissor method. Not that you could easily cut yourself, but it takes a lot of practice to get the technique right without cutting up the paper and making a mess of things.

The Methods

1. Ink

   

   Color Box Cat's Eye Fluid Chalk Inkpads

   As I mentioned above, using ink pads to distress is my favorite method of distressing. Using regular-sized ink pads you might use for stamping is a little awkward, so I use Cat’s Eye ink pads from Color Box. Versa Mark also makes a small square ink pad, but I prefer the Cat’s Eye because they are so much easier to use and GREAT for getting into tight spots (like, say the inside of chipboard letters, etc). Cat’s Eye ink pads come in a fluid chalk ink or pigment ink – in general I have come to love the chalk ink colors a lot more than the regular inks. These tiny ink pads aren’t real efficient to use for stamping, unless you’re using small stamps, so I generally reserve mine for distressing. They cost around $2 ($1.99 in most stores) and come in a wide range of colors.

   

   Distressing

   

   Distressed Page

   To use these ink pads for distressing, simply run the ink pad around the edge of the piece of paper. Play with the ink pad at different angles to get more or less of a distressed edge. The amount of ink on the edge is really up to your discretion. Some paper and designs look great with more of a distressed edge, some look better with only a slight darkening. View the above photos for examples of what I mean by “run the ink pad around the edge”. The picture on the bottom shows the effect of distressing. The left edge of the paper is distressed with a chestnut roan ink (possibly not my first choice, but works for this demonstration).

   Ink pads like these Cat’s Eye pads are fantastic for almost any paper, including chipboard. I love using these inks for my mini chipboard albums and projects. I hate seeing the edges of chipboard (looks like cardboard – ugly!) in my projects, so I rub some ink along the edges to cover them up and finish the album off! They work really well even to get into little crevices and the insides of chipboard letters – simply angle the ink pad, or use the tip of the “cat’s eye” to get into corners.

2. Sandpaper or Sanding Blocks

   

   Making Memories Sanding Block

   The application of sandpaper or sanding blocks is the same as it is with using ink pads. Simply run the sandpaper along the edge of the paper – experiment with different angles and harder rubbing for the effect you are going for! Try it out on a piece of scratch paper, too, beforehand so you don’t accidentally ruin your project. Sanding blocks like I have aren’t great for getting into little crevices or doing the insides of letters, but little pieces of sandpaper would work great since you can fold and crunch them up quite a bit. These work great with chipboard, wood and thick cardstock. I have used them with regular text-weight paper, but it’s more difficult to get the look I want since the paper tears easily. I have used sand paper and sanding blocks for distressing the entire piece of paper too to give the whole thing an aged look.

   Sand paper is easy to find at any hardware, craft or lumber store – and generally pretty cheap. These pieces last a long time and can be easily stored. I have a scrapbooking-specific sanding block made by Making Memories that costs a couple dollars. It measures 3 1/2 x 1 x 1 1/2 and has different grades of sandpaper on all sides. I got mine 2 years ago and it still works great. Since it’s so small it is easy to store as well. Making Memories also has an entire kit dedicated to distressing (though, to be honest, I don’t think I would ever use all the pieces and can get by just fine with my ink and sandpaper!). To view the kit, click HERE.

3. Scissors or Xacto Knife

   

   Scissors and Xacto Knife

   The same method used in the two above techniques is used with this application. Except, you are using the edge of scissors or an Xacto or utility knife. I have never liked this method much – it’s inefficient and I have never been able to get the effect I am looking for. I learned this method in a card class about a year ago and have never used it since. The scissors or knife blade doesn’t scrape the edge of paper very well and I (hopefully others are much more proficient with their tools than me!) always end up cutting into the paper instead of gradually rubbing off the edge. That said, this is probably the one method that requires tools you would most likely have at hand, whether you are a seasoned paper crafter or not. Any kind of scissors will do – though I don’t have enough experience to know if sharper scissors work better or not.

I hope this helps give a somewhat better idea of what the distressing technique is all about and how you use it and what tools you can use to achieve the distressed look! As always, please bombard me with questions when you have them!

Thanks for creating with me!

Next week we are going on vacation to Iowa to visit some extended family in good ol’ farm country. I’m fairly certain I won’t have much internet access, so I probably won’t be updating my blog next week. I’ll be back soon though! (any purchases from my etsy shop will be mailed on Monday, June 1 when I return)

And now, without further ado let me introduce you to this week’s Etsy Spotlight: Cherie Blossom Designs!

Cherie Blossom Designs

Cherie Duggan is the wonderful crafter and artist who founded Cherie Blossom Designs, based out of our friendly neighbors to the north, beautiful British Columbia, Canada where she creates with her supportive husband and two children, er, cats. Her cards are BEAUTIFUL and her tub tea is DELICIOUS! (I should know, I bought some!) Cherie is constantly working on new projects for her shop so keep checking back! Her shop’s address is: http://www.CherieBlossomDesigns.etsy.com

Cherie Blossom Designs’ Cards

Cute Mini Owl Flat Note Card - Cherie Blossom Designs

I love Cherie Blossom Designs’ cards. They are beautiful; simplistic, but so timeless and sweet with just the right amount of texture and detail. Her notecards come in sets of 4 and are perfect for just about anyone! Pictured above are her Cute Mini Owl Flat Note Cards and I LOVE her adorable owl with yellow pearl eyes! Each of her note cards are two sided – with a solid color on one side and a pattern on the reverse. She also takes the time to put a little coordinating embellishment on the envelope flap! Click HERE to see more of her beautiful cards!

Tub Tea

Relax Tub Tea - Cherie Blossom Designs

How does a nice steamy, relaxing soak in the tub sound? Ok, how does an aromatic delicious cup of tea sound? Well, you’re in luck! Cherie has combined the two and brewed her own tub tea bags! She has three flavors: Rejuvenating, Romantic & Relaxing! She also sells the Three R’s together in a Mixed 3-pack. I purchased her Relaxing Tub Tea and it’s bliss, let me tell you! Perfect for the end of one of THOSE days when your brain is ready to explode from overexertion! Try one or try them all!

Facebook & Twitter

Custom Mini Cupcakes - Cherie Blossom Designs

Aside from Cherie Blossom Designs’ Etsy Shop, you can find this wonderfully talented artisan on Twitter (http://Twitter.com/CherieBlossom/) and Facebook under Cherie Blossom Designs. I especially want to encourage you to become a fan of her Facebook page because not only does she create great works of art and aromatics, she also bakes custom sweets. As she is located in beautiful British Columbia (seriously, just read their license plate! It’s true!), some of us here in the States might be out of luck with her delicious cupcakes, but just looking at the pictures of her creations makes my mouth water. I’m partial to the color yellow, so I love the cupcakes she made for her Grand Opening Spring Party event. Yum!

Like a lot of etsy artists, Cherie loves custom work – send her a convo through etsy to find out more! Otherwise check out her shop at CherieBlossomDesigns.etsy.com!

Thanks for creating with us!

Also be sure to check out my new Card of the Month Club on my Etsy Shop! Get a full year’s (12 months plus TWO additional FREE cards!) worth of cards – one card for every month! Choose between receiving the cards put together or in a kit to do it yourself! The $48 includes all shipping for each of your cards! CLICK HERE or go to my etsy shop at L7Designs.etsy.com to find out more!

Friday Favorites!

Confections Brads from Doodlebug Design

Last week at Archivers, I found some new adorable paper and embellishments from Doodlebug Design Inc. I’m a sucker for cupcakes, whether they’re in my mouth or on paper. The assorted brad packs that came with this paper are just adorable. I took them all out of the packaging since I put all my brads in handy little compartment caddys, but if you click on the Confections Brads link above you can see a picture of them. Presents, glittery flowers, cupcakes (yay!), ice cream cones and some cinnamon roll looking ones! I’m excited to do something with them!

Rag Quilt Pincushions from P and J Crafts’ Etsy Store

Don’t get your hopes up, I don’t sew. Other than putting on buttons and doing a rough job on a split seam or two, you won’t see me at a sewing machine or sitting down with a needle and thread. But I do love Julie’s rag quilt pincushions! They’re square, made with adorable fabric prints, decorated with a beautiful button on both sides of the cushion, quilted (I LOVE quilts), cost effective, beautifully designed and made! They’re great!

Score-It Boards from Score It

My husband and I have two of these boards, a large one for bigger projects and a small one, perfect for my cards. I LOVE these score boards. They make scoring paper and folding cards soooo easy and simple! Not to mention take a lot less time than doing it by hand. When I first heard of these score boards, I thought they sounded kinda hokey and for lazy people. But then I started making my Christmas cards and realized how fantastic they are and how much more motivated I was to make my cards when folding them got a little more simple!

Blizzards from DQ (Dairy Queen)

Normally I stay as far away from fast food “restaurants” as I can, with the exception of the rare trip to Taco Bell or Arby’s. But DQ’s Blizzards (and Peanut Buster Parfaits) are a completely different matter. If you have never tasted a DQ Blizzard before (the McDonalds McFlurries are rip-offs and don’t count), you need to head out and get one right now. This months Blizzard of the Month is Raspberry Truffle.

Stampin’ Up Stamps

Some day I will do a larger post on a Stampin’ Up review, but for now, let me just say that I love these stamps! Stampin’ Up is, for all intensive purposes, the opposite of Close To My Heart. CTMH features acrylic stamps only, where Stampin’ Up sells only rubber stamps mounted in wood blocks. I only have a couple sets of Stampin’ Up Stamps (both Christmas-themed), but I love them and have my eye on some other stamp sets. Their stamps have great detail and like most acrylic stamps come in a set of multiple stamps. These stamps are also kind of Do-It-Yourself. They give you the blocks, the label stickers and rubber stamps, and you get to put them all together! It’s kinda fun – like putting together a puzzle!

Thanks for creating with me!

It’s an amazing club by Sew Easy Inspirations (SEI) – one of my all-time favorite scrapbooking companies. Sign up for either the Mega or the Mini or sign up for both and receive an amazing package every month! Each kit comes with a wide variety of paper and embellishments from one of their fantastic product lines – usually a newly released line of paper and products too – at least one-two pages FULL of project ideas featuring the contents of your kit. Each kit also features additional ideas and add-ons that you can download for free from their website (available only to Club SEI members) or purchase additional bits and pieces at a reduced cost. It’s amazing and I highly HIGHLY recommend you sign up and check out this amazing kit club!! Go to ClubSEI.com for details!

Etsy Spotlight: Lemon Drop Studio

Spring Is Here Penny Ponytail Holders - LemonDropStudio

Meet this week’s wonderful, talented designer, Shauna, from Lemon Drop Studio! Shauna is a card maker and crafter masquerading as a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom) outside of Portland (Hillsboro), Oregon. Lemon Drop Studio is also a proud member of the EtsyMoms Team through Etsy.com. I love the way her profile is worded on her blog (LemonDropStudio.blogspot.com):

Shauna Rogers developed lemon drop studio based on the notion that correspondence with friends, family and even the electric company should be personal and fun! From there, her products have expanded to include all kinds of fresh-squeezed gifts.

Lemon Drop Studio’s products include a wide range of handmade cards, gift tags, magnets, note cards, silhouette prints, punched shapes, pony tail holders and hairclips, and lots of other great handmade creations! Let’s check ‘em out! Check out her shop at LemonDropStudio.etsy.com, her blog at LemonDropStudio.blogspot.com and follow her on Twitter! (http://twitter.com/lemon_drop)

Inside LemonDropStudio.etsy.com

Handmade Paper Crafted Goodies

Scarlet Sweet Wish 10 note card flats - LemonDropStudio

Lemon Drop Studio’s many paper crafted products include handmade cards, note cards, gift tags, scalloped and other shaped punches. I love her note card sets especially. The beautiful set pictured above, the Scarlet Sweet Wish set of 10 Note Card Flats is one of my favorites. All of her note card sets come in a set of 10 and are made with a great quality paper – 80-pound weight so it’s not a flimsy paper stationery. Her note cards are stamped and embossed with a simple but beautiful design and include coordinating envelopes. Her handmade cards, too are beautifully designed, so cute, sophisticated and classy! A lot of her cards feature some of her fantastic scalloped punches too that really add a punch of pizazz to her designs! I love her scalloped punches (and all of her shaped punches!) – they come in good sized packages and at great prices. Better yet she uses a wide variety of patterned papers and groups her shapes together in themes! Click on the links above to see all of her great paper crafted products!

Prints and Invitations

Custom Silhouette - LemonDropStudio

Not only does Lemon Drop Studio create handcrafted products, she also designs fabulous digital prints, invitations and silhouettes. Featured in her shop are three kinds of digital invitations: Birthday and two Baby Shower invitations. One of the great things about her digital invitation designs is how customizable they are. For her Happy Hedgehog Birthday Invitations, for example, when you purchase her invitations you are invited to customize the color and wording (even font!). She then sends you a high resolution file of the invitation for you to print wherever and on whatever you choose! Great idea! Her Silhouette Prints are a great product as well. They are customizable with up to 15 different colors (pick two!). Just send her a digital photo of your loved ones’ adorable face and she compiles your silhouette from there. Choose from 3 different printed sizes (order additional prints, too!). What a FANTASTIC idea for a baby room!

Fun Stuff!

Earth Friendly Heart Crayons - Set of 6 - LemonDropStudio

Not only does Lemon Drop Studio play with paper and scissors but she is also incredibly creative with making handmade pony tail holders, magnets, hair clips and handmade recycled crayons (yes, you read that correctly!)! Her pony tail holders and hair clips have been featured on the popular blog Dooce.com. Those lucky enough to be local to the Northwest can also find her hair clips and pony tail holders at In Other Words, a bookstore in Northeast Portland, Oregon. Most of her magnets are fabric covered buttons in adorable patterned prints and colors. She also features a fun felt mustache magnet! Her upcycled crayons, though (pictured above) are what get me the most excited! I am a big kid at heart and I love crayons! These fun, creative crayons are made from bits of crayons that can’t really be colored with comfortably any more. They are made into cute little shapes (hearts and circles) and are mixed colors (never know what you might get!)! They’re great for little kids who can’t quite grasp a skinny crayon yet and perfect for putting in a purse or tote for spur-of-the-moment creativity! She has three sets available in her shop (convo her for more!).

Thanks for creating with us, Lemon Drop Studio!

Be sure to check out my new Card of the Month club launched in my shop yesterday! The $48 subscription to my monthly card club includes one original handmade card per month (mailed to you on the 15th of every month) as well as 2 FREE cards for signing up – a total of 14 cards! The cost also includes shipping for the entire year, so $48 is all you will pay! Go to my Etsy shop at L7Designs.etsy.com for more details!

Friday Favorites

1. Happy Exploding Circle Book from PineCone Press Designs

   This weekend we took a little day trip to southeast Idaho to the Scrappin’ Girlfriends scrapbook store in Twin Falls, ID. While we were there, I found this adorable Disney-inspired kit from PineCone Press. It’s so fun and so different! It’s called an Exploding Circle Book because it folds up into a neat triangle shape, then “explodes” into a sort of 3-dimensional circular album. I took it home and put it together and it was so easy and fun! (Click on the title link above to see it!)

2. Audiobooks

   Lately I have been downloading audiobooks on my ipod to listen to at work. They are so great – especially since it’s a bit of a faux paux to read a book at work! I’ve read Sherlock Holmes’ The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Kidnapped and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and a few others. Today I went to our local library and checked out The Hobbit by Tolkien and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn! I’m loving “re-reading” all these great classics!

3. My Edgy Chipboard Albums from BoBunny

   I LOVE these chipboard albums from BoBunny! They’re so cute with different edges and lots of different colors! Mix and match them to your heart’s content! They even have some acrylic ones that I’m excited to experiment with! The store I bought mine at had some really cute albums they made up with outdoor, baby, pet and a couple other themes!

4. Hanging Plants

   We are currently living in an apartment so we don’t really have the ability to do much planting except in little planters but we found a beautiful hanging plant with cute blue flowers cascading over the sides. We hung it up in the corner of our patio above where we have our little patio set. It’s so pretty and really brightens up our patio – we’re hoping to get a couple more! We bought ours at Fred Meyer for $20 (apparently Costco has some pretty good lookin’ plants too!)

5. Corner Rounding Punches from Fiskars

   These squeeze punches from Fiskars are really easy to use – I’ve never been able to round corners using scissors – I end up trimming so much half the paper’s gone! With these punches, you can seewhere you’re cutting for perfect punches and less wasted paper. The squeeze motion requires less force than other punches, too. They come in different sizes and shape punches so perfect for card making and scrapbooking!

Thanks for creating with me!

Be sure to check out my new cards posted on my etsy shop last week!

Friday Favorites

1. Simply Handmade Blog

   I recently fell in love with the Simply Handmade magazines produced by the same company that does Scrapbook Trends and Cards magazines. I’m a big supporter of DIY (Do It Yourself) handmade projects and the projects I have seen showcased in the Simply Handmade magazine are beautiful, easy to do and well designed. Their blog features even more projects with clear, easy instructions and beautiful pictures. They also do drawings for free products frequently – including an amazing giveaway going on right now for a die cut machine! Go to simplyhandmademag.blogspot.com or details!

2. The LOTR (Lord of The Rings) soundtracks

   Music is a big part of my creative inspiration … at least helps fuel my energy and brain into focusing on my creativity. I have a wide variety of likes and dislikes in music, but I can always come back to the Lord of the Rings soundtracks. They are beautifully scored and I believe Howard Stone did a fantastic job. I have listened to all three soundtracks (and watched the movies) so often that when I’m listening to the scores I know exactly what scene is being played in the movie. I listen to them at my office day job while working and at home while creating. Yes, I admit it, I am a LOTR geek.

3. Nana’s Kids Chipboard Shapes from Die Cuts With a View

   I’m working on a custom BABY word album (will post pictures when I get it finished!) right now for a baby boy and went to my local scrapbooking store to find some cute chipboard embellishments for this book and came across these adorable chipboard shapes. They’re perfect for boys or girls – decorated with soft neutral colors, patterns and shapes.

4. Cinder Wine

   A few weeks ago my husband and I went to the Urban Wine Makers Cooperative here in Boise, ID for a wine tasting with one of the cooperatives, Cinder Wine. They featured a Viognier, Rose’ and Syrah. The Viognier and Syrah were my favorites, so my husband and I brought a couple bottles home with us (as well as a cool t-shirt from the Wine Makers Co-op for me!). I do not know if they are licensed to ship or sell out of the state of Idaho yet, but those local to Boise, ID, I encourage you to try their delicious wine! Their grapes are from around Idaho and Oregon, but the wine is made here in Boise by fantastic wine makers, Melanie Krause and Joe Schnerr. Check out Cinderwines.com for more information!

5. Joy of Cardmaking book

   My husband bought this book for me for Valentine’s Day this year and I absolutely love it. It’s put out by Creating Keepsakes under their PaperCrafts Magazine production and contains TONS of pages of beautiful layouts and ideas – and includes templates and sketches for each design. It’s a definite MUST-HAVE for card makers and creatives!

Thanks so much for creating with me!

Each Monday I feature an original design card tutorial. In doing this I hope to creatively inspire you, as my reader, into broadening your own design horizons and opening you up to new and different ideas, materials and techniques. Each card features a different card genre (e.g. holidays, events, thank you, etc), materials (e.g. paper, stamps, embellishments, etc), techniques (e.g. watercolor pencils, embossing, stamping, etc) and design layouts. In using all these different elements I also hope to open you up to all the different techniques and products available out there for card makers, paper crafters and scrap-bookers. I love to experiment with different products, as well, thinking outside the “square” and I hope to inspire you to do the same!

I love hearing feedback from my readers as well! If there is a particular pattern you want a card idea for or a technique or genre, or anything else on your creative mind – please let me know! I want to provide you with information that is inspirational and applicable to you so any feedback is really helpful!

Check back each Monday for a new Card Tutorial idea!

Card Tutorial: Stamped Easter Card

Easter is coming up this Sunday, April 12, so it is only fitting that this week’s card tutorial features an Easter card. My card this week features paper and stamps from Close To My Heart. (As a side note, I am strongly considering becoming a Close To My Heart consultant – I’ve had some very disappointing service with CTMH and my current consultant lately and am even more disappointed in the lack of creative workshops and gatherings from reps in my area. I would love any helpful hints or suggestions you might have!)

Materials:

• Ruby Jewel metallic cardstock from The Paper Company
• Creative Basics Emporium Collection patterned paper from Close To My Heart (comes in a paper pack containing 2 double-sided patterned papers – you will use both sides of both papers – Item #X5806)
• He Is Risen stamp set (Item #B1326) from Close To My Heart
• Java ink from Versa Magic
• Chestnut Roan ink from ColorBox
• Adhesives (paper adhesive, ribbon adhesive and mini pop dots)
• Vineyard Berry ribbon from Close To My Heart (Item #X5806 – included in the Creative Basics Emporium Collection)

Instructions:

1. Cut 8 1/2” x 11” Ruby Jewel cardstock in half (8 1/2” x 5 1/2”). Score and fold in half to make a 4 1/4” x 5 1/2” card. The card will have a landscape orientation.
2. Cut a piece of 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ of the floral patterned paper. Cut that piece into 2 pieces measuring 2 3/4″ x 5 1/2″ and 1 1/2″ x 5 1/2″. Use the multi-colored floral side for the bigger piece and the opposite side (raspberry floral) for the smaller piece. Distress the edges of both pieces with chestnut roan ink.
3. Adhere the bigger piece of multi-colored floral patterned paper onto the top part of the card (check the direction of the stems to make sure they’re going up, not down (I did that on one of my cards!)). Then adhere the other piece on the bottom. It’s ok if the edges don’t quite meet up, you’ll be putting a strip of ribbon over where those pieces meet.
4. Stamp the cross (refer to the above picture for reference on the cross I used) in Java ink on the green polka-dot patterned paper. Distress the edges with chestnut roan ink then adhere to the left side of the card, leaving a 1/4″ edge around top, bottom and left sides.
5. Adhere ribbon across the front of the card (over the cross stamp as well) overlapping where the floral patterned papers meet.
6. Stamp “He Is Risen. Matt 14:2″ in Java ink on the green polka-dot patterned paper. Trim around the stamped image leaving a 1/8″ border. Distress the edges with chestnut roan ink. Adhere onto the blue polka-dot patterned paper (opposite the green) and trim the edges leaving a 1/8″ border. Distress the edges with chestnut roan ink.
7. Adhere stamped sentiment onto the right side of the card, centered over the ribbon on mini pop dots.
8. Stamp “God be with you always.” in Java ink on green polka-dot patterned paper. Adhere onto blue polka-dot patterned paper. Distress the edges with chestnut roan ink. Adhere to the center of the inside of the card.

Thanks for creating with me!

1. Die Cuts With a View (DCWV)’s new line Green Paper

   What I love most about this new line of paper products from DCWV is that it’s 70% recycled. I am a lover of all things growing and green, especially beautiful lush trees. Unfortunately, not many scrapbooking companies have embraced the idea of recycled paper. Die Cuts With a View is one of the few. DCWV recently came out with a new paper line of 70% recycled paper. A huge feat when you consider the quality of the paper, texture, colors and patterns DCWV uses. DCWV is a big distributer of paper packs (huge 12×12, 8×8 and 4.5×6.5 packs) of patterned scrapbooking paper. Their 70% recycled line features beautiful textured paper with natural patterns with forest animals and natural colors (brown, blue, yellow, orange, green).

2. Pretty Good Jokes

   National Public Radio does a joke show every year through Prairie Home Companion hosted by Garrison Keillor, featuring a variety of comedians called the Pretty Good Joke Show. Thanks to my father and uncles on that side of the family, I have a deep love and respect for great jokes, especially the cheesy ones and this fantastic joke show never fails to provide great guffaws, laughter and groans! Jokes like: What’s Irish and sits out in the rain? Patty O’Furniture. And one of my favorites: What did the grape say when the elephant sat on it? It let out a little wine.

3. Memories Cutting Mat

   A must-have for any aspiring scrapbooker, card maker or crafter of any kind. These cutting mats are black with white grid lines (with measurements on all sides). The great thing about these mats is they are thick enough to prevent any warping or bubbling. I used to use cutting mats designed for cutting fabric and they all bubbled and warped so my straight cuts ended up looking like crooked lines. Another great attribute to these cutting mats is they are self-healing. Perfect for those of us who do a lot of paper cutting. This makes these mats long-lasting without leaving permanent grooves left by Xacto knives or circular cutters. Another thing I really like about these is they are big enough to work with 12×12 paper.

4. Cookbook holder from Scrapem24.etsy.com

   My husband and I have been shopping around for a cookbook holder for a while now. We wanted something more unique, something that would be a compliment to our kitchen and go with our “style”. We searched in a lot of kitchen and home stores and I finally got the idea to look on etsy for something handmade. Originally we were looking for something wrought-iron I think, but nothing seemed like it was right for us. Then I found this wooden holder made by etsy seller: Scrapem24.etsy.com. This cute cookbook holder is designed with a wooden fork and spoon on each side and folds up for easy storage. She gives the option of a variety of different stain colors (we picked yellow to go with our Fiestaware dishes). This holder features pegs on both sides of the holder adjustable for the thickness of your cookbooks.

5. Thickers from American Crafts

   I love designing with typography (fonts, letters etc) in my cards and albums. One of my favorite Halloween card designs features white chipboard Thicker letters from American crafts. Thickers come in a pack containing the entire alphabet (with multiples of the commonly used letters) as well as a handful of punctuation marks. Thickers come in a variety of fonts, styles and materials including vinyl, leather, chipboard and cardstock (some with glitter some without). Each Thicker material features a different font and comes in a variety of colors and sizes.

Thanks for creating with me!

Before I go into my Friday Favorites for this week, please check out the great giveaway/challenge for this month from the EtsyGreetings Team! As I have mentioned before I am a proud (and excited) member of the EtsyGreetings Team. One of the many great things this team does to promote its members and cards, as well as promote our team community is to pose a challenge to the members and let the readers vote for their favorite card! This month’s challenge was Easter cards. Each participating member designed a special Easter card and you get to vote for your favorite! Voting starts now, so head over to the Etsy Greetings blog at http://etsygreetings.blogspot.com and vote for your favorite card! Click Here to go directly to the March Challenge post (this link will take you to the post itself, not the main page of the Etsy Greetings Blog). The winning card will be the grand prize for a randomly chosen person who leaves a comment on the blog post. Thanks for your help in promoting my team and great artists!

Friday Favorites!

1. Bazzill Basics Textured Cardstock

Bazzill Basics is a huge paper and embellishment company that designs gorgeous textured and smooth cardstock in a wide variety of colors. I’m fairly certain they have the perfect cardstock for any color scheme you could possibly imagine. Most of their cardstocks are plain colors (they also recently came out with a polkadot cardstock) and they are perfect for making cards. Their cardstocks come in a wide variety of finishes as well – for example, their “bling” cardstock has a shimmery finish on it that sort of sparkles in the light (perfect for cards for girls!). Chances are likely, if you have ever bought textured 8 1/2″ x 11″ or 12″ x 12″ cardstock from a craft or scrapbooking store, it was Bazzill Basics. To see all of their many colors, textures and products to choose from, see their website at http://bazzillbasics.com!

2. Pomegranate Bath Foam from Mor Cosmetics

Pomegranate Bath Foam from Mor Cosmetics

My husband gave this delicious, luxurious bath foam to me for Christmas this year. I am not traditionally a bath person, but I have grown to love a good soak in the tub to ease the stresses of the day or week with this wonderful bath foam. I love this bath foam because it smells so good – it’s not overpowering at all, but has a soft sweet fragrance. It is so luxurious, too – your skin will feel so soft and silky smooth when you get out of the tub! The bath foam comes in a beautiful tall and thin 12.7 fluid ounce bottle stoppered with a cork. I love the description the Mor Cosmetics website has for this:

Re-discover the ritual of bathing in a tub of silky, pearly bubbles. Aromatic notes of fruits and flowers blend with exotic Amazonian Nut Oil for ultimate relaxation. (from MorCosmetics.com)

If you’re not tempted to go take a bath right now (whether you have this amazing product or not), then I’ll go take one for you! The website doesn’t say much about where you can buy this delicious bath foam other than from their online store, unfortunately. My husband bought mine at a local boutique here in Boise called So Glad in Bown Crossing. To see more of Mor Cosmetics, visit their website at: http://morcosmetics.com!

3. Glaze & Souffle Pens from Sakura of America

Glaze pens from Sakura of America

These pens are made by the same company that produces Gelly Roll pens. The great thing about souffle and glaze pens is they add a bit of dimension. They raise up to give sort of an embossed texture to your designs. They are fantastic pens for doing colored accents and outlines in a wide range of colors. The souffle pens come in more pastel colors while the glaze are a bit more bold. You can buy them in sets or individually (usually in packs of 2 pens). A couple things to remember when using these:

• Remember to let them dry! I can’t even count the number of times I have put my fingers and hands in wet ink. Thankfully they don’t smear too much, but it still leaves an unsightly mess on your projects. They take longer to dry than most inks, so be sure they are really dry! Wait a few minutes then lightly touch the ink with the tip of your finger to test. If it’s not dry yet and you end up leaving a splotch, you can go back and touch up!
• These pens have a tendency to clog up easily. My souffle pens especially clog up frequently (not sure if it’s me or the pens). To unclog, just stick a needle or pin to get all the dried bits of ink off.

4. Clark’s

I absolutely love Clarks shoes. For some reason last year I started having really bad problems with my feet – especially my heels. It got to the point where they hurt like crazy even just sitting at work (not putting any weight on them essentially). I tried some new Sketchers, which are usually very comfortable to me, and they made the pain worse. When we went to southern California last August for our 2nd Honeymoon, I realized just how much I needed REALLY good shoes after walking around Disneyland for a couple of days. While at a mall in San Diego we decided to splurge and buy me a pair of Clarks. Oh, it was heaven in footwear! Since wearing these I haven’t had any feet problems at all (save for some blisters I received trying to break them in with bare feet – not a smart plan). Their shoes are a little expensive, but trust me it’s a great investment for your body. They are typically made of leather and are GREAT quality. Weather proof them and take good care of them and they will last for a long time, too. Shoes designed to make your feet feel great (to me anyway) are usually lacking a little on the aesthetic end of footwear, but Clarks has found a way to bring style and comfort into footwear. The two pairs I currently own are really cute! Check out Clarks.com for more information!

5. Basic Grey Card Kits

Basic Grey Marrakesh Card Kit

Basic Grey released a new product this year with most (if not all) of its product lines, Card Kits. I absolutely love these! There is a card kit featured with each of their new product lines released in 2009; each kit contains enough product to create 6-8 cards and each kit features different card layouts! It’s brilliant. Archivers, a national chain of scrapbooking stores, recently signed a deal with Basic Grey to include two of their card kits as classes exclusively at Archivers: Birthday and Kids (both featuring a variety of different product lines). I am currently signed up for both of these classes and I strongly encourage anyone into Basic Grey, card making, paper crafts, or just great design (my graphic designer husband [www.transitdesignstudio.com] loves taking these classes with me!) From what I have seen their prices for these kits are reasonable as well, ranging from $10-$20. You can also buy them at Amazon.com – just search for Basic Grey or Basic Grey Card Kits! See BasicGrey.com for more information!

Thanks for creating with me!