Welcome, dear papercrafting friend! I'm Margareta Carlsson, living in Stockholm, Sweden with husband and two cats. My blog is for papercrafting inspiration and reviews. I hope you'll enjoy your visit. :)
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I didn't expect the new yummy Smash products from K & Company to be in stores until later this spring, but Two Peas have them in stock today! Oh, swoon! There are tons of absolutely gorgeous stuff that I just have to have! And most of them are only a couple of dollars each! Who can resist to grab a box of that? Not me! :)
Click here to take a peek on all the goodness!
This year I had all my Christmas cards ready by December 1. I was so proud of myself. But did you know that only creating those cards doesn't go all the way? You need to put them in the mail, too. lol! Did I do that? Ehm... yesterday! Shocking, huh?
And for those of my aquantancies that don't get a physical card, I'd like to make a digital holiday greeting card. Problem: It's almost Christmas and I'm short on time. I need to get those digicards e-mailed out today! Making my own digicard in Photoshop is time consuming and not an option. Solution: Cranking out as many beautiful Christmas card designs from Martha Stewart's Craftstudio iPhone and iPad apps that I need, in just a couple of minutes per design!
I've posted about this iPhone/iPad app before. For Christmas, they added two holiday themes, Vintage Christmas and Elegant Holiday. I made the card above from Vintage Christmas and the blue card below from Elegant Holiday. The card above took me about 3 minutes and the card below about 1 minute! And I could e-mail them directly from inside the app!
This cardmaking app is really so intuitive and easy to use! I suppose I could have made and sent my digital holiday greetings while waiting in line to pay for my Christmas shopping, if I wanted to. That's pretty awesome! :D
If you'd like to spend a little more time on those digicards, there are plenty of additional options, like adding glitter (!!!) and your own photos, using punches... There's so much fun stuff to play with in this app. If you need a quick an easy way to make beautiful cards and invitations, you should give it a try!
I was so pleased with the Blueprint stamped cards I made yesterday, that I had to try the mini stamps as well. I stamped black images on a paper and then the same small images in colors. Cut them all out. The colored images were too small to cut every detail, so I settled for the main shape. Then I mounted them on a card with foam dots. That gave quite some dimension, since it's three layers including the card background.
I also cut out another set of colored stamp images as squares. This card was a little faster to make. But one image didn't gave as much dimension, so instead I mounted those with foam dots on a red background adhered to the card. That way, it didn't look too flat.
Below, I posted a larger image of each of the two cards (the background papers are from Echo Park's This & That Christmas and Verry Merry Christmas), along with the links to the stamp set and distress inks that I used.
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Woohooo! I just got word today that all the seasonal colors from Tim Holtz and Ranger now will be released as Distress Stains! And Simon Says Stamp already have all of them in stock! I have been waiting for this!
All right, when are we going to get the seasonal colored Distress Markers? That would make my year! :D
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(LOL! Isn't the title of this post hilarious?! :D )
I'm not making a separate December Daily album this year. I'm already doing Project Life, so it only feels natural to include the DD photos in the PL album.
But then I had a closer look at the gorgeous Studio Calico December Daily kit, which is now sold out, so I put together those supplies in my own version of the kit. I got some of those from my LSS this weekend, and ordered others from Two Peas in a Bucket. I can't wait to get that box of goodies!
I realized that the format for that December Daily album is 4x6! Hello-o! That's the same as for Project Life! So, I would be able to follow along with Ali Edwards' December Daily with my home made Studio Calico December Daily kit and some additions from my stash. How cool is that?! That's going to be my plan for 2012!
And some more home made December Daily coolness; Ali Edwards released 4x6 printable Project Life cards for her December Daily. They come in red, green, grey and black and there are a top and a bottom design. The most awesome thing: They are perfect for embellishing with washi tape! I've already tried out some washi tape on a couple of cards above.
This means that Ali has not only helped me to integrate my December Daily Project in my Project Life album, she is also helping me to make a dent in my huge washi tape collection. Thank you, Ali!! :D
So, as soon as I get my kit supplies from Two Peas, I'm ready to go! Weee! I can't wait for December to be here!
Here's a very light, bright and modern Christmas card made with a special Memorybox die, exclusive for Simon Says Stamp, called Mod Tree.
I made one cut in the front of this card (negative cut) and then I added two die cut trees and embellished them with regular clear jewel stickers. That's it!
There is a load of lovely cards out there, made with this particular die, but my main source of inspiration was a card made by Kristina Werner for the Simon Says Stamp blog.
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IMPORTANT UPDATE NOVEMBER 12! TWO PEAS IN A BUCKET WILL GIVE YOU 25% OFF ALL CHRISTMAS PRODUCTS THROUGH 11/16/12! COUPON CODE: DDKP25 (minium purchase of $50 required)
It is sold out! But many of us love the looks of that December Daily kit by Ali Edwards from Studio Calico. Don't panic! You can make your own! It may not be exactly the same in every single detail, but close enough! AND it will be much cheaper than the original kit since you get full sized papers and a full pack of other accents!
Let's begin with the stamp set. Yes, you can even buy the December Daily stamp set! I've linked it below (Scrapbook.com have a few sets in stock). If you want it, grab it soon before it sells out. They may get in more later on, but who knows?
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There will be another, exclusive, stamp set for this kit but we do not know what that look like yet. When you see it, try and find similar images in other stamp sets. Or you could ask someone who was lucky enough to land one of the original kits to stamp some images for you?
So, after securing the stamp set, let's move on to the content that's been manufactured in larger amounts.
Let's start with the papers. You can see Studio Calico's paper sample above. I have found 16 of the 24 paper designs (thanks to a reader!) and I linked their images below to avoid a long list of text, but they're from Echo Park, Basic Grey and, of course, Studio Calico.
The designs I didn't find (they may be exclusive to the kit but if you recognize a paper that's not in my list below, please leave me a comment) are sometimes that same patterns but in other colors, or some fairly common design that could be substituted by similar papers.
The links go to the 12x12 papers, but these are also available in 6x6 packs (linked at the end of the gallery). The 6x6 packs might be what SC put in the kit, but then you'll have to buy the whole collections despite that you sometimes only need one of the papers. You have to choose wich strategy your personal DD budget allows for.
Please note! Several of the papers below are using both the front and back pattern. Since you only need 4x6 cards for the album, you only have to buy one 12x12 paper and then cut your 4x6 cards from that. You will still be left with scraps from those paper sheets.
(All of the images below are linked to Two Peas in a Bucket but I'm sure that you can find some of the items in one of the other of my favorite online stores.)
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Let's continue with all the other content. Here's a list, linked images and some suggestions for substitutes.
White plain 4x6 album. Look for an album like this in your office supply store. It doesn't matter if it's white or not, you are going to decorate the cover anyway.
Inserts. 20 page protectors, 5 thick transparency pages, 10 chipboard pages . When I need photo pockets of another format than the usual, I just cut the larger ones in the desired size. Same thing for transparancies and chipboard. You might also find 4x6 photo pockets in the office supply store.
Wonderland Ephemera (Studio Calico)
Photo Log washi tape (October Afternoon)
Red chevron washi tape (Freckled Fawn)
Winter Wonderland enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)
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Wood veneer trees & snowflakes (Studio Calico)
Sleigh Ride border stickers (Crate Paper)
Sleigh Ride stitched labels (Crate Paper) Not in stores yet.
Sleigh Ride brads & buttons (Crate Paper) Not in stores yet.
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Remarks letter stickers (Dear Lizzy) There are a couple to choose from. My guess is the blue ones below.
Glossy Red Chipboard Thickers (Crate Paper)
Micro mono stickers- blue (Basic Grey)
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6x6 charcoal duotone glitter paper (American Crafts)
6x6 leaf duotone glitter paper (American Crafts)
6x6 vellum foil (Crate Paper)
I haven't been able to find these specialty papers. Maybe they will be in stores later. There are some gorgeous vellum from the Dear Lizzy collection, with gold accents on it! I would definitely use some of that for this December Daily! I know that AC have had glitter cardstock earlier, maybe you can find some in your local craft store?
Wood veneer alphabet (Studio Calico) I haven't been able to find this, so it would have to be substituted with another similar product.
Badges- set of 3 (Hello Forever) I don't know what these look like but you can buy badges from Marcy Penner here!
Snowflake Rhinestones (Queen & Co) I haven't found these but on the picture they look like regular clear rhinestones. You can probably substitute them for rhinestones from your stash.
Exclusive vellum die cuts (Twine+Ink). Exclusive cardstock die cuts (Studio Calico). Use your imagination and inventive character to substitute these! Use your own dies and punches and the stamps you already have. Or, for those die cuts with text on them, you could use Distress markers or similar markers and handwrite or trace (vellum is semitransparent) the words from a print.
Crate Paper have super cute vellum die cuts and chipboard die cuts (se images below) so those might be able to substitute for the ones in the DD kit.
Sequin pack. Red/cream ribbon. Blue chevron ribbon. Black chevron ribbon. Lipstick red seam binding. Silver glitter tape. Look for these or similar designs/colors in your local craft store! American Crafts have glitter tape but not in silver. You might want to get another Christmas color of that tape (see image below).
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I love my Big Shot! I use it almost every time I scrap! It has to be the best investment I've ever made when it comes to papercrafting.
Well, I have to admit that I sometimes feel like an old dinosaur, using an old hand-cranked die cutting machine instead of one of those new sleek electric wonderworks, like a Cameo. Still, my Big Shot and my dies are always at hand, and it doesn't take me many minutes to get my die cuts ready to use. I love die cutting "unplugged"! :D
Thanks to this wonderful piece of machinery, I have almost entirely stopped buying embellishments for my projects. I make my own embellishment, including flowers and thickers! All I need in my stash is paper, foam sheets (for the thickers) and the occasional new die for my Big Shot. Talk about frugal scrapping! :D
Throughout my blogging history, I have posted about different projects and tips & tricks for the Big Shot. Today, I have collected all those links to my most useful Big Shot posts in one place.
If you have a Big Shot or a similar die cutting machine, you might want to bookmark this post for future reference.
1. How to make your own thickers! And paper or chipboard letters, too. Just use your favorite material. Here's a birthday card made with only stamping, home made thickers and a couple of feathers.
2. Halloween rosettes, Christmas rosettes... You can make any kind of rosettes, just change the paper and decor according to your theme. Rosettes like these are often offered within a collection for quite a handsome sum of money. You will save a lot by doing these yourself.
3. Envelopes. Don't buy those ready made when you can make gorgeous envelopes with a Big Shot (or similar die cutting machine) and a die from Tim Holtz.
4. Paper bags. These small treat bags are perfect, not only for candy and chocolate but for small presents like gift cards or happy scrappy mail.
5. Flowers. Another area where you can save truck loads of scrapping money. Here's one kind of die cut flowers, and here's a felt flower cut from a scalloped circle die (Spellbinders Nestabilities). I also used die cuts to make the dress on that card.
6. Cards. If you want to make gorgeous cards without paying a fortune, die cutting is your best friend. Here's a Christmas card, a card where the dies were used to make negative cuts, another birthday card.
7. Embelllishments for scrapbooking pages. Jeweled butterflies (and a tag, and thickers!) and clouds. And here's a page with paper letter, animals and more butterflies. Your imagination is the limit!
The scrapping part of my brain (which must be about 85 % of it. lol!) is filled with Christmas right now. I'm setting up a Christmas planner, ordering Christmas collections (as if I didn't already have more than enough of those), thinking about all the wonderful Christmas projects I'm going to make.
The Christmas date roller stamp from American Craft (above) swiftly found its way to my scrap desk here in Stockholm thanks to a wonderful fellow Pea, scrappypeanut! This little beauty is going on most of my Christmas projects this year. I love it!
My favorite phrase is "Bah, Humbug!", perhaps because Dickens' A Christmas Carol is my favorite yuletide story. I have no idea on where to use that phrase, because I'm crazy about Christmas (can you tell?!) and don't think there could be anything humbug about one tiny little tinsel detail. Oh, well.
Updated in November: This Christmas Roller Date Stamp is now in stock at Simon Says Stamp!
(Note! The image says that the roller date stamp goes from 2006-2017, but it really spans from 2012-2023.)
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