Yep, that's right. Today's card-a-thon almost didn't happen. Because I am a numpty! No, really, I am. I take full responsibility for the stupidity of my actions (happy Drew?). It almost didn't happen because....no wait for it....I stuck my SD card with all the photos on it into the CD ROM drive on my Mac. Now, stop it. I know you are laughing but it wasn't funny...at first. The sad thing is, I am obviously not the first to do it as there were a myriad of videos on youtube showing idiots like me how to remove it. It really hurts to admit this to you all...but only because I know the next time I see you I will have to endure the pointing and laughing. In my defense, who was the silly person who designed the computer so that the two slots are less than 2 inches apart?! And who said that I should be looking at what I am doing while I do it? I can multi-task...wait, maybe not.
Anyhoo...on with the show.
I managed to get my six cards done last night because I had forgotten about the lovely 3D Decoupage scenes that I had so painstakingly put together before going to
MUFOG (click the word to find out what it is if you don't know). I found these while perusing my paper and trying to decide what I was going to do last night. I'd show you a picture of what they looked like but I was just a wee bit spacey last night so instead, here is the picture of all six finished:
Pretty cute and easy to do. The great thing about the 3D Decoupage sheets these days is that they are die cut (so just push the shapes out of the card) and numbered so all you have to do is follow the order and tape them together. No cutting!
Because these are just stock standard cards (in other words, no technical details), I'm not going to do a standard tutorial for them. Instead, I'll show you a few short cuts that I have learned over the years so that you too can do this easily. The first one is to tell you where to cut a normal A4 piece of paper to get two cards out of one piece of paper. This was one the first things I learned in the various card workshops I have taken.
14.8cm is the magic number. It looks like 14.9 in the photo but I assure you it isn't. If you cut at 14.8, you will have to equally sized pieces that can be folded in half to give you the perfect A5 card. Good tip, eh? Can't tell you how much card stock that has saved me over the years.
Speaking of measuring. How many of you spend ages measuring the piece you want to mat so that you get the perfect edge around it? I don't and for those of you who have gotten cards from me, I bet you didn't even notice (for my pedantic friends out there - I don't want to hear how you noticed but were too nice to tell me. It's deliberate I tell you!). This is what I do:
Essentially, I eyeball it. I adhere what I want to cut on the paper I want to mat with and then stick it in my trimmer and away we go! It's usually pretty close and takes a lot less time. However, if it has to be just so, I understand :0)
I also recommend getting a ruler like this:
This happens to be the Tim Holtz Design Ruler but it is awesome. Because it is clear, it's easy to measure stuff that is already on your card. In this instance, I was measuring for some ribbon because I forgot to put it on before I taped down! The other cool thing about this ruler is that it has the holes for marking brad placement (or stitching designs) as well as a metal edge for cutting against. With the lines, you can also check if things are straight. So cool!
Also, don't under estimate the value of buying matching stamps and punches. Yes, it can be expensive, but as a time saver, it's worth it! Here is the one I used in my cards:
A little later, I chose to make one of my decoupage pieces look like an ornament hanging from some tinsel. This is what I did for that particular look:
I cut a piece of twine and used sticky tape to attach it to the back of the decoupage piece.
Then on my tinsel ribbon, I tied a separate piece of twine into a bow.
Then I adhered the ribbon down with Glossy Accents (an Inkssentials product). Because the bow was separate from the piece coming off the decoupage, I could slide it around until it was just right.
I trimmed the ribbon to size and the card is done!
Last but not least is just a reminder that there are plenty of thing around the house that you can use in your craft. This is one of them.
Staples! Lots of craft stores sell "specialty" ones that will cost you a fortune and if you are looking for special coloured staples you may have to buy one but if just regular old staples will do, then you probably have at least one around the house! Use it...you'll be happy you did.
So that is all from me people. Tonight's effort is more of an artwork but I have another dastardly plan to make up the time another night ;0)
xoxo
Kim
No comments:
Post a Comment