For my honey

I had the urge to get crafty this morning, so I thought I had better get a valentine's day card made for my awesome hubs. My disclaimer here is that this is not what I had originally wanted the card to look like in any way. I made the hearts and it took on a life of its own.

For the embossing on the hearts I used Core'dinations Black Magic cardstock and Sizzix embossing folders. The key stamps that I heat embossed are Tim Holtz with Ranger clear emobossing powder and the the red key/key hole stamp is from Michaels with Stampin Up! Really Red embossing powder. The inside I used a Versamarker watermark pen with the same red powder. I have to say, the red powder really did make a mess and left smears which I tried to erase. Therefore, the crinkled corner :(

Anyway, I have never made a window card (that I can remember) and I was inspired by Heather at The Kraaft Shaak while watching one of her morning episodes on her YouTube channel. I am gonna have to say, mine did not turn out as cool as hers, but I am sure that hubs will still love it, and that is what counts!

Cheers!
~Mindi

Colored pencil box, finished

Hi all! Just a quick post this morning. I have finished my colored pencil box and would like to share the completed project with you.

The "crayon box" has 6 individual "cups" that can be removed for easy access. All the panels except the lid, are 2 layers of canvas. The outside layer is stitched and inside layer plain so the cups will slide out easier. They also have a piece of heavy chipboard covered with black cardstock in between them for strength. 

I had a lot of fun making this! Now I am on to working on items for my booth I will have at the Spring Fling :)

Have a great day all!

Cheers!

~ Mindi

Other than scrapbooking, I like to....

So I am wondering, what does everyone like to do other than scrapping and card making? Not exactly a portable hobby, as we all well know! What do you like to do while watching tv or during long car rides?

There are a lot of crafty things I like to do. I crotchet, cross stitch, and play with plastic canvas. What is plastic canvas you ask? This is how I explain it to people who ask me. Remember those yarn covered boxes that Gramma always seemed to have over her tissue box or toilet paper rolls? Yes, that is plastic canvas! A more "official" explanation would be such - it is like cross stitching as it is composed of squares, but it is a stiffer plastic and the holes are further apart. You stitch on it with yarn and can make 3D objects with it like boxes, etc.

So last week I finished a carrier/case for my 48 classic Zig Markers. So, slightly scrapbook related :) This is what it looks like closed

 and then the awesomeness of it open!!! For those of you wondering, yes, I store all of my pens, inks, etc by order of Roy G. Biv ;)

 This is how I get them stinkers to stay in place. The outer cover is completely covered with the chevron yarn stitching and the inside is blank. I used thin elastic and sewed it thru the holes of the canvas to make the pen loops. Then when I stitched the front and back together, I inserted a piece of heavy chipboard between the layers to make it more "book" like. 

Fun, right? I am currently working on a colored pencil case. There are 6 individual boxes that can be removed separately (by color family of course!) and I am making a crayon style box to hold them. I am almost to the construction phase, just a bit more to go.

I work on these in the evening while watching tv or in the mornings while I am watching Heather do her morning broadcast of Coffee, Chat and Kraaft on her YouTube channel

I would love for you to comment on what kinds of projects you work on when you are not playing with paper!

Have a great day all!

Cheers!

~Mindi

Fun with embossing and distress ink

Well hello!!!

I have been having a blast watching my dear friend Heather and her LIVE web shows in the morning. I shall now insert a shameless plug for her....
Here is the link to her YouTube channel Coffee, Chat & Kraaft, which is very similar to the name of my blog, so should be an easy mental association :)

Anywho, I have several Tim Holtz distress inks, but hardly ever use them. So Heather was playing with them on some Kraft resist papers in Episode 10 so I thought I would give it a shot. I did put my own twist on things by embossing on some scrap kraft I had instead of using pre-made.

You will have to forgive my messy stamping as I was excited to try this out! 

The one on the left is using mowed lawn, salty ocean and picked raspberry distress inks. The top flourish is clear embossing powder and the lower is pearl. The stamps are CTMH. I had never sprayed water or heated distress inks before, but Heather did indeed inspire me. I love it! The bright colors look like tie dye to me. Super fun! 

The one on the right is a mish mosh of several inks including antique linen, bundled sage, iced spruce, frayed burlap and walnut stain. The stamps are also CTMH and the dress form is clear embossed while the sentiment is gold. I really smudged the colors around, big fun and big mess!! After doing the main part, I inked the helk out of the edges with the walnut stain, sprayed lots of water and let it run down before I used the heat gun. I think I have found something to keep me busy for hours on end! What a blast!!

While we are on the topic of embossing, I just have to share this bit of awesomeness! At my crop last Saturday, and friend of mine bought a few things and couldn't find a pen to write a check. So what does any clever paper crafter do in this situation??

They emboss the check of course!!!! LOL For those of you wondering, yes I took it to the bank and yes they deposited it! :)

Off to make dinner for the troops, have a great night!

Cheers!

~Mindi