Friendship Challenge at AnythingButACard

Join us this month at

AnythingButACard.blogspot.com

in creating projects that celebrate

Friendship !

Here is how I made my Friendship Map using My Memories Suite V6 software.

TIP: make a folder on your computer Desktop to file all of the components you wish to use on this project in. It will make it easier to find them when you want to use them in the program.

The first step is to find a map to use for your background. I used this colorful patchwork map found at thecraftingchicks.com . Save it as a jpg file in the folder you created on your desktop. Note: I changed the "watermark" on the map since the one that I downloaded from their site had a typographical error; I fixed it and added my info as well.  

Open the My Memories Suite V6 software.

Choose Design.

Choose 11x8.5 Landscape Album under the Professional Print Sizes column (or whichever size you want your project to be).

If you haven't already, choose whether or not you want the Album Bleed Area to show on your project (I remove it from mine).

Click Backgrounds - Add - Browse. Navigate to where you have your map image saved then click on it then OK to add it as a background into your project .

Click ShapesAndLines -Add. Choose the shape you want for your photo mat, click on it then click Add.

TIP: If you are inserting several photos and want them to all be the same size, you will want to Copy and Paste the Shape once you have it sized the way you want. This will make each additional shape the same size.

I chose a circle shape, color filled it white then added a colored mat edge (black) and a drop shadow.

Now for a fun feature in the My Memories Suite V6 software: making Text wrap around the circle! There are a couple of ways to do this. In this tutorial I will show you how to do it by making the text wrap to the outside edge of a circle then resize it so it fits just inside the circle. You could make it wrap around the inside edge of the circle with one click, but the text faces a different way. Play with it to see which you prefer (I'll share samples below).

TIP: there is another way to make custom text paths , by choosing Lines (ShapesAnd Lines) to attach your text to. This feature is really neat, you can make all sorts of text lines/shapes with it!

Once you have your mat shape and size set, click Text -Add - Curve . This opens your text box editor to type what you want to say. Double click in it to type (change font, size and color if you wish) and then spell check. Once done, make sure the text box is highlighted, having the little gray resizing squares around it. You will use these squares while keeping the left mouse button clicked to drag the text box size to fit into the size of the shape you made. You can also rotate the text this way, too, if you need it to be a bit more precise than what the Left and Right functions (a single click rotates your text) in the Text editor give you. TIP: If you are using multiple shapes on your project that are all the same size, you will want to copy and paste this text box once you get it sized correctly. It will be the same size as the first you made, but you will need to change (easy to do) the text .

You can also fill the shape up with text by holding the Shift key down then left Click on the shape so it is also "active". Once both are highlighted/active, right click on them. Several options will pop up, choose "Attach To Shape". Your text box will now go inside your shape, filling it up (depending on how much text you have) from side to side left to right.

 Examples of the Text Curve Inside and Outside

of Circles and Squares feature

You are nearly done ! Now it is time to insert your photo. Click on Photos - Box - Shape. I chose a circle (there are nearly 30 shapes to choose from!), then click Matte - Change - Picker.

I used the color picker feature to change the color of the "matte" edge to match a color in the map. I then clicked Shadow and just used the default setting, but you have options to change the opacity, blur, offset and even the color of the shadow.

Once you have everything the way you want on your Photo Box,  double left click on the box then navigate to where the photo is you want to use. Left click once on the photo, click OK then the Photo Editor window will pop up so you can make some basic adjustments to the photo to fit the shape. Now if you really want to have some fun with your photo, click on one of the simple to apply options in the Photos section: recolor, rip, photo effects such as Impressionist Painting, Fisheye and Sketch among other fun to play with options.

After creating all of my photo boxes and mats,

I opened a final Text Box to type in the quote.

I used a white drop shadow under black text

to try to make it stand out a bit more on the busy patchwork map background.

  

That's all there is to it !

Want to learn more about this fun digital scrapbooking software ?

Need to see it in action ?

Go to youtube and search My Memories Suite for

numerous video tutorials

and MyMemories.com for more information.

If you decide to buy it, please use discount code

STMMMS23251

 and you'll receive a $10 discount off of the purchase price,
a $10 store credit to shop for more digital kits (there are lots of freebies, too!),
a month free to the design club and a discount on printing !

Classic Convertibles 70th Birthday Card

When I was talking with my mom yesterday,

she mentioned that it was the 70th birthday of one of my uncles

last week. I made this special card for the Chevy lover :)

The image (Classic Convertibles from Stampin' Up!, retired)

was stamped with waterproof black ink on watercolor paper.

Mask off the edges of the paper

with removable sticky note paper

before coloring to create a sort of faux photo look.

TIP: hold it up to a light source to help get the

edges straight. Otherwise, cut your paper

larger than you would like the finished piece

to be and trim it down when you are done coloring.

Water colored and sponged with classic inks,

chrome details done with a Signo pen.

Mounted to a Diamond Plate (by Darice) embossed background

 with black photo mounts.

The highway sign was created by doing quite a bit of altering of an image

 that was purchased with a digital scrapbook program.

Thanks for looking =)

OWH sketch Challenge 247 - Just "Chicken" In

This fun card was made for the new sketch challenge

at

Operation Write Home.

I'm pleased with the way it turned out,

I've never made a paper punch chicken before

(search online for lots of different ideas ).

I think I'll make a few more !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I first saw this sketch, I thought I wouldn't do anything with it,

it was "busier" than what I normally do. Plus, I tend to make

more masculine type cards (love my old classic car stamp images!)

and I didn't think it would well work with them.

Then, bam, an idea hit me out of nowhere -

a paper punch chicken

Just Checking In on the recipient !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought googlie eyes would be a fun touch,

but the eyes I have weren't quite the right size.

I just used two small paper punched circles highlighted with

a white gel pen.

The chickens "comb" was created by the tops of 1 1/2 hearts.

The beak is the bottom half of a heart,

the "wattle" is the top half of another small heart.

The wings are a scallop circle cut in half.

 

 

 

 

 

I glued only the ends of the wings to the body

and left the wing tips "floating" above for more dimension.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the paper punches I used to make her.

I lightly sponged smokey slate ink around the edges

of the punched pieces. A white Signo gel pen

 was used for a couple of highlights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sentiment is computer generated (Scrap Casual font) then die cut with

the Word Bubbles die set from Stampin' Up!

TIP: The word bubble die was not facing the correct way

(I didn't think of this ahead of time, in fact I've not ever used this die!)

so I held it up to a sunny window on the backside to line it up

and cut it out "backwards" . The cutting edge is on the back side

 of the card stock with the printed image facing down on the cutting plate,

so when it is cut out and flipped over, it is facing the correct way for

use with my chicken.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking =)

Be sure to stop by the sketch challenge link up

to see more inspiring ideas -

and make a card or two for our heroes !

OWH MidMonth Throwdown - Thank You Cards

This is a fun swing card I made for the January

MidMonth Throwdown Challenge at

Operation Write home:

Thank You cards.

If you'd like to take part in the challenge

and are new to creating cards for Operation Write Home,

please read the Guidelines first.

There isn't much room to write in this type of card,

so I will include extra paper.

Here is how I made it:

Cut your card base from card stock with the swing card die.

Cut another one from decorative paper and

 trim a bit from each side (or cut a smaller square to start,

then use your swing card die with the smaller paper centered in it)

if you'd like to have a colored edge of your card base to show.

The swing card die was from Stampin' Up!

Cut along the score lines from the edge in to the

die cut circle, stopping at the die cut portion.

You want to keep the circle whole so you can

cut another circle from it (if you want to have

decorative paper on the swing circle portion, that is).

Using a circle die a smidge smaller than the paper,

die cut a circle from it. This is a Nestabilities circle die.

Die cut and trimmed decorative paper pieces

that will be glued to the swing card base.

Finished card !

The first one I made looked kind of

"blah" to me. I decided to try to make

die cut pieces of cloud paper to jazz it up -

and it worked pretty well !

Die cut flowers are old dies,  

leaves were made with an old two step flower punch,

card stocks, stamp set and inks are all from Stampin' Up!

I sponged the edges of the flower dies with ink and

lightly bent the petals for a little dimension.

Thanks for looking =)

Custom Painted Mailbox

 I've "custom"painted our rural mailbox a few times over the years.

The first one was done with foam stamps in the shape of ivy leaves. I had previously used the stamps with glazing paints on the half bath wall and thought they’d be a nice touch to our plain white mailbox. The name and address were hand lettered with a small paintbrush.

The second one was a sort of patriotic daisies theme. It was totally inspired by a painted watering can project in one of my craft magazines. I used outdoor acrylic paints and sealed it with clear spray paint. It stayed out on the pole, slowly fading, for 13 years.

The mailbox got to the point where it could no longer be repaired (and was really faded) so we bought a new one – and I custom painted it, too.

The local hardware store no longer carries large white rural mailboxes, only black. It was fine since I had to repaint it red anyway.

The new one is totally inspired by the red barn ! 

It was spray painted with exterior spray paint then I used outdoor acrylic craft paints for the numbers and shingles. Various sizes of craft paintbrushes were used to apply the paints.

I used my Cricut Create machine to cut stencils from clear sticky contact paper. It was a great idea, but the teeny tiny grooves on the mailbox allowed the paint to ooze underneath the stencil, creating dozens and dozens of blotches I had to touch up. This time I made HUGE numbers on the side of the mailbox, making it super easy to spot (photo edited for privacy ).


The shingles were made by painting a black background first then stamping gray paint with a rough textured sponge cut to fit. I went back in with a thin paint brush to add lines around parts of most of the shingles as well as outline the numbers. After letting it dry for 24 hours, I sprayed it with clear spray paint.


Thanks for looking ;)

Motorcycle Greeting Card

Motorcycle image from Hero Arts, Diamond Plate embossing folder from Darice, gears dies from Joy Arts.

I added some color to the black stamped image with paints and a silver gel pen.

The card design is based on a sketch at Operation Write Home (#246).

Thanks for looking =)

Sketch Challenge 246 at OWH

Created for sketch challenge #246 at

Operation Write Home.

What a fun,  simple sketch.

I'm going to make a couple of kids cards with it, too !

Image is from a Hero Arts stamp set (bought through Joann.com) and

water colored with Stampin' Up! ink pads/aquapainter.

Silver Signo gel pen used on the "chrome".

Crystal Effects detail on the headlights and windshield.

Gear dies are from Joy Crafts (bought through Joann.com).

Darice brand Diamond Plate embossing folder (bought through Joann.com).

Thanks for looking =)

Golden Anniversary Card

A special card I made for one of my aunt and uncles :)

It did require lots of extra postage,

especially since I mailed it in a bubble wrap envelope

with extra padding around it so it wouldn't get

squished (hopefully!) while going through the mail system.

I printed out a special customized piece for the inside of the card

as well as a photo I took of the two of them during our extended

family Christmas party.

SUPPLIES

Spiral flower and numeral dies, Texturz plate,

card stocks and organdy ribbon were all from Stampin' Up!

Swirl die, Sizzix

Scallop and rectangle dies, Nestabilities

Gold acrylic craft paint

Thanks for looking =)

Die Cut Poinsettia Christmas Portrait Card

Photo Christmas card/display piece I made this past Christmas.

The die cut poinsettia was made from a discontinued die

available through cricut.com

I've never seen them before and I think if I had known how thin they are,

I probably would not have bought them. I am not sure how long they will last....

I was quite surprised that they cut through this card stock.

Granted, this is some thinner than the Stampin' Up! card stock I normally use.

Also as a note, it may just be the operator of the quilling tool,

but I could NOT get my flower to look like the completed flower

that came in the kit. I had to do some creative "unquilling" and gluing

to make it work properly. My flower petals kept stacking

up on directly top of each other, looking goofy. Maybe with more practice ?

Doesn't show up too well in this lighting/photo,

but I inked the edges of all the pieces before assembly.

This shows the back of my flower that I had to unroll and

glue together oddly to make the flower look right.

Rolled tightly like the sample flower in the kit,

the petals to my flower were stacked on top of each other

making what looked like just a three petal flower.

Ribbon, metal pieces, Riding Hood Red card stock,

Vary Vanilla card stock, Early Espresso textured card stock,

Texturz plates, scalloped circle die and numbers stamp set

all came from Stampin' Up! (most all are now retired).

This is the die set I bought on clearance through cricut.com

They are chipboard thin dies, I had no idea !

Thanks for looking =)

OWH ODBD Challenge January

 

I created this card for the current Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge at

Operation Write Home: Make an Any Hero card.

It is also a sort of

"Thank You"

nod to Our Daily Bread Designs for sponsoring this challenge !

When there are 25 entries to the challenge, ODBD

will sponsor one box of cards from

Operation Write Home to be mailed to our heroes.

If there are 50 entries, two boxes will be sponsored.

As if that isn't enough, this wonderful company also

gives away a $15 gift certificate to a randomly chosen winner.

I was lucky enough to be one of two winners for the November challenge

to make a card with hearts on it (see my card here).

I wasn't sure what stamp set to choose...........

There is a really fun monster truck set I had my eye on

and sentiments are always useful, but this is the one

I ended up choosing in the end as I always loved 

sledding on my old Flexible Flyer as a kid !

G605 - Let It Snow

I attempted to make it have more of a  "patriotic", 

or any time during the winter feel,

 rather than a Christmas feel since the holiday is now past.

The image was stamped in black ink then water colored in

using ink from my ink pads and an aquapainter.

I layered it on Brilliant Blue card stock.

I used white acrylic craft paint for the snow details.

Leaving the card stock white wasn't white, snowy enough for my liking.

I do have some snow texture medium, but it was too chunky for this image.

The snowflake embossing folder used on the smaller front panel

 was from Stampin' Up! as are the sentiment

and Word Window (trimmed) paper punch. 

The red and white "Baker's twine" wrapped around the snowflake embossed panel

came from the Dollar Spot at Target last year.

Thanks for looking =)