Halloween Tag

I'm still around, sorry it's been a while.  Hope you enjoy this tag I made using mostly Graphic 45 papers.  I also used some pop squares to add some dimensions.  This was made for another Scraps of Darkness swap.  The person who I swapped with finished her project first and sent me a impressive pile of free, "swag," to include a set of Dimensions stamps.  So, hoping she didn't send them because she hated them, I used them for the center of the tag.

The tag is done with a mix of orange and purple embossing powder, which I poured in small piles on a piece of paper.  I did keep the extra mixed color, I love Halloween so I'm sure I'll find some use for it.  Though it's now a lot more mixed than below.

Hope you enjoy the close ups and don't mind a short post.  I want to get something up.  If you would like to know where any of these elements are from then let me know.

Vintage Secret Letter Photo Frame Card

I originally thought of creating this with one of Graphic 45s' romance lines, the idea of a secret letter in a lover's card.  However, I wanted to give the idea a test run with this amazing paper that I've had for a little while and have not yet be able to use.  This paper line is from Melissa Francis' "Old World," collection.  I love the grungy/vintage look of the paper.  Melissa Francis creates quite a few decorative type products, her papers and scrapbook supplies are only a small part of what she produces.

Directions on Creating Your Own

Note: I used a Cricut to make this.  You could easily make a square version of this with just a standard manual paper cutter.  If you are particularly talented you could even get the fancier edges.  If you are going to make a fancier card by hand, I would highly recommend making a template that you can trace on chipboard and the paper you are going to use.

Circuit users: If you want it to be large enough for a 4x6" photo and you don't have an extra long Cricut mat then you will need to do some file editing.  I used Frame Card M36C5D.  If you make the card large enough to comfortably fit a larger photo it will extend beyond 12".  I made mine 7" high.  Since I didn't have the 24" mat I used the slice tool to cut the whole thing in half.  In order to slice I had to unattach the score marks and then reattach them once I was done.  I also ended up slices the three parts right down the middle (delete the score lines) so I could cut the different frames.  Be careful when you do this.  The middle and end piece are not identical.

With the cricut I cut halved frame card out of Silhouette chipboard.  I then cut the card cut into thirds out out of the Melissa Frances paper.  You will need two of each if you want to cover the entire thing.

The Front 

The two flowers in the bottom corner are from Prima Flowers "Debutante" set.  The stamp is a Bo Bunny Heritage stamp sticker.  The sticker originally had a large white border which I wasn't a big fan of.  I ended up cutting it down with my scissors.  The clock at the top right is from a ephemera pack.  Unfortunately I did not keep the pack, however if you look around a few bags you should be able to find a clock easily enough.  They are popular in paper crafting.  For the wire I twisted green jeweler's wire with gold.  My wire is just from a beading wire multipack that I found at Michaels, nothing too fancy.  It works well.  If you want smoother curves you will want to twist it around a pen or something similar.  You can carefully make the loops larger as you see fit.  It's good to get a good smooth base though.  I also hold it down with dots of strong, but clear, glue.  I am still experimenting with good glues that hide though.  I will say, the glue eraser that Tim Holtz makes is an amazing tool to have!  If you look closely at these you'll see a spot where I still needed to touch up (which I did) after the photos.

The Front Without the Photo

Inside The Front

Since I found the chipboard to be a little bit of an eye sore, I put some pinkish glimmer mist on the edges.  I did use clear gesso before adding the glimmer mist, but it still warped the card just a little.  I ended up adding the little velcro square after to add the option of closing the card.  The acorn branch near the bottom is only glued down at the very ends.  This gives you an attractive photo holder that also blends into the background.  It is from the same Melissa Frances paper collection as the rest of the card. 

Inside of Back

Originally I was just going to decorate the blank side next to the envelope.  I fussy cut this flower but I couldn't really come up with anything that I liked as a card layout.  So, I decided to just tack down the sides so that it gave another place in which a person could put a photo.  The envelope is also just a cricut file.  I fussy cut the piece the flap folds under from that same paper set.  I wanted to give it a image that stood out, so I used a random section from a much larger stamp and some white embossing powder.  The stamp is Flutter from KaiserCraft.

This shows you the flower without the photo.  I added some light gray ink to try and tone down the background and make the flower pop a little more.  Any vintage looking stamp would work for that aspect.  The flower will cover most of the stamp image.

I hope you enjoyed this card.  It is somewhat simple in construction.  The fussy cutting and waiting on the Cricut were the most time consuming parts, other than design.  If your paper is pretty enough you don't need to add a lot for a striking piece.

Supplies

• Melissa Frances Old World Paper
• This particular paper seems to be out of print, if you can't find it any vintage or grungy collage style paper can give you a similar look.  Tim Holtz has some similar styles.  If you want more flowery then Prima has some amazing papers that would work well with this.  If you know of others feel free to mention them in the comments for others.
• Chipboard or Cardstock for a base if you want something thick and sturdy.  If you use something heavy like bazzel and with color then you can let the edges show.
• Prima Debutante Flowers Item #580742 or any other medium sized matching flower
• Jewelry beading wire (the thinner stuff), twist two colors for a similar look
• KaiserCraft CS853 Flutter Stamp
• White embossing powder (I used Stamp it Up brand of fine powder)
• Bo Bunny Heritage Stamp Stickers #17902890
• Glimmer mist if you don't use pretty cardstock
• Clear gesso if you are going to glimmer mist anything.
• Small piece of velcro or a snap to hold the front closed if desired.
• Clock Ephemera or a clock cut from some heavy paper 

Bo Bunny Trail Mix ATCs

I decided to use up some (though not really much) of my Bo Bunny stash.  I have taken advantage of a few Bo Bunny Grab Bags which means I have some excess in some areas.  Their Trail Mix line being one in which I have a few duplicates.  So I decided to make a few ATCs that also double as magnets.  I am going to sell/display them at a garage sale I am starting tomorrow to see if anyone buys them.  If not, I still had fun making them.  Some details below.

Astoria ATC: Astoria is a old historical town next to the one I live in.  It is also the home of the Goonies house.  The scene where the kid Truffle Shuffles is kind of fun to watch now since I can easily recognize Astoria in the background.  This is a simple card and technically a bit larger than a ATC.  The Bo Bunny tag/paper is inside of a 3"x4" plastic card protector.  The Astoria is made with two Tim Holtz Fragments on some Bo Bunny scraps and letter stickers from the Trail Mix sticker sheet.  I have a container of ArtMinds Mosaic Glass from another project I never actually started, and there were some that were the perfect color for this, so I added them.  The fragments and mosaic pieces are all glued on top of the card protector.  The extra space did make the layout on this much easier.  Originally I was going to stick with a traditional ATC, but Astoria didn't really fit very well.

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Cabin Life ATC.  I am pretty happy with how the wood vellum piece ties in the Bo Bunny stickers and the dark brown cardstock.  The cardstock is just a generic dark brown piece from Michael's.  The wood vellum is actual thin wood and gives some nice texture.  I used Mocha Mama powderpuff from Quick Quotes to add a little more depth and outline to the binoculars ribbon paper and the Cabin Life sticker.  I fussy cut the ribbon out, which was not too difficult.  The lantern is a chipboard sticker from the same matching set. 

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Fishing Life ATC: This one is somewhat simple.  The Fishing box and pole piece is a sticker and the world, "Fishing," is a separate one.  I used some green cardstock I had in my scraps and added some Tattered Angels Cardboard Baseboard spray to it.  There was a design, but the spray didn't really work well with my stencil.  It did add some nice little mystery blotches though.  Fishing is messy work, right?  The fish is a stamp from Inkadoo and I embossed it with Ranger Brick embossing powder.  I also stamped the fishing box sticker with a set of stamps I have from a unknown company (bought them used) that look like vintage post office stamps.  They didn't show up really strong, but I like how they are kind of hinted.  I was going for a slight post card feel with that.

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If you have any comments please feel free to post below!  If you make ATCs I would love to see them, post a link to your blog/site below and I will be happy to visit.

First Pocket Letter

My First Pocket Letter

I created this as a swap for Scraps of Darkness/Scraps of Elegance's Facebook page.  It's a little bit of a "use up some scraps," type of, so I am not going to post a long supply list for this one.  Just wanted to show off some photos.  This is a mix of quite a few different brands.  Purple is Donna's favorite color so I went with that.  I wish I had more matchy purples, tone wise, but I am still pretty happy with it.  Hope you enjoy.

Create: I think this is my favorite ATC in this set.  I love that butterfly.  The clock is covered with spray mist and I added some gray powder chalk ink to the bottom.  The effect looks a little more colorful in real life.  At some point I will learn to take better photos.

Spread Your Wings: because this wouldn't be a project from me without some fussy cutting.  I accidentally cut the stamp behind the birds tail originally.  Thankfully I was able to carefully glue it in and make it look nice and complete.

Hello: I wanted this to read a little like a letter, so I started off with Hello.  I also made this ATC individually for a challenge at Renea Bouquets, which is where the butterfly came from.  If you like glitter then I highly recommend checking out her chunky glitter glass.  I don't even like glitter much, but find working with her chunk glitter glass fun.  It's a interesting way to add a unique touch to your projects and less messy.  She also makes embellishments, like the butterfly.

Inspire: A simple layout, but it was a little challenging since I wanted the wings to stick up.  I had to cut the plastic carefully, fold the wings, and squeeze them through.  I was pretty happy with the end result, though the photos I tried to take of the, "3D," effect came out kind of blurry. 

Pocket letters are a fun way to send crafts and greetings.  They are also a good way to use up scraps since each section is pretty small.  I have seen Pocket Letters where all of the squares have the same base paper and they look nice as well.  So, if you want a unique gift or want to swap some art this is a great way to do so.  

As always, critiques and comments always welcome!  If you want to know where any particular part of this came from let me know in the comments.  I am pretty sure I could direct you to most of the bits and pieces used.