Tuesday Tips-Mickey Mouse Head Embossing Folder

I missed posting last week for Tuesday Tips, and this is one I said I would get out several weeks ago, but just haven't gotten around to it. I sat down to write out the post and when I went to insert the pictures (which I took back in March and had already put on the computer) they have magically disappeared. I wish I could blame this on blogger but I can't, so I'm posting without the step by step pictures. Please feel free to ask me questions if something is unclear.

Making the Mickey Mouse Head Embossing Folder:

Decide on the size you want and make the folder itself. You can use poster board, or even cereal boxes. Most Cuttlebug folders are roughly A2 size (4 1/4 x 5 1/2.) I did make the Mickey Mouse Head folder a little larger, but not so large it wouldn't go thru the Cuttlebug.

I made my design Layout of all the little Mickey Heads with my Gypsy, but have also used Design Studio as well. I lay out the first row of images and then just cut and paste it over and over, but alternate the spacing of each row.

I will mention that poster board seems to cut cleaner than cereal boxes for some items so you may want to play around and see what works best for you and for whatever images/designs you are cutting. Also keep in mind that the thickness of the material you cut is going to make a difference in the depth of the embossed impression you get.

Cut the images with the deep blade housing set at the deepest setting and cut two or three times depending on the thickness of the material you are cutting.
Your folder is going to have a "positive" side and a "negative" side that when closed up fit together like a puzzle.
I start with the "negative" which is the larger piece and is what all the little Mickey Heads were cut out of. Lift this piece off the cutting mat (leave the Mickey Heads adhered to the cutting mat for now) and securely glue this to one side of your pre-made folder. Once this is secure you can start adhering the Mickey Heads to the other side of the folder. I do this by very loosely putting them back in the holes they were cut from one row at a time, carefully apply glue just to the backs of the heads & then close up the folder pressing down to make the heads stick to the opposite side. Some of them may stick down in the holes they were cut from instead of on the opposing side but a straight pin works great to pry them out of the hole and then try re-sticking them. Repeat with each row.

These are examples of the embossed images from two of the folders I have made. I just used scrap paper. You obviously will get a nicer result when using better paper.

I have also used the embossing folder kit by ProvoCraft but can NOT highly recommend it. This lattice folder is an example of one of these folders.

Wishing you sunshine and smiles, love and laughter!

Pre-colored digis- you can't get any easier than this.

New My Cut Search Tips for you Imagine Owners

Here's a great new My Cut Search tip from Shawn Mosch, the brains behind My Cut Search (formerly known as the Cricut Search page.)

I am hoping that all of you that own an Imagine will be VERY happy with the MyCutSearch Tip for today!  Over the long weekend I was able to do some catching up on information for the website, and I now have ALL of the Imagine cartridges that are available up on the site and databased!

Now, I don't own an Imagine, so had to do some thinking when it came to all of those backgrounds and patterns that are included on the cartridges.  How in the world was a going to "categorize" those?  Then I started to think about how I look at paper when I go to start a project.  Sometimes I know I want a specific color or pattern.

So let's pretend you were getting ready to scrapbook a layout of a summer picnic.  Wouldn't a gingham check pattern be nice to use, since it would look like a traditional picnic tablecloth?  So go to MyCutSearch.com and type in

gingham check

You should get this for your search results

That's right . . . that is a preview of all of the Imagine handbook pages that have a gingham check pattern.

Here is a larger view of one of them.

Some of the other patterns you can search for are floral, stripe and polka dot.  I hope that all of the Imagine owners like this feature and find it helpful!

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Shawn Mosch
MyCutSearch.com ~ The crafting tool that gives you more time to craft!
(Formerly known as CricutSearch.com)
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Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day everyone, and thank you to all the men and women who have and who are now so bravely serving and defending our country, and a special thanks to their families too.  God bless you all.

Want some fantastic deals on craft supplies?

I'm all about finding a good deal, especially on my craft supplies and I have found a place where we all can do just that.   It's called  Scrapbook Pal.  Check out the prices on their Copic markers or any of the other bajillion craft goodies they offer.   They ship super fast and get this- shipping is free for orders over $25.  Now how easy is that to reach, hmmm?!  I don't advertise for many but this is one company I have been extremely happy with and gladly endorse.  Right now they're sponsoring a great giveaway on some Copics so go check them out, and be sure to let me know if you've ever ordered from them.  

More FD cards for the box

I don't know why, but lately I seem to be making sets of cards.  I get together some papers I like & then just "go" till they're all used up.  This allows me to make 4-5 cards from a couple of 12x12 papers.  One thing I can't seem to do is make multiples of a single card.  I always have to change some little something so the cards don't all come out the same.  One day I'm going to get to the point where I can just duplicate like an assembly line.  I think I'll get a lot more cards done that way, but for now I'm still in the "discovery stage" of cardmaking & I enjoy tweaking and changing as I go.

These are just a few more Father's Day cards that went in the box for OWH last week.  Hope you're all having a wonderful & relaxing weekend.

Last minute Father's Day cards

This past week was the deadline to get Father's Day cards mailed in for OWH, so I tried to crank out as many as I could.   I did manage to get several sets put together & in the mail.   Here's just one of the sets.  Very simple I know, but I didn't have a lot of time (thank goodness they're for men, right?)   I just haven't had much crafting time the past 2 or 3 weeks and it's really beginning to bug me.
I've got at least 3 other projects started or laid out & ready to go.  I hate when I do this because I don't have that much space in my craft room, but I see papers or other things that give me an idea and I can't help it, I start pulling things together before I finish what I'm working on.   Does anyone else do that?

I hope you'll try and come back to "see" me for this week's Tuesday Tips.
Have a wonderful Sunday!  

Tips for Tami Tuesday- STORAGE

I'm not going to ramble on today, but going to get straight to business.  Today we are talking STORAGE.
I want to know every little clever tip and trick you can give me on this subject.  I have a very small craft room so I need all the help I can get.  I was/am very interested in how to store Copics without spending a ton on the "official" storage units, (I'd rather spend that money on more markers.)  Jessica over at Chick N Scrap had a very good idea using some containers she picked up at Target.  How do you store your Copics or other markers?  

 Next on my list is stamp storage, both wood mounted & cling stamps.  I still don't have very many stamps and the few I do have either go in these 3 ring binders I bought, or in a drawer.  I almost wish I had just used a plastic shoebox for the cling stamps.  These keep things neat, but they are so aggravating to use.  Someday, if/when I get a lot more stamps, I think I would really like having them on one of the clip-up revolving stamp racks.    

Oh, and let's not forget our punches.  They are probably some of the worst of all supplies when it comes to storing. What do you do with yours?  Then of course there's all the bottles of glitter and sprays, glues & adhesives, inkpads, and on, and on, and on we could go.
I do have one little solution that I discovered and LOVE and it's these great little magnetic folders by QuikKutz that I use for my Spellbinders dies.  They are fantastic.  I get mine at Hobby Lobby and always use a 40% off coupon on them so they end up costing less than $8.  I have several & I just color coded the spine so I can tell what shapes are in each folder.

These are just the things that come to my mind right now.  Don't let this list limit you.   LAY IT ON ME.... what brilliant ideas and solutions have you dreamed up and used? 
Can't wait to hear what you've come up with!

What a week!

What a week I had last week!  After almost a year and a half of "retirement" I started back to work on Monday.  It's just a little part time job, (I don't think I would have taken it if it weren't) but it's perfect and I was kind of excited when a friend (and former co-worker) called and asked me if I would be interested in a position his brother needed to fill.  On top of going back to work my baby girl graduated college on Wednesday and at the celebration dinner the love of her life proposed.   It was so sweet!  (And luckily not a surprise for me and her daddy, but boy, it was for her.)   Had a relatively quiet weekend after my parents left to go back home and then this morning I got to work and found that the office had been broken into.  A nice big brick thru the glass door.  Since we just opened the office last week there was really nothing for them to take except an old computer which they left alone.  Thank goodness the new one hasn't been delivered yet. The door was made of double plate tempered glass and it shattered into a bazillion pieces.  Talk about a mess!  I think I will be finding little specks of glass for the next month.

I needed a craft break after all this and lately the only cards I've been making have been for OWH, so I decided to do a real quickie that I could enter in a couple of challenges just to do something different.  Gasp!  Yes, I'm going to enter a challenge.   This is going to pull double duty for the Peachy Keen Sketch Challenge #51 and I think it will qualify for Emma's Throwback Thursday challenge too, (gotta check on that one.)  If I'm going to enter challenges in the future I really should give them a little more thought I guess, but like I said I just decided on the spur of the moment to do something out of the ordinary for me.

The ice cream was cut from Doodlecharms and I used an Action Wobble to pop it up & make it dance.  I have got to get some more PK face stamps.  I never have the ones I want in the sizes I want/need. 

I missed last week's Tips for Tami Tuesday but hopefully will get it up tomorrow.  The topic will be STORAGE!  If you have any clever storage ideas please be sure & drop back by to share them with me.  I was very happy with the response to the last Tips post and appreciate all of you who shared comments and ideas with me.  My next Tuesday Tips may actually be a tip FROM me for a change.  Several people asked about how I made the Mickey Mouse Heads embossing folder, (they may have just been asking to be kind) but anyway, I may try to make a tutorial on this.  Hmmm, we'll see.

Take care!

Time to weigh in- Tuesday Tips for Tami

 Today I have 2 topics I want to ask you all about.  The first is this machine, the Teresa Collins

I just learned about it last Thurs or Fri. and I haven’t bothered “Google-ing” it yet, so I was wondering if any of you know anything about it.  I don’t even know how long it’s been out.  I’m assuming it’s kinda’ new, but for all I know it could’ve been around a year or two.  Ellen (aka Cardmonkey) gave me a little insight on it yesterday.   She had some very good points, (i.e. the cost of refills, the chemicals/fumes it may generate etc.) 

It looks very interesting and if there is anything “to it”, we can all bet that the big manufacturers will be jumping on the bandwagon and coming up with their own versions of it.  So what do you think or know about this?

My main topic for today however is a follow up to a previous Tuesday Tips post All about Digis.  I’m new to the Digi world so I’ve had lots of questions.  Thankfully my blogging buddies have really come thru for me and answered pretty much all of them.  Today I want to carry on with this topic but I want to know about how you color your stamped images.  Do you use Copics or some other markers and if so, which ones?

Do you use pencils & Gamasol?  (I don’t know what this is or if I’m even saying and spelling it correctly.) 

Do you use several different methods to color your images?  What are they & which do you like best? 

Have you found some papers that are great and some that just don't cut it for this job?

For those of you who have Copics, here’s another whole set of questions for you.

   Approx. how many markers do you have now and about how many did you get started with? 

   How do you store yours? 

   Are there certain ones you just can’t do without? 

   Did you buy yours in sets or individually? 

   Have you taken a class on how to use Copics?  Would you recommend taking a class to others or would you tell them to just watch Youtube tutorials? 

Whatever you can tell me I want to know!

Next week my questions are going to be about storage.  So start getting me your best ideas and storage methods together.  It just occurred to me that if I keep hounding you all for information & help I’m going to have to come up with a way to reward you now won't I?  hmmm…….

Thanks everybody!

Now have a great day.  Better yet, have a great week!

Are you the winner?

Wow, my mind is reeling from everything that’s been going on in the past week.   Today I am feeling especially patriotic in light of the news of Bin Laden.  I can’t help but wonder about the repercussions that will probably follow though.  I’m praying for God’s protection on all our troops and  I’ve issued myself a challenge.  I’ve decided that even though this is going to be a crazy busy week I’m going to try to crank out as many cards for OWH as I can.   The following was posted on the OWH Homefront Blog.

4,451 members of the American military in Iraq 

and 1,457 in Afghanistan have died to get this point.

 --------------------------

Remember them and their families.
Remember the injured. And their families.

Remember those we lost on September 11th.

Remember those who are still fighting today.

I can’t do much otherwise, but I can make cards for our brave men & women to send home to their loved ones. 

I wish I could say I am headed out on a Disaster Relief Team to Alabama this week, but I have let my certification lapse, “Mom duties” and work took priority the past 4-5 years so I’m worthless there, but I will get my certification updated so I can be ready to go if/when needed in the future.  My thoughts and prayers continue to be with all those who were affected by last week's storms.

Enough of the HEAVY stuff for now.  I have a WINNER from the Disney/Pixar Hop, but I’ve got to say I feel like the real winner.  I can’t thank you all enough for choosing to follow me and for leaving such great comments.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading them all and I wish I could take the time to write each of you individually, but since I can’t, please just know that I appreciate each one of you.

When tallying the # of comments for Random # generator to pick from, I included the comments/votes on the Mickey & Minnie card I posted earlier last week.  Thanks to those of you who participated in this too.  Adding the “&” won, but one commenter --sorry I don’t remember who, had the best idea.  She chose option “c” and said make one version of each.  Since the cards are for OWH, I think she’s right!

One more thing & I’ll hush.  (It’s kinda hard to get anything productive done if I’m babbling on and on now isn’t it?)  I just want to ask you all to please try & stop by tomorrow for my Tuesday Tips post.   These are mostly tips FOR me FROM you.  The topic is going to be coloring stamped images but also about a new machine that I’ve just seen..... & no, it’s not the E2 I’m talking about.  I really have a lot of questions about both of these topics & want to know what you think/know.

OK the winner is Kim M. a new follower who said:

              Great card! Following your blog now.  I would head for Haunted Mansion - it's my favorite ride.

Miss Kim please send me an email with your address and also your choice of the blog candy options, and I will get it out to you ASAP.

I really hope to hear from you tomorrow 

but if not...

Wishing you all a week filled with sunshine & smiles, love & laughter.