Some fun things I've bought recently

Don't you love new things?

Oh man, I do.

Here are a few that I've bought recently that rock my papercrafting world. After all the typewriter searches there had to be some buying in there somewhere, right?

Amy Tangerine stickers.

Hello camera and sewing machine. 

And typewriter. 

Saw it, bought it. 

Please, no brainer. 

Plus it has a library card pocket sticker - love it. 

Typewriter stamp from Maya Road. It's called Tell Your Story. 

And I'm going to stamp "I love to tell our story" into our album with the typewriter right next to it. 

Hero Arts Retro Typewriter. 

Again, no thought for the brain on the purchase here. 

I saw these featured on a CHA update and knew I'd get 'em instantly. 

Oh my word, so cool - they're vintage spool buttons. 

Totally remind me of my grandma's threads that I have on display in my craft room.  

Tim's retractable craft pick. 

I've got a few craft picks, but I've had to ask Andrew for some red tubing to put over the end...no more, I'm going to try the retractable one and I think I'm going to like it.  

Oh, hello, cloud stamps...

...like really cool cloud stamps...

...to match my cloud punches.

Woo hoo...it's the little things that make me happy. 

Love the cute banner/flag stamps too. 

And the typewriter paper from Jillibean soup. 

Had to get it. 

Love the notes on it. 

Wanted this one from the new Amy Tangerine line too. 

Love the camera - going to cut that out and use it. 

Love the typewriters. 

Going to put this sheet through Grandma's typewriter and type "I love you, Andrew" on the paper there. 

Told him so the other night. 

He smiled. 

I did a little dance. 

We laughed. 

I love new things - they make both of us smile in one way or another!

:o)

I've had a thing for typewriters recently...

...must've started with this...

It's my grandma's typewriter. I picked it up from her over a year ago now and she passed on over a month ago. Of course we've all been thinking about her a lot and her typewriter is one thing of hers that I'm lucky enough to have. It's big, but I love it.

Have been looking around the place for typewriter paper and stamps and've found these:

I've posted about this paper from Jillibean Soup before - got some in my latest Blue Bazaar order. I really like it. There are little messages on each of the typewriter papers...so cute.

The way that I scrap (using the divided page protectors) is my visual diary and just the place that I record stuff about us and for us. The typewriter thing just fits with it. It also says something about me, ie. that I like typewriters, I like cute and they remind me of my grandmother who used to belt out the church bulletin on it every week or month. She was always at her typewriter. Or at the table in the kitchen writing stuff.

At her funeral, Uncle Lindsay (my mum's brother) talked about Grandma and how she put the church recipe book together. It was no small undertaking and I realised that she was a book author like me. My mum is too, she's written Bible study books. Three generations of us, I'd never realised that before.

As my mum said to me once, memories ground us as people and make us feel like we belong. Another reason I scrapbook - photos and stories help me make connections and bring all that good stuff together.

Photos are worth spending time with, they've proved that to me on more than one occasion.

...big sigh....scrapbooking really is good for the soul.

Here are some more typewriter things I've found:

Sticky Keys from October Afternoon - you can see the rest of them here, as well as the Mini Market stickers. Love, love.

And from Hero Arts...

Retro Typewriter

Vintage  

Typewriter Letters

My Type

Type

These are from Cavallini & Co and are called Vintage Office 

Maya Road - Just My Type

Say Cheese from Maya Road. 

I've also had a thing for cameras recently too. Same reasons as the typewriters - just for stamping in the scrapping stuff. 

American Crafts - Hello There set. 

Been throwing some old phones in there too. These remind me of my other grandparents.  

Kitch set by The (now defunct) Girls Paperie.

Inkadinkado - clear mini Camera

I had Grandma's typewriter on the bench for a while and during that time the family came over for dinner.

I put a bit of paper in it and typed this note because I knew they'd ask about it.

Sarah (niece, 13) had never typed on a typewriter before and Luke (nephew, 16) reeaallly missed the backspace, he said. Was funny to see them and hear them clacking away on it.

Nothing like the smell of an old typewriter, esp. one that was your grandmother's.

PS. Did a search on www.thefind.com for typewriter rubber stamps and found a few interesting ones plus a lot of typewriter alpha sets. It's always good seeing things in one place.

PPS. Did a search for camera rubber stamps too and found some tiny, hand carved ones being sold on etsy. So cute, check 'em out here and here (they're from the same seller). And check out this one - it looks like a Barbie camera, but it's a stamp!

PPPS. Just for kicks I did a search for sewing machine rubber stamps too - but this one's my favourite. What do you think, Sue?

Fairy Dust Glitter + Daily Junque part 3

Hi there, 

Thought I'd show this last glittery flowery card today - the last one that I have photographed anyway. 

This one's my favourite, I think. 

Except for the fact that there's a little too much white space at the top of the card there. About a cm needs to be cut from the top...didn't notice it when I was actually making the card. 

This card isn't on a regular card base - I just folded the actual paper in half and added Tim's On the Edge File Tabs die on the side there.

Works a treat, that die, and it cuts through chipboard and acetate and all the other things that the steel rule dies can cut through.

Mine's just the paper like I said, and what especially rocks with the steel rule dies is that they cut paper and chipboard as well as each other.

That is, thin and thick.

And it cuts them neatly.

Just a few close ups of the bits on the card front.

I didn't stamp on this card. I don't think I thought of it at the time.

Did do the compulsory flower though.

Mixed Berries Fairy Dust Glitter on this one.

And a pink button from my stash.

And there was a smile on my face when I was done - except for a second when I noticed the extra white space that I should've cut off.

Oh well, still love it anyway.

So, you bought any Fairy Dust glitter yet? lol

I know I'll be using mine a lot. I'm thinking more Christmas stuff next....I'm on the hunt for some fun Christmas papers...

Fairy Dust Glitter + Daily Junque part 2

Thought I'd show you some more of the Daily Junque flowers again today. Can't say it enough - I've had so much fun with these papers....

What I've loved is the cards have almost made themselves. Gotta love that. Collage background with room for a flower and done! Nice card. 

For this card below, I cut the paper, stuck it to a regular card base and then added just two things:

1. The glitter flower with Pralines & Cream glitter. 

(The die is the Flower Framelits set from Sizzix) 

2. A line of white (heat embossed) stamping. Can you see it?

It's there, just above the wing...

And here at the point of the arrow.

It's a border stamp from Making Memories Panorama stamp set.

I know, who knew?

It just worked.

I found the set at Photo Continental - again, treasure trove over there.

Don't you love that bicycle image up there? I do. Just love it.

I've used the Panorama stamps on another of these cards too. The journalling block with the swirly ends specifically. One swirly end is poking out from behind the flower. Looks nice.

Onto card number two.

For this card I added the paper to a regular A5 card base again and then added four things:

1. Glitter flower with Mixed Berries glitter (added Dimensional Magic to the button to make it glossy).

(The die is Tim's Tattered Florals)

2. Vintage Floral border at the bottom (Martha punch).

3. An extra piece of the blue and white stripe at the bottom. Kinda looks like a blue and white barber pole.

4. Another stamp. This one says 'Note to Self' and is from Basic Grey's 'To Do' Stamp set. Again, just worked.

I'm a believer in buy what you like and it'll work for you. Don't try to hard, just pick up stuff you like and it'll gel in the end. 

Yep, I'm a believer in that.

Pretty.

Love that Mixed Berries glitter - it's just perfect on these papers (pinky blue).

Onto project number three...

A box.

With a flower on it.

1.  You can learn how to make a box like this here. 12 x 12 for one piece and 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 for the other piece.

2.  The tag is from the paper collection - I just cut it off one of the sheets.

3.  The die I used for the flower is the Flower Framelits from Sizzix again. I love the Framelits dies.

4.  The glitter is Pralines & Cream.

5.  There's nothing in the box.

6.  Boxes are hard to take a picture of.

Hope you enjoyed the projects!

The timer's gone off, so that means it's time to iron. I know, from blogging to ironing - what a mix. Don't worry, I'm going to put the timer on (for an hour) for that too.

Bye now!

PS. Yes I'm serious.

PPS. Trying to keep myself on task (or tasks) today. And the timer is today's 'keep Debra on task' motivator of choice.

More Fairy Dust Glitter flowers, but unfortunately...

...I think they're a bit of a disaster....

I was experimenting and the experiments didn't pay off.

Can you spot the problems?

There are two...

Firstly - I was too heavy handed with the glue - which translates into too much glitter on the flower. Kinda overpowers it.

These flowers look better to me when they have glitter on the edges of the petals, rather than over half the petals.

Tip for you: Not too much glue!

Second problemo - wrong type of glue.

I was experimenting and wanted a glue that really stuck, so I used Matte Accents.

Matte Accents, people! What was I thinking?

Diamond Glaze, Dimensional Magic, and some other new bottle of stuff at PC that I was intrigued by but didn't get to check out - all dry glossy and would've been the better choice.

Matte Accents dries matte which meeaaans...the glue under the glitter dried matte - ie. cloudy and less shine.

Not the look we usually go for with glitter...sigh.

I had the Matte Accents on my desk because I use it to stick buttons on all the time, so I just grabbed it without thinking.

Don't do that, hey, ie. check your brain at the door. It really doesn't work...

It worked out in the end though - - the disasters, that is.

Okay, let's not call them disasters - they're not disasters. Let's call them, 'not my favourites'. Not everything is, or has to be, a masterpiece.

I took them to display at Photo Continental for a couple of reasons:

~   I was hoping someone would be inspired by them regardless of the heavy handed glue. Hey, some people like that.

~   The glitter kinda looked like snow. I didn't mind it when I thought of it like that.

~   I hate throwing things away, so used them anyhow.

Like it said, it worked out in the end.

One lady came to my table and wanted to make the exact flower with the exact papers in the exact order - which we did.

And she loved it.

I've learnt that lesson over the years, for sure.

What one loves, another doesn't.

What one reeeaallly dislikes, another loooovvveess.

I, for one, reeeaaalllly do not like distressing - distress stamping and inking in particular. No way. But I know for a fact you would have some very unhappy crafters on your hands if you took away their inks.

Crafting - it's an equaliser.

We all love making stuff, but what we make is poles apart. It's the way it is. It's good.

Even if my flowers aren't....to me.

Hero Arts + Sizzix products

Check out Jennifer's video!

Fun, fun.

More Fairy Dust Glitter: Mixed Berries this time

Hi there,

I said I'd be back today with some more glittery projects. Are you ready?

Here's the first....(hello, baker's twine)...

Firstly, two words....Daily Junque.

I'll just let that sink in for a bit before I carry on....

...sinking in....

...sinking in....

Okay, has it sunk?

Has the fabness of the papers sunk into the recesses of  the 'I've gotta get to my desk and make something now' part of your brain?

This paper is just. so. fab.

Have a look here - just look at the papers - they're what I'm talking about....

As is typical, I don't like all the papers in the collection. I know, what a downer, but it's the way I roll. The rocking it ones are the collage ones.

What do you think? Now I know that sometimes things don't translate onto the computer screen and sometimes our tastes are different, but you've gotta believe me when I say that this paper is fab. Like, it totally rocks.

I found it at PC (that place is a treasure trove) and snapped it up quickity sticks. I'd seen it online when it first came out, but I didn't buy any even though I liked it. This time though, I needed some paper for some projects and whammo, it came home with me.

I got stuck into it as soon as I could and ended up having a great time with it. Can you have a great time with paper? Yes, you can.

You know what it's like, it all just snaps and clicks and works and you think you're the greatest card maker ever because everything you touch turns to gold??

Yep, it was like that.

And that...is called inspiration...

...which is opposed to non-inspiration or wrong timing, which is more commonly called 'get outta here now and go do something else'...

Yep, been there so many times I've left my toothbrush for extended visits.

Anyway, Daily Junque and I were on the inspiration train and we rocked it. I love it when that happens. If only it was that easy all the time.

We rocked the glitter too.

Or the glitter rocked the papers!

Fabbo.

Hold it...we need a close up....

Gorgeous!

I used the Mixed Berries Fairy Dust Glitter here. Made the flower go from fun to fabulous.

This was the time I realised that Mixed Berries was made for pinky/blue pattern combos.

Yesterday I talked about using certain glitters on certain papers, but I have to tell you that I've since used all three colours (Mixed Berries, Pralines and Cream and Sugar Shimmer) on these papers and they all look gorgeous.

(I've now added a note about that in yesterday's glitter review post - blogging is a 'current' media, but it's also a gigantic filing system and someone will look up that review in the future)

The card is actually a card by the way. It's got a back on it and is standing up open like a regular card would.

Okay, that's all for today - will share a couple more glittery cards soon. Yep, got more to show ya. Bye now.

PS. The handbag is an XL Sizzix die called Album, Purse and the embossing folder is called Wild Poinsettia from Couture Creations (got it at the show for five bucks...from Photo Continental, of course).

PPS. I was at my desk yesterday making some more cards like these and I had to work at it. The inspiration was still there, but the golden touch wasn't! That's craft...it ebbs and flows...