Imaginisce Purse Invitation Tutorial

Thinking about getting a bunch of your girlfriends together for a night out? How about kicking it off right with a wowser of an invitation to set the mood. This little purse invitation is sure to get the girls, cleaned up, looking good and out of the house for an evening of fun. The Imaginisce To Love and Cherish collection is a great black and white line that can dress up any occasion.


Step 1 - gather your materials:

Step 2 - take the template and trace it onto cardstock. Carefully cut along the solid lines and include the dotted lines to guide you with the folds. The template above should print as an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. Just click on it to print.

Step 3 - begin to fold the purse starting with folding it in half. Then fold down the front and back of the purse along with the side flaps. Finally fold down the tab on the front side of the purse for a more polished look on the final product.

Step 4 - all of the folds should look something like this. Now glue the front tab and the side tabs to assemble the purse. You may have to make a few trims here and there.

Step 5 - add some faux stitching with a white gel pen.

Step 6 - add a flower clasp, a hand strap and a bling flourish for some decoration.

Step 7 - compose your message, print it right onto your patterned paper and assemble your invitation by mixing and matching patterned papers. Then add some ribbon and a bling brad to finish it off.

Voila - Now you are ready to get the girls together for a memorable night out with a keepsake to remember the event and maybe even include on a future scrapbook page. Let me know what you think, especially if you plan to make one.

Thank you for stopping by -

Stencils Anyone???

It almost seems like stencils are becoming obsolete with all of the nifty personal cutters that are transforming the craft industry, but I have to admit there are some really cool stencils out there like the Pebbles Inc. Accent Stencils that were made to go with their amazing chalk collections. So...for my recent How To Tuesday tutorial at the Pebbles blog, I got to thinking about what else I could do with them. I had noticed a really amazing paper piercing project from my talented friend, Melinda Spinks (see her projects here), and it got me to thinking. Stencils and paper piercing are just like peas and carrots. Please see my tutorial below for how I made the card above. I just wish I had remembered to put lotion on my hands before shooting this tutorial, but...this is my life - LOL!

Materials:

• Package of Pebbles Accent Stencils
• Cardstock
• Pencil
• Sheet of craft foam
• Heavy duty needle, piercing tool or ice pick (I prefer the Basic Instinct model - LOL!)

Step 1 – Using the pencil, lightly trace the stencils with dotted lines about a quarter of an inch apart. You may want to vary the closeness of the dots in some places to emphasize certain parts of the shape you are tracing.


Step 2 – Place a piece of craft foam under the cardstock so that the paper will easily pierce without tearing. Use a needle or ice pick to poke holes in the paper along the dotted lines. Gently erase any stray pencil marks when you have finished the holes.


Step 3 – Once you have finished piercing the paper with your design elements, add it to your project and embellish with Pebbles papers, stickers, flowers, chipboard, candy dots and rub ons.


Step 4 – Pat yourself on the back at the unique project you have created with Pebbles Stencils and paper piercing. Then put a smile on the face of someone you love by presenting it to them.

Than k you so much for stopping by -

Happy Valentine's Day

I want to thank my friends at Ideas for Scrapbookers for inviting me to be a guest designer this week. I created this sketch and the layout especially for them. Afterall - we all love this hobby with a passion like no other.

Please visit their blog for all kinds of ideas from some very talented designers who are only too happy to share their ideas with anyone who cares to stop by. Just tell then Liz sent you.

Cheap and Easy! I'm laughing to myself, because those are the words that came to mind when I created the tutorial for this layout, but then I had to pause and think, "Are those the words I would use to describe Valentine's Day?" Depending on what you plan to get out of the evening, those might be the exact words you would use to describe this momentous event - hee, hee.

Seriously though...cheap and easy is meant to describe the major design element on my layout which is a heart-shaped doily from Walmart, which I purchased for a whopping $2 and included 4 of the large white hearts and 8 of the smaller red ones. Just enough product to get me in trouble if you KWIM...



Materials:

• Heart-shaped doily
• Craft knife
• Marker
• Ink

First: Use your Craft knife to cut along the inside edge of the lace part of the doily.


Next: Use your marker to add some depth by tracing some of the lines in the doily.


Finally: Ink the edges of the lace to add some definition and lift when you add the doily to your page.

Sueded Chipboard Tutorial

If you are like me...have little time and little money, you might appreciate this easy tutorial on sueding your chipboard. All you need are a few simple items:

Chalk Sharpie Chipboard Letters

Step One - Take one of your sharpie markers and saturate your chipboard with color.

Step Two - Before the marker is dry, rub some chalk into the color.

Step Three - use the same technique on all your letters and other chipboard items for a sueded, finished look that is quick and easy.

Please see the layout below for an example of how the sueded chipboard looks on a layout and feel free to share your creations and let me know how this works for you!