Is it Christmas yet? What do you mean it’s January already?

It seems like that all that preparation for the  Christmas in July extravaganza exhausted me and required an extended blog-break to recuperate! And now not only has it looked like Christmas, it’s been Christmas and now it’s starting to look like Easter (was that hot cross buns I spied in the shopping basket today? Who put them there? Not me, your honour!)

Well, I certainly don’t have any Easter offerings for you today but I do have some of the Christmas cards that never made it into a post or out into the mail (so do all these left-overs mean I have made a start on next years’ cards?).  This first little fella was part of a swap that I coordinated that involved some fellow stampers from a Facebook forum I belong to.  After making 15 of them, I realised that this is not a chap that I would want to mass-produce unless I was taking some long-service leave from my day job to get it done.

I’ve called him my $300 Santa because of all the different punches I used to make him up.  He required 9 different punches and the Circle Scissors (that was for his 3″ round belly!).  He looks like he’s been on a bit of a binge on biscuits, milk, beer and all the other nibbles that all the good little children leave out for him!  I originally saw this Santa on Valita’s blog and I hope I have done her original creation justice.  What this woman does with punches is truly amazing, and I can only hope that I could be half as talented with a punch as she is!

Well, I best be off to find some more things to show you. I am sure they’re around here somewhere.  I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise, and it won’t be 6 months before I come back.

Michelle

Excuse me while I change!

It’s a new year, so time to get back on the blog wagon! So I thought I would start with a new look.  Please forgive the tweaking and fiddling that will go on over the next little while.  What I may like today, I will probably hate tomorrow.  But, at the end of it all I will actually be posting again and, hopefully, on a much more regular basis.  That’s assuming I have something to show you  I promise I will.  New Year’s resolutions and all that.

Happy New Year,

Michelle

Bitten by the Christmas bug.

It all started with the Inklings Blog Hop and now I just have to keep sharing the Christmas love. This is a 12″ x 12″ scrapbook page with the Ornament Punch providing most of the decoration and page 25 of the Stampin’ Up Idea Book and Catalogue providing the inspiration..

The snowflake is has been embossed with 3 coats of white with a final layer of Dazzling Diamonds to give it that *sparkle*. The ornaments were punched from scraps of various Christmas (and non-christmas) themed papers and stamped images from the “Delightful Decorations” stamp set. Big thanks to Amelie for being such a gorgeous model!

Till next time,

Michelle

Upcycling for Christmas

It appears that I’ve been bitten by the Christmas bug, so bear with me whilst I get it out of my system.  Whilst trying to come up with ideas for the recent Inklings Christmas in July blog hop I was inspired by an an idea I saw at a “101 things to do with egg cartons”.

Egg Carton Fairy Lights

These fairy lights are LED, so emit no heat thus removing the risk of fire (I can hear the neighbourhood heaving a huge sigh of relief!). But I think that I will need to prick some holes in the shades to let a little more light out. Colour-wise my eggs conveniently come in pink and green cartons so make for pastel festive shades It’s so quick and simple and gives off a lovely subtle light. I’ve used a battery powered string of lights that I got from Big W, so I can hang my lights anywhere  Go and raid the kids craft boxes and make some today – they only take a jiffy!

I am SO in the Christmas mood, so keep your eyes peeled for more ideas!

Michelle

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas ~

Perhaps if you’re used to a Northern Hemisphere Christmas it does.   The Inklings Team have decided to have a little Christmas in July blog hop and I’ll like to thank you for stopping by to see my little corner of the winter wonderland (not to mention giving me a great excuse to get out all my Christmas goodies to play with!)

My first project was inspired when I saw this cute star card at Shelli Gardner’s blog . She received one as a lovely little gift from an Aussie visitor.

Looks just like a little book when it’s closed. But when you open it up . . . .

It’s a pretty little star! I’ve  put in 6 squares instead of Felicity’s 5 so that I could have alternating colours.  These can be made any size, as long as you’re using squares. These squares are 10cm x 10cm each, but I am planning to make some teeny tiny ones to decorate my Christmas tree and some bigger ones for household decorations. A great way to use up left-over Christmas papers from last Christmas so that you can get some of this year’s scrummy papers! You could use these stars in any colour way for any festive occasion.

My favourite Christmas stamp, well, one of them, is “Dasher” and he features on this Christmas card.

If you read my blog , I had a recent post about how easy it was to make a scallop square.  Needless to say, now that it’s my favourite thing to do, it’s on a Christmas card. The base card has been sprayed with a shimmer mist made from the Stampin’ Up! Shimmer Paint and some Isocol (rubbing alcohol). This would be an easy card to replicate en masse – all you need to do is break it down into its component parts. Start by preparing each ‘section’ of the card (cut it, spray it, stamp it or punch it) and when the desired quantity of each component has been made, it’s time to assemble.  If you break each section down into one ‘job’ per night, you could sit there and make your Christmas cards while watching >>insert favourite TV program here<<.  And before you know it, it will be December and you will have all your cards made and ready to be posted (and you’ll be just a little bit chuffed with yourself for being so organised!).  This little fella could be stepped-up with some bling, or the orientation could be changed to make it a ‘portrait’ card, not to mention that any number of different colour combinations would work beautifully.  Dasher just makes this card so Christmas. Insert a different image and it’s a birthday card.

Now, how would you like to win some Blog Candy? Simply leave a comment on each of the 15 blogs in the hop and then email clare@crafty-cow.com with Inklings Blog Hop in the subject line (sorry this isn’t open to SU! demos – but feel free to leave some comment love anyway )  Once you’ve done that you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize of 15 handmade items from the Inklings Hoppers.  In the meantime, why not hop on over to Alana’s blog to see what she has to show you!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

PS- Just in case you’ve lost your way on the hop, here’s the list of the hoppers:

1. Clare http://www.crafty-cow.com
2. Janice http://www.janicespencer.blogspot.com
3. Christie http://www.christiescreativecorner.blogspot.com
4. Kari http://www.karigail.wordpress.com
5. Joanna http://www.joannawassens.com
6. Michelle http://stampinground.wordpress.com
7. Alana http://www.alanagalagher.blogspot.com
8. Carol http://www.inkantations-and-inkarnations.blogspot.com
9. Cath http://cathdeanpapercraft.blogspot.com
10. Amy http://amyandersonsblog.blogspot.com
11. Vanessa http://stampness.blogspot.com
12. Michelle D http://stampinkpaper.blogspot.com
13. Ryn http://rynscraps.blogspot.com
14. Fiona B http://fionajanestamping.blogspot.com
15. Liz Halbisch http://lizhalbisch.blogspot.com

It’s nearly time! Are you ready?

I don’t think I will be! Christmas really is just around the corner . .Christmas in July.  Here’s a sneak peek of one of the projects that I have been working on for the Inklings Christmas in July blog hop -

and you’ll have to wait till Monday to see the rest  Let’s just hope I have them finished in time. See you at midday on Monday.

till then,

Michelle

7 more sleeps till Christmas

Christmas in July that is. Had you going there for a minute, didn’t I?  I bet you were wondering where the other half of the year went.  Never fear – it’s still there, just waiting to race by with Christmas at the end of it, including the obligatory remarks of “where did the year go? I can’t believe it’s Christmas already!”

I’m participating in a “Christmas in July” blog hop next week and have been getting my Christmas creative juices flowing. So it started with my little fairy – a Christmas take on the Inspiration fairy that I did here.  Oooh look! There she is, just there.  Looks like she’s just popping in to say hello and make sure that we’re ready for her next weekend

I love doing Christmas in July, at the moment it’s chilly enough to think that there may just be a snowman outside! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! (and bring on the marshmallows for toasting, the mulled wine, or eggnog, or whatever it is that you do when its far too cold to go outside and do anything!).

If you think that you may forget to come back and have a look and what I’ve whipped up for Christmas, sign up over there >>>> on the side bar.  You’ll get an email notification that there’s something new to see.

See you back here soon,

Michelle

Turning the corner

Don’t you hate it when you get a new tool and you can’t make it work for you the first time, even after you’ve seen a gazillion videos showing you how easy it is?  I was like that with the scallop corner punch.  Allover the interweb were these gorgeous layered cards, with beautifully punched background mats. Honestly, how hard could it be? Seemingly, for me, it would have been easier to attempt one of Peter Callesen‘s designs.  The videos I watched showed seemingly complex acrobatics to get it “just so”, and I just couldn’t.  Here’s the culprit – the corner scallop punch with its matching buddy the scallop trim border punch.

Punch a border then punch a lovely matching corner and, voila, you have your beautiful scalloped border. For some reason, I just could not get it *stoopid punch!* Down to the bottom of the punch drawer for you, you, you, you trouble maker! Not for long, I wouldn’t let it beat me. It’s just a punch for Pete’s sake, surely I can do this, it’s not rocket surgery! And, as expected, it was operator error. I now have a fool-proof way (well, for this fool anyway) of making a lovely scalloped square.  Okay, so the big tip for today . . .*drumroll please* start with a 9.5mm square. ”Are you kidding me? ” I hear you say. Nope, that’s it.  Get your square and pop the first corner into your punch, like so.

I discovered that my problem (other than just grabbing random pieces of paper and expecting them to line up and make the perfect square) was that I was putting the card stock way too far into the punch. There is no real stopper on this baby to make you line it up correctly. That’s what the dotted lines are for and flipping the punch upside down allows me to see exactly  where to put my card stock (ETA – I have since discovered that not having a stopper allows this punch to do other wonderful things!). Okay, we’ve done all four corners, now it’s time to get the border punch out. Have the punch the right way up this time and line it up  . . .

It's like magic -they all line up!

And as if by magic, the punched corners line up with the silver template on the front of the punch.  Repeat three more times and – - – oh be still my beating heart, could it be . . . ?

A perfectly lovely scalloped border frame ready to go on a card. Just like this one I prepared earlier in Perfect Plum.

This post is probably far too long to show you how to punch a scallop-y square, but if I have helped one person, it was worth it It’s only one size, so far, but it will do me fine till I master the rectangles and bigger squares for scrapbook pages.

Till next time,

Michelle

PS – you can do cute wee  square starting with just a 2″ square of card stock and punching each corner, no need to worry about a border punch. Is there no end to this punching fun?

Do you know what an Angel Policy is?

Did you even know there was such a thing? Do you think you may need to know what an Angel Policy may mean for you as a stamper?

If you are planning on reproducing your hand stamped cards and selling them for profit, then you will need to be aware of the Angel Policy of the manufacturer of the stamped images that you are using.

An Angel Policy is a form of limited license that specifies how a rubber stamped image can be used and any specific requirements of the manufacturer or artist. Typically this outlines under what circumstances, if any, a stamper can make and sell items created using a manufacturer’s rubber stamps.

Some companies have a very generous Angel Policy, which allows stampers to work with the stamped images without restriction and this includes creating products for resale. Other companies offer more limited commercial use of their images, for instance limiting the number of products that can be created from a single stamp. Some companies do not have an Angel Policy – this does not mean that there is a ‘free for all’ when it comes to the use of their stamps – far from it! It means that their stamps are sold for personal use only and not for commercial gain.

Typical Angel Policy Terms

Many companies work on the basis that their rubber stamps are being sold for personal use only. They will, however, grant a limited license which is given the popular name of Angel Policy, that will allow the creation of products for resale using their stamped images. One of the common elements of most Angel Policies is that any items that are created for resale must be hand stamped and not reproduced mechanically or electronically. Most standard Angel Policies also prohibit the use of assembly or production line processes to create stamped products.

Other terms that maybe specified within an Angel Policy include:

• How many products can be made
• Where the products can be sold
• Whether a copyright statement needs to me made
• Whether permission needs to be requested in writing
• Stamped images cannot be used to create logos, clip art or for other commercial use

Note: Licensed images, such as Disney characters or other characters such as Thomas the Tank Engine are almost never permitted for use in the creation of items for resale.

This might all sound pretty daunting to a stamper who is unfamiliar with Angel Policies – however the terms of a policy are not meant to be restrictive or prohibitive. They are simply to protect the original artist, the stamp manufacturer and the stamper from the misuse of stamped images.

Stampers who enjoy making cards and other creations for their own use or to give to family and friends needn’t worry! The terms of an Angel Policy are generally for stampers who are looking to sell their work. If you are unsure about the Angel policy of the stamps you are using, just Google the manufacturer’s name plus the words “angel policy” and you will soon find what you’re looking for. As I’m a Stampin’ Up! girl, here‘s a link to the Stampin’ Up! Angel policy.

So it’s true . .”You learn something new every day”

Have a great weekend,

Michelle

Trifold shutter album

I tried to get a ‘whole project’ photograph to show you, but that wasn’t working.  When open, the album is nearly 60cm long! This is the right side of the album when open  - – and the left side is pretty much the same . . Here it is closed . . .

All it needs now is some photographs, some journaling and a another butterfly or two (or three). I originally called this a bi-tri-shutter album as it is really two tri-fold cards combined to make an album.  But that really doesn’t work does it? It’s a bit cumbersome! So it will have to stay a trifold shutter album.  What’s a trifold card you ask? Here’s a video from Beate Johns that shows you how to make the cards. As well as the basics to make the card the video has loads of great tips for embellishing.

It’s making my little album look decidedly naked – - Off to add a few more bits and pieces! Enjoy!

Michelle