StarLitStudio

holiday tags & ink pad organization

Before putting all the papers used for holiday gifts & such I gathered all scraps, and Mish-style assembled them quickly into tags.  Adhered each layer with a smidge of 2-way glue and allowed to dry, then machine-stitched down the center of all layers chain-piecing style.

I'll put the holiday stuff away now...lol.

I posted this on Ranger's Facebook wall today - Ranger's is looking for organizational ideas for their products, and I had this created by a local woodworker/artisan to easily access each Distress ink pad, blending tool and reinker.  If I like a product I'll naturally want to use it frequently, so speed in access and visibility is important to me. 

Happy Friday & best wishes for a great weekend!

homespun tags into cards

Simple tags transformed thanks to inspiration by Betsy Veldman and Melissa Phillips.  Strung manila tags are from Staples.

The cute chipboard houses were painted with white (Picket Fence) crackle paint, allowed to dry, then sewn on a sewing machine, then embellished.

Patterned paper & brads are Basic Gray Eskimo Kisses.  Mini fringe trim, French doilies, Parsley (Memory Box) cardstock and coordinating envelopes.  Card sizes are 4-1/4" x 5-1/2".

 The bag (Papertrey bag & merry dies) holds them all.  One more down for the gift pile! Blue crackle house on bag uses Broken China Distress Crackle Paint, and the big honkin' brads are made with patterned paper and an i-top tool.

Interior sentiment on all cards - Papertrey die and stamp.  Yikes the holidays are right around the corner!

halloween post its and porpoise

We spent the long weekend at Harvey Cedars - Long Beach Island - it's a brief ride from here.   I was able to spend a few hours on the beach Saturday afternoon, tatting.  It is a lovely experience tatting on a virtually empty beach on a crisp, sunny day in autumn...

...and a family of porpoise joined me.

I've been busy making Halloween post-its for my kids' classmates.  Still working on ideas for the teacher gifts - I'm thinking of harvest notebooks - nothing related to the spooky holiday, so they can use it for a few months.

Papers are from Echo Park, and the black accent piece is half of a spellbinders fancy tag die.  Skull cameos are Jolee's.

Ranger Seasonal Distress Inks - StarLitStudio will not be carrying these, solely because reinkers will not be produced...so it is basically a disposable product (shakes head in disappointment).

I wonder if this is a sh*t test by Tim Holtz/Ranger to see how much we value our spending dollar on craft supplies...if we are willing to purchase throw away ink pads.  Me?  No, and no thank you.  Utterly disappointed guys.  In this economy, we want value...and reinkers... not disposable ink pads.

Happy Monday and best wishes for a great week!

grunge gears birthday card

Quietfire sentiment - stamped on a piece of white cardstock burnished with Antique Linen and Walnut Ink Distress inks.  Patterned paper is Idea-ology Retro Grunge.  Card base is from Memory Box.

Gadget Gears die from Sizzix - diecuts were cut from white cardstock and inked with Distress inks.  Phillips and flat head style brads source is unknown.

Interior sentiments are from Papertrey Ink.  Best wishes for a great weekend!

paper rosette invites

My neighbor and friend turns 50 and asked me to make her invites...required lots and lots of paper rosettes...

Started with October Afternoon's Lemon Drops and used Sizzix's Paper Rosette die.  Assembly video tutorial on these paper rosettes using this die is here.

To speed the process of assembling each rosette, I pushed the accordion-folded circle down on a glass surface (glass is slick and it speeds the process), then secured the wrong side with a foam square (available at office supply stores).

If you have foam tape (I had almost enough foam squares) just use two strips to quickly secure the rosette.  The foam squares are faster though.

Flip the paper rosette over to the right side and apply Glossy Accents to the center and surrounding center area.

Firmly press the pinked circle that accompanies this die over the Glossy Accents.

Apply a weight - I'm using a very heavy tape measurer here.  Leave sit for maybe 20 seconds.

To keep the production line going, it's easier if the Glossy Accents bottle is kept inverted.  To achieve this I use a small vase.

These will make a bunch of invites...

Printed on a laser printer using Memory Box Parchment, punched with a one-inch circle punch and adhered to a strip of Glue Dots.

Using the Glue Dot I adhered each printed circle to a bottle cap, the affixed a clear dome sticker...

...then ran them through a die cut machine, effectively smashing (okay you are crimping, but I love the sound of them smashing!) them. Very kewl effect.  The die cut machine firmly presses the clear epoxy sticker in place as well.

I opted to cut a larger pinked circle (Spellbinders) and adhere that over the smaller pinked circle.

A few rosettes were left over - here's what I did with them - reserved these for future cards or notebooks or something clever.  Prima rose leaves - center patterned paper from the stash.  Happy Friday!!

cards and the beach

Cute thank yous for my soon-to-be nine year old - dies from PTI and Spellbinders; texture folder and stamps from PTI.  To state she loves owls would be an understatement.  I found her this owl on etsy from I Sew Lucky for her birthday:

So adorable.

A neighbor was able to get our packages while we were away in Harvey Cedars (Long Beach Island, NJ) on vacation last month.  I created this gift card set for her using this post on Mementos' blog as a springboard:

I housed the cards in a clever box from Nashville Wraps.  These boxes are even food safe, and have a lovely window to show off the top card:

Harvey Cedars was much cooler in temps than here, two hours inland.  I ran almost every day - the island is nice and flat and I don't exert myself with hill work like I do when I run outside here.  The kids in the wonderful sand:

And at my neighbor's (here) beach house up the road on LBI - the gang is gearing up, ready to jet ski in the bay:

Thirty days until school starts here - summer is flying by ah so quickly.  Happy Saturday and hope your day is going well!

bob the birdie birthday

A cute birthday card for today's project:  new image from Lockhart Stamp Company called Bob the Bird  - I've used Bob before in this post - he's super fun to color.

A few Spellbinders dies used on this one - square fleur de lis, square and square scalloped.  The pearls are from Want2Scrap and they are called Nestabling.  The tiny tag die cut and sentiment and scallop die are from Papertrey Ink.  October Afternoon Modern Homemaker patterned papers and Memory Box Kraft cardstock.  Mother-of-pearl button (grlyhead-etsy).

I made the ribbon using seam binding, October Afternoon Sprinklers in Red Wagon and Brown Bag, Walnut Ink Distress Stain and water in one of Ranger's larger two-ounce spray bottles on a non-stick mat.  I learned this here.

The above photo shows the ribbon (left) without the Red Wagon Sprinkler ink and with (right).

Card interior - Papertrey Ink sentiment.  Thanks for stopping by today!

idea-ology notebooks

edited to add:  These notebooks were photographed on a refurbished printers tray that I hope to store reinkers and precious stamps in.

These notebooks were created as gifts for a birthday boy (turning 9) and a birthday girl.  Lots of idea-ology goodies used on these!

Striped notebook materials:  Graphic 45 papers, frog & date dial images are from Lost & Found Salvage Stickers, a Papertrey Ink number die and Sizzix Tag & Bookplate die were cut from Grungepaper (crown is from a retired Grungeboard pre-cut set covered with 7gypsies Conservatory papers); the bookplate was painted with Distress Tarnished Brass Crackle paint and the numeral nine was inked with Crushed Olive Distress ink; Facets, Game Spinners and Sprocket Gears further embellish the notebook.

The girl's notebook uses My Minds Eye papers, Stampers Anonymous Odds and Ends stamps which coordinate with the Sizzix Ticket Strip die.  Bling is Zva Thriving Crystal; the pearl baubles and chain tassel are fastened onto a Lace Chain using jumprings.  The French doily was colored with Spun Sugar Distress Stain.

Interior features a handy pocket.  Both notebooks use idea-ology corners set with a Home Pro LR (bonniesbest.com).  Congratulations to Gilda on the Memory Box giveaway!  Thank you and best wishes for a great weekend!

distress stains are super speedy

The doily in today's card was rapidly aged using Distress Stains Antique Linen, then dried quickly using a heat tool.  This is my fastest known method of distressing these doilies and changing their color, unless you have a pot of strong tea ready to go.

Tea (my strength) didn't stain these doilies enough for me - loved the color though when brewed triple strength.  Coffee is a bit darker at normal strength.  I am liking the color of Distress Antique Linen, and leaving my tea for drinking.

Snippet of burlap, and a rough, hand-cut circle of ivory felt was cut into a spiral and formed into a loose flower.  Ribbon leaf is May Arts. 

The background is a torn sheet from a church hymnal that belonged to my mom's grandfather.  Three Zva 5mm pearls in Taupe form the flower center.  Card base is Memory Box Meadow. 

Interior doilies are Spellbinders.  Flourish is Memory Box using Distress Antique Linen ink, and sentiment is Papertrey Ink.

Finished card size is 5-1/4" square.  Happy Monday everyone!!

birthday card for brother

This was a commissioned card - parameters given: the card giver's brother owns a singing telegram company, he is turning 68, and lives in NYC. 

I used Wrinkle Free Distress Ranger technique, and directions can be found at this link - it's the second distress technique shown - starts at 1:53.

Music note background image is Stampendous, and the ancient metal 'brother' is from Making Memories.

Tim Holtz's new Game Pieces fit perfectly inside the round Ranger Memory Capsules.  The capsule, game piece and two Inchie Squares were encased in a Ranger 1x1 Memory Frame.  Sentiment is Papertrey Ink.  Linen thread anchors the Memory Frame in place.

Card base is Memory Box Crimson, and interior sentiment is Verses Rubber Stamps; music note impression (interior) plate is used on Crimson cardstock is from Papertrey.  Hurray!  Friday is almost here!