Thursday, February 9, 2012

Papertrey Pinterest Challenge

http://www.79ideas.org/2011/05/lily-of-valley.html

 I am new to Pinterest, having been on Visualize Us for about a year. This week I have been editing my old collection and transferring the images over to Pinterest. When I saw the Papertrey Pinterest Challenge I had to give it a shot. 
 
I like the search feature of Pinterest because I could have been there all day, night, day, night looking for an image that I could make work with my limited supply of PTI stamps. I wanted to use the Lily of the Valley stamp so I searched and found the PERFECT image. It took a long time to find the source but I'm glad I did and could comment on the source's blog.
 
I got out the water pen and did a bit of water coloring. Cut the image down to fit on a card and mounted it on a light grey card stock. Hope you like it.
 



Happy Crafting,

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Cupcake Liners instead of Rosettes

I love the look of a well made rosette but I have trouble getting them into envelopes and scrapbook sheet protectors. I also have trouble with them staying together. I must be doing something terribly wrong because I know NO ONE else has this problem. I have been using cupcake liners instead of making rosettes for a while, they are quick, easy, thin, and stay together better. Unfortunately they only come in a couple of sizes, or do they.
Recently I was in Micheal's wandering in the $1 aisle and I saw the cutest cupcake liners by Studio 18. They had a bit of a nautical feel on the sides, even though there were and I thought I could use them on cards or scrapbook pages and if I lost interest in crafting with them I could always make cupcakes in them. 

I wanted them to lay flat and these liners were having none of that so I cut them. That sounds so cruel, if something doesn't cooperate with me I go to "I cut you man" but I digress. I folded them in half and then in half again and cut the center circle out. Then slit the side so it would lay down making a semi circle then I did the same with another liner. I glued the two together to make a circle. There is an overlap on both ends of about 6-10 pleats, depending on the size of circle you want.

When I made the circle it reminded me of a circus tent and I just happened to have a Circus stamp set from TPC Studio in stash. It also reminded me of the onesie my son was wearing when he first stood on his own. I had to find those pictures. Dig. Dig. Dig. Eureka!
The elephant's frame is overlapped by 6 pleats on each side.
I colored all the circus image before I found the picture, what great luck that the "extras" in the picture were yellow. I cut all the circles on the page with Spellbinder's Circle die. The journal circle was cut out of a divider that comes with Recollections photo boxes from Micheal's. I used a thin marker to draw the outline which gives it a much more finished look. I glued the images to the liners then glued the images to my page making sure that only the center of the liner/image piece was glued.



After I finished the page I poked around the interweb a while and looked for other ways to use cupcake liners. I pinned them all to a Pinterest board. Yes I've finally climbed aboard the Pinterest bandwagon. I resisted for a long time because I already had a Visualize.Us account and didn't see the need but I couldn't resist any longer and signed up last week.  If you'd like to see the other ways to use cupcake liners check out my Cupcake Liners Board.





Working on a couple of tutorials so keep an eye out for those. Better yet become a follower so you don't miss them.

Happy Crafting,

Friday, February 3, 2012

Cool Tool Challenge




Quick Card for the Paper Crafts Magazine Cool Tools Week: The Around the House Challenge. I have wanted to play with washi tape for a while but I can't afford the price so I have converted some Beauty Mark Hair Tape into faux washi tape by stamping on it. I used Martha Stewart's pattern background stamps and gotta say, I like the look. Wish the hair tape came in other colors but pink is perfect for a simple Valentine card.

I have posted about this tape before, here and here.




Happy Crafting,

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Papertrey Ink January Blog Hop

Here is my entry for the Papertrey Ink January Blog Hop. I used the same two sets for these cards, Year in Flowers, Lily of the Valley for the image and Up, Up and Away for the sentiment.

Then. February 2011.
Now. January 2012

Now. Inside.

The first card had polka dots so I thought the new one should too. I had some packaging in my drawer of green scraps and thought it would work well.

I needed a card base and chose one that already had a cross cut out of it. I really like that the same pattern was on both sides of the packaging. It's not too bright and crazy, perfect for a sympathy, get well or even Easter Card.




Happy Crafting,

Free Silhouette Studio File: Exercise Clothing

Playing around with the Silhouette Studio software 2.4 and I am much happier with the cut edge feature. Happy me.

Giving you an image you can print and cut on your own Silhouette. Happy you.



download

This image is from The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser a book I inherited that my ancestors obviously turned to frequently.

The copyright on the book is 1895 so I'm pretty sure "Figure 104 - Exercise Clothing" is now in the public domain.

This image is for your personal use only. NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE.

Happy Crafting,

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Silhouette Studio Printable Pattern Basics Tutorial

Today's video tutorial covers Printable Patterns with the Silhouette Studio software. Each feature is covered and there is a bit of magic at the end. If you would like to see a larger version click here.

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

If you would like to see a larger version click here.
Happy Crafting,

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Want to win an iPad or a Kindle Fire?

My sister received a kindle fire for Christmas this year and I was a bit jealous. Jealousy fades much quicker now then it did when we were kids. Much quicker than when she was first to get eyeglasses (I was an idiot).

Well I can't afford an iPad or Kindle but maybe I can win one. Rafflecopter, the company that developed a fancy script for, oddly enough online raffles, wants to celebrate the new year, and is going to give away a 16GB Apple iPad2 and several Kindle Fires. The giveaway starts today, Monday 1/9 at 12:01 a.m. and lasts for a month. I entered at Crazy Coupon Mommy and clicked the second button, the one that says "blog about this giveaway" so now you can enter too.

All you have to do is click the green button on the Rafflecopter form below and type in “KatemadeDesigns” in the who referred you space. That’s it!! (PS – If you win, I win too!) So click below and good luck!!



  a Rafflecopter giveaway





 Happy Crafting,

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Christmas Is… music of the season

 When I was a kid there were only two Christmas records in the house: The Original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Other Children's Christmas Favorites (by) Gene Autry with Guest Star Rosemary Clooney and Christmas Is… which I think my dad got at a gas station (there is a Good Year tire logo on the jacket).  We played the heck out of them and even though I went through a "collect as many Christmas CDs as you can" phase i9n the late 20s/early 30s I have never found an album I liked better.

The songs on these albums ARE CHRISTMAS to me. I like new interpretations, new songs, new artists but it's like the difference between an artificial tree and a live tree. Maybe there is more sap in these old songs but I like it that way once in a while. Ok every year.

This year I am making a CD of all those songs by all those artists (in that order) for my family's Christmas. I have wanted to do this for years but "Jingle Bells" by The Mills Brothers and "Christmas Is" by The Hillside Singers were nearly impossible to find and the cost of all those songs on separate albums/CDs would have be prohibitive. This year I found them all on Freegal and iTunes. So happy.

Here is the play list. All beautiful and all classics in my mind.


Christmas Is
The Hillside Singers
Winter Wonderland
Jo Stafford
White Christmas
Frank Sinatra
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Judy Garland
What Child Is This?
Vikki Carr
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Tony Bennett
The Christmas Song
Barbra Streisand
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Bing Crosby
I'll Be Home For Christmas
Doris Day
O Holy Night
Andy Williams
Jingle Bells
The Mills Brothers
Silver Bells
Patti Page
Merry Christmas Darling
Carpenters
Silent Night, Holy Night
Julie Andrews


Happy Crafting,