New card scraplift time and copyrights

Hello-

I am doing OK, other than my usual allergies.   A couple days ago, I was thinking of the cards that I would make for my mom.   In my last post (or somewhere in there), I stated that I had a project.  Mom wanted some Thank You cards, and some Thinking of you cards.  I made the thank you cards, and gave them to her (why I did not take a picture, I will never know), anyway, I took a picture of the first batch of TOY cards (Funny how the acronym spells toy, LOL.) Any way, it is a scraplift card.   A scraplift is project previously made by someone else.  You like it so much, until you have to make one of your own, sometimes in your own interpretive way, because you often do not have the exact materials that the original person used for the project.  At least that is my way of thinking about it.    I am going to let you ponder that for a moment, as I will get back to the subject later on.

Original card, Copyrighted by Papertrey ink

This is the original card, made by the blogger at Papertrey Ink.  I like this card for its simplicity, but the card looks complicated.  First of all, the card has a white card blank, with a Kraft cardstock mat. On the mat itself, the design was done with this technique:   The person took a mask, and dabbed white ink on it, so the mask can act as a stencil.  When the mask is lifted, it reveals an imprint.  Next the person edged out the mat with the same white ink, to soften the edges.   For the sentiment, it was stamped in black ink, and there are actually six different cardstock papers in a block formation.   The papers were first cut in strips, and glued to the back of the foundation paper, which I assume was white.  That made one sheet.   Then that sheet was cut into strips to make the blocks on the paper.  
There are other ways to achieve this look.  First of all, you can stamp color ink on the white strip.  The problem for me is this can get a little messy, and you have to wait until the other colors dry completely, before applying the sentiment.  Doing it this way is also time consuming.  You can always use a heat gun to dry it, but that may make the paper curl up, or holding it too close to the heating gun may cause it to burn.  To make time go faster, you can always digitize the whole thing.    In other words, use the computer for the blocks of color as a background, and the sentiment.  This is nice if you are in a hurry, and you do not mind making a hybrid card.   Hybrid cards combines the use of both traditional and digital scrapbooking and card making.  It also is great for people who do not like the look of their own handwriting.
The final step for this card is to place the strip in front of the stamped image, and rounding the corners.

Now for my version of this card:

My version of this card.

I usually have mats on my cards, but for this one, I decided to go "Au Natural" with it.  I want to start by explaining the strip itself.  I did the same thing, except I cheated.  I printed on separate sheet of paper, "Thinking of You", instead of doing it on the strip itself.   On thing that I am learning how to do (but have not quite mastered it yet) is where to print on the paper.  It can be done, but at this time, I am chicken, and I have messed up some perfectly good paper for that cause, too.  For this, I use a cheater method for printing on paper.  Sure, I could have used vellum, but I was not thinking about that at the time.  Oh well, next time, I have some strips left (four cards worth.).   Next, I enlisted the help of my Cricut E2 machine, and used the preloaded cartridge Cricut American Alphabet for the image, and I just glued the die cut to the card, but not before I split it in half.  I put both halves on the card, and positioned the strip just like the original card.  To raise it, I put pop dots behind it.

Now for the Materials:
 On the original, all materials used for this project was by Papertrey ink.   Go here to look at all of their products.   I love their products, and I highly recommend this company.   For my materials, the card blank is from Stampin Up!, and the strips of color paper is from a stash pack purchased at Pizazz-It, a LSS whose last day of business was Sunday.   I will truly miss them.   All but 3 LSS have closed up, and now the Central Ohio community is left with just big box scrapbooking stores (Mike's, Joann, and Archiver's.)
I recommend that you give Scraplifting a try.   If you are hesitant, don't worry, read on...

Copyright

This is my opinion, and my opinion only.   If you still have doubts about Scraplifting, please research, but what I am about to say is true and just:   For you own personal scrapbooking and other paper-crafts, when you are stumped for ideas, it is OK to use someone else's work, IF it will stay within your personal space to be shared with family and friends.  Many companies with angel policies state this on their websites.  Also, this is where your personal research comes into play.  In the case, between me and my mom, she wanted me to make her some cards, and she is family, for her to give to the rest of the family and her friends.   That is as far as it gets there.   I put up a disclaimer on this blog, stating that these designs are my designs alone, unless I scraplift.  When I scraplift, I give credit where credit is due, in this case it is Papertrey Ink, and I do my homework, BEFORE attempting anything.
For example, Provo Craft has an angel policy which allows a crafter to sell their creations 200 times per image, per cartridge a month.   This does not mean you can take a cupcake die cut image and make 200 pillows out it, then 20 cakes, then 100 cards with that same image.   It means 200, period.   Now, the Cricut police probably will not be on my doorstep if I do 201 images per cartridge, per month, but still it keeps me in check. (At least they did not when I cranked out 400 + tags over the Christmas holiday for a client who ended up not paying for them.) Also stated in that angel policy is where you can sell your creations with their die cuts on them.  You cannot sell that item in retail stores, but you can sell on places like Ebay, Etsy, and craft fairs.   You also cannot sell the images themselves, anywhere, and you cannot rent out the cartridges for profit.   I know of a couple of LSS who were issued warning letters from PC.
My motto is "when in doubt, check it out."  It makes me feel better when I am able to share with you .   It also makes me feel better when I start my own stamp line in the future.
Well that is it for today.   Take care, and God Bless You.

A Pink Stamper Challenge

This is a late post, so this is the challenge...

Create something with a birthday theme.   So for my challenge, I choose a Cricut card, utilizing the Cricut American Alphabet.   This is one of the cartridges preinstalled in the CE2, E2, or Cricut Expressions 2, 5th Anniversary Edition Cutting Machine, if you want to use the long version of its name.   One of my favorite LSS (Local Scrapbooking Stores) is closing its doors at the end of the month, and I bought some random scraps they had.   So everything cut out of the cart was using that stack.   So I cannot give exact colors I used, but I can give you the brand name, which was Bazzill Cardstock.  
One of the pieces I had for the card base, I cut down to form 2 4x6 card blanks.   It was about a light pink.   The mat was a Bazzill Bling, I think a Pink Cadillac color (again it was in the stack of colors), and the width was perfect (3.75"), and I cut the length to about a 1/4 of an inch from the actual card base (5.75"), and that made 2 as well.  One for each card.   I took black cardstock, which was about 6"x 12", and cut 2 cupcakes from the CAA Cartridge.   the cupcake was 4", and if you have the E2 machine, the one I used is on page 49 of the handbook.   Press the backout button on the screen.  For the top layer to form the decrotive swirl on the "frosting" portion.   use the Cpcke2-s one.   The color I used was light green Bazzill cardstock.   Before I used pop dots, or dimensions, I spritz it with Glimmer Mist.   You do not have to do this step if you do not want to.   I used Dazzling Diamonds for all over, and Moonlight for the bottom.   The way I spritz it was I covered the top part after the Dazzling Diamonds got a chance to dry, which only takes 5 seconds, or less.   I put a napkin over the "frosting" portion, and spritz the bottom with the Moonlight.   Yes, there is an easier method.   You will have to spritz the pieces before adhering them together.  When cupcake is dry, you can adhere it to the card. 
Next I had some butterflies from Delights, which is from American Crafts.  It is the from the Sunbeam Collection.   They are patterned butterflies, and yes, I could have cut them from another cart, but the look I was going for, I did not have the right cart for the butterfly, plus I wanted something made with chipboard, and was patterned.   At the bottom, I just simply printed "Happy Birthday" on the card.   I often use my computer, but this is one of the few times I feel confident about my handwriting, and I wanted it handmade.   So without further ado, here are my 2 cards:

Happy birthday card 1





Happy Birthday card 2



Well that is it for now.    Have a blessed week.

Quick blog post: What is on your desk...

I am not sure why I entered this, except I follow Creations with Christina (http://www.creationswithchristina.com/), and I saw this post.   She was asking the question, What is on my desk.   Well, here is my challenge (and just to let you know Christina, I have TWO desk I scrapbook on, my computer and a crafting table):

Picture #1 has a far shot of my crafting desk, Picture #2 has both desk together, and Picture #3 has a close up of my crafting desk.  I have not quite finished cleaning up from an envelope swap I finished doing.   I am still in the middle of making my mom's cards.

Well that is a quick blog post, and the end of my Challenge.  Good night, and God Bless you.

New hobby in scrapbooking, an envelope tag swap

Hello, and how are you?   I just want to wish everyone a happy June.  20 days before the official swelter season called summer, and frankly, I would rather sit myself in front of the AC than shiver in front of the heater.   My ceiling fan is still on from a few days ago, as is gets hot up there.  I know, it is not very green.   I am working on it.

Anyway, I am in a new swap, hosted by Tracystreasures24, and I had a blast creating these envelope tags.  I made five, and it looks like this:

For this project, you will need:   One business envelope with a window, scrapbook paper to cover the front, and possibly the back, if you want to.   You will also need stamps, ink, and die cuts.  I used my Cricut E2 machine for the die cuts.  The carts I used were Pagoda, and Cricut eccentials.   You will also need a border punch for the edge or a pair of decorative scissors.




The Envelope:

For the envelope, I used the envelope from my bank statement.  To prepare the envelope, I made a slit in the envelope on the one of the short ends of the envelope.  If you have not open your bills lately (shame on you), but tap the bill to the other side of the envelope, cut the slit and remove contents. Place the contents to a place, so you will not forget to pay them.   If you have another envelope, which looks like the first one, you can use it as your template.  For the actual envelope, do not remove the vellum. I used the paper, Foo La La (forgot the name of the company), and I traced on the back side of the paper to get the except area the window was at, and cut it out.   Next, take your border punch, or decorative scissors, and edge up the short end.   Fold to make a border and adhere all but 1 1/2"-2" of the paper to the envelope to cover it.  At this point, you may want to cover the back (I did not for this project). For the inside of the envelope, make a liner, and you only have to adhere the top of the pocket.   Before I adhere it, I took a stamp made by Inkedinka Do, and stamped the top.  I also stamped the flap of the pocket, because the paper was not double-sided.   You can skip stamping the liner and the flap if you have doubled-sided paper. You may also ink the sides of the envelope/pocket if you to hide anything.  set that aside.

The Tag:

for the tag, I used K and Co's Smitten Foil Hearts paper, card stock from The paper Company and CTMH's kraft paper.   That is the front of the tag.  I will get to back in a minute.   I cut the tag to size,and I cut with the E2 a label from the pre-installed cartridge, Cricut Essentials.   I started to just use it as a label, but the more I looked at it, especially after I inked up the edges, it started to look mor like a vase.  I drew on some sticks with a sharpie, and it looked too plain.  then I had the idea of adding flowers.   so I cut some red flowers from the Pagoda cartridge, at 11/2", and adhere them tothe tag.  Some of the flowers, I popped up with dimenisionals to give that 3-d look. time for the other side. (or side B for those of you who remember records.)

Tag (The Backside)

For the back side of the tag, I enlisted the help from som Stampin Up! products.   All the inking for tag and the envelope, I did it in Chocolate Chip, as well as all of the stamping.   I added the photo mat, which was cut from the George and Basic Shapes Cartridge at the last minute, because I thought the back needed something. So I cut out the photo mat in CTMH kraft paper (the same kind I used for te liner), inked the edges, and adhere it to the tag.  Next I took clear stamps from Bliss, which was part of the this year's Sale-a-bration event last month.   I stamped the word "bliss" on top, and stamped a Fleur-de-le (I guess that is how you spell it) at the bottom.   That's it.

 Take a look at the rest of the photos to get an idea on how this is done.  Remember these are just ideas, but you make your envelope tag how you want it to look.  I want to give you some more tips:
*  This can be a use what you have tag.   You do not have to go out to buy all new things for this tag.
*  If you have a lot of the same paper, you can make a lot of tags.  You can make them with your die cutting machine.  I free-handed these, but I usually buy the tags already made, or if  you die cutting machine has a tag die, you can

make them from the machine.  It does not have to be a Cricut machine.
*Do not make the tags too thick (put too much on them.)  You may not be able to pull them in and out with ease.
* if you do not feel too creative, or not creative enough, Jolees has products which you can put on the front (or back) of the tag.
* One more thing...Have fun with it.  I always tell folks that scrapbooking is fun, and relaxing.  Do not stress yourself to the point of frustation.  If you are frustrated, or being pulled away too many times, put it away until tomorrow, or the next time you can get back to the tag.  This project does not have to be made with #10 with a window.  I can be made small, medium, with or without a window.

Well that is all I have for you today.   Here is a last look at all 5 of them:

In the Name of Jesus, I bid you a good night, and God Bless You.