Spring Colors

I used Ranger Alcohol inks to create this plaid pattern on glossy cardstock. This is a Tim Holtz technique. Over the plaid pattern I stamped butterflies with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. Later I used some purple glitter glue over the stamped images for extra sparkle.



Another plaid tag, this time featuring one of the Tim Holtz bunny die cuts. The butterflies are ones cut on my Silhouette Cameo. The stamp is one of Tim Holtz's (which I cut apart so I could stamp the words individually.)

Here are the alcohol ink plaid tags I made using Tim Holtz's technique.  All the tags are cut using my Cameo from the back page of a scrapbook paper pad. That was the only glossy cardstock I had on hand.

This set of #8 manila tags was created with book pages from a cast off book. I applied Mod Podge unevenly to the tags and glued them onto a book page. Once dry I ripped the excess portion of the book page off, leaving ragged edges and uneven coverage.

Over this surface I stamped designs using a variety of stamps by Tim Holtz and LaBlanche. I chose a spring palette of colors using Distress Ink pads, among them Seedless Preserves, Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, and Scattered Straw.  The black ink is Versafine permanent ink.

The inks around the edges are applied with a damp makeup sponge. It is interesting to me how the Mod Podge resists some the ink from being absorbed into the paper and causes variations in tones.

Happy Crafting!

Gale

New Toy!

Here is the first cut I made using my new Silhouette Cameo machine, assorted butterfly shapes cut from a sheet of 12x12 scrapbook paper. (It did cut the antenae perfectly, but they were so tiny they just tore off when I removed them from the sheet.)

For a while now I have been researching and pondering if I should get an electronic cutting machine for my paper crafts.  I downloaded a couple of versions of software to play around with, read countless reviews, watched Youtube videos demonstrating these machines and finally came to the decision that the new Silhouette Cameo was the right option for me. 

For about a month before I purchased it, I worked on learning to use the software to design projects so that when it arrived I would be ready to use it. I am so glad I prepared ahead of time!  It was wonderful to be able to pull it out of the box, plug it in and start making things. There is a learning curve to be able to use the software to trace images from my computer and to adjust the cutting lines-- I am still working on certain kinds of images that need interior cuts as well as the outline.

 This is a free calendar project from the Silhouette store blog.  Each week they give away a file. I used the March calendar grid to make these 6x6 pages. I created the shamrock border by finding a clip art image, replicating it in the Silhouette Studio program and welding the shapes together.  The background square and the rectangle of coordinating papers were also cut using the machine.

 I grunged these up using Tim Holtz distress inks in Pine Needles and Peeled Paint. I love how these turned out and I am madly thinking of new things to make using this wonderful tool.

Edited:  I am adding this to a linky party so you can see how some others have used the free shapes from Silhouette. The link up is sponsored by Maggie Mullins' blog.

I used the shape jan-april calendar C03093.

Happy Crafting!

Gale