CeeCee's Creations

cards bonanza part 7 : wedding card

white on white -- that was an experiment i've been meaning to do for a while. i chose a white mat on a white card base. i quite like it and will repeat the experience.

i think it's stylish, elegant. and it highlights the main embellishment.

in my cards bonanza video, i spoke about using stickles to prevent the ends of a ribbon from fraying. it's a neat trick i discovered out of necessity -- i was afraid to burn the edges of my ribbon by using my heat tool. it's a fragile organza and it's white... just remember to allow time to dry if you're using stickles.

the main embellishment is matted on a piece of handmade glitter cardstock. i also added a bling on the bouquet... or is it her ring?! lol

it's the start of a brand new week -- make it count creatively by trying something new! CeeCee

my new ribbon storage

i've been silent for a week because my mind was preoccupied by my medical tests again. but good news: my colonoscopy did not reveal anything! so now, i feel like i can breathe again. they still don't know what the heck is wrong with me  but at least the invasive tests are done with -- at least i think so! the next step is to go see a hematologist but i can handle a few more blood tests.

but i didn't need a doctor to tell me that i have an addiction. an organization addiction. yes, my name is CeeCee and i'm an organizaholic. especially in times when my mojo has gone into hiding. i then revert to organizing my "stuff". the project i'm about to show you has been in the back of my mind for years.

most of the ribbon i own is on spools. but i do have remnants of ribbon or ribbon that i bought by the yard. all that ribbon was stored in 12 plastic drawers but they were just dumped in there, like so:

check out the green drawer in the back! it's overflowing!

and everytime i needed ribbon i conditioned myself to look in my drawers first before taking some from the spools. the fact of the matter is that i couldn't bear to riffle through the bottom of the drawer because... well, that created a mess and then i had to put everything back into the overfloweing drawer. arrgh, so depressing. i hated the chaos.

i had to find the perfect solution! it took some time but i finally got it. a while back, i had bought plastic cards for ribbon storage. they were quite pricey and i only had 2 packages of 10. LOL clearly not enough for all my ribbon. so i set about to make my own version of the ribbon cards. 

i have a lot of 12X12 DSP backings (white think chipboard) and the thickness is perfect. the last step was to cut a slit into the middle -- that way, i was able to slide the beginning of each ribbon to help hold it in place.

so, i went from this...

... to this...

... to this!

oh, ain't that pretty!

and look what i discovered:

check out the date -- february 1969!!! that is too cool. this is one of the spools of "old" ribbon and seem bindings that gen gave me a while back. oh the things you discover when you clean up!

and the bonus of all this? i now have 3 free drawers! woo-hoo!

here's all my pretties, separated by colors. the last drawer is for my twine, floss, linen thread and such. you can actually see the original plastic ribbon cards through the drawers, to the right of the purple ones. not a bad imitation, right?!

am i a freak? absolutely! but i'm okay with it.

have a great saturday! CeeCee

i made my own glitter pattern paper!

here's an experiment that surprised me. i made my own glitter pattern paper with a tone-on-tone flair. i started by die-cutting circles and rings out of Stampin' Up!'s Sticky Pages and the Circle #2 die for the Big Shot.

this is the tempting turquoise with SU turquoise glitter...

a brown one...

and old olive.

when i get back from vacation, i'll whip up some cards with those. i really like how they turned out. love the funky patterns.

have a great day! CeeCee

identifying unmounted stamps with the image

hey you guys,

just thought i'd pop in quickly before i head out to show you a neat organizational tip on how to put the image of your unmounted stamps to the back of them so that you can easily identify them. sometimes it's difficult to tell from the rubber side what the image really looks like and that really annoys me.

here's a picture to illustrate what i'm trying to say:

starting from the bottom left, the first satmp show the back side of an unmounted rubber stamp... no image, really annoying! the second stamp is what it looks like from the rubber side; in this case it's pretty easy to read it but some of the stamps i have are very intricate, like the magnolia's, and it's always obvious. the third stamp is what the back side (or sticky side) looks like after i've done the imaging process using a special technique and special vynil. here's a link to Susan Peters site where i've purchase the vynil and learned how to do this. it's a fairly easy process once you've done a couple.

i love it. i'll be doing that to all my stamps that don't come with an imaging sheet.

have a great saturday and i'll be back tomorrow! CeeCee

sizzix dies storage *** rangement de mes poinçons sizzix

just a very quick post here today, guys, to show you my new sizzix die storage. it's a shelving unit i got from ikea, the benno, for storing dvd's. this idea is not mine actually -- i got it from Marie-Josée Trudel (merci Marie-Josée!!!). I apologize for the bad lighting. As you can see, I still have a bit of clean-up to do in the shelving unit on the right, but basically, that little shelving to the middle of the picture is where my dies are resting for now. I love it, love it, love it! No more running to the classroom and fighting to pen the drawers of my old filing cabinet. And the space where it sits is just the perfect fit -- between my sink and the existing shelving units. Yahoo!

un petit message tout court aujourd'hui. je voulais vous montrer une photo de mon nouveau système de rangement pour mes poinçons sizzix. ce n'est pas mon idée originale mais bien celle de Marie-Josée Trudel -- merci, Marie-Josée! il s'agit du module Benno par ikea. la grandeur est parfaite pour s'insérer entre mon lavabo et l'étagère existante. plus besoin de traverser à ma salle de classe et de me battre avec les tiroirs d'un vieux classeur! (désolée pour la photo jaunâtre).

bon jeudi à toutes! CeeCee

stencil made from recycled packaging - on fait du recyclage

i have a tip for you today and i'm so excited to share it with you. it came to me while i was putting away a new purchase i made. i'm becoming more and more aware of recycling and as i was throwing away the packaging of my latest die purchase i was struck with an idea...

aujourd'hui je vous présente une petit idée-truc de recyclage. j'ai récemment acheté un poinçon Sizzix et j'étais sur le point de jeter l'emballage lorsqu'il m'est venu une idée de génie...

these dies come in plastic packaging and i thought that they would would make great stencils! so i cut out both front and back and was left with just little bits and pieces of plastic that i had to discard (as opposed to a whole lot of plastic).

ces poinçoins viennent dans un emballage de plastique assez rigide, assez rigide pour faire un pochoir. alors j'ai récupéré le devant et l'arrière de la boîte (je n'avais qu'à jeter des petits bouts de plastique -- excellent!) et je les ai envoyé se balader dans ma Big Shot!

so i ran both pieces of plastic through my Big Shot with the chandelier die and i came up with 2 positives and 2 negatives stencils that i can use with inks and paints for my scrapbooking, art journaling and even cards (1 set is going to my bff :-)) shhh, don't tell her). and because they're plastic, i can re-use as many times as i want.

ça m'a donné deux pochoirs positifs et deux négatifs que je peux utiliser avec de l'encre, de la peinture, etc., pour mes projets. et puisqu'ils sont en plastique, je peux les nettoyer et les réutiliser autant de fois que je veux! la madame est ben contente!

here's a close-up of the actual die-cut plastic piece. i love, love, love my big shot because it cuts through all these neat materials such as plastic.

i'll be back this weekend to show you a project made with the stencils.

so before you throw anything out, think outside of the box. you might be surprised at what you can come up with! now, i have 2 stencils to play with. what a return on my investment :-)

je vous montrerai un projet ou deux en fin de semaine que je préparerai avec mes nouveaux pochoirs. donc, avant de jeter vos emballages... posez-vous des questions! en tout cas, je trouve que ça ajoute une plus value à mon investissement, non?!

bon vendredi! CeeCee

kissing technique with inspired by nature

taking a break from cleaning my classroom to show you a technique. believe or not i've never done the kissing technique with my rubber stamps -- go figure! so today, i tried my hands at it and i really enjoyed it!

so i took a very juicy regal rose craft ink spot and covered the entire surface of the flowers. then i inked up the en français background stamp with soft suede classic ink and basically stamped it over the flower stamp. then i stamped on my very vanilla cardstock.

the only thing is that the script is backwards but i was going for the "architectural" effect of the script and not the text itself. i think it still looks cool. of course, i added some bling! i really like the effect.

so get your silhouette stamps out and try the kissing technique!

have a great weekend! CeeCee

(all Stampin' Up! unless noted otherwise)

stamp sets: inspired by nature, en français, pocket silhouettes (sentiment)

inks: regal rose craft ink, soft suede classic ink

cardstock: very vanilla, soft suede, elegant soiree dsp

ribbon: 5/8" regal rose grosgrain

other: crop-a-dile, small oval punch, rose cosmos fine glitter, 2-way glue, sponge dauber, SNAIL adhesive, stampin' dimensionals, eyelet (non SU)

unmounting my wheel stamps - part deux ... and a card

yesterday, following my post on unmounting wheel stamps, i realized that i could fit them in Stampin' Up!'s Clear-Mount Stamp Cases (#119105). yeeeeeeeeehaw!

look at this! I can fit: 1 jumbo, 2 standard and 1 builder or some other combo. guess what i'm ordering today?

on to the card. gen is going to be really impressed with me since i'm using Concord Crush. yes, i can't say it's my favorite color and it was a challenge to myself. but you know what? it's not so bad when used in a monochromatic way!

this card is obviously not fit for mailing out. i wanted to showcase the ribbon flower i made this week which is quite bulky. but the card is meant to be kept on a desk as a decoration. the flower is mounted on a stand from the Stampin' Up!'s Aviary Stamp Set, stamped with VersaMark and embossed with Silver EP. the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes, inked with Concord Crush Classic Ink. the striped paper is a Level 1 Hostess freebie -- In Color DSP Paper Pack.

in the middle of the flower, i added a button from my stash; i believe this one belonged to my Mother. it's so pretty with the bling in the middle.

to tie the bling from the flower to my title, i added 2 Basic Rhinestones Jewels to the Styled Silver Oval Holders (instead of brads).

i made another card which was actually meant for this stamped image but i ended up using it in a different way... that's for tomorrow's post!

have a great friday! CeeCee

unmounting my wheel stamps step-by-step... why did i wait so long?!

well, i took the plunge and now i'm wondering WHY I WAITED SO LONG TO DO IT?!!!

yep folks, i'm unmounting my wheel stamps. why? because i wasn't using them in their normal format. i find wheels are a pain to deal with and to clean. PLUS, i very rarely scrapbook 12 X 12. so by using them on a card, a linear format is much more effective for me. no more guide rulers, no more handles, just loads of fun.

now you're gonna ask me: "why did you buy the wheels if you didn't use them?" here's my answer: because the images are sooooo beautiful. i mean, look at the cute little onesies in the banner; aren't they adorable? plus, they're quite inexpensive!

so here's how i unmounted my wheels --

 

first, i found the seam in the rubber and cut though it with a hobby blade.

i pulled on the rubber and it easily came off the wheel.

that's what i was left: a perfect strip of rubber stamping goodness!!!

i use EZ Mount to "mat" my rubber stamps. it gives it that extra "oomph" you need when stamping.

i first removed the protective top sheet to expensive the very, very sticky adhesive. this is the side you want to glue your rubber stamp to. CAUTION: once the stamp is down, it's down for the count! no margin for errors here so be very careful how you lay down your piece of rubber. just take your time and you'll be successful.

here's the 1st piece of rubber laid down -- close the edge so that i can align the stamped images easily if i want to repeat the pattern in a long strip on my project.

i pretty much filled up the space i had on my EZ Mount but the stamps.

then on to the cutting. i started by using my Craft & Rubber Scissors and it was a little messy. then it dawned on me that because the rubber is linear, i could use my Hobby Blade. duh! it cut through like buttah!

look at that clean edge -- woohoo!

and now i'm looking at the wheel stamps with a whole new perspective... i want them all!

oh, and the space i'll be saving?! i can put them in my stampendous storage boxes. love it!!!

so now, pages 218 and 219 of Stampin' Up!'s Idea Book and Catalog are my favorite pages. why? because that's the wheel index pages. and remember, if you're hesitant about unmounting your wheel stamps, don't. it literally took me a big 5 minutes to do those 4 wheels. yep, i'm going ahead and doing all of my wheels.

can you tell i'm excited?! if you need help choosing the wheels you're going to buy, send me an email or call me. i'll be more than happy to assist you :-)

have a great day! CeeCee

pearlized embossed resist technique

i have a resist technique for you today. it came to me by watching a video from Hero Arts where they used ranger products to achieve this look. i thought i would attempt the same effect, using all Stampin' Up! products... it worked!!! 

here's how you do it -- on a piece of watercolor paper stamp your main image using VersaMark ink. then emboss it with White EP. make sure your embossed design is dry and rub Old Olive Classic Ink all over your paper. you don't have to be too meticulous; splotchy is good! then spritz some water all over your image and heat set with your Heat Tool. if you get runny streaks, attack'em with your gun... it'll give it that true watercolor effect. then take a clean rag and wipe over the white image to remove excess water, if any. ink up the edges with Chocolate Chip Classic Ink.

the last step is to use a mixture of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint with Rubbing Alcohol and spritz it all over the image... the more the better. heat set again and you've got this shimmery/pearlized effect. it's beautiful!

here, i've tried to capture the shiny effect but it's not easy to do. still, it gives you an idea of what it looks like in real life.

to attach the bow, i used my Crop-a-Dile to punch two small holes on each side of that stem and secured my ribbon just like i did in this video here.

i hope you have fun trying this technique. CeeCee 

 

Supplies (all available from Stampin' Up!)

Inspired by Nature Stamp Set (#111656)

Ruby Red CS (#102030) + Watercolor Paper (#105019)

Old Olive (#102277) + Chocolate Chip (#100908) Classic inks, VersaMark (#102283), Timber Brown StazOn ink (retired)

Scallop Edge punch (#112091), Corner Rounder punch (#109047), Crop-a-dile (#108362)

Heat Tool (#100005), White gel pen (#105021), Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon (retired), Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)

 

a quick video tip and... retiring stamp sets and accessories from SU !!!

hey everyone!

today is a very busy day as Stampin' Up! has released its retiring stamp sets and accessories lists. so, make sure you've got all your orders in as quickly as possible to me so to avoid running into the "out-of-stock" situation.

to view the list of retiring stamp sets, click here

to view the list of retiring accessories, click here

pour la liste en français des estampes sans suite, cliquez ici

pour la liste en français des accessories sans suite, cliquez ici

to order, CLICK HERE!

and on to the video... if you want to watch in HD directly from YouTube, you can click here.

have a great day! CeeCee

organizational tips - little "big" shot reference mini book

no stamping today! i've been so busy preparing the WOW swaps for the Stampin' Girls Convention in Ottawa and finishing up pending projects for customers and Card à la Carte that i haven't had a chance to be too creative for the blog.

but i feel the need to share a great organizational tip. i saw something similar out there but i put my own spin on it. i call this my little big shot reference book, in particular for embossing folders, embosslits and texture plates. the front and back covers are pieces of chipboard i cut to size and covered with retired DSP from Stampin' Up! but notice that the two colors featured on the DSP are returning colors -- woohoo!!! Oh... and i need to get some ring binders that won't clash with my large eyelets, eeek. those are the only ones i had on hand.

along the years since acquiring dies and embossing paraphernalia, i've amassed quite a good amount of embossing folders from Sizzix and Provo Craft. this little book contains an imprint of all my embossing folders, embosslits and texture plates (it's a work in progress as you can see from the different piles of folders and plates in the background).

each page measures 4 1/4" X 5", roughly the same size as the folders, and is embossed on Core-dinations cardstock. this cardstock has a colored backing and core so that when you sand over the raised image, the color on the back shows thru. quite fun!

on the back of each page, i labeled the manufacturer, product number and name of the folder with my P-Touch.

behind the front cover, i wrote down the formatting for labeling since i always forget from one project to another and it usually takes me a few tries to get it right. it also helps saving on tape!

on the back cover, i photocopied a reduced version of the instructions for the Big Shot use.  

i love my little book and i need to complete it as soon as possible because i think i'll make more use of my embossing folders once i know exactly what i have available.

i won't be posting for the next couple of days as i'll be away without access to a computer. hopefully, i'll have some pictures of the convention to show you on sunday or monday!

use your weekend to get a little more organized! CeeCee

adding color to paper flowers with markers... a video tutorial

as promised, here's the video for my earlier post of today. You can click here to watch in HD directly from YouTube!

 

Give it a try! Like I said, it's highly addictive but at least it's safe and relatively inexpensive :-) If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment!

Have a fantastic day! CeeCee

how to make your own shabby-chic paper flowers

i've come across another flower technique recently and decided to try my hands at it today. this one takes the shabby-chic to a whole 'nother level. 

the idea behind this one is to die-cut or punch out flower shapes, any one you have on hand. here, i die-cut some out of Sweet Pea DSP paper as well as So Saffron CS on which i stamped the En Français background stamp in Chocolate Chip Ink. every piece was also sponged with Chocolate Chip Ink.

then... the fun begins! the idea is to get all the pieces wet enough to be able to crumple them in little balls without tearing them. so guess what i've used? my homemade glimmer mist with Champagne Shimmer Paint and rubbing alcohol. and yeah -- i mixed it in a much bigger bottle now so i don't run out of the solution. i just seem to use it all the time!

after you've crumpled your flowers, you dry them with a heat tool. then you open up each flower very carefully and start layering. because the flowers are dry, they retain their crumpled shape.

looooooove it! and kudos for "tammy from Nova Scotia", whoever she is, for coming up with this technique. if there is enough of a demand, i'm willing to do a video tutorial on this technique. just let me know if this interests you by leaving me comments.

happy saturday! CeeCee  

stamping with bleach... you bet!

 

here's the third card of my Technique Club from last friday. this time we actually made our own stamp pad with bleach and a paper towel and used it to stamp leaves on a textured cardstock.

 

oooh, i love the shabby effect. it's imperfections are so endearing. we also used a piece of Very Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware and saying from the SAB stamp set, Whimsical Words (Douce pensées en français). the CS is Kiwi Kiss which i'm still mourning (sob) and the ribbon is Dusty Durango Polka-dotted Grosgrain.

have a peaceful sunday! CeeCee 

bleached flowers in brown and gold

 

i'm taking a break from gathering all my paperwork for the dreaded income tax report (yikes!). it's not my favorite thing to do... one small disadvantage to being self-employed. oh well, it's a small price to pay to be making your own schedule and doing what you love! 

here's the 2nd card we did at my Technique Club on friday night:

 

very simple, very classy. again, using the bleached technique but this time we used it to discolor cardstock after we stamped and embossed the image in gold. i love it! it's so elegant. what's cool about this technique is that depending on how much bleach you apply to one area, you get varying degrees of discoloration. you also get another effect if you heat up your bleached image with a heat tool. that's too much fun!

 

i also made them stamp and emboss the same image on the inside of the card. it's an added touch that the recipient will certainly notice.

have a happy saturday and go play outside (think of me while you do :-)) 

CeeCee

copic and prismacolor blending technique

this week is all about coloring and i've got another technique to show you. if your remember this card, i used a combination of Copic markers and coloring pencils with OMS to blend the colors. 

the reason i'm using both media is to add depth to the image without compromising the Copic blend of colors. let me show you what i mean. here's the image, colored and blended with Copic markers:

 

it's pretty decent but it adds some pizzazz. when you add dark colors with coloring pencils, watch what happens:

wow! all of a sudden the colors previously laid down pop up. what i did is add black pencil on the darker colors (hat, pants, dress, hair, paintbrushes. soes) and a rosey color on the face, yellow bows, etc... then those pencil marks were blended with a paper stump.

 

i'm thinking of making a video-tutorial for this method... leave me a comment if you're interested in such a video and i'll get my act together!

have a great weekend! CeeCee  

stamping with white ink revisited - stampin' write markers reviewed

 

i'm having way too much fun with this technique, if there is such a thing as "too much fun"! as stated in this post, my inspiration came from an example that was colored with alcohol-based markers. the technique is quite different when using Stampin' Write markers, which are water-based. although i have both types of markers, i really love all the coordinating colors offered by Stampin' Up! and wouldn't trade them for the world!

this post is kind of a review of my findings on the differences between the two types of markers so bear with me. but first, here's the 2nd card i made with this amazing technique:

 

if you look at my 1st card here, you'll notice that my coloring is slightly different. the reason for that is that instead of wanting to imitate the effect obtained with alcohol-based ink, i "tamed" it. what i mean by this is that because of its properties, water-based ink is a whole different category and need to be used in a totally different way. here's a closer look at the image so you can better understand what i'm talking about:

 

if you notice, the shadowing inside my flower is very delimited -- not blended! blending with water-based markers CANNOT be seamless. it just doesn't work that way. if you persist with trying to blend perfectly you'll end up with a very dark muddled color (totally not attractive) on a pilled surface. no paper is equipped to handle so much water without getting damaged. and that's the sad truth of it, crafties! 

but if you understand that, you can change your way of thinking and work with what water-based markers can offer you. what i did is laid down my first coat of color with Ruby Red in the center of the flower, then Cameo Coral on the outer petals. then i shadowed with the same colors without blending. i simply went over the areas i wanted darker and accepted the delimitation mark between light and dark. i quite like the effect -- it's sort of like a watercolor look. the leaves were done the same way, but using Certainly Celery and Old Olive -- mixing 2 colors for a more layered look. both methods give you gorgeous results.

i also want to share with you two other things i found out while playing:

1) Kraft Cardstock is a lot more receptive to the markers (as opposed to Whisper White CS), leaving barely any marker marks.

2) Blush Blossom and Sahara Sand are great colors to use when shadowing around the image. Going Gray and Basic Gray are too dark for that use.

so there you have it! i hope i haven't bored you with all those details but i really wanted to answer some of the questions i've received.

Happy colorin'! CeeCee

pink felt flower

 

ooooooooh, i'm so excited!!! i had this in my head for a while but i had to wait until tonight to play with it. the trend these days is to incorporate fabric and felt into our crafts. here's my first attempt at a felt flower:

 

this flower literally took 3 minutes to make (i timed myself!). using the Flower Layers Originals Die for the Big Shot, i cut through 2 layers of pink felt giving me 8 pieces to play with. here, i've used only 6 layers because i wanted the brad to grab all of them.

after i installed the Rhinestone brad in the middle, i put my flower on a heat-resistant surface and heated it with the heat tool. i used the paper piercer to hold it in place while i heated it. this was my fist attempt and i realized that you need to be very careful when you heat it because if you put too much direct heat in one spot, it creates holes. the cool thing about the flower is that it becomes rigid after heated to it retains its shape! obviously, you need felt made with polyester -- i don't think it would work with wool felt although it needs to be tested. 

i have tons of ideas with these little flowers and i will experiment all week long -- i can see hours of fun with this and with different dies. 

ooooooh, the fun that lays ahead of me!!! 

on a different note, i will announce the name of the winner of my blog candy tomorrow... i just haven't had the chance to breathe since i've been back so i just dealt with what was urgent.

until tomorrow, CeeCee

un joyeux noël pour toi

Another Christmas card. I know! I can't stop making them. Must be all those Christmas movies I'm watching while working. But when I saw Beate's latest technique on SCS, I knew I had to try it. I forget how she calls it and am too lazy to look it up (it's late) but I'm gonna call it Snowflake Resist, cuz that's what it looks like.

 

I made two, with different labels. I'd like to know which one you like the best. Here's the 2nd one:

 

By looking at it, you'd think that the tree was stamped after the background was done but it's completely the opposite! The tree (from my old faithful Lovely As a Tree stamp set) was first stamped with Whisper White Craft Ink on Glossy White CS, then embossed with White EP. The next step is to take a cotton ball and put some rubbing alcohol on it and a few drops of Classic Re-Inkers. Here I've used Ballet Blue and Night of Navy. You cover the whole surface of the glossy white CS, even the image, to create your background. Then, you heat it with the Heat Tool and watch the embossed image repel the ink! It's like magic, I love it!

Here's to a fresh new week ahead! CeeCee

Recipe (all supplies by Stampin' up! unless specified otherwise) -- stamp sets: Lovely as a Tree, Noël en tête (French version of Christmas Punch); inks: night of navy classic, whisper white craft, night of navy and ballet blue classic re-inkers; cardstock & paper: kraft, whisper white, night of navy, patterns pack III; punches: wide oval, ticket corner; ribbon: whisper white organza; other: antique silver brads, paper piercer, white embossing powder, heat tool, stampin' dimensionals, snail adhesive.

what to do...

... when you don't have the color of ribbon you need? You dye it! That's what I did today and I can't wait to show you the results. My favorite ribbon is satin. Unfortunately (or so I thought yesterday) it only comes in Whisper White. Hmm... then I thought maybe I should try to dye it. The re-inkers are perfect for that. But I wanted a solution that was quick drying, so I decided to use rubbing alcohol to dilute the ink. It's perfect! By varying the amount of drops of ink you mix with the alcohol, you control the intensity of the color. 

So here's my first attempt:

I did 2 strands of ribbon at a time and then let them dry in my makeshift "dying station" in my studio sink. Notice the crumpled up surgical gloves... it's a must when you handle concentrated ink like that.

I used one of the ribbons to make a project which should be ready to show tomorrow. The other ribbon, I dyed a 2nd time to see if I can intensify the color. It's drying right now and I can't wait to see the result.

So all of a sudden I'm not so upset that Stampin' Up! only carries the White Satin Ribbon. Really, it's all I need. That and all the re-inkers! And now I have access to a whole new world of ribbon colors!!! Oh the possibilities -- so exciting!

Also, you may have noticed the new button on the right-hand sidebar. It's the Holiday Extravaganza, yeah! And from now until January 4th, receive a free Decor Elements (a value of up to $22.95) when you spend $65 on products in this Guide. Contact me to place your order!

I'll be back tomorrow with the project I made with my newly-dyed ribbon. 

Have a great Monday!

CeeCee

forget-me-not keeper and little giveaway

This week, I'm re-organizing. That's actually my favorite thing to do! While I was putting away my new In Color cardstock in my filing cabinet, I ran out of room. Oh no, what to do?! Something had to go. Of course, not throwing out... I came across this file folder full of ready-stamped images and ready-to-use card bases so I decided to move them out of there and put them in Forget-Me-Not Keepers from SU. Perfect size! You can stack 'em one too!

I have to redo the label on the front (I was in a hurry to put all the stuff away). But I love it! Here's the inside:

So this will be my go-to when I want to make a card before I dive into my full sheet of cardstock. I love it! I can see a whole bunch of other uses for these keepers. What about you? Feel free to share any ideas; write in the comments... who knows?! Maybe a little candy can find its way to you! You have until Monday night, 11:59 p.m. (ET) to participate.

Have a great day!

CeeCee

another tip: cutting without wasting

... or making it fit. I've been giving workshops for a good 4 years now and it always surprises me to find out that a lot of cardmakers/scrapbookers are not using their paper trimmer to its full potential. Let me explain.

Remember this tip? Well, that left me with a 10 1/4" square piece of paper. My problem was I needed to cut out 4 pieces of 4" X 5 1/4" out of it. If I'd gone ahead and cut first at 4" all across and then at 5 1/4", I would have missed 1/4" to get 4 pieces.

Here's how I proceeded. I put my paper in at 4" and slid my blade up to 5 1/4" using the little guides and the ruler of my paper trimmer, as illustrated here:

Then I turned my paper over and twisted it to align it at the 5 1/4" mark and cut all the way up to 4", meeting up with the end of the first cut. That way, I was able to get the 4 pieces I needed!

Here are the cards I made using the borders that I trimmed off my 12X12 sheet:

With this decorative border, I was able to embellish 6 cards! And no need for ribbon with such a pretty border (gasp!). Some more cards....

Alright, I know you guys probably have had enough with this color scheme but it allowed me to share some tips with you. I'll be sad to see the current In Colors go but ... make way for the NEW ONES...!

Tomorrow is a BIG DAY for Stampin' Up! customers since the new Idea Book and Catalogue is coming out and I'm so excited about all the new toys we'll have to play with!!! I'll be posting projects with the new In Colors so stick around.

As well, I will be sharing another tip with my newsletter subscribers. So make sure you are subscribed by clicking on the link "Subscribe to my newsletter" in the left-hand column, right underneath my picture. My newsletter comes out tomorrow and it'll be full of info and fun stuff!

Until then, go play in the sunshine!

CeeCee

a tip to share and more glitter cards for my desk top organizer

Here's a second set of cards I made from the scraps of paper. I love coming up with card layouts that will maximize my scraps. I find that when your choices are limited, I'm more creative.

And now for a tip. Sometimes, when you buy a pack of DSP, like Sweet Slumber in this particular instance, some of the paper has more of a scrapbooking feel to them. Since I'm more of a cardmaker than a scrapbooker, these paper were kind of lost on me. Until I came up with a way to maximize my use of them, like so:

This gorgeous paper had a swirly border and the inside of it is super cute; Baja Breeze with polka dots. The borders will be used as well... 

 

... and I'll show you the cards tomorrow.

Don't forget that today and tomorrow are the last 2 days where you can acquire some of the retiring accessories and stamp sets that are retiring. Call me or email me to find out about availability and place your order. Some of those products are at reduced price so take advantage of it!

Until tomorrow, take care!

CeeCee