I Won!!

I won a great prize over at Scrapin'Jeni's  This was for her Ha Ha give away.  I was really surprised I won!!  Jeni is a CTMH consultant / Manage and has a great blog full of tips and tricks for card making and scrap booking.  I have never used a CTMH product before and I am looking forward to making a card with my new stamps and trying them out!!  I love how CTMH has created a awesome storage system for their products - that I have seen!

Here is my sweet prize!  How nice is this??

Thank you Jeni!!

Thank you for stopping by!

Ginny M

Gate fold with a Twist Card and a freebie

Hopefully this is the last cad I will be making after a dead line!  I only belong two three swap groups, good thing because this summer I've had a difficult time keeping up!  This card was for a "Gatefold with a Twist" card.  

You can go here to watch the tutorial by my friend Jen Evers: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duVoFPtXwsg

I have never made one of these cards and probably never will again.  That is one of the good things 

about swaps and challenges, you try things you normally wouldn't and it helps you grow in your art!

This card basically has two viewing areas, the top with a gate fold:

which opens to this:

which then flips up to the second viewing area:

The base size of the card is 5.5x4.25 but because of the dimension it is quite thick.

I used the Authentique paper pad called Legacy, I really like this paper, great colors and intresting designs!! 

I will leave the sentiment here for you  and for your card making:

I did this in the Papyrus font

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have  great weekend!

Ginny M

Keeping things Sharp

I do a whole lot of cutting in my studio, I cut for papers my cards, I cut 12x18 into sheets for bulk sales, paper for kits, paper for others sellers, paper for DT projects, online sales .  For really big bulk projects I take it to a print shop and have them cut it.    I really miss using the GIANT cutter from the letterpress shop I worked in last summer! I use a stack cutter for the small bulk projects. I have two guillotine cutters, a 12x12 Genesis trimmer and baby 6x6 Genesis like trimmer.  Keeping everything sharp is a challenge.  All of these machines have blades that will last decades as long as you take care of them.  For the guillotine cutters and the stack, the blades are removable, the Genesis trimmers have geared rotary blades which run about 40.00 each to replace.

To keep everything sharp I decided to look to for a sharpening stone that I could work with instead of taking things apart and bringing them to the place where they do this.
I Looked on eBay for a sharpening stone and since I really don't know a lot about sharpening things I used the small amount of knowledge I do have and picked this ruby/quartz oil stone.  White side for working out really dull blades and dings, red side to polish and hone the blade.  These are meant to be used wet.  You can use water, I used a bit of mineral oil. Since I sharpen my own scissors and Kitchen knives, I thought how much harder could this be?  I would have mentioned the seller but since there were no instructions of any kind with this and the seller didn't a great rating or respond to my question about instructions, I'm not leaving his name.

I paid 6.00 including shipping and this will last longer than I know where it is. 

I've used it on my guillotine cutters and it brought the blade up beautifully.  I know a guillotine is supposed to be self sharpening but working the blade on the stone did give it a much better edge.  That means on my Boston cutter I can do 4 sheets of 100# with a good clean cut - I was only getting 2!

More importantly I wanted to put a better edge on my rotary trimmers, with the blades costing 40.00 each it is very important to me to make it last as long as possible.

If you have one of these trimmers (they are very expensive, fortunately I purchased my 12" on eBay for 40.00 - they sell for 300.00+ and the 6" for 20.00) you need to also maintain the cog and trolley bar.  It's simple, clean and a few drops of oil or silicone spray or better yet Triflo liquid. Just remember to wipe everything down, you don't want oil on your papers!!

My cutter is about 20 years old, I've had it for 5 and use it every day - a lot!  It is a fine precision trimmer and literally shaves paper

To bring the edge back up to razor sharpness

running the blade along the stone a an angle on both side

Working this carefully I was able to achieve a honed edge.

The sharpening and oiling took about 5 minutes  on the big trimmer

The little one took a little longer.  This machine is new to me and came also from ebay.

It has proved invaluable already in making my card kits.  The blade was rusty and there were no guide ling on the cutter bed or measurements across the top.  That is not good, not when you are cutting for kits.

That fix was fairly simple, I glued a hem guide across the top bar and I will be finding a grid to print and place on the bed 

The blade took about 15 minutes to clean, hone and oil

The guy I bought this from thought it was for cutting plastic - it is a vintage industrial photo trimmer!

The stone and new trimmer cost less than one trip to the sharpening shop.

It now sits on my very space challenge desk - Yay!

Here is a picture of the card/Kit I was working on 

I sell these  the in kits of 4 cards, I make one and everything you need is in the kit to make 3 more.  7.00 + 2.50 for shipping

Thanks for stopping by and if you cut a lot you might want to try an oil stone too!

Ginny M

WORD ART WEDNESDAY challenge# 198 Spectrum Noir Lesson Three, Using "Essentials".

It's Word Art Wednesday and time for Challenge # 198 Anything Goes!  I so enjoy working for this blog, so many wonderful women  make this blog happen, week after week!  Designed to keep the creative juices flowing by bring a fresh Scripture Verse every week, a devotion, examples to inspire and if that weren't enough Prizes!! It's like PERFECT!!

This weeks verse by Karen Murray is :

                                       I picked a mushroom image to illustrate this verse.                                                                           Why- because they are just one of those things Like God that are there.                             They aren't planted, they just appear when you least expect it and they remain, silently waiting.

I like this image so much I created a kit using it to continue teaching Spectrum Noir Coloring!

The kit contains the works for 4 of these beautiful cards!

The cards for the kits do not contain the bible verse, if you would like me to print them and add them to your kit I gladly will.  These beautiful verses are gifts and not for sale!

The kit contains the works for 4 of these beautiful cards!

A step by step tutorial:

Images for practice along with coloring

Papers and a dry embossed tree background

A set of Spectrum Noir Alcohol Pens "Essentials"

the Essentials pack contains a skin tone, black, two shades of gray for creating shadows and depth and the all important blending pen!

you can purchase the kits here or you can send me a message through the comments that you are interested in a kit!

With this kit you will be able to make 4 of these beautiful cards using premium card stocks and papers and have a awesome pen set to continue building your Spectrum Noir Collection!

Here are a few tips how I did it :

Doing one mushroom at a time and the snail shell I colored in using EB1

Next I added EB7  using a light streak for the gills and dots on the stems - blending with EB1 in small circular motions.  Part of the fun of alcohol marker coloring is seeing your image come alive as you build and add and sometimes take away with color.  The formula or technique that works best is the technique you develop  through coloring with your pens!

Gills before blending

After blending

Next I added shadow and depth by using  BGR1 and blending with EB1

along the crown of the mushroom and on the stem - I used dots and blended, adding more color until I was satisfied  with the depth and color

Using several shades of green colored pencil, I colored in the grass and blended using the Blending Pen!!  The blending pen is wonderful for blending your colored pencils!  It also works like a bleach pen if you leave it on the ink long enough.  You can correct the "oops" marks by doting on the blending pen and letting it dry.  With all Alcohol marker coloring you will want to have a clean absorbent sheet of paper underneath your image. The helps the blending pen ink remove the offending ink by leeching it out of the image paper .  I use a sheet of cold press water color paper.

using Several orange and red colored pencils I colored in the Morel Mushroom

I blended using EB1 and to make it pop even more, I used white colored pencil in the Morel's dimples and blended with EB1.

A little blue and green for the snail and his shell

Here my coloring is done I fussy cut the image:

 I worked at finding great background papers.

 I have a trick  for my fussy cut images - I do like fussy cutting!

I outline my image like this:

Placing the image on a sheet of scrap, I outline the edge by creating the line on the paper and letting the edge guide the  bullet nib on the black pen.  Works every time and it is quick and easy!

         You can see here the image is edged beautifully with out taking a lot of time.

I add a lot of dimensional tape - this is purely personal preference.

And the finished Lesson Three Card

 I hope you find this helpful with your coloring adventures, Don't forget to enter Word Art Wednesday's Challenge # 198!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ginny M

Quick Nautical card and a freebie

I needed a Quick  Nautical card for a swap I was late on - oops!
Anyway, I wanted it to be fun and not just another ship  card.

So I used one of my digital stamps:

you can right click and save

I reversed the Image and added a sentiment

I printed two of the images in order to give it dimension

Colored with my Spectrum Noir markers 

and had this card done in about 10 minutes

A6 size on textured card base

This made my husband smile.

Don't we all feel this way??

Thanks for stopping by!

Ginny M

Back home and a freebie

We've been traveling this weekend, off to lake placid for a beautiful wedding!  

My Sweet Niece  married a wonderful guy this Saturday

 and we celebrated with family and friends for the weekend.

In the middle of all of this fun I took a few minutes  to think about this scripture, I am so thankful for  the loving Kindness of God and the paths He chooses for us!

I made this card today for a friends Birthday and I am  giving you the image to help you with your card making.

I printed min on a natural white paper and then gave it black outlines

I hope you like this and can use it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ginny M

New Papers!!

                     I have  new papers in!  Perfect timing for your holiday card making!!

This is a wonderful paper I discover in my Printing/letterpress world - perfect for Alcohol markers and Colored Pencils  100# Brilliant White

$5.00 per pack and 2.50 shipping

Premium Card Base Cardstocks with envelopes

Neenah Textured 100#

Baronial style emvelope

Also in Ivory 

Christmas colors up next!!

Word Art Wednesday # 197

It is Word Art Wednesday Challenge # 197!

  If you entered last week don't forget to check back to see if you won!

Every week we have a great bible verse digitized by the Talented and

oh so hard working Karen Murray.  Karen has gifted us with 197 bible verses, all at no cost!  Check out her link, she has some really beautiful things that would make wonderful gifts for yourself and for friends and family!  Karen Letchworth is our Blog Director/Administrator and works tirelessly to make this good work happen.  I am very thankful for both of these talented Godly ladies, they have made my life better and helped me share the word in a way I had never dreamed!

Our verse this week personally ministered to me 

Right now I'm in the middle of a whole bunch of things.  One of them getting my cottage business 'Maxam Made Studio' up and running full swing.  There are so many components to this highly competitive business it is making me a little dizzy.  I am trying to sell quality crafting products that I have tried and loved at a great price, and I am in the same corral with thousands of other small sellers and the really big guys.   But I believe I have a vision for a business that can thrive, Quality, Honesty and Education for a fair price.  That is something we all want.

So when I needed to take a break from the mayhem and make my sample card - well 

This is the state of my craft room and I do not like it, 

It looks like a craftplosin, everywhere, my room, living room and dinning room. 

and for a second I thought am I making a mistake can this really work?

Then I pulled up the verse for today's card - I hadn't looked at it yet:

So I am going to keep chopping, gluing and typing and believe God is going to make this abound for our family!

How about you?  Do you need a little encouragement?  Let this verse settle in and you will feel the Joy and Peace of God!

While making cards I have started doing something a little different if possible:

I am starting to use my Spectrum Noir Black to line my cards.  I like to make larger cards, the A6 size and A7 size and I really like layers, so between the larger sizes and layers it tips the postage into the 2oz rates.  By edging  the paper I am able to eliminate the black liner layer.  This keeps the card light and more economical to make!

I set up my digital verse for printing:

Pop in the paper:

this is a canon pixma printer, very inexpensive and I love it, I use two all day long!

Refilling my ink cartridges is so inexpensive: Color is about 25 CENTS a cartridge!

Lining again:

And here is my card:

Thank you for stopping by and I hope to see your card in the Challenge!

Ginny M