Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Paper Crafts Contributor, Lauren Romano.

Although there are a lot of beautiful cards on the market, it’s hard to find one that’s exactly what you’re looking for and that the recipient would like. A little encouragement can do wonders for someone who isn’t feeling at their best, and this bright card in cheerful colors can lift the their spirits.

What you’ll need:

• Blank card
• Cardstock
• Scrapbook paper
• Ribbon Bow
• Rubber stamp
• Ink pad
• Embellishments
• Glitter glue pen
• Scissors
• Book
• Mod Podge

Step 1. Fold the blank card in half, then using Mod Podge, adhere the scrapbook paper onto the front of it. Press it down, then place it in between the pages of a heavy book for an hour so it flattens. Make sure no glue is leaking from the edges of the card otherwise it will stick to the pages of the book. When it’s dry, trim the excess paper.

Step 2. Use the Mod Podge to attach an embellishment onto the left side of the card. I chose a bright orange butterfly to match with the fall colors, but any type will do.

Step 3. Glue the cardstock onto the right side of the card, press it down, then let it dry before you trim off the excess; it doesn’t matter if the cardstock side is less than the left side. Choose a bright solid color cardstock that accents the scrapbook paper. It should be a light enough color that you will be able to clearly see the writing when you use the rubber stamp later on.

Step 4. Use the glitter glue pen to draw a vertical line along where the cardstock and paper connect.

Step 5. Glue a bow onto the top right side of the card. Match the bow to the other colors on the card.

Step 6. Choose a rubber stamp that has a positive quote, then stamp it under the bow.

By Tonya from the Spellbinders Blog.

Tonya used her Grand Calibur Machine to die cut and emboss the larger pieces of this beautiful 5″ tall bird hose. She used the Labels Four Die for the roof, front and back. The Standard Circles Die once cut and embossed becomes the hole in the front.

Spellbinders Die Nestabilities Labels 4

Then Tonya embellished her little home with bling, and decorated it using her Presto Punch Machine. She used the Petal Pack, and the circle, flower, leaf punch templates included with the machine to create the blooms.

• Standard Circles Small
• Labels Four Small
• Grand Calibur Machine
• Presto Punch Machine

Additional Supplies:

• Self-Adhesive Jewels
• Patterned Paper
• Decorative Brads
• ColorBox Antique Pewter Pigment Ink
•  Your favorite adhesive

By Craft Trends Contributor, Trent Jaxon.

Hello Again!

It’s time for CHA Sneak Peek Round 2. This time I will be sharing with you all of the hottest products coming out for Scrapbooking and Paper Crafting. It gets its own separate post because there was an abundance of great new products at this show. It’s going to be an awesome year for Paper and Scrap!

Lets start from the “bottom and work our way up” shall we? PAPER!

We saw some great new collections from K&Co, Bo Bunny, and Imaginesce. Die Cuts With a View had a couple of new lines outs. The one that got the most buzz at the show was their “Immortal Love” collection. That’s right crafters vampire themed paper. Sure to have the inner tween girl in you just aflutter. The only questions I have is whose team are you on? Team Notion or Team Belle (my two puppies)?

DCWV Immortal Love coming soon to CreateForLess!

Paper Accents has some great new products that debuted at the show. Their new One Sheet Wonder and Detail blending papers are perfect for your inks and Copic Markers and their felted Chalkable cardstock was great. I also really liked their new Denim and Stonewash jeans textured papers. Their most popular new line is Glitz. This is a superior line of glitter cardstock. It is low odor, low rub-off and it can easily be used with most hand punches and die-cut machines. It is available in 18 fantastic colors in both 12×12 and 8.5×11. Get some today!

Working our way up lets talk about inks and other liquid mediums. Ranger has released a new line of Distressed Stains by Tim Holtz. This line offers a fast and easy way to cover a large area with distress color and they are fully compatible with all of your regular distress inking products.

Tattered Angels is a new addition for CreateForLess. Their Glimmer Mist, Glimmer Glam and Glimmer Glaze are all great products. This versatile line makes it easy to add just a hint of sparkle up to a rich dimensional bling on all of your projects.

We also saw some great new line additions from Colorbox Inks, ClearSnap Smooch and Glitter Shakers.

Now lets get some embellishments on those pages and cards! EK Success has a plethora of great new stickers. The most popular line at the show was their line of Cabochon Dimensional Stickers. They look great and are an easy way to add depth.

Tim Holtz Ideaology brings us some awesome new metal, glass and acrylic embellishments. Great for all projects these will especially appeal to those of you that enjoy steam punk themes.

Jenni Bowlin brings us a great slice of vintage Americana. Her chipboard shapes were amazing as were all her embellishments and kits.

We also saw some amazing new lines from Bo Bunny, Imaginisce, K&Co, and Stampendous. The best part is you can find all of these wonderful products at CreateForLess!

By Scrapbook & Paper Crafts Contributor Kim, from the Blog “Paper Hugs”.

Do buttons with the shank on the back turn you off while paper crafting? I have wire cutters to cut them off, so that they will lie flat on my project (and I always wear glasses when I cut them.) But if they are metal, cutting them off is a no-go. So I decided to take advantage of this little speed bump (because the button is a VERY neat one!)

I embraced the dimension and added my metal button to the butterfly. I cut a small hole in the center of my die cut butterfly and pushed the button through the hole.

Then I pushed 2 decorative pins through the button hole.

I adhered the butterfly to my card with Therm O Web glue dots.

Decorative pins add such a cool touch to butterflies. I hope you give this a try, I’d love to see what you create!

By Scrapbook & Paper Crafts Contributor Jennifer, from the blog “So Many Products, So Little Time”.

I always like to add a little dimension (or a lot) to my cards. I have to admit that ribbon sometimes intimidates me because I feel that if I don’t have the perfect bow and loops it’s a flop. One of my resolutions for 2011 is to learn how to tie a bow! That’s what I like about Pom Pom Ribbon – no tying required! I also find it pretty easy to adhere with Mini Glue Dots or a strong Liquid Adhesive. If you are going for a vintage look you can always use staples. On my card I wanted the ribbon to look pretty loose so I adhered unevenly to the card.

To create this card:

• Create card base from patterned paper.
• Cut smaller rectangle from snowflake paper and adhere to lower part of horizontal card.
• Adhere sticker strip to top portion of card. Don’t worry if you don’t have a sticker strip, a strip patterned paper works just as well!
• Adhere ice skate or other winter sticker to card.
• Adhere Pom Pom ribbon below sticker strip.

By Scrapbook & Paper Crafts Contributor Jennifer, from the blog “So Many Products, So Little Time”.

I love to use circle templates, but because I make a lot of cards and smaller projects – often I do not use the entire circle. On this card I cut the circle in half and saved the other half for a future project. There are a variety of circle templates available or you can also trace a small plate or other items around your house.

To create this card:

• Create the card base from white cardstock. The card size is 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ so I cut an 8 1/2″ x 11″ piece of white cardstock in half on the long side and now have a second card base to use for another card. You can also purchase premade white card bases.
• Cut a piece of patterned paper slight smaller and adhere.
• Cut circle from patterned paper, cut the circle in half and adhere.
• Add ribbon to the flat side of the circle.
• Add alphabet stickers and the sticker strip to the card.
• Add flowers and rhinestones above the ribbon.

By Scrapbook & Paper Crafts Contributor Kim, from the Blog “Paper Hugs”.

I love to look at each stamp image in a way that is not expected. It’s a challenge for me…and it makes creating more rewarding, I think anyways.

I started with a stamp set that was intended to create a scene with a tree…I took it a step further and made a pattern with the tree trunk. First, I saw it as a branch, so I turned it horizontally. I wanted a patterned panel, so I stamped and turned the tree stamp.

But what I chose to do is a really easy technique but one that you may not think of…making a flower from leaf stamps. A poinsettia to be exact…so here you go.

Start by stamping the leaf.

Re-ink the stamp…overlap the smallest leaf, continue around a circle.

You will end up with a flower that you can cut out to use as an accent, so don’t worry too much about imperfect edges (unless you are not cutting out the accent flowers). I folded each flower petal for added dimension.

Add a brad, pearls, jewels or button to the center. Chang the ink colors for different flowers. Use scissors to round the edges of the flowers. Use single leaves as well. Try this with punched leaves too. Just take a closer look at your stamps, you never know what you will see when you take the time to challenge yourself.