How to make a stamped grid background

I was so excited to be asked by Club Scrap (my favorite paper company in the universe!) to create some cards for their new kit - Tilescapes.  All of my cards are featured in the Tilescapes Scrap Rap - check it out - it's a free magazine with great ideas for papercrafting.

The Tilescapes theme and stamps lent themselves really well to creating wonderfully intricate background like this card:

I started by putting my stamps on a gridded acrylic ruler - this is the 2x8 one by Club Scrap.  I like their rulers because they are made for papercrafters with 1/8" separation, but gridded rulers can also be found as quilting supplies. The lines will help keep things straight as I go.

Giving Thanks - a little reminder

I'm spending this week with my family, and extremely thankful that I have the opportunity to do so. I hope my all of my readers spend some time with those they love this week.

So, an appropriate card for the season to share the thought with you...

If you missed the earlier post that featured the techniques used in this card, check it out.  Back next week with some brand new cards featuring some brand new stamps!

Hand stitched book with snowflake spacers

Sometimes, I like to put too many layers in a book, like matted photos and embellishments.  Putting spacers in the spine helps let you put more embellishments in a book while still allowing it to close. This book features a hand-stamped cover with snowflakes:

I folded white pieces of paper in half before using a snowflake border die (Snow Flurries) to cut the open edge.  Every other signature in the book had a snowflake folded around it.  Here is what the spacer looks like in the book:

Dazzling Holiday Cards

In Europe, stickers known as "peel-offs" are extremely popular.  They're made in the Netherlands, I think, and craft stores will have scores of them.  They are all glittery, and come in a variety of styles.  The sticker part is the outline of the image, and they look like embossed images when placed on paper.  One of the easiest things to do with them is to put them on a piece of cardstock and color in the image.  Here, I used smooch ink to make a shimmery colored image.

One of the best distributors of these stickers in the US is the company Paper Wishes/Hot off the Press.  They also have a monthly club that sends you a set of 4 stickers (they call them "Dazzles") every month along with a selection of coordinating paper and embellishments.  Here is an example of a stacked dazzle card: