Let's Start 2012 off right...with Card Patterns!

WOW, fellow frugal crafters, it's been a REALLY LONG siesta for this frugal crafter!  Did you ever LOVE a hobby SO MUCH that you lived it, breathed it, and slept it?  And if ANYTHING got in your way...be it work, family or friends, you just got cranky?...well I think that's what happened to me...until July 19th, that is:)

You know, some people get hooked on Facebook, Twitter, etc, but I got way out of whack hooked on my crafting!  So there was no other way to fix this than to do it cold turkey...no goodbyes or anything...just "rip that bandaid off" as I always say.

I've always been one of those people that JUMP with both feet in the air and concentrate on one thing so much that I forget everything else around me!  I have long been the "queen" of tuning things out and getting lost in my own little world...then something happened last summer that made me re-think how I spend my spare time...I won't go into details, and it's all good in the end, but I decided to spend the last 6 months making NEW memories instead of crafting about the old.  It was time well spent, and I am finally ready to get back to the hobby I love best...in moderation:)

When asking what my grandkids would like for Christmas, my daughter says..."Well, Mom...I think they'd love a scrapbook"...and that got me thinking that I need to find a "happy medium" between making memories and preserving them...

So I visited my blog a few days ago and thought, why not start where I ended back on July 19th?...with a sketch from Card Patterns!  I have a few January birthdays coming up, and LOVE to make cards, so here we go...and I had a GREAT time easing back into my mojo mode...enJOY!

 In true frugal fashion, I used nothing but my stash.  One of the things I love to do most is take various manufacturers paper and patterns and put them together in one project.  Card Patterns had a great sketch this week, see here for sketch.

Another thing I love to do is carry my card design to the inside of my card.  This one is kind of simple and that's the way I like it...more room for my personal sentiment:)

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you are looking forward to a year filled with love, happiness, creativity, and good health:)

Frugal....REALLY?

Hello all:)

I've been thinkin' about something that a VERY GOOD friend of mine mentioned to me the other day, so I thought...WOW, if this AMAZINGLY insightful friend of mine thought this...I'm sure it's crossed the mind of many other of my blogging buddies...and this is now my question of the day...

FRUGAL...REALLY?

Now I'm sure you all know that there are two things that are very "Close to my Heart" when it comes to paper crafting...FRUGALITY and TIM HOLTZ products...and the question came up about how I tie these two things together...and this is a VERY good question indeed:)

So I decided to reflect on what I mean, and thought I'd share a few things with you on my interpretation:)

Now, I do have to admit...I don't consider ALL of Tim's goodies to be frugal and those are items I typically use sparingly on my projects.  That being said, there are MANY things linked to Tim's name that I do find to be VERY FRUGAL purchases. I NEVER go anywhere without these products. When I think of FRUGAL, I think of "cost per use" basis shopping.


My top 10 are (in no particular order)

1. Distress inks & stains

I've been surfing the web this morning looking at some AMAZING projects and am hardpressed to find ONE that doesn't use at least ONE of Tim's products...Distress inks are definitely up there at the top...a paper crafter should NOT live without them:)


2. Alcohol Inks
 
Now, you know that the challenge has always been how to "paint" metal, glass, plastic, and other non-porous surfaces, right?  Well, alcohol inks do a TREMENDOUS job on these surfaces...and the best part is that the coverage is transluscent so the character of the surface is still evident.  I now by MOSTLY white/cream pearls and rhinestones and change the color as needed with my handy alcohol inks.
 
3. Perfect Pearls

These awesome powders work tremendously well with distress inks when applying them directly to your project...they act kind of like embossing powder as it clings to the distress inked areas and are set with the Heat Tool....but better yet, when mixed with a little water in a mini mister, they become an awesome glimmery spray.  I just love using the spray technique because I can apply my distress inks to my project with more control for color and then spray my perfect pearls concoction to add the perfect level of glimmer.

4. Ranger Archival Ink

My FAVORITE ink for use with stamps when I want a really CRISP finish (perfect for sentiment stamps and flourishes, etc).  Stamps with alot of detail are also great because this ink doesn't "bleed" on your paper.

4. Distress tools (all are in this category such as the applicator AND the sponges)

Now, if you know me well, you know I started out with "frugal" distress ink/alcohol ink tools...but now????  I have to admit I have a separate distress tool for each color of distress ink I own...why, you may ask???? My second "frugal" philosophy...TIME IS MONEY, lol...I was tired of having to switch my sponges each time I wanted to use a new color of distress ink (plus, have you ever tried to "label" sponges with the color they are?)  Now I know there are some amazing ideas for keeping the sponges with the inks, like attaching a velcro piece to the bottom of the ink pad and attaching the sponge to it when not in use, but again, TIME IS MONEY...and I'd still have to keep switching them, lol...

5. Mini Misters

What can I say here?  Mini Misters are a MUST HAVE!  The can be filled with water, blending solution, perfect pearls concoctions, etc.  I use these ALL the time!

6. Heat It Tool

The quietest, but most effective heat tool I've come across.

7. Paper Distressor

NOT distress a paper edge???  It can't be!  I distress EVERYTHING!!!!  I do sometimes use scissors, but normally tear the paper MORE than I intended, so this distress tool is the BEST!

8. Tonic Scissors

The BEST scissors I've found for the price.  LOVE THEM!

9.  Alterations Dies

Now, I know you do need some sort of diecutting maching to use these...but you can now find them secondhand, so no need to fret...I use the alterations dies ALL the TIME...remember cost per use basis???  I'm talkin' pennies with these since I use them so much...the best part is that they don't just cut through paper, they can cut through chipboard, corregated cardboard, fabric, fun foam, aluminum (think soda cans)...plastic (think packaging), etc.

10.  Texture fades

I just LOVE these embossing folders for altering paper and adding texture to my projects...another MUST HAVE.

My cost per use philosophy:

Let's use the Heat It Tool as an example since that's probably the most expensive item on my top 10 list...It retails for around $25, but I've probably used it about 200 times since I purchased it...so we're talkin' about $.125 per use.  Now I could have purchased a less expensive heat tool, but they are MUCH louder AND tend to blow my projects ALL over the place while the Heat It tool is VERY quiet and while it really HEATS, it does so without blowing my projects around.

If you have any questions, or have other suggestions for uses of my top ten items above, feel free to leave a comment:)

Putting Pen to Paper...

What an AWESOME and much needed CHALLENGE for me...ahhhhhh, I get to use my "word of the year" here:)

Putting Pen to Paper...I've always thought scrapbooking, for me anyway, is an EMOTIONAL JOURNEY through the MEMORIES of this WONDERFUL life I'm BLESSED with!

Now, I have to admit...I find most of my EMOTION in the fotos I take...I LOVE IT when one of my fotos exudes EMOTION...but alas, I also need to realize that those who VIEW these FOTOS may not SEE the emotion as I SEE it...possibly because they weren't there with me to EXPERIENCE the emotion firsthand, possibly because they SEE things in a different LIGHT...and quite possibly, it's because I'm just CRAZY WEIRD in how I SEE things, lol...

Sooooo....sometimes, WORDS are needed to BRING the story and fotos to LIFE...Not always ALOT of WORDS, sometimes just a few well placed words will do it...

BUT...what IF there are NO fotos to TELL the STORY you want to TELL?  What if you just want to TELL the STORY?...BUT to add the right MIX of EMOTION, how about if you just use EMBELLISHMENTS and ALTERED ART?

OH YES, BABY....this IS gonna be AWESOME!!!!!

I'm gonna put a little twist on the Pen to Paper Challenge over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog...I'm gonna TELL a STORY...and let the embellishments I chose help exude the EMOTION!  Whoo hoo!  I'm SOOOOOO EXCITED!

Now, the hard part...I can't show you my ENTIRE layout just yet...because, it's also going to be my SKETCH CHALLENGE project!

Without further adieu, here's a sneak peek:) 



You'll have to wait until February 28th for the full reveal...but trust me...it's gonna be chock full of "Frugal Goodness", so stop back:)

Frugal Flourish Bling:)

Don't you just LOVE all that bling out there in the market place?  The wispy goodness is just too hard to resist, isn't it?  But alas...what's a frugal scrapper to do?  Even though there are some AMAZINGLY affordable companies out there, I still find myself asking...how can I do that myself?

Over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog, they have links to some great tutorials on how to make your own flourish/swirl bling for your projects, so be sure to check it out.  Here is a direct link to the post.

I have come up with one more way to make FRUGAL flourish templates for your crafting projects.  Now, I know this isn't rocket science, lol, and you may have seen this technique before, but since I have not seen it anywhere, I AM considering this a "Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire" idea.

Using one of my flourish stamps, I stamped with black ink onto a piece of chipboard.  Then I took my trusty crop-a-dile and using the smaller of the two hole punches, I punched my way around the flourish, spacing the holes every 1/4" or so.  I realized that the "reach" on my crop-a-dile was a minor challenge when I got to the middle of the flourish, so I decided to loosely cut around the stamped image so I could more easily punch some of the holes.



Then I got out my trusty stickles and dropped just a smidge into each hole....and...VOILA...my very own FRUGAL flourish bling:)  Now you all know that the biggest complaint about stickles is how long they take to dry...so if you don't mind a more subdued blingy appearance, you can use the tip of a toothpick and dip it into some stickles you squirted out on your craft mat to drop into each hole in your template.

Whenever I use a toothpick to apply stickles, besides having more control over where it lands, it dries much quicker because there is much lighter coverage.  This is especially helpful with small projects like cards or tags where you don't want the bling to be too overwhelming anyway.

I did find that it was much easier to work from the back of my template because the stamped side was a bit distracting.  You can also consider the fact that now you can determine the direction that your flourish goes based on which side of the template you use.

I'm sure you could also use this template to place glue if you still prefer to add crystals or other bling to your project.

Once finished, just clean off any extra stickles (or glue) stuck to the template with a dry paper towel.



Of course, for those of you who are daring enough, you can also just "draw" your flourishes freehand with no template at all:)  I've tried it and it works fine...you can always practice on scrap paper first:)

Challenge...it's just a word

So I've been thinking over the last 5-6 weeks about WHAT my word is this year...

You know...there's alot of BUZZ in the crafting world about chosing "your word for the year"...and I've FINALLY settled on mine (with a little help from my hubby)...

C H A L L E N G E

That is my word for 2011.  I LOVE that word...I embrace THAT word...I am PASSIONATE about that word...

Now, I can't wait until this weekend, when I get to CHALLENGE myself to create some AWESOME projects to complete the next Frugal Scrappin' class on Feb 24th.

Stay tuned!

Reflecting on...Frugal Scrapping...

So.....I've been reflecting lately on the original purpose of my Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire blog...and I've realized that over the last year, I've moved away from the reason I originally started this blog...to share my ideas for FRUGAL paper crafting:)

With that being said (and with a little help from my scrappin' friends), I've been turned on to some AWESOME ideas for frugal scrappin' & paper craftin'.

My friend Jacquie found this awesome blog http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/ that has GREAT ideas for using your stash and replicating some of those awesome embellishments we all know and love...but, alas...sometimes just cannot purchase:(

FEAR NOT, fellow FRUGAL CRAFTERS, because there is SO much inspiration out there, that we may NEVER need to shop again...well, maybe ALMOST never, lol!

With that being said, I will definitely be bringing this blog back around full circle to what I love to do best...save my hard earned crafting $$ and spend wisely.  Now the newest and greatest paper will still be my guilty pleasure....BUT, going forward, MOST of my embellies on my projects will be "copykat" ideas I've come up with (or found on-line) that I will be sure to share with you all.

LOOK OUT Frugal Crafters...put your creative hats on, and join me on this amazing FRUGAL journey!

You definitely WON'T be disappointed:)

Now head on over to http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/ and leave some love...and tell them I sent you there:)...this is DEFINITELY a blog after my own frugal heart:)