TIPsy Tuesday - Easy Wood Grain

Wood grain has been a big trend in scrapbooking.  There are a lot of chipboard letters out there in woodgrain looks.  I stumbled across this easy way to get a wood grain with undressed chipboard:

Thin dark brown paint slightly - not too thin or your chipboard will warp.  Brush onto plain chipboard with a somewhat rough paintbrush - one that has been used a lot.  You'll get a nice grainy look.

Old paintbrushes - that's another way scrapbooking let's you repurpose stuff!

One quick project notes:

• The cork is leftover from my tumbled tile coaster projects.  It's just shelf liner from Lowes Hardware.

My goal for this layout was to use some of my older stash.  I think everything on this layout except the ink is at least 2 or 3 years old.  Thanks for stopping by!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Polka Dot Punches, Office Accruement by SU!

Ink:  Soft Suede

DSP:  My Mind's Eye

Embellishments:  Oriental Trading

Chipboard:  Unknown source (I've had it a very long time.)

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TIPsy Tuesday - What matches DSP

Have you had any fresh strawberries this season?  We've found plenty in stores already and berries at nearby farms are usually ready mid-May.   With those on my mind, this just had to be the first paper I pulled out of the new October Afternoon Fly a Kite paper pad.  Then it was off to find some coordinating cardstock.

Maybe it is because I spend my professional life matching fabrics but when I'm scrapbooking or card making, I want my DSP and my cardstock to match as close as possible. To make it easier and mostly to use my crafting time as wisely as possible, I now check and note the cardstock colors that go with new DSP when it comes in or the first time I use a paper from that pack.  No matter how good the light, and I love my Verilux desk lamp, natural lighting is the best way to match papers.  But sometimes I'm working at night or other times when the lighting is poor in my room.  Having the color matches already figured out takes out the guesswork.  It also helps me see what papers I need to order from SU! or PTI. (Stampin' Up! cardstock has the colors already noted in the catalog so they make it really easy :-)

So I take my new designer papers and go through my Stampin' Up! and Papertrey Ink cardstock decks to figure out the best matches.  Sometimes I pull out full sheets of cardstock.  Then I note the colors that match a particular pack of DSP on the back of the paper pad or on a note I tape to the packaging.  That's it.  When I'm making a card, I know what is going to work and can pull all the paper out at once.

The paper deck I referred to is one I posted here -- Cardstock Reference Deck;  Of course, now that Stampin' Up! is changing color families I'll need to redo this deck.  As soon as we know the new 2010/11 In Colors, I plan to repost the deck file on Splitcoaststampers with a link here at the blog.  It will include all the current and just discontinued colors for SU and Papertrey Ink as well.

Yesterday morning, I was making a wedding card for my stepdaughter using some Basic Grey Marrakesh paper with green in it.  I didn't even have to check, my notes said Mellow Moss and sure enough it was the perfect paper. 

Here are the colors (by my interpretation) that go with the new October Afternoon Fly a Kite 8x8 paper pad:

From Stampin' Up!
Bermuda Bay/Taken with Teal
Chocolate Chip
So Saffron and Summer Sun
Dusty Durango

From Papertrey Ink:
Spring Moss
Berry Sorbet
Dark Chocolate isn't bad either.

Neutrals are Brown and Ivory


I also have October Afternoon's Thrift Shop and here are the colors for it:
Riding Hood Red
Bermuda Bay
So Saffron
Neutrals are Black and Ivory

Another benefit to doing some matching up is you can see what papers you need.  This is going to be especially helpful as I decide what discontinued colors I want to stock up on from Stampin' Up! in the next couple of months.

Happy Tuesday!  Thanks for visiting!

Ingredients: Stamps: Big Flowers, All Scallops by Stampin Up!; Mailbox Greetings by Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay by SU!
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Riding Hood Red, Choc Chip by SU!; Vintage Cream by PTI; Signo White Gel pen
DSP: Fly a Kite 8x8 paper pad by October Afternoon

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TIPsy Tuesday - Watercolor Paper Dimension

The size watercolor paper I buy often leaves me with narrow scraps that are hard to use after I've cut it up for my watercolor images.  I've finally found a good use for these scraps as dimensionals.  Sometimes I want to pop something off the face of a card or scrapbook page just a little - not as much as a spongy dimensional.  Using a layer of another material  - like watercolor paper - between layers of cardstock gives me that little bit of space.  You could also use some scrap chipboard.

Another thing about regular dimensionals - it can take a lot of them to fill up a space.  I would have needed probably 9 or 10 to do this card.  Using scrap watercolor paper is economical and ensures the card won't get crushed anywhere in the center. 

Project Notes:
 

• This design is for Splitcoaststampers Clean and Simple cards challenge.  The only stamped image allowed was a sentiment.  I just wanted to use up some scrap designer paper.
• I marked vertical lines on my card base to guide placement of the little strips of scrap paper.  The strips were 2" wide but only about 1 1/4" is showing. 
• The watercolor strips are trimmed down to about 1/4" less than the aqua cardstock.
• I used Tombow Mono tape runner adhesive to hold the layers of watercolor paper and cardstock together.

Thanks for visiting!

Ingredients:  Stamp Sets: Whimsical Words by Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Chesnut Roan fluid chalk ink, SU! brown journaling pen
DSP:  Basic Grey Nook and Pantry, October Afternoon Farm Fresh, MME for the solid aqua

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TIPsy Tuesday - Recoloring Brads

To create some graduation cards for my Operation Write Home cards, I thought it would be cute to make my own little graduation cap.  The center really needed a black brad and I didn't have one.  When you live over 15 miles from the nearest craft store, you learn to make do if you want to get done.  So I recolored a pastel colored brad.  Here's how:

1. Thorougly ink a smooth brad in pigment ink of the desired color. (Stampin' Up!'s Craft ink is a pigment ink.)  I used black Colorbox pigment ink for my example. 
   
   
   
2. Dip the inked brad in clear embossing powder and heat.  Be sure to hold the brad with tweezors to protect your fingers.
3. Repeat this process if necessary to get a full coating. 

That's it!  A very simple way to give your brads a dye job.  I did find that Colorbox pigment ink did a better job than Stampin' Up!  I'd love to hear your experiences with inks.

Project Notes:

• This is one of the few pattern papers I had with black in it and forunately it is two sided.  I used a strip of the stripe for the center and turned the paper over for the aqua color.  I didn't have any cardstock that matched this paper.
• The morterboard is simply a 2" square of black cardstock with a hole punched in the center for the brad.  I attached it with dimensionals.
• The tassels is made from DMC embroidery floss and adhered to the card with a glue dot.

Thanks for stopping by for Tipsy Tuesday!

Ingredients:  Designer Paper from Two Bugs in a Rug

Stamps:  Congrats from SU!

Ink:  Black pigment ink from colorbox, Basic Black for greeting from SU!

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