Father's Day Message Box

I love cruising around the Internet, reading different creative blogs and learning new techniques.  I am a follower of The Graphics Fairy blog because of her awesome vintage images that she posts just about daily that are free to download (I love people who share!). I found this fun Father's Day Message Box from a link on her blog, and am now following Just Something I Made, which you should check out too!

Materials Used: 

Message Box download (click here )

Craft Knife & Cutting Mat

3D Crystal Lacquer

Crystal Color Lacquer (blue)

Black coated Jewelry Finding

Distressing Tool

Distressing Ink in Tea Dye

Crop a dile & dark brown grommets

Brown bakers twine

assorted goodies to fill the box

I downloaded the image and printed it on white cardstock.  I used my craft knife to cut the images out (on a craft mat) and used my Martha Stewart scoring board (which I love!) to score on the dotted lines.

 Now, there are instructions you can follow on the Just Something I Made blog, but I just went ahead and folded the scored lines and the box just kind of fell together really easily.  I did refer to the instructions after I had folded and glued the top portion....I guess I just wanted to make sure I did it right.  I used the Crystal Lacquer to glue this puppy together...just a few dabs here and there...it doesn't take much & it sticks together really well.  The images on the box are really nice, so there wasn't much decoration that needed to be done at this point.  Also, there are a few tags and labels on the sheet to cut out and use.

I used my Crop-o-dile to punch holes in the center of the circles printed on the front of the box & used a brown grommet in each to reinforce.  I used Crystal Lacquer and Crystal Color Lacquer (in blue) to add dimension on some of the water on the front of the box, and on some of the boulders on the back.  I also used it to some of the images on the tags.

I made a little charm (charm isn't very manly, but I thought it would add a little bit to the front of the box, so we'll just call it an embellishment) using a Black coated jewelry finding from Sakura.  I just googled "vintage fishing postcard" to find something I liked for the charm, I mean embellishment!  I printed it on white cardstock, cut it out, glued it into the finding and covered the image with crystal lacquer.  While this dried, I went ahead and started on my fillers for the box.  I distressed some of the edges, added more vintage images I had downloaded and printed, along with some pictures. 

Now this is where you can be as creative as ever - adding messages, photos, giftcards, tickets or whatever you want! I'm going to add a little gift certificate for a fishing license for Robert (my hubby and lucky recipient of this little number for Father's Day!).

Here's a picture of what I used to close the box.  Brown bakers twine, one of the tags and the "embellishment".  This was a quick project - but it looks oh so creative! 

 

Until next time - stay creative!

Check out Sakura's Blog, www.crystallacquer.blogspot.com

and their website, www.sakuracraft.com for more information, inspiration and products!

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We are so excited to announce that the Sakura Hobby Craft Design Team is having a blog hop on June 30th with Blog Candy... Here is your chance to join in a fun hop with a great group of blogs. The best part is that the Blog Candy entry is super easy! You just need to become or already a follower of each of the blogs on the hop and leave a comment on each of the blogs.. See, how easy is that. We will announce the winner of the blog candy on the Sakura Blog on July 3rd, so make sure you go check out each of the blogs and leave them some love....

You will start this hop at the Sakura Blog then just continue to hop.

 

Stephen's Thank You Card Project

My very good friend Rosann turned me on to this very worthwhile, heartwarming, make you feel fuzzy-all-over article, Stephen's Thank You Card Project.  When I had my store, we had sent cards to Operation Write Home, which if you haven't heard anything about,

is another super project to get involved with. 

Stephen is a 10-year old boy, who is determined to send roughly 180,000 handmade thank you cards to every single deployed soldier - WOW. 

 You can help Stephen out by making thank you cards, signing them and sending them off - in lots of 5 to the address on this form.  And, if that isn't enough to make you feel good all over, Bazzill Basics Paper is giving away 2 tickets to the 2011 Creative Escape, randomly drawn from those that send in their cards and the entry form by July 1st!  Yippie!

I've made 10 of these beauties so far and sent them off.  I plan to make more....who's going to join me??

 Let's get those cards made girls!

Creative Souls Retreat Announced!

Join us for a creative all-inclusive retreat nestled in the beautiful San Bernardino mountains offering cabin accommodations, creative art workshops & a 24-hour scrapbooking work place.

Creative Souls Retreat

Sept. 9 - 11, 2011

Click on the link to get ALL the information and to sign up! 

 www.creativesoulsretreat.com

• a place to relax from everyday life
• a beautiful setting to be creative
• a place to share, laugh, play & rest
• a place to meet & make new friends

We are SO excited about this event and hope you can all join us!

*Special EARLY BIRD pricing is now in effect - Sign UP TODAY!

~* feed your creative soul *~

In Bloom Crystal Lacquer Pendant



Crystal Lacquer is an amazing product - it's only limited to your imagination! For this project, I used

• 3D Crystal Lacquer
• Rectangular Glass Tile from Sakura Hobby Craft
• Fine Clear Glitter
• Silver Adhesive Backed Metal Tape
• Rhinestone Tape
• Scraps of scrapbooking paper

I began by placing my glass tile on different pieces of scrapbooking paper, trying to find an interesting image for the pendant.  I liked the way the word 'bloom' looked traveling up the side of the tile, so I put several dots of Crystal Lacquer on the tile and "smooshed" it onto the paper.  You want to make sure to use enough Crystal Lacquer so that it forms a nice smooth layer that covers the entire image and just starts to squish out.  I let this dry overnight and cut around the tile right up to the edge - giving it a nice clean look.

I wrapped silver metal tape around the tile to give a chunkier look and it also looks as if it has a soldered frame around it.  Then I used a tiny bead of Crystal Lacquer to adhere a strip of rhinestones around the entire tile.  I actually cut up a rhinestone bling frame that I had to get the strip of rhinestones.  I let this dry for several hours before continuing on.

 



Hint:  There is a right and wrong side to the tiles.  There is a slight texture to the back side -

the side that you are going to adhere an image for it to show through to the front.

I wanted to add a floral accent to the front of the pendant and choose a small violet flower from my stash.  I gave it a coat of Crystal Lacquer and sprinkled it with fine glitter while it was still wet and set it aside to dry.  I also added a little floral accent to the back of the pendant - just for fun:)  It was also given a coat of Crystal Lacquer and glitterd and set aside to dry. 

 Note: I had put a thin layer of Crystal Lacquer on the entire back before adding the floral accent.

To complete my project - the violet was adhered to the front of the glass tile and I added a silver bail to the back.  It was very fun to create and I hope you enjoyed this project!

Till next time - stay creative!

For more information about Crystal Lacquer products, please visit www.sakuracraft.com

and for creative inspiration, check out their blog - www.crystallacquer.blogspot.com.

Let the Sun(Flower) Shine

I have to say that I love this card! Spring here on the mountain has been a little like winter - with cloudy windy weather and even a few snow flurry this week! Crazy! This card represents spring and the flora and fauna that comes with it including big, giant yellow sunflowers!

The sunflower and bee were enhanced with 3D Crystal Lacquer and Crystal Color Lacquer by Sakura Craft. I used the Crystal Color Lacquer (in green and yellow) to fill in the petals and outline some of the leaf veins on a sunflower diecut (from my stash by K & Co.). It added a shimmery and bright accent that really makes it pop. You can see the glitter from the diecut shine through the crystal lacquer.

I used the fine applicator tip (this handy little tool is a must!) on my bottle of 3D Crystal Lacquer to cover the body of the bee diecut (also from K & Co.). The applicator tip makes it a snap to fill in tiny areas.

Both diecuts were dried overnight after the application of the crystal lacquer before I assembled the card. I used bazzill cardstock for the base of the card and a scrap from my stash(a Donna Salazar paper), which was distressed using my Tim Holtz paper distressing tool and Vintage Photo distress ink.

Sakura Craft has these awesome Glass Tiles that are SO versatile!

I glued one of the small rectangular glass tiles on the front of my card over the word "dream" that I had written, using crystal lacquer and glued the little bee on top of the tile. The sunflower was attached to the card with pop-dots to give it a little dimension.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour - Thanks for checking out my project!

Karen

You can find more info about these amazing products at www.sakuracraft.com

and check out Sakura's blog at www.crystallacquer.blogspot.com!

Crystal Lacquer makes me Happy Happy!

Crystal Lacquer has certainly sparked my creativity.  I've been experimenting and trying all sorts of techniques using this versatile product. 

 One of the fun techniques that I tried was pouring the Crystal Color Lacquer out onto my craft mat (you might remember seeing the little dots of color from my Easter Egg post a few weeks ago).  I decided to try a shape using this stuff and came up with a flower shape that you can see in the photo below.

This first photo shows how the Crystal Color Lacquer looks wet (I used Red) - and then the next day after it's dried, peeled off the mat, with an antique button poked through the center. The color dried more of a bright pink color.  This is where the idea of my card started.  I'm a flower-nut, so I just kept adding layers of scalloped circles (I used my AccuCut machine and a 4"scallop circle die) cut from an old recycled book, and old sheet of music and some paper towels I had saved from my egg-dying adventure.

 After crinkling the layers and spritzing with a little Glimmer Mist, I was satisfied with the flower and moved on to the card layout.  I used a bazzill cardstock for the card itself and a torn piece of old sheet music for the background.  I adhered the flower and added the scrap piece of "happy HAPPY" ribbon I had in my stash.  I printed the words for the sentiment flag using "my underwood" font, cut it out and distressed it a bit with Vintage Photo Distress Ink (as I did on the flower also, along with Spun Sugar Distress Ink).  I cut out the flag shape from a plain old paper bag and used Crystal Lacquer to adhere the words onto it.  Crystal Lacquer is a great adhesive and I used it to glue on all the elements onto the card.

Close up of the flower.

 

Finished card.

Thanks for checking out my project for this week.

Karen

for more info on projects, check out the Crystal Lacquer blog at www.crystallacquer.blogspot.com

and for ordering products, check out www.sakuracraft.com. 

They have great tutorials and ideas as well!

Creative Souls Scrapbooking Retreat Announcement!

Creative Souls Retreat

~feed your creative soul~

I have some exciting news to share!

KatScrap Studio (myself) and Creative Souls (Heather Morrow) have joined together to organize a CREATIVE SOUL RETREAT - especially for you. We are in the beginning stages of developing a great creative summer camp experience for all scrappers, cardmakers, stampers and anyone who loves to be with those that are creative and want to spend some fun time together.

We need your help! First, we need to know how many of you would be interested in participating! We have a very short survey that we would love to have you complete. The survey is anonymous, and there is no obligation to sign up -

we are just trying to get an idea of interested people!

Please click on the link below to participate.*

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JPYFKVL

Also, please pass this newsletter on to any friends of family that might also want to take part. We will have more exciting news to share with you about the Creative Soul Retreat as soon as we can!

Thanks,

Karen

*We are still in the planning phases - if you have an idea or class you would like to suggest,

you can always e-mail me at  katscrapfever@sbcglobal.net

We are looking for instructors also!