AWDML Design Team Blog

Tuesday's Technique-Fun with Tape!

Hey all, it's Erica!  :D

Today, I've got a technique for you using a hot new scrapbooking product, decorative tape!  Now, there are quite a few companies that make this tape but my current favorite is Pink Paislee's Artisan Tape. 

 
I used this tape to make some embellishments for this layout about my husband's family's obsession with dominos.  I chose the Black Dot tape because it looks like dominos. 

 
To make the stemmed flower, I cut three 5" strips and looped them back  on themselves, stacked them up and punched a hole in the middle with my Crop-a-dile.  I then attached them together with a brad and layered it on a chipboard piece to look like a flower stem.

To make the other two embellishments, I layered strips of the tape on cardstock and then punched out a circle and a scalloped circle.  I layered a glittered chipboard piece on one of them and poked another brad through the other.

Supplies-All Products are from Pink Paislee, Hole Punch-We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-Dile, Adhesive-Glue Dots

I hope you take these techniques and run with them!  Have fun with tape and let me know if you make anything using them, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to play with this fun stuff!

Made You Look Monday: October Afternoon

I thought I would do a layout using October Afternoons Report line.  What better way to start out summer scrapping your pictures of the past school year.  Plus what a bonus.......it's 25% off this month!!  WOOHOO!!!

So here is my layout of DD working on a Science project.

So on this layout I used October Afternoon Report paper line, sticker sheet, and alphabet letters, Cosmo Cricket tiny type letters, Maya Road clock, and some Ric Rak.

Something fun to try is to use 2 different paper lines on your layout.  In addition to the October Afternoon line I added a little Cosmo Cricket Material Girl line.  As you can see the measuring tape in the lower right side is from Cosmo Cricket, but it worked so well together I had to add it!!  I also did a little inking with a sponge around the layout.

Hope you enjoyed todays project and Happy Scrappin'

~~Stacy~~

Friday Sketch Challenge

Hi Everyone!!  Happy Friday to you!  I am here today to bring you an fantastic sketch challenge.  I just adore the sketches Lucy Chesna creates so I asked her if I could use one and share it with you all.  Lucky us, she said said yes!!

Here is your sketch for this week's challenge:

And here is my sample for you:

I used a variety of October Afternoon products for this LO including patterned papers from the Fly A Kite collection and embellishments from Farm Fresh and Cherry Hill.  I also recycled some October Afternoon packaging to use as my journaling block.  A tip for doing this is to use a Sharpie fine point pen to write and your heat gun to dry the ink!  Remember all October Afternoon products are 25% off this month, so hurry on over to the store to pick yourself up a bunch of yummy goodies!  The circle letters and pearl stick pin with bling by the strawberry are from Jenni Bowlin and the leaf stick pins are from Maya Road.  Upload your creations using this sketch to the AWDML gallery and leave a link here as well.  Can't wait to see what you all do with the sketch!

Happy Scrappin' ~ Scarlett

Product Review: The Slice Hands Free Kit

Hey gals, it's Erica.  I'm so excited about this review!  It's for the Slice Hands Free Kit. 

 
I've had my Slice for a while now and I love it!  I used it a ton for my daughter's first birthday and while everything turned out wonderfully, it took quite a while. 

I made 20 invites cutting out the giraffe and the word "one".

And then I made this birthday banner for her. 

I cut out three "1's" for the butterflies.

And then 13 circles and HAPPY BIRTHDAY for the rest of the banner.
 
 
 Yeah, it took a while.

Enter, the Hands Free Kit!

With the kit, you can choose your size and shape like normal, plop your Slice on the paper that you place on the mat, push the cut button, and that's it!  No more holding it tightly for fear that it will shift and you'll end up with a wobbly shape.  The magnetic collar holds the Slice to the mat for you. 

I really love the fact that it lets me do one of my favorite things while crafting, multi-tasking!  If I'm cutting a shape for a card, I can let it do it's thing and make the card base while it's going.  This is especially nice when a shape is very large and very intricate.  While the smaller shapes cut fairly quickly, a larger shape can take a while and I hated having to wait for it to finish. 

Cool things about the hands free kit. 

1) You can cut the larger, less intricate shapes on the mat with no adhesive!  As long as the edges of the paper are under the magnets in the collar of the kit, you can cut with no adhesive on the mat.  But, with smaller pieces of paper or more intricate shapes, I recommend the adhesive.

2)The magnets in the collar are the perfect strength!  They are strong enough that you can pick up the mat and the Slice together yet they come apart easily if you pull up on one side only. 

3) There's an embossing mat on the reverse side of the cutting mat.  Finally, a 12x12 embossing mat!

If you'd like to get your hands on this bad boy, contact Lisa and she'll special order you one.  It'll show up before you know it!  :D

Banner and Invite Supplies-Patterned Paper~Making Memories, Cardstock~Bazzill, Glitter Glue~Ranger Rock Candy Distress Stickles, Spray Ink~Maya Road, Paint~Ranger, Hole Punch~Crop-a-dile

Tips/Technique Tuesday: Getting back to basics......

Is there a technique that you use to do alot while scrapbooking, but stopped or don't do as much anymore becuase there are so many new techniques out there?

I use to ink alot, but don't as much anymore so that's the technique we are taking a look at today.

Inking basically means to smear the ink across the edges and background of paper.  Inking is meant to give your project a "messy" look.  It can make your project look fabulous and is very inexpensive to do.  The only thing yo need for this is the ink, and whatever you will be inking.  For my inking project I used Distress Ink, and the pattern paper I used is Basic Grey Granola.

There are many things you can ink aside from paper....How about cardstock, alpha letters, tags, chipboard,and canvas just to name a few.

There are also different ways to ink.  You can use a sponge and blot on your paper.  What I did is 2 techniques for you to see.  First I used the blue distress ink just on the edge of the cardstock which just darkens the edges.  Using the brown distress ink I did more of the messy look inking across the pattern paper as shown on the sample below.

Remember when inking you can always add more, but never remove to much.  The lighter you ink just adds a touch of color, however the heavier inking gives your paper a little bit of a bolder color.

So next time you gather your things to work on don't forget to get back to the basics and grab that ink pad.

Until next time ladies.... Happy Scrappin'

~~Stacy~~