Project 365 Challenge: Day 5/Masculine Hybrid Valentine

For this masculine Valentine’s card, I used the Restorations Collection from Crate Paper along with buttons & gems from Bo Bunny, and Glue Arts’s high tac adhesive with Glue Glider Pro and extreme adhesive squares. Note: I used a fiskars scallop heart punch and some pink mulberry paper for the heart. The digital frame is from my Elegant Frames set. See what inspiration you can get from today’s creation.

How to Create a Ribbon Loopy Bow with Extreme Adhesive Squares

This Sugar & Spice layout was created in hotel room with limited supplies and tools using scissors, paper trimmer, Bo Bunny Olivia Collection cardstock & embellishments and Glue Arts ribbon adhesive, extreme mini adhesive squares along with Glue Glider™ Pro and high tac adhesive.  This layout can be used as a sketch for creating simple layouts at crops or when you have limited supplies and tools at your disposal. The journaling area can be replaced with a title or a name.

Learn how to make a ribbon loopy bow following the photo tutorial below...

Unroll the liner of extreme mini adhesive squares and position end of ribbon on 

top of square. Press lightly with finger to transfer adhesive to back side 

of ribbon, then remove from liner.

Make loop by matching two end of ribbon and sealing together with the mini 

extreme adhesive square attached in step 1.

Place ribbon loop back onto Glue Arts' extreme mini adhesive squares 

liner to add another square of adhesive to ribbon

Make another ribbon loop and place one on top of the other, attaching 

with the adhesive square applied in the previous step.

Create a total of 8 ribbon loops, stacking and angling each symmetrically, 

and using glue Arts' extreme mini adhesive squares to layer.

Create a total of 8 ribbon loops, stacking and angling each symmetrically, 

and using glue Arts' extreme mini adhesive squares to layer.

Side view of finished loopy ribbon bow with embellishments layered on top. 

This bow was used as an accent on a scrapbook layout using double dot 

ribbon plus stickers & cardstock from the Olivia collection from Bo Bunny 

along with Glue Arts’ extreme mini adhesive squares, the Glue 

Glider™ Pro and high tac adhesive.

An alternate view of the loopy bow. This shows layering with embellishments, 

however, you can layer silk or paper die cut flowers or shorter ribbon 

strips on top to customize your own loopy ribbon bow simply by 

using your imagination and Glue Arts adhesives.

Birthday Bliss By the Sea

With all the recent tropical storms, the ocean has been a bit choppy and at times a surfer’s paradise. It reminded me of this recent birthday card I created using a color palette of two bright colors mixed with a neutral. The beige tone ink is Sahara Sand, the polka dot 5/8" grograin is from Bo Bunny’s Double Dot collection. The color is coffee. The blue ink is Pacifi Point and I used the stamping off technique to get lighter waves in back. The red ink is Poppy Parade and the two stamp sets are Just Surf and Birthday Bliss. All inks and Stamps are from Stampin’ Up!®. The red patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket’s Garden Variety collection. It is the opposite side of Tossed Salad Cardstock sheet. The Royal Blue cardstock is from The Paper Company. I used dimensional adhesive foam and the Glue Glider Pro with high tac adhesive from Glue Arts.

Technique Spotlight:
Stamping off - create lighter shades from a colored ink by stamping image onto pad, then stamping onto a scrap sheet before stamping on project. For even lighter shades, you can stamp multiple times on scrap sheet before stamping on paper.
Dragging - to make a cardstock layer pop out without matting in a contrasting cardstock, simply drag the edges of your cardstock over an ink pad to frame it and make it stand out.
Sponging - use a sponge stamped into ink to apply light shading to cardstock or to drag around paper edges for a soft framed effect.

I've Been Buzzing Around Lately

As moms we typically know how to master the art of multi tasking, but during volleyball season, this skill is taken to new levels. I juggle designing, self promotions, updating my blog, creating projects, photographing and posting photos, prepping for classes, completing design team assignments, oh and in my spare time attending all my girls games, doing the usual household things, handling Team Mom responsibilities and volunteering for project Graduation Golf Tournament. Phewww! Exhausing, yes, but on some days it is very exhilarating! Last night it was laying out the graphics until 2 am to create posters for the varsity team so I can cut all the vinyl and the girls can assemble them at a team bonding get together. This is truly living life creatively to the fullest extent!

So with all this buzzing about, I wanted to make you aware of a cool new art community called  CreatingTheHive.com - Arts & Crafts Community. Go check it out and you can become one of my followers or add yourself as a member. I was excited that yesterday they chose my Bleach & Embossing “how to” as a featured blog post. This was very exciting! It is a great way to meet other crafters from artists to seamstresses, from cardmakers to jewelry makers, artisans of all kind! And you may be surprised by the inspiration that you find there. You can click on the hive graphic in the right column or the link in this post.

Speaking of beeing a busy bee, I am headed to the Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel with Glue Arts to teach a 4 Seasons Canvas Display class featuring Bo Bunny’s Olivia Collection (which I love so much for its versatility) and of course my favorite adhesives from Glue Arts.

  

For this project I use their Glue Glider™ Pro with choice of extreme adhesive or high tac along with mini/reg. size adhesive squares. Here is a photo of the project. I am sure the instructions will soon be appearing on Glue Arts’ website. They are featured in this order: Spring, Summer, Fall then Winter.
I found the mini canvases and easels at Joanns. Right now with their coupon commotion you can get them at 40% off! The layered snowflakes are Sizzix™ diecuts. This is a fun and easy gift, great for placesettings, home decor and self promotion.

Hold On!!!

Life goes by at an amazingly fast pace anymore. For instance, our baby just got her driver’s permit and our eldest daughter will be a Senior in just three days. That means we are steps closer to being empty nesters....yikes, hold on! I am not ready for that yet. I am however ready for some R&R and vacation is coming up soon! These samples are super-sized page holders (aka corner bookmarks) that can be used for big books or magazines. I’m planning to read a few of those while on vacation;D!

I created these using BoBunny’s beautifully patterned cardstocks from their Flutter Butter Collection along with a 2-toned brown & green CS from Coordinations’ Chocolate Box collection.

These aren't the greatest photos, since I had to rush and take them in low light before shipping off these samples for a craft tradeshow. They were used as examples for a make-n-take project at the Glue Arts booth. Don’t you just love the colors and the sayings??? It was so fun to just cut around the graphics to create these page holders. Just imagine what else you can create with this collection.

If you haven’t checked out Glue Arts site recently, they have added some new adhesive products...Raise n’s, dimenisonal double-side adhesive squares and U-Cut-It 3-D Adhesive Foam Blanks, both which work great with embellishments, especially chipboard and 3D items like flowers or frames.