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.

Turning Life's Tricks into Treats

Sometimes you have great plans and everything seems in order until life plays a little trick on you and you are left to scramble. This recently happened with our make-n-take project at a show I was at in Orlando.We had everything neatly prepared in kits, ready to assemble, but we discovered that the box was no where to be found shortly before the session was to begin. Richard ran on a mission to get replacement items nearby while Betty, Richard's lovely fiance, and I got to experience crafting on the fly. She is not a crafter and was a REAL trooper to step in and help out. Talk about designing under pressure. I just happened to have brought my Sizzix diecut machine with me and a fall leaf die. Hmmm, just gotta believe there was some intuition involved there!

We scrounged up some papers, cut up some ribbons as we waited for Richard's return. Then we would figure out the revised project idea. With some quick prep trimming and our Popsicle Stick Table Top Labels turned out to be a quick and easy to make hit! We joked afterwards how Betty officially crossed over to the crafting world and Richard may just come home one day to find her crafting away!

 I would say we made lemonade out of lemons, however I think it was more like pumpkin pie out of some smashed pumpkins!

The photos are a bit dark, but it gives you an idea of this easy and decorative fall project, which can be used for parties to label food at the table or used as party favors. I decorated the mini flower pots with trim and ribbon using Glue Arts ribbon adhesive and filled them with some M&Ms. Each of the popscicle stick labels turned out so cute and were made in minutes!

This was a Halloween themed version done with a Jolee's Pumpkin sticker. We used the extreme adhesive squares and extreme adhesive cartridge for the Glue Glider Pro to assemble. For the pots, it was the ribbon adhesive. The diecut labels were punched from kraft cards stock using a hand held punch from EK Success. This craft project is easy to duplicate for any holiday or them by switching out the colors and embellishments with the appropriate colors and themes for the season or occasion. 

Just had to get a picture of Richard and Betty with one of their make-n-take creations! The store owners loved the simplicity of the idea especially as a fun craft project to do with kids. Each person could add their own creativity in the assembly process to make it unique. You can wrap the sticks with ribbon using adhesive squares to fasten on each end, add buttons easily with the adhesive squares on back and make ribbon loops, too! Experiment to come up with some other fun uses for extreme adhesive squares.

Glue Arts: Gift Sets and Lovely Layouts

Glue Arts: Gift Sets and Lovely Layouts: Check out this design team gift set that I did for Glue Arts featuring stamp sets from the fabulous Hero Arts, gorgeous CS from the Girls Paperie and my favorite adhesives from Glue Arts. Perfect inspiration for the upcoming holiday seasons - simply change out the stamps and papers to suit the season.

A digi sale and some inspiration to fuel your DIGI CRAZE!

Digi designs are popping up in all sorts of creative uses...svg files are great to use to cut out shapes & designs for use on layouts, cards and all sorts of gifts. Pair them up with some vinyl like Glue Arts’ Car Accents™vinyl to create anything from Sports Posters to wall decor to decorating your car! These signs were featured on the Glue Arts Blog to inspire HallowTeen home crafting.

You can also print and hand cut digital designs to create paper piecings from patterned papers like the layout I posted by Susan last week. For project ideas think funky fall pumpkins and art deco skulls! My Hallowettes digi set is perfect for these types of Fall projects.

Or if you don’t have a die cutter and software to use digital designs in this way, you can create fun scrapbook layouts with one of my digital scrapbooking kits or themed digi clip art collections: Feel of Fall Paper, Love is Plentiful Kit, Antique Charm Kit, Ladybug Garden or  Peace Rocks. Patterned digital papers are great to pair up with svg shapes or digital brushes to create custom elements/designs for any crafting project.

If cardmaking and invitations are on your holiday project list, the verses and fames in these collections will help you with your designing. Use my Elegant Frames, Elegant Verses 1, Elegant Verses 2, Elegant Nameplates, Special Numbers, Hip and Happy Frames or Forever in Love Frames to create custom stationery, card sets, monogramed gifts or digitize the designs to make custom embroidered gifts.

Join the Digi Craze and save 40% today only (Oct. 21st) at www.mygrafico.com!

Live Life Creatively: What do you get when you combine Halloween & silhouette designs?

Live Life Creatively: What do you get when you combine Halloween & silhouette designs?

What do you get when you combine Halloween & silhouette designs?

Why it is my latest set of digital designs...Hallowettes!

The 7 designs come in these formats: 300 dpi eps, 300 dpi transparent PNG, abr brush and svg cutting files...all for only $5. Just think of the possibilities!!!

Use this set of Halloween silhouettes with distressed edges for your next crafting project. Have fun scaling, colorizing, hand coloring or using these b&w images for your projects. Also usable as b&w clip art. You can even digitize these bold art images for embroidery. 

Combine with patterned papers to create cool digital graphics and titles or use the svg files with a die cutting machine and software to cut out the shapes in assorted colors and patterns. Use the brushes to create Halloween overlays, patterned background paper and more!

Here is just one idea combining some of the graphics:

 Have fun crafting & creating!

Here's How to Do Digital Right!

I know the world of digital seems a bit scary for those who are used to traditional ways of scrapping and stamping, but there are so many fun ways to cross the bridge and try using digital on your projects. My fabulously talented friend, Susan Stringfellow, put my new Sodalicious set to use on this great layout of her son Chris eating an icecream sundae. Don't you just love how she printed the image onto the patterned papers and layered the sundae to make it oh so yummy! You can alos just hand color the graphics if you don't feel so skilled with using a knife to cut out the paper pieces.

She also made the title from the artwork in the set into a wonderful 3-D element using her cricket diecutter. To see more of her work, click the link under Other Creative Chicas on 

the right to visit her blog. She always amazes me with her fabulous 

handling of titles and the most creative use of embellishments.

Trust me you will be inspired!

Here is a close up shot of the sundae.

If you love her work as much as I do, nominate her on Cosmo Cricket's blog to 

be a guest designer and help her win their latest paper collection. 

Vote for her by simply leaving a comment on Cosmo’s blog raving about Susan Stringfellow.

To see the Sodalicious set, click here to view it in my shop at mygrafico.com

Fall Weekend Sale on my Digital Collections

Save big on everything from Photoshop brushes, to clip art to digi stamps! 

Everything in my shop 30% off this weekend only! Sale runs from 

Friday, October 8th - thru midnight on Oct. 10th. Click on the sale banner to start shopping!

See if you can figure out what set these flourishes are from. Post the answer in my comments

section to be entered in a drawing to receive a free set of your choice. 

Be sure to leave me an email address or blog link so I can notify you if you are the winner!

Drawing will be held on Monday, Oct. 13th at 9am EST.

Be sure to check out some of these newly added sets:

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.

Out of the stash pile

Have you ever started punching a border or die cutting a design and ended up changing your mind on a color or layout? What about those times when you find the right combination of inks and stamps and decide to make a whole bunch for later....thus the creation of the infinite stash pile[zzzzz]! Some times I just can't help it when I have a certain die out, I just feel compelled to punch the design from a variety of papers to use for later. Well, I just had to prove to ya’ll that I really do use these stashed items. Hmmm, or is it that I am trying to convince myself that I really do! You figure it out! For this fast, adorable birthday card for my cousin’s daughter, I went to the stash for the patterned flower diecuts and the textured scallop heart. It is always nice to grab and go, and knock out a card in a hurry, especially when it is already late! LOL. You may recognize the paper set, a retired SU designer series set. The heart is a current Embosslits die from Stampin’ Up!® And the verse is also an SU stamp.

This next card was a belated Birthday card for a friend's special birthday, sent a wee bit late. I used some more of the stashed diecut patterned papers along with a crinkled paper border strip and a punched border to match. The verses are from the current SU set called On Your Birthday.

So if you don't already have a stash pile, get building one today and save time. Go to it for immediate inspiration on your next project and be sure to report back on your creation!

40% Off Today Only - 1st Day of Fall Sale!

Big savings today at my shop at mygrafico.com. A great time to stock up on some fun art, digi stamps, papers and brushes. Tell your friends and left the fall crafting begin!

If you haven't checked out these great basics, you will love using these shapes for all your crafting projects from digital scrapbook pages to cardmaking to paper crafts!

        

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.