Cards for the Canadian Troops overseas

These are some of the cards I made for the Canadian Troops stationed overseas. These will be mailed to a fellow SCS'er in Alberta who will in turn mail them somewhere and eventually they'll get to the troops who in turn will then have a card to send back to family in Canada. I did these in French (I don't speak a word so I had to really be careful I put the right stamp on the right card LOL). There are so many French Canadians overseas that I figured plenty of people would be making cards in English but I bet not that many in French so that's why I did that.

I made them simple because they have a far ways to go to get to the troops and another huge journey back to Canada, I wanted to make cards that would last, not get squished or easily wrecked.

Card for a friend ....

This card is called a waterfall card. I got the tutorial here . I made this card for a special lady that helped me out lately. I don't want to give away any details otherwise it'll spoil the surprise.
I went away for ascrapbooking/card making weekend. I did a little scrapbooking but mostly cards. This card is one of them. I think if I make this kind of card again I'll have an easier time but this card took me probably close to an hour to make (can you tell I'm a little challenged in following directions on paper while chatting with girlfriends?).

Here's what the card looks like when the little string is pulled.

Recipe - Tart & Tangy stamp set, Artfully Asian stamp set, Old Olive ink, Real Red ink, Basic Black ink, Real Red cardstock, Whisper White cardstock, SU! Designer paper, eyelets, hemp twine and glitter glue (non SU!).

Announcements for a friend ...

A friend of ours and his fiance are expecting in August (hopefully the ultra sound tech is right and it's a girl LOL). I wanted to give them something personal and I thought this was a great idea. I used the SU! hostess level 1 prints pack and I didn't have enough to make each card the same so there's 3 cards with each paper (luckily I had a couple of packs). I made a total of 30 cards.
Recipe - I'm Here SU! stamp set, SU! level 1 hostess prints pack paper, Pretty In Pinl cardstock, Whisper White cardstock, Whisper White grosgrain ribbon, Regal Rose and Rose Red inks, Ticket Corner punch, Marvy purple scalloped circle punch and Coluzzle.

Thank You Embraced

I went away for the weekend to a scrapbooking and card making "get-away" and I loved every single second !
Anyway, i made a few cards for the troops but I also made a few for myself. This is one of them.
Recipe - Bashful Blue cardstock, Brocade Blue ink, Embrace Life stamp set, Artfully Asian stamp set, brads, Glossy Accents (I didn't have SU! Crystal Effects) and a Cuttlebug embossing folder.
I'm not sure what the technique is called on this card but I refer to it as inking Cuttlebug.

My new best friend ! LOL

Today I will introduce you to my new best friend. I mentioned to a friend that I detested how sticky my scissors got when cutting the EZMount foam when I mounted my stamps. Then it was sugested that I use a hot knife. "What in the world is that?" was my response.
Since then I have bought one, let it sit on my counter for a week because I read the directions and was too intimidated to try it. A friend (hi Liz) sent me a link to a tutorial and I then saw how easy a hot knife really is to use.
So here I am today intruducing you to my new best friend, the hot knife :)


This tutorial is for unmounting and remounting (on EZMount) a stamp set that is already mounted but you can also remount a stamp set that hasn't been mounted on blocks yet.
The first step is to separate the rubber from the foam. Once you have done this make sure the back of the rubber is clean before you attach it to the EZMount. I find that any sticky stuff usually just rubs off with my finger.

Cut a piece of EZMount just a bit bigger than your stamp.

Peel off the paper on the EZMount (the paper with the writing on it) to reveal the sticky side of the foam (there's a sticky side and a non-sticky side). Place your rubber on the foam.

Say hello to my little friend ! LOL

First of all. It's called a HOT knife for a reason. Enough said :)

Peel off paper from the back of the foam. Holding EZMount in one hand, slice through foam with the other. Once the hot knife is hot, it cuts through foam like it's butter ! Do not force, if you have to use force the hot knife isn't hot enough yet (takes about 5 minutes to get hot). Cut right along the edge of the rubber. Try not to cut on an angle (so that the foam is smaller or bigger than the stamp).

I store my mounted stamps in cd cases. (Of course the set I chose to use for this tutorial barely fits in a cd case so it looks terrible but you get the idea). If it was a stamp set that was already mounted, I take the stickers off the blocks and put them on the outside of the cd case. If the stickers are still on the sheet then I put the sheet either in the cd case (if it fits) or with it.

I hope this clarifies using a hot knife for you. I almost forgot, this hot knife cost me $20. The best $20 I've spent in a long time !

Any questions, please email me, I'll be happy to help :)