…say THAT 10 times fast…

We are celebrating National Scrapbooking Day today by sharing some of our projects that feature our Grand 12″ Borderabilities (a scrapbooker’s favorite). Let’s get right so some inspirational layouts.

Let’s begin with a traditional use of the Daisy Borderability. Cathy Chlebana cut/embossed and stenciled with gel pens to add a border to her page.

Another layout, this one by Jeni Caulkins, shows what you can do to a any Borderability with a little color washing. Jenis page features the Rose Borderability.

I love this next idea…Beth, my blogging partner in crime, used the Daisy Borderability back-to-back to create a stunning embellishment for this piece. You can see a tutorial on how to create it here.

Have you ever thought of using a border…not along a border. Check out this layout by Jennifer Ellefson. She used her Heirloom Scroll border in the middle of the page. It’s perfect.

Wendy Weixler used yet another technique. Not only did she cut/emboss and stencil her Wisteria long border but she also inked through the die right onto the page (that shows some bravery, for sure).

Thanks, Ladies, for sharing your art with us all. Later (when I can recover the pics on my 16 Gig card OR find a USB cable that fits my camera…ugh), I’ll share with you how to use the Grand Cut Mat Kit…

In honor of Earth Day or Earth Week or for those of us that reduce, reuse and recycle every day, I thought I would share some ideas that apply to crafting.

Reduce.

• Turn off the lights and computer when you are done.
• Do your work under compact florescent lighting, and dispose of them safely when burned out.
• Carry reusable shopping bags whenever you shop.
• Buy what you need, and avoid excessive packaging.
• Carpool to the crop.

Reuse

• Spellbinders’ Die templates are tools that are used over and over, and won’t wear out.
• Save your scraps, and use them on cards and scrapbook pages.
• I use magnets (with outdated calendars on the front of them) to store my die templates.
• Spellbinders’ clam shell packaging is useful for storing not only die templates, but paper scraps, embellishments, or other small items.
• Spellbinders’ clam shell packaging could be used as part of a project.  Cut it in half to use as a window.
• When looking for texture, instead of buying new items, think of things you already own that can be embossed.  That mesh bag the onions came in?  It makes a great texture, as do lace, coins, and charms.
• Too many supplies?  Arrange a trade with friends or donate those supplies to a school, scout group, or charity.

Recycle

• When you buy an item,  recycle the packaging.
• Of the things you dispose of, what can you use in your crafting?
• Soda cans can be cut and embossed in the Wizard with Spellbinder’s Die Templates.
• Chipboard used in cereal boxes and packaging can be cut and embossed.

2008 Design Team Member Jeni Calkins did a great job of using pages from an old book to make the flowers on this layout.  She used S4-109 Flower Creations 3, Nest-02 Nestabilities Classic Squares, S4-144 Long Classic Rectangles Scalloped Large, S4-145 Long Classic Rectangles Small, S7-001 Rose Borderability Grand.

If we all do our part, the Mother Earth will be a wonderful place for our children, their children, and so on.

Happy Crafting and Happy Earth!

Beth

Open your mind to apertures!  Technically speaking this would be a hole, an opening, or using the negative part of the die cut.  Its really pretty easy and makes fabulous results, as you’ll see.  Spellbinders’ Die Templates work wonderfully for this technique, their thin profile makes it easy to slide into a card and even emboss the edge around the opening.

So we’ll start with  piece of paper, I’m using a piece of double sided paper.  Fold the paper to make a card.  Place the die template on top of the card, cut side down, line it up to the exact spot you want the opening and tape it down with some low tack tape. (I use regular household tape, touch it to my jeans to make it less sticky.)

Now, with the die template in place, fold the card the opposite way so the inside of the card is on the outside and the die template is in  the middle of the card.  Slide the spacer plate into the card.  Place this between the Master Mats and feed it into the Wizard. Notice that the die is now facing cut side up!

Now you have an opening cut into the card.  Remove the Spacer Plate.  I usually put a piece of scrap cardstock between the die and the back of the card, the scrap piece will emboss slightly instead of the card back.  Leave the card folded as above, but this time place the tan embossing mat on top of the card.  Place in between the Master Mats and feed the sandwich into the Wizard again.

Carefully remove the die template from the card and fold the right way again.  You have an embossed opening!

You could embellish the opening by reverse stenciling, ink the die template before hand.  You can use the die template as a stencil and color through the holes in the die.  You can use the die cut to embellish the inside of the card.  You can use the opening to make a shaker box.

Check out these beautiful examples from our Design Team Members!

Linda Duke used chalk to stencil through the S5-005 Decorative Frames die template, and further embellished with glittered S3-146 Butterflies 2.

Holly Craft used stamps to further embellish her oval aperture.

Donya cut the frame opening and embossed the larger sized S5-006 Mega Curved Rectangle frame as well, to really accent the opening.

Jeni Calkins used the S5-005 Decorative Frames set to highlight this photo for a Fathers Day card.  See how using masculine colors can bring a whole new life to this flourishy and flowery die template?

This was a Make and Take from our CHA Winter 2008 show, isn’t it stunning! We used the S4-137 Classic Scalloped Hearts to cut the front of the card, and layered S4-136 Classic Heart die cuts on the inside.  The patterned paper is from Kaleidoscope Kreator Software.  Here is a tutorial on this Layered Heart Card!

Your cards and projects will take on a new dimension when you open your mind to apertures!

Have a wonderful day!
Beth

Whew, we’re back to normal around here, if there is such a thing.  Lets resume the indepth interviews we started in December, so you can get to know the current Design Team!

Today’s featured Design Team Member is Jeni Calkins.  You got a quick glimpse of her on Day 9 of the Frenzy, and now we get to sit her down and pick her creative brain.

Tell us how you got started crafting.
For me, the need to create stuff is a compulsion that started when I was a little girl. As a child, I would take discarded things and make something new out of them. At that time I didn’t know that it was called altered arts.

Do you have an art or design background?
I studied studio art in High School and College, although I received my degrees in other area.

What inspires you?
Trash. I love making trash into more trash (I mean treasures), just to save it from the land fill.

What is your favorite die template?
My favorite dies are the flowers, I love the Sunflowers, the detail is amazing, and I also love the Flower Creations and the Flying Beauties, the uses are unlimited.

What is your favorite Preferred Product?
Prism cardstock –first thing I reach for each project.

Do you have a favorite technique?
I love to layer up die cuts to create flowers. That’s what’s so great about Spellbinders’ Die Templates is you get so many size choices with each set.

Do you make cards or scrapbooks or altered?
Altered because it goes back to my obsession with recycling and re-using things, but I have three of the cutest kids and I also love to make scrapbook pages for them.

Tell us about your family.
I’m married to a wonderful man who is very supportive and a great father to our three kids. I live in Arizona. I find the Sonoran desert to be a huge inspiration in my art work. I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful area.

When do you get time to craft?
I like to get up early and do my art before the kids get up, but I’ll fit it in anytime I can.

Do you craft alone or with a group?
I love to work in groups, but mostly just when playing around or learning/teaching. To get serious work done I get into a zone where I’m anti-social.

Where do you shop?
My fine art supplies I get on line. I shop at my local scrapbooking store for scrapbooking/stamping and garage sales and thrift stores for the unusual stuff.

How would you describe your style?
Textured.

What have you been working on this week?
I have some new Spellbinders’ Die Templates, your going to love these!

Besides paper, what other materials have you used?
Acrylic Paint, watercolors, polymer clay, metals, fused glass, fabric, silver clay, assemblage.

Where do you look for inspiration when you are about to start something new?
I’m a task oriented person so I like to have an assignment or project that needs to get done by a deadline.

What has been the most difficult thing for you to learn?
How to keep it all organized. I am typing this with my keyboard in my lap because I have run out of desk space. (Psst Jeni, I think we were separated at birth! LOL Beth)

What do you find most  enjoyable about crafting?
The act of making it. It turns the buzzing in my head down to a nice calm hum.

Do you ever teach classes?
I love to teach, I get so excited about all this and it is so much fun to pass that joy on to others.

What else do you like to do aside from artwork?
Play with my kids. We love to go boating, hiking, to the beach, the Water Park, or museums.

What kind of workspace do you have?
10 x10 room with shelves from floor to ceiling filled with drawers of stuff.

Regarding a favorite piece: Can you outline the typical process behind making something like this? How long do you think it took to finish that?

This card was very quick, about ½ hour. I was ask to make something using “green supplies” I make altered books and have lots of pages that I have removed from the books. I stacked up a bunch of pages then laid out all the flower creation dies on the magnets. I was able to cut all the pages need for the flowers in one pass. I stacked them, mist them with water and crumpled them up. The Copic airbrush system made quick work out of add the color.

Here are 2 more samples of Jeni’s art:

One more thing to add to Jeni’s resume, at last month’s Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show, she won an award for her jewelry design at the Amaco booth, with donations and jewelry creations going to woman’s charities in Southern California.  I ran over and took this picture of Jeni’s pieces.  Congratulations Jeni!

To see more of Jeni’s work, please visit her blog, Studio Jeni.

Day Nine is done and we just continue to give more and more dies away. Including today, our 5 Anniversary party has given away 64 die template sets. That’s 5-7 die templates per set. Can you say HUGE?

Thanks to Jeni Calkins for her fab artwork over at her blog! Here are the dies being awarded today.

Our entries continue to be in the range of 2,000. WOW! You all are being so loyal and we really appreciate it.

After checking with Random.org, we received this

Here are your random numbers:

1837

Timestamp: 2009-01-15 20:03:31 UTC

which brought us to offer this amazing pile of die templates to:

Linda from San Antonio, Texas

Quick as a wink she said,

“Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t believe I won! After I ran around the house for 30 minutes screaming hysterically….I calmed down enough to ask my oldest daughter to read the e-mail with me, to make sure I was reading it correctly(of course still all the while screaming). She gave me that look that only a 25 year old can give her crazy mother, and said yes Mom, you won! THANK YOU so much, I can not begin to tell you how excited I am, and this e-mail has just made what was a really bad week into a wonderful one. I know that these dies will just help me so much in my card making, and I can’t wait to use them.THANKS AGAIN! Linda

We are honored to have been screamed about! Congratulations and have fun with your new Spellbinders™ die templates!!

Thanks to all of you who continue to send us your entries and we wish you all luck for the next blog.

Today we travel to Arizona to visit Jeni Calkins, host of Day 9’s 5th Anniversary Celebration.  Jeni is a mixed media artist, wife, and stay at home mom of 3.

“I have a passion for teaching art, whether it’s in the classroom or through writing,” she says. Some of what brought her to where she is now were her days of studying studio art at the University of California, San Diego. With her ability to use a wide range of materials, and her love for inspiring others, she is currently a senior designer for Altered Arts Magazine and has had many articles published there. Jeni uses Spellbinder’s products to the nth degree applying them to her areas of expertise: book making, jewelry designing, collage, assemblage, scrapbooking and card making.

I can’t wait to see what Jeni has to show us today, I’m heading over to Studio Jeni, I’ll meet you there!

Good afternoon, friends.  I’ve been decorating for the 5th Anniversary Blog Party, rushing about here and there, making sure we’re all ready for the 16-day blast! …Ooh, la, la. I think Spellbinders™ sure knows how to throw a good party.

For today’s Savvy Saturday, I want to share a layout I fell in love with the moment I saw it. Design Team Member Jeni Calkins created it. It features a couple of our Sunflower dies and even though it looks super challenging, it is actually do-able for most levels of scrapbookers. So, now that you’ve seen it…let’s learn how to do it.

Instructions:

1. Cut/emboss the following die templates from dark purple Cor’dinations cardstock: Daisy Grand Borderabilities® (S7-003), Sunflower Garden Edgeabilities® (S5-004). From the Sunflower Sets One and Two (S4-157, S4-157) cut one large, two mediums and two small sunflowers.
2. Sand the embossing details on all the die cuts to bring out the white core.
3. Cut the frame off of the Sunflower Garden. Layer the sunflowers as seen in the image. Curl the petals to give them dimension. Using a fingernail underneath to scrape the paper a bit can help it keep it’s curl. Sort of like when you use scissors on curling ribbon, just a bit more gently.
4. Trim a piece of cardboard to approximately 10×10″ and peel off the top covering to reveal the ribbing.
5. Rub the cardboard randomly with embossing ink, sprinkle with two shades of embossing powder and heat to set.
6. Use photo editing software to turn a photo to black and white and to soften the outer edge. Print, tear and ink around the outer edge.
7. Assemble the layout as shown and add the title using old game letters and metal letters for each word.

Voila!

Stunning work. It looks so beautiful and complicated yet it is achievable.

Thanks to Jeni Calkins for sharing her talents with us.

Cheers to the New Year: Eli