Happy Holidays Series | Christmas Tag ft. Mama Elephant, Lawn Fawn and Close to my Heart

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

We're just over half way through this year's Happy Holidays Series, so today I thought I'd share a "not card". For each each series, I'm trying really hard to include a tag and a gift card holder or box, not because I don't have enough cards (believe me I do), but because I like to share things that are a bit different.

Today's "not card" is a spinner tag that features a mash up of my holiday stash. And if you decide you don't want to use it as a tag (or give it away.... because that happens), you can always hang it from the tree!

To begin, I stamped the both of the dancing reindeer from Mama Elephant's "Reindeer Games" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and cut them out using the Brother 2 Scan N Cut; then coloured them with Copic markers. I adhered them back to back, sandwiching a length of Unique Ultra Fine Invisible Thread between them.

I used the "Tag, You're It" die from Lawn Fawn to die cut the tag from a piece of "Perfectly Plaid - Chill" patterned paper and one from plain white cardstock (110lb). To get the window in my tag, I used a mini book-mark die as it was just the perfect size to fit and allow him to spin.

I prepped the lower portion of the blue tag with my powder tool and stamped my greeting from CTMH's "Just to Say..." stamp set with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder.

I had bunch of these glittering snowflakes from Lawn Fawn's "Mini Snowflakes" die set from a previous project so I adhered them with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive (review coming!) liquid glue, then set the tag aside to dry.

The back I kept super simple, just stamping the "To and From" from CTMH's "Card Word Puzzle" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

Once both halves of the tag were completed I used super strong two-way tape to completely cover one side. I then placed my spinner where I wanted him to go and pulled the ends of the thread tight so he wouldn't sag when standing upright. I pressed both sides of the tag together to make sure it was all good and stuck.

I pulled a piece of natural twine through the top and knotted it off for the loop. I used a piece of 1/8" red ribbon for the bow - I chose red just to pull together the little bit of colour from his nose.

Finally, to finish it off completely and because I just can't stop myself, I used a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen over his antlers and nose then added some Glossy Accents by Ranger over the noses as well.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays Series | Spinning Bear ft. Lawn Fawn "Beary Happy Holidays"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Welcome to the second card in this year's Happy Holidays series. Today, I wanted to share a sweet little spinner card that I created using the skating bear from Lawn Fawn's "Beary Happy Holidays".

The 2017 fall and winter release from Lawn Fawn is amazing. They have certainly outdone themselves with the stamp sets this year. Even during the sneak peak I had so many ideas, how could I resist this adorable bear? And he's not alone in the set! So much fun ahead!

To begin, I cut down a piece of shimmering cardstock to the same size as a standard A2 card base. I lined it up with the front and ran both layers through my die cutting machine with a scalloped circle die at the same time. This ensures that the opening will match up perfectly when the card is put together.

I then removed the front shimmering panel, prepped it with my powder too and used my MISTI to arrange all the snowflakes and the greeting. I stamped them with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with silver detail embossing powder.

Since none of these snowflakes are repeated, this is an easy card to mass produce.

I stamped the front and back portions of the bear on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and used the Brother 2 Scan N Cut to cut them out. I coloured the images with Copic markers.

To create the spinner, I put a piece of super strong two way tape in the middle of each half, I then placed a length of "Unique Ultra Fine Invisible Thread" through the middle. I added more adhesive so that all the edges would be completely stuck together and put the two pieces together.

I added adhesive all over the back of the front panel and used my craft mat to line up the loose ends of the invisible thread to make sure the bear was suspended in the middle. Instead of cutting off the tails of the thread, I lay them back and forth over the adhesive, so they won't go anywhere. I then put adhesive all over the front of the card base, and stuck the two pieces together.

When the card is standing upright, the bear hangs nicely in the middle of the opening. You can wind him up so when the recipient opens it, he'll spin around for a super fun surprise.

Typically I'd photograph the card standing up, but I didn't like the shadows, so flat it is. You could also create a light scene inside the card so that it is visible through the opening when the card is standing.

Unique Ultra Fine Invisible Thread is a nylon so it is stronger than normal sewing thread and basically clear which makes it just perfect for this type of card. I picked up mine at my local fabric store for less than $3. Considering the spool has 500 yards, I'll probably never need another!

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Challenge #8

ABC Christmas Challenge

W is for White and X Marks the Spot

Brother 2 Scan N Cut | part 1 - First Impressions and Card

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Okay, gonna apologize now for a few things. First, I know it isn't technically review day (you'll still get one on Sunday) but I just could not wait. Second, This is going to be a longer post with lots of pictures. Third, The Brother 2 CM350 Scan N Cut is not something I can do all in one review. So as I become more familiar with it I will have more.

I've had this machine less than 24 hours and I legit think I'm in love. I've had other cutting machines but this... this is like nothing else. Based on my less than 24 hours of experience with it I can all ready say that this was the best thing to come into my craft room since my first set of stamps.

So my very first impressions:

• This is not a cheap purchase. I would highly recommend making sure that this is the right product for you. There is a quilting store in the next town that (as of this writing) sells this for $799 CAD. I did not pay that. I almost died when the lady on the phone told me the price. That being said, it was far less expensive on Amazon (Canada) and I still put it off until they had a deal going on. 
• It is about the same size as a Cricut cutting machine. It weighs about the same as well, unless you have the first release of the Cricut then maybe this one is lighter, 'cause that thing was huge.
• It comes with one low tack cutting mat, one blade, a tool for the touch screen (though your finger works) a lifter - you do not want to touch the mat! two pens and one pen holder cartridge which would take the place of the blade in the machine. And more instruction manuals than I have ever seen (They aren't in the picture) All the little tools have a cute little pouch to keep them together.

Here the machine is out of the box, set up and plugged in. Sorry about the lighting, I was way too excited to fiddle around with that. I had to get a picture immediately. The touch screen looks like a hand held gaming device on the top right. It is attached to the machine, don't try to pull it off. Don't ask why I felt that was important to include. It is on a tilter so you can adjust the angle of viewing.

Here is the mat, lifter, touch screen pen and in the bag are the two markers - black and red - and the cartridge they go in.

So for my very first cuts (after test but that's boring and I don't want to bore you. What kind of blogger would I be if I did that?) I decided to use the running unicorn from MFT's "Magical Unicorn" stamp set.

The top one is the original stamp using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. The lower one is a mirror stamp using the Paper Smooches "Stamp Mirror Blocks". You see what's happening here? 

So sidenote: I'm very new to mirror stamping and there will be a Technique Tip post about it once I practice more. 

The stamp was faint so I went over the lines with a 0.3 Staedtler Pigment Liner. I haven't been able to get Copic Multi-liners and have found that this works.

So basically all you do is stamp your images on the paper, scan it through the machine, crop the area and cut. I chose to add a mini border because it's awesome! And the machine does it all. 

Have I mentioned that this does NOT have to be hooked up to the computer or wifi? That's right this can be used as a stand-alone machine and that is currently my exact intention. It'll be a whole other post if my intentions change.

I coloured the images in with my BG Copic markers and created a spinning card! A glittering unicorn spinning card! YAY!

I used a homemade cloud stencil (spoiler: there will be a DIY post on making that coming soon too!) and Peacock Feathers Distress ink to create a cloudy background.

I sandwiched a length of Unique Ultra Fine Invisible Thread between my unicorns and suspended him in the oval window of my card. I stamped the greeting from the same stamp set in Memento ink and to finish it off I used Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkling Overlay pen on his horn and hooves and covered them with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

I hope you all like this first impressions post on the Brother 2 Scan N Cut machine as well as the first project I used it for. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss more reviews and projects in the future. If you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook.

*disclaimer: I am not paid or given incentive to create product reviews. All reviews and comparisons I do are about products I have actually purchased with my own money, that I find interesting and that I hope others will find helpful. I am not sent products by companies to do reviews nor am I recognized by them for doing so.