Loving My Hot Glue Gun

For the last year or so, I have been ignoring my hot glue gun in favor of my ATG gun and glue dots.  That all ended when I started making pleated medallions and rekindled my love of making flowers. A glue gun makes all the difference when making medallions and flowers especially if that glue gun has a fine nozzle tip and has loooonnnng glue sticks so you don't have to keep reloading. I have a small low temp gun that is easy to use but the nozzle just isn't small enough for those tiny, hard to reach places. I considered getting the Aleene's set but at $28.99 plus tax, it was a little too steep especially considering that I already have my little low temp gun as well as my big high temp one. Then I happened to spy a real gem at Walmart - Dual Temperature, fine nozzle, works cordless for up to 5 minutes and takes regular width, 10 inch long glue sticks all for a whopping $6.97. A bag of 2 dozen, 10 inch long sticks are $3.97. Ya can't beat that so into the cart it went. Oh yeah, and did I mention that Chris was paying cuz we were at Walmart to get him razor blades and a video?  Best deal yet! So what is all this leading up to? Today's card...

I combined VLV September's sketch challenge for Week 4 with this weeks PTI Make It Monday. The ribbon rose was a dream to make with the new hot glue gun and the combination of the rose, thick chipboard piece and ribbon loops never would have held with glue dots. With the hot glue it's not going anywhere! 

Stamps: Verve - Fancy Florals, Tag Time

Paper: Lilybee - Picket Fence; SU - Old Olive, Wisteria Wonder

Ink: SU - Old Olive, Wisteria Wonder; Versamark; Distress - Crushed Olive

Dies: Verve - Tiny Sweet Tags; Cuttlebug - Scallop Squares

Other: Stampendous - white embossing powder; Michaels - Grosgrain Ribbon; SU - Old Olive ribbon

Til next time...

Stamping Backgrounds

PTI's Make It Monday Challenge #31 was Creating Backgrounds With Non-background Stamps. Hmmm... wonder if someone told them how much I love stamping backgrounds? Had a great time making this card but I do have one complaint about the Spellbinders Fancy Tag die I used. I wanted to cut an oval to layer inside but the none of the Spellbinders oval dies are the right shape!!! I ended up using an SU punch.

Stamps: PTI - Fall Elegance, Simply Stationery, Embellishments

Paper: SU - Always Artichoke, Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla

Ink: SU - Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Perfect Plum; Ranger - Old Paper Distress

Dies: Spellbinders - Fancy Tags; PTI - Edgers #3

Til next time...

Kooky Kolors for a Baby

Not that I'm a little behind or anything, but this card was made for Waltzingmouse Sketch #61 found here. It's a bit of a mish mash of techniques including making my own custom ribbon with Copic Markers (a Make It Monday challenge), making a custom brad with stamps and Glossy Accents, and doing a Tim Holtz Distress ink thing. I don't know why I chose this color combo other than it appealed to me. I created the paper that the birds and brad piece were stamped on using the Wrinkle Free Distress technique with a bit of a twist but I may have used a bit too much water.

Over all I am rather please with this project even if it is a bit weird for a baby card.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Celtic Heritage, Faux Fun, Fauz Fun Circles, Fancy Flourishes, Vintage Circles

Ink: Distress - Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Black Soot; StampinUp - Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray

Paper: StampinUp - Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray, Basic Black

Other: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Spellbinders Circle Dies, Copic Markers, Grosgrain Ribbon from Michael's, Glossy Accents from Ranger



Til next time...

Glitter Die Borders

I hadn't planned on making a Sympathy card for this weeks Make It Monday technique. Then again, no one plans for a happy, healthy, loving and generous person to die without any warning. But someone special did die and I needed a very special card and this weeks technique fit the bill.

For Valerie Sorensen - August 15, 1952 to August 13, 2011

Stamps: StampinUp - Elizabeth, Simply Soft;  PTI - Half & Half, Round & Round

Paper: Bo Bunny - Gabrielle 6x6; StampinUp - Early Espresso, Bermuda Bay

Ink: StampinUp - Early Espresso, Groovy Guava; Versamark

Dies: PTI - Half & Half, Mat Stack #5

Misc: Stampendous Embossing Powder, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Ribbon, pearls & glitter from stash, Zig 2 Way Glue marker

Til next time...

August Apertures

This weeks MIM technique, Decreasing Apertures, was very enjoyable for me. I got to use a lot of layers which meant a lot of colors and different treatments on each layer. This made my husband very happy because it meant I finally used some of those stamps, dies and Impression plates I've been collecting in my singlehanded attempt to keep Papertrey Ink in business. On this card I used 8 dies, 5 stamp sets, both sides of an Impression Plate and 5 colors of cardstock not to mention the 3 dye inks and 12 Copic Markers.

The pitcher of Mums was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa and colored with Copics.

All stamps, Impression Plates and dies are Papertrey Ink; Cardstock & Dye Inks are StampingUp.
Flowers were made using a technique from Nicole Heady featured in this post with the addition of a fringed paper center.

Til next time...