My Cards and Tags: What We Could Be

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge was to make a project inspired by Tammy Tutterow's tutorials.  Not hard, my friends!  Tammy's blog is a treasure trove of fantastic tips and techniques.

Here is my finished project, though as you'll see, it came only after I veered from one of Tammy's tutorials to the point of total crafting disaster!

So I started out by following Tammy's tutorial on Stencil Transfers.  My problem began when I didn't have a craft mat handy to work on, so I used a piece of baking parchment paper with some foil underneath it instead.  I sprayed my ink onto my stencils, then decided I liked how the parchment paper looked with the leftover design from when I was spraying my stencils.  I decided to incorporate it into my project.

See?  Isn't it pretty?  It looks innocent, right??  The ink was dry, so I figured I was good to go.

I cut around the inked areas and used it as the background for my card.  I adhered it to a piece of patterned paper and carried on.  I stamped on a Tim Holtz image with embossing ink and white embossing powder and heat set it.  Still good, right?  WRONG!  Big duh to me, but apparently the whole point of parchment paper is that things do NOT stick to it (yep- I never claimed to be a baker)!  I guess I was absent that day in cooking class or I missed the big message on the package that said: "Non-stick!  Even the most delicate and sticky foods lift with ease!"  And guess what else started lifting with ease?  Yep.  My embossed image!  I thought heat embossing would stick to anything, but alas.  For the remainder of my project, I was brushing off crumbs of white embossing powder as my image flaked away before my eyes.  Note to self: do not use parchment paper as a background to stick or emboss things to!!

Luckily, I was still able to salvage this card by covering most of it up (a handy skill when crafts go awry).  I added some fabric scraps, stamped them with a sentiment, and then added one other lovely element: the flowers!  They started out white, but thanks to Tammy's awesome tutorial on coloring flowers, they ended up adding just the right bit of color to my project.

I finished this card with some scraps of lace and Tim Holtz Distress ink here and there.  The sentiment is truly one of my favorites, too.

So what great products did I use that I bought at Simon Says Stamp?  Not parchment paper (ha, ha)!

Prima Lady Godiva Flowers	Prima A4 Sunrise-Sunset Paper	Tim Holtz Pattern Pieces Stamp Set	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink	WOW Embossing Powder OPAQUE BRIGHT WHITE Regular	Heat Embossing Tool	Colorbox Rain Forest Ink
Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers Distress Ink	Walnut Stain - Distress Ink	Wild Honey - Distress Ink	Victorian Velvet - Distress Ink	Forest Moss - Distress Ink	Tattered Rose - Distress Ink	Picked Raspberry - Distress Ink
Archival Ink - Jet Black	Fiskars Acrylic Blocks	Mini Blazonry Stencil	Dylusions Ink Sprays - Vibrant Turquiose	Dylusions Ink Spray In London Blue	Dylusions Ink Spray In Calypso Teal	Dylusions Ink Sprays - Fresh Lime
Dylusions Ink Spray In Fresh Cut Grass

I'm sure that you can be equally inspired by Tammy Tutterow's blog, so check it out, create something amazing and then submit it for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge so that you'll have a shot at 50 beautiful bucks to spend at one of the best shops ever!

Product Reviews: Imaginisce i-top Button Maker

Today I'm reviewing a tool that's not new, but it was new to me.  It's the i-top button and brad maker by Imaginisce.  I'd debated a long time before buying it and I finally did.  Here's the tool, along with the medium-sized punch you can buy that goes along with the tool.  The punch allows you to punch out the proper size of paper that's going to wrap around your metal "topper." The toppers are all the same style, but you can buy different bases so you can turn your creation into a brad or a snap or a pin, etc., depending on what base you press onto the back.

I started by using the punch to cut out a piece of medium-weight patterned paper.  The punch worked great!

So far so good!  Uh....and then I had to load all the components into the squeeze tool.  Now maybe I'm just not the sharpest tool in the shed, but even though I was an English major, I had to read the directions five or six times and still didn't get what I was supposed to do next.  I ended up looking at the pictures that were included with the tool and on the back of the brad package to finally figure it out.  Thank goodness for pictures and video tutorials!

I loaded my elements in the right order and gave it a squeeze.

The tool presses the metal topper into the paper and all those paper tabs start to wrap around it.  Sort of.  You still have to manually "tuck down" all the tabs before you go further.  So here's how it looked once I started to fold down all the paper tabs around the topper:

After you have your paper tabs pressed down, you put your base in the tool and squeeze it again.  The base is pressed into the topper, which also seals your paper in place.  Wah-la!  Here's my brad coming out of the tool:

Here's how my finished product looks.  Hmmmmmm....

Nice, but a little bumpy around the edges.  Maybe I was not patient or meticulous enough when folding down my paper tabs, but I tried it several times and still got some unsightly wrinkles around the edge of my brad.  I suspect a lighter-weight paper might work better, although the paper I used wasn't even cardstock-weight.

Be that as it may, the tool really is pretty cool in terms of design, so I decided to see if I had any better luck using fabric instead of paper.  I took a scrap of fabric and compared it to the size of the tabbed circle I'd punched out for the paper brads.  Eyeballing my fabric, I just cut my scrap into a similar-sized circle.  I didn't worry about tabs because fabric is more pliable than paper and I figured I didn't need them.

I loaded my rough-cut fabric circle into the machine and squeezed it just like I would for paper.  It was nice to not have to worry about folding down paper flaps.  I just sort of made sure that all parts of the fabric circle were tucked in and then I added the brad base and gave it another squeeze.

Here's how my fabric-covered brad turned out:

Isn't that nice??  So smooth!  In my opinion, it looks way better than the paper brad I made.  And it was easier, too, since I didn't have to punch out a paper shape and fold in all the tabs.

Bottom line advice: if this tool only made paper brads or buttons, I would say to hold off unless you are really an expert at paper-tab folding or doing whatever I DIDN'T do.  But if you like fabric brads, buttons or pins, I think this tool works great.  If you're only going to use the tool with fabric, don't waste your money on the punch (which wouldn't work on fabric anyway and isn't needed).  You can buy i-top traceable plastic templates and that would give you an estimate for how big you'd need to cut your fabric circle.  Or just experiment until you get the right size of circle and save that as your own template.  No tabs, no folding, just a bit of tucking to make sure your fabric will be contained when you smash the back to the front.

Other notes: The tool makes both medium and small sizes of brads.  If you want to make large brads, you have to buy a separate attachment.  I couldn't find instructions on how to change the medium to the small heads on the tool, but you just pull them up, then rotate them 90 degrees, then set them back down.  It's similar to how the Crop-A-Dile lets you flip the different head attachments around.  

Lastly, this may be a no-brainer, but when using paper, remember that this tool won't make shiny epoxy-looking brads that you may be used to seeing.  It really does just look like whatever paper you chose.  It won't magically turn into a fancier brad.  You'd have to paint the paper brad with Glossy Accents or some other substance if you wanted it to have that epoxy look.

The i-top retails for $39.99 at Michaels and the packages of toppers with bases will run about $3.99 for 8 medium brads or 10 small brads.

I know there are tons of you out there who probably have better advice on how to use it and know tricks that I don't know, but I give this tool about a C for paper brads and an A+ for fabric brads. 

Etsy Shop: The Launch of Snapping Monsters on Etsy!

Exciting news, loyal readers!  I have finally (emphasis on finally) launched an Etsy shop!  It's got the same title as my blog-- SnappingMonsters-- and I'm excited to be giving it a whirl.  Sure, I only have five items for sale, but hey!  It's a start!  

I've enjoyed making altered art wallets and coin purses so much that those are the only things featured at present.  I've filled them with all sorts of fun ephemera and artsy elements.

Here are just a few pics:

So please feel free to check out my Etsy shop if you're interested in seeing more.  I've added a link to my blog's sidebar for it and a tab at the top so you can access it easily for however long I keep it going (no guarantees there)!  I think it takes courage to put your stuff out there for all the world to see, but I'm always grateful for those of you whose art is a constant inspiration to me. 

My Other Creations: Wallet of Possibilities

Well, sadly, here we are at the close of Stamptember!  Hasn't it been wonderful??  If you missed out, not to worry.  You can still always find awesome inspiration and fabulous products at Simon Says Stamp.

To wrap up Stamptember, this week's challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog was to SAY IT with stamps!  I decided to honor my dad, the King of Quotes, by upcycling one of his old wallets, complete with a favorite Tim Holtz quote on the front: It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you are not.  How true!

I love that typewriter image (from Crate Paper's DIY collection) which I transferred onto the fabric background.  And here's a picture of the back of the wallet.  It features another favorite quote of mine from Benjamin Franklin.

One thing that I've always admired about my parents is that they use things until they wear out, as you can see from these pictures of the wallet when I rescued it from the garbage.  I'm a sentimental softie, but I couldn't let it go.  I had too many memories of my dad pulling it out of his pocket to finance family fun nights, school supplies, and that pair of pants that I just HAD to have (love you, mom and dad!)

 I named this project the "Wallet of Possibilities" because it's really a tribute to my parents and their words of encouragement to me over the years.  I even typed the sentiment on the back using a typewriter of my dad's that's at least 50 years old.  Beautiful, in my opinion.

When you open the wallet, it's filled with some favorite ephemera and bits of art that I find inspiring and that emulate that look of "yesteryear" that I am so fond of.

Love my parents for raising me on such great "quote-age," if that's a word, and I look forward to many more years of their wisdom and advice.

What did I use to make this project, you ask?  Behold!  And yes- you can get all of these things from Simon Says Stamp!

Crate Paper DIY Collection	It′s Not Who You Are... Tim Holtz Stamp	October Afternoon Cakewalk Ephemera	Tim Holtz Stencil Markers	Ranger Black Embossing Powder	Heat Embossing Tool	My Mind′s Eye Flair Washi Tape
We R Memory Keepers AQUA Washi Tape	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink	Colorbox Rain Forest Ink	Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers Distress Ink	Tim Holtz Mowed Lawn Distress Ink	Liquitex - Modeling Paste

 
Do YOU have a great idea for this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge?  Of course you do!  So start crafting and show us your creations!  You could win 50 big bucks to spend at Simon Says Stamp!