Self-printed Scrapbook Papers

I've been downloading quite a few digital scrapbook kits for my cardmaking projects. At first I tried printing them on plain papers, but the outcome wasn't to my expectations, as the colours were drowned out even though it looked really vibrant on the screen.

So I went to buy some A4 matte inkjet papers and tried printing them again. This time I was really pleased with the results. Although it was not as good as those 12x12 that you buy from the shops, the quality was good enough for simple cardmaking projects! I was soo excited I decided to printed out several more so that I could easily access to them whenever I need to make a card :)

Free digital scrapbooking papers - don't you just love these beautiful spreads!

Thank you so much computerscrapbook.com and Shabby Princess!

A Sweet Birthday

Just realised that for the past few months I've been making a lot of blue cards, so I thought this time I'd make one in sweet pink, for a very good friend of mine :) Kept it nice and simple for her, because that's the way she likes it :)

Materials used: Bazzill pink card stock, Art Gone Wild Pocket Mouse Rubber Stamp, Shabby Mommy Stripes Digital Paper by Shabby Princess, Imaginisce All Kinds of Happy - Happy Birthday Acrylic Stamp, White satin ribbon tinted with Copic Marker, Double sided foam tape

Bundle of Joy

A close family friend will be celebrating the arrival of their first baby this weekend, and here's a little card I made for them.

Materials used: Fiddlerz3 Baby Boy paper, tracing paper, buttons, Bazzill dark blue and light blue cardstock, Inkssentials Glossy Accents Dimensional Adhesive, doublesided foam stickers

Another Year Has Passed

I remember posting her birthday card not too long ago...and I can't believe how soon I have to make another... LOL! Another year older, another year wiser my friend :)

Materials used: Clearly Swanky Stamps by The Cat's Pajamas, Birds and Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder by Provocraft, metallic silver cardstock, blue Bazzill cardstock in 2 different shades, Jet Black Archival ink pad by Ranger and some magic colouring pen.

Photo Frames

SC came up with the idea of decorating a photo frame as birthday gifts to 2 of our closest friends. She bought some glass frames from Ikea to my place last night and we had fun putting this together.

2 friends, so 2 versions of it!

Materials used: Dark green recycled paper by Ikea, Flourish Stamp by Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection, Alphabet Stamps by Hero Arts, Jet Black Archival Ink Pad by Ranger, Tsukineko Versacolour pigment ink pads and Encore Silver Metallic Ink pad

Simplicity

Just last week SC came to my place to make more cake pops, and while waiting for the cake balls to be chilled, she flipped through the Cards magazine that was on the table. She pointed out that many of the cards design were too elaborate and how she preferred some of the simpler ones that were featured. Sometimes simple was just better. That gave me idea to complete my New Year cards. :)

Masking with Tim Holtz

Christmas cards - checked! Now I'm working on a batch of New Year cards. Hopefully I'm in time to send all of them! *fingers crossed*

I've only started, but I'd like to share my experience with using Tim Holtz's masks. I've used them once in my previous scrapbooking project and I love the effect that I'm able to create with the masks. You'll agree too once you see them in action!

Plain Bazzill Cardstock

I began with a plain coloured cardstock and selected the mask I'd like to work with. On this first card I used the Flourish mask with 3 of Tsukineko's pigment ink cube. I had several distress ink pads, but not in the colour I wanted so I went ahead to use a pigment inkpad instead. The colours I used were Pacific, Lagoon Blue and Laurel Leaf. I gently peel the mask of the plastic sheet (it is self adhesive) and position it on my card.

The same card after applying some ink with TH's flourish mask on

One great thing about using this mask is that it is sticky, so it stays nicely to the position you want it to be, and doesn't move until you peel them off again. Using the ink blending tool by Inkssentials I blended the lightest colour all around the card first and then adding on the darker shades later. Once you are happy with the results, just peel of the mask. And because it is transparent, you can see what it's like underneath where the ink is masked off - so you don't have to keep shifting the mask away again and again just to see how it would look like.

Another batch using TH's Timeworks masks

I masked a few more cards, this time with my favourite Timeworks mask. After all, it is a New Year's card and I think it fits the theme perfectly! I'll put up some pictures of the finished cards soon :)