Thursday, June 24, 2010

"Whatta You Do?"

What do you do when you are the happy recipient of bags and bags of satin ribbon scraps? That was the very question I found myself asking when at work we were accumulating bags of pretty satin ribbon cuttings daily.


I happen to work for Planetgiftbaskets.com which my twin sister owns. Because we make and ship out gorgeous gift baskets all over the world on a daily basis, these ribbon scraps tend to pile up in all different colors and styles. This is because after assembling and wrapping a gift basket we trim it out in a personalized satin ribbon before shipping.

I find myself looking at these trimmings and wondering what in the world I could do with them since it would be such a shame to throw them all away. Then I came across this awesome Youtube video by Paperdrama showing how to make these very vintage inspired satin ribbon roses! After watching the video I was off and running with making these gorgeous embellishments. I love the way these turned out and I am going to use them in so many ways. Check out the video for yourself and give this fun technique a try.


*Please pause music at bottom before watching the video.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

More Creative Inspiration For You.

Please Use These In Your Art Only. No duplication for use in CD's or collage sheets for sale.




Saturday, June 12, 2010

Zutter Distrezz It All Product Review.

So it looks like I have found a new toy that I have managed to fall in love with! It is the new ultra-cool distressing tool from Zutter called The Distrezz It All. This handy little distresser is from the same Zutter that makes the awesome Bind-It-All.

I have to admit I was a little wary of this product when I first began to see others using it in their Youtube videos because frankly it looked a little dangerous to me. The open design of the feed channel coupled with the high speed of the exposed blade concerned me a bit. I decided to hang back for a bit before buying to see if there would be any complaints about lopped off fingertips and what not...lol I finally conceded and ordered mine and it arrived only a few days later. Incidentally, I did find a safety disclaimer on the site since ordering mine. You can read it here.

The machine itself was a lot smaller than anticipated so that in and of itself made it seem a bit safer to maneuver. I found that although the blade is exposed it would be very difficult to lop off a finger unless you deliberately tried to stick your finger into the channel! After deciding that it was indeed a safe tool I tried it out on different thicknesses of paper and materials and WOW! I love this thing!



It made 3 or 4 simple sheets of card stock so distressed on the edges that it appeared to be many more pieces of paper. It worked on paper, card stock, cardboard and chipboard. It can be used handheld or tabletop whichever you prefer. My final conclusion is that I just love this new tool! For some reason it has not seemed to catch on at my local craft stores enough for them to begin carrying it so I had to shop around to several online stores to find the best price and it cost me around $38.00 which was not bad considering all that it does. So my recommendation would be to give this handy little dandy a try. Check out all of the technique videos on Youtube as well. You will find loads of ideas for using this tool there.

*Please remember to pause the music at the bottom of page before watching the video.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Easy Peasy Vintage Flower Technique.

Is it possible to ever have too many paper flowers for your art and crafting needs? I think not. This is why I was so excited to come across this really cool technique for making vintage inspired paper flowers than not only rival the expensive Prima Marketing brand but in my opinion they happen to look even better than them.

The video is by Julles and her Youtube Channel is Jannavilles. She has several techniques for making these and other gorgeous Prima lookalikes but these "Peony" style ones happen to be my favorite. After watching the videos please be sure to visit her Youtube channel on the link above so that you can enjoy her many other techniques.

*Please remember to pause the music at the end of the page before playing the video.