One of my latest projects is a book called How To Make Paper Lace. This was a book that I originally planned to publish through a traditional book publisher. However, after much frustration attempting to do that, I decided to publish the book online, for free, instead. I am really excited about it because, as a crafter, I can see so many advantages to publishing the book online. Readers can easily click through the links I provide and see immediately where they can go to get the supplies they need. Readers can also immediately see what the supplies actually cost, and have an easier time deciding whether or not it is a project they want to try. Additionally, it is super-easy to comment on any entry from the book and ask questions, get help, give suggestions for alternate techniques or easier ways to do things, etc. And of course the best advantage for readers of all- the fact that all these projects are available for free! Hopefully having these scrapbooking and card making ideas available free of charge will allow you to take more of your money and spend it on supplies.

I have been working on this idea book for well over a year now, and I am excited to say that things are coming together nicely! The entire book has not been posted online yet, but there is plenty of material there to get you started. You can click here to see the introduction to the book. If you’d rather jump right in, feel free to start by reading Chapter 1: Materials and Supplies You Will Need To Make Paper Lace. The first part of Chapter 2: How To Make Basic Paper Lace is also available. At this point Chapter 2 is not complete yet and I plan to add some updates hopefully next week. However, there is enough information there to be helpful, assuming that you get through reading the introductory material that comes before it first. I have also begun posting the free project ideas that go along with chapter 2 of the book. The greeting cards shown here in this post are just a couple of the free project ideas. There will be more posted soon.

Keep in mind that these really aren’t the “laciest” of the paper laces I have designed; these are ultra-simple and very easy to create, sacrificing some frills for simplicity. This will hopefully be helpful for the sake of getting you started if you are a complete beginner to paper crafts in general and paper cutting / paper lace in specific. As we get farther into the book, you will be able to learn how to create more complicated designs that are much “lacier”.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I sincerely appreciate your interest in my work.

I recently got a whole bunch of new scrapbooking / art supplies by American Crafts, and I have been busy using them to make all kinds of new cards and projects! I’ve been a huge fan of American Crafts ribbon for a long time- the quality is so nice compared to most of the other ribbons I have in my stash. And of course I have been using American Crafts colorful patterned papers for a long time too; they are so fun and vibrant. I just found out, though, that American Crafts is now making cardstock! Look out Bazzill…I’m already totally excited about the new AC cardstock sneak peeks I’ve seen with all the new fun colors. Can’t wait to get my hands on some! For now I’ll have to be content to play with all these other awesome supplies though. I got some patterned papers from the “Kids” line, the “Celebration II” line, the “Elegant” Line, and the “Spring & Summer” Line. Plus I got some new yummy Thickers- the Black Tie Velvet Letters! Remarks Clear stickers, Chipboard, Details Layered Embellishments, and more. I already have tons of American Crafts ribbons and markers on hand so I am set for a few more days of play time at least.

In the top photo you can see some of the stuff I’ve already made. I made a snowflake-shaped mini album, plus a couple of art trading cards that I already blogged about, plus a whole bunch of greeting cards. Check out the Clear Albums web site for more information about the mini album. I have a complete supply list posted plus instructions for how to make the mini album. Hint: The Thickers Velvet alphabet stickers are on the front cover. They are PERFECT to use with snow-y themed patterned papers. And, how funny, I used a strip from the Shortbread paper from American Crafts “Spring and Summer” patterned paper on the front cover too. Uh, make that the “Spring Summer and Winter Snowflakes” patterned paper? Haha.

The only thing in that photo that isn’t by American Crafts is the Lumiere metallic paint, which is made by Jacquard products. I used to have this but I ran out a long time ago and I have been wanting more ever since. I thought it would be really cute to use to paint spirals to match the “Celebration II” papers, so I will hopefully be working on that shortly. (My painting studio area is still a bit too smoky from the fires to use it quite yet, it still needs a lot of airing out. So I am trying to be content using spirals I already had painted.)

I have been meaning to post spiral-painting tutorials for you guys for a long time now- you all keep asking me about how to do it and I keep putting you off. Sorry about that! Well I do actually have a tutorial in the works but I have been researching better ways to do it than what I was originally writing. So that’s why there has been a delay. At any rate the tutorial is really close to being finished and I will hopefully be posting it soon. So please check back!

Some of these cards have paper lace embellishments too. Please check the Paper Lace web site for more information about the cards with paper lace and how to make them. I’ve already posted instructions and supply lists for some of them, and I will be posting more this coming week.

Last, I am going to leave you with one more photo showing various ways to use one spool of American Crafts Elements orange ribbon. There are sooo many different things you can do with it. Mine is almost gone and I think I need to buy maybe 2-3 more spools (at least) because I have more projects planned that really need it.
Supply Lists and Instructions for 2 of the art trading cards are posted here. Supply list and instructions for one of the greeting cards is posted here. The others, you will have to check back for supply lists and instructions, because I have not posted them yet.

Thanks so much for dropping by! Hope you are having a lovely and creative weekend.

I just made some new art trading cards. These are fun and bright! They also have a hint of metallic shine, which I had a hard time capturing in the photos. (Unfortunately the photos really don’t do them justice.)

I once remember a classmate telling me that “orange and green don’t match”. Hmmph. I love taking colors that “don’t match” and using them together. Orange and green…orange and blue…purple and yellow…you can make any two colors match, if you are really determined to.

Supplies Used:

Orange Ribbon: American Crafts Essentials.

Paper: Hand painted Strathmore Bristol Board.

Paints and Dyes: Lumiere Metallic Paints by Jacquard Products, and Jacquard Fiber Reactive Dyes. Yes, you read that correctly; I really did paint these papers with fiber reactive fabric dyes. I hand dye a lot of fabrics, and when I am finished dyeing fabrics then I move on to dyeing papers with fabric dye. I can’t stand the idea of pouring dyes down the drain, so I like to use them up if I can. It takes a hefty paper to withstand being dyed. Heavy weight Bristol board is one of my preferred papers for this process, but sometimes I settle for lighter weight bristol board if that is what I happen to have around at the time my dyeing spree commences.

Metal Letters: Making Memories.

The art trading card is mounted on heavy mat board.

The edges of the matboard were inked with green dye ink by Rubber Stampede.

The circle “frame” in the center was a leftover that was created by hand painting a spin art spiral on the paper using Lumiere metallic paint, then cutting the spiral out using the Fiskars Shape X-press Circle Template.I used the spiral in a completely different project, but the little “frame” shaped scrap was perfect for framing the word “art” and the ribbon.

Here’s another mixed media collage art ATC I made. This one has a multicolored spin-art spiral as the background and a hand-stamped image as the focal point. The spin art was created using shimmery metallic paints, which I attempted to show in the photos, but I really don’t know if the “shimmer” comes across well. I suspect it does not- the metallic silver looks kind of white on the computer screen. Ack. Wish you could see these in person, because on the monitor they just don’t look the same.

Supplies Used:

I used mostly the same supplies as above with a couple of additions. The stamped image is from the Retro Shapes stamp set by Inque Boutique. The Retro Shapes stamp was stamped onto yellow cardstock. There is a tiny “crystal gem” in the center of one of the flowers on the stamped image. I got the crystal in a swap and I’m not sure who manufactures it.