simple monday: quick and easy scraps card

Here's a very simple card idea of how you can used the scraps project I posted a Saturday.
Simple is easy, quick and gives great results.

I simply used scraps, a Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper tool, basic kraft card stock and a glue stick—that's it! This idea can be used for so many other simple projects—embellishing a gift tag, for a scrapbooking layout, and as a gift topper—I'll show you that tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that you don't even need to worry about making the strips completely straight or at 90-degree angle to the bottom of strip that I added the scraps to—a little slant gives the pattern some personality.

By the way, I know many people use tape gliders but for whatever reason those things have never worked for me. They unravel like old-fashioned cassette tapes and end up frustrating me more than anything else.



The highlight of my weekend was helping my little C make her first scrapbook (I don't have a better photo because she wanted to take it to school to show it off- ha!). It was a simple project but I loved helping her. As a paper crafter I was thrilled, as a mom I was completely ecstatic! I love seeing her craftiness starting to bloom.

I love what I do but I never push it on the kids. I want them to take on their interests, whatever the may be, naturally. 

Her comment about the fact that her brother had no interest in joining us:

"D doesn't know what he's missing! This is SO MUCH FUN!" 

He-he. Love it!

We used:
- We R Memory Keepers Cinch Book Bindery tool (love it, love it! - very easy to use)
- Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge (bought last year when her pleading face and eyes got the best of me —it helped that it was on sale too)
- A few of my SVG flower files
- The bird tag is from Skinny laMinx (gorgeous in person!)

Now to tackle the good ol' to-do list for the week. Happy Monday!

just scraps: rotating strips

As any paper crafter will tell you scraps are just something that goes along with the territory. So, what do we do with all those scraps? I'm going to periodically show you ideas that will help you use what you have and put all those little treasures to good use. Keep in mind that if you happen to have a magazine or other recyclable paper laying around they may work for these projects too.


Materials
- 2 - 5.5” squares of white card stock
- Paper trimmer or scissors (craft knife and metal ruler would work too)
- Three contrasting colors of scraps
- Glue
- Square frame (box frame is optional)



1. Cut a 5.5” square into 6 strips that are 5.5” wide and approximately 7/8” tall. The strips don’t need to have an exact height measurement.

2. Cut colored paper strips that are at least 1” tall and of varying widths (from 1/8” to ¼”).

3. Add a thin layer of glue to a strip of white card stock and randomly attach strips of paper. Repeat this process with all 6 strips of white card stock.



4. Place all strips with the color face down and cut the excess colored paper.



5. Glue all 6 strips to the second square of white card stock. Wait for the piece to dry completely before placing it in the frame.

Note: This project was made to fit into an Ikea Ribba 5 1/2" shadow box frame but it would look just as well in any flat frame.


So what do you think? Easy, right?
Have fun with your scraps!

thinking ahead

- Spring cleaning is starting today. I can't wait to clear out so many things around here.
- Spring illustrations are coming along.
- Tutorials are forthcoming.
- And... I am now accepting advertisers. More about that below.

Friday Tidbits
- Dreamy! I want this to be my studio. You can all come over for drinks in the evenings!
- But my contemporary side would scream pick this one instead!
- Best article I read all week: The Truth: Creativity comes from blending dissonant goals into radical harmony 

• • •

Advertising
I want to partner with companies that are truly a good fit for A Little Hut. I want us all to benefit from this opportunity. I had been resistant to this idea for a very long time but now I believe it's the right thing for me to do for the blog to be sustainable. This will by no means affect anything I've been doing so far. In fact, I believe it will improve things. I will try to maintain the clean format that you've all grown accustomed to while making the ads visible to those of you that are interested in visiting my sponsors. I hope you understand this new direction and if you have any questions or if you are interested in advertising please contact me for more detailed information.

Have a great weekend my friends!

taking stock

My grandmother used to say something like:
"If you're in a hurry dress up slowly."

I've been reminding myself of that all week long. Go slower. Just think.

I feel like I want to run, run, run with all the ideas that I've been having. I'm so inspired and yet I haven't created anything tangible—rare for me. What I have done is taken steps towards what I really want right now and what I want to accomplish in the next few months.

For starters, there is no longer a Book #2 in progress. Today, I finally came to the conclusion that my proposal wasn't strong enough. Tweaking it wasn't going to get it further along. So it's completely off my plate. I want to be dancing around in anticipation when my proposal is done and I wasn't. A better and stronger idea will come. Surprisingly I don't feel defeated at all. I feel relieved. There's nothing worse than a half-cooked idea.

Remember my survey? I thought that it would give me some answers and it has, but only partially. As you can see the top three are almost equal contenders and this has given me more to think about. I'll be deciding how I'm moving forward with this information in the next couple of weeks. Thank you so much to those of you that have participated so far. You still can if you'd like to help me out.

Results
23.3%    Paper crafts (general for beginners)
25.6%    Paper crafts (specific - ie. parties, holidays, decorating)
23.3%    Paper crafts (digital machine cutting)
16.3%    Recycling crafts (paper only)
4.7%      Recycling crafts (assorted materials)
0.0%      Crafts for kids
7.0%      Block printing

There are other decisions that I'm making in regards to this blog as well. No, it's not going anywhere! I just think it's time to take it to the next level. You'll see...

My sketchbook has taken a good beating this week. I have had so many ideas coming and going that if I didn't write them down I'd either a) completely forget them (very likely!) or b) my head would feel like it's going to explode.

So, yep, my brain is pretty much mush this week. Thinking a lot. It's all good... except I wish there were ten of me. Now the trick is to just start somewhere.

Here I go.
Slowly.

PS - My "Inspired By" posts will resume next week.
The photo is a peek at a project that was part of Book 2. Looking at it makes me wonder why I haven't worked with pop-ups. Now that would be fun book to work on!

how to make a paper pendant

I made this specifically to wear to the paper craft class that I taught at ALT Summit. It was entirely a last minute thing. If I'm completely honest I think it was a procrastinating-on-other-last-minute-things kind of project. In any case, I love it and got many compliments on it. So, here are the instructions so you can make one for yourself.

Materials

- White cardstock paper (I used basic craft store scrapbooking paper - 65lb)

- Cutting machine or craft knife and cutting mat

- Glue (I prefer Tombo Mono Multi Liquid Glue )

- Silver finding

- Pliers

If you have a cutting machine
1. Import  the SVG or DXF file to your cutting software. Use a 12" square piece of cardstock to cut out 12 pendants. Each one should be 2.75" wide.

2. Add glue to each layer and stack them neatly one on top of another. I cannot emphasize enough how important is that the shapes line up. If they don't the pendant will look messy and will, quite frankly, look cheap. Neatness counts big time here!

I like squeezing the glue bottle on a scrap piece of paper first—until the glue flows smoothly. That avoids the having a big blob of glue on a thin strip of your pendant. The rest of the gluing can be done using two methods—you pick your favorite.


- Add strips of glue on to each section of the pendant or...




- Add glue by using dots.



In either case, just make sure that you're not using too much glue. When the pieces are pressed to one another some glue may squeeze out from the sides—just clean it up as you go. If you keep the glue to a minimum this issue will be reduced significantly. Rub the piece that is added to the stack (to spread the glue a bit) and then line it up in the final position.

3. Once all the pieces are glued and dry you can add the finding. Use pliers to open it enough so that the pendant can slide in. Once the pendant is in place close the finding again. This can get tricky. Even though all the layers of paper will feel quite sturdy you still need to be careful to avoid tears.

4. Slide your new pendant onto a necklace and enjoy!

If you're cutting by hand

1. Print and cut out one of the pendant shapes.

2. Cut out 11 pieces of cardstock that are 2 1/4" x 3" and glue them all together. Add the glue in zig-zag fashion across and up-and-down each piece of paper until you have a neatly glued stack. Rub each sheet a bit against the stack before placing it in its final location—this allows the glue to spread evenly.

3. Glue the cut out pendant shape to the top of the stack.

4. Start cutting out the pendant with a really sharp craft knife and using the pendant cut out as a template. I thought I was going to use a ruler but it wasn't necessary. Using the first cut out as a template was enough.



Important! - Cutting the pendant will take some patience. Go slowly. It took me at least 7 strokes in each segment to get all the way through the stack of paper. The first couple of strokes should be done lightly (so that there are no mistakes with the others). The initials cuts will make a groove that will guide your blade the rest of the way down.

I cut the outer perimeter first and then the triangles inside the pendant but it doesn't necessarily need to be done that way. If you go slowly you'll be fine.

5. Follow steps 3 and 4 in the cutting machine section and you're done. Enjoy!

Downloads:
- The SVG, DXF and PDF files can be downloaded here.

 • • •

ALT Design Summit - Paper craft class — an awesome group!
(see me wearing the pendant?)
Photo by: Brooke Dennis

alt design summit 2012

I didn't take a camera with me—just my iphone. As expected my photos are scarce and not very good. There are only 2 with people in them. I guess I talked to much to be worried about shots. The reality is that it's what you don't see here that is what I will remember most about the summit.

• inspiration (most memorable: the keynote speech by Ben the founder of Pinterest—so genuine)
• connections (meeting new and old friends for the first time—what a group of awesome people)
• conversations (a lot of laughter too)
• exchange of information and advice (a lot of this—still sifting through it all)
• hugs and smiles (all around)
—those are the things that I'll remember.

I'm tired—but it's the good kind. I'm full of ideas to follow up on and business cards that need to be organized.

1. Winter Wonderland Party. I was among the 'cheaters' and was only dressed half-way white. I couldn't find anything that I felt good in! (I know... picky, picky me)
2. (L to R) Michelle Smith, me, Arianne Foulks and Nicole Balch. So, so glad I finally met these talented ladies after years of 'knowing' them online. 
3. Eating breakfast alone to gather my thoughts before teaching my paper craft class on Saturday morning. I was a bit nervous but I think things went well—I hope my students feel the same. They were a lovely group!
4. The coolest dog I saw in the beautiful hotel toy store. It's made out of rolled newspaper!

View from the room I shared with the awesome and fellow Houstonian, Caroline.



Snow on the last day!



It's a small world mini-story
I met Carina on Friday afternoon. We exchanged business cards and she told me she was going to be one my students the next day. Awesome! About a couple of hours later we met again during the mini-parties:

Carina: You'll never guess what happened?
Me: What?
Carina: I spoke to my husband this afternoon and he told me that he had just taught one of your tutorials to his special education students. He asked me if I knew who who Patricia Zapata is?
Me: No way!!!  

Or at least that's the way I remember it.
It was total coincidence. It is a small world, isn't it?

Carina—if you're reading I'd still love to know what project he taught—just curious.
(Edit - Got the skinny! - it was the magazine bowl)

• • •

If I can, I will definitely be at ALT Design Summit next year. Loved it!

Stay tuned for a little tutorial that I'm going to share on Tuesday.
Hint: It's something I made specifically to wear to my paper craft class.

Now all I can say is... thank goodness for being home and sleeping in my own bed. Ahhh!

(More and better photos from the summit can be found on Flickr)

headed to alt summit!

I'm headed to Altitude Summit (check out the great list of speakers)! I'm still running around like a mad woman getting ready.

Something obviously had to fall through the cracks and unfortunately it was my business cards. I had to get them printed at one of those quickie places using not such great paper and I DIY-ed the top half with my Cameo among others. The happy accident was that the machine couldn't cut through the thick stock—so I left the scored outlines. It'll do.

Now that that problem is semi-solved I still have some packing to do. Most everyone will be traveling tomorrow but I will miss half of the first day while I fly there. Oh well—this where the balancing act of mother/wife and self-employed designer come to play. I'm just rolling with it.

I'm excited. Nervous. Excited. Mostly nervous about my class but excited to meet so many people that I've known online for so long. I will finally meet them as well as so many other people too.

If you're in my class, get ready for some cutting fun! If you're not, don't hesitate to come up and say hello.

For those of you that won't be there—I'll be posting photos and comments on Twitter (I've added my stream to the blog too).

Catch you all next Monday!

Random blog stuff-- Love it! I can now answer your questions directly. Blogger has added threading to the comments section. Wonderful! 

• • •

Consider this my ahead of schedule Friday Tidbit...

Please see the video below (via Indie Fixx) to learn more about SOPA and why we need to stop it! Copyblogger also has a great article explaining the whole issue and why it should matter to ALL of us.

See you soon!



PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.