btsoidesigns | where Bernice makes stuff and writes about it.

Penguin Tags

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 04:58:00 +0000

December 24, 2010

For our gifts to kids, I decided to make some tags that were a little more fun.

Penguins!

Noel Tags

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:46:00 +0000

November 22, 2010

I had forgotten to post these tags.

Actually, now that I think about it, I don't know if I made one last design to go with these ones and just forgot to take pictures of them.

Anyway, here are some lighter, less traditionally coloured tags:

Bursts of Christmas Energy

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:55:00 +0000

November 19, 2010

With all the Christmas-y inspiration around already, it's sometimes hard for me to come up with something I want to make. It's almost like I get over-stimulated. I want to make what everyone else is making and it's hard for me to focus on what I can make with my own tools and supplies. But, ever so often, I catch my breath, calm down and focus.

I think that's why my Christmas crafting always happens in waves. This year, I made a single Christmas card. That was at the end of October.

That card was sandwiched by the bursts of Christmas energy I had in the middle of October and beginning of November when I promised my friend I'd help her with a little fundraising project for the youth group at our church. I made a whole bunch of gift tags for them to sell.

And now that I've spent nearly 3 weeks watching KWerner's Holiday Christmas Card series, I've finally found some inspiration (and time) to sit down and create a few more Christmas cards.

Thank You

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 02:27:00 +0000

November 18, 2010

The other night, Andrew asked me to make three Thank You cards for his clients as he was finishing his last sessions with them. I ended up making four. I know, what can I say, I'm just that kind of wife.

Anyway, I quickly put the cards together and was intending to finish it off with some white dashed lines around the edge, above the strips of paper but decided against it in the end. This saved me some time and effort, but mostly it was because Andrew had specifically requested that I make some cards that were a little more masculine as they were for his male clients.

These aren't exactly the most masculine cards, but at least they don't have dainty dashed lines all around them.

Luggage Tags

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 13:19:00 +0000

November 13, 2010

Over this past year, we've flown quite a bit and we've realized that we need more distinguishing features on our luggage to make collection easier. I'm pretty good at spotting out our suitcases, but with the upcoming move, we have a total of 11 pieces we'll be looking for so I figure we might need a better way to find our bags than me keeping my eyes peeled. I might be just a little busy with our kids at that point.

So I figured the first place to start was with luggage tags. I've been trying to play around with a design in my head for a while but the other night, I finally broke down and figured, I had to use up my supplies anyway so I might as well make a couple of prototypes and see which one I liked best.

This is what I ended up with:

I kept the front pretty simple. Not sure if I want to keep our name on the front of it though. I'll probably have to work through a couple more designs for that part. And I plan on using a couple different colours so the boys won't have pink tags. Not that it really matters that much.

In the back, I used a piece of vellum to keep the adhesive film from sticking to the tag. Along one of the edges, I carefully sliced open a space with a hobby blade to create a slit for cards (i.e., with our information).

I checked on the tag a couple days later and it was holding up pretty well except that the adhesive film was starting to pull apart. Guess that's what you get for using the cheap dollar store stuff. I think next time, using a more heavy-duty adhesive film or even taking the tags to be laminated at an office supply store might work a little better.

Magazines Up For Grabs

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:44:00 +0000

November 11, 2010

After packing away all of my magazines, idea books and catalogs, I found some extras.

If anyone would like them, I'd love for them to be adopted into a loving home. Here's what I have:

I found a box with about 6-7 of Stampin' Up!'s Spring/Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalogs. I have absolutely no clue what to do with them, but if someone else can use them and save them from being tossed into recycling, they're all yours!

For whatever reason, I received doubles of these magazines and catalogs from Stampin' Up!. Not sure if anyone would find the information useful, and the products may be out-dated but you can look through them for some inspiration.

And lastly, I have these 3 Paper Craft magazines.

Just leave a comment if you're interested. First come, first serve. I'd prefer not mailing, but if it has to be done you'll have to pay for all shipping costs.

Merrymint Tags

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 11:47:00 +0000

November 1, 2010

These tags are made using American Craft's Merrymint collection that I bought last year. In fact, I liked it so much, I bought two packs. But what's a girl to do with two packs of Christmas paper?

The more I looked at it, the more I realized there were pattern papers I had no clue what to do with.

So I started easy. Chose simple patterns that I knew how to work with.

I really loved using Stampin' Up!'s markers to colour in different parts of the stamp. It was time consuming but I think the finished look makes it worth the effort.

There's still a lot of busier designs I haven't used but I'll tackle those with another project, hopefully soon.

Thank You So Much

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:19:00 +0000

October 30, 2010

Today, a couple of our good friends hosted a baby shower/farewell party for us. It was such a thoughtful gesture on their part and I really wanted to thank them right away so I whipped together a couple of thank you cards to go with their thank you gifts.

The trees were a little tedious to stamp, cut out and adhere but compared to the amount of work they put into our party, it was nothing.

First Christmas Card of 2010

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:29:00 +0000

October 29, 2010

Christmas cards are my favourite type of cards to make.

I recently bought a whole stack of new Christmas stamps so naturally, I was very excited to get started on Christmas cards early this year.

To get some ideas flowing, I watched the entire playlist of KWerner's Holiday Card Series from last year. (I can't wait until this year's series starts!)

When I first started this card, I was going to base it on her card from Day 12. I loved how she had stamped snowflakes on only the bottom portion of the card base and added another layer on top.

But when I sat down to actually make the card, I wanted to make it even simpler. Why not just keep it a single layer but add dimension with some embossing? So that's what I did.

Paper Stash

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:38:00 +0000

October 28, 2010

One of my 101 goals is to reduce my paper stash by half.

In order to accurately achieve my goal, I have to know how much paper I have to begin with! So last weekend, I cleared up some space on my crafting desk and piled my paper on top. This is what I ended up with, not including a few piles of scraps I have lying around on my shelves.

When I first started papercrafting, I used to go on people's blogs and obsess over pictures of their craft rooms. I was envious of their supply and thought that having too many supplies would be a nice "problem" to have.

But now that I face the same problem, I know otherwise.

In the next couple of weeks before baby comes, I'm hoping to make a few more cards and tags*. Maybe if I'm adventurous enough, I might even make my very first scrapbook layout!

*The only thing with making lots of cards and tags is that I likely won't be able to use them before we move to Australia which means it's another thing to pack! Oh the joys of moving overseas!

Christmas Tags

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:53:00 +0000

October 21, 2010

Ever since my last Stampin' Up! order came in, I was meaning to make some Christmas tags. I know it's still a couple months away, but Christmas is going to be bittersweet for us this year. So I'm taking every opportunity to make it last longer than it possibly can, starting off with Christmas shopping and Christmas crafting!

Apparently, when it comes to projects like this, what I really need is a kick in the bum. Last year, I got my Christmas cards started early because I was helping out with my sister's Advent Conspiracy project.

This year, my friend called on me to help her make some gift tags. She will be using them to help the youth group at our church fundraise money so they can each fill a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child without emptying their own wallets too much.

Of course, since I told someone else I'd get it done, I had to get them done! So here's a couple ideas for you early birds out there.

Baby Bundle

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:40:00 +0000

October 12, 2010

This past weekend, my mom threw a baby shower for our Baby #2. I know that traditionally, most people don't get a shower for the second baby, but considering the circumstances*, I think my mom really wanted to do something for us to celebrate this baby.

After church, we made a mad dash to my parents' place. We played games, had some yummy food and I got to chat with a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time.

And after enough experience with these types of events - bridal showers, weddings, baby showers, etc., I know enough to plan ahead for thank you cards.

When I first found out my mom was going to throw me a shower, I immediately sat down and planned out what the thank you cards would look like. I needed them to be quick, simple, and easy to make.

I had stamped and punched out the pieces weeks ago, but I couldn't decide how I wanted the ribbon on, so I left them sitting around for a while until this weekend.

Then, I woke up early on Thanksgiving Monday and got right to work putting the cards together and personalizing them with messages of thanks. What a suitable way to spend Thanksgiving, eh?

I made quite a few of these cards and intentionally left the sentiments off so that I could use any extras as other types of baby cards. For these ones though, I stamped "thank you" on the inside.

*About a month after baby #2 is born, we will be moving to the other side of the world. That means the time she gets to spend with Baby #2 will be the complete opposite of what it was like with Nathan - we lived with my parents for about 2 years before we moved to our condo!

Jasmine's Gift

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:35:00 +0000

September 21, 2010

This project was probably my most ambitious yet. I had originally intended to make a book, but seeing as how I had only really solidified the idea the morning I was supposed to give it to her, I was really pressed for time. So it turned out to be like a set of (post)cards.

My set of cards began with a "title page"

Had one card for each of the letter in her name with a little memory that was related to that letter.

And ended with a little birthday message.

I slipped them all into a clear envelope to make a nice, neat little package. (I LOVE those envelopes. You have got to check them out if you haven't already! They're so cute for packaging!)

I got all the harder parts (i.e., cutting the paper, stamping, some gluing) done at home and the rest of it (i.e., the rest of the gluing, most of the writing) was done in the car ride in to Waterloo! Talk about a rush job!

One good thing about a time crunch is that it forces you to use things without thinking twice. I didn't have time to be stingy with my supplies which pushed me to use more of it - a great way to use up some of your stash and any scraps you may have sitting around!

This is especially good for me right now since I'm slowly sifting through all my stuff, trying to get rid of as much as I can! I'd love to make more of those little cards if I had a reason to - they were so fun!

Butterfly Kisses

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 11:52:00 +0000

September 18, 2010

Today, we'll be attending our final wedding for the year before we move to Australia. It's hard to believe the summer's over. I think this year, we've attended about 5 weddings, 2 of which were out on the west coast, and this is after we had to decline a couple of invites. It's been a crazy busy summer to say the least.

I didn't want to rush another card in the morning so I stayed up late last night putting this one together. When I bought this ribbon, I had the idea that it would like nice on a wedding card. It's so feminine and ruffly! So I just used it to add a little something to the bottom of the card.

Happy Bird-day!

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:48:00 +0000

September 15, 2010

Here's another birthday card, this time for a little girl. Basically, it's the same idea as the boy birthday card I made earlier but a little more feminine.

I love the idea of using strips of paper to add colour to a card. It's fun and uses up scraps!

Happy Birthday, Human!

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:34:00 +0000

September 13, 2010

This past weekend, we were invited to two kids' birthday parties! It was a busy Saturday to say the least.

I was really pressed for time and got up early to put together this card for Nathan's cousin. When I was looking through my stamps for ideas, it came to my attention that this is basically the only "boy-themed" stamp set I have that's appropriate for pre-school boys and older. Perhaps it's time to do a little more shopping*!

*With the move to Australia coming up, I've been trying to minimize my shopping to make packing a little lighter. I may post some items for sale here if I have time.

Love Birds

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:36:00 +0000

June 14, 2010

Here's another love card I've created. Seems to be the theme for this spring/summer since we have so many weddings to attend!

This card was inspired by another card I saw through one of KWerner's challenges. I thought it was really cute and tried to replicate it with a little of my own twist.

Simple Love

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:28:00 +0000

June 7, 2010

Here's a little 3" x 3" card.

Repeating a small image is a good way to "take up space" on a card. Using an accent colour helps to create a focal point so it doesn't look so boring, and you end up with a quick and easy card that looks oh-so-chic!

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Sat, 08 May 2010 15:45:00 +0000

May 8, 2010

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything here.

Part of the reason for that is because I now have a full time job that takes up all my time and energy. When I get home, I just want to crawl into bed. I feel like I'm neglecting my craft area.

But the other reason for me not posting was because I had sent some cards in for a publication call. I guess I should have realized after weeks of not hearing back from them, they didn't really need my stuff and I could have posted then.

No point in waiting months and months, so hopefully very soon I'll have some new stuff up again.

Wild About You

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:01:00 +0000

February 12, 2010

Last night, I took Nathan to Bulk Barn for him to pick out treats for his little school buddies. We brought them home and made them into sweet little Valentines.

We seem to have a thing for lollipops, because this year, we did lollipops again! But instead of making little flags like last year, we made sleeves.

I started out cutting sleeves just a little bigger than the lollipop.

Then I stamped the message part first.

That way, Nathan could get working on his part - signing each and every card, without staying up way past his bedtime. Let me tell you, he worked hard. At one point, he asked if we were at number 20 yet. We were at number 4. But, he persevered and got them all done. He looked like a celebrity signing autographs!

Then, when I got them back, I finished stamping the front of the card. I was going for a more boy-ish theme this year. I really didn't want to do pink and red Valentines with hearts and stuff everywhere so I thought this "Wild About You" might work.

With, wait for it... wild animals on the front!

I contemplated punching holes and tying a ribbon to hold it all together, but then I came to my senses and realized that seconds after receiving these lollipops, the sleeves are probably going to be ripped off and tossed in the garbage, so I figured the fastest way to go was stapling. And stapling is what I did.

A nice last-minute Valentines. Quick and easy - the way I like it.

Medallion

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 08:47:00 +0000

January 23, 2010

Ever since I saw KWerner use the Medallion stamp on her card, I fell in love with it.

It's such a beautiful stamp, so large and elegant. I knew I had to get it.

Side note for those of you without a brayer: I ended up using the smaller stamp to "iron" out the card on top of the card to ensure that all the ink had transferred to the card. I thought this might give me a more even image than if I used my fingers.

I love how the image takes up so much of the card. It's the star of the show. But now I'm stuck! I can't seem to cover up the beautiful thing.

I need some inspiration. How can I add more to the card without taking away from the elegance of this image?

Sparkle and Shine

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:29:00 +0000

January 21, 2010

When you're living off of one income, you have to come to terms with the fact that you can't get everything you want. I would love to buy every single paper-crafting tool and product that makes my heart skip a beat, but let's face it, that just really isn't going to happen.

So when you're in a situation like mine, you just have to use what you have.

I've been wanting to colour in many of my stamped images lately. But little things like blender pens always get bumped down on my list of things to buy. I have a couple markers but sometimes the colour comes out too strong. So what did I do? I dug around in my crafting area and found a box of pens from my childhood.

I've been collecting and hoarding these pens ever since I discovered them. I'm pretty sure just about every Asian girl knows about these gel pens. I loved them. The colours. The variety. I had to have them all. One of each colour, in every style. Had to get the Tiara ones. Had to get the Souffle ones. Had to get the Aqualip ones. And sometimes, I'd get doubles {just in case} I ran out of one colour.

It was a little overboard, but now I'm really glad I have them because it gives me some options when I don't have what all the other crafters are using.

So if you're strapped for cash, try digging around your stash to see what treasures your past has to offer.

Fresh Eyes

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:39:00 +0000

January 18, 2010

I was inspired by a template use in Paper Craft Magazine's recent call for submission.

When I first looked at the templates, I thought, Can I make something using those templates? And my answer was no. I had no clue what to do with those templates and what kind of cards could come out of them but I figured they weren't my style.

It's been a month since I clipped that template to my board, but when I sat down this morning and looked at it, I got some ideas. I was in need of baby cards and I thought it might be cute to cut some circles out again.

I love being able to come back to an idea I gave up on to find that there was something I missed the first time around.

Re-Take

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:07:00 +0000

January 14, 2010

Ever since we got our new camera, I've been meaning to take new pictures of my cards for my Etsy shop. My pictures were a little dim, but since I work during the day, I've been coming home just after the sun sets.

So when I got a day off today, the first thing I wanted to do was get some pictures taken. Apparently, it's quite possibly to lose all your photography skills. And, it's also possible that your pictures will get worse and worse as you go. But I think it takes a certain amount of talent to achieve that feat.

Anyway, I managed to take a couple shots that I was happy with. I'm not one to Photoshop my pictures - I don't have that kind of time on my hands. Not to mention my lack of skills in general.

Here's the Before and After of some of the cards.

Things just look better with a bit of sunlight, don't you think?

Organizing Cards

noreply@blogger.com (btsoi.) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:11:00 +0000

January 9, 2010

I want to start the new year with a cleaner, more organized craft space. One of the things I need to organize are the cards I make that haven't made its way out of my home yet.

To organize these, I got a little plastic container and made dividers for them to sit between. It's really simple, but it keeps things neat and tidy.

I made the dividers with some cardstock leftover from my wedding (And boy there is lots of it. Purple as far as the eye can see!) and the little labels with random scraps that co-ordinated with the occasion or category.

It was so rewarding to finally completely a project in one sitting, and have it turn out exactly the way I wanted.