FABULOUS FRIDAY FIND-Art Parts by Studio 490

Happy Friday!

Today's find is the cool ART PARTS by Wendy Vecchi of Studio 490.

Art Parts are blank kraft-colored, pre-cut pieces made from a superior quality composite material that is ready to alter. They can be layered, inked, sanded, covered in paper, Tissue Tape, Colorwash Inks, stamped, painted...and more! They work with Tim Holtz's Alterations Texture Fades. They are much thicker than chipboard. These parts can be used to make art to keep or give away and the art will last a lifetime. The surface holds ink like a dream.

These strong, sturdy components measure 1/8" thick.

Here are a few different kits:

These would make such fantastic gifts.

There are many more designs to chose from & prices do vary.

You can find them HERE .

Hope you enjoyed this find.

Have a wonderful weekend!

TOOL TIME TUESDAY-Imaginisce Mini Iron

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today's tool is brought to you by Imaginisce & it is the I-ROCK MINI IRON.

It looks like this:

Isn't it just the cutest?

Don't let its' little size fool ya. It is great for use with our fabric crafts, ribbon & other crafty adventures. Like with all other irons you should be careful what you use it on. Turn fabric painted, studded or glittered items inside out or on the flip side to make sure the heat from the iron doesn't undo all the pretties on your item. You can also place a lightweight cotton dish towel or old t-shirt over your item prior to pressing with the iron to give it an extra layer of protection.

You can find it HERE.

Imaginisce also carries MOTIFS which is their jeweled designs made specifically to be used in conjunction with this iron.

They look like this:

Aren't they hot? Imagine those on a cute t-shirt, purse or canvas!

Super fab!
Hope you liked this week's tool.

Thanks for tuning in.

Hope you come back again.

CRAFTING TIP OF THE WEEK (#120) GAME TIME

Well for us crafty chicas & chicos isn't it always?

For today's tip I wanted to share that you should save any stray game pieces you find & use them in your crafting.

Game pieces are so fun, whimsical & interactive. I know most of you have seen crafters who have taken Scrabble letters to spell out their blog names & creative things of that nature. It sure looks great!

Well, why not do that & more with other game pieces like the ones from playing cards, Life, Monopoly...I mean who doesn't love that car or the thimble? How about Dominoes or bingo chips. We have definitely seen the bingo numbers replicated & sold as a crafty embellishment and it works.

So next time you are out in yard sales, antique shops, second hand stores or just cleaning up your little ones' messes. If you find stray game pieces-KEEP THEM.

Then find unique ways to incorporate them into your fabulous projects.

Until next time...

A SPECIAL WISH FOR YOU

May the warmth
and love of the season
fill your hearts and home.
Best Wishes for a
Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year!

FABULOUS FRIDAY FIND-GICKR.COM

Yes my crafty friends...GICKR IS A WORD...of sorts. It's a thing.

A wonderful, magical, free fun thing!

It is a website that makes your pictures dance. At the time of this pre-post it was a free service. I hope it still is when you go try it out.

It is so cool.

I personally have not tried it yet. I spend a lot of time researching cool & interesting things to share with you. But I hope to give it a whirl soon.

Click on my title bar to go to Gickr.com. There is a little more detail on the site as well.

Hope you enjoyed this find!

TOOL TIME TUESDAY-MARTHA STEWART UTILITY BONE FOLDER

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today's tool is the versatile & covertly,compact utility bone folder from Martha Stewart.

This is 5 tools in 1! Bone folder, embosser, tweezer, trimmer & piercer.

Check out this video demonstrating all of its amazing capabilities.

If you click on my title bar it will take you to Scrapbook.com where you can purchase it online. OR...you can use a coupon at Michaels, Joann's or Hobby Lobby to purchase this multifunctional tool.

I have seen it run anywhere from $9.99-$12.99.

It is great tool to keep in your to go tote when you craft outside of your designated space but equally as wonderful to keep at your crafting table all the time.

Hope you enjoyed this tool!

CRAFTING TIP OF THE WEEK (#119) SPOOLS OF THREAD

Hi Bloggers!

The tip for today is to save your spools of thread. Spools make interesting additions to your crafty projects.

A few things you can do with them:

1-Wrap twine, jute, ribbon or other trim around it that coordinates with the project for which it is being used & tuck a stick pin or mini pennant flag through the spool and adhere it to your project.

2-Wrap some pretty patterned paper ribbons to the spool & adhere an embellishment on top. So the spool ends up serving as a table of sorts to display a mini object of importance.

3-Paint the spool with your acrylic paint and use it as a scroll by adhering a secret message or journaling on the scroll, then rolling it around the spool. Make sure to add a little tab to say pull here so the person enjoying the 3-d embellishment can roll out the scrolled paper to read/reveal its' message.

Spools make great additions to shadow boxes, canvases, covers for mini albums or layouts that you display openly. I am sure you crafty bloggers can come up with more ideas. These were just a few to get your juices flowing.

So remember... don't throw away those spools of thread. They can & will come in handy in due time.

All the best & crafty goodness,

Sonia

FABULOUS FRIDAY FIND-INSTAGRAM!

Happy Friday my fellow blog friends!

Today's find is: INSTAGRAM!

It is a FREE (@ the moment) iPhone APP that allows you to share your pics with friends & family on the go in a unique way. Although I do not own an iphone so that I can acquire this fun APP, this post is for those that do.

You basically
- take a photo with your iPhone
-choose a filter to transform the look and feel of that photo-really fun part (or so I hear)
-then you can send the photo or photos to Facebook, Twitter , Flickr or put them on your blog –

Go to the APP store to grab the app for FREE!

Again, who does not love free & fun?

TOOL TIME TUESDAY-CRICUT TOOL KIT

Hi Crafty Friends!

I realized yesterday that maybe, just maybe not everyone may even know about or own the Cricut Tool Kit.

So then I figured I should just highlight it for this week's tool time segment.

Here it is again:

Now these tools are helpful for so much more than your Cricut use if you are wondering or on the fence about owning this.

It contains the following:

1- A 6 inch clear ruler

2- A craft knife

3-A hook

4- A scoop

5- A bone folder

6- Scissors

7- A scraper

You can most definitely use any of those items for all craft related situations. Working with paper, fabric, felt & more.

You can find it anywhere Cricut products are sold.

CRAFTING TIP OF THE WEEK (#118) CRICUT TOOL HANG UPS?

Hello Crafty Friends!

Ever get tired of pulling out your Cricut tools out of their case to use them?

The ones that look like this:

If you use your cricut tools often and want to have quick easy access to your tools then set them free from their case.

Now before you think I am saying get rid of the case, think again. Hold on to it so you can take your tools on the go. But...while at home, why not take your tools & fasten them with velcro on to your cricut machine?

Use some hook & loop/velcro tape & simply adhere them to a place on your cricut machine where they won't be in the way, like the left or right side. It would definitely make it easy to always know where to find that spatula or picking tool to lift off those cricut cuts in a hurry.

Just a thought...

FABULOUS FRIDAY FIND- A TABLETOP ORGANIZER

Hi bloggers!

Today's find is a tabletop organizer by Mackinac Moon.

Check it out:

This pretty, clear & petite organizer measures approximately 9"L x 6.5"H x 6"D. Giving you space to store magazines in the center compartment as well as paper, large sticker sheets & other items. It also has 3 front pockets to store things like ink pads, acrylic blocks, mists or any items for current projects you may be working on. I love the idea of pre-selecting my items for a project & placing them all in this one contained space and setting it on my work space. If I don't get to finish my project, I can easily place all the items for the designated project into this organizer for the next day. Then you don't have to leave all your crafty items scattered all over your work surface.

Click on my title bar to see where you can purchase it.

Have a great weekend!

TOOL TIME TUESDAY-ENVELOBOX CREATOR

Hello Crafty Bloggers!

Today's tool is brought to you by the crafty folks @ Crafter's Companion. It is the ENVELOBOX CREATOR.

This wonderful tool lets you make many envelopes of varying sizes & depths.

It's great to have a tool like this for those of us who use our cardstock & don't have matching envelopes. We can then use coordinating cardstock or complimentary colored cardstock to add a more personalized touch to our cards by making custom envelopes with this tool.

Click on my title bar & it will take you where you can purchase this handy tool for $12.95.

Hope you found this insightful.
Until next time...

A Paper Flower from Me to You

It measures 3 1/2" & I used graduated sizes of cardstock. I inked the edges with Tim Holtz-Fired Brick Distress Ink & used some of my corner punches to punch the squares of cardstock prior to folding & assembling the flower.

I will be making more of these. Just thought I would share the one since I liked it so much. It looks so much better in person.

Have a great day!

CRAFTING TIP OF THE WEEK (#117) Got Twine?

Hi Bloggers~ How about ideas for using twine?

Here are a few for incorporating them into your project:

1-Make twine flowers by placing glue on a circle cutout & adhering twine from the center of the circle wrapping around. Keep going outward til it's as large as you want it or covering your punched circle. All done.

2-Wrap the twine around other embellishments like chipboard pieces, grunge paper & coils.

3- Use it as an accent to border mats, photos or border strips.

I am sure you savvy crafters can think up more ways to put this fun element to use.

Hope these few jump start your creative process.

A Great Tutorial on how to Use the MY MEMORIES DIGITAL SOFTWARE to Make Holiday Cards

If you own the MY MEMORIES SUITE DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING SOFTWARE YOU WILL WANT TO CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR A DEMONSTRATION ON HOW TO USE YOUR SOFTWARE TO CREATE CHRISTMAS CARDS. YOU WILL SEE THE FINISHED PRODUCT OF HOW THE CARDS TURNED OUT ON THE TUTORIAL AS WELL.

Come on ...you know you want to see them.

Click on the tutorial below now...

Quick and Easy Card Making Using MyMemories Suite v3

You can easily spend $30 on just 5 or more Christmas cards.

If you don't have the software, you may want to consider purchasing this software using my SPECIAL DISCOUNT CODE ....STMMMS38452. You will get $10 OFF doing so. You enter the code during the checkout process & it will automatically deduct the $10 from the total purchase price.

Click on the MY MEMORIES SUITE SIDEBAR HERE ON MY BLOG TO GO THERE, GET DETAILS & PURCHASE.

Not only can you make cards for Christmas but you will be able to make them for ALL occasions, seasons & reasons! This software is a money saver as well as an incredible tool.

This software would make a great Christmas gift too!

Barbara's tutorial above shows just how easy the software is to use and how customizable and personal you can get with your project.

Try it for yourself! Treat yourself!

From scrapbook pages, mini albums, personalized cards & more you can really make great use of this fantastic software.

It's truly the gift that keeps on giving!

FABULOUS FRIDAY FIND-PLUSH POSSUM STUDIO

Happy Friday Bloggers!

Today's find is a blog called: PLUSH POSSUM STUDIO on blogspot.com.

The unique thing about this fabulous blog is that its' author offers AWESOME FREE GRAPHICS.

She has many vintage and unique graphics that you can incorporate into your projects of all kinds.

Just click on my title bar above which includes the link to take you right over. You will not be disappointed.

Check out lots of posts because almost all of them have downloads included.

If you do make your way over, let her know I sent you!

Have fun getting some freebies!