Tip: Cheap Mounting Foam

EZ Mount is a convenient way to mount foam on the back of unmounted stamps as it is combined all in one package –sticky back, foam, & plastic backing, however, I find it rather expensive for my pocketbook when I can find it. So I began to look for substitutes and have found one that satisfies me. I found most of my materials at Micheals = a sticky back foam sheet, Aleene’s Tack-It Over & Over Glue and a cheap paintbrush. Across the street at Walmart, I found 54” wide clear plastic sheeting back in the craft section by Kittrich Corporation, La Mirada, CA. 90638. One yard of the lightest or medium weight vinyl has lasted me quite a while.
After I trim the extra rubber around the image on the unmounted stamps, I paint the backs of the rubber with a thin coat of the tack-it glue and let it dry until clear. Hold the stamp by the edges because the tack-it is extremely sticky and mount it on the plain side of the foam sheet.. Cut the stamp out close to your trimmed sides of the rubber, remove the paper from the sticky side and place on the clear vinyl sheet, making sure the vinyl is laying flat. Smooth air bubbles out. I trim the vinyl ¼” from foam. The only trouble I’ve had with this method is sometimes the vinyl sheet will not cling well to the acrylic mount especially when the air is winter dry and then I do the old cook’s method of wetting the acrylic mount with a little water on my finger.

New Life

Stampin’ Sisters in Christ Challenge #72
2 Corinthians 5:17 = “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new.”


After surgery or an illness, getting well is like new health!

Stamps Used:
Anna Griffin Butterfly (item #580F12)
Anna Griffin Rose Background (#580K06)
Rubber Stampede Large Dot Label (#3217F)
Wordsworth Get Well (#S146-F)

Papercraft: Blue & White Fan.

My husband’s paternal grandmother had a little wooden fan in her possession that was made from thin cedar shingles. They lived near a factory in the Ozarks that made wooden items for the tourist trade.

The fan was cleverly constructed of three blades that collapsed into one, making it small enough to carry in a lady’s handbag. This is what I traced to make my paper fan.

I LOVE fans. See the one I carried in our wedding on Pinterest (Cinderella Princess board).

 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

Supplies Needed:

Template (click on photo to enlarge)

Cardstock

Optional: Tagboard (from tissue boxes)

Pencil

Scissors

Hole punch

Double-face tape or glue

Appropriate rubber stamps

Ink pads, markers, glitter, etc.

laminator

Large brad

Instructions:

Print off template and cut out. I found that one layer of cardstock is rather flimsy if one wishes to use the fan, so I cut out three blades of cardstock, three blades from matching tissue boxes, and taped them together with double-faced tape. Trim edges as needed. Decorate cardstock by rubberstamping as desired. I used Martha Stewart’s clear bird stamp(item #MA331034) and Autumn Leaves Swirls (item #AL2587). Write or stamp a sentiment on the tissue box side and sign before running your blades separately through a laminator. Punch the hole where indicated and thread a brad through all three holes to hold the blades together along with a tassel.

Crochet: Framed Christmas Cards

My grandmother showed me a little craft she used to make with nice Christmas cards. Back in her day, growing up on a farm out on the prairie and later as a farmer’s wife, many of the nice home décor pictures we have now were just not available, so she was creative with what she had.

~~ <> @ <> ~~

You will need these supplies:
New or used Christmas cards
Tagboard (a thin cardboard from cereal, gift, or tissue boxes, a tablet of paper, or a new shirt)
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil
Double-face tape
Hole punch, 3/16” in size.
Size G crochet hook
Yarn
3/8” inch to ½” inch wide ribbon
large-eyed yarn needle

In order to make the frame, begin by selecting the card you want. I picked out a couple for samples, made of sturdy cardstock. If you have one made of flimsy paper, you will have to make it sturdier by inserting a piece of tagboard. Trace around the card on the tagboard and cut out. Trim the tagboard so that it’s just slightly smaller than the card by a hair (just inside the pencil marks, so it doesn’t show in front), then insert inside the card. You may double-face tape the tagboard to the inside center of card so it doesn’t shift when you punch the holes around the outside.

I have several hole punches – Fiskars hand punches, a 9 pc. set of eyelet punches from Harbor & Freight that one whacks with a hammer, a sheet metal hand punch I also purchased at Harbor & Freight, and a long arm Crop-a-Dile punch. Any will work as long as a size G crochet hook will pass through the hole easily. Punch holes around the outside edge of the card about ¼ “ from the edge and from each other. You can make tick marks on the back side of your card if you like with a pencil, but I punch the holes at each corner, then in the middles, spacing them fairly evenly, and so on.

Both cards I made for samples begin the same.

Row 1: Slip your crochet hook into the top middle hole from the front of the card and pull a loop of yarn through the hole. Chain 1 (ch 1) over the top of the card, catching the yarn with the hook and pulling it through your first loop. Insert hook back into the same hole, yarn over (yo), pull through. You should have two loops on your hook. Yarn over top of card and pull loop through both of the loops on your hook, making a single crochet (sc). Single crochet along the rest the holes loosely until you reach the corner. If you make your stitches too tight, the card will buckle. At the corner you will make 2 single crochets in the same hole with 2 chains between them to make the corner (sc, ch 2, sc). Continue crocheting around the edge of the card until you reach the top middle again. End first row by inserting hook into the first single crochet you made, yarn over, and pull through loop on hook, making a slip stitch (sl st). Chain 3.

CARD 1:

On Card 1, I used Lily’s Original Sugar ‘n Cream cotton yarn in Soft Ecru.

Row 2: For this frame there are two double crochet stitches (dc) in each first row single crochet stitch except at the corner where there are 4 double crochets with 2 chains between each set to make the corner. The chain 3 is the first double crochet (dc) in the beginning sc. To make a double crochet, yarn over (yo) with the hook, catching the thread, then dip down into the first sc, yo, pull yarn loop through single crochet. Yo again and pull loop through two loops on hook. Yo and pull caught loop through the last two loops on hook. You have a complete dc. Dc twice in each sc until you reach the corner. At the corner, make 2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc. Complete row until you end back at middle top. Close row by making a sl st in top st of beg ch 3, ch 10, sl st back in same st. Ch 1, pull long (about 2”), cut off, leaving a tail to weave through the back of the stitches with a large-eyed yarn needle. Trim.

To finish: cut 1 yard of ribbon and weave through punched holes, beginning at top middle, leaving a six inch tail of ribbon. Space ribbon evenly as possible. Tie a bow with tails when done and fish-tail trim ends. Flatten frame and hang by chain loop.

CARD 2:

Card 2’s frame was made with Bernat’s Satin Sport Acrylic 2.4 oz/70 g yarn in the seashore color.

Row 2: In this row, you will make the shell stitch of 6 double crochet (dc) with 2 chains between each set of 3 dc in each row 1 sc. The chain three that you made at the end of the first row counts as the first double crochet in the shell. To make a double crochet, yarn over (yo) with the hook, catching the thread, then dip down into the first sc, yo, pull yarn loop through single crochet. Yo again and pull loop through two loops on hook. Yo and pull caught loop through the last two loops on hook. You have a complete dc. Make one more dc, then chain (ch) 2, then make 3 more dc’s in same stitch. Skip (sk) one sc and make another shell in the next sc. Repeat until you return to the top of the card. Complete row by sl st into beginning (beg) ch 3 and sl st to the top of the shell where the ch 2 are. Ch 10, sl st back in same st. Ch 1, pull long (about 2”), cut off, leaving a tail to weave through the back of the stitches with a large-eyed yarn needle. Trim.

To finish: cut 1 yard of ribbon and weave through punched holes, beginning at top middle, leaving a six inch tail of ribbon. Space ribbon evenly as possible. Tie a bow with tails when done and fish-tail trim ends. Flatten frame and hang by chain loop.

follow me

Former and Present Online Memberships --  

Ancestry.com 

Club Posh

Find-a-grave

Flickr - 1

Flickr - 2

Glaucoma Research Foundation

My Four Blogs

My Google Library

Old Fashioned Living.com (while still online, sadly, it's not been updated in years and the gremlins and trolls have taken over the Parlor forum)

Pinterest 

Splitcoast Stampers "Need a Poem?  and Gallery

YouTube