From the Scrap Pile to High Style: Starburst!

Hello everyone!

We're very excited about this post, so we're going to get right to it! In our last post we talked about using scraps the whole month of August and it's been such a fun challenge! We hope you're keeping up with our Instagram page to see all that we've been doing.

We have a new video tutorial on how to turn your scraps into a beautiful sunburst card. So click the link below and head on over there to see how to make your own versions of this great technique!

Click Here to see our new video!

Thank you for coming by and we hope you'll stop again soon!

The 3 Chicks,

Hannah, Marisol & Joyce

Things We Love!

Hello Craft Lovers!

How is everyone doing?! We hope the answer is great! We're doing pretty great ourselves. Summer has been such a busy time for all of the Chicks that we've barely spent anytime on our computers or even in our craft rooms! *Gasp!* We have been creating a little here or a little there so if you're feeling the withdrawal from our blog or our YouTube channel, make sure to subscribe to our Instagram page. We keep that updated much more often! We do have some pretty fun things planned, so we're hoping to be doing more tutorials and blog posts in the coming months. 

One of the fun things, is this new segment we call "Things We Love." Here we'll showcase our favorite crafting tools, papers we swoon for and all the other things that made us open our wallets so we could take them home! We hope these posts will inspire you to get crafting!

Not too long ago, Hannah and I (Joyce) we're out killing some time at our local craft stores with my nephew, Jayden. He's only two and a half but he's a crafting deal spotter already! While we were at Michael's, Hannah spotted these great little ink pads by ColorBox Mix'd Media Inx on clearance for less than $2 each! We just had to have them!

I took home the (in order from left to right) Pewter, Patina, and School House. I just love them! I wish I would have taken home one in every color because they are such nice inks! The pads are nicely saturated and the colors are very vivid! (I'll show a stamp off sampling in just a moment.) Another thing I love about these stamps is that they are easily stackable which is awesome for saving space and keeping my favorite inks together!

The next place we went to was Hobby Lobby and we just love their clearance section! I think I can safely say that all three of the Chicks much prefer the cling stamps to the rubber block mounted stamps. The cling stamps are easier to clean, stay crisp longer and store away with much less space taken. But they are not really something you find in the clearance section too often. So in these instances, I love rubber block mounted stamps! I found these little gems on our last trip there:

The sentiments read (again, from left to right): Good friends don't spill the beans, a sail boat picture, The heart that loves is always young - Greek Proverb. I think they are all adorable  Where I might not have taken the plunge for the original $8 and up stickers, I'm more than happy to take them home at the very discounted prices. 

So with these new ink pads and these new stamps I did a little stamp off test for everyone to see why I LOVE the new inks! For those who may not recognize the term "Stamp Off" it refers to the action of saturating a stamp with ink one time, then making multiple stampings before re-saturating the stamp again with more ink.

You can see that inks held up really well the second time and even the third time with the School House red and the Patina blue colors! The Pewter grey color did very well, and I think if the stamp had not had such a flat surface for LOVES that it might have looked just as crisp. Also, a darker color paper would probably have done more justice to the Pewter, but I was still very happy with the result. 

I did make a card using the Patina blue color ink. My nephew wanted to send a card to a family friend of ours who gave him a bunch of hand-me-down clothes that he loved. (He didn't know he wanted to send a card, but we knew he did.) Even on bright green paper, the blue still was the focus and I just love the results! What do you think?

The glittery strip was a scrap from some previous card albums I had made. It just adds a little something! I love the sentiment and the tiny turtle, I think both make it a great card from a kid. 

So that's it for this edition of Things We Love, we hope you enjoyed it! Keep on the lookout for more installments of this segment! Also, for the month of August we'll be making cards and other things using our scraps! We know you've got them and we're going to show you how to use them! Look for the headline post: From the Scrap Pile to High Style!

Take care and enjoy your summer!

The 3 Chicks,

Hannah, Marisol & Joyce

10 Items or Less: Paper Punches!

Hello Again!

Today's focus will be on using a couple of paper punches. We love the effect that a border or corner punch can give a card. It adds a little fun to each card you use! We'll also be using up some more of our scraps, so get those out too! Let's get started!

What you'll need for these cards:

Card 1:  Let's Float Away

• White cardstock (other half of Card 1's cardstock)
• Blue-Grey cardstock scraps
• Cerulean Blue cardstock scraps
• Let's Float Away sticker
• Lace Border Punch
• Corner Punch

Card 2: The Only Way is Up

What you'll need for this card:

• White cardstock cut to 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" (Save the other half for Card 2)
• Yellow cardstock scrap
• Sky Blue cardstock scrap
• Navy cardstock
• The Only Way is Up sticker
• Sky Blue ribbon
• Lace Border Punch
• Corner Punch

~ ~ ~

Card : Let's Float Away

These are the cutting dimensions for the outside of the card:

• 3 squares of Cerulean Blue cardstock cut to 1 1/2" x 1 1/2"
• 3 squares of Blue-Grey cardstock cut to 1 1/2" x 1 1/2"
• 1 strip of Cerulean Blue cardstock cut to 1" x 5 1/2"

 Step 1: After you get your squares cut, you're going to use the corner punch to punch two diagonal corners. Make sure which ever two corners you choose on your first square are repeated exactly the same on all other squares. It will make a totally different look if you flip-flop.  ** The Let's Float Away sticker was square so I also gave the same punch effect on it. **

Step 2: Fold the card in half. Then use the lace border punch on opening side of the card as indicated in the above diagram.

Step 3: Apply the squares, alternating between the Blue-Grey and Cerulean Blue cardstocks. I put my focal sticker at the top right corner, but it will really look good in any of the squares.

 Step 4: Let's add some charm to the inside! Take your strip of Cerulean Blue cardstock cut to 1" x 5 1/2" and use the lace border punch on one side. Then take the straight edge side and line it up with the outside of the card. This way when the card is closed all you see is a pretty blue strip but when it's open you get a lace surprise!

All done!

Card 2: The Only Way is Up

These are the cutting dimensions for the outside of the card:

• Yellow cardstock cut to 5" x 3 3/4"
• 3 squares of Blue-Grey cardstock cut to 1 1/2" x 1 1/2"
• 1 strip of Cerulean Blue cardstock cut to 1" x 5 1/2"

Step 1: Take your other half of White cardstock and fold it in half. Use the corner punches to  round off the outer corners of the card where it opens.

Step 2: Take your Yellow cardstock and use the lace border punch on one of the 5" sides and the corner round punch on the opposite two corners.  Layer the Yellow on the White.

Step 3:  Only punch one side of the 4 1/2" Sky Blue cardstock leaving 2 pointed corners on the opposite side. Layer the Sky Blue on the Yellow, matching the rounded corner side with the other rounded corners and the pointed edges with the lace side.

Step 4: Now we're going to add a border to the Only Way Is Up sticker by laying it on the Navy cardstock and cutting around it to leave a little edge. 

Step 5: Take the Sky Blue ribbon and slip it through the opening on the newly backed sticker. It looks very cute if the edges get clipped to look like it has an inverted triangle or "flag" effect.  Apply adhesive and lay across the entire card.

And you just got through 2 more cards that take so little time or product! We hope you are enjoying these and come back for more! Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments. See you soon!

The 3 Chicks,

Hannah, Marisol & Joyce

10 Items or Less: Layers & Scraps

Hello!

We're really digging this 10 Items/10 Minutes or Less segment (as if you couldn't tell) so we're bringing you another one! We hope everyone is loving it! Today's cards will be focusing on layers and the use of scraps. We Chicks love paper so much that we hoard any and all scraps. Since this is not a cheap hobby, it's not hard to see why we would. However, that probably doesn't excuse the volume of scraps that some of us keep around. So to help sooth our guilt, we like to use those scraps to make pretty cards. 

Today's cards will have these items:

 Card 1: What's Up?

• Navy cardstock scraps
• Coral textured cardstock scraps
• Cream cardstock base
• What's Up? Sticker

Card 2: You Are My Sunshine

• Red textured cardstock scraps
• Coral cardstock scraps
• Sky Blue textured cardstock scraps
• Black cardstock scraps 
• You Are My Sunshine Sticker
• Cream cardstock base

Ok, now that you have your scraps and tools (you know, something to cut your paper, adhesive, and a pencil and ruler if you're not using a paper cutter) let's get started!

Card 1: What's Up?

We're going to start with a standard sheet of  8 1/2" x 11" cardstock that we'll cut in half to make a card at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2". ** Save the other half for Card 2! **

**Please excuse the resolution of some of these photos. My camera was acting wonky and so I don't think it gave true colors for some pictures.**

Here's our measurements for our layers:

• Cream card base (Folded): 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"
• Navy Layer: 5" x 3 3/4"
• Coral layer: 4 1/2" x 3 1/4"

Layer the Navy on top of the Cream and the Coral on top of the Navy.

Next, we're going to give the sticker a base by laying the sticker on the Navy cardstock and cutting around the sticker.

Don't worry about perfection, people will be so impressed you even attempted this that they'll love it no matter what!!

 Finally, we apply the sticker to the layered card stock! Here's the finished card!

 Isn't it cute?!

Card 2: You Are My Sunshine

Once you gather the scraps listed above and regroup your tools we'll get started again. .... Ready?? Great, let's get started! We're going to work just a tad harder on this one, but it will be totally worth it! Here are the measurement's we'll be using:

• 3 Coral cardstock rectangles cut to 2" x 1 1/4"
• 3 textured Red cardstock rectangles cut to 2 1/4" x 1 1/2"
• Sky Blue textured cardstock cut to 5" x 3 3/4"
• The other half of your Cream cardstock folded to 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

Ok, lets get layering: layer the Black onto the Cream and the Sky Blue textured onto the Black. Then we're going to evenly space the 3 Red rectangles on the Sky Blue to take up three corners of the card. Then layer the Coral onto the Red. You'll notice we left one area blank. That's where our sticker is going!

Like we did before, we're going to be giving a base to our sticker:

 Apply the sticker to your card and admire your handy work!

Thanks so much for checking out our blog! We love doing this and we hope you give these suggestions a try! Keep checking back and we'll keep posting!

The 3 Chicks,

Hannah, Marisol & Joyce