Thursday, March 31, 2011

Voting for the CDAC drawing contest has begun!!!

Please visit the CDAC Drawing contest to vote on your favorite image!

There is a category for selling artists and a category for non - selling artists.  And there are truly some fabulous images that have been entered.  You can vote once in each category.

So stop in and vote for your favorite today!

Winner of our "Think Warm" Challenge

As always we had so many beautiful entries in our "Think Warm" Challenge.  I had such fun visiting each blog and reading about your projects.  Thank you SO MUCH for sharing all of your talents here with us.

This week our random winner is

Congratulations Gale!  Please visit www.shellysimages.com and choose your favorite image.  Email me at shelly@shellysimages.com and I will send out your image as soon as possible.

Min has another great challenge (and stunning card) posted so please join us for another wonderful challenge.

Gettin' Punchy!!

And I'm not talking about the Punch you drink either!! :)

I don't know about you, but I have many punches - I {heart} punches ALMOST as much as I {puffy} heart Digi-stamps!!

So, your challenge today, should you choose to accept -
Use at least 1 punch on your project!
A GOLD star if you use MORE than ONE punch!!

I thought I'd share with you my take on today's challenge!!

So, what do you have to do to join us and be our weekly winner?
- No back linking to older posts. Each submission must be a new creation.
- Leave a comment here at the blog.
- Enter your creation, below, with Inlinkz.
Check back next Thursday morning and see if you've WON a Shelly's Image Digi of your choice.
It's that simple!

We can't WAIT to see what wonderful PUNCHY projects you create!
Hugs & Happy Days!










Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Tuesday Tutorial - Basket

Min and I are tag teaming a little this week.  I am hijacking her week to share a tutorial with you on how to make the basket that I used for my Marvelous Monday project.

One little catch though....you have to come back on Friday to grab our free template during our Fabulous Freebie Friday!

So...gather your supplies.  
You will need:  A piece of cardstock that measures 8 1/2 by 11 inches
                        Glue - I used a low temp hot glue gun
                        Ribbon - my ribbon is about 1/2 inch wide 
                        Our free template - Available Friday


To get started I am going to show you how to place the template into a Word document.  There are many ways to print your template, but I think that many people use Word.  Of course the beginning of this tutorial works for any image.  So I hope it is helpful to see these steps.

This template is made to fit on an 8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of paper.  But it is constructed in landscape format.  So first we will change our page layout in Word to Landscape.  1st click the Page Layout tab, then click Orientation, and finally click Landscape.  Now your paper on your screen is 11 inches across the top and 8 1/2 inches tall.
Now we are ready to insert our template.  Click the Insert Tab, then click Picture, and finally choose your file from your computer.  You will now see the template on your page in your Word Document.

I always do these next steps when working with an image in Word.  Follow these steps to make resizing and placing your image easier.  1st click the Page Layout tab, then click the Position button, and last click Tight.  You won't see much change on the screen, but believe me it will make our next steps much easier.

Now we are ready to drag our image handles to get the image onto the page as we want it.  For this template you want the control handles and lines to be as close to the edges of the paper as possible.  Drag the control handles on each side of the page until you have the template placed as you want it.  *TIP* - Be sure to click Print and then Print Preview.  Just to check that the template hasn't gone past any margins.  I always have my margins set to .3 on all 4 sides of my paper. Just click Page Layout and then click Margins to change your margin settings.  *Another Tip* - Save your file as a .doc file.  Now the next time you want to use the template you can just go right to the document and print it off. 


After you have printed your template you will want to cut it out.  Save the pieces you cut off because we will use those later.  I used my trimmer to cut all 4 sides and then used scissors to cut the corners out.  After you cut the corners you will want to cut each of the strips.  Be careful not to cut the center square.  We will be scoring along this square as shown in the following picture.

Now fold all of your little cuts up.  Notice that the printed side of my template will become the inside of my basket.
Begin weaving your ribbon.  The best way to do this is to wrap the end of your ribbon around one of the cuts.  Hot glue the ribbon on the inside of the basket.
Confession time.  :)  Why do my tutorials always have a confession?  Yep...I messed up.  Evidently I need to go back to the Weaving 101 Class.  Weave the ribbon completing one complete rotation of the basket.  When you reach the paper strip where you started just cut the ribbon end.  Hot glue the end  on that same strip where you started.  *Tip*  - to hold your ribbon I would suggest hot gluing once on each side of your basket as you weave.  Be sure to hot glue on the inside of the basket.
Now we are ready to start the second round of weaving.  Be sure to pay attention to the pattern of weaving as you choose which paper strip to wrap.  Glue as shown for the first round.  End round two as shown above.  Continue weaving until you have about 3/8 of an inch of the paper strips left.
Now fold down all of those little strips of paper that extend above your weaving.  *Tip* The next time that I make a basket I will measure and create a straight line for these folds.  This will help create a more uniform basket.
Remember those strips that we cut off when we cut out the template?  Here is where we will use them.  Unfold all of the folds you did in the last step.  Hot glue a strip of paper on the inside of the basket.  The exact measurement isn't important.  This strip will hold the top of our basket together.
Now place a little hot glue along the strip and fold over all of the little ends.
To finish your basket just hot glue a handle to the basket.  I wrapped my handle with the same ribbon I used for the basket.  All done.  What a cute basket to hold a little Easter Grass and a little chocolate bunny.

Note from Min - it's a great day when we're both hijacking the blog post.  :D  I actually made one of these based on Shelly's tutorial and it's just fabulous.  There will be a few mom's in our family that will get one of these cuties! 
You certainly won't want to forget to stop back on Friday and get your freebie!! :o)


Monday, March 28, 2011

Spotlight On . . .

Spring

Here is a fantastic project by Amanda using Shelly's Images "Spring Lamb" digi stamp.
 
 
 
We hope this cute shaped card will inspire your projects.  Be sure to click on our "Spotlight On" category in the side bar for more great projects.  Or click on the specific Holiday or project type that you are working on for more great ideas and inspiration.