L Letterpress

My favorite tool from Lifestyle Crafts (and really one of my favorite tools of all time) is the L Letterpress. This tool can be used in any manual die cutting machine (Big Shot, Cuttlebug, etc) but works best in the Epic Six, and also can be purchased with the Epic Six in a combo kit.

I love the look of quality letterpressed stationary, invitations, cards, etc, and I love that now you have the ability to do letterpressing at home. This beautiful tool embosses ink into letterpress paper, which is a high quality thick cotton paper, to get an inked and embossed image combo. It is so beautiful in real life.

Letterpress tools used: Jubilee Printing Plate Set, red letterpress ink, dark brown letterpress ink, nesting circle dies (included in the starter kit), pillowbox die

Letterpress tools used: Blossoms Letterpress Plates, letterpress starter kit plates, yellow letterpress ink, black letterpress ink, nesting circle dies

Letterpress tools used: Blossoms Printing Plate set, Jubilee Printing Plate Set, letterpress starter kit plates, black letterpress ink

Blog Header

Like the blog header? It was done in My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! I wanted the blog to match my craft room, and I'm in a blue and damask phase. It didn't take long to create but getting it to fit on this template was another story. I know very little about web coding (nearly nothing), and after about 20 tries, I got the coding to work by lots of guesswork and changing and editing. Calling up someone who knows about web design would have been smarter, but hey, I learned something new today, so it was worth it, right?

Mexico Layout and For You Card

It's Wednesday, so deemed in my universe "So You Think You Can Dance Day." I'm a dancer, and I won't say "former dancer" because whether or not you've done a fouette turn, a leap, or a triple pirouette recently, it's always in your soul. The most I dance now is by myself on my kitchen floor, but I secretly wish I could dance like Melanie :)

I can't just watch the show, I become a part of it. You could be sitting right next to me talking to me and I won't hear you, which is why I DVR it and watch it after the kids are in bed. Now it's nearly midnight, and I'm done, for tonight anyway, rewinding and re-playing the routines, sometimes more than once (or 5 or 6 times- I know- sounds extreme) and so now I can get some other things done, such as paying the bills and updating my blog. It's been a bit neglected over the last few days, but for good reason. I've been given the next release for Lifestyle Crafts, which is three times as big as prior releases I've been given, and I've also spent the last couple of days working on a number of projects for another company, which I'm very excited about, but I can't show you any of those projects.....for now :) You should see my craft room. I took pictures, I'll show you later. You can't see the furniture it's so covered in stuff :)

Here are a couple more projects from the Tropical Splash release. Again, look past the photography. I need a 12x12 scanner I've decided:




Paper is Bo Bunny, cardstock from Stampin' Up. I combined several dies and used them with one another, you don't have to use the die the way it was intended, it's your project, do whatever you want! This layout features the Tiki Font, Palm Tree Frame, Surfboard dies, Sunset die, and Sandcastle die.
This card is one of my favorites, the colors are brighter and more vibrant in real-life, as are the colors in the layout. This card features paper from My Mind's Eye, as well as the L Letterpress, one of my favorite tools. It also uses the flowers from the Tropical Flourish die. Cardstock, ribbon and pearls are Stampin' Up!

Layout with Tropical Flourish die

My next endeavor is learning photography. I have no idea how to photograph cards and layouts, or how to use our Nikon D50 which we've had for years, so I used a point and shoot camera and can't for the life of me take a good picture of this layout.
Anyway......
This is my adorable daughter, and I used the Tropical Flourish die and the Plumeria die from Lifestyle Crafts for this layout. Even though this release is "tropical," it's very versatile and can be used for so many other non-tropical projects. These dies also allow you to cut each individual piece in a different color and layer elements, so I used the bottom layer of the Plumeria die alone for the big flowers, and the Tropical Flourish die for the little flowers.

Lifestyle Crafts Tropical Splash Release

Lifestyle Crafts released Tropical Splash at the beginning of July. This adorable release is perfect for summertime fun! I'll be posting some of the projects I created with this release over the next few days.

This card uses the drink umbrellas die, the nesting circles dies, the tropical flourish dies and the sunset dies for the pina colada (though you could use another circle die). The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny.
This cute favor box uses the plumeria die, and the rectangle box die and is perfect for a party!

My Creative Space

Hi! My name is Tiffany Hood, and I've been scrapbooking for about 15 years off and on. I'm a mom of three and lucky to be married to my high-school sweetheart for 9 and a half years now. I've been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for a few years, and am now on the design team for Lifestyle Crafts. I love doing anything with paper, and I love bling!

This blog is a way for me to show you the projects I create for the company I design for, as well as all the other projects I create.

I think it's fitting to start off by showing you where I create. This space has evolved significantly over the last 4 years, from a 4 ft long desk in my laundry room, to overtaking the dining room table, to a few cabinets in my husband's office, and finally to a space fitting for a paper crafter like me (the "take over the whole room and get out everything you own to make one project" type) know anyone like that? (wink). Hold on tight.......you're in for a LOT of photos.....

I knew I needed a LOT of table space, so I put in as many desks as I could fit, as well as a lot of chairs for those tables so I could have friends over to be creative with me!

The room is about 400 square feet. It's one of those rooms that's weird shaped, and in a weird place, and you're not sure what to do with it.... well I knew what to do with it. :)

The desks and bookcases are from IKEA. The white cubes are from Michaels, and the chairs are from Office Depot. Most of the decor is from Hobby Lobby, and the curtain I made myself :) The paint color doesn't show up well in these photos, but it's Enamelware by Martha Stewart paint. My favorite color is aqua, so I wanted a toned-down soothing version of aqua for my room.

 I planned the room with "stations" but wanted the versatility of being able to do one huge project across all the desks if needed. It comes in handy when sewing, but also comes in handy when you're an extremely messy crafter like me and literally use every single desk for one project!

This was meant to be the main "work station" and it sometimes is, but I'm embarassed to say that I need more space than this, so I end up all over the room, which works for me (unless I have my friends over to scrapbook, then I have to tame myself a bit).

aaaaaah..... embellishments. These are among my favorites because I love bling! I'm a "layered" scrapbooker, not linear or symmetrical, and I use a lot of embellishments, ribbon, paper, diecuts, and bling. I'm also kind of a neat-freak (when not in the middle of a project) and everything in every cupboard and every drawer is color-coded, labeled, organized, and everything has a place.

everything also ends up in rainbow order.....I like it that way:) It's pretty.

Here's my patterned paper collection, it's organized by theme, and then sub-categorized by company, and matching embellishments are packed in next to the paper. I try to keep collections together. Embellishments that don't go with a specific paper line go in other places. Everything in the room is a collection. I see myself as a scrapbooking supply collector, because I think I need everything I see :). To my credit, though, I do use everything I have, and love every second of it.

My motto

This is one of my favorite things in the room. This was given to me by my maternal grandmother, and it's five generations of the women in my family, all around age 18. It's a treasure.

The TV is entertainment for the kids mostly. It's not hooked up to the cable, and I wouldn't watch it while I'm working anyway, but the music's for me. I love listening to my favorite music anytime I'm in here.

This is the sewing area. I love this huge table. My mother's a fantastic seamstress, and Home-Ec teacher, and she taught me to sew when I was around 8.

This huge cupboard is from Home Depot and has my stamps and art supplies and albums, as well as art supplies for my kids so they can be creative with me.

These drawers contain the rest of my tools, like stamp blocks, crop-a-dile, adhesives, more embellishments, distressing tools, etc. And I LOVE my Clip-It-Up.

When my husband kicked me and my supplies out of his office, he also kicked out these. He says he can't have a "man cave" with these on the bookshelf, so they're here with me, and very welcome :)

beautiful.

This is where I work the most, because there's a lot of space, and my paper cutter and Epic 6 are here, as well as drawers where I keep my L Letterpress paper, inks, dies, and tools. I have a couple of OTT lamps, because the one window and three lights on the ceiling are not enough.

This room is my oasis. I love to come in here and take a little time for myself doing something I love after a day of caring for those I love. Hope you enjoyed the tour.