Crossing Over

Remember that scrap booking and card making mania that women with too much time on their hands were doing a few years ago?

I thought I had avoided it.  
Sooooo smug was I.

I was wrong. Late to the party as usual.

Because of this book.

And specifically this page..... where Vintaj (makers of delicious jewelry findings) explains that you can emboss metal with a Sizzix.

See that brown machine with the crank?  
That's a Sizzix (pronounced like sizzle not size).
It cuts and embosses.  

Emboss.  What does that mean again?
Remember that flocked velvet wallpaper from the 60s?
Raised surfaces.  More fun than plain.

Off to Michael's yet again, with Le Coupon.
Thank you Michael's, I got a sweet deal on my Sizzix Big Kick!

I haven't named it yet. 

So you think this is where the story ends?  
Ha! Oh no, not even close.

You get this machine, you need STUFF to go with it.

First you have to figure out how to use it without breaking it in the first five minutes.
There are directions on the board.  
They are scary and confusing.
Don't cry.
I found some great Youtube videos on what to do. 

You need additional boards, apparently, although I haven't used them yet.

You need some embossing folders.
I try to stick to a theme, mostly beach and ocean.
This is shells and sea glass! 

But "WAIT there's MORE".

You need... DIES or DIE CUTS.  
These dies ... well, they CUT things.
Like paper and some light craft metals.  
Also other things such as cork or foam.

The ones on the left are called Droplets by Elizabeth Craft Designs.
The one on the right is heavy duty, from Tim Holtz.  It is called Trellis.
They cut out the shapes. 

Are you still with me? Trust me, this took since my last post to figure out.

You have to have paper, and a pouncer, just so you can keep up with your cat. 
It's for applying inks and paints to the paper.  
This is uber special paper that I am scared to use because it was SO DAMN EXPENSIVE.  
But apparently it is divine with paints and inks.  

You get to buy pretty paper.  

This isn't all THAT pretty but it IS mermaids.  

You have to have Gelatos allegedly. Gelatos are crayons that work with water.

The paint displays are overwhelming. What COLOURS to buy?
Tim Holtz makes Distress Inks, Distress Stain and Distress Paint.

It's all pretty distressing, actually.

I made myself a Midori style notebook (Also called traveler's wallets).
They are really fun and easy to make.  
I made mine out of Kraft Tex, which is a faux leather.
I have been decorating the pages and embellishing like crazy but it's too lame to reveal here. 

It's like journal making, which apparently the scrapbooking crowd has now morphed into.

Look at the Stampington and Company videos on Youtube.
Loads of multimedia art.

I actually did make a pair of embellished earrings, out of Shimmer Sheetz and alcohol ink.
They are light, colourful and bright and will look great at the beach. 
I am scared to poke a hole in them for the wires, haven't done that yet.  

All in, don't even ask how much these EMBELLISHED earrings cost!

There you have it.  A new obsession.