Did you know March is National Craft Month?  Well in honor of that Brother is generously allowing me to giveaway one DesignNCut DC200 machine ($299 value!!!) to one of my awesome blog readers. 

Brother recently sent me my own DesignNCut and here's a video of my unboxing of it and then making my first project...a card!

Official Rules: To enter to win, just comment below on this blog post by midnight PST on March 17, 2018. By commenting on this blog post between the dates of March 11, 2018 and March 17, 2018, you are agreeing to the official rules and you agree to provide your name and mailing address to Erin Bassett and Brother International for prize distribution. Prize fulfillment will be done by Brother International.

Eligibility requirements: Open to USA residents 18 and older only. 

A random winner will be chosen via random.org on March 18, 2018 and contacted that day. If potential prize winner does not claim the prize in 48 hours or forfeits the prize, the prize will be re-awarded. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Void where prohibited by law.

A winner has beeen chosen and emailed! 

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Brother to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

For 2017 I decided to try something a bit different for myself and work in smaller art journals every day. I did this so that I would get back in the habit of art journaling daily, which I got out of doing at the end of last year because I got so busy with work. By having it small (3.5" x 5.5") it's not too hard to squeeze something onto the page each day.  Now of course some days I could actually complete the page, other days I barely got something on, but the the point of creating a habit was a great one.

Here's a bit more about the art journals I'm using and what I did in February:

(click here to see it on YouTube)

Now I know you want to see more about the little journals I used. They are these Moleskine ones and they come in a set of 12, plus the box that keeps them all together...well, until I add my art to them and make them too big to stuff into the box!

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

Faber Castell came out with a Vision Board Kit recently and asked me to create something with it and then to blog about it on the Design Memory Craft blog (you can check that out HERE).  So I made a board that would be inspiring to me yet useful and interactive.

One of my favorite things about this kit is that it comes with everything you need to get started creating and if you want to add in more things or use more products you can easily mix those in.  I created this video showing step by step how I created the actual bulletin board and each of the pieces I added to it:

After making the board and inserting it into a frame I had at home I took the 6"x6" piece of printed paper with the flowers on it and decide I'd watercolor them in using the Grip markers that also come in the kit and some Gelatos that I already had. The Grip markers are waterbased  and are perfect for scribbling out on a craft mat, adding water to, and then painting in the flowers on the paper. (And another cool thing about them is if they dry out you can dip them into water to reactivate them!)

I also used a stencil from the 101 Stencil Collection and both the Pearl and the Silver Texture Lux to add some texture and shine to the background.

I knew I wanted to tuck the other 6"x6" piece of paper behind the flower one so I wanted to keep it simple but meaningful and inspirational to me. I came up with the plan to just use a small tipped PITT Pen to write out the attributes of the Lord that began with each of the letters. I really enjoyed meditating on those and knowing I can pull it out and refer to it when I need it. I used the PITT Pen instead of the Grip marker that comes in the kit because it has a smaller nib that made it easier to write small with.

This kit comes with so many cute smaller pieces of paper and tags that are perfect for keeping my lists on, so I bundled them all together and put them on a ring so I could hang them on one of the pens that come in the kit .

I also used some of the banner and diecut pieces that come in the kit to tie in with one of my favorite quotes I had written on another card that came in the kit.
That verse in Ephesians has really been on my heart lately and I love how Jimmy put words to how I feel about it:

Yep, love that.

Don't you love that big, glittery hash tag!!! I knew that I wanted to use that on the frame and so I used my ScanNCut to cut out the word "inspire" out of Scor-Tape on cardstock and glittered it up to match.

This was such a fun project to do and I hope to keep using the board, adding to it, rearranging things, and continue to be inspired from it.

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Faber-Castell  and Brother ScanNCut to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

It's that time of year again for us in the USA to dust off our patriotic decor for the upcoming summer patriotic holidays to pay tribute to those who have sacrificed to give us the freedoms we have and then to celebrate our independence.  How's your decor holding up? Do you need to replace some of it?

Here are a few various patriotic projects you can quickly whip up using craft vinyl and your ScanNCut.  When working on multiple projects at once I like to plan out what designs I'm going to need cut out of each color of vinyl and get them all organized on the same "mat" in ScanNCut canvas and then send them over to my ScanNCut using the wireless transfer.  -I love that new feature! While previously using a USB stick to bring my designs back and forth from ScanNCutCanvas to my ScanNCut wasn't hard, THIS is even easier and faster!

Supplies:

• ScanNCut Machine and Accessories
• Red, White, and Blue Craft Vinyl
• Grid Transfer Paper
• Metal Can (I got mine from Michael's, but there are other designs here)
• Chalk Sandwich Chalkboard (another find from Michael's)
• Decorative Letters 
• 8" x 8" canvas (mine came with the newsprint already on it, from Michael's of course)
• Embellishments: Flowers, Burlap, etc
• Download the FREE flag, freedom, and USA (used on the can) designs, the stars (on the USA letters are built in patterns in ScanNCut)

Instructions:

You can watch this video of the whole process, or follow along with the instructions below:

1. Load your designs onto the ScanNCut and cut them out. Be sure to do a test cut first to ensure you are only cutting through your vinyl and not through the backing.

2. Weed the negative areas out of the vinyl design.

Repeat until they are all weeded and ready to be used.

3. If you've cut out any embellishing designs (like I did with the stars in the example below) use transfer paper to layer them on top of your vinyl design. 

4. Apply transfer paper over the entire design, burnish it well with your spatula, remove it from the backing, then take it to your project, burnish it again, and then remove the transfer paper.  I really like using the clear grid transfer paper because it makes it much easier to line things up.

You don't always need to use transfer paper though. If your design is simple, and you want a random pattern, just use your vinyl cut outs like a sticker and place them where every you'd like.

And snap, we're done! Such fast projects!

Happy crafting!

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Brother to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

I had so much fun trying out the new Asphalt Texture Paste from Faber-Castell.  It's a nice course, heavy weight paste that is opaque and dries with a matte finish. Here's a video I whipped up showing me testing it out on various materials:

I love testing out new products on Project Life sized cards (3" x 4") since I can then use them in my albums or just punch a hole in them and put them on a ring to reference when I need ideas.  Here's the ways I tested the Asphalt Texture Paste:

I used it on a transparency with a stencil....

On wood veneer with Texture cards.... 
On textured cardstock using a pallet knife...
On canvas using a stencil and etching in a heart with a paper piercer...

On chipboard with a stencil and then stamping a lid into it to create rings...

Go try it out on your projects, it's fun!!

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Faber-Castell  to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony).