Add a Little Pop! The Inspiration Emporium 3D Challenge.

We're getting dimensional at the Inspiration Emporium blog these days, and before March completely slips away into April, I thought I'd try my hand at the Sizzix Pop 'n Cuts die system. Oh my, this could become an addiction!

If, like me, you're late to the Pop 'n Cuts party, here's the deal: Pop 'n Cuts is an very cool idea-- You start with a base die that cuts the basic folding card shape, then you add one of their many magnetic inserts that cut shapes that will pop up when you open the card. There are so many cute inserts to choose from, and it's a bargain because you don't have to purchase an entirely new base to get a new design. Plus, they are so flipping fun to use!

For my first foray, I used the Star Insert, not only for the card itself but also for a piece of Ranger Metal Foil Tape, which I embossed, painted with Distress Paint and sanded before adhering to the pop up: 

Speaking of Distress Paint, it provided every color you see on this card. Man, I love this stuff! Spritzing it with water and letting the hues run together gives you effects like this sunset look:

How awesome is this sentiment from the amazing Wendy Vecchi?!

Oh, and here's what the front of the card looks like. More Distress Paint going on here:

Make a wish!

You still have a couple of days to join the March Add a Little Pop Inspiration Challenge, and you really should because you just might wine $50 to spend at Inspiration Emporium!

Thanks for stopping by, and please be sure to follow Inspiration Emporium on Facebook to keep up with our amazing designers!

xo,

Tattered Florals Winner!!!

I truly can't thank you all enough for the incredibly kind comments you left for my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Challenge piece!!! I wish I could send every single one of you a prize, or take you all to dinner or at least for a latte'. You know how to make a girl's day, let me tell you!

Until that whole "independent wealth" thing kicks in, though, I have just one prize to send out, courtesy of Mr. Holtz himself (and his brave super-hero sidekick, Mario). Please join me in congratulating blog reader Oliveoyl64, who is now the proud owner of her own Tattered Florals Die!

OliveOyl, I hope you have a blast with your new toy!!!

Thanks again, you guys. You're the very best!

xo,
Linda

Utterly Fabulous Alternatives to Google Reader

So, Google announced this week that they're pulling the plug on their Reader app.

This is bad news for me, and I'd imagine for quite a few of my blogging friends, too. I use Reader to aggregate about 100 blogs. It's not a pretty app, to say the least, but it's super functional in that it gathers together all those blogs in one simple window, allowing me to quickly scan every new post, which saves oodles of time.

But on July 1, they're taking it away. Poof! I can almost hear the Powers that Be at Google saying, in a Snidely Whiplash voice, "Good luck, suckers! Now you HAVE to use Google+! BWA HA HA HA HA!!!"

As soon as I heard the news, I began my search for a new blog aggregator, and quickly discovered that most of them work by syncing with-- wait for it-- Google Reader. Gah! How's that for Information Age irony? It's a crap shoot whether they'll still work after Reader bites the dust. Fortunately, though, there are a few that function independently of Reader, and in this post I'll offer a very quick rundown of three options that look promising. Please bear in mind that I'm a new user of all these services, so I'm going largely on first impressions.

bloglovin
This is a pretty simple aggregator- you get the blogs you follow in a single-column feed, usually with a featured photo. It's a somewhat leisurely way to browse your subscriptions, as you can only see one or two posts on the screen at a time, but it gets the job done. You can easily import your entire subscription base from Google Reader into bloglovin, so no worries about everything breaking on July 1. They offer a "Subscribe" widget that you can place in your own blog so your readers can easily follow you.

Feedly

This is a more sophisticated aggregator with some cool customization options, but still very easy to set up and use. While Feedly currently syncs with Google Reader, they already have their own Reader clone built and ready to roll, so when Google pulls the plug all our subscriptions will seamlessly migrate over to Feedly's own interface. 

I like this one a lot. Practically speaking, the fact that their team foresaw the eventual demise of Reader and got pro-active setting up an alternative API convinces me that they're a smart bunch of programmers who appreciate a good blog aggregator as much as I do. It also doesn't hurt that they've created a beautiful reader experience with SIX different ways to view your feeds. 

Feedly: My feeds in Mosaic view

Feedly: My feeds in List view

Netvibes 

This one's actually more than just a Reader alternative, in that you can set up multiple Dashboards for various interests and create a snazzy homepage with widgets for all your social media accounts and other assorted obsessions. But, this post is about blog readers, and theirs is great! Of the three I'm reviewing, it's probably most like Reader in layout, but it's a heckuva lot prettier (in fact, they offer about a quadrillion pre-made Themes, and you can even design your own). I've set my Netvibes reader to show my feeds in a list format, and I just click on any post's title to expand it, as you'll see below. You can also view your feeds in a widget format, but I find that pretty user-unfriendly. 

Like the other options mentioned here, it's easy to import your feeds into Netvibes, and it will continue working after Google Reader has gone to that great server room in the sky. 

Incidentally, I've also heard good things about The Old Reader and Newsblur, but the onslaught of new Google Reader refugees has completely maxed them out for the time being.

So, Reader fans, there's no reason at all to worry about losing all those feeds you've worked so hard to collect! In fact, now that I've experienced these three fine alternatives, I'm kind of wishing I'd switched over a long time ago. I know there are several other viable options out there-- these are simply the three that I've experimented with and like. If you have others to recommend, I'd love to hear about it.

Have a great weekend!

Tattered Florals Spring Zing Wreath! My Tim Holtz Challenge Piece

Hi there, awesome blog friends! I'm happy to report that spring is in the air, and the ever-brilliant and downright mighty Tim Holtz has challenged the crafters of the world to use his Tattered Florals die in a piece of original art! 

You're familiar with the Sizzix Alterations Tattered Florals die, right? It's one of my desert-island crafting tools. It works equally well for beautifully delicate pieces or for a distressed, industrial look. There are four individual shapes on this die, which can be used individually or stacked together for an endless variety of cool looks. Trust me, you need it (and if you don't have it, you can win it here... keep reading!). 

The tutorial below will take you step-by-step through the process of creating a lighted Tattered Florals wreath. In addition to the supplies listed at the end of the post, you'll need:

• A willow branch wreath (about five bucks at the craft store)
• A hot glue gun
• An assortment of silk or natural dried leaves, flowers and other pretty botanicals

This is a fun project that you can bang out in an evening. Just think how lovely your lighted wreath will look hung on your porch this summer!

Thanks to the always-generous Tim Holtz, I have a Tattered Florals die to give away to one of my blog readers! Just leave a comment here between now and March 22 at noon, MST, for a chance to win. Already have the die? Fear not, I'm going to throw in some fun surprises for the winner, so you'll have stuff to play with and a Tattered Florals die to share with a friend! If you do have the die, be sure to play along with the challenge at Tim's blog--  you could win a HUGE prize there if you do!

I hope you enjoy the tutorial, and if you end up making your own wreath, I'd love to see a photo. Have a fabulously crafty week, and thanks for stopping by! 

xoxo,

Linda

Here's how to make your own lighted

Tattered Florals Spring Zing Wreath!

1. Begin with a twisted willow wreath and a short string of clear fairy lights.
Mine has ten bulbs, which is just about right for a standard-size wreath.

2. Wrap your light string around the wreath, keeping all the little bulbs facing up. Don't worry too much about having them perfectly spaced-- we're going for shabby chic, after all! 

Use jute or natural-colored raffia to secure the light string to the wreath. Loop it, tie it, whatever you need to do to get the bulbs where you want them. Set the wreath aside...

 4. Cover a sheet of Grungepaper with a Ranger Foil Tape sheet (they fit perfectly!) 

Do this three times. 

 5. Burnish with a craft scraper or credit card to make sure the tape is well adhered. 

6. We're only using the large and medium rose shapes on the Tattered Florals die, so cut pieces of your foiled Grunge paper to fit these two shapes. You'll need one medium and one large flower for each of your little lights. 

7. Vagabond 'em! (Or, use whatever die-cutting machine you have.)

8. Pretty little shiny flowers!

9. Emboss all the little flowers with the Sizzix Alterations Dot Matrix die. 

 10. Pretty little shiny embossed flowers!

11. Paint your flowers-- all of them!-- with your favorite springtime colors of Distress Paint. Use at least two colors. I used Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and Wild Honey. 

12. Lightly mist the wet Distress Paint with water.  

13. Gaze in wonder as the Distress Paint blends itself into cool, beautiful patterns. Set your flowers aside to dry. 

14. Fire up the Vagabond again. This time, cut the bird and her wing from the Caged Bird die using Grunge Board, and ten more large and medium Tattered Florals using your favorite Kraft Core paper. I used red tones from the new "Shattered" collection, which is very cool!

15. Paint your little bird with Distress Paint and a small brush. Use a dot of black Enamel Accents for her eye. Set her aside to dry. 

 16. Sand the edges of your Kraft Core flowers. Remember, never ever ever ever sand on a non-stick craft sheet. Use a piece of scrap cardboard. Check to see if your foiled flowers are dry. If not, Go enjoy a beverage or small brick of chocolate. If so, proceed...

 17. Gently sand your embossed, foiled flowers so some of the shiny metal shows through. This will make your fairy lights sparkle, and add lots of cool, shabby effects. Be careful not to sand through to the Grunge Paper!

18, Oh, the grungy goodness of it all!!! 

19. Punch a small hole in the center of each and every flower. If you're as bad as I am at lining things up, you'll want to mark the center with a pen before you punch. 

20. You'll be able to get your petals to roll and bend better if you cut the notches between them a little deeper, so let's do that. Make a cut between each petal, about halfway to the center hole.  

 21. Okay, now, cut all the way through to the center hole in ONE NOTCH on each of your flowers. Just one. Here's why:

22. You're going to layer your flower pieces around the fairy lights on your wreath. Open the notch that you've cut through to the center, and gently wrap it around the base of the light. Stack the pieces like this: One large Kraft Core flower on the bottom, then one large embossed foil flower, then one medium Kraft Core flower, and finally, one medium embossed foil flower on top. Roll and gently fold the petals for a more flower-y look.

23. This is what it will look like. Do this for each of your fairy lights.  

 24. Now, since you're smarter than I am you would have thought of this before you started: If your fairy lights have a white base and you don't like the look, simply paint the base with Distress Paint, which works beautifully on plastic!

 25. Okay, now it's time to go nuts with all those botanicals you have lying around. Use hot glue to attach silk leaves, dried flowers... all kinds of nature-loving goodness to your wreath. Take care to camouflage the light string (or, if you just can't find a way to completely hide it, dab it with a little Walnut Stain Distress Paint, which perfectly matches the willow branches of the wreath).

26. Don't forget to attach your sweet little bird!

26. Voila! You're ready to plug this baby in and take it for a test drive!

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