Today I am showing you the Knock Out border punches from American Crafts! You receive 6 border designs all housed in a handy carrying case. This systems gives you 1 punch tool, then 6 interchangeable border punches and punching guides. You simply choose the design you want, place it in the tools and add the 2 guides to the edges. This allows you to save valuable store space!

I decided to make post cards! All the paper is from the Gardenia and Fresh Squeezed collection from American Crafts! Above I used the Scallop, Notebook and Spiral Notebook Knock Outs.

Here I have used the Open Scallop, Zig Zag and Heart Scallop Knock Outs. The clothespins are also from American Crafts! And the twine is by Queen & Co!

You can also buy individual punches to use in the tool!!

All of the links take you to both Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com! When you use our links to shop at both of these online shops, Scrap Time receives a percentage of the sale and we appreciate your support!!

Scrap Time – Ep. 762 – Knock Outs by American Crafts from Mark Giles on Vimeo.

On the next episode I am featuring the Bazzill Lickety Split Album and Wayfarer Collection!

Thanks for watching!

Last week while we were at TCAF I came across a table sponsored by the Porcupine’s Quill. Some of the books they produce are made up of Linoprints that tell the story.

They had a variety of the wood engraved blocks for us to look at. These are some designed by George A Walker for his book The Mysterious Death of Tom Thompson.

There was even an original book on display that we got to look through. These books usually end up in Museums.

I bought A is for Alice and had George sign it.

I loved that he signed it backwards, just like he would make a linograph block.

Marta Chudolinska is another artist/author with Porcupine’s Quill. I bought her book Back + Forth.

This is one of her blocks from the book!

I loved the art work in these books and it definitely makes me want to get out my carving tools and carve up some of my own stamps!

Today I am featuring the Spellbinders Cut, Fold, Tuck Dies! Each dies set comes with 3 dies that you can layer on top of each other, or use individually, depending on what size you want your finished image to be. They are easy to use and within minutes you can have a beautiful design! I like to use double sided pattern paper with contrasting patterns on each side. But you can also use Cardstock. I used KaiserCraft Fine & Sunny Collection. The above flowers were made using Carnival Dream, Round About and Floral Burst.

This card features the medium and small shapes from Floral Burst.

These 2 flowers are made using the smallest dies from Round About and Carnival Dream.

You can also get the Angle Approach and the Spectacular Spin.

The above links take you to our affiliate Simon Says Stamp. When you use our links to shop at Simon Says Stamp Scrap Time receives a percentage of the sale and we thank you for your support!

Scrap Time – Ep. 761 – Spellbinders Cut Fold Tuck Dies from Mark Giles on Vimeo.

On the next episode I am featuring the Knock Out punches from American Crafts!

Thanks for watching!

This week I lost 0.8 lbs! For the last 5 weeks I have been losing over 2 lbs so I knew at some point my body would say enough! So I was happy that it was still a loss, not a gain!

One thing that makes being on Weight Watchers easier is the ability to still have the foods you love! Pizza being one of those foods! This is what a Homemade Pizza looks like in my house. I buy a thin crust from the grocery store, that even comes with pizza sauce. After I spread the sauce it is time for the toppings. I divide it into 3, which is actually 1 1/2 servings each. I do my third first. I measure out 1/3 c. of the Light Cheese and spread it around my portion. Then I layer on mushrooms. Now it is time for Mark and Gemma. I give them generous amounts of cheese. I apply pepperoni on the entire rest of the pizza. Then I add mushrooms to Mark’s 3rd. I try and load on the toppings since Mark could probably eat more than that amount. After the pizza is cooked it is pretty clear where I need to cut the slices!!

My portion of the pizza comes out to 11 points. But I get to enjoy a tasty piece of pizza!!

Today I am showing you some new products from Studio Calico! This includes products from the Abroad, Take Note and Classic Calico Collections! There are some great Wooden Veneer Shapes, Fabrips, Paper Clips, new Mr. Huey colours, masks and alphabets!

I started by adding Gesso to all the pages using a Palette Knife. Then, on some of the pages I sprayed the red Mr. Huey over the Chevron Mask. I then added Washi Tape. I also cut a piece from the Fabrips and added it with the tape! After I put on the picture, I stamped the name of the place using the Sally’s ABC’s stamp set from Lawn Fawn Stamps!

On the other pages I followed the same steps, but replaced the misting with doilies I cut from the papers using the Floral Doily Die from Lifestyle Crafts!

Here is another page with the doily, but I also added one of the Wooden Veneer Shapes!

All of the above links take you to our Affiliates! When you shop using our links Scrap Time receives a percentage of the sale and we appreciate your support!!

Scrap Time – Ep. 760 – Studio Calico & My New York Mini Album! from Mark Giles on Vimeo.

On the next episode I am showing you the Cut Fold Tuck dies from Spellbinders!

Thanks for watching!

On Sunday Mark, Gemma and I attended the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)! This was our first time attending and was blown away by how huge it was! We focused mainly on the Children’s programming. Gemma chose 3 workshops she wanted to attend. The first one was learning to use your personal experiences to make a comic, run by Raina Telgemeir, the author of Smile. The kids had to think of something bad that happened to them, the list the series of events. Next, they had to decide if some of the events could be put together into one picture. Raina was doing each of the steps as well, to show the kids how it is done. Then they had 5 minutes to quickly draw their comic.

This is Gemma’s quick comic about when her Uncle was playing airplane with her and dropped her and she had to go to the Hospital for stitches.

Gemma loved this seminar! She ended up buying Smile and has already finished reading it and would strongly suggest it!!

The second workshop was Comics Quickfire Challenge! Gemma especially loved this workshop because she was picked to participate!! There were 2 teams and they each got to pick 2 artists to help them draw a Comic. The Audience gave them the title and the twist to the story. They each had 1 minute to draw their part. Gemma’s team went second and their title was The Devious Cat who tried to take over the Litter Box!

Here Gemma is drawing her portion! She go to pick which of her team members would go when.

Here is the finished comic. The twist was the Litter Box tried to eat the cat. Gemma’s team won!!

So then they participated in the Epic Draw! The audience gave them 10 items to draw and the team had 4 minutes to complete it!

Here was the final drawing!! Gemma won a $25 gift certificate to Little Island Comics which is great since we are there every Saturday!! And she got to bring home the art work!!

The third work shop was Author’s reading their stories from the book Explorer, The Mystery Boxes. Gemma was picked once again and got to read along side Stuart Livingston. 4 of the authors were there reading their stories. The book was edited by Kazu Kibuishi, the author of the popular Amulet series (which Gemma loves and would also highly recommend).

We also looked around at all the booths. There were artists and authors from around the world! It was great to see all of their work! I bought this book, My Cardboard Life, by Philippa Rice. I loved her little display.

I found this Octopus attacking 2 skeletons!!

And I loved all these Kitty Accessories. I bought the Two Cats Magazine from this booth.

We spent a lot more money than we thought we would, but we loved being able to directly help out the artists!! We got all of our books signed by the Authors and/or Artists and had a fabulous afternoon. And did I mention that the event is FREE to attend!! We are definitely going back next year!!

Today I am showing you some products from Grant Studios! Grant Studios is an Australian Company that offers a variety of fabulous products! I am featuring the Vintage Collection of paper along with the Glitter Die Cuts! For the canvas above I started by collaging a bunch of the papers onto the base. I then scraped paint over top, allowing the papers to peak through. I then stencilled gesso though a variety of templates from the Crafter’s Workshop, and stamped a bunch of designs. I used the Glitter die-cuts as my houses, and cut triangles for the roofs. I stamped Welcome onto one of the die cuts and glued it all down using Multi-Medium!

Grant Studios also offers card packs. I used the Pink cards and started by using gesso with my Crafter’s Workshop templates on the base of the cards and on the envelopes. I then simply decorated the cards using a variety of the die-cuts and papers. I now have a great set of cards that I can give away as a gift!

Grant Studios has been around for a while, but are newer to North America. Contact your LSS to see if they carry Grant Studios or if they can get it in!

If you are unable to see the video, refresh this webpage and it should appear.

Scrap Time – Ep. 759 – Grant Studios from Mark Giles on Vimeo.

On the next episode I am showing you products from Studio Calico!

Thanks for watching!

So I was happy to weigh-in yesterday to lose 2 lbs and thus earning my 10% award!! I have officially lost 10% of my starting weight! I feel that if I can accomplish this, then I can lose another 10%!!

Now that it is warmer I have started walking to the meetings. They are approx. 2.5 km away and takes me around 30 minutes. But then I needed to go to the Eaton Centre, so I walked there after the meeting! I did my shopping, then decided to walk home along Queen St. W. and window shop. I walked all the way to Gemma’s school, then we walked home. By the time I made it home I had walked over 15 000 steps and earned 8 Activity Points! (and saved $6 in TTC fares.) I am hoping we have a pleasant Spring and Summer so I can walk more around our wonderful city!!

Today I am showing you the Primary Elements Artist Pigments from Creative Imaginations! These are pigment powders mixed with a little Mica to give them some sparkle. You can mix these powders with a variety of products such as Multi-Medium or Gesso to make your own paints!

For this diagram I mixed the pigments with the medium that came in my kit. It was basically a Multi-Medium. Since I was making samples, I didn’t use a lot of medium, allowing me to get strong colours. You can also see how I mixed pigments to make custom colours.

But you can also mix them with Gesso. I used a White Gesso, so now the paints are more pastel, but they are opaque! You can see the lighter blue sitting on top of the purple.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the pigments mixed with a Multi-Medium and with Gesso.

When I was making my samples I was brushing the excess on to this page. You can see that by using the medium the colours show through each layer.

I really enjoyed playing with the Pigments and blending my own colours!

If you are unable to see the video, refresh this webpage and it should appear.

Scrap Time – Ep. 758 – Creative Imaginations Primary Elements Artist Pigments from Mark Giles on Vimeo.

On the next episode I am showing you products from Grant Studios!

Thanks for watching!

Scrap Time Videos:

Ep. 746 – Christy Tomlinson Makes Another Canvas at CHA!
Ep. 747 – My Mind’s Eye Follow Your Heart & Lifestyle Crafts!
Ep. 748 – Amy Tangerine Day Books for American Crafts!
Ep. 749 – Enamel Technique with La Blanche Stamps!
Ep. 750 – Big Top Release by Lifestyle Crafts!
Ep.- 751 – Antique Papers by Bazzill!
Ep. 752 – Love my Tapes Card
Ep. 753 – Lifestyle Crafts Embossing Folders!
Ep. 754 – My Stamp Box and a Faber-Castell Gelato Technique
Ep. 755 – Eco Green Crafts Paint & Technique
Ep. 756 – Acrylic Paint Resist Featuring the Wedding Ring Template
Ep. 757 – Stamping with Markers featuring LaBlanche Stamps

I started a new column: Crafty Toronto! This will highlight crafty things I come across while exploring the city!

Crafty Toronto – Spring One of a Kind Show
Crafty Toronto – The Paper Place Kids Collage Challenge
Crafty Toronto – Type Books
Crafty Toronto – NYC Edition!

And my Weight Watchers Journey continues!!

WW – Fruit Salad
WW – Buying New Running Shoes
WW – Eating and Losing in NYC!!!
WW – Eating Out at The Keg!

I was a guest on the Paperclipping Roundtable!
Paperclipping Roundtable #110 – Clash of the Die Cutting Machines!

And I was having a 2nd Hand Sale!! BTW – The sale ends Sunday, May 6th!!
2nd Hand Scrapping Sale!!!

So be sure to go back and catch up on all the posts you may have missed!!