Tag: cardmaking

Media Mats: An overview

Moving through 2025 I want to provide more informational content. Starting off the year I want to take a look at Media Mats. I’m starting here since you will see me use inks, paints and sprays on my projects on a regular basis. You will also see the various mats I use to keep my space clean, make cleanup easier and help me get the job done faster.

I created a video explaining many things on these mats. However that video is now fixed and can’t be changed. In fact I have now thought of one idea I missed already! Here I have the opportunity to update and correct information based on feedback!

Let’s start with that video. I’ll move on to a chart that you can download for free. Finally I’ll share many details of each mat category and the various qualities.

Media Mat chart

Download this pdf chart.

Latest update: February 2, 2025

More Details

Paper Mats

From scratch paper to specialty mats you can purchase. Paper sheets are a cheap and disposable way to make cleanup easier. Larger mats with grids can be purchased and the grids are very useful

★ Best uses: ink blending; catching messy mediums to throw away

Pros

  • Free or cheap
  • Readily available
  • Disposable so no further cleaning is needed.

Cons

  • Creates a lot of trash
  • Can’t handle very wet mediums

Laminated Paper Mats

The provide many of the same qualities as glass mats at a fraction of the cost. However, getting larger sizes requires going to an office store. Sizes around 13in x13in are available for home use. Consider a machine like the Minc which can be used both for craft techniques and for medium-size lamination.

★ Best uses: any mediums; smaller projects

Pros

  • Can be very inexpensive if you have a machine.
  • Machines have other uses such as storage dividers, preserving memorabilia, die cutting shims, toner foiling, etc.

Cons

  • Need a machine or access to an office supply store to make one for you.
  • Not heat stable

Splat Boxes

Free when you repurpose a shipping box or pizza box.

★ Best uses: sprays and spatters

Pros

  • No cleaning
  • Good for sprays and splatters
  • Free if you reuse a box!

Cons

  • Needs to dry in between uses (or line with disposables such as paper towels)
  • Bulky to store
  • Not for most mediums

The Craft Mat

One of the original craft surfaces produced by Ranger with Tim Holtz. The original brown color lacked the ability to see the true color of mediums. A newer white version solves that.

★ Best uses: All mediums, smaller projects

Pros

  • Reduces media waste (scrape it up and put it back in the jar)
  • Slick surface is easy to clean. Plus it is easy to take to the sink for deeper cleaning.
  • Great for paints & pastes
  • Lightest weight
  • Heat resistant (but thin!)
  • Low cost
  • Can have multiple on hand
  • Cuttable to have multiple smaller mats

Cons

  • Creases & cracks (store rolled up)
  • Not big enough for scrapbook layouts
  • Hard to tape things down to it due to it’s slick surface.
  • Slips and slides around with movement like ink blending. Difficult to tape still due to that slick surface.

Silicone Mats

Likely originating in the kitchen industry. In my opinion, the most overrated of the bunch. Has a slightly grippy surface, but not grippy enough to keep things from slipping. Easy to take to the sink for cleaning.

★ Best uses: keep ink pads still when ink blending

Pros

  • Repurpose from kitchen baking mats
  • Affordable
  • Cuttable to have multiple smaller mats
  • Most mediums (except alcohol inks)
  • Can work as a palette also
  • Other uses: ink pad grips
  • Good heat resistance for drying projects with a heat tool, or to protect surfaces while heat embossing.

Cons

  • Not as grippy as marketed
  • Picks up lint, dust, pet hair VERY easily and hard to clean that off. Store it inside a bag to keep it clean.
  • Due to lint, often needs a hose down in the sink.

Photopolymer Mats

One of the most expensive options “per square inch” and limited uses. However, it is very good at what it does!

★ Best uses: ink blending & stenciling

Pros

  • Most grippy
  • Long lasting
  • Fairly easy to clean.
  • Now come in versions that offer stamps on one side and the grip mat property on the other.

Cons

  • Expensive for its size
  • Larger sizes not available (ie 12×12)
  • Can’t use alcohol products (Sharpies included)
  • Stains over time
  • Picks up lint & dust VERY easily. Must clean often to maintain grip.
  • Can’t handle heat or cutting.

Sticky Mats

Slightly better at hold power than photopolymer mats, but not nearly as long lasting. The sticky adhesive wears out over time. There may be ways to reapply adhesive but this requires some special products.

★ Best uses: ink blending & stenciling

Pros

  • Holds things in place well
  • Easy to find
  • Fairly inexpensive
  • Can repurpose other things like older Cricut mats
  • Cuttable to have multiple smaller mats
  • Can be large enough for scrapbook pages

Cons

  • Sticky wears out quicker than you might think
  • The mat itself can slide around. Can tape it down. (DON’T add tape to sticky zone.)
  • Not great for pastes. (However, can mask off exposed sticky to use pastes anyway.)
  • Must be wiped with a lint free cloth like a chamois.
  • Store with plastic cover (usually included) to prevent collecting dust & lint.

Self-Healing Mats

Originally from the sewing industry for rotary cutters. Great size options. Decent price. Good for many mediums. Plus the added bonus of being able to use it as a light-duty cutting surface.

★ Best uses: general table protection

Pros

  • Lots of size options
  • Self healing (craft knives okay!)
  • Helpful grids
  • Light-ish weight
  • General craft store availability (can also check sewing department for other brands)
  • Heat resistant (not proof)
  • Mid-range price
  • Can be cut down to multiple other sizes.

Cons

  • Not as smooth as glass (cleaning pastes is harder)
  • Can gouge if cutting on it
  • Few color options
  • May cloud with alcohol cleaners and inks (but not too bad)
  • Can stain depending on mat color

Glass Mats

My favorite of the bunch with one big downside as a YouTuber: it reflects lighting very easily. This is the heaviest of the bunch so best to set it and forget it.

★ Best uses: all mediums, cutting

Pros

  • Reduces media waste (scrape it up and put it back in the jar)
  • Long lasting
  • Most have grids
  • Knife resistant (check brand first, surface grid printing can interfere)
  • Can be pretty
  • Can have magnetic properties
  • Very smooth for easy cleanup
  • Heat resistant for heat embossing.
  • No staining

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Heavy
  • Can break if dropped. Best left in place
  • Glare if filming
  • Some adhesives need alcohol to remove.
  • Due to it’s thickness, creates a lip on your work surface that can be irritating.

Glimmer of the Month subscription, month ’25

I’ve decided to dive into the hot foiling trend. I never expected to actually do it. The cost of a foiling machine, the cost of new foiling plates, the space to store it all and getting caught up in the latest and greatest were all a bit overwhelming. And yet. And yet I was feeling a sense of FOMO. It was almost akin to the early days of die cutting; it was the latest and greatest. But would it be an expensive fad to fade away? Die cutting ended up being a staple crafting method. I believe hot foiling is as well.

My shifting thinking toward hot foiling collided with a ridiculously cost saving Black Friday deal. I accidentally ran across a hot foiling machine for a discontinuing price of $25. I was stunned. And also sold! The next step was how to go about adding some hot foiling plates to my stash in a reasonably affordable way.

Enter another collision of events. I had been subscribing to the Freckled Fawn memory keeping kit and cancelled it back in November due to poor customer service. I thought I would take a break from subscriptions for a while again. However, the Spellbinders kits have been in my periphery for a while. When I found the hot foil machine, signing up for a monthly foil plate subscription just seemed to make sense. I could slowly add to my supplies and also some monthly happy mail. I may even try to keep the goodies a surprise if I can manage to avoid all the social media reveals!

So, on with my first happy mail goodies. I received the December “kit” near to Christmas and held off making the unboxing video until after the holidays. So here is what the December set involved.

On the left you can see the outlines of all the pieces included: The larger floral corner, two sentiment plates and the coordinating three dies to cut out the pieces. The center shows off how things will look when used as designed. To complete the monthly kit there is a roll of hot foil. This time it was matte gold. How can you have shiny foiling that is also matte? I don’t know the magic they use, but the results are beautiful!

I had a learning curve to overcome when setting to work. After a few mistakes I got the hang of it and the results were amazing. I quickly got ideas on projects and made it happen. I created a set of cards for Galentine’s Day as well as a scrapbook layout using some scraps.

Neither of these images do justice to the shine of the foiling. You should watch the video to get the full effect.

I hope you’ll join me later in the moth as I unbox and explore the January glimmer products. I’m looking forward to adding more shiny goodness to my projects this year.

Until next time, have an artful day!

Spellbinders Advent Day 22-24

Join me all month of advent as I open each day of the Spellbinders Crafty Advent Calendar. Some days I will create a project and some days I’ll just show off the goodies. No matter what, I know I will use each and every product at least once this month. So much fun awaits!

If you missed previous days, be sure to go back and see the first seven days as well as days 8-14. If after seeing all the goodness you’d like to grab one of these calendars, they are on discount right now (as of 12/11/24) over at ACherryOnTop.com**. For now, let’s dive into the next section of fun.

Day 22: Pink Sequins

Day 23: Floating Cat

Oh my goodness! This cat is so dang cute. If you remember back on the 6th we got a very cutesy bee that I said was not my style? Yet today I’m in love with cute? I think the difference is that while the bee is big-eyed and anthropomorphized, this cat is more cat-representative and in a silly situation. So, yeah, cute vs cutesy is a thing for me.

Now, my daughter said the cat should be in a box. Thus, I made it so! (I wonder how many people will get cats as Christmas gifts this year??) At any rate, the box was easy to make. I cut two squares of the same size. One became the box base. The other I trimmed at an angle on the two sides, and I trimmed off a bit of the bottom. This creates perspective for the front box flap. I glued it flat down at the top and popped up the bottom edge with some foam squares for dimension. The two side flaps were simply slivers of cardstock. A bit more ink shading where things over lapped and voila, box!

Day 24: Luggage set

What a fun die set! You know I had to do a bit extra for this one. The still photos do not say it all. You really have to watch the video to get the whole experience!

Day 25: Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

To see the rest of this series, visit these pages.
Days: 1-7
Days 8-14
Days 15-21
Days 22-24 (you are here)

** I use affiliate links when possible. When you shop using my links I earn a very small commission at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work in this small way!

Spellbinders Advent Day 15-21

Join me all month of advent as I open each day of the Spellbinders Crafty Advent Calendar. Some days I will create a project and some days I’ll just show off the goodies. No matter what, I know I will use each and every product at least once this month. So much fun awaits!

If you missed previous days, be sure to go back and see the first seven days as well as days 8-14. If after seeing all the goodness you’d like to grab one of these calendars, they are on discount right now (as of 12/11/24) over at ACherryOnTop.com**. For now, let’s dive into the next section of fun.

Day 15: Embossing Folder

Day 16: Sentiment Die Set

Day 17: Nested ticket/postage edged die set

I had way too much fun with this nested set. I was supposed to keep the day’s project simple. But. Nope. I had to make all the things.

Day 18: Sequins

You know I had to do it at some point. Today I made a shaker! And a bonus card too for other sequin ideas.

Day 19: Sentiment Stamp Set

I was rushed for time today. So my exposure is bad on my filming (and still image capture!) But I did make really good use of many leftover bits that I have been saving throughout the series. I cut a new tag and did some ink blending. Besides that and the stamping, everything else was done.

Day 20: Random Dots Stencil

Day 21: Popsicle

I admit that some of the included pieces kind of puzzled me. In fact, they felt like a puzzle as I was trying to layer them all together. I think in the end there are options, LOL.

To see the rest of this series, visit these pages.
Days: 1-7
Days 8-14 (you are here)
Days 15-21
Days 22-24

** I use affiliate links when possible. When you shop using my links I earn a very small commission at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work in this small way!

Spellbinders Advent Day 8-14

Join me all month of advent as I open each day of the Spellbinders Crafty Advent Calendar. Some days I will create a project and some days I’ll just show off the goodies. No matter what, I know I will use each and every product at least once this month. So much fun awaits!

If you missed days 1-7, be sure to go back and check them out. For now, let’s dive into day 8. If after seeing all the goodness you’d like to grab one of these calendars, they are on discount right now (as of 12/11/24) over at ACherryOnTop.com**.

Day 8: Vase & Flowers

While I loved this vase, I knew everyone out there would make a vase with flowers in it. I definitely like to show other ways to use supplies. So today I used the vase as a rainbow background for a cluster of flowers.

Day 9: Sequins

Today we got the sequins I knew would come at some point. Each year Spellbinders has included 2 packs of sequins. I really like this style of sequin as it has no hole and that makes gluing them down so much easier! While most people would make a shaker that doesn’t require glue, I made a disco ball instead.

Day 10: Sentiment Die set

Today’s three sentiment dies read “just saying hello” when stacked together. However, you can always split them up into different word groups.

Day 11: Embossing Folder

Yes! We got an embossing folder in our advent box. It is a small one, but a mighty one. I enjoyed using an inking technique for this one that I learned from Jennifer McGuire.

Day 12: Lemonade Glass

Unfortunately my camera’s exposure settings were off and my video & graphics are a bit blown out. I’ve tried to correct it as best as I can. You’ll have to trust me that this tag is more fun in person!

Day 13: Multi-lingual Sentiment Stamp Set

Finding ways to use sentiments so that they stand out as a featured item is a bit tricky for me. I’ve come back to my much used idea: repeat stamping.

Day 14: French Bulldog

I was inspired on day 9 by Mostly Paper Crafts‘ YouTube channel. She turned the honey bee die we got on day 6 into an entirely different critter. I usually see different ideas in dies, but the bee did not click with me. That is, until I saw her video. Then… when we got today’s little bulldog a flood of ideas hit me. So here they all are, LOL. All these critters were made with a combo of the bee and/or the bulldog pieces.

To see the rest of this series, visit these pages.
Days: 1-7
Days 8-14 (you are here)
Days 15-21
Days 22-24

** I use affiliate links when possible. When you shop using my links I earn a very small commission at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work in this small way!

Spellbinders advent is back! Recap Day 1-7

Days 1-7

Join me all month of advent as I open each day of the Spellbinders Crafty Advent. Some days I will create a project and some days I’ll just show off the goodies. No matter what, I know I will use each and every product at least once this month. So much fun awaits!

Here I will collect each week of the project and post pictures and videos to share the fun and inspiration. If after seeing all the goodness you’d like to grab one of these calendars, they are on discount right now (as of 12/11/24) over at ACherryOnTop.com**.

Day 1: A Hot Air Balloon

Day 2: Floral Stamp

Day 3: Flower Set

Day 4: Sentiment Banners

Day 5: Doodled Borders

I’ll admit I’m not sure how much use this little squiggle die set. But I had fun with it today and that is what matters right now. 😊

Day 6: Honey Bee

If you’ve followed me for a while, you probably know that cutesy is not my style. I’m super excited about this bee. I’m sure plenty of people are though! At any rate I made use of the bee but he’ll likely sit unused after this. That is okay. I’m still loving my Advent Calendar!

Day 7: Floral Stencil

No time for a project today. But I got a quick video in and gave info on what I’m doing with all these tags that I am making during this series. Stay tuned for that blog post coming very soon.

By day 10 I was able to finally do a makeup project for day 7. I actually made something Christmas themed!

To see the rest of this series, visit these pages.
Days: 1-7 (you are here)
Days 8-14
Days 15-21
Days 22-24

** I use affiliate links when possible. When you shop using my links I earn a very small commission at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work in this small way!

Ghosting!

No not the person who you were talking too who suddenly ghosted you.

No, not the haunted spirit kind of ghosts. (Though that is close.😉)

I want to talk about the technique of ink ghosting! While this technique is very simple to explain, it does take some time and patience to get right. So let me show you how it is done and give you of tips & tricks.

  1. Work on heavy cardstock. The smoother the better.
  2. Choose a water reactive ink. Many basic dye inks on the market will work. Look for labels that say “permanent” or “watercolor friendly”. Those are the ones to avoid!
  3. Spread ink all over your paper really well. Ink brayers or foam daubers work great. You can use blending brushes but it will take much longer to get a good coat of ink.
  4. Use an open shaped stencil. Anything with too much detail can get blurry.
  5. Cover up any paper that sticks out beyond the stencil!!
  6. Spray a light mist of water from about 12 inches away until the images are evenly coated.
  7. Wait for about 10 seconds. Dab excess water away with a dry towel.
  8. Repeat as needed to get full coverage on your project!
  9. Voila!

Now I have a bit of an announcement. I will be opening a small online shop to sell a few products. One of them will be this ghost stencil that I designed! If you really want to see it in action, the video below shows all the detail.

I’ll be sharing another ghosting technique on Nov 4th using some stamping. Stay tuned for that! Until next time, have an artful day.

Forgeries on the Fourth (aka FOF), March ’24

As a design team member over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge group I play along with as many of our monthly inspiration challenges as I can. The Forgery on the Fourth project is definitely one I enjoy! That is where we see a scrap product we like and set out to recreate it with supplies we already own. So let’s go ahead and dive in to what I have for you this month.

Since we always start our forgery projects with inspiration, here is the image we are working with this month. It is the [fill in blank here].

But if we take a deep dive into this kit and all it’s components, we can zoom in on these few items. In the pattern papers there is a green grid print that can be easily doodled by hand. That “plus” print pattern paper also can be super easily replicated. There are on the to-do list for sure. Next, the “rainbow” embellishments made up of little florals are not that hard. The little floral “medallions” –for a lack of a better word– from the embellishment stickers are best shown in this version from one pocket card.

So, with those tasks in mind, I set to work. I pulled out^^ my Tombow markers, my white gel pen, a Quikie Glue Pen, a VersaMarker, and my embossing supplies to bring all these to real life.

In that final pic above, I took things ever farther. I explain in the video that if you are new to doodling, you can get started by copying. Once you are comfortable, new ideas will come and you can just keep going. These are the ideas that popped to mind as I was playing. I had more ideas that I had time to make.

If you want to work with me as I walk through the process, you can follow along with this video.

For more creative ideas, the CKC blog has more forgery examples to check out. I hope this gave you some ideas on how you can recreate your favorite products with supplies you already have on hand. Don’t forget to show off your stuff over on the CKC Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.

Until next time, have an artful day.

PRODUCTS USED^^

^^ Disclaimer: I offer affiliate shopping linked products when possible. This shopping won’t cost you anything extra, but I get a small kick back from the companies for sending business their way. It is an easy way to tell me “Thank You” for the content I provide. I appreciate you using my links!

Another Update

Yesterday I updated you on what I’ve been working on as part of my CKC design team life. Today I’m back with the other projects that have been keeping me busy in the craft room.

Community Project

Each year I create and donate Easter cards to a senior meal program. The cards go out to the seniors who are home bound and they accompany the Easter meal delivery. I’ve had such kind comments from the folks getting these cards that I’m glad to keep doing this project. I am happy to bring people a little joy through paper and ink!

Craft Shopping

I’ve been running low on certain supplies and needed a restock. Also, the February release from Concord & 9th had a few things in there that made me ooh and ahh. In fact, the Easter cards above were created from a new Turnabout stamp set. If you have never used a Turnabout, it is fun! After aligning the stamp, you ink, stamp and rotate it up to 4 times to get a background pattern. (Images from the C9 website.) This set is not an Easter set. However, with the right colors this background can mimic jelly beans or even Easter eggs. I love supplies that have this kind of flexibility!

If you want to see what else I got in my crafty shopping boxes, I do have a video.

Freckled Fawn^^

My latest FF subscription boxe reached my house and I dove into as soon as I could. Check out the unboxing and project video if you want all the details.

I played with the washi tape in the kit and made up a new washi technique. I plan on doing an small addendum to my popular 10 Ways to Use Washi video. I won’t have 10 new ways, but 3 or 4 to share!

Disaster in the Craft Room

The most recent event was the breaking of my Gemini II machine. I reviewed this machine back in March of 2023. Had I really understood then what I know now, I would have been more careful! Luckily my husband did a little surgery on it and it is now working. However, the issue lead me to create a video as a word of caution to any Gemini II owners–or potential owners. If you want to know more about what happened, check out that video.

Event Crafting

And finally, I’ve been doing some crafting inspired by the SBC Fest over at Scrapbook.com^^. They offer free online class events each year. While you don’t have to use their products, they do offer shopping lists and bundles should you want to. The bundles are even available after the event so you can take the class first and really see if you want to own those products later. I only bought a couple of small stamp sets and have worked on the projects largely from my own supplies. Here is what I’ve done so far.

That wraps things up for now. I have been doing some sewing this month as well, but I don’t have pictures of those projects yet. Maybe this will encourage me to document that process next!

I have just a couple more things coming to you for March, so until then, have an artful day!

^^Disclaimer: I offer affiliate shopping linked products when possible. This shopping won’t cost you anything extra, but I get a small kick back from the companies for sending business their way. It is an easy way to tell me “Thank You” for the content I provide. I appreciate you using my links!

Freckled Fawn
They sell products individually, or in subscription kits. The kit subscriptions are a build-your-own bundle style. You pick and choose which of their standard items you’d like shipped to you each month. They carry items from wood veneer all the way up to 12×12 scrapbook papers. Take a look and see if there are any goodies you wan to add to your craft room! And… if you use the code craftysoup you’ll get 8% off your order!

Forgeries on the Fourth (aka FOF), Jan ’24

As a design team member over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge group I play along with as many of our monthly inspiration challenges as I can. The Forgery on the Fourth project is definitely one I enjoy! That is where we see a scrap product we like and set out to recreate it with supplies we already own. So let’s go ahead and dive in to what I have for you this month.

We are being inspired by this kit from [fill in blank here].

Did you notice the die cut ephemera pack in the bottom center of that kit? Well that is where I got my idea. I chose some of the homey icons included in that set and added in some woodland critters that matched my theme from my kit build. With a bunch of stamping, punching, die cutting and even some diy tag creation, I made a full set of ephemera.

This project is great for a spending freeze or supply hoarders collectors like me. It is even great for those who just run out of favorite pieces in store bough collections. Whey you diy, you can always make more of those favorites.

For more creative ideas, the CKC blog has more forgery examples to check out. I hope this gave you some ideas on how you can recreate your favorite products with supplies you already have on hand. Don’t forget to show off your stuff over on the CKC Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.

Until next time, have an artful day.

PRODUCTS USED^^

Small inking tool:
— From Scrapbook.com: https://shrsl.com/4d97p
— From ScrapbookPal.com: https://shrsl.com/4d97q
— From Acherryontop.com: https://shrsl.com/4d97s

Concord & 9th Inks:
— From Scrapbook.com: https://shrsl.com/4d98n

^^ Disclaimer: I offer affiliate shopping linked products when possible. This shopping won’t cost you anything extra, but I get a small kick back from the companies for sending business their way. It is an easy way to tell me “Thank You” for the content I provide. I appreciate you using my links!