Re-designed Website…by accident!

Hey, just wanted to let everyone know that I re-designed the online store at http://shop.intoxicatingarts.com . It actually happened by accident. I went on there to make one little change to something  I didn’t like and something happened when it was saving. It froze and I lost everything! Ugh, why does that keep happening to me?! Anyways, it turns out that it was a blessing in disguise. Luckily, all of my inventory, policies, text, etc. was safe. I just had to re-design the visual aspect of the site. It dumped everything I had and replaced it with some canned template that literally said “Logo” where mine used to be. EEK! I freaked out because I obviously couldn’t leave my website in this condition. Thank goodness it only took about an hour and a half to fix the design. The reason I say it was a blessing in disguise is because I got rid of the black background in a lot of spots. I found that having the item descriptions in white text on the black background might be annoying to some and hard to read for others. So I went back to the traditional white background with black text. I think it looks a lot better all around too.

Enough of that…

On a happier note, I have even MORE Graphic 45 items on the way (yay!) and some of my Ranger Industries (a.k.a. awesome Tim Holtz goodies) items have shipped and should be here next week. I got some of the CHA Release stuff, but some is still on back-order. I also got a couple Melting Pots. If you have been looking for a Melting Pot for a good price (that someone actually has in stock), be sure to keep an eye on my website. I’ll post everything for sale when I actually have them in my hands. http://shop.intoxicatingarts.com .

Thanks for stopping by!

Looking for DCWV & Sizzix Deals?

Have you checked out www.DCWVdeals.com yet? If you haven’t you really should! It’s Die Cuts With a View’s super awesome deals page. Their little slogan is “You need the savings, we need the space!”. They are not kidding about these deals.

I just placed an order yesterday for a couple things and the shipping is very reasonable too. I’m most excited for my Bella Boutique 12 x 12 stack that I paid only $7.46 for. This stack was originally $19.99. I call that a super sweet deal! I almost bought two packs, but I restrained since I also bought a couple things from Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy yesterday. I wanted my money to stretch further instead of hoarding one paper stack.

Here’s what the front of the stack looks like:

Definitely check out www.DCWVdeals.com . They have a very limited amount of items on there, but it’s totally worth stopping by. Another place I go to on a semi-regular basis is the Outlet on www.sizzix.com . Just hover over “Clearance” in the upper right corner and you will see “Outlet” as an option. Click that and you will see only deeply discounted items. I have found some amazing deals on here before, but I normally only buy if I have at least a couple things I want because of the way their shipping costs are structured.

Hopefully I have helped you find a couple good deals out there! Thanks for checking out my blog.

G45 Products are here!

I’m so excited to announce that I have successfully listed all of the Graphic 45 items that I have in stock now on my online store, http://shop.intoxicatingarts.com . yay! Please go check it out. I have some of the best prices you will find (if not THE best). Something I want to mention that bugs me a little bit about my website (which I can hopefull fix) is if you just click on the manufacturer (for instance if you click on the tab that says “Graphic 45”) it will pop up and say that there were no items found. You actually have to click on that little “+” sign that you see off to the side. That makes a menu expand and you can then click on the category under that vendor that you want to see. If you truly want to see all of the items that I have by that manufacturer without having to look for something in particular, that’s totally fine! Just go to the top of the page and type that manufacturer in the “search” box. That will pull up all of the products that I have available by that vendor. Keep in mind that I only have Tim Holtz, Spellbinders, and Graphic 45 products so far!

One last little thing! If there are some Graphic 45 products that you are DIEING to have at a great price, please tell me in the comments below or e-mail me at intoxicatingarts@gmail.com . I would love to hear what you want since I plan to place another order with them before the end of April . Thank you so much and happy paper crafting 🙂

Another Men’s Birthday Card

I just finished making this birthday Card for my boyfriend. I’m really happy with how it came out and I’m very excited to give it to him next week! Here are some pictures. I’m not going to get into the techniques too much, but if you want to know how I did something better, just ask in the comments and I’ll be very happy to answer you !
Here are all of the pictures:

I cut this out using my new eclips machine. I made this using ecal software. I cut it out on white 65lb cardstock .

I dabbed distress inks on my craft sheet and spritzed them with a mini mister.

I blotted up the ink onto the die cut shape. I wanted it to match the patterned  cardstock one that I also cut with my eclips. That shape and the grungepaper shape were cut using some free files I got from http://www.svgcuts.com .

I also used distress inks to make my grungepaper match by just swiping them directly onto the grungepaper and patting it on the ink pads too.

At that point I put my top shape onto the patterned cardstock and noticed the colors were too close, so I added a darker blue to the happy Birthday saying .

Using an ATG gun I attached the two together .

I used dimensional adhesive to add the top saying .

I then cut a piece of lightweight chipboard to 12″ x 6″ and scored at 6″. I distressed the edges with a tonic paper distressing tool.

I painted the front with  vintage white acrylic paint, not worrying about having full coverage . This was good enough since I am adding inks .

I picked a couple different colors (actually 4 I think) of distress inks and started swiping the ink pad onto the chipboard .

Next I added ribbon by measuring the middle of the card and cutting a slit to feed it through.

After gluing the ribbon down, I pierced holes in all of the pointed corners of the frame.

I put brads through the pierced holes to hold everything down.

This is what the inside looked like after, so I knew I’d need to add something to cover that .

I adhered some of the same patterned cardstock that I used on the front onto the inside of the card . I also used a distress ink around the edges.

I cut out a piece of white cardstock, used the paper distressing tool on the edges and used  a small sponge wedge with forest moss distress ink.

I stamped this bike from a Tim Holtz stamp set using Archival Ink .

The back of the card has a quote from a Tim Holtz stamp set and a stamp I had custom made . I’m going to write my own message on the inside, but liked that quote, so I added it to the back.

Hope you enjoyed this post ! Now go create something 🙂

Sizzix eClips with ECAL & Die Cutting Machine Comparison

Ahh! I’m freaking out! Did I REALLY just buy that!? YES I did! I have a mix of emotions going through my head right now. Excited- Scared- Thrilled-Anxious.

This is absolutely the most I have ever spent on a single craft item. I used to think the people who were paying for Cricut machines had to be out of their minds (no offense, I didn’t have the craft addiction I do now back then). Now here I am paying for a Sizzix eClips Machine and ECAL!

Here is the run down on my logic for purchasing this electronic die cutting master:

#1 reason(s): I really am hoping this is going to replace my other machines and give me endless paper cutting possibilities.

Other very important supporting factors:
• Cuts through multiple different types of materials including lightweight Chipboard (yay!) 
• Replacement parts cost seems pretty low
• Doesn’t seem to have any bugs (WTG Sizzix on waiting to release until bugs were worked out!)
• With the use of ECAL I will save a ton of money not having to buy separate cartridges.
• Built in Laser allows you to line up paper perfectly to avoid waste.

My current die cutting machines and thoughts on them:

• Slice Hands-Free
My Slice machine and I have a Love-Hate relationship every time I use it. I love it when it works, but other times it randomly decides to spaz out and either not turn on, won’t move or go back to “home” position, shred up my paper, or drags the blade all over the paper ruining the cuts. It can work like a dream and be a mischief within the same session of use. I just don’t get it. I have tried so many different things to fix it, but when it comes down to it, it just works when it wants and doesn’t other times. I think the embossing and debossing feature on it is a joke too. It’s a nice little machine for small projects under a meager 4 inches. I bought quite a few cartridges for my Slice machine. I do think they were fairly priced, but I bought almost all of my cartridges on sale. I know they have come out with a new “Slice Elite” that fixed a couple of the issues (you don’t have to change the pressure, can cut thicker materials, it’s faster, etc), but I’m not that confident in the Slice to give the Elite a try.

• Sizzix Big Shot
I still totally love my Big Shot! It’s great. You can use so many different manufacturers dies and I think that is a great feature. The biggest problem that I have had lately is that I can not put any dies wider than about 5.5-6″ through it. I considered getting a Big Shot Pro, but the reviews on it were bad to say the least. Not being able to make chipboard albums, cut full-sized cards or envelopes, or any of the other larger items needed for mixed-media projects is what left me yearning for something more.

Well, I’m sure a lot of you would agree with my reasons for getting the eClips machine. I really hope it is as awesome as I am thinking it will be! It should be here in 1-5 days. I think I am going to make my un-boxing of the eClips Machine be my youtube debut haha. I bought a tri-pod and everything, but haven’t posted a video yet. So excited!

If you have an eClips and have any awesome tips for me, please share in the comments! Is there something you hate about your current die cutting machine? Let it all out in the comments! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Dad Card

My dad’s birthday it’s a coming up on March 10th and my boyfriends quickly follows on the 24th , so to avoid any last minute scrambling  I already made my dad’s card.

Front

Inside

Back

I’m not going to get into the details, but if you are curious how I did something, what tools, stamps, etc I used, just comment and I’ll gladly let you know.

Also, do you think this card is masculine enough ? Maybe it is a unisex card ? Or is it not masculine enough ?

Thanks for checking it out!