2010 March » fresh & fun

Tutorial on SCS - Foiled Images

Nestabilities, Product review/comparison, Unity Stamps, Video Tutorial 11 Responses »

Mar 312010

Today’s tutorial was written by Ashley Newell and it shows you how to add transfer foil to your images. The tutorial goes hand in hand with today’s Product review. It is all about Stix2 adhesives. We were given Stix2 adhesive as well as some of their transfer foil, beads and glitter to try out their products. Fun, fun, fun!

For my sample I inked the Donna Downey stamp first in Peeled Paint, then with a bit of Forest Moss, misted it with water and stamped it on Neenah Solar White. It was cut out with Label 1 Nestabilities and sponged with Wild Honey distress ink while the die was still on the paper. The grid is from Unity’s Capture Life stamp set. It was stamped over the image with Vintage Photo.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Neenah Solar White cardstock folded in half. it was topped with Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper that was cut in 3 15/16″ width. Where the two pieces overlap I stapled a strip of lace (Walmart) over it. To dress up the card I added a metal corner on the bottom right and a Recollection brad (Michaels) with a tiny piece of white taffeta ribbon on the top left. The butterfly was punched out with a Martha Stewart punch, Stix2 glitter was added and it was adhered to the card with dimensionals.

The sentiment is from Unity’s set Nothing but Blue Skies. It was stamped in the lower left hand corner in Jet Black Archival ink.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day! Hugs and smiles

Reba's box

3-D items, Big Shot, Stampers Anonymous 20 Responses »

Mar 292010

Were you wondering what I did with the big old flower from the grunge flower video? I had to use it right away last night. I started out with a 3″ paper mache box you can find in any hobby store or even Walmart.

I am still stuck on anything made with Acrylic Dabber. They are just SO much fun! I stamped the swirl from Shabby French in Juniper Acrylic Paint on the sides of my box. After the paint was dry I sponged the sides with Walnut Stain Distress ink. Then I went over the swirls with a moist cloth and took off the distress ink from the Acrylic Paint. I added one Hitch Fastener in each corner of the box to create tiny feet. I really like how those look on the box!

I painted the entire lid with Juniper paint and let dry. Then I sanded the edges and sponged those with Walnut Stain ink. I painted a swirl from Harlequin Grungeboard Elements first with Lettuce, then with Bottle Acrylic Paint Dabber and let dry. I then sanded the swirl and sponged it as well with Walnut Stain Distress ink.

I stamped the corner stamp from Mini Muse in Juniper Acrylic Paint on a 2″ x 2″ Memory Glass. I sandwiched a photo of Rebecca between the glass and a piece of cardboard and placed it inside a Antique Copper Memory Frame. The frame was adhered with dimensionals and the hoop of the frame is held in place by the wire of the rose. That was threaded through the lid and adhered on the inside of the lid.

To cover the Hinge fastener on the bottom of the box and the wire of the rose on the inside of the lid, I cut Kraft cardstock to size and treated it like the sides of the box before adhering the cardstock in place.

Have a wonderful evening! Hugs and smiles

Grunge Flower Tutorial

3-D items, Big Shot, Stampers Anonymous, Tutorials, Video Tutorial 33 Responses »

Mar 282010

Here is the tutorial for the grunge flower I posted yesterday.

Step 1:

Cut three six petal flowers out of grunge paper that had been embossed with Cuttlebug’s Divine Swirls Embossing Folder. I used Tim ’s Tattered Floral Alteration Die. The flowers were sponged first with Stream Adirondack , then with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink. Next they were stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink and stamps from the sets Going Somewhere and Mini Muse.

Cut the first flower between petals to the middle of the flower.

Cut one petal off the one flower and two petals of the other. Keep the extra pieces.

Step 2:

Roll each petal betwen your fingers to shape the petal.

Step 3:

Add adhesive on the right petal next to the cut.

Step 4:

Fold the petal left of the cut over the right one and press down. To hold in place while drying, I use a paper clip.

Step 5:

Repeat step three and four with your five petaled flower.

As well as with your four petaled flower.

Step 6:

On your two petaled piece, roll the right panel down like all your other petals. Add adhesive to the back of your left panel.

Roll the left panel over the right creating a cone. Hold cone together while glue dries either with wire wrapped around it or a clothes pin.

Let all pieces dry. Five minutes should be enough.

Step 7:

Cut a hole on the bottom of your four petaled cone.

Step 8:

Repeat step 7 with the five and three petaled cone.

Step 9:

Poke a hole through your two petaled cone.

Thread a wire through the hole. Center the flower cone on the wire. Fold the wire ends together.

Step 10:

Roll the edges of your single flower petal inward, like a gate fold card. Cut the bottom off and slide into your two petaled cone.

Step 11:

Add adhesive on the edges of the center of the three petaled cone.

Thread your two petaled piece into your three petaled cone.

Step 11:

Repeat step 10 with your four and five petaled cone to finish your flower.

I shot the video for the grunge flower with the bigger die flowers of Tim’s die. I forgot to show to add glue to the inner cones before assembly. Sorry about that. Here is the video for the visual learner:

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful evening! Hugs and smiles

Grunge Flower

3-D items, Challenge, Nestabilities, Stampers Anonymous, Tutorials 18 Responses »

Mar 272010

I am having so much fun with the new things I learned at Ranger. While creating a card for the Just For Fun Stamps Color Challenge, I thought I take pictures on how to create a Grunge Rose, the way Tim taught them to us at Ranger U. I hope to be able to publish the tutorial soon. I want to shoot the video first to be able to post both together.

My card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Kraft cardstock folded in half. A 3 3/4″ x 5″ piece of My Mind’s Eye Just Dreamy 2 paper was stamped in Jet Black Archival black with a background from Urban Tapestry. The corners were punched with the ticket corner punched and the edges were distressed. It was stitched a 3 15/16″ x 5 3/16″ piece of black cardstock. (After taking the photographs…I saw that I didn’t sponge the edges! What’s wrong with me…so I took everything apart and sponged the edges with Broken China…I just don’t have an updated photo yet. The light isn’t right for taking pictures anymore).

A piece of Kraft cardstock was cut and embossed with Label 6 Nestabilities. With the die still in place, The edges were sponged with Frayed Burlap and the entire piece was stamped with the background from Love to Make Art. The sentiment is from the same set and was stamped in Jet Black Archival ink. Using the same die as a template, I traced around it with a pencil on black cardstock, cut out the layer, distressed it and adhered my sentiment on top of that.

The heart is also from Love To Make Art. It was stamped in Jet Black Archival ink on Kraft cardstock, cut out and sponged with Broken China, Stream Adirondack ink and Frayed Burlap. The button is a Basic Grey button and the string is black waxed Linen.

The leaves from the same Wendy Vecchi set were stamped in Peeled Paint with a bit of Forest Moss at the edges. They were cut out and adhered to the lower right of the sentiment panel. For the flower I embossed three 5″ x 6″ pieces of Grunge paper with the Divine Swirl Embossing Folder and then cut out flowers with Tim’s Tattered Floral Alteration Die. I picked only the medium flower cut outs and sponged the flowers first entirely with Stream Adirondack ink, then the edges with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink. Next I stamped each flower with a different background stamp. Two of those stamps were from the set Going Somewhere, one from the set Mini Muse.

Talking about Wendy Vecchi. She will be at a scrapbook store in Indianapolis in May! I already signed up for two of her classes. I hope there lives a SCS member in Indianapolis or close by, who wouldn’t mind organizing a SCS dinner. How much fun would that be after class? So how about it? Who is coming to class and dinner later on? I know Sherry Cheever is coming. She told me about the class. I can’t wait to hang out with her all day!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend! Hugs and smiles

Vintage Rose on Canvas

Challenge, Nestabilities, Our Craft Lounge 29 Responses »

Mar 262010

I created this card for the OCL sketch challenge.

I started with adding some Sticky backed Canvas to neutral cardstock and cutting it out with large Label Nestabilities. Next I stamped the girl from Vintage Roses on the Canvas with Jet Black Archival ink. I colored her in with Worn Lipstick, Shabby Shutter, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Stormy Sky and Tattered Rose Reinkers and Brush, sponged the edges with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress ink and layered it on a black layer cut with small Label Nestabilities.

I added some brown zig zag stitches and then sprayed the image with home made Pearly Mist. All you need to make the spray is Perfect Pearls Pearl and a water mister. Add some Perfect Pearl into you mister, fill with water and shake. Bam! Pearly Spray done. We played quite a lot with Perfect Pearls at Ranger U and I LOVE them! You don’t have to seal them with spray, just add water to bind them. How cool is that? I wish I could have captured the fine sparkles over the canvas in the photo.

My card base is a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock, folded in half and sponged with Walnut Stain ink around the edges of the card front. It is followed by a slightly smaller piece of distressed Ivory Cardstock, topped with My Mind’s Eye Bellezo Paper. The horizontal and vertical strip are both from the same paper pack.

The red layer behind the lady measures 2 7/8″ x 3 1/2″. It was stamped with Vintage Swirls in Walnut Stain ink, distressed, sponged and stitched. The vertical strip was stamped with a stamp from Tim’s Mini Muse stamp set(oh yeah…I got me some Tim stamps. You can’t go to Ranger U and not fall in love with those!). The strip was distressed and sponged with Walnut stain. The horizontal strip was sanded, sponged with Vintage Photo and a white strip was added, that had been cut with Eyelet Borderabilities. The sentiment from Vintage Roses was stamped in Walnut stain.

To the bottom left I added a sponged Prima Daisy Doodles with a Stampin’ Up! Corduroy button in the center. The button started out Sahara gray and was sponged first with Vintage photo, then with Walnut Stain Distress inks. The chipboard swirl is from Maya Roads and was covered with Lettuce Dimensional Pearls.

I hope you have a wonderful Friday! We received about 3″ of snow tonight. The roads were quite treacherous this morning. But the sun is shining and hopefully the snow will melt away again today! I am ready for spring.

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs and smiles

Faux Mother of Pearls Flowers - JustRite Blog Hop

JustRite Stampers, Nestabilities, Video Tutorial 627 Responses »

Mar 252010

For today’s post I overhauled the old Faux Mother of Pearls tutorial with new pictures and updated instructions. I also shot a video for this technique. I substituted regular white cardstock for the glossy kind. I wanted to color the image after creating the background and found it easier with regular cardstock. For a shinier version you can definitely use glossy though.

Before I start talking about the card, let me tell you a bit about JustRite’s big blog hop.

30 designers, FIVE shopping sprees each day. No one knows where the prizes will be! Each day of the hop JustRite will have five Mystery Blog Candy Prizes hidden along the hop with a total retail value of $600. JustRite will randomly select five mystery blogs each day of the hop and randomly allocate each of the shopping sprees. For your chance to win, simply leave a little love (a comment) on each designer’s blog including the JustRite blog. The more designers you leave comments with, the better your chances of winning. Each day’s comments will remain open for three days. A winner from each of the mystery blogs’ comments will be randomly chosen using Random.org. Consult the listing of designers at the JustRite blog each day (each day’s designers will be different) and start out on your way! Beginning Friday, March 26, summaries of all the winners will be posted on the JustRite blog. Good luck to everyone and enjoy all the JustRite eye candy along the hop!

Today during the JustRite Mega March Blog Hop (Day Three) JustRite and its sponsors will be giving away the following five prizes:

· $200 JustRite Shopping Spree
· $100 Spellbinders Shopping Spree
· $100 Copic Prize Package, and
· Two additional $100 JustRite Shopping Sprees!

Blog comments for Day Three will be open until Saturday at 6pm EST. On Sunday, JustRite will announce on their blog which five blogs have the mystery candy for Day Three. You will need to go to the JustRite blog to determine where you need to go to find out if you are one of the five lucky winners.

Today’s participants are:

JustRite Inspiration Blog
Debbie Olson
Sherrie Siemens
Beate Johns
Heidi Blankenship
Kathy Jones
Karen Hunsaker
Peet Roeven
Michele Kovack
Cheryl Nelson
Anja Curvers
Kay Sibley
Katarina Menzies
Holly McMillen
Tammy Hershberger
Angela Barkhouse
Heidi Van Laar
Mel McCarthy
Sarah Parker
Jennie Black
Laura Davis
Ashley Newell
Tanis Giesbrecht
Alice Wertz
Shanna Vineyard
Rae Barthel
Ryann Salamon
Terre Fry
Mona Pendleton
Lisa Silver
Kim Moreno

My card base is a 4 7/8″ x 9 3/4″ piece of Neenah Solar White cardstock folded in half. The edges of the front were painted with Pearl Acrylic Paint to create a shimmery look. The 4 1/4″ square of My Mind’s eye paper was sanded and stitched on a 3/16″ bigger piece of Black cardstock.

For my center piece I created my Faux Mother of Pearl background with Pearl Acrylic Paint and sponged Tattered Rose Distress ink all over the cardstock. I stamped the image from Plant a Little Love over the background and colored it in with Distress Re-inkers (Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo) and brush. The images were cut out and layered with Circle Nestabilities.

The horizontal strip was created just like the center piece. It was layered on a slightly bigger piece of Basic Black cardstock, that had been punched with Stampin’ Up!’s Scallop Border Punch. May Arts White Silk Ribbon was tied around the layers.

The sentiment is from JustRite’s Just a Note stamp set. It was stamped over a Faux Mother of Pearls background that had been sponged with Fired Brick ink.

Here is a video for the visual learner:

Have a great time checking out everyone elses post. Thanks for stopping by! Hugs and smiles

Nostalgic Background Flowers

Challenge, Our Craft Lounge 25 Responses »

Mar 242010

I created this card for Our Craft Lounge’s Sketch challenge that was posted last Friday. The background was created with a technique Tim calls Nostalgic Blended Batik. It is a bit like the Emerging color background, but instead of stamping images underneath, you sponge different colors and you iron off the embossing powder at the end.

My card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate chip cardstock folded in half. The edges of the card front were sponged with Walnut Stain Distress ink. As you probably already noticed, I like sponging my cardstock. I think it creates a richer look and I LOVE that.

The horizontal strip measures 2 5/8″ x 5 1/2″ and is from My Mind’s Eye Penny Lane collection. The long edges were sanded and distressed and sponged with Antique Linen Distress ink. A white strip of cardstock was added under the lower edge. It had been punched with Stampin’ Up!’s Eyelet Border Punch.

My panels started out as one 3″ x 4″ piece of Neenah Solar White cardstock. It was sponged with Wild Honey, Shabby Shutter and Worn Lipstick Distress ink and then heat set. Once it was dry I stamped the Flower from Nature’s Notes and the Flourish from Vintage Swirls in Embossing ink all over the panel. They were embossed with Clear Embossing powder. Once the embossing powder cooled, I swiped Chipped Sapphire, Forest Moss and Aged Mahogany over my panel. The cardstock was placed between Newsprint paper and ironed over to take off the embossing.

The sentiment is from Nature’s Notes. It was stamped in Walnut Stain on White cardstock. It was cut out with Petite Oval Nestabilities. A swirl from Vintage swirls was stamped over the sentiment in Antique Linen and the edges were sponged with the same color. A Foilage flower centered with a red rhinestone brad finish of the sentiment.

The ribbon started out as Ivory May Arts Silk Ribbon. I filled a mini mister with water and a bit of Vintage Photo Distress re-inker and sprayed the ribbon with it to dirty it up a bit. The ribbon was dried, tied and adhered with a glue dot over a Philosophy Tag.

P.S.: Sorry about yesterday. I hope the blog as well as Splitcoast will stay up and running today. Also crossing my fingers that most glitches are already caught and that the sites will run smoothly.

Make sure you check out the big JustRite Blog hop that’s going on right now. Prizes will be giving away on each of the three blog hop days. Make sure you stop by participating blogs and comment there. I will post my card…along with a video tutorial tomorrow.

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by! Hugs and smiles

Rose card ... inspired by a cake

Challenge, Our Craft Lounge 24 Responses »

Mar 212010

Yesterday’s Inspiration challenge on Splitcoast took us to the Cutest Food website. We were to pick one image and create a project inspired by that image. I picked this gorgeous cake. I had received some of Our Craft Lounge newest releases before leaving for New Jersey and was itching to use them on a card.

My card base was cut with the largest of the Label 1 Nestabilities (one of my favorite Label shapes still….) out of Chocolate Chip cardstock. The edges were sponged with Walnut Stain Distress ink. The next layer is the next label down cut out of Neenah Solar White cardstock.

The long swirl from Vintage swirls as well as the sentiment from Spring Sketches were stamped in Walnut ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I love that the Distress inks stay wet long enough to emboss them! One of the many reasons I love them. Gold Satin May Arts ribbon was wrapped around the top of the swirl layer and tied with a waxed linen thread on the left.

The flower was created with scallop and 1 3/8″ and 1″ circle punches. I punched several of each shape, sponged them with Aged Mahogany Distress inks, distressed the edges and then adhered them together. The first scallop was left as is, from the second and the third I cut one/two scallops out and adhered them together like cones. I did the same with the circle punch-outs to give my flowers some dimension. Last I rubbed Rock Candy Distress Stickles over my rose. It was adhered to the card front with several layers of dimensionals.

The inside of the card has another white label 1 cut out with swirls on the bottom.

I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was quite productive. I worked ahead and created two videos that I will share later…after they came out in the weekly inkling. Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great week! Hugs and smiles

Video tutorial - Creating rectangles with scallop edge border punch

Video Tutorial 8 Responses »

Mar 182010

Here is a video I shot for yesterday’s newsletter. It is for MJ Albright’s tutorial on how to create a scallop rectangle or square with the scallop edge border punch.

Have a wonderful evening! Hugs and smiles

Tutorial on SCS - Scalloped Envelope Box ....Ranger style

3-D items, Tutorials 20 Responses »

Mar 172010

Today’s tutorial on SCS is written by Jane Matsumoto. It’s how to create a box with four scallop edge envelopes. It’s very cute, but after Ranger U, I am so not in the cute mood. So I decorated it a bit different. I embossed a grungeboard swirl with Vintage Photo Distress Embossing powder and added a flower from Foilage and a Philosopy Tag.

My box is made out of Neenah Solar White cardstock. I embossed all four sides with Cuttlebug’s Textile. Next I treated the cardstock with a technique Tim showed us on Grungeboard. He called it Grunge Distress. Since I was not using Grungeboard, I call it Acrylic Distress. I shot some step by step pictures to show you. Just click on more if you want to see it.

P.S.: I will have to take out the candy and tissue and add some brown speckles on it. It’s just too darn white.