a bit of shimmer and shine

Hi everyone. Happy Monday. Yes, I like Mondays. I love my family, but I also love when they are all gone and the house is nice and quiet and there are no demands on my time. Selfish of me, no?

This morning I worked on a card for the technique challenge on SCS. What a fun challenge, called foil embossing.

The process:
I glued a piece of aluminum foil onto cheap white cardstock, inked it with some Ranger alcohol inks and then ran it through my cuttlebug in my SU finial press embossing folder. Very cool results.

Then I pulled out some very old (from my mom) metallic wrapping paper and glued some of that onto cardstock and punched some photo corner punches. I punched a second set from black cardstock for layering and added a black brad in the center of each.

For the main image, I stamped the oak leaf from Autumn Splendor (SU) in versamark on vanilla cardstock and embossed it with copper EP. Then I ran that through my cuttlebug with a nestabilities oval (Spellbinders) and added some copper metallic rub on along the edge. I die cut a larger scalloped oval (Spellbinders) in black to back the image piece. I used a horizontal slot punch to make holes for the black grosgrain ribbon, which is wrapped around the background. The ovals are popped up for dimension.

The photo corner punches are also attached with dimensional foam tape.

I really love how this card turned out and I'm sure I'll use this technique again.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a wonder-filled day.

A lot of vintage books

Ooo, bad blogger! I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I posted. I have been busy with classes. My weekly seniors class started up this week, plus last week Thurs. & this week Thurs. I had classes in my home as well. And SCS challenges have been pretty much ignored while I've been making samples and cutting cardstock for classes. But last night when I saw today's inspiration challenge, a couple of the samples really called my name and I knew I had to play. And play I did -- all morning -- just to get one card done. Of course, I had to take a short break to feed the family.

I started with this inspiration piece. I love the old book pages and music incorporated into the background and knew that's what I wanted to do with mine. And of course, the blue birds were singing sweetly to me... haha.

Now, the process. I started by tearing some pages from an old book, an old encyclopedia, and old music. I decided to use Mod Podge to adhere them to my card, but... I was impatient... After gluing them all down, I didn't wait long enough for the stuff to dry thoroughly and when I stamped on it, some of the paper came off on my stamp... grrrrr! So I started over using a glue stick instead. BIG IMPROVEMENT! I stamped the flower from Paper Inspirations several times at different heights along the bottom. (Of course, looking at the finished card now, I realize that the card would have been much better without those stamped flowers. They seem to add more clutter than anything. I may have to make another one.)

I did a lot of sponging along the edges as well as dragging the sponge across the card, completely changing the color which I like a lot. I also stamped my favorite stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds, adding some more 'dirt'. Then I pulled out my Kind Thoughts Brocade stencil and sponged a part of that on.

I recently came across a cool video by Donna Salazar showing how to make these wonderful flowers. She makes them from old dictionary pages die cut with a scalloped circle. Since I don't have an old dictionary to cut up, I pulled out an old volume from a set of encyclopedias. I'm pretty sure the pages are similar to a dictionary. Donna's flowers are quite large, but since I was working on a card, I wanted to make mine mini, so I used my scallop circle punch from SU. Since you manipulate the paper, you can control the size you make each layer, so I was able to make my flowers small enough for my card, The largest one is 1-1/4" across. I made each flower from 4 punched circles. You mist the paper with shimmery color when you are working it, but I chose to just use plain water and add color after, so when they were dry, I used sponge daubers to add brilliant blue and tempting turquoise ink. I used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole in the center of each flower. For the flower centers, I then took gold paper fasteners, heated them, and dipped them in brown embossing powder and heated again. I think I managed to poke a fingernail in at least 2 of the 3 when I attached them to the flowers, but I guess that just adds to the vintage look. I cut flower stems and leaves freehand from black cardstock and then attached the flowers with glue dots.

The bird is cut with a Sizzix die called bird with swirls. I sponged the edges, added a black dot for an eye and attached it with dimensional tape. I do like how this turned out.

What's in it?
stamps: itty bitty backgrounds (SU), watercolor pressed flowers (Paper Inspirations)
ink: brilliant blue, tempting turquoise (SU), vintage photo & tea dye distress inks (Ranger), jet black stazon
paper: chocolate chip, ballet blue, cream, old music, old novel, old encyclopedia
other: sponge daubers, sponge, paper fasteners, stencil (SU), crop-a-dile, bon bon brown EP, heat gun, cuttlebug, bird with swirls die (Sizzix), foam tape

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a wonder-filled day.

a butterfly & it's blue

Oh, yeah. How can you not like a blue butterfly? Hi everyone. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend - a long one for those in the U.S.

Today's technique challenge on SCS was an interesting one. We had to make a stamp using fun foam in a cuttlebug embossing folder. I had a hard time getting a good stamped image, since the impression in the fun foam was so slight. I finally just decided to go with what I had.

I used the stamp I made and stamped on a piece of cream cardstock with tea dye distress ink and then die cut it with the largest labels four nestabilities die and sponged the edge with vintage photo distress ink.

I stamped a Gina K butterfly on white cardstock and sponged tempting turquoise and brilliant blue ink on it and then cut it out.

The card base is creamy caramel, with the edges sponged with vintage photo.

I inked my favorite Penny Black flower with markers and then misted with water and stamped on the ballet blue layer. I punched the corners with a ticket corner punch, sponged the edges and added faux stitching with a white gel pen.

I cut a strip of brilliant blue and scalloped the edges with a scallop border punch and added some white doodling.

When I glued on the label shape, I let it hang off the edge and then trimmed it off, flipped it around and glued it over the straight edge for a fun extra layer.

The white brads probably should have been dark blue, but by the time I realized they weren't going to show up, I'd already put the card together.

What's in it?
stamps: blush (Penny Black), take flight (Gina K), homemade fun foam stamp
ink: jet black stazon, brilliant blue, tempting turquoise, chocolate chip, always artichoke, tea dye & vintage photo distress inks (Ranger)
paper: creamy caramel, ballet blue, cream, whisper white, brilliant blue
other; white gel pen, white brads, cuttlebug, finial press embossing folder, labels four nestabilities die (Spellbinders), sponge, sponge daubers, water mister, ticket corner punch, scallop border punch, foam tape

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

Dryer Sheet Butterflies - Tutorial

Hi everyone. Here is the tutorial I promised for making the dryer sheet butterflies. You should be able to enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Dryer Sheet Butterflies

Supplies:

2 USED dryer sheets (fabric softener sheets)

iron – medium setting (wash & wear/synthetics)

sewing machine – straight stitch normal length

white thread

Cuttlebug or other die cutting machine

Sizzix Bigz die Beautiful Butterflies

Versamark ink pad

iridescent ice embossing powder

heat tool

optional: rhinestones, beads, pearls, buttons, etc. for butterfly body

Instructions:

Press dryer sheets with iron to remove wrinkles.

Place two sheets together (pin as needed) and sew together using a straight stitch all around the edges. Next sew parallel lines the length of the sheets about 1/8”-1/4” apart. These do not need to be exactly spaced or perfectly straight. I speed sew these and do not backstitch. Then sew parallel lines the width of the sheets same as the others. This stitched grid gives stability and texture to the dryer sheets. A single thickness is really too flimsy.

Using the butterflies die and Cuttlebug, die cut your butterflies. I fold and cut 3 or 4 at a time, using the smallest butterfly.

Lay your butterflies on a scrap piece of paper and ink it up by pressing the versamark pad onto the butterflies. I press hard.

Coat with iridescent ice embossing powder. I just press the butterflies into the powder. Shake off excess and heat just enough to melt the EP. Do not overheat or you will lose some of the sparkle.

Embellish the center of the butterflies with beads, jewels, buttons, etc.

If you want the butterflies to have a bit of color, layer them over colored card stock die cut butterflies.

Some notes:

I used mono-multi glue to add rhinestones and it took forever to dry. The sticky-back half pearls worked fine on the above card.

I also tried gluing the sheets together instead of stitching. I used Mod Podge and it was rather messy.

A heavy sew-in type interfacing could possibly be used as a substitute for dryer sheets, although when I tried this, the embossing powder flaked off some even after heating.

Other die cut shapes would be fun to try as well. Think of the possibilities.

On this card, I inked the butterfly with craft ink. The thread absorbed way more ink than the dryer sheets, so the grid really stands out. I prefer the butterflies without the colored ink and just backed with colored card stock.

This is the first time I've done a tutorial, so I hope everything is clear and helpful. If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a wonder-filled day.

Indian summer

Have you seen the new Basic Grey paper called Indian Summer? I love it -- totally awesome. Here's a chance to win some.

Thanks for visiting.

a triple challenge

Hi everyone. I love fall, and my cards lately reflect that. Today I made a card for Rubbernecker's Wacky Wednesday, as well as the sketch and inspiration challenges on SCS. The inspiration one kinda happened by accident. After I finished the card, I thought I'd go back over there and check if it fit any of the inspiration and I didn't even have to go to the website. One of the chosen samples was perfect.

I started with a sunflower from Rubbernecker, stamped twice on watercolor paper with black stazon. I colored them with a water brush and ink pads. I cut out the flower and leaves from one and popped them up over the first image. The edges are distressed and sponged with chocolate chip ink and layered on rich razzleberry.

For the middle layer I ran a piece of pumpkin pie through my cuttlebug with distressed stripes embossing folder, did some distressing and sponging and again backed it with rich razzleberry.

The card base is old olive stamped with a background stamp in chocolate chip and sponged along the edge.

I added some twine and buttons. My camera battery was dying, so the picture is sort of washed out.

What's in it?
stamps: rubbernecker
ink: chocolate chip, jet black stazon, summer sun, pumpkin pie, old olive
paper: old olive, rich razzleberry, pumpkin pie, watercolor
other: twine, cuttlebug, distressed stripes ef, buttons, sponge dauber, foam tape, water brush

Thanks so much for stopping by. Be blessed.