Happy Birdday for Use a Critter Challenge

It is time for a super cute challenge at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge.  Use a critter stamp!  A critter can be a bird, butterfly, anything with fur, or whatever if it has a cute face!  So come join us and share your cute critter creations at RRBC.

I am not much of a “cute” stamper, so my image choices are a bit limited.   Glad to have this fun peep from Unity Stamp Company that has been around since May of 2014.

The front of the card in closed position.

I also used a new-to-me Oval Pull Card by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs.  To use this die it is best to just head over to her YouTube channel and take a look at her how to video or this fun video for inspiration.  She is a great designer of moving cards and an excellent teacher as well. 

The card open, notice how the bird and heart moves revealing the present and sentiment!

I started with by stamping the peep form the aforementioned Little Sumptin’ Peep set.  He is stamped in Imagine Memento Tuxedo Black on white card stock and colored with Chameleon pens in Cornflower Blue BL4, Indigo BL7, and Mellow Yellow YO2 and then fussy cut.  All of the other papers were from my scrap bin; the patterned plaid paper is a very old Hot Off the Press probably purchased at Michaels 15 years ago!  My scrap of pink was so small I almost didn’t get the 2 additional hearts I needed to hid the sentiment behind the window, glad that worked out!  The balloons and mini present are dies that I have owned forever (think 15+ years) from Quickutz.  The rest of the card is from the Oval Pull Card set, including the cute little heart.  The sentiment that shows through the transparent window is from the Hero Arts OWH Missing You set.  The sentiments are stamped in Imagine Memento Danube Blue.  A little bit of craft thread in coordinating colors finishes the balloons off quite nicely don’t you think?  

Close up details.

So come play with us at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge and show us your cute critters!

I am pleased to enter this card into the following challenges:

Fussy and Fancy Challege #171 Let’s Fly Away

Crafting with Dragonflies #64 Create a card with more than one fold

Pixe’s Crafty Workshop Week 244 Snippets (love that it matches my blog name!)  All the papers are from my scraps, just barely enough pink to make the extra hearts I decided to use!

DJKardKreations NBUS #7  I had never used the Oval Pull card die, love it!

Addicted to Stamps Challenge #130 Not a Square

Crafting When We Can #126 Dies and Punches

Puppy Love!

Puppy Love

There is almost nothing better than puppies, and we should know because our family breeds AKC German Shepherd Dogs so we have had a few puppies around to enjoy.  There are so many fun stages of puppyhood from the tiny squirmy newborns with tongues too large to fit in their mouths to the confident 8-week-old bundles of wiggly energy.  For the Dog Days of summertheme for Imagine, I selected some of my favorite puppy photos to create a scrap book layout.

Level:  Intermediate

Time:  Two hours plus ample dry time

Directions:

Step One

My photos had multi-colored backgrounds so I created a cardstock pattern paper with Walnut Inks from the Spritzer Workstation.  I placed KI Memories Lace Dog Treats over a cream cardstock and spritzed Walnut Ink in Eucalyptus, Terra Cotta, and Walnut then added a touch of Shimmer Spritz in Copper.  It is repeated for the second sheet and both are set aside to dry.

Step Two

Chip board from Queen and Co. in the dog themed set is used for both the title and embellishments.  The title is first painted with All Purpose Ink in Chocolate using a small paint brush.  After the letters are dry they are lightly spritzed with Shimmer Spritz in Copper. 

Step Three

The heart and bones are decorated with several techniques.  The heart is inked with Delicata in White Shimmer and heat embossed with white Embossing Powder.  A bit of irRESISTible in Love Letter is spread over the heart with a cotton swab.  The large bones are inked with Delicata in White Shimmer and heat embossed with white Embossing Powder, then irRESISTible in Copper is tapped from the tube end of the spray applicator to create larger droplets of color.  The small bone is inked with Delicata in Celestial Copper and heat embossed with clear Embossing Powder.  A few spots of irRESISTible Pico in Wedding White are added for additional texture.  All are set aside to dry.

Step Four

A strip of vellum is torn with a deckled edge ruler to 2” x 11 ¾“.  A dog paw print is stamped in Delicata Celestial Copper and heat embossed with clear Embossing Powder in a pattern that resembles puppy steps. 

Step Five

The journaling block is printed on the computer because I had a lot to say about our wonderful puppies.  The photos, journal block, and vellum strips are adhered with dry adhesive.  The chipboard is adhered with a wet adhesive. 

A few close ups of the details:

 

Supplies

Imagine

·      Walnut Inks from the Spritzer Workstation (Eucalyptus, Terra Cotta, and Walnut)

·      Shimmer Spritz in Copper

·      All Purpose Ink in Chocolate

·      Delicata in White Shimmer and Celestial Copper

·      Embossing Powder in White and Clear

·      irRESISTible in Love Letter and Copper

·      irRESISTible Pico in Wedding White

·      Craft Mat

Other

·      KI Memories Lace Dog Treats

·      Cream Cardstock

·      Queen & Co. Dog themed Chipboard

·      Vellum

·      Deckled edge ruler

·      Cotton swap

·      Paint brush

·      Artistic Impressions dog paw stamp

·      Wet and dry adhesives

Sketch time at Retro Rubber Blog

It is time for another fun challenge at Retro Rubber Challenge Blog and this time around it is a sweet sketch done by Claire.  Please stop by the blog and check out all the wonderful makes by the design team and leave a little commenting love while you are at it!   

My take on the sketch is clean and simple.  I am glad my creative mojo showed up because I had a hard time getting started, but now I am really pleased with the outcome.

Step One:

Stamp Unity Stamp Company’s “Love Brings You Home” (Jan, 2015) world map on blue cardstock in Memento Tuxedo Black.  Back with black cardstock and adhere to a Kraft card base.

Step Two:

Stamp sentiment from the same set on Kraft cardstock and trim to fit card front.  Adhere to card front.

Step Three:

Die cut Quickutz heart from black and red cardstock.  Tie small bow from Darice Hemp Cord.  Adhere heart with dimensional foam adhesive and adhere hemp bow with wet dries clear adhesive.

Do create your own mini master piece using this sketch as a template and come share it with us over at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge.

Supplies:

Imagine:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Unity Stamp Company:  Love Brings You Home

Darice:  Hemp Cord

Kraft, black, blue, and red cardstock

Xyron and Imagine Blog Hop Hanging Terrarium

It is time to blog hop with Imagine and Xyron!  I have been using products from both companies for years and was delighted to come up a unique way to incorporate them together into a beautiful home décor hanging terrarium.  I have wanted an air plant for a while and decided this would be the perfect home to display my new indoor low maintenance plant.

 

Level:  Beginner

Time:  1 hour of actual crafting time, with many “drying” time breaks.

Directions:

 

Step One

Choose two or three small and simple dies for leaves and butterflies.  I used two different Quickutz leaf dies and Impression Obsession Mini Butterflies.  Trim a section of aluminum foil to 5” or 6” by 2 ½” and run it through the Xyron 250 Create-a-sticker with a Repositionable cartridge.   Do not be concerned with slight wrinkling of the aluminum foil as it will not affect the outcome of your project.  Die cut two or three of the dies chosen for the design leaving about ¼” margin around each die cut.  I die cut from both sides to allow some mirror imaging of the designs. 

 

Step Two

Cut each die cut area into separate pieces.  Remove die cut and discard, keep the exterior section as your stencil.  Carefully remove surrounding aluminum foil from the backing paper. It may tear--but it will repair easily as you use it as a sticker stencil.  Lay each aluminum foil sticker stencil on glass terrarium.  Adjust the edges as needed with tweezers.  The ease of aluminum foil stencils with repositionable adhesive allows you a bit of wiggle room to fold edges back as needed to allow for a curved surface.  Ink with StazOn ink and Ink Blusher until it is the desired hue.  The green leaves are a Forest Green, Cactus Green, and a combination of both.  Remove first set of stencils and set project aside to dry for 20-30 minutes.  Remove first set of stencils and set project aside to dry for 20-30 minutes.  If you try to hurry the GlazOn will lift the StazOn ink from your project, causing you to have to re-ink an area.  (Learned by experience!)      

 

Step Three

Carefully sponge GlazOn over the first images.  Set aside to dry for 20-30 minutes.

Step Four

Repeat steps two and three with additional aluminum foil stencils to complete design until you are satisfied with the placement and amount of color.  Some of your stencils may need an extra little masking, I used some of the spare aluminum foil sticker to provide more coverage where it was needed along a very thin border section.  

Step Five

Repeat steps two and three with butterfly stencils.  The butterflies are inked with Orange Zest, Blazing Red, and Royal Purple.

Step Six

Add decorative moss and air plant and proudly display in your home.  Mine is hanging in my bathroom and will go along on a cross country trip in my motorhome as well.  Need to keep that little plant alive for 3 weeks!

Products

Imagine

• StazOn in Forest Green, Cactus Green, Orange Zest, Blazing Red, and Royal Purple
• Ink Blusher
• GlazOn in Clear

Other

• Xyron 250 Create-a-sticker
• Xyron 250 Repositionable cartridge
• SPC 5” Glass wall terrarium
• Aluminum Foil
• Tweezers
• Foam Brush
• Decorative moss
• Air Plant

Back to School and all that means!

Different parts of the country are already thinking about “Back to School” in early August so Imagine is sharing a few ideas for theseason.  Our schedule here in Oregon runs a little later, so we still have a bit of time before thinking school supplies and fun fall activities.  With my layout I wanted to have a color cohesiveness with the embellishments, because the patterned paper by Bo Bunny and my photos are bright and multicolored.  It is easy with a bit of Versa Color ink and Imagine Embossing powder.  

 

Level:  Beginner

Time:  90 minutes plus time to select photos

Directions:

Step One:

Select patterned papers, here I chose Bo Bunny’s Toy Box line using ABC, Storytime, and Cheerful.  All the photos are backed with the yellow striped side and the edges are inked with direct to paper technique with Versa Color Scarlet.  ABC paper is cut with a circle cutter and the edges are inked with Versa Color Scarlet.  All pieces are set aside to dry as the inked edges can mark up your project if you get in too much of a hurry.

Step Two:

Select the journal card for the layout and hand journal in Memento Bamboo Leaves.  Ink the edges in Scarlet and add irRESISTible in Lady Bug, Pear Tart, and Shimmer to the apples on the card to add a little dimension and shine.  Set aside to dry.

Step Three:

Stamp each of the embellishments on the yellow striped patterned paper.  You can see my practice on the scrap paper in the background.  A variety of school themed and alphabet stamps sets were used to create the various title strips.  Versa Color ink in Scarlet is heat embossed with Candy Red Embossing Powder.  The eyeball is stamped in Versa Color Black and heat embossed with Black Embossing Powder.  It was the perfect choice for an embellishment on a photo of the dissection of a cow eye!  For the strips that were not the labels, the edges are inked in succession and heat embossed.  After each edge cooled the next edge was completed.   

Step Four:

To make the chipboard letters match the color scheme exactly they are enameled with the Candy Red embossing powder.  The surface was sanded so the first layer of Versa Color Scarlet with adhere more readily.  Use tweezers to keep the number from moving too far as it is heat embossed.   I used a heat resistant mat for a glue gun to avoid damaging my craft mat.  Immediately add another layer of embossing powder while the layer on the chip board number is still hot.  Continue the process until a smooth enameled look is achieved.  These took three layers of embossing powder.  There will be excess embossing powder that will not adhere and blow around on your craft table so you can also do this in a small box, and some will stick to the metal tweezers requiring a bit of clean up.   

  

Step Five:

Adhere the layout together and enjoy the memories of a fun fall!

Supplies

Imagine:

·      Versa Color in Black and Scarlet

·      Embossing Powder in Candy Red and Black

·      Memento Dual Marker in Bamboo Leaves

·      Craft Mat

Other

·      Bo Bunny Toy Box, ABC, Storytime, and Cheerful

·      Unity Stamp Smarty Pants

·      Inkadinkado Test Tubes

·      The Paper Company Grade School

·      Hero Arts Tiny Carnival Letters alphabet

·      Studio G Typewriter alphabet

·      Heidi Swapp Lemonade Stand Chipboard numbers

·      Sanding block

·      Heat gun & heat resistant mat

·      Tweezers

·      Circle cutter

 

Sail Away

Sail Away is our new challenge over at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges.  It is time to get out your sailboat themed stamps and share your wonderful project.  I am a bit behind on a few graduation cards and thought this image and sentiment was perfect for the theme and for a special card to celebrate the destination of a college degree.

I started with Black Magic cardstock and the Sizzix Compass embossing folder.  It is the perfect background for the concept of the card.  The embossed areas are sanded slightly and the edges of the cardstock are distressed to bring out the white core. 

The Technique Tuesday All Aboard sailboat image is stamped in StazOn Jet Black on white cardstock and die cut with Heartfelt Creations Cut Mat Create 1A.  It is water colored with a Nishi water brush and a combination of Memento Dual Markers in Summer Sky, Bahama Blue, Desert Sand, Rich Cocoa, Toffee Crunch, and Morocco.  The edges are inked with Memento Danube blue. 

The sentiment is stamped in Danube Blue on white cardstock and die cut with Heartfelt Creations Cut Mat Create 1B and the edges are inked.  The sailboat image is adhered with dimensional foam adhesive over the sentiment and Compass background that are adhered to the card front.

I am really pleased with the final card, it is masculine and perfect for someone launching into the next phase of their adult life.  Please stop by Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges and create your own Sail Away themed project to enter in the challenge.    

Lime Green and Aqua Color Challenge

It is color challenge time at Retro Rubber.  Use your beloved stamps older than a year and the colors Lime Green and Aqua Blue along with one neutral to complete this challenge.

I have Lime Green and Aqua Blue products from Imagine that fit the bill perfectly, actually they are called Radiant Neon in Electric Green and Electric Blue.  I used the pigment based inks and Amplify! to create the color and textures in this card.

The section of cardstock is inked with an Ink Blusher and Electric Green, then stamped with the sentiment by Dream Ink that I have owned since 1997.  It is part of a set that has every greeting you would every need.  So when I can’t find what I what it is my go to staple for sentiments.  The sentiment is stamped in Brilliance Moonlight White and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

The next section is texturized by adding Amplify! in Electric blue and using a brayer to smooth the color into the cardstock.  Clean the brayer and surrounding surface, then heat cure the Amplify! 

A stencil, Shine by Teresa Collins is used to ink the chevron pattern into the next layer.  Ink Blushers make the job easy.

The backing is Electric Green Amplify! around the edges that is brayered and heat set.  The base card is inked with Electric Blue and an Ink Blusher.

The layers are adhered together with the top two layers rasied with dimensional foal adhesive. 

Please come join us and share your Lime Green and Aqua Blue creations over at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge.