Sweeter than a Sunset

 

As we are creeping up on the autumn season, a time that orange is present in our natural surroundings, I choose to make a monochromatic thank you card in the colors of Sunset Orange.  It was easy with Imagine inks and a Card Creator die cut set from Spellbinders. This is the featured post over on the Imagine blog, check it out!

Skill level:  Beginner

Time:  1 hour

Directions:

Step One

Die cut one each of the two largest dies from Spellbinders Card Creator Mystical Embrace set.  Die cut five of the “So Sweet” sentiment from Shapeabilities Phrase Set One.  These will be used to make a “chip board” sentiment.

Step Two

Place a piece of painter’s tape along the straight edge of the center rectangle of the die cut and ink the outside edge with Versafine in Habanero and a Sponge Dauber.  Move the painter’s tape to the next edge and continue until all outer edges are inked to the desired depth of color.  Versafine can be a juicy slow drying ink, so take care to not ink the center rectangle accidently with your inky fingers.  Set aside to dry.

Step Three

Lay the sentiments out on the craft mat and ink with Memento Tangelo and a brayer.  Don’t worry if all the pieces are not perfect, as only one set will be on the top. 

Step Four

Ink the smaller die cut with Memento Luxe Morocco and a Sponge Dauber.

Step Five

Trim cream cardstock to 7” x 10” and score down the middle and fold in half.  Spritz with Fireworks Tangelo and set aside to dry.

Step Six

Ink the center rectangle of the die cut with Memento Cantaloupe and a Sponge Dauber.

Step Seven

To create a “chipboard” die cut, the sentiments will be stacked.  Run all the pieces through a Xyron 1.5 Create-a-sticker using permanent adhesive cartridge.  Run a bone folder point around all the die cuts to allow the top clear sheet pick up the excess adhesive before you remove the clear sheet.  Using tweezers carefully stack the sentiments together placing the best inked one on top.  Because all layers have been previously inked the stack will work even if each layer is not perfectly lined up.  If needed touch up the top layer with a Sponge Dauber and Memento Tangelo. 

Step Eight

Adhere the layers together using dimensional foam adhesive.  Place the “chip board” sentiment in the center of the oval.

Supplies:

Imagine

·      Versafine—Habanero

·      Memento Luxe—Morocco

·      Memento—Tangelo, Cantaloupe

·      Fireworks—Tangelo

·      Sponge Daubers

·      Craft mat

Other

·      Cream cardstock

·      Spellbinders—Card Creator 5” x 7” Mystical Embrace, Shapeabilities Phrase Set One

·      Die Cut machine

·      Xyron with permanent adhesive cartridge

·      Brayer

·      Tweezers

·      Dimensional foam adhesive

Lacey Details!

Here we are rolling into fall in Central Oregon.  Although the weather this week is more of the Indian Summer variety!  Our challenge for the next two weeks at Retro Rubber is to use Lace, Ribbon, or Twine. 

I decided to go really girlie frilly with a lace bedecked card and a very lacey die cut, along with one of my oldest unmounted stamps. 

To create the card I die cut layers of the Heartfelt Creations Ariana Lace from papers of the Blazing Poppy Collection.  The sentiment is by Sonlight and most likely purchased in 1996, yes 20 years ago, at the Portland Stamp Convention.  It is stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  Spellbinders Mystical Embrace die set was the perfect size and added more lacey details to the card.  I used my practice piece to fussy cut the center oval and with an Ink Blusher the edges are inked with more Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy.  I like how the embossed sentiment is slightly darker than the inked section.  The lace is most likely 30 years old or more and was found in my old sewing supplies.  Therm O Web’s Ultra Thin Zips was the perfect solution to adhere the lace to the background cardstock.  The card is assembled on an A7 size Kraft card base with dimensional foam adhesive.  The final touch is a little jewel from my stash for a flower center. 

Please do come play along with our challenge at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge and enter your own creation.  Remember that we require that you use a stamp that is older than a year, and please let us know it’s age in your post.

I am pleased to enter my card in the following challenges:

A Gem of A Challenge #178 Female Birthday

Pile It On #177 Autumn colors

Glitter ‘N’ Sparkle #207 Birthday

Aloha Friday #81 Birthday

4 Crafty Chicks #317 Colors of Fall

Scrappy Land Challenge #50 Happy Birthday

OLLC #214 Feminine Creations

Mini Book Fun for Imagine

I was very excited when I heard our theme at Imagine for the month of September was to highlight books because I am a mini-book fanatic!  I have truly enjoyed creating small books over the last 20 years.  So I set out to craft a cute little book from fun foam, chipboard and cardstock that has a ribbon binding.  To make the book more portable, I made an elastic closure to hold it together.  It is easy to decorate the fun foam with StazOn ink, and the elastic closure uses some Fabrico makers to add color inside the ridges. 

A few details:

Skill Level:  Intermediate

Time:  2 hours plus dry time

Step 1

Trim tan fun foam to 5” x 7”.  (This size was chosen as I hoped to add some texture with an embossing folder, but didn’t like the lack of results so that ended up on the inside.)  The fun foam is stamped with a variety of marbling stamps using StazOn in Saddle Brown, Timber Brown, and Cactus Green.

Step 2

The create a color coordinated elastic closure, a 12” piece of soft ¼” elastic is inked with StazOn in Saddle Brown and colored with Fabrico markers in Chocolate and Pea Pod.  The colors are muted with a spritzing of Ink Potion No. 9.  It was a little lighter than I liked, so another layer of StazOn ink in Timber Brown was added.  The elastic is set aside to dry. 

Step 3

The stack of pages, called a signature of the book, is 5 sheets of cream cardstock trimmed to 4 ¾” x 6 ½”.  Each sheet is scored down the middle and creased.  The signature is lined up and the inside set is marked with a pencil at the center and 1 3/8” away from center. The holes are punched with a paper piercer, or you can use a heavy duty thumb tack.  The same marks and punch holes are made in the fun foam cover.  The signature and cover are slightly different sizes so it is more simple to use a centering ruler for this measuring task.   

Step 4

A 15” length of 1/8” ribbon is threaded through the signature and cover using a tapestry needle.  Starting from the outside, the ribbon is threaded through the center hole in the cover and signature.  You will have to line up the needle with holes in the signature before pulling it all the way through.  A length of ribbon, or tail, is left on the outside. 

Step 5

From the inside the ribbon is threaded through an outside edge hole of both layers.  Next the ribbon is threaded from one outside hole to the other outside hole back to the inside of the book.  From the inside the ribbon is threaded back through the center hole.  Take care to not pierce the ribbon and only go through the hole.

Step 6

The ribbon tails should be on either side of the center ribbon.  You may gently adjust the length of the tails at this point.  Tie the tails around the center ribbon and make a bow.

Step 7

Round the signature in a stack with a heavy duty corner rounder like Zutter.  Rounding the corners after binding allows them to line up more neatly.  Trim two pieces of chipboard to 3 ¼” x 4 ¾” and round outside corners.  Line up the chipboard between the cover and the signature. 

Step 8

Mark holes for elastic 1” from the top and bottom edges of the cover and ¾” from the outside edge.  Punch holes through both the chipboard and foam cover.

Step 9

Add a quick dry adhesive designed for paper to the chipboard cover and adhere to the foam cover.  Place wax paper between chipboard and the signature in case a bit of adhesive leaks out from around the edges.  Repeat for the front of the mini book.  Place under a stack of books and let dry.  Mine took about an hour.

Step 10

Thread elastic through the holes in the back cover.  Leave the elastic slack enough to go around the front cover.  Pin the elastic together and then stitch at the mid-point to secure.  This is flatter than knotting the elastic. Trim the excess elastic.  Add adhesive to the chipboard and adhere to the last page of the signature so the elastic is hidden.  Adhere the front page of the signature to the front chipboard cover.  Add the wax paper to protect the rest of the signature as before and dry under a stack of books. 

This little book is the perfect size to hold wallet size photos, meandering thoughts and notes, or sketches. 

Supplies

Imagine

·      StazOn-- Timber Brown, Saddle Brown, Cactus Green

·      Fabrico Markers—Chocolate, Pea Pod

·      Ink Potion No. 9

Other:

·      Fun foam--tan

·      Chipboard

·      Cardstock—Cream

·      1/8” ribbon

·      ¼” elastic

·      Quick dry paper adhesive—Scotch works well

·      Yvonne Albrition Designs—Marble tile stamps

·      Acrylic blocks

·      Score board

·      Centering ruler

·      Paper piercer and mat

·      Tapestry needle, needle and thread

·      Heavy duty corner rounder

·      Heavy duty hole punch

·      Wax paper

Anything Goes Challenge

Wow, where did the summer go?  It is already mid-September and time for a new challenge at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge.  The theme is ANYTHING GOES, yeah!  So dig out your retro rubber (older than a year) and create something to share with us!

As fall starts changing the colors in nature, I start thinking along the same lines.  I created this card to share with a family who lost a young son to suicide last January.  Our town had a suicide awareness and prevention walk over the weekend, and I wanted to have a card for our friends to share our support even though we couldn't attend the walk.

I started with Heartfelt Creations Delicate Asters stamp and die set that has been around since September 2012.  I stamped on cream cardstock in StazOn Orange Zest and die cut two each of the flower petal layers.  The petals are spritzed with Fireworks in Dandelion and set aside to dry.  The 9 sets of stamens are die cut from orange cardstock, the same color that backs the sentiment layer.  The leaves are stamped in StazOn Cactus Green and spritzed with Fireworks Pear Tart and are set aside to dry.   After the petals and leaves are dry they are gently  shaped and adhered together with clear adhesive. 

Cream cardstock is die cut with Elizabeth Craft Designs Stitched Rectangles.  The sentiment by Heartfelt Creations is from the Heartfelt Expresssions set released in December 2010.  It is stamped in StazOn Cactus Green.  The orange backing layer is die cut with the die 2 sizes larger from the same set. 

I went searching for a ribbon in my stash and found the perfect gingham in yellow and orange.  Using my Bow-It-All v.2 I tied a triple looped bow. The card is assembled using a Kraft cardstock A7 card base.

Please do join us with your Anything Goes project at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge, and have a little fun!

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Morgan’s ArtWorld  #18 Use Kraft

Really Reasonable Ribbon #148 Autumn Colors  

SimplyCreate Too #117 Fall Colors

Crafting by Designs Ribbons

Delicious Doodles Challenge Orange and Brown

Fashionable Stamping Challenges  #115 Use Autumnal Colours

Cupcake Inspirations #375 Bows

A Gem of a Challenge #177 Ribbon, Lace, or Twine