Things on Thursday – Techniques & Tutorials

24 Thursday May 2012

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If you have read my blog for any length of time at all (like this week!) you know how much I love a good technique. Combine it with a great tutorial and I’m sold! So today, I thought I’d give you a list of links to a few fun ones I have pinned on my Pinterest boards:

1. Who doesn’t love a good transfer technique? This is different from the one I did a while back but still super simple – it just takes a little longer due to the drying time required.

2. A good brooch never goes astray and always makes an awesome add-on gift or end-of-year teacher present. Love how simple this one is and that you could make it as fun or as dressy as you like – simply switch out the colours and fabric. Felt would be awesome for a winter coat!

3. Who doesn’t own a boat load of baker’s twine? That’s what I thought! Here’s a great way to use some and make super cute cards, embellishments, or tags.

4. This ornament is beautiful in felt and would look great as a Christmas ornament or to hang for everyday. Use paper and make fun party decorations! Or put a bunch together to make some front door decor.

5. Easy, pretty, and a really good bang for your buck, making your own coasters is simple and a gift anyone can use. They can even double as paperweights!

And here’s a bonus one:

6. 3D stars! These could be embellies, home decor, party decorations, tree ornaments…

Let me know if you make anything, I always love seeing how people go in different directions with the same starting point!

S.

Our weekend…

23 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in Family, Kiddies

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This past weekend was a long one – the first of the summer and for once, it didn’t snow! And the weather was actually warm! Two big shocks right there! :)

On a side note, I love long weekends – three days instead of 2 and then, to follow it up, a short work week; it’s like two holidays in one!

We spent the weekend at my in-law’s cabin with friends of ours who have two kiddies, one of whom is M’s bestie though she’s G’s age. We figure C’s in for a shock come kindergarten when she realizes M has left her behind with G!

Anyway, here’s our weekend in pictures!

Stripey Jammies

Playing Strawberry Shortcake on the top bunk!

D. says Vienna Sausages are a May 2-4 staple… I disagree.

However, roasting marshmallows is definitely a staple!

Funny face at the fire

G & C having a lakeside walkabout

This is my grandfather Case’s face – let’s see if the rest of the family agrees with me!

ummmmm, I really have no idea…

Family walk

The kiddies – M, C, L, & G

A favourite cabin game – kick Daddy

Reading and playing Curious George

Watching movies as we pack to go home

And that’s our weekends in a nutshell – lots of outdoors, swings, and marshmallows; we can’t wait to go again!

S.

Tuesday Techniques – Dry Embossing: Faux Letterpress

22 Tuesday May 2012

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One of my favourite ways to play with dry embossing is to do something called Faux Letterpress. All you need besides the regular supplies is ink!

supplies

Now, you all know my love of Distress Ink and how they are my go to ink for all things crafty, right? Well, I don’t normally use them for this technique… :0 I know, I know, it’s shocking but I do have my reasons!

Usually I will use an embossing folder for this that has a lot of white, or open, space and Distress Ink just doesn’t play nicely with that much area on a plastic folder. However, the Hero Arts Shadow Inks are a dye ink that are formulated to work well with stamps that require a large amount of coverage. They look a little splotchy a first but as they dry and soak into your paper they smooth out to a perfect finish. And they are awesome for Faux Letterpress!

I also like the Hero Arts/Sizzix Stamp&Emboss line for this since you get a coordinating stamp and embossing folder.

First, ink up your stamp and stamp away! (I used markers and a mist of water to do my impression and make it look like watercolour.)

Then, you do the Faux Letterpress. Ink up the solid side of your embossing folder, the side that has the most raised area. Another reason the Shadow Inks work well with this is because they have a firm, felt ink pad so the ink doesn’t press into the recessed areas of your embossing folder like it would with a foam ink pad.

Now, place your stamped piece in the folder, carefully lining up the image, then run it through your machine. All the inked areas on the folder will be pressed into your surface while the raised areas remain uncoloured.

Here’s a more basic example:

I just inked up my folder, stamped an image over the inked area, then embossed. The fun thing here is that it looks as though the stamped image is under the embossed area!

Finally, I did one tag with Distress Ink so you could see the difference in the inks.

It turns out really splotchy but I do like the Distress Ink look here because I’m using a less open design and the design lends itself to a grungier feel anyway. This would be perfect on the front of one of those always hard to do male cards!

And, so you can compare easily, the three tags together:

I finished off my original  tag with some twine, a stamped and embossed mini tag, and some Tim Holtz doodads.

Hope you enjoyed! I’ll have one more tutorial on embossing next week and then I’ll have to rack my brains for something new! If you have seen anything or have questions about a certain technique, let me know – maybe I can take that on some Tuesday!

As always, leave me a link in the comments if you try this out – I’d love to see your creations too!

S.

Things on Thursday…

18 Friday May 2012

Posted by in ScrapBook, Stuff, Things on Thursday...

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(EDIT: Totally forgot to post this yesterday – sorry!)

1. You know how much I love to do handstitching? Well, here’s a great blog by Kinsey Wilson showing some awesome handstitching techniques – definitely worth checking out!

2. Speaking of handstitching, this looks like a great class and it’s on sale right now!

3. A few days ago I mentioned on Twitter and Instagram that I was making these brownies and promised an update once they were taste tested. Here’s the update: they’re awesome. Gooey and rich and easy to make!

4. I had a Paperie Pick blog post go live this past Friday. My “pick” was Freckled Fawn washi tape and here’s the LO I made specifically for that blog post:

cozy…

5. The Paperie is having a crop night tonight followed by an all day crop tomorrow – wish I could be there, it’s going to be a blast! And lunch is from Manna, that alone is worth the $15 crop fee!

S.

May 12 on Twelve (or really, Fourteen!)

16 Wednesday May 2012

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So here it is, my 12 on Fourteen collage for May:

1. M making a picture for C and rubbing glitter all over it – that’s my girl!

2. G, “I don’t want to look at the camera.”

3. M on her scooter, coming home from C’s house, “I don’t want to look at the camera.” (They’re both done with pictures – WITL did them in!)

4. Flowers in a “beautiful vase.”

5. Flowers from M.

6. Flowers from G.

7. Gluten Free Ricotta Brownies – yeah. They’re good.

8. Potty training – going all on his own these days!

9. Hugs for Poppy.

10. Eat Carrots (that’s the name of her new bunny) saying goodbye to Poppy.

11. Blowing on supper – it’s too hot!

12. Jumping on Mama’s bed in new jammies from the Caribbean.

Well, there they are – hopefully next month I’ll actually remember on the 12th!

S.

Tuesday Techniques – Dry Embossing Other Stuff

15 Tuesday May 2012

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One of the fun things about dry embossing is that it works on a multitude of surfaces. Today I’m going to show you a bunch of items that are not paper and the great effects you get when they’re embossed.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned my love affair with Sticky Back Canvas – if not, consider yourself filled in! Apart from being simply awesome on it’s own and fabulous with a bunch of other techniques, it looks amazing when it’s embossed.

Canvas

Ranger Foil Tape Sheets are super cool anyway – they’re thin adhesive sheets of silver metal – but embossing takes them to another level!

Foil

Vellum and Kraft Glassine are similar in that they sort of “crack” when embossed. The vellum turns white when embossed, and the Glassine has a coating that lightens. Great effect while still keeping the translucent properties of the materials.

Vellum

Glassine

I also like acrylic sheets. Although it’s harder to get a picture of how it looks when embossed, it’s really neat and leaves a great shadow when applied over another surface with foam adhesive.

Acrylic

Finally, Creative Imaginations has wood veneer sheets – honestly, real wood that’s thin enough to cut and emboss! What not to like about this look?

Wood

It was hard to pick what to use on the tag but the wood was calling my name – I was dying to see how it would look with the Dylusions Ink Sprays :) And it looks awesome!

As always, leave me a link in the comments if you try any of the Tuesday Techniques – I’d love to see what you come up with!

S.

12 on Fourteen & a mini…

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by in 12 on Twelve, Kiddies, Mini Album, ScrapBook, Week in the Life 2012

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(note: This is a long one, with lots of pics – you might want a coffee, or wine, or…. whatever, to get you through!)

So…. You all know how much I love the 12 on Twelve photo taking adventure each month, right? I love that little collage of one ordinary day in pictures – no journaling, just snapshots of our life.

And this month I forgot all about it. Sucks. I was bummed. And then that little person in my head went, “knock, knock, knock. Hey dummy! You can take 12 pictures any old day!” Ummm, yeah. Duh!

So today is the day! Anyone want to join in? There’s still lots of time! And my camera battery is dead so I’m crossing my fingers and hoping against hope that absolutely nothing happens for half an hour! :)

I’ll have today’s twelve ready for Wednesday.

The other thing that occurred to me was that I haven’t shared any retreat projects with you yet – sorry!

My Week in the Life album is almost done, just a couple of papers left to toss in there and then I’ll photograph and share it. Still love that project and I’m so happy I stuck with the album and finished it (almost!).

The thing is, when that album was done, I had a handful of pics not in there. Either they were cute, but didn’t really tell a story, or I had better ones to tell the story of the day, so they got cut. But, as I said, there were some cute pics – what to do, what to do?

I made G a mini album with the extras and some more of the fabulous Clever Handmade Embroidery Board!

I have plans to do one for M with her extra pics too, but we’ll see if that actually happens!

I love this “Hello” stamp from Unity Stamp Company and Simple Stories – it stamps perfectly, actually looks like a sticker when it’s cut out, and has “(I’m awesome)” just below the space for the name – it is an *awesome* stamp! ;)

I made the whole mini from scratch, and stitched it all up with my Mom’s sewing machine. Finishing it was close though, I was running out of thread halfway through but managed to scrimp enough to get it done – yay me!

I used a Paperie club kit for all the papers and stickers – it was a great one, all navy and yellow. Lots of stuff I never would have bought myself but loved them when I got the kit!

The best part about the pics is that I had lots left of G’s birthday and so could focus on them a little more here. And I had those super cute monster tags from Sassafras that were just crying out to be used – really, they were!

I added a couple of fun things in the album, like this small canvas page on the right. Loved it when I put it in but it caused me some grief when I was adding pics. I wrestled it into submission and made it work…

…by adding a snippet of journaling to the back! There’s also an Ali Edwards stamp behind that page, next to the one of G walking outside, but I forgot to take a picture!

I actually made use of a couple of different Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday sets. Her sentiments really are the best – totally made for scrapbooking, everyday life, and memory keeping.

The final spread was from L’s swimming / Toy Story party. The kids loved the neckerchiefs and hats. :)

The back cover was a fave from that week – G in his Superman shirt and cape – which I covered in gel medium to protect from scratches and little fingers. I finished it off with more Ali Edwards stamps. As for the mini, the binding for the embroidery board covers is my go-to sticky back canvas transfer – love that technique!

Whew! Hope I didn’t lose you all – please let me know if you want a manufacturer name or have any questions – I’ll try to help!

Back tomorrow with another Tuesday Techniques – Dry Embossing tutorial!

S.

Love Cards that I Love!

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by in Cards, ScrapBook, Techniques

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And I love them because they are made with the brand spanking new Spring Seasonal Distress Ink Colours – Peacock Feathers, Squeezed Lemonade, and Shaded Lilac. Seriously though, don’t they sound awesome, even before you know what the colours are? Yup. They do!

I wanted to give the inks a test run, see how the colours dried and blended, so I made two super simple cards using the Hero Arts Lotus Background (one of my faves!) and an Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday set – Love Always Wins.

For the first one, I simply added ink randomly to the stamp, misted with water to allow the inks to blend, and stamped onto watercolour paper. Once it was dry, I added the sentiment and some twine:

For the second, I wanted to see more of the true colour so I swiped each ink pad over the stamp to make three lines of colour. I lightly misted with water to get some slight blending and again stamped onto watercolour paper. Another awesome sentiment from Ali Edwards and some twine and I called it done:

So…. simple, but I love the colours and the texture of the watercolour paper added just enough interest!

Have a great weekend, see some of you at The Paperie tomorrow for the sale and Taffety’s baked goodies!

S.

Things on Thursday…

10 Thursday May 2012

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1. The Paperie is having a *huge* day on Saturday! It’s their anniversary so almost everything will be tax free, the May club kit is going live (and I have it on good authority that it’s amazing this month!), there will be a fabulous bake sale, and there will be a Mother’s Day card Make ‘n’ Take! You should definitely all go – it’s going to be a great, and yummy, day!

2. Speaking of the bake sale at The Paperie, the person doing it is none other than Krista! Along with being a talented scrapbooker, she’s also an incredible baker! I bought some things from her shop, Taffety, at Christmas and they were to die for! For instance, I am not a caramel fan, too sweet and sticky for me, but she made these Salted Caramel Shortbreads and I think I ate the whole container myself – oops! She’ll have those there on Saturday, along with Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies, and more. Yummy!

3. Check this out. Goes along very nicely with yesterday’s post and is an awesome technique that I have to try!

4. And speaking of the Spring Seasonal Distress Inks  - they could not be much better. An awesome yellow, a beautiful lilac, and the most incredible teal, called Peacock Feathers! Going to be my new fave for sure!

I swiped each across Specialty Stamping Paper, then pressed down the ink pad at the top to show the more intense colour. Love! Check out this great video showing how these colours fit into the existing palette.

5. One of the best tools I have in my scrapbooking arsenal was free. You can go to the Ranger website and, for most of their products, you can download label sheets and Colour Charts. I use these all the time and people are always asking me where I got them – here they are! The charts are great for knowing what colours you have left to buy and for knowing what colour ink to use; the labels make is super easy to  find the ink colour you’re looking for!

Have a good one – back tomorrow with a couple of easy cards using the new Distress Ink!

S.

Tuesday Techniques – Dry Embossing

08 Tuesday May 2012

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Today’s technique is super simple but I will be expanding on it over the next couple of weeks. Let’s talk about dry embossing!

You will need:

Supplies

An embossing machine (I use a Cuttlebug), embossing folders, ink, and a blending tool.

First, put your tag or paper in the folder:

Before you ask, I cut a slit in the top of my folder so the tag would fit the way I wanted. Hey, Tim said it was ok so I’m going with it!

Second, run the tag and folder through your machine, using the sandwich specified in your user’s manual.

For the Cuttlebug you will need the A plate, B plate, embossing folder with paper, then another B plate.

And this is what you get on the other side!

Next, use your ink blending tool to add colour to the tag, concentrating on the embossed areas. As you can see below, the embossed pattern really stands out once you start layering colour:

Finally, finish up your tag and enjoy! I always make sure to add brown to the edges and blend colours for more definition and depth.

Pretty, hey? I think the embossing just adds another layer to the texture and interest of the tag.

Next week, I’ll show you some different materials that you can emboss!

Make sure you leave me a link if you try this out – I’d love to see what you make!

S.

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