New Orleans Necklace

In the midst of Madi Gras season, I am happy to share a necklace published in Belle Armoire Jewelry's latest edition, available on newsstands March 1st.  The original had a large crystal, changed out to a rhinestone encrusted fleur-de-lis and several other charms I collected on trips to New Orleans, one of my favorite cities.  The "gold drusey" piece is glass glitter mixed with Ranger Glossy Accents and packed into a frame charm to dry. This true conversation piece was worn to a Bayou Bash Gala to benefit the University of Florida Center for the Performing Arts, of which I am an Advisory Board member - enjoy!

                

  

I hope everyone is staying warm, happy and busy "crafting" during these long winter months - Spring is just around the corner - thanks for stopping by - K

Anna Griffin and the NEW Cricut Air

Hello everyone - just a quick reminder for you to tune into HSN (Home Shopping Network) today to see Anna launch the NEW Cricut Air Machine with remote Bluetooth capability - you can design anywhere now without being an IT expert!  She will be showing lots of samples and demonstrations on air again at 11am, 5pm and 10pm-Midnight.  Anna's beautiful new image content files MATCH her Cuttlebug die cuts and embossing folders PLUS you can size them from 1" to 11 1/2" to cut paper, fabrics, vinyl and a dozen or more surfaces for home decoration and paper crafting just at the turn of a dial.  Here are a few of the paper samples - enjoy!

Using the new Monogram program which can also "intertwine" multiple letters:

Using the new Flourish program:

 Using the new Lace program:

Valentine Easel Card

Valentines Day is just around the corner and here is a suggestion using the latest challenge materials - Rock Candy Distress Glitter and Sticky Embossing Powder, following Tim's instructions on page 55 of Compendium of Curiosities - Volume 3:

Valentine Easel Card

I began on a 8" x 6" piece of heavy chipboard covered in pink cardstock.  Make the "glitter stamp" with Tim's Stamper's Anonymous Classics #8 Valentine image.  I also stamped the saying from this collection HOWEVER I would wait to do that until after the background colors have dried or it can fade away even when heat set:

When the glittered stamp has cooled, spritz, splash and blot with Spray Stains and water mister to randomly create a mottled background - heat set - add spritzed marker colors - heat set or allow to dry, then stamp saying of choice:

 

The cupid and arrow are die cut from bright red cardstock then dry embossed with the small Fabulous Flourishes Texture Fade.  To "glitterize" the same as the background heart, gently swipe a clear embossing pad over the raised embossed lines, add sticky embossing powder then the rock candy glitter:

When the cupid cools, add foam squares to the back to secure and elevate on the card front:

Small post cards are cut from Tim's Seasonal paper stash then edged in Barn Door Distress Ink. All but the one on the bottom left have been glued flat to the background, the last one is secured with foam squares.  The lacy border is made using regular printer paper, border punched (punch the paper first then cut the strip to 1" width), edge in Tattered Rose Distress Ink then use a glue stick on the back of the strips to secure  - while they are still damp, miter trim the corners and wrap the remaining paper to the back of the chipboard, trimming where necessary at corners (shown below).

  

Finishing touches include using Fired Brick Distress Ink around the outside edges of the board/punched lace border, then patting on with your finger a bit of Crystal Stickle for additional bling.

A diecut easel back was added to stand on a desk, nightstand or wherever you desire - here you can also see how the paper was wrapped to the back and the edges were Distress Inked:

Supplies:
Surfaces: heavy chipboard; pink cardstock; Tim Holtz Seasonal paper stash; white printer stock
Dies: Sizzix - Love Struck, Small Easel
Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz - Classics #8 Valentine images
Distress Inks: Tattered Rose, Barn Door, Fired Brick
Distress Sprays: Tattered Rose, Picket Fence, Fired Brick
Distress Markers: Barn Door, Picket Fence, Worn Lipstick
Mediums: Ranger Glue Stick, Rock Candy Distress Glitter
Embossing Powder: Ranger Sticky Embossing
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Texture Fade - small Fabulous Flourish; Stickles - Crystal, Foam Squares
Tools: Die Cutting & Embossing machine; Spritzer; Border Punch; Mister, Heat Tool

Thanks again to our CC3C hostess - Linda Ledbetter at Studio LL3 lindaledbetter.com and her team of designers for inspiration as well as Tim Holtz, Mario and sponsors The Funkie Junkie Boutique and Inspiration Emporium.
Have a Happy Valentines Day everyone and a wonderful weekend - see you again soon - K

Cupid Card

Well hopefully you and Cupid will not be as the name implies - distressed - rather happy and joyful this coming Valentines Day. Using Tim Holtz "distress" products, I hope you enjoy making this special card.

Cupid in Love

Supplies:

Surfaces: Cabinet Card Frame

Papers: Seasonal paper stash; 3" white doily; light & dark pink cardstock

Dies: Sizzix Bigz - Love Struck; Sizzix Mover & Shapers - Mini Love Struck

Texture Fade (Embossing Folder): Sizzix - French Connection

Distress Inks - Fired Brick

Distress Paint - Barn Door

Medium: Ranger Glossy Accents

Embellishments: Alpha Parts - Signmaker; Paper String - red stripe; 9" red ribbon

Tools: 1/8" hand held hole punch

To assemble - cut seasonal paper stash to fit and insert into the 4" x 6" cabinet card.  

Distress Ink the outside edges of doily and glue to paper in card.

Glue the top edges of the card together to secure OR make a separate tag of choice and insert behind the cupid arrangement.  

Die cut the cupid and heart, emboss both with texture fade - distress ink to accent then glue on top of doily as shown.  

Distress paint the tops of the sticker-back alpha letters - dry - attach to the card as is or use a bit of Glossy Accents to secure.

Cut paper arrow in half to glue behind sides of heart, punch two holes in middle of heart to thread through paper string and tie in a bow - a bit of glue or Glossy Accents can be used in the center back of the knot to secure - dry.  Wrap another piece of red and white paper string around the bottom of the card - knot to secure and add red ribbon to accent - glue the heart and arrow over this piece.

Pop-Up Valentine Card

I have the privilege of being part of the Anna Griffin Design Team and working with her new products before launch - always striving to come up with new and different ideas to beautify our lives.  Part of the "after launch" fun begins for me in combining new products, pulling a bit from my "card kits" and paper collections stash and presenting you with a new way to wow your family and friends.  Order Anna's beautiful products directly from HSN and don't forget to watch her upcoming show on February 18th.  I also have a direct connection to her blog annagriffin.com - thanks so much and enjoy!     K

Pretty Pop-Up Valentine Card

Supplies - all Anna Griffin:

Pretty Pop-Up Card Making kit - card, inside pop-up base, oval mat and sentiment

Glitter Paper - Pink

Metallic Card Layers - Dark Pink

Collectors Dies

Sentiment - Juliet Paper Collection

Roses - from my "card kit" stash

General supplies - scoring board + tool, adhesive, scissors, foam squares, paper glue

From the pop-up card kit, use the pink frame card front and inside "pink lace" pop-up base pictured below:

Two of the Collectors dies were used in this project, the first to cut Pink Glitter Paper for the front then secure with foam squares.  Add sentiment of choice to center of glitter die with paper or hot glue -TIP - my experience has been that the double-face adhesives do not hold well on a glitter paper base.

                                      
Secure the pop-up base to the inside of the card - TIP - I use adhesive on the "fold" of each 3D strip as well as around the edges - this holds the pop-up strips firmly in place to the card to decorate.

The second Collectors Die is used to diecut Dark Pink Metallic Card Layers for the inside - SAVE the largest inside scrap pieces - they are the "floating hearts" on the top and bottom of the card. Trim away the bottom section of the inside die cut - as shown below - so it can fit nicely onto the back pop-up card section.  REMEMBER to place (with a bit of adhesive) your pop-up elements onto the base, close the card to be sure they fit inside, then open and secure them permanently in place. 

  SAVE the trimmed diecut part to place on the inside front section of the pop-up:

When you have positioned your 3D roses, you can gently score any areas that need to float to the bottom of the card, then secure in place:

Add your mat and sentiment to the middle pop-up base strip and the small "scrap hearts" from the inside diecut to the top back with foam squares and adhere flat to the bottom front of the card - voila - you are done and have a place to write, sign, seal and deliver to your favorite Valentine.

Thanks so much for coming by, please leave comments and subscribe (on right side) to be sure you don't miss my future Anna Griffin projects.  I hope you enjoy this Valentine card and will share it with your friends.    K

12 Tags of 2015 - January

I decided this year to make the time to participate in the Tim Holtz 12 Tags challenges because I am busily attempting to finish or complete many project surfaces I have "collected" over the years.   For the January edition I have chosen to adapt a small sketchbook with his techniques, to use as a yearly journal.  Please visit his blog (link above) for any additional directions to these steps & join us each month for a wonderful learning adventure!

"Twenty 15" Journal

My little black journal was an "odd" size of 5 3/4" x 8 1/4" so I measured to have a 1/2" border around the featured collage.  For starters, I cut a 5" x 7 1/2" piece of manila file folder (same weight as a tag), then used Matte Glue n' Seal to apply a piece of Tim's Melange tissue wrap, adding wrinkles, then set aside to dry. After a gentle sand & scuff of the edges and wrinkles, I applied Distress Paints - Broken China and Rusty Hinge along with Adirondack Dauber Acrylics - Aqua and Willow, misting with water to blend - dry.  Next I used Distress Spray Stain - Spiced Marmalade, Broken China and Dylusions Lemon Zest - the messier the better - blend, blot and dry.

TIP - when the background dried, I fed it through a large Xyron sticker machine (note paper backing above) - used to adhere to the journal front when finished - you have to do this while the piece is still flat before adding any embellishments.

While the background drys, prepare the Alpha Parts - the words "twenty" and "Seen & Noted" were painted with Broken China and Rusty Hinge Distress Paints, partially dried, wiped off , completely dried, then coated with Glossy Accents & dried to finish. The number 15 was painted with Broken China Distress Paint - dry - coated with Broken China Distress Stickles - dry - a tiny bit of Crystal Stickles "patted" on with your finger (for a little extra sparkle) - dry - then coat with Glossy Accents to dry and finish:

Choose and position Chit Chat stickers around placement of Alpha Parts:

use bit of Glossy Accents on the back to hold them in place, then coat entire background with Glue n' Seal - dry:

"Brush" on a thin line of Black Soot Distress Marker around the Chit Chat stickers and smear into the background.  Color a piece of crinkle ribbon with same spray stains used on background - crumple up and set aside to dry.  When ribbon is dry, cut in half and thread each end through the side of the Alpha Part and secure with Tiny Attacher, then wrap ribbon ends to the back of the cover piece & tape down.  Remember to add a bit of Glossy Accent to the backs of all the Alpha Parts to secure when putting them down on your background:

I added three of the small Mirrored Stars then spritzed all with Picket Fence Distress Marker and Krylon Gold paint pen - dry.  

To finish, I Distress Inked and heat set the edges with Black Soot, peeled off the Xyron backing paper and placed on the journal.  What a fun start to a Happy New Year!
Thanks for coming by, please leave comments and subscribe, stay warm & safe and I'll see 'ya next month - K

Supplies:
Surface: Ranger manila tag OR piece of manila file folder; Tim Holtz idea-ology Melange tissue wrap
Paints: Distress Paint - Broken China, Rusty Hinge; Adirondack Acrylic  Daubers - Aqua, Willow; Krylon Gold paint pen
Stain: Distress Spray Stain - Spiced Marmalade; Ranger Dylusions - Lemon Zest
Mediums: Ranger Matte Glue n' Seal, Glossy Accents
Distress Ink: Black Soot
Distress Ink Markers: Black Soot, Picket Fence
Stickles: Distress - Broken China; Ranger - Crystal
Embellishments: Tim Holtz idea-ology Alpha Parts, Chit Chat stickers, Mirrored Stars, Crinkle Ribbon 

Tools: Tim Holtz Spritzer, Tiny Attacher, Sanding Block; Xyron machine

CC3C Challenge 20 - Watercoloring

Hello again, I am pleased to be back with one of my favorite techniques using Distress Markers - Watercoloring - from Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Volume III, page 40.  What a great way to start the New Year with special thanks to Tim Holtz, Linda Ledbetter & Team and challenge sponsors Funkie Junkie Boutique and Inspiration Emporium for their continued support and encouragement.  I hope you enjoy this project, please leave me comments and share our links and enthusiasm with like minded friends.

Tag Pocket Card

                                                     

I used a 9" x 12" watercolor paper sheet - cut down to a 10 1/2" x 7 1/2" size.  Watercolor papers traditionally have two distinct sides - one rough (the front) and one smooth (the back) although you could use either.  In the illustration below, you see the paper from the back, score the cut paper from the left hand side at 1/2" - to fold and secure pocket side - and again at 5 1/2" for your center line to create the back of the pocket.  Score the bottom at 1/2" and trim at corner and side as shown to fold and secure pocket bottom.  Using a 1" circle punch, create the thumb hole at center top of the left hand side - remember this "center" does not include the 1/2" side to be folded under:

Turn the paper over to the front (rough side) leaving flat not folded, then using Archival black permanent ink, stamp two large "Fabulous Flourishes" images as shown - going off the paper:

I also like to use a "signature motif" on the back of my projects, and selected one from the Wallflower collection, adding name and info with a fine tip permanent marker.  Allow stamped images to dry or set with a heat tool.

Using a craft knife, ruler and/or scissors, cut a window frame "into" the stamped flourishes, leaving a bit of edge detail as shown:

The inner "tag" card is the same watercolor paper cut to a 6 3/4" x 4 3/4" size, corner rounded and center hole punched at top. I added a paper reinforcement on the back to avoid tears.  Stamp images with Archival black permanent ink - I used several of Tim's designs to build a scene & saying.  TIP - to finish the inside edge of the cut out "frame", I use the brush end of Black Soot Distress Marker to gently "outline" and match stamp edge instead of having the white edge show.

Now the fun begins - following Tim's book techniques, color all images using the following Distress Markers:
Sky & background - Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Weathered Wood
Branches - Gathered Twigs, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo
Bird - Gathered Twigs, Antique Linen, Bard Door
Greenery - "splotches" of Shabby Shutters, Forest Moss, Mowed Lawn
Flowers - "splotches" of Worn Lipstick and Barn Door
Flourishes - Mustard Seed, Frayed Burlap
Drop Shadows - Pumice Stone, Frayed Burlap - heat set between "layers" of color or when finished.
This is also a good time to use watered down markers or Distress Spray Stain to colorize a 10" piece of crinkle ribbon for the top - wrinkle it up and set aside to dry on your mat.
                                                           

I used Antique Linen to create a blended edge on the pocket front, then spritzed both with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo markers - heat set.  To create a "window", use a 4" x 6" piece of clear Transparent Presentation Cover NOT a printable transparency which has a blurry film.  Flip your pocket to the back, add double stick adhesive/tape around the cut out frame edge, then smooth down the clear film - you can also add regular transparent tape over the film edges to secure and keep the card from snagging when removing.

The 1/2" scored side and bottom edges are now folded to the inside and flattened, add a strip of double-stick adhesive to both then fold over the back to secure to the edges - thus closing and forming the pocket.

When the pocket is assembled and the tag is done, spritzed and dry, Distress Ink the edges in Antique Linen then a bit of Vintage Photo to finish.  Add your dry crinkle ribbon to the top of the card and insert into the pocket - voila!

You might also want to ink and spritz a matching envelope - this pocket with card will fit into a A7 size (5 1/4" x 7 1/4").  This project could easily be adapted into a Easter, Mothers Day, Birthday or whatever kind of card you might want - hope you enjoy!

Supplies:
Surfaces: 140 lb. Watercolor paper; transparent presentation/booklet cover
Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz: Fabulous Flourishes, Wallflower, sayings
Distress Ink Markers: Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Weathered Wood, Gathered Twigs, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo, Barn Door, Shabby Shutters, Forest Moss, Mowed Lawn, Worn Lipstick, Antique Linen, Mustard Seed, Black Soot
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink - black
Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo
Embellishments: Tim Holtz idea-ology Crinkle Ribbon
Tools: Tim Holtz idea-ology Spritzer; 12" scoring board + scoring tool