Thursday, April 19, 2012

Hand rolled cardstock flower tutorial and some pretty tags

I was at a fun scrapbooking retreat a few weeks ago, and decided to take a break from making pages, and try something new.  Do you ever have one of those ideas in your head, and sometimes they turn out and sometimes they don't?  Fortunately, this one turned out just like the idea in my head, and I was so pleased!  I used a combination of ideas from Jennifer McGuire and Tim Holtz to make these tags and flowers, and love them.

First, I started with some DCWV white core cardstock, although I am not sure what the color purple is called.  I tore some random sized spiral shapes from the cardstock, one for each flower.  Some had thinner or thicker spirals, and some had more laps around the circle, if that makes sense.  That way all the flowers I made were varying in width, thickness and density. 

I spritzed each spiral with a mixture of Perfect Pearls powder and water like this, on a craft sheet.  They now make the spray already combined, but I just do it the old fashioned way by mixing the powder and water in a spray mister I already had.

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And then I crumpled them up while they were wet, and then flattened them out to dry.  I used my heat tool, but you can also just let them air dry.

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Once they were dry, I used a Quilling tool to roll the flowers up.  I always thought you were supposed to start rolling on the inside, but after watching a few how-to videos, I started on the outside like they did.

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Once the layers are all rolled up, not too tightly, it looks like this.  This is the time to do any adjusting, to get it looking how you want.  I gave it a slight backwards twist just to loosen the center a bit, but don't over think it.  They are all going to look differently, and that's ok.

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Once it is arranged how you like, slide it off of the tool, and flip it over while keepig a good grip so it won't unravel.  Now you can see why it is a good idea to start on the outside, because when you get to the end, you are left with a little flap that was the center of the spiral.  Place a glue dot right on it, and then cover the base of your flower.

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Voila!  Now there is a nice neat base for your flower to sit on :)  It is still a little loose, so handle it carefully. 

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Once the flower is complete, I used Glossy Accents as another adhesive.  Place the nozzle down in the center and give a little squeeze, and maybe a few small squirts inside any of the other loose petals.  It doesn't take long to dry, and once they are all finished they will be nice and stable.

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For the purple flowers I didn't put anything in the centers.  They looked just fine how they were.  For other ones I put jewels, half pearls, or white flower stamens that I found at Michael's.

These tags started as plain white, but were super easy to decorate.  I started by dabbing colors of Tim Holtz Distress Inks on my craft sheet and adding a few spritzes of the pearlized water.  For each tag I used a few different shades of the same color for some variation.  I rubbed the tag around in the ink and then set it aside to dry, or use the heat tool again.  Once it was dry, I rubbed the edges with one of the same color of inks, using the foam ink blending tool.  Lastly, I inked up a large background stamp with another of the same shades, and lightly pressed it on the tag. 

For all of these tags, I cut some leaf shapes out of the Stretch Your Imagination Cricut cartridge in varying sizes, from white cardstock.  My favorite is Neenah, it is great for stamping, inking, and Copics, all of that.  Using the same technique, I inked and sprayed them and added a few pearls and ribbons.  All done :)

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

"Twilight" inspired altered cigar box

My first post in soooooooo long!  I have been out of the crafty groove for a while, and am happy to get back in the saddle again  :)

I went to Joann's the other day and bought the Immortal Love DCWV stacks, and decided to do something with them and these cigar boxes I had lying around...

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The first thing I did was paint the box black with acrylic craft paint, then Mod Podged the papers onto all sides, using the matte finish and a sponge brush.  I didn't take pics of these steps, sorry..  The next thing I did was applied some Martha Stewart Fine Crackle Medium to the top of the box over the Mod Podge, and rubbed a bit of Barn Door Distress Ink and pearl glaze in the cracks and wiped it off. Then I attached some PTI black twill ribbon to the outside of the spine for stability with Glossy Accents.

I purchased a few flowers for this project, but they weren't fitting the idea I had in my head, so I decided to create my own!  I used individual flowers in white and red from the Michael's Recollections brand.  Here is the first flower, plain white.

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Then I inked it up with Tim Holtz Black Soot Distress Ink, using the inking tool and a blending sponge.

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The next step was to use a hot glue gun and folded the first flower in half, and then in half again, to make the samllest center 'bud'.  Once it was folded, I rolled the base between my fingers while it was still a little warm to mold it.

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Then I used the glue gun and added the next layer, also rolling the base to mold it to the smaller center.


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Then I added the third flowwer, and repeated the same steps.

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One it was all glued together, I fluffed and shaped it to how I wanted, and snipped the pointy base off of the bottom so it would be able to sit a bit more flat.  I also inked it a bit more, so none of the white was showing where the flower had been folded over and the back of the petals showed.

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Next I sprayed the whole thing with a mixture of Perfect Pearls powder and water.

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Once it was dry, I adhered a American Crafts pearl brad to the center.  I snipped the prongs off of the back side and used hot glue.

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I repeated the same steps for a red flower.  Here they are, pre-inked.

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I used the same ink, the Black Soot...

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Folded and rolled the center...

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The second layer...

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And the completed flower.  This one had a few more layers since I used the sheer flowers too, but was made the same way.

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I also sprayed it with the pearlized water, and adhered a half pearl for the center.

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Here is everything attached to the box!  I used my two assembled flowers, some black sheer ribbon tyed into a bow, and a heart stick pin from the sewing department of Joann's. I used a jump ring to hold a heart charm by Tim Holtz on the pin, and some tiny roses (sprayed with the pearlized water) and a rhinestone flourish, both from the Recollections brand as well. I attached it all with hot glue.  The feet of the box are by Tim Holtz too and I used Glossy Accents to attach these.

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I used Mod Podge and the same papers for the inside of the box as well.

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This turned out so wonderfully, and one of my closest friends is purchasing it for her 14 year old daughter for Christmas!  She is a Twilight fanatic, and is going to be so excited :)  I have a few more of these in the works, and hopefully will list them in my Etsy Shop soon!  It's empty right now since I haven't been crafting in a while, but hope to change that real quick.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy crafting!!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

School swap stuff...

Two swaps in a row?  It has been ages since I did a swap, and forgot how fun they are ;)  This one was a school theme, and we could make anything.  A tag, a journal block, an embellishment, whatever.  I dug deep for this one!  I decided to make a journaling card, and a library tag seemed like the perfect fit.

I used these two $1 stamp sets, I believe they both came from Michael's awhile back.  I used the stars in yellow, the A+ in the scallop circle in red, and the 'good work' inside the circles in black.

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And these inks..

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I cut the pockets and tags using the Coluzzle system.  It came with the template to cut both pocket and tag, as well as the cling stamp for the tag.  I bought it years ago, probably 8 or 9, and it was still in the package!  Of course I HAD to have it back then ;)   It's nice when you can go shopping in your stash!

The pocket is plain black carstock, and I cut pieces to line it from the DCWV Grade School stack.  The tags are plain white cardstock, and so is the decorative strip on the front.  I used an EK Success punch for the edge, Binding Edge.


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I am really pleased with how these came out!  I usually have a tough time coming up with an idea, but these came together fairly quicly.  Love it when that happens ;)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

PTI Inspired...

I love, Love, LOVE Papertrey Ink stuff :)  Love their products, love their designers, love it all!  I was browsing the site last month and came across this set of cards that I had to try making.  And as much as I would have loved to order the stamp set, I had enough leaf stamps in my stash to make my own version!  I used a bunch of misc. stamps; Hero Arts, $1 stamps from Joann's, and the one on the far right is also from Joann's, but don't remember the name.

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These are the ink colors I used...

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First, I inked up the stamps directly from the pads, spritzed them with water, and then stamped randomly all over the paper.  I wanted it a bit more watercolor-like, so I did the second round a bit different.

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I applied the ink to my craft sheet and then spritzed the craft sheet with water.  Then, using the sheet as my 'ink pad,' I inked up the stamps that way.  I got a bit more variation in the colors, and more control over the water.

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I wasn't planning on doing two pages, but I had enough ink left on my craft sheet to do another one :)

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This set of stamps is a Martha Stewart set, with each flower having an outline and a solid image that match.  I stamped the solid shape first, with a spritz of water on the stamp, then the outline in the same color without water.  Not sure how I like it, but it may look better when cut up on the card :)

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Each piece of 8 1/2" x 11" paper was cut into 8 pieces, 2 3/4" x 4 1/4". 
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I mounted the cut squares onto cardstock, and sewed around the edges with my sewing machine.  I also inked up the edges with some Tim Holtz Tea Dye ink with the blending tool, added the ribbon, and then it was all ready for a card base!
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I haven't added any sentiments yet, still working on that part!  But I am leaving tomorrow afternoon for the Seattle 3day Breast Cancer Walk, so that will have to wait ;)

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Sunday, September 12, 2010

More bookmarks, can you guess the theme...?

I decided to make some more bookmarks, and these came together pretty easily once I decided on the embellishment! 


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I knew I wanted to put an apple on them, but couldn't decide if I wanted a charm, and brad, or something else. First I tried stamping a bunch of apples and colored them in with inks, then covered them with Crystal Lacquer for shine. But when they dried (and I waited overnight!), they were a bit lumpy and the red just wasn't the right color. Then I decided to see if I could find the EK Success apple punch after seeing it used on some cards, but after THREE trips to three different stores I still couldn't find it. I was wandering around Michael's trying to find something else that would work, but I didn't want to spend too much since I needed 24 of them.


I came across this pack of 24 brads (perfect!), but half of them were green.  But they were 40% off so I bought them anyways, thinking I could come up with something to do with them!  I started by painting them all red, even the red ones, so they would all match.  I just used some plain acrylic craft paint.  Then when that was dry, I used a bit if some Making Memories clear glitter glaze over the top.  I still needed them to be shiny, but was too impatient to wait for more Crystal Lacquer to dry...  So I decided to use some good old UTEE, Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel!

 
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The apples needed 4 coats of UTEE, and after doing 4 or 5 apples, my fingers were getting a bit tired of holding them with tweezers, so hubs came to the rescue with a pair of vice-grips, and after that it was a piece of cake!  They clamped on the brad prongs with no tension, much easier ;)  It was a bit time consuming to do 24 of these puppies, but they turned out so pretty!

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Then I just cut off the prongs, and adhered them to the bookmarks with a foam dimensional, easy peasy :)


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Now let me tell you a bit about the bookmarks themselves.  I love this technique, is is such a dramatic effect for so little work!  I started with printed paper, approximately 2" x 5", and matted it with black cardstock.  I went around the edges with my sewing machine, and then matted them again on red cardstock.  I did this so the stitching wouldn't show on the back ;)  I punched holes, and then added eyelets.  Once they were all assembled, I stamped various background stamps on them with Versamark Watermark Ink.  I used a few different flourishes, and a music score background.

After that, I heat embossed them with clear embossing powder, then went over that with some Tim Holtz Distress inks in Antique Linen and Tea Dye.  LOVE the inking tools and foam applicators, I use them so much!

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The final step was to add some more sparkle ;)  I sprayed the whole thing with a mixture of Perfect Pearls powder and water, and dried it with the heat tool.  The ribbon went on last, and all done!


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Guessed the theme yet??