Elephants on Parade!

Sometimes the best way to try new products and techniques is by making tags. These were fun and easy!

I started by playing with Hero Arts’ new liquid watercolors (check out the great video in the link) in Strawberry, Moss and Indigo (the only three colors I have, but see how nicely they mix and play together?) . These come in a dropper bottle and are highly pigmented.

I used the watercolors to create a large background sheet (which I cut into tags), but they are also great for coloring individual images. I dropped some watercolors into a paint tray, let them dry, and keep them handy on my desk. They re-activate with the touch of a damp or wet brush.

Once the paper was dry, I stamped and white embossed a portion of Hero Arts Bold Prints Floral Mandala background.

The larger pink elephant on the left is a punch from EK Success; the smaller elephant is a Hero Arts layering stamp (which has a matching die). The balloons on the large pink elephant is from Stampin’ Up!’s Balloon Builders set (if you can’t find it, there are several other great balloon stamps on the website!).

So much fun!

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

Tags, Tags, Tags!

Happy New Year! I spent a fruitful week before Christmas finishing up some gift boxes to deliver to friends and co-workers. One of my most relaxing projects was creating these easy watercolor tags:

These were so fun and easy! First, I splashed watercolors on some scrap watercolor paper using various paints, including handmade colors from Pfeiffer Art Supply.  While those were drying, I punched a bunch of tags using a Fiskars tag punch (with built-in eyelet setter!) and painted swooshes of watercolor.

I die cut cut some birds (unknown die … one of the first dies I ever used)  from that painted watercolor scrap. Because the die did not come with a bird wing, I created wings by using a leaf die that was the right size! The stamped birds (old Hero Arts Decorative Birds set and a Claudia Rose flamingo) were white embossed.

Here’s another look:

(The larger bird is Tim Holtz’s Caged Bird Sizzix Alterations die.) sitting on a double stitched oval die from Gina K. Designs.

Such fun to make, and happily received.

Here’s to a happy, healthy new year with many creative opportunities ahead. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Hello Honey Bear!

These Wild Things animal tags from Stampin’ Up! (A Little Wild set) are not just stinkin’ cute … they are very versatile, too!

Using the stamps and matching dies, it’s easy to make the cutest tags (which I plan to use for party favors at an upcoming baby shower!). Check them out:

See how they fold over? And have a built-in hole for a string?

But, wait! There’s more! You can also cut them apart to use on cards:

The 4 7/8 x 7″ sized card was made using the Papertrey Ink die Noted: Scalloped A1 Die Collection and Stampin’ Up! card stock. I love this die set!

Don’t forget about the back side of the stamps!

And one last idea … a cute banner would bed cute, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

No Piece of Foil Unused!

It’s no secret that I haven’t met a scrap I don’t like. In posts here and here on foiling, I created some cards using various foiling products from Therm O Web. And lo, and behold, I had scraps of foil leftover!

What’s a gal to do? Why use them, of course!

From this card:

(The card above uses the Gina K.™ Designs pre-made Foil-Mates™ toner designs. Love these because I don’t have to worry about finding a laser printer to create my own!)

I had the leftovers of that pretty swirly pattern, which I used here:

™

To create the card, I ran a piece of black cardstock through my Xryon adhesive machine, then put the foil piece (shiny side UP) on top. (I carefully rubbed the piece to make sure it was completely adhered.) I then trimmed the piece and layered it to a black card front. The tag and gold leaves were die cut from bonus pieces in two  Therm O Web™ Gina K. Designs™ die sets.

I still had a tiny scrap left, so I did basically the same thing to create this fast tag:

The sentiment (from Stampin’ Up! Here’s to Cheers set) was gold embossed, the flourishes (from same set) stamped in black.

Thanks for checking in!

Terrific Tags!

Oh, how I love making tags! Check out this new set from Stampin’ Up!

The stamp set is called That’s The Tag and the matching dies are called Timeless Tags Thinlets™ (by Sizzix). I highly suggest getting both sets! These tags are addicting … and a great way to use up scraps. Make them for any occasion!

Here are some close-ups:

You can do simple stamping and coloring ….

… easy layering …

… more layering  (there are several word choices)…

… and use up lots of scraps!

Thanks for stopping by.

More Topiary Frenzy

In my last post, I went crazy using Vertical Greetings, a nifty new topiary set from Stampin’ Up. I was all about the white embossing on blue.

But had to experiments a bit more, using mostly what was left on my desk.

Still playing with the white embossing:

And trying out two-tone embossing:

(embossed with Ranger’s Lime Green and Tea Rose powders.)

A little different, embossed in gold on vellum:

(Using TapeTastic tape to hide some boo-boos. Not my favorite, but hey, that’s what experimenting is all about!)

And my favorite use, tags:

I stamped the topiary and the sentiment in Ranger’s Wendy Vecchi Archival leaf green, then gold embossed a pot, cut it out and added it on top. This was fast and easy, especially since I had pre-embossed and cut a bunch of pots!

Thanks for sticking with me!

 

 

More Gel Printing

Let’s jump right in … here are some more results from my gel printing extravaganza!

As I mentioned in my last post, I used the 3×5 inch plate from Gel Press.

Here’s the big picture:

It’s so fast and easy to make a batch of cards once you have the backgrounds done! For many of these, I added some stamped images to the backgrounds to provide more interest, mostly using Imagine Crafts’ StazOn ink. And then I just added various sentiments.

I trimmed my selected panels and attached them to a 4-bar sized card (4 7/8 x 7 inches, folded in half.)

The card below is a little different. Instead of using the gel print itself, I used this piece to “off-stamp.” I stamped on the wet paint using Art Foamies, then off-stamped on a piece of card stock. I added a sentiment (from docrafts, black embossed and fussy-cut) and some Robin’s Nest Dew Drops.

As you know, not every print is a winner. But even the “fails” can be used. For example, for this one below, I over stamped with StazOn Jet Black, then cut the piece into tiles, edged the tiles with black Sharpie and mounted them to a folded card front. I decided it needed a frame, so I made some score lines. Easy. And now it’s one of my faves.

Some of the fails (and you know there were a lot!!!) I turned into tags:

The pieces were mounted to card stock.

It’s amazing how quickly these cards and tags came together, which is one of the advantages of making a big ol’ stack of backgrounds to have handy!

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Fabulous Finds — New Embossing System

I found a fun new embossing system called Inside Out Embossing Plates (or IOEP for short!) that lets you create several embossed looks by simply switching out some plastic plates.

Here’s what they look like:

Created by Australian crafter Tasha E Armour, who wanted an easier way to do double embossing on her cards, the plates work with most tabletop embossing machines and with most embossing folders. (You can see some excellent videos on her website, teapapercrafts.com.)

Tasha has also created a versatile embossing folder designed specifically for the 9-piece IOEP set, which she promises is only the first of many future designs:

Here’s how it works: Say you want to emboss your card front with only the center oval. You load your paper inside the embossing folder, then use removable tap to attach the center oval piece of the IOEP set to the appropriate area on the outside of the embossing folder. (Sorry, I didn’t take a photo of this step!) The center oval piece presses down on that area so that the oval is the only thing embossed. Hope that makes sense!

Take a look. Here is an example of using the entire embossing plate:

Pretty, right?

But for my next card, I wanted space for a sentiment in the center, so I used the rectangle piece that covered the corners and the piece that covered the larger oval:

When applying the plates, think about which areas you want embossed. That’s where you apply the plates. (It almost sounds counter-intuitive, but picture it as if you are pressing down on those areas to get an impression — that’s what the plates do.)

I trimmed the piece, heat embossed a sentiment in the center and mounted in on tan card stock:

Playing around with the folder and the plates (which are made in the USA from a semi flexible plastic) I created a small decorative piece using the smaller oval and the inside design:

I cut the oval using Spellbinders’ Classic Ovals Small S4-112 (one of the first dies I ever bought!) and mounted it on a tiny tag (actually a pre-scored place card from Paper Source. Love these for tags!) The background was stamped using Hero Arts’ Unicorn white pigment ink and Hero Arts’ Pearl Strings Bold Prints stamp.

Tasha says there are 31 different combos for the IOEPs — but I think I found a 32nd design! Check out the two embossed lines on this card:

To create those lines, I used the outside frame. I put just one side of my card stock in the folder, ran it through, and repeated the step. I trimmed the piece and applied it to front of a 3 1/2 x 4 3/4 (4bar) folded card. The cute pot is one of my new favorite dies (flower pots B667) from Cheery Lynn and the flower stamp is an old one from Memory Box. I put a scrap of glitter paper behind the opening in the pot before mounting it.

I haven’t had a chance to try the IOEP set with other embossing folders, but that’s in the works, and I look forward to some new designs from Tasha!

 

 

Happy Craft Month!

March is National Craft Month! Imagine, an entire month to celebrate making things!

I’m starting the month right with some cards featuring new “layering” items from Hero Arts.

First up is this great layering die, Large Lotus (Hero Arts DI 161). This die, like the other layering dies in the release (pineapple, star, etc.) is designed to just partially cut an image. (Although it doesn’t have to be limited to  a partial cut, as I’ll show you below.)

In this card, I used the die as it was meant to be used, with just certain portions die cut so you can pop up the leaves. Cute, eh? After cutting the panel, I decided I wanted to layer on some color, so I created a mask by cutting the die on plain copy paper.

To get the center “hole” I simply cut the flower out by carefully snipping the edges of the outer petals.

Which led to an aha! moment … wait for it…

I colored the lotus using Stephanie Barnard’s ColorBox die inks Banana, Tangerine and Guava. Here’s a close-up:

I couldn’t resist adding some clear Wink of Stella for extra sparkle.

I edged the white panel with gold Delicata ink and glued it on this Stampin’ Up! card stock (being careful not to put glue on the popped up petals! I added some Doodlebug Designs sequins and the sentiment. “Sending,” (Simon Says Stamp die SSSD111432), was cut from white card stock then colored using a black Wink of Stella pen. The rest of the sentiment is from an old Hero Arts Mini Message set CL307.

OK, now I can show you how I cut out the lotus and used it as I would any other die cut piece:

I die cut the lotus from some watercolored scraps leftover from another project, carefully snipped where the petals were connected to the paper and layered it over this embossed background, the new Em-Bossing Fold’ers Grid from Spellbinders®… such a contemporary pattern! Love it! I edged that panel using a gold metallic marker, added a sentiment (Hero Arts) and some gems.

Here’s another version, again using leftovers (old alcohol ink coloring), and put it on a gift tag using Glue Dots™:

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy a month of crafting!

 

Fabulous Fiskars Fuse

I needed a quick gift for a friend and decided some letterpress-like gift tags would be just right.

Using my Fiskars Fuse, I was able to make more than a dozen tags in a about 20 minutes:

The Fuse (which I wrote about in this post) cuts, colors and creates a letterpress impression in one fell swoop. I use regular inks — pigment or dye (although a well-inked pigment pad seems to give better coverage).

Here’s a closer look:

The bad news is, Fiskars is no longer promoting the Fuse and I couldn’t find it on the Fiskars Web site. The good news? The Fuse is still available online, just search for it.

Thanks for stopping by!