Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Texture Paste

Hi and thanks for stopping by today! I wanted to share with you my first experience with texture paste so here's a card I made using texture paste to create the background.


I recently purchased a few different texture pastes.  Cards with texture, dimension and of course shimmer always appeal to me so I thought I'd try out a new technique. I have to say, I LOVE IT!
I will review the others as I use them in projects. 



The first one I tried was this texture paste from Ranger.  It comes in two sizes, I purchased the larger size which is 3.9 oz.  I didn't know how much paste is needed for one background so I figured I'd go large! To me it smells like paint when you open up the bottle and looks like marshmallow fluff! I like that this one is white, I figured I could combine it with some color if I wanted different colors. Although when you mix it with color, you can't put it back if you make too much.  I have seen a few brands out there as well as some that are already mixed. which I think if you use a color a lot, would be a great purchase since you can put the excess back in the jar and have less waste.  


I decided for this background to mix my texture paste with some Tim Holtz Distressed Ink.  The four I used were Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Shaded Lilac and Seedless Preserves.   Working on my Heidi Swapp craft mat, I dabbed the ink pads onto the mat and then added the texture paste to the color. 


Using a spatula, I mixed the Distressed ink with the texture paste to get the color I wanted.  If it was too dark, I added more texture paste.  If it was to light, I'd once again add color to my mat and mix it into the paste. Once I got the colors I wanted, it was time to create my background. 


I started by taping my white cardstock down to my craft mat with some double sided adhesive, not too much, just enough so it didn't move.  Then i used painters tape to tape the stencil down to the paper and mat.  I gently spread the texture paste into the stencil and evened it off on top.  You have to work fairly quickly so that the texture paste doesn't dry to your tools.  I started in the left hand corner with my lightest pink and worked my way into the darker pink.  Then i started in with the purples.  I think if I were to do this combination again, I would try to blend the colors together more so there wasn't a defined line where I switched them out.  
Once you have all the texture paste down, clean your tools quickly.  I ran my stencil under cold water and the paste came off very easily. 


This was what my panel came out looking like.  As you can see there were spots where my stencil lifted and the paste got into areas it shouldn't have been.  This wasn't too bad for this project since I was able to cover up most of the messy spots.  I trimmed down the paper to fit an A2 card base. 




Next I heat embossed the words Happy Birthday on the same color pink card stock paper as I used for the background. I cut the ends into a banner style so it gave the sentiment a little character. I added it to my card using foam squares to give it some dimension.  


I punched some hearts out of card stock in pink and purple.  I glued them down using Scotts glue and colored a few with the clear Wink of Stella brush pen.  Then I added Glossy Accents to all the hearts to give them some shine. I also added my little girl from the Gorjuss collection that I had stamped and colored using Copic markers (see Gorjuss post for more details.) 



Here is my finished project!  I really enjoyed using the texture paste. I love how easily it blended with the distress inks and I'm sure practice makes perfect, so I will continue to work on my technique.  I also liked that the texture paste sits on top of the paper and adds some dimension to the cards.  It does make the card a little heavier but the look makes it worth it.  

Thanks for stopping by! :) I hope you have a wonderful day and go out there and craft something pretty! :) 








PRETTY IN PINK



PRETTY IN PINK


Hi and thanks for stopping by!  Today I created this card using squares.  I loved the how intricate the embossing and different types of paper makes this card look while it is still using a very basic shape! I was inspired by my aunt who loves pink and loves to quilt! She helped me make my very first quilt that was made of only squares. My aunt's birthday is coming up so I just had to make her a card that was quilt inspired.  I hope this reminds her of how beautiful her quilts are, the time we spent together and I hope she enjoys it as much as people enjoy the quilts that she makes for people.  Let's get started! There are a lot of pictures on this one. I tried to make sure I captured each step.


I started this card by cutting down a piece of card stock to 10.5" x 5.25".  I then scored the card stock in half on my Martha Stewart Score Board at 5.25" so that the card was square.  In my head I wanted this to be a pink and gold card so you will see my layers alternate between pink and gold toned paper.  Also my aunt is very enthusiastic woman who loves all different patterns so I thought I'd use some of my more exciting paper like this zebra print! 



For the gold layer I cut down this cream and gold foiled zebra print card stock so that it was half an inch smaller than the base.  This piece measured 4.75" square.


For this next layer I went with a shimmer paper that was pink.  Hind sight, I would have used a heavier card stock so that when I pop it up later it is a little stronger but I wanted to run the entire top panel through the Cuttlebug and was not sure how thick I could make it and still have the embossing show up nicely.  Anyway, this piece is again, 0.5" smaller than the last so it measured 4.25" square.



These smaller squares measured 1.5" and I cut four of them.  This paper is also very thin like the last layer (they came from the same pack) again, I didn't want this too thick so it would run through the Cuttlebug. 


I wanted the small squares to be a little different so I added a piece of swirled vinyl on top of two of the smallest squares. The vellum was from a pack of Stampin Up' vinyl I was gifted.  The vinyl paper was cut to the same size as the small pink squares (1.5".)



This next step I think I would have done differently and just cut this gold paper into 1.375" (1 3/8") squares.  Instead, I punched this metallic gold paper with a flower punch.  This punch actually just cuts the edges of the petals so you can lift them.  After punching the paper, I then cut it down to 1.375".  I ended up covering these up in the finished project since i didn't like the way they looked after embossing everything.  



This is what my panel looked like once I assembled the smaller squares.  At this point, I really liked the gold flowers so I went ahead and moved on. 


I put that entire panel into my embossing folder.  This embossing folder is by Cuttlebug and has stitched diamonds on it.  I really liked the stitched look since it reminded me of quilting.  The card stock panel was slightly larger than the embossing folder.  I ran the panel through lining up the right edge with the edge on the embossing folder.  Then I moved the panel over and lined it up again so that when I run it through the Cuttlebug the second time, the entire panel was embossed. It was very easy to line up, the paper that was already embossed just naturally went into the groves. I wanted to show you which plates I used in this photo.  It's the "A" base plate, a "B" plate, the embossing folder with the panel inside of it, and another "B" plate.  This fit snuggly through the Cuttlebug. 
 


Next I put the base panel through the Cuttlebug using a polka dot embossing folder.  I had to run this one through twice as well since it was a little larger. I only embossed the front side.  


I adhered the zebra paper to the polka dot base paper using my ATG (Advanced Tape Glider) adhesive, and then using foam squares I popped up the front panel on my card.  I love these foam squares by Scrapbook Adhesives.  It is very easy to remove the backing from these squares and they adhere to the paper really well.  As you can see, I was pretty generous with the squares since the paper was thinner than I would have liked it to be.  I wanted to add that extra support with the foam squares.  


 At this point, I figured out that those little flower petals weren't standing up as nicely as I had hoped and didn't show as much now that the paper was embossed.  So I went with plan B. Improvise!


I cut out two different sized flowers using my punches.  The larger is by EK Success and it's a five petal flower.  The second is by Carl and it's a sakura flower.  I alternated colors between textured pink card stock and swirled white paper and also alternated colors when I added the smaller flower on top, pink larger flower with white smaller flower, and vice versa. I think the white paper with cream swirls drew in the cream color from the zebra paper so I really loved the way it looked once everything was adhered. I then attached the flower in alternating colors on my squares with some Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. 


In my mind, no card is complete without a little sparkle, shine or bling.  So here it is, I added a sequin on top of each small flower alternating between a dark pink and a more iridescent pink sequin. 


Nope, couldn't stop there, I then added a rhinestone on top of that using my QuickStik to help me pick up those little slipper rascals. 


this is the finished product.  The glue is still wet as you can see, but it will quickly dry. 


Here it my completed card. I hope you enjoyed this project and it inspires you to try some basic square stacking! Have a wonderful day!  Go out there and create something beautiful! 





Monday, May 9, 2016

Slider Card

Sliding cards are so much fun! I love cards that are interactive and different.  This card was definitely appealing to me when I saw it at the Scrapbook Expo!  There were so many cool examples of what to do with this kit I had to buy it.  There are also pages you can purchase to make this card that are printed and will fit perfectly, otherwise, you can design your own like I did.

 


I made this adorable frog slidding card using a kit I recently purchased from the Scrapbook Expo in Anaheim.  This kit was created by Pinecone Press Design and comes with just about everything you need.  One kit has enough materials to make 4 cards!  I wish I had bought more of these. I loved this project! 

The kit comes in a few choices of colors. I chose white since I planned on decorating my backgrounds and didn't have a specific design in mind at the time.  The cream color also looked very appealing. Pinecone Press also sells the paper to decorate the slider card which are already created to fit perfectly in the project. Their designs are very adorable, but for me, I wanted to create my own. 

My favorite part was that this card kit came with a tutorial of how to put the pieces together. I am super visual so this was an enormous help to me.  I also has writen instructions that came in the kit to follow along which has pictures and is well written.  The assembly is very simple which makes this project fun. 



I started this card by pulling out a bunch of paper. I wasn't sure what patterns to put together. The frogs ended up drawing my attention as well as the butterflies. 

To start, I decorated the outside first. Using green distressed ink I smushed the ink pad onto my craft mat and then spritzed it with water. Using a sponge blending tool, I created the green background using a circular motion. I did this to the front and back of the outside piece as well as the two slider pieces.   Then I trimmed down some cardstock to create the brown borders. Next I cut my patterned paper about 1/2 " smaller than my background piece. Using my ATG I attached my pieces together. 

I punched out the flowers with my Martha Stewart flower punch and layered one orange and one yellow on each end. Then I stamped the happy birthday image from a Stampin' Up set that coordinates with the scallop punch onto white cardstock. Then I punched it using the Stampin' Up scallop punch. 

Using a dimensional I popped up the scallop sentiment on top of some brown ribbon.  

For the center of the flowers I added one sequin in green and then one rhinestone on top to finish them off. Finally, I added a few yellow hearts. 

I have seen examples of this card where you can out a gift card on one of the slidding tabs. I am excited to do this for the next birthday I attend.  I attached the link to their YouTube video so you can see the assembly of the card. I love the magic of this slider card! 


 


Happy crafting!  Thanks for stopping by! 
Pinecone Press Design link




Thursday, May 5, 2016

Mini Scrapbook

Scrapbook pages are fun to do but for some reason my brain goes blank when it comes to designing a whole page.

My friend bought me this kit at the Scrapbook Expo in Anaheim and I love it!

 



The kit came with all the paper already die cut and the brads.  The small picture in the middle tells you were everything goes.  It didn't have any written instructions which I thought would be helpful, but I still thoroughly enjoyed putting these pages together. 

The background is 8x8 ( a little larger since I backed it on dark purple cardstock.). I loved the bushes, sunshine and letters!  I was able to glue them together easily. You do have to freehand the face of hello kitty but everything else was already cut and done for you.  I really loved who everything had a black shadow behind it, I think it made the page look a little more complete. It also helped things like the sun and the words to pop off the page more with the black outline.

This project took me some time to put together but overall I really enjoyed it!  I am hesitating putting a picture in the squares because I want them to be perfect!  

 I'm not a great scrapbooker but after making this project I wanted to start!  It was nice to have a layout that was already thought through that I could just enjoy putting together. Thanks my friend!  :) 

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you come visit again soon! Have a crafty day!!!