Father's Day Metal

Ever since I made my Faux Metal Art project, I have been looking for ways to incorporate Inka Gold into my creations. (Eventually, I'll get around to posting those creations.) ;) Well, Father's Day is almost here, so a manly card is in order, and what better time to add a little faux metal, right? ;-)

This card's design is from the Viva la Verve May 2014 Week 5 sketch, and I have to admit, when I saw that sketch, I almost decided to just skip it and let this month's VLV challenge go. But, then I saw a really cool die from MFT stamps that reminded me of riveted steel. Perfect! I cut the strips from kraft cs, added several colors of Inka Gold, gave them a good buff, and voila! Faux metal! For the Father's Day banner, I first covered a piece of kraft cs with Inka Gold, buffed it, then heat embossed the Father's Day sentiment with copper ep. To give it a little more dimension, I curved the center of the banner a little and attached it with Coll-All 3D glue. I used Coll-All to attach the "metal" strips, too. The bg was distressed by inking the edges of the paper, tearing it in a couple of places, and adding more age with a few splatters of watered down Inka Gold, and random stamping using Gathered Twigs Distress Ink and a couple of pieces of wrapped candy. Yep, you read that right...wrapped candy. I had a square of Dove chocolate and a wrapped Jolly Rancher candy in a basket on my table, so I inked up the bottom of the chocolate piece and the crinkly twisted end of the Jolly Rancher and stamped just like using a regular stamp. 

The circular images were heat embossed in silver, onto paper that I had first watercolored with Inka Gold. To distress them, I tapped a little Versamark in a few places, then dipped them in Distress Embossing Powder.

I did minimal stamping on the inside of the card, and threw in another faux metal strip to "anchor" the white panel. This card was quite fun to make! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Viva la Verve May 2014 Week 5 Sketch Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
Paper Issues: The World is a Circle
The Paper Shelter Challenge #160: Make it Manly

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Colorful Life with Saturated Canary

Happy Friday! I've got a couple of cards to share with you, made with a Saturated Canary Stamp called Ellie's Birthday. The image is so sweet, I just had to use it twice. :)

The layout of the first card is from the Viva la Verve May 2014 Week 4 sketch, turned on it's side. The sketch has a flower near the center edge of the oval, so I added an extra balloon instead. The added balloon is from a Penny Black stamp set. One of the things I like about a lot of the Saturated Canary images is the layers of clothing--lots of opportunity for multiple colors. And, the sentiment, a MFT Stamps image, was perfect for the colorful outfit. I wanted to add a little something extra on the vellum layer, so I did a bit of scoring on it, then added color on the back with Copics, so it would be subtle. Unfortunately, IRL you can't see it very well at all, but it shows up nice here. ;) The image is popped up on the vellum layer, which is popped up on the card with pieces of foam tape underneath the rhinestones.

The sentiment inside the card is a fun one from Taylored Expressions. I stamped it with Memento ink, then colored in the HAPPY and & with Copics.

The second card is almost the same as the first, except I used different bg paper, left the extra balloon off, and used much more vibrant colors. The hair and skin tones are also different. I left the scoring off the vellum this time, since it didn't make much difference on the first card anyway.

Same inside except for the colors.

I don't usually like to make two cards that are the same, or even this similar, but these were fun because the color palettes were so different.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a Happy, Colorful Weekend! :)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Viva la Verve May 2014 Week 4 Sketch Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
TCP Tuesday #267: Anything Goes
Paper Issues: The World is a Circle

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Limp Book Binding with a Napkin

I'm back for one more quick post. ;) In my previous post, there is a small handbound book that is part of a class that I've been teaching. It had been awhile since I bound a book, but working on the class book has me interesting in bookbinding again. I'm completely self-taught, using books and on-line resources, so forgive me if I use any incorrect terminology. :)

This binding on this book is called Limp Binding, simply because the cover is soft. I'd never made a book like this, but I was messing around with napkins and liked the way one of them looked, so I made a cover with it by gluing it onto a sheet of cardstock. A lot of the napkin was in one piece, but it wasn't large enough to cover then entire sheet of paper, so I tore up another napkin and pieced it in. I covered it with ModPodge to help protect it from tearing, so it looks a bit leathery, but before the ModPodge it had such a nice fabric feel. I thought about adding something to the cover, but this has such a nice feel in your hands, I couldn't bear to. 

The binding incorporates three strips of ribbon into the spine.

I used alternating colors of green and blue in the signatures, and left the edges of the paper fairly rough.

 Fanned out pages.

I bound the book using a beautiful magenta thread, which is mostly covered up in the spine area, but you can see it in each of the signatures.

If you are interested in making a similar book, I used the Book Art Studio Handbook as a reference. This book measures 4.25" x 5.5".

Thanks for stopping by!

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Faux Metal Art

Hello Blog Friends! Hope you, in the U.S., are enjoying your Memorial Day today! This is going to be a quick post--short on words, long on pics. 

If you are in the Atlanta area, you may have seen this Faux Metal Box in the Impressive Ideas store in Roswell. I've been teaching it as a class there for a few weeks. It's been a really fun class.

Here's a look at the entire project. (There is only one box in the project--I used two for the photo so you could see the inside and outside of the box.)

The entire box is covered in panels that have the look of forged metal, and colored are with various mediums.

The patterned paper on the inside has a distressed look to go with the "aged" metal on the outside of the box.

A few tags give everyone a chance to practice their metal coloring techniques.

We even stitched up a little notebook!

And, a set of four gift cards are decorated with metal butterflies.

My next class is a cute boxed card set. I'll have pics of it in a few days, and you'll be able to see it at the Impressive Ideas store, too!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful week!

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:
TCP Tuesday 266: Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create #73: Anything Goes w/optional twist to use Metal (feel better Chana!!!)

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Dude!

This will be my last card for the night--another Pixie Nerd card. Since I colored the first one in earthy colors, I decided to go bold and bright on this card.

The Viva la Verve May 2014 Week 2 sketch is the layout I used for this card. The image is colored with Copics, and I used a little Wink of Stella here and there, but you can't see it in the pic.

A simple panel inside with a couple of fun Washi tapes for color.

That'll do it for me tonight. Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Viva la Verve May 2014 Week 2 Sketch Challenge
TCP Tuesday 266: Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create #72: Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody #41: Anything Goes

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Pixie Nerd

My DD's school had Awards Day today, and she won the award for highest number of AR points for the entire school again (1504.6!). When the award was given, the assistant principal said that my daughter is known around school as the "AR Queen," because she reads constantly and loves taking the AR tests. Well, when I saw this digi stamp, from Saturated Canary, there was no way I wasn't going to use it for one of her teacher's cards this year! The image is super cute and sassy, and the sentiment is SO my daughter! ;)

Can you read the sentiment? It says, "Dude, pixie dust is for amateurs. I read books. That is where the magic is." It was perfect! I love it so much, I'm probably going to make my DD a set of notecards using it, as well a a little book for her to keep her friends' contact info in. One thing is bugging me about the image, though. See those strapy things hanging below her dress? Are they part of her dress or straps from her bag? Every image that I've seen colored has the straps matching the dress, but, to me, they look like straps from the bag, with those little buttons on the ends. It's a mystery. ;) 

The card design is based on the Viva la Verve May 2014 Week 1 sketch, and I colored the image with Copics. The gray spots are actually dots of a clear Spica pen. IRL it is sparkly and pretty, like pixie dust might be. 

See you in a few...I'll have another Pixie Nerd card in just a little while, completely different from this one.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Viva la Verve May 2014 Week 1 Sketch Challenge
TCP Tuesday 266: Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create #72: Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody #41: Anything Goes

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For the Teacher

I'm back! It's hard to believe I have only had two posts this entire month, so far! The days are slipping by so quickly. Between prepping for the class I'm teaching at Impressive Ideas, in Roswell, and actually teaching it, I've had time to make a few cards, but haven't had time to post them, so I'm hoping to catch up over the next few days.

Tomorrow is the last day of school, so my daughter needed a few cards for her teachers. I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch for the card design, and an adorable Saturated Canary digital image and sentiment. I colored the image with Copics. 

I tilted the personalization panel on the inside and added strips of Washi tape for interest. 

I'll have at least two more cards tonight that also feature a Saturated Canary image. And, it's such a cutie, I made two cards with it! :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Mojo Monday 346
Simon Says Stamp Monday: Botanical
TCP Tuesday 266: Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create #72: Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody #41: Anything Goes

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Mother's Day Blessings

Happy Mother's Day to all you crafty moms out there! I hope today has been special for you. I spent the day re-organizing my craft room because my daughter gave me a new cabinet with lots of drawers in it for Mother's Day! I have always had to keep a lot of things on my craft table, but now the things I use the most are within arms' reach and my table is uncluttered! Yay!

It has been quite awhile since I've posted anything. I've been prepping for a class I'm teaching, beginning this coming Wednesday, and I haven't had time for anything else. I think I have tennis elbow from cranking paper through my Big Shot over 2,400 times! Whew! I was never so happy to finally be able to make a simple card before. ;)

This Mother's Day card features a Tim Holtz butterfly image, colored with Copic markers. The coppery embellishment beside it is one I made from clay, then I rubbed several colors of Inka Gold over it to give it a metallic finish. The card layout is from this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge. I used the MFT Blueprints 13 die set to cut the burlap, green flag, and dark blue background cs.

For the inside of the card, I used the same MFT Blueprints 13 die set to cut the patterned paper and large green fishtail banner. I put the personalization panel on the diagonal to coordinate with the layout on the front of the card.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a Happy Mother's Day!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Mojo Monday 344 Contest
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Five (I used 5 different colors of ink)
613 Avenue Create Challenge #71: Anything Goes
Paper Issues Challenge: Mum's the Word
Corrosive Challenge #199: Banner Day

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Sweet...Again!

Are you feeling a little déjà vu right now? You might be if you saw my previous post. The cards are similar, in that the main stamped image is the same and the papers are mostly the same. But, the layout is entirely different, I've added in another patterned paper and ribbon, and the "sweet" sentiment is more prominent. I've tried to decide which version I like best, but I can't. I like each of them for completely different reasons. 

This card is much brighter than yesterday's card, due mainly to the wide yellow ribbon behind the image, and the yellow ink on the image layer, and there is much less red on this card. I wanted to use more, but didn't have enough. :-/ I die cut the letters for the "sweet" sentiment, glued them to the card front, then added Glossy Accents for some shine and dimension. I used a turquoise thread for my stitching and chose to go wonky instead of zigzaggy.

As usual for me lately, the inside is created with scraps from the front of the card, and the sentiment is the same as on the card yesterday.

I hope you are looking forward to a great weekend!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Not So Mellow Yellow
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create #69: Anything Goes

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Supplies Used:

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