December 2008 - Quick and Easy Christmas Tree Decoration

Grab out just a few essential supplies and a few moments of your time and you're set to go with this one. When you get started with these tree decorations you'll find you've made a dozen in just a few minutes.

Your supplies: -

Sheet of Double Sided Paper - I used a 6" x6" sheet

Scallop Circle Punch - mine is approximately 4.5cms across

Adhesive

Beads

Linen Thread or Fine Ribbon

Bone Folder

Sharp Scissors

Punch out eight scallop circles from your double sided patterned paper. You can use any even number of scallops in your decoration.

Fold your scallop circle in half and score the fold.

Using adhesive between each scallop, I used double sided tape, layer each scallop on top of each other alternately the patterns.

This is what the straight edge should look like.

Fold a length of Linen Thread of fine ribbon in half to form a loop suitable for hanging your decoration and attach to the straight edge as shown in the photo above with double sided tape.

Thread beads on both ends and tie a knot to hold them in place.

Attach the sides of the sandwich together to form a circle with double sided tape. Trim ribbon ends and hang.

November 2008 - Many Uses for Stampin' Write (Brush) Markers!

I just love Markers!!! They were one of my first purchases as a newbie stamper many years ago and with the Stampin' Write Markers matching the inkpads, cardstock and everything else in the Stampin' Up! range they are still very well used in my crafting.

I came up with a list of all the things that you can use Stampin' Write Markers for: -

- Colouring

- Inking rubber stamps

- Thumping technique

- Colouring Ribbon

- Doodling

- Hightlighting/Shadowing an image

- Watercolouring with blender pens or aqua painters or water spritzing

- Colour Spritzing

- Edging Cardstock

- Journalling

I know I will have missed some.

I have used some of the techniques above in the tutorial today and will happily answer questions on any of the others.

This is the card we are going to make: -


Take a piece of watercolour paper cut bigger than your chosen image. I have chosen the solid flower from Stampin' Up!'s Bodacious Bouquet Set.

Choose markers from your collection with colours that blend together nicely.
The Stampin' Write Markers have a brush at one end and a journalling tip at the other. Using the side of the brush tip colour in the stamp. I used Summer Sun for the centre spots then More Mustard, Really Rust and Ruby Red outwards from the centre of the flower petals.

Hold the coloured stamp about an arms length away from a fine mist spray bottle and gently spray the stamp with water. The trick is not to drench the coloured stamp. Then stamp onto your watercolour paper. The wetter the rubber the more the colours will run together. Experiment to see what works best for the look you are trying to achieve.

Stamp your flower image on a piece of scrap paper. I used a second stamped image. Cut around the flower just inside the edge of the image. I only cut around the petals where I knew I wanted the leaves to show. Place the mask over your stamped image on the watercolour paper.

With my Garden Green Stampin' Write Marker I coloured in the Bodacious Bouquer small leaf stamp. When you ink a stamp with a marker you need to breath over the image before you stamp it to keep the ink wet.

Stamp the leaf image over the mask and watercolour paper in the desired position. Re ink with the marker and stamp again. Remove the mask from the flower.The leaves look to be sitting behind the flower.Take the journalling end of the markers and use the matching colour to run around the outside of the image to define it.
Lining up the outside of the image against the inside of the Fiskars Cutter's blue bar trim the image.

Using the side of a marker brush tip edge your watercolour paper with colour. I used Really Rust. Not necessary but is a nice finishing touch.

Mat the flower image onto contrasting cardstock and trim using the Fiskars trimmer.

Adhere your flower image to a card blank. I used a 10cmx10cm square of Really Rust cardstock.

Choose a salutation for the base of your card. I want Get Well Wishes, but the perfect word stamp has an image as well.

Use the side of the brush tip on your chosen marker to ink only the part of the image that you want to use. It is important to make sure that the whole image is super clean and dry before you start to avoid transferring unwanted residue to your card.

Breathe on the inked stamp to rewet the ink, postion and stamp. You're all done.

I would love to see the papercraft projects that you make using Markers. Please leave me a comment with a link to your projects.

Thank You!

October 2008 - Heat Embossing

Heat embossing is the technique that approx 11 years ago started me cardmaking, then over the years with all the beautiful papers and embellishments that hit the market heat embossing lost popularity. Just recently I’ve been asked to demonstrate heat embossing by a number of my workshop hostesses. Here is a step by step tutorial on heat embossing for you:

First start with a folded A5 card blank. I used one in very vanilla.
Put your card blank away for later and grab a scrap of card the same colour. I then stamped the background stamp from Stampin’ Up!®;s ‘Oh So Lovely’ Stamp Set on my card scrap in Perfect Plum Ink.

I then choose one of the flower stamps from the same stamp set and stamped it in versamark ink over the background image. Make sure the background image is very dry before you do this. As versamark ink is clear there was nothing to see in a photo.

I then folded a scrap piece of copy paper in half placed my stamped image on top of it and tipped rather than sprinkled gold embossing powder over the image.

Tip the embossing powder off the stamped image and tap the back of the cardstock to get rid of stray specks of powder. At the same time use the folder piece of copy powder to funnel the excess powder back into your container.

Hold your heat tool over the image on a heat resistant surface, I used my ceramic cook top, until the image turns shiny and raised.

Move the heat tool slowly until the entire image has turned.

Using my Fiskars Paper Trimmer I lined up the edge of the background stamp against the inside edge of the blue bar and then cut. Placing the cut edge on the bottom bar I moved around the image lining up the edge of the image against the inside of the blue bar.

Next run the edges of the cardstock through your versamark ink pad and then through some gold embossing powder poured onto your copy paper.

Cook the embossing powder with your heat tool as before. Watch your fingers this time.

Adhere your stamped and embossed card onto a larger piece of coloured cardstock to mat it. I’ve used perfect plum to match my ink. Then using the paper trimmer I lined up the edge of the vanilla card with the inside of the blue bar and cut the perfect plum card.

To add a little bit interest to the flowers I pushed the lid of my perfect plum inkpad into the ink and using a blender pen used this ink to colour in the flowers.

Then to add even more interest I coloured in the flowers again but this time with a glue pen. Then place your cardstock onto another piece of folded copy paper and pour over microfine clear glitter, I used dazzling diamonds.

Tip off the excess glitter into the copy paper and funnel back into your glitter container.

Place your decorated cardstock onto the top corner of your very vanilla cardstock but don’t stick down yet.

Stamp your chosen word stamp with versamark into the bottom right hand corner of your card.
Cover with gold embossing powder as before.

Heat embossing powder as before.

Adhere embellished cardstock piece to top left corner of card blank and you’re all done.

I would love to see any projects you’ve created using heat embossing, or colouring with ink and a blender pen or using microfine glitter.

If you do not have access to a heat tool it is possible to turn embossing powder over a toaster. Just press the button down as tho. you are cooking your toast and hold the cardstock over the top of the very hot toaster. Don’t burn your fingers.

September 2008 - Kiss Technique

Hi All

Tanya Leigh very nicely asked and I have agreed to provide a monthly technique tutorial for card making.

For the very first I have chosen an old favourite of mine called the ‘Kiss Technique’.

For this technique you will need: -
· a solid stamp image
· a background stamp with a dominant image
· a light coloured cardstock
· a darker dye ink pad
· cardstock, paper, embellishments of your choice
· adhesive

Are you ready?

Ink your chosen background stamp, mine is Paisley by Stampin’ Up!, with your chosen dye ink.

Place your chosen solid image stamp on to the inked background stamp like you were stamping it onto paper.
Huff onto stamp to rewet the ink then stamp on to light coloured cardstock.
Add other decoration to the image as you see fit. I’ve used a flower stamp also from the Wild About You stamp set inked with a more mustard and old olive marker before stamping.
I trimmed around my image with my paper cutter then inked the edges of the white cardstock by running it through my Wild Wasabi Ink Pad, then matted it onto a piece of More Mustard cardstock
Because my solid image is an elephant I have chosen to stamp my image in solid colour, trim around the elephant’s ear and adhere this to the ‘Paisley’ image.


To put my card together I have chosen a ‘Wild Wasabi’ A5 sized card blank to match my ink colour and again stamped the ‘Wild About You’ flower stamp to create a background.

I have then layered a strip of 60cm wide patterned paper from the SU East Coast Prep pack across the bottom of the card with a 1cm strip of more mustard cardstock to hide the join.
Adhere the elephant image across the centre of the more mustard strip and all done!

I would love to see what you have created using this technique, cards, LOs, 3D items etc.

Happy Stamping
Keryn