SHAPED MASK STAMPING

CIRCLE MASK

This is what I did with the circle shape I cut out last week to make the circle stencil, and its just as easy.  I was tempted to say that I attached the circle to the page with repositionable tape but actually I just held it in place and worked around my fingers..so however you want to tackle it...Put the circle or shape  you want to use as a mask wherever you want it to be on your card front and just stamp over it.  When the circle is removed a blank area remains for decoration or a greeting......too simple!!

CIRCLE STENCIL STAMPING

CIRCLE STENCIL STAMPING

An extra simple technique this week - just die cut a circle from thick paper, place the latter over your card front and stamp over the hole with a background stamp (the one I've used is from Kaiser).  Next week I'll post the example of using the circle as a mask!

EARRINGS

NIB EARRINGS

This is quite probably more accurately paper-related rather than papercraft as such but........I was rather pleased with these earrings - just made with an iron ore bead threaded onto a beading post which is then threaded through a hollow nib.  (This one is designed for use with a Pergamano tool).  A jump ring and posts are added to finish - literally five minutes work from start to finish and yes, I have worn them several times and no, I haven't skewered myself on the pointy ends yet!

CHALK/EYE SHADOWS ON BLACK CARD

EYESHADOW/CHALKS ON BLACK CARD

Just when you thought I'd put the eye shadow away.....I didn't expect much in the way of impact when I tried the eye shadows on black card (chalks will work the same way) but was pleasantly surprised.  The real thing has a slightly dreamy feel to it and the colour is quite subtle but it is there.  I used an embossing folder in my Cuttlebug as decoration - embossing on black alone doesn't show up particularly well because of the abscence of shadow but the chalk/eye shadow highlighted it nicely without being over the top.  I added the text on the computer as it looked a bit bare and I didn't have time to make a "proper card" but hopefully you get the idea.

EXPRESS SCRAPBOOKING

Scrapbook Express

I was a day late posting (first time ever in over a year) last week.....partly because I was working on this week's offering.
We had a weekend in Melbourne and rather than consign the photos to the "Gunnadoo" pile I decided to do something with them straight away.  I'm not at avid scrapbooker but quite like the concept of mini albums which in my household are more likely to be looked through than 12 x 12 epic productions.
Luck (good or bad I'm not sure which) would have it that I only took my little pocket camera with me and somehow in re-setting the light sensitivity I also changed the image quality to small.....no more that about four inches at 300dpi.  That meant I didn't have to agonize about appropriate sizing - basically everything was edited to 2 x 3, 2 x 2 or 3 x 3 (inches). This also made layouts simple as the pages were cut to fit these sizes  I used textured ivory off-cuts. I kept to a simple colour scheme - ivory, black, red and silver.  As the aim was to undertake this project  immediately while events were fresh in my mind and before it became just another thing on the "to do" pile I decided to try and finish within a week (bearing in mind I work full-time so we are talking evenings).  As a consequence rather than play around with fancy binding I made a template to ensure that all the holes were cut  in the same place and simply punched a hole in the corner of all the pages and fixed them together with a screw post.  I used my Cuttlebug to die-cut the front page title but other than that all the rest of the journalling was handwritten.  (This was actually the biggest challenge as I always feel that my writing is never neat enough even although intellectually I know that this is not the point).  I used my score board to score lines onto ivory card before writing so that I could keep the text more or less straight and I didn't ruin a whole page if I made a mistake. I cut most of the journalling blocks with a 2 inch square hole punch.  
Everything that would fit went onto the pages- over 100 photos, footy and movie tickets, boarding passes etc and yes......it was finished withing the week!!!  It won't win any prizes for neatness or originality and I won't be bringing it out to show the visitors........but I didn't make it for them.  In 10 years time hopefully I
can browse through the pages and remember a really lovely weekend away.  So my advice to myself is don't always put it away until I have time........JUST DO IT!!

DREMEL AND CHIPBOARD

CHIPBOARD WITH DREMEL DECORATION

This is a little sample I did to answer the question of whether or not I could use my Dremel heat tool to scorch a design into chipboard (without setting it on fire!!!).  The answer is obviously "Yes I can" which opens up a whole new set of ideas to explore!  (And as must be obvious from my rather dodgy example.....new skills to practise!!)

EMBOSSED SOFT DRINK CAN

EMBOSSED SOFT DRINK CAN

This is cheating a bit, as its not paper as such, but soft drink cans emboss beautifully in the Cuttlebug......just cut the top and bottom off with kitchen scissors.  I'm a little bit cautious about scratching the folders so whilst I have done this without, I think its a good idea to sandwich the aluminium between a couple of pieces of kitchen toweling to be on the safe side.  I've coloured this one with Sharpie pens, but any solvent based pens would do.  The finished panel can be mounted on the front of a card as a background or as the main feature.  If it insists on curling and can be "tamed" with some split pins to the corners to attach.  It would also be a nice box top or tag.

CROCHET WITH FILTERS

PHOTO OF CROCHET MAT

EMBOSS FILTER

GLOWING EDGES FILTER

PHOTOCOPY FILTER

STAMP FILTER

I've spent the last couple of weeks making a couple of crochet mats, so most of my papercrafting has been work-related HOWEVER when I took a picture of one of the finished mats it did occur to me that it would make a great background for a greeting card, and that it was ideally suited to playing with the Photoshop Elements filters.  I've used different colours for each of these examples but other than that its a straightforward application of the filter as captioned to the original image.  I can't wait to get the time to print some of these out and use them!

STAMPING AND COLOURING ON BLACK CARD

STAMPING ON BLACK CARD

This is the same Martha Stewart stamp I used in the yellow card example from a few weeks back, and is another example of colours I rarely use.  Well....I do love black, but I hardly ever stamp onto it.  I've seen a lot of examples using white embossing powder so thought I'd join the crowd.  I probably should have stopped there as I was quite pleased with the result but decided to keep going and colour in the image with metallic gel pens.  The pens work really well on dark surfaces however the colours don't always appear in quite the same way as they do when used on white cardstock (hence the strange purple inner petals).  If the urge to colour on black strikes me again I will do a little sample swatch BEFORE I start.

RESIN V DIMENSIONAL MAGIC

We bought ourselves a Forstener drill bit....its the sort that drills a large hole with a flat bottom.  My husband is a woodworker and I am (obviously) interested in all things papery so we have been trying some ways of combining the two.

We were aiming at a sort of shiny button effect (with the thought of using it to decorate wooden boxes or jewelry) so we compared paper covered with Dimensional magic to the same covered with two-part resin.  Neither seemed to cause the dye in the (Kaiser) paper to run which was good as I had anticipated we may need to seal it first (I'd still do a test run before a proper project with other papers).  The DM despite my best efforts still had a couple of bubbles.  I'd read that a heat gun would cause them to disappear so duly got out my embossing heat gun and........nothing at all happened to the surface  at all  until the whole thing essentially started to blow up like a big bubblegum bubble and then burst!!!!  This was amusing  but not very encouraging as the end result was all cracked and scratched.  I popped the bubbles on the "second try" effort with a pin, which worked better.  The finish on the two part resin was by far the smoothest and shiniest but it had the effect of greatly darkening the paper which wasn't entirely ideal either.

The end result is that both finishes have potential but drawbacks..........more playtime needed!!!

EMBOSSED DIE CUT OWLS

EMBOSSED DIECUTS

Pop die cuts into embossing folders to "dress them up"l.  this die is one of the Marianne Collectables range.  I've put the owls together slightly differently.  (The tummy of the top one makes a tail in the second) but they share the same parts.  I've left the eyes untouched, as messing around with eyes can end up making them look a bit scary.  The embossing was done on Core'dinations paper and then lightly sanded, to highlight the detail.

BEADED PAPER CARDS

CARD WITH BLACK BEAD DETAIL

CLOSE-UP DETAIL OF BLACK BEAD CARD

 I seem to have amassed a huge quantity of seed beads for reasons that have been lost in the clouds of time.  Even although the quantity used in these examples barely make a dent in the collection it is one way of putting a few to a good use.

These super quick cards are just a combination of some Graphic 45 paper a couple of diecuts (Spellbinders and Cuttlebug) and a few seed beads, sewn on with gold thread.

If you pierce the holes prior to sewing there's less chance of tearing the paper.

CLOSE UP OF CARD WITH IVORY BEADS

YELLOW 3D FLOWER

YELLOW CARD WITH 3D FLOWER

I have to confess that I use this technique a lot so I'm cheating a bit  this week.  It is, however, something I haven't done a post on before, so it might be of use to someone as an idea to try.

The stamps are from Martha Stewart.  The three flowers (all of slightly different shape and of decreasing size) have all been stamped on 150g paper, cut out and then reassembled with foam sticky dots between each layer to make a 3d effect.  

The thing I have done which is new to me, is use yellow ink!  I know it sounds silly but I think I have somehow managed to stamp for the best part of thirty years without ever owning a yellow ink pad before now!!!  White mesh and two different embossing patterns give the overall card a nice textured look (and feel), although its not at all the sort of card I would usually make.

GLITTER BALLOONS

GLITTER BALLOONS

As you can see, the glitter and dimensional magic is still out on the craft table.

The glitter I've used in this example is an extremely chunky one (some may go so far as to say cheap and nasty).  Every time I've tried to use this is just sort of collect in clumps and bits fall off the page.  Before consigning it to the rubbish I've given it one last try.

For this sample I've die cut balloons (using a Cuttlebug die) form acetate, and applied the glitter to the underside using dimensional magic instead of glue so the top is glittery but smooth.

The picture (I've cheated and drawn in some "strings" digitally) doesn't really do the end result justice.  Its not a hundred percent fine (you can see where I've failed to fill to the edge in the smallest balloon) but I'm happy enough with the end product to put the glitter back on the shelf instead of in the bin.

HEARTS WITH DIMENSIONAL MAGIC

DIMENSIONAL MAGIC OVER GLITTER PAPER

DIMENSIONAL MAGIC WITH GLITTER SPRINKLE

This week I've been playing with dimensional magic and glitter.  I have to confess I'm not very good at using either of them.   Tempted as I am to throw up my hands and declare that "its all no good,"  I know that what I really need to do is practise using both, so.......
The first sample is just a piece of Kaiser paper with glitter already in place, stuck to a wooden heart shape and covered with a layer of dimensional magic.  I inked the edges with gold ink first, although you can't really see this in the picture.  The dimensional  magic tones down the glitter a bit but the result is OK.  The second sample is on a die cut of thick card, painted pink, then covered with dimensional magic with glitter sprinkled on top.

Two of the issues I have with dimensional magic and similar products are that I almost always end up with bubbles and that the material I use as a base almost always buckles. Both have been avoided here.....really its a matter of not rushing things.  I let the dimensional magic flow of its own accord, resisting the urge to shake or squeeze it, and then carefully popped the few little air bubbles with a pin.  ( I even had the heat gun out in case I needed to smooth them out with this but it proved unneccessary).  As for the second issue, it didn't arise due to the thickness of the bases.  I guess I should try some other samples using thinner bases and perhaps sealing them first?  Perhaps for a later post.........