A Winter Birthday

I wish you could see this card's background in real life. I had a lot of fun making it. I started out with a background of alcohol inks in blues and purples. Then I lifted off snowflake shapes with Alcohol Lift Ink. 

Then I added some holographic heat-embossed snowflakes for some shimmery fun. They just show up when the card is tilted.

Lastly, I ran the background through my Cuttlebug with a snowflake embossing folder. It added a bit more subtle texture. I didn't want to cover up too much of the background, so I kept the Copic coloured bird and sentiment minimal. 

Thanks for visiting today! I am entering this in the Facebook Scrap 'N Stamp Challenge Page for the current All That Sparkles Challenge. 

Summer of Creativity Week 7

Alcohol Inks were the challenge for this week of Tim Holtz's recap of Creative Chemistry 102. It has been fun to revisit some techniques.

My favourite Alcohol Ink technique is to use it on clear acetate, and then apply clear double-sided tape and foil the back. If you click on the photo below you might be able to see how the acetate glows like jewels. I used silver foil.

The Alcohol Inks I used were Cranberry, Wild Plum and Denim. I cut out a Sizzix scalloped tag die cut from acetate and used Tim Holtz's On the Edge Brackets die to create the top and bottom borders from acetate. Steel rule dies like these are best for cutting acetate. I embossed the top border with a Sizzix checkerboard embossing folder.

The card background was created by second-generation stamping the Direction of Your Dreams (Time2Fly/Uptown) in Iris StazOn over the white card front, then sponging Wilted Violet Distress Ink through the Bubble stencil.

The dragonfly is from A Stamp In the Hand and I stamped it on the front of the tag with StazOn Cotton White. A brad and some gem stones finished it off. This will make a nice graduation card for someone.

Autumn Challenge

Can you feel Autumn coming on? We are enjoying an extended summer, with temperatures in the high 20's Celsius currently. But the Mountain Ash are starting to blaze yellow and the leaves are beginning to descend, and it won't be long now.

I am entering this card for the Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog challenge for September, which is "Autumn" and I could not be closer to the mark! This Albert Camus quote is a favourite of mine - the stamp is Stampendous N222 Autumn Flower stamped in Adirondack Raisin dye ink on tan cardstock. The background is Polished Stone created with an assortment of Ranger alcohol inks, and I embossed various leaves (old Hero Arts and PSX stamps) over top with pearly metallic embossing powders. I used a Krylon Gold Leafing Marker to edge the three panels. Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Dollar Decor & Ribbon Trick

What can you get for a buck these days? Or what could you make for a buck these days?

Quite awhile ago I was at the Great Canadian Dollar Store and came across some Making Memories hanging photo frame kits. They were one dollar each.

Each kit contained three cream metal embossed frames and a length of pink ribbon. The ribbon alone was a steal at this price! I took them home and stored them for a year or two, and finally got inspired. I needed something new for a wall in my loo.

I started by pouncing Ranger Alcohol Inks (Stream, Lettuce and Denim) over the metal.

I lightly sanded the high points of the embossing to expose the shiny aluminum surface.

I stamped and heat-embossed some nautical images (Crafty Secrets) in brown onto some aqua cardstock to mount in the apertures. I had some Martha Stewart printed ribbon in pale aqua/brown floral print that seemed to coordinate. (More on the ribbon bows in a sec.) Here is the completed wall hanging.

Perhaps the BEST part of this project (which was completed in less than half an hour!) was the clever way the ribbon bows are formed. The photos on the back of the box explain it better than I could (below) and I can see using this method again on cards and boxes and such.

Hope this inspires you to consider upcycling a bargain!