Splitcoast Stampers Challenge – Hammer Time!

Happy Monday Everyone! It is the third Monday of the month which means I get to host the challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.

So, I am not sure about you but I love the look of mixed media, but I am not very good at at (or if I am honest, I am scared of it…). Today’s challenge technique can be used one of two ways. ONE is to create a mixed media-ish look, or TWO, just to add random texture to any card.

This technique is hammed embossing. It is fun and simple so get ready…
IT’S HAMMER TIME!

FIRST – You will need your paper, ink, embossing folder, and an image or sentiment.
SECOND – Ink up your background, (This can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be.)

THIRD – Insert your background into an embossing folder and with your hammer tap in random spots – you need to tap firmly but don’t pound or you can crack your folder and I mean really, what did that poor embossing folder do to you??

NOTE: I find that if you use thinner paper (I used Bristol not thick watercolor paper) and if you don’t do it on top of your pad of paper (like in the picture ) the imprint is better.

Also, I like to open the top very gently to make sure I have enough embossing and if I want more, I close it back and tap in a few more places.
Once you are happy with the results, you can either be done or you can step it up… I like to take an ink blender and ink (the Distress Oxides work great, but any ink should work) and VERY lightly run over the raised areas so they POP!
Now you are ready to put together a card!!

Here are my samples using the three backgrounds above.

I’d love you to come play along with the challenge. Check it out HERE!

I hope you are inspired! Have a great one!

Lyn

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LMMS #148 – Thanks for your service!

Yep ~ it is time for another “Anything Goes!” challenge at Little Miss Muffet Stamps – Challenge #148. And this week we have new design team members to introduce so head over to the blog and see what they have done for your inspiration.

Little Miss Muffet Stamps has been creating images for a Sharing Handmade Kindness campaign and though this wasn’t specifically for that campaign, it is still a great image for this – I know so many fireman and I think they will love this.

I decided to try out a “use your scraps technique” from Jennifer McGuire’s recent post and while I didn’t inlay the sentiment this time, I love the look of this background and I love that I used up some of my scraps…

Recipe:

• Images: Sunbonnet Fireman Ladder Digi from Little Miss Muffet Stamps
• Sentiment: Thanks Die from Simon Says Stamps
• Paper: White cardstock and Red Poppy cardstock (PTI), Black cardstock (Recollections), and SCRAPS
• Ink: Copics
• Other: Basic and Polka dot backdrop dies (A Jillian Vance Design), Circle die (Spellbinders), Stitched Rectangle die (Simon Says Stamps), Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design)

Come on over and join in on Challenge #148 – Anything Goes!  There are prizes… For our prizes, one lucky winner will be awarded a $10.00 Gift Voucher to the LMMS shop. We like to select a couple other projects to highlight as well.  Good Luck!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Lyn

 

Shine Bright Tiny Dancer!

Today I have a fun card for some mid-week inspiration at From the Heart Stamps. This week’s challenge tWist was to create an interactive card – I LOVE interactive cards!!

I decided to finally try to create a spinning card. The first time I saw this technique, I thought that the “faithful friend” image called SHINE would be perfect for it. I saw a really quick and perfectly explained tutorial at Kristina Werner’s blog; so I CASED it. I mean…it was perfect don’t you think!!??I took several pictures to try to show how I created it, but ask questions in the comments if it was unclear.

1. I copied the image onto a word doc. Then I copied it again and flipped the image. Make sure to check on the format tab that both images are the same size so that when you fussy cut them, they match up.
2. Color the images at the same time to try to keep their coloring consistent. I added wink of stella all over her dress so it would well…wink when she spins 🙂
3. After adhering twine/thread (I used shiny silver) to the back of one of the colored images, glue the two images together, making sure to line them up and trim any “off” pieces from the images.
4. I ran a black Memento marker around the edges to make them look more finished.
5. Cut a hole out of your card front and out of another piece of card measured to the same size as your card.
   • To make sure that they matched up,  I lined my die cut up the way I wanted it on my card base and cut it out.
   • Then lined the other piece card up underneath with the hole on top.
   • I popped the die back into the hole an drew a line with pencil.
   • Then I was ready to die cut my circle on the second piece… I just lined up the pencil mark and the die and ran it through the cuttlebug.
6. NOW, tape the top thread of the image down on the front of the card at the top of the circle. Pull it tight and tape down the bottom thread at the bottom of the circle.
7. The put some strong glue over it, and adhere the top piece over that – this covers the strings and created a sandwich with them in the middle.
8. Let it dry before you play with it or the strings will get slack in them (Don’t ask how I know…)
9. I loved Kristen’s idea of mounting dark paper on the inside of the card so that the image would “pop” – I used a star background with versa mark ink and clear embossing powder on a black card so it would move a little.
10. Instead of drawing a free-form circle, I laid the die down and doodled around the outside
11. I had an awesome sentiment from Lawn Fawn that went with all of my card elements so I added it and that is all…EXCEPT for spinning her around a few times and closing the card – then when someone opens the card she does a ballerina spin for them 🙂

Want to see her spin?? CLICK HERE OR on the picture below 🙂Well I hope enjoy and feel inspired to create your own interactive card this week!

Recipe:

• Image: SHINE digital image by From the Heart Stamps
• Background: Tiny Stars background stamp (Hero Arts)
• Sentiment: Let’s Bokeh clear stamp by Lawn Fawn
• Paper: White card(PTI) and Black card (Recollections)
• Ink: Copics – R20, R21, R22, R24, YG000, E00, E02, E11, E21, E33, E35, E37, E29 Versa Mark Ink, Wink of Stella, Versafine Onyx Black
• Other: Basic Backgdrop and Polka Dot Backdrop Dies (AJVD), Circle Die (Spellbinders), Clear embossing powder (WOW)

Challenges:

• Happy Little Stamper – CAS Coloring ( I still kept is CAS even though it has moving parts.)
• Little Red Wagon –Challenge #307 – Try Something New
• Cards Und More – #141 No Designer Paper
• Live Love Cards’ September Challenge: “Sparkle & Shine”

Thanks for stopping by!

Lyn

FTHS – September Blog Hop with Birdbrains

Welcome to our From the Heart Stamps blog hop. Our theme this month is “For the Bird{brains}”. Our designers are showcasing lots of gorgeous projects.

As you hop along, please leave a comment on each entry. One random commenter will be selected on each blog to win an image of choice from the FTHS store. Some Design Team members are also giving away the actual project they create for the hop, too. So, you may win an image and a card or project from some of the blogs! And additionally, one commenter on the From the Heart Stamps blog will be selected to win a $15 gift voucher to the store!

We are offering another really cool prize on the FTHS blog! Have you ever had a great idea for a Birdbrain image? Well, this is your chance! One lucky winner randomly selected from all the comments will be selected to work with Faith to design a Birdbrain image!

And, we would like to invite all of you to be a part of our hop this month, with the DT! There is an inlinkz on the bottom of the post here, at FTHS, and on each individual blog. Use one of the designer’s tutorials and your favorite Birdbrain image to create a project to play along. We can’t wait to see what you create! If you are interested in guest designing for FTHS over the next few months, simply add GDT to your entry. We are looking for six people to guest design for two month rotations over the next 6 months. Hope you will print off your favorite Birdbrain and play along!

If you have arrived from Kelly, you are in the right place, if not why don’t you start on the From the Heart Stamps blog, so you don’t miss anything.

Here is my project… I made a tag using Birthday Burger Birdbrain.

I sometimes like to make my own tags, so I can make them whatever size best suits my needs. This one starts as a rectangle 2 3/4″ X 5 1/2″. I measured once inch down and marked both sides then marked two points on either side of the center. I trimmed the corners from these points and used this as my tag base…

I picked some designer papers that match my image and a variety of circle punches. For more ‘pop’, I backed each circle of DP in a larger circle of red. I randomly place the dots on the tag placing the image as well until everything fits like I want it to.

I adhere the the dots first, and run it through the Cuttlebug using my all time favorite embossing folder – a Happy Birthday folder. Then I used my oval punch and a circle to create the top of the tag and adhere it, the image, and the sentiment to the embossed tag. I chose ribbons and run them through together and bind them with a button and some twine. 

That is all there is to it. Now it is ready to put on a package…

Recipe:

• Image: Birthday Burger Birdbrain digi by From the Heart Stamps
• Paper: White Card (PTI), Red card (Recollections), DP – Sunny (MME)
• Ink: Copics Candle – BG10, BG11, BG13, BG15; Bird – Y15, Y17, Y19, YR04, YR07; Plate – E40, E42; Burger – (bun) E30, E31, E35, E51, YR00, Y21, (lettuce) YG03, YG09, (ketchup) R14, R17, (burger) W1, W3, W5, R02, (cheese) YR12, YR15, (mustard) Y21, Y26, (parsley) G07, G28
• Other: Various Circle Punches, Circle Dies (Spellbinders), HB embossing Folder, Ribbon

Now head over to Michelle and see what they have created.

Thanks for hopping with us today. The hop will end on Sunday September 14th at 6am, EST. Winners will be posted on the From the Heart Stamps Blog on Wednesday September 17th.

Challenges:

• Cuttlebug Mania – Anything Embossed
• Creative Knockouts – #53- Tic Tac Toe- Crafty Sentiments   [Top Row – Stamp/Embossing/Die Cuts, Punches]
• Left of Center – Challenge #44 Tag it!

Lyn

Tutorial Wednesday – Use those scraps!

It is the last Wednesday of the month and as a Guest Designer at Bugaboo, today is my turn to do a tutorial post. My tutorial is a pretty simple one. Not only does it show you a quick and easy way to create your own background, but it helps use some of those little paper scraps you just had to save…. you know you do it too! Don’t pretend you don’t!!! (lol)

So for my project, I decided to do a couple of matchbook gift card holders, but you can do this technique on any project – it looks great on a card too…

Step one – Cut your card base, grab some punches (you choose), and any color scraps (DP works too) you feel appropriately coordinate with your image. Truly reach for the smallest ones since you can use any size punches and some of the smaller punches will add to the effect!

Step two –  Lay the shapes down on your card before you glue them down; shifting them around under the image until it looks like you want it to. When you are happy with the way it looks, glue the shapes down. (I have found that a glue stick really works best.)

Step three – Run your card through your embossing machine using the embossing folder of your choice OR run a piece of vellum paper through and cover the card front with it. (I usually use a more translucent vellum than this one, but this is what I had. I like to sew the vellum down for a extra touch.)

Step four – Add your image and VOILA! you are ready to give your gift card, regular card, etc…

Recipe:

• Image – AKV 2 cowboy – howdy digi by Bugaboo Stamps
• Paper – (Base) Pure Poppy card stock, vellum, scraps
• Ink – Copics: Clothes – R22, R24, E42, E43, E44, E47, shoes/belt – W3, W5, W7, W9, C1, C3, C5; skin – E00, E02, E11, E21
• Other – Stitch die cut (PTI), Oval and Scallop Oval dies (Spellbinders), Various Circle Punches, Circle Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug), brads, black twine
  

Here is another example using this technique with vellum on a birthday card…

I hope you enjoyed today’s tutorial!! Thanks for stopping by!

Lyn

Ham and Bacon Bloghop Time!

Woo Hoo! It is time for a blog hop with the Bacon bits and friends! We are having a “Ham & BACON” hop! Yep, that’s right, this time we are featuring a pig’s favorite actor …. Kevin BACON!!!

You should have arrived from JEANNIE’S BLOG, if so you are in the right place. If not, why not start at the BEGINNING so you miss NOTHING!

If you can’t tell already, my Kevin Bacon movie is one of my all-time favorites… ANIMAL HOUSE (house, house)! This movie was sassy, and funny, and a little bit crude, but hey! it’s about fraternities – have you ever been in a fraternity house? Truly not much different from the Animal House! Tell me if you agree.

I have been seeing the Pop-up-box Cards every where lately and decided I had to try that out, and what better project for it than the animal house – cause we need more than one animal right??

Guys, I have to tell you…My fellow bacon bit Jane is the queen of cutting, and after this card, I will appreciate her cards even more. Good grief Jane, this thing took some time! But in the end it was worth it!!

The brothers of Pi Iota Gamma or PIG are glad you came by. In order of appearance they are: Reptile (the Membership Chairman), Bailey Hug (the President), Possum-4211 (the Rush Chair), and Geronimouse (the Big Man on Campus) – Welcome to the HOUSE where ALL IS WELL (click)!

Thanks so much for joining us on the hop. Don’t forget to leave me some love and hopefully you’ve left some for everyone along the way cause there are prizes to be had! That’s right! A $15 digi shopping spree will be awarded to one randomly-drawn hopper who leaves a comment at each post along the way. The deadline for comments (for prize consideration) is Monday, April  14 at 10:00 PM EDT. We’ll reveal the winners on the Hoedown blog on Wed., April 16.

I am the last stop on the hop and I hope you had a lot of fun! I know we had fun creating for you! Have a great weekend!

Lyn

I Spy My Valentine!

Today’s Valentine is a F-U-N easel card. It is simple (nothing like the ones my friend Jane makes) but it is still awesome! I love this card! As usual, when I make an interactive card, I can’t stop playing with it!!

I created a Valentine cipher decoder and the internal message is for the little spy with the cipher – You put the heart on a pre-assigned letter on the outer circle (in this case the heart goes on his first initial) and the letters of the code line up. The inner row is the code letter, and the outer one is the correct letter.

My image is a Hambo Digi Stamp called SPY. I also used a technique I learned from the Color Creative Classroom Backgrounds Class. It is a fun look even if the technique is still a work in progress for me.

Do you love it like I do? If you buy the SPY image from Hambo Stamps and leave me a comment, I will send you a PDF file with the decoder. It has 2 sizes – the larger one that I used for my easel card (5″) and a smaller one that can be made and popped inside a normal card (3.25″). The smaller one doesn’t have a heart on it so you could use it for times other than Valentine’s Day.

It is really easy to make:

Step One – Print out the decoder on card stock and cut out the two circles. (I wanted mine to have a little dimension so I added a piece of foam in between them.)

Step Two – Adhere the foam to the back of the smaller circle and a piece of acetate on top of that. Adhere another piece of acetate to the front of the center of the larger circle (with acetate on both sides so it will spin easily.)

Step Three – Line up the two pieces (the lines will match up) Using a brad, attach the two pieces in the center. I used a BIG yellow brad for your reference but use whatever you want. For me it didn’t matter because I was going to cover it with my image sine that is the focal point of my card. But for a pocket decoder (the smaller one in the doc,) I may use a cool brad instead…

Recipe:

• Image: Hambo Digi Stamp called SPY
• Paper: True Black card (PTI) White card
• Ink: – Copics: Heart – R22, R24, R27, R29; Glasses – YG93, YG95, YG97, YG99; Gloves – W5, W7, W9; Case – C1, C3, C5, C7, C9; Skin – E00, E21, E11; Pants – E33, E35, E37, E39 (E31, E33, E35); Coat – E40, E42, E44, W00, W1, W3; Shoes – E70, E74, E77, E79; Shirt – BG45, BG49

Challenges:

• Crafting by Designs – Anything for Love
• The Crafter’s Cafe – #50 Must have Hearts
• Divas by Design – With Love
• Fab ‘n’ Funky – #203 Love/Valentine Theme
• The Male Room – Valentine

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!

Lyn

YAY!! This little guy made it into the Spotlight at Crafting By Design and honorable mention at Crafter’s Cafe…

O’ Christmas Tree

I think this is my last Christmas themed project for the year and I decided to make it a fun one… so I made a Christmas ornament using the shaker tutorial I did last month (go HERE to see it).

As I am a guest designer at Doodle Pantry this month, I wanted to use one of their great new December releases – the Christmas tree from the Winter Critters digi set. Then just add a snow flake embossing folder, designer paper from Papertrey Ink, “snow”, and a ribbon between the layers and VOILA! It is ready to hang from the tree. What do you think?

BUT…just in case it wasn’t awesome enough, I made it into a gift card holder for my last Christmas gift card by adding a pocket to the back.

Recipe:

1. Image: Winter Critters digi set by Doodle Pantry
2. Paper: White cardstock (PTI); DP Christmas Prints (PTI)
3. Ink: Copics –
   • Tree: G05, G07, G09, E39, E35, E33
   • Garland: R24, R27, R29
   • Star: Y15, Y17, Y19
   • Ornaments: RV04, RV06, RV09, YG01, YG03, B05, B04, B02, YR12, YR15, YR18
   • Snow: BV000, B000, N0
4. Other: Actetate, Foam sheet, Buffalo snow flurries, Circle and scalloped circle dies (Spellbinders), Oval and scalloped oval punches (SU), eyelet, ribbon, and twine

Challenges:

• Digitally Sweet Challenge – DSC #67 Photo Inspiration (My project is a Christmas ornament/gift for a beautiful little girl just like the one in the picture)
• Card Crafter’s Challenge – #106 Deck the Halls
• Digi Haven  – Red & Green
• Drunken Stamper – Thing: Embossing ~ Drunken Stampers Challenge 155
• Crafting for All Seasons – Challenge #67 “Anything Christmas but a Card”

Try it out and HAVE FUN!!

I wish you and your family a very blessed Christmas!

Lyn

Bailey Does Christmas in Kraft

It is the third Wednesday of the month which means it is time for a new challenge at Hambo so come on over and join in the last challenge of 2013…Let’s HOEDOWN!

For today’s Hambo Hoedown we are challenged to USE KRAFT. I don’t do that very often so I had to dust off my package of kraft cardstock and let Bailey take over from there.

I decided this would be a fun card to give to Cash’s (my sweet black lab) groomer. So I added a fun little pocket on the side for a gift card.

The pocket is very easy.

• Cut a piece of cardstock 4″X 2 1/8″.
• Score 1/8″ on two short sides and a long side.
• The other long side gets cut at an angle (nothing specific just eyeball it)
• Fold the scored sides under (cut out the bottom squares where the the score lines intersect so it won’t be too bulky)
• Add score tape on the outside of the folds (so it will stick to the card not to itself)
• Adhere to the inside of your card – this is a pocket that you decorate to your preference. (I cut a piece of DP that coordinates with the front of my card. It cut it 3.5″X1.5″ and cut the top angle when I cut my pocket so it would match up. Once you fold under and 1/8″ on each side it leave an 1/8″ border.)

Recipe:

• Stamps: – Bailey Christmas digi by Hambo Stamps
• Papers – Kraft Cardstock (PTI) dark brown cardstock (Recollections), DP Lost and Found CHristmas set (My Minds Eye)
• Ink: Copics –  Bailey E70, E74, E79, Bone E70, E74, W1, Suit R22, R24, R27, R29, White C0
• Other: Holly ad Ribbon Embossing Folder(Cuttle Bug), Round Punches (EK Success), Rectangle and Deckled Rectangle Die (Spellbinders), Corner Rounder, eyelet, and Twine

Challenges:

• Papertake Weekly – Christmas cards/projects
• Use It Tuesdays – #69 Winter & Holiday (Used kraft cardstock, an eyelet, and some circle punches that haven’t been out to play in a while)
• Love to Create – #96 Anything Goes
• The Corrosive Challenge – #189 Anything Goes

Come on over to the Hoedown and then go check out what my teamies have done!!

Deborah *Jane * Jeannie * Jenn * Julia * Kendra

Thanks for stopping by and Have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Lyn

It’s a Popcorn Shaker!

It is day two of Hambo’s INTERACTIVE CHALLENGE and I have another fun one. Seriously, I will sit at my desk and play with these things until I make myself put them to the side for mailing…I don’t want to wear out the “mechanisms” before someone else gets to play with them (haha!)

Today’s card is a traditional shaker card. What isn’t so traditional is what’s shaking… It’s POPCORN. A perfect accompaniment to Wee Henrietta Popcorn don’t you think??

Sooo I decided to try a picture tutorial. I hope it makes sense to you, give me feedback!! Here we go…

1. Shaker Supplies: Foam sheet, Die cuts (size and shape depends on you but you need one that fits inside the other), Acetate, Glue stick, Shaker material, Image, Cardstock.

NOTE: height depends on shaker material – the popcorn required something thicker. I couldn’t get anything thicker than 3mm foam to work with the die cut so I doubled up. I normally don’t use big shaker stuff so this is not a problem – one layer of 3mm works great.

2. Using the largest die (in this case the scallop), cut out the image, the acetate, the cardstock, and the foam.

3. Center the smaller die (in this case the circle) and recut the foam pieces as well as the cardstock (this will create “frames” from each)

TIP: After I cut out the foam “frames”, I put all the cut outs back together and run them through the Xyron  – on both sides. Then my frames are sticky, and I can use everything else as dimensional foam.

4. Stick the frames together and adhere the stack to the image. (If you don’t have a Xyron, use your glue stick here and make sure to let it dry well before moving to next step…)

5. Now you are going to make a sandwich with your pieces.

• Put the shaker material into the cavity.
• Line up the acetate with foam pieces and adhere it on top. (the top edge should be sticky from Xyron or you can use glue stick)
• Add adhesive (I like glue stick for this) onto the back of the cardstock frame, center it up with rest of sandwich and adhere it on top of the acetate. (I would normally try to make the foam the same color or a similar color to the top frame; however, I used black and white so you could see them clearly.)
• This is your shaker element.

6. Put your shaker element onto your decorated card base and have fun…

Supplies for the final card:

• Image: Wee Henrietta Popcorn digi by Hambo
• Paper: White cardstock (PTI); DP and black (Recollections) Red kraft core (Sizzix)
• Ink: Copics – skin: E00, E11, E21, Hair: E17, E19, E33, E35, Shirt and bow: YG03, YG63, YG67, Jeans: B21, B23, B24, Shoes W1, W3, W5, W7, Popcorn bucket: R24, R27, R29, Popcorn: Y000, Y21
• Other: Spellbinders Circles, Spots embossing folder, Twine, Eyelet, Shaker elements from above

Challenges:

• Make it Monday – MIM #167 with Bugaboo Stamps
• Through the Purple Haze – Use either pink, purple or RED
• Fab’n’Funky- #194 birthday celebrations – Anything Goes
• The Sisterhood of Crafters – Embossing

Thanks for stopping by!! And as the inside of my card says… (you thought I had forgotten didn’t you??)

lyn