Love You Card for Unscripted Sketches #241

When Susan asked me to be a Guest Designer for UnscriptedSketches “Sketch It Saturdays” # 241 I jumped at the chance!  I see these sketch challenges a lot but I have never tried to make a project based on a sketch.  As typical in my creative process I had to think about what I wanted to do for a day or two; then I dove right in!

Here is the sketch I followed:

Since Valentine's Day is right around the corner (I know it will be here before I know it) I decided to make a love themed card.

What I Used to Make The Card:

1 Square Card (5 ¼ " x 5 ¼”) in white

Panel of cranberry cardstock (cut 5” x 5”)

Small piece of Pink Cardstock

Corner Rounder Punch

Small Heart Punch by Marvy Uchida

K & Company 12 x 12 sheet of Smitten Cardstock with Mini Foil Hearts (discontinued but still available if you do an internet search)

Stampers’ Anonymous Alphabet stamp set – VSHEET Vision Alphabet

Distress Ink in Victorian Velvet

Distress Marker in Picked Raspberry

The pink is NOT part of the card, I just put it there due to the white card

I used a white square card & cut the cranberry cardstock to layer.  I rounded the corners on the cranberry cardstock to follow the sketch.  Then I cut 2 strips from the K & Company Smitten cardstock an inch wide & 5” long to fit on the cranberry panel.  Since cutting the specialty paper leaves a white edge, I used the Distress Marker in Picked raspberry to edge the strips before I glued them on.  

The K & Co. Smitten Cardstock

 A small detail but I can’t stand having those edges!  Once I placed the strips and glued them down it was time to make my sentiment.  I used a very old stamp set from Stampers’ Anonymous (go to page 112 & you can see the entire alphabet) it’s still one of my favorites – the old kind that is mounted on wood – this was the first alphabet set I ever bought and I have had this set for at least 15 years.  I stamped “love” and “you” on a piece of scrap white cardstock using Distress Ink in Victorian Velvet, and then trimmed the words, edged them with the Distress Marker in Picked Raspberry, and mounted them onto the card.  Lastly, I used my small heart punch to make the hearts that replace the flowers on the sketch.  I punched the hearts out of a piece of pink cardstock and glued them in place.  Viola! A beautiful Valentine’s card or just a nice reminder of how you feel about someone!

The finished card - love those metallic hearts!

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.  I like the simplicity of following the sketch and I think I have caught the "sketch challenge" bug!

I would also like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Girls Challenges - #10, Anything Goes 

Crafting With Dragonflies - #18, Must be a Card – AnythingGoes

The Pink Elephant – TPE234, Pink/Red/Your Choice

Victorine Stamps - #76, Valentines/Love

CAS on Sunday – Lovey Dovey

Challenges for Everybody - #37, Anything Goes

Penny Black and More – Love is in the Air

Where did I find these wonderful challenges?? At Challengesfor Days a blog that lists challenges in an easy format so you can showcase your creativity!  Know of a challenge we don’t have listed??  Let us know!

Snowflake Votive Holder

I have wanted to do a 3D project since I got my Silhouette CAMEO and I thought this was a perfect opportunity.  I also get to showcase one of my absolute favorite accents sets from Globecraft & Piccolo - Bejeweled Snowflakes!

This post is a little photo heavy but I really wanted to showcase how I made the project.

Globecraft & Piccolo Items Used:

1 set of Bejeweled Snowflakes Accents, LA100 

Enamel & Embossing Powder Adhesive Fluid 

Embossing Enamel in Aged White 

3D Enamel Gel in Satin Gold

Other Items:

1 piece heavy cardstock, 12 x 12, white

1 piece heavy cardstock, approx 7 x 7, white (for top)

2 pieces of Denami Design Colored Cardstock in Iridescent Gold

4 pieces of regular Vellum, 2 ½” x 2 ½”

Krylon Gold Leafing Pen

Double Stick Tape

Glue

5 Gold Beads

Cutfile for a 4” x 4” box, with top (I put the 1 ¾” x 1 ¾” windows on myself)

Cutfile for the frame

1 Battery Operated Votive**

**DO NOT USE A Candle – it will burn & cause a fire!

The votive holder all cut and ready to go!

First thing I did was search for a lantern/votive holder cutfile that was fairly small knowing I wanted to use the Large Snowflakes in the Bejeweled Snowflakes Accents set as the focal point, but I couldn’t find any that suited my vision, so I made my own!  I used a regular cutfile of a small box with a lid and just added the windows to it.  Sounds easy but I am new at playing with files and it actually took me longer to get the right sized windows, and many, many votive holders cut, before I hit upon the right size.  Once I had the votive holder body and top cut out the real fun began.

Coloring the Snowflake Strips

I started by coloring the snowflake strips (after I cut them in two, 5 snowflakes each strip) with the Krylon Gold Leafing Pen.  After they dried, I dotted them with the 3D Enamel Gel in Satin Gold in the center of each snowflake. 

Adding the 3D Enamel Gel in Satin Gold

Then I turned my attention to the 4 large Snowflakes.  I coated them with the Enamel & EmbossingPowder Adhesive Fluid (IMPORTANT!! Do NOT Squeeze The Fluid – this will cause the top to pop off and you will create an amazing mess! All you need is to tap the fluid onto whatever you wish to emboss, the little dauber thing will refill naturally – and I am PROUD to say I haven’t popped my top!) and embossed them using Aged White Embossing Enamel (don’t forget to roll your enamel before you use it – that will ensure the colors are mixed properly). NOTE: Since the Snowflakes are very detailed the embossing enamel may clog some of the holes – just use a toothpick and poke it out!  

 

A close up of the Snowflake embossed

Showing some bling!

This color is fantastic! It has little bits of metallic goodness mixed in with the white powder and it really sparkles! I put the Large Snowflakes aside to cool.

I then cut my vellum and attached it to the inside of the windows in the box.  Since vellum is tricky to use glue with I used double stick tape, just the regular red kind.  It’s very important that nothing gets on the vellum because you will see it when the holder is lit (and I am sure if I tried to use glue I would get it on the vellum.  In fact, I even washed my hands and used a clean piece of scrap paper to ensure the vellum would stay clean).

 

The windows taped with the double stick tape

And the windows covered with the vellum

Then I attached the Large Snowflakes to the outside of the windows.  I lined them up so they would be the same no matter what window was looked at.

All the Embossed Snowflakes attached to the holder

 

Close Up of the attached Snowflake

The next step was to figure out what I wanted to add to the sides of the box, around the windows, because it looked very plain to me.  I used another cutfile to make frames out of thin (lightweight) metallic paper. Once I had the four frames cut I glued them to the sides using them to frame the snowflakes.  Be sure to keep one of the insides of the frame you use!  

The frame framing a Snowflake

I assembled the top and gathered my colored & dotted Snowflake Strips.  I put one strip on each side of the top and used one of the innies from the frame cutfile on the very top.  

Assembling the top

The Top with the Filled in Gold Bead and "innie"

I also used one of the gold beads to serve as a handle so you can open the holder without having to touch the top.  The bead I used had a hole in the center, which will be fine for the feet, but I didn’t like the look of it on the top since you could see the hole.  I solved this issue by putting a few drops of the 3D Enamel Gel in Satin Gold, letting it dry, then adding more.  I did this about four times to “fill” in the hole.

The final step is to assemble to actual box.  I used glue and hinge clips to hold the sides together and I put 2 sides together at a time. The same steps I used to put together the top.

**REMEMBER – DO NOT USE a candle in your creation – it WILL cause a fire.  Use a battery operated votive!

The bottom of the holder & the top

I put my battery operated votive in the holder and lit it up.  I think this came out amazingly well for my first 3D project and makes a lovely winter centerpiece or decoration.

 

The Finished Holder

   

All lit up!

A close up, lit but it's hard to tell

This reminds me of the paper bag luminaries that people would put out on their walkways and such back in the day.  I know people still use them, but I think the old ones were so beautiful!

 

I have 2 other projects to share that used the same Bejeweled Snowflake Accents set – three projects out of ONE set! Be on the look out!

Thanks for stopping by!  Don’t forget to bookmark the Globecraft & Piccolo blog and stop in daily to see more creative ways to use the Globecraft & Piccolo products!  Also, check out our sister company, Sweet Stamps, for some fabulous rubber stamps!

And here is a really good look at what the votive holder would look in the dark - I couldn't resist sharing this picture :)

 If you would like the cutfile I will happily send it to you - just leave a note in the comments section with your email.  The files will be sent to you in .STUDIO form as I don't know how to change files back to .SVG yet.

I would like to enter my Votive Holder into the following challenges:

Brown Sugar Challenge - #78, Embossing

Craftitude - #57, Anything Goes or I See Fluffy

Challenges and Candies - #26, Monochromatic

It's All About The Vintage - #60, Embossing

4 Crafty Chicks - #178, Bling 

Silhouette Challenges - #9, Anything Goes

Thank you for sticking with me on this longer than usual post ~ blessings to you & yours! 

A Balancing Act. . .

BALANCE is this month’s theme at Anything But a Card and it was a tough one for me. I feel that I lack balance in most aspects of my life, yet it is something that I don’t think about often.  My thought behind my project was that I need a reminder, a daily reminder, to balance my life.  One of the things that I feel will help me balance my crafty life is to use up some of this tremendous stash I have so I decided to make a banner using manila tags.  I recently put a cork board above my craft room computer and with all these elements combined, my balance project was born.

The Tags, already colored & layered

What I Used:

• 7 Manila #8 Tags
• Old book pages dry brushed with gesso (mine were already done)
• Distress Paints in the following colors: Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire and Brushed Pewter.
• Water Spritz Bottle
• Craft Sheet
• Purple Cardstock (for letters)
• Silhouette Cameo (for letters – you can also cut them freehand or use stickers)
• Stickles in Diamond
• White Cardstock
• Gesso
• Eye Dropper
• Silver ribbon
• Your Words (the words you choose to put on your tags)
• 7 plastic coated paper clips
• Crafter’s Pick Glue

First, I “made” the tags.  I used the Distress Paints and just continually made the colors swirl into each other and then I smooshed the tags onto the craft sheet.  When I saw a combination of color I liked, I would allow the tags to dry before adding more color (I used a heat gun or let them dry naturally).  Then I would color them some more with the Distress Paints – I wanted as much of the manila color to be covered as possible, but I didn’t want them to get muddy, which is why the drying is important.   I used some old book pages that I had already covered with plain gesso in the next step.  The white gesso looked too stark next to the warm purples and blues so I colored some gesso with the Seedless Preserves Distress Paint.  I just used an eye dropper and mixed the color in until I got a shade I liked.  Then I put that mix on the pages.  Once they dried, I ripped them into approximately the same size so I could mat them onto the tags. 

The letters were cut out using my Silhouette Cameo.  I just picked a font and spelled out BALANCE using the purple cardstock cut out the letters and glued them onto the tags.

The tags before the bling & some of the goodies I used to decorate the word cards.

 One thing that was important to me was the ability to change what the tags said; so instead of printing my word on the tag, I printed it onto white cardstock.  I used rubber stamps, Distress Markers, the computer, my own printing, decorative scissors, inks and punches to make my words.  I had a fabulous time! It felt like playing – like back when I first started rubber stamping. I just went to town!  I chose words that began with the same letter that was on the tag they were clipped to; for example, on the “L” in balance I stuck the word “learn”. 

The word cards on the first three letters

That’s the way I have it right now, but that may change.  I wanted to be able to change the words because I know if my eye gets used to seeing something I won’t “see” it anymore. 

The word cards on the last four letters

I used plastic coated paperclips to attach my words to my tags.  Lastly, I threaded a small piece of silver ribbon through each tag & then tied that to a long piece of ribbon – this way I can also move the tags around a bit if need be.  This is when I decided that the letters blended in too much and needed a bit of bling, so I took the word cards off the tags and ran the Diamond Stickles inside the letters.  I like it MUCH better with the bling. Then I put the word cards back on & hung the banner up - TADA!

  

All blinged up - complete with cat hair

The banner all done & hanging up!

I really enjoyed making this banner – and once I got going the process was much smoother than I anticipated.  Personally, I enjoy to be challenged; helps me stretch my wings.  I hope this inspires you to create some balance in your life, if needed. Don't forget, there is still time to enter the challenge at Anything But a Card - create some balance & link it up! Thanks for stopping by!  

I would like to enter my Tag Banner in the following challenges:
Brown Sugar Challenge - #77 Anything Goes 
Treasured Times Challenge Blog - #10 Anything Goes
Crafty Girls Challenge - #9 Anything Goes (second entry)

Warm Winter Wishes with Globecraft & Piccolo!

When I got my Design Team goodies from Globecraft & Piccolo the very first thing I noticed that one of the embossing enamels, called Mardi Gras, looked like it matched one of the designer cardstocks I had recently used on some holiday cards.  Funny how that happens!  The colors of the Enamels are breathtaking!! After I thoroughly pawed through my goodies (and set aside some items that were a bit too cold to use – the 3D Enamel Gels were almost frozen solid!) I pulled out a scrap piece of the Basic Grey cardstock called Figaro.  Sure enough, even under my Ott light, the enamel looked to be a complimentary color.  And although the holidays are over, winter certainly isn’t, and that is what prompted this card.

Here is the finished card.  I love the colors!!

 What I used to make the card:

• Mardi Gras Embossing Enamel from Globecraft & Piccolo 
• Enamel Powder Adhesive Fluid from Globecraft & Piccolo
• Small Snow Pine stamp from Just For Fun 
• Warm Winter Wishes stamp from Quietfire
• Piece of Basic Grey Figaro cardstock
• Distress Markers in Frayed Burlap & Forest Moss
• Embossing ink refill (used to paint tree)
• Small Paint Brush
• Kraft cardstock base
• White cardstock
• Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
• Heat Gun

First thing I did was stamp the “Warm Winter Wishes” stamp on some white cardstock using the Enamel Powder Adhesive Fluid. I was a bit skeptical about this delivery system but I found it much easier to use than an embossing ink pad & it delivers the perfect amount of embossing ink – just don’t squeeze the bottle!  I sprinkled the Mardi Gras Embossing Enamel onto the sentiment and heated until it was embossed.  The Embossing Enamel is a fairly thick powder and I wanted to ensure that it was able to catch the beautiful calligraphy that Quietfire stamps are known for.  I think it came out perfect.  Then I stamped the Small Snow Pine stamp, using the Jet Black ink, on another piece of white cardstock and added some color to the tree with Distress Markers in Frayed Burlap & Forest Moss.  I wanted to emboss on the tree only where the snow would be, so I used a small paint brush and painted the embossing ink onto the areas of the tree where I wanted the enamel to stick. Once that was done, I poured the Mardi Gras Embossing Enamel onto the tree, tapped off the excess and embossed.  I cut the tree out kind of loosely – I don’t think I would have been able to fussy cut this image – and attached it to the Basic Grey paper.  Then I adhered my sentiment and finally, all that went onto the card base.  It’s difficult to get a good picture of how the colors match due to the shininess of the Enamel, but I hope you can see how well this card coordinates.

Here is a close up of that luscious Mardi Gras Embossing Enamel

Look for more wintry posts in the coming weeks!

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge - Winter Wonderland

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes

Card Mania - Anything Goes

Love to Scrap! Challenges - Anything Goes

Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenges - Anything Goes with glitter, embossing powder and/or flock

Stamp and Create Challenge - Winter Wonderland 
Aud Sentiments Challenge - Use Any Sentiment 

Thank you & I'll see you soon - I have a bunch of different creations cooking right now :)  Christi

A Pendant. . .well, a Keychain for Mom

This is my very first post as a Design Team Member for Globecraft & Piccolo.  I am so excited to be a part of this dynamic team! I hope you will enjoy my tutorial and please be sure to stop by the G&P blog daily to feast your eyes on more of the fabulous creations the Design Team has in store!

Let me tell you that I am not the most coordinated person, in fact, I am really clumsy.  It has gotten worse since I had my back surgery (almost 2 years ago) as my equilibrium is still trying to adjust to my “new” back – I often walk into walls, trip over my own two feet and other fun party tricks! I have always been clumsy and only recently have started to trust myself with sharp objects and other dangerous items.  I tell you this because it will make sense later on in the post.  Read on. 

My mom is my biggest fan – how could she not be? – and I love making her gifts and cards.  Unfortunately, my mom is legally blind due to glaucoma, but she does have some sight, depending on the time of day, the weather (sunny or cloudy) and how tired her eyes are.  When I saw these acrylic blanks and the adorable chipboard shapes from Globecraft & Piccolo, I knew Mom would love a pendant. 

The Items I Used:

• Oval Acrylic Craft Charm 
• Fine Flower & Vines Flourish Accents 
• Tiny Stars, Hearts, Flowers & Swirls (I used one heart) 
• Glasstique Gloss Finishing Glaze 
• Mardi Gras Embossing Enamel (I had already embossed the tiny heart) 
• Sharpie Marker in Green
• LuminArte Radiant Rain in Rich Cobalt
• Small Paint Brush
• Mrs. Grossman's Alphabet Stickers, black with clear background
• Blue Plastic Flower Gem
• Piece of Purple Shimmer Cardstock for backing
• Keychain (which is not listed in the store yet, but will be!)

The Fine Flower & Vines Flourishes naked :)

First thing I did was figure out my layout.  I knew I wanted the pendant to say Mom, to have flowers & hearts and be vibrant enough so she could see it.  I had colored the flower with Distress Markers first, but then I was worried that they’d run and I’d be left with a bare flower once they had contact with the Glasstique, so I recolored with a green Sharpie for the stem of the flower and LuminArte Rich Cobalt for the actual flowers.  Since LuminArte is also water soluble I knew there’d be some running of the color, but I wanted to give it a try and I felt a halo effect would almost enhance the pendant.  I colored the flower & stem quite a few times, letting it dry thoroughly in between coloring.

The beginning of the layout

Now I had to dig through my immense stash of letter stickers.  I confess, letters and fonts are another crafty addiction of mine and I had quite a bit of stickers to choose from.  And of course, the last bunch I looked at had the perfect black letters on a clear backing from Mrs. Grossman.  I stuck those on the acrylic base and then fooled with the flower and the little heart (that I had previously embossed with Mardi Gras Embossing Enamel when I was using the enamel on a card I made).  Once I was happy with the placement, I glued everything down.  Let that dry overnight, just to be sure.  I also had a hell of a time getting the blue covers off the acrylic, which was nothing new, and in hindsight, I should have left the back cover on the pendant until I was done.  But nooooo, I had to take all the covers off - my mistake!

The last step was to cover the entire design with Glasstique.  I hadn’t worked with this top coat yet, but I have worked with similar products in the past.  I bit the bullet and slowly squeezed the Glasstique in the middle of the pendant and let it flow naturally over the front.  Beautiful.  I left the pendant alone for about 8 hours.  When I went to check on it, I noticed that some of the Glasstique had flowed over the sides and went under the acrylic piece, (see why I should of left the back on?) and in my terror that I would have Glasstique stuck to the back I picked the pendant up to clean off the back before it had dried completely.  Well, in doing that I also cause a ripple and a fingerprint in the front, right were the “o” in Mom was. And then I dropped it (see, this is the clumsy part) but thankfully no more damage was done and I was able to pick the cat hairs off the pendent.  OK – not to worry – I let the piece dry completely and then I figured I’d be able to fix it somehow. 

My fix was a fiasco.  I thought if I dabbed just a bit of the Glasstique where the ripple and finger print were it would magically meld itself into the already dry coating and would be fixed.  Nope.  So now, I had a blob over the ripple and fingerprint – the good news being I couldn’t see the previous mistakes, just the blob now. 

The arrow is pointing to the blob of a mistake - I didn't take a pic of my fingerprint LOL

 I wrestled with just throwing the whole thing out and trying again, but I hate to waste products (as evidenced by my overflowing stash of scraps and doo dads) so I went to plan B – after I thought of plan B.  I have quite a collection of plastic gems so I picked through the ones I felt would work with what I’d already done and humbly asked my G&P Design Teammates which “fix” looked best.  That narrowed it down to 2 possible solutions, so I chose to use a blue plastic flower gem, which I glued right onto the Glasstique with a tiny dab of E6000 glue.   And then I put the cardstock paper on the back and that also helped a bit to camouflage the blob.  Whew!  You can still see the blob in certain light, but I think it’s a save.  Mom may not have a new pendant anymore, but she has a fabulous keychain! 

The fabulous Manny holding the keychain

And the keychain - whew!

I already have my eye on what I am going to dive into next – Mom may get a pendent after all!  I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial ~ Fondly, Christi

If you’d like more information about Globecraft & Piccolo’s products, you can go to the main webpage HERE - you’ll even find some tutorial YouTube videos! 

A Bracelet Made of Brads

Hi everyone! I hope the holiday season brought you all joy & some crafting goodies! And if you are in the deep freeze, please be careful, make sure your animals are inside and your elderly neighbors are safe.  Luckily, we haven’t gotten Arctic in my part of Colorado, but today I did wear my winter coat which is literally the first time in 2 years (I have a love/hate relationship with coats, but that’s another story).  Between the amazingly hectic season and the fact I also got myself a touch of a cold (not the flu, thank goodness!) which is partly why I haven’t been blogging – but the good news is I am feeling better and I have LOTS of new projects to share!

I don’t know about you but I have a ton of supplies that I just can’t bring myself to use because they are so pretty (some of you know about my paper addiction already) and this project was born from having this beautiful set of brads from gcd studios in my stash forever – at least 3 years.  I would take them out, play with them, remind myself how pretty they are & then put them away.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a homepage for gcd studios and I fear they may have fallen on hard times, but I am sure you have a set, or two, of lovely brads that you just can’t bring yourself to use.  I was inspired by this post on Joy’s Life that explains how to make a bracelet out of brads!!  This was a perfect solution to hoarding them – I could “use” them but at the same time, I could "keep" them (makes sense to me)!  I was actually looking on the Joy’s Life webpage for die cutting machine information & I feel so lucky I found this post.  Using up my stuff is also one of my resolutions for the new year - mostly because I need the room and I can't justify buying anything new until I clear out some of this old. 

Since this project really depends on how large your brads are and how large you want your bracelet to be I am not going to make a material list – all you need are some brads, some jump rings and a closure. Oh and some pliers or I have this nifty little jump ring opener I got from Fire Mountain Gems – this is an awesome company that sells all kinds of goodies not just jewelry supplies – and they have GREAT sales – I am in no way coordinated enough to orchestrate 2 pairs of pliers so this little tool is a must for me.  I linked up my jump rings first, I made four sets of a few rings a set (and for those of you who don’t work with them often, don’t open them from side to side, instead twist the jump ring – it helps keep the ring from getting distorted & it is SO much easier to put it back together)

 

Then I linked the rings to my brads.  The brads I worked with are almost an inch long, and are all the same size, so I just kinda winged it.  I suppose you could measure your wrist or another bracelet and figure it all out that way, but I don’t have the patience for that.  It really was very easy to make and I am thinking of how cool it is to be able to customize each bracelet.  You also want to be careful opening the brads because I did have a few of the “arms” break off and you need the arms to attach to the jump rings.  You need to open those arms all the way open.

Open them ALL the way

  And here is my new bracelet!   

 

TaDa!

 Now on a few of the brads I was unable to really push the brads arms down and I think what I’ll do is put a dab of E6000 on the arms to make sure they don’t get caught on anything.  I am also debating if I should make it a bit smaller, but I like the fact that I can just slide it on without having to fiddle with the closure – but again, it’s all preference!

I think the arms are too long

I tried to get a good picture if the arms sticking up but nothing would cooperate - I hope you can see what I mean in the above picture.

I hope you enjoyed this little how-to - I love my bracelet! I will be going through my brads & definitely making more of these (early holiday gifts anyone?) 

I would like to enter my bracelet in the following challenges:

Frilly & Funkie - New Years Resolutions (to use up my stash) 

UnstampaBelles Challenge Blog - New Beginnings (I have never made this before, new technique)

Creative Creations Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Crafty Girls Challenges - Anything Goes

Creative Moments - Anything Goes
Added 1/10/14, Suggested I join by Buttons ~
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