Ah yes, I have been SLOOOOOW to post, but if you had my life the past 2 weeks, you would know why!
Anyway Peeps, I am back to post and post to bring everyone up to speed and s h a r e the love of blogging!
Generation Grunge was one of my favorite classes from the Tim Holtz weekend at Scrapbook Central on the last day of May, 2008. We covered many techniques to use with grungeboard, one of the coolest products out there! I think practically every layout that I do from now on will have grungeboard on it someplace, you’ll see as I post after the Tim Holtz projects in later entries. NOTE: All stamps are from Stamper’s Anonymous and are currently available. The butterfly is cut from a new Cuttlebug die coming out at Summer CHA in July 2008 – gotta LOVE getting product before it’s even announced!
Supplies:
Stamps – Starving Artistamps
Black Ink – Ranger Archival Jet Black
All-Purpose Ink – Tsukineko Vegas Gold
Chalk – Craft-T
Patterned Background Paper – SEI Chocolat
Sticker – DCWV
Workable Fixatif Spray – Krylon
Making cards is really one of my favorite things to do because there are a bazillion ways to make one. Quick and easy art with a stamped image and some pretty background paper. The lily, buds and stem are actually 3 separate stamps. I used masking to get the main lily flower in the foreground with the buds and stem “behind” it.
To “mask”, use a Post-it note or Eclipse Paper Tape for this technique. The object is to have a thin, repositionable piece of paper for the main image. Think ahead a little to what image you would like in the foreground of your group of images. Here, I wanted the lily as the main image. Stamp the lily on the thin “tape” and cut out just inside the stamped lines. Put this image to the side then stamp the lily on the base of the card front. Place the repositionable cut-out lily over that newly stamped image exactly matching it up. Stamp any other images you would like to have “behind” the main image, like the buds and leaf. You’ll be stamping over the “tape” or mask image. When you’re happy with the images in the background, remove the mask and you’ll have an instant visually dimensional image!
Ok, back to this particular card. Once the stamping was complete, I chalked the images with regular ole dry chalk using some mini pom-pom puffs. I don’t mind going outside the lines a bit, but if that bothers you, just erase the stray chalk with a white, soft eraser.
When you’re happy with the color, spray with a Fixatif spray to keep the chalk where you want it and to stop it from migrating to other projects. Swiping with All-Purpose Ink really gives the piece a beautiful gold finish and a light-shifting quality. Since this ink comes in a mini wide-mouth bottle, using a finger dauber works well. Be aware that this ink has nice coverage with a transparent quality, so a little goes a long way.
Trim the image close and mount onto a card front. Add ribbon or other embellishments as desired.
Title letters are often difficult to decide on when working on a project. My thought process is to think about the “feel” to the project – is it casual or formal? fun or serious? a lot to say or a little?
Thinking about this part of the title in advance can help decide the direction to go in when picking the size and font of the letters. In the case of a casual title, think of any fun characters or images that you could use as letters. In the easel title above, I used a heart as the “U” in luv. Also, can there be a fun, alternative spelling for a casual project? Use this to your advantage!
Material and texture can also play a big part in making the project successful. For the example above, I used colored craft foam cut with a Sizzix Sidekick and Sizzix Stencil Alphabet. The foam is easy to cut with the machine. I layered a solid piece behind the cut letter for a color contrast. I find that “The Ultimate” glue from Crafter’s Corner or specific glue for craft foam both work well. Set-up time is minimal and a good bond is there after only a couple minutes. Happy crafting!
Some products mentioned on this blog have been provided to me by the vendors mentioned in the supply lists.
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