Splitcoast Tutorial: Twine Inlay

This week's tutorial is a Twine Inlay technique - it's a great way to incorporate texture and warmth into a die cut card. Here's the sample I made for the video - the photo tutorial was done by Jeanne Jachna, using the same supplies. Memory Box and The Twinery kindly sent me some of their products to use for the video - I'm so grateful!

I'll be in the kitchen today making desserts and prepping casseroles, but I'll be checking in soon with a coupon code for the sitewide Impression Obsession sale, and a blog hop with the designers from My Sweet Petunia!

P.S. As you shop this weekend... if you have a favorite designer who has an affiliate relationship with a site you love, be sure to click through their links before you buy (even if you don't buy the product they've linked). It's a great way to say thank you for the information they share, and it doesn't cost a thing. 

I use affiliate links in my posts to help subsidize the cost of maintaining my site as well as the product reviews that I share. Think of me if you shop at:

Thank youuu!

Mixed Media - distressed foil frame

Jeanne's challenge for the Mix-Ability crew today is to glue foil (or foil tape) on top of chipboard shapes, then emboss and distress with acrylic paint. I went through a few ideas before settling here - I have a tutorial video that's similar to her suggestion, which I'll share again below, but I didn't feel drawn that direction... I wanted to make a holiday project, but didn't want it to be black...

In the end I created this frame, and cheated just a little. :)

The base of the frame is chipboard, and I adhered foil to it with PVA glue, then cut the opening embossed the panel with a Spellbinders folder.  For the distressed effect I took my project outside and played with spray paints. I sprayed a layer of white, and then black, then laid the paper over the panel and pulled it away.

The embossing on my panel wasn't super even, so that effect 'worked' a little better in some areas than others, but it's sort of cool overall, and I like the imperfection of it. Here are a couple of close-ups...

I used a set that I designed for Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, called Together Silhouettes - since the frame is so 'busy' visually, I needed a bold image to draw attention to the opening.

Here's that other video I mentioned, and I'll have to think about making one for the technique above as well - it reminds me of those vintage tin tiles.

Have a great weekend!

Clean and Simple Grunge

Just a couple of fun cards for the weekend - I'm having soooooo much fun playing with my new stamp release from Impression Obsession! Both of these backgrounds were built by layering stamps, using various Colorbox Chalk inks.

For the first card I used these stamps: Dot Border, Make it Happen, Sketchy Chevron Border, Splatter 1, Grunge Circles, Grunge Circle 1, Grunge Circle 2, 

It's a simple 2 layer card, and I inked the card base to match the chevrons.

The second card uses the same stamps, except for the sentiment (You Rock). I started by stenciling some letters - I picked up an alphabet stencil here for about 80 cents in the school supplies section... I love that the D and K are together one above the other - so fun for personalizing projects in a subtle way.

I used a stencil from Crafter's Workshop to add the other chevrons and numbers - to create those I scraped household caulking through the openings. The other texture is added by tamping acrylic paint and inks through pieces of drywall mesh tape.

I'll have to work on a video for techniques for building backgrounds. These were so much fun to make.

Also want to remind you to take a peek at my For Sale Page  - I've updated it with unmounted lots, a few sets, supplies, and some handmade glass pendants - there's quite a wide variety, and the prices are low. Please email me if you see anything that interests you! There is a button below my header, all the way to the right.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Designed To Color Challenge: Hexagons

This month's challenge over at Designed to Color involves Hexagons! This trendy little shape is a great design element that can be found everywhere! I purchased a set of Quickutz Hexagon dies from my favorite ebay store, Creating Everlasting Memories, and I love them!! (They have amazing sales all the time - if you're like me and you wait for great deals before you buy dies, make sure to get on their mailing list. They carry lots of other great products too!)

Our challenge this month is sponsored by There She Goes Clear Stamps, and I'm excited to be working with a sweet little set illustrated by my friend Iwona Palamountain!

I used papers from Simple Stories on my card - for the smaller hexagon layer, piecing, and the vertical strip. The cloud dies are from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, and the lace dies are from Impression Obsession. I colored the little girl's hair and skin using Polychromos pencils, and shaded the balloon and dress with a dark grey pencil.

Pull out some hexagons and join us over at DTC!

 

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Shades of Green

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a card that features any shade of the color green.

I pulled some teals into the background panels and twine on this card - love the contrast with the red-orange of the bouncy toy! I had one of those a hundred years ago... sigh... These are new stamps - Betsy on Ball and You're a Sweetie. The sentiment is stamped on a Mini Rectangle Tag. I colored the image with Touch Twin Markers.

The fun thing about this card is that that bouncy ball actually 'bounces' - I finally found my Action Wobbles after several months of searching ON MY DESK, and thought it would be fun to add some dimension and motion to this image. If you've never seen Action Wobbles, they're like a plastic spring with adhesive panels on both ends - those can be trimmed to fit your raised panel or piece. Boiiinnng!!

Be sure to check out these other designers' blogs for inspiration -

Daniela @ For the First Time
Jeanne @ Inky Paws
Julie @ Out to Impress
Kittie @ Kittie Kraft
Laura @ Laura's Stamp Art Journal
Vicki @ Summerthyme Studio

Remember you can enter these challenges too, using your Impression Obsession stamps! See the I.O. blog for all the details - you might even win a $25 gift certificate!! We'd love to have you join us.

Sunny Sunflower

Whew! Mondays are long days... I started teaching health today, so for the next 4 weeks that's my first thing to run off to every morning. Thank goodness for coffee!! I wanted to mention, because some of you have asked... we're not really free to give details of our ministry and location online, but I'm always happy to answer questions via email... we also send out a monthly email newsletter, so if you'd like to receive that, let me know! I'd be happy to add you to our list.

Here's another of my catalog samples for the newest Impression Obsession release, colored with Touch Twin Markers - the colors  used are listed below. Love these big, bold florals! This is called Sunny Sunflower.

 For the frame, I used the Circle Shaker Frame die - it's cut from a cereal box and painted with some Distress crackle paint.

Have a wonderful week!