Splitcoast Tutorial: Action Wobbles

Once in a while it's fun to add a tutorial focused on a product - this week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is all about Action Wobbles! These little guys are plastic springs that have an adhesive base on both ends - one end (the larger side of the spring) sticks to the back of a popped up image, and the other end sticks to the card base - once they're mounted the image can wobble back and forth! It's a fun way to add some action to your card!

I took advantage of the recent sale at The Cat's Pajamas and got this adorable dog set that was on my growing list - I stamped him once on my card base and then cut out a second image to pop up on an Action Wobble. I had just one left, and it's one of the larger ones - when I restock I'll definitely be getting the minis that were used in the tutorial!  My image is colored with Copics and colored pencils. The grass border die is from TCP too.

I mixed in a few products from other companies to finish up my scene: 

Large Frame Die - Impression Obsession

Talk Bubble Die - Simon Says Stamp (retired)

Cloud Stencil - istencils.com

...and that cute background paper is from Sunny Studio.

Here's how he moves! Isn't that fun?

I hope you're having a great week!

Taylored Expressions Blender Brushes - earrings!

So happy to be taking part in a blog hop today with some friends of Taylored Expressions! Each of the designers has a project featuring Taylor's Blender Brushes.

If you're new to my blog, welcome! I've been in the stamping industry for over 17 years - I have my own line of stamps, and I'm the Artist in Residence at Splitcoaststampers, among other roles behind the scenes. I'm also an artist - most of my work is done in colored pencil, and my favorite subjects are dogs! I love to create, and I love sharing what I learn in the process. 

Blender brushes have definitely been a trending product this year, and I've used mine a lot! I'm definitely color oriented, so I love the colored handles on these - I bought some generic brushes in bulk, and I waste so much creative time searching through them for the right color (they each have a small label on the back of the head - not really eye catching!).

I wanted to do something different today, so instead of a card I made 3 pairs of earrings! Each pair was made using the brushes to aid in coloring. Here we go! 

This first pair is cut from matboard, inked up with hybrid ink. I chose hybrid ink because it blends nicely and I knew it wouldn't react with my water-based glaze.  

I stamped a background image using Versamark ink, just to add a little texture - I think it got lost a little in the layers - maybe next time I'll emboss the design with clear powder.

I cut the Shape Shifter dies across the gradient so each piece would have a unique color blend... then glazed the pieces individually.

Before the glaze dried completely, I pressed into each piece with an inked script stamp, just for a little more texture. 

For the second pair of earrings I did a little stenciling on chipboard, then embossed the design with gold powder. 

A layer of glaze darkened the chipboard slightly, and let the embossing pop.

I love the movement of this set, with a cut of faux leather in between the chipboard pieces!

If you don't have earrings dies, here's a fun way to make paper bead earrings with no dies at all! I cut a strip of cardstock (this is the 110# card from Georgia Pacific) that was 2"x11", and did some blending from end to end. 

I cut the strip in half so I had 2 strips 1"x11", then cut each of those strips at an angle from one corner to the other. That gave me 4 strips that were right triangles.

I make a lot of paper beads so I have a tool for the rolling process, but you can use a dowel or straw or toothpick to hold the center. To make a tear drop shape, you'll roll the bead so that the long base of the triangle aligns just slightly higher each time around. For the cone shape, just keep the long base even as you roll.

Here are 4 beads, glazed and ready to string...

I used a 2" head pin and some silver findings to turn these beads into pretty drop earrings! 

I've had a lot of fun making earrings this year, and Taylor's Designer Dangles dies are specially designed for cutting through heavier materials like chipboard, matboard, fabric, leather and more! If you'd like some for yourself or you're thinking of giving some as a gift, check out this holiday special ------------ in addition to the Blender Brush blog hop, Taylor also has a holiday gift guide launching today along with a special offer - purchase $100 or more from Dec. 10-19  and receive $20 to spend in January! 

Pretty cool! 

Enjoy the hop, and thank you for visiting me today!

For more beautiful projects, please visit these beautiful friends of mine! 

Chris Dayton

Dina Kowal  <<<<<<<< You're here!!

Justine Hovey

Kelly Lunceford

Lori Craig

Laurie Willison

Mindy Eggen

Taylor VanBruggen

Impression Obsession - Old is New

With such a huge collection of wonderful stamps from so many artists, sometimes the older stamps in the Impression Obsession catalog find their way out of the spotlight. We don't want them to be forgotten, so from now on you'll be seeing our team feature them regularly. We hope you're inspired!

This stamp is from my Fall/Winter release of 2013 - doesn't seem that long ago! I just love the thought that Jesus was born as a squishy baby, and wanted to create an image that looked like a modern baby photo shoot. I love the result! This image actually comes in two sizes - I used the larger version on this card, and the smaller version is here. 

I stamped the image in Versafine Clair ink (grey) and then watercolored the background and base colors, adding shading with colored pencils. I used a little acrylic paint to give some dimension to the hay. My card base is a gel print.

I have a mixture of acrylic glaze and water (1:1) in a spray bottle, so I spritzed that over the panel and applied foil to the splatters just where they landed on the background. I ran a vinyl eraser over the foil to cut the shine back just a little bit. I love that effect!

Products I used:

H13143 Baby Jesus

B13342 Adore Him

DIE837 Wacky Stitched Circles

DIE797 Crazy Stitched Set

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details!

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: It's Snow Time!

The Impression Obsession team's challenge today is to create a project featuring snow! I have had several requests for a little tutorial on foiling with regular dies, so I thought I'd combine that with my post today. Hope you enjoy! Here's my card:

I picked out this Snowflake Background die to work with - I used washi tape to create a hinge to hold it in place on my cardstock, then tucked foil underneath it with the shiny side up against the die. This is Spellbinders' heat reactive foil, and it has a plastic release liner on top of the shiny side. That pulls away and the shiny foil stays when it's activated with heat and pressure. 

Heat the die on the foiling platform according to system directions, and then run it through a die cutting machine with the plates provided. I added a couple of cardstock shims to my sandwich to make sure there was enough pressure applied.

Tadaaaaaaaaaa! So foiling with cutting dies is a little different than the foiling plates, since the foil is only activated by the cutting lines, and those are so narrow. I left my design simple here, but you can use those outlines for watercoloring if you like, to give a bolder look to your background.

This Sand Eraser is a handy tool for removing any extra foil that might have stuck between the lines - sometimes that happens in big spaces or if there's excess foil (you can see a little at the edge of the photo above).

The heat reactive foil will also stick to adhesive, so I lined a panel with wide double tape, and pressed some foil around the edges for a shiny border.

You can see the plastic liner below, as the sheet is pulled away.

I added a small tag with some tiny snowflakes just for a simple accent - I didn't want to cover up the foiling too much so I'll save the sentiment for the inside of the card.

Foil is hard to photograph, so here's an attempt at showing the shine...

I hope this helps - I love this technique and it's a great way to extend the use of your dies in a pretty and dramatic way!

Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - see the I.O. blog for all the details! 

Splitcoast Tutorial: Winter Frame

I'm back! I took a road trip with my mom, and spent 10 days away from home visiting my son and my brother in Texas! Fun times - but I'm glad to be home and getting back into a routine again (though I did need the break!). Thanks for holding down the fort for me, and thanks to those who shopped through my sale links last week! If you're still looking for a handmade gift, all items in my Etsy store are still 20% off through tomorrow, with free shipping over $35.

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a Winter Frame - I had a 5"x7" frame already prepped, so I used that for my sample. The base is corrugated cardboard brushed with a little white gesso (ooh, that needs glitter!), and all the dies are from Spellbinders (the snowflakes were from the November small die kit, and the silhouette is Sharyn Sowell's artwork, found HERE - it's marked down to $10 right now if you want to catch it on sale!). 

Today's work day was extended by an airport run and computer issues, but tomorrow I'll find a place for this on the mantle! How are your holiday decorations coming along?

Small Business Sale!

Thank you so much for your support of my small business! I'd like to offer a 20% discount in my online store through Dec. 3rd on all orders over $20 - there are lots of gift items to choose from, and a little something for everyone! No code is needed! Happy shopping!