Splitcoast Tutorial: Sentiment Strip Pop-Up

I wasn't able to find a tutorial author for this week's slot so guess who gets to come to the rescue when that happens?! This week's tutorial is a Sentiment Strip Pop-Up card, and it's also a twofer, because I have a video for the background panels as well!
Can we talk about this adorable stamp set first though? How cute is that puffer fish? This set is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, and it's Fin-tastic Friends (there's a mermaid too - go peek!).

The card design has a little pop-up column in the center, which you can use to prop up all kinds of sentiment strips - there are so many cute ones in this clear set, so I got to show off a bunch of them!

On to the background panels - A Colorful Life Designs put out a massive release of all sorts of scenic stencils! I've used 9 stencils total here, and documented my process in a video for you in case underwater scenes are your thing. There are underwater stencils as well as mountain and desert stencils, and some others for grounding and other backgrounds. Here are all the scenic ones: 

.....and there are a couple of fish designs PLUS a sentiment set to kick off a line of clear stamp sets! Each of the stencils has both positive and negative pieces, so there are multiple ways to use each piece plus kabillions of combinations for scenes. So fun. As always, please use my coupon code for 10% off your order - or if you'd like the entire lot check out the Master Creator section for bundle discounts of 20%!

You can find my background video HERE and the card fold video HERE! Come back here and let me know what you think!

Our AC went out on Saturday and we have heat advisories until Thursday night... I actually put on Hawaiian music yesterday to try to trick my brain - at least if I'm going to be this warm, I need to feel like it's worth it! 

Tomorrow I'm attending an artist's reception at the MO State Fairgrounds - my Bel Air Reflections drawing was juried into the Top 50 gallery, and I'm excited to see it, along with the other honored artists and their work. Then back to work on a commission, if I can keep from sticking to it! This humidity is no joke! Bleh. 

Splitcoast Tutorial: Spray Resist

Today's Spray Resist tutorial over on Splitcoast is a fun and easy one to try!

I didn't have a branded spray so I did a little Googling and found a very easy recipe for a substitute - what I used here is a 1:1 mixture of 3D Crystal Lacquer and water, shaken together in a mister bottle. It works great! The tutorial calls for photo paper, which is what I used here.

The background was a perfect setting for this adoooorable new set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps - I colored the fussy cut pieces with Copic markers.

Over the Moon clear set

I hope you're having a good week! I'm a little overwhelmed with extra things, but pushing through! A little sad that 2 of my favorite companies are closing today - Clearsnap (manufacturer of ColorBox inks) and A Day for Daisies (one of my favorite digital stamp companies). Hopefully I'll have time today for one last purchase.

Cheers!

SNSS Christmas in July Blog Hop

Are you ready for Christmas in July?! I'm hopping along with some friends from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps today - each of us has a Christmas project to share today along with some sale information and a chance to win a $50 gift certificate! If you're hopping in order, you probably came here from my friend Ceal Pritchett's blog - if you want to start at the beginning of the hop, head over to the Sweet 'n Sassy Blog!

I bought this gorgeous scenic set with this specific technique in mind - I'm really glad I already have a tutorial video done, because despite the results, the whole process was a series of disasters...! I'm never really good at heat embossing, but going into it with a bad case of gluten brain - I nearly had to turn in my Professional Crafter card. If you'd like to know how to do this technique, please see my tutorial on Splitcoaststampers, and I apologize for the lack of a video here. Or maybe I should just say 'you're welcome'. It wasn't pretty. The card though... boom.

I did manage to take one process photo - the technique alternates clear embossed images and inking, so the photo below is after 2 layers - I embossed the deer and 3 snowflakes on watercolor paper, then brushed pink ink over the panel, masked the snowbank with contact paper, and stamped the trees and 3 more snowflakes, embossed with clear powder and brushed darker pink. 

After that step, I stamped more trees and snowflakes, embossed, brushed a magenta ink, then stamped the tree border and more snowflakes, embossed, and brushed with purple ink.

After I ironed the panel to remove the embossing powder, I dotted some gesso snow around the panel, and then spattered some water (lifted with a paper towel) and misted the panel with shimmer spray - you can see that below.

 

Here's the set I used: 

Thrill of Hope clear set

....and so you can get ahead on your Christmas crafting, check out the rest of the Winter and Christmas sets - they're all 25% off through the end of the month! (If you shop through the links in my post, I'll get a small commission too - everyone wins!)

Some of my favorite people have projects to share today too - be sure to visit them as well, and comment as you go - someone will win a $50 gift certificate! You'll need to comment by 11:59pm Eastern on July 31 to be included - the sale ends then too, so don't dilly dally! Thank you for visiting me!

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Sweet 'n Sassy Blog

Julee Tilman

Bev Gerard

Ceal Pritchett

Dina Kowal <========= you're here!

Gayle Bond

Giovana Smith

Jane Bosi

Jeanne Streiff

Julie Cassell

Lee Ann Barrett

Lyn Tomlin

Monika Davis

Sheri Gilson

Stephanie Serrano

Perfect Foam Cutters and a giveaway!

I have a fun shaker card to share today, a product review, and some products to give away! 

I've been playing with some of the Perfect Foam Cutter dies from Maker's Movement - these are a part of their line of Versa Dies, which I've shared here before... they're wafer dies with deeper cutting lines that is great for cutting thicker materials. These ones are specifically designed to cut through their thicker double-stick foam sheets, which are 3mm thick and come in a pack of four 4"x8" sheets.

There are 2 sets of frame dies, and these are sized to work with the other rectangle dies they carry, but they adapt easily to other rectangles that are based on an A2 card size - the largest one is 4"x5.25", and they go down in quarter-inch increments. There's a circle set too, and the largest is 3.875" and those are in the same increments too, so those should work with other circle die sets as well.

The frames are great for popping up layers with no waste - they also make great shaker frames, and you'll see how I made my shaker card in the video below.

Another great addition to the line are these Mini Squares and Circles - you can create 24 adhesive foam squares and 24 adhesive foam circles with each cut, and these give a really clean look to popped up images and sentiments. 

There's a set of smaller strip dies as well - I don't have this set, but I've found it easy enough to cut the rectangle frame pieces into small strips of any size.

The set I used for my shaker card is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps - it's a new release from their new artist Jennifer Nilsson! I've followed her work for several years, and I'm so happy her images have found a new home. Looking forward to more from her! I love the mermaid and punny sentiments, and I love the puffer fish EVEN more.

Learn more about the dies and how I made my shaker card here:

If you're still with me, I have prizesssssssssssssssssssssss!! I have 2 prize packs to give away - one lucky commenter here will win the Mini Squares and Circles die and 2 sheets of foam...... for the other prize, head over to my Instagram page - a winner there will win the Rectangle Frame set and 2 sheets of foam!

Please comment by 9pm central, July 22, and make sure your email is in your comment or linked in your profile - you won't win if I can't contact you! Winners will be announced on 7/23.

Mix-Ability challenge: Jumpstart, Share Art

This week it's my turn to host the Mix-Ability challenge over at Splitcoast. I shared in the challenge post that through the holidays and especially after a few months of big stamping events and show prep, I start to feel a little burned out creatively. I was really inspired by a video I found by Dina Wakley - that's in the post as well, and it inspired this week's challenge!

These tags were actually made during a little breakout session while I was filming the video for this week's watercolor tutorial. Here's what that looked like, at quadruple speed......

I tucked some of my 12 tags into places where they'd be found when I was traveling to and from my parents' last week - just a fun way to spread a message of Christmas cheer. I just have 4 more left, so I'll need to replenish my stock soon!

Speaking of sharing art... here is a project I will be working on in the next week for an amazing movement called the Butterfly Effect - on Sunday Dec. 13th I'll be 'dropping' this butterfly somewhere in town, and whoever finds it will have a donation made in their name by the Butterfly Effect to a charity of their choice! I love this idea - what a perfect way to share art and pay kindness forward!

I was sent this wooden butterfly to paint, and I started off by prepping the surface with QoR Cold Press Ground, which turns any surface into watercolor paper. So cool.

Here's the dried and sanded piece, and below you can see the texture of the dried ground - it's a little bit fibrous, and can be smoothed with sandpaper or left textured, just like a cold press paper.

I'll post pictures of my progress as I go! Have a wonderful weekend!

Holiday Blitz Tutorial: Domino Mini Book

Today's Holiday Blitz tutorial is a fun little altered project - it's a Domino Mini Book, and the dominoes are the covers.

I found these cool bamboo dominoes on Amazon - they're flat on one side and curved on the other, so they were perfect for these little covers. I used gel medium to cover both sides with Basic Grey paper, then a light varnish to give the papers a little sheen. The edges are sponged with Stazon ink.

Inside, I used sheet music (photocopied) for the pages, and adhered die cuts to the pages with gel medium. I added some brushed ink and then dotted in some falling snow with my stylus. The word stamps are from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.

Join us all this week for beautiful holiday tutorials during our Holiday Blitz event!

Splitcoast Tutorial: Peek-A-Boo Card

Norma has brought us another amazing card tutorial this week - I appreciate Norma so much because her mind can conceive fun folds... they are not my strength at all. Her detailed tutorial, though, enabled me to make this! It's a Peek-A-Boo Card, and a sliding panel inside the card makes the images switch when the card is open. I actually have a Norma original made with this technique - and it's amazing. When it arrived, I just stood in awe, opening, closing, opening, closing...

I made my card with my own stamp images - I'm in the process of bringing all my licensed designs under one company, but you may still be able to find this set at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. (Be sure to check their Out With The Old sale for more great deals on dkdesigns and other sets!)

I love adding shading to silhouette images - this is stamped in Memento ink and shaded with a Derwent Coloursoft pencil.

When opened, this sentiment slides into the window:

Here's the card in action! So much fun.

Hope you'll give it a try - as with any foldy project... if I can do it, you can!