Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Dying Ribbon to Match Your Card

Hello Everyone!

My Heartfelt Creations post this week is a card I made with the Butterfly Medley Collection.  It's a pretty simple card to create with just some embellishments and paper from the Butterfly Medley paper collection (of course)!   I ended up dying some white seam binding to match my card, so I thought I'd share that easy technique with you today, too.

For the card, I started by sponging Walnut Stain Distress ink on the edges of a 4" x 5-1/4" panel of seed-themed background paper from the paper collection.  I found a piece of burlap material in my stash, cut it into a square, pulled off some of the strands from all four sides to fray it a bit, and then adhered it at an angle onto my card. 

I selected one of the coordinating tags that comes as part of the paper collection and sponged Distress Ink on the edges.  I stamped a sentiment from the "Heartfelt Expressions" cling stamp set onto the tag, then added a jumbo eyelet to the top.  I adhered the tag over the burlap piece with some foam squares.  At this point, I decided my tag needed purple ribbon, so I stopped to dye some white seam binding (steps are shown below) with Viva Decor 3-D Stamp Paint to coordinate with my card. 




Finally, I dug up ("get it"??) some tiny garden tool embellishments that I've had forever (I was surprised I found them!) to glue on to the card front. 






Dying seam binding is really easy, just three steps basically.  Here's what I did:


1.) I mixed some Viva Decor "Violet - Metallic" 3-D Stamp Paint with water to make my ribbon dye solution. 

I just lightly dipped my dauber into the paint jar and then transferred the small glob that the dauber picked up to the dry container by tapping it off onto the bottom of the container.  I added about 1/2" of water to the container, stirred it up a little with the dauber and just sort of eye-balled the color to see if it was the tone I was going for.  I decided it was the right color I wanted so I didn't add any more paint to the water (at this point more paint could be added to intensify the color or a different color altogether could be mixed in to make a custom dye color).

2.) I estimated how long of a piece of seam binding ribbon I'd need for my project, cut it to that length, and dropped it into the container of purple water.  I used my dauber to smash the ribbon around in the dye solution so it would soak up the color.  After a a few seconds of smashing, I pulled the wet ribbon out of the water and moved it into a ziplock baggie, sealed the top, and kneaded and squished the ribbon around inside the baggie to get it nice and wrinkled and full of color.  This went on for about two minutes.




2.) I pulled the ribbon out of the baggie, balled it up one last time real tightly to ensure there was lots of wrinkling going on, and carefully dried it with my heat tool.  Careful, too much heat will melt and/or burn the fabric -- don't ask...





This is a look at the dried, dyed ribbon.  I couldn't capture it in the photo, but because the 3-D Stamp Paint is full of all kinds of awesome glimmer, that glimmer and sparkle transfers to the ribbon!  It's a pretty cool effect!


Finally, I tied a double bow with my newly-dyed purple ribbon using my ribbon-tieing block thing and glued the bow onto the tag on my card.  (I didn't actually loop the ribbon through the tag's hole, I can't get it to hold the bow shape when I do that -- I'm kind of clumsy that way -- so I just fake it by gluing it on.)

 And there you have it....

The Heartfelt Creations products I used for my card today are:
HCDP1 251 Butterfly Medley Paper Collection
HCPC 3474 Heartfelt Expressions Cling Stamp set
Viva 3D Stamp Paint in Violett-Metallic

Thanks so much for visiting today - I am always grateful and appreciate you checking out my blog!!  Please leave a comment if you can, and by all means, be sure to visit the Heartfelt Creations Blog today too, where all the creativity starts!!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Heart Wreath

 
Hi Everyone!

It's my Wednesday Heartfelt Creations post!!  This is a project I've been wanting to try for awhile.  I made a very small, ornament-sized version of this wreath years ago (see this blog post 2009), and I've always wanted to make a larger version of it that would hang on a wall.

I knew almost immediately when I saw the branches and leafy dies from the Birds and Blooms Collection that was released last month, that I had the perfect tools for this project!  Combining the Birds and Blooms Collection and the new Butterfly Medley Collection, I had more than enough great material to work with!!


I started by creating the wreath's "bones" -- you know, the main branch base.  To do that, I basically just misted two light brown cardstock strips with water to make them pliable, then twisted up the strips, kind of tightly, into "ropes".  I set them into a round cardboard lid to get them to take on arch shapes, then heat set them with my heat gun while in the cardboard lid.  Cardstock stays very stiff and sturdy when you dampen it then heat set it for some reason -- works great for projects like this!  .

I glued the ends together and finished shaping them into a single, large circle
 


I added some dark brown ink to the wreath branch to give it a little more realistic look. 

I stamped and die cut tons of branches and leaves from dark brown cardstock and glued them all around the wreath branch with my hot glue gun.

I don't know why I waited to shape the wreath branch into a heart form, but it wasn't until after I had glued on the brown leafy branches that I decided to to go ahead and make it into the heart shape.  (I think part of me was not sure I would actually make this a heart shape.)  I pinched one end of the circle branch and sort of pulled it down, then used some hot glue to hold the "v" in place.  Then I pinched the opposite end and pushed it inward from the top to form the top "v" and used more hot glue to hold that part in place.  That made the heart shape.

Next I proceeded to stamp and die cut some small and large flowers and a few butterflies for the wreath. I glued Prills into the centers of all my flowers prior to gluing them to the wreath (red Prills in the pink blooms and yellow Prills in the purple blooms).  I love Prills - sigh...
At last it was time to glue all the flowers onto the wreath.  I just randomly filled in spaces that looked like they needed color.  I decided my wreath needed some greenery, so I pulled out another set of HC dies and diecut some smaller, green leafy branches with swirls and added those into the mix.
To finish it off, I wrapped some beaded trim around the wreath, inserted some pearl sprays and finally,  added a length of ribbon with a bow on top to hang it with.  

It really was a very basic process, although I admit it did take me about 4 hours!  But nothing required any pattern, or measuring or anything like that.  It just all burst forth -- just lots of fun with paper, stamp and ink - that's what it's all about, right??!! 

The HC products I used to make this wreath:

HCD 750 Cut Mat Create 1B Die
HCD1 756 Birds and Blooms Die
HCD1 757 Leafy Branch Die
HCPC 3645 Leafy Branch Cling Stamp set
HCPC 3644 Birds and Blooms Cling Stamp set
HCPC 3651 Botanical Rose Cling Stamp set
HCPC 3650 Butterfly Medley Cling Stamp Set
HCD 758 Botanical Wings
HCD 759 Butterfly Medley
HCDP1 251 Butterfly Medley Paper Collection
 
My very detailed step-by-step instructions and complete list of materials used to make this wreath are posted on the Heartfelt Creations Blog!

Definitely head over to the Heartfelt Creations Blog today if you want to see some more amazing stuff!!  You'll love the cards, layouts and 3-D projects done by some of the most talented ladies on the web!!  I am in awe and I would love for you to see the fantastic projects they're doing!!

Have a blessed day everyone!!


Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Introducing Butterfly Medley!

Hi Friends!

Who doesn't love butterflies??!  Heartfelt Creations is releasing the "Butterfly Medley" Collection today -- oh my gosh, how do I count the ways??  The stamps and papers are gorgeous!!

"Brighten your world with the sparkling colors and mesmerizing motifs of Peacock Paisley, the exquisite spring release from Heartfelt Creations.  This lush collection sparkles with jewel tones of topaz, sapphire, amber, emerald and turquoise.  The artistic flair of exotic peacocks, intricate paisleys, frilled feathers and delightful daisies will captivate your imagination and energize your creativity.  Six sumptuous sets of intricately designed, deeply etched red rubber stamps are the perfect companions to a vibrant paper collection that is overflowing with card fronts, cut apart pages, vivid artwork, pre-designed layouts and beautifully layered backgrounds.  The Delightful Daisy Die cuts 7 perfect floral layers with one pass through your cutting system.  Whether you want to preserve life's most beautiful moments, create with mixed media techniques or design keepsake cards, you'll be proud as a peacock to present the sophisticated elegance of Peacock Paisley. "

I wanted to highlight the awesome papers and stamps from this collection, but then of course there's the coordinating dies too and so it just became one big butterfly collection celebration party! 

I used three different patterns of paper from the paper collection, two different stamps and their coordinating dies.
 

I stamped and die cut a large and a small butterfly from cardstock.  And then, just because all butterflies must sparkle, I used a paint brush and painted some watered-down glue onto the butterflies and dusted them with a coat of iridescent glitter!



As always, the step by step instructions to make this card can be found on the Heartfelt Creations Blog!  The products I used this week from the collection are:

HCD 758 Botanical Wings Die
HCD 759 Butterfly Medley Die
HCDP1 251 Butterfly Medley Paper Collection
HCPC 3655 Dream in Beauty Cling Stamp set
HCPC 3652 Botanical Wings
HCPC 3650 Butterfly Medley

Be sure to stop by the Heartfelt Creations blog today to see all the amazing projects!!  We're so excited about this new collection, it's really gonna make you fell like Spring is here!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Kokopelli Card


Hi All!

So very EXCITED about the March release of Frantic Stamper dies!!  They are Southwest themed!!  The Southwest is home for me -- born and raised in New Mexico, I love the culture, the land, and the food!! (LOL!!)  

Yesterday I received a package full of wonderful SW themed dies - I love every one of my new dies and almost couldn't get started because I wanted to just use all of them at once!  So I just got on my die cutting machine this morning and went for it!! 

So alas, I present... my Kokopelli Card!!  This card uses the fabulous FRA-DIE-09141 Sunburst Card Panel as the background, the FRA-DIE-09124 Cactus Chorus Line ("love"!!) and my most favorite of all the Kokopelli from the new FRA-DIE-09409 Kokopelli and Zia die set!  How did Fran and Kathy (the die designer) know I coveted the Kokopelli!  Today I am happy!


TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Fluffy Birdies!

 Hi Friends,

Working with the "Birds and Blooms" collection this month has been so much fun!  The images are delightful and I love the detailed stamps and dies that come with it.  It's so easy to get creative with all the different pieces and parts of the collection!!

To make this card, I stamped the image of the three birds on a branch from the "Fluffy Birdies" Cling Stamp set in VersaMark ink and embossed it with gold EP onto background paper from the Paper Collection.  I stamped the leaves from the set the same way.  Next I stamped the three birdies from the "Birds and Blooms" Cling Stamp set onto white cardstock in VersaMark ink and heat embossed them with gold EP too.  I colored those cute guys in with some yellow and gray Copic markers.  I die cut out the leaves and colored birds with the coordinating dies and then used my flower shaping tools to give a little bit of dimension to each of the leaves and birds.  So very easy to do!

Here is a closer look at the birds and leaves after adhering everything in place onto the card.  I added a little tag from the paper collection, some gold colored faux pearls and finished by edging around the tag and the card layers with a gold Krylon Leafing pen. 

As always, this card is posted over on the Heartfelt Creations Blog today.  There's so much more to see and some amazing new projects to spark your creativity!  Click here to head over there and see for yourself!!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!