CELEBRATE - SIZZIX LAYOUT TUTORIAL

Hello everyone, thanks for stopping by!  I have a short layout tutorial here today showing some of my favourite Sizzix dies.  I love using simple shapes in the Bigz dies, as these can be used with many different types of materials and textures.

This layout is of my mom's 80th birthday party, which was 10 years ago.  I think she's the only one that  looks the same today!  Unfortunately my dad passed away last year, so this photo brings back happy memories.

My paper is from Blue Fern Studios,  called Shannon's Dream, which is from the Ombre Dreams Collection.  It already has a nice faded mixed media type pattern on it which is great for a background paper.  I used the Tim Holtz Doily(THS018) stencil with Wendy Vecchi's embossing paste.  After applying my paste on the stencil, I then spritzed a bit of Worn Lipstick Distress Spray before removing the stencil.  I randomly applied it in different areas, not using the entire stencil area.  I sprinkled a bit of Wendy Vecchi Pink Peony and Tea Rose Embossing powder in a few areas of the wet paste.  Lightly tap the extra powder off and let this dry naturally (without a heat gun).  Once your paste has dried, use the heat gun to melt your embossing powder. I also added in a bit of soft colour around the stencilled areas using Faber Castell Gelatos.

Hearts can be used on anything and are such a great embellishment, so this Sizzix Heartfelt Bigz die by Tim Holtz (660233) is a great die to have, especially with so many sizes on one die.   I've die-cut an assortment out of Sizzix's Little Sizzles Mat Board which is very lightweight.  For those of you who have a hard time finding good chipboard for die-cutting, this comes in 6 x 12 sheets and is especially good for those 3-D dies, it does not split on those crease or fold lines.  Your Sizzix Sandwich is Cutting Pad, Bigz Die, chipboard, Cutting Pad.  I applied different textures to my hearts with embossing folders and just pressing rubber stamps into melted embossing powder that was still hot.  The Sizzix embossing folders used were Tim Holtz Tiles and Diamonds.  These were inked then the raised areas, embossed with Wendy Vecchi embossing powder.  The other hearts were inked with Wendy Vecchi archival ink, then embossing powder.  You have to work fast, but once the powder is melted, quickly press a rubber stamp into it.  I like to lightly coat the stamp with clear embossing ink, just so it releases fast.  I do not do this with acrylic stamps, I've read that this can melt the acrylic.  I usually use tweezers to hold the edge of my piece to avoid burning of fingers!

I love all the new word and letter thinlits dies by Tim Holtz.  He has different word series, that come in either Block, Script, or Handwritten words.  These block words are easy to use and are great for titles.  This one is called, "Celebration-Block" and has some great words  that are perfect for cards.  I just cut some strips of paper (this ombre one is from Webster's Pages) and die-cut my words.  The Sizzix sandwich used here for my Thinlits was Magnetic Platform(656499), Precision Plate(660320), paper, Thinlits, Cutting Pad.  The Precision Plate is a metal base that is used instead of a cutting pad(its the same thickness), and is awesome!  There's no give when cutting into the metal, giving you nice crisp cuts with the intricate wafer thins dies.  I adhered a different colour of paper behind the cut-out piece and adhered the little inner letter parts (the b, r and a).

Once I had my word strips, I round the corners with a punch and inked the edges.  I die-cut the "happy" and the "th" (I just die-cut the th from the word thinking) from the Thinlits set, Celebration-Script.  These both were embossed with Wendy Vecchi's embossing powder.  I love the shiny finish on this embossing powder, once it's melted.  The "80" was die cut from Sizzix's Tim Holtz Alphanumeric (1") Thinlits set.

Once I had my embellishments finished, I adhered them all to my layout.  The small journaling card was cut out from a Blue Fern Ombre Dreams paper.

Once again, here's my finished layout.
Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and thanks again for stopping by!

Jan