Butterfly Card

Hope you join me over at the Sizzix blog today, I have a tutorial on this card:

See you there!

Jan

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Rust, Rust, and more Rust!

I don't know why, but I love rust!  The colours, patterns, something about it just speaks to me.  So when, Finnabair came out with her new Rust Effect Paste set, I was anxious to try it out. 

I've had this Blue Fern Studios Grunge Frame Chipboard piece (it measures 11" sq) for a long time, and I've been meaning to use it. I'm so glad I saved it, because it is perfect for this paste set.  Since it's raw chipboard, I first applied black gesso on the surface to prepare it.  This gives it a nice base when applying any kind of media.  I wanted the black, in case I left any spots open when applying my paste.   

Rust Effects Paste set is three different colours of paste; brown, orange and yellow.  I applied the brown first, let dry and then applied lightly, the orange.  I didn't want to completely cover the brown, just highlight areas.  After this dried, I did the same for the yellow.  I went back and applied some brown and orange over certain areas to tone down the yellow.  It's as easy as that!  

I had adhered a piece of Prima Vintage Emporium paper to a piece of chipboard, as I wasn't sure how heavy this large frame would be once attached.  Before attaching anything, I used the new Tim Holtz Gears Stencil with texture paste in the top right corner.  After this had dried, I applied Tim Holtz Vintage Collage Medium (that's what gave it that brown vintage look) and the Tim Holtz Crazing Medium (gives it a subtle crackle/crazing finish).

Once my frame had dried, I attached some Finnabair Rusty Gears and Tin Heart Mechanicals.  The brads (Hex Paper Fasteners) are from Tim Holtz.  

These mixed media bits actually were done before attaching to my layout.  I used my non-stick craft mat and directly applied gel medium, spreading it like the photo above. These are called skins, and can be removed from the craft sheet, once they have dried.  The thinner they are, the more difficult to remove in one piece, and the thicker they are, the longer they take to dry. I had been playing around with this a 4 or 5 days before and had just left to dry, so I'm not sure how long they actually took.  While wet,  I added in my different mediums to colour (paints, sprays) and also Finnabair's new Art Stones.  These are light white small stones that can take any medium and are perfect for adding in texture. Don't they look cool when altered? The gold is Ranger's new Wendy Vecchi Buttercup Mica Spray.  I was really surprised at how beautiful and vibrant this colour was, could be a new favourite!  These mica sprays come in sets of three and there's a set from each Ranger Signature Designer (Tim Holtz, Dina Wakley, Dylusions, and Wendi Vecchi). I can't wait to try the others.

It's so fun and versatile, playing around with these skins on a craft sheet, instead of directly on your paper.  If you don't like what you've done or want to change them, you haven't ruined your paper!  It's fun just to experiment with different mediums, they can even be saved on plastic for future projects. They can be cut out, or even stamped on, once they have dried.  Once they were adhered, I added a bit of sprays, rust texture to make them look like they were applied directly on the paper.  The honeycomb die-cut paper was from Sizzix's Tim Holtz Mixed Media Thinlits die.

I can't wait to apply this Rust Effects on other embellishments!  Thanks for stopping by,

Jan

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Happy Spring Card

Hello everyone!  With our mild winter weather here, it feels like spring is almost here.  I think it's about time to start making those spring and easter cards, don't you?  

Pink Fresh has a fun and whimsical collection, called Felicity.  With a couple of dies, paper and embellishments, this card was easy to put together.

Sizzix makes some great Framelits Shaped sets, and this Bubbly set works well with cards.  I added in some flowers die-cut from the Thinlits set, Secret Garden 660694, using white smooth cardstock, and printed Pink Fresh vellum.

After die-cutting the patterned paper with my Bubbly Framelits, I adhered this to a piece of cardstock cut slightly larger.  Using small fine tip scissors, I hand cut the cardstock, following the shape, just slightly larger than the die-cut. To decorate the white die-cut flowers, I just used a black marker and doodled on them.  The vellum flower pieces were layered and topped with Pink Fresh Puffy Sticker embellishments.  The embellished die-cut shape was pop-dotted on a matted piece of patterned paper, then the patterned card base.

The centers of the flowers were highlighted with a dot of Ranger's Liquid Pearls.  While assembling my card, I added in some puffy stickers from Pink Fresh.

Hope I've inspired you to create your own spring cards!

March is National Craft Month and Sizzix wanted to do something fun with everyone.  Every day, starting March 1st, they have a different  theme/idea for you to post a photo on Instagram.   Make sure you tag your post with #sizzixCM so we can all see your photos!

Happy crafting!

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