Day of the Dead Card

Hello there!  I have another Halloween card today for you.  Although if you look out my window today, it looks more like Christmas.  It started snowing Friday night and it has not stopped....not happy.  As I look at my daughter's Instagram photos of her laying on a beach in Miami, I'm really wondering, what am I doing here?  Hopefully it disappears soon, but something tells me it might be here to stay.  Ugh! Anyways, back to Halloween.

Love the new Day of the Dead stamps by Tim Holtz (CMS277) and I thought the smaller image would fit perfect in the new Sizzix Tim Holtz Ornate Frame.

The Ornate Frame #2 Bigz die is a steel-rule die, which means beside being thicker, it not only cuts out cardstock, but cuts out thicker materials.  Chipboard, fabric, foam, magnet sheets, leather, foil,  or plastic sheets.  I chose chipboard for my frame, as I wanted to cover it with different mediums.  All you need are your two cutting pads and your material on top of the die in-between those.

After die-cutting my frame, I covered it with Tim Holtz Distress Grit-Paste.  Let this dry.

Once your Grit-Paste has dried, paint it with your chosen colours.  I used Distress Wilted Violet and a touch of Black Soot paint to darken some areas.  After my painted frame was dry, I sprayed some of Dylusions Crushed Grape and Distress Antiqued Bronze Mica sprays.  

These Mica Sprays when dry, give a beautiful glimmer of mica to your projects.  I say, when dry, as the mica doesn't show up as much until your item that has been sprayed, has dried.  Each designer from Ranger Ink has their own set of three mica sprays.  They are all yummy!

I stamped my image on a piece of lightly patterned vintage looking paper will archival ink.  I then coloured in my image with Zig Clean Colour Markers.  I think, because this stamp is very detailed, I wouldn't be as heavy on the stamping.  I feel I lost some of the fine details with too much ink.  Trim the stamped paper and adhere to the back of your frame. 

For my black mat that's behind the frame, I took black cardstock (we have this beautiful matte finish black at the store) and embossed it with Sizzix's Tim Holtz Damask Texture Fades Folder.  To finish off the edges, I used Prima's Dresden Trim, which is embossed paper, cut, and covered in a layer of metallic foil.  This foil can be coloured, which I did with Black Soot paint and Prima Art Alchemy Dark Velvet Metallique paint.  I just used my fingertip and applied the paint on the embossed raised areas. I cut the strips to fit my mat and then they were adhered around the edges.

For my little Oct. 31 label, I die-cut the word from Sizzix's Tim Holtz Halloween Thin Words Thinlits set from red matte metallic cardstock, then matted on black.  My Sizzix Sandwich for die-cutting in my Big Shot was:  Magnetic Platform, Standard Cutting Pad, paper, Thinlits die (cutting side facing down) Standard Cutting Pad. The ends of my labels were hand-cut.

I finished off the inside with a mat Damask die-cut using Sizzix's Tim Holtz Mixed Media Halloween Thinlits die.  The red metallic paper was adhered behind it.  Happy Halloween was die-cut from the Tim Holtz Thin Halloween Words set also.  These letters are really tiny and thin, so adhering to your page is a little tricky to get them straight.  I apply piece of an adhesive sheet to the back of my paper before die-cutting.  Once die-cut, remove the negative piece of paper, the letters usually stay inside.  Then you can place the metal die on your paper and push through the little holes to eject your letters.

To finish off my card, I adhered a bow and skeleton charm (Tim Holtz) to the bottom corner.  The polka dot cardstock I used is from Echo Park.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Jan

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

4

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

7

LAYOUTS, LAYOUTS, AND MORE LAYOUTS!

Hello everyone! It's been awhile since I've shared some layouts here. This is a rather long post, I have more to share than I thought!  I am loving the collections from Blue Fern Studios.  The quality of their paper is amazing and the colours are so nice.  The papers used with this layout are from their Deja' Vu collection.

The Floral Medley chipboard frame is also from Blue Fern and I just used Stampendous Chunky White and Shabby White embossing enamel to cover it.  To get a thicker coat, I apply it a couple of times.  The teacup is a Sizzix Tim Holtz die (660234) and the Wave (lattice looking) die is 660027.  I used the Tattered Lace Sun Gem bird die(d741) which I also embossed, this time with Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powders.  This bird die is beautiful, it comes in three parts so you can choose if you want the long tail feathers and extra wing part.  My flowers are from Petaloo, their velvet collection.  As I'm looking at this layout, I forgot that I tried something different with my Tim Holtz block Friendship Word die (660213), the word "moments".  I hopefully can remember what it was!  I used one of his Embossing Diffusers and placed it so the top half of my word wouldn't cut out on the patterned paper.  I then cut out the word on the dark purple shimmer cardstock and used the piece with the negative space.  I then placed the light purple die-cut piece into the negative space and trimmed the edges.  Hopefully that made sense to you!  A few hand cut paper pieces finished off my layout.
This photo is of my grandmother when she was a young mother, not sure who took it, my grandfather maybe?  I love this photo, I wonder what she was thinking or if she was aware her photo was being taken.

Want to see more layouts?  I haven't shared my Urban Scrapbook Monthly Challenge layouts for awhile, longer than I thought!

This one was from my March kit, featuring Authentique's collection, Classique Beauty.  Loved this yellow and dark grey combination.  There was a Sizzix Tim Holtz bee die-cut in the kit which I embossed with Wendy Vecchi's Buttercup embossing powder.  I put some Prima Micro Beads on it while still hot and then reheat it again.  I also used Tim Holtz Scribbles & Splats (660222) Thinlits die (also embossed and micro beads), Handwritten Thinlits die (the word, Beautiful) and the Limitations Framelits die w/stamp (660189) butterfly set.  I stamped the butterfly with Ranger's Glacier White Pigment ink on vellum, embossed it with clear embossing powder, then coloured with Tim Holtz Distress Markers.  My cup rings and splatters (THS009 Splatters stencil) was also embossed with the Wendy Vecchi Buttercup powder.  The rhinestone flourish was painted with yellow paint.

This layout is of my daughter; loved this instagram selfie she took.

This is my future daughter-in-law.  Hint, hint, son of mine!!  This was my April kit, featuring Kaisercraft's "All That Glitters" collection.  I machine stitched different shapes on my background paper, before I applied gesso, then different mediums.  I think I used gelatos and Distress sprays here.
The doily is a Tim Holtz (660244) embossing folder which, after embossing I cut out and applied IndigoBlu Megaflakes (gilding flakes), sorry not sure which colour. I also used the Tim Holtz (659573) Spring Greenery Decorative Strip die with my Prima and hand cut flowers.

Here's my other daughter, my sweet little Roxy.  No, I did not torture the poor thing, dressing her up.  I haven't done it in awhile, but she loves dressing up.  One time she went into the closet and found her Halloween spider costume that was in a box, and brought it to me.  She whined until I put it on her and she pranced around the house for the longest time.  Did I mention, she doesn't think she's a dog.  This was her in a fairy costume, perfect for May's kit, which was full of Prima's Butterfly collection.
I used Prima's Clear Texture Paste that was lightly tinted with mica powder and a coffee ring stencil (THS009 Splatters).  While the paste was still wet, I applied Prima sequins, Prills, and Prima Mica flakes.   Embossing powder (Lindy's Stamp Gang) and sequins were applied to the ends of the feathers (part of the Prima embellishment Pack).  My flowers were die-cut from the Tim Holtz Decorative Tattered Flower Garland die(657824) and patterned paper.  My "fairy time" word was die-cut using Tim Holtz Handwritten Thinlits dies (Journey 660217 and Love 660218).  These words were created by cutting apart word dies that had those letters, and making my own words.

My last layout I'm sharing is from Urban's June kit:

This one was the chosen layout for the June kit and sold with full instructions.  Sorry, you had to buy the kit to get them!!  Marion Smith had some amazing collections this spring, and this "Timekeeper" one was one of my favourites.  The lightbulbs and rings are chipboard pieces from Blue Fern Studios which were embossed with Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powders.  I used Tim Holtz's Mixed Media  Thinlits die 660220 for the pieces with holes and his Core'dinations Metallic Kraft Cardstock.  I also embossed some metallic papers with his Globes (660241) texture fade folder and embossed the edge.

If you have a chance, check out the rest of Urban Scrapbook's Design team monthly layouts, they are a very talented group of ladies!  All of our layouts are also on Urban's Pinterest board too.

I really was behind in sharing, wasn't I? It's that two week holiday I took, that put me so far behind.  It's always great to get away, but then there always seems to be so much to do when you get back. Lots of things going on at the end of the month and next month for me, so I better catch up!

Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting!

Jan

2

Card in a Box Tutorial

Hello everyone!  Hope all of you had a great weekend.  It's been really hot here this last week, I'm trying not to complain; I just have to think back to those -30c winter days!  

Today I'm sharing a card made from a Sizzix Bigz XL Die, called Card in a Box (660296).  You may have seen different variations of this type of card, but this die cuts and creases everything for you.

I used Prima's new paper collection called, "Debutante" for my card.

First I die cut my main box from patterned paper.  My Sizzix Sandwich for this was; Extended Cutting Pad, Bigz XL die, paper, and another Extended Cutting Pad.  I then die cut out four of the single mat sections in a different paper.

Once these were all die cut, I inked the edges with Tim Holtz Victorian Velvet and Forest Moss Distress ink.

 I then adhered the mats to the four sides of the card box.  The mats will be on the inside of your card.

After this was done, I adhered the ends of the card box together.  I then die-cut three of these tabs from the Bigz XL die and inked the edges.

These tabs are then adhered to the inside of the card box.  Each end of the tab is bent on the crease line and will face the back of the card.  Your card base is finished, and ready to embellish.

There are pinwheels and a cloud that can be die cut from this die, but I those to stay with the romanic look of the paper.  I hand cut two paper dresses from patterned paper.  Using a stylus, I gently shaped the edges of my cutouts.  Ink the edges.

For my extra bits and pieces, I die cut small flowers using Sizzix Tim Holtz Tiny Tattered Florals Thinlits set, a banner and sprig from Sizzix 660256 Brenda Walton Floral Wreath Thinlits set,  a postage stamp from Tim Holtz 660060 Labels Thinlits Set and the word Hello from Tim Holtz Handwritten Celebrate 660215 Thinlits Set.  These are all thin intricate dies so my Sizzix Sandwich when die cutting these was: Magnetic Platform, Standard Cutting Pad, paper, Thinlit die(cutting side down) and another Standard Cutting Pad.  Run this through your Big Shot Machine.  After my pieces were assembled, I inked the edges also.

I also added in some ribbon around the outside of the box.  This piece and the sparkly cluster are from A Gilded Life (for Spellbinders).  I adhered my small postage stamp die cut under the ribbon.  The card folds flat for placing in an envelope.

I  adhered all my bits and pieces, along with some hand cut flowers and shapes from my paper.  These are attached to the inside tabs.  While you are adhering, just make sure that the card can still fold flat.  Mine has a few lumpy parts as the flowers are a bit thick.  I chose the smallest flowers when die cutting so it wouldn't be too thick.

There you have the finished card!  These are fast to put together, and slightly addicting!

Thanks for visiting me here on my blog and have a great week!

Jan

5

A Tag Full of Gears

 I haven't had a chance to use these new Sizzix Gear dies by Prima, so what better way to try out new dies than making a tag.

For my tag, I used papers from We R Memory Keeper's collection, Indian Summer.  Love this leather looking paper!

The four gear Prima die set is a Sizzix Bigz Die called Love Gears which can cut out heavier materials such as chipboard, plastic and felt.  The other Prima gear collection is a thinlit die set called Rondeaux which cuts out paper, cardstock and thin acrylic. I also used this Sizzix Zippy Zipper Die on my tag.

The zipper was cut out in copper adhesive sheets from Vintaj and also brown paper.  The metal die-cut was used for the zipper teeth and head.  After I had assembled the zipper, I glued it to my brown leather paper which had been cut out in the middle, where the zipper opens.  I  machine stitched down the two sides of the zipper and also around the edge of the tag.  Next I embossed the two sides with an embossing folder from Sizzix called, Floral &Vines.  This folder has embossing just in the corner, which I really like sometimes, as you can add just a small touch of embossing to a tag, or label.  I lightly sanded the embossed areas and edges, then applied adhesive all around the outer edge.  I then adhered this to my turquoise tag base.

I cut out some of the gears(from the bigz die) in chipboard, then embossed with Ranger's Verdigris embossing powder and then embossed again in a few areas, with Ranger's Antiquities Rust powder.  The other gears were die-cut from the Prima thinlit dies using patterned paper from the Indian Summer collection.  I cut out two for each gear and glued them together, so they were sturdier.  I adhered them to my tag as in the photo, added my ribbon, and pin with small gears.  My tag was complete!

I love gears, and these ones are a little different with the heart cut-outs.  I've also saved all those cute little hearts, they will be good for future projects.

Hope you are having a great weekend,

thanks for stopping by!

Jan

1

Sizzix Prima Card Inspiration

Time for some Sizzix inspiration!  Hope you join me on the Sizzix blog where I will be sharing this card:

Thanks for stopping by,

Jan

2

June's Monthly Layout Kit

Hi everyone, just sharing my June layout from Urban Scrapbook's monthly layout challenge.  This month our challenge was to scrapbook about fathers.  Here's mine:

This is my husband and younger son golfing at Jasper Park lodge golf course.  My husband loves golfing, and he is thrilled our son shares the same love for it.  When on holidays, they always tried to fit in a game or two and this course was so beautiful, even I tagged along to be their golf cart driver and photographer!

The papers in our kit are from Graphic 45's Good Ol' Sport Collection.  I started off with inking, using my Tim Holtz Speckles and Splatters stencils on my background paper.  Then, using Wendy Vecchi Transparent Embossing Paste that was tinted with Dylusions Ground Coffee and Chopped Pesto sprays, I applied that on my paper with the Tim Holtz Chevron and Arrows stencils.

The large wood ATC card in the center is from Prima.  Using my Tim Holtz Crocodile stencil, I first sprayed Dylusions Ground Coffee on it and then applied embossing ink with the Ranger Embossing Dabber, before applying embossing powders from Stampendous.  There is adhesive backed cork in the kit, and I die-cut my Sizzix Tarnished Trophy from that and the word, Golf.  The trophy was also sprayed with Dylusions Ground Coffee.  I painted my Tim Holtz framed alpha parts.  The small letters were die-cut from Sizzix's Tim Holtz Typeset die.  The pocket watch is also from Prima.
Everything is included in the kit except my stencils, dies, embossing paste, inks, paint and sprays that I used.  They are for sale in Urban Scrapbook until sold out (which is usually pretty fast!).

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are having a great weekend!

Jan

0

Prima Frame Shadowbox

We just received these Prima Metal Frames at Urban Scrapbook last week, and I could hardly wait to alter one!

So, with some new Prima Stationer's Desk papers, flowers and Sizzix dies this is what I created.

I love the distressed colour of the frame, so I didn't want to completely cover it on the inside. I started off die-cutting two chipboard pieces with Sizzix's Tim Holtz Trellis Frameworks die. Next with my patterned paper, I wanted it the double width for my frame so I folded my paper in half.  When I placed it on my die, I placed the folded edge of paper just before the cutting edge so it wouldn't cut out.  I then glued my chipboard to the back of the paper, clipping a bit off of the chipboard edge so the paper would fit.  I die-cut my matchbook box from patterned paper, inserting the mini heart in the movers and shapers matchbook die before I cut it out.  I inked the edges before gluing together.

After sanding and inking the edges of my Trellis, I randomly applied Stampendous Aged Silver Embossing powder.  I then took a Stationer's Desk small journaling card and embossed it with a Vintaj Moroccan Fresco Embossing folder.  I inked it on the raised areas and edges.  Before adding these pieces, I cut a strip of paper the width of the inside edge, inked it and adhered it all around the inside of the frame.  I adhered the embossed card first to the back of the frame, and then pop-dotted the Trellis next.

Once my back two pieces were in place, I was ready to finish it off.  I stamped on two other journalling cards, (Prima's Stationer's Stamp), inked the edges and adhered to my Trellis.  The ruler was also a stamped image cut out.  I then glued a small metal heart to the inside of my Matchbook box and adhered that on top of the papers.  I then added in a mixture of Prima flowers and Sizzix die-cut Tattered Bigz flowers, Tattered Decorative Strip Flowers and Spring Greenery.

To finish off the inside, I painted and embossed a Prima Resin Butterfly, and adhered that to the corner of the matchbox with pop dots. 

I tied some stained seam binding to the top of my frame and I was finished.  Instead of the journalling cards, you could tuck in a small photo there.  Love making these small shadowboxes, there's one that's shaped like a vintage television that I really like too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jan

7

Urban's November Layout

Hi everyone,  it's that time again for Urban Scrapbook's monthly Design Team Challenge.

This month our kits included paper and embellishments from Echo Park's line called, "Reflections" designed by Lori Whitlock.  Love this collection, and they have added a Christmas line by Lori this year too.

I had a bit of fun playing with my Lindy's sprays and embossing powders and also Viva's Ferro Metallic paste on the background.

  

I used my Sizzix Christmas Cardinal Die for the bird, I just cut off the pointed part of his head.  It was cut from the burgundy cardstock and embossed with Lindy's Midnight Copper Obsidian embossing powder and while still hot, a rubber stamp pressed into the bird's body.  I highlighted a few areas with Viva Gold Copper paste. Some hand-cut leaves and dragonfly from patterned paper, my stamped and embossed wood circle, wood altered frames, a altered embossed burlap flower, and buttons were added.  The stencils I used were from Prima and Tim Holtz.

My husband and I were in Vancouver this summer and decided to spend the day at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.  I am a little afraid of heights but I decided to conquer my fear!  I didn't do too bad, even walked across the cliff walk!  The frame in my photo is actually a giant frame that everyone posed behind for photos.  I remember going there once as a kid and being terrified, so I'm glad I went again.  I would highly recommend it if you are ever in Vancouver!

The layouts are on display at the store and up on Urban's blog, make sure you check out our talented team of designers!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jan

1

Urban Scrapbook's Monthly Layout

This year, despite our horrible weather, seems to be flying by.  I am posting my Urban Scrapbook Monthly Challenge layout today, but realized that I haven't shown my March one!
I'm starting off with my layout from April's kit, which is available for purchase at the store:

In this kit, the papers, metallic flowers, buttons, and clothespins are from Prima's Engraver collection.  There's also some American Craft letters, ribbon, and wood embellishments.  I think I'm addicted to Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel!  I used the Black color for my wood ring border and the edge of my paper circle.  These embossing enamels have flecks of gold in with the color and they are quite chunky.  The store has all the colors now, so I think I need a few more!  Sorry, I didn't take a close-up photo of the embossing to show how cool it looks.
My paper flowers were cut out with Sizzix's Tattered flower Decorative Strip and Sizzix's Flower with Heart Petals.  The black die-cut with circles was cut out with Crafter's Workshop Circle template.
My layout this month is about my oldest son who was born the day after my birthday.  He wasn't supposed to arrive for another two weeks, I guess he couldn't wait!

Here is my layout for the March Monthly kit:

 Love the papers in this kit!  They were all from Authentique's "Renew" collection. There were also some Prima Flowers, metal flowers, wood Maya Road birds, burlap ribbon, and corrugated letters (cut out from Sizzix's "Word Play" Alphabet Bigz die.  The window, shutters, flower sprigs and circles with swirls are all cut out with Memory Box dies.  My wood birds were embossed with Ranger's Antiquities Verdigris embossing powder, and while hot, a rubber stamp pressed into the melted powder.  I then lightly applied white paint to the edges and raised areas.  This kit was really popular, it sold out the first week!  On Urban's website, there is a gallery where you can find all the design team's monthly layouts. There is lots of inspiration and gorgeous layouts to look at!

I've been a little distracted this past month.  Some of you that know me, know that our daughter is on a television show that started airing in March, called "Fashion Star".  It is a reality show for Fashion Designers, and every week one is eliminated.  Tomorrow night is week 5 and Cassandra is still in it!  Every week the designers are asked to design two outfits, and there are three "buyers"; Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Express, who bid on the clothes if they like them.  If a designer doesn't get a sale, then they are up for elimination.  After the show airs, the clothes are for sale online from the store that bid on them.  It's been pretty exciting for our family and everyone gathers at our house Friday nights for the show!  And then after the show is over, we watch it again! lol!  Let's hope she makes it through again tomorrow night!

Have a great weekend,

Jan

1