Tutorial - Stained Glass Background Technique

This was a tutorial I put together for the Feb issue of SNR. This LO is one of my favourites. it was so easy to put together but I just love the finished effect.

This is a simple but very striking background technique. It is also very quick to put together so works well if you're short on time but still want to create something with a little "wow" factor. The entire layout took me less than 2 hours to complete and that includes having to stop to take pictures for the tutorial. Considering I can sometimes spend days on a single layout, this is probably the quickest layout I've ever completed.



There is 2 parts to this tutorial. The first being the background patterned paper you'll create using one of Tim Holtz's techniques and then I'll show you how to put it all together. The stunning corner bouquet comes from my very dear friend Katie's stunning etsy shop which you just have to check out. she makes some of the most incredible flower bouques you'll ever see.



Supplies (please add bullet points)
Cardstock or a lightly colored piece of patterned paper.
Distress ink in 2 or more colours
Blending tool
UTEE powder
Heating tool
Craft iron
Ranger wonder tape
Ranger gloss paper cut to 6x12"
Alcohol ink
Felt pads for alcohol ink application
Scissors
Ruler
marking pen or pencil

PART 1

Step One: Cut 0.5" off the top and one side of your lightly colored cardstock or patterned paper. This is so you can matt you background artwork against a darker or contrasting piece of cardstock at the end of your project.


Step Two: Using your lighter shades of distress ink (I used vintage photo), ink up your piece of paper as shown. Remember to leave some pieces un-inked because you still have your darker shades to add.


Step Three: Crumple your piece of paper into a ball. You want to keep scrunching it up to form as many creases as you would like your finished piece to have.


Step Four: Slowly and carefully un-crumple the piece of paper, being careful not to tear the paper. Don't completed smooth the paper out. Ink up your blending tool with your darker shades of ink (I used walnut stain) and lightly run it over the surface inking up all the raised creases. You can also ink the paper edges at this point. Then, using a mini mister filled with water, lightly mist the entire paper surface.


Step Five: Using your craft iron, iron the entire surface until it is completely flat and dry. Using my heat resistant craft mat, I turned my paper over and ironed on the back side. The colors of your inks will lighten significantly as the paper dries.

PART 2

Step One: Set your background paper aside and collect your piece of 6x12 inch glossy paper, your alcohol inks, blending tool and felt pads. Using as many or as few colors as you like, ink up your glossy paper using a stamping motion, covering the entire surface. I used espresso and gold mixative for my piece. Set this aside while you finish preparing your background paper.


Step Two: Getting back to your background paper, draw out your pattern you want to create as your background with a pencil or light marking pen. I stuck to a simple design.


Step Three: Using your pencil markings as a guide, add some Ranger wonder tape to your background as shown above. Remove the top layer of red plastic film from the tape in preparation for your UTEE powder.


Step Four: Pour your choice of UTEE powder over the wonder tape (I used bronze UTEE), making sure that all the tape has been covered. Dust off any excess powder onto a spare piece of paper and funnel back into it's container.


Step Five: Using your heat gun, heat up the UTEE powder until it begins to melt. If you would like a more distressed finish you can sprinkle additional UTEE over the area as you heat.


Step Six: Now we finally get to the fun part. I suggest you use half of your 6x12" inked glossy paper to cut up various shapes and sizes which you can then randomly place onto your designated areas on your paper. The other half of your glossy paper can be used to custom cut pieces for specific shaped gaps. Think of it as creating your own puzzle where you get to cut the pieces to MAKE them fit. Once you have all your pieces fitting, you can glue them down one piece at a time so you don't misplace them.

You can create any design you like using this technique. If you would like to be more creative and not be limited by straight lines then use an embossing pen to mark your areas in place of the wonder tape. Use as many or as few color combinations for the glossy paper tiles as you like. You can even go so far as to create a picture, like a rose for example, as your background. You can also scale it down and use the technique as a card, tag or ATC background.

Tutorial - Polymer clay leaves

This was a quick tutorial I did that appeared on the New Look front page over at SNR magazine last week.

For those of us who enjoy making our own embellishments, we spend a lot of time and effort attempting to make our leaves look as real and authentic as possible. I have now discovered the perfect solution to this dilemma. Polymer clay is the perfect material to use to manipulate and create very life-like embellishments. Just have a look at how easy it is to make these gorgeous leaves.



Supplies:
Polymer Clay
Leaf die cut
Leaf veiner
Perfect Pearls
Dusting brush


Step One: Gather all your supplies together. Break off a piece of polymer clay and work it between your palms until its soft enough to manipulate. Roll a thin layer out onto your non-stick craft mat.


Step Two: Using a leaf die cutter, cut out as many leaves in the size and shapes you require for your project. Vein your leaves.

Note: I purchased my leaf cutter from my local baking supply store. This particular cutter also has a plunger which you use to vein your leaf. They are usually available in sets of 3 different sizes.


Step Three: Dust the clay leaves with some Ranger Perfect Pearls. I used some Green Patina on these.


Step Four: Pinch and bend your leaves to create a more life-like appearance. Place your clay leaves into a pre-heated oven at 230 degree Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Once your leaves have cooled they are ready to be added to your project.

These will add a lovely classic touch to your scrapbooking and card making projects.

~Little Miss Attitude~

This was the layout I did for the SNR January Colour Inspiration call. These calls are exclusive to the SNR staffers and can be great fun. We are given 3 inspiration pieces and 2 colour palettes to choose from. Once you've made your selection then you have to use these to create a layout or card.

This is the inspiration piece and colour palette I selected. I was not only drawn to the design of the inspiration piece but also to the elements in the piece. I knew I could use my ballerina bloom tutorial to represent the fluffy flower in the bottom left picture. I also had a beautiful Dusty Attic chandelier piece I could use to represent the light fitting in the inspiration piece. I combined the lace and the ruffles of the cake icing to make the ruffled lace at the bottom of the photo.
I decided to use the design of the inspiration piece as my bg design. I used white cardstock which I then inked with various combinations of distress inks. I used aged mahogany, scattered straw, worn lipstick, walnut stain. I placed the photo in the centre of the design to put my own spin on the inspiration piece design as I did not want to duplicate it exactly.

These calls can be great fun and I hope you check back next month for the February piece which is my all time favourite of the ones I've done so far.
If you're a SNR subscriber then check it out in the mag on the 17th when the Feb issue is published.  

~Rock Star~

This layout was done for the SNR monochromatic call. The colour was red obviously, but what makes the SNR monochromatic calls more of a challenge than any other monochromatic challenge I've ever come across is that we were only allowed to use various shades of red, NO NEUTRALS were allowed.
This made everything that much more difficult.

I decided to approached the challenge from a different angle. If I couldn't use colour to add interest to my layout then I'd use various textures instead.
I first painted my red cs with some red acrylic paint which I them sprinkled with some very fine glitter while it was still wet. Once that dried I added a piece of red corrugated board which I framed with red string beads. I used a piece of embossed metal sheeting to frame my photo. I coloured the metal with some raisin alcohol ink (the metal is much redder IRL). I also handcut some metal flowers which were also coloured with some raisin alcohol ink and layered with some painted Prima blooms and red pearls.
To finish off I coloured some rhinestone alphas with alcohol ink for my title lettering.

Even though this is not one of my favourite layouts I've ever done, I was excited to have met the criteria of the challenge and produced an interesting layout if nothing else.

~Madame butterfly~

I used the Swirlydoos January Retro Tapestry kit for this LO. The colours and embellishments in this kit are absolutely exquisite and were the perfect combination to match this picture of my DD. The Stunning large butterfly on this GCD studio pp is absolutely breathtaking. Krissy has an amasing talent for coordinating her kit pp's perfectly. I stuck with the yellow, blue and black colour combination to best show off the blue from my DD's denim jacket. The leaves are Heartfelt Creation stamps inked with forest moss distress ink.

The blue flower here is a white Prima which I misted with some homemade mist I made using faded denim reinker, perfect pearls and water. The colour came out just perfect for the LO. I also painted the lovely Dusty Attic chippie with some butterscotch Creative Inspiration paint. I also added some denim blue CI paint to the petal tips of the tiny blue roses.

I cut almost the entire butterfly out with exception of the body so that I could add some pop dots under the wings to give it some dimension IRL. I finished it off with some stickles which is very striking against the black flocking. 

Jan issue of SNR now available

The Jan issue is now available and check out who made the front page.....yip, that's my LO!!!!! How cool is that!! And it's in my birthday month... Jan 2011 will definitely be a month to remember.
Beside the brilliant choice of cover pic...LOL!!, This issue is filled with some of the most amazing artwork as well as some fantastic tutorials. There are some brilliant articles too and the mixed media section is truly incredible. Do yourself a favour and check it out HERE

~ Christmas Cheer~

This is the LO I did for the December issue of SNR's color inspiration. Wow was that a challenge for me. First off, my mojo was nowhere to be seen. I think it paniced and ran away when I got the news that I had been asked to join the staff at SNR...LOL! Anyways, I had made a commitment to do a piece so I was determined to get the job done, mojo or not!!!

The task set before us was to select one inspiration piece and 1 colour palett and create a LO using those as your guide. My inspration piece was this lovely vintage picture

And my colour palette was

I loved the negative space aspect of the picture and immediately had the idea of replacing the butterflies with some Christmas baubles.  These I first painted with some Shimmerz paint then embossed with some clear UTEE and added some stickles to the edges and had them hanging down the papper from some silver ribbon.

I also wanted my picture to look like Christmas decor so I cut a round frame from some gold cardstock and added some handmade poinsettias I made using my good friend Amarilys pointsettia tutorial. These are super easy to make and the best part is that you can colour coordinate your flowers to your LO.

~ Santa's Helpers ~

This is a LO I did for a call over at SNR. I had just started as a staffer there and the deadline for calls was a few days away  and my mojo had left the buliding!!! Needless to say,  I paniced a little....LOL! I had started working on this Christmas LO about 18 months ago but wasn't happy with it so it was packed away in my cupboard gathering dust. Because of the time restrainst, I decided I would see if I could bring it back to life. The original had petaloo poinsettias's on which I wasn't so crazy about since I've recently developed a passion to making my own embellishments so I whipped those off the page and replaced them with these great handmade ones I made using the very talented and my good friend Amarilys Poinsettia tutorial

I added a little water distressing to the corners, threw in some bling and we were good to go. It's still not a favourite LO of mine but i was happy enough with it to submit it. I can promise you one thing though, next year's Christmas layouts are going to be a hell of a lot better....LOL!

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT - SNR STAFFER CALL

As a current staff member over at SNR , I'm super excited to announce that SNR have now posted their first ever staffer call. You can find the details for the call HERE. SNR will be accepting applications from January 14th, 2011 until February 4th, 2011.

I have only been on the staff at SNR for a few months but have already developed close friendships with the other staffers. It's a wonderful team to be a part of and I have learnt so many new things. I have tried techniques I never thought I could do and have learnt the freedom of playing with new products and techniques. Thanks to SNR I personally think I have become a better scrapping artist.

Good luck to all of you who send in applications.

BTW, there's still a few days left before the deadline for the February public calls if you would like the chance to have some of your work published. Here's where to go for more details.

Tutorial - Metal Flower

I came up with the idea for these while I was putting together my Secret Santa package for a COF I belong to over at sb.com. I wanted to create some unique homemade embellies and had just received my starter kit package from Ten Seconds Studio and was just itching to play. These are very simple and can be made using any petal shapes and sizes to obtain the finished look you want. They're also very versatile for both feminine and masculine LO's. Hey, if you're gonna put a flower on a masculine LO, why not make it a metal one!!

What you need

* Metal sheets in the colour of your choice
* Scissors - If you have a floral die cutter that can cut through metal then you can use that instead of hand cutting
* Embossing folder & Cuttlebug
* Embossing ink
* UTEE in colour of your choice
* Heating tool (not in picture)
* Non Stick craft mat

Ok, lets get started

Use your floral die cutter (if you have) or hand cut 2 large and 1 medium set of petals. I only realised at the very last step that I needed an additional large flower which is why I only have 1 large and 1 medium flower in the picture (brain cells are still on vacation...sorry).

TIP: I copied an image of a stamp onto a word document and then printed it out in several sizes to use as a template for my flower (templates used in above image)

Emboss all 3 flowers using your embossing folder and cuttlebug. You can then sand down the raised images on your embossed petals for a distress look or leave them untouched.

Add clear embossing ink to the tips of each petal on all 3 flowers. Cover with UTEE, shake off any excess UTEE and heat with your heating tool until UTEE has completed melted. For my flower I used platinum (Don't you just love that colour!!)

After you've embossed the tips of each petal with UTEE  allow flowers to cool. Using a rounded item like the handle of a paint brush, round each petal as shown above.

Starting with the large flowers at the bottom stack your flower with the petals alternating as shown above. Add any flower center you like to finish off your flower.

How easy was that!!!

Enjoy.