Customize The Ribbons

Hello! Today I am sharing the second tip for CraftyKickStart16, and this one highlights how you can customize organza ribbons to match your projects.

All you need is:
- A Stamp
- Some Organza Ribbon
- Archival Ink (or any other permanent ink)

Start by inking your stamp well, and planning how you'd like the design to appear on the ribbon. I am using a 0.5" ribbon, and my stamp is around 2" in diameter, so to get most of the design on my ribbon, I will be aligning the edge of the stamp, to that of the ribbon (as shown below).

Aligning one side

Notice that I have placed my ribbon on a piece of scrap; doing so keeps the ink off your mat. Now, I will continue stamping by aligning the opposite ends.

Aligning the opposite side

You can continue stamping till you have covered the required length of the ribbon. When stamping, please bear in mind that since this is organza, the stamped image will not be as bright as, the one stamped on paper.

The result!

Once done, leave it to dry. This technique not only customizes the ribbon, but adds a lot of interest/life to the otherwise plain organza ribbon.

Sharing some pictures of projects where I have used this technique.

Stamped the organza and the tag with the same stamp here; see how well they match

This stamped a bit light, simply because of the design

But here you can see how clean the stamped image is.

So, I hope this inspires you enough to try it out for yourself!
PS: you can find the organza ribbon at a local craft store/ stationary shop; while the stamps and inks are available at Artful Crafting. 

Don't forget to visit The Creative Element, for some more inspiration, tomorrow.

Happy Crafting!

More From A Punch

Hello Everybody!
Day 4 of Crafty January, and its my turn to share! Incase you are wondering why January 2016 is "Crafty", you should hop over to Crafty Kick Start 2016 for some enlightenment.

[and by the way, if you didn't know about it, then you've already missed 3 awesome DT posts]

I am focusing on paper punches today, as most of us own them, and hardly ever experiment with them. You can get a lot more than one design from your punch. In the below video, I demonstrate how you can use an edge punch, to create a design in the center of your paper / cardstock.




Now coming to the simple round paper punches. In the below video, I show you how to round the edges of a die-cut, using a round paper punch.



I hope these techniques help you in your projects!

Happy #craftykickstart16

xoxo 

Altered Stars

Hello beautiful people!
Hoping all of you are keeping well, and enjoying the amazing weather! Karachi rarely experiences "winters", so I am delightedly that we are finally getting our share of the cold winds. Enough about the weather, now about crafts.

Today Artful Crafting's Challenge 9 goes live, and our theme is "Altering". Me thinks, this is one of our best themes so far, simply because we all have something or the other stored away, with the intention of altering at some point in time. Well lovelies, this is your chance to get started on all those boxes, bottles, mason jars, and what not, that you have been holding on to since forever.

I altered two star shaped, Darice paper mache, boxes which were part of my kit.

My December Kit from Artful Crafting

Before I move on to my project, I have to say that this Kraftastic Glittered Cardstock (By Ruby Rock It) is absolutely gorgeous, and unfortunately the pictures fail to capture their beauty. If you like glitter, these are a must have; highly recommended by me.

The Altered Boxes

I started by first collecting some coordinating cardstock, which I could use to highlight the Kraftastic cardstock. Highlighting was required, to keep the box and cardstock from blending in completely (This was my personal preference, you don't need to do it).

White was used with the Pink Starry Night and dark blue with the Blue Polka Dot. For the side I cut out a 1.75" wide strip of plain cardstock, and another strip of the Glittered cardstock. The glittered strip was about 1/8th inch narrower than the plain cardstock one. After inking both the strips, I adhered the base strip followed by the glittered cardstock.

A picture of the adhered base cardstock

For the top, I just traced the lid out on the glittered Pink Polka Dot, and cut it out by hand. For the blue one, I traced it out on plain dark blue cardstock, and cut it out by hand. It was then adhered, and embellished.

Close Up of the pink box

For the pink box, I painted the square Prima Antique Resin frame, with "hot pink" acrylic paint and left it to dry. Once dry, the details were highlighted with Platinum stickles. Next I fussy cut some stars from the cardstock and adhered a few in the center of the polka dot, and some to the back of the frame. The frame was then mounted onto chipboard, and carefully secured, such that it stays at an angle. The frame was then surrounded with Fluffy roses, and glitter balls. The large stars were outlined with Start Dust, while Hot Pink self adhesive bling, from Want 2 Scrap, was added to the lid, along with Bronze Micro Beads, by Prima. I came up with the sentiment myself.

Close Up of the blue box

For the blue box, I cut out straight banners from White Starry Night, and Blue Polka Dots. White Starry Night ones were outlined with Ocean Blue liquid pearls, while the Blue Polka Dot ones were outlined with Star Dust stickles. I kept the original color of the rectangular Prima Antique Resin frame, and highlighted the details with Ocean Blue liquid pearls. I took some liquid pearls on the tip of my finger and rubbed them over the details. Added flowers to the base of the frame, and some Turquoise self adhesive bling to the empty areas of the box.

Close up of the sides of the lids.

I finished off the boxes by decorating the sides of the pink box with 0.5" strip of white card, which I covered with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint, after pasting it on. Once it was dry I went over it with Vintage Photo Distress ink and added horizontal lines, using Platinum stickles. For the blue box, I just added horizontal lines using Ocean Blue liquid pearls and Start Dust, to the original base.

Supplies Used:

Darice paper mache

White Starry Night
Pink Starry Night
Blue Polka Dots
Pink Polka Dot 


Start Dust Stickles
Platinum stickles


Turquoise self adhesive bling
Hot Pink self adhesive bling


Bronze Micro Beads

Prima Antique Resin frame

Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint
Vintage Photo Distress ink


That's all Folks!
(Oh! and just to let you know, the challenge is open world wide. If you want to play, just hop over to Challenge 9)

Happy Crafting.

Twinkling H2Os

The complete card

This is what I created for Artful Crafting Challenge 8: Water Coloring.

My November kit included Springtime Twinkling H2Os, by Luminarte. I have to confess here, that I had never worked with this product before, and wasn't too sure about what to expect.

Twinkling H2Os - Springtime

The colors were absolutely gorgeous, but when they weren't as vibrant on my water color paper as shown, I knew that I was doing something wrong. In the world of creative arts, there is only one rule -- "Know your tools"; so it was time for some research.

Twinkling H2Os, unlike other water colors are extremely concentrated (75% more than the regular watercolors, as per the company), and therefore, they must be activated with water, atleast 10-15 minutes before you apply them. This is where I was going wrong, I was using them like regular water colors, and that is why the results weren't as expected. Once I misted the pots, and began painting after 10 minutes, I had some beautifully vibrant pearlised colors on the same water color paper. 


Happy with the results, I began working on my DT project. In keeping with all the glimmer, I decided to make a Wedding-ie sort of congratulations card.
Step one: stamp and heat emboss the image
Step two: color it
Step three: stamp the sentiment
Step four: assemble the card.

A close up of all the "Twinkling"

I my opinion, Twinkling H2Os give the project such a grand finish, that the watercolor paper seemed way too dull against it. So, to bring it to life, I coated all the white spaces with Perfect Pearls. This gave it a beautiful off whitish pearlised background.

The angled card

Supplies used:
Twinkling H2Os - Springtime
Altenew - Grapevine Crisp Ink
Altenew - Persian Motifs
Ranger - Gold Embossing Powder
Ranger - Perfect Pearls
Watercolor paper

To see all the inspirational projects put together by the awesome DT, and/or take part in the challenge, hop over to Artful Crafting.

Happy Crafting!

 

ACDT Post: Keychains

Hello! hope you all are enjoying the weekend. I have made these keychains for Artful Craftings 7th challenge: Heat Embossing, which is now live.
My task was to create a project using a Melting pot, and so my kit included Gold UTEE and Purple Embossing powder.

Wanting to highlight the many different projects in which UTEE can be used, I decided to move forward with keychains!

The most important tool required for this project is a Melting Pot:

(You need a melting pot because we need to heat the keychain from the bottom -- if we use a heat gun, the powder will fly off)

UTEE Clear, UTEE Gold, Embossing Power: Purple, White, Black and a Keychain

I started by setting the melting pot temperature to UTEE, and placing the keychain in it.

Please note that I've placed the keychain over a piece of paper, and not directly in the pot. There are two reasons for doing this: 1. Once hot, I can lift the keychain off the pot easily by holding on to the paper, and 2. It will keep the back of the keychain clean.

I then sprinkled UTEE, and embossing powders over the keychain and let them melt. Once done, and happy with the results, I removed the keychain from the pot and let if cool off.

IMPORTANT: NEVER touch the hot pan or the heated metal directly, is it extremely hot and can burn your hand!

Using this method, I created 3 keychains, in different designs.

Waves Inspired

Waves Inspired: For this one, I formed lines with purple and white-- once they melted, I took a pin and ran it through horizontally. That created the waves. I then sprinkled some gold UTEE for finishing touches.

Galaxy Inspired

Galaxy Inspired: Started off with Gold UTEE, once it melted, added some purple and pulled it into the gold. Then added some white and set a pearl in it.

Gem Inspired

This was the most complicated. Started with black, then added some purple, once they melted and mixed, added clear UTEE and heated it up again. I then sprayed it with glimmer mist, and heated it up, added more clear UTEE, and some more heat. Then sprinkled gold UTEE and sent a gem in it.

Hope this inspires you to create some fun projects using a Melting Pot.
List of supplies below:
Melting Pot
Embossing Powders: Purple, Sea Foam White, Black
UTEE: Clear, Gold
Glimmer Mist: Thatched Roof Cottage
Key chain
Embellishments

Link to challenge post: Challenge 7: Heat Embossing

Happy Crafting!

Birds On a Swing

Inspired by all the stunning projects appearing on my Instagram timeline, I pulled out my watercolor brushes, dug out some suitable stamps, selected some inks, and got down to some serious coloring!

After some practice, I put together the below card.

I colored the stamped image with distress and memento inks, and stenciled Prima Faded Roses in the background. Stamped the sentiment on the same layer, and added a halo to it, for prominence.

On the inside, I stamped some roses, and painted a trellis.

Whimsy Stamps: Bird Swing, Unity Stamps: Everything Love Kit

Distress inks: Wild Honey, Mustard Seed, Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick, Pine Needles, Gathered Twigs, Pumice stone, Broken China, Faded Jeans

Memento: Bamboo Leaves, Rose Bud

Submitting my card to:

Lia Stampz: Challenge 93- Animals

Simon Says: World Cardmaking Day  

Tutorial: Acetate Flowers

Hello hello! I thought of doing a bonus tutorial this month, and decided on making acetate flowers using alcohol inks. The above picture shows the finished piece. These are super easy to make and take about 10 minutes, max!

Lets get started, supplies required:

Alcohol Ink Blending Solution (optional)
Alcohol Ink: Raspberry (or any other color of your choice)
Alcohol Ink Mixative: Silver (or any other)
StazOn Ink: Black

Stamp: Bo Bunny Floral Stamp
Acetate Sheet
Paint brush
Plastic Palette or something similar


Scissors
Glue

Step 1: Ink up your stamp with StazOn, and carefully stamp out 3 images of the same flower, with the same stamp. (Use StazOn because it works with non-porous surfaces, unlike other inks.)

The stamped acetate

Step 2: Once dry, flip the stamped acetate, and color the reverse image with Raspberry. Be sure to color the petals ONLY. If you want a lighter shade, mix a few droplets of ink with blending solution, and color using a brush, that is what I did. Otherwise, apply the ink directly, and use the brush to control it.

The ink mixed with blending solution

Coloring the petals with a brush

Step 3: When the petals have dried, add a drop of mixative to the center, and spread it, with outward strokes. Remember, that you are coloring the reverse side of the stamped image, so don't panic if the mixative covers the stamped details.

Add a drop of mixative

Spread the mixative

Step 4: Using scissors, cut out the flowers by following the outline. Then, separate each petal by following its outline, without detaching it from the center. The cut out flowers should look something like the the picture below.
Place the flowers, stamped side up, so that all the details of the stamped image are visible. (This is one of the reasons why we color/ink the reverse side)

Cutout flowers with the stamped side up

*From this point forward we work on the flowers with the stamped side up.* 

 

Step 5: Now take one flower, and shape it, by gently bending the entire petal inwards (towards the center). When you bend it in, don't press the crease; you want the petal to stand up when you leave it. Once you've done that with all the petals of this flower, gently turn the tips of the petals outwards, without creasing them.

Bending the petal inwards

Bending the petal tips back

Step 6: Take the second flower, and shape it, by gently bending the tips of the petals outwards, and slightly bending the petal inwards. Unlike the first flower, you will only bend the petals in, half way, so that they aren't flat.

Bending the tips of the petal outwards

Step 7: The shaped layers should look something like this:

L-R: Layer one or top layer, Layer 2 or middle layer, Layer 3 or the base layer.

We will simply stack the layers now by sticking Layer 2 onto layer 3, and layer 1 onto layer 2. The flower has now taken shape.

The assembled flower

I took it a step further and turned it into a brooch, by sticking the gorgeous flower onto a brooch pin.

mounted on a brooch pin

You can now, use this lovely flower however you want.

The gorgeous brooch

Do give it a try, I would love to see your take on it.
Happy Crafting!