Make Waves

I love the August “Lagoon” kit so much that when I was at the Club Scrap Retreat a few weeks ago I had to buy the Deluxe kit to tide me over until my Lite kit arrived.  When it came time to decide on a project to add to the Lagoon Blog Hop and Linky Party, I revisited a couple of projects that I did in past retreats, combined the techniques and came up with this custom frame:

I started by re purposing a couple of frame mats and some chipboard.  I glued the mats together, then added torn strips of paper, only gluing them down on top, wrapped around to the inside and wrapped across one short side.  After adding a couple of narrow piece of chipboard to three outer edges of the frame that were not fully wrapped yet, I glued another piece of chipboard to the back (It was covered with a piece of stamped white paper to make it look better if there is no picture).  Then I finished wrapping the torn paper around the whole sandwich.  All of that created the frame with backing, and a slit to insert the picture.

The next step was to make a mixture of Club Scrap Bookbinding Glue, Club Scrap Sapphire re-inker and water to create a “veneer stain”.  I brushed that on using a foam brush and “quick” strokes.

The hardest part of this project for me was the back.   I wanted this frame to stand alone like a store bought desk frame.  (Quick disclaimer - I am not an engineer of any kind!)  I cut out a “leg” using some scrap chipboard.   Using another piece of chipboard, I scored and folded a “hinge” about 1/3 of the way from the top.   I attached the leg to the longer part of the hinge and wrapped it with some of the tan paper from the kit.  I took a piece of the tan paper that was cut to fit the back of the frame, cut a slit in the appropriate place and slid the shorter piece of the hinge in after adding glue to the hinge flap.  Then I glued the whole contraption to the back of the frame. Here is what it looks like:

I finished off the frame by using VersaMark ink and Cobalt Antiquities embossing powder to emboss the sentiment (from the Lagoon Art Nouveau stamp set) on a tag from my kit. I then sponged on a light coat of Tumbled Glass Distress ink, sprayed it with some Perfect Copper Perfect Pearls Mist and distressed the edge using Club Scrap Sapphire ink. It is topped off with a copper snap from my stash.

In the opposite corner I used a charm and “fish scale gem” which was included in my kit.  I altered both of them using Terra Cotta, Caramel and Copper Mixative Alcohol inks, along with some blending solution.

All papers used for this project came from the Lagoon kits.  (If you haven't got yours yet, you better hurry and check it out here!  This kit won't last long.)   The inspiration for this project came from two different past retreat workshops - the “Magnetic Bulletin Board” from 2013, and the “Paper Veneer” from the 2009 Anniversary Cruise.  Thanks Jacqueline Carney and Terri Zwicker for helping with this project too!  Those Club Scrap Retreat weekends are so worth it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing Like a Mad Scientist

Sometimes it is just plain fun to experiment.  I did just that for this month’s Technique Challenge at Club Scrap - heat embossing on dark colored paper.

Once I picked the papers and image that I wanted to use for my card, I realized that I didn’t have an embossing powder color that matched my palette.  I really liked where this card was going, so rather than change my papers, I did some research and found out that it is possible to custom make embossing powder colors. So I gave it a try:

To create your own color, you have to use clear powder and some type of alcohol ink.  Any other liquid form of color (such as re-inkers) do not work.  Trust me, I just had to try even though everything I read told me it wouldn’t work.  It also seems to work better with the clear powder.  I tried it using some white powder with some success, but my experiment was pretty convoluted by that point so I don’t trust the results. I might revisit that again sometime in the future.

Here is the finished card:

The focal image is a Club Scrap stencil from “Shades of Winter”. The whole image was inked (in steps) using Club Scrap White Pigment ink.  The stems were embossed using Club Scrap Blue Satin embossing powder.  The berries were embossed using my custom blend made from WOW Clear powder and Raisin Adirondack alcohol ink.  (Because of starting with clear powder, it is important to use the white ink underneath if it is on dark paper.)

Other supplies I used are:

**Paper from Club Scrap and Gina K. Designs.

**The focal image panel was die cut using a Taylored Expressions “Label Stacklet 3” die.  It was edged with Picket Fence Distress Marker.

**The sentiment stamp is from Club Scrap’s “Cherry Blossom” kit, stamped with VersaMark ink and embossed with Denim Zing embossing powder.

**The sentiment tag is from Die Versions.

**The pink ribbon is upcycled, the other ribbon is from Club Scrap’s “Pure & Simple” kit, altered with Copic Marker B21.

**The edges of the pattern paper were inked using Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink.

**The gems (altered with Copic B21) and the brads (altered with Copic B39) are from my stash.

I followed the sketch for this month's Club Scrap Sketch Challenge.  You can check out the original here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Let’s Get Leafy

This week Stamp TV is challenging everyone to create a background that utilizes leaves.  I quickly thought about the new Gina K Designs Foliage stencil that I recently acquired.  Here is what I came up with:

I mixed some Jelly Bean Green ink from Gina K. Designs with Ranger Texture Paste and spread it over part of the stencil.  After that dried, I added the final “sprig” and repeated the drying process.  A little bit of Stormy Sky Distress ink on the edges and my background was good to go.

I stamped the flower from Gina K. Designs’ “Boho Flowers” with the Jelly Bean Green ink and embossed it with Spring Leaf Chartreuse powder from Lindy’s Stamp Gang.  It didn’t have enough contrast, so I stamped it again (thanks to my MISTI) using Ivory Gina K. ink and the same embossing powder.  Better, but still not what I was looking for.   So, I started over with just the Ivory and the embossing powder.  Bingo!  I fussy cut them both out and stacked them together for the focal image.    Don’t give up too easily on something that doesn’t turn out exactly like you imagined!

Other supplies I used are:

**Paper from Club Scrap

**The sentiment stamp is from Gina K. Designs’ “Autumn Wishes”, inked with Stormy Sky Distress ink and embossed with Gina K.’s Fine Detail Clear embossing powder.

**The ribbon is upcycled, altered with Stormy Sky Distress Marker.

**The gems came with my Club Scrap “Paradise” kit.

Thanks for stopping by!