Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Family Challenge #6 Card - Bleaching an Embossed Stamped Image

I’m stepping up to the plate to relieve my sister Nina this week.  She’s been terrific hunting up new ideas these past 5 challenges and I’ve enjoyed every one and learned lots.  I spied this technique the other day and thought I’d take the challenge of it:

I find the host very helpful… but he does sort of go on for a bit… LOL, specially if you have to back up a few times.  Great technique though! 

Here is my take on this method:

Family-Challenge-6-full_Barb-Derksen

Supplies:

Royal Langnickel Aqua Pen, Versafine ink in Onyx, Embossing powder, Stamp: Inkadinkado,Thin ribbon

I don’t know the designer of the Designer Paper Sad smile 

Family-Challenge-6-cls_Barb-Derksen

i chose to bleach out the inside of the petals on this flower and I added some lovely mauve “bling” gems to the floral center. 

Hope you enjoy checking out Nina and Judy’s blogs too!

Blogger Labels: Challenge,Card,Image,Nina,ideas,technique,Enter,caption,host,times,Great,Here,method,Supplies,Royal,Langnickel,Aqua,Versafine,Onyx,Stamp,Inkadinkado,Thin,ribbon,Designer,Paper,gems,Hope,Judy

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Teeny Tiny Tassel Tutorial - for a Graduation Card

My Mother and Father in Law left for home yesterday, after a lovely two week visit with us.  Precious time indeed!  Now I’m walking around bumping into the walls and getting back into the sync of “normal life”.  I confess that I work very hard before they arrive and then directly afterward as well so that I have the option to just bask in family time together when it is presented to me.  It truly feels like how when I was a kid and got to go on vacation - our days were filled with small outtings and lazy days.  Though we had a few larger, formal meals, most days nobody worried so much.  It was “forage for one’s self” most of the time and forage we did - to excess!   Almost every night we watched movies projected onto the front room wall - mostly documentaries. 

Today is  Graduation at YouLearn.ca - the school where my husband instructs.  He likes me to build a few cards to honour the grads - a BIG event.  I say big because I too was a late learner, completing my high school at YouLearn.ca at the age of 43.  I remember how I used to say “I don’t NEED my grad for anything” - but I also know that was a cover-up, now that I have my diploma I know that indeed though I may never have to use it for a resume perhaps, I DID need it for … ME!  Education is a gift you give yourself.  Its a gift to yourself to be able to say “I CAN DO IT!)  It does not take up any space, it goes wherever you are and nobody can ever take it away from you. 

I get all “teary” especially when the more senior grads receive their honours.

So this year I made this card:

Grad-Tassel-1---Barb-Derksen

I would love to give you the file for this grad cap but I don’t know where it originated and I’d not like to infringe on any copyright.  But there is a basic grad cap svg HERE which you could download and adjust for your own project or I’m confident there must be grad cap files in the Silhouette online store or at SVG Cuts.  With a little tweaking and removing the tassel afterward you then all you need is to have your Silhouette software put a small hole in the center of the cap for the brad and tassel. 

Grad-Tassel-2---Barb-Derksen

I used the IMPACT font for this bold 2013 text - I also used the offset feature in Studio to make the backdrop.  the sparkle paper is from a dollar store.

I’ve assembled a small tutorial for the Teeny Tiny Tassel:

You will need:

Grad-Tassel-5---Barb-Derksen

Wire thread, crochet thread (this is a medium weight), a brad, scissors.

Grad-Tassel-4---Barb-Derksen

Cut a length of thread (aprox 30 inches long)  Cut off about 6 inches.  This is the folded piece you see in the photo.  Take the remaining and wrap it around your thumb, at the base where your it’s wider, until all the thread is used up.  Slide this off.

Grad-Tassel-6---Barb-Derksen

Loop the folded thread around the circle of thread.

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Pull it snug.

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Squeezing the tassel together from the top, wrap a small length of the wire thread around and around until you are happy with the size of the band.  Snip it off - give another slight squeeze to firm it around the threads.

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Insert a sharp scissor blade into the loops - pull taut and snip. 

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Trim any loose ends flush. 

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Voila! 

I poked the top strings through the hole in the cap, added the brad and affixed the works with some foam adhesive tape. 

Thanks for visiting - hope you might pop back in tomorrow to check out my Family Challenge #6 as I’ll be trying out a fun stamping technique along with my Sister Nina and SIL Judy!

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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Family Challenge #5 Card - Ghost Stamping and photo peeks of my week!

Thanks to Nina I’m being motivated to create to fulfil yet another Family Challenge card using a technique new to me.  This technique is based on the idea of this video:

And here is my take on this technique. 

Family-Challenge-5-full_Barb-Derksen

I chose these fun coffee themed stamps from Stampin’ Up.  Sad to say, I’ve had them for quite some time but this is my first project using them. 

Family-Challenge-5-cls_Barb-Derksen

I followed the video technique pretty closely, stamping with a Studio G white, over stamping with a Versa Magic Multi-Surface Chalk Ink in eggplant and then embossing over that to draw attention to the coffee pot.  I stamped the sentiment using VersaFine in Onyx.  Lastly I used a simple pencil crayon to draw on steam swirls. 

The lace border and tiny gems are dollar store items.

I think as much as I enjoy taking these challenges with my family is the excitement of seeing how each of us differs in our end results.  Be sure to slip on over to see Nina and Judy’s blogs to see what they came up with. 

Here are a few pictures of my week:

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THIS is the reason I’m trying to be a regular at the gym - my Mother in Law makes THE BEST pastry in the universe and I am like a moth drawn to a candle flame when its around.  REAL strawberries, REAL whip cream - I could easily become REAL heavy. 

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Lovely flowers - everything is in bloom at the moment, being we’ve had an especially moist spring and summer so far.  I love this time of the year because we have the best of both worlds - hot days interspersed with a few wet ones, then nice cold nights to cool the house down again.

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Crafts, Crafts, Crafts!

I make over the strangest things that come my way.  My Mr actually spied a stack of cork rounds last weekend at Garage Sales and I knew there was something special to make from them.  I wound up hand painting them for souvenier placques.  You can’t truly appreciate the cherries from this far away - they are glittered and stand out nicely.  These are available at The Crow’s Nest Gifts on Main Street in my beautiful town of Osoyoos!

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Friday, June 14, 2013

A Jeans Remake - Purses and Heat/Cool Packs

My Sister in Law Neti makes these really cool Heat Packs and sells them local to her town.  She has gifted me several over the years and they are the most useful things to have around, really.  I use them to do everything from heating up my toes on a cold winter’s night to keeping food warm going to a pot luck, to raising my bread dough, to keeping my teapot hot, to heating or icing ouchies. 

Now that I’m crafting and have a beautiful place to sell my crafts at The Crows Nest here in Osoyoos these were the first things I thought I would like to make. Neti gave me her blessing (and some filling) when I mentioned my idea of how I might make this craft using recycled materials. 

 

1-Jeans Remake poster

Kit to make poster by KimB

I have a thing for denim.  I appreciate it’s durability, ease of use and its weather worn look as it ages gives it even more appeal.  I’ll list a few of the steps from the poster a little larger here to demonstrate how I break an entire pair of jeans down into the end products.

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1. Take an old (or damaged) pair of jeans.  No, these were not damaged, the cut mark was intentional in this pair.  I think these either grew off of me or something - perhaps I just got tired of them and decided to turn them into a craft rather than send them to the thrift store. 

 2-Pants 2

2. I cut the legs down, trimming the bottom seam off separately. 

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3. I trim out the belt area, the front and back pockets.  I will even save the sipper for some unknown future project.   The only thing that will be discarded is the small crotch area - on the bottom right.

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4. When finished I wind up with two small purses (one made of the front pockets, one made out of the back. 

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5. Trimmed with a bit of lace or a band of material these make useful and attractive Heat/Ice Packs - you should be able to get 6 out of a size 8 ladies jeans.

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6. Isn’t this little back-pockets purse simply adorable?  These whip together in a cinch - this is where you use up the inseams - they become the purses handle!  The inside is lined with parts of a white cotton ruffly blouse I had on hand.  Oh my - I look differently at my clothing now… do I want to WEAR this or make it over? 

 

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7. A taller purse, more room in this one.  I did wind up putting some brown trim along that top seam in the end too.  I added some pretty shell beads onto the pocket. 

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I added a blanket stitch around the edges.  A note here - I actually do not sew, that is to say that before I began making items for the store I did not even remember how to thread my sewing machine.  I have not sewn since high school and I recall that was not a fun thought of back then - but one day I saw my sewing machine as a means to an end for some of the items I want to recycle and here I am.  I’m learning something new every day. 

Stay tuned for more DIY items I’ve repurposed to appear here!  My next post will be another denim DIY - one for your pet!   Is there something cool YOU have made using denim?

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Sunday, June 09, 2013

FREE Father’s Day Silhouette Cut

1-cherries 

Wow - All of a sudden it’s Cherry time and Father’s Day is coming up FAST!

Though I no longer have my father I’m soooo happy to say my Father in Law is visiting and we will have the privilege  to celebrate him, right here!

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I created a new design for a Father’s Day Card for The Crows Nest - a local (completely handmade) shop in Osoyoos where I’m proudly selling my crafts.  Doesn’t YOUR Dad deserve a card created wtih love, by hand? 

I based this card off of another I saw somewhere on Pinterest - unfortunately I don’t recall exactly where.  It was the idea of the ties on the hanger that caught me, but the rest of the card is different.

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DOWNLOAD

The papers are all from a 6 x 6 Designer Paper pack (Natural Expressions)  from Colorbok.  The letter stamps on the circles are from Michaels and the Family stamp was a Studio G I believe.  This file is sized to make a “quarter fold” 5.5 x 4.25 inch greeting card.

Note: though I chose to stamp the D.A.D. onto the circles - you could easily create and cut out the letters with your cameo  - alternately, if you made this file BIG, I think it would make a terrific wall decoration for your Father’s Day Celebration.

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