Experimental hearts

I had a little play with various bits and pieces today. This week's MixAbility challenge at Splitcoast Stampers calls for the use of hearts (here) and the Pan Pastels challenge blog has another anything goes week with the option to join the DT in using fabric on your project (details here).

Very little stamping on here and more die cuts than I'd usually use! I started with two primitive hearts cut from mount board and lettering to spell the word LOVE (I cut the word twice and stacked the layers for a bit extra depth since Spellbinder dies don't cut thick materials). Then I covered the lot with double sided tape sheet and put fine-weave cotton fabric over it. I ran it through my Big shot with an embossing mat to make sure everything was stuck down well. I'd have liked a few more wrinkles in the fabric but never mind, the texture is still interesting!

Then I went to town with Pan Pastels and a charcoal pencil. The only stamping is some Hero Arts brush strokes stamped in the corners in Versamark and rubbed over with more pastel for slightly more intense colour. I left the edges of the fabric deliberately a bit frayed before sticking it to a card base.

I used my finger to apply the white Pan Pastel over the lettering as it seemed to give me most control.

What I learned - Mod Podge doesn't take Pan Pastel very well (I originally Mod Podged the fabric rather than using sheet adhesive); I love the look of fabric over die cuts; you need to make sure there's a support under the overhang of the second die cut to bring it to the same level as the other one before running it through the Big Shot. I'm also extremely pleased with my new fixative - it's a natural substance (based on casein, the protein found in milk and apparently the fixative preferred by Degas!) and it's in a pump bottle so there's no solvent smell or hazard if you're spraying indoors.

Materials:
Mount board offcuts
White cardstock
White cotton fabric
Primitive Hearts Bigz die by Sizzix
Spellbinders Font One dies
Pan Pastels (Turquoise, Permanent Red, Permanent Red Shade, White)
Charcoal Pencil
Brush Strokes stamps by Hero Arts
Versamark ink
SpectraFix Degas fixative spray

Thanks for stopping by!

In the abstract...

I tend to be a fairly neat and tidy crafter (finished product-wise, not process-wise!) with a leaning towards the figurative when I choose stamps for a project. Throughout 2012, we're having a monthly challenge on UK Stampers and for the first one, I decided to go a bit more abstract!

Salamanda is hosting and for January she has asked us to create a wall hanging using material from old clothes, metal, tissue paper and stamps. No new purchases allowed, only stash you already own.

I used a piece from an old pair of jeans for my base (about 20cm x 16cm) and stamped randomly with some numbers and circles. I glued scrunched up tissue paper down one side and when dry I painted with acrylic paint and then rubbed a tiny bit of Rub n Buff over to highlight the texture.

The bubble border was stamped and then coloured with acrylic paints (all of which have been in my stash for at least a decade!).

I embossed metal from a drinks can and stuck it to mountboard scraps for stability and weight. I used gesso and acrylics to colour it and then rubbed most of the colour off for a shabby look. I cut up the piece and then stitched the three separate chunks to the base with florist's wire. The metal washer and stud were ones prised off something in the past - so long ago I forget what! - and stored in my "useful bits" box.

I stuck a strip of mountboard across the top at the back for stability and then added a coiled wire hanger to finish.

Stamps:
A&P Numbers (Ma Vinci's Reliquary)
Bubble Border (Lost Coast Designs)

Ink:
Versacraft by Tsukineo (Midnight)

Paper:
Mountboard
White tissue

Other:
Denim from old jeans
Metallic turquoise, metallic blue and silver acrylic paints
Rub n Buff by amaco (Silver Leaf)
Drinks can metal
Metal washer and stud
Drink Me embossing folder (Couture Creations)
Florist's wire
Crop a Dile
Rubber washers (used as circle stamps)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sweet bee

It's my turn to host the challenge in the Crafty Secrets member forum over at Splitcoast Stampers. I'm asking people to go back to their ABCs - in stamper language that means Anything But a Card.

I made this little vintagey lavender sachet, stamped with the branches and bee and a touch of colour added with Copics. Cotton curtain lining makes a good base to stamp on for this kind of thing - close woven and smooth but inexpensive.

My experience has been that Copics don't stand up well to washing but for this kind of project that won't be washed, it's a quick and convenient way of adding colour. You do need a light touch though as the ink tends to travel along the fibres of the fabric.

I added some vintage lace, mother of pearl button and a seam binding hanging loop to finish it off.

Stamps: Queen Bee (Crafty Secrets)

Ink: Versacraft by Tsukineko (black)

Other:
Cotton fabric
Copic markers
Vintage lace
Vintage button
Seam binding
Lavender

Thanks for stopping by!

Velvet Christmas!

This is a technique I love - it produces a rich and sumptuous effect with the right velvet (one with some synthetic fibre is better than a pure cotton one), perfect for a luxury, touchy-feely Christmas card!

Embossing velvet is really easy – just mist your stamp with water, place the velvet pile side down on the stamp, mist the back of the fabric and then place your hot iron on top for 15-20 seconds. Don’t move the iron around or you’ll end up with a blurred impression – if your stamp area is bigger than your iron, just pick the iron up and place it down on the next spot rather than sliding like you would if you were ironing a shirt.

A stamp with a reasonably bold design will give you the best embossed effect - tiny details will tend to get lost in very finely etched designs (so leave your Kinkades in the drawer if you reach for the velvet!). A deeply etched stamp is best.

Here's a detail shot so you can see the texture even better.

I've been asked if this technique harms your stamps. The answer is no! I'm not sure I'd try it with clear polymer stamps but natural rubber will take a lot of punishment before you do it any harm. The iron is never in direct contact with the surface of the stamp (if your fabric does not cover the entire stamp you can put a sheet of paper over before you place the iron on top). The only thing I've noticed is that the cling-mounted stamps will tend to feel a bit "floppy" just after you've done your embossing. Just as soon as it cools down to normal temperature, it's back to the normal rigidity.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Double Damask backgrounder
Christmas Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Raisin)

Paper:
Smooth white

Other:
Velvet
Mini Mister filled with water
Iron
Sewing machine and thread
Corsage pin and beads
Krylon Leafing pen (copper)
Flower by Prima Marketing
Vintage lace and button
Sheer ribbon dyed with Copic marker

If you've arrived as part of the WCMD blog tour, please make yourself at home! The discount code for PaperCrafts/CK is in the sidebar to the left of my blog if you would like it.

Oh, I finally caved and added the Followers widget to the sidebar on the left so if you use Google Reader it's now easy to follow my blog without having to know the technicalities of doing it for a blog without the widget! If you prefer not to have your profile pic on display on other people's blogs, just choose "private" rather than public when you become a follower.

Thanks for joining me today, I hope you enjoyed the card!

Fabric brooch swap

My last blog post might have been called "something completely different" but this really is something completely different! I signed up for my first swap on UKStampers a while ago. This was a two part swap - we all sent six different 4" squares of fabric to the swap organiser who mixed them all up and sent us six different pieces back. Then we had to make a brooch using all six fabrics in the process. We could add anything we liked as long as all six fabrics made an appearance.

My finished brooch is not at all what I'd planned but this vintage buckle fell out of a bag when I was looking for something else and it all kind of took off from there!

I used vintage mother of pearl buttons and stamped tiny words in Stazon on them for the centres and then used rough circles of the fabrics to make stylised flowers. I had a sheer fabric to play with and I fused that with iron on webbing and made the leaf pair with it as it took a nice crease with the interface in there. I did cheat slightly with my fabrics, there was an orange one with green ovals that I just couldn't make look right so I coloured it with a Copic marker and used to to make the third leaf!

The flower layers were painted on the backs with gesso to give them a bit of substance and stop them fraying and I added beads of Glossy Accents in a few places to encourage some wavy dimension between the layers.

Stamps:
Everyday Petites (Mona Lisa Moments line at Cornish Heritage Farms)

Ink:
Stazon by Tsukineko (Jet Black)

Other:
Vintage mother of pearl buttons
Vintage buckle
Fabrics
Gesso
Glossy Accents

All the brooches have now been swapped and I know this has reached its new owner safely. I also have a lovely swapped brooch in my possession - thank you to the creator!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed something a bit different!

Cuteasaurous Brother!

My friend Ann just had her second baby, a little brother for their three year old daughter. There's a knitted blanket on the way for them but he arrived a few days early and beat me to it (the lining still needs stitching in!) so I made this little set as a "welcome" gift in the meantime.

The baby vests (onesies if you're reading this in North America!) started life as plain white ones from M&S - nice smooth close-knit fabric that gives a great surface for stamping on.

I used Versacraft ink for the stamping, it's permanent if you iron it and gives a nice clear impression. The colouring is done with Copics. You need to colour carefully, keeping well inside the lines as the colour tends to travel a little along the knit of the fabric so you need to allow for the spread - just three colours is fine for this kind of simple design, no need to try for too much shading (which would probably result in soaking the fabric too much and having the colour bleed further).

I made a coordinating gift tote just by following the basic bag-a-lope method and then trimming the top to make a deep handle shape.

Ann's reaction? "Ooooh great, he'll be able to have t-shirts with the same things on as he gets bigger!"

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Little Guy and Baby Love sets (Kim Hughes Collection)

Ink: Versacraft by Tsukineko (black)

Other: Cotton baby vests Copic markers (Putty, Raw Silk and Cool Gray 1) Envelope and ribbon for tote

Thanks for stopping by!