Tie Dyed Flowers

I was in a flower swap last year ~ you know where each person sends in one type of flower and they get an assortment back. Well, everyone was talking about what color of flowers they were going to buy to trade. I was the odd ball...I bought white flowers. I always buy white flowers!

Why?

Because I dye my own to match whatever project I'm working on!

Today I want to share how to make Tie-Dyed Flowers.

I LOVE making these...there is no set in stone color combo ~ you can make them any color under the rainbow ~ whatever your heart or project desires.

Supplies:

White Flowers - silk, mulberry, paper, etc

Adirondack Acrylic Dabbers - Ranger

Mini Mister (filled w/water) - Ranger

Heat Tool (optional)

Instructions:

1. Dab desired colors of paints onto the petals. Be sure not to over-lap the colors...you'll end up with mud if you do.

2. Once you've got the flower covered, mist with an ample supply of water. You want enough water to dilute the paint so it runs together.

3. Carefully lift the flowers off the craft sheet and place on scrap paper to dry or speed drying with a heat tool. (Be careful not to scorch the flowers!!)

After the flowers have dried they are ready to be used alone or paired with other flowers!!

Now the reason I love these flowers so much is they can be paired with your rubber stamping projects and match perfectly!! No worries about trying to find a pre-dyed flower to fill the bill!

Pretty cool huh?

Quick, easy and it matches perfectly!

Couldn't ask for more.

Look like something you'd like to try?

Well, post a comment here and I'll put your name in the hat for a chance to win an assortment of white flowers and a couple paint dabbers!

You have until 2-25 to post at which time I'll draw the winner using random.org.

Good Luck Friends!!

Rubber Stamps & Paint Clean-Up

Deb e-mailed me asking how to get paint off of rubber stamps once they have dried. I have had this happen a time or two ;) Here's what I do..... I like to get a shallow pan and put just a bit of hot water in the bottom of the pan...just enough to submerge the rubber die section...not the foam. I also add a drop or two of Dawn dish washing liquid. Let it set for a few minutes then take an old toothbrush and brush away the paint which has loosened. You may need to soak it again but it will come clean.

To help prevent this when I'm working with paints & rubber stamps I keep a towel, squirt bottle filled with water and my handy dandy toothbrush. I simply place the stamp on the towel, give it a few squirts, brush any paint from the crevices and wipe dry. I do this when I'm done of course but I also do the same thing if I'm making more than one impression.

Since we're talking about rubber stamps & acrylic paints I thought I'd share a project I made with them.

ETC! Altered Journal

This is a journal that my mom gave me for Christmas a couple years ago. Well, it was laying on my desk one day and I set it aside to work on something. I didn't realize until later that I had placed it on a still wet project soooooo it was in need of a fix.

I decided to create a whole new cover for it and this is what I did....

First, I stamped on a piece of green Club Scrap cardstock using a Postmodern Design background license plate stamp and Adirondack Acrylic Dabbers.

Then I covered each letter with 3 different layers of paint letting each layer dry before adding another.

I added a bit of binding tape along the edges (7gypsies & club scrap) to finish it off.

So even though it started out as a duh moment,

I love how the "fix" turned out!

Hope everyone is staying warm & dry ~

we're experiencing another Indiana weather moment...

cold winds and ice!

Going to be a nasty start to the a.m.

BRRRRRR.....I'm soooooo ready for Spring!

Take care everyone and have a great day tomorrow!

Happy Day...

Hey all!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend! My sweetie surprised me with a very nice day out. He started the morning by telling me to dress nice...meaning - don't put on your cleaning attire - LOL!! I've been trying to get my house put back together after months of the guys doing the cleaning.

So we ended up spending much of the day in Mishawaka where we visited 2 scrapbook stores; Borders and ate lunch at my very favorite restaurant - Don Pablo's....mmmmm love them fajitas!

It was a great day!

Yesterday was spent cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning. I finally can see my kitchen table again, have a place to sit and eat and everything smells wonderful thanks to Lysol, Murphy's Oil Soap and Febreze! I am only in mild discomfort due to my day long cleaning spree but it's worth it...I was about to go nuts not being able to clean things how I like.

Today I wanted to share a scrapbook lay-out I made about my sweetie which incorporates a bit of stamping and a whole lot of UTEE. You'll see what I mean....

Always & Forever

This is a 12x12 lay-out that was created by cutting 2x2" squares from pattern papers and chipboard squares. Each of the pattern paper tiles was inked using clear embossing ink then covered with 3-4 coats of clear UTEE. The solid colored chipboard tiles were inked using a black embossing ink then covered with 3-4 coats of either black or red UTEE. I love using black ink under colored UTEE - You can see in this photo below how the black ink comes through the UTEE creating a whole new effect.

Sorry about the blurry stamped image on the photo...I was using a stitching program and I so don't get along with technical stuff like that. Chalk it up to operator error... ;) If only they would make some of these programs idiot proof - LOL!!

Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful weekend and here's to a fine week!

Take care all!

ATC Holder - Additional Examples

Hey Hey Hey!

As promised I have several more examples of some ATC holders I've made in the past.

These particular holders are all very feminine...3 of them were covered in pattern papers from a variety of mfg. and the fourth was stamped and stippled with dye inks.

As you can see there is no limit to the type of embellishments you can add to spice the holders up a bit. I love to add fringe along the back side of the flap...I think it gives it that extra little something by incorporating a bit of flash and movement.

I made this ATC holder for a guy using the Dimensional Pearls. The clasp is one of the Basic Grey magnetic clasps which I alcohol inked to match the cover.

If you will notice the variety of designs you can use for the front flap. You can leave them square; round the corners; trim the edges to look like the top of a shipping tag and so much more. I have made scallop edged flaps but when you go to cover them it is very time consuming as you will need add several tiny relief cuts so the paper will conform to the rounded edges.

As I mentioned before you can create this type of holder with virtually any size of envelope available. The only thing you will have to keep in mind is the larger the envie, the larger the cover. Once you get up into the large envelopes (6x9 and up) you're probably going to have to go to the larger sheets of paper or rolled papers to get a piece large enough to cover the chipboard without having to piece together several sheets.

As to the measurements for the chipboard, here is what I do.... for this example I'm going to be using a 6x9 envie folded in half giving me a pocket size of 6 x 4 1/2". The following are the sizes I'd need to cut the chipboard

Flap - 3 x 7"

Top - 1 to 2" x 7"

Back - 5 1/2 x 7"

Bottom - 3/4" to 1 3/4" x 7"

Front - 5 1/4" x 7"

The size of your cardstock; canvas; pattern or specialty paper would vary depending on how wide you make the top and bottom pieces.

All directions to assemble remain the same.

These types of holders make great gift card organizers and if you use tyvek envelopes to create the pockets these holders will last for a very long time!

Hope you have enjoyed these critters and give em a try sometime!

Take care and have a great evening everyone!!

ATC Holder - Step 2 & 3

I will get to the ATC Holder in a sec...I just wanted to clarify a little something before we continue. Trine posted and a couple people e-mailed me yesterday that Club Scrap had a project similar to this in one of their kits last year. I wanted to be sure and let you all know I did not copy their kit and call it my own. Nobody suggested I had but you never know.

I originally designed this particular envie style holder back in 2005. At that time it wasn't designed for ATC's - it was larger and was meant to hold a years worth of greeting cards (using different envies of course). I played with sizes and in 2006 I designed the ATC size holder for an ATC swap the members of Ranger DTU were hosting.

Whew....I feel better now - you know, the whole Catholic guilt thing gets the better of me even when I'm not doing anything to be guilty over - LOL!!!

Anyway, on with the Holder....

Step 2 - Creating the Envie Pockets

1. Since all of the envies are bone dry from setting overnight you will need to fold each envie in half. Be sure to crease the folded edge with a bone folder.

2. Trim all envies to 2 1/2" wide - BE SURE NOT TO CUT OFF THE FOLDED EDGE!!! You want to trim off what was the ends before the envie was folded. I have gotten in a hurry before and just cut that puppy right in two. If you do by chance cut off the wrong sides they are still usable but not nearly as nice as the folded pieces. You'll just have more gluing in the next step.

3. Apply a small line of dry adhesive to the center of the envie.

4. Continue to add the rest of the envies adding a small line of adhesive to each as you go. Be sure to apply glue to the centers of each folded section as well.

You should end up with a stack that looks something like this.....

That's the end of Step #2!

Step #3 - Cover

Now when I originally created these folders I used stamped & painted tag board or cardstock as the covering for the holder. By using a bit of book binding tape to reinforce the folded areas it held up very well. BUT...I happened to think about Ranger's new Sticky Backed Canvas and thought I'd give it a try today. It worked like a charm!!! It is designed to accept paint very well and since it's already sticky it makes assembly a dream. Very quick and easy and no need to use the book binding tape! I will include how to work with both in case you don't have the Sticky Backed Canvas ava.

1. Paint the canvas as desired using Dimensional Pearls and the IBT with foam. Once dry stamp if desired using Archival Ink.

Cardstock -

Canvas - you will notice the canvas tends to curl when you apply the paint. Not to worry, once you remove the backing paper it flattens right out.

2. Cut 5 pieces of chipboard in the following sizes:

Flap - 1 1/2" x 4"

Top - 1" x 4"

Back - 3 1/2 x 4"

Bottom - 3/4" x 4"

Front - 3 1/4" x 4"

Cut the cardstock or canvas to 5 1/2" x 11.

3. (cardstock) If you wish to strengthen the joints of your holder with book binding tape, position the chipboard pieces on the cardstock and mark where each fold falls. Remove the chipboard and place a strip of the book binding tape at each fold mark.

4. Adhere the chipboard to the cardstock using dry adhesive or remove the backing paper and carefully place the chipboard pieces in order on the stick back canvas.

5. Cut notches at each fold and at the corners.

6. (cardstock) Crease along all edges and folds with a bone folder.

(both) Adhere each flap to the chipboard by folding over and securing as shown.

7. Cover the inside of the holder with cardstock or the remaining piece of sticky canvas. Crease each fold with the bone folder.

8. Adhere the envie pockets to the inside of the holder.

9. Decorate the holder as desired.

10. Add closure of your choice. - Ideas might be magnetic closures; Velcro; button & string; snap; etc.

11. ENJOY!!!

So there you have it...a fun ATC envie pocket holder to keep for yourself or give as a gift! Remember you can vary the number of pockets by adding or removing envies.

Tomorrow I will share a few examples of other ATC holders I have made and give you some ideas about how to create larger and smaller holders by varying the envies and chipboard sizes.

Have a wonderful evening everyone!!

ATC Holder - Step 1

I previously showed you this set of ATC cards I made using Ranger's Dimensional Pearls....

I also mentioned I had a matching ATC Holder to go with it and here it is!

I got the idea to make these little gems from a gift card envie I received as a gift. It was an envelope that had been folded, one end slit open (where the gift card was slid into) and a sticker to hold it closed. I figured if you can do it with one why not pile them up and used chipboard to make the whole thing a bit more sturdy...of course I couldn't leave it there so I added a few more steps; inks; stamps and some fun!

I have taught this class a couple times and it seems to go better if you work in sections so that's what I'm going to do here as well. I had to go get batteries for my camera today so I am going to cover just the initial steps w/o pics today.

Supplies:

Envelopes - for now we'll be using No. 6 3/4 Envies (3 5/8" x 6 1/2")

Adirondack Color Wash; Glimmer Mist or other Spray-able Dye Ink

Dry Adhesive (ATG; Tape Runner; Etc)

Chipboard

White Cardstock

Colored Cardstock (to match design)

Book Tape (Optional - makes for stronger joints) - Making Memories or Other

Adirondack Dimensional Pearls - Ranger

Ink Blending Tool & Foams - Ranger

Rubber Stamps (Fancy Pants used in the ex.)

Archival Ink - Ranger

Non-Stick Craft Mat - Ranger

Newsprint

Scrap or Copy Paper

Velcro Dots or other Closure Piece

Beads (optional)

Wire (optional)

Embellishments (optional) (Primas & Stickles Glitter Glue used in the example)

Instructions:

Step 1 - Creating the Pockets

1. Determine how many pockets you wish your finished holder to contain. It will need to be an even number as we will be folding each envelope in half to create each pocket. I like to include anywhere from 8-26 pockets. You may use more or less - if it's being made for a specific swap where you know there will be 20 finished ATC's for example. We're going to be making a 14 pocket holder at this time so we'll need 7 envelopes.

2. I know this is the yucky part but you will need to seal each envelope securely....let's just hope they are the minty tasting ones instead of the nasty tasting ones ;) If you're not adventurous or feel the need to lick up a bunch of glue you can moisten an Ink Blending Foam with water and swipe it across the glue.

3. Optional - If you would like you may at this time stamp on each envie using Archival or other permanent ink. I don't always stamp the envies but sometimes it's fun just to add that extra detail. It gives the finished holder a bit more dimension.

4. Spread out several layers of newsprint. Spread the sealed envies out over the newsprint so the sides aren't touching (you don't want them sticking together or layered at all).

5. Mist the envies with one or more colors of spray dye ink. If you are using more than one color it is best to apply one color at a time letting each color dry before you add the next. This will prevent the colors running together creating ink mud. Let side #1 dry.

6. Flip all of the envies over and coat the second side just as you did the first.

7. At this point I place the wet envies onto sheets of copy or scrap paper and let them dry overnight. The envies must be completely dry before you move onto the next few steps.

That's where we'll leave it for today...tomorrow we'll continue on with assembling the insides and possibly the cover.

Have a great evening everyone!!

New Poll - Please Vote

I added a new poll ~ just trying to figure out what I am going to do with all of the projects I made for the book. It was suggested I should set up an Etsy store but I wasn't sure if there would be interest or not... Anyway, if you have additional comments, please e-mail me or post. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

I can see my desktop again!

After months of just pulling goodies out to use I was finally able to see my desktop again today...it's been a while but things are finding homes after all the chaos. I still have a disaster on the kitchen table but I need to figure out where lots of things are going yet.

The good news is I believe tomorrow I'll be able to work on making some step by steps for the ATC holder I promised to share. I thought about just showing pics of it but that would be a mean tease not showing how it's made - LOL!!

Tonite I wanted to show you how nice my nails look....it's quite a change after the last few months of them being steeped in ink, paints and glue. I had them done because it's my fingers in the pics!!

And as promised pics from my trip to Indy...

this is Donna - my text editor and myself :)

Here is a pic of Pam - Photos Editor; Matt - Photographer & Jodi - Assistant. This is taken from the loft/office area.

And a few pics of Matt's new studio - the photos on the wall are all Matt's work - cool stuff huh?

So there you go...Indy in a nutshell ;)

Hope you stop back in tomorrow and check out the instructions for the ATC holder.

Till then ~ have a great night!

I'm Back from Indy!!

Hey Everyone!

Well I'm back from the photo shoot!!! Everything went so very well....we even finished up early so we arrived back home at a decent hour. I'm so glad I am anal about organizing...I think it helped a lot. I had everything bagged, tagged and in seperate boxes so we really zipped through everything. Over 500 photos plus far too many pics of me in around 16 hours total.

I took some pics but haven't downloaded them yet. I promise to get them on here soon...

And yes, you read that right I did have my pic taken so it will be in the book.... Pam (the photo editor) said I didn't HAVE to have my pic in there if I really didn't want but I knew I'd be in trouble by some of you (you know who you are!!) if I didn't ~ so, rather than deal with the wrath, I knew I better ;) Matt Bowen (the photographer) made it lots of fun. He's very easy going and way funny ~ you have to check out his site. His photos are amazing~ seriously. He is located in Zanesville which is like a sub. of Indy ~ He's got some great shots on his site of the town....of course it doesn't look like that right now since it's covered in snow but it is still beautiful with it's brick streets and cute little cottages. The first photo in the set is his old studio ~ he moved across the hall in the same building (old town hall) and it's really hip/trendy. I've got a few pics of it as well which I'll share later.

I got to meet (in person) Pam who is the acquisitions & photo editor; Jodi ~ she is an assistant for the company and Donna who is the text editor (not sure if that's her official title or not but that's what she does anyway). They were all very nice...I spent most of the time with Pam and Jodi along with Matt of course and it was a blast ~ I haven't laughed so much in a long time!!!

Trust me though, it was lots of work...you wouldn't think that just taking photos would be but it was...I was wiped out each night by the time I got back to the motel. I think part of it was stress I put on myself ~ you know is it good enough, will they like it, etc. Sharing art with others is so personal ~ it's laying a piece of yourself right out there in the open for everyone to see. In small doses it's not so bad but sharing that much at once is more than a little scary/nerve wracking if you KWIM.

I am really stoked about the whole thing though...if you've seen other TYV books you'll be surprised about this one. It's got a major difference that you should notice immediately when you see it ;) I don't want to spoil the surprise but it's very me....like my blog....hmmmm makes you wonder now doesn't it - LOL!!!

I found out more about the release date...it will be out in July sometime and I know a lot of people have asked if will be ava. outside the US.... It should be ava. everywhere other than the UK - sorry guys...there is a series over there that is called Teach Yourself or something along those lines. They fight (legally) anything that is remotely close to their name so it's a no-go. It will be ava. on Amazon though so that is an option.

Well, that's all for now...I'm wiped out but I promise I'll be around more regularly from now on. I just have a bit more work to do on the book but have to wait until I see the pics to finish it up. It's funny... Bob (youngest ds) mentioned to me shortly after we got home...."Now you'll be able to get back to bloggin' again." - LOL!!! I've been complaining I don't have time to do it how I'd like and he knows how much I've missed it :) Hopefully it was mutual!

((((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))))

Take care peeps

and

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend in store!!

Streuter GlueFOIL & Glue Film Winner!!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for making you wait but it's the final push for projects in my book (more about that later)

anyway....

without further delay

the winner of the

Streuter GlueFOIL & Glue Film

is....

(determined by random.org)

SUE!!!

Sue said...
I've never used it before , but it looks like wonderful stuff!!! Love how you've used it....I reckon it would look good onmy scrapbook pages of my 2 daughters. xx
January 27, 2009 7:24 AM

Sue, please send me your snail mail addy so I can forward it on to the Streuter folks. I hope you enjoy your goodies!

I've had a few people e-mail asking about the techniques used on the lo's. I haven't gotten clearance on giving the details yet so I can't post them at this time. Sorry... I can tell you that the image transfer technique is in the book though ;)

Shannon asked about the family photo on the Johnson lo... It's my adopted family ~ I found the image on one of my Tuscan Rose image cd's! If you haven't checked out their collage images you really should. They have an amazing array of images ava. on both sheet & cd forms. I used LOADS of them in the book for all sorts of projects.

Book Update: Well, I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't posted in the last week...it's the final push before I take EVERYTHING down to Indy for pics. All of the step by step pics as well as the finished projects will be photographed over a 3 day period (wed/thru/fri) of this week. I am finishing up the final project today!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!! I can't tell you what a relief this is to know I've made it on time!

I still have a few last minute things to do ~ renumber a few chapter photos - I had too much info & too many techniques so we had to do some cutting from several chapters. I think I have enough stuff for 2 or 3 books! So I need to go back and fix some numbers. I still ended up with so much info that the appendix won't fit so it's going to be ava. on their web-site - LOL!!

I counted last night and there are over 125 different techniques or variations on techniques in the book!! I think it's close to 140. I didn't even begin to count the finished projects...I may after everything is finished but right now there are over 500 photos in the book (after the cuts!!).

So, I won't be around till sometime next week but I just wanted to give you an update and let you know what's going on. I hope that you'll all still hang around as I plan on sharing projects and techniques and other fun stuff on a more regular basis again shortly!

((((((((((HUGS))))))))))

Take care everyone!!