Using strips of scrap paper

Hello, yet again. I am never on the computer to work and then three blog posts in two days. Zoo will fall off her chair! It is a very grey weekend here and my life is in a weird holding pattern and for some reason doing these posts is a nice break, so here goes another one.

Zoo sent me a link to use up some paper scraps, knowing that I don’t throw anything away and was running out of room in my scrap paper box.

The link was      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv2EL8jZhZ8    and showed how to glue/tape thin scraps of paper onto printer paper and then die cutting out an image or saying to make cards. My scrap paper box was full, so I gave it a try.

I first used up just a few pieces of paper out of my pink scrap box and here is the result. I didn’t measure the width of the strips I cut, but just winged it with my cutter. I liked the slight variances in the widths of the strips. I don’t have a huge selection of dies that cut out sayings and shapes that are not for tags, so I chose my Fredward Bear Die Cut  - by Memory Box Inc.

 It was a little blah with just the bear cut out, so dug out my punch-anywhere flower punch by EK Success Brands and punched out the background. I saved the little flowers, etc., that came from the punch in case I wanted to use them. Much better!!

The two finished cards turned out so cute that I spent an hour or two cutting strips out of more scrap paper and making more blanks to use. Believe me though… a little paper goes a long way! 

 I had an idea to use different edging patterns to cut out waves, etc., from the striped paper. It produced a neat effect without too much difficulty. By tracing the pattern onto the back of the striped paper, it was just a matter of cutting along the lines and placing them in order to be glued onto a plain coloured background paper. I chose black card stock as my background to show off the stripes. I then used my Big Shot to cut out shapes. Like usual, the negative part cut out can be used on the inside of the card or for another card.

 

I also free-handed a dinosaur to cut out.

This was a fun use of scrap paper. I have started saving thin strips of scrap paper in an envelope to make it easier next time.

Take care! Red Bear : )

Metal Blog page for real

After practicing with the metal tape, Zoo and I were to do a page in our AAJ2 using this technique. I once again pulled out a variety of things from my collection and went to town. I wanted to use drywall tape, fun foam embossed to look like waves on the water, my tree punch and left over twig punches from Zoo’s punch. These things all reminded me of nature and the great outdoors so I figured I would do a camping theme. Growing up we did a lot of camping and fishing in remote areas and to this day, I love exploring in the woods, hiking, scrambling up and over hills and mountains (I dislike bugs a little more now though).

I started with the drywall tape diagonal across both pages, as the walking path. Then I added the road using my 1999 Lyuell Harlow LG611 Stone Wall brass embossing plate. This I experimented with in my Big Shot. I put the metal tape on strips of card stock, ran it through the Big Shot, and then applied it to the page using more metal tape. Being a very thin brass plate it and then layers of tape on top, it didn’t show a deep embossed effect but doable for this. I thought I needed a defining line between the path and the road so I used the beaded string to make the road edges. 

                  Next, I started on the lake. I used the fun foam with waves embossed in it (purchased at the Dollarama). I cut it to fit up in the corner and wanted to find something in my stash to act as a rocky shore. I had purchased, from the fabric store, a set of two 80’s patches with antique brass half domes sewn on them. They were 99 cents and so I bought one for myself and one for Zoo. They reminded me of the shoulder patches in the Michael Jackson era and made my day at the time. Zoo, of course, didn’t have a clue why I had bought them or what the heck to do with them when she received hers : )        They did work perfect for a rocky beach, though, so this page was making me smile all the way during the process so far!

 For the grass, I used a million twig punches. Zoo needed a twig punch for some Christmas cards we were working on a year or two ago and I found one at Walmart here and sent it out to her. Before I send it, however, I killed my hands by punching out a million of them for my use. Well, I used up almost my entire stash in this project. The grass is made up of many, many layers of the twig punches glued on and then taped over. I found that my double-ended embossing tool worked the best to bring out the desired texture. I love the grass. I guess I am a little bit of a tactile person and running my hands over the grass and other areas on this page feels cool.

The tree in the upper left corner is made with my Fiskars tree punch. It was too small so I cut out more of them and trimmed the branches off and added them to expand the branch system. It turned out cute. The page needed a little something so I added a van cut out of card stock and taped over. I attached it using foam dimensionals on the top and glue and the two metal brads (bought from Dollarama years ago – yes… I love the dollar store!!!). 

 

I painted it with the black paint a couple of times until it had the effect I wanted.

I must say, that I do love this page. I had my book standing up on my table with this page open for weeks. Playing with metal tape is fun and inexpensive. Zoo and I will have to do more with it in the future.

 Enjoy! Red Bear : )

Metal Tape Practice

Hello again. Long time no see! Life… you know : )

Zoo found something on line about making boxes, frames and tags with metal tape. Ironically, this was at the same time that my husband and I were doing renovations and were using this product. Needless to say, I was intrigued to find a use for the tape that didn’t involve long days of ripping a building apart and months of rebuilding it.

The links she originally sent were as follows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4NI_8DdCJM&list=PLVqfrnNFxTJRqepNH0IgKvndDhPsLnBed&index=6 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmCdZ1QfYVY&list=PLVqfrnNFxTJRqepNH0IgKvndDhPsLnBed&index=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGc7Nd_xCY8

We decided to experiment during one of our Skype craft sessions and began by rummaging through our supplies to see what variety of things we could try under the tape.  I found: metal and paper die cuts; sequence shapes; punches; chip board buttons; a button; a pink felt heart; bead string; raised red stars; and a wooden oval with the letter T cut out of it. I tried different numbers of layers to see how the tape would cover each thickness (I wrote the number of layers beside the objects glued to the page).

 I then covered the entire page with metal tape. Not knowing what I was doing, I put the tape on in nice even rows so only the objects show through.  This looked very blah when finished, so I added more layers and shapes of tape on top to give it some character. Finding things to push the tape into and around the objects was a challenge. I ended up using the lid to a gel pen and my fingers for the most part. Using my double ended embossing tool, I added details like a spider web, grass, etc.

When it came time to paint over the tape I used Crafters Acrylic paints purchased at Dollarama. I tried three colours per page and discovered that I prefer just plain boring black. The other colours I found just looked odd. 

Lessons I learned in this experiment were that: different size and shape pieces of tape gives the paint more places to sit to show off the object; tears in the tape going over the beads and wood objects can be hidden when painted; even one layer of paper shows up through the tape, so it is not always necessary to layer objects to be seen; and adding details with pens or other tools is fun and adds personal touches.

Have fun! Red Bear : )

High hopes for mandatory Indigenous courses set to start at U of W - Aboriginal - CBC

A good start.  I think it should begin in High School myself.

High hopes for mandatory Indigenous courses set to start at U of W - Aboriginal - CBC:

"According to a 2011 Statistics Canada report, nearly 17 per cent of Manitoba's population identified as aboriginal — four times the Canadian average."

'via Blog this'

  Zoo

Chalk Card - and - Paper Bow

Chalk Card

Chalk Embossed Card

Pick a contrasting, in my case, a dark olive green, card base.

Cut a piece of contrasting, in my case, white, cardstock to fit the top of the card. If I were to do this again, I'd cut the white about one quarter of an inch smaller so as to show a larger frame of the dark colour border.

Emboss top of card.

Brush chalk on raised embossing.  Use one or three colours. In this case I used a yellow-green chalk and an darker olive green chalk.

You can use:

• Pan Chalk, the brand I have is Pebbles Inc. Ikandee Chalks "Earth Tones" 42003.
• what we typically think of as "teacher's chalk", the brand I have is Prang Gallery AMBRITE colored chalk for papier 53012, or,
• Chalk Pencils.  The brand I have is Faber-Castell PITT Pastel 1122-170 and 1122-174.

[I just did a Google Search for each of the product links I used.  I get my supplies from a local art supply store.]

Then use a nesting set of dies to cut a frame from the center of the white embossed card stock.  The set I used was Framelits - Labels Collection 125598, from my Stampin' Up dealer. Save the remaining frame for use on the inside if you like, or for another project.

Add a bit of bling a sentiment, and anything else you like on the inside and you're done!

Sentiment, Owl and Feather stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ME-800

Edited to add: Red Bear taught me how to make this card, it certainly wasn't my great idea, it was hers!

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DIY Embellishments - Paper Bows

Edited to add: click on the title above, it's a link to the video^^

I just discovered this video today and was impelled to try it as she said she was going to go over it again quickly!

I had some scrap tissue paper laying around and cut a 6 by 6 inch square and followed along.  Too easy!  If I can do it, you can do it!

Crafting NOT at my crafting table!

The smaller you cut your initial square, the smaller the bow.  No more extra postage for mailing a card just because you wanted a bow for it!

Ta Da!

Zoo

More Texture Paste

Good Morning.

It has been a long while since I have done a blog post and upon looking though my pictures, I found some more texture paste cards I have made. I thought I would include those in an easy continuation of using up the paper I have made theme and the texture paste creations theme.

These two are from my original experiments with texture paste and
I didn't know what to do with them. I don't do Halloween cards or
 decorations with the kids all moved out on their own, but turning them
 into 'shocking' birthday cards turned out cute and usable.

 I used up the remains of my last batch of paste that was starting to dry up by adding some kids glitter glue to it. I used three or four different stencils and covered a whole piece of canvas with it. I love it but have been mulling over what to do with it for months now. I don't want to ruin it so will keep mulling it over until I figure out what will look good or loose patience and just experiment (the more likely of the two).

I hope everyone is enjoying their Victoria Day long weekend. Our weather here is gorgeous and we hear lawn mowers and motorbikes galore. Happy Spring!!

Red Bear : )

Button Art

Good morning Bloggers,

Today’s topic will be about a recent creation I made for Zoo’s daughter, who has been ill. It so happens, that Zoo had recently sent me some links into the world of buttons and I decided it would be fun to delve into that for my get-well wishes, and so it began….

I don’t know what the protocol for inserting other people’s links are, but I will do it here so you can see where I came by the inspiration and some of the methods I mention. 

  http://bustedbutton.com/2015/05/18/button-turtle/    and                                      http://bustedbutton.com/2012/01/29/button-tree/   and                                    http://bustedbutton.com/2012/04/27/button-elephant/

Now Zoo’s Kidlet’s favourite colours are purple and yellow and she likes stegosaurus dinosaurs, as well, so I started there. I am not much of an artist so I looked on google images and free handed a stegosaurus similar to one I found there. 

 I began placing purple buttons on the drawing, starting with the bigger ones and filling in the gaps with smaller ones.  To distinguish the body from the spikes I used lighter purple buttons.  When I finished placing the buttons, I was then in a bit of a fix because I had 40 or more buttons on the original drawing and how then do I take them off so I can glue them on. Yes, this is a laugh at myself note for you to take an extra step and trace your figure onto the paper you will be using to secure your button creation to.

 At this point I had to go looking through papers to see where a purple dinosaur would look good living. I found in my folder of paper I had made or manipulated a lilac card stock with texture paste stars on it. This was one done in my first experiments with texture paste and the StampinUp! Stars stencil.

 I then had to take off the buttons and place them in order carefully on a cleared space on my desk in order to trace the dinosaur onto my paper of choice (this step could be avoided if you had already traced it onto the paper to begin with!). I took the advice of one of the bloggers in the links above and I coloured the figure with a purple watercolour pencil crayon and used my aqua pen to paint it smooth. I am not convinced this was necessary, as I can only see a tiny, tiny bit of the purple paint in the finished product. I imagine that if the buttons were see through or the seed beads didn’t reach all the empty spaces it would have been a good idea to have the proper colour under the buttons.

For glue, I ended up using Royal Coat Dimensional Magic. It is a clear liquid that when dries stays raised and see through to accent what is on the paper. I picked it because I hoped the buttons would sink into it and be welded into place. I did not want to do all this work and then have the buttons fall off in a month.

Once I had all the buttons glued into place, it was time to get the seed beads out and get started on them. At the beginning, I was sorting out the pale purple beads out of the mix of all pastel colours. It soon became apparent that it was going to take a lot more beads than I had first thought, and so I stopped sorting the purple ones out and poured the whole colour scheme on. This part in the process shows my lack of patience in the nit picky and I found it a challenge to finish it all in one sitting. However, once I finished the spikes and had some of the darker beads around the body it started looking much better and I was able to complete it. I wanted it to dry flat so I placed it between layers of parchment paper and placed a couple of heavy book on it to dry for a few days.

 It did turn out to be adorable and after trimming the paper, masking it on a darker purple and placing it in a white frame, it took a big plane ride across the country to it’s destination. Over all it was a quick project that I started and finished all in one day. I contemplated leaving the glass off the frame because it felt neat to run my hand over the dinosaur but in the end, I figured it would be easier to keep clean with the glass on.

Have a happy St Patty’s Day tomorrow and happy crafting!

Red Bear : )

Textured Wall paper Butterfly Card

Surprise… It’s me again. I thought I would be out of character and be the first one to do a blog post the other day to shock Zoo and here I am again. Like she said, I do produce a lot of cards to send to friends and family every month. My cards are fun to make and not always as detailed as Zoo’s but I enjoy sitting down and seeing what will be the finished product of the relaxing time spent in my craft room. As Zoo has now received the card I wanted to tell you about next, here it is.

I had some leftover textured wallpaper from renovating our upstairs bathroom and was playing with my water soluble wax pastels (by Caran D’ache of Switzerland) and my Stampin’Up! Aqua brush. I love the feel of the wallpaper! It is soft and pliable even after the pastels were applied, painted with water and dried. I kept the pieces of painted paper out to mull over what I wanted to do with them until inspiration finally struck.

I recently purchased a large page of butterfly stencils (one for me and one for Zoo) with four types of butterflies on it, all about 4” square in size. They are gorgeous. As the first card was to be for Zoo I chose the end of the wallpaper that had a lot of peach/pink on it. I used washi tape to attach the paper directly to the back of the stencil where I wanted it and then proceeded  to cut out all the shapes carefully, so as not to cut the stencil. It worked very well, though the hands and elbow barked at me afterward. I saved the bits I cut out and placed them aside in the correct placement for use on another card.

I found a little scrap piece of textured green paper that looked good under the butterfly and then mounted it on a complimentary pink card stock. I mounted the entire top piece onto the card stock using a piece of fun foam. It gave a uniform thickness and as it turns out, I didn’t have to pay extra postage. Yay! The idea of using the fun foam came from a YouTube video Zoo had sent me (sorry but I can’t find it at the moment – maybe Zoo will add the link later). I liked the uniform thickness for this card but on some cards I made the other day it didn’t make a difference between that and the double sided sticky taped dimensional squares I usually use.

The saved bits of the cut out butterfly I glued onto a plain piece of white card stock. It made a nice subtle card. Here is that one and some others I made with the remaining big pieces of wall paper. I really liked how the butterfly shows up so well from across the room. I wasn’t sure what I was going to use the butterfly stencil for but boy did this turn out nice! Oops. Forgot to mention that the stencil was made by Craft Décor. Cool... the computer added the asterisks for me. 

Hope you enjoy the butterflies. They made my day!

Red Bear : )

Using up scraps

Good morning and Happy 2016.

For a couple of months now I have been trying to use up some of the paper I have made or painted over the years and also to use scraps of paper and odds and sods from around my craft room. I always discover things I forgot I had when hunting for something in my craft room and it is my goal to use these things more often in future.

With that in mind, I found two tiny baggies containing little squares and four sided stars. I can’t for the life of me remember what project the squares are left over from but the little pointed bits are left overs from using a friend’s die cut plate. It was a stained glass type of die and because I never throw anything away, I saved the tiny bits in a baggy and forgot about them for a couple of years.

I haven’t used my embossing powders for a while (some of which are over 20 years old) and wanted to compare my old Bridal by Personal Stamp Exchange and my new Iridescent Ice by Stampin’Up!. The pink and purple one is Bridal and the blue/green one is Iridescent Ice. I prefer the Bridal one for this project but there is tinsel like sparkles on the Iridescent Ice one that in batter light is cool.

In making the card I wanted to use a stamp to cover all the squares and then to pull them apart and place them on a darker background. I had to think for a moment to find a way to keep all the little squares together while stamping, heat embossing and then keep them in order so I could transfer them to the darker paper.  I used my ZiG Memory System 2 way glue dotted all over a scrap piece of paper, let it dry (with the help of my heat gun, as I am not a patient person while crafting) and then placed the squares on in the pattern I wanted. It worked like a charm!!

The two stamps I used are my favourite background stamps, both by Stampin’Up!  I prefer the floral one as it had more surface area to emboss but they both worked well.

I used brads the colour of the background paper to bring depth to the card and it finished it off nicely. Now I just have to do the insides of the cards and then start all over with the remaining squares and pointy bits to use them all up so they don’t go back a drawer for a couple more years.

I hope everyone has an awesome 2016 and that you and yours are happy, healthy and near loved ones!

Take care and have fun,

Red Bear : )