Sunny Card with Alcohol Inks

Sometimes when I'm stamping, I have a goal in mind (make a card featuring orange for a dear friend who is retiring from work).

These goals generate a few ideas (alcohol inks - since I don't have much orange paper, pick a great Club Scrap stamp, find a good sentiment).

I settled on the sentiment right away, but couldn't decide on the image.  The mosaic card I made earlier this week was a "reject."  I loved the colors, but wasn't quite as happy with the image - I wanted more black on the image to contrast with the bright colors. Check out this video from Ranger to learn more about the technique and materials to make the orange panels.

Besides the alcohol ink background here, nothing fancy.  Just a lot of layering of some great papers, a little rick rack for some added interest, and some great stamps in black ink.

Materials list:

• Card stock from Club Scrap (Gimme a Ring) and Stampin' Up (glossy cardstock)
• Alcohol inks from Jacquard (Sunbright Yellow, and Calabaza Orange)
• Stamps from Club Scrap (Fossils - old friend, Perfect 10 - collage image)

Tutorial - Mosaic Card

A while ago, somebody asked me how I use up my card scraps, and I thought back to another card I had posted.  I thought I would share my process for making this card.

First, start with an image.  In my case, this is piece of glossy cardstock that I pounced on with alcohol inks and then stamped with an image (check out this video from Ranger to learn more about this).  You could use patterned paper, a cut out from a magazine, or anything that strikes your fancy.

Next, cut the image into pieces.  I like to make mine around 1" square (these are 7/8" square).  This is a nice size to work with (not too big, not too small) and can easily fit onto a variety of card sizes.  Those rectangular pieces are discarded.  Not all sizes of images will work perfectly to the size that you want to cut.

I thought I still needed more black on my squares, so I stamped a little more on them with a coordinating stamp.  I used a color wheel to pick a teal color to mat the squares, and then just layered some other interesting scraps to finish the card.  I did rotate and mix up the pieces for a more abstract look.

This is a great technique that I use quite frequently.  Because of my engineering background, I like things to line up, but they don't have to!  It can also be used with circles or other geometric shapes.

Experiment and have fun!  I hope you share what you create!

Materials list:

• Card stock from Club Scrap and Stampin' Up (So Saffron - yellow, glossy cardstock)
• Alcohol inks from Jacquard (Sunbright Yellow, and Calabaza Orange)
• "Happy Birthday" from Stampin' Up (Teeny Tiny Wishes)
• Word window and modern label punch from Stampin' Up
• Time and Space stamps from Club Scrap

Easter Basket from a French Fry Container!

I was very happy to receive one of the new Tim Holtz Sizzix dies (Tattered Florals) in the mail last week, and couldn't wait to use it on a project.  I adore the vintage look of his new dies, and I'm going to have a lot of fun creating with them.

I took the Sizzix french fry box to make this sweet and non-traditional Easter basket.  It was easiest to decorate this before assembling.  For easy assembly (I made 16 in one night!) try this:

• Die cut all of the pieces
• Stamp all of the pieces as desired (I used the Ivory Elegance stamp from Club Scrap to create a nice scroll work; this particular stamp is no longer available)
• Punch holes in all of the sides (the Crop-a-dile made this easy work, since I could punch about 8 pieces of card stock at a time)
• Pierce hole in center of flowers and front of french fry box
• Attach flowers with a brad (I chose an initial from the recipient's name)
• Fold all of the pieces and reinforce with bone folder
• Put adhesive on all of the flaps
• Assemble the box (Sizzix has a great pdf that shows all of the steps)
• Put eyelets in the holes on the side pieces
• Tie ribbon (15 inches was a nice length)
• Fill with grass and candy
• Sit back and admire your handy work!

I made these for my co-workers to thank them for everything they do to make my job easier.  I couldn't do my job without their help.  I hope they enjoy the sweet treat!

The finished book

Here is my finished book with a floating style stone in the cover:




I really enjoy putting beads on my spine.  One of the threads is left over from sewing the binding.  The other pair of threads are created by tying a long piece of linen thread around the kettle stitch at the top.




I think I seriously dreamt up this project, and I am so happy to see it completed.  It really matches what was in my head when I started, which feels great.  This project was very complicated.  If you missed any of the steps, this is what I did:

1. Decorated the style stone
2. Created the covers
3. Added the floating element to the cover
4. Assembled the book

All of the papers and most of the beads were from Club Scrap.  The ribbon is a grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up!

I actually made one before this to test my technique out.  I'll share that when I have a chance to finish the beading, take more pictures, and finish working on some Easter projects!

Assembling the book

I made the text block for the book by cutting sheets of 8.5 x 11 paper into 5.5 x 8.5 pieces.  Each piece was folded in half, and stitched together using the same technique as this journal from Club Scrap.

I gathered my back cover, text block, ribbon (I like grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up!), a foam brush, and my bookbinding glue.

Apply the glue to the back page of the book.

Spread the glue around using the brush, making sure that there aren't any parts without glue, or globs of glue anywhere.

Lay the book on the back cover, and burnish into place with a bone folder.  I usually lay a piece of clean paper on top so that my bone folder doesn't leave any marks on the book.  If you have used the right amount of glue, very little (or no) glue will ooze out the sides.

I then wrap the book in waxed paper and put it in my book press to cure overnight.  Sometimes I do both covers at once, but in this case, I decided to do one cover at a time.  It's a bit easier to handle when one cover is stable.

Check back later this week, and I'll show you the final embellishments and final book!