Tips and Techniques Thursday

Welcome to my first edition of Tips and Techniques Thursday.  I thought it would be fun to share some of the (sometimes useful) information I have floating around in my head, waiting to get out.  Some of the information here was either ascertained from friends, from books or magazines, or simply things I learned myself along my own art journey.  Let me begin by first apologizing for not crediting anyone in particular, as I simply cannot remember from whom or from where I learned them.  Instead, I hope you will enjoy reading, sharing, and possibly learning from them.  Most of them you may already know, so I always think of it as simply a memory refresher.


TIP #1 - When applying adhesive with either a red or white liner, it is always helpful to use a bone folder to burnish the adhesive down before trying to remove the liner.  It makes the adhesive stick to the paper more than to the liner, thus making it easier for the liner to be removed.  


TIP #2 - Speaking of bone folders, if you can afford to buy one, a teflon bone folder is well worth the extra money.  Nothing will stick to it, and it will not leave a shine on your paper when you crease it.  They are also quite nice for applying rub-ons, altering books, laying down collage papers, etc.  If glue oozes out onto your bone folder, it wipes off easily.  


TIP #3 - When running papers or die cuts through your Xyron adhesive machine, there is a way to prevent the excess stickiness that remains inside ornate shapes, as well as on the edges.  Again, using your bone folder, burnish the adhesive to the paper from the back side (the side with the liner paper), and also run your burnisher around the edges and inside delicate openings of die cuts before removing the shape from the liner paper.  If your Xyron adhesive has the clear plastic on top, then burnish the openings and edges from that side as well.  The few extra seconds you take to do this now will save you from trying to remove the unwanted adhesive on your project later.


I hope you enjoyed this weeks tips, and please check back often to find out what other useful tidbits I come up with.  


Thanks for stopping by.  You made my day!


Barbara

Robin's Nest Design Team

I am so very happy (and excited) to announce that I am now a member of the Robin's Nest design team for the next six months.  I cannot express how honored I am to be chosen and to be able to share my art with you, along with the other talented artists on the team.

The Robin's Nest carries beautiful papers, Dew Drops, and other embellishments that I know you will just have to have, so I encourage you to check back regularly to visit the design team's monthly submissions for some great ideas.  The Monthly Robin's Nest Page Map Challenge is open to everyone, and I invite you to participate for a chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate to the Robin's Nest On-Line Store!  More information about that is on their website.

I hope to inspire your creativity over the next six months, and I thank you, with all my heart, for stopping by.

Barbara

Leslie Rahye's Red, White, and Blue Summer Steampunk Blog Hop

Hello everyone, and welcome back to this edition of Leslie Rahye's Red, White, and Blue Summer Steampunk Blog Hop.  Please join me and the other talented artists participating in today's blog hop for some fun and creative ideas using... what else, red, white and blue.

 I made this card using the Mary Vogel Lozinak Steampunk Owl from Viva Las Vegas Stamps, which I had previously stamped onto Clayboard (aka Stampbord) by Ampersand, colored with Clayboard Inks, and cut out using a scroll saw.  (For more information on how I made this cute little guy, please see my earlier post from 27 May 2012.

I also used Spellbinders' dies from Donna Salazar's Sprightly Sprockets set to make the various parts of the balloon.  After die cutting different sizes of sprockets from the GCD Studio's Independence paper collection,  I layered them using foam dots to add dimension.  I  added Tim Holtz Idea-ology gears and spinners to "punk" it up a bit more.

For the balloon rope, I wrapped a piece of wire with more wire and attached one end beneath the balloon and the other end beneath the owl.  Yes, it took just a little bit more time to make, but I liked that look better than using twine or ribbon.

Well, I sure hope you enjoyed my summer steampunk card, and please be sure to visit all of the other blogs for more inspirational ideas and just downright good fun!!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a terrific Summer!!!

Barbara

Robin's Nest Design Team Application

Hello there, and welcome to my submission for application to join the Robin's Nest Design Team. I decided to make this beautiful wall hanging.  I am so excited about this project, and The Robin's Nest products are so fun to use.  This project was so simple to make, and would make a great gift for that special someone.

Before you start painting or sanding the plaque, flip the plaque over and trace the inside oval onto  the back side of the paper and cut out.  Set the oval aside.

Now, sand the plaque edges, then paint just the side edges that will not be covered with the paper.  I picked three colors of brown that I thought would work well with this paper.  (NOTE:  Instead of mixing the colors together, I kept them separate and double or triple loaded my foam brush and applied the paint, allowing the colors to partly mix on the wood.  This way, you can match just about any color because your eye is not trying to see that one color and compare it to the color you are trying to match.)

Then I sponged a bit of metallic antique copper paint, which added a bit of sparkle to enhance the glitter in the paper.

Adhere the previously cut out paper oval to the center of the plaque.  Lightly sand the paper edges with sandpaper or an emery board, then ink the edges with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

I love dimension, and what better way to add dimension than to add beautiful flowers made with the beautiful papers from The Robin's Nest.  I die cut mini rosettes from the Dark Vanilla Stripe paper.  I thought these elegant stripe designs would work quite well to make beautiful rosettes by simply choosing which stripe you wanted to show.  All you need to do is carefully align the die within the stripe area and cut it out, accordion fold it, glue it, adhere it.  Voila, beautiful rosettes from beautiful paper.

Creative Paperclay Flower on paper rosette

Of course, the flat circle in the rosette center needs some dimension.  So I used a Vintaj black Metal Arte flower as a mold.  This particular charm is hollow on the back, so I pushed some Creative Paper Clay into the back side of it, using more than I needed so that when I pressed it onto a flat surface, it would extrude past the "mold", and I just used a toothpick to remove the excess clay.  

After the clay dried, I used the Raw Umber and Metallic Antique Copper acrylic paints to color the clay flower, as shown in above photo.  

Mini drawer pull

Mini drawer pull used as flower center

Next, I die cut some tattered flowers from the Dark Vanilla and Fleur Latte papers.  I painted the mini drawer pull with the Metallic Antique Copper paint, using a couple of very thick coats of paint and using a heat gun to bubble the paint for texture.  I drilled a 1/4" hole in the plaque, then glued the mini drawer pull through the center of the flower.

7Gypsies optical lens highlighting paper piece

From the Dark Vanilla paper, I cut out a flower image from the top border and glued it to a 7Gypsies vintage optical lens.  I also die cut flourishes from chipboard, painted them with the raw umber and metallic antique copper paints, and applied soil dew drops for dimension.

The Robin's Nest Dew Drops accent paper

Here I added some beautiful Robin's Nest dew drops to the design printed on the paper.  I used the round champagne dew drops in the center, and clear tear drops along the outer points.   I was so very pleased with the result.  It looks super in person.

For the banner at the top, I die cut a piece of Dark Vanilla paper from the Tattered Banners die, then ran it through the computer to print the title "Robin's Nest".

I had a bit of the Dark Vanilla paper left, so I made this card using the same techniques and embellishments.  So simple, but so very elegant.

To check out more of their products, please visit The Robin's Nest - Scrapbooking and More

To view more beautiful projects by their very talented design team, and to participate in the monthly challenges, please visit  Chattering Robins Blog

Dark Vanilla paper

Robin's Nest Products Used:

Dark Vanilla 12x12 paper
Dark Vanilla Stripe 12x12 paper
Fleur Latte 12x12 paper
Champagne Dew Drops
Soil Dew Drops
Clear Tear Drops

Other Products Used:

7x9 wooden oval plaque
Crafts Etc. Drawer Pulls (.64" x .758")
FolkArt Acrylic Paints (Toffee)(Nutmeg)

Dark Vanilla Stripe paper

(Metallic Antique Copper)
Americana Acrylic Paint (Raw Umber)
7Gypsies Vintage optical lense
Sizzix Tattered Flowers Die
Sizzix Mini Rosettes Die
Sizzix Flourishes
Sizzix Tattered Banners
Creative Paperclay
Vintaj Arte Metal Blooming Flower
Ranger Glossy Accents

Fleur Latte paper

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful, creative day!

Barbara Rankin

The French General Meets Tim Holtz

I just love this new paper line from EK Success/ Jolee's called The French General.  I wanted to see how well this French countryside inspired collection would coordinate with Tim Holtz's vintage, shabby line of products.   I was inspired by my dear friend, Ronnie Goff, to use canvases for this project.  These two 8" x 8" canvases are the result.

Not so surprisingly, as you can see, the two product lines work quite well together.  

The first step is to ink the edges of your canvas using a coordinating ink.  In this case, I used Ranger's Distress Ink in Chipped Sapphire on the blue canvas, and Fired Brick on the red canvas.

Now you can distress the edges of your chosen paper using a distressing tool.  I did this to imitate frayed fabric, in keeping with the sewing theme.  If you do not want to leave the edges white, as shown, then you can ink the edges of the paper with the same ink.  

Next, adhere the paper to your canvas on the top, and cut strips from coordinating paper to adhere to the sides.  I used a tacky white glue and a foam brush to accomplish this.

Before attaching any embellishments, I used a small piece of drywall tape as a stencil to dab paint onto the  paper.  I did this on both canvas pieces to help tie them both together.  

Die cut various Tim Holtz dies from chipboard.  I have listed those dies used below.  In this picture, I used the Tim Holtz On The Edge Sewing Border die and painted the scissors and bobbin using Ranger Silver Paint Dabber. 

I want to make this border more dimensional, so I cut a second piece from chipboard, and cut the pieces apart, as shown in the picture.  

When I flip this scissor piece over, I get the second blade of the scissors that was cut off in the border die.

I also painted this piece with the silver dabber paint, and using a piercing tool, I punched a hole through both scissor blades and inserted a brad.  I also layered the second spool piece on top of the first for added dimension, inking the chipboard with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Inks, then wrapping floss around it and inserting a needle.  Antique buttons were sewn through the chipboard pieces to attach them, which is the only reason I did not cut them off from the bottom layer.

To make the bobbin look more realistic, I punched a 7/8" circle from a scrap of metal flashing, and traced the holes onto it.  Then I used a cropadile to punch the 1/4" middle hole and the smaller holes using the 1/8" punch.  I attached the piece of flashing to the chipboard bobbin with an eyelet through the center hole.  

Here are a few more closeups of various parts of the canvas.

Products used:

- Sizzix Tim Holtz Sewing Room die

- Sizzix Tim Holtz Sizzlits Mini Paper Rosettes

- Sizzix Tim Holtz Styled Labels

- Sizzix Tim Holtz Sewing Edge
- Sizzix Tim Holtz Heart Wings

- Sizzix Bird Branch 

- K&Company Life's Journey Metal Frames

- French General 12x12 paper pad

- French General Red Notions Kit

- French General Layered Metal Resin Cameos

- French General Metallic & Icons Ribbon

- French General Glassine Envelopes with Seal (seal only)

-Jenni Bowlin Vintage Buttons - Red

- BoBunny Weekend Market Trinkets

- FabScraps metal filigree embellishments

- Tim Holtz Idea-ology  Philosophy Tags

- Tim Holtz Idea-ology  Metal Foliage

- Prima Laraine Black Tie flowers

- Distress Ink - Fired Brick

- Distress Ink - Chipped Sapphire

- Distress Ink - Vintage Photo

- Distress Ink - Walnut Stain

- Two 8x8 Dick Blick canvases

- Ranger Dabber Paint - Silver

Thanks so much for stopping by and, as always, I hope I have been able to inspire you to experiment and have fun.

Have a great day!

Barbara