Spring Card with The Robin's Nest and Gel-á-tins

 

Hello again, TRN fans, and welcome back to our blog.  I hope you are all beginning to see the signs of Spring wherever you live.  Here, in the mid-South, we had a fairly mild winter, so I fear we may have a HOT Summer awaiting us.  If you are needing a bit of Spring inspiration, however, I hope you will visit the Daisy Days blog hop, sponsored by The Robin's Nest.  There is still time to hop and leave a comment to enter the giveaways at each of the 18, yes, 18 blogs, and a grand prize from The Robin's Nest.    The odds are certainly in your favor to win, so I hope you will try to visit and have some fun with us.  All winners will be announced at The Chattering Robins blog on Sunday, April 21st.

There is still more news to tell you.  The Sorbet Glitter CS collection is still on sale this month at 20% off.  Also this month, we are teaming up with another wonderful company that I am sure your are familiar with, Gel-à-tins.  All of their stamp sets come in these cute metal tins for storage.  They also carry their own brand of embossing powders, some of which are scented.  Here are the products I get to play with.

 This is a super duper easy card, and here is my finished piece.  I think this would make a wonderful Mother's Day card, don't you?  It is so Springy, and certainly feminine.

1.  Stamp and emboss one of the petals 7 times onto the reverse side Pink Crackle Glitter CS.  Cut out the petals and set aside.  (Tip:  When trimming embossed images, always leave a tiny bit of CS around the edge so that the embossing powder does not chip off.  If you do not like the edge showing, you can always ink the edge with a matching color.)

2.  Stamp and emboss the doodle circles "live", 'laugh", 'love" onto scrap vanilla CS.  Cut out each circle and set aside.

3.  Lay a piece of double-sided adhesive down, sticky side up.  I used a jumbo sized (1") glue dot for this.  Arrange your petals as you adhere them to the glue dot or adhesive.

4.  Add your word circle to the flower center with a large foam dot.  Add pink gumdrop tear shaped dew drops to each petal.  (See finished card photo above).

Foam dots give some dimension to the flower center.  (See photo below).

5.  Just as you made the flower petals, stamp three open petals onto the front side of kiwi sorbet cardstock using shabby shutters distress ink.  Cut out each and set aside.

6.  Trim blue raspberry sorbet CS to 5" x 6-1/2", adhere to front of white card. (See photo below).

7.  Punch 1" x 7" strip of shocking pink CS with scallop eyelet edge punch, adhere to front of card, as shown.  Trim excess.  (Tip:  I like to cut my strips longer than I need so that I can center the decorative edge on the card.  I have also found that a wet glue works best when adhering paper to the glittery side of this cardstock.)

8.  Arrange large flower, leaves, and  word circles onto card front, as shown in finished card photo above.  Add tiny heart to "love" word circle.  Use glossy accents to adhere large clear circle dew drop.

Supplies Used:

The Robin's Nest Pink Crackle Glitter CS
The Robin's Nest Blue Raspberry Sorbet Glitter CS
The Robin's Nest Shocking Pink Sorbet Glitter CS
The Robin's Nest Kiwi Sorbet Glitter CS
The Robin's Nest Gum Drops Tear Dew Drops
The Robin's Nest Large Clears Dew Drops
5"x 6-1/2" White Card (Michaels)
Gel-à-tins Stamp Set (Doodle Garden)
Gel-à-tins Unscented Gelly-Powder (Pink of Me)
Stamp n' Stuff embossing powder (Sea Mist Pearls)
Colorbox Pigment Ink (Pink, Moss Green)
Distress ink (Shabby Shutters)
Martha Stewart edge punch (Scallop Eyelet)
Foam dots

I hope you have enjoyed my card project today, and will visit our blogs often for more fun and inspiration, as well as updates on new TRN products and monthly sales at The Robin's Nest online store.  Also, please check out the Gel-à-tin's website, as well, to see their latest products.

Thanks again for stopping by, and have a very happy Spring and a wonderful week!

Barbara

Ornate Hinged Door Card

Hello Sin City Scraps fans.  I am so glad you stopped by today.  I first want to tell you about the new stamp plates that are available for pre-order.  There are five new plates and they are all only $13.00 each until the 7th of April.  Click here to see these gorgeous stamp plates.  Each plate contains many images, so this is a super good buy.

Now for today's project.  This week, I am using one of Sin City Scraps fabulous rubber stamp plates. This one is called Metal Madness, and I have to say, I am absolutely "mad" for this one.   The images on this plate are absolutely gorgeous, and my mind is reeling with ideas for this set.

To begin with, I made this really cool card using this ornamental background image.  It reminds me of an ornate door, so I decided to go with that.

I love the phrase on this plate:  "Art is never finished, only abandoned".  I thought this would be nice for the recipient to find inside when they open the door.  To enhance the phrase, I die cut a Spellbinders fancy tag out of black card stock and, with an embossing mat, ran it through the machine again to emboss it.  The photo below shows what is beneath the door, before the door was added  to the card front.  

Directions:

1.  When embossing onto card stock, especially a glossy card stock, it is a good idea to swipe the card with an anti-static pouch to help keep the stray embossing powder from sticking to the card.

2.  Stamp image with Versamark ink onto card stock and heat emboss the image using detail gold embossing powder.

3.  Fussy cut the image.

4.  Distress the image with Brilliance archival ink.  Distress inks are dye-based and do not dry on non-porous card stock, such as glossy.

5.  Follow steps 1 and 2 for the ornate background image using black detail embossing powder.

6.  Before cutting out, adhere the image to the reverse side of your chosen print paper.  This will be the back side of the door when it is open.  Trim all layers at one time and distress edges with black soot.

7.  One easy way to find center of a rectangle is to first draw an "X" from corner to corner.

8.  Using my door image piece to determine where I will make my frame opening, I aligned the corners to match the pencil marks.

9.  Draw around the door image with pencil.  I wanted my frame a bit smaller than the door, so I used those pencil marks to remove approximately 1/4" more all around, inside the frame.

10.  Adhere the reverse side of the paper  frame to black card.  The rectangle you cut from the center is now reversed and inserted back into the opening.  This is the result.
11.  To make the door open, you will need some sort of hinge.  When I saw these ornate decorations, I thought "hinge".  Follow steps 1-3 using black detail embossing powder.

12.  Fold the hinges in half, but leave the center straight, just as if you were folding a butterfly, leaving the body flat.

13. Attach one half of each hinge to the front side of the door and adhere only that portion of the hinge.  When it is dry, align the door to the front of the card and glue the center and part of the remaining hinge to the front.  Clamp down until glue dries before proceeding.

14.  Turn the remaining portion of hinge to the back and adhere.

15.  Clamp the hinges until dry.

16.  Here is what your hinge should look like when finsihed.

17.  Attach the pocket watch image to the front at an angle, as shown.

18. Attach a half moon bullet holder over the center of the clock.

And here is the final photo of the card front beneath the door.  The hinges are attached and working as they should, and you still have the traditional inside of the card to write your sentiment.

Supplies Used:

Sin City Scraps rubber stamp plate - Metal Madness
Gold/Silver marbled glossy cardstock
Bo Bunny 12x12 double-sided paper - Timepiece Numbers
Spellbinders Die - Fancy Tags Three
Black Soot distress ink
Versamark ink
Detail Black embossing powder (Mark Enterprises)
Brilliance Lightning Black ink (Tsukineko)
Glossy Accents (Ranger)
Tombo Mono Multi Liquid Glue

I hope you have been inspired to try making a door front card.  Just imagine all the things you could hide beneath the door, to the surprise and wonderment of the recipient.

I hope you will take a moment to visit Sin City Scraps online store to check out their wonderful products and pre-order sale, and to check back often to visit the blog to see what the other wonderful designers have come up with to entice and inspire you.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a happy, creative week.

Barbara

Altered Shamrock Catcher

Hello there, Sin City Scraps fans.  It seems there is always something to celebrate, so my first thought was, of course, St. Patrick's Day.  And I love my new stamp plate from Sin City Scraps, Fairies Plate 2.  There are so many images on these plates, and I still have not used them all.  Some of the flowery like images called out to me... SHAMROCKS.  And then, there are the fairies.  Well, what better way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day than to find a fairy and catch a few shamrocks for good luck.  And how do you catch a shamrock?  With a mouse trap, of course.  I am too much of an animal lover to use them for anything else than catching shamrocks or altered art.

In case you were wondering about fairies vs. leprechauns and St. Patrick's Day, I found this little bit of information on the internet at http://www.irishcentral.com/

The truth? There is no such thing as leprechauns in Ireland so apologies to any would be believers in magical crocks of gold. The whole leprechaun thing was more of a Disney invention that came along with the likes of bad ‘oirish’ accents in films such as ‘Darby O’Gill and the Little People’.....
But fairies....they do exist, Oh yes and here in Ireland we do not mess with the fairies, ever! They are known to live in very special places called fairy rings, which are raised earthen circular mounds that you will see all over Ireland.  You are welcome to visit them, walk around them, make a wish by all means .... But it is thought to be very bad luck to interfere with these mounds. Driving motorways through them, Bad Very Bad....Certain trees are revered too, especially hawthorns which country people will never chop down or remove for fear of disturbing the fairies who often live underneath and who are likely to wreak havoc if disturbed? ie, sour milk, cause crops to fail, animals to sicken and die.....
So don’t say ye haven’t been warned !

 So, now that the history lesson is over, let's begin.  Here is my version of a shamrock catcher.

First, I found these 4-packs of mouse traps at my local Dollar Tree store (with art in mind, of course). 

Choose a piece of plain green paper from the pad, stamp image with Versamark ink, heat emboss with Emerald Green embossing powder.  

Here is a little tip I learned years ago ... coffee filters make wonderful embossing powder catchers.  They don't seem to have any static in them and form a funnel shape easily for returning the powder to the jar.  Use them over and over again.  

Fussy cut the stamped image, leaving a tiny edge of the paper so you do not cut into the embossing powder, which will cause it to chip off.  Fold each petal in half, as shown.  

Cut along one fold line up to the center.  Accordion fold each petal, as shown.  Are you seeing a shamrock yet?

Trim a small piece of the white cording and spritz with the emerald green smooch spritz.  Adhere to the back of the shamrock to make the shamrock stem.

Stamp the fairy image with white pigment ink onto another piece of print paper, heat emboss with clear embossing powder.  Add Distress ink colors in shaded lilac and peacock feathers.  Fussy cut the fairy.  Glue her to the top of the trap, as shown.

I love the fairy saying on this plate, but it is too large for this piece.  So, what to do?  To make it smaller, I stamped it onto a piece of shrink plastic using black archival ink and added a light coat of peeled paint distress ink.  The color will intensify as the plastic shrinks.

I used a spellbinders die to cut out the phrase and punched a hole in the side for hanging.  Make sure to punch your hole a bit larger than what you need, as it will shrink to a much smaller size.  

Pre-shrunk shrink plastic

Use your heat gun to shrink the plastic.  It will curl and look awful, but it always straightens itself out.

When completely shrunk, you can flatten it with the back of your wooden stamp or acrylic block.

Completely shrunk shrink plastic

For the mousetrap:

Carefully remove the metal trap parts from the wood base and set aside.  I used a heavy duty awl to lift the staples up and out.  A screw driver may also work for this.

Cover the front of the mouse trap with another piece of print paper from the pad.   I used a good white glue to adhere the paper to the wood.  

Turn the trap over and use a small pin to mark your holes on the front again.  This will help you re-attach the metal parts.

I distress inked the edges of the trap with peeled paint, and added a coat of some glittery green nail polish to the edges.  I thought this finished off the sides very nicely.

Re-attach the metal parts to the trap base.  Place the shamrock beneath the clip to "catch" it.  I used a jump ring to hang my saying from the top of the clip, as shown.  At the last minute, I decided the metal was too shiny, so I added some gilder's paste in copper and verdigris.

Supplies Used:
Sin City Scraps Fairies Plate 2
Kaisercraft 6-1/2" x 6-1/2" Blae & Ivy paper pad
Spellbinders die-Labels 25 (size 3)
Emerald Green embossing powder
Clear embossing powder
Versamark ink pad
Black archival ink
Colorbox Frost White pigment ink pad
Distress Ink Peeled Paint, Shaded Lilac, Peacock Feathers
White PPA glue 
Maya Road white paper twine cording
Smooch Spritz Emerald Sprinkle
Beacon 3-in-1 glue
White shrink plastic
Copper jump ring
Emerald green glittery nail polish
Light green tulle
Baroque Art Gilder's Paste - copper, verdigris

I sure hope you like my project today.  I had so much fun making this.  So be sure to check out the Sin City Scraps online store for more of their fabulous stamp designs and stamping products.  And be sure to come back to the blog often for more inspiration from the talented design team.  

Have a wonderful weekend, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!  

Good luck to all,
Barbara