Hey Everyone! I'm super excited to be a Guest Designer for A Crafty Little Place today. Hope you are having a fun weekend and maybe getting in a little crafting too.
Today I decided to focus on a few of my favorite things...
Spellbinders and Copics... They're not just for paper you know. So grab a cup of something and settle in because I have a lot to share:) PS. This is a long post. I hope you will stay with me to the end:)
Did you know that you can use Copics to help coordinate all of those embellishments for your card?? Did you know that Spellbinder's and fabric work well together? Did you know that flower embellishments are all the rage right now? Did you know that you can make your own? Let me show you how.
All my projects today use the APRIL MINI CARD KIT.
If you don't have this then you really must get it.
For this project you will need:
A die cut machine
Copic Markers
Spellbinder's Big Scalloped Circle and Heart Nestabilities
April Card Kit
Fabric of your choice
( I used leftover fabric from some window treatments that I had altered. LOVE to recycle)
Step 1. Cut out 3 varying sizes of scalloped circles with your die cutting machine and fabric. You will also need to cut out a heart shape from this same fabric using the Heart Nestabilities. TIP: You may need to add a few pieces of paper (shims) as you run this through the machine. I go through once then back through again to ensure that my fabric was cut all the way. You may still have to trim a bit depending on the thickness of your fabric.
Step 2. I decided I wanted my flower to be a different color. I used an R21 Copic Marker to simply color the fabric. Tip: Make sure you continue to work, keeping a "wet" edge to avoid streaking.
Step 3. The beautiful May Arts Ribbon from the kit needed a bit of coloring as well. I used a G99 Copic Marker to color to the length I needed.
Step. 4. Adhere your ribbon using Scor Tape. This is THE best adhesive for ribbon or anything really. It's particularly fabulous for ribbon pleating, IMO.
Step 5. I stamped my sentiment using Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress ink right onto my fabric heart. Then layered 2 of my colored scalloped circles ( because 3 was too big) and put my card together.
VOILA!
You may notice the 3 little pearls at the top. Those are also in the April Kit. However, they are white. So, you guessed it, I colored them with my Copics:) Aren't Copics awesome???
But WAIT! There's more.....
Want to see another way to jazz up that flower???
You will need:
Die cut machine
Copics
Big Scalloped Circle Nestabilities
April Card Kit
Old Jeans
Mini Mister filled with Colorless Blender Solution optional
Scoring tool
small circle punch
Hot glue gun
For this project you will need to cut out 3 of the same sized scalloped circles. I used the 3rd smallest I believe. Now for the rest...
Step 1. Cut 3 strips of paper a little less than 1/2 inch in width. Since I am using the card kit these measure 1/2" x 6". Score every 1/4". Do this to all three. Tip: You can play around with the length and width depending on the size of fan folded flower you want. You can use a border punch along one edge to change the look as well. Today we are going simple.
Step 2. Accordian pleat this paper and punch out a small circle of scrap paper
Step 3. Adhere the ends together. I found that my Zig pen just didn't hold well enough so I used a glue gun for this step.
Step 4. Ok. Here's where it gets a bit tricky to explain, demonstrate and photograph. Scrunch the accordian circle up like so....then....
Step 5. Splay it out. Basically you are pushing the inside in while splaying the outer edges out. Get it? It will look like this (left pic). You may have to play around to get it just right. Hold it TIGHT. Put some hot glue on that little circle you punched out and stick the bottom side of your "flower" on top of the glue. Some people use glue dots for this. Honestly, those never work for me and frustration ensues. Glue guns ROCK! I have the low temp one and it's perfect for paper crafts. It should look like the photo on the right now.
Step 6. More coloring! I took B34 and colored the creme trim and flowers from the kit to look like denim
Step 7. To get a more mottled look that would resemble denim I sprayed my colored flower with colorless blender solution. This is totally optional.
Here is a picture of all my supplies and it's time to assemble my card.
Step 8. To make your jazzed up flower~ layer the denim, red fan folded flower, blue colored flower and finish with a pearl on top.
Here's the finished project:
Just wanted to point out that you can also color your stamp with copics, mist with Colorless Blender solution and stamp. I did this for my sentiment on this card. It isn't the easiest thing since the image can come out blurry and uneven. I had to practice this quite a bit. It is doable. However, I would never attempt this directly on my project. Give it a try! See what you think.
One more sample using Circles Nestabilities, vellum and an embossing folder for my flower. Cut out circles and emboss. Spritz the vellum with water and Tim Holtz Perfect Pearls mixture and crumble up edges. Sponge with ink, layer and top with a button!
We MADE it! The end!
Thanks for hanging in there for what turned out to be a REALLY long tutorial. I hope I've inspired you to find creative and interesting ways for using some of the supplies you already have and for getting the April Kit. It's really fabulous!
Have a safe and blessed weekend!
You can visit Nikki at Nikki Stamps. She's always got something great posted on her blog. Not to mention...if you stop by she'll blow you kisses!
Thanks for being our GDT this week Nikki, you did an amazing job with your tutorials.
