Tag: technique

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Shakers & Inlays

My first class for the year was held at Scrapbook Central, Petone, Wellington.

Today’s class focused on creating a shaker card, and using the leftover die cut pieces to do some inlay, thus creating a second card. We also looked at some basic copic colouring and introduced the class participants to two colour blends – pink and orange.

Butterfly secured inside the shaker in such a way that it remains upright, but can still move about quite freely.
Die cut inlay and butterfly built and coloured in layers.

A shaker is an interactive card, which has depth and a window to see tiny elements such as confetti, sequins, beads etc freely moving about in a contained space. They move when shaken. We stepped up the basic shaker to include a die cut butterfly inside that is secured in such a way that it will never flip, fall to the bottom, always remaining the right way up but still moving freely in the shaker.

Die cut inlay is a technique where a die is cut twice and the inner pieces transferred to the second die cut outer frame – usually with contrasting colour ways – creating a smooth surface with great interest.

Supplies List:

Both cards were constructed onto a Bazzill Marshmallow 4.25 x 5.5 inch card base. All supplies listed are available from Scrapbook Central – you can order online, or visit instore.

  • Memory Box Side Butterfly Frame
  • Memory Box Jotted Birthday Script
  • Lawn Fawn Happy Happy Happy Stamp & Die set
  • Echo Park Mini Blossoms Background Stamp
  • Kaisercraft Blooms Embossing Folder
  • Circle dies – 3″ and 3.25″. I used the Hero Arts Nesting Circle Dies set.
  • Distress Oxides – Squeezed Lemonade, Cracked Pistachio, Tumbled Glass
  • Copics – YR18, YR15, YR12, RV06, RV04, RV02
  • Textured Paper
  • Nuvo Glitter paper in Silver and Black
  • Acetate
  • Nuvo Sequins
  • Double sided adhesive foam sheets
  • Foam strips and squares

Class attendees were given a kit with pre-cut elements. And chocolate. (Who crafts without chocolate??!). They inked, heat embossed, die cut and built two cards over the course of the workshop.

Our class getting underway – we had a full class of 12 participants!

We looked at easy ways to keep die cut pieces together for simple inlay, using adhesive on tricky intricate dies, some fun products to create shakers with, and built beautiful butterfly embellishments full of colour and dimension.

Progress pictures – there were some beginner crafters having their first try at inking with Distress Oxides, and confident crafters learning new (or perhaps re-remembering!) techniques.

We also had an introductory lesson in Copic colouring and blending. For further resources on colouring (including copics, watercolouring and other mediums), you can find a list here of my favourite online classes, where to find downloadable charts etc. Also, my Colour Page has information about Copic markers and other ways to add colour to your projects.

Thank you to everyone who attended today, and to Philippa & Jonathan for hosting me! It was a great day, full of creativity and laughs.

As promised, there is a second blog post with the extra card examples using the same products featured in today’s class – click here.

For more in-depth information about the best value supplies for your craft table, from cardstock, inks, adhesives, to the handiest tools, check out my Best of the Basics series.

I’d appreciate it if you hit Follow below, and/or follow my Facebook page so you’ll be kept up to date with upcoming classes. I regularly share other cards, along with tips, hints and ideas.

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Shakers and Inlays – Part II

When I use a stamp or a die, I really like to be able to use it in different ways – so here are further ways to use the die featured in today’s Shakers and Inlay Technique Class as promised, plus a sneak peek at products featured in my next class scheduled for May 2020.

Supplies:

  • Memory Box Side Butterfly Frame
  • Memory Box Jotted Birthday Script
  • Lawn Fawn Happy Happy Happy Stamp & Die set
  • Circle dies – 3.25″ and 3.5″. I used the Hero Arts Nesting Circle Dies set.
  • Acetate & Vellum
  • Nuvo Sequins and Confetti

Hello

‘hello’ from My Favorite Things
1/4 inch score line at the top of the circle for the back of the card. Adhered to the front with thin double sided tape.

I cut two circles, just slightly larger than the Memory Box frame. You could choose larger circles if preferred.

I scored a .25″ flap at the top of one of the circles and used strong double sided adhesive tape to secure it to the back of the second circle. This creates the card base. See photo 2 for close up.

I cut the Memory Box frame three times from white cardstock and stacked them together. I did the same for the ‘hello’.

For the background, I looked through my box of previously created backgrounds, and chose this green alcohol inked example. I cut a circle to fit the back of the frame. A die cut inlay would work well on this card too. A white heat embossed sentiment on a black strip plus a few little gold gems in the flower centres completes this cute little card.

Butterfly Shaker

You can see the different coloured confetti in each of the butterfly openings.

I used the intricate butterfly die to cut three butterfly shaped openings on a landscape piece of cardstock. I used a stitched rectangle to give it a tidy edge, and cut a piece of rainbow striped patterned paper just a little larger to give a slim frame around the outer edge.

I decided where the birthday die cut was going to sit and stamped the extra sentiments on either side. This is the time to heat emboss if you want a finished look to the stamping, before the acetate is added.

The shaker part was created by adding acetate to the back of the butterfly panel and strips of foam adhesive in circles around each butterfly opening. You could simply have strips of foam creating one large rectangle, but I wanted certain colours of sequin/confetti in my openings like a rainbow. Further foam strips are added around the edge of the white panel. I am generous with adding foam, as I want my card to feel solid and stable.

The rainbow panel is added to the back, like a lid. To make this part a little easier, I lined up the white panel with the confetti sitting in their circles up with the grid on my glass mat, so I knew which grid lines to match the rainbow piece to get an even frame.

The card front is added to a card base, and a few silver gems added for sparkle. I did add black glitter cardstock bodies to the butterflies to give them definition.

Rainbow Vellum Shaker

Distress inks used: Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean and Wilted Violet.
A rainbow butterfly – you can use any colouring medium for this.

I had a rainbow distress inked panel which I wanted to use, so I cut it down using a scalloped rectangle die from a Tonic background die set (incidentally, this die set will feature in my next technique class coming up in May). The rectangle panel is adhered directly to the card base.

I cut the circle frame out a number of times and stacked them instead of using foam. I also used vellum instead of acetate, for a different look.

I coloured the butterfly with a rainbow of colours to match, and the top intricate layer is cut from gold mirror cardstock.

I stacked the ‘happy’ to match the height of the frame and added the sentiments and gems.

Off the Card Shaker

This type of shaker is not bulky at all, and perfect for sending in the mail.
The purple layer is slightly offset with the white to give an illusion of extra colour and dimension to the butterfly. The body is dipped in gold embossing powder and heated to melt. Little extra dots of gold are added to the wings by using dots of glue and heat embossing with gold powder.
The inside of the card, back of the see through shaker.

A fun variation of the shaker is to have it off the side of the card. This is easily achieved by using packaging from a stamp or die set, using the corner of the bag where it is already perfectly folded and sealed.

I temporarily taped the card front (inked with Shaded Lilac and gold sparkle heat embossed) to the base and cut the Memory Box frame to create the opening.

I filled the packaging bag with confetti and used thin double sided tape to close the remaining two sides, ensuring the bag is a little larger than the opening. I lined up the edge of the bag with the edge of the card base, hiding the adhesive edges in between the two layers of card base and card front.

I cut two further frames and glued one to the front, and one to the back matching them up. The edges are trimmed off to match the edge of the card base.

You can also see I turned the frame a little to suit, so the flowers and leaves were not sitting at the bottom, rather climbing upwards.

I added a ‘Thanks’ by Tonic Studios across the bottom, and sentiment on the inside of the card. The butterfly is built with a vellum bottom layer, white intricate layer and inked layer adhered slightly offset. I heat embossed the butterfly body in gold.

Thank you for getting this far in my blog post! I had a great time teaching this Technique Workshop, and hope you enjoy the extra examples featured here, and have some new ideas to try out for yourself.

For more in-depth information about the best value supplies for your craft table, from cardstock to the handiest tools, check out my Best of the Basics series.

I’d appreciate it if you hit Follow below, and/or follow my Facebook page so you’ll be kept up to date with upcoming classes. I regularly share other cards, along with tips, hints and ideas.

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Best of the Basics Series

Hi all! I am still quietly building my Best of the Basics Series on my website – Adhesives and Heat Embossing pages have been added to the list (which already lists Cardstocks, Inks for Stamping, Die Cutting Machines & Trimmers).

I wanted to create a bunch of handy reference pages covering the basic techniques and supplies for New Zealand Crafters – tell me if you’d like to see something specifically covered.

Come and check it out – they even include shopping links so you don’t have to spend all your evening Googling 😀

There are still a couple more pages to come – covering Colour and Handy Tools – so follow my blog to see the updates.

Thank you so much for visiting!

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Extra Gift Tag Ideas

After having a very full on class with 12 participants making Gift Tags using products from MFT, Lawn Fawn and Memory Box, I had a few minutes to show a few extra projects using the same dies they had used in the class. There wasn’t time to go into detail on the day, but I thought I’d post them here for anyone to refer to.

These tags were not included as part of the class schedule, but rather a ‘Next Step’ in technique that can be completed at home

Products we used:

  • Spellbinders/Sizzix Rubber Embossing Mat
  • Nuvo Shimmer Powders
  • Watercolour cardstock
  • Nuvo Glitter cardstock (gold)
  • Memory Box Snowflake Ornament die
  • Lawn Fawn Mini Wreath die set
  • Lawn Fawn Tiny Tag Sayings
  • My Favorite Things Deer Love die set
  • My Favorite Things Joy die
  • BoBunny Nesting Gift Tags die set

All products used can be purchased at Scrapbook Central

PLEASE NOTE: The Deer Love die set has been retired at My Favorite Things (I’m just as shocked as you are!) – there is another reindeer die set available which can be used in the same way as described here

Any extra products used, I have provided links directly to the company for your information. Please support your local businesses where possible and ask your favourite retailer if they can order them in for you.

Nesting die sets are more than just the shapes themselves. You can use them together to create windows and frames too. The tags we used are obviously a smaller scale than say, a rectangle or circle nesting set which are commonly used in card making for similar results.

In this case a window was cut from the tag using a smaller tag die, and the reindeer placed within. The coloured tag peeks out from behind. For extra dimension, the top frame could have been adhered with some foam tape (something I would do if this was a card).

Intricate dies can be used in so many ways! Here, I have included a vellum layer between the two tags with the ornament cut out. The intricate die cut itself is then placed in the opening on both sides, creating a pretty window.

There are many different fun types of vellum on the market today, plain, pearlescent, platinum, gold, printed, foiled – all of which could be used for a beautiful finish.

In the class itself, we embossed our ornament die. Here, I’ve done exactly the same process, but offset the imprint so it is partly off the tag. Just a different look. This can be quite an effective and eye-catching layout on a card design too!

Again, this is the same technique we used in class – embossing the intricate cut side of the die. But with a Step Up. Before sending the die through the BigShot, I lightly stamped the die onto a Versamark ink pad, carefully placed it on the tag and embossing mat and rolled it through. I then sprinkled gold embossing powder on it, flicked off the excess and heated with my heat gun. The end result is incredibly delicate lines of gold embossing right where it would have cut. So pretty!

Die cut inlay is a fun technique! You get all the beauty of die cut images with no added bulk to the card. I cut the wreath from both the tag and the green watercolored panel (we used the Nuvo Falling Leaves Shimmer Powder). I glued the tag to another on the bottom, and carefully glued the green wreath and white middle piece back in, just like a puzzle. This would look amazing with the ornament die too!

A shaker tag! This tag is extra special. I cut out the ornament once from the green panel, and also from white card stock four times.

The white ornaments had their middle pieces carefully trimmed out, leaving just the frame. These were glued together.

The green ornament had a piece of acetate glued to its back, trimmed down to fit. (Actually Memory Box has a solid die cut of this ornament shape which would make that part a whole lot simpler!).

The stacked white frames are glued in place on the tag, and this is when you can add pretty confetti, sequins or seed beads. I added Nuvo gold confetti shapes to this one. The acetate backed green ornament is glued to the top of the stacked white ornaments.

Bonus Card Ideas

Of course, all of the products used above are not just for gift tags! Possibilities are endless with fun stamps and dies. Here are a few card examples for inspiration.

These reindeer are a firm favourite in my stash. Here, I used Nuvo Shimmer Powder in Blue Blitz to create a textured background panel. I used some rectangle nesting dies I have in my stash to create the wee frame (I will link below to the set I have).

The reindeer are cut 3 times, and their antlers twice and stacked together. This gives them nice smooth dimension and they stand out from the background nicely. The snowdrifts are a stitched curved border die (link below).

I added little gems to their antlers for a bit of sparkle and glitz.

My Favorite Things Inside Out Stitched Rectangles

Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Borders

Using your dies for embossing can be used with just about any die you have in your stash – especially backgrounds, frames, intricate borders, nesting sets and even word dies.

Here, I have used the Memory Box Small Circle Burst to emboss the background. The wreath sits perfectly within. I didn’t have a nice large Peace word die, so I made my own using an alphabet set. I cut the letters twice from white cardstock, once from red glitter cardstock and stacked them together.

Here, you can see a close up of the embossing and how it adds a beautiful background and frame for the wreath element.

Memory Box Small Circle Burst

Altenew Fine Alphabet

This final card design is a tri-fold card. It is made with two side opening cards (one opening to the left and the other to the right) and the middle panels adhered together. The front of the card is die cut with the Memory Box Large Circle Burst and I used some invisible thread to dangle the Memory Box Ornament within the circle window.

I die cut the Joy twice from white cardstock and again from Nuvo gold glitter cardstock and placed it on the front with a little black sentiment strip, heat embossed in white.

Memory Box Large Circle Burst

There you have it. A number of ideas using the same dies used in the Christmas Gift Tag class held at Scrapbook Central in Petone. Please don’t hesitate to ask if there’s anything you’d like broken down further or if my explanation is not clear. Appreciate your visit!