Alcohol ink background cards

Hello there,

I know it has been a while. Summer is always my least productive season. I always make up for it in Autumn and Winter though...

I made a few halloween cards using some alcohol ink backgrounds I made. I love making the backgrounds. Once I start it is so hard to stop!!

These backgrounds are so versatile!!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.

Hopefully until next time.

Take care and keep your craft on!

Freddie

xxx

Heat embossing on glass

I have been toying with the idea of heat embossing on glass for a while now.  After I saw it done on the Emerald Creek Dare blog, and decided to take the plunge.

I have been addicted to olives for a while now and the ones we buy come in these huge pretty jars. I wanted to recycle thwm and give them a make over so that they can be used as a decorative piece, or even as a useful jar.

After I finished making this one, I decided it was too pretty to give away or just sit somehwere, so I kept it for myself and keep my crinkle ribbon in it. I always pre cut me ribbon to the length I need to make my fluffy bows. And now instead of a plastic ice cream tub, they are kept in my pretty jar!!

Here is how I transforned my glass jar with lid....

I started with the lid. I cut a piece of cotton fabric to size. In this case from an old bed sheet.

And I stamp it with archival ink to give it a country style look. This sap green is almost identical to bundled sage distress ink. The relevance will make sense later *wink wink*

I trimmed most of the excess fabric off, I will trim some more once the lid is done. 

I stuck the fabric to my lid using two sided tape. I made sure I put it on there really tight.

Normally the fabric is tied around the "neck" of the jar with string or ribbon, but that means I would have to untie that everytime I use the jar. So I decided to make a faux tied lid, so I can open the jar more easily.

I put double sided tape on tge edge of my lid, to create the illusion of a tied up lid. 

My phone acted up and didn't save the pics I took of staining my ribbon and putting it on the double sided tape. So I will try and describe what I did. The ribbon is stained with distress ink in the colour Bundled Sage. So now it matches the fabric. I stuck the piece of ribbon on the tape on the rim of the lid. I made sure I had enough ribbon to tie my fluffy bow. I tied my bow the same way I do on my tags and cards. I must say that I LOOOOOOVE how it turned out!

Now onto the jar itself!

I want a plaid print on my jar. To do this I used the plaid stamp by Tim Holtz, embossing ink and the glorious Aurora Stone Blue embossing powder by Emerald Creek Craft Supplies.

I stamped the image on the jar with embossing ink and the unmounted cling stamp. I didn't put it on a block so I could press it along the curves of the jar. I didn't press too hard at the edges as I didn't want it to look too tidy. Then I took my heat tool and embossed it. It takes a while as the glass heats up much slower than paper, obviously. But once it heats up it melts quickly. And after it cools down it stays put. I scratched my nails over it and nothing chipped off! I was quite surrised about that! Yaaaaay!!!

 

I am soooo pleased with the outcome of this experiment. I am so keeping this jar on my desk :-)

Thank you for taking the time to visit and read my blog. I hope to see you here again. 

Take care and keep your craft on!

Freddie

xxx

Celebrational tags

Especially for Canada Day, on July 1st, I made a tag using various luscious embossing powders by Emerald Creek craft supplies. 

I spread some embossing paste over a stencil on a mixed media tag. I immediately prinkled Oh Canada embossing powder over it, and heated it with my heat tool to melt and dry it. Embossing paste will bubble up a bit if heated too much, but I wanted to make it a bit puffy. After it all cooled down I inked the edge of my tag with walnut stain distress ink. 

I cut a maple leaf out of red card stock and after inking it with distress embossing ink, I sprinkled it with Fractured Ice embossing granules and melted that. I looooove how fractured ice makes everything look like granite! 

I inked some grungeboard numbers with embossing ink and dunked them in Charred gold embossing granules. And heated them until it bubbled up. I love this look!!!

I coloured a paper doll with distress crayons and a water brush. I can't seem to get a good result with the markers.

I wanted my ribbon to reflect the Canadian-ness of the tag, so I stamped maple leaves with red archival ink on it. I immediately heat set them to prevent bleeding and make the shape unrecognisable. 

And this is the result:

And this is the finished tag.

As the 4th of July is only days after the Canadian Day,

I made an American themed tag also.

I inked embossing ink over a star stencil, and sprinkled 4th Of July embossing powder over it and heat set it. Like all the other powders, this just makes me smile.

I inked over the stars with blue and red distress ink. And the edge with brown ink.

To make this die cut grungeboard 4 sparkle, I used Onyx Frost embossing powder. This is so gloriously intense black with the perfect amount of sparkle. 

I coloured the paper doll and stained my ribbon, and the tag is finished. 

To all my Canadian and American friends, Happy Canada Day and Happy 4th of July!!

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope to see you again. 

Take care and keep your craft on!

Freddie

xxx

Yet another bow tutorial

Most of my crafty friends know I have a thing for fluffy bows on some of my projects. I always stain them to match my projects.
This tutorial is about staining them in various colours using the distress markers.

It is rather simple, but the result is quite striking! All using crinkle ribbon, distress markers, a mini mister and a heat tool.

I cut a piece of the ribbon and start the process....

I colour one side of the ribbon. It takes the distress ink beautifully...

One side is all done.  On to the next colour!

Now we have a beautiful red white and blue :-)

This is how it looks once done. You could leave it like this and use it on a card or tag. 

I like to spray it with a little water, to make it bleed a little, to give it a more vintage look. 

I spritz a little water with my minimister on a section of the ribbon and dry it immediately with a heat tool. I just want the ink to run just a little, not create a purple in the middle... That is why I do it in sections.

Here you see the difference. On the left the spritzed and dried part and on the right the "untreated" part. 

This is what the ribbon looks like after it has been spritzed and dried. The possibilities are endless. 

All we need now is a tag or card to put this on......

This tag is still a work in progress. I used "4th of July" embossing powder by Emerald Creek Craft Supplies to create my stars, it is a glorious mix of red white and blue powder and blue glitter. I inked over it with the same red and blue (festive berries and faded jeans) as the ribbon.  The edge is inked with walnut stain.

And the ribbon is tied like I always do. I have done a tutorial for that too ;-)

All the tag now needs are some finishing touches. 

Thank you for stepping by and taking the time to have a look.

Take care and keep your craft on :-)

Freddie

xxx

Surf and turf challenge

This month there is a surf and turf challenge at the Emerald Creek blog.

I was playing with my oxides and once the background was done, it screamed for one of the Koi stamps from Nicole Wright Designs. It is one of my favourite sets...ever.

So I stamped the koi in fired brick oxide and coloured it with a waterbrush.

The sentiment is by quiet fire design.

I love how it came together.....

Thank you for taking the time to step by.
Take care and keep your craft on :-)

Freddie
xxx

Oxide trouts

My dad is a keen fly fisherman, so for his birthday I either make a fish themed card, or a golf themed one, as he loves to play golf also.

This time I went for some trouts and flies. My dad ties his own flies, an elaborate hobby in itsef! So when I saw the trout and the fly stamps from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies, I just had to get them!!

I stamped the trouts and the flies with vintage photo and broken china distress oxides and spritzed them with plenty of water, to make them bleed. Unfortunately the pic does not do the effect justice. The pigments stay in their place, but the dye bleeds perfectly. I love the effect. After it was all dry I stamped the flourishes with iced spruce distress oxide and also spritzed it with water...

After that I stamped the sentiment with peeled paint distress oxide and again spritzed with water.
Last but not least I stamped the sentiment again but this time in black and heatembossed it with clear embossing powder.

I inked the edge of the topper with walnut stain distress ink and stuck it on a black mat and glued it all on a kraft card blank.

Thank you for taking the time to have a peek.

Take care and keep your craft on!

Freddie

xxx

This card has been entered in the Emerald Creek Dare Surf and Turf.....

Oxide rooster

This stamp arrived in the mail this morning, found it in an online bargain bin lol. 

As soon as I opened the envelope i needed to make this card! I used iced spruce and fosselised amber distress oxides for the background and stamped the rooster with potting soil Archival ink. I coloured the ribbon also with fosselised amber and iced spruce, but this time with the markers. I coloured the rooster with various colours distress markers and a waterbrush....

Thank you so much for stepping by and I hope to see you here again.

Take care and keep your craft on!

Freddie

xxx

Fluffy bow tutorial revisited...

Two years ago I did a tutorial on how I make my fluffy bows on tags. Today I show how I put them on cards. I use crinkle ribbon or seam binding to make my bows. I stain them either with distress stains, oxides, inks or markers. Depends on the look I am going for. This tutorial focusses on how I put them on my cards though.

I wrap ribbon around my hand, like in the pic, 6 times and cut that off. That way I have enough to make a lush fluffy bow on my card.

I stained the cut off piece of ribbon with worn lipstick distress stain. I dry it with my heat tool as it crinkles the ribbon a bit. It makes for a fluffier bow.

I measure out how much I need for the first part of the bow. I make sure I have enough to make a simple bow. I put the ribbon behind the piece of card I want to put the bow on, and make sure I have two pieces on each side to tie my bow. And cut the rest off. The cut off part will turn into the fluffy part of the bow.

I put a strip of double sided tape on the back of the card, where I want my bow to go. I used my ATG in this case, but if you don't have one, you can use any double sided tape. 

I put the piece of ribbon on the tape so it won't move anymore. 

I do the same on the front of the card. I put a strip of double sided tape down where I want my bow. This way it won't sag once you tied your bow. 

I tie the ribbon at the front and look where I want the bow. On this card I want it in the middle. Once I am satisfied where it is, I press the ribbon onto the sticky tape.

Here you see how the ribbon is neatly stuck to the card. So no matter how heavy and fluffy you make your bow, it will stay put!

I wrap the remainder of the ribbon around my hand again. 

And I slide it off my hand.

This will be the fluffy part of your bow!

I put the "to be fluffed" part of my bow on top of the knot I tied. Now I tie the first part over the "to be fluffed" part, and that way secure it into place. Then I tie it in a bow.

After you tied the bow over the "to be fluffed" part...... you fluff your bow! You seperate all the loops of the bow and a fluffy bow is born! Now this piece of card is ready to be mounted on the rest of the card :-)

And this is the finished card!

I hope this helps you create gorgeous and luscious fluffy bows on your cards or tags. For a tag you just thread the first part of the bow through the hole of the tag and follow the same steps from there.

Thank you for stepping by and I hope to see you again. 

Take care and keep your craft on!

Freddie

xxx