Layout with stamped background

Happy Wednesday everyone,

This week we are going to find new use for our fun foam sheets!

I wanted to show you a nice technique I learned from April 2012 issue of Scrap365 Magazine. Lightweight and flexible fun foam is a great material for scrapbooking as it cuts very easily with our Bigz dies. But have you ever tried embossing it?

For this layout I wanted to create my own patterned paper background. Instead of using my regular stamps I created one myself: I cut a hexagon of fun foam, put it in an embossing folder and run through my Big Shot. I was surprised how easily the texture of the embossing folder transferred to my fun foam shape and the piece of white foam transformed into a nice self-made stamp in just a few seconds! Sure you need to keep in mind that the embossed image will not last for too long and will eventually spring back. But when using your leftover pieces of fun foam it does not matter too much if the embossed piece cannot be reused several times.

After embossing I could use my hexagon shape just like any regular stamp. I used tiny pieces of two-sided tape to mount the embossed shape on an acrylic block and the self-made stamp was ready to be used.

Here’s a list of materials I used:

• Big Shot Machine (655268)
• Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folders 2PK - Bohemian Lace Set (657811)
• Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folders 2PK - Harlequin & Stripes Set (657849)
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Tattered Florals (656640)
• Fun foam
• White and craft colour cardstock
• Patterned papers: Crate Paper, Story Teller – Chapter. My Minds Eye, So Sophie – Charming, Living Proof
• Tim Holtz: Kraft Glassine
• Stamps: Stampin’ Up
• Small manilla tag
• Sticker: Sassafras, Journal Tags
• Alpha stickers: American Crafts: Thickers. My Minds Eye: Lime Twist. Dymo
• Yellow embroidery yarn
• Buttons
• Brown and green stamping ink. Ink blending tool / sponge
• Two-sided tape, glue

I created the layout background by stamping hexagon images quite randomly on a white cardstock sheet. The different shades of brown were made with only one stamping ink colour but with pressing the stamp on the paper several times without re-inking the stamp in between. I embellished the patterned background with a few long stitches around the hexagons.

The photo was mat on a piece of craft colour cardstock I wiped with brown stamping ink after embossing. Flower embellishments were cut from Kraft Glassine paper and crumpled before gluing on the background.

Hope this will inspire you to take out your fun foam sheets and start creating your own stamps!

Have a great week,

Colors of India : FLUO is trendy!

Fluorescent colors have been very trendy these past months, and mixed with white/grey : they look great!
Here is a layout I made using two of my favorite Sizzix dies : the Vintage fan and Globe set and the Vintage Alarm Clock & Camera.

I simply cut those two into white glossy cardstock then used Studio Calico Mr Huey mists to add some colors.

First, you have to matte your picture and glue it in the center of your background.

Then, use some ILS stamps along with Hero Arts Neon Inks to add colors to your background.

Add your globe and camera at the bottom right of your photo, along with a Craft Origine stamp and a few Studio Calico wood veneer accents.

I stamped this Craft Origine Summer stamp onto the same white glossy cardstock and cut around each stamp to glue it on my page.

My title is placed at the bottom of my layout, not to overwhelm all the crazy colors in the center of the page.

Supplies list
Papers (ILS); Sizzix Cutting Machine - BIG SHOT (655268); Sizzix DIES - the Vintage fan and Globe set (657838) & the Vintage Alarm Clock & Camera (657840); Movers & Shapers Tray (657007); Inks (Hero Arts, Studio Calico); Embellishments (Studio Calico, October Afternoon); Stickers (Basic Grey, October Afternoon).

Have a great Tuesday!
Céline

Wedding cake card

Happyyyyy Monday!!!!!!!!
How are you lovely readers? Here is very hot but I love summer time!!!! Free time to can create and relax and have fun!!!!

Today I want to show you a simple idea to create a lovely card for a wedding ;)
I adore to create funny cards, with something different :)

Materials you need:
Big shot machine (code 655268) 
Sizzix Framelits Die Set of 6 Pk - Rectangles (code 657908)
Sizzix Eclips cartridge - Cards & Envelopes (code 656857)
Sizzix Eclips machine (code 656930)
American crafts glitter paper
American crafts glitter brads
Bazzill white card stock , pink card stock, purple card stock

pearls , paper flowers from Prima Flowers and brads
organza
rub on

Here the card....

What do you think? This is very simple:)

How to make it:

• use your fabulous eclips machine to create the card, I love it because in so few seconds you can create the size you prefer in every color or patter;
• to create the cake you need of the framelits rectangles! Perfect to do a wedding cake hihihihih^__^, cut four rectangles , one in pink card stock for the base and other three on the purple card stock for the plans of the pie. The set are amazing because the different sizes of it allow you to create something different using your imagination!
• Simply glue them one after the other starting from the smallest rectangle to arrive to the base of the pie.
• Adhere little stripes of glitter paper and after pearls and flowers and brads.
• At the end a piece of organza on the pie's base.
• I have added a little bubble for the greeting in a heart;)

What do you think?

I hope to have inspired you :)

Have a wonderful and creative week!!!!

Love, Lory

Easel Card

Today I want to share an easy way but in a long post to make your own shaped easel cards. 

I will let you on a little secret, I never done an easel card until this morning, in fact a few months ago I said to myself I would never make one because I saw all my friends make the most gorgeous ones and I didn't think I could add anything to the trend.

But, usual me, I thought it would be nice to show how to use Sizzix dies to make one simple one. So here it is.

Start by scoring a card in half (5.5") that measures at least 11 inches long.

Position the folded card on top of the Baroque die (Mover & Shaper). Make sure that the scored edge is inside of one of the edged of the blade and secure it in place with low tack tape.

Once you die cut it, you will get this folded card which is great on its own!

Score now the front of the card in half, but it doesn't need to be exact in half.

Die cut a plain one single sheet using the Baroque die. Apply glue to only the bottom part of the scored card and attach the single die cut on top. I recommend to use wet glue as that is the stronger bond, but the tape runner (from Stix2) ais a good option for speed and practice.

This is how it should look like, an easel card.

To decorate the card, I decorate the card I die cut the Mini Baroque (Magnetic Mover & Shaper) die inside of the Baroque die. That way you get two pieces the main plaque and the frame around it.

To fit in the frame inside of the card, you will need to trim off the top of one of ends. Then attach to the inside of the card.

Use the main bit of the Mini Baroque die cut and emboss it using a Texture Impressions folder, I used one from the Vine & Flower set.

I distress the edges using Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy distress ink pad (available through Personal Impressions stockists). Then I die cut the heart using Pete Hughe's Frame Heart with Crown and the scroll using Card and Phrases set.

I die cut the Ticket using Tim Holtz Magnetic Mover & Shapers, then I stamped the message using one of my Big Sentiments stamps (available through Personal Impressions stockists)

Place the ticket inside of the embossing folder and place it where the scroll goes around the message.

Because I wanted the embossed effect all around the message I placed a second time on the folder. Now, if you do this without the next step you would flatten the embossing done in the previous step.

This step is very important, you need to put the top cutting plate halfway, only over the top of the area for the new embossing.

See? the emboss pattern goes all around and all it is embossed beautifully, not flattened at all.

I also die cut the hearts using the Cards and Phrases 2 to make them as stoppers so that the easel card stay standing up.

And this is the finished card.

The side, so that you can see the heart as stopper.

The back.

And, like all easel cards, they fold completely flat for postage.

Name place card, pop up crazy part 2!

This is part two of the post I did recently regarding the pop up crazy card.

I know many crafters do stationery for parties, specially children's parties. And one thing that is popular is personalised name setting cards. And with this scallop circle pop up die it is ever so easy to do them.

Basically I die cut two of them and attach them together, as you can see bellow.

Then I used the pop up elements at both sides to decorate the card using butterflies from the Tim Holtz set of magnetic movers and shapers.

To give the butterflies some flight I added some acetate to the back so that it pops out.

Layered background - On the Edge dies

Hi again!
Today I want to share my next idea for using great Sizzix dies - this time I used Sizzix On the Edge Die - Distressed Doily (657496) to create a false doily element in my composition on the layout... well, you can say I'm really addicted to doilies, but sometimes you want a different look, new pattern....or you are just out of them, by accident! This is the perfect time to use our Sizzix Dies!

First, I came with general plan - I wanted to build the layers that way, to create an impression it is in fact a real doily... so I cut out the extra edges and saved just the pretty, fragile pattern:)

Then  I layered pieces of paper from new Prima Collection - "Zephyr" to cover the missing doily elements:) For me - it looked quite convincing, wspecially paired with a smaller one, taken from my small collection:)

Finally the layout was done: I mixed many layers and even used packaging as a part of the composition too! I think the final effect is quite cute and Tim Holtz die revealed its another, more delicate and feminine side, especially in the great company of Prima stamps, flowers and other embellishments!
I even saved little cut-out leftover in the shape of flowers or stars and used them in the layout too! They were just too tempting!

And here are some more close-ups for you!

I hope you found some inspiration - have a wonderful, creative week!
xo
Finn

Layout "Happy Day" by Karine

Hello everyone! Let me show you a new green & violet layout! These colours are not my usual ones but I like to change my habits from time to time.

A simple layout that is naturally based on the Sizzix dies!

Here are the dies I used:

-657723 Labels and Buttons

-657721 Borders and Hydrangeas

-657524 Words and tags set

-657709 Oval border

I started by gluing a paper strip on the entire length of my layout. I added two strips of violet/old rose washi tape.

Then using a die, I cut a border out of a green paper that will be a reminder of the colour in my background.

Then I inserted another little border cut out of a printed beige paper.

I added a bit of washi tape again, another zig zag strip using the same set of dies (Borders and Hydrangeas).

I added stickers, a nice “text“ stamp and little flowers coming from the same set of dies that I decorated with glitter brads. To add volume, feel free to fold the petals.

As a final touch, I inserted my title "Happy Day“. The "Happy“ word, from the “words and tags” set, is cut out of white paper and inked in violet (Adirondack Purple Twilight) so that it matches with my lay-out.

It is then glued on a tag coming from the "Labels and Buttons" set. As the tag was a tad too large, I cut it a bit.

Our layout is now complete. It was so easy and nice to create it!

Have a fantastic day!

Karine

Supply list:

Papers: Kési'Art, American Crafts, Jillibean Soup

Alphabets: Studio Calico

Stickers: Kési'Art

Brads: American Crafts

Ink: Versafine Spanish Moss

Ink Adirondack Purple Twilight

Stamp: Craft Origine

Washi Tape

Others: eyelets, tags

Page "Happy Day" par Karine

Bonjour, une nouvelle page estivale pour aujourd'hui toute verte et violette ! Ce n'est pas mon combo de couleurs habituel mais cela fait du bien de changer !

Une page toute simple axée principalement sur les embellissements 100% Sizzix bien entendu !

J'ai utilisé ici les dies suivants :

-657723 Labels and Buttons

-657721 Borders and Hydrangeas

-657524 Set de mots et étiquettes

-657709 Bordure ovale

J'ai tout d'abord commencé ma page en collant une bande de papier imprimé sur toute la largeur. J'ai ajouté deux bandes de washi tape dans les violets-vieux rose.

Puis j'ai utilisé le die bordure, que j'ai découpé en vert pour rappeler mon imprimé de fond.

J'ai ensuite glisser dessus-dessous une autre petite bordure, découpé en beige et impression textes.

Une nouvelle touche de washi tape et une seconde bandelette zig zag provenant toujours du même die (Borders and Hydrangeas).

J'ai ensuite complété ma page avec des autocollants étiquettes, un joli tampon texte et des petites fleurs. Celles-ci proviennent toujours de la même découpe, elles sont complétées avec des attaches parisiennes pailletées. N'hésitez pas à courber un peu les pétales pour leur donner un peu plus de volume.

Pour terminer le titre "Happy Day", le mot "Happy" provient du set de mots et étiquettes, il est découpé dans du papier blanc puis ombré en violet pour l'assortir à ma page avec de l'encre Adirondack Purple Twilight.

Celui-ci est monté sur une étiquette provenant du die "Labels and Buttons", l'étiquette étant trop grande pour ma page je l'ai simplement découpé aux 3/4.

Et voici ma page terminée, très simple et très agréable à réaliser :)

Je vous souhaite une excellente journée,

Karine

Matériel :

Papiers : Kési'Art, American Crafts, Jillibean Soup

Alphabets : Studio Calico

Autocollants : Kési'Art

Attaches Parisiennes : American Crafts

Encre : Versafine Spanish Moss

Encre Adirondack Purple Twilight

Tampon : Craft Origine

Washi Tape

Divers : oeillets, tags