Freestyle Fridays - Gilded

Hello Freestyle Fans! It's getting warmer in the not so frozen North. There's giddiness in the air and the days are getting longer! YEAH!!!

This week I decided to try the Gilded Paper from my Hoarded File.  What a mess I made but what fun it was.  The plan was to use the Elizabeth stamp in the middle.  Thought I had, can't seem to lay my hands on it though. So the design changed along the way.

The base is Marina Mist.  The next layer is Cherry Cobbler, a favorite of mine, ran through the Big Shot with a Sizzix embossing folder (Thanks Penny, the box arrived yesterday!). Now for the interesting part, the gilded paper. After my experiment I realized I was little heavy handed with the Gold Embossing powder, keep this in mind if you are going to give it a try. Here are the steps: Take a piece of Crumb Cake and crumple it up. The more crumpled the better. Uncrumple (if that's even a word) but don't lay it flat. Take the Black Craft Ink Pad and apply directly to the piece of Crumb Cake. Immediately add some Black Embossing Powder and heat with a Heat Gun. Let cool slightly and again with the direct to paper method add Gold Metallic Encore Ink and some Gold Embossing Powder and blast it with the Heat Gun. Your paper will not be flat, it will have crooks and cranies all over.  I cut to size and adhered to the Cherry Cobbler layer with strong two sided tape on all the edges.  The berries are left-overs from another project.

Regina had a great tip on her Snappy Monday post this week about saving pieces from some projects for a later use. These berries were saved in the tin can that I keep on my craft table for those quick extra touches. I wrapped them with some Cherry Cobbler Seam Bidding and added rhinestones because I was a little heavy added with the glue and these hide the bit of a mess that was made.  The sentiment is from Notably Ornate which was stamped in Cherry Cobbler on Marina Mist and punched with the Label Punch.

Once done I had black and gold ink all over my hands due to the ink pads slipping while I was holding them and embossing powder all over the place because I did not cover the container when I turned on the heat gun. Harry Kerry, it was a little scary but giggling all along.

*********REGINA'S MISSION********

Take out your embossing powders Regina and use two different colors on a light colored cardstock. Don't forget to cover the container or turn the heat gun on away from the container. You surely don't want to duplicate my mess.

Make sure you drop by her blog today and wish her a Happy 7th FUN-iversary!

See Ya Next Week!

Manly Mondays Full of Birthdays

We've had a week full of birthdays around here so we celebrated 3 of them all at once.  Here is the invite made using MDS.

Evan is my Husband, Tony is a good friend of the family, and Frankii, well, you've heard of him (more below).

Yesterday was also the birthday of a co-worker of Evan's.  I made him this card.

I had some left over from the Pearl Ex post so I went with the same colors.  I did a number on my left shoulder so I have not been creating much. It's much better then it was so it's all good.  Thank you Jacoline for the wonderful E-Card. That was very thoughtful of you. I truly enjoyed it.

WHAT'S UP WITH FRANKII

Frankii had a great week especially at his party on Saturday. He was on his best behavior and really liked all his presents.  He started the week having a big ole snooze on my bed. We'd only been up for half an hour when I walked into the bedroom. "Frankii, we've had this meeting before, you have your bed, I have mine" and that's when he stretched. He actually stayed like that for quite awhile.

Here he is in his birthday suit waiting for his guests to arrive.  There was a car coming up the drive so he didn't stay still for very long.

A La Prochaine!

Freestyle Fridays - Regina WOW's us with Pearl Ex

Trust Regina to blow us out of the water with the completion of the Pearl Ex mission.  Look at these colors and the perfect bow. WOW!!!! 

Regina also made two other cards using the Inspired by Nature set. She details all the steps she took to make all 3 cards. Head on over to her blog to be truly inspired.

See Ya Next Week!

Freestyle Fridays - Experimenting with Pearl Ex

I frequently read about paper crafters hoarding their supplies.  It occurred to me that I hoard techniques.  So over the next few months I will experiment with quite a few. Whether they are successful will be another matter.

The technique for this card is called Heated Pearls.  It is one that I came across recently in my stash that sparked a particular interest.  It is on a typed page without a sample. Did I get this from a class I attended or somewhere on The Net?  It's a mystery.

To achieve this a piece of White Glossy Cardstock was brayered with Concord Crush.  Aileen Tacky Glue was blobbed in the middle and spread throughout the cardstock with a cheap stipple brush. With the same brush I applied some Spring Green and Sunset Gold Pearl Ex.  Then the Heat Gun was used all over the Cardstock.  It was interesting to watch the glue bubble and pop.  Once dry  it gave me the sense of an Aurora Borealis which brought to mind the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder. When I first saw this folder my first thought was Native Folklore. We all see something different in designs. I ran the cardstock through the Big Shot with that folder and added some rhinestones.  The sentiment is popped up with dimensionals stamped in Concord Crush from the Just Believe set on Pear Pizzazz punched with the Curly Label Extra Large Punch. The base of the card is Pear Pizzazz.  I think if I had worked a little faster the glue would have popped and bubbled a little more.  All in all not a bad effort for a first try.

*****REGINA'S MISSION*****

Regina, your mission this week is to experiment with Pearl Ex.  Hopefully the "Andari Surplus Store" will already have some on hand. You can apply the same technique as above or put some Pearl Ex in a mister, add water, give it a shake to mix and apply as would Smooch Spritz. As always, you have creative license. The only criteria is that you have fun.

Let us know if you would like to join in on the missions.  We'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

See Ya Next Week!

Manly Mondays - Celebrating One Year

It occurred to me this morning that I've been doing Manly Mondays for One Year as of tomorrow.  Thank you for all your wonderful comments and coming along for the ride. If you would like to revisit past Manly Mondays posts they have all been labelled as such and you can get to them on the left on side by clicking on Manly Mondays under Categories.

St. Patrick's Day is on Thursday. I made this card for an Irish friend.

The base is Garden Green. Layered a piece of designer paper measuring 4x2. On a piece of Whisper White Cardstock also measuring 4x2 glued punched out flowers in Garden Green with a Two Way Glue Stick and ran that through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder. Garden Green was also used for the Large Tag Punch that was first ran through a Crimper.  The beer mug from Cheers to You was stamped in Basic Grey.  A Blender Pen was used to add green beer. For the foamy part, that's 3-D Paint with a touch of Garden Green Re-Inker.

For the inside:

Did a punch out of the same flowers on the front and used a stamp from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set stamped in Garden Green. It's going in the mail today so hopefully it will get to the Irishman on time.

WHAT'S UP WITH FRANKII

There's still time to vote for Frankii's second home. Please VOTE HERE. All that is required is entering two words and click VOTE.  That's it.

My phone was nearby so I was able to capture Frankii getting a well deserved scratch behind the ear. His hind leg was going at top speed. It was going so fast and thumping so loud I thought someone was knocking at the door LOL.

No squirrel sightings at all this week. The windchills were brutal this past week so there were no long adventures outdoors. When you're this exhausted 

who wants to go chasing......

A La Prochaine!

Freestyle Fridays - Regina's Gesso

Regina sure has outdone herself with the completion of her mission this week. Here is a sneak peek of one of the projects she made.

Be sure to click over to her blog for more photos on how this beauty came about. Regina explains her process in detail with helpful hints. She also shares several photos of some samples she felt were not adequate for this mission. Be sure to leave her a comment to let her know how much her creations are appreciated.

See Ya Next Week!

Manly Mondays - Please vote for Frankii and Dolly

Debbie Spearing, Owner and Founder of That Extra Scratch Behind The Ear, in Devon Alberta (where Frankii meets up with his lady love Dolly) has entered a contest to win funding for her business.  I can not think of anyone more deserving of this prize. Debbie goes out of her way to ensure comfort of all the pets that she cares for whether they just come to hang out for the day or are in need of a full grooming. Frankii has even benefited from a walk around town with Dolly and Callie on quiet days. Which pet daycare that you know of does that!!!  

Please VOTE HERE    All you have to do is enter the two verification codes and hit vote. That's it! PLUS, you can vote more that once, every hour actually. There is a very short video of Frankii and Dolly and their friends at play. It will give you an idea of Frankii's second home. Below the video Debbie describes the process she applies to all the pets that come in for a grooming.

Frankii and I are going to present Debbie with this bulletin board this morning.  Think she'll like it?

This was fun and so easy to make. Ran White cardstock trough the Big Shot using the Sans Serif Essentials Die (Thanks Penny!!) and stamped paw prints on it. Adhered to the board with a two way glue stick.  I have a few "dog" stamps so I just stamped them here and there with Black Staz-On Ink. Printed a few pictures and Frankii and Dolly, of course, and added them to the board.

Thank you for your support.  Debbie, Frankii, Dolly and I truly appreciate it!

A La Prochaine!

Freestyle Fridays with Gesso

For quite some time now I've been wanting to do "something" using Gesso.  There are many techniques using this product. I assembled supplies and color choices, sat down and came up this. Not thrilled with is at first, it has grown on me. 

I took a piece of White Cardstock and applied Gesso using a sponge brush.  While applying it I made swirly designs.  Let it dry overnight to ensure a solid result.  Using a felt applicator I pounced on it using Eggplant alcohol ink and also misting a bit of alcohol on the felt pad.  This was followed by adding Lettuce alcohol ink after allowing the Eggplant to dry completely. I didn't like where the color was going so when the Lettuce ink dried, added more Eggplant.  A bit more satisfied, let that dry completely and used a Nestability to make the layer. I did emboss the Gesso layer with the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder.  The whole card was used with the same Nestability set, for course using different sizes. The Old Olive layer was also ran through the Big Shot with the same embossing folder.

Here's a side view

Added some Elegant Eggplant Grosgrain ribbon and 6 rhinestones. Not wanting to hide the design made with Gesso I went with putting the sentiment on the inside. The stamp set used was Because I Care stamped in Elegant Eggplant on Old Olive.

*** REGINA'S MISSION ***

Although I issue these missions to Regina, it is because of her I am continually creating and coming up with different ideas and use supplies together or alone that would have never even been given a second glance. You truly inspire this self proclaimed card designer and it is because of you that the creations keep coming. THANK YOU!!!!  

Regina, your mission this week is to create a project of your choosing using Gesso. Smoosh it, pounce it, swirl it, color it, either way, have fun with it.

See Ya Next Week!