So how did we get here? Imagine’s color of the month was Pebble Grey, and I was noodling around a few ideas concentrating on shadows and monochrome, etc. Until the moment I made a note in my planner where I just wrote “greys” and suddenly I couldn’t think of anything beyond aliens.
I had so much fun with this project, even when I screwed something up (but then fixed!) and I love my little aliens. They might have to become a digital stamp set once I get the Halloween set released.
At any rate, make sure you head over to the Imagine blog to check out the video on how this card gets put together.
Shall I add another voice onto the fire of “where did the year go” lamentations? I suppose I shall–dude, this year is flying by! I have no idea where it went and not nearly as much as I would have liked to show for it, but I have a cute craft today that can help get you on the way to holiday preparedness.
Two sides of the same stocking–which side you flip is between you and Santa!
Holiday prep was another of our prompts and, combined with the color of the month (Sangria), I decided to go with a classic Christmas stocking with a twist. One side of the linen cuff reads Naughty, with some prickly holly leaves, while the other says Nice, paired with a pair of pretty poinsettias. Both feature a bit of heat embossing, which is the real highlight of this project (I think).
In preparation, I tested several Imagine mediums to see which would give me the result I wanted.
Versamark (pad and marker): definitely held the embossing powder but became part of the fabric rather than sitting up on top like heat embossing on paper.
Delicata (and other pigment inks): Also sunk into the fabric a bit more than I wanted, wicking through the fibers in some cases–this was problematic for details.
Creative Medium: Great through a stencil but I think you’d really need a good mask (like freezer paper ironed-on) to hold the integrity of finer details in a design. Did maintain it’s raised quality after heating.
On Point Glue: Perfect for fine details! This was what I used to embellish the Memento Marker and All-Purpose Ink words and art on my stockings.
Because of the heat embossing, you definitely want to make sure the fabric you’re decorating can take the heat without melting. Mine was felt (wool felt) and linen and I made it specifically for this project. If you’re purchasing one to decorate, make sure you test in an inconspicuous place before starting.
One of our prompts this month over on the Imagine blog is the color Sangria. I love a good, deep red–there’s lots you can do with the color. While the holidays are coming up, and I had another project that scooted into that territory, I wanted to do something more general for this prompt.
I’d recently seen a picture of trumpet flowers and for whatever reason that gut stuck in my head and I was desperate enough to try my hand at carving my own stamp just so I could create the card I saw in my head.
I’m actually really pleased at how it turned out, and if you’d like to see the carving process I’ve posted it over on my own YouTube channel: Stamptember: Carving a detailed flower cluster stamp! It was a good 4 hours or more of work, spread out over three nights, but totally worth it!
After putting in so much effort into carving the stamp and then coloring the image, I didn’t feel like the card needed at lot of extra bits added to it. Does this count as a CAS (clean and simple) card? Maybe?
At any rate, make sure to head over to the Imagine blog to check out the video of how the finished card came to be.
And if you’d like to make your own version of the card but aren’t quite into carving your own stamps, I made a digital stamp set from the finished image–complete with separated elements as well as the finished arrangement–and put it up over in the Crafty Branch Etsy shop. I’d love to see what you come up with!
While I was add it, as a thank you for reading this far, I took those digital elements and made a wreath image you can download now for free! Make sure you tag @scrapsoflife and @thecraftybranch on Instagram when you make something with it!
Lately I’ve had puzzle pieces on my mind. Not so much the desire to put together an actual puzzle, but more their use as a metaphor for life.
Picking up the pieces
Missing piece
Piece of my heart
And so on…
Puzzles make fairly inexpensive crafting materials, since you can usually find some at the thrift or dollar stores. It doesn’t matter what’s on them, because you’re going to transform them into something else.
I have a whole list of projects planned for puzzle pieces (watch the blog and, more often, my Instagram feed for works in progress), but today I’m sharing a fun faux finish project over on the Imagine Blog–faux metal stamping. The metallic silver Creative Medium is pretty much perfect for this technique, and I hope you’ll give it a try!
Fact: Stencils are super-versatile in the craft room.
Another fact: I so often forget to use mine!
This month one of our prompts was to use stencils in something. I always have such fun with them, I really need to get in the habit of using them more. Without needing to be nudged.
At any rate, I had a blast making this simple, yet striking, background using a leaf stencil, VersaCraft, and All-Purpose ink. The light chalk ink stood out just fine on the dark background, but when I added the Plantinum API, it really popped!
The effect I went for with the fourth layer of color (all with the same stencil) I thought looked like the ripples of a pond or a soundwave echo, so that’s why I’m calling it a Stencil Echo technique.
Head over to the Imagine Blog to check out how I did it and give it a try yourself!
