Colour Q Challenge #326

This week's color Colour Q challenge is a great mix of colors that remind me of Spring.

It's  nice to see colors like this in the Winter.  When I think of Spring I think of butterflies.  PTI just released this gorgeous butterfly cover plate and I couldn't wait to use it!   One of PTI's talented designer's created an amazing card using this cover plate and I just knew her design would be perfect for these colors.  You can see Laurie's beautiful card here.

Okay warning I loved using this coverplate so much I got kinda carried away!  So you will see many variations below.

I hadn't played with my distress ink for a long while.  I got the round blending tool and a pack of mini cubes from hubby and the kids for Christmas so I figured I'd pull them out.  I love that little round blending tool!  It's sooo much easier to blend then the rectangle one! The closest purple distress ink  I had to wisteria wonder is shaded lilac so I used that in addition to mustard seed and peeled paint.  I took a paintbrush and flicked on some white pearl shimmer mist to the background.  A sentiment from PTI's wishes come true stamped on chocolate brown paper (sorry it looks black in the photo) then embossed with white embossing powder finishes the card.

Tip...clean off your mat in between inking colors. As you can see in my card I have numerous colors in the lilac ink because I didn't clean my mat!  Oops!  I do better in the next cards!

I didn't care for the bluish hue in the first card so I tried some plain old dye ink by PTI called winter wisteria along with the same distress ink colors in the first card.  I liked this much better.  I used plain water to spritz the background this time.  I will say the distress ink was much easier to blend then the dye ink...not impossible but takes a little longer.  Plus distress ink does react with the water better.

I wanted to try an even more vibrant purple so I used dusty concord in addition to the other colors.
I also remembered I had some pearlized cardstock (woohoo using up my stash) so I cut the coverplate from that.  I wish I would have thought about this before I cut several out of plain white cardstock.  The finish is amazing!  It's hard to see in the photo...take a look at the one on the bottom.

Still more gorgeous in real life but you get the idea!  Next, I thought I'd try an orange...

So it was distress orange marmalade along with the others I previously used. Next I went with a total different rainbow to really brighten things up a bit.

This time the following distress inks were used: abandoned coral, cracked pistachio and fossilized amber.  Gold shimmer spray spritzed on the background this time.

As you can see I had way too much fun with ink and this butterfly cover plate.  I did an experiment and cut cover plate out of good PTI card stock and then out of cheap Georgia Pacific card stock and really the thickness doesn't matter for these.   The pearlized card stock is stunning but if you are looking to be frugal (who isn't?!) then the cheaper card will still give you good results!  (I used the cheaper in all of these except for the shimmer)  Plus this is a really flat card which is easy to mail.   You don't need a lot of bumpy bling to make this one look good!  Gotta love that! This is my first cover plate purchase (thanks to birthday money!) as I thought the cover plates were nice but expensive.  However, I am glad I invested on this one because you can create a beautiful card with minimal layers in no time!

Supplies are listed and linked below:

PTI Cover Plate: Butterfly Die

PTI Wishes Come True Stamp Set

PTI Winter Wisteria Dye Ink

Mustard Seed Distress Ink

Peeled Paint Distress Ink

Dusty Concord Distress Ink

Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink

Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink

Abandoned Coral Distress Ink

Fossilized Amber Distress Ink

Hero Arts Prayers Stamps

PTI Round and Round Anniversary Set (no longer available)

Thanks for stopping by! Please come back again!

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Technique Tuesdays: Making a 3-D Paper Button, a freebie, and membership file peek.

I love this technique! It is soo easy to do and a great inexpensive way to get coordinating light weight embellishments for all your paper crafting project. Oh I almost forgot I did not create this technique....you can find the original amazing tut by Fraulein here.

A couple hints:
*Be careful when you sand your buttons..don't sand so much you loose the shape of the button. Umm a hexagon can quickly turn into a circle before you realize it (don't ask me how I know this!--tee--hee)

*If you have access to Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel use it as you will get amazing looking buttons without all the work of adding layer upon layer.

*You can use any type of glossy accents in place of the embossing powder but you will need to leave your buttons set for a long time probably around 8 hours depending how thick you put on the liquid. You will have a hard time avoiding the holes using this but you can use a hole puncher like a Crop-a-dile to punch the holes after completely dry.

Plain buttons are wonderful but....there are soo many options for decorating your buttons. I will share only a few below.





Remember you can click on the photos above to see them larger and see the details of the buttons. All of the buttons I used are in my buttons galore file. Click below if you'd like to purchase it.



Below is my completed card using one of the buttons I made. You can see it in the center of the flower. I just love how it coordinates with my background paper of my card! It's hard to tell in the photo but I used Copic At You Spica glitter markers for the Greeting on the purple letters and black letters. I just love these markers...the subtle glitter is great as it doesn't fight with the dramatic glitter of the swirly (used glitter glue on it).



If you like the notebook edge block pictured on my card you can only get it by purchasing my quarterly membership. Posted below is a peek at the whole file you will get if you pay for the membership.



My card is going to Janice, Jan's (Sam & Hailey Designs) mother who is undergoing radiation therapy for cancer. Shirley Clark of Paperthreads started a wonderful program where you mail her a card for the chosen recipient and she send the cards to the person in need of cheering up. It's absolutely wonderful! You can find more info about this on Shirley's blog.

If you would like to purchase my membership you can do so by clicking the Ad below. I have posted an explosion box with a flower/bow and 3-D tree plus the one above so far (scroll down to previous posts to see images of these). I have many more files planned which will appeal to all types of paper crafters including home decor, cards, and boxes.



Thanks for stopping by and letting me teach you about paper buttons. As a parting gift I'd like to give you a set of button files so you can start making your own 3-D paper buttons right away. The zip will include the AI, KNK, GSD, WPC, and SVG formats. Even though this file is free it still follows my terms of use (included in zip). Please do not share this file. Send them to my blog to have them download it. Click on preview to download. It will only be free for 24 hours so grab it quick!

Freebie expired sorry!


I'm off to go shoe shopping...I hate my wide feet! Looks like my daughter is going to have the same problem! UGH...didn't want to pass that trait on to her!

Have a great evening and once again I apologize for being late! Hope to see you next week for another technique. Also, if you come across any techniques you just love. Please pass them along so I can feature it on my blog. E-mail: shellysart@verizon.net

Shelly

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Technique Tuesdays: Making Colored Fluff and freebie

Hello everyone,
I'm starting a new series on my blog called Technique Tuesdays. I will show you how to do different techniques related to paper crafting on my blog every Tuesday. This Tuesday I am featuring how to make your own "Colored Fluff". It is similar to a product currently on the market called Flower Soft. I originally got the technique from a member of the Scal-hints yahoo group. She posted a video of this technique she found on You Tube but I don't believe I'm allowed to share the video so you'll just have to do a search if interested....or better yet keep reading and I'll show you how. My son helped me to make this stuff the first time...it's very easy and inexpensive to make!



I only had 3 colors of reinkers. I did have some distress ink pads and remembered they work well with water so I used them to color the "fluff" and will show you how below.



Now I will share with you the results of each coloring method so you can see how it works.



These are just some of the options for coloring that I have tried. You can experiment with non-distress reinkers or food coloring. The styrofoam balls are very inexpensive..they are available at many department stores. You can even add glitter to your fluff. I will tell you though I tried using my homemade glimmer mist (combining distress reinker, water and perfect pearl powder)....it didn't work very well and I had to spritz the fluff with many sprays to get any color at all..so I recommend not using your homemade glimmer mist. Oh and I got the storage containers I used at the Dollar Tree. I have also seen people use the clear acrylic containers with screw on lids that stack or come in a large acrylic box. I had good luck with rubbing the styrofoam balls against each other but some have used kitchen graters with good results too. You just need to use a dryer sheet or anti-static spray to control the static.

Now I know you're wondering what to do with all this "colored fluff" you have made. I will show you the example I made for this tut below. I have to tell you though this card looked much better in the mental image I pictured in my head then it did when I actually made it. But...it is an example of how to use the "colored fluff" so...here you go!



I mixed together, yellow, red, orange and brown colored fluff to add to my card. I used the bowl and leaves from my build a turkey file. The tag is from my tags galore file. Click below if you'd like to purchase either of these files. It's hard to tell in the photo but I also added Doodlebug flocking to the leaves. Note: Michelle the owner of Paperthreads has an amazing video on how to do flocking on her blog..here. The berries were done with dimension paint. I also added some dimensional adhesive squares. Penny Duncan has an amazing tut on how to make these "pop dots" on her blog...here.






I'd also like to share with you a card I did using the Flower Soft I purchased. This stuff is a great way to dress up a store bought card if you're in a hurry. I also added some glitter after I put on the flower soft while the glue was still wet.




My membership club has officially started. If you'd like to see a peak at the first file...an explosion box...scroll down to the previous post. If you'd like to purchase the membership click on the preview below.



Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me share this FUN technique with you. As a departing gift...I will give you a set of tags. I hope you'll stop back sometime soon. Hurry the freebie will expire approximately 24 hours! The zip file will include the AI, KNK, GSD, WPC and SVG formats. Even though this file is free I please ask that you don't share it. Send them here to download it themselves instead.



Link expired.

Have fun playing with styrofoam!
Shelly

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