Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Water Window card Tutorial (using hair gel)


Loving the hair gel water cards and figured I'd go for a window so that both the colouring details of the image and the gelliness could show to full advantage. This octopus gel card is standard sized (4 2/8" x 5 4/8"). There's a bit of Stickles in the hair gel for glitter:


When you open the card there's another frame & this octopus image:


The frame is 4 4/8 x 3 2/8" (to fit a 4x3 inch baggie.) The window was punched with a Marvy scallop square punch and run through the cuttlebug with tinted versamark ink on the folder & heat embossed with clear embossing powder. (For more details on that cuttlebug technique please see this post)


Water Window Card Construction:


(1) Make two frames (please see measurements above)

(2) Use one frame as a guide to mark your window cuts
Draw a soft pencil line on your card (along the top & bottom--about 3/4 inch in from either side)



(3) Cut inside of the pencil lines & then erase them



(4) Make gel bag: Add about a teaspoon or so of hair gel (Be wary of overfilling or it may pop.)



(5) Add a bit of Stickles (or glitter) & smoosh around (I use my finger then you can pull the gel-filled bag apart and push the gel around until are happy with the bubbliness.) It just requires a little rinsing and drying of the closed bag (before you trim it) It's easier than it sounds, honest. ;0)



(6) You can add reinker to colour the gel (or use blue gel.) I love the look of soft sky reinker. It is ultra fun getting messy and easy to...

(7) ...rinse, dry, & trim the baggie after.



(8) Put adhesive all over the back of one of the frames & adhere gel bag


(9) Cut the top zipper/sealing-strip off of another baggie & adhere it on the other side of the assemblage (where the bottom of the baggie is); this balances out the bump that the first zipper creates & just makes the card look a tad more polished.



(10) If you are using a mat you'll want to be sure to cut the window out of it too (you can use the punched scallop square to mark & cut it)
(11) Sandwich the mat between the frame (with the gel bag) & the main card


(12) Add a plain frame to match the main card (and hide the other mats)



(13) Colour your image. This octopus was coloured with Stampin' Up!'s watercolour pencil crayons (layering monochromatic colours, using a circular motion and stippling as the blue fades away from the image.)

(Step #100, 000, 004) heehee Position the image: (a little tricky, but worth fiddling with)
  • Firstly, place it so that you can see it properly through the front window
  • Secondly, adhere it temporarily (maybe on one corner)
  • Thirdly, make sure the frame hides the white paper edges of your image
  • Finally, adhere the octopus, realign & adhere the frame (you may need to trim your frame to make it straight.)
Hope your crafting goes swimmingly, ynuk ynuk! ;0)


P.S. Splitcoaststampers gel card gallery here

P.P.S. Some of my Faves:

7 comments:

Allison Rankin said...

Another terrific creation and tutorial Mel! Maybe I can craft tomorrow if my kids think this is a fun one (and figure they have to help!). BTW, who says "ynuk, ynuk" anyway?

Donna Baker said...

what a great card (and tutorial) I love your watercoloring! makes me want to get out my Fishy Friends set!

Carol P said...

I haven't seen this kind of card in awhile--I'd sort of forgotten about it. Thanks for reminding me. Love the link to the baby one! How well do they mail??

Carol

New: Pop up card tutorials!
Extreme Cards and Papercrafting

Allison Rankin said...

I made one of these today thanks to you!

http://stampinwhenican.blogspot.com/2008/05/my-ynuk-ynuk-card.html

L.A. said...

Mel, this is fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Great tutorial! These are fun to make...I made little 6x6 notebooks using Fishy Friends, for each of my new recruits when they attended my meeting. If I can find mine, I'll post it to my blog...thanks for the reminder!

Barbara Sproatmeyer (LM2) said...

Cute, cute! It looks soo squishy and fun! :D