Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Chalk Pastels with Blender pen & Bellyband-elope Tutorials


I bought this With Love set from Annapurna & thought the flower from it might look neat with beads added to it. Then I got all crazy with another envelope type thingermajigger...


Wanna make one?....

BellyBandelope How to:


1. Cut a piece of cardstock to make your belly-band.
(I cut this one 12x 5 inches for my 6 inch card):

2. Score on either end of your card (leaving enough room for folding)
(I love using my Tim Holtz design ruler to find center.)


3. Fold the ends in & Do a dry fit with the card inside it
(to be sure your belly band will fit before moving on. Trust me I skipped this step--see no card in there-not good...and I paid for it: had to trim my card so it'd fit LOL.)


4. Trim off some of the ends to allow for embellishing
(I cut off 1 inch on each side)


5. Cut pieces to embellish it; I used 4 pieces of this patterned paper
(2 pairs of pieces measuring 1 x 5 inches & 2 x 5 inches)


6. Cut some cardstock & scallop it--this was 11.5 inches long.
(Trim to fit 2 pieces to your belly-band length)


7. Punch holes in the scallops so you can add eyelets
(SU's corner punch leaves circle divots you can use as a guide)


8. Add eyelets to the holes
(makes the holes strong for lacing)


9. Adhere scallop piece to the back of the patterned paper


10. Dry fit scallop pieces on top of belly band
(place on top to see where you want them to fit)


11. Stick scallop pieces onto the belly-band
(add faux stitches if you like)


12. Laced up, the belly-band should be able to slide off the card
(but I like to embellish the inside in case someone unlaces it)


13. To lace easily, cut the ribbon on an angle
(sealing it with a lighter makes it even easier)


14. Lace that puppy up
(just like tying a shoe!)



Card Details:


The flowers were coloured using "pastel & blender pen" technique which works great on normal cardstock (but this image was embossed on patterned Gesso cardstock.)

Pastel & Blender pen technique:

Supplies: Blender pen & Chalk Pastels (I used the ones made by Stampin' Up! here)

1. Stamp or emboss an image
2. Put chalk pastel on blender pen
3. Apply to paper

Easy hey? The blender pen acts like a binding agent to seal the chalk onto your cardstock. You can get some really soft looks with it. :0)

Neat lil' tip: if your embossing powder looks chalky after you add your chalk, you can use a clean blender pen/q-tip to clean off the worst of it, but the really cool thing is that re-heating it a little will bring back the sheen of the embossing. Like magic! ;0)


The beading & the sentiment, etc...

Beads are added two easy-peasy ways on here:

Just gluing on with Crystal Effects & sliding them onto the stitching. [Sorry, can't stop adding beads and rambling about it. ;0) It's so easy but it adds a lil' sumthin' sumthin' (and there's so many colours of super-dee-duperly affordable beads out there!) The ones threaded on here were a mixed batch from the good ol' dollar store.]


The sentiment was made by:


1) Punching a word window out of black cardstock

2) Punching a key tag around it & another key tag for the back

3)
Embossing the sentiment (
"friends" is from Blooming Flourishes by CTMH) in black, on white cardstock.

4) Trimming the sentiment to fit sandwiched between the two key tags (with the word window one in the front so "Friends" shows through.)

5) Adhering the whole thing


Other card details:

Main card: Naturals White (stamped with Stitched in
Certain Celery ink) Patterned paper: Basic Grey LilyKate Wisteria LIK-567) Mats: Basic Black, Certain Celery Ribbon: (SU's Certain Celery 5/8" grosgrain) & white satin ribbon to lace the BellyBandelope (from Michael's)


Well th-th-th-th-that's all Folks! :0)
Thanks so much for visiting,

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!!! What more can I say? you leave me speechless

Margaret McDonald said...

spectacular, gorgeous, wow.
& the card is nice too!!
love ya
crazy auntie
PS can you make me a bellyband so I will good in a bathing suit

Anonymous said...

The eyelet bellyband is awesome. Can think of a lot of variations. It would look great wrapped around a tall round container. Could make mini's for small votives.

Lisa M. (aka. Lisa @ Farm Fresh) said...

Gosh! This is beautiful!! And I sooo have to try that envelope cause it's just as pretty as the card!

Denise ~ Paper Ponderings said...

Amazing. Love, love, love all the tips, links, explanations, details...keep up the incredible work!

AnnMarie said...

The belly band looks like a corsett! LOVE IT! Very pretty! Great colors too!

K Hutchinson said...

Stunning! Your how to's are awesome! Also inspiring me to try something new! YOU ROCK MEL!

Angie Tieman said...

Oh, I love both of these cards! The color combo is fabulous and such amazing details!

Deb Neerman said...

OOOOhhh, yummers!! I just got my packie from Anna DeGenerous with this very same stamp set; and I lurve it! And, Anna, of course!

Can't wait to try your chalkin' trick with da blender pen ... I'm seriously chalk-challenged. Yuppers! Seriously!

Love the card, the envie, and the great tutorial on belly-dancing!

LoVe this Mel-a-liscious; another homer!

~Enormo-hugs!

Maria said...

Okay, Mel. . .for some reason your bellyband-elope looks "sexy" to me! LOL! It reminds me of the bodice type of lingerie! Beautiful way to dress up such a pretty card! Love all the details!!

I definitely need to try your bellyband-elope out! Gosh, I can't keep up with your tutorials. I have a long list of your stuff to try out!

Maria

Lorraine said...

Just beautiful you clever thing you.

Janine said...

Oh Mel!! You are amazing!! Love this card and the belly band concept!! Have a marvelous day!!

Annapurna said...

Amazing card you made with those amazing stamps ;-)

I was so in need of belly band envelope, you will see why. TFS.

Love the papers you used, all the beading and I agree with the other ladies. It does look like lingere(wrong spelling)

Awesome!

Joani McDonald said...

How do you come up with all of these wonderful ideas? You must not sleep at all at night! Your creations are always mind boggling. I just love each and every card you create!
Your awesome Mel!
Hugs,
Joani

Theresa Momber said...

I think it looks sexy, too! What an amazing card and wonderful tutorial. You rock!

Anonymous said...

This is just gorgeous, terrific, wonderful! Thanks for the tutorial!

Unknown said...

Mel!Holy COW -- this is so beautiful! I am just loving the bellyband-elope!

You were the Runner Up" for tutorial of the week over at www.Cardoftheweek.com. You can check out the original post at http://www.cardoftheweek.com/2008/07/tutorial-tues-4.html.

I hope it's OK, I used pictures from your site -- I also included a link to your original post and a link to your site. Email me if you need me to change anything. You can get me at susanna.boyd@gmail.com.

If you want a "I was featured on Card of the Week badge" let me know and I"ll send you the code :D

Thanks for sharing your great work!

Michelle Pearson said...

Love it! That paper is gorgeous with that image. Love the beads and your fancy envy. NICE!

Pamela Smerker said...

Awesome tutorial! Love all those eyelets as well. All in all absolutely gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing.

Donna Baker said...

holey canoli bits! this is FABULOUS, Mel! You NEVER cease to amaze me! love the beads on the flowers & the string on the sides & the bellyband-elope?! WOWZA!

Risa said...

What a beautiful card and I'm lovin your envelopes...so cool!!! Thank for the tutorial Mel!
I have a ton of beads sitting here and thanks to you, I have an idea or two for using them. As always..great job and thank you for the inspiration:)

Anonymous said...

Awesome card and envelope! Love how you always have lots of pictures to show every detail! I just love using my blender pen too. It seems to work with so many mediums!
smiles,Deena

Erum Tasneem said...

hey mel how ya doing!
this is absolutely wonderful. I will come back tomorrow toc heck out what i have missed... i have not been coming online cuz of my stupid internet :) lol

ChrissyM said...

Wow! You are an amazing crafter!

Linsey R said...

This is nothing short of breathtaking, Mel! I adore the criss cross ribbon treatment, these fabulous papers and all the amazing beaded detailing--is sure doesn't look like it was easy-peasy, because it's so very stunning! You are awesome, thanks for sharing in such great detail, very useful! Hugs!

Sheila said...

Mel this is just awesome.

Anonymous said...

OK, I subscribe to your ultra-fab blog, but do you have time to do anything else, or are you just super fast and a genius to boot??
Your techniques are always so fresh and uh, uh, well amazing is all I can say.
Thank you so much for all you do.

Erica