Monday, April 5, 2010

MFTeaser--Day 3 Tree Swing!

Not sure, what possessed me to let this sweet little urchin
out to play after midnight,


but maybe he's just dreaming of fireflies?

It's day three of the teasers of new MFT stamp adorableness!!!

If you missed the other days, you can see them here:

More sweet new sets!
(That will be available in the MFT boutique
on Wednesday April 7th):
  • Pure Innocence- Birthday Princess
  • Pure Innocence- Book in Hand
  • Pure Innocence- Make Mine a Double
and I've used this one:
  • Boy & his Dog- Tree Swing:
Is it where the flow'r of the orange blows,

MFTeaser Boy & Dog Tree Swing card mel stampz

And the fireflies dance thro' the myrtle boughs?

--Felicia Hemans

stitched quilting thread rope detail mel stampz

(I am in LOVE with this set!!!)

The boy is stamped on cardstock that I applied gesso to (swiped it on with a scrap of cardstock.)The gesso lets you manipulate the paper a lot. I've scratched a grid in the paper to texturize his overalls.

Pants texture scratched into paper (painted with gesso before embossing stamp image) & Copic coloured with chissel end to prevent clogging the other brush end of Copic markers

This is scratched with a paper piercing tool, and the gesso makes the paper resilient. You can do this with regular cardstock; I just MUCH prefer the gesso paper. I'll have a full pictorial with all the details of the gesso technique tomorrow, in case you're curious. :o)

The rope is stitched:

stitched rope MFT Boy & Dog - Tree Swing mel stampz

(I pierced the image with a paper piercer & sewed on quilting thread after I adhered the cut out image to the black grid paper (the background paper is Basic Grey Origins 6x6 paper with some hills coloured on using black & grey Copic Markers.)

The teensy flowers:

MFT Boy & Dog Tree Swing branch with itty bitty shaped paper  flowers mel stampz

The teeny tiny shaped paper flowers were made (super quickly)
using a Fiskar's scallop flower border punch:

The punch was a gift from Maria (one of the most insanely talented & sweetly generous crafters in the whole wide world! You ROCK, girlfriend!) I love this punch SO much; I tried to find a link, in case anyone wants one... but I'm not sure if they still make it, sorry.

To make the flowers:
  1. Punch the wee flowers (punch border punch in white cardstock.)
  2. Pierce a hole in them (on a firm foam or cork surface)
  3. Glue them to your project (You could colour or glitter them first)
No shaping required. The piercing shapes them. Though you might find that if your paper piercer is too thick, this won't work. The one I used is Making Memories deluxe piercer. (LOVE it--after buying 5 brands.) You could use a needle/push pin...

They're glued on with Tombow Monomulti:



and with some leaves. To make the leaves, I just stamped an extra branch & coloured and cut out the leaves & glued them on with the flowers...

on blowing in the wind:

MFT Boy & Dog Tree Swing mel stampz

I love this branch and can't wait to make a card with just the branch even!

Fireflies:

fire flies & cereal box embossing plate leaves

The fireflies are clear seed beads sewn on with white thread:

  1. Draw a white dot on the image with a gel pen (I like Sakura Souffle)
  2. Draw a soft glow around it with a white marker (I love Close to my Heart white marker more than words can say.) You could paint on a weak wash of white paint or ink with a small brush.
  3. Pierce two small holes on either side of the white dot (using a paper piercing tool or a needle.
  4. Thread a needle (that will fit through the clear bead) ;o) with white thread
  5. Starting at the back of the image, come up through the hole you pierced & adhere the end of your thread on the back of the image
  6. Once you've threaded through to the front, just pop the seed bead on your needle.
  7. Go back down through the image, in the 2nd hole you pierced.
TIP: The two holes will make the bead lay flat. For a bead that shows its circular inside, just pierce one hole & go back down through it after adding the bead.

And yup, I'm a lunatic, I did stitch around all the words:



To make the embossed words (from an inkjet printer):

Embossing the words lets you colour your paper with distress ink or other things without smudging the computer printing.

1. Type out your quote in your favorite font in a word document

2. Cover a piece of cardstock in Matte Medium (This requires only a very thin coat; Matte Medium is clear & lets you emboss ink jet ink if you work QUICKLY) I apply with my hands, but you could try brush, brayer, lint free rag if you don't want lines in your finished paper

3. Dry Matte Medium & prepare embossing supplies: While the matte medium dries, prepare clear embossing powder, tray, & heat gun so you can act quickly after printing. I find in BC Canada that Golden Matte Medium dries super quickly, but it will depend on the humidity of your area. You can speed with a gentle pass of the heat gun.

4. Print the text & sprinkle on embossing powder. (I like to print on a half sheet of cardstock and on standard setting, so it prints quickly enough to keep the ink jet ink wet.) Immediately sprinkle the clear embossing powder on.

5. Melt the clear clear embossing powder with a heat gun. To get the most out of the powder application, you can heat it from the back of the paper so the heat gun doesn't blow the embossing powder off.

Then you can ink up the paper, or add Glimmer Mist or what have you without smudging. I applied Distress Ink (Broken China & dark grey ink to mute the hue.)

(Please note: Sorry, I can't guarantee that the Matte Medium doesn't do naughty things to your printer. Mine was $50. so I play at whim)

...and there you have it...



Hope this card wasn't too somber for you.... & Sorry about the photo quality, I'll try to get better photos & close ups of this when the sun comes out
today & add them with descriptions of the techniques. (It was SO fun to make but SOoooh difficult to photograph!) Photos all added now. :o)
P.S. (Word to the wise, these stamp sets tend to sell out
quickly, so if you want them badly, then you may
want to save that date: APR 7th) :-)


P.P. S. Can you believe this. If I won the lotto, I would buy these: Jeweled buttons
(no affiliation at all; I just thought they were hot.)


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32 comments:

StampOwl said...

here I was reading your sentiment on your card and you have it on your blog easier to read LOL ... trust me! Love it btw!

Dotty Jo said...

Totally adorable! Jo x

Pearl Maple said...

Cute card, all those little details make it special.

Kellie said...

WOOOOW your always got such inspirational work and you inspired me to get my mini hehe sewing machine back out and to also hand stitch on my cards! Your an inspiration to all and this card is GORGEOUS! LOVE it!
Hugs Kel xx

Holly Young said...

oh this is so neat Mel. Just makes me want to stare at it. I keep noticing new little things. Very cool!

Dawn said...

cute,cute,cute!! love it on black! tell me you did NOT stitch around each word?!!

loving the peeks of the PI's, so cute!!

xoxo

Dawn said...

oh, and I know you... you DID sew around each word.. why should I question! you are a maniac!! love you!!

Katie Cotton said...

this card is incredible! thats about what my tree looks like in the front yard with all the blossoms and petals blowing away in the breeze and i love it. Outstanding how you captured that feeling on a card!

Cindy Haffner said...

WICKED SWEET!!!

Erum Tasneem said...

I LOVE THE STAMP! and i esp like the way u have cut out the little flowers and leaves... looks like its windy out there! :)

mekei said...

it's spring break. the kids are allowed to stay up late.

Barbara said...

You did not sew around each of those words!! OMG, yes you did! Fabulous, Mel, just fabulous!

Becky said...

This is totally fabulous!!

Bonnie Lynn said...

Not somber at all Mel. Too totally cute is what I think.

Mary Rose Gurica said...

sitting in great pain love this too as i do u ...please call when u get a minute,love lady bird momp

Kerry Johnson said...

Definitely not too somber!! Love it!! The flowers are perfect and his overalls are amazing! I would never have thought to make it a night sky - you're genius!!

kksb said...

Really super cute! Are you going to have the supplies and how you created on another blog?

Amy Sheffer said...

Oh Mel, love all the awesome details on this! Adorable!

Christina Fischer said...

Beautiful in black! Amazing details!!

Melody said...

Mel, you are just so creative! Your card just makes such a beautiful statement! I am in AWE!

I used your cone template for my PI project today! Thanks!

g said...

your fabulous creations always make me happy- this is amazing! i LOVE him with his fireflies!

donna mikasa said...

Love the nighttime setting--what a novel idea!
Looking forward to the release!

Lori Forester said...

Oh Mel,
Your card is wonderful and not somber at all. It looks like the little man is out playing on a swing over the water and all the leaves and flowers from the tree are blowing and falling into the water. It is lovely, absolutley lovely and now I really really want that stamp set.
Thanks for all you Tim Holtz help over at Splitcoast!

Jana Weaver said...

Wow...this is amazing! Love all the little details!

Anonymous said...

Mel, this is truly stunning!

Sissy Faulkner said...

The embossing, the rope, the flowers.... What a beautiful card!!!!

Rufus said...

Love this! Love the way you stitched down the rope swing, little leaves, oh hell I loved the WHOLE thing. I went back and read to tutorial on making your own leaf embossing plate. You, gal, have the patience of a saint, or you're certifiably insane!! But I sure love the results, so I guess I've gotta go with option 1)!
R/

Brenda said...

Mel, this is the most creative card I have seen in a while. I have a weak spot for the PI stamps, but you made this one a gotta have!

Lisa H. said...

somber, NO WAY! this card was perfection at it's best! love, the details, your coloring, all the texture, and those fireflies-wow! your work makes me smile! and wow! if you win the lottery, will you buy me some of those crystal button? LOL! they are gorgeous!

Whimcees said...

What a wonderful card! You are so creative! I love it!

Wishing you a good day today!

Barbara Diane

CraftCrave said...

Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [06 Apr 02:00pm GMT]. Thanks, Maria

stampqueen said...

I love the little boy playing at night - Brilliant!!!! Will have to case that!!!