Flipping for mini Polaroids...

Something a little summery, for a change;
it's an easy to mail standard-sized card (51/2" x 41/4")

1... the Amber Ink image: I have a thing for flippers! (?)
2... making a mini Polaroid frame & dimensional flippers
3... cheap tricks for distressing digital paper with water & making multi-coloured thread

4... materials list

Do flippers bring back any memories for you?

I never realized I had a thing for flippers

until I saw the ones in
Amber Ink's Day At The Beach
Clothes set:


and the memories...

(.... of flippers
and innertubes
air mattresses
swimsuits
sun
sand
and water...
just swimming
for hours
and hours on end...)

came flooding back! So...

In honour of all of you who
have swum your hearts out:
An ode to flippers!


...make dimensional flippers &
a mini Polaroid frame

Viewing Tip: You can click these tutorial pictures for a closer look if you like. Hold your control button & scroll the mouse wheel up or down to make your screen larger or smaller.



Mini polaroids are popping up everywhere lately,
so here's my version:

Step 1) Make a mini Polaroid photo frame:

1A)Print one of these free vintage polaroid frame images (scaled way down small) on watercolour paper.
1B) Cut it out & cut out the center.
1C) Add a piece of vellum cardstock behind it.
1D) Adhere some layers of cardstock to raise it up a little off the card.

Alternatively, you could just use a square punch or square Nestabilities dies,
if you have the right size.



Step 2) Make some wee little flippers.

2A) Print Amber Ink flippers from in grey (I lightened the saturation in Photoshop). Cut & colour. I used Copic markers & Prismacolor pencils. I also shaped the flippers with my fingers to give them a bit of curl.



2B) Add bakers twine to the flippers (to make the little loopy bit that goes around your ankle.) :o)

I just stuck the baker's twine on the back of the flippers with double-sided tape:



To tie the baker's twine in more, visually, with the colours of the card I tinted it with a copic marker (YG00 Mimosa Yellow love that colour! It has the nicest green tint to it.)



Step 3) Make a distressed background.



To make funky stitching: Stick down strips of patterned paper. (This is BasicGrey's Basics White 6x6 paper). Pierce holes in a random zigzag & stitch freehand. (I used more white thread dyed with a turquoise Copic marker to match the coloured flippers).



For distressed seam binding ribbon: colour with Copic markers, wrinkle it, tie it in a knot, & fray the ends. Adhere with double-sided tape.



Step 4) Adhere the mini polaroid frame to the background panel.



Step 5) Cut & fold a standard card to adhere panel & hide stitch backing (I also rounded the corners).



Step 6) Adhere the flippers to the mini Polaroid.



To stick it on the card I adhered the flipper with more double-sided tape, but only in the center of the flipper back to allow for curl...



...and a little dimension.

And th-th-that's all folks...

(clickable blogger pic)

(Distressing digital paper with water
& easy multi-coloured stitching)

The grey background paper up above used to be...

...this cute polka dotted ipaper from Amber ink


I desaturated it in Photoshop to get a black and white look.
(image - adjustments -desaturate)
If you print digital images in colour (on an inkjet printer)
it will give you ink to play to get some nifty effects...



You can spritz with a mister bottle (even a glimmery one)
or use a paint brush to distress the printer ink.
If you use lots of water, you get pools of watery looking ink (on the left above)
If you use a little bit of water, you get more of a brush-stroke effect (on the right above)



I did this stuff to get the watery distressing:

--Printed the paper
--Doodled a chevron pattern on it with silver pen
--Spritzed the paper with water
--Dabbed with a waterbrush (with shimmer paint)
--Let it dry a little bit
--Sanded the heck out of it with a BasicGrey emery board
--Rounded the edges with a corner round punch
--Tore & curled up the edges of it some more

--Then I pierced holes with a piercing tool,
--Stitched a boarder in white and...

Coloured the white stitching:



This was too fun!
Prismacolor pencil crayons work on white stitching in the most lovely way & you can use different colours to get a funky multi-colour stitch without all the work of using different coloured thread. If you get any on your paper, you can erase it or just leave it for an extra distressed look. I used orange, greeny-yellow, & turquoise pencils:

• Flippers digi from Amber Ink's Day At The Beach Clothes set
• And their Swiss Dots Sunny Yellow tiny ipaper
• Watercolour paper, speckled cream cardstock (card base)
  
• Copy paper (to print the digi paper) Vellum cardstock
  
• BasicGrey Basics 6x6 paper pack (patterned paper strips)
  
• Copic markers, prismacolor pencils, double-sided tape
  
• Water brush, shimmer paint, spray bottle
  
• Emery board, EKSuccess corner rounder punch
• Baker's twine, seam binding ribbon
• Paper piercing tool, needle
• BasicGrey Precision file set
• white thread (coloured with copics & prismacolours)
  

Hope your day is shaping up swimmingly!

P.S. All of the Amber Ink gals are jazzed about the fab (and fruity) challenge over at "Less is More." As you know, I'm just genetically incapable of Clean And Simple. But how about You? Love C.A.S.? Please come play! :-)