Just Missing You! (damask digi paper freebie & tutorial)

I'm "just missing you"...



...so, in honour of the holidays, I thought I'd post a couple of cards this week.

For today's post, this ultra simple
3 1/4" by 6 1/4" card
(with a little digi paper freebie and a short how-to).

-1-

digital image shopping:

I was ever so excited to find the website & digital image
shop of the artist Heather Ellis...here...

... extraspecially since I love MFT stamps so much (including her Pure Innocence and Boy & the Dog series), but I must admit I have found myself drawn to digital so much of late. I like that I can scale them down and I'm a MESSY stamper so digi actually saves me paper. (I still have to find the perfect ink, I guess).

I embossed this little pair of friends from my inkjet printer
(on some white paper painted with Matte Medium):

...and coloured them very lightly with pale Copic marker colours. Then,
scratched the paper with a paper piercing tool to get texture:



I scratched a cross-hatch pattern onto the boy's pants
I also added white dots of gel pen on his sweater.
His doggy got fur texture scritches.

Do you guys like different textures?
(Or am i just a weirdo)? ;o) heehee

and Great news if you're looking for a previously retired Heather Ellis image: It just might be back! There's a note on her site detailing that she's decided not to discontiue her images, since she's had so many requests to keep them available.

Heather Ellis also has an etsy shop called
digistampcharacters and you can find it here.

-2-

pencil damask patterned paper



So, I'm broke, ya know?
LOL
...but really it's true!

Hence, I'm always trying to find ways to get a fresh new look on things
without breaking the bank. This do-it-yourself damask paper has been
super useful in my projects lately (and relatively costless)
so I thought I'd share a copy of it...
and share how you can make your own.



The paper is available for download from
my account at acrobat.com here

When you get to acrobat.com,
just click the little green download button in the top left corner:


If you have any trouble downloading from acrobat,
please see this post describing how to do it.
If you're still stuck, feel free to comment here or drop me
a note--melstampz@gmail.com---:o)

-3-

make your own digital patterned paper
with a hand-drawn damask pattern:

Step 1) Create a single damask element. (The sneaky trick is that you only need one shape will be repeated to make the pattern).

Draw one, or use a digital or rubber/acrylic stamp; clipart etc... (following copyright, of course) ;o)

Don't like to draw, but want a hand drawn look? You can trace a copyright free image (public domain images are great!) Just lay tracing paper over & use a nice sharp pencil (I love mechanical pencil)



Step 2) Scan your damask element. I scanned it as a colour photograph and at a high resolution (600) for detail & flexibility.



Step 3) Open your damask image in Photoshop (or other software) & Clean it up, cropping & fixing any areas you like using the eraser tool or paint brushes. I didn't worry about getting the image perfect, since I wanted it to look hand drawn.



Step 4) Turn Your scanned image into a photoshop brush.(Not sure how to do that? Here's a great tutorial by Dani for how to make a brush in Photoshop.)

and then

Step 5) Repeatedly "stamp" your new photoshop brush in a pattern to make a piece of digital paper. I made mine dark by "stamping" the brush in black & then adjusted it to use later by making it pale (under the "image" tab > "adjustments" > "hue & saturation" > then slide the scale bar to increase the "lightness"



Step 6) Print the image out to make your very own paper. To emboss mine, I just...

A) brayered a thin layer of Matte Medium (by Golden) onto white cardstock,
B) had the clear embossing powder ready,
C) printed it in the digital printer (my printer is a Canon Pixma 260),
D) quickly sprinkled the embossing powder on the wet printer ink and heat it to melt it...

et voilà, homemade embossed damask paper!

Blogger pictures for those who prefer them...

(Simply click on the photos to see them larger
& click back to return to this post). :o)

Digital Image: The Boy & the Dog by Heather Ellis

To emboss the image: Inkjet printer, White cardstock & Matte Medium by Golden; clear embossing powder, heat gun

Pale Copic markers: E50 eggshell; E00 skin white; BG10 cool shadow; B00 frost blue; V000 pale heath; V95 light grape; cool grays: C1 & C3. (Please see this tutorial for a disclaimer on digi embossing & copics.)

To emboss the sentiment: word doc. with coloured phrase, vellum cardstock, inkjet printer, clear embossing powder, heat gun.

Miscellaneous: Fuzzy snow paper (gift from my BFF Kimmy, sorry no source); paper piercing tool to score texture into image & pierce holes for sewing, needle & gray thread


I hope your days are bright and beautiful this winter!


P.S. By the by, this is an unsolicited post. I just bought some Heather Ellis images on etsy a while back and thought you all might find the shop info handy for last minute digi cards. :o)

Copyright notice: this damask image copyright M. McCarthy 2010 and
is for personal use only, please. :) Feel free to sell handmade items made with this, but not digital ones. Thanks!

Turn Embossing Folders into stamps! with a Cuttlebug (or other machines)

Nope, Provocraft didn't come out with stamps. This background...

...started out as (you guessed it!) fun foam in a Cuttlebug folder. First it became this...

...a rather hazy looking stamped image, but then it turned into this more defined pattern:



The stamping is murky-ish, but it gives you great guidelines to doodle patterns on with pens. (I used a Sakura glaze pen in white, a silver pen and a Sakura glitter pen to add interest and definition.)


This one is my fave:

It was even easier than that first gray one--made in three simple steps:

1. Stamping with the new fun foam stamp I made on soft sky c.s. (This uses the Fantasy Floral folder. How-to make the stamp below)
2. Tracing the stamped outlines with a Sakura Quickie glue pen
3. Adding Dazzling Diamonds glitter while the glue lines were wet.

(It was inspired by Maria's stunning creation, which I've linked to before, but can't get out of my mind 'cause it's SO Gorgeous!)

How to make a stamp with Cuttlebug folders:

Supplies:

• Cardstock
• Fun foam (cut so it will fit your embossing folder)
• Cuttlebug or other machine
• Embossing folder
• Craft/pigment ink (though another ink may work, I've not tried it)
• Brayer (gives even coverage)
• Large block [(to apply even pressure) an acrylic block, a wooden background stamp block, cuttlebug A B or C plate would work]
• Heat gun (to set ink)

Optional supplies:

• Pens (gel, glaze, glitter, metallic...to embellish or outline. Markers work, but can get gummed up with craft ink)
• Glitter
• Embossing powder (to emboss if desired)

Directions:

1. Run fun foam through your cuttlebug folder. (You may want to experiment with different brands of fun foam as some hold the embossing better than others.) I like to have everything out so that I can work quickly

2. Lay the embossed fun foam on a scrap piece of paper to protect your work area.

3. Brayer the fun foam with craft/pigment ink

4. Lay cardstock on top of fun foam

5. Add the block & apply even pressure

6. Lift the block. You may find the fun foam sticks (mine did) just peel it away :0)

7. Set the ink with a heat gun

8. Add details with pens/emboss/glue pen & glitter---if you like. (You may want to work carefully to avoid smudging, but heat gunning should take the sticky-smeariness out of your ink)

This soft sky piece above was embossed with clear embossing powder, but some of the lines were vague so I just did a lot of free-hand doodling wit a Sakura white glaze pen.


As you can see with this piece, the stamping can look kind of mucky...




...but it improves a lot when embellished. I doodled on this with a silver marker:




I got my silver marker at the dollar store (acid free even!) I love the silver Sharpie (but it's not acid free.) Here's a picture that sort of captures the detail of the silver marker (sort of):



It looks much nicer in real life, honest! :0)

Something kind of neat: this ribbon used to be white organza. You can just colour on it with a silver marker or swipe it with silver ink. :0)

Other card Details:

Stamped in Whisper White Craft ink on Basic Gray cardstock, doodled on with White Sakura Glaze pen, Silver creative memories pen, Sakura clear glitter pen. Black card edged with silver sharpie. Grey mat (center cut out to save weight) faux-stitched with silver pen. White cardstock in paisley embossing folder. Here's a trick for getting what looks like a large 5 1/2" piece of cuttlebugged paper:

Just use two pieces behind a band of paper. You don't need to worry about the measurement for height (just width) since it will be hidden behind the center band. (Simple, I know, but it might be a good idea for someone, so I hadda share it) :0)

The tab is made with the round tab punch & Simple sayings II.
I markered in the dots...inside it says "...birthday." Notice the silver edging on the black cardstock? I love doin' that. It is quick and cheap & adds a little somethin' somethin' ;0)

Thanks so much for reading!
Hope you're not fed up with fun-foam! :0)




P.S. Blog candy here! Not too long now and I'll draw for it. :0)

Fun Foam Smooching! (and I got Nestabilities!) :0)

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it! ;0) That fun foam background stamp that I made in my last post works even better for the kissing technique than rubber stamps. Craft (pigment ink) seems to be the secret. The ink stays moist enough to make a great impression.

This is fun foam kissed & then detailed with a white Sakura glaze pen


To Smooch with Fun Foam:

1. Make fun foam background stamp (tutorial here & more info on fun foam stamping here)

2. Brayer fun foam stamp with ink (again, Craft/pigment ink works the best--giving crisp lines)

3. Stamp onto fun foam stamp with rubber/acrylic stamp(s) (I like a background stamp, but any size that fits will work, and you'll want to work quickly so ink stays wet) :0)

4.Use the kissed rubber stamp to stamp your paper

5. Set the craft ink with a heat gun, so it isn't smudgy

6. Embellish your stamping as desired with glaze/gel/glitter pens

Other Card Details:

--> The scallop square is made with Spellbinders Nestabilities (Classic Scallop Squares.) I got a great deal on them thanks to my friend Kim. Check out this stunning card she made for me with the circle nesties. Me lovey! And this one with little squares is hot too.

--> The basic grey square mat & the main Pretty in Pink card both have faux stitching done with Tim Holtz's design ruler (more details here.)

--> The pink 3D flowers are pink fun foam cut with Provocraft's Flowers dies. The white flower centers are punched with the 3 for You punch kit. I added glitter with a Sakura clear glitter pen & black brads.


--> The sentiment square is made with the Alphabets stamp in Pretty in Pink ink & punched with a 1 1/4" square punch. The white paper is distressed with a black marker (that marker edge technique is described at the bottom of this post.) topped with a black embossed "hi" which was punched with this 5/8" circle punch (hard to punch but I love the size.) I edged the "hi" circle with a Pretty in Pink marker and with glitter pen.

It's all matted with a Basic Gray coloured small classic scallop nestie which I embellished with a white Sakura glaze pen, punched circles of black cardstock in the corners.

Thanks for stopping by
and I hope your crafting is fun-filled! :0)



P.S. 101 things you can do with the cuttlebug here

DIY background stamp with Fun-Foam in the Cuttlebug (or other machine/using store-bought diecut shapes)

This doesn't look like much does it? (It's just a bunch of carpet tape & fun foam stuck on the back of a background stamp) but it's secretly a brand new background stamp! It was a blast using it to make these:

Both cards are stamped with the DIY fun-foam background stamp in White craft ink. The black card was embossed with clear embossing powder, heated, cooled & run through the Textile embossing folder. I like how crisp the Craft (pigment) ink is with the fun foam background. Versamark would be great too.

To make your own background with any die-cut shapes:

1. Die-cut your shapes (that step is mighty obvious, hey?) but you could just buy some of those premade fun foam shapes...
   
2. Stick double-sided tape on any block (wooden or acrylic...) [In hindsight, I'd stick the carpet tape and fun foam dye-cuts to a sheet to a sheet of acetate & then stick that to a background stamp, since I had to peel off the one that's pictured above, so I keep my block nice & clean and that wasted the shapes.) With the acetate method, you can store them really easily.]
   
3. Adhere fun foam shapes in a pattern that you like
4. Stamp with 'em (I find Craft (pigment) ink gives the crispest image

For more on fun foam as stamps please see this previous post

I was thrilled to discover that you can also use dye-cuts to make embossed accessories. The fun foam holds the embossing and I think it looks more sophisticated than plain old un-embossed fun foam:

You can just run fun foam die-cuts through the folder the way you would paper.

To make fun foam embellishments like this flower:

• Cut shape with white fun foam (This flower is cut with Provocraft Flowers die)
  
• Run flower through Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder
• Adhere paper behind it (This is Loves Me retired SU paper)
• Stick on a gem/brad etc...
  

You may find you need to pick little bits off of the foam; if you look closely you'll see little black thready bits. Masking tape rolled on your fingers works well. :0)

To make this flower:

• Die cut a flower in white fun foam (different fun foam brands seem to have different results)
  
• Add center flower. [I used a flower from a tag set I bought, but you could use 3 for You punch kit (it's a little larger) or another flower punch]
• Cover the black flower in Crystal Effects/other lacquer for gloss
  
• Add a gem
  

Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Craftiness,



P.S. The next post will involve some smooching & doodling! Kissing with fun-foam works even better than it does with stamps (Don't you just want to embrace your fun-foam lovingly?...lol) ;0)

P.P.S. For stamps used for the "delight" sentiment please see previous post

P.P.P. S. The cuttlebug list is growing. It's at 73 things! you can do with a Bug