Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Time for Love Card

by Lis Whiting

I first became interested in papercrafting in the fourth grade. We were rehearsing a play. The art teach came in and made a sparkly crown out of plain construction paper and I was hooked! Ever since that moment I have been in papercrafts. My favorite thing to do is work on new techniques. I love to try out all the new tools and see what I can do with them. (I just got the I-Top tool from Imaginisce – very cool!) I love color and using different media, different papers to get new effects. I am a big fan of the Victorian era and old things. I love using embellishments like brass charms and fibers in my work.

I hope you’ll enjoy my first project, with its embellishments!



Materials:

     
      Cream card-stock (8 ½ x 5 ½)
      Graphic 45 Times Nouveau Collection (G45-P-0007 99¢)
      Basic Grey Eskimos Kisses (BG-ESK-1994 85¢)
            (who said you had to use Christmas papers only at Christmas?)
      I-Top
            Brad Maker Tool (IMG-itop-tool $29.99)
            Brad blanks, small (IMG-itop-brsmall $2.99)
            Brad blanks, medium (IMG-itop-pusm $10.99)
      Ivory pearls (4mm) (KAI-PRL-714 $1.99)
      Tim Holtz Adage Tickets (ADV-TH-92716 $3.99)
      Tim Holtz Blending Tool and Foam (RAN-TIM-Blend $4.99)
      Ranger Distress Inks
            Aged Mahogany (RAN-DP-Mahog $5.00)
            Walnut (RAN-DP-Walnut $5.00)
      Range Inkssentials Craft Sheet (suz-crftsht-sm $8.99)
      Cream ¼ inch satin ribbon (12 inches)
      Maroon or Mauve 1/8 inch satin ribbon (6 inches)

Instructions:

      Fold the cream card-stock in half to make the base for your card. The
      final measurement should be 5 ½ x 4 ¼. Set it aside.

      Cut one piece of the Graphic 45 Times card-stock measuring 4 x 5 ¼

      Using your blending tool and mahogany ink, color all the edges.
      (Remember to work on a Ranger craft sheet. Start your shading off the paper and
      work in a circular motion, adding color to the edges. Set aside to dry.)
       
     

      Making the I Top Brads

      I chose this tool to make some matching brads with paper I wanted to use on this card.
      With this tool, you can “top” the brad blanks with any kind of paper or design you want.
      Once I started, I couldn’t stop!

      The tools that you will need will include the I TOP brad maker, some small brad blanks
      and the small punch or the small templates. (If you use the templates, you cut out
      the shapes after tracing them.) I also use the punches for flowers and corner punches.
     
      Choose the size of brad you want to make, choose your design and punch it out.
      Its always good to turn the punch around so that you can see where you are punching
      the image.
     
      Place the brad top in the hand held machine, place the punched paper in, and
      squeeze. Fold the paper edges into the brad top. Place the brad bottom into the
      machine, squeeze and take out your brad. There is a great video that Imaginisce
      has on their website so that you can see exactly how to make your own brads.

      I made several examples of brads.
       

      Bring out your 4 x 5 ¼ graphic 45 card-stock piece.

      Take your two pieces of satin ribbon and glue the mahogany piece onto the ivory
      piece.

      Take the ribbon and glue it to the lower part of your card-stock. Do not let the
      ribbon go to the edge. You need about 1.4 inch of card-stock edge showing.

      Using a small hole punch (1/8 inch or less) punch a hole on each side of your
      card-stock piece: through the ribbon and through the card-stock. Each hole should
      be placed about ¼ inch from each side. (You can also use a pin or paper piercer to
      make the holes.)

      Take your two brads and add one to each side of the card-stock, using the holes
      you just punched.

      Place glue or double stick tape to the back of this and mount it on the card base.

      Bring out two Adage Tickets.
      Using the direct to paper technique, put one swipe (about the width & length of
      the ink pad) of mahogany ink and one swipe (same amount) of walnut ink onto your
      craft sheet. Spray a little water onto the ink until you see it bead up. You
      don’t need too much water here.

      Take your adage tickets and place them top down in the ink/water mix. Pick them up
      and look at them. If you are happy with the result, use your heat gun to dry the
      ink. You can dip them in the inks again and dry for more detailed looks.

      Glue the dried tickets onto the same card-stock you used for the brad covers.

      Trim so that about 1/8 to 3/16 inch of card-stock is showing as a border around the
      tickets.

      Place mounting tape on the back.

      Mount the Adage Tickets on the card.
     
      Add 4mm ivory pearls to your card:
            One pearl at each corner of the mounted adage tickets.
            Two pearls on each side of the ribbon, to the inside of the brads.
           

      Add a bow made of the ivory satin ribbon.
     
      You’re done!

I hope you have enjoyed this, the first of my FranticStamper Design Team posts!
Lis

3 comments:

  1. absolutely beautiful. I've been eying up that Itop Brad maker and after seeing your truly stunning brads, I've gotta get one. Thanks for the inspiration

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great card!! I'm also eyeing this Itop :)

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  3. I just love this card with its beautiful pearls and ribbons. It is simple yet really elegant... one of my favorite styles!

    I, too, am thinking about the iTop now! You make it look easy to use, and I just love the result you got!

    ReplyDelete