Shrink Plastic Panels Card Tutorial

Hello stampers! Welcome to my blog on this last day of January! For today's project, I revisited an old favorite, namely shrink plastic. I never stopped using shrink plastic, but definitely used it more in my early papercrafting days. 

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Shrink plastic is like magic and makes it possible to shrink a large stamp or die cut into something smaller and dimensional. I used a whole bunch of sentiment and collage type stamps for this card and decided to fill the entire card front with shrink plastic panels. 

Start by stamping images on Simon Says Stamp Shrink Sheets and cut into squares and rectangles. Stazon ink works the best on shrink plastic. I used a mix of older Stamper's Anonymous Classics and Tim Holtz stamps. 

I find that it is often easiest to use brads, string or stitches to attach shrink plastic pieces. You need to punch holes before shrinking the plastic. Punch holes with a Crop-A-Dile. 

There are various ways to shrink the plastic. I used my heat tool. Be very careful so that you don't burn yourself. You can find a Simon Says Stamp video by Shari Carroll showing this process here.

I used a Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Everything Tool on top of a box when shrinking my pieces. Flatten them out with an acrylic block or a wood-mounted stamp. The pieces don't always shrink to the exact shape that they originally were, which means that many of them won't be completely square or rectangular. I like that imperfect look. Move the pieces around on your cardstock until you are happy with the placement. I made two additional pieces to fill in two gaps.

Here you can see the amount of shrinking that will happen. Cool isn't it?

You can color the shrink plastic before shrinking, but I decided to do it afterwards since I wanted to be able to plan where the pieces would go first. It also gives you more control of the color since the shrinking process darkens colors. Color the pieces at the back with alcohol ink and a felt applicator on your ink-blending tool. Don't color on the front since that will ruin your stamping.

The background is neutral. I inked the heavystock paper with Distress Ink and misted lightly with water.

Place the pieces on the cardstock again to see if you want to change anything. You can remove the alcohol ink with blending solution. I lightened the pieces in a few places.

Attach the pieces with Tim Holtz brads. As you can see, they are a little wonky and skewed, which I really like. 

The small sentiment banners were stamped with Tim Holtz Simple Sayings. The beautiful dragonfly, as well as the compass and pear, come from Stamper's Anonymous Classics #1. I used several of the Classics sets since they have beautiful collage images.

I added a Label Sticker sentiment too. The art words panel behind it comes from the Classics #4 set. 

The collage girl stamp to the left is an old favorite of mine, from Tim's The Girls set.

Since the pieces aren't all completely flat, the card has quite a bit of dimension and it also adds movement.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that it inspired you to use some shrink plastic.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today!

Happy stamping!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Lollipop Tag Tutorial

Hello and welcome to my blog on this Monday! I hope you are well and had a good weekend. The light stays a little longer in the afternoon for each passing week here now, something that I really appreciate. 

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

This week we have a Food or Drink theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I hope you will join us! Don't miss the last project by our January guest designer Monica aka My Bonnet Bee.

For my project, sweets fall under the category of food. I was inspired by the lollipops that come in the Simon Says Stamp card kit boxes. My youngest is very fond of the card kit boxes, since he always gets the lollipop. Since I didn't have any lollipop stamps, I made my own lollipops from circle stamps and rolled up paper. 

I wanted a bright and happy background and embossed the tag in Simon Says Stamp Twirling 3-D folder. This design has so much movement.

Color the circles with Distress Watercolor pencils. Don't worry about getting it perfect.

When dry, lightly ink with Distress Ink to darken the embossed areas.

Splatter the tag with Distress Watercolor Pencils.

Stamp circles from Simon Says Stamp Mix and Match Circles. I was going to use the pink circles first, but then changed my mind and embossed with clear ink and powder instead. A little pink ink had remained on the larger stamp. I liked the soft pink color.

Die cut the circles. Ink with Distress Ink and then emboss with two layers of clear embossing powder. Be very careful when using a heat tool and never touch the melted powder until it has cooled down completely.

I drew around the circles in the background with a black pen and added Tim Holtz Metallic Droplets.

The sticks were made with white paper, simply rolled up. Adhere the lollipops with two or three layers of Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Perfect Foam Tape. The embossing powder makes the lollipops shiny.

The sentiments are Tim Holtz Label Sentiment stickers and were matted on Simon Says Stamp Luxe Glitter Cardstock, for extra bling. I also added lace trim, a sheer ribbon and a bunch of fibers.

The tag has quite a bit of dimension and lots of joy.

I hope you will join us this week in our Food or Drink challenge. You have a chance to win a $25 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Mixed Media Tag Notebook Tutorial

Hi stampers! Today I am happy to have a tutorial for a mixed media tag notebook on the Simon Says Stamp Store blog. Here is a sneak peek of the project: 

From when I was about eight years old until my early twenties, I documented all books that I read in a notebook, with the basic info: title, author, publication year, but also with a short summary, favorite quotes and a grade from 1 to 5. I called the notebook my ‘Book Book’ and thought it was time to make myself a new one. You can of course make a tag book or journal for any theme.

I went with the format of a tag book since it reminds me of bookmarks and since it is easy to add new tags to the book. You can make a tag book for any theme or you can use the techniques to make individual tags or cards. To fit my theme, I used many products related to typography, books and writing. I also used a whole lot of inky or watercolored scrap papers.

To see the full project and the step photos, head over to the Simon Says Stamp Store blog. 

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today! See you again tomorrow.

Happy stamping!

Anna-Karin

Vintage Journal Tutorial

Hi friends! I hope you are well and that your are enjoying your weekend. Today I have a journal / notebook tutorial to share with fun mixed media techniques, and using a couple of second hand finds.

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

I found a couple of these old photo frames in a second hand store recently and thought it was time to use one of them. I removed the image that was in the frame and used a childhood photo of myself instead, after going through a pile of photos to see what might fit the size. The journal was made with Eileen Hull's Sizzix Frame Pocket Journal Scoreboards Plus die. You can also use the techniques for other journal dies.

Start by die cutting the covers and the pocket from Sizzix Little Sizzles Mat Board. This is a Big Shot Plus die and it won't fit in the ordinary Big Shot or Vagabond. I didn't have big enough mat board, but that didn't matter since I wasn't planning to use the closure part. 

Cover with old dictionary paper, using matte medium. Add a layer of medium on top of the paper too.

I cut off one of the flaps from the covers, since I didn't want to use the closure mechanism, as it would have covered up the frame design that I was planning for the front.

Paint with Distress Paints.

Add white paint through Tim's Latticework stencil. 

Sponge Speckled Egg through Tim's Linen Stencil, for a touch of blue.

Stamp here and there with Simon Says Stamp Old Letter Background. 

Initially I was planning to only use the script stamp above, but I was in the mood for stamping and started stamping a whole bunch of sentiments and circles on the background. The circles come from Simon Says Stamp Mix and Match Circles. 

Die cut the frame with the frame pocket part of the Frame Pocket Journal Scoreboards Plus die. Cut off the flaps and emboss in Eileen Hull's Tablecloth folder.

Paint with Speckled Egg.

When dry, sand and ink with Vintage Photo.

The labels were stamped on Tim Holtz Journal Cards with Simon Says Stamp Mixed Labels and die cut with the coordinating dies.

Paint and stamp the pocket in the same way as the cover, but without the dictionary paper. 

I glued a little crocheted piece to the front. It was found in the same second hand store as the frame. 

Adhere the frame with a Tim Holtz brad so that it is stuck down well. 

I also used Tim Holtz Heirloom Roses and a Quote Flair.

The old text paper, paint, stenciling and stamping adds interesting layers to the background without being overwhelming.

You can of course use any sentiment as the title of the book. 

I used cream paper for the inside and stitched down the center of each of the two signatures with my sewing machine. The pages are slightly too small, but I wanted to get as many pages as possible out of my A4 sheets since I was using one of my favorite sketching papers and didn't want to waste paper, so I was okay with that. Round the edges with a Corner Chomper. I used an elastic string to bind the book, making it easy to remove the signatures.

The string was tied through a button at the spine. The fabric A was cut from a piece of Tim Holtz Holiday Eclectic Elements fabric. 

I tied some beads at the end of the strings.

The spine also got a stamped title.

I covered the inside covers with Tim Holtz Backdrops papers. I really like the backdrops papers. The pocket was adhered to the inside of the front cover.

The back of the journal looks like this.

This sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Butterflies and I reach for it quite often.

With the Mix and Match Circles set you can combine the circle stamps to create many different designs.

I filled the pocket with Tim Holtz Journal Cards and Pocket Cards, which can be used on the pages in the journal. You can add mementos, photos, postcards or anything else to that pocket. I will probably add something else once I start using the journal.

The book is nice and chunky.

You can make this book for any theme and it would also make a great gift. 

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Happy stamping!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.