Pop 'n Cuts Fun!

Card Front

Inside

 The new Pop 'n Cuts system designed for Sizzix by Karen Burniston is awesome!  How can I ever make another card without an interactive element now?  My mind is full of possibilities using this system.  

For Halloween, I made a few cards to share with friends and family.  Here are a couple of samples of what can be done with Pop 'n Cuts.



An extra surprise occurs when the Sizzix Zig-Zag pop up die is used to add elements that pop up from behind the featured item mounted to the round label pop up.  The Zig-Zag is trimmed to fit behind the tombstone shown here.  The tombstone is made from the Sizzix Tim Holtz Cabinet die and mini Cabinet die trimmed on the sides.  Then tree branches are adhered to the Zig-Zag action.  They lie behind the tombstone, and pop up from behind it when the card is opened and the tombstone itself pops up. 

Another card featured Tim Holtz's Pumpkin Jack and branches cut from Tim's On The Edge Twigs die.  They resemble scary arms with bony fingers when they pop up from behind Jack! 

I can't wait to get back into the studio to make some cards for Thanksgiving and Christmas!  Pop 'n Cuts does the cutting and thinking for you, making it easy to put a smile on the face of lucky recipients of your interactive cards!
 

Inside of Pumpkin Jack showing branch "arms"

Front of Pumpkin Jack Pop up Card

Detail showing zig-zag die trimmed and mounted to platform

See the photo to the right showing the Zig-Zag pop up die trimmed way down so it fits the top of the round label platform.  The black "twiggy arms" are mounted to the front of the action areas on the Zig-Zag pop up.

Vintage School Tip-In for Altered Swap

Another contribution to the Altered Book Tip-In Swap will leave my house on Tuesday.  I am enjoying this swap so much, I want to share it with others.  Our Tennessee Stampers' Yahoo Group will be starting a swap just like this one in January, so this is a little food for the swappers.  We all benefit from seeing examples of the project, so here is some more incentive for those of you hesitating to come on board with this fun swap.  This two-page spread is my part in the Inkyrangers Yahoo Group tip-in swap.  Particularly enjoyable is the ease in mailing each page, instead of packaging up a book and worrying that it will arrive without too much stress on the binding.  By controlling how a tip-in is installed in your own book, it will be in better shape at the end of the swap. 

My assigned person's theme this month is Vintage or Shabby Chic.  Having done an altered book a couple of months ago that had the theme of Good Ol' School Days, I had lots of supplies that made this a perfect addition to a Vintage/Shabby Chic altered book.    Up until this month, we have done regular tip-ins with decoration on both front and back of the page.  This month we had a choice. She chose to have a two-page spread this month. 

I chose a sheet of dictionary printed cardstock from my old stash of collage papers.  Distress Inks in Tea Dye and Vintage Photo were rubbed all around the edges and over much of the cream colored background paper.  Distress Stain in Tea Dye was added to the edges to give it an old stained look.  Torn papers from another collage collection were adhered to various areas on the spread after distressing the edges of each torn area. Stamps from Oxford Impressions "My Story" collection (now retired) were added to the page, and Rusty Hinge Distress Stain was rubbed haphazardly over one image in the center (Public School), and Scattered Straw Distress Stain was applied to the face of the boy.  Stormy Sky was used on his clothing.  I love the quick application from the Distress Stains.  Then my favorite in that collection, Picket Fence, was rubbed over several areas, toning down some of the vibrancy in several areas. 

And now, the most fun part for me is pulling out my dies and constructing some dimensional objects on the page.  The two string-closed envelopes are made from Tim Holtz's new Sizzix Movers and Shapers L Die Pocket Envelope.  They are cut from Kraft cardstock, perfect for this application, and distressed with the same ink colors used on the background plus Walnut Stain Distress ink.  From my collage stash, I pulled some little tag board printed frames and matching tag in a ruler theme.  Design Originals made these several years ago.   The tag is stapled to the top of the page with Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher, and the tag swings freely like a bookmark.  The frames decorate the front of the string-tie envelopes.  The apple basket and apple are from my button stash.  The little stamp shapes inside the frames are cut from a vintage school collection of papers by Graphic 45.  I filled in those frames with a coat of Ranger's Glossy Accents.

Detail--Little booklets inside string envelopes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always like to include a little "surprise" in altered books--a little reward for opening something that invites the viewer to explore.  Inside each of these envelopes are little booklets made from more of the Graphic 45 double-sided cardstock collection.  The edges of these were distressed as well.  The fun comes when each is opened.

Booklets Open

The booklet inside the envelope with A is for Apple on it contains an apple that is made with Inky Antics Honeypop paper and a Sizzix Originals apple die.  More items cut from the Graphic 45 collection are added to the inside.  The other booklet has another little booklet made from cardstock and two transparencies, one is of an old school book and the inside is a grading key for a math test.  The photo is a transparency of a class (or it could be the entire school).  Other elements inside this little booklet are from the same Graphic 45 collection.  I still have lots left over for scrapbooking school pages when my toddler granddaughters are old enough to go to school.

One more thing I did to this page:  Judikins' Paper Glaze is my "go-to" finish on lots of my work now.  I love the way it brings out the colors in stamped and colored images.  It adds a subtle sheen and protects the paper from fading, etc.  If I could only figure out how get it out of the jar and onto the projects without getting it under my fingernails, I would be a happy paper crafter!  (I guess I COULD use something and dip it out, but it takes a small amount, so just dipping my finger into the jar is enough for most cards.)  After rubbing it into the paper, I take a soft paper towel and rub off the excess, buffing it well.

Christmas Tip-In for Altered Books

After posting photos in the album of a tip-in swap on the Inkyrangers Yahoogroup web site, someone said I needed to do a tutorial on how I did it.  So I told them I would just blog about it.  Here are the photos of the front and back of the tip-in page.  The theme of the person's book is "Christmas," and who doesn't love to do Christmas projects?

 FRONT:  The house is mounted on a folded piece of material that is used to cover books, so it is pretty flexible and tough.  Besides, it was a good blue for a winter sky!  I used a piece of pale gray cardstock to make the house.  A stone texture template from Fiskars run through the Sizzix Tim Holtz Inspired Vagabond with the appropriate "sandwich" was used to fabricate the "stone," and then, using several neutrals and browns of Ranger Distress inks and applicators, the various shades were rubbed lightly over the raised stone areas to give it the look of real stone.

The gable is dark gray cardstock, scored every half inch on one side, and then turned over and scored an eighth of an inch away to give it a look of boards.  The same thing is done to the light grey fascia board beneath the gable.  The lights are Jolee's.  The window was the fun part.  My favorite dies are the ones from Poppystamps--the doors and windows and accessories are fantastic!  This project uses Poppystamps' Grand Madison window and shutters and a piece of acetate cut from packaging for the window pane.  Real lace is sandwiched between the window pane and the view into the room beyond.  I stamped a fantastic decorated Christmas tree from an old retired Stampin' Up! set with Ranger Archival ink in Library Green on Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper. It was colored with Distress Markers and some Copic Spica glitter pens and cut out.  The walls in the room are Distress inks rubbed into this wonderful paper.  I love how smoothly it goes onto the Specialty Stamping Paper.  The "snow" is cut from white cardstock with a Sizzix Decorative Strip die (now retired) that yields wavy pieces, and glued them onto the paper to make a snowy scene.  Memory Box's Country Landscape die was perfect for the little trees here on the front and the trees and houses seen through the window from inside the house, which is on the backside of this page.  I also used Distress Stickles in Picket Fence to add a little snow-like quality to the snow and the edge of the roof.  Glossy accents were perfect to make some icicles at the corner of the house.  Some of the new dry Stickles glitter in clear rock candy was also used on top of some of the glossy accents.  For a vintage look, all edges of both pages and the woodwork areas were lightly distressed on the edges with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

BACK:  The back side of the tip-in page is naturally the scene from inside the house.  The same Grand Madison window die cut is used with another piece of acetate for the pane.  The same lace is anchored with XPressIt tape and Making Memories decorative brads.  Be sure to put your brads in place BEFORE gluing the folded background sheet together!  Extra strong mounting tape is best to adhere the folded tip-in page together.  Glue would have caused the page to dry warped unless it was dried under weight, and with the 3-D elements, that wouldn't have been very successful.  Provocraft's Terrifically Tacky Tape in the 1 1/16" size was used along all edges and in the middle.  The inside wall is another piece of the Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper, and Distress inks.  I stamped and colored another Christmas tree like the one showing through the window, and used pop dots to elevate it from the page for dimension.  The "rug" is a scrap of Christmas paper punched with a large round punch and trimmed.  The "woodwork" is light gray cardstock cut and layered to look like decorative trim.  The floor and wallpaper above and below the windowed wall were papers from my scrap drawer.  The antique brass plaque above the window is from Making Memories. The scene through the window uses the same technique as the one on the front of the tip-in.  Tip-in swaps are a wonderful way to do an altered book!  The book is less abused when it stays home and the pages come to it instead!  I will do more of these.

For all things Ranger, go here:  RangerInk Products

Lovin' La Blanche!

This month I have been playing with the wonderful La Blanche Silicon stamps and a couple of new papers plus one I have been using for a while.  With arthritis creeping into my hands, these stamps allow a wonderful impression without much pressure.  They are lightweight, so I tend to drop them less onto unstamped (or already stamped) work.  I hate having fumble fingers!  The image above is stamped onto the new Ranger Inkssentials Specialty Stamping Paper.  I find the coating wonderful for these highly detailed stamps.  Ranger's new Distress Ink Markers work perfectly on this coated paper.  I have also experimented with Copic Markers on this surface, and I find the surface to be a little too slick for them.  They do not absorb into the surface, but seem to float on top instead.  This cardstock is quite slick, and I found that by applying JudiKins MicroGlaze over the surface, it provides protection for the piece, while giving it a very nice sheen.

The next La Blanche stamped image was stamped on one of my favorite surfaces to use with Copic Markers--X-Press It Blending Card.  It is coated just enough to use with these fabulous stamps and absorbent enough to use with Copics.  This particular image was colored with Copics.  One thing to know is do not over-ink these stamps.  If the pad is scrubbed over the design, it will fill in all the little wonderful details of the stamp.  So just apply the ink with a tap-tap-tap.  

Another great discovery about these stamps is do not over think coloring them.  The stamps are so detailed that they automatically do the shading!  Use darker colors where the shading is dark, and the lighter, brighter colors where there is very little shading.

Remember the rule of thumb for coloring inked images:  to color in with Distress Inks or water-based media, stamp with one of the permanent or solvent-based inks such as Ranger's Archival Ink or VersaFine by Tsukineko.  To color an image with Copic or other solvent-based media, use a dye ink such as the preferred Memento Ink by Tsukineko.

This final stamped image of the owl and the clock was applied to the third type of paper, LaBlanche Specialty Stamping Paper.  This paper was manufactured for use with LaBlanche stamps.  It is an un-coated paper, but it is as smooth as the Ranger's Inssentials Surfaces Specialty Stamping Paper.  The owl and clock stamp was colored with Distress Inks and the Ranger Ink Blending Tool.  I then spritzed the card front with water and allowed it to work before blotting with a paper towel.  I used a mister and also Tim Holtz's "spritz and flick" technique, which gives bigger drops of water and a more dramatic result.  {To do this, spritz water onto your fingers and flick the water onto the paper.}  I was not satisfied with the owl done in black, so I stamped him again with brown ink and used the Distress Markers to add a little more color.  He was then cut out and popped up, offset just a little so the black image underneath looks like his shadow is cast behind him on the clock.

LaBlanche has produced some unusual combinations with their images, and they stamp very well on these three papers.  Always use a very smooth or coated paper for these stamps.  I tried using them with standard porous cardstock, and the image appears a little fuzzy and irregular for my purposes.  The LaBlanche stamps stamped well on all three of the papers discussed here.  I don't favor one over the other.  

 If you want only black (or another color) and white images without coloring, glossy cardstock is another option.  Beware that to use glossy cardstock with these images, you will need a stamp pad that is nearly dry.  Juicy pads will just encourage "bubbles" and open spots on your stamped image and will fill in all the nice details with ink!  I like to keep a Ranger Archival black pad that is quite dry for stamping on glossy cardstock with stamps that are very detailed, such as the LaBlanche stamps and others with photographic-style images, such as the fine stamps from Oxford Impressions.  The polished stone technique for making colored backgrounds using alcohol inks like the Tim Holtz Ranger Alcohol Inks, will work on glossy cardstock. Then overstamp them with a dye-based ink and the LaBlanche stamps if color is wanted for an image on glossy paper.

Tip-In Page Swap for An Altered Book...

Front of Tip-In Page

Altered books are a passion of mine, and recently, altered book round robins have occupied  a part of my art world.  Recently one of the Yahoo Groups with which I am associated decided to do a "Tip-In Swap" for altered books. {Click for information:  Tip-In for altered books }

Immediately I was captivated, since I have noticed that when an altered book round robin has many participants, the books become stressed by all the handling and mailing.  So this was a great idea!  Only a single page to mail makes it more inviting to those on a limited budget, and it allows your own book to stay at home, where it will receive TLC from only one person cutting and pasting within its covers.  In addition, the owner of the book can expand the theme of her book using other altered book techniques for her personal artistic contribution, adding the tip-ins from the other players as they arrive, or waiting until the entire swap is complete, arranging it as do desired.

I like interactive elements in my altered books, so I will try to add something to open or pull out and read, or something hidden to find as a surprise.  Pop-ups are a favorite of mine, so future pages may have a pop-up or two.  So look at my blog occasionally.  Each month, until the end of the swap, there will be a new tip-in page for your perusal.  The person's book I contributed to this month used "Nature" as her theme.  The theme of my own book is "If The Shoe Fits..."

The front of the page was done using K & Company double-sided cardstock, which makes a sturdy page when folded.  I added a die-cut file folder stamped with images from Artistic Outpost both inside and out.  The second image shows the file folder opened.  The butterfly punch with all the open areas is one of Martha Stewart's, and the wings overlaying two of those butterflies are punched with a Stampin' Up butterfly punch and some recycled paper from the old punch paper and card system for computers.  I colored this paper with Tim Holtz's Distress Inks made by Ranger, using some of his ink blending tools to lightly add color and dimension to the ivory paper.  Also above the file folder is a series of small to large butterflies cut from one of Stampin' Up's Sizzlit dies that cuts and embosses.

The little brass dangly thing hanging off the spiral paper clip is a brass jewelry blank from Vintaj , and it is colored with Ranger's new Patinas made specially for painting metals.  They are so fast drying!  I love them!  Now I made several, since I got carried away with the Sizzix Vintaj metal embossing folders, so the next project will be making some jewelry with the fun little blanks!

Back of Tip-In Page

 The back of the Tip-In page has library pockets with tags inside, both die cut with Sizzix original dies.  The tags are stamped with tiny butterflies on one side, and words on the other, all from Artistic Outpost.  Two pockets are made with vellum, and two are made with the recycled punch paper, again tinted with Distress Inks.  The outer corners of the page are reinforced with decorative metal copper corners, applied with a Home Pro tool from Bonnie's Best Art Tools.  This Tip-In page swap has been fun so far.  I can't wait until next month, to see whose book I will be assigned to design another fun little tip-in page.