Summer Wrapped Journal and Color Box Blend Inks

For the month of July, Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team will be posting projects using her innovative Color Box Blend Inks along with many of her dies.  

Today I have a Summer Journal to share that I made using her fun new Sizzix Wrapped Journal along with Heart and Soul Flower die, Spring Leaves die, Passport Die, Credit Card, sleeve and Tags Dies and Journaling Words dies!  

All that in this cute  5" x 4" x1 1/2" journal!!!

I have a few photos to show you how I put this together.

I found this lovely Aztec design fabric remnant at Joann's for 50% off!

I used it to die cut several Heart and Soul flower pieces which I then covered with Matte Mod Podge to give the pieces some body and durability as I would be using them on the cover of the journal.

I die cut the leaves from Spring Leaves out of Sizzix Paper Leather and inked them with Bay Color Box Blends.  See that interesting ink container with the sponge on the end?  You press the sponge onto your craft mat which releases the ink -  then you can either sponge onto the item or paint it on with a brush!  I just sponged right onto the leaves.

I found another remnant at Joann's of tan Marine Vinyl - also 50% off!   

(I got some in Navy blue as well but that will be a project for another day!!)

Note:  Always cut vinyl with the backing facing the die so the score lines don't cut through the vinyl.

 I painted veins on the leaves using Flagstone Color Box Blend ink mixed with a little water on my craft mat as I didn't want the color to be too dark.

The lining of the Marine Vinyl is a netting of sorts with a very light grid pattern on it (perhaps for cutting guides?)  I inked it all over with the Bay Color Box Blends.   It took quite a while to dry probably because of the kind of material it is - I used my heat tool on it and also laid it out in the sun for the afternoon!  By the next day - it was dry to the touch.

I pulled this sheet of tags out of the DCWV Electric Jungle Premium Stack - a wonderful 12"x12" pad of summer designs and tags.

 I die cut the tags using the Credit Card Sleeve and Tags dies to make smaller tags out of them.

I also cut pieces from the image pages of the Electric Jungle Premium Stack for the tags to slip into.

I used Eileen's Passport die to cut my pages out of water color paper -  I made 4 signatures of 3 pages folded in half, making 6 pages in each signature.

I water colored the background on every other page using Color Box Blends in Bay, Flagstone and Golden mixed with water on my craft mat.  These blank pages will be used for journaling or adding photos.

I hand stitched two pieces of twill tape to the cover using black button hole thread.  One piece wraps around the back and the other is on the front edge.

A tad messy on the inside but I covered the piece in the middle with a strip of card stock.

Some photos of the completed book inside.

The front page -  JOURNAL is from Eileen's new Journaling Words die set.

A page for journaling with watercolored background.

A small tag slipped in the slot for notes

A large tag slipped in for notes.

I used the loop piece left from die-cutting the slot on the bottoms of the panels to add a little interest!

Side view showing the dimension of the flowers and the black elastic cord used to hold the signatures.  They are knotted in the middle of each signature inside.

Back view - plain and simple!

And from the top! I looped a piece of Mandarin Bakers Twine through each of the tags.

Please check out Eileen Hull's blog all this month where the Inspiration Team's projects will be gathered together showing the versatility of these Color Box Blend Inks.  

They are Crafters Ink in an easy to hold innovative applicator and they hold more than 10 times the ink of a traditional ink pad.  They can be sponged on with the applicator attached to the container or you can press the ink onto a craft mat and paint the color on with a brush.

I'm linking my little journal to:
Mini Album Makers

Paper:  Arches Watercolor Paper, Green Parakeet, Tropical Teal, Orange Zest, True black - Papertrey Ink, DCWV Electric Jungle Premium Stack - JoAnn, white Paper Leather - Sizzix.

Inks:  Color Box Blends - Bay, Flagstone, Golden

Accessories: Tan Marine Vinyl, Aztec Print fabric remnant - JoAnn, Wrapped Journal, Heart and Soul Flower die, Passport Die, Credit Card Sleeve and Tags Dies, Journaling Words - Eileen Hull/Sizzix, Hand Written Vacation - TH/Sizzix, Tombow Glue, Scor Tape, black button hole thread, big eye needle, Mandarin Bakers Twine - The Twinery, Matte Mod Podge, sponge brush,  Twill Tape - Martha Stewart, paint brush, water, mini stapler, large brad.

Poinsettia Blessings

It sure is summer here in MA - we had quite a heat wave last week - what better time to make another Christmas card to try and cool off at least in our minds?!

I used an older Nestability die set called Layered Poinsettias.  I seem to have lost my foam mat that you need to use with these dies so that the leaves get embossed as you die cut them -  so I die cut them and then sponged over the dies with Fired Brick Distress ink before taking the flowers out of the dies.

I layered them over each other - the bottom two layers with foam dots.  I added Copper Micro Beads to the center.

I made the background using the Splash Watercoloring technique which you'll find over at the July CAS Watercolour Challenge.  I rubbed Ranger Distress Hickory Smoke Ink over my craft mat, spritzed with water and pounced my watercolor panel into the ink on the mat.   My sentiment is from Signature Christmas from PTI.

I'm joining in these challenges:

CAS Christmas Card Challenge

CAS Watercolour Challenge

CAS Mix Up Card Challenge

 My box of Christmas cards is getting filled up!  What a great feeling!

Stamps:  Signature Christmas - PTI
Paper:  White, Pure Poppy - PTI, Arches Watercolor paper.
Ink:  Ranger Distress Fired Brick, Hickory Smoke, True Black - PTI
Accessories:  Layered Poinsettia Dies - Nestabilities, Copper Micro Beads - Prima, water mister, craft Mat, Blending Tool, Tombow Glue, foam dots.

Just Us Girls - I'm the July Guest Designer! Word Week

I am so thrilled and excited to have been asked to be the July Guest Designer over at Just Us Girls!  I was asked because I was chosen Chic of the Week on May 18th.

This week is Word Week and the word is 'CITRUS'.

It appears that I don't  have any citrus stamps in my craft room (!?!?!?!) so I used citrus colors - orange, lemon, and melon

Here's a little explanation of how I made this lovely stenciled background for my card.

First I laid my stencil over a panel of watercolor paper, shook 3 different colors of Brusho over the stencil.  Then I spritzed water over the stencil until the colors were activated to my liking. 

I removed the stencil, turned it over so the watery Brushos still on the stencil were facing down and laid the stencil onto another panel of water color paper and pressed over it with a paper towel.  This gave me a negative outline print of the stencil. 

 I dried both with my heat tool.   Then I laid the clean stencil over the negative print of the stencil (bottom left) and sponged Distress Inks over the stencil. (Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Shabby Shutters)  Top left is the original stencil print using Brushos and water over the stencil.  Bottom left is the negative print of the stencil sponged over with Distress Inks.

Another view -  on the right below is the negative print of the stencil before sponging and on the left  is how it looks after I sponged color through the stencil.  

 (I made a bunch of these panels because I was so excited about how wonderful they came out - so these below don't match each other but they do show before and after!)

Another look at the negative stencil and the inks and Brushos used (Lemon, Orange and Grey).

I know this may sound difficult as it took a lot of words to explain it (!)  but it's really simple when you just do it! And isn't the result beautiful!?!

So please join us over at Just Us Girls showing us how the word Citrus inspires you!  You'll also find lots of inspiration from the creative Design Team!  You have until 9 pm EST July 12th to link up your card.

I'm also linking my card to:
The Card Concept
my card is mixed media, inspired by the orange blossoms and green leaves

Stamps:  Sentiment Staples: Birthday - PTI
Paper:  Watercolor Paper - Canson, Orange Zest, Limeaide Ice and White - PTI
Ink:  Hero Hues Black, Ranger Distress Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Shabby Shutters.
Accessories:  Bloom Boldly Stencil - Artplorations, Brushos Lemon, Grey and Orange, green enamel dots, foam dots.

Wrapped up Birthday

I'm sharing a CAS Birthday card today.

I used a fun technique I just learned over at Splitcoaststampers for the Free 4 All challenge - Cling Wrap Rubber Stamping.   You use silhouette (solid) stamps, ink them up, press a slightly wrinkled piece of cling (Saran) wrap over the inked stamp, remove the cling and stamp the image!  As you can see - each stamp comes out with a different design on it!

I used Watercolor Wonder stamps from PTI for the color splashes.  The sentiment is from Think Big Favorites #12 Stamp Set and I die cut the card base using Noted: Scalloped A2 Die set.

Here is a video showing the technique by Heidi

I'm linking my card to:

The Paper Players

They are celebrating their 400th challenge and there are lots of prizes to be won!

Seize the Birthday

I used the toppings - sequins

Stamps: Watercolor Wonder, Think Big Favorites #12 Stamp Set - PTI
Paper:  white - PTI
Ink:  True Black, Orange Zest, Hibiscus Burst, Green Parakeet - PTI
Accessories: Saran Wrap, Flower Sequins, Tombow Glue, Noted: Scalloped A2 die - PTI

A Vintage Journey July Challenge - Get Sentimental

The July Challenge is up over at A Vintage Journey!  

Nikki is our hostess and her challenge is "Get Sentimental." 

"Let's see lots of sentiments on your project, whether they be words, poems or quotes. Just remember to create your project in our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk."

And here is my project!

I started out by taking a panel of watercolor paper and laid the Artplorations Bloom Boldly stencil over it, taping it around the edges to hold it flat.  I sprinkled Brushos over the pattern - yellow over the flower center, orange over the petals and grey over the leaves.  Then I spritzed it with water to activate the Brushos.

 

I stamped a quote from Impression Obsession in black ink on white card stock.  Then I cut the quote into pieces and laid it over my panel.  I adhered the pieces with glue to be sure it stuck over the Brushos.

I rubbed the edges of the panel with Versamark and embossed with Vintage Beeswax Baked Texture by Emerald Creek.  I drew around each of the quote pieces with a black Stabilo pencil and rubbed it with a damp finger to blur.

I got out an old set of Idea-ology Remnant rubs/Botanicals and added 3 butterflies, a bar of music, and some words (be still, breathe, nature) to the panel.  I also added a strip of black/floral Washi tape along the bottom of the panel.

I die cut a scalloped edge panel out of Orange Zest card and embossed the edges in Vintage Beeswax Baked Texture to age it.  I adhered the panel to this piece using Scor-tape.

I die cut Eileen Hull's Sizzix Mailable Frame out of black mat board.  I taped the cut out opening back onto the frame to make it a solid front.

 I adhered the panel to the front of the frame.  Here you can see how the frame stands up for display.

I love using this frame die to display special pieces - AND it folds up and fits in an A2 envelope for mailing!

(it's a bit stiffer and heavier than a letter so usually takes a little more postage if you actually mail it to someone.)

So please join us this month and "get sentimental!  You'll find lots of creative inspiration by the Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey where you can link up your own sentimental projects!

I'm also linking my frame card to:
The Card Concept
mine is mixed media
I was inspired by the orange flowers and text

 Country View Challenges
In the Summer Garden

Inkspirational Challenge

Stamps:  Impression Obsession/Dina Kowal
Paper:  Watercolor paper - Canson, White, Orange Zest - PTI, Black Little Sizzles Matboard - Sizzix.
Ink:  Hero Hues Black, Versamark.
Accessories:  Brushos - Orange, Yellow, Grey, Vintage Beeswax Baked Texture - Emerald Creek, water mister, Bloom Boldly Stencil - Artplorations, Mailable Frame Die - Eileen Hull/Sizzix, Noted: Scalloped A2 die - Papertrey Ink, Black Stabilo Pencil, washi tape.