Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Colorize Woodgrain Bacon and Colorize Lovestruck Egg All Occasion Cards

Hi everyone! Today I have the finished bacon and egg cards from the progression photos on Instagram last week, that I created from the new Tim Holtz Sizzix Colorize Woodgrain and Lovestruck Thinlits.  I had no idea that bacon could be so popular (like it is at my house), but I thank those of you for commenting, liking, and email sending. WOW...my cup runneth over! I just hope you like the finished cards as much as the bacon and eggs! I have been asked several times what would posses me to create paper bacon. There are two easy answers. First, because when I saw the die I thought hmmm that looks a little like bacon. Second, because bacon is super popular in my home and makes most everything taste better, so when I saw the bacon in the die I knew I needed to try and create some. The heart shaped eggs might be silly, but I think they came out cute. I have seen people use heart shaped open cookie cutters to fry an egg in, so I guess it's not that silly. Having bacon and eggs on a card can pretty much be used for any occasion as well, especially when you need something masculine or for Valentine's Day, or for an anniversary, or for a birthday...well you get it. The Bold Text 1 Thinlits were especially perfect to use for these cards, because they go with anything, and paired perfectly with my computer generated sentiments. Speaking of sentiments, I've made a list below to share with you of all the sentiments I thought of when it comes to bacon and eggs (or just eggs) in case you want to make some. Enjoy everyone!
 
You're the bacon to my eggs!
Mmm bacon!
What's shakin' bacon?
Still sizzlin'! or You're sizzlin'!
You bacon me crazy!
Life is short, eat the bacon!
Don't go bacon my heart!
Let's do breakfast!
Couldn't love you more if I fried!
I like you more than bacon and eggs!
We go together like bacon and eggs!
You complete me!
You are eggcellent!
You crack me up!
You are eggciting!
You are eggstra special!
 
 
Using the Tim Holtz Shattered Kraft-Core, select a brown for the Base die, a peachy pink for the #1 die, a dark red for the #2 die, and a white for the #3 die. Add two sided tape to the back of each piece of Kraft-Core for easier construction later. Die cut four base pieces with the brown and two of each of the #1 pieces with the peachy pink using the Colorize Woodgrain Thinlits. Adhere the peachy pink pieces to the base pieces.
 
 
For the #2 die pieces you only need to die cut one of each as you will use the positive and negative pieces. So when you add the #2 red pieces remove the outer border piece which will be one solid piece and adhere it onto the base piece, and do the same for the other #2. Then remove the inner pieces from the dies and adhere those onto another base the way they are laid out from within the die. This is a little confusing at first, but just stick the pieces on as if there were no border like you did the first two #2 pieces. When glancing at my picture, you will have to really look to notice the positive and negative red pieces on the base pieces to see the difference. I just didn't want to throw away the inner pieces and figured it would work and it did. Die cut two of each of the #3 dies using the white, and stick those on the base pieces by following the light outlines on the red pieces from before...or you can use the picture from the front of your die cover to help you.
 
 
Once the base pieces are fully assembled, cut each piece in half following the grain of the bacon where you can, and make some hilly cuts so each piece is not perfectly straight for a more realistic bacon look. Ink the edges of all pieces using Fired Brick Distress Archival Ink from Ranger, and an Ink Blending Tool.
 
 
Prepare your work surface for heat embossing by gathering a scrap paper for powder and a heat tool. Use an Embossing Dabber and rub it around the borders of each pieces of bacon and then shake on Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Glaze. Remove the excess powder and then heat emboss. I added the glaze to each piece first and then heat emboss all at the same time. Use a Distress Embossing Pen to add lines of the embossing liquid to the borders of each red piece in the middle of each slice of bacon, and pour on more of the powder glaze. Heat emboss these. The reason I used the Embossing Glaze on the edge and in the middle was to make a crusty sizzle look on the bacon for a more realistic look. When all the pieces are heat embossed, paint over all the pieces with Distress Resist Spray, by opening the top and removing the sprayer and just putting a paint brush inside to get the liquid to paint on. This will give the bacon a shiny coat for a more realistic look. Let dry and immediately clean your brush. When they are dry, ink over them and the sides with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink or another brown colored ink. Set these aside for now.
 
For the eggs you will use the largest heart pieces from the Colorize Lovestruck Thinlits only, so the small heart pieces and the arrow pieces will not be used. You can add two sided tape to the backs of the papers, but I didn't as the pieces are larger and Distress Collage Medium is easier to apply. Die cut the bottom base piece four times using Ivory Heavystock or a manila colored cardstock. Die cut the all the other layered pieces with a white cardstock or watercolor paper...I used White Heavystock, four of each piece. Add two sided tape to a small piece of Ivory Heavystock (or manila) and die cut four sets of the small detail pieces that come on the one die, carefully removing the pieces before die cutting the next set. Then die cut four sets of the detail pieces again, but this time use a dark yellow cardstock with two sided tape on the back of it. Use a 1 inch circle punch to cut four circle from a lighter but brighter piece of yellow cardstock for the yolks. 
 
  
Ink the four yolk circles with Fossilized Amber Distress Archival Ink (or another yellow permanent ink) and adhere one of the long cresent shaped detail pieces to the bottom left of the circle, and the tiniest oval piece to the upper right of the circle. Do all four yolk pieces and set these aside for now. You can save the other yellow detail pieces for something else or throw them away. I didn't think the yolks needed all the detail pieces, but you can sure add them if you want. Add the Ivory detail pieces to the larger heart pieces where they go by looking at the light outlines on each piece or use the picture on the front of the die cover for reference. Ink the edges of all the heart pieces with Antique Linen Distress Ink and an Ink Blending Tool. Using only the Embossing Dabber this time, rub it over the edges that will be seen once the pieces are assembled of all the heart pieces. You can see what edges will be seen by looking at the light embossed lines on each piece or you stack the pieces up the way they will go to see what edges will be seen. The reason I only did those edges was to not waste product or time, but you can do all the edges if you want. Shake Antique Linen Distress Embossing Glaze over the wet edges and heat emboss. This will give the edges that crusty sizzle look like you get on a real fried egg. Once add the heat embossing it done, assemble the egg layers with Collage Medium or two sided tape. Add the yolk to the middle of each one. Doing the same as the bacon, paint over the eggs with Distress Resist Spray and then clean your brush. To further add a more realistic look and texture to both the eggs and bacon, lightly mist more Distress Resist Spray over the eggs and the bacon to add a nice shine and bumpy texture for a more realistic look. Remove the sprayer from the Resist Spray and clean out with warm water so that it sprays well the next time you use it. Let the eggs and bacon dry as they are now finished.
 
   
Cut and fold four pieces of Kraft Cardstock to 5.5 x 8.25 inches for the card bases. Adhere black cardstock mats to each kraft base cards cut 5 3/8 x 8 1/8 inches using two sided tape. Ink the edges of the card bases with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink, and set those aside for now. Using a patterned paper for a table cloth (I used the stitched looking red checked paper from the old Christmas Kraftstock Stash), cut four pieces of it to 5.25 x 8 inches. Choose the sentiments you want from the Bold Text 1 Thinlits and place them about 1/2 in from the bottom right side of each paper to see where you want them. Plan out a sentiment to accompany the Bold Text, and type it out on the computer and print out (I used Garamond font in bold on size 14 fyi). Decide if you want the computer generated sentiment above or below the Bold Text and adjust the die so that there will be that 1/2 inch border around it from the side and bottom of the paper. Once you know where you want the dies, cut each one out. Poke out the letters from each Bold Text sentiment, but save the little middle parts of the letters to adhere on later. You can save the letters to use on a future project. To go with the look of the patterned paper, I stitched around the border of each one using white thread. Ink the edges of the patterned paper with Gathered Twigs, and then adhere the paper onto the black cardstock on the front of the card using two sided tape. Use Collage Medium to add the little centers in the letters, making sure to match up the paper when placing them. Cut your computer generated sentiment words apart and ink the edges in Gathered Twigs and mount onto black cardstock, cut them out leaving a border, and mount onto the card front where you planned them to go. 
 
 
Die cut four ovals from the largest oval in the Stitched Ovals Thinlits using White Heavystock. Using a dark red permanent marker (Indian Red Pitt Pen) color in the triangle pattern on the edge of each oval to look more like a plate. Adhere the plate about 1 inch down from the top of the patterned paper with two sided tape. Add the egg on the right of the plate with two sided tape. Take two strips of the bacon and use your fingers to make a hill on each end of the bacon, curling it slightly around your finger. Adhere the bacon pieces crosswise, on the left using two sided tape on each edge and in the middle of each piece so that the hills are slightly raised up for a more realistic look. 
 
 Supplies: 
(Paper Trimmer, Two Sided Tape, Die Cut Machine, Die Pick, Ink Blending Tool, Scissors, Heat Tool, Small Paint Brush, Sewing Machine with White Thread)
-Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits (Chapter 1 2022): Colorize Woodgrain, Colorize Lovestruck, Bold Text 1 
-Tim Holtz Coredinations: Shattered Kraft-Core 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distess Archival Ink: Fired Brick, Fossilized Amber 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Pen 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Dabber 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze: Vintage Photo, Antique Linen 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Resist Spray 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink:  Gathered Twigs, Antique Linen 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Heavystock: Ivory, White 
-Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Classic Kraftstock, Christmas Kraftstock 
-Sizzix Tim Holtz Paper Punch: Large Circle 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium: Matte 
-Ranger Surfaces: Kraft Cardstock, Black Cardstock 
-Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits: Stitched Ovals 
-Faber-Castell Pitt Pen: Indian Red 
-Bright Yellow Cardstock, Computer Generated Sentiments  
 
Thank you again, so much, for all the support and love! I'll be back again soon...after I fry up some bacon! ;0)  Until then, I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 1 - Good Luck Colorize Bird and Egg with 3D Damask St. Patrick's Card

Hi everyone! Today I have another make from the Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 1 release that was in the Live. This one is for St. Patrick's Day, but could be any occasion that someone needs a little extra luck, and is made with the Colorize Bird and Egg Thinlits with the 3D Damask Texture Fade. Both of these were my favorite from the release, especially the yummy Damask. The detail on the embossing is crazy good.  I love this little birdie too, and the way I've got it perched here makes it look like she is protecting her egg in the vast jungle. Good luck Mama on keeping that egg safe. Enjoy!
 
Cut Watercolor Cardstock to fit into the 3D Damask Texture Fade. Ink over the raised parts of the fade with Peeled Paint Distress Archival Ink. Lightly mist the Watercolor Cardstock with water, and then close the fade and run through the die cut machine three times for good embossing. Clean the fade with 91% rubbing alcohol to remove all the ink. Let paper dry.
  
 
Lightly rub over the raised parts of the paper with Prickly Pear Archival from Wendy Vecchi straight from the pad, trying to get into all the debossing as well. Flip paper vertically so that the two large leaves are at the bottom of the paper. This will be the orientation of the scene. Pour out a tiny bit of Tumbled Glass Distress Spray Stain onto the silicon mat, and pick up with a Detailed Water Brush. Paint in open areas at the top and middle of the paper that look like sky is peaking through. Pour out a tiny bit of Rustic Wilderness Distress Spray Stain and pick up with the brush and color in the recessed areas of the leaves and anywhere else you feel needs a darker green. Lightly mist the paper with water to blend the colors some. Dry.
 
 
Apply Bubbling Cauldron Distress Pearl Crayon over some of the leaves and use your finger to push and blend it in. Do the same with Holly Branch Crayon. Add Snow Flurries Crayon to the silicon mat and pick up with the Water Brush and color over the sky areas. Not shown as I forgot...put paper back into the Texture Fade matching it up perfectly, and ink over the raised areas with English Ivy Archival and run through the machine twice to pick up the color and get the design back nice and crisp. Clean the fade as before. Pour out a little bit of Distress Resist Spray onto the silicon mat and using a small paint brush paint over all the leaves on the paper and let dry. Clean the brush with soapy water. Set the paper aside. 
 
 
Taking the Bird and Egg Colorize Thinlits, remove only the four egg dies. Die cut the first two labeled eggs (1 and 2) with the dusty blue Kraft Stock from the Classic stash. Lightly mist those with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide Spray and let those dry. Take a piece of Watercolor Paper big enough to die cut the other two egg dies and ink over it with Speckled Egg Distress Ink and an Ink Blending Tool. Lightly mist the watercolor with more Speckled Egg Oxide Spray, and dry. Die cut the last two eggs labeled 3 and 4. 
 
 
Ink the edges of all the eggs with Speckled Egg Distress Ink, and assemble the pieces with Collage Medium. Lightly mist the egg with Tumbled Glass Spray and Speckled Egg Oxide Spray. Dry. Apply Gathered Twigs Crayon to the silicon mat and pick up with the Waterbrush and color in the holes of the egg and then tap the brush over the egg to get some brown spots. Dry. Lightly mist Distress Resist Spray over the egg to give it a nice shine. Remove the sprayer from the Resist Spray and clean out with warm water so that it sprays well the next time you use it. Let the egg dry. 
 
 
Taking the leaf scene paper, use a craft knife and carefully cut around portions of the large leaf on the left side of the watercolor paper so that the egg will slip in a bit behind the leaf. Apply Collage Medium to the back of the egg and back of the cut leaf and slip the egg behind the leaf and apply pressure to adhere it well. Set this aside. 
 
   
Using more Watercolor paper, die cut two small and five tiny hearts from the Stacked Tiles Hearts Thinlits. Place some Watercolor paper into the Lucky Love 3D Impresslit and cut and emboss one shamrock running it through the machine three times for good detail. Place the hearts into the shamrock Impresslit  in the middle of the leaf portions, and run those through the machine as well. It will take two times to get all the hearts. You should hopefully get a line running through the center of each heart so you get a leaf looking design. Using the Bubbling Cauldron and Holly Branch Pearl Crayons again, rub over the shamrock and leaves pushing and blending the color into all the crevices best as you can. 
 
 
Apply a little water to your finger and blend in the crayons further on all the pieces. Let dry. Ink the edges of the pieces with Peeled Paint Archival and even rub the pad over the pieces to further bring out the raised parts. Paint over the pieces with Distress Resist Spray for a nice shine and durableness. Clean your brush. 
 
 
Fold Kraft Cardstock to a 5 x 7 inch base card. Cut black cardstock to 4 7/8 x 6 7/8 inches and mount onto the kraft card base with two sided tape. Cut gold Kraft Stock from the Metallic stash to 4 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches and mount onto the black cardstock. Cut watercolor (or white cardstock) to 4 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches and mount onto the gold. Ink around the edge of the card with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. Using the white Quotations Stickers, cut the words 'good' and 'luck' and ink the edges of those with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink and mount onto gold Kraft Stock. Cut around them, and adhere them to the middle right of the shamrock. Cut around the border of the leaf paper with a Deckle Trimmer just slightly so that you have a nice distressed edge. Ink the edge of the leaf paper with Peeled Paint Archival Ink. Adhere the leaf paper to the front of the card with two sided tape. Use Collage Medium to adhere the shamrock to the right bottom area of the leaf paper. Arrange the two small hearts on the leaf bottom so that they look like a shamrock is hanging off, and adhere them. Arrange three tiny hearts into a shamrock and adhere them lightly off the egg and hiding the large shamrock stem and adhere those. Take one tiny heart and adhere it to the right bottom of the card. Leave one tiny heart for the bird's mouth in the next part.  
 
 
Note: I wanted my bird to look like a robin (robins have orange bellies) since the egg looks like a robin's egg, so upon studying the die pieces for the bird from the Colorize Bird and Egg Thinlits, I laid out the colors of cardstock I thought I would need from the Classic Kraft Stock stash and Neutral Kraft Stock for each die piece. However, I did some changes later as I figured out the bird is facing left turning its head to the back right so I made some changes that I'll explain in the next photos.
 
 
Die cut the complete bird base piece with black cardstock. Add two sided tape to the back of yellow cardstock (I add two sided tape to the back of all the cardstock when die cutting layered pieces so ease of assembly later.), and die cut only the beak portion on the same die with yellow cardstock. Trim the yellow cardstock a bit so that the eye won't be yellow and adhere it to the beak area on the black base bird piece (shown on the far right). The die piece is now done. Taking the Brown 1 die, die cut one in dark orange cardstock and one in dark brown cardstock. Lay the two pieces together and cut through the bottom area as shown. Save the large brown and small orange cuts for another time, and adhere the large orange and small brown to the base bird. The orange part will show through the layers so it looks like a tiny portion of the bird's belly is showing as he is turning his neck. This will make sense as you build the bird. You are finished with Brown 1. Die cut Brown 2 with a grayish brown piece (see step 10 for the colors for the rest of the pieces) from the Neutrals set and adhere. You are finished with Brown 2. For Brown 3, die cut with a golden brown from the Neutrals, and adhere those. You are finished with Brown 3.
 
 
For Brown 4, die cut the eye piece with the same golden brown from Brown 3, and adhere the eye piece. Die cut the rest of it with black cardstock and adhere that on. Using the same die, die cut only the small part that looks like a leg and foot with a bright orange. Cut off the top of the leg looking piece in a crescent shape and adhere that on top of the black so that it looks like barely a piece of the belly is showing as he turns. Confusing I know, and probably not necessary, but I wanted it to look more realistic. See the photo here of that tiny bright orange piece so that you know how I cut it. You are finished with Brown 4.
 
 
Die cut Brown 5 and the small eye reflection piece with Ivory Heavystock, and adhere those. You are finished die cutting. Ink the edges of the bird with Gathered Twigs Distress, and then adhere the tiny heart to its beak with Collage Medium. Add foam tape to the back of the bird's body. Add Pumice Stone Distress Crayon to the silicon mat and pick up with the waterbrush and  trace around the pieces for some shadow work, and especially on the pieces around the tail. Add Collage Medium to his feet and stick the bird on the card so he is standing on the egg.
 

Supplies: 
(Paper Trimmer, Water Mister, Die Cut Machine, 91% Rubbing Alcohol, Glass Mat, Detail Water Brush, Heat Tool,  Small Paper Brush, Ink Blending Tool, Craft Knife, Scissors, Craft Pick, Two Sided Tape, Deckle Trimmer, Foam Tape) 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock
-Sizzix Tim Holtz 3D Texture Fade (Chapter 1 2022): Damask 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distess Archival Ink: Peeled Paint 
-Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink: Prickly Pear, English Ivy 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain: Tumbled Glass, Rustic Wilderness 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons: Bubbling Cauldron, Holly Branch, Snow Flurries, Gathered Twigs, Pumice Stone 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Resist Spray
-Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits (Chapter 1 2022): Colorize Bird and Egg, Stacked Tiles Hearts 
-Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Classic Kraft Stock, Neutral Kraft Stock, Metallic Kraft Stock, Quotations Metallic Stickers 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink:  Speckled Egg, Gathered Twigs 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray: Speckled Egg 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium: Matte 
-Sizzix Tim Holtz 3D Impresslits: Lucky Love 
-Ranger Surfaces: Kraft Cardstock, Black Cardstock 
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Heavystock: Ivory 
 
Seriously, that Damask 3D Texture Fade is amazing! Once again, thank you truly for stopping by and taking the time to show me some love. I'll be back soon. Until then, I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!