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!