That Vintage Look at The Paper Shelter - 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Is it REALLY November 1st already?

So glad I can share it with you - and thanks for dropping by today.

It's time for a new Challenge at Two Crafty Critter Crazies 
where we love to celebrate any project with a critter on it! Critters include mythical creatures, animal toys and everything alive (except humans and flora)!

Our very generous sponsor this month is:
TPS The Paper Shelter
Her wonderful characters exhibit such a kindness and sweetness to them.
My card features the darling "Holy Night" digital set, including background.







I felt like doing something in a Vintage Style.


After dragging the focal image onto the background in the word processor, I flipped the entire thing horizontally so they were facing the opposite direction.


The sentiment is one I made, and am gifting it to my followers below.


In addition, I duplicated the focal image and sentiment so they could be fussy cut separately, and popped up for dimension.

Above, on a separate word processing document, I dragged 2 of the backgrounds to it, and sized them to be slightly taller than the scene on the first page. To elongate the card (making it 5x7), simply "overlay" one of the backgrounds onto the other, matching up the borders so they look continuous.

The Vintage frame needed a little help with the busy background, so I die cut a larger piece, embossed it with a very pale gold EP containing mica powder, and heat set:

Next came the assembly:

1. Adhere Decorative frame to embossed panel.
2. Adhere die cut image to framed panel.
3. Adhere die cut inner frame on top of image panel.
4. The card probably would be beautiful just like the bottom photo!

The background would be lovely all by itself with a sentiment.
or
Fussy cut one of those trees, make an extended background, pop up the fussy cut tree where the border overlaps, and put a sentiment or the lovely girl on the right.

But I placed the framed focal image panel on the background:

After inking the edges of the fussy cut pieces, the sentiment and focal image were popped up:



Gold Wink of Stella was placed around the dark card base. Clear Wink of Stella was placed on the white trees in the back ground, and more Pale Gold EP edges the background panel:


Wishing you all the joys of November!

FREEBIE SENTIMENT

I have made a simple freebie digital sentiment in two formats for my followers. NOT for commercial use, please. Use it on any of your projects, including projects involving any design teams you might be on.

Click on the image to bring it to full size, then right click and do a SAVE.

Enjoy!

Products:

• TPS The Paper Shelter "Holy Night" digital set, including background
• Other: White Cardstock, Chocolate Brown Cardstock, Clear and Gold Wink of Stella, Tea Dye Distress Ink, Pale Gold Embossing Powder

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

1. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #59 AG Christmas 11/9 (sep post)
2. Crafty Catz Challenge #481 AG-Snow 11/8 
3. A Bit More Time To Craft #103 AG (sep post) 11-16
4. Merry Little Christmas Challenge #16 AG Christmas 12/1 (sep post 12/5)
5. Animal Friends Challenge #80 (Nov) Reindeer 12/1
6. Pearly Sparkles Challenge #46 Christmas 12/1

Critter Hugs,

Imagine That Stamps at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Greetings, Friends! I hope you are well, and staying warm.
Like everyone else, here in central Florida, we are experiencing strange weather patterns. But for us, it has been unseasonably warm for the most part. With the exception of a few freezes and frosty mornings, we have been experiencing May Temperatures, not winter temps!
The farmers don't know what to do. Plant or not to plant?
Jack planted pole beans and black eye-peas (field peas) in our garden yesterday. Black eyes are traditionally a summer crop here (June - September), so that gives you an idea of how warm we are.

Well, enough of the weather (giggle).



Today I have a sorta-kinda distressed, textured project to share for a new Challenge at Two Crafty Critter Crazies 
where we love to celebrate any project with a critter on it! Critters include mythical creatures, animal toys and everything alive (except humans and flora)! Our very generous sponsor this month is:

Imagine That Digistamps.

They have an assortment of black and white and colored stamps, plus beautiful papers and backgrounds.

My project uses "Hello Kitties" with dotted background from "Ellie's Flower Costume"

Mini Digital Tutorial using free apps.

1. "Hello Kitties" is a freebie, that comes with a completely transparent PNG and an opaque JPG. After re-saving the JPG as a PNG, I made the outside of the frame transparent. I also made the area under the flowers transparent. (I did this using Preview App).
2. Using a free word processing app (I used Pages), I opened a blank page, dragged the cute gray and white dotted digital paper into it, and then dragged the newly saved Hello Kitties PNG on top of it. 
3. That enabled the appearance of layers. It looks like the part below the flowers is either popped up, or cut out, depending how one's eyes see it.
4. Size the background paper to suit your needs and print out the cute image.
5. The image was then colored with Copic and Prismacolor markers, including a few little "white dots" in yellow or amber, and the inside of the oval was also lightly colored in the same colors. To give a little more dimension, black dots were colored around the frame.

To keep the Dotted theme, I applied Memento Gray Flannel ink to the inside of my WRMK Dotted embossing folder. Carefully lining up a yellow-gold panel in the EF, I then ran it through the machine. The raised areas remained yellow, while the debossed areas turned "flannel gray". The edges were distressed with Black Soot ink:

The gray panel was embossed with Craftwell's Delicate Dots folder, and distressed with Black Soot and Pearlescent Yellow Brilliance ink.

Little Details: A piece of golden burlap was frayed for a fun fringe, white sides were added for contrast, sentiment was stamped with VersaFine Clair Morning Mist and heat set with Clear Detail embossing powder. Lastly, Memory Box Fanciful Flourish was smooshed with VersaMark and heat set with Spring Willow Cosmic Sparkle embossing powder.

Some PRODUCTS USED: **Images: Imagine That Digistamps "Hello Kitties" with dotted background from "Ellie's Flower Costume", rubber stamp sentiment from SNS "Kitty Celebrates" Stamp Set 926    **Dies: SB Mega Nestabilities Curved Rectangles, Memory Box Fanciful Flourish, SU Labels Punch **Colored with Copic and Prismacolor Markers   **Inks: Gray Flannel Memento Ink, Black Soot Distress Ink, VersaFine Clair Morning Mist, VersaMark, Pearlescent Yellow Brilliance ink  **Embossing Folders: We R Memory Keepers Dotted #1, Craftwell Delicate Dots   **Embossing Powders: Spring Willow Cosmic Sparkle, Clear Detail 

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

1. Show Us Your Pussycats Challenges #39 Furrything Goes 3/5 (sep post)
2. Crafty Animals #24 AG with Animals 4/1 (sep post)
3. Crafting With Friends #81 Anything Goes 3/15
4. QKR Stampede Challenge #337 Anything Goes 3/8
5. Love to Scrap #119 Anything Goes Option Monochrome 4/1
6. Sparkles Forum Challenges #113 Include an Animal 3/15
7. Your Scrapbook Place (March) AG 4/1

On A Personal Note:

Kilo turned nine years old on the day I wrote this 2CCC blog post!

What a good boy, hanging out with his daddy! (behind him is the cultivator for the tractor).

The Tulip Tree (a type of Magnolia) was blooming on Valentine's Day. In the background you can see a Southern Magnolia, lots of "Pothos" growing and climbing trees, and a ton of Spanish Moss hanging from the trees and cross-fencing.

The Oak Trees tower over the azaleas and tulip tree, bringing much needed shade during the summer and protection from freezes in the winter. These were taken on an overcast day with heavy frost that morning:

Closer. The oaks are in the process of dropping their leaves. They will be bare around March 1, and pollen squigglies will appear, burst open, and coat everything in yellow. Even the squirrels will have allergies when that happens:

In a few days, the petals will drop, and new leaves burst forth. This is the first tree we planted in 1989 when we first moved to this little "farm". Of course, the towering Oak Hammock was already here:

wishing you all the best!

hugs,

Wild Animals and Friends Like You (giggle) - Digi Tutorial

YAAAAYYYYYYY! You're here!
I have lots of tips today ANNNNNNNND....

It's time to share a sweet friendship card using WILD ANIMALS for the new Moving Along With The Times Challenge!
How's that for a combination -- sweet AND wild?

We hope you can play along. Challenge #76's theme is WILD ANIMALS - just make sure your card's focal image has at least one wild animal and share your card!

My cards are made entirely from white card stock. If you are new to digital images, several tips are included below:

TIP:
Don't have a special app for your digitals? Use your word processor:

Most word processors have options for creating scenes. Play with yours to see what it can do. They may have a STYLE or FORMATTING option for things like OPACITY, SHADOWS, COLORS for you to create dimension, shadows, and color intensities:

TIP: 

CREATE CUSTOM PAPER FROM  YOUR IMAGE:

I saved a duplicate of the elephant image, and cropped off the head, tail and legs.
Then I put it on the word processor sheet, and sized it.
For the larger images, I simply increased the size of the image in the word processor:



to make the images smaller, I copy and pasted the image 3 times on my sheet and cut to size:


Both these options were used on my cards. Can you identify which card used the smaller print, and which used the larger?

1. Spellbinders Detailed Scallops (frame) card 5.5" x 7.5":
The card looks beautiful before adhering the layers:



After distressing with Black Soot dye ink, I applied Nuvo Glue Pen in the Large size around the distressing, waited a few moments for the glue to set, and then applied Gilding Flakes in Silver Bullion. They are so brilliantly silver, that it was difficult to capture on camera:



Using VersaMark ink, I further distressed, and heat set with Shimmer Semi Transparent EP. The edge is now dimensionally distressed with ink, shimmering EP and gilding flakes:



Midnight Madness Detail Opaque EP #252 has lots of sparkle, and was used on the sentiment from Happy Flowers Rubber Stamp Set. Because it is a detail embossing powder, it features sentiments well:



When embossing black, I prefer using a black pigment ink. But I don't have colored pigment inks these days, so....

TIP: 

"making COLORED embossable ink"

I did not have a black pigment ink on hand, and I wanted the black background for the sentiment before heat setting with Midnight Madness Detail Opaque EP. Here's how: Ink your stamp with VersaMark (or other clear embossing fluid). Then tap on the dye base ink in the color of your choice on top of the VersaMark inked stamp. Stamp on your paper.  Apply your embossing powder. Because the VersaMark was applied on the stamp first, when the image was stamped, the VersaMark ends up being on the "top layer" of your paper. Dredge with EP and heat set. Works for me every time.

The cute flower is from Tonic Woodland Aster Die Set #1285E.

Finished Card:

2. Sue Wilson die framed card 6" x 7.5":

Layered panel was distressed with Black Soot dye ink and VersaMark. 
Super Thick Silver EP467 (ultra glossy) was place on the inky areas and heat FROM UNDER THE PAPER. More VersaMark was applied and Midnight Madness Detail Opaque EP was heat set, creating a shiny, dimensional, sparkling panel:

With scraps of sticker paper and the Tonic Autumnal Oak Die Set #1431E, the large leafy branch was partially cut out twice. After pulling off the protective layer, exposing the sticky substance, Aqua Marine Semi-transparent Ultrafine G1062 glitter was applied and burnished in. I did the same thing with Tonic Beautiful Brambles Die Set #586E using Pistachio Ultrafine Opaque G1053 (one of my all time favorite colors). 

TIP: color your glitter

Because I wanted to shade the leaves a little, Prismacolor Alcohol Markers were lightly used on top of the glitter.

Before and After:

Finished Card:

TIP: To make this card with the rubber stamp set:

1. Make an elephant mask from text weight paper.
2. Stamp the front elephant in your inky-color of choice.
3. Place the mask on top of the stamped elephant (adhere lightly if desired).
4. Stamp the back elephant in your inky-color of choice.
5. Remove mask and color your images.

Products Used:

• Amazing You Paisley Elephant Digital Stamp Set (with 13 color options plus sentiments) (also available in rubber)
• Happy Flowers Rubber Stamp Set (huge digital bundle also available)
• Tonic Woodland Aster Die Set #1285E
• Tonic Beautiful Brambles Die Set #586E 
• Tonic Autumnal Oak Die Set #1431E
• Embossing Powders: Midnight Madness Detail Opaque EP252(has lots of sparkle), Super Thick Silver EP467 (ultra glossy), Shimmer Semi Transparent EP (lots of sparkle), Anti-Static Bag (covers area quickly)
• Glitters: Aqua Marine Semi-transparent Ultrafine G1062, Pistachio Ultrafine Opaque G1053
• Inks: VersaMark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Mowed Lawn Distress, Black Soot Distress Oxide
• Gilding Flakes in Silver Bullion
• Paper Blooms in Coconut color by Kaiser Craft
• Adhesives: Sticker Paper Sheets (for leaves), Deluxe Adhesive with fine tip, Dimensional Foam Pads Sticky, Nuvo Glue Pen Large
• Die: Spellbinders Detailed Scallops (frame)
• Die: Sue Wilson Ornate Pierced shaped frame
• Cardstock: White
• Prismacolor Alcohol Markers, Decorative Brad

Challenges these cards are gratefully submitted to:

1. 613 Avenue Create #211 Create your own Designer Paper (see tutorial above) 8/1
2. Classic Design Team Challenge Blog #27 AG DT 8/1
3. Crafting with Dragonflies #108 Animals 7/20
4. Crafty Animals #16 AG with Animals 8/1 (sep post)
5. Creative Craft Cottage Digi Challenge #94 Monochrome 8/3 
6. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #86 Anything Goes 8/1 (sep 8/4)
7. Scrapy Land Challenges #94 AG w/SL dies (Spellbinders, Sue Wilson, Tonic)
8. Sunny Day Crafting (7/15-8/15) Add an Animal 8/15
9. World Wide Open DT #7  AG for DT 8/15

Thanks for stopping by!
Crafty hugs,

Sparkle N Sprinkle's Corner Garden Digital Tutorial BLOG HOP

It may be April 1, but no fooling around here!
WELCOME to a bonus edition of the Sparkle N Sprinkle April 1 Stamp Reveal!

If you have arrived here by way of my gifted teamie Belinda you are in the right place!

For details about the blog hop, please click here.

For a chance to win the Blog Hop's GRAND PRIZE,

AND

for a second opportunity to win this versatile Corner Garden mega digital bundle,

please leave a comment below stating what you like in particular about this digital set, and what you would like to do with it.  Don't forget to comment on everyone else's blog for a chance to owin this digital bundle. Random winner from eligible comments will be announced on April 3.

NOTE: TO MY EMAIL FOLLOWERS:
This is a picture laden post. Feedback from my followers is that you appreciate step-by-step photos, rather than a written tutorial.
I fear that the post may possibly be too long for the Feedburner email posts. If you do not see the entire tutorial and are interested, I hope you will click on the title at the top of your email and come to my blog. If that does not work, please email me. I will try to send you a PDF version.

NO NEED TO HAVE SPECIAL SOFTWARE:

USE YOUR WORD PROCESSOR

This post is meant to help newbies to the world of digital crafting.

The ideas are stuffed into a few cards, so I hope you will view the simplicity in the cards merely for ideas. Hopefully some of the buzz words will help new digital crafters find the tools needed in your existing software.

Let's begin the journey using this beautiful Corner Garden mega digital bundle by artist Tracey Miller. The set includes papers, sentiments, black-and-white images, and vibrant, precolored images.

Many of the things we do with conventional rubber stamping can be done with digitals.
It's often faster, and less expensive because it's all done on the computer.

The perks include:

• No storage room needed, 
• No big mess if done completely digitally,
• Ease of assembling, 
• Takes very little crafting space,
• Finding papers on line is relatively easy and usually inexpensive,
• Playing around to see which papers you like with which images,
• Little clean up involved unless messy techniques were employed,
• Resizing the papers and images to suit your needs without having to purchase multiples of the same image.
• You will never run out!
• Cards can be extremely simple or very complex. 
• Projects can be compiled a little at a time and saved on the computer until you have time to print and complete.
• You may leave your scrapbook pages and paper projects as a single "real" layer, even thought it might look like several layers were used. This is great for easy storage and mailing. 
• Create elaborate layers just as you would with conventional methods and techniques.

First:

Using more than one layer of digital paper, and multiple layers of digital stamps:

Apologies for the stray glitter - here is the finished card:
The decorative border punch on top - white - is actually from the same white cardstock as all the printed digital "layers".

Here is the added dimension - but still flat for mailing - notice the flowers along the bottom, in the left and right corners:

Second:

Make a "plain" multi-layered card with only a few layers of paper:

Finished Card

flat for mailing:

A Close Up of the beautiful paper, with water color blending, and bokeh throughout:

Of course I would have liked to gussy-up the card with glitz and other embellishments, but it has been left "naked" so you can see the digital portions.

Third:

A few more ideas for layering, with easy finishing embellishments:

The finished card is ONE PIECE OF WHITE CARD STOCK, folded in half.

The butterflies have been added for dimension.

A single stamp will suffice for mailing purposes:

Sparkle N Sprinkle Products Used

Corner Garden Mega Digital Bundle (stamps, sentiments, papers, cut file)

WaterFall Semitransparent Glitter 

Bubblegum Semitransparent Glitter

Nuvo glue pens (large and small) also comes in medium point.

Thanks for stopping by - please hop on over to talented teamie Jess for artsy creativity!

hugs,
Donna