Archive for January, 2010

My #2 Daughter gave me this over a year ago and I’m just now taking a stab at making the flowers.  I’m trying to challenge myself in doing something outside of cards.

Turning it over it is a package that is packed with floral tape, wires and various cuts and colors and one single sheet of instructions.

Wow!  I love all the colors and my mind starts going through the various items thinking this color combination is great and just in time for Valentine.

Using the pattern in the package I was surprise to see how simple the pattern was for the petals.  What I didn’t like however was this paper was white on the back and to be in a flower it would be seen from underneath as well as on top.

The same held true for the leaves.  So naturally, I will have to dress this up.

This is the start of the flower and the frilly stuff is part of the center.  There is a white crumbled ball in the very center but you can’t see it.  Also, when making flowers you need to use odd numbers of petals 3, 5, 7 depending on how big you want the flower.

The fringe is all pink even though it lookes like some of it could be white.

On the back of the pink-polka-dot petals I took a stamp and randomly stamped it all over the petals.  I also inked the edges of the petals to give some more depth.

I took a bone folder and curved the edges and ends of the petals and then used Glossy Accents to start gluing them to the wire stem.  Once all the petals were in place around the stem, I used floral tape to secure and give it a more finished look.

The second layer of petals I did the same way as the first.  This is making a beautiful flower and I already know who is going to receive it.

I am so glad I stamped the back of the second petals because it adds a great dimension to the flower.

Again, after the second set of petals (5 petals) I used the floral tape to wrap around the bottom of the petals and a little way down the stem.

The leaves have a wire that runs two-thirds down the center of the leaf.  This will give the leaf dimension but also allow you to bend it.  I enhanced with some MCPT and some distress inks. 

You may need to click on the picture to see the silver leafing that is done on the tips of the inner petals.

Also, put a little on the center fringe.

I used floral tape to wrap around the wires of the leaves and secure them to the stem and once both were secure I continued to wrap the floral tape down the stem to polish off the stem.

I like this and actually, it did not take that much time to do.  I think the petals could have some additional dimension added to them if the petals had more waves cut in them but hey, I got a lot of pieces left so I might just experiment.

This is going to be part of my GD’s Valentine gift.  I need to make two more to make it a little nosegay.  Hopefully, I will remember to take a picture when it is completely done.

My “Woman Cave” has a lot of Jet Max Cubes, but believe it or not I ran out of some storage.  The reason was my #1 Daughter gave me a bunch of new Cricut Cartridges and if you couldn’t tell, Phyllis got me hooked on UTEE stuff.

So here is what it looked like before I added another cube.  M’s (Micheal’s) this week has the JetMax cubes on for 40% off.  These cubes are a crafters dream.  The 14.25″ cubes come in multiple configurations and you can mix and match them to design your own configuration.

The plus out of this is it moves my TV, STB and TIVO up and now it is visible from everywhere in the room.  Yes, that is Barefoot Contessa on the TV.

Now today, we are off for a girlie day at the 2010 Mesquite StampScrapArtTour show and a great lunch at Joe’s Carb Shack.

I have another JetMax Cube to put together and then I’ll have plenty of room for all the stuff I’m buying at the Mesquite StampScrapArtTour show.  Sweeeeeet!!!!!

My #1 Daughter has an employee that was sent home on bed rest because she is having twins.  She is having a little boy and a little girl.

She asked me if I was up for a challenge.  Since it was cold and I wasn’t going to be getting out much anyway I took the challenge on.

This is a 5 x 10 card that was folded in half and then I cut 1 inch off of one side.  I inked the edges all around the card but I did not adhere anything in place yet.

I’m using Tim Holtz’s distressed inks (Vintage Photo) for all the card pieces.

I took the inch strip that I cut off and used a MS scalloped punch to give it a nice edge.  I measured where the center was on the strip and cut the center first so I could get an even balance across the strip of the scalloped edge.

I inked the edges to give it some depth.

I measured where I wanted my inside mat and cut the coordinating paper out, inked all edges and glued it down.

Once that was in place I then ran adhesive down the left and right edge to form the pocket.

From there I started building the outside.

I place the same pattern paper that I used on the inside of the pocket on the outside and then cut another coordinating mat for the front and a piece of ribbon that goes around the scalloped band.  I’ll use this same ribbon to make the bow to finish the card.

Here are the rest of the elements.

I tried to incorporate pink and blue along with the green and yellow.  The medallion and circle along with the pea pods are all edged in glitter.  I used Mini Monograms cart for the medallion and circles and I used WIMG in DS and took a leaf and slanted it to make it look like a pea pod.  I took a craft knife and slice a curvy line through the middle of one of the pea pods so I could slip a pink glitter and blue glitter pea into it.

I used the CB Swiss dot folder on the white circle to add some texture and then doodle some dashes around the outside.

I used a lot of dimensional tape to give it lift (my #1 Daughter told me too much, oops I got carried away).  My suggestion would be to adhere the blue circle to the pink medallion flat, the white circle to the blue circle flat and then use dimensional tape on the pea pods only.

The ribbon on the note card is adhered underneath the first mat and a little blue label that says “cherish”.

I think this is a really cute card for the theme of “Two peas in a pod”.  It was a lot a work but I love the way it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think!

Here are the various items I made using the UTEE.  A word of caution…..these items (even with Flex in the mix) are pretty delicate.

When the items are still warm is the best time to try to bend or straighten them out.  If you wait until they are cool you will end up breaking them (isn’t that right Phyllis, LOL?).

The cake was a little crooked and so Phyllis tried to straighten it and it broke.  Also, once it is cools don’t try to re-heat with the heat gun, it just melts the element.

I experimented a little and tried to use some Perfect Pearls on the stamp to see how well it transferred through the dipping process. 

Even though I covered it well, it still did not transfer as well as I would have like it to.  Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I heated the Perfect Pearls on the stamp first?

The best transfer of color so far (in my opinion) is the pigment inks.  They just take a long time to dry since this is a non-porous surface.

Another word of caution, acrylic stamps will work but you can’t leave them in too long.  Best to use them on an acrylic block and quickly dip them in and out.

What was I thinking?  I dropped this arrow directly into the melting pot and when we tried to get it out quickly it was already melting.

The butterfly is again a $1 M’s stamp that I inked up with silver pigment ink.  I like the way this one came out; however, I started noticing that the clear UTEE starts to turn yellow as you re-heat it so if you want a real clean clear embellishment you would want to melt fresh UTEE.

This is also one of my favorites.  I bought this stamp originally to do a card that has 4 blocks on it.  I inked this up with the silver pigment ink and dipped it in the UTEE.

You want to watch when you dip this type of design because the UTEE if very thick will not cover the complete design and leave some holes around the outer part of the design.

We used glossy accents to glue these type of embellishments, because you only have the outer edges of the element to glue to the page or card.

Have fun with this new technique.  Remember this doesn’t work well with stamps that spell out words or sayings unless you want to use the embossed side instead of the deboss side.  If you use the embossed side then the edges have a tendency to break.

Thanks for dropping by and hey leave me a comment, I would love to hear what you think of UTEE.

Wow!  Every time I look at this I am just blown away.  This is a piece of cardboard dipped in black UTEE and then using Perfect Pearls, a heat gun and an inked up $1 stamp from M’s.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get enough pictures of the above tag to walk you through a step by step process for it; however, I did make another tag so you can get a feel of the process.

For the above tag we (that would be Phyllis and I) used black UTEE without any Flex added.  Remember, the UTEE is thicker without the Flex added.  

I can take this black UTEE and throw it back in the pan or into the melting pot tray and let it start melting.

Since I didn’t get enough pictures as we made the tag yesterday I reconstructed the process today using a yellow tag and clear UTEE.  This allowed me to get pictures for the various steps and to see what it would look like if we made the tag out of colored card stock.

So here we go, threw the UTEE in the pot and it is on the way to melting.  Be sure and keep the lid on to help melt it faster.

The Fleur De Lis tag was cut out of chipboard and dipped into black UTEE and then placed on craft mat to dry.  Be sure and immerse the entire tag in the UTEE or you will end up with the back of the tag not covered.

In this photo I used a small tag cut out of yellow card stock.  I wanted to see how the colored card stock would show through the clear UTEE.  I did notice that the card stock tag was a little thin, when I heated the tag later it wanted to curl. 

I used a pair of tweezers to hold the tag to dip it into the UTEE.  Don’t worry so much that it comes out uneven or gloppy (is that a word?).  We are going to use a heat gun on it and it will smooth things out.  I think it is better to clean up any drips or strings when the UTEE is still warm.  It seems to be easier and more flexible while it is warm.

 The next thing we did was use some Perfect Pearls on the tags.  On the black UTEE this powder shows up really well.  There are so many colors of Perfect Pearls but at this time (did you get that “at this time”) this is all I have so I used them.

I just dipped the brush in the various Perfect Pearls and dotted them on the tag.  Don’t be afraid to use enough of the powder to show up.

Do it randomly adding more of the light color if you like it light or more darker colors if you want it more dark.

Using a heat gun, heat up the tag until it looks like the UTEE is flowing or when the UTEE ripples when the heat gun is blowing on it.  You will have to heat it long enough to get the air bubbles out.  It will start to look pitted but keep heating it will eventually get smooth.

The Perfect Pearls gives the tag a nice shimmer.

Ink up the stamp or stamps you want to use to make an impression on your tag.  I’m using a flourish looking stamp and a $1 M’s stamp.  One tip I can give you is to dab the stamp on the pigment ink so the stamp gets really saturated with the ink. 

Re-heat the tag using the hot gun until tag is really hot and then press the inked up stamp into the hot UTEE on the tag.  If you want to change the stamp, follow the same process ink up stamp, re-heat tag, stamp.

I took a pen and free handed the butterfly’s antennae.  I also put in an eyelet.  This made a stunning tag and I love the color card stock showing through.

This just makes a stunning tag and when you see it in real life you know that your tags will never be the same.  The stamps give it texture and variety.  I love it when you can take your tools and use them for something other than what they were design for originally.

So Phyllis had me ink up the Fleur De Lis with the silver pigment ink  and then she heated up the tag and stamped it in the hot UTEE on the tag.

This looks very French to me and I love the look. 

We’ll do one more posting on this product.  I want you to see the rest of the items we made and see how many ways you can use this produce.

Here are some more embellishments  made using Ultra Thick Embossing Element (UTEE). 

There is so much you can do with this and the more you do it the more you understand how the product works and the best method of making the embellishments.  I apologize in the beginning for the weird format on the post.  I’ve tried to correct it several times but it won’t stay the way I put it.

You will need to heat up your melting pot and get it hot before you add any UTEE to it.  We started out using clear UTEE and Flex.  In the Flex bottle there is a scoop.  The recipe calls for 4 scoops of UTEE to 1/2 scoop of Flex.  You put the 4 scoops of UTEE in the melting pot and let it melt first.  The tip here is to put the lid on top of the pan to help it melt faster.

Once the UTEE is melted you add the 1/2 scoop of Flex.  Once the Flex is melted in the UTEE you gently stir the mixture using a spatula.   UTEE is a little brittle without Flex; however, when you add Flex to the UTEE it makes it thinner.  Without the Flex added to the UTEE the UTEE is more rigid and thicker.

While the UTEE is melting, choose a stamp and use either pigment ink or color markers to ink up the stamp.  I’m using a Zig Calligraphy marker, but this did not turn out well.  I walked through the process a couple of times and it didn’t transfer the color from the stamp to the design.  Yesterday when we were doing this it would transfer the color.  Who knows maybe it’s because it is so “frigid” here today.  That’s the new word be used by all the weather people here.

Once the UTEE is melted you can take the inked up stamp and dip it into the UTEE.  You need to make sure you dip the stamp far enough into the UTEE to get it all covered being careful not to get any on your fingers or hand (this stuff is really hot).  That is why the $1 stamps at M’s are perfect for this technique.  There is enough stamp to dip and enough wood to keep your fingers and hand protected.   

Here is another tip: You want to dip the stamp just far enough in the UTEE to only cover the red part of the stamp.  You want a thin coat.  Make sure that you don’t dip it in so far that it covers the black part of the mount or on the wood.  The further the UTEE goes down the stamp the harder it is to get it off and to keep it from cracking even with the Flex in it.

In this picture I dipped this way to far down into the melted UTEE and then I left it to long to dry.  When I went to lift it off it stuck to the wood and broke and cracked even pulling some of the black part of the stamp off. 

Dip the stamp into the UTEE, turn it on it’s side to let the UTEE drip off and once most of  the UTEE is off  and starts cooling off I took some craft scissors and cut off the strings.  While it is still warm (not hot) start lifting the UTEE off the stamp and while it is still warm you can take craft scissors and clean it up.   Be sure and put your lid back on your melting pot so it will keep the UTEE hot and melted. 

I love these lips and what a great way to make a “SWAK” for a card.  So since I couldn’t get the red Zig pen to transfer the color I took the Zig pen and colored them in.  I actually think they are better colored in than trying to get the pen to transfer the color.  I might even be able to take a different color and put a lip line on these lips.

 Clean up is very simple.  The tray and the cake pans I’m using are all Teflon coated.  Turn off the melting pot and let everything cool down.  When it cools it solidifys.

This is black UTEE (I’ll show you what we made with that tomorrow) but the clean up process is the same no matter what color you are using.  Since I’m using the round cake pans I removed it from the melting pot completely to let it cool down.  Be very careful these items are hot and you can easily burn yourself.

 Once cooled off you can just slide it right out of the pan and put it into a baggie.  I marked the baggie so when I get ready to use it next time I know what type of UTEE I’m using.  In this case I didn’t mix any Flex with this black UTEE so I made sure and made myself a note.

The pan is just as clean as it was when it was new.   When I get ready to use it again I’ll just throw it back into this pan or the tray of the melting pot.  You can also just pour the hot UTEE onto the craft mat and let it cool, but I prefer to have it in something contained and makes a easy shape to handle.

Tomorrow’s post we’ll look at a tag made with a cardboard, black UTEE, silver pigment ink, Perfect Pearls and a Fleur de Lis stamp.  Can’t wait to show you what we did it is stunning and beautiful.  Phyllis actually came up with the end product.  It is so fun to experiment with a new technique with someone who enjoys the adventure as much as you do.  Thanks Phyllis for a fun day!

I’m so excited!  What you are looking at in this picture are the things that Phyllis and I made using a melting pot, UTEE, Flex and some stamps.

Click on the picture and take a closer look at the embellishments.  This is so much fun.  So, it will probably take a couple of days to go through all the different things we discovered.

It starts out with this product called Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE).  Now UTEE comes in various colors (black, gold, bronze, platinum, clear and something called interlocking blue).  There is also a product called Flex and this is added to the UTEE to make it more flexible.  More about how all of these work together later but these are some of the things you need to get started.

This is a melting pot, some plastic utensils and Teflon coated small cake pans.  The melting pot I found at M’s and used my 50% coupon.   These melting pots run about $39.95 each and they can be used for melting UTEE or candles or candy wafers.  I love getting things half off, so I got mine for around $20.00.  The utensils run around $6.00 and my suggestion would be just buy a small spatula because the spoon-tweezer combo is not that great, it is very flimsy.  A spatula is a very handy item to have to use with this project.

You can purchase additional melting pot trays (they’re around $6 each when you can find them).  I went to the cake decorating section and got 3 of these small cake pans for $5.  The only draw back is they slide around in the melting pot tray and they limit the size of the item you can dip in them.

We discovered that the $1 stamps from M’s work really well when making this type of embellishment.  You can use the stamps that are really simple or even the intricate ones.

When you look back at the first picture, you can see these are the stamps we used in making some of the embellishments.

Finally, for this post you need to us pigment ink or you can use color markers (like Zig).  The pigment ink is “wetter” and when you remove the UTEE off the stamp the ink adheres better to the UTEE.  When you use the color markers, paint the various items and then ”huff” on the stamp before you dip it in the UTEE.  This will rehydrate the markers on the stamp and allow for a nice transfer of color.

It doesn’t matter the brand name of the pigment ink, the $3.99 ink pad worked just as good as the $7.99 ink pad.

So to recap quickly, you will need:  1) Extra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) you pick the color.  We started out with clear.  2) A melting pot of some sort.  3) Pigment ink or color markers.  4) Rubber Stamps, my suggestion is to use the red rubber stamps first.  5) A heat resistant craft mat.

We’ll explore more UTEE tomorrow, so stay tune. Oh and the cute little album in the first picture is a paper-bag album that Phyllis made.  Yes, I said paperbag album made out of regular brown paper lunch bags.  So, cute!!!!

Yes, it even snows in Texas and this picture will document that we had a white Christmas in 2009.

Hmm, I don’t understand it but sometimes I can go to bed and go right to sleep, then other times I’m wide awake until all hours of the morning.

Sunday morning I was up until 3:00AM looking  for a dermatologist for my husband.  His only request is that it is close to home.  Luckily, the one I found I hear is suppose to be a really good one.

I worked on a project with my #2 Daughter for a friend’s daughter name Grace.  It was black and pink with glitter all over, so we know that she and her Dad is going to love what we did.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures before she got off with all the goods.  Maybe #2 Daughter will have a chance to take them when the rest of the room is done.  However, my #2 Daughter had glue strung from one end of the “Woman Cave” to the other end.  It took me an hour to clean up everything, whew what a mess…….but love ya sweetie and had fun creating together.

This week I working on UTEE stuff; Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE).  Watched a video on a sparkly flower but I must have not gotten enough glitter in the UTEE.  I didn’t care for how it came out.  This may require help from my BFF….Phyllis.  I’m also very interested in using something called flex with the UTEE and a rubber stamp to make an embellishment.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to have something to post after Monday.  I bought a $1 stamp at M’s to use and see if it works.  If it destroys the stamp no big lost.

Weather is suppose to be cold here the latter part of the week, another chance for snow.  I’m going to have plenty of time to start messing around with somethings.  I’ll try to get some pictures posted but I’m thinking I’ll be making a big pot of Stew and some cornbread for Thursday, it is supposed to be in the 30′s during the day and the teens during the night, brrrrr!

Well, it’s Saturday and sunshine so I’m going to get my Mother out so she can see the world in a different view.  When it’s cold outside she doesn’t get out much; however, she got a M’s gift card for Christmas and she is itching to spend it.

I’m also getting the itch to get back in the “Woman Cave” and start making something.  I have enough to do, I need to make some thank you cards.  Hopefully, over the next few days I’ll start posting regularly again.  Maybe that should be my New Year’s resolution!

I try not to make NY resolutions because then I feel so bad when I break them (silly to feel guilty over something you set that doesn’t matter to anyone else).  However, I’m not opposed to setting a goal for myself and I’m always open to what God wants to put into our take out of my life.  I’ve stopped trying to make my path go where I want it to go and sit back and see where the journey will lead.  I’m always pleasantly surprised when He is in control.

My goal is to eat healthier (not a diet) just eat healthier.  The 5 lbs I gained while laying around for my back to heal, already gone.  I’m also going to read the Bible through again this year.  This will be my 3rd of 4th time.  It’s a great read and I always learn something new, but I’m already behind.  I was taking a shower this morning when I felt impressed to read the Bible through again.

That means I’ll make me a nice cup of hot tea and sit in a cozy chair and catch up.  Nothing better, than sitting in the den with hubby watching sports and me reading unless it’s taking a nap while watching golf.