Those Shifty Fibers

I recently took an online stamping class over at My Creative Classroom, and just as with all of the other online crafty classes I take, I fell behind. I did manage to get a few of the assignments completed. This one involved using the Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad on darker paper and then layering the same stamp on top. I stamped the forward most tree with Forest Moss distress ink and heat embossed the image. I've never used Versamark before and was quite pleased with the way the card turned out.

The little tip I want to share with you today involves getting your fibers to stay in place. For this card I used some really old paper raffia from my stash. Generally when I add twine, floss, other fibers, and sometimes ribbon to cards or layouts, I use plain ol' ordinary scotch tape to hold it in place in the back. That keeps it from shifting around when I flip the card over to tie it in the front. No need to use costly adhesives because it's not going to show on the finished project.

Taping it in back makes it easier to tie it exactly where I want to in the front.

And here is the finished card! This one was from the staff at my school and went to our principal who resigned at the end of this school year.

So today's tip? Tape those fibers in place in the back to keep them from shifting around.

Thanks for looking!

WrinkleFreeDiva

Anything Goes - Inks and Such Challenge #19

One of my sorority sisters celebrated her 50^th birthday this evening and I needed a card. I haven’t colored in a while and so got it in my head that I would do an image for the card that I was making. *All I can say about THAT is that my coloring needs a lot of WORK! I wasn’t 100% pleased with the way it came out, but I didn’t hate it either. Sadly, when you take pics of or scan your work, all the imperfections show up. But I’m gonna keep it movin’!*

Anyway, I decided to use a Robert Jackson image *this one is called Girlfriend* and kind of scraplift a card I had seen on Okie's blog a long time ago.  For the first time ever, I chose my paper BEFORE coloring my image. I must say, that made matching things up much easier. Usually I do the image first, and then try to find paper to match. *For someone like me who is challenged when it comes to choosing paper and matching different patterns and whatnot, that’s just asking for trouble!* Knowing what paper I was going to use made it very easy to go to my Copic Hand Color Chart and choose the right colors.

BTW...This is going to be my first submission ever over at Jackson Digital Expressions for the Anything Goes - Inks and Such Challenge #19!

I had drawn little gold stars in the background, but didn’t like those. My choice was to recolor the image *no time to do that*, cut around the image *wasn’t gonna do that either*, or fix it somehow. I chose option number three and added bling to the stars. Not perfect, but not horrible either.

I used Spellbinders Mega Oval Dies to cut out and emboss my image and the mat behind it. I didn’t realize until now how much I DON’T like the way that particular set of dies nests together. There’s too much space between sizes. So when I put the image in white on top of the mat in green, there was too much space in between and I didn’t like it. I needed something to fill in the space but wasn’t sure what. Then it hit me…fiber! I traced around the image with a pencil, and then using my trusty ATG applied adhesive just inside the line. I placed the fiber on the sticky line, making an oval with it. I had just enough with about an inch left over. And this is the result…

Robert Jackson image, Copics, patterned paper from SEI - Bright Blossom stack, and fiber and scraps from my stash.

Not too bad and the birthday girl loved it! That’s all that matters!

And so, the lesson today is…

1. Before coloring an image to use on a project, decide on what other papers you will be using first. That will make matching everything up so much easier.
2.  If you put a project together, and something seems to be missing or not quite right, think about what you have in your stash that will help you to complete a project you will be happy with. You just might be surprised at how it turns out!

Thanks for lookin’!

Karen aka WrinkleFreeDiva