Shaker Cards

We recently had a fun play day at Art 'n Soul, featuring shaker cards.  We did some sample cards using shaker pouches from Impression Obsession, and had kits available for people to make their own shaker cards using these easy and fun tools.  We also showed how you can make shaker cards using dies.  I have my sample cards to show you today, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while I was making the more complex shaker cards using dies.  I will make another one in a few days and do another post so you can see in detail how to do it. Shaker cards are lots of fun to make and to receive!

just a note to say hello

On this one I used the large round shaker pouch from Impression Obsession.  I also used a die from Impression Obsession that cuts out the piece that surrounds the shaker pouch, giving it a nice finished edge.  The center image behind the pouch is stamped using a fabulous Magenta Stamp.  I had previously stamped this piece and decided not to use it for the project I was doing at the time.  I found my stash of previously rejected panels very useful in creating a variety of shaker cards.

I put beads and spangles into the well of the shaker pouch, and sealed it with the leaf panel that I die-cut using a round die.  The nice thing about the shaker pouches is that there is adhesive on the back edge, covered with release film.  I adhered the sealed pouch to a white base card, and then adhered the orange overlay piece around it.  The "just a note to say" stamped image, and the "hello" die cut are from a great Hero Arts Stamp & Cuts set.  They have 4 of these sets that have a word die and sentiments that go with that die.  

I die cut the "hello" image from some glitter paper, and colored it with an orange Copic marker.  Last, I adhered some sequins using Ranger Matte Multi Medium.  This card was super easy and quick to do using the Impression Obsession pouch.

Magenta Stamp used:

Leaf  0661.H

Other Materials used:

Hero Arts Stamp & cuts Hello DC151

Hero Arts Orange nail heads

Impression Obsession large round shaker pouch

Impression Obsession Circle Shaker Frame die DIE001-Z

Die-namics Circle STAX dies

Glitter paper

Stardream Flame paper

Copic marker YR04

Versafine Onyx Black ink

Memento Tangelo & Morocco ink

Various beads, spangles & sequins

Ranger Matte Multi medium

Congrats we're so proud of you

Here's another card using a shaker pouch from Impression Obsession - this time the small round one. I also used another Hero Arts Stamp and Cuts set called "Congrats".  This one was constructed very much the same way as the one above.  The image behind the pouch is one that I had previously done using the acrylic block stamping technique.  You can see a tutorial of this technique here. Since I used pearly water (I use a formula of 2oz water to 1/4 tsp Perfect Pearls Pearl mica powder), the background has a beautiful sheen that goes well with beads and spangles.  The base card is a shiny silver, and I like the silver and lime green color scheme.

You can see a closeup of the shaker pouch here.  The pouch sticks out a little, and therefore is not the ideal card to mail, unless you are sending a package.

Materials used:

Hero Arts Congrats Stamp & Cuts DC149

Die-namics Circle Stax dies

So Silk Lime Green cardstock

Versafine Onyx Black ink

Various Distress greens & blues (sorry, do not remember the exact colors)

Perfect Pearls pearl mica powder from Ranger

Various beads, spangles & sequins

Ranger Matte Multi Medium

Thanks you made my day

This is one of my favorites.  I used a small square shaker pouch from Impression Obsession.  The background is a stamped image that did not work out for a previous project.  The stamp is Magenta May Flowers Bold Silhouette 0579.L, and is one of my favorite Magenta stamps.  I also used another Hero Arts Stamp & Cuts set, "thanks."  The "thanks" was cut out of white glitter paper, and the "you made my day" was stamped with Versamark and embossed with White Diamond embossing powder from JudiKins.

I can't stress enough to keep your scraps of paper that you create when you're playing around.  The surround on this shaker pouch came from a piece that I made when I was demo'ing stencil stamping.  You can see a tutorial on stencil stamping here.  I was demoing this technique with several Distress ink colors, and I would place the stencil on a piece of white card stock to clean it off each time.  It created a lovely layered piece that I saved for just the right time.  It has a very pretty pearly look in real life.

Magenta items used:

May Flowers Bold Silhouette 0579.L

Background Trio Template TM53

Other Materials Used:

Hero Arts Thanks Stamp & Cut DC152

Impression Obsession small square shaker pouch

Spellbinders Classic Squares Large and Classic Squares Small

Distress Ink: Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed

Memento Ink: Rose Bud, Bamboo Leaves

Versamark Ink

White Diamond embossing powder from JudiKins

So Silk Beauty Pink paper

Various beads, spangles & sequins

I absolutely love, love, love this card!  I did two shaker cards that were not using the Impression Obsession pouches.  Honestly, the pouches are the fastest way to go, but you can also make really fun shaker cards using your dies and some acetate.  I will not go into great detail here about how to make these.  It's much easier to show you than tell you, as I discovered at play day, when I tried to explain it without an example.  I promise that later this week I will have a tutorial for you with pictures.

This card was made with a really fun Poppy die called Hello Word Balloon (1100).  This is a great die - when you cut it out you get the word balloon and also the inside part that says "hello", so you can use it with or without.  The sentiments were from the Hero Arts "Hello Stamp & Cut" set (yes, and there is also a "Happy" Stamp & Cut set that I didn't use yet, but maybe I'll use that one for the future tutorial).  The adorable ducks are Rosie's Roadshow, and I stamped them with Versafine Onyx black ink.  I colored their bills and cute little feet with Copic markers - just use whatever oranges you have.  I also took a green Copic marker and colored around underneath them to ground them.  I used a gray C01 (very light) to do some shading on their bodies.  A few sequins were mounted on the panel using Ranger Matte Multi Medium.

The background behind the shaker was a rejected piece that I made with the ink & salt technique.  You can view a tutorial of this technique here.  I didn't like the piece when I originally made it because it had large silvery areas that were created because I got the piece too wet and the salt melted in puddles with the pearly water.  It was perfect for the background of a shaker card though, where you want all the shine and shimmer you can get.

Materials Used:

Poppy Hello Word Balloon die 1100

Rosie's Roadshow stamps: Booker 332C and Lena 333C

Hero Arts Hello Stamp & Cuts DC151

Copic Markers 2 oranges and a green (sorry did not retain which ones) +  gray C1

Distress Ink: Faded Jeans & Rusty Hinge

Perfect Pearls Pearl powder

Onyx Black Ink

Stardream Flame paper

Various sequins & spangles

Ranger Matte Multi Medium

Thanks for hanging in there with me!  I have one more card to share, and this one might be my favorite, although it may have taken the longest to make.

Butterfly Hello

The front panel of this card is SEI Clover velvet paper.  I really like velvet paper, and have been wanting to try it on a shaker card.  I love how this turned out.  I mounted the velvet paper onto a piece of green card stock to stiffen it. The openings were die cut with Memory Box butterfly dies.  The background behind the openings was a piece that I had previously made with glossy paper and JudiKins Mica Gloss (yes, you guessed it - that piece was in my pile of "maybe I'll do something later with this".  It was a perfect piece to put behind the butterflies.  

The sentiment was cut out of black glitter paper, and the die is from the Hero Arts Hello Stamp & Cuts set.  The whole thing was mounted onto glossy black paper, and the right edge was punched with a Fiskars border punch.  Since I didn't like the white showing through the border, I lined the right half of the inside of the card with a strip of homemade washi tape (made from a napkin).  You could also use a piece of patterned paper.

Materials used:

Hero Arts Hello Stamp & Cuts DC151

Memory Box dies:  Moonlight Butterfly 98260 & Isabella Butterfly 98507

Velvet paper:  Clover

Various Judikins Mica Gloss (Gold, Purple & Blue)

Black glossy paper

Various sequins & beads

Ranger Matte Multi Medium

I hope you enjoyed these cards and that you will make some shaker cards of your own!  Check back later this week for a tutorial on shaker cards using dies.

Die Masking with Art Squares

In conjunction with the Art 'n Soul newsletter article Technique of the Week, this is a tutorial on die masking with Art Squares.  Art Squares by Inchie Arts are precision cut from the highest artist grade mat board.  They come in 7 colors and sizes are 1", 1.5", 2", 3", 4", and ATC size.  This technique was invented by Lisa Lee of Inchie Arts.

I used a 4" black Art Square, which is a new addition to the Art Square line.  It's always been my opinion that there's nothing not to like about black Art Squares.  They make anything you are doing elegant and beautiful.  You can just mount your photos on them and they will frame them beautifully.

Here's the card I made using the die masking technique;

Lisa Lee really came up with a genius way to use dies with Art Squares.  The dies don't cut the Art Squares, but they do emboss them.  If you cover the Art Square with masking paper, the die will cut the masking paper and you can selectively peel off the masking paper and color the different parts with different colors.

Here are the steps:

1.  Take your Art Square and cover it with masking paper, cutting it flush on all sides.

Showing you the black Art Square under the masking paper.  Gaahh, isn't it pretty?

2. Choose a die to use that has some detail to it, and place your die face down on the Art Square.  I use a Big Shot, and the sandwich I use is (from bottom up) platform, metal shim, 2 pieces of card stock, a spare Art Square the same size as the one you're working with, your Art Square that is covered with masking paper, your die, face down, and one cutting plate.  This is what worked for me, but you should experiment a little to see what works best for you.  The pressure should be firm, but not too difficult to crank through.

3. Run it through your machine, and remove the die from your Art Square, checking to be sure that it cut the masking paper properly.

4. At this point, you have a lot of possibilities.  You can color your Art Square with anything you like:  paint, color pencils, ink, markers, etc.  If your die is detailed and cuts multiple places, you can choose which pieces to pull off, and color multiple areas separately.

Peeling the masking paper off the background

I have to admit to you...maybe it's the Zentangler in me, but I LOVE black and white.  I very nearly stopped right here.  This was SOOO beautiful!  I may still go back and do another one and stop here.  I love this look!

5.  Peel off selected sections of your masking paper, and color with your desired medium.  In this case, I chose Inka Gold, in Gold and Magenta colors.  I peeled the masking paper off the background areas, and applied the Gold Inka Gold with a round blending tool (these work great with Inka Gold).

Removing masking paper from the flower pieces

6. When I peeled the paper off the flowers, I had to use something smaller to color with because the mask was already off the background area.  I decided to water down a bit of the Magenta inka Gold and use it as paint.  Since it's a water based product, this works beautifully.  I painted the flowers with the Magenta Inka Gold, and when it dried, I buffed the whole heart and added a little sparkle with sparkle pens.

7. Lastly, I removed the mask from the rest of the Art Square.  I wanted to leave this part black to elegantly frame the heart.

This technique is stunning with any color or size of Art Square, and is just another way to use your dies in a beautiful way.  I hope you try it!

Magenta Stamp Used

07.731.I

Other Products Used:

Memory Box die Vernay Heart 99080

Inka Gold: Gold and Magenta

Inkadinkado Masking Paper

Big Shot die cutting machine

Ranger round blending tool

Ranger Black Sparkle embossing powder

Versamark Ink

Zen Egg

My friends Kerri and Tamera brought me a wood tree to tangle on last year, and I had it at Art 'n Soul for a while.  This year, they brought me a very large white plastic egg, that was about a foot high, and about 8" wide at the wide end.  I spent an evening and the better part of a day working on it off and on.  Debbie Gaetz, who has the blog  http://bellacartaatartnsoul.blogspot.com, kindly photographed the egg, which now resides on the Zentangle table at Art 'n Soul  I thought I would post these for you to see.

And the top

I used an Identipen (permanent ink pen from Sakura) and also a Sharpie Extra Fine Oil Based paint pen, both in black.  I really like the classic black and white look best.  The Sharpie paint pen was slightly more challenging in that it took longer to dry and I had to be careful to keep my hand out of what I had already drawn.  I liked it better though, because it made a finer line than the Identipen.  The Identipen was perfect for areas that needed to be colored in.  Another challenge is that the egg was...well...egg shaped, and also slippery to hold.  I had a lot of fun doing it though, and it made me itch for another tangle project.

Magenta Challenge - March 2015

March 2015 - Magenta Challenge :

Nature

Create a Card, a Layout or even an altered object, if you feel like it,

follow the theme and use at least one Magenta product :

papers, stamps, embellishment, Peel Off's, chipboard and more...

You have until March 29th to enter!

Here's my card

This card was created with the stencil stamping technique that I featured on my blog here.  First I used a piece of watercolor paper, and stamped it with Rain Drops 42.233.O, using Versamark Ink.  I then applied Distress Ink with a mini blending tool, using Broken China, Rusty Hinge, and Faded Jeans.  Since the Versamark acted as a resist to the ink, the water drops show up in the background.

I took the Small Birch Forest template TM 56 and spritzed it with water mixed with Perfect Pearls powder.  I then carefully laid the wet template onto the inked panel, pressing it on with a paper towel.  Since Distress Ink is so reactive with water, the trees were reproduced perfectly onto the inked surface.  An added feature of using Perfect Pearls in the water is that there is a lovely shine to the bark of the trees.

After the paper had dried, I stamped it with Tree Branch Birds 0712.Q, using Mowed Lawn Distress. I colored in the birds with a black Micron 01 pen to make them pop out, and then went over them with a clear Wink of Stella glitter marker.

I stamped the sentiment Imagine 07.901.F onto a strip of 17# vellum, using Versamark Ink, and embossed it with Ranger Black Sparkle embossing powder.  Can you tell I love sparkle and shine?

I wrapped the vellum strip around the watercolor panel and glued it to the back.  The panel was then mounted onto a piece of So Silk blue card stock, and the entire piece was mounted onto a white base card.

I love, love, love how this turned out, and really, you could use many sentiments with this design.

It's your turn!!  Make a card with the Nature theme, and using at least one Magenta product.  You have until March 29th to enter.  Go to the Magenta blog here, and use In linkz to link to your project. One entry per person.

You could win this Magenta Prize :

Magenta products used:

Water Drops 42.233.O

Small Birch Forest TM 56

Tree Branch Birds 0712.Q

Imagine 07.901.F

Other Products used:

Distress Inks: Broken China, Rusty Hinge, Faded Jeans, Mowed Lawn

Versamark Ink

Perfect Pearls Powder

Micron 01 Black pen

Wink of Stella clear

Tim Holtz watercolor paper

So Silk Blue paper

17# vellum

Ranger Black Sparkle embossing powder