Snow and Ice

Let it Snow Gypsies!

I love snow – I’ve never lived in it mind you, but I love how it looks! I also love embossing powders, especially the specialty ones full of chunks and shiny bits. So in honor of the winter season I decided to experiment with embossing on clear acrylic for a snow and ice effect.

The trick with embossing on acrylic is that acrylic melts – surprise! So you need to work fast and stay sharp while you use the heat gun on the acrylic to set the embossing powder.

I used a very very liberal amount of my Ranger Distress Embossing Pad so there was something for the embossing powder to stick to. Chunky embossing powder is the best for texture – it’s chunky, with lots of sparkle and texture to it, just like snow.

When I started using the heat gun I kept it moving, making sure to move the gun away as soon as the acrylic started to buckle or warp.

After I edged all of the sheets, I adhered the chipboard letters – previously covered with paper – and snowflake buttons. Using my Crop-o-dile I punched a pair of holes at the left edge of each sheet for binding, and tied the book together with a couple of strips of frayed white ribbon. – the more frayed the better. Inserted in the binding is a bundle of winter twigs complete with sparkly frost.

Finishing touches

The tiny tree - thanks Tim Holtz - is dabbed with adhesive then rolled in very fine white glitter for a snow-dappled look.

So happy Snow Day fellow Gypsies. Be sure to stop back soon for more winter wonder!

~ Materials ~

6x6 acrylic sheets

Ranger Distressed Embossing Pad

Chunky Embossing Powder

Ideaology tree

tim tag mania #3

hello gypsies!
well tim may have wrapped up his 12 tags of christmas, but that doesn't mean the fun has to stop! presenting...tag #3! this one is inspired by techniques from a couple of tim's tags this year. so are you ready? well hold onto your sleigh bells 'cause here we go!

so the inspiration for tag #3 came from

tag #10 "believe letters"

and tag #8 - background

and tag #6 - rugged metal

so i created the rugged metal following tim's technique. first i used a texture folder on a piece of crafting metal and ran it through the sizzix. the i gently painted over the embossed metal with a "snow cap" paint dabber. once the paint dried i lightly sanded it and then rubbed "walnut stain" over the surface and around the edges to create a vintage patina. final touch was to sprinkle embossing powder over the whole piece and hit it with the heat gun to seal in the ink and add a shiny finish.

next i cut letters to spell "i believe" from idea-ology "alpha parts" and dabbed them with the "gold" metallic paint dabber. after the paint dried i covered each letter with a thick layer of glossy accent and set them aside to dry.

to create the background of the tag i first stamped it a couple of times with a stamp covered in "snow cap" acrylic paint. the paint creates a resist for step 2 - dying the paper. to do that, i dribbled distress stain directly onto my craft mat, spritzed the tag with water and swirled it around in the distress stain. i used a heat gun to speed up the dry time because it was so exciting!

once all of the separate elements were dry, i assembled the tag. note the santa face embossed on my "homemade" kraft paper, and the tissue tape banner. the ribbons and lace are all dyed using distress ink pads - tim's seasonal color set was great! i sanded the finish off the "believe" washer to brighten it up, and finished the tag off with a bell, ala "the polar express", because i believe!

coming soon - steampunk xmas! and a happy elf for giving!

tim tag mania #2

welcome back gypsies! day two/tag two. i was very inspired by this tag from tim

 

now, the tag itself didn't do much for me. in fact i refer to it as the "license plate tag" - sorry tim!

but the technique is what turned me on and inspired me to create this -

i was really stoked when i figured out how to do this. so are you ready gypsies? then away we go!

i created the tag itself by cutting it out of a sheet of metal, using tim's big tag die. 

one trip through the sizzix and we were ready for action. 

then i cut a bunch of leaves out of chipboard - tim's leaf die of course - and arranged them on the backside of the metal tag. then i sandwiched everyone together with cutting pads, and one trip through the sizzix!

leaving the leaves in place i then burnished around the edges with one of those big paper "thumbs" to really sharpen the edges.

then i broke out the alcohol inks and painted the leaves. i used a paint dabber on the background then rubbed it off and burnished it. next i used a point to create the veining down the centers. the final step was applying glossy accent and diamond dust to the leaf edges.

while the tag dried, i took those chipboard leaves i used to emboss the tag, and saturated them with "pine needles" distress stain. after they dried i sanded the edges and then rubbed them with "walnut stain" distress ink, using the sponge blending tool. the final effect was distressed layers of colors. final snowy touches of white paint dabber and the leaves were good to go. 

but i had too many leaves, so i cut the stems down and part of the leaf off, and ta-daah! instant tiny trees!

i also played with embossing and created the ticket and lightpost - tim stamps of course. for these i actually did the embossing on white cardstock, then rubbed "walnut stain" distress ink over the paper to create a subtle kraft paper. and of course i inked the edges after cutting them out.

final touches included velvet ribbon "berries" - tie a tiny knot then cut very close so there's no ribbon hanging out. some more ribbon and trims and we're done!

i really enjoyed this tag - thanks for the inspiration tim! or should i say, "timspiration"?

materials used

metal - 10 seconds studio

"tattered leaf" and "tag" dies - alterations, sizzix

"walnut stain" - distress ink pad

"pine needles" - distress stain

"snow cap" and "espresso" acrylic paint dabbers