Welcome to the Team Challenge Hop. You should have arrived from Hetty:
At Craftchaos If you got lost along the way, start at the beginning by clicking on this link:
Blog Hop Start
The challenge this month was to use circles in a creative way. OK, circle cards, circle shapes, circle?
Well how do I use circles and the kit without out just making circles. After much thinking, I decided that the circles needed to be a part of the construction. So what would be my theme. Well I love Star Wars and R2-D2 and C3PO are 2 of my favorite characters. So robots and circles.
Cute aren't they!!!
Let us see how they are made. We will start with the easiest and move the the more complex.
Card 1: Telescoping Circle Card
Easy Peasy, die cut some circles and put them together.
I took an assortment of circle dies and cut out papers from the kit. Stamped Love and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. The final circle, has a cute little robot and "thinking of you".
Then they were assembled with brads. Closed a nice little circle card, open a larger card.
The only tricky part was, when adding the brads, the image on top must be upside down, then when spiral open, everything is up right. I found this card on Splitcoast Stampers. I had searched circle cards and this popped up.
Here is a close up of the cute little robot.
Card 2: Yo-Yo Head Card
Well this one is easier is some ways from the final card, and more difficult in other ways (getting that head to turn).
Lets take a look at the construction:
The moon: I used the grey in the kit, embossed using a folder with these tiny flowers. Then inked with distress: Smoked Hickory and Pumice stone. Next I used a very large circle to cut out and then trimmed to fit the A2 Card base.
I needed a background that "looked like outer space" I used 3 re-inkers from Ranger: Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feather and Candied Apple. Placing them onto an acetate sheet, spritzing with water and then laying the inked sheet onto the paper.
I very carefully added water as I did not want a puddle or too much mixing. This was carefully turned over the paper and "Smooshed".. Paper I have discovered is huge factor. The first attempt I used Neenah solar white, and there was too much time for the ink to stay on the paper and more migration. The one in the very front on the left is the Neenah of the top photo is this example. I switch to a bristol paper by Canson, while "duller", it is more fibrous and the ink grabbed onto the paper and there was less migration. The second photo and the one on the right were created with the Canson paper. See how they have more "distinct" color areas. After heat setting the first application of ink, more water was added and selectively Smooshed onto the paper in areas that needed more ink, heat set again. Then I gently misted with water to get a more distressed appearance. This was then cut down to 4X5.25 inches and attached to an A2 card base.
I penciled in my "moon shape" and stamped the robots from My Favorite Things (MFT) onto Neenah solar white and colored with Copic Markers. Note masking is required, visit the Bamboo Pandas in this blog posting for a refresher if needed:
Masking for layered images As a last step, added a layer of Wink of Stella to give a shine. These were fussy cut. The robot whose head will turn, was stamped an additional time and colored.
Circles were cut out of fun foam and acetate. I used the smallest circle in my die set and it is about 1/2 " in diameter. Fun foam with adhesive applied to both sides was attached to the image that will be the card. Next an acetate circle was adhered to the fun foam, a second acetate circle, with glue on one side was attached to the "second head" and all were sandwichd and attached with a brad to the image. A piece of twine with a ribbon was attached to the outside head and then wound around the outside of the fun foam. When pulled the head turns around. There is a Splitcoast Stamper instruction with video here:
Yo Yo Spinner Card
Let us take a moment and talk about the sentiment. When I was a new card maker, I wanted everything just so. Image big, sentiment small and not to interfere with the image. I spent untold hours trying to find the perfect sentiment with the perfect shape and size and/or the perfect die to cut it with. When I started with Club Scrap, I noted the sentiments are large, they are for Scrapbooking not little A2 cards. I could make big cards or cut them down or put them on the inside, But I love the words, the saying and for their inspiration. If you look at my cards over time, you will see the migration of the sayings into my cards, subtle change but present and I like where I am headed.
Anyway, this sentiment matched the image, So I made it fit. I stamped and embossed and then holding it to the card, started trimming and cutting until it fit perfectly. I think it is the sentiment that makes this card. Busy, interactive, yes, but so is life. This card is not technically challenging just fussy.
Card 3: This was the first card I made for this challenge and the most frustrating. It took one whole day just to get it to work. When I look at the card now, it seems so simple. Oh well, you can just copy it, but I will share the technique and some issues along the way.
My C3PO, isn't he cute. Circles. this guy was a circle or rather a round can filler. Concept is simple, 2 layers, one a shaker window with another image with a shaker window. OK can you see the first problem, the whole left side is open, how do I get a shaker to work with one side open. There are many solutions, but all closed up that open circle concept I was going for, so in the end I improvised.
First I cut the teal paper down to 4X 5.25, and the shiny glitter paper 3.5X 5.25. Die cut a circle in the glitter paper.
This was centered. Next I cut a frame with fun foam and Stick-t to create the window and attached a piece of acetate to this. I recently made a video demonstrating how to make a shaker card with fun foam.
Valentine Shaker Card. All the details are in that video.
I placed the glitter paper over the teal paper and glued glitter and rhinestones to the paper. The attached the
window frame. A strip of black paper was attached over the right side of the card. Next the glitter paper was placed over the acetate window. Here I learned a major lesson. All dies are not created equal. I used one brand for the acetate and used a different brand for the glitter paper. The circles were exactly the same size, but the acetate (spellbinders) was not an exact circle and my glitter paper did not cover the fun foam on one edge. Normally this would not make a difference, It did here. How to fix it? I really did not want to cut another glitter paper (and waste it) and the acetate was stuck down. I either had to start over (which I did ) or live with it (which I could not). Problem was I knew that I had used 2 separate dies, but I did not know which had been used to cut what and to look at them you could not tell which was not perfectly round. So I had to cut test papers to find the culprit. I did and now I know. So tidbit, use the same brand of dies for anything that must fit together perfectly.
Let us move onto the next issue: The Robot
I cut out 1 paper robot and a fun foam robot. The fun foam had stick-it applied to both sides and die cut. The stamped robot in the picture was my "test Dummy", you can see he is not cut perfectly or stamped.
I use the negative to center over my stamped image, then place the die in the opening, tape down and cut. Perfect every time. Then I cut a heart out of the center. Colored the robot, so far so good. Attached the colored image to one side of the fun foam and filled with microbeads and glitter.
Micro beads are a nightmare in such a small area, the static sends them rolling, then after I removed the backing paper, knocked it over and they all stuck to the stick-it. START OVER. Except I am out of stick-it. So I switched to Scor-Tape, which is thicker and my die would not cut all the way through. And I could not get it off of the fun foam. So, I stuck a heart crystal in the opening, glued the fun foam pieces together and attached it to the window on the card, in the wrong place. Now I have glue all over my acetate. Thank heavens 91% alcohol dissolves glue and not the acetate.
Embellished that baby, shut out the lights and called it a day.
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| close up of robot, all colored and cute |
Next day, I added the sentiment. Cut out a circle, stamped and heat embossed in clear. I used the circle die to get the top line and position correct and then shaped the bottom of the sentiment to fit. I had also curved and shaped the stamp prior to stamping. One thing I love about unmounted stamps, I am in charge!!.
So that is it for this challenge. In the end, I learned a lot and I love my Robots. I love this kit and the stamps are wonderful. I have not even explored all the wonderful swirls and circle stamps in this kit, stayed tuned there is more to come.
Your next stop is:
Debbie
Happy Crafting,
Josette
Assorted circle dies, adhesive, Stick-it, Scor-tape, glitter and crystals.
