Paw Print Pickle

     Hello and welcome to my next project using Pickle the cat from Creative Expressions, I thought I would make a tag this time.
     I began with a plain white tag and used shaving foam and Cosmic Shimmer Mica Sprays to marble the tag. You can find a small tutorial on marbling with shaving foam here. I used some very pale colours to give a subtle effect but unfortunately the shimmer doesn't show up well in the photographs.
     Next I stamped Pickle on to black card and embossed him with Cosmic Shimmer Detail White. Then I cut his head and paws out, making sure to cut up a little way between paws and head to make slots so he would 'hang' over the heart.
   

    I used Distress Ink Broken China to colour around the edges of my tag, some Red Sheer Wrinkle Edge ribbon at the top and the addition of two small black cats that my Mum gave me. I have a black and white cat so making Pickle black and white seemed the right thing to do.
    The sentiment is from the Paw Prints On Your Heart set, this made me think about triple embossing.

       I cut a heart shape from some red card and used Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Thick Clear embossing powder to build up two layers of shine. Then  I inked up the Paw Prints Lattice stamp with Archival Ink Jet Black before adding one more layer of UTEE to the heart, while this layer was still warm and soft I stamped the paw prints into it, this gave me my 'paw prints on my heart'.
     The heart is stuck on with some red line double sided tape as it's very strong and I don't want the heart to drop off, it's quite stiff and a little heavy.
     This might make a nice Valentine for a cat lover, it could easily be made with the dog stamps too.

Materials used
Pickle single stamp
Paw Print Lattice background stamp
Paw Prints On Your Heart sentiment set
Cosmic Shimmer Mica Misters
CS UTEE clear embossing powder
CS Detail White embossing powder
Archival Ink Jet Black
Red Sheer Wrinkle Edge Ribbon

I would like to enter my Pickled Heart in the following challenges:

Amusing Challenges - Anything Goes

Pile It On Challenge - Hearts and/or Flowers

Robyn's Fetish - Animals 

You Melt My Heart

     Welcome to another shaving foam marble creation, this time a Valentine for The Male Room.
We are looking for something romantic made for a man in your life, it could be a card, a gift or a scrapbook page.
     This card began with a background made using shaving foam and a Cosmic Shimmer Mister called Lava Red. If you look closely you can see the shimmer in places, it only comes out on the first print though, after that it's just the colour that remains. To find out more you can view a tutorial at Technique Time Tuesday.
      I tried to make a heart shape in my foam, it sort of worked but not as well as I'd hoped. That sent me on a hunt for my Chocolate Baroque Elegant Heart stamp which I've been itching to use. I stamped on white card and embossed in black, then coloured the heart with an alcohol marker. I have used a mixture of gold gel pens and Stardust Sakura pens to fill in all the details. Once dry I cut it out with scissors and blackened the edges with a marker pen before mounting it on foam pads on the marbled card. It is at an angle so that it follows the flow of the foam as if it was melting.
     I have used satin mirri card and red pearl card to mat and layer on to a black card blank, there is a red heart inside to write on. I chose a black card as the background was a little pinky, I felt it needed to be toned down a little for a male card. There are fancy peel off corners added to finish it off.
     The Male Room challenge is open for the next two weeks, so please come and show us what you made for your man.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Sweet Pea Stampers - Love / Valentine

Everybody-Art-Challenge - Valentine

MilkCoffee Challenge - Love / Valentine

Allsorts Challenge - Love Is In The Air

Time 4 Scrap - Be Mine

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Marble and Cream

      This months challenge at Technique Time Tuesday is to use Shaving Foam Marbling on your creation. There is a photo tutorial on the blog to help you through the process, yes it's a bit messy but it's a lot of fun!
     Whenever I have demonstrated this technique it has been a hit with young and old, my son loves doing this although I'm not sure if it's for the finished article or the fun of playing with shaving foam.
     I thought I would play around with some die cut shapes and use them as masks but the results were not that good, but at least the shapes were useful. I found that small shapes tended to ooze over the edges, larger worked better. These flowers were first generation print, the butterfly was second and the background was fourth generation. As you can see it gets paler each time and if you're using mica sprays the shimmer is only on the first print.
   

     The butterfly has been silver embossed with a fancy swirl stamp, flower stamens added to make his antenna and foam pads under his wings to make them stand up a little.
     The flowers are die cut with a Spellbinder die Aster Flower Topper, the outer petal edge is stuck down but I've left the middles free to stand up (they will flatten for posting). To finish them off there is a clear gem in the middle of each flower.
     I used Cosmic Shimmer Misters to marble with, then used the purple one to sponge the edge of the white card blank so that it matched. The pink layer is white card coloured around the edge with a Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid ink pad, much cheaper than buying lots of pearl card. There is also a small layer of silver mirri card to add some shine and tone in with the butterfly.
   
    This technique is one of my favourites, it's so much fun to do. Every print is different and the benefit of using foam over water is the image you make doesn't carry on moving while you reach for the card. Pop over to Technique time Tuesday and have a look at the tutorial and the amazing DT samples.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks - Anything Goes

Dream Valley Challenges - NO Designer Paper

Suzy Bee - Flowers

Marbling with shaving foam

This tag was made using the 'Butterfly Kiss' stamp plate from Creative Expressions. The main image was stamped in Archival Coffee, clear embossed and then painted with Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks. The verse was also stamped in Archival Coffee. The little butterfly at the top was stamped on a scrap piece of card in Coffee and clear embossed, he was then coloured with drawing inks and cut out. For the butterfly body I used a stick on embellishment from the same pack as used in the previous post, they are just the right size for this stamp.
The background for the tag was made using the following technique, shaving foam marbling with Cosmic Shimmer misters. A little messy but great fun!

Fill a plastic container with about an inch of shaving foam. I used the lid from an A5 storage box and the cheapest shaving foam I could find. Don't worry about the fragrance as it doesn't last very long but it is nice to work with something that smells good!
Smooth the foam out a little with the end of a ruler or something similar to give you a flatish work surface.




Agitate your misters to get them ready, then spray at random on to the foam. This on it's own will produce a nice effect but I have always loved the swirly patterns you get inside old books so I mix mine up a little.






Make your swirls with the end of a paintbrush, a skewer or anything else that can be wiped clean easily. Fingers tend to be a little too big for this, though that has never stopped my son from trying it!
The beauty of using shaving foam is that unlike water (used with oil based paints) your swirls will not continue to move while you turn around to reach for your cardstock.


Place your cardstock on top of the foam, press down gently to make sure you have contact with all the paint. Cardstock is best for this technique as paper tends to be a little too weak.
Lift your cardstock out of the foam.

The excess foam can be removed by running your ruler gently along the card. Return the excess foam to the container. You can get several images from the foam, each one will be a little paler than the last. The mica will show clearly on the first copy but may not be apparent after that. This can always be rectified afterwards by spritzing a little clear 'Pearl Mist' over the card.

This colour choice was quite light but produced a spring like colouring which was ideal for my tag.

Experiment with different colours and see the wonderful patterns you can get.
I often do this at home with my seven year old son, he's very creative of his own free will, which means we get to craft together quite a lot. He often has some very good suggestions, I guess it's because he still sees everything as possible.

Bold colours are great. This tag was made with Purple Haze and Aqua Lagoon. I try to keep a little tag book (made using scraps of card) to remind me of favourite colour combinations, write the colours used on the back, punch a hole in the corner and hang them on a big clip ring. I always think I will remember....but I don't!

I hope this has explained it well enough, if not then please drop me a comment and tell me. This is for Pat, Wendy, Mona, Angie and Linda who I met at Capture The Magic...have fun girls!!