Pyramid Card How Too / Tipnique Tuesday

                                     Pyramid Card Tutorial

This week I'll share how to make a free standing pyramid card. You can make these fancy or plain, decorate all sides or just one. My sample is one I made a while back that I have actually kept for myself and all sides are decorated. I took it beyond simple and made some little recesses to act as small shadow boxes. I called it the Pyramid of Life and there are more close up images here

                  MATERIALS

• 3x10.5cm (4 inches) squares of card stock. You can have them all the same colour but for this tutorial I'll have two plain white and a contrasting piece.
• Glue, pencil, ruber, ruler, craft knife, bone folder and craft mat

                  HOW TOO
1) Measure and cut out three 10.5cm squares. I'll use two plain and one contrasting piece.

2) Score each square from one point to the other and fold them in half to make triangles. Press fold with bone folder.

4) Unfold and place two squares side by side.

5) Have third piece in a diamond shape. Flip it over and apply glue to one side and then align and adhere it to square at right-see below. The right square is UNDER the left side of the diamond. The easiest way to do this is place the diamond on the square, turn both over and make a light pencil mark where the glue needs to go on rear of the diamond. Apply glue, turn both pieces back over and then press diamond on top of square along the fold line of the square.

6) Place second square OVER right side of diamond, turn it all over, make a light pencil mark where glue is to go. Apply glue to the square. Turn all three pieces to front again and press the left side of the square to the right side of the diamond along the central fold of the diamond.

7) Make a slit at left side. Mine was 4.5cm up on the side from the left point, 2cm in and about 2cm long.

 8) Fold the pyramid up and tuck the right edge into the slit you made at the left side and you now have a free standing pyramid card.

You can unfold the card once fully decorated as desired for posting if need be. Decorate all sides or just one. Have fun!

hugs

Annette In Oz 

Creating A Banner

I'm putting this in here to help me but thought it also may be of use to others :o) It's a how to create video to make your own banner in Etsy etc by Pamela Huntington



hugs
Annette In Oz

Embossing Enamel Transfers (UTEE or Opals etc) / Tipnique Tuesday

Hi all
this is actually an old technique of my own. One week-end 6 yrs ago I was reading about heat transfers on a plane and then suddenly had a thought that you should be able to use the heat from melted embossing enamels to transfer Laser printed images the same way. So when I could I spent a week-end and worked out exactly how to do this. That technique is below from a past post that I have bumped up to now. There will be a video at the end too :o). OF COURSE you can use Ultra Thick Embossing Enamels from other companies but I have never tried this with any other brands

I'm a great fan of Opals embossing Enamels and one of things I love doing with them is heat transfers. Once the Opals are melted and poured onto toner or Laser copied images or over images printed with Dura Bright inks they will transfer the image to the back of Opals. I quite often use the Franklin Opals to do clear transfers this way but they also look good when you use some of the paler Opals colours. You can use colour images or black and white ones. Wrapping papers and glossy magazine images work too. When I print I use plain copy paper not photo paper. Coat images to be transferred with a good amount of Versamark Watermark ink...directly from the ink pad onto the image. Today I mixed a small amount of Franklin clear with Sandstone Opals in the Melt pot. While it melted I put an oval cookie cutter near my image which is one from an old magazine.

I coated the image in the Versamark Watermark ink pad ink. Then I used the re-inker of the same pad to apply a thin line around the cookie cutter.

Next I poured on the melted Franklin and Sandstone mix over the image

Press the cookie cutter in while it is still molten, Versamark ink side down into the Opals and leave it till very cool. The metal cutter will stay warm longer then you think so be careful and patient or you may burn yourself. At this stage you can use the heat gun to move the Opals if needed while it is still in the cutter over the image. Don't be tempted to hold the metal cutter though

Once COMPLETELY cool gently peel off the backing paper and pop the transfer out of the cutter. The Versamark Watermark ink helps the transfer release easily from the cutter but if it is a little stuck you can carefully run a sharp craft knife close to the edge if need be

Now place the transfer paper side up in slightly warm water and use your finger to rub the paper away. Its the same process you use when doing package tape or cold laminate transfers. Continue rubbing till all the backing paper is removed.

TADA I now have a lovely colour image transferred to my Opals ready to use in my art work. If you do clear transfers and want to colour the transfer use alcohol inks, acrylics and permanent markers. The other at left on my desk are all transfers...the blue one is colour and some of the others are down straight in metal frames.

Here are two step videos for those who like to watch the technique instead. Here is video one



and video 2 is here



I've finally worked out how to enhance my old videos in Youtube to make these two videos not so dark looking LOL. Youtube says it may take a bit for the changes to be processed but you can still watch the old one till then. Hope this is of use to SOMEONE!!!
hugs
Annette In Oz 

Whats On Your Workbench Wednesday (WOYWW) 202

WOW I can't believe it's Wednesday again and time for artists and crafters around the World to share what is on their workbenches. If you want to join in or learn about this go to Julia's blog. Last Wednesday I had high hopes to  finish making some jewellery items but when I sat down to do so last Friday I realized I needed some more mini screws and rivets. I'd ordered some from the USA and unfortunately they didn't arrive till this morning. As Wednesday and Thursday are my working days I wont get to play with the jewellery now till Friday. Next  week we have a visitor who will stay in my art room so I likely wont be able to join in WOYWW till next fortnight.

Well this is what is currently on my workbench

At the left there are my cuffs and necklaces still waiting to be made. In the centre is a steam punk Springy Thingy card I made from yesterday and under this post is a little video of me making one...complete with a stained tablecloth, some little minor stuff ups and my awful Ozzie voice!! I'm not sure how to edit video's in Youtube yet but when my son Tim (17) and I are home at the same time next I shall ask him. Teenagers are a wealth of knowledge with such things. At the right on my desk are the mini screws and rivets that have just come YEHA. At top right I had started to play with a yummy Prima Junkyard light bulbs.

At the rear is book that came as a freebie when I received my order of Opals Embossing Enamels (like UTEE) that came on Monday. Unfortunately Pipedreamink is closing down but good news for the consumer in one way as they sold their stock super cheap! The ink stained diamond is my current fav "stamp" I use allot. I found it in the cheap shop and it's meant to be used in the bathroom...you suction it on the tiles and then suctiona bathroom item on top (it has the tiny suction cups on both sides) but I instantly wanted it as a stamp!

These stamps were also sent as a freebie with my Opals order. The wiggly one at top I'm thinking will be excellent to etch onto metal with.

Lastly a closer look at what I was thinking of doing with the Prima junkyard  light bulb.  I had a hunt in the cheap shops for little dolls to use the heads on this and couldn't find one suitable so I have used some Elasticlay and made a mold from a frozen Charlotte I have. I'm trying Ice Resin in my mold but if that wont work I'll try polymer clay....I'm not even sure how to attach the wings....so many things to do so little time to nut it all out!

I guess at least I have the cold connecting items I needed so now when and if I do get any time I'm all set to go. Off to have a look thru others blogs and see whats on their workbenches :o)
hugs
Annette In Oz

Springy Thingy Card Video How Too / Tipnique Tuesday

I made a little video about how to make the Springy Thingy card from Tuesdays Tipnique post below this one. There are a couple of minor errors but if you prefer to watch a how too then read it this is for you. Sorry about the daggy Oz voice :o).  Oh and judging by my stained and much used plastic table cloth on my art bench I REALLY need to change it LOL!!!

   

SSSSOOO wishing I didn't have to go to work today as some mail has just come for me for cold connecting my jewellery that I have been waiting for and now I wont get to play till Friday *sigh*. My 50yr old body is telling me I need to get of nursing!! Lets hope I win lotto on Thursday.
hugs
Annette In Oz

Springy Thingy Steampunk Card Tutorial / Tipnique Tuesday

                         SPRINGY THINGY CARD TUTORIAL

It's time for me to share my weekly Tuesday tip or technique. This tutorial fell out of my tips/techniques book as I moved it last night and so got chosen for today's effort. It makes a card front that the receiver pulls open and the card opens out like a spring to see an inner 20cm square area. Images of a completed card using this technique are below these instructions. Practice this on some scrap paper first.

 MATERIALS

• 20cm square piece of card stock or decorative paper of your choice. Pre colour the card if you wish. I'll use white card stock so you can clearly see what to do.
• Pencil, rubber, ruler, craft knife, craft mat and bone scorer.

HOW TOO

1) On all sides measure and make a light pencil dot at the 5cm, 10cm and 15cm mark. On my sample I will use a black marker so you can see what I did easily.

2) From the 5cm mark at the left and right side measure and mark a dot at the 10cm mark

3) From the 10cm mark at the left and right side measure in and mark a dot in at the 5cm mark from each side

4) From the 15cm mark at the left and right side measure and mark a dot at the 10cm mark. These dots make a large diamond.

 5) Score between all these dots. In my image I have drawn dashes to show you were to score

 6) At the top 15cm mark score down to the right side of the diamond. At the 15cm mark at right edge, score across to the bottom of the diamond. At the 5cm mark on the bottom edge, score up to the left side of the diamond. Lastly at the 5cm mark at the left edge, score across to the top of the diamond. See dashed marks I have marked for you on my sample. All these score lines will be mountain folds. That is you bend the scored line back on itself to make a mountain.

7) At the 10cm mark on all sides score into the points on the diamond. See dashed areas on my sample. These scored lines and the scored lines for the diamond are all valley folds. That is you bend the scored line in on itself to make a little valley.

Here is my sample with all the scored lines bent to their respective mountain and valley folds.

8) Now all you do is gently fold the card in on itself. Start on one side and then work your way around. If you have all the scored correct lines and folds it sort of winds in like a spring. It should look like this at the front

and this at the back. Rub off all marked pencil dots.

After I made my sample above for you I painted the card stock with white gesso, sprayed it with various sprays. Stamped and added embellishments to turn it into a steam punk card. I then layered and stuck it to a base card. As mine is fairly embellished it doesn't fold completely flat.

This is m Springy Thingy Card open

Some close ups of the folded card part.

Hugs

Annette In Oz

What's On Tour Workbench Wednesday(WOYWW)-Jewellery!

WOYWW is here again. It's the time of the week were art farty folk all over the World share what is on their workbench. If you want to join in or read about it go to Julia Dunnit's blog here. I had wanted to post this four hours ago during my dinner break but as it goes with being a nurse...I didn't get a dinner break LOL. It's now 11pm and here I am at last. 

There are some paper crafting items still on my desk from yesterday but its mostly all about making hand made jewellery this week on my desk. I didn't get as much jewellery making done as I wanted though as I had to go to work early on several occasions and then got too busy on my days off running around all over town for various things.

Now a bit closer and you can see on the left side of my desk I have my Ice Resin out and behind those to bottles is the mixed media card I made last week and my pastel stamping card I made yesterday. There is more pastel stamping samples at the left and some Mica sheets. In the middle are resined bezels and hand etched metal strips ready to make into cuffs. To the right of them are etched house shaped metal pieces to be made into necklaces. At this stage I just try various combinations of Ice Resin filled bezels on the cuffs and necklaces until I am happy. Then I'll shape the cuffs, drill, rivet, glue and cold connect the components

Here are the pastel stamped items you can see. How I made them is below this post with a little video as well if you want to have a look. This is the card behind the Ice Resin

This is the pastel stamped item at the left of the Ice Resin

and the one in front of that lying down

A closer look at the left center of my desk. All the wings at the top finally came in the mail yesterday. I only had a few left and for whatever reason I use allot of these when I make jewellery.

On the right side of my desk I have my etched eyeball and etched puffed heart ready to play with as well. I'm thinking of adding the Tim H clock key to the top of the heart.

Hopefully next week I shall have actually finished some jewellery items to show you. Thanks for dropping by.

hugs

Annette In Oz