Saturday Showcase -- Seth Apter's Baked Velvet Powders and Tim Holtz New 3D Embossing

Hello and welcome! It's Sara Emily here to bring you this week's Saturday Showcase. This week, I will be sharing a tutorial for a pair of distinctly different cards featuring a couple of Tim Holtz newest 3D embossing folders along with Seth Apter's silky Baked Velvet embossing powders from the Neutrals Kit. Here's the pair; please click on any image to enlarge.

Let's get started! For the vintage portrait card, I began by embossing a water color paper panel with the Elegant 3D Texture Fade and then spread a layer of Wendy Vecchi Crackled Texture Paste in varied thicknesses over the panel. While the paste was still wet, I poured Eclipse Baked Velvet on one side of the card and tipped the card to allow the powder to flow down over the surface. I set this aside to dry and returned the remaining powder to it's jar.

After the crackle paste dried, I heat the panel to allow the embossing powder to melt. I love this crackled surface, and I could see this used to alter a frame. In fact, that was my original plan, but I instead decided to go another route.

I sprayed the panel with Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Spray and allowed it to dry. I blotted up the spray from the embossed areas, being careful not to smear the ink. I love how this single spray takes on so many beautiful hues and how it settles into the cracks. I blend some of the raised areas with Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide ink and spritz lightly with water to blend the inks. After drying with a heat tool, I blend the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Crayon.

I make a panel to frame the embossed panel out of design paper from my stash. In the photo below, I did a comparison of regular black embossing powder to Eclipse Baked Velvet. As you can see in the photo, after heating, Eclipse is matte in appearance compared to the other which is shiny. It has a wonderful velvety creamy texture, too. This is ground breaking for someone like me who does not care for the shine that most embossing powders provide.

Now, I work on the embellishments. I cut the frame using Tim Holtz Stacked Archway Thinlits and Metallic 2 Kraft Stock and sprayed it with Ground Espresso Distress Spray Stain. I sprinkled with Desert powder and heated to melt the powder. I was surprised not only by the amazing texture, but that the color changed from taupe to almost white as I heated it. To highlight the texture, I scribbled and blended with Vintage Photo crayon. In the end, I decided to tap on just a bit of Cracked Pistachio oxide spray (not shown).

I sanded one of the small Found Relatives cards and used the remaining Vintage Photo on my craft mat and on my fingers to shade her. I trimmed her to fit the frame and cut a second archway from craft foam and adhered it to the back to give some dimension. The pack of Found Relatives is very generous and includes 15 each of 3 sizes of fabulous vintage portraits. I don't think it comes as any surprise these fit perfectly in Tim's Lace Baseboard Frames.

I die cut my favorite of the Wildflower Stems #2 and some of Tim's old Wildflowers Thinlits from cream card and colored them with Cracked Pistachio Oxide ink and Vintage Photo crayon. While the ink was still wet, I dipped the ends into White Cloud Baked Velvet and heated to melt. I love how it pulled some of the color from beneath it as it heated. Sorry for the blurry shots--my Iphone wanted to focus on the frame.

Finally, I embossed and cut a pair of the smaller leaves using the 3D Impresslits Leaf and cream card stock.  Impresslits are embossing folders with a built in die, and the Leaf Impresslit has two sizes on the one folder. I painted the leaves with Cracked Pistachio Oxide ink, embossed them  a second time and when dry, slightly brushed them with Vintage Photo crayon. When I first saw the 3D Leaf  Impresslit last fall, of course my mind turned to fall foliage. I was a bit disappointed we would have to wait for April for it to be released. But good things come to those that wait, and I think they are perfect for all of my spring makes and they'll carry over to fall, too! If you are a fan of roses, then you know they make the perfect rose foliage.

Here is the finished card and some close ups for you to enjoy.

Now let's see how the shabby Easter card came together.

I started with a die cut of Tim Holtz Bigz Cottontail--this one happened to come in the sweet thank you gift in my last order from The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Thank you, Linda! I colored it with Distress Oxide inks, dried it, and gave it a coat of Distress Crazing Medium. While the medium was still wet, I sprinkled randomly with White Cloud Baked Velvet. I waited for the Crazing to dry before heating the powder to melt. Lastly, I used Distress crayons to add more color.

To make the crackled background, I spread crackle paste over a panel of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock and allowed it to dry. I spread the dried crackle with a good coat of collage medium. When dry to touch, I sprayed with oxide spray and blotted with a paper towel to remove most of the ink, leaving it in the cracks. I then embossed the panel with the Elegant folder and sanded the raised areas.

I blended the sanded panel with oxide inks in two shades of green and edged the panel by blending with Distress ink.

Then it was time to assemble the card, using a Stitched Oval cut from burlap covered card, some Wildflower Stems water colored with Distress markers and a water pen, and a trio of the 3D embossed leaves sprayed with Peeled Paint oxide and blended with Bundled Sage oxide ink.

Here's the finished card and a couple close-ups.

Don't you love that Crazing with the White Cloud powder? Not shiny, but soft and smooth like a bunnies fur. A double dip into the powder makes for even more texture on the tail.

I hope you've been inspired to add these new embossing folders to your crafty stash or possibly give one of the new Seth Apter Baked Texture Powder kits a try. These powders are a perfect way to alter that item you've been saving in your stash -- there's still plenty of time to enter our current  Frilly and Funkie challenge,  'Re-purpose, Re-use, Recycle'.

Happy crafting!

Sara Emily

Links to the products used on this project and available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Elegant
Sizzix 3-D Impresslits Chapter 2 Embossing Folder - Leaf
Tim Holtz Sizzix Bigz Die - Cottontail
Seth Apter Baked Velvet - 3 Piece Neutrals Kit
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits - Wildflower Stems #2
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ephemera Pack, Keepsakes
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Found Relatives
Distress Oxide Sprays
Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Metallic Confections Kraft Stock

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Wildflowers by Tim Holtz 661190	Sizzix Thinlits Set - Stacked Archway by Tim Holtz	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Stitched Ovals by Tim Holtz 661188	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Texture Paste - Crackled WVPASTECRA	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Ground Espresso TIM43270
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Mowed Lawn	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Cracked Pistachio	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Bundled Sage	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Peeled Paint	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Antique Linen
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Frayed Burlap	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayon - Vintage Photo	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Markers - Full Set	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDA47933	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Crazing TDA47957
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Mixed Media Heavystock 8.5x11 inches - TDA53842	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchat Stickers TH92998	Seam Binding

Saturday Showcase - Prima Marketing Finnabair Elisian Clockworks

Happy Saturday to you!  Suzz here to share a post filled with time!  I am highlighting the Prima Marketing Finnabair Elisian Clockworks Mould.   Now I am going to share what I did with the  lovely Clockworks mould but these techniques will work with any of the many beautiful moulds found in The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

The first clock I created was for the current "March Madness" challenge:

Creating this beautiful clock had me trying all kinds of techniques to great a variety of clocks.

The clock in my vignette was created using the following steps:

1. Colored the inside of the mold with a Versamark marker to create a sticky surface.
2. Pouring embossing powder into the mold and shaking out the excess onto scrap paper to re-use.
3. Heating up and melting the embossing powder with the heat gun.
4. Repeat multiple times to create a thick enough clock that you can peel out of the mold.
5. After the clock was cool enough I brushed on a touch of gold paint to highlight the surfaces.

This was a time consuming process and the clocks were very fragile when finished. I liked the effect because they were very delicate and shabby. 

Here is the other clock created using this method:

I used the Seth Apter Baked Velvet Desert for the base on this clock with the highlights from the Prima Art Alchemy Acrylic Metallique.

After creating my delicate embossing powder clocks, I wanted to try another medium and decided to use a no bake clay.

Steps: 

1. Push clay into moulds.  I filled the molds and tried to finish with a flat surface on the back.
2. Let dry.  (Follow instructions on the clay)
3. Peel back the mold.  (On all of my clocks I peeled the mold away from the materials slowly to try
    to prevent any breakage.)
4. Largest clock 
        a.  Spray with Distress Oxide Spray. (Mermaid Lagoon).
        b.  Let dry and then using a paint brush apply touches of gold paint.
5. Small clocks
        a.   Paint with gold shimmer paint.
        b.   Paint with gold paint.
        c.   After paint dries.  Ink up surface with Versamark Ink.
        d.   Sprinkle black embossing powder over surface and heat emboss.

After I finished with the first layer of colors and details I decided to continue with effects to antique the clocks.

Steps:
1.  Spray a mix of distress oxide sprays over the painted gold clock.  Let dry.
2.  Water down brown paint and apply to clock.

For the large clock to tone down the bright colors I added a few more layers of color.

Steps: 
1. Spray with brown distress oxide spray.  Let dry.
2. Add Metallique Wax to the edges and raised surfaces.
3. Smear watered brown paint to edges.
4. After everything dried ink up the entire clock with versamark watermark ink.
5. Cover with clear embossing powder and heat up until glossy.

I then wanted to take another try on using the embossing powders in the molds but wanted a solid fill.  I decided to bake the embossing powders.

Steps:
1.  Pour the various embossing powders into the moulds.
2.  Fill them and push the powders to fill all the spaces and level out the excess embossing powder.
3.  Place onto a lined baking sheet. (I used my toaster oven tray)
4.  Put in the oven and cook.  (I started at a lower temperature 200 degrees and raised it up to 300)  It took about 10 minutes. I just kept checking until the embossing powder was liquid.)
5.  Let cool.
6.  Carefully peel away the mould and pop out the clocks.

Unfortunately when I pulled my two little clocks I broke off a few pieces.  I didn't want to have to go back to the oven, so I popped them back into the mould aligning the broken pieces to where they belonged.  I used my heat gun and melted them right back together.

After I finished this process I remembered my melt pot.  I could have melted my embossing powder in the melt pot and poured it into the mould. (Something to try next time!)

I tried a variety of embossing powders:  a teal mixed with gold,  a gold mixed with black,  and black embossing powders.

What happened was the colors tended to split and the back was one color and the front was mostly the color. I ended up with the dark teal as show above and the gold turned into a dark gold effect:

I decided to highlight both with a touch of gold wax to bring out the raised surfaces.

Here are the final small clocks:

The two on the left are clay based and the one on the right is the embossing powder clock with a wax patina.

And here are the larger clocks.  The one on the left is my teal clock with a layer of collage paper decoupaged over the surface.  The one on the right is the clay clock with many layers of sprays, paints, and wax highlights.

Now what to do with all my clocks?  A box of clocks of course!

I hope you enjoyed spending time viewing the clocks. (He He).  There is still time to play along in the March Madness Challenge and the design team has tons of inspiration in our new challenge starting on Wednesday!

Suzz

Products: 
Prima Marketing Finnabair Elisian Clockworks Mould
Seth Apter Baked Velvet Neutral Combo 
Seth Apter Patina Oxide 
Emerald Creek Charred Gold 
Prima  Marketing Art Alchemy - Acrylic Paint Sparks Unicorn's Hair
Prima Marketing Art Alchemy - Metallique Wax Vintage Gold
Prima Marketing Art Alchemy - Acrlic Paint Ancient Coin 
Stampers Anonymous - The Professor
Distress Collage Medium - Vintage
Tim Holtz Quote Chips 
Tim Holtz Collage Paper - Travel
Prima Marketing - Wild and Free Stamps
Ranger Distress Oxides Spray - Mermaid Lagoon, Walnut Stain
Ranger Distress Oxide Ink - Walnut Stain 
Idea-Ology Quotation Metallic Stickers
Wendy Vecchi Washi Tape
Versamark Watermark Ink 
Versamark Watermark Ink Pen
Ranger Clear Embossing Powder 
Keys 
Idea-Ology Story Sticks
Idea-Ology Swivel Clasps
Stampers Anonymous - Entomology 
Ranger Quick Cure Clay 
Prima Marketing Art Alchemy - Metallique Rustic Brown
Paper Dolls
Rabbit Charms 
Graphic 45 Bloom 8X8 Paper Pad
Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Vignette Box
Idea-Ology Watch Cameos

Saturday Showcase: Mad Hatter's Tea Box and Mini Album Tutorial with Stamperia Alice

Hello, Friends!  Kathy here with this week's Saturday Showcase. The current March Madness challenge invites us to create an Alice in Wonderland inspired project.  I created  a super cute  (almost) ATC sized  mini album in a box using Stamperia's Alice collection. Today I'm sharing the details, tips, ideas,  and a tutorial for that project. So go grab a cuppa and a snack because this is a photo heavy post.

One of the things I love about working with Stamperia papers is that they take the trouble to build all the wonderful mixed media effects we love so much right into the paper design.  Another great feature of these papers is that (almost) everything you need to create a project like this one is contained in one 12x12 paper pad: tags, fussy cuts, focal images, circular elements, borders, and backgrounds are just waiting to be brought to life. 

The Graphic 45 Clock Die provides a nice backdrop to the fussy cut teapot that serves as a focal image.

TIP: Back your focal image with foam adhesive to add depth and dimension to the design.  

The base for this boxed album is a Graphic 45 ATC box.  The box measures a dainty 3 1/2" x 4 1/4" and contains 3 Graphic 45 Kraft ATC tags with a brass binding ring. I've used the tags to create a faux lock on the front of the box.  I've dangled some antique bronze teacups, a teapot and a white rabbit charm from the binding ring. 

TIP:   Score each tag  1 1/2" from the domed edge and burnish well with a bone folder.  Then die cut the tag liner using the matching Graphic 45 die.  Cover the tags, then score a second time before adhering the tags to the box lid and bottom. 

I pulled this miniature spoon from vintage spoon collection and used it to decorate the spine of the box.  The bun feet are made by stacking wooden Bingo chips which are then wrapped with 1/2" Scor-Tape and a strip of designer paper. 

TIP: Glossy Accents is a great for attaching metal embellishments to a project.  Just add the spoon as the last detail, then set aside for 24 hours to dry.

A Peek Inside the Box

I've covered the inside of the box with panels of paper from the collection.  I'll share the cutting guide for that below this post.

You'll learn how to create the 2 3/4" x 3 3/4" x 1 1/2" mini album base and page units in the video tutorial below.  

I've wrapped the album spine with printed burlap fabric to provide strength and texture to the composition.  Because the album has to fit inside the box, I kept the fussy cut layers flat.  Use 1/2" Scor-Tape to attach the ribbon closure to the album cover.

The album is made up of 3 pocket page units.  Each unit has turn pages, a pocket page and either a flip page or a flap page.  You'll learn the formula for creating these page units in the video tutorial.  Even though this album is small, I had no trouble using the 12x12 papers to decorate it.  I simple scored pages to make accordion style pull out mechanisms, or flaps.  It was all good fun!

My husband's favorite tea adds lovely quotes to the tags, so I save them.  They add a fun element to this album design.  

I've tucked a tea bag into the side pocket of each page unit, just for fun.

TIP: Turn a fussy cut element into a tuck spot by adhering just one edge to the album base.  

This photo gives you an idea of the size of the album.  That's my hand in the photo.  

Here is another example of how you can make a large element fit into a small album.  The bookmark on the right hand page is almost twice as tall as the album base.  To make it fit, I scored a little flap along the bottom border.  Then I scored a second time to create this cute fold out page.

Here is is opened up.  It also folds down to reveal a quote hidden on the page behind.  I turned the second bookmark from this collection into a little magnetic folio.  You'll see that in the video below.

Here's one of the flap pages from the album.

To fit this fussy cut teapot in the center of the page, I scored it down the middle and folded it in half.  then I adhered one side to the album base, folded it, placed adhesive on the back and closed the page over it.  This way, it can span both pages.  Isn't it fun?

And finally, here is another pull out page with an illustration of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.  

Mad Hatter's Tea Box and Mini Album Video Tutorial

If you'd like to take a full tour of the album, then learn how to build the base and the page units, please enjoy this video tutorial.

 I hope I've shared some tips, techniques and inspiration that you can use in your own crafty adventures.  I had such a good time creating this project, and hope you'll give it a go.  You'll find a linked supply list and cutting guide below.

Happy crafting!

kathy

Product Links to The Funkie Junkie Boutique

• Stamperia Alice 12x12 Pad
• Graphic 45 ATC Tag Die
• Graphic 45 Clock Die
• White Rabbit Charms
• Antique Bronze Cup Charms
• Tim Holtz Small Talk Stickers
• 1/2" Scor-Tape
• Glossy Accents
• Ranger Inkessentials Kraft Cardstock
• These wooden spools   or these metal feet would make excellent box feet

Cutting Guide

For the box:  Graphic 45 ATC Box 

• Inside box 
• (2) 3 7/8" x 2 1/8" for long sides
• (2) 2 7/8" x 2 1/8" for short sides
• (1) 2 3.4" x 3 3/4" for box bottom
• (1) 2 1/4" x 4 5/8" for inside spine
• (1) 3 1/4" x 4 5/8" for inside cover
• Cut the playing cards to 2 1/4" high and wrap around the outside box.
• Outside box
• (2) 3 1/2" x 4 5/8" for lid and bottom
• (1) 2 3/8" x 4 5/8" for outer spine

For the Album

•  (2) 2 3/4" x 3 3/4" Chipboard Covers 
• (1) 1 1/2" x 3 3/4" spine
• 9 1/4" x 4 3/4" kraft paper to cover the chipboard covers
• 7 1/2" x 3 1/2" kraft paper for the spine mechanism
• score on the long side at 1 1/2, then (9) 1/2" scores

Page Units

• 5" x 7 1/4"  Score on the short side at 2 1/2" , long side fold in half and pinch, then score.  Each page unit will measure 2 1/2" x 3 5/8" when folded.  
• Page liners: 2 3/8" x 3 1/2"
• Fold out pages: 12" x 2 1/4".  Score every 2 3/8" then trim