Let Freedom Ring Fatbook Tile with Rebecca Baer®

Good Morning! Today I've created a fatbook page using Rebecca Baer™ Stencils. Fatbook pages are similar to ATCs in that they are little works of art that are traded among friends--they are 4×4" in size and sometimes they are bound into a book.

For this project I used the small Stars & Stripes stencil and the Seafarer Painted Digital Paper from her Rebecca's digital line. To begin I printed the darkest papers along with another print that I thought I would *play* with in the size that I was going to need 4×4" I did this by "formatting" my image to that size in my Publisher program. I could print out 4 squares easily on my standard  card stock. I used a color laser printer for my project so the ink does not become a muddy mess with the mixed media play, if you do not have a personal color laser printer, you can have your documents printed at an office supply store for a small fee.

I trimmed out my papers to 4×4" and began with my stencil. Using the mini masking tapes I help my stencil into place while I added a thick pigment ink to the stencil to hold my copper embossing powder. While I used a brown ink, the color really will not matter as the embossing powder covered opaquely and none of the color showed through. I heat set the embossing powder.

Next I began layering on red paint around the edges. Using a wide brush in the RB Classique(TM) Angles set, I pulled my brush in towards the center of the fatbook tile. I used a wet wipe to remove some of the paint, especially on the embossed edges to give it a "antiqued" look. 

Next I took out my black detail pens and pastel pencils and went around the stars and curves of the stencil with white and black. I doodled around the edge of the tile and added white paint pen dots to the curves. 

I then replaced the stencil over the top of the tile and using my white paint pen went over the "strips" where the melted emboss powder was. I wiped away paint with my wet wipe again, leaving some of the lines and smearing the rest.  

To adhere the torn denim to the side I placed down a strip of double stick tape on the tile and then also on the back of my strip of denim. I was able to pleat the denim and have it hold in place. I added a little burlap bow and some bling to the tile to complete the embellishments.

I completed my tile by handwriting lyrics from patriotic songs and phrases of freedom and liberty that hold meaning with me along the stripes. 

I hope you enjoyed my little piece of art today! All supplies mentioned are available In Rebecca Baer's® store at the link below! Thank you for stopping by! Be sure to check out posts from my teammates each Tuesday and Thursday!

Twitter at @leslierahye | Facebook at leslierahye.| YouTube at leslierahye | Pinterest at leslierahye | Instagram at leslierahye

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Bonus Tutorial | Homemade Washi Tape

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am sharing a special BONUS tutorial on the Digital Delights Blog today on how to make your own washi tape with Wendy's amazing Digital Paper Packs! Check out how simple it really is!

for this tutorial:

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Dragonfly Embellishment with Sakura Hobby Crafts

Today on the Sakura Hobby Crafts blog I posted a step-by-step how-to for creating this fun dragonfly embellishment using Creative Paper clay, Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul's Mixers! Thank you for looking! I hope you enjoy my embellishment and take a moment to go over to the Sakura Hobby Crafts blog to check it out!

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It's all about ME | Viva Las VegaStamps! DT ApplicationCover

Today I am bringing you this fun upcycled project using materials that most would toss into the trash. Many of you know my love for upcycled crafts and this project reflects that as well as my love of rubber stamping. Today I am trying out for the design team to the amazing company Viva Las VegaStamps! I am a new fan of VLVS and *most* of my stamps are of the seasonal variety--which you have seen me using on my Festive Friday's posts. For today's project I wanted to show off some fun and easy techniques while sharing a bit about myself.

Cover is a round coaster painted with acrylic paint and embossed using
Sizzix Tim Holrz Texture Fades. A thin layer of Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer
and Terri Sproul's Mixers in Aquamarine Pearl and Pink Sapphire Pearl was
added and then a definition background  was stamped over the top using
Stewart Superior India Ink in Black. Cover embellishments include teal
feathers, a handmade ribbon ruffle flower [also stamped] and the title
piece stamped on upcycled packing material.

The reverse side of the embossed coaster was painted black
and then a thin layer of lacquer with the Violet Pearl interference
was added. The statement on this page was also stamped on
upcycled packing material. Embellishments on this page include
hand stamped flower petals and feathers and a pre-made butterfly.

The base of this page is a piece of upcycled packaging
covered in the upcycled packing paper. The surface was stamped
with both definition backgrounds and gears. The quote was stamped
on a separate piece of packing and attached with Mod Podge.
edges were inked and hand-stamped flower embellishments
with feathers and bells were added.

The back side of the upcycled packaging received layers of UTEE
and a couple of layers with Aquamarine Pearl from Terri Sproul's Mixers.
Transparency butterflies were embedded in the UTEE, a texture stamp was
pressed into the wet UTEE to add dimension. The "friend"definition
was again stamped on upcycled packing material and added to the UTEE
coated page with Mod Podge. The feather "flower" was also included
in the embellishments on the page as well as another pre-made butterfly.

In this detail, the cracked cooled UTEE
and the textured UTEE as well as the
swirles of Mixers in the UTEE can be
observed.

This next page is an upcycled toilet paper tube and a upcycled
stained [with Terri Sproul's Mixers from a previous project]
Paper Towel! The Paper Towel was adhered to the Roll with Mod
Podge and then stamped with India ink and edged with Walnut
Stain Ink. The quote was stamped on upcycled packing material
and a ribbon was added to the front as an embellishment.

The reverse side of the Upcycled toilet paper roll was directly
stamped with a fun quote and textured sprocket stamps. The
embellishment on this page includes teal feathers and a knotted
organza ribbon.

The final page is created from a rectangle-shaped coaster
and covered on this side with upcycled packing material.
The surface was dusted on still wet Mod Podge with
Aquamarine Terri Sproul's mixers and Violet Pearl Interference
The gears were stamped with Stewart Superior India Ink.
The glass embellishment was stamped with India Ink, and embossed
with clear Embossing Powder to set the sentiment to the glass.
The slide was attached to the page with Sakura 3D Crystal
Lacquer. 

The back side of the coaster was covered with some left-over
wall paper that a teammate sent to me! I colored the wall paper
with Terri Sprouls Mixers , water and Gum Arabic--a binding
agent. I love using the Mixers as water colors.
The end of the page was embellished with beaded trims and braids.

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my album and will leave me some love. I hope some folks in the west find this project to their liking and give me the opportunity to present more techniques using their amazing red rubber stamps and miracle tape--something that I am POSITIVE I need in my life. VLVS has thousands upon thousands of rubber stamps in as many topics! What a fantastic company! 

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On Fire with Terri Sproul's Mixers & Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer

Go on by the Sakura Hobby Crafts Blog and check out how I made my flames and title using Terri Sproul's Mixers and Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer. I LOVE the effect of the mica powders on the black die cuts! And for those of you keeping count...this is layout #3. 

Thank you for stopping by!! I hope you enjoy my layout!

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Sakura DT Post | "Attractive" Charm Set

It's time again for my Design Team post for Sakura Hobby Crafts! This week I chose to play with the White Brass Charms in the Swirl Technique Kit! As soon as I learned that these charms were attracted to magnets, I knew I wanted to make magnetic inserts for the charm that could be changed with the seasons!

Hop on by the Sakura Hobby Crafts blog and check out how I made these!

I can't wait to construct more for gifts! I think this will be fun for my daughter as well as my Mommie!   Thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my project!

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Gift Card Holder and Sakura Hobby Craft Crystal Lacquer

As many of you know I'm hand-making the holiday gifts that come from my family this year. While it is my goal to give everyone a hand-made item, there is one category of recipients that might get a gift card or two for their holiday gift--the teachers. We usually bring homemade goodies for the teachers--truffles, candies, apple dip. When we can swing it we try to get them a gift card as well, either to a favorite store or to Staples or the local teacher store as we all know the teachers buy out of their pockets to supplement what the school and state cannot provide.

Rather than a plain card with the gift card(s) stuck inside, I think the up-cycled toilet paper tube mini should be made over to become a handy gift card holder! It IS the perfect size for the credit card size gift cards and for places with gift certificates, the pockets could easily accommodate any folded piece of paper.

Back-to-School Gift Card Holder

Ingredients:
2 toilet paper tubes flattened
something to "bind" your 2 tubes together--I used the bind-it-all.
cardstock/patterned paper to match your occassion
[I used primary colors here as I wanted to use my sample for a back-to-school gift for my child's kindergarten teacher--hence the "k" on the cover]
quotes--formatted and printed on printer.
Sakura Hobby Craft 3D Crystal Lacquer
assorted embellishments [ribbon, butterflies, flowers, bling, buttons, brads, yarn, and bottle caps]
Marvey Inks and Ranger Stains
Beacon 3-in-1 craft glue &; 3D glue dots

Creating the gift card holder is very easy! Cover the toilet paper tubes with cardstock and a strip of patterned paper. once covered, take a moment to even up the tubes --all toilet paper tubes are not created equally! Mat the various quotes or edge with coordinating ink for mock-edging to add a bit of dimension to the quotes. Place a quote or two on the inside "pages" or provide a blank mat to leave a message for your teacher.

The star of the fun dimensional cover is Sakura Hobby Craft 3D Crystal Lacquer. For this cover I used it 3 different ways--2 you perhaps are familiar with and one is a fun technique I discovered about a year ago while creating my samples for a tag class that I was teaching!

After punching letters out of some cardstock that had these great alphabets, I edged the paper with ink and then applied Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer to the letters themselves for added dimension. What makes Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer different from the regular lacquers is that it has a heavier body. What that means to you is that you can get DIMENSION on the items you lacquer...it flows nicely but is just enough thicker that you can actually SEE the lacquer sitting on top of the paper!

I punched out a letter "k" for kindergarten and matted it with some red cardstock and housed it in a bottle cap for a handmade embellishment. The Sakura 3D lacquer served as the glue for the paper and as the "glass-like" cover over the letter--giving it the effect of those dome-covered embellishments without needing a separate "dome".

The final embellishment that I created with the Sakura 3D lacquer is made with 4 simple ingredients: Sakura 3D lacquer, glitter, cardboard and ink--to color the cardboard's edges [for that finished look]. I inked the edges of the cardboard--let it dry. I applied the Sakura 3D lacquer to the entire cover of my cardboard shape--an apple. While it was wet, I sprinkled glitter until it was fully covered--and then I zapped it with the heat gun! That's right...don't wait. When you heat the Sakura 3D lacquer, you can see it start to MOVE and then it brings a whole new meaning to 3D!!! Your piece will PUFF UP. You can play with it carefully--being sure not to over puff, as it will pop--backing of gently to see if the lacquer is now drying and holding the shape. When you are happy with the shape of the piece, stop. You can either let it dry and attach it--it will be more glittery--or you can add an additional layer of lacquer for that shinier finish as seen here. It's really a lot of fun creating your 3D puffed embellishment!!

To finish off your gift, you need to make some tags for the tubes. With coordinating cardstock and patterned paper, create the folded tags for the tube pockets by folding a piece of 2½×8" cardstock and adding a folded piece of patterned paper trimmed to 2×7½". Attach a ribbon to the folded end with a brad. The tags can be finished out with paper flowers and buttons, and wired butterflies. A gift card can be attached inside a pocket with a glue dot. A special note from your child could be tucked into the other tag or another gift card!

Finally attach fibers, fabric or ribbons to the binding to jazz it up a bit! I try to use leftovers from other projects to save cost and have that satisfaction of reusing, reducing and recycling!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my project. I really hope someone in LA is saying "WOW!"

To enjoy other projects made with Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer and other Sakura Hobby Craft products, check out their blog!!

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Festive Friday #13 | Blingy Snow Friends

It's time for the Festive Friday Blog Hop hosted by Terri Sproul again. This bi-monthly blog hop features Holiday cards from many talented card crafters as we get our Christmas cards ready early this year.

If you reached this stop from Becky's blog BC Designs , then you are in the right spot! If you would like to start from the beginning, you can return to Terri's blog.

For this card I used several of my favorite elements, stamps, markers, ink, and BLING. The background cardstock was stamped with Stampin up snowflakes in White Craft Stampin Up ink. The Snow friend was stamped Ranger Archival Ink and colored with Stampin Up Stamp and Write Markers. The circle was edged with Tumbled Glass Distres ink and the sky was stippled with the same. The Snow friends sentiment was colored with Stamp and Write Markers as well. The Snow Friends Sentiment and image was a Close to my Heart Set. The bling was a pre-made swirl that is super easy to apply. The snowflakes and ground on the circle were highlighted with prismaglitter applied with quickie glue pen!

I hope you enjoyed my card! Thank you for stopping by!

The next stop on the hop is Laura Fisher's blog. If you get lost on the way, the entire list is on the right hand side of the blog under Festive Friday Blog Hop!

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Festive Friday Blog Hop #9 | Holly Jolly Reindeer

I am so excited to be part of the Festive Friday Blog Hop hosted by Terri Sproul. This bi-monthly blog hop features Holiday cards from 13 talented card crafters and I'm proud to be among them.
If your reached this stop from Fab's blog Fab's Big Christmas Card Challenge , then you are in the right spot! If you would like to start from the beginning, you can return to Terri's blog.

Holly Jolly Reindeer

For this diecut reindeer card, I used the Bigz Sizzix die Animal Dressups Reindeer in my Big Shot Express. I made the card hinged by folding the cardstock and diecuting just inside the top edge of the dies on its antlers. I used the big Bazzill Brads for his eyes in white and the red for his nose. To accent the eyes, I used BIC Mark-its. The holly buttons are some old Making Memories buttons from my stash and the ribbon is $1 bin ribbon from Target! I accented the reindeer with penstitching and Ceramcoat gleams.

This is a great kid's card and I made a less blingy version for a benefit card drive that friends and family did last fall for Operation Write Home--an organization that sends cards to the military that they can then in turn send home to their families! It's a wonderful organization and I'm proud to be a part of their work. To learn more about Operation Write Home, click here. I will be participating in a Memorial Day Blog Hop with OWH at the end of the month!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my card.

The next stop on the hop is Laura Fisher's blog. If you get lost on the way, the entire list is on the right hand side of the blog under Festive Friday Blog Hop!

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Guest Designer Craft Us Crazy Week #8|Favorite Embellishment and/or Something New

If you are looking for my Weekly Challenge for Digital Delights by Louby Loo, look here.

It is my EXTREME pleasure to be a Guest Designer for the biweekly challenge over at Craft Us Crazy. They offer challenges for all sorts of crafting~not just cards! You're welcome to use any and all company brands and products. They love to see all walks of crafts ...decoupage, stamping (Rubber or Digital), altered, 3D, LOs, Die cut projects, anything as long as its made by your talented hands and it follows the Challenge theme!!! How great is that!

This weeks challenge is sponsored by Digital Delights by Louby Loo and is to use your FAVORITE EMBELLISHMENT and/or SOMETHING NEW!! Anyone who knows me knows my FAVORITE embellishment is GLITTER!!! A close second on embellishments is punchies and bling!

New Car by DigitalDelightsbyLoubyLoo

For this card:
ALL DDSTAMPS USED: New Car
CS AND PAPERS: SU cardstock and Bazzill Basics Cardstock
MARKERS (if any): BIC Mark-Its
ACCESS. AND EMBELLISHMENTS: Glitter, basic grey Bling, flocking, SU flower punches, Diamond Glaze, Extreme Glitter Paint

http://craftuscrazy.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoy my card! Thank you for stopping by!

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Eggstra Special Thanks!

Eggstra Special Thanks!

 I have had the great fortune of meeting some really sweet people over these last few months in the online community. Several of them have become good friends to me and they continually offer support for my crafty efforts. One good friend is often sending me the cutest cards and this week surprised me and my daughter with a care package filled with another super cute card and all kinds of handmade and papercrafty goodies! I was overwhelmed by her generosity and spirit--it really made my day super special! Thank you Sigrid!

To show my thanks, I have made her this darling bunny card using Digital Delights Digi Stamp from the Snuffles and Sookie Easter Set and my favorite Easter sentiment You're Eggstra Special. I colored Snuffles with BIC Mark-Its and accented the stamp with glossy accents, gelly roll glitter pen, wiggle eyes, and bling. I made hotpink "flocking" by trimming down a hotpink pompom and adding crystal lacquer to the nose and piling on the "flocking." I gently swept away the excess. The Bazzill Buttons are some of my favorite but these light tan buttons really did not match the tan of my bunny...so I colored them with the same marker I used on my bunny which easily stuck to the non-porous surface since BIC Mark-It's are alcohol based. Finally I added a little strip of layered cardstock wtih some bling to the interiour of the card to give it a little extra something.

I hope you enjoyed my card! I really hope Sigrid loves it! Thank you again! You are truly a special friend!

special details

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Weekly Challenge | Easter

Barnaby Bunny Topper Card

ALL DDSTAMPS USED: Barnaby Bunny Topper, Happy Easter Sentiment                

CS AND PAPERS: Bazzill Basics, Easter Kids Digi Paper Pack
INK:  SU Classic Pirouette Pink
MARKERS (if any): BIC Mark-It's
ACCESS. AND EMBELLISHMENTS: Ribbon, Bling, pompom, Diamond Glaze, Foam Tape
SPECIAL TECHNIQUES (if any): GIMP software to add sentiment to topper, 3D layering with foam tape

Since Easter is just around the corner, Delightful Challenges just had to make this week's theme all about ....

EASTER

You do not have to use a Digital Delights image to play but if you do you will receive two entries.

Just add your card twice to inlinkz at the Delightful Challenges Blog

to enter twice you need to when you use a Digital Delight image

1st entry use your card link,

2nd entry use your blog address and add 2nd entry after your name

We have a wonderful sponsor this week,

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Creative EdVentures Special Event | Reece's Rainbow Art Tiles

Last night I joined Cynthia Gagen on a special Creative EdVentures Webcast to share a project that is near and dear to our hearts. Marion Smith of A Piece of Craft shared her passion for this charity and challenged everyone she knows to participate in a artistic endeavor to create collages from 4×4" art tiles that will then be auctioned off to raise funds for this deserving charity. Reece's Rainbow helps orphaned special needs children get adopted into loving families. It is our hope that we will raise enough money to help get several children adopted! Details on the inspiration for the Creative EdVentures Challenge can be found here.

In addition to sharing the Peace Hope and Love Tile, I shared how the metal flower and colored plastic letter beads were made. Additionally I created on camera the Happy Heart Tile, sharing a few more fun tips.

Peace Hope Love Art Tile for Reece's Rainbow Charity Drive

 All tiles are constructed on 4×4" chipboard. Cutnpastememories.com is providing a great deal on precut chipboard squares that you can use for your art tile.

For my Peace, Hope, Love Tile, I layered free digi papers with ink and lace and fun flowers that I rubbed in ink as well. My embellishments for this tile included diecut swirls, buttons from Buttons Galore and Maya Road metal flowers. I completed the embellishing with charms and wire from my stash.

detail of Peace, Hope, Love Tile showing altered bead letters

To create the colored letter beads you can do one of two things. You can use Ranger Alcohol Inks  and blot the color on, or you can use Sharpie Markers or BIC Mark-its and color right on them. Since alcohol-based inks stick to non-porous surfaces, they stick really nicely to the plastic beads and also to the metal flowers.
Embellishments were added to the tile using hotglue so that when these are hanging upright as part of a collage they will stay put!

I created the Happy Heart Tile using downloaded  free digi papers and layering diecut cardboard and grungeboard to create dimension. The edges of this tile were inked with Distress Inks and embossed with clear emboss powder. The flowers were rubbed in distress inks and then spritzed with homemade glimmer mist--made by combining in a mister bottle water, a few drops of dye based ink refiller and Ranger's Perfect Pearls powder.

Happy Heart Art Tile created on 2-Hour Event for Reese's Rainbow Charity Drive

 The heart in the right hand corner is an upcycled dvd that had been split apart to reveal the mylar inside. It was inked up using Ranger Alcohol Inks. I then stamped into the ink with a stamp inked with Stazon and gently rubbed off the ink to lift the image back off the cd. Split CDs and DVDs are easily cut with Tim Holtz scissors or die cut with the Bigshot Machine into any shape you desire.

Detail of Happy Heart Tile showing altered CD heart and metal flowers.

You can also see to the right of the heart in this detail my initials--all art-tiles need to be discretely signed in the bottom right-hand corner.

I completed the embellishing of my tile by adding a little grungeboard butterfly--as a hat tip to Cynthia Gagen, Creative Edventures founding creator.

Detail of Happy Heart Tile showing Creative Memories Butterfly.

Thank you for looking! I hope you participate with us in this wonderful endeavor!!
Details on participating in the charity drive can be found here. 
You may watch the play back here.

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