Pretty Tree Piccolo | Enamel Powder

Good Morning crafty peeps!!  Britt Bass here from Pink Paper Crowns!

I'm here today bringing you a pretty little shaker card using a beautiful range of products from the Piccolo line.

When I first saw this pretty floral tree image I knew I wanted to use the Piccolo Enamel Powders to add color and dimension to the shape.

I used the Piccolo Embossing Powder Adhesive and covered the entire outside edge and several of the flowers with the adhesive liquid.  I applied Shamrock Dreams Enamel Powder and heat set it.  I repeated that method with Mardi Gras Enamel Powder and Copper Kettle Enamel Powder to cover the rest of the tree.  I finished the tree with dots of metallic pearl paint around the edges - and set it aside to dry.

I die cut an A2 sized frame out of brown glitter cardstock and layered in on top of the soft brown snowflake paper.  After the tree was completely dry, I used it to trace a window in the middle of the snowflake paper, cut it out and fit the tree into the window.

I attached clear transparency to the back of the piece, making sure to cover all the little openings in the tree, and then used foam adhesive to create a well for my shaker.  

I filled the shaker with brown seed beads from my stash and Sugar Beads from the Sweet Stamps store.  (I wish I had used a few sequins or confetti to make the shaker a little more obvious, but there's always next time!)  Lastly, I adhered the whole front piece to an A2 cardbase and added a brown satin bow!

I had SUCH fun working with these products and I can't wait to break out my Piccolos again!  Take a look at the Sweet Stamps store for tons of pretty and intricate shapes like this!

Have a wonderful weekend queenies!

Later!

'Tis the Season | Mr. & Mrs. Snow!

Hello sweet people!

Britt Bass here and I'm so excited to bring you my first official post as a DT sweetie for Sweet Stamps!

I saw these little pair of Snow People and just KNEW it would make an excellent "snow globe" shaker card!

First I stamped Mr. & Mrs. Snow DUO with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored them with my Spectrum Noir Alcohol markers.  I used Distress Ink in Stormy Skies to add a winter-y blue sky above the happy couple and then added stars, highlights and fun details with a white gel pen.

I die cut a large circle in a 6x6 sheet of Christmas tree paper (from my stash) with a Circle Die and then used the same die and a slightly larger scallop circle die to create a frame with green cardstock.

I assembled my shaker with a piece of acetate and filled it with a mixture of Sugar Sand, Clear Glass Micro Beads, and some blue micro beads (from my stash).  I didn't add any sequins or larger pieces because I wanted it to look like a snow bank the swishes from side to side as it shakes!  I finished the card with a layered sticker from my stash!

Thanks for taking a look!

Paper Piecing and Western Challenges by Michelle McClure, Guest Designer

Hello sweet peeps! I have two cards that I'm excited to share with you today.

Monthly Challenge - Paper Piecing Card
When I think about paper piecing, I usually get a bit daunted by the amount of detailed work involved and then proceed to the next technique. By after browsing the stamps and seeing the Bee Happy Duo set, I thought this was totally doable!

I stamped the bee twice, once on yellow and once on a light blue piece of patterned paper. I cut out the eyes and wings from the blue and popped it up on the yellow. I was quite quick and easy, yet really adds a special touch to the card.

I wanted the bee on a slate board so I rounded the edges of my card and used some chalkboard patterned paper. If you don't have chalkboard paper, you can dab a wet cloth with white chalk ink and gently rub a piece of black paper for the same effect. I stamped the sentiment in white and added a Word Frame Duo for the speech bubble, which fit perfectly. To continue the slate board theme, I cut pieces of white cardstock to make chalk. The bee is holding a piece to look like he wrote the sentiment on the board. I also made a little cup the hold the extra pieces of chalk. The background stars, letters and numbers are rub-ons. As a teacher, I would have loved to receive something like this at the beginning of the school year.

Weekly Challenge - Western Card
For my Western themed card, I really wanted to make a shaker card. I'm always a little hesitant because of the complications and mess involved, especially if precise measurements with an X-Acto knife is involved. I had read about a washi tape technique and decided now was the time to give it a try.

First I stamped some horses using 2 Horse Silhouette stamp and punched out the profiles with a .5" circle punch. I wanted the horses to be inside the shaker card.

Next I took a piece of acetate (transparency film) and cut it to the same size as my photo. I placed the acetate on top of my photo and taped three edges closed using washi tape. Initially I placed the punched circles inside but they didn't shake very well so I took them out and placed glitter inside. Then I taped up the fourth edge and popped the photo onto my card base. 

I stilled wanted to use my circles so I glued them around the photo as a scalloped frame. 

Here is a view of the card in action. This was a lot easier and less messy than my usual shaker methods. 

If you would like to enter the monthly challenge using a paper piecing technique, please see this post. If you would like to enter this week's Western themed challenge, please see this post.

So glad you moseyed on by,
Michelle McClure