Stapling ribbon tip!

Ever wanted to use your Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to staple ribbon in the middle of your 12"x12" LO and thinking that mr. Holtz really should make a Massive Attacher as well?

I love my Tiny Attacher, but I do not like tools that puts limits on my creativity. If I want to staple something 3" from the edge of my LO or card, then I demand my tools to help me do that (That is why I´ve got the Big Shot and not the Cuttlebug, the Cougar and not a Cricut, a BigBite and not a Crop A Dile).

This made me think, do I buy a new stapler? What can I do to get my ribbon stapled where I want it?


I was looking through all the stuff on my craft table, wondering if there was something I could use, and my eyes fell on to  a paper strip cut of a patterend paper. At last, a solution! I could staple my ribbon to the scrap piece of paper, and then glue it to my LO! (Sometimes I feel so clever...) When doing it like this I am even able to move my ribbon around before attaching it to my LO. (As I am a staple first, ask later kind of girl this is a big plus for me... )

It looks like its stapled on right?

Folded flower tutorial!

I have used this flower on loads of different projects. What is great about it is that you cn use all different materials; like paper, ribbons, lace, fabric +++

My tut is done using cardstock. I have used a border punch on the edge to create a softer feel but this is not necessary. The only thing that I think is importaint is that the paper strip is 1" wide at the most narrow part of the strip, and 12" long. This gives you a nice round shape. The strip used in this tutorial is shorter, but it makes it more difficult to create a round shape. If you change the width and the length proprtionally, I think you will avoid  this problem though :-)

 

After cutting a 1"x12" strip of paper (+ width of scallop), i just crunch it up between my fingers.

 

Just let it go on your table and you end up with something like this :-)

 

Pull it out and start making folds from one end.

 

 I use my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to staple as I go...

 

  

Doing that will leave you with this (as you can see, my strip was a bit to short so it got kind of scrunched  up). Now you can ink up the edges, use glimmer mist or spritz, or whatever you can think of.. (Its also really pretty to stamp the strip first, so that the cardstock get some pattern)

  This is my finished flower. I´ve added a vintage (real) Mother-of-Pearl button with a brad on top.

I hope you like it!00

Yarn Owl Tutorial

This Owl is the most adorable thing! It is a "Christmas ornament" my sister made when she was five. Its real easy, and if you make it skinny it could be used both on a LO and a card. You could of course make a bunch and hang them all over your house as well :-) This post has a million photos, because I have no idea how to explain the unbelivable complicated task of winding yarn around your fingers....

Materials needed:

• three different colors of yarn : the wing yarn, the hairdo yarn and the belly yarn (these are the technical terms...)
• siccors
• glue
• tiny scrap of felt in any beak color
• googly eyes or white cardsock and black pen
  

This is how he looks all finished. He should have had googly eyes, but I don´t have any, so he had to settle for paper eyes for now...

 

Start by winding the wings yarn around your fingers until you feel you have just enough ;-) It depends on the thickness of the yarn.

 

Like this maybe? Just cut of the end and slip it of your fingers.

 

Then you o the same with the hairdo yarn. This will also be the back of the owl, nad if you want to use your owl on a scrapbook page this is where you make it skinny! If you are going to make a "free standing" owl, this needs to be longer than the two other bunches of yarn. (So don´t do it like I did..)

When finished kut the yarn so that you get many short lengths. Place hem carefully on the table, out of the wind, so that you don´t get yarn all over the place...

 

Just like I´m doing here...

 

Then you make your belly yarn the same way as the hairdo yarn, but the same length as the wing yarn. (I hope this makes kind of sence...)

 

Using the same color as the hair, tie a not around the middle of both belly and hair yarn. Make it tight, so that it does not fall apart later.

 

Then you divide the two different colors at the middle, like this.



Take the wing yarn (that you still have not cut), and tread the big bunch of belly and hair through it. You want half of the hair on top,  and half under. Like the photo.



You will then end up with this.

 

The next step is to tie a not around the hair, using the same color yarn.

 

Now you´ll cut through the wing yarn...

 

The last step on the body is to tie a not around the bottom of the owl, creating his stjert (I have no idea what birds tailes are called in English, so I call it stjert, which is the Norwegian word..)

 

Look at this hansom fella!!

 

As you can see, I´ve been a bit cheap on the hairdo yarn...

 

Give his stjert a trim, so that all the yarn is nicly shaped...

 

Give him a little felt beak...

 

  

And two eyes (goggly is best...)

Tada! You have an owl!!!

Good luck:-)

A wonderful blog and a great tutorial!

This is the wrath that lured me into Lindsays world. Isn´t it amazing??

I´ve started to pay more attention to the ACOT formu after I joined in on the November Crop. Today there was a post with a link to this fab tutorial, and I just had to share it!! Not only was it a great tutorial, nut a lovely blog! Lindsay has a bunch of great tutorials, and she even writes funny!! What more can we ask for? I loved her post about when "she" is decorating her house for Christmas. And I love her logo with the gluegun in it :-)

Christmas Card Tutorial

Materials used:

• Bazzill cardstock
• Heat embossing tool
• Snow flake stamp
• VersaMark pad
• Clear Embossing Powder

I have stamped the hole 12"x12" paper with my lovely Ladybug and Frieds stamp. It has 4 different snow flakes and some very cute swirls! After stamping I´ve covered the hole sheet with clear embossing powder. The VersaMark ink dries so slowly that it is no problem stamping the hole sheet.



As you can see, when using the heat gun the effect is the same as on the embossed cardstock from Bazzill!

 

For the cookie man I have used some scraps of brown cardstock, and embossed the man using white embossing powder.

I hope you have enjoyed this short tutorial!

Flower tutorial

This flower was inspired from the techniques shown in these two links, at the blog "Inspirational techniques and tutorials":

As usual, I have problems doing things as they "should" be. I´m never follow recipes for anything. So, I made my own twist on these beautiful flowers.

Tools:
- Paper - of course, scraps are great
- Heart template, 3 sizes. I use a template from Fiskars
- Ink and markers for distressing
- Shape cutter Plus from Fiskars
- Different sizes ball tools
- Strong glue of some sort
- Small scissors
- Mouse mat or similar



1. Cut out 3x4 hearts in descending sizes. These are 1", 1,23" and 1,5".

2. The paper I chose to use for this flower had a white backside, so decided to colour the back with my marker. I also coloured the sides of the petals. Unfortunately, my marker is about 7 years old, and decided to die on me in the middle of this project.

3. I distressed both the front and the back using copper ink. It´s a good idea to wait a while, until the ink is dry. I on the other hand, can´t be bothered, so I just go on with the next step.

4. To give the petals shape, I use different sizes ball tools. I use the biggest one first, and then work my way down to the embossing tool (2,5mm). The small ball wrinkle the petals, and make them look distressed. I think it looks really good. I usually do this as long as my arms and fingers can take it.



5. Step five is to cut the circles to glue the petals on. As you can see, it is very important to get them even and nice ;-) I just cut something vaguely looking like circles from scraps of some kind. No worries. They´ll be hidden in the end anyway.


6. This step is quite self explanatory. Make a dollop of glue on a scrap piece of paper. Dip your petals in the glue and attach them to the "circle". You´ll end up with three "flowers, made out of the three different sized hearts.





7. Add glue to the middle of your biggest flower, then add the middle flower. The smallest one is added last. Your flower will now look something like this:


8. The center is made out of a paper strip. I like to make one side curvy, so that the end result become a bit uneven. When it comes to length: the loger strop the wider center, the wider strip the deeper.


9. I distress the strip of paper. Use any matching colour.

10. This is the most tedious step. You now have to cut into the paper strip. I use the blade of my scissor as a guide (about 1mm wide). Cut as far down as you have guts to. It will look better in the end.

11. Now, use your fingers, or a needle like show in the other tutorial, to roll your paper strip into a flower center. I triedusing a needle the first time, but I prefer using my fingers. When finished, dap a small dot of glue on the paper end, and squeese togheter until fastened.




12. Put the coil down on the table, and press the fringe down with your fingers. You can then follow with a ball tool, But I find that I have better control when doing it by hand. When finished, I colour some of the ends with my rather dead marker.


13. Fasten the center in the flower using a dot of glue. I use a ball tool to press it down.


14. The flower is finished :-)