Shaker Pocket and Trim for Happy Mail

Trim

Shaker Bag

Bagged Tim

SHAKERS

With all those little pieces of scrap paper that are trimmed off, I've been punching shapes before tossing the last bits. Because the butterfly is the smallest punch I have, I have a lot of tiny butterflies.

Into the shaker, I added in some seed beads and heart sequins along with the butterflies. The last thing to go in were the letters I posted yesterday (primed with Gesso) with the tags. I colored the tags with Sharpie and used a Micron to write the recipients name on the letter.

Fuse tool

Yesterday I mentioned that I often didn't wait long enough for the Fuse tool to heat, well, on the bottom of the upper right shaker you can see that I had to go over it several times in order to get the plastic to stick together. On the other shakers you can see the single line where the tool had heated long enough and the plastic stuck together on the first run.

Garland Trim

With some punched flowers I created these garlands for trim, they are about 10 inches long and super easy to make using double faced tape. Just roll a bit of tape out exposing the sticky side, stick on a large flower and about a quarter inch apart stick another large flower, then between the two stick a small flower. I added half pearls to all of the flowers and slipped them into these bags I made from the tops of the page protectors I had waiting for such a project.

The next project for this Happy Mail will to make some ATCs and tag thingys. Then it will be time to decorate the folders... make extra bits and do the envelopes... I need to start on Christmas Happy Mail, but am doing this first, putting it off... ruminating, that's the excuse ;)

Have a great day!

Theta

Garland Wrapped Tags

Tag on the left is covered in Gesso, the tag on the right is as it printed,  the letters have a layer of Gesso

First finished tag

Five finished tags

The last couple of days I have been working on tags and garlands to wrap around them for my Happy Mail.

For the tag base I printed off some tags from Tati Scrap (scroll way down) or here. But, since my printer was running out of ink, they printed beige at the top (about 1/10th) and purple at the bottom. Not liking to throw things away, especially things I print, I saved them.

Since I printed the tags with my inkjet printer, the ink is not waterproof. I first used a waterbrush and let the ink bleed. Then on the first tag, I used alcohol ink and pens letting the ink bleed. But, on the set of five tags, I used Staedtler Watercolor Crayons in blue and red, blending them with my waterbrush. After the background dried, more or less, I stamped an Inkadinkadoo swirly dragonfly stamp and on top a Heidi Swapp word background stamp using Tsukineko Memento Elderberry and Brilliance Galaxy Gold inks respectively. For the finishing touches on the single tag I outlined the tag with a brown sharpie and then edged the tag with a white Sakura Gelly Roll. I didn't like the brown as well as I thought I would, so I didn't use it on the other tags, but did stick with the white Gelly Roll.

For the garlands, I glued one of the glitter butterflies in the center of red crochet thread. On either side of the butterfly I glued punched flowers and hearts.

Garlands

Once everything was dry... waiting is so hard to do, I wrapped the garlands around the tags and tied a bow. I made some bags out of the tops of page protectors I had cut off for last years summer vacation scrapbook.

For the bags' sides I used the Fuse tool. The trick for me when I use the tool is to make sure it is fully heated before trying to use it to stick the plastic together. I always hurry the waiting for the iron to get hot and then the plastic sticks temporarily. I have learned to check the seal and if it didn't work, wait for the tool to get hotter and then try.

Garland wrapped tag

The last set of tags have two coats of Gesso and are glued back to back. then I used the watercolor crayons to add color. I am thinking about what to do to them next, probably stamp something on them and then add some doodling. I am planning on putting the tags in the Happy Mail with the tags with the garlands.

Have a wonderful day!

Theta

Tags with two layers of Gesso, glued back to back, and with watercolor crayon

Card - Friend

I made this card for a friend today. I have been making and embossing Spellbinders Shapeabilities feathers to use as embellishments. On this card I used three of the feathers after inking their edges with Memento by Tsukineko. The feather with the silver tip is cut from white cardsock with silver duct tape stuck to the paper before cutting and embossing.

I have also been making hearts with wings. I made a wing pattern and fussy cut the wings out of patterned paper. To make the heart, I stuck sparkly tape to a cereal box and punched the heart out. I glued a velum mini punched heart to it and glued on a blue gem to finish it off. Then i glued on the wings. Under the wings and heart I used foam tape and another heart. I like the way the hearts look with the top heart and wings up a bit. The heart underneath gives the element more stability and a large area to glue it down.

Under the heart with wings I placed an Art-C stamp & cut doily. I inked the edges of the doily. Under the doily went the feathers. Then I wrote 'friend' on a piece of blue Fabriano cardstock and inked the edges. The SBC light blue paper strip in the center is scented and printed with butterflies. Down the center of the paper strip I put blue metallic tape and on top a strip of paper lace. Next I glued down the heart with wings and friend elements. This strip I glued to a blue piece of Fabriano cardstock and glued the whole thing to a card front. Then I added the black doilies cut from Daiso lace washi tape. Lastly, I added gems.

Have a great day!

Theta