Liquid Applique: Instant Gratification VS Following the Directions

Liquid Applique is a product I have had in my stash for almost 5 years. It is a liquid substance that you squirt on your paper, heat with a heat tool, and it puffs up. It can be used on images like popcorn, Santa suits, bunny tails, slippers... etc. You get the picture, right? I have used it occasionally and have achieved barely acceptable results. Now I know why! LMBO! Please read on if you are Liquid Applique challenged! I am about to change your Liquid Applique life! I promise! LOL

Here is my bottle of liquid applique. I stamped an image from my MFT set, Tea for Two. This image is responsible for my Liquid Applique *light bulb* moment! When using this stamp, I decided I wanted a fluffy bunny tail!
Before I used the Liquid Applique, I read the directions. See how it says LET DRY? Remember that! Ok, moving on....

When using Liquid Applique, just squirt some on the card stock like this. You can move the stuff around with the tip of the applicator to smooth it out a bit.

Then you heat set with a heat tool (embossing gun) and when you heat set it immediate;y (without allowing it to dry) it gets all bubbly and crazy like this. I mean, it KINDA looks like a bunny tail, right? Except for the part that it is lumpy and bumpy. Truth be told the stuff underneath isn't even dry yet. If I were to press on this tail right now, goo would squish out. Gross, but true. Want to know how I know that? I have tried it before. I wanted to smooth out the bumps once and... well... instead stuff smooshed out and it was ruined!

A couple days BEFORE I took the above pictures, I was working on a card using Tea for Two and after coloring the images (I has stamped 2 of them), I decided I wanted to have a fluffy bunny tail. Now, having been annoyed with Liquid Applique in the past, I decided to read the directions. As hard as it was to follow the directions, I squirted out the stuff on both tails and set the images aside to work with the next day. Waiting is hard for me. I am an instant gratification type of girl, but I did it. I waited a WHOLE 24 HOURS! Proud of me? LOL This is what it looks like after drying for 24 hours. It gets kinda flat and glossy and hard.

When I went to heat it, I wondered how it would work since it wasn't wet. But LOOK! Look at that perfect little bunny tail. No gross bulges and bumps. No weird misshapen bumps. No messy goo underneath. Nope... just a cute little bunny tail that is fairly evenly bumpy and actually REALLY cute!

Look at the difference! To think for FIVE years I have been squirting and heating and NOT following the directions. Look what I have been missing! LOL

Cute little bunny tails!

Lesson learned! No matter HOW hard it is to wait, I WILL wait!

Tea with Flopsey

This card was made with the Tea with Flopsey set from MFT. I loooooooooove Flopsey! I mentioned my love of tea stamps a couple days ago with THIS card, so as you can image, tea+Flopsey=LOVE IT! Isn't that sentiment the cutest? Awwwwwwww!

The image was stamped on white with black ink and colored with my Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. My poor Copics are crying in a corner this week! LOL The leaves on the tree were stamped with Chalk Ink. The "blanket" is a SU canvas die cut. I made the ribbon pleat with my SU celery twill and my trusty Janome Sew Mini. I added some more stitching and brad details to finish it off.

I hope you all are having a WONDERFUL weekend!

Hugs!

Jody

Stamps: Tea with Flopsey, CHF canvas

Ink: black, celery, white craft

Paper: bashful blue, black, celery, white, green chalk ink

Accessories: silver brads, Janome sew mini, Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits, blending stumps, SU canvas die cuts, SU twill ribbon, red line dimensionals, glue dots

impressed, amazed, inspired

Do not adjust the color on your computer screen. You are actually seeing Yoyo Yellow! LOL I RARELY use bright colors, but when sitting down to make this card, I colored the image FIRST with no regard to which card stock I would use.

I started by stamping the largest flower and then using masks to stamp the other 4 flowers. This gives depth to your images, while avoiding over-stamping. I colored the flowers with my Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I used liquid applique in the centers of the 4 outer flowers. Prior to heat-setting the liquid applique, I coated it with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I used a Quickie Glue Pen to outline the largest flower and dusted it with Dazzling Diamonds glitter as well. The sentiment was die cut using a Nesties label die. The yoyo yellow panel has a Houndstooth background stamped on it with white craft. See how it looks a little more muted compared to the sentiment? The white almost acts like a filter to take some of the brightness out of the paper. I used 2 diagonal pieces of ribbon to go with the "askew" panel. I felt like it needed some "oomph" so I tied two pieces of organdy ribbon to either side of the panel. It looked a little too... something... flowy? elegant? So, I used my heat gun to "melt" the ribbon slightly. You have to be VERY careful when doing this. A little dab'll do ya!

I finished it off with some white brads and of course some dimension using the red line dimensionals!

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, SU sentiment, CHF Houndstooth

Ink: black, white craft

Paper: rose red, black, yoyo yellow, white

Accessories: white brads, Janome sew mini, organdy ribbon, velvet ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds, Liquid Applique, red line dimensionals, Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits, blending stumps

Digital Girl gets Sassy!

Today Digital Girl is getting sassy! LOL This sentiment "Byte Me" is part of a "twisted" stamp set from MFT called Twisted Too (not for the faint of heart, click at your own risk LOL). :)

I used an SU background stamp that looked "officey" (new word). I stamped it in white craft ink. Then, I decided to carry on with the office theme and use my spiral notebook punch. I rubbed my fingers up and down the punched area to make it look more realistic. There is something that is REALLY bothering me about the punch though... can you spot it? Let's make this an official Jody rule, so I can fill you in on the faux paux!

• When using a border punch, start in the MIDDLE of the paper and move outward. This will ensure that your punched areas end up at the same place on both ends. This is especially important when using a scalloped border punch. If you have a full scallop on one end and a half scallop on the other end, it will draw your eye away from the flow of the card.

Of course, this only applies when it is POSSIBLE to start in the middle. The SU spiral punch is designed to start at the end and move only in one direction. It is PERFECT for lining up, but not so perfect for centering the punched area. There is a new notebook punch by EK Success that is a true border punch and will allow you to center and then punch. A friend bought it for me and is bringing it to the next class! YAY! If you are looking for an easy way to center things, there is a centering ruler sold at Michaels for about $3. I use it all the time!

The next layer up is stamped with a grid background stamp in white craft. The sketch came from an SCS sketch challenge. The image is colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits. My blue shadow went a bit wild, but what else can you expect from a digital girl who says "Byte Me"? LOL

Have you noticed I often use Versamark or white craft for my background layers? When working on your background layers, you want them to be interesting so that as the eye moves around, you find new and exciting parts to the card, but you don't want it to SCREAM "look at me instead of the Byte Me Digital Girl". KWIM? If I had stamped the background stamps in dark brown, it would look obnoxious. Let's make that a rule, although it is a loose one. SOMETIMES it's ok to use a dark background, but I would say 80% of the time, you should go subdued.

• When working with background layers, go subtle with your stamping. Use Versamark or white craft to make it interesting, yet not over-powering. Of course, as with everything else, if you try something dark and it looks good, roll with it. :) The focus of this rule is: keep your focal point on your focal image. The background should look good, but not be the first thing you are drawn to.

I finished it off with a fun corduroy button from SU. See that pink button with the linen thread tie in it? That was an invention of necessity. AFTER I had tied on the button, I realized it had SILVER holes. UGH! I had already used copper brads and mixing metals is a NO NO. SO... I had to find a tiny enough button to layer in there and cover the silver holes. :) Yes, I am serious, and YES I am uptight. It is what it is, KWIM? But, again it IS a Jody Rule:

• Avoid mixing metals on your card. If you use copper brads, you DON'T want to use a corduroy button that has silver holes. IF you do... cover up said silver holes with a mini button. :) OH and don't forget to THREAD the button with something. :)

I hope you all are having a GREAT week!

See you back soon!

Jody

Stamps: digital girl (currently sold out), SU background, CHF BG, Twisted Too

Ink: white craft, palette brown

Paper: white, chocolate, creamy caramel, pretty in pink

Accessories: ribbon, copper brads, buttons, linen thread, word window punch, Prismacolor pencils, odorless mineral spirits, blending stumps, red line dimensionals, spiral punch

Tea-licious

I collect tea stamps and this new set, Tea for Two made a great addition to my collection. :)

I stamped the image in black and colored it with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I found this sketch on a blog somewhere (don't remember where, sorry). The edges of the layers were stitched with thick, gray thread. I sewed the buttons on to the base layer with thread and ribbon. Remember: NO NAKED BUTTON HOLES! LOL The buttons are all from SU. The pink layer is stamped with a linen background using white craft ink, but it's really subtle and kinda hard to see.

Stamps: Tea for Two, linen SU

Ink: Black, white

Paper: white, basic gray, pretty in pink, going grey

Accessories: SU buttons, thread, Janome sew mini, white taffeta ribbon, pink grosgrain ribbon, red line dimensionals, scalloped border punch, Prismacolor pencils, odorless mineral spirits, blending stumps

Have a wonderful day! I'll have another card for you tomorrow, so check back.

Jody

Kind People

I just love this stamp set, Fifth Avenue Floral from SU. It is SO pretty!

To make this card, you will need to create a mask. My favorite tool for masking is Eclipse masking tape. It is a thin adhesive paper, but the adhesive is similar to post-it-note sticky stuff. VERY light so it won't rip your paper when trying to remove it, but sticky enough to stay. Don't you love it, when things are "just right"? LOL To use Eclipse masking tape, all you need to do is stamp your image on it and then cut it out. You then can keep it with your stamp set so that you have it when you need it. There are other ways to mask, including actually using post it notes, but this method is BY FAR the easiest (and most effective) in my opinion.

To start, I stamped the largest flower on my white card stock as well as the Eclipse masking tape. Then, I placed the trimmed mask over my stamped flower on my card stock. I then stamped the flowers to the left and right of the large flower. This prevents you from "over-stamping" your images. You are left with clean, flowing lines. I also had to create a mask for the flower to the left of the largest flower. By doing this, you create the illusion that the flowers are at various depths.

The image was colored with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I have given my Copics the week off! They will be missed, but I had been itching to use my colored pencils. :) When choosing my layout and layers, I had zeroed in on this basic gray patterned paper from SU. I needed to be creative to make it work, because I had already matted my flowers using Basic Gray card stock. I have a rule to stick with the same color of mats for my layers. It helps create a more cohesive look. It would have been silly to mat Basic Gray patterned paper with Basic Gray card stock, so I decided to break up the "line" between the 2 by sponging the edges with white craft paint. Why paint? Pigment ink wasn't giving it enough POP, so I went with something that would offer a more opaque coverage. In addition to swiping the edges of the patterned paper with paint, I also swiped the patterned paper itself with paint. To do this, I grabbed a baby wipe (was sitting on my desk and was mostly dry) and squirted a little paint on it. Then, I swiped. How is THAT for technical. LOL Feel free to use a napkin, Kleenex, or paper towel. Anything goes. :) The paint helped to differentiate between the card stock and the patterned paper and lent itself well to the dusty feel of the card. I used a Quickie Glue pen and some Dazzling Diamonds glitter to add some sparkle to a couple of the flowers.

I used my Janome sewing machine and some thick gray thread to stitch on the layers of the card. See that ribbon tab to the right? That was the invention of necessity. The thick thread, made my machine VERY jumpy and I had a little sewing mishap in that area. Instead of starting over (or worse yet, letting it slide), I added the little tab to cover it up. :) YAY for that. This card's size is nothing "normal". LOL I let the image be the guide and rolled with it.

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Soft Summer

Ink: Black

Paper: going grey, basic grey, white, pretty in pink, basic gray patterned paper

Accessories: Janome sew mini, scalloped oval punch, oval punch, red line dimensionals, pink ribbon, Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits, craft paint, pink brads, baby wipe, quickie glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter

Nite Nite Ellie

Today, I played with Nite Nite Ellie. The concept for this stamp set came from my friend, Jen del Muro. You read more about this set HERE directly from Jen. If you click over you can read about the charity that this set benefits as well as see a picture of her sweet daughter, Ellie. :)

I started with a door hanger. I got the idea from my friend Michele Boyer who made an AMAZING one that you can see HERE.

I stamped Ellie in black ink and colored her with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I added some simple embellishments. I have no clue where I got the background piece of patterned paper. I am sure I was drawn to it because of the ribbon... and the stitching. :) To tie in the paper with the other elements of the project, I stitched on one of the layers. I actually broke one of my own rules and made a "cross" with the ribbon. The ribbon on the paper is running vertically, but the real ribbon is horizontal. To make it LESS of an infraction, I used organdy ribbon... which is so see-through that it's like it's not really there... but it is. LMBO! Yes, I am justifying! The rule above all other rules is:

• If you try something on your card and it looks good, go with it... EVEN if it breaks a rule you otherwise follow.
  

TIP: I added some silver brads for a little pizazz and tied a button on with the organdy ribbon. Want to tie ribbon through your button? Cut it at an EXTREME angle and feed one side of your end through just like it was thread. Just yank really hard to get it through. I am sure there is a limit to which ribbon will REALLY fit, but all I have tried have worked. :)

Here is a card I came up with using the stamp set.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day! I have been holed up in my stamp room creating away and I MUST say that I REALLY love having my ribbon organized. It is SO easy to find matching ribbon now. YAY! If you missed it, you can view my new ribbon organization HERE.

Door Hanger:

Stamps: Nite Nite Ellie

Ink: black, Versamark

Paper: black, patterned paper, pretty in pink, white

Accessories: silver brads, button, ribbon, Janome sew mini, oval punch, red line dimensionals

Card:

Stamps: Nite Nite Ellie

Ink: black, Versamark

Paper: white, black, pumpkin, brocade blue, saffron, SU SAB patterned paper, white

Accessories: silver brads, Janome sew mini, Nesties, ribbon, colored pencils and gamsol, red line dimensionals

Mission Reorganization: Ribbon Wrangling

It's no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I am a MAJOR ribbon addict. TRULY, certifiably addicted to ribbon. I had gotten to a point where I had ribbon all over my stamp room, in a zillion drawers... with no rhyme or reason. I had even resorted to sticking ribbon in empty tote things and putting those totes on TOP of my drawers, because I could no longer fit anything IN the drawers! UGH! If I needed some ribbon for a card, I generally knew the vicinity to look in, but there was no guarantee I could find it in a reasonable time without getting tangled in it.

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH", I said to myself about three weeks ago! LOL Just to be clear, I didn't mean "enough is enough ribbon buying", I meant "enough is enough with the lack of organization". I just wanted to throw that out there so you all don't think I grew a ribbon backbone! I STILL love ribbon and if I REALLY love it, I AM going to buy it! LOL OK, disclaimer over, now let's start the ribbon wrangling.

Like I said, I had ribbon EVERYWHERE. I didn't take a "before" picture, but if you look at my pictures from about 9 months ago HERE you can see my ribbon storage system. I had it stored my RIBBON TYPE and had literally just tossed it in a drawer. (I found another post where you can see my "before" HERE.) All polka dots were together, all gingham, all organdy... etc. The PROBLEM with that is that is wasn't really all of that type. I would still have other ribbons around my room that were polka dot and it was very hard to keep it all straight. For example, as I was working on ribbon wrangling, I discovered that I had about 15 spools of black gingham. 15. Why on earth would I need that much? That is not even counting the "loose" May Arts. It was SAD! LOL I don't even LIKE black gingham that much! LOL

I sat and thought about what would make my life easiest. What would make the most sense? COLOR! I decided I wanted all my ribbon organized by COLOR! Then, I started hyperventilating KNOWING how ridiculous of a task it was going to be. LOL I realized that I had a TON of different brands and spool sizes and that concerned me. I didn't want it to be all funky and hard to dig through, so I did the unthinkable... I stripped my ribbon off the spools! YES, I am serious. VERY FEW of my ribbon spools made it out alive! LOL The ONLY way I left it on a spool was if there was a TON of it on a spool (30 yards or more) OR if it was my SU ribbon (haven't "wrangled" that yet).

I started by going to Walmart and buying tons of baggies from the craft section. I bought LOTS of 2 X 3 (you'd be surprised by how much ribbon fits in there, 3 X 4 and 4 X 6. I think I spent about $30 or so in baggies. I wanted each ribbon to be separated in it's own baggie so I could keep it under control.

Next, I set up shop on my living room sofa. I had baggies, regular clothespins, scissors and a little trash can (and my DVR which kept me semi-sane throughout the process). I grabbed several drawers at a time and while I watched TV, I wound ribbon around my fingers until they literally hurt. Each time I finished wrapping a piece, I clipped it with a clothespin to keep it wound. I had 50 clothespins, so once I had wrapped 50 pieces, I would then transfer them into the baggies. Sometimes, it went straight into baggies, but I preferred the "assembly line" style to the "piece by piece" style. I started with all my loose May Arts ribbon. That took me about a week. I would say probably about 20 hours. *shakes head at self* LOL

After the loose ribbon was done, I started tackling the spooled ribbon. MOST of the spools I had were 5 yards or less. I just ripped off one side of the spool, then took the ribbon off the spool, then wound it around my fingers so I had little wound pieces. I also sorted through as I was doing this and bagged up a TON of spools to sell. Again, I don't care HOW much you love ribbon, one person does NOT need 15 spools of black gingham! LMBO! If it was a 10 or 15 yard spool, I attempted to slide it off the spool so I didn't have to re-wind it. This worked most of the time. Another option, is leaving the center of the spool on (if it's small in diameter) and just removing the sides, which add a lot of bulk. The spooled ribbons took me about 15 hours to sort through and wind.

When I was done winding and bagging, I then sorted it all into piles based on color (I actually sorted along the way using the drawers I was emptying). Once I figured out how MUCH of one color I had, I was able to determine the size of drawer I needed for each color. I was able to fit the ribbon into probably less than half the space I was using before.

The entire process took me about 3 weeks. There were times I regretted starting it, but I am SO glad I did it. Now, I can dig through the color I am looking for and see at a glance EVERY ribbon choice I have in that color. They are all in their own baggies, so I don't have to worry about them getting all tangled and messy. I can remove the drawer easily and take it to my stamp table if I want to. Clean up is WAY easier. If I have taken ribbon out of a drawer, all I need to do is stick it back in the baggie and go throw it in the drawer it belongs in. I can see the color through the translucent drawer, so it is easy to find (I may stick a colored label on each drawer later). I just really love being able to find what I want. The PLUS side of this, is that I may find something I don't remember having! LOL

If I happen to have some multicolored ribbon, I place it in the drawer that matches the dominant color. If there is not really a dominant color, I placed it in a "multicolored drawer". My plan is to use that drawer if I want to "start with the ribbon" and build a card around it.

My drawers are as follows:

• white
• cream
• white/cream (needed a *little* more space for each)
• yellow
• orange
• red
• light pink
• dark pink
• blue
• green
• teal
• light brown
• dark brown
• black
• gray
• naturals (hemp, twine, twill)
• multicolored (the drawer for ribbon without a dominant color)
• basic grey fibers
• purple
  

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment (MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS) or e-mail me and I will do my best to answer them! :)

Have a wonderful day!

I'll be back in a bit with a card! Now that my ribbon is wrangled I have actually had time for STAMPING and have THREE cards done and another one started!