Monkey Love Z Fold Tutorial!

 Hello, the last Wednesday of the month is always a Tutorial at Catch The Bug, so today I get to show you this fun fold! My Friend taught me this, and from a bit of searching around I think it's called a Z Fold card. 

I started my card with the pieces below. The brown base piece is 4.25" x 5.5", the pink piece is 4" x 10.5" and designer paper for the front, 3.75" x 2-3/8"

I'm having trouble with my camera, so the next picture isn't very clear, but I scored this piece at 2-5/8" and 5.25"

 then fold like the picture below. I also embossed the end with the spots and dots embossing folder.

 For my card front, I used Monkey Love-Big Heart from Bugaboo Stamps. I actually made this for my Niece for her Birthday, I thought it went nicely with the jungle lego set we got her!

 I had this image in stamp form from Totally Stampalicious days, so I stamped him twice on white cardstock and once on designer paper for the heart.  This can easily be done with the digital image as well. I coloured him with copics. Paper pieced the heart, cut the tail out of one image and glued it on and then cut the head out and popped it up.

You could also make this Z Fold card without the base, so to make an A2 size card you need to start with a piece 4.25" x 11" and score at 2.75" and 5.5"

It's a fun easy card, I hope you give it a try,

Have a Great Day!

Laurie

RILEY1312, Riley's Groovey New Clothes!

 Hello, it's time for another Riley and Company Challenge! Congratulations to Jan Farnworth, the winner of the last challenge! Yep that's right, we're now offering a prize to one lucky player per challenge!

This weeks challenge was brought to us by Riley fan Robin, she's challenged us to Dress Riley - not paper piecing, just drawing lines and making clothes for Riley/Sophie!

As you can see, I didn't read the instructions clearly until just now while typing! LOL oh well I did draw lines to make the clothes! Here's how I did it.

 I stamped Moosestache Riley onto some copy paper. Then I used a pencil to draw on his shirt & bell bottoms!

I used so repositionable tape to keep them still on the dp I wanted and traced around the patterns I made. Make sure to go pack over the lines with a black marker, I used a copic 0.3 liner. This makes them looked like they were stamped.

I also restamped Riley's mustache and cut it out, so it's sitting onto of the top.

I also used the Sweet Sunday Sketch SSSC161.

Want to play along???? here's what you need to do... If you would like to play along with us of course we would love to have you! AND - if you do, you could be in the running to win free rubber ... One lucky person per challenge will win our Logo Riley image which isn't available for purchase. You will also get the chance to display a winner's button on your blog. So get stamping Riley fans :).

 To play create a card using Riley and Company images. Once you have created your card/project upload  your card/project to the Riley and Company Blog so that we can see what you created. If you upload your card/project to SCS don't forget to include the keyword RILEY1312. We can't wait to see what you create!

For more inspiration, please check out the other Designers Blogs, you can find all the links on the right hand sidebar.

Have a Great Day!
Laurie

Bugaboo Tutorial Wednesday!

Hello, I'm excited, get to share with you a tutorial for Catch The Bug's Tutorial Wednesday! This is a really simple tutorial to make a Faux Moon that will work great with the new Martian digis just released at Bugaboo Stamps.

One of my favorite crafting tools is embossing folders, and I love them even more when they can be used to create somethingother than just paper with texture!
To make a Faux Moon, you will need the Spots & Dots embossing folder, circle nestie or punch whatever you use to create circles. I tried a few different papers, the spotted piece above is from DCWV's Nana's Nursery - Girl.
In this photo you can see the results of 3 different papers I used, the middle one is Bazzill petty cash, it is sort of shiny and has a texture, the bottom one is certainly celery.

I cut my circle first, using only about 3/4's of the circle for this card. You are actually using the reverse side of the embossing folder so it looks like craters, so if your paper has a good side, make sure to put the good side facing the side without the logo.

Then just sponge the edges and you have a moon!

Another great embossing folder that does double duty is the Tiny Bubbles EF, it makes a great golf ball when using the back side up!

For my card above, I used the new Martian-ship. The card base is black, with a layer of daffodil delight and then a layer of dp from DCWV rock queen, and of course the moon!

I coloured the image with copics and added some stickles.

Have a Great Day!

Laurie

Faux Denim Tutorial!

Hello, as promised here is a picture Tutorial on the fauz denim technique! I can't take credit for this, I saw it somewhere online, I'm sorry I can't remember where! So here is my version

You need a piece of bashful blue cardstock and a night of navy ink pad. Open the ink pad and while holding it on an angle, rub in down the width of the cardstock.
Then do the same thing rubbing it done the cardstock lengthwise. Keep repeating these steps un til you have the desired denim look!
I thought of this yesterday, cover the canvas background stamp with night of navy ink, off stamp then stamp the back of your faux denim. This really makes the back look like the back of denim.
To give it a more worn look, you a distressing tool or scissors to rough up the edges.
Here you can see the corner curled up corner with the back finished!

This would work well for black denim too. Try adding piercing, faux or real stitching, you can even add some bling like you see on designer jeans!

In case you missed it, here's a link to my finished card from yesterday!

Have a Great Day,
Laurie

Tutorial, Clothes for Riley!

Hello, I just wanted to share with you how easy it is to transform Riley into Sophie, or make any clothes for your Riley or Sophie stamps. First stamp your image onto a scrap piece of paper. I used coloured copy paper here so you can see it better.

Then with a pencil, draw in the clothing you want. In this case I'm making a dress. Cut out the piece you've just drawn and using a pencil lightly trace around it onto your designer paper.

Now to make it look like it's part of the image, use a fine tip black marker and draw in any lines or detail you'd like. Then I go around the edge of the whole image with a black SU marker so it looks like it was stamped.

Now in this case, since the arm is over lapping, you can cut out the arm and glue the dress to your main piece. Or what I did here, was cut off the arm just along the side of the dress and the bottom of the sleeve. Then stamp and colour another arm and slip in under the sleeve, so now the arm is on top!

For my finished piece, which you can see in this post, I added some tiny gems for buttons and voila Riley is now Sophie!

Have a Great Day!

Laurie

Riley Copic Tutorial!

I've had lots of comments on how I colour Riley, so here's a quick tutorial on the colours and steps I use. I really like this look, so I tend to use the same colours and method for both Riley and Sophie. Here's a list of the copics I use.

R20

E50

E51

E53

E33

E35

E37

I've tried several different papers, and my favorite, because of the effortless blending, is Neenah Solar white, I buy this from cleardollarstamps.com, and they now have vanilla too!

So to start, I use the R20, and colour circles on Riley's cheeks and inside his ear. Then I use E50 to colour his nose, or lower part of his face, going over the R20 on his cheeks.

Next, I use the E37 and go around the antlers and hooves where I think it would be the darkest.

Then I use E35 to colour the rest of his antlers and hooves. I go over this a few times til the E35 blends with the E37.

While I have the E35 out, I also use it to any areas of his face or body where I think it would be shaded or darker.

Then I colour his face, and usually body, with E33. I try to colour in small circles so there are no lines and it blends evenly.

It's hard to see in this photo, but I use E53 and colour along the arc of his nose to blend the E33 with the E50.

And I forgot the final phot, but for the last step, I take the E51 and colour over the whole nose, over the E50 and R20!

I hope this is helpful. This is just my favorite colours, you may prefer others.

Thanks for Stopping by,

Laurie

Catch the Bug Challenge and Tutorial!

Hello, I made this for the Catch the Bug Challenge, Gearing up for Christmas! We have 2 Teens and one 10 year old who loves to shop with her Sister, so Gift Card Holders come in handy at Christmas time!

I used Poppixmas snowballs to make this gift card holder, I've included a picture tutorial below. Poppi is a Digi Bugaboo Image, he's one of several Christmas Penguins available! I coloured Poppi in with copics, and added some glitter to the snow. The main image is matted on real red and popped up on the garden green base. I also stamped snowflakes onto the base using a background stamp I have from Local King Rubber Stamp. The ribbon helps tie the holder closed.
Top make the gift card holder, start with a piece of cardstock 4.25" x 11" (half a sheet).

Score at 4", 5.5" & 7".

Fold the card as shown below.

Add scor tape or adhesive to the edges as shown below.

Now your cardstock should look like this!

Make an opening for your gift card. I used the word window punch and a circle punch for the center.

You can see below what it looks like with a gift card in it, unfortunately this is an empty card I used already! lol

There you have it, super easy to make and decorate, and it fits into a regular envelope!

Have a Great Day!

Laurie

Riley Storage and a Peek!

Hello Everyone, well as promised here is a mini tutorial on storing unmounted Rileys! Like I said yesterday, I bought the unmounted Rileys to save money so I could buy more. My original plan was to mount them on ez mount myself. Then I discovered that I could spritz the back of the stamp with a little water and it would cling to the clear block! How easy is that! But then I had stamps everywhere and it wasn't easy to see what I had.

This wasn't my idea, I found it somewhere on the internet, but maybe you haven't seen it, so here goes!

SNEAK PEEK ALERT!

Okay this is the tools you'll need:

Aleene's Tack it over & over, rubber scissors and a foam brush

Here's your sneak peek of this May's Riley release...lol I know...such a tease!!!! ok here they are cut. I lay them of a piece of acetate which is on a scrap piece of cardstock.

Apply the Aleene's Tack it over & over, then spread with the foam brush. You really don't need a whole lot. Then I usually set them aside over night. The next day, I put each stamp in my hand, one at a time, sticking it and unsticking it a few times to lessen the stickyness...okay that sounds crazy but I don't know how else to explain it! lol

Here's the finished product. I bought this leather organizer at Liquidation World which is similar to Big Lots in the US. I think I paid $5.00 for it!!! They often carry this stuff cheap with outdated calendars inside. This binder has 3 rings inside.

Then I took pieces of 8 1/2 x 11" cardstock, cut them in half and rounded the corners. I had them lamenated at the Office Depot, it's very inexpensive.

I punched the holes in them and inserted into my binder! The Rileys stick perfectly.You can see from the photo that they are easy to find and use. I was trying to keep them in alphabetical order, but now I'm running out of space. I'm going to have to move to a regular size binder with full sheets of laminated cardstock! I Love Riley!

I hope you found this helpful. If you have any questions please let me know.

Don't forget the real Riley sneak peeks start tomorrow, with a blog hop on Wednesday 10 pm est and release immediately after, you're going to LOVE this release!

Glam Kitty & Putting those Spellbinder pendants to good use!

This is my favorite one so far and it's the first thing I made when my stamps arrived! I love this new sassy Glam Kitty from Totally Stampalicious!

One of the great things about it, you can make her cat colours, or skin colours with a cat costume! So today my Kitty is truely a Kitty, and doesn't she have expensive looking fashion taste!

Glam Kitty is coloured with copics, and I added crystal effects to her eyes, lips, necklace, and shoes. I used the Spellbinders pendant 'In Spades' to create some extra wow! I've added pictures below to show how I stacked them.

First with the large In Spades die, cut one real red piece and one black, well that's what I used...you can use any colours! lol
Stack these and turn the top one 90 degrees. I put dimensionals inbetween them.

Next I cut one white piece with a die from the nesties labels #4. I can't remember which size it was, but if you need to know just leave a comment & I'll let you know. I only have the red piece behind so you can see the white piece. I also cut 2 from the red with one of the small dies from the In Spades set.
and this picture shows how I attach them!

Then take the white piece and attach it on on top with dimensionals. Easy right! Then of course you can bling it up and make it real fancy!

I hope you give it a try! If you're like me, I love having all the latest dodads & gadgets, so it's nice to have multiple uses for them.

Stamps: Glam Kitty
Paper: real red, black, white, DP DCWV all dressed up
Ink: memento tuxedo black
Accessories: copics, nestie labels #4, Spellbinder pendant In Spades, glitter, crystal effects, black sakura pen, black gems, dimensionals

Don't forget, if you order from Totally Stampalicious today you will get 15% off, even on the new sets! Plus there's still a chance to win the new sets, you can find all the info on the Totally Stampalicious blog.

Tomorrow is another exciting day, the Monday Challenge at Totally Stampalicious will be posted and it's the first day of the sneak peeks for the new Riley & Company stamps.

See you then
Have a Great Day!
Laurie

Wish Big Birthday Card & A Cool Discovery!

Hello, I made this for the Friday challenge HSC64 on the Hanna Stamps forum, make a birthday card. I also used this weeks sketch challenge SC224 She looks a little naughty, and while trying to decide what sentiment to use, I laughed when I came across this one, so I had to use it!

The stamp is from "Dress up Hanna' she's stamped in black & coloured with copics. I also added pink stickles to fancy up her undies! This panel is popped up.

The card base is black, with a layer of white, and a layer of pixie pink embossed with the script EF. I sponged the edges with the same colour. The sentiment is from SU 'Short & Sweet' punched with the small oval. I also used the oval/scallop nesties.

I made a really cool discovery while making the black strips! You may have figured this out already, but I'll share just incase someone hasn't!

To make this cool strip, you need the Martha Stewart doily lace edge punch, and a strip of cardstock 1 3/8" wide and whatever length you need.

Line up the cardstock against the edge, this makes it easier to match the scallops on each side. Punch out the whole length.

Then flip the strip over and line up against the same edge. Punch the whole length. You've probably noticed this strip is shorter! I forgot to take a picture of this step!!! so I went back and redid it but I used a shorter strip (sorry for the confusion)...we'll just have to pretend it's longer!

Now your piece should look like this! I was totally impressed. It's so great to find new uses for your punches!

Hope you have a great day!

Laurie