June 18, 2012

Fish Tales

There was several times while designing this I officially reached burn out.  It wasn't so much designing as it was my simple impatience.

It was a beautiful Father's Day (cool temps for us).  Thus the reason I was being drawn outside instead of having to sit inside to work on this project.  If only there was a way to move the entire contents of my art supplies outside so I could sit and work and enjoy the weather.

Regardless, the project is finished.  Here's my take on a greenback cutthroat trout.  Please keep in mind I know nothing about fish species.  One thing's for sure.  After creating the Paper Piecing template of this I discovered how beautiful a fish really is when you look at it up close.  The colors, texture and patterns. 

This is for the fisherman describing the one that got away.


A little crystal effects on those dark splotches, which are actually aged leaf spots from the "French Foliage set.  There's nothing I enjoy more than finding an image to use from a stamp set for something other than what it was originally intended.


The pond grass was run through the Manhattan Flower embossing folder several times to give a chaos to the artichoke paper.  This makes it easier to look like textured grass instead of the actual flower.



Here's a close-up on the creel.  I had to look up exactly what this thing was used for.  Did I mention I don't fish??   This is one item that would look good just sitting around the house for decor.  Can't beat baskets for decor.


A brief tutorial on how to create your won creel.  I started out with the Ornament punch below.  You'll want to cut along the dashed lines and toss away the parts with the 'X'x on them.


Turn the top piece upside-down....


Here it is closed.  You'll want to run it through your lattice folder for texture and sponge it with brown inks.


The above was my first choice, but then I decided to put to use my new framelits (as an alternative if you don't have the Ornament punch).

Create two Crumb Cake shapes and emboss in lattice folder.  Cut the embossed peices as shown below.  Create two espresso shapes as well but this time you'll want to toss the inner piece.


Cut around the outer mark left from running your die through the machine.


Cut strips of cardstock and secure to the back so the espresso template and the embossed layer will be secure.  Remember, the inner piece is loose and will fall out if not secured to the espresso frame.


Here's teh finished peice.  A little toothpick wrapped in linen thread.   I removed a section on the grass and taped it directly to the back of the creel.  Simply attaching the creel to the front covered the grass.  By attaching a section of grass to the back of the creel it allowed for a more balanced flor of the pond grass.




The fish below were created with the Blossom Petal Builder.   The inked paper towel was dry from the previous day so I just spritzed it with water to rewet and pushed down the petals into it.




Okie Doke.  Now go try this for yourself.  Thanks for looking.



June 15, 2012

Suspended Trout Easel


Looking for something different this year for a Father's Day card?    If so, try your hand at this suspended trout easel.
 
If you're up for putting one of these together for yourself, I've provided a link to download the templates.  There's a "Trout Paper Piecing" template for those interested in doing the fish only, and a seperate link for the "Suspension Easel" to be used for other suspended projects.  Think of replacing the fish with flowers, balloons and more. 





 
The top-most layer of the fish was brayered with reinkers and then run through a lattice embossing folder.  Sprtiz with a little black ink and a stamped image from the SU! "Bright Flowers" stamp set.



General directions for creating the multi-colors for the trout are as follows.  Place desired colors of reinkers on a 'moist' paper towel or baby wipe.  Apply drops in consecutive rows to create your own color palette.  Colors for this sample were applied from the center working out on each side: 
 
Primrose Petal ~ center
Pool Party ~  each side of center
Certainly Celery ~
Always Artichoke~ outer-most edge

Once you've applied your desired colors to the wet towel, brayer across the inks on the towel.
 
 


With freshly inked brayer, roll across the top layer of the precut fish.




Cut a length of suspension (fishing) line and attach to the base of the tail and body in the center of the fish.  Secure with sticky strip.  Fold over your top layer to cover base of tail and body.



Secure ends of susupension line to back of easel, using the flap to cover the exposed sticky strip





June 10, 2012

Penned Post



The June issue of the Sampler offers ideas to bring back the basics of letter writing.  The "Penned Post" issue offers an abundance of stationary kits and elegant cards to script your thoughts and get back into the beautiful art of letter writing.

$12.99




The June issue is stuffed with beautiful cards and a variety of stationery kits and cases.  This month's debut PCS template is:  Nib and Well Writers Box, for those who enjoy practicing the art of calligraphy.




A little glimpse of what's inside: