perfectly4med: Artist at work

An old magazine and a bit of Brasso?

perfectly4med — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:04:29 +0000

Recycling is all the rage these days – apparently making something you’re about to throw away into something useful and beautiful is now known as upcycling. Here’s how to upcycle a glossy magazine page into a pretty greetings card using Brasso, embossing powder and a bit of elbow grease.

First find a glossy magazine (good quality paper), and then a page with a large illustration or photo with the colours you’d like. I used a page from a quilting magazine.

Next, pick your stamp. Whatever you stamp over will be protected and visible in the final project. I used a solid flower from Wow! Embossing Powder’s ‘In the Garden’ pack. You’ll also need a clear embossing ink and clear gloss embossing powder.

Stamp several images across your page using the clear embossing ink, cover with clear gloss embossing powder and heat set. Allow to cool completely.

Now is where the Brasso (the wadding variety) comes in – take a small amount of Brasso wadding and gently rub over the embossed image and around it, wiping off the ink as it lifts using a baby wipe. You shouldn’t need to scrub – if you do you may damage the paper.

You should now have embossed, coloured stamped areas surrounded by white(ish) stripped paper. Dry off (without melting your embossing) and cut out the stamped areas.

Repeat with a different stamp on an area of text – I used Wow! Embossing Powder’s Primary Apple Red embossing powder as well to add a coordinating colour.

Select your card stock and colour up the edges with Distress Inks – I used Antique Linen, Fired Brick, Barn Door and Pumice Stone. If you have any of the original magazine page left, try wiping over a strip lightly with Brasso to make a coordinating background paper.

Assemble your pieces and stick down to your card using a suitable adhesive. I finished off by adding black enamel (Ranger) centres and embellishments (see main image).

Unique Giveaway #3 – new draw, new winner

perfectly4med — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:49:26 +0000

Hi all – I’ve had no reply from the first drawn winner this week, so in I’ve decided to redraw for the giveaway in the hope of finding an active follower to win. So, random draw number two had the result:

The 35th commentor was ‘auslorri’ – well done! I’ve sent you an email, so check your inbox/spam folder – if you don’t reply within 7 days, you too will lose out on the prize!

More ATCs and a Gift Box

perfectly4med — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:39:51 +0000

I’ve been busy melting powders today… the last of my ATCs for this weekend’s swap with the Wow! Embossing Powder Design Team are complete! As normal, the photo doesn’t quite do them justice

And the last of my creations to be made in time for the trade show at the NEC is this lovely gift box – it’s just 5 cm square at the base and made from a sheet of A4 coloured card. The stamps are all from Wow! Embossing Powder, as is the fabulous no-messing-about-with-antistatic-bags white embossing powder.

ATCs – heat embossing techniques

perfectly4med — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:19:23 +0000

I’ve been busy quilting for the last few Thursday mornings, and all weekend – I’ll be showing the quilts off in due course once they are finished. I also spent several hours this week doing 3 metres of bunting for the WOW! Embossing Powder stand at the NEC trade show this weekend:

We’re also doing a Design Team ATC swap at the show, and have been encouraged to share our favourite embossing powder techniques… here are two of mine:

Unique Giveaway #3 – the winner!

perfectly4med — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:39:02 +0000

Hello all! If you entered my prize draw, you were one of just over 50 people to do so – what an incredible response, and thank you for all your comments.

The winner of the mug and fancy saucer set is the author of comment number:

Congratulations, Sandy, you’ve won! Look out for an email in your inbox with details on how to claim your prize

[And you're still in with a chance... if Sandy doesn't claim the prize within a week, I'll redraw]

WOW! Embossing Powder Challenge

perfectly4med — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:05:15 +0000

Hi all, just thought I’d give you the heads up – Wow! Embossing Powder are giving away 12 powders of the winner’s choice and a handy carry case in their February Challenge. Click on the pic for more details

Unique Giveaway #3 – four days to go

perfectly4med — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:51:56 +0000

Just a little reminder to those that haven’t entered yet, I’m giving away this mug and fancy saucer set hand-decorated with my own tangle designs. Entry is by commenting anywhere on my blog between now and midnight GMT on my birthday, Friday 10th February. I’ll draw the winner on Saturday 11th February and announce it here on my blog. Good luck! [If you've already entered, you're welcome to make more comments, but you'll only be entered into the draw once.]

Self-closing box instructions

perfectly4med — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:46:09 +0000

Following several requests (well, at least one!), here are instructions for making my self-closing box using the printable template on my Template page.

Either print or trace the outlines from the template onto a sheet of A4 card (at least 160gsm recommended)

Cut round the solid lines

Using a scoring blade in your personal cutter, or an embossing tool or other scoring technique of your choice, score the dotted lines

Crease all the scored lines, folding upwards. Add a strip of double sided tape to the underside of the tab (red strip in photo)

Stick down the tab to the inside (printed) side of the last (right hand) section of the box, to make a pentagonal cylinder

The tags tuck under one another to close the box – you should end up with a nice swirl. To unlock, just pull one of the hooks from the rest. By doing the same top and bottom, you can create a horizontal box like the centre of a Christmas Cracker

If you want a vertical standing box, try tucking the hooks toward the inside of the box – this is tricky and fiddly, but gives this smooth bottom closure

And this is what it would look like on the inside.

Hope this helps! If you want a video version of this, then I’ll point you toward my Amazon wish list so you can get me the webcam I’d like to set up video tutorials

Wow! A Mother’s Day Bouquet

perfectly4med — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:00:41 +0000

I’ve posted another project over at Wow! Embossing Powder blog as part of their design team. This time I have designed a bouquet in a perfectly formed custom gift box, making use of the February fluorescent theme colours. Pop over for the instructions.

Templates and instructions for the box can be found on my new Templates page – look in the toolbar above, or click here.

Foam Board Wave Machine

perfectly4med — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:38:14 +0000

I’m doing a 3D module at college at the moment, and we have to design something with one moving part, to be made out of wood/acrylic. Of course I had ambitious ideas, and decided to mock up my proposal out of 5mm foam board to check that it worked. So here is my 3D, working, foam board wave machine, starring a kebab stick!

I’d love to post a video of it in action… but I haven’t quite got the right facilities to do that just yet

This took about 90 minutes to make, with no templating or pattern. The base is A5 size, the discs the diameter of a 10 pence piece secured with a bit of glue. It was really exciting to give the kebab stick it’s first turn and see the wave pattern go across!