{love}message in a bottle

Hello, this is Doris from Cheap Psychology - my turn to do a DT post on Valentines ideas for men.

I wanted something to encapsulate a lot of little messages to him, something non-cute that we could keep for the future and would I be happy to display. The messages are all rolled up like paper beads. So this is how the idea panned out.

It is quite simple really! Roll your bottle in embossing ink and shake on your embossing powder. Start heating the bottle up slowly on the lower setting of your head gun and work in sections.

I used a the end of a wooden spoon wrapped in some cloth and stuck it in the bottle neck. This way my fingers were out of the way and I could turn the bottle to where I needed it. Work in sections and do not worry if you missed a bit. When the bottle is warm from your heat gun, you can add more embossing powder and it will stick.

When the bottle was covered, I heated up sections again and used some

clear embossing powder and drips of water. This gives an aged effect. The crystals were stuck on by again heating up a section of the bottle that

was already embossed and place them carefully. Use a pair of tweezers to manipulate the crystals into place, you have a brief window before the embossing powder sets hard.

It struck me that having a shelf of embossed bottles and jars would look quite beautiful. Especially with the range of metallic and coloured metallic WOW embossing powders at my disposal.

A great beginners project, but watch your fingers -it can get hot!

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Lovebirds for Valentine's Day

Hi there, it's Sarah here!  It's now time for me to inspire you with a male themed card for Valentine's Day. My thoughts were drawn to something fairly plain and simple with not too many ribbons or glittery things. I then decided on this lovely lovebird stamp and decided to create something with a sense of movement to it! Here's how to make it…












































































STEP 1:
Using Wow Embossing Stampset1 - Is It A Bird

Stamp the lovebird onto white card using a clear ink pad and sprinkle Primary Ebony Wow Embossing Powder over the area that you have stamped. Tap off the excess powder then heat the card from below using a heat gun. You can see when the embossing powder has set as it turns glossy.

STEP 2:
A neat trick for creating a mirror image of a stamp is to use a lightbox (or a window) to trace the positive stamp image (trace the design on the reverse to get the mirrored image). I traced the image using a Wow Embossing Pen and then quickly heat embossed the design (with Primary Ebony Wow Embossing Powder) to get the mirror image of the stamp.
TIP: If you are using a different stamp range that doesn't come with an acetate sheet with the design printed onto it, heat emboss the stamped image that you want a mirror image of, and flip it over on the light box and trace the reverse.

STEP 3:
Using the Wow Embossing Pen, colour in the heart (within the lovebird stamp) and then heat emboss with Apple Red Wow Embossing Powder.
Use a fine pencil to lightly draw a line around the two stamped birds. This pencil line provides a guide to follow as you use scissors to cut around the heat embossed lovebirds.

STEP 4:
Punch a medium sized heart from the white card and triple heat emboss with Apple Red Wow Embossing Powder
TIP: To create a glossy heart embellishment, I pressed the heart shape onto a clear ink pad and covered with the embossing powder. The trick to layering the embossing powder and building up multiple coats is to work quickly. Once you have heated the first layer, quickly sprinkle over more powder and heat again and repeat this process a couple of times to get a thick glossy heart embellishment. Use long handled tweezers or flat nose pliers to grip the heart.

STEP 5:
Stamp a couple of the little heart stamps (from the same stamp set -  Wow Embossing Stampset1 - Is It A Bird) and heat emboss using Apple Red Wow Embossing Powder. Cut around them or use a small circle punch to easily punch them out.

STEP 6:
Cut a thin strip of acetate about 2.5mm wide and cut this into two strips about 120mm long.

STEP 7:
Take a square card 144mm x 144mm and using glue dots, attach the lovebirds and small hearts to the acetate strands and then attach these to the inside of the card. To make it look neater, I used small square pieces of the same background card to hide the area where the acetate strands are attached to the inside of the card.

STEP 8:
Attach the triple embossed heart embellishment somewhere in the middle of the card (near to where the lovebirds sit using thick mini foam pads. I decided on 'je t'aime' for the sentiment as I felt it suited the illustration style of the lovebirds. I hand wrote the sentiment on the front towards the bottom of the card. (If your don't feel that your freehand skills are up to this, you can find a template here that you can trace) Enjoy! :D



TA DA! A lovebird inspired Valentine's Day Card

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(Gentle)manly card and a quick mask tutorial

Hi, its Amy here with my first individual post for the WOW design team. Its my turn to post my manly card so here it is...

WOW powders used:

Metallic Silver Ultra High (wings)

Apple Red (Hearts)

Primary Ebony Ultra High (torn edges and question mark)

Primary Ebony Super Fine (figure and text)

Stamps:

Indigo Blu (main image)

Various clear stamps I have had in my collection for so long I have no idea what make they are - sorry!

I made the background on white card by putting my hand into a plastic bag and scrunching it onto a Weathered Wood distress ink pad before dabbing it onto the paper. I then stamped and embossed the main image in ebony, 3 different sized hearts in apple red and the 'be mine' text in ebony. The 'will you be my valentine' caption was created using a dymo labeller. I triple embossed the question mark (from a grungeboard alphabet set) in ebony ultra high.

The crown and wings were die cut from black card using the Tim Holtz Heart Wings die. I triple embossed these with metallic silver ultra high. Because this was quite thin card when it was heated they naturally curved slightly so this was perfect for the effect I wanted to achieve. Of course if you want them to stay flat then I would just use thicker card. I used a craft knife to carefully cut a slit down each side of the image where I wanted to pop my wings through and used double sided tape on the back to hold them in place. I tore the edges of the finished piece against a ruler and embossed them in ebony by roughly running the embossing ink pad along the edges. I think this gives a lovely vintage look but it also provides a frame without using additional card. I then mounted the finished result on red card and there you have it. Hope you like it?

Embossing with Masks

As I have been playing with this effect all week I thought I would also share a quick method for embossing with masks. There are many other ways to use them too but here is mine:

I used various masks from The Crafters Workshop. First I applied embossing ink to the mask by squishing it (technical term!) onto the pad.

I then carefully positioned it onto the card. To apply pressure over the top to transfer the embossing ink onto the card I used a brayer. After experimenting I found the best way to do this was to lay a sheet of paper over the top of the mask and brayer over the paper, holding the mask in place. This way no excess embossing powder can transfer to the brayer and ink up areas which you don't want embossed. Brayer gently in one direction not backwards and forwards so you don't move the mask.

Remove the paper and mask, apply embossing powder, tap off the excess and return to the jar. Then gently heat your powder until it melts.

WOW Sherbert embossing powder

WOW blue embossing powder

(dont be deceived by the less exotic name of this powder - its an amazing colour)

WOW Pepper embossing powder

and WOW Azure embossing powder

Can't wait to use these last two as backgrounds for cards. I hope this inspires you to play and have as much fun as I did. I'll be back in February with another post. Meanwhile can't wait to see what the rest of the talented team comes up with.

Amy

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Triple Embossed Masculine Valentines Card

Hi all, Christine Saunders here.  It's my turn today for the Masculine themed Valentine's Day Card. 

I love  embossing and like to experiment with my powders to see if I can alter some of my craft stash to make it match my theme and make it more adaptable too. For this card I found some metal embellishments which I embossed with Copper powder to alter the colour.

I also Triple Embossed a Die Cut Heart  and stamped into the powders with the "Call Me" stamps. Once it had cooled down for approx 10 minutes I "cracked" it by bending it to give a crackled effect.  The sentiment was embossed with Clear Embossing Powder to add a little dimension. I also added a Vellum flower and embossed the edges with  Satin Pearl Gold Powder.

The powders I used were:  Copper Ultra Fine

                                                  Copper Regular 

                                                  Gold Satin Pearl Regular

                                                  Clear Gloss -Super Fine

The Stamps I used were: Set 3 -"Call Me"  

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Mixed Media Moments!

Hi Everyone

Here are a few samples which use different mediums to make best use of your embossing powders and stamps.

This card was inspired when I visited a local store and saw a display with a British theme.

Materials Used:

• White card stock making a 6 x 6 card
• RSVP antique floral background paper
• Papermania ribbons
• Papermania union jack embossing folder
• Acetate
• Land of Hope and Glory lyrics from the Internet
• Vellum
• WOW 'call me' stamp set
• WOW 'Deck the Halls' stamp set
• WOW clear gloss ultra high embossing powder
• WOW clear gloss ultra fine embossing powder
• WOW blueberry earth tone regular embossing powder
• WOW apple red primary super fine embossing powder
• WOW primary ebony super fine embossing powder
• Faded jeans, vintage photo and barn door distress inks

1. Distress the white card stock and backing paper with vintage photo at the rear of the card
2. Stamp out in blueberry and apple red the distress christmas tree 4 of each colour and cut the tree out in a triangle so they look like flags.  Put 2 of each on each side of the card at the top left and bottom right of the card.
3. Use the distress inks to make a union jack colours on a piece of card the same size as the embossing folder.  Don't be too particular, the more distressed the better. Cover the distress ink with a clear embossing ink pad then put ultra high embossing powder over the top.  Heat until melted.  Again don't be too particular with the outcome, you want it distressed.
4. Rip all the way round the union jack then scrunch the card up cracking the hardened embossing powder.  Put vintage photo distress ink over the top then wipe off with a paper towel.  The ink should go into the cracks and round the edge giving an 'old' look.
5. Take a piece of card and brush around the sides with the same inks as for the union jack .  This is going to be the background for the piece of vellum.
6. Print out the words to Land of hope and glory onto your piece of vellum.  Straight away take your ultra clear fine powder and put over the words on the vellum.  It should stick then heat.  Your words will be raised.
7. Go around the edges of the vellum with vintage photo.
8. Put the background card and vellum together and along the right side punch 5 holes for the ribbon to  go through.
9.   Stamp the telephone box and telephone onto acetate with apple red and black embossing powder and cut out.
10. Put the card together white card, background card, flags, ribbon, put the union jack inside the left side of the joined vellum at an angle and stick down.
11. Glue the phone box and telephone onto the card over the vellum so that they stick the vellum down and you cannot see the glue.

LEARN ADAPT, CREATE.....

 This next piece was inspired when I bought 2 x photo frames at 75p! from Home Bargins and we have some lovely butterfly stamps from WOW.  You could do the same with photo frames at home or car boot sale finds giving them a new lease of life....

Materials used:

• wooden photo frame
• watercolour paints and card
• acetate
• background papers
• WISH cut from funky foam and using kwick kuts die
• WOW 'build a butterfly' stamp set
• WOW 'Is it a bird' stamp set
• WOW 'gratitude' stamp set
• WOW 'call me' stamp set
• WOW earth tone olive regular embossing powder
• WOW primary burgundy red regular embossing powder
• WOW earth tone nutmeg regular embossing powder
• WOW clear gloss super fine embossing powder
• WOW primary ebony super fine embossing powder
• Clear embossing ink pad
• Memento ink in London fog
• Adirondack ink in lake mist

1. Cut a piece of watercolour card the size of the frame.
2. Use whatever colours you wish and paint stripes of colour over it.  Make sure it is a bit transparent. Let it dry either in the air or heat gun.
3. Take the writing stamp in a frame from 'call me' and only ink up the writing in London fog.  Stamp this onto a piece of scrap paper so you get the 2nd impression when you stamp onto the watercolour card it will look very faint in the background.  Do this at an angle all over the card.
4. Take the gratitude stamp from 'gratitude' and stamp this 4 times on the card 2 x on the left 2 x on the right in lake mist. 
5. Take the heart tree from 'Is it a bird' and stamp this 2 x on the card at the bottom, with London fog, stamping it on 1st impression, not like before, which makes it stand out on the card.
6. Stamp the outline of the butterfly with clear embossing ink followed by black embossing powder onto any background paper scraps you have which will match the embossing powders you are using.  Cut these out and stick where you wish on the watercolour card.
7. Put the frame together including the glass.
8. Stamp out which body of the butterfly you want in clear ink and emboss with the colour of your choice.  I used the above. Cut these out
9. Die cut the word or use other materials such as stickers, fabric or other dies.
10. Bend the acetate in the middle giving the butterfly dimension and a body.  Use glue sparingly in the middle and stick onto the glass.
11. Stick the word on the glass also.

There you have it a 3 dimensional photo frame...........

I was given samples of some flock some weeks ago and have been pondering what to do with it so..........

 

                                                          

I found this cat die in my stash and created 4 toppers.  One of the more impressive experiments I tried was to put it on velvet paper, which I'm sure a lot of you will have in your stash and haven't done a lot with.  WOW its come out a treat!! and gives a regal finish to my toppers.  I'll be trying this again.

The flock which WOW have, comes in numerous colours. I used White, Black and Brown on the toppers.

The shapes and tags are Spellbinders and I have used the 'gratitude' stamp and the 'flowers' background stamp. (which is out of stock at present, so there is no link).

So how do you use it you may ask.

1. Stamp with a clear embossing pad onto paper, card or as above in the 'thanks' topper and 'gratitude' topper onto velvet covered paper. (light purple)

2. Sprinkle bonding powder onto the ink just like you would if embossing and tap off.

3. Heat the image and keep going (remembering not to burn it) until it turns tacky. This is a little longer than normal embossing.

4. Sprinkle flock all over the project then press firmly down.  Brush it off with fingers and rub off any excess gently. Put excess back into tub.  The tackiness of the bonding agent sticks the flock to the project.
5. Heat again (just a little) to complete the bond 

6. The result is a very tactile project great for animals and as I have found out, backgrounds. 

P.S. I have also found that it is good to stick onto double sided tape as an imitation velvet ribbon.

HAVE A GO----BE INSPIRED!

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Mwah!

Hi there Bloggers, Rachel here; one of the WOW DT members.
It's my turn to post today and show you what I've been up to re: Manly Valentines Projects.
My style changes quite a lot depending on my mood - Grungy; Clean & Simple; Over Embellished and I also like altering and and mixing things up a bit, so not always cards from me, although this week a card it is!

I decided to go a bit 'Grungy' for this one, using a set of dies I have.

I cut all the elements from Grunge Board (I love the flexibility of this product), and coloured them with Distress Stains; Fired Brick for the heart and Tea Dye for the wings and sword. I then inked up the wings and sword and covered with Platinum regular embossing powder. I gave each item just one coat and whilst still hot (heat gun still over it), I spritzed with water from a bottle. This leaves a slightly pitted, aged metallic looking finish, (I have tried this technique with thicker coats of EP and you can get a really pitted look if the EP is really molten and the drops of water quite big).

I then inked up just the end of the sword and embossed with Ebony EP to colour the handle.

The heart was embossed with two coats of Clear Ultra High and then the final layer is Apple Red Ultra High. I sometimes like to use just one coat of a coloured Ultra High over clear as when it's molten it moves around and creates swirls of light and shade.

Once cool I cracked the heart - easy with it being flexible Grungeboard - and inked over with Walnut Stain Distress Ink to add depth.

The rest of the card is made up of a piece of black card run through an embossing folder and then swiped over with gold acrylic paint on a baby wipe. The torn piece of patterned paper, had it's edges inked and a little gold paint added for interest.

Mwah was embossed with Bark EP, and their you have it!

My take on a masculine, loved up card. Hope you like it.

Hugs

Rachel x

 

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Birthday boy.....

Hi there,
Nikki here and it's my turn to do the WOW DT post.
What a wonderful set of powders I had to chose from!!!
Today my male themed card is for a birthday boy.
Here is the card that I created,

I wanted to show how you can mix your favourite digi stamps with WOW embossing powders and a WOW embossing pen.

The powders I used are

Fluorescent Green Regular WR02R
Fluorescent Yellow Regular WR03R

Fluorescent Blue Regular WR11R

Print and colour your digi as normal then use your WOW embossing pen to colour sections, add your WOW powder. Then heat set.

Here are some close ups,

You can see how much detail you can add.

Whatever you are doing today, happy crafting.

Nikki x Pin It Now!

Valentine's Card for the Man in Your Life

                                                       Emma Sims - The Sparkly Fairy

This week our DT challenge is to make a Valentine's card for a man. I kept my card quite simple, using the heart tree stamp from WOW Embossing's Is It A Bird Stamp Set. I stampd this in black ink and then using one of the new Embossing Pens, highlighted it with Black Twinkle Embossing Glitter. I then stamped the small heart from the same set and embossed them with Apple Red Powder. I then covered a square card blank in Tim Holtz Tissue Tape and mounted the whole piece on a larger black card.

We would love to see what you could come up with and don't forget there is a prize!

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Sweetly Simple

Hi All

The Crafting Owl here with my idea for a Valentine's card for a man. After quizzing my husband what he would like to receive as a card (and getting the standard reply of 'anything if you've made it'!). I decided to keep things simple.

Out came the trusty Cricut and a 4" heart was cut with the help of the Storybook cartridge. I covered the heart with clear embossing ink and then added Red Glitz Embossing Glitter WS13R and heated. I then pricked some holes around the edge of the black card and did a backstitch to make a border with red metallic thread.

If you haven't yet entered our challenge for this month please do so as there is a fab prize.

Happy Embossing

Lisa

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Can you feel the Luuurve Yet!!

WOW!!!

 Its my turn, they have let me loose on the blog,

Woohoo!!

Hi My name is Tracy, and it has fallen to me to create something to inspire you on this lovely Sunday morning.

So are you sitting comfortably, Shall we begin?  Have you got a cuppa? This is a long one.

After the suttle, simplicity of Neils Card yesterday,

Welcome to my world,

where mess and chaos reign supreme.

I have a Smoochy, woochy, over the top Creation.

We are still getting through our love themes for this month and taking you through to the beginning of February, its Men themes all the way.

I have opted for a card to send my hubby. Now if you have read my own blog, you will know the - we don't do Valentines thing, but for WOW, I will do anything.

Can you tell I am a waffler - Sorry! Onto the project.

Here is my card

I have created a Central Stepper Card ( pictoral instructions below)

Materials used

2 pieces of A4 red Card

Black Pen

Ribbon (from my stash - think it is Tilda Ribbon)

Black and white cardstock.

Silver Sticky Gems

Small heart punch

Chipboard letters

Digi Stamp (Cuddly Buddly, coloured I used Copics)

Versmark ink pad

WOW embossing Powders: Apple Red, and Red Glitz

General craft tools and adhesives.

So onto how to make a basic stepper base.

Start with a piece of red cardstock

Cut to size shown

Next Step,

Measure and score half way across, length of card.

Step 3

Mark and score the following lines, as shown

Step 4

Mark and CUT the next two vertical solid lines as shown.

Step 5

Now we have to fold the lines,

Paying attention to the valley and mountain folds

(other wise known as Valley = forward, Mountain = Back) 

Now the real fun can begin,

Refer back to main card image for placement, etc.

 1) Once folded down, on the front of the card, draw some Faux stitching on with the black pen (or why not use an embossing pen and ebony black embossing powder and get extra texture on the card). 

2) Take a smaller rectangle red card, tie some ribbon around, add some faux stitching and stick to the front base of the card.

3) Colour in your image, trim to your preferred size, frame onto a piece of red and then black cardstock.

4) Stick a piece of black cardstock the same size as your final piece in step 3, onto the left hand side at an angle, add your coloured image on the right at an angle.

5) Take your chipboard Letters, ink with versamark ink and sprinkle alternate embossing powder over the top of the letters, heat and then stick into place.

6) Add Gems and punched out heart.

Well I Hope you enjoyed my card today and I have not confuddled you to much,

 tomorrow is the turn of Lisa so remember to check back and see what she has to show you.

Hugs

Tracy xxx

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May Our Love Bloom - for the man in your life

'May our love bloom' by design team member, Neil Burley

Hello all! The challenge of making a card for the man in your life seems to be a tricky one, made worse when Valentine's Day is around the corner. I wanted a simple, clean card design with enough sentiment to get the message across without being too slushy - a perfect men's card :)

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Male Valentine´s frame

 Hi! This is Bianca from the WOW! Designer Team. Today I want to show you some picks of my male Valentine´s project and let you know how I have made it. It´s a photo frame for my hubby, I hope he will use it for a photo from me and the children (or his motorbike ;o)

I have used: WOW! Embossing Powder, Earthtone Olive, regular
                   WOW! Embossing Powder, Metallic Brass, regular
                   WOW! Embossing Glitter, Glamour Green
                   WOW! Embossing Powder, Clear Gloss, Ultra High
                   WOW! Clear Stamp Set, Alphabet and Months
                   Old photo frame
                   Images from Papermania

I have embossed 3 layers of WOW! Earthtone Olive regular and stamped the little froggy stamp just into the 3rd layer of hot melted powders. Is not this effect amazing?! You even can see the face of each froggy!

The gap between the paper and the embossed part of the frame is covered with WOW! Embossing Powder in Brass, regular. 

The sentiment was stamped with WOW! Clearstamp Set, Alphabet and Months. I have made a little distressing around the edges with a inkpad than I was sprinkling  WOW! Embossing Powder, Clear Gloss Ultra High over it and melt it. Now the words are looking like raindrops were falling on it. I thought this looks lovely because of the frog images. Unfortunately it´s difficult to make a photo of it but you can believe me that this looks really fantastic!

Hope you like my project!

xx

Bianca

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