supplies: craft sheet, distress inks, distress embossing ink, clear embossing powder, black embossing powder, ink blending tool, glossy accents, heat tool, matte multi-medium (ranger); grunegboard/plain basics, mini pin, philosophy tag (idea-ology); scissors, paper distresser (tonic); fabulous flourishes/flourish, retro holiday/seasons greetings, just believe/tree, old car (stampers anonymous); sparkly fluff/sugar (our craft lounge); #8 tag, dictionary paper, jute or twine, foam tape, ribbon, crop-a-dile, masking tape
step 1: stamp tree stamp on to plain grungeboard with peeled paint distress ink.
step 2: while ink is still wet, apply clear embossing powder over the image and remove excess powder.
step 3: heat emboss with a heat tool until powder becomes shiny and translucent showing the stamped green ink. *yes, distress ink is an embossing ink – every color of it!
step 4: stamp the car with distress embossing ink.
step 5: apply black embossing powder over image and remove excess powder.
step 6: heat emboss with a heat tool until image become shiny black. *i want to mention something here, yes you could have technically stamped in black soot distress ink and embossed with clear embossing powder like we did with the tree, but black embossing powder is much darker and more detailed.
step 7: cut out both images using sharp scissors. *do not worry about the inside gray areas of the tree, we'll fix that later i promise!
step 8: using a crop-a-dile, punch holes in the windows of the car as shown – this is just like what we did on tag #1 with the snowman.
step 9: cut out the windows using your scissors.
step 10: ink the edges of the embossed tree with distress ink using an ink blending tool.
step 11: ink the car with distress ink using an ink blending tool.
step 12: now bring on the sparkly fluff! this stuff comes in little jars like embossing powders. there is tons of this stuff in the jar – seriously. they have lots, and lots of colors. this is basically flocking with a cool glitter sticks in it. what's nice about this stuff is that the glitter doesn't settle at the bottom, it's throughout the fluff! let's go!
step 13: apply a small amount of glossy accents around the tress where you want to "flock" it. in addition to the top edges, apply glossy accents in any of the gray grunge area of the tree, these are the perfect "flock" locations.
step 14: start grabbing pinches of sparkly fluff and cover the entire tree as shown. okay i admit, this stuff is a bit of a mess, but you put all of the excess back in the jar anyway so get your fluff on!
step 15: gently pat over the sparkly fluff. this will make sure it sticks to the glossy accents. *now if you went crazy with the glossy accents and thought you were icing a cake, your accents will smoosh out and you would lose your detail.
step 16: tilt the tree on an angle and tap it on the craft sheet to remove the excess sparkly fluff. replace the excess back in the jar. The jar looks like you didn't use a bit – weird!?
status: check that out! a sparkly fluffed tree – so much better in person, the texture is so unique.
step 17: apply glossy accents to the top of the car as shown.
step 18: adhere the tree to the car and use a piece of scrap paper to press down on the tree. *this will keep more fluff on your tree if you don't handle it as much.
step 19: take about 12" of jute and begin wrapping the tree. start going through a window of the car as shown.
step 20: continue wrapping around the tree and going through various windows.
step 21: when you're happy with the way it looks, tie a knot in the jute and trim the ends. love this!
step 22: apply a generous layer of matte multi-medium to a tag. you can use a piece of foam or brush to do this – you can also use glossy multi-medium for this.
step 23: while the multi-medium is wet, press a piece of dictionary paper over the top of it. *it doesn't matter what words you have, honest!
step 24: dry the paper and multi-medium with your heat tool until the tag no longer feels damp.
step 25: tear off all of the excess paper from around the tag – or you can use scissors if you must!
step 26: press a piece of masking tape on to the paper and rub it well with your hand to adhere to the paper.
step 27: slowly, and i mean SLOWLY peel back the tape and this will start to lift off some of the dictionary print revealing random text on the back of the dictionary. this will make for a great inking surface later.
step 28: repeat going various directions. remember SLOWLY! we don't want to rip the paper and expose the tag which is why we've removed the paper from around the edge first so it's doesn't tear through the tag. *this technique is how you get rid of any weird words on the dictionary paper you might have – i told you it wasn't going to be a problem.
step 29: ink the tag with distress ink using an ink blending tool. i used weathered wood on mine.
step 30: drag a paper distresser along the edges of the tag to tatter them.
step 31: ink the edges with brown distress ink using an ink blending tool.
step 32: stamp seasons greetings with distress ink. i like to mix both shades of red, fired brick, and aged mahogany on the stamp for a blended image.
step 33: stamp the fab.flourish with distress ink. *i'm telling you, this is always a good "fill in the blank stamp".
step 34: tie a ribbon through the tag and attach a philosophy tag with a mini pin.
step 35: apply double stick foam tape to the back of the car as shown.
step 36: press the car on to the tag and embellish with a game piece if desired.
in the details: honestly, how cool is sparkly fluff? so many possibilities for the holidays: flocked holly, santa, snowman, the list goes on. how about using double stick tape or adhesive rub-ons on a glass ornament and sparkly fluff them for custom ornaments? how about die cutting double stick tape and making sparkly fluffed monograms on a journal or scrapbook for a gift? and check out the quick idea below: snowballs using a glue dot and sparkly fluff…one word – cute. remember, you just need any adhesive and you can apply sparkly fluff over it. okay, but now this had me thinking about a bunny tail for easter, then i moved on to sparkly fluffed heart for valentines, shamrocks, spring flowers, summer beach projects…okay make it stop! just wait until you try this fluff stuff – you'll see…t!m
