WORLD ANIMAL DAY

W(OOF)ELCOME to our Sparkle and Sprinkle World Animal Day Blog Hop!  I'm so glad you've taken time out of your busy day to come see what we are doing with our products over at Sparkle N Sprinkle.  Today we are honoring all our two and four-legged friends (oh, I guess there are six, eight and one hundreds too - hopefully they are not that smart - so they won't sue me!!)) that share the planet earth with us.

Here is the in-order-list of the Blog Hop this month:

SNS Home Blog

Patti White 

Sandy Meier 

Barbara Bruder

Dawn Thomas

Judy Rozema

Julie Zippel 

Karalee Ingram

Karin Martin

Marie Berquist

You're here

Linda Loew 

So, you're on the final stretch, and should have galloped over from Marie Berquist's  blog to get to here.  If you have come here without seeing all the other blogs, you will want to go back to the SNS Home Page to be eligible for one of the two prizes this month - a stamp set of your choice.  Winners will be announced on Wednesday, the 5th of October (between 11 am and 3 pm) on the SNS Blog.

For this Blog Hop, the Design Team had an in-house challenge to use Spellbinders in our animal cards.  I was in!!   I don't really know how I made a card pre-Spellbinders!!  I just love my Grand Calibur!  So I just went wild (animal) - I love to use the Grand Spellbinders as a base of a card and my first card today is no exception!

I had so much fun creating this.  I had used the Mirror Stamp in my last blog and was thinking "What could I fit in that heart shape Tent Topper?".  I just think the giraffes fit quite nicely into the space - don't you?  To find complete directions on how to do this card, just click here.   

I felt that I had to give our two-legged friends some love too!  So for my second card I used a few other images from the Set 275 - Critters, along with the Oval Spellbinders.  Oh and don't forget - my embossing painting.  Yes, I know I really need to get that Tutorial up.  After doing a rather mono-chromatic card - I really wanted the next to be super colorful.  I hope that I succeeded!

 

I wish the Blog Hops weren't so close together this time - as I could go on forever with animal cards!  I do have a big month of birthdays coming up.  Two brothers and umpteen friends!  So maybe I'll just go let my animal instincts go wild in my stamping room - after all - it already looks like a stampede just ran through it!!  LOL

Well that's all for now folks!  Remember to leave a comment for me here now, and at the SNS home blog, after you have visited the incredibly talented Linda Loew.  Thanks again for stopping by!

Coffee with a Twist!!

With all the new fancy coffee machines that are now out on the market, are you one of those, looking around and saying "So now what will I do with those left-over coffee filters?"  Well, if you are, apart from being great embossing powder catchers, while embossing, I've found an even more "fun" way to use them!

  JUST EMBOSS THEM .... then make pretty flowers out of them!!!!  And yes, it's just that easy!

For my first set of flowers, I went with fall colors:

Sparkle N Sprinkle Embossing Powders:

Bronze Rose (EP335)
Gold Coast (EP364)
Frosted Juniper (EP406)

Start by flattening out a coffee filter, it doesn't have to be totally flat, as the creases etc., add more texture to the end result.  Using a well-inked Versamark pad, ink up the coffee filter.



Then sprinkling on one of the EP's at a time, returning each of them to the jar between colors,  totally cover the filter in three (or more embossing powders).

So I started with Bronze Rose, then added the Gold Coast (remembering to put each back in their jar before adding the next color). 











Then I covered the entire filter with the last color, which in this case was Frosted Juniper.  It will stick to the Versamark where there was no powder before.

Then heat emboss for a lovely shimmery look.  (The back will look like wax paper).

     

     Now isn't that pretty???

Place the filter shiny side up on top of the cutting side of the Grand Calibur Plate.  

Using Spellbinders Rose Creations, place the die cuts, cutting side down on the cutting plate of the Grand Calibur.  Then place the base plate upside down on top, and pass the sandwich through the machine.

Turn over the whole sandwich,  take off the cutting plate and then place the embossing mat and plate over the flowers, and pass through the Grand Calibur to emboss them.

Use a needle to coax the flowers out from the dies.  They will pop out easily!  Note how they feel like wax paper!

Slip a gold brad through the five layers, turning each petal a little, so that they fill in the spaces.  Repeat the last four steps, as many times as you want, to make a bouquet of flowers!!

As you can see, I added a couple of punched-out flowers in the bouquet too!!  So if you don't have the Grand Calibur and flower dies - then just use punches!

Use the needle to punch a hole through the center of each layer and add a brad to make a pretty side-kick for the lovely roses. 

I used the above colored flowers in the Sparkle N Sprinkle Autumn Inspirations Blog Hop, so tune in, on Thursday the 25th of August, to see how the card turned out!



Of course, I couldn't just stop there for the tutorial, how about these colors for another "fall" look!!
For the flowers in this card I used Tequila Sunrise (EP239), Verdigris (EP318) and Fall Fiesta (EP148).

 

For a more springy, summery look, of course you just need to change your embossing powder colors:

Here I chose to use:

Kiwi Fruit (EP401)
Melon Twist (EP402)
Spring Willow (EP388)

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial on Coffee Filter Flowers!  Now go pour a cup  of your favorite brew, and have a try at making your own!!  Remember to check back on Thursday, to see what I did with the first set of flowers!