Inchie INKlings

utee inchie pear magnets by cindy lyles

 

CLUE #7

Take your first hint from within this post and go back to the store to find a "hot" product "to dye for", it will make you "melt" even during this chilly time of year.

ETA: Direct Link to Clue #8

Today's post encases Inchies in small, clear wafers to create durable magnets.  I've wanted to encapsulate treasured Inchies in a functional manner, yet still be able to touch and handle the Inchies on a whim.

Lockhart Stamp Company's IB Pear image was stamped onto a 7/8" square of white cardstock and colored with Copic markers. Image was stamped again onto script paper and cut out.  Small scale red script paper (both papers - 7gypsies) decorated the white square, and the edges of both pear cutout and 7/8" white square were delicately sponged with Distress Vintage Photo ink with an ink blending tool. 

Adhere pear cutout to square, then mount the 7/8" decorated white square onto a 1" Black Inchie Square.

Prepare heat-resistant silicone ice cube tray by centering a neodymium (or other, strong) magnet into a well.  If using a neodymium magnet I suggest doing one Inchie magnet at a time or at the very least space them several wells apart, as the pull force of the these magnets is incredible.  One of these magnets can support fifteen sheets of paper easily.

Add Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (utee) combined with UTEE Flex - a hardener, making the final product quite sturdy - into a Melting Pot (utee, flex, melting pot: Ranger) on the highest setting.  Cover, and allow the granular products to melt completely.

Pour melted utee mix over magnet in ice cube tray until just barely covered. 

Working quickly while utee is still molten, insert completed Inchie and tap firmly into place.  Pour a thin layer of utee over top of Inchie.  The photo above shows the air bubbles that natually occur.  To eliminate these, use a preheated heat tool (turn on your heat gun and let run about 10 seconds to warm up) to gingerly to pop the surface air bubbles.

Should the intial layer of utee harden, you can easily re-liquify it using your heat tool.

Allow utee Inchie to cool then gently pop from ice cube tray.

I created another Inchie using the same red script paper and a White Inchie Square, then colored with Copic markers. The base is a 1-1/4" square of Memory Box Licorice cardstock.  The process was repeated to create a second magnet.

 

Immediately upon removing each utee Inchie, carefully pop out the magnet with a hobby blade or other sharp implement.  Use superglue to re-attach the magnet and secure it permanently.

olde frame inchie by cindy lyles

 

The next tiny town over from here is the historic town of Rosemont, New Jersey.  To get there you drive through a quaint covered bridge (the only one in NJ) - it's like you stepped back in time.  Rosemont holds a magnet for me - a vintage goods store!  A buddy of mine - Tim - owns it, and his wife Liza is an incredible person and dear friend.

Tim gets in some incredible finds, and this frame was no exception.  Try sourcing vintage frames at tag sales, auctions or online places like etsy or ebay.

The framed inchie is 1" square, to give you the idea of the miniature size of this frame - it's around 3" x 4", and it's super deep - around 1-1/2" deep!

To begin stamp the Lockhart Itty Bitty Lavender onto white cardstock, with a Palette Noir pad, then color in with Copic Markers.  Punch out with a 1" square punch, and adhere to a white Inchie Square. 

Inchie Squares are premium matboard squares - thick - creating an instant embellishment with height.

 

1-1/8" black cardstock mat was added, followed by a larger lavender cardstock mat.  Edge the inchie and the lavender mat ever so slightly with Vintage Photo Distress and an ink blending tool.

 

A snippet of the definition of lavender was torn from an old dictionary and adhered to a black cardstock unit that was cut to fit inside the frame.  I secured the inchie art with adhesive and sealed the back of the frame.

Even if you find a frame that is in bad shape, try covering it with decoupauged papers - recycling at its finest!

Palette Noir pad, - Ellen Hutson

Spring Flowers Inchie Challenge

 

Supplies: Lilacs in Pitcher, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad, Inchie Finder, Copic Markers, Diamond Dust, White Inchie Square, Inkssentials White Opaque Pen

Join the Inchie INKlings in this month's challenge by creating an Inchie that uses "Spring Flowers." Yes that's right - I am yearning for sunshine and flowers and so we are going to brighten up our days with some flowers.

Use an Itty Bitty, crop a larger image, layer multiple images, spotlight your Inchie on a card, create an Inchie jewelry piece - just remember to us "Spring Flowers."

Rules:

• Feature a Lockhart Stamp Company image - you can use any other stamps, words, papers or embellishments, but use your Lockhart stamp images as the focal point for these challenges.
• Picture must be emailed to us at customerservice@ellenhutson.com by February 15th, 2009. Please put "Spring Flowers Inchie Challenge" in the subject heading.
• Alternately send us your Inchie to add to our "Wall of Love" or include a self-addressed stamped envelope for it's safe return if you would like it back. Send to Ellen Hutson LLC, 1145 - 12th Ave NW, Suite C2, Issaquah, WA  98027.
• You may enter up to three times again for this month's challenge.

We will do a random drawing of all participants once we get all images uploaded to the Inchie Challenge photo ablum. The winner of this random drawing will receive:

• 1 Itty Bitty Lockhart stamp of your choice,
• 1 Inchie Index,
• 1 Box White Inchie Squares,
• 1 Box Black Inchie Squares

 

To create this month's Inchie Challenge sample I used the new Lilacs in Pitcher. Nothing seems like spring quite as much as the aromatic Lilac blossoms! Once again I located the portion of my stamp that I wanted to select using my yellow Inchie Finder that is included in the Inchie Paper packs. Rather than stamping and punching out the image I elected to stamp directly on my white inchie square. I placed my stamp face up on my work surface and inked it with Memento Ink. Using painters tape to make a little handle on the inchie square I used that little handle to stamp my square to the stamp surface.

 

Coloring these little squares is quick and easy. Start with your lightest colors. It's always easy to go darker, but not quite as easy to lighten your colors.

 

Continue to add your depth to your image using the natural shading in the stamp image as your guide. The purples I used for this project are BV000, BV11, and V15. They do not belong to the same Copic family. I find that I get a much more realistic look when I vary the groupings of colors. The greens I used are: YG00, YG63 and YG17. Once again these are not from the "regular" Copic color groupings. You will note that I did go darker with each additional color - the second number in the Copic colors signifies the depth of color, with 0 being the lightest and 9 the darkest.

 

Rather than leaving the Inchie Square white I added a hint of purple by coloring on a clean palette and picking the V01 up with my Colorless Blender. This allowed me to keep the V01 much lighter than if I would have used it directly on my square. I wanted to have contrast with the white opaque pen dots I added - those dots were to emulate Baby's Breath added to the bouquet as well as highlights on the lilacs themselves.

 

The last addition to my little square was the gorgeous bling! Florists add this to their bouquets to make them sparkle, so why shouldn't we?!?

Be certain to check back in a few days to see who our winners are of the last TWO month's challenges! I must apologize - with everything going on I completely forgot to do our random number generator. You would think perhaps that I am losing my mind, or worse losing my memory - and if you do think that, you are most likely right - LOL! Thank you once again for your patience!

vintage inchies by Cindy Lyles

 

Today's post features a mini one-sheet-wonder combined with a bit of recycling.  Incorporating old dictionaries into art has been my latest craze - and they are FUN!  Try sourcing these at tag/garage sales, local auctions and even your bookshelves at home.  

 

To make the thin dictionary sheets more stable I adhere them to a piece of solar white cardstock using Matte Accents from Ranger.  Smear the adhesive with your finger to completely cover the cardstock.  Then firmly press the dictionary sheet and remove any air bubbles.

 

Next, stamp a few images at random.  I'm using images from Inchie Style set from The Rummage Bin (CHF) and Jet Black Archival Ink. 

 

Punch out images using a 1" square punch or cut into 1" squares.

Sponge Distress Antique Linen over each inchie, then blend edges using Distress Vintage Photo.  Lightly tap edges with Distress Walnut Stain.  The photo above shows the difference between the naked inchies and the ones with the Distress inks applied - big improvement!  Try incorporating thin strips of decorative paper from your scrap pile to further embellish if desired.

 

Stamp swirls from the Beautiful set (Rummage Bin/CHF) onto Arturo light blue notecards, and mat distressed Inchie squares with Licorice cardstock.  Adhere matted Inchie square to upper left corner overlapping the stamped swirl.

Inchie images were repeated onto the gorgeous Arturo envelopes - fabulous weight to these.

'Hello' sentiment is from Kim Hughes Silhouette Blooms I.  Thank you for stopping by today!