Wednesday 17 January 2018

'Be Beautiful' Card, and Masculine Photo Frame

Good morning friends

Today's share is a card I made using a photo frame die by Lynda Kanase who is a Product Designer at Sizzix. I first saw Lynda at CHA last year where she was releasing her Succulent Serenity line. Since then, I have had a running wish list of her designs. The teal frame with flourishes is from her Picture This Collection - a series of frames with interchangeable words.


The die sets also come with a set of coordinating stamps! The 'BE" stamp and the die cut word 'beautiful' are from the "Photo Frame, I AM Phrases" while the flourished frame is from the "Photo Frame, Lovely" set. I didn't realize until my package came, that all the phrases could be used in all the different frames! Talk about being able to customize to whatever project you are working on - I loved this idea and you will be seeing a lot of them in future posts.


I inlaid the bronze pearlized card stock piece, then added a 3-d floral sticker from my stash. The bronze piece came from the little frame I did for my Dad's photo which is shown further down the post. It might be hard to see in the photo, but the card is nice and sparkly. The pink patterned paper has a glittered pattern on it, the 3-d sticker has an acetate panel which catches the light, as well as some bling. The BE was embossed with a glittered gold embossing powder and I added gold glitter Crystal Nuvo Drops.



Inside, I added a flourish stamp and words, as well as the on-trend diamond shape. The bow stamp & die are from Lynda's Seasonal Tag set. You can use it for more than just holiday projects!


Below I used the same Photo Frame on a photo of my Dad, who passed away last March. When I was looking at the Picture This Collection online, I noticed that they were actually made for the popular Instax Mini photos. I was intrigued as I have always loved photos. I had wanted the dies for card making, but now I also wanted to know more about these photos. Fuji makes the Instax Mini camera, and the photos are similar to a Polaroid. Cool! However, if I am going to actually haul a camera around, it is going to be my DSLR and not an Instax Mini - no matter how cute the camera is and how many great accessories it has.

Enter the Fujifilm Instax SHARE Smartphone Printer. When I was at the drugstore last week, I noticed a box above the cashier's head that said INSTAX. Hmmm ... I asked to see it. It was one of the printers so I bought it- for a screaming deal, I might add. Then I had to wait a day or two to pick up some film. And I printed a couple of photos. And I immediately GOT IT. I understand what all the fuss is about, and how much FUN these little (gift card sized) photos are! Never mind watching them develop like I remember doing with Polaroids when I was a kid. Yup - FUN!

I wanted a small photo of my Dad to stand on my desk, and this one was one of our favourites. It was taken before dementia stole his mind, and Parkinson's stole the use of his limbs. We had gone to visit him and brought a Tim Horton's Iced Cappuccino - thus the big smile. In fact, this photo is the one we used for his funeral - I used Photoshop to take the straw out of the photo for that one.

I printed the photo from my phone using the Instax SHARE Smartphone Printer and used the "Photo Frame, Lovely" - same frame as I used on my card above - to create the frame. I love that I got to choose the card stock & colours that matched the photo, which is another benefit to the Picture It Collection. It's so customizable!


I chose this bronze pearlized card stock and the word 'Memories' to cut out of the bottom area. There are lots of other words in the collection, but for this photo the 'Memories' was perfect. It actually moved me to tears - the frame portrayed the exact emotion I wanted for this photo while still being masculine.


I cut a 1/2" wide strip of black card stock to adhere behind the word, which made it pop and added to the masculine feel. Then I placed a triangle of black card stock behind the flourish at the top left and traced around the inside edge with a pencil. It was easy to trim then adhere behind the flourish. I then used foam tape around the outer edge of the frame and attached it to the little photo giving it a shadowbox look.


Because I wanted it to stand up, I cut a strip of the same bronze metallic card stock and scored it horizontally 3/4 of an inch from the top. I adhered it to the back of the photo above the scored line.


These photos are certainly noticeable and their small size makes people want to pick them up to look at - so I used a couple of the pretty heart dies included with the frame to decorate the back of the easel. When displayed, the Instax photos are quite a conversation piece!


So there you have it - two different projects using the same Photo Frame die. It's going to be so much fun to use this Picture It Collection for my cards, and now that I have the (palm sized) printer I'll be using them for Instax Mini photos too! Fun fun fun.

Tips & Tricks:
Because the bronze card stock is fairly lightweight, I adhered black card stock to the back side to create the easel.
For the 'BE' piece, I didn't have the correct colour of card stock so I used the backing chipboard from the sticker package. I always hang onto pretty pieces of paper - don't be afraid to think outside the box!

Supplies:
Photo Frame, Lovely - Lynda Kanase (Sizzix)
Photo Frame, I AM Phrases - Lynda Kanase (Sizzix)
Tag, Seasonal (bow stamp and die) - Lynda Kanase (Sizzix)
Floral patterned paper/teal print (double sided) - Basic Grey
White, pink, pearlized bronze, black card stocks
Pink glittered card stock, and pale green scrap - stash
3-d sticker - K & Company
Stitched journal card die - Lawn Fawn
Blueprints # 24 (stitched panel) MFT Stamps
Instax SHARE Smartphone Printer and film - Fujifilm
Egyptian Gold embossing powder - the Artful Stamper
Water Brush
Wink of Stella
Nuvo Crystal Drops

Thanks for stopping by today

3 comments:

  1. love both new creations!
    Elma

    ReplyDelete
  2. Both of these projects are amazing! I love the way you used the same Picture This! Lovely frame for both projects and yet they look so different. Really wonderful!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment - I appreciate each one!