AUTHENTIQUE's Fantastic "Plain" Papers Sneak

Hello folks, check out today's AUTHENTIQUE BLOG POST on using those fantastic plain papers from Authentique! So much more depth in them than using plain cardstock!!

Kind of fun, isn't it?!?! Plus, I got to play with my Silhouette quite a bit! Pin It

AUTHENTIQUE: A "Loyal" Matching Gift Set

Hello Authentique fans, Heather here with another blog post. This time I'm focusing on how to use those little scraps and Details stickers. For today's post, I have a card and matching bag with a gift tag. I find that it is often really nice to take the extra step from simply making a lovely card, to decorating a little kraft bag with scraps and stickers to match. 

For the bag itself, I took scraps and pieces of the Loyal Collection (Honest, Brave, Durable) and solids from the Free Bird Nest including Comfort and Familiar. I really wanted to use the little Detail with the silhouette of the man's hat and mustache, so used a fun mustache stamp in both a chalk ink (tag) and using clear embossing powder (the bag).

It was pretty easy to take small pieces of the Loyal and Free Bird papers, notch opposite corners using my Corner Chomper, and laying them all in their future spots before gluing down. I filled in spaces with Diction phrases, or Details stickers, then added a couple of matching buttons.

I hardly ever get to use this fun mustache stamp, but it was perfect for this tag!

 The card was simply the jumping off point, and has similar details using Steady, Brave and Honest papers, along with another backing of Free bird, Detail stickers, button and ribbon. I used dimensional adhesive to make the mustache Detail stand out.

This is a fun little gift set. I figure that I'll probably save this for someone's birthday later this year.

I hope that if you have a bunch of leftover scraps, that you find a great use for all of them like this gift set. It's such an easy way to create something cute and creative to share with others.

Supplies Used: 

Loyal Collection: Steady, Brave, Honest, Durable, Elements, Details

Free Bird Nest Collections:  Comfort and Familiar 
Additional Supplies: 
buttons, dimensional adhesives, ribbon, stamps, twine, embossing powder, kraft gift bag, card base Pin It

AUTHENTIQUE PAPER: A Genuine Snow Day

Hello Authentique fans! Heather here, with a layout incorporating both the Genuine Collection, and some of my favorite Free Bird Collection "B" sides.

A few weeks ago, the Northwest had a pretty large scale snow and ice storm. Overnight, seven inches of snow fell. Probably not a lot for most places in the US, but in our neck of the woods, the snow and ice pretty much shut down cities. The beginning however, did make for some pretty cute photos of my little girl.

I knew when I saw the Genuine Collection, I wanted to incorporate some of the papers with these photos. I loved how the Friendship paper had snowflake-like stitching.

I backed all of the photos with Natural from the Genuine Collection. I also added a phrase from the Genuine Elements, as well as some of the Genuine Tiny Type (also on the Elements sheet).

The Free Bird papers helped to make the perfect snowflakes. I looked through the whole collection, and settled on solids from Fair-Weather, Endless, and Comfort. And one large background snowflake using Genuine's True. 

 Adding a little bling helped to make the snowflakes stand out against the background paper.

And one final Genuine Details sticker to set off one of the miniature photos.

While I do love paper collections by themselves, don't be afraid to mix and match! And if you need some fantastic color additions, check out the various solids that all grace the back of those Free Bird papers! They really are fun to add to your favorite Authentique collections.

Supplies Used: 

Genuine Collection: Friendship, Natural, True, Elements, Details

Free Bird Nest Collections:  Fair-Weather FBS120, Endless FBS115, Comfort FBS107

Additional Supplies: American Crafts Thickers, Teresa Collins Bling, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink

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AUTHENTIQUE TUTORIAL: Free Bird Coasters

Hello Authentique fans! Heather here with a simple tutorial for making some pretty cute coasters using Authentique Free Bird. 

To start, you are going to need your tiles (I chose 4" untreated stone tiles just from my local hardware store), ModPodge or other crafting medium, spray Shellac, a spongey applicator or brush, felt, contact or rubber cement and your papers (I chose to use the Blush and Delight Nest FBN001). You'll also need some basic papercrafting tools.

To start, I cut my papers down to 3 3/4". I know that my tiles were 4", but they sloped down a bit on the edges, and this just made the most sense, as the paper wouldn't peel off the edges if it was slightly smaller.

Also, because of the tiles that I chose, and the fact that I didn't want the edges to peel or pull up, used my corner rounder on all of the squares.

A nice covering of ModPodge on the tiles themselves (untreated stone sucks some of the glue up...) so you may find that you need more than you think.

And placing all of the lovely papers on top of the stone tiles. Another generous helping of ModPodge finishes them all off for the time being. 

If you want to embellish them at all, after the first coat is dry, use some paper elements to add some interest, and ModPodge those to the coaster. 

While the glue is drying, I just used scissors to cut out my felt pieces. They are slightly smaller than the 4", and I rounded the corners slightly (FYI: corner edgers don't help with felt). Again this is to prevent the edges from pulling up. I used contact cement for this, but you could probably use most glues or epoxies that aren't water based.

Here is the bottom of the finished tile!! Now it won't scratch the furniture. If you wanted to not deal with felt, you could also use those felt squares or circles that they have at hardware stores instead. 

When the layers of ModPodge had dried, I used the spray Shellac on them to protect the paper. I probably will put a few layers of this on. I don't suggest using these right away... Give them a week or two to properly dry. If you choose to only ModPodge them, I suggest waiting a few weeks, just to make sure that you don't ruin all of your hard work. 

And the finalized tiles with all of the lovely Blush Free Bird. I purposefully chose to have two patterns and two solids, but did use all four of the papers (FBS101, FBS 102, FBS103, FBS104). I really love how lovely these all ended up, and cannot wait to give these away as a cute Valentine's gift. 

In fact, I even wrapped them up with some parchment paper and twine, so that one of the butterflies peeked through. And created a cute little tag out of the scraps with another butterfly to reflect the ones in the package.

Of course I hate crafting alone, so my wonderful and most dear friend Venetia created her own tiles using the same Nest as I did, although choosing to use the Delight Series instead (FBS110, FBS111). Hers ended up being just as lovely, though very different.

I hope this inspires you to find new ways to use Free Bird and your other favorite Authentique lines!! 

Supplies Used: 

Free Bird Nest Collections:  Blush FBS101, FBS 102, FBS103, FBS104 & Delight 110, 111

Additional Supplies Coasters: stone tiles, ModPodge, spray Shellac, contact cement, felt, butterfly punch 
Additional Supplies Tag: butterfly punch, AC glitter and rose ribbon, brad, Office Depot paperclip, Twinery Twine, parchment paper

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AUTHENIQUE PAPER: Putting a Bird on Free Bird

From the Authentique Blog:

 *****

Hello folks!! Heather here. I hope that all of your Thanksgiving feasts were wonderful, and that you were able to spend time with loved ones. Today for you, I have a nifty piece of decor that you too could whip up before the holidays! 

Samantha showed me a fantastic pin over at Pinterest, and I was inspired to use the Free Bird Series to craft something similar. I even drew a lovely little chickadee to place on it! 

I chose to use Warmth for the wreath, as I felt that it reminded me of all of winter. It does have some lovely colors and patterns.

I didn't have a little chickadee, so I actually drew one up using my scrapbooking pens and a little bit of chalk ink. Yup... the yellow is chalk ink!

The wreath itself is simply concentric circles of cones of paper. I just cut the Free Bird pages in half using decorative scissors, then trimmed off one of the 3" sides with decorative scissors as well. Roll the paper into cones, then attach the trimmed edge to the cone with a glue dot.

To attach the cones to the wreath, each cone is pinned in place, then hot glued. I haven't quite made up my mind whether or not I want to replace the drawing with a little faux bird or not yet. At the moment, I rather like him.

I hope that you enjoyed my take on a fun decor project. Just another way to use those fantastic Free Bird papers!! Have a great start to the holiday season!!

Supplies Used: 

Authentique Free Bird Series: Warmth FBS 129, 130, 131 & 132

Additional Supplies: wreath form, American Crafts Memory Markers in Charcoal and Black, AC ribbon, AC white cardstock, Colorbox Chalk ink in Yellow Cadmium, stick

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AUTHENTIQUE BLOG: Wooden Christmas Ornaments with Free Bird!

From the AUTHENTIQUE PAPER BLOG:

 *****

Hello Authentique fans, it's Heather! I have a really inexpensive idea for either a small decor item, or possibly a beautiful, and toddler-proof Christmas ornament. My little girl found this on an end-cap of one of the large chain craft stores. At first, she grabbed the more expensive birdhouse, but I was able to trade her for this smaller (and only $1!) one instead. She was happy throughout the rest of the shopping trip, and I wasn't out a lot of money.

While this step is completely optional, painting the pine birdhouse can tie all of the colors together. I chose black, and painted the inside as well. Since it was pine, the paint dries very quickly.

 

This is seriously the hardest step... Take a piece of copy paper, to figure out where the posts are. In this case, I was able to use an office hole puncher in order to slide the paper over the roosts. If you are using a larger birdhouse, you may want to cut the holes out with fine-point scissors.

I then grabbed my first piece of Free Bird ("Delight" FBS 111). Rather than measuring and cutting out, I was able to fit most of the pieces in without spending too much time measuring. In this case, the eave of the roof was 90 degrees, and I was able to use the corner of the paper as my angle. I then just creased the edges and cut them off so that the piece fit properly.

I had to use an X-Acto knife to slice the very bottom from the paper. Then, I felt for the holes in the birdhouse, and used the back of my X-Acto knife to slightly push in the edges of the entrances.

 

To cut the holes, I used a rotary nail file to "sand" them off. You could also use a wood file or even a thin nail file.

Mod-Podge the wood base, then the paper to make it all stick! I found out that the more Mod-Podge you use, the better it all sticks! Plus, it dries clear... So even if it looks like it's all weird... Wait a few hours. 

Repeat the same steps on the other sides of the birdhouse. I ended up using just one sheet of Free Bird for all of the sides! I then added a thin strip of a different paper ("Delight" FBS 112) for the bottom edge of the birdhouse. Rather than piece the paper, I diagonally cut a strip from corner to corner. I punched only part of a hole in the top, so that the roost would fit around the edge. Then, Mod-Podge'd it all down.

For the roof, I used half of a piece of "Delight" FBS 109. One side of the roof was simple, and just needed an edge punch to add some extra dimension to the roof. The other side needed to have some of the roof notched in with a hole punch so that it fit the rope. I just played with the amount I cut out until it fit right.

For the last detail, I added small strips of the same paper (FBS 109) to the front and back of the roof eaves.

When you have finished with your decoration, Mod-Podge the entire thing once more. Let it dry completely for a few hours.

I haven't shown this to my little toddler yet, but I know that she is going to love it. Best part, the total bill on this project (if you already have Mod-Podge and paint) is under $3!! Even if it doesn't last toddler hands... I can make another one for just a few dollars! Pin It