The Basics of Mixing Resin

Hello Resin Fans! I decided to make it easier when blogging about resin to have this tutorial that I can link you to if you need the basics. That way experienced resiners (yes I made that word up) do not have to go over this every time I blog. I have a chart below with the ratios & times...I will add to this as I expand my product knowledge.

First of, make sure you read the directions for your resin as some of them have different time or mixing information. Any that I have used have instructions for level of humidity & temperature. So for example, you do not want to mix this on your patio in the summer when it is 90 degrees out! The ones I have used have a part A & B, Resin & Hardener. 70 degrees- 80 degrees seems optimal.

Pour the amounts of each part into a plastic mixing cup. Stir with a stick for x minutes. Pour this mix into a fresh cup & with a clean stir stick, stir for another x minutes. Now your resin is ready to pour. Usually you have about 30 minutes depending on the resin, temperature etc. to pour. 

Tips:
* I always use gloves as this stuff can be super sticky!
*have a clock/timer ready to go other than your phone, you do not want to be touching your phone if it goes to sleep while mixing resin. 
have your supplies ready to go, working with resin has a time limit & the experience is much more fun if everything is set. ie: parchment paper to set pieces on, molds, bezels...


Resin Obsession- 2 parts A with 1 part B. Stir for 2 minutes. Fully cured in 12 hours. Is a hard super shiny finish that does not dome. 

Easy Cast Resin- 1 part A with 1 part B. Mix for 2 minutes then pour in a fresh cup & with a fresh stick mix for 1 more minute. Domes when poured in a bezel. Works really well for paper resin. Do not mix more then 6oz at a time.

Spooky Halloween Fun on a Tag

Today I am playing with Topflight Stamps, making a spooky Halloween Tag. I love this holiday it is my 2nd favorite. I also love making tags so perfect combo. 

Spooky Tag Fun!

Here is my cool tag using Katzelkraft stamps. I also recently bought the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform, mainly for kitting for my classes. However I played with it for the 1st time on this tag & realized even mix media artist need this!! I will show you how the Stamp Platform saved my tag. I am also entering this tag in the Craft Stamper Magazine challenge site, this months challenge can be found here if you want to play along. 

First off here is the stamp set Halloween I got to play with. You can buy this from Topflight as well as Tim's platform. More on that as we play!

 Let's Distress a Tag. 

 Starting with tag spritzed lightly with water, spray your colors on the tag. I was worried that these colors would make mud together because of the purple so I did a test first on a piece of paper. Where the purple & yellow mixed it was muddy but a nice espresso color so I went with it. 

Opps Craft Fail...

After adding some washi tape I heat embossed the haunted house. My idea was to add some alcohol ink to darken it some & doodle. As I started working on it I realized a lot of the cool detail that makes the stamp special was being lost as the emboss is too thick for it to show. So I flipped the tag over & started again. I can always add a piece of pattern card stock on this side to hide my boo boo. 

Stamp Platform Time

At this point I pulled out this handy dandy device. You can find it here at Topflight Stamps. Rather then me try & explain how it works how about I let Tim show you in this video you can find here. 

Just like in the video, opened the tool & placed my tag using the magnets. Next step is to position the stamp on the tag & bring the top acrylic piece down & push so the stamp adheres to the acrylic. 

After opening the tool lid & inking my stamp I brought the lid down and pressed as if it was a normal acrylic block, just like in the video. After lifting the lid I realized that my stamp was resisted by the washi tape as it has a slick finish & bold image. Normally this would be a problem that potentially would cause me to start over. Not with the Platform however! I simply removed the washi tape. See the blank spot where the washi was on right side pic above?

 I simply brought the lid down again & re-stamped. The image is crisp & much darker. YAY!!!! Total craft save! It is hard to tell in the above pic how well this 3x stamped image worked but you can sure see it below.

Now let's add to this tag! Using the eye & bat stamps with some heat emboss helped the images to pop. I really wanted the bat to show up so why not yellow, this is art after all not real life. Who says a bright yellow bat could not be living on my imaginary tag? Inking in some details using paint & gel pens also really bought this tag to life.  

Time to add my stamped, distressed & pop dotted title. Love the details on this title! Finished this tag with ribbons & some charms. Thanks so much for joining me today & please head over to the Topflight Blog & leave me a comment, it would be much appreciated! I hope you have some time to play today!

Star Wars Pocket using Eileen Hull's House Die

Wow I dare you to say that title 5 times fast! Today I am here with a Star Wars double planner pocket using the Eileen Hull's House die. I had a little too much fun making this & the geek in me is very excited with the result!

Not only that but it was super easy to do once I figured it out so you get the bonus of the easy how-to version.  

I found the most amazing Star Wars paper pad at Hobby Lobby. It is made by Disney. I was very excited to find this as you Geek fans know some shows are hard to find scrapbook supplies for. 

This technique will take no time at all & can be used in your journals, planners, or junque journals. On the left side I made a double sided tuck pocket. All you do is make 2 cuts of the scrapbook paper using the base of the house die. 

Take one of the pieces & cut about 1/4" above the bend in a diagonal. Adhere a strong glue on left side & bottom of the cut piece & adhere to the solid piece to make your pocket- easy peasy. Distress the edges if you like. 

Make a second pocket the same way & adhere the pockets back to back so you have a pocket on both sides. Here are the 2 papers I used before I put the pockets on. You can see the finished pocket below.

For the right side I made an envelope pocket. Cut 2 house backgrounds & then cut the triangle portion on only 1 of the pieces. You won't use this.

If you use a double sided card stock you can skip this step and simply add the pocket. Cut a 3rd house from a different piece of paper, this will be the inside of the pocket. This paper is a bit thin so adding the whole piece helps give it some stability. I glued the 2 full pieces, plain side together. I wanted to sew on my pocket portion (the rectangular piece) so I moved the adhesive from the edges so the needle wouldn't go through the glue. 

Punch a half circle in the rectangular piece and adhere to make the pocket. Sew using a machine or by hand around the edges.

Next step was to turn the 2 pocket pieces into one piece that can slide in my journal. I really wanted to use washi tape for this step but couldn't get my hands on Star Wars washi fast enough so I made it with paper. First cut out 2 pieces of paper, in this case the square black rebel alliance piece. Next, leave a bit of space between the pocket & envelope & adhere one square like in the picture above.Then flip the piece over & adhere the 2nd square lining them up. Finally add some ephemera. 

Now you can bend the piece and you have 2 pages. I printed some tickets from the internet to put in my pocket. I plan on putting photos or more ephemera in the pockets, maybe a quote from the movie on a tag. Do they make Star Wars stamps?

All that was left is to slip the pockets into my journal. If you want to see the original post on how I made my Fan Girl Journal (including my Star Wars booklet) using Eileen's journal die the original post is here.

 
Thanks for coming along on the ride with me. I hope you get a chance to play with this fun die!! Make sure you hop on over to Eileen's blog to see what the rest of the team is making this week. Cheers!