Jun 30 2007
Pink Teddy and Tutorial, Too
When I started working on this I had a vague recollection of a pink Teddy bear from when I was little. As I worked, the memory became more defined, took on more substance. I clearly remember my brown Teddy bear. He had the sweetest face for a little girl to love and grew only more precious when he became scruffy and his music box no longer worked. But there was a pink Teddy bear, too. A little plumper, not quite as easy to hug and tote around. I remember feeling sorry that I could never love it quite the way I loved my brown Teddy bear. Gosh, that was a long time ago. I don’t remember exactly when my brown Teddy bear and I parted company so it must have been pretty painless. I guess we simply outgrew each other, but I’ll admit I just this moment felt a little pang of regret that I don’t still have that little guy.
I decided to turn this into a tutorial because I was doing something a little different and maybe some folks would like to see how it’s done. The Teddy bear was given a little puffy texture with Liquid Applique, nothing new there, but I dyed the LA with a few drops of Pretty in Pink reinker. That’s probably been done before, too, but I haven’t heard of it so for the sake of this tutorial, let’s pretend this is all brand new stuff.
First, I started with white Liquid Applique. I squeezed about 5 ml into a disposable measuring cup, like one of those you get with liquid cough syrup. I added 4 drops of Pretty in Pink, stirred it and it came out this color. You can see that it lightens up a little when it’s puffed. I thought it was so cool that I learned I could color my Liquid Applique!
I stamped my Teddy bear onto Naturals White cardstock in Timber Brown Stazon, then painted all over the image with the tinted Liquid Applique. The stamped image is just serving as an outline so you’ll know where to paint the LA. Don’t worry about obscuring any of the features or lines within the image. This is similar to the brayering technique with LA, but with less waste. One more little thing: I used a rayon tipped swab (sort of like a Q-Tip, but made with rayon fibers). The fibers got kind of stringy and messy, but neatness isn’t important at this stage. You just want to fill in the image and it doesn’t matter if you go outside the lines a little bit. A foam applicator would have been a little neater.
The next step is to heat the image with your heat gun, just the same as embossing, but heat only just until the LA puffs. Isn’t he cute?
Now we bring the Teddy bear to life by stamping right over top of the puffed image. I used my Stamp-a-Ma-Jig for positioning. Sorry I don’t have a picture of that step but you can see in the next photo how it looks after it’s stamped but before it’s cut out. One of the eyes turned out a little blank but I filled it in with a brown fine-tipped Sharpie.
So here he is, puffed and stamped and ready to cut out. After I cut him out I added a little bit of shading with Pretty in Pink Stampin’ Pastels (soft chalk). The rest is just a matter of putting the card together.
For the card I used Pretty in Pink and Soft Sky cardstock and three different sei designer papers in a color block layout. The scalloped oval was made with one of those big punches which I don’t have but Candy Williams was nice enough to send me a little supply of punched circles and ovals. I sponged the edges of this one with Soft Sky ink. The scalloped border under the ribbon was made with the slit punch. Julia S. is responsible for that innovation and she’s given a complete how-to here on her blog. Thank you, Julia! I used the key tag punch for the sentiment tab. Stamps and cardstock are by Stampin’ Up!. A summary of the supplies is included below.
This was a fun, easy and fairly quick process. I hope it’s useful information for someone and that you’ll give it a try. Have a great day!
Stamps: Bundle of Joy, Holidays and Wishes
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Soft Sky, Naturals White, Whisper White, sei designer paper
Ink: Timber brown Stazon, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky
Accessories: Ribbon, eyelets, Prima, brad, scallop punch, key tag punch, slit punch, Scotch brand mounting tape
How totally adorable is this? Love your little pink teddy. And what a sweet story. Ahhhhh…. memories…..
Oh my goodness…isn’t this the most darling??? I love your dyed liquid applique!! Thank you for the tutorial of you achieved such an awesome image!! I love the finished card!! The papers, ribbon, eyelets…everything is perfect and adorable!! Your story is super sweet as well!
This is so adorable, I absolutely LOVE this card!! And I never thought of coloring liquid applique, that is pure genius! I also had no idea Julia came up with slit punch scallops - I learned it at the SU Regional in Houston back in February, assumed it was an SU idea but I guess they learned it from her.
What an extremely enjoyable conversation. I just love your Teddy and I am going to try your idea of coloring the LA - it’s such a fun embellishment to use. Your finished card is so sweet and pretty. Thank you.
What a cute teddy. Such a beautiful card.
Leslie, this is beautiful! I just love how you shaded the liquid appliqué with chalks…it’s just gorgeous!! You have such a knack for putting beautiful papers together!!
LESLIE!!!! To darn cute! I will have to try that with the liquid applique (or Tulip Puffy). To clever.
Great use of the punches. Your tutorial was very helpful. What a fun way to add colour & texture and not have to go out and buy a new product. Sweet story. Thanks for sharing
Hi Leslie, I have to tell you that I just love your work. I was so lucky to sit by you at the SCS dinner at Portland Regionals in 2005, and you are such a lovely and gracious person. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful talent. Hugs, Alicia
What an adorable card Leslie! Love the layout and the soft looking little teddy bear.
This is so timely for me too, as I’m wanting to do something like this for Jami’s new catty swap (I’m using the new SU Halloween set that has the frog on the cauldron). I can’t wait to see what I can do with the contents of the cauldron!
LInda
Beautiful chit chat and great tutorial. I like the looked achieved. it reminded me of my OS’s terrycloth frog that showed a bit more loving here and there as his naptime companion.
Love everything youoshare and do. Walks through a beautiful garden or down memory lane - added bonuses.
Thank you for sharing so much!
This is so darling, Leslie! I love the pink LA!! Very cool technique!
Awsome card! I love the liquid applique on the card. The whole thing looks warm and fuzzy and all together great!
Great tutorial, Leslie — I never thought about stamping over the LA — it’s darling! Thanks for the inspiration!
What a cute story and love the tutorial thanks so much for sharing!
This looks like fun! I’m gonna give it a try!
WOW!!
So cute. Thanks for the tutorial!! I shouldda got this set. Great job on this card.
OMG! This is totally adorable! Love it! And I’m glad I’m not the only person that mixes liq. app. and ink in tiny plastic containers! LOL!
~Angie
I never thought of using a reinker to color the LA. What a great idea, I loved your recollection of your teddybear. Very cute.
Oh my goodness! I love this puffy pink teddy!! So cute!
Too cute for words. Love that pink teddy! Thanks for the tutorial. Your blog is fabulous
Love, Love, Love this tutorial — and your little bear is just the cutest ever — but I have a question — where do you get Liquid Applique. I have looked all winter and can’t find it around me anywhere. Does Puff Paint of Dimensional Paint work the same? OK, just read above Sherry said Tulip Puffy — so they would work the same? Whatever, this is just fabulous!!!
Well! This is about as perfect as a baby card gets! I’ll have to show this to Bill, because he and his sisters have quite a history with with a whole family of teddy bears (think role playing). OK, back to this adorable card. I love the color block design and that wide pink polka dot ribbon. All the little extra touches are wonderful too: The pearl and prima, the repetition of the scallops in the border and eyelets, and those sweet ribbons. AND thank you for the LA tutorial. I haven’t used it in ages, so I really appreciate the inspiration. Linda
I’m sure you need another comment like you need a hole in the head but this was such a great tutorial I had to say thanks and great job!