Anything But Paper - Emerald Creek Dare

I am not only excited to be sharing my first project for Emerald Creek as part of the Design Team but also because I am so stoked about the birch bark bookmarks that I made for this dare. More specifically, these beauties will be used as magazine markers. 

The idea for a magazine marker was born out of my love of Flow Magazine for Paper Lovers. If you too are a fan of such a specialty magazine, then you might feel the same way as I do about needing a bookmark as a placeholder versus dog earring a corner of one of these lovelies... it just feels so wrong to do the latter.

The current Emerald Creek Dare is Anything But Paper. I have to say that I really loved the challenge of creating these bookmarks, which are traditionally made from paper, without paper and the experimentation required to figure out what worked with the base medium. 

To begin, I used a piece of birch bark that I had saved from a storm damaged fallen tree. To prep the base, I cut it into a 3 inch width and as it was too thick to lay flat, I peeled it in half (approx. 3 layers) to create two strips. Then, I cut them at two slightly different lengths just for the sake of trying two sizes. I chose to leave the natural tear part at the bottom and make all cuts from the top portion. Next, I used a baby wipe to remove the natural powdery residue from both sides of the birch strips. Lastly, I angle cut the corners and used a regular hand held office supply hole punch to make the hole. Now they were ready for some creative play.

For the first one on the left, I wanted to give stains a try. These are the supplies that I used on it. 

I started by heat emboss stamping with the Kimilese stamp and Vegas Gold Embossing Powder . Next, I sprayed Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, and Broken China Distress Stains on it and then dried and heat set it with a heat gun (being careful not to get too close to the bark with the heat as it can cause the birch to blister). I placed it under a heavy stack of books to cool, dry further, and flatten. Once it was completely dry, I used the MISTI stamping tool to align the Cherry Blossom Branch stamp from the NWD Fallen Blossom stamp set where I wanted it to appear on the bookmark. Then, I inked up the branch portion of the stamp with Ranger Coffee Archival ink removing the ink from unwanted areas with a baby wipe prior to stamping it on the bark. Next, I heat set the ink with the heat gun and then let it air dry a bit longer. 

While that was happening, I cleaned the stamp with it still adhered to the MISTI using a baby wipe. Next, I inked up the blossoms with emboss ink, re-stamped the image, and heat embossed it with Sweet Valentine Embossing Powder. Once cool, I stamped my craft mat with Picket Fence Distress ink and used a water brush adding the white to the inside of the blossoms. While that was air drying, I coloured the Tim Holtz Crinkle Ribbon with Antique Linen Distress Stain and stamped the Small Butterfly on a cut off piece of birch bark with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and heat embossed it with the Iridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder. Lastly, I stamped the "Remember to make memories" sentiment also from the NWD Fallen Blossom stamp set with the Coffee Archival ink, adhered the fussy cut butterfly, and tied on the ribbon.


For the second bookmark on the right...




I followed much of the same process with the following alterations:

- I did the initial heat emboss resist technique using the Kimilese stamp with Burnt Copper Leaves Embossing Powder prior to painting it with a combination of Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, and Twisted Citron Distress Paint. After letting the paint "set up" a bit, I carefully lightly buffed parts of the embossed sections with a piece of paper towel to remove some of the paint and reveal the embossed script.

- I heat emboss stamped the Small Butterfly stamp using emboss ink twice on the small piece of leftover birch bark and heat embossed one with Vegas Gold Embossing Powder and the other with Iridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder prior to fussy cutting them both out.

- I heat emboss stamped the "Remember to make memories" sentiment from the NWD Fallen Blossom stamp set with fine white embossing powder.

- I used three pieces of jute twine to tie the top and knotted the ends.

Here is a look at the supplies that I used for this bookmark.

To see my fellow "Dare"mates takes on the challenge and get the challenge details, check out the Emerald Creek blog here. Kim is offering an added bonus prize for further incentive to this Dare so it is a perfect time to grab your imagination, get creative, and come join us.

If you make your own birch bark bookmarks using either method, be sure to share a link with me here on the blog or tag me @scrapsavvy on Instagram. I would love to see your take.
  

TTFN,

Emerald Creek Products used:

Kimilese stamp

NWD Fallen Blossom stamp set

Small Butterfly stamp

Burnt Copper Leaves Embossing Powder

Sweet Valentine Embossing Powder

Vegas Gold Embossing Powder

Iridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder

Other products used and available from the EC shop:

Distress Stains: Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Broken China, Antique Linen

Distress Paints: Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron

Distress Ink: Picket Fence, Peacock Feathers

Ranger: Emboss Ink