Thursday, August 15, 2013

A Promise to Save You $16 ...

... if you're like me and went wild over the new Papertrey Ink burlap impression plate that goes on sale today.

I NEED that. I'm dying for more choices of subtle backgrounds. 

But then I thought...

Wait a minute, don't I have burlap? Wouldn't that be just as good as a piece of metal trying to be like burlap?

Folks, it turns out that it is!


I cut a piece of scrap burlap the same size as my foam pad, and ran that through my Big Shot.


I can't believe how well it works! 


Now maybe you all already know this and I've just been on the slow boat all year, but you would not believe how excited I got in my craft room today. Then I started thinking about all other textures.

screen mesh

aida cloth

linen

sandpaper

(eta: turns out misting masks work just as well too, see post here!)

You can bet there will be some experimenting going on when school starts up and I have more time for crafting/blogging. Even the burlaps I tried were different. One is pretty even and has lots of holes, one is more random with thin and thick strands that don't run straight. I love it!


In the meantime, I thought I'd share my excitement with you and perhaps save the $16 for that impression plate for some other awesome Papertrey goodies that you can't duplicate at home. 

Thanks for looking!
-Kelly

33 comments:

  1. Wow Kelly this is great info TFS!!

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  2. Well well well... Only ur mind can dwell in those genius discoveries :) you are amazing, I am wondering, if you were a scientist you definitely would have invented some thing of great value to human race :) but I am glad you are in the crafting world and u do equally well to bring great value to the crafters race ;) I love the idea, will try for sure :D

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  3. This is amazing. But, I saw it 2 hours too late. Anyone want to buy a burlap IP?

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  4. Do you realize that you are a freakin' genius!! This is such a fantastic idea--LOVE it and so does my wallet.

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  5. I have to agree with Tracey, you are a genius...this is just amazing and can't wait to hit Joann's tomorrow! thank you for being one smart cookie.

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  6. You are TOO smart Kelly!
    Thank You for the tips ;-)

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  7. Fantastic tip! Thank you :) Cathy x

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  8. Two words....EPIC and GENIUS! Yup that's you...I gotta try this out, unfortunately the price of burlap went up since it became a "craft trend" here in Hawaii.

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  9. Yay yay yay... now to hoard that last piece of burlap and not use it for my project :P

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  10. Thanks Kelly. I must admit I've seen other people using leaves and all sorts of things to emboss but haven't experimented myself!

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  11. Love the idea -- but walk me through it -- you put the foam down first on a plate, then the card and then the burlap ? Anything on top of the burlap?? Did you have to shim it up at all ?

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    1. Hi Helen! Yep, that's right, the sandwich would be exactly the same as when you use a normal an impression plate. So from the bottom up you'd have your acrylic block, the foam pad, the paper, the burlap, and the top acrylic block. I did not have to shim it. Although, if you wanted a deeper impression I'm sure a shim would help.

      I hope you try it!

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  12. PTI is not going to be happy with you! So easy and love the result!

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  13. Awesome! I didn't buy any burlap, but I do have a piece from my Eco Emi box. Can't wait to try this!!

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  14. I love you, Kelly! You just saved me 16 bucks! Here in Bolivia there's the most gorgeous burlap at the street markets. It smells horrible, but the texture is perfectly irregular for this :) Happy weekend, you genius girl!

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  15. Thank you so much for the fantastic tip Kelly ~ the burlap texture in particular is fabulous for fall!

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  16. You're awesome! But you knew that already, didn't you? ;-)

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  17. I almost bought that plate last night...amazing...thanks for the wonderful info, Kelly...will have to try it:)!!

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  18. That is one great idea, genius. THANK YOU!!

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  19. How cool is that? Thank you for sharing your experiment--can't wait to try this!

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  20. Thanks Kelly. Great idea. I wonder if leaves would work?

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  21. Thanks Kelly. Great idea. I wonder if leaves would work?

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    1. I think leaves would work out well ... Victoria mentioned that she's seen others do this. How fun to try it all out! I was thinking to even run some random strips of paper through and see what happens.

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  22. You are brilliant! If you ride the slow boat then I ride the moored one!

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  23. Super cool!! Now I have $16 more for stamps. Wait, I'm supposed to save that money, right?

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  24. How funny...when I first saw PTI's Mesh stamps, I thought of using mesh screen as stencils and stamps! I didn't act on it...but then you just take it up a notch here! :) Way to go, girl!

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  25. Yep, yep. Add potato sacks to your list!

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  26. I love you today. I totally wanted that IP, too, but at the last minute I dropped it from my shopping cart and put something else in...now I can have the best of both worlds. THANK YOU!

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  27. genius... thanks for sharing this, Kelly!

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I absolutely love reading comments. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to leave one! - Kelly