Chibitronics & Studio Katia Collaboration

Hello there everyone! It’s COLLABORATION WEEK! woohoo!! This week, me and the rest of the Chibitronics gang are joining the Studio Katia team for a fun collaboration! When you are done here, don’t forget to head on over to the Chibitronics blog, so you can link to the other fun projects made as part of this collab.

To be honest, Studio Katia is a new-to-me company, but as I was perusing their website, I found LOADS that I was simply drooling over! I couldn’t refuse this cute bear set called ‘Kobi the Birthday Bear’.

For this collab, I have made a surprise LIGHT UP birthday shaker card, for a friend who is turning 45 this summer. When you press down on little Kobi bear’s tummy, the 4 and 5 candles light up to reveal 45!

I paired up Kobi with the Dotted Patterns die set – which I am also in love with. I love versatile dies that can be used in many ways – and this label shape is definitely going to become one of my go-to craft supplies!

There is a video tutorial that you can watch, but lets have a run down – I know many viewers don’t speak English and it is useful to have the text to throw into google translate. 🙂

First I stamped the bear, the cake and hat onto some Claire Fontaine DCP paper, using my MISTI tool. This is a copic friendly paper that is so bright white – I have come to use it more than the Neenah card now. Next I used a piece of printed acetate to help me align the number candles in a somewhat straight line. This took a few minutes to get just right, but the printed acetate really helps a massive amount. I coloured everything in (rather subtly) with my copic markers.

Next I repeat stamped, and then heat embossed some words along the edge of some paper, and then cut into three strips which each said It’s your birthday, birthday girl and happy birthday. I used the emboss resist technique here to add colour to these strips using bright tones of distress inks – mustard seed, picked raspberry and peacock feathers. I knew i wanted to combine these strips with the candles, but it was really fiddly trying to hold them all in place- so i glued them all to a piece of vellum to make it more manageable. Next I used a plier punch to punch two tiny holes in the flames above the 4 and the 5. This helps the light shine through brightly.

Next I wanted to add some colour to the background, so I layered cardstock the pieces on a craft mat. I had an A2 stitched rectangle, the dotted rectangle cut from the Studio Katia die, and then the label shape that I cut into the dotted rectangle. I tapped the ink pad onto a acrylic block and used a wet paintbrush to add splatters to my card. I dried each colour before moving onto the next so i didn’t get any accidental muddy colour mixing.

The next bit of footage went a bit AWOL – sorry about that. I took a card base and laid down the frame section on top (which has the dotted rectangle on top of the A2 stitched rectangle, and the label shape has been die cut through both of them to create a frame). I glued the label shape onto the card front – using the frame to position it exactly. This then becomes the inside of my shaker window.
Next I laid the word strips at a diagonal, and adhered them to the frame sections. Then, whilst holding the frame in position, I used a mechanical pencil to mark where the holes of the candles will be. Then all i needed to do was to add some acetate to the back of the frame.

For my chibitronics circuit, I chose to do a simple parallel circuit – and don’t worry, it’s not complicated at all. I drew two dots where my LEDs needed to go, so I knew exactly where I needed to build the circuit. I also knew that the bear would be on the bottom right, so my battery should go there. In order to make the circuit, you need two lines of copper tape – one which connects the negative side of the lights to the negative side of the battery, and the other line of tape connects the positive side of the lights to the positive side of the battery. SIMPLES! For this project I used some vellum to build my circuit. I stuck a strip of vellum onto the card, (and i could still see the dots where the lights needed to go) and then I used a pencil to draw my circuit. Once I was happy, then I added the adhesive copper tape and the LEDs. You will see on the video that I cut a line in the vellum so that there was a flap to fold over the top of the battery to connect the circuit together.

I added foam tape around the card circumference, and also around the battery – i didn’t want any shaky bits getting into the switch mechanism as that might interrupt the circuit. Speaking of shaky bits -if you like sequins and other such wonderful embellishments you should definitely check out Studio Katia’s range. They have lots of gorgeous things- both the seed beads and the sequins are also from Studio Katia.

I used the corner of my MISTI to stick my top panel onto the card base – this makes sure that it is stuck on perfectly – no wonky angles allowed! 🙂 Next, some finishing touches. I die cut a few extra bear shapes and stacked these up with my stamped image on top – this reinforces the bear so he almost looks more like a chipboard piece now. It also make him more robust- especially since his belly will be pressed in order to light up the card!

I thought that the top of my card looked a little bare, so I added the balloon from the Kobi set, and finished this off with a layer of glossy accents.

Don’t forget to visit the Chibitronics blog which will link you to the other collaboration projects – I cannot wait to see what everyone has made. There will be projects shared all week long.

Happy Crafting,

Lesley

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