Giveaway

It is time to attract more followers to our blog.

To help, we are going to hold a giveaway!

We have this adorable set of clear stamps designed by Leere Aldrich for Stampavie.

Aren't they adorable? Stampavie always make high-quality clear stamps that produce crystal clear images and are beautiful colored with Copic markers. Plus, they are made in the USA!

Right now, we have 27 followers.  When we get to 50, we'll choose one randomly to receive this special gift.

So, tell all of your friends, spread the word on Facebook and if you read the blog, but aren't signed up as a follower, be sure to sign up. Good luck!

Flying American

It doesn't have to be Memorial Day or the Fourth of July to be patriotic. Red, white and blue are fun colors to work with anytime of the year.

Just look at this card Candy made using this new stamp from Impression Obsession, Inc. Here are her instructions:

1. Cut card base out of red cardstock. Add white cardstock to top left.
2. Emboss background out of white cardstock using Sizzix/Tim Holtz Texture Fades.
3. Ink background with Distress Ink.
4. Stamp Hero Arts saying and balloon stamp from Impression Obsession on Cryogen paper and color with Copic Markers. Trim.
5. Highlight edges of saying with Distress Ink.
6. Mat balloon stamp with navy cardstock.

FYI: If you are a hot-air balloon buff, there is another stamp by Impression Obsession that features a hot-air balloon with a teddy bear. Both stamps are available at the store in wood and cling mount.

St. Patrick's Day Card with Laura

Here is a super simple St. Patrick's Day card tutorial.  You can check out the actual card at Scrap Tales.

 

 

SUPPLY LIST:  Black Cardstock, Shamrock Paper, Dreamweaver stencil LS 58, Dreamweaver stencil LM 283, Alcohol inks in green, pearl, Alcohol Blending tool, Alcohol Blending Solution, Tan Spellbinders mat, Die cut machine, embossing mat

 

1)      Emboss stencils through the die cut machine using metal and the tan Spellbinders mat.  I used the shamrock three times and celebrate once

2)      Use your blending tool with felt and alcohol inks to color all of the metal pieces.  I used Meadow, Pesto, and Pearl Mixative

3)      Sand the back of the Shamrocks.  You can use a nail file block to get into the small crevices.  It is better to go over the edges of the shamrock than to not sand enough.

4)      Replace the stencil onto the shamrocks and hit with the alcohol inks again.  It is better to have the ink felt a little dry.  Do not get too damp.

5)      Remove stencil and let dry.  Touch up the sanding if needed

6)      Sand Celebrate lightly to reveal word and leave green on background.

7)      Make black card 5 ½ inches high, 4 ¾ inches wide

8)      Cut shamrock paper 5 ¼ inches by 3 inches

9)      Remove backing on celebrate and stick with a slight black border to left hand side

10)  Attach paper with slight black border to right hand side

11)  Cut shamrock metals close to design and create small black mats for each approx. 2 inches by 1 ¾ inches for mats.

12)  Lay mats and metals on cards to see how you like the placement.  I chose off kilter.

13)  Attach metal to mats and all to card

14)  Trim top and bottom of card.

15)  Clean shamrock stencil with Alcohol Blending Solution

 

 

You can find another version of this card, complete with plaid that I made with a stencil, at Scrap Tales and featured on the Dreamweaver blog at www.dreamweaverstencils.blogspot.com. 

 

Thanks for looking--Laura

For Scrapbook Pages, too

Many of the newest and coolest products on the market these days seem to be tailored to cardmakers and altered artists, rather than scrapbookers.

Candy loves playing with the newest tools, but since she is a scrapbooker at heart, she is always looking for ways to apply cardmakers' techniques onto her scrapbook pages.

For this one, she worked with a Sizzix/Tim Holtz Texture Fades Embossing Folder. Because the photos were taken through the gates, windows and openings in the building, which was closed when she visited, she thought the look of an old screen would be the perfect thing to accent the pages.

She embossed pieces of white cardstock with the Gridlock Embossing Folder and then used Pumice Stone Distress Ink to accent them.

For the title, she used a mixture of chipboard letters (most are from Maya Road) and colored them with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. They are attached with Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive.

The butterflies were stamped on plain white cardstock with a Tim Holtz/Stamper's Anonymous stamp and Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black, then cut out and colored in Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. Using a technique taught by Wendy Vecchi, she cut off the antennae when cutting out the image. Then, she reinked the stamp, placed sticky notes over all but the antennae and stamped it directly on her page. Finally, she lined up the cut outs with the stamped images and adhered them with dimensional foam.

Other supplies used: Cardstock: American Crafts, Bazzill; flowers: Bo Bunny; brads: American Crafts (gray), My Mind's Eye (turquoise); computer font: Candy Buzz BTN off the Internet

A Project a Day

March is National Craft Month and in honor of this special time, Stampendous is posting a new project to their blog each day!

You know Stampendous ... they are the ones who bring us those adorable little paint buckets, Jumbo Cling Stamps, Class A'Peel stickers and Fun Flock. I'm sure there will be a plethora of unique ideas using these products, and more, as the month goes on.

Here is today's project ... instructions and a template are on their site at http://stampendousblog.wordpress.com

It doesn't have to be new

There are tons and tons of new products arriving daily at Scrap Tales right now.

But, you don't always have to use the newest products to make a nice project.

For this card, I used several Riley stamps. I love Riley. I can't help it. He's just so adorable. So, I use his stamps every chance I get. And, since they are still available at the store, I thought it was OK to show you.

This card is for my son whose 20th birthday was yesterday. It shows his dream life -- surfing with two lovely ladies ready to wait on him.

To make it, I tore a piece of brown cardstock and then used Distress Ink to add a bit of dimension. I stamped each character with Momento ink on Cryogen paper and then colored them with Copic markers.

I then cut each one out and attached them with Pop-Up Glue Dots.

Then, I went in with Stickles and added them to the flowers, the suns on Riley's shorts and the water because everything needs to sparkle!

Of course, I couldn't let my son have everything he wants for his birthday, so I included a Riley that is a little more "real" on the inside ...

Laura's English Experiment

 For those who don't know, I had the wonderful opportunity to represent Dreamweaver Stencils at the Stitches Show in the United Kingdom. (Think CHA of the United Kingdom).  I showed several different techniques, and used the products of those demonstrations to create some cards for Woodware, the United Kingdom distributor. Three of the cards that I made wound up with the British version of QVC. I will never see them, and no one will hear my name, but it was thrilling nonetheless. Five others were just left with the wonderful Woodware women, and I never got photos of those. 

These five were finished just a little later, and I was able to take these (not fantastic) photos of them on my bed before I mailed them off on my last day. You will notice my souvenir scarf laying behind them. These were created with only the supplies at hand.

 

A version of the bird card was one of my make and takes during the show. It was created with Microfine Glitter and Stampendous Fun Flock. First, I soaped the back of the birds on a branch stencil (to allow it to be easily removed). Then, I attached the stencil to the double sided adhesive paper, soap side down. I used a Big Shot to dry emboss the birds on a branch stencil, and then loosely cut out the birds. This way, I created a mask, to individually color the birds. I covered the stencil with the mask, lining up the birds. I put glitter into each of the holes seperately, pushing the glitter onto the adhesive backed paper. I also pushed glitter into the saying. I brushed the excess glitter off. Then, I removed the mask. I put alot of flocking on the branched and pressed it in HARD with my finger. It is the only way to make your flocking feel plush. Then, I rubbed and brushed the excess off completely. I removed the stencils, and flooded the remaining area with white glitter and added a ribbon

 

The rest all used this same "double glitter" technique. Some used additional techniques. 

The Thistle, for example, used flock and glitter in the blue (I didn't have purple) thistle flower. The glitter is shaded because I used two different colors.

 Both the Thistle and the Blue Knot also use the "plaid maker"--which is the stripe stencil held one way and stencilled, then turned and stencilled at 90 degrees. The knot also had a machine embossed raindrop background.

So, those were my quickly assembled "demonstration" cards.

Did I have fun in England? ABSOLUTELY! I am including a few photos here.

 For one additionaly card, and MORE England photos, visit my blog at www.rememberinglifesmoments.blogspot.com.  Thank you for your interest.