If your in need of a quick card, here’s 3 that are simple to make.

The Santa card I had seen on a blog and decided to change it just a bit. I added Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel to the belt. Used my Cropadile to punch 3 holes in it. I cut out the belt buckle in gold paper. The Santa is a stamp from Studio g. I colored him with watercolor pencils and matted the image on black cardstock. I just now realize I should of made the white parts of Santa’s outfit and his beard sparkly with iridescent ice. I think that would look really cute.

Yes, more Tree cards. They are just so cute and easy! The Tree cards are cut on the Cricut using Paper Doll Dress Up. I used gems and buttons to decorate them. The star is embossed twice with gold embossing powder. The tree is popped up using pop-dots. The blue cardstock is embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.

Santa Belt Card

Image is colored with watercolor pencils. Stamp, Studio g.

Belt is embossed with clear UTEE.

Since they were so cute and easy, I made two.

2 Little Christmas Trees

Decorating the trees with gems & buttons is not only cute its afforadable too.

Hope you enjoyed these cards. Thanks for stopping by my blog! Happy Holidays.

hi everyone! i hope your week has gotten off to good start!  before i get to the results of my further UTEE glitter experimentation i have been meaning to show y’all a copic storage solution i discovered.  i used to keep them in silver ware organizer trays but it was too hard to alwyas dig in and find the colors.  then i came across a storage rack for retailers to hold marker displays and a lightbulb went on:

this is actually several racks stacked on top of each other.  they tilt slightly back so the pens don’t fall out and each row is divided into 3 compartments.  this way i can not only separate by color families but also by color groupings – so R08, R05, R02 & R00 are all together in a  compartment.  this is SO convenient.  and the best part is that it makes it easier to find the Ciaos since they don’t have the number on the lid. 

i ALWAYS buy ciao when i have the option because it saves money.  in each color grouping there is at least one sketch so i can tell by just that one marker what other colors are there – make sense?  you can see what i mean here.  AND the rack is super sturdy with a fairly small footprint – both equally important.

the racks run $20 and though i don’t carry them i could certainly get some in if anyone is interested – just let me know.

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Don’t forget to enter the current Studio G challenge for a chance to win a full sized stamp set from Hampton Arts!

Don’t forget to post a comment on yesterday’s post telling me your favorite snowflake to be entered to win some fun products to make your own!

now MORE SNOWFLAKES!

ok here are page 2 & 3 of the LO from yesterday:

fairly simple LOs but i spent alot of time doing some experimenting with the snowflakes i added as embellishments.

i decided to start out by cutting all my snowflakes from white cardstock with my cricut.  then i sprayed them with a few different pearl mists 1. red dye with gold perfect pearls, 2. pink dye with pewter perfect pearls, 3.  juniper reinker with green patina perfect pearls.

once they were completely dry i covered one with clear UTEE.  i had covered this one with the pearl mist i made with red dye reinker (not sure which red as i have had it awhile) perfect gold perfect pearls, and water.  the shimmer was just so gorgeous i had to leave it!!  i simply covered it with a layer of UTEE which has a gorgeous effect!

next up i have two more i did by sandwiching perfect pearls between 2 layers of UTEE.  this first one was misted with a pearl mist of juniper dye reinker, green patina perfec pearls and water.  then a layer of UTEE, apply versamark again and brush on some perfect pearls (or any nmica powder – i used a pink from luminarte in addition to green patina and gold perfect pearls.)  follow it with another layer of clear UTEE.

here is the second PP/UTEE sandwich one.  This one has the pink pearl mist underneath…

and now the glitter & UTEE combination – again with the pink pearl mist underneath.  i have 2 tips for you that i noticed:

1. the effect is better if your pearl mist matches your glitter color.

2. use ALOT of glitter.  i think at first i had alot more UTEE than glitter in my mix.  it needs to be the other way around.

i could not get a pic of this one that shows it but this is actually my fave of this batch.  the glitter is amazing AND the gold pearl in the red mist matches the gold glitter – really makes a difference!

are y’all tired of my glittered snowflakes yet?????  i try to experiment for you so you can get right to the fun stuff!  PLEASE remember you can email me any time if you have any questions!

now off to dig something up for dinner – hubby won’t be home til who knows when so i am boycotting cooking!

hugs!

well i am pleased to report that Pezzy appears to have decided she will go ahead and use the potty full time now.  i must say she was easier than my middle one – i didn’t think he was going to get to go to kindergarten!!

now on to the show *hee heee* – ya might want to grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable – there is ALOT packed in here!!!  but i have a little reward at the end *wink*

the challenge on Just Buggin is to bling up your die cuts – oh samantha were you reading my mind???  i will add bling to ANYTHING if it sits still long enough!  the question was NOT how am i going to do this but how am i going to narrow down all of my options….there is always the easy and obvious – cover them in STICKLES!  then i came across a reference on one blog that led me to another blog which led me to a youtube tutorial - y’all know how that goes – and next thing i know i was doing some experiments so i thought i would share the results with all of you for those who want to know.  first my project – page 1 of a 3 page LO that also incoporates TWO challenges:

the pics are from last winter – daddy took pez out and taught her how to build a snowman

i used papers from the peppermint forest stack – i am finally starting to embrace all the odd off beat colors of christmas and thought the whole pink snowflake theme would match pezzy’s pink clothes nicely. 

next i used everyday paperdolls and doodlecharms cricut carts for the little girl, the snowfamily and the snowflakes.  i inked the edges of all the pieces for the girl & snowmen.  the faces are peachy keen stamps - kathy makes the MOST adorable faces i have ever seen!  i used some crystal ice stickles to highlight the snowmen and also gave the faces some color with copics.  i added ice stickles to the pattened snowanimal paper too. 

now the snowflakes  i have lots of different things going on with them for comparison’s sake so if you want the deets on them just continue reading!

I put a rose red glittered skittle in the center of each snowflake…

the title piece has yet another snowflake and a cute little glittered skittle snowman.  i stamped the title with a studio G stamp and brilliance pearlescent poppy ink.

i wanted to call your attention to the large pic – i took a class with jessica sprague and learned loads of fun stuff to do including this frame overlay technique.  i plan to do more altering on my photos as i go and highly recommend the classes to anyone interested in getting alot more out of photoshop elements!

now for the fun and messy part!!

you’ll need to start by gathering some supplies All of these can be found on my website except the glitter - let me know if there is something you can’t find):

Here you can see the snowflakes.  you need primas or die cuts or whatever else you want to glam up (either white or colored), pearl mist (i prefer to make my own from perfect pearls, water & reinker – see my tutorial here), UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Powder, fine glitter, small container with lid, versamark/embossing ink pad, heat gun.

Step 1: give your items some color and shimmer.  here i sprayed the die cuts with pearl mist made from water and perfect gold perfect pearls.  this gives them an all over shimmer.  now this alone can be a GREAT place to stop.  in fact i sprayed the patterned paper on my LO with it as well so it became shimmer paper   let these dry completely – at the end you can speed them along with a heat gun.  they MUST be completely dry before using UTEE.

now make your glittering UTEE – i did not measure this – just dump a little UTEE in your container and dump in some glitter – shake it & mix it up well.

now just smoosh each one really good into your versamark pad – be sure to get it good and covered.  something i noticed about this step – it made them much darker than their original color because they were wet…and the color stayed that way so several of mine ended up being much darker than i wanted them to be.  this *might* be why the person in the original video started with primas that were white not colored.  i have a second experiment drying downstairs and waiting for the next step.  it will be up tomorrow with deets.

After coating them well with versamark you will pour on the UTEE glitter mix.  carefully shake them off and place them on a surface where you can use your heat gun (i swear by my craft mat!)  you can see here they are very coated.  nw heat them until it all melts.  this can be the tricky and seriously messy part.  i recently switched to the ranger heat gun after my marvy one got water in it (don’t ask).  i will be honest it seems not as hot, not as quick and not as easy to aim BUT – and this is a biggie for me – it blows out softer so it does not send the UTEE flying in every direction.  IF you have a more forceful type gun be sure to hold it high above the UTEE and start the heating process, as it warms and begins to melt you can slowly move the gun closer.

ok this pic kinda sucks BUT here they are.  next step – you need another coat of UTEE – either plain or the glitter one if you want more glitter.

the effect is glitter trapped in glass almost and very sparkly!

here are the flowers from yesterday – i tried three different things – the flower on the left is blue and no pearl spray, the top right is blue and has gold perfect pearls mist on it, the bottom right started out white and i sprayed it with a perfect pearls mist with gold perfect pearls AND a bright blue reinker.  they start off looking almost identical in color…

in the bottom pic the flowers are in the same place.  you can see how much darker the two larger flowers became from the embossing ink.  the one that started out as white sayed truer to color.  the pearl shimmer IS somewhat visible once they are covered with UTEE & glitter and i think does add to the effect tho it is not necessary.

HOWEVER i wasn’t sure if it was my fave way of just blinging it.  so i created several different styles.  here they are for you to compare.  in addition to the 2 demonstrated above i have 1 large one done by sandwiching a layer of perfect pearls between layers of UTEE, the small green one is just pearl mist and the bottom middle is covered in gold ICE stickles.

here is a close up of the perfect pearls sandwich.  the cool thing about this technique is the reaction between the perfect pearls and the UTEE.  the top layer of UTEE drips through the layer of perfect pearls as it melts.  you can also see the gorgeous thick smooth finish UTEE gives you.

here is the one that is just sprayed with the perfect pearls mist – this is a far subtler look of shimmery-ness.

this is the snowflake covered with gold ice stickles – frankly this one has the biggest bling factor.  however all of them are superb and have a unique look to them.

and now i have a surprise for those of you who are still with me – A GIVEAWAY!!!  leave me a comment and tell me which method is your favorite. on friday i will draw a random name and that person will receive all of the items needed to make his or her favorite style (minus the cricut cartridge to cut the shapes out of course)!!  so if you want to give one of these techniques a try but don’t have all the goodies you need sign up for this giveaway!!

ok i am off to attempt to talk Pezzy into napping…..

thanks so much for stopping by!!!

We’re simply rollin’ in new Ranger products, including:

… heißt es bei TGIF. Mein Beitrag für Euch

… is the theme by TGIF. My sample for you

Diese Karte ist mit einem Motiv aus der CreaVil-Stempelkollektion gestaltet und beim Stempel Mekka als Musterkarte zu sehen gewesen.

This card is arranged with a motive from the CreaVil-Stamp collection and was a sample card for the Stempel Mekka.

zur Kartenbeschreibung

We have new Tim Holtz Word Sticks and Mask Sheets, as well as the new Utee Brightz from Ranger.

Well Mr Amazon has delivered the lead for the video, but having just bored myself silly listening to myself waffling on about how I made this, I think I’ll just explain it for you to read instead.  It wasn’t a video of me actually doing it, just me talking about it and did get a bit tedious.

I used bright lime green UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) which I heated in the Melt Pot, that fabulous gadget by the Queen of all things melty, Suze Weinberg.  You can pour out the molten UTEE onto a non-stick craft mat, then stamp into it, or you can pour it directly onto your stamp – as long as it is rubber.  Please don’t try this on a clear stamp, it might not cope too well.

I actually poured it straight onto the stamp, then when cool, I turned it over and rocked it gently to release it from the stamp.  I had painted a piece of chipboard with a layer of gesso and I wanted to melt my piece onto it.  I heated the chipboard with my heat tool for ages, then laid my UTEE piece onto it.  It stuck in places, but not evenly all over.  I gave the edges a bit of heat from the heat tool, but didn’t want to overdo it as that would just make it all melt flat again.

That’s where the Aga comes in.  I went and put the card straight onto the warming plate and kept an eye on it until the heat from underneath started to melt the UTEE enough to create the bond with the chipboard that I was looking for.

With a smaller piece, you would be able to put it back into a clean melt pot pan to do the same trick.  However a much simpler idea would be to pour your molten UTEE straight onto a piece of card in the first place, then stamp into it.  I didn’t do that because I find that sometimes you get pockets of air trapped and it doesn’t always give the best impression.  Working onto the stamp or non stick mat means that if it all goes wrong, you just pop the piece back in the melt pot and melt it down to try again.

Obviously there are lots of alternatives to an Aga, though I would urge caution – don’t get carried away with enthusiasm and burn yourself.  Molten UTEE is extremely hot and if you start messing about with upturned irons, well I just don’t want to know about it, ok!

To be honest, I think it’s the finishing touches that generated so much interest at the event last week. The ridges around the edge and the blobby bits came from the heat tool – carefully directed at a shallow angle so I wasn’t flattening the main image.

I then did something slightly unusual to the UTEE – I painted a layer of white paint right over the top.  I think I actually used white acrylic paint now I come to think about it, not gesso as I originally told people.  I wiped the raised areas pretty much straight away though so that the paint went onto the background layer, but the raised areas were still lime green from the UTEE.

When the paint was dry, I carefully dusted a selection of Perfect Pearls and our own Pearly Powders onto the background – blue in the background and gold and pearl on the reindeer and foreground.  The photo is angled so you can see the pearly sheen – the green is actually brighter in real life.

I used an ink blending tool to add some Peeled Paint Distress ink to the background and StazOn Olive green around the edge.  I think I will punch a couple of holes in the top and hang it on a little ribbon.

Be aware though that the UTEE can curl pretty dramatically.  The morning after I made this, I nearly threw it in the bin as it had curled up like a banana.  I actually put it in the book press and forgot about it – other things have been in and out of the press and I came across it about three weeks after I put it in – beautifully flat.  So do build in a couple of days to leave it under a stack of books if you want to have a go at something like this.

Anyway, here’s a more traditional use of the same stamp.

This uses Ranger pigment inks (Lettuce and a bit of Bottle around the edge) which have then been embossed with my trusty sparkly embossing powder.  It’s probably Kaleidascope, could be something else though as it’s been a faithful friend for so long that it’s been moved from tub to tub and has lost it’s original label long ago.  The background paper is from Decadent Brocade and the sentiment from the Damask Reindeer plate has got to be one of my all time favourite Christmas sentiments!

I have so much to share with you this week – including new Cuthbert stamps and a competition to name a sweet little friend of his.  I’m heading over to the Elusive Images blog to see if anyone has won last week’s competition over there, and tomorrow, Carrie and I will be going through all the new products that just came in to see what we can get up onto the website this week.

So stay tuned, there’s lots going on!

Panduro had a sale recently, and they had Prima papers too! Guess who stocked up on them? I’ve used them a lot these past weeks. Here are a few of the LO’s I’ve made.

The tag comes from one of Kevin’s t-shirts, I painted it with Crackle Paint and added a rub-on.

Flowers from Prima and PYHobby, the pearl white brads are office type brads which I have embossed (pointing downwards, instructions there), the photo mat is of my own production, stamps and journalpaper from Prima, chipboards from K&Co, except the swirl which is from Panduro. Painted with Crackle Paint and added Distress Ink.

Flowers from Prima, Wild Orchids and PYHobby, the leaves comes from an interior design shop, the leaf border is stamped, embossed and alco inked on acetate (instructions in an earlier post), flower centers (half pearls) are bought at Tradera.

Prima and Wild Orchids flowers, chipboard swirl from Panduro, brads are embossed with UTEE Britez Fuchsia.

Flowers from the same places as all the LO’s above. The chipboard swirl was really piggy pink so I added some red Staz-On to it. Journal tag/calendar from Webster’s Pages.

The photo mat is of my own production, but can also be bought from Svartvik Paper, this one is stamped with Prima stamps and Staz-On ink. The title is a SEI rub-on, flowers are Prima and Imaginisce, the belt buckle from K&Co, but I added some Crackle Paint to it as it was in wrong color.

A wooden Domino piece, distressed. The lovely screw brads comes from Creative Club.

The large brad lower left comes from Panduro, the hook and eye on the right is from one of mom’s sweaters (don’t tell her!).

That’s enough of Prima for today – but don’t worry, there’s more (I just ordered another pile of them…)

In this house it’s not easy to avoid pink. With two daughters and two granddaughters there ought to be a lot of pink! And it seems like they all have this color as their favorite.

Peyton:

I had great fun with the chipboard die-cut (Ellison ornament) when I was about to cover it with something. I started with covering it with KlaeberFix, and after about 30 minutes I sprinkled UTEE Britez Fuchsia over it. Just sprinkled, not covered. Heated and melted the UTEE and found out the KlaeberFix was still tacky! So I put some Doodlebug Velvet between the UTEE speckles and ended with a lovely structure.

I have recently taken up beading again – just making embellishments, not jewelry. This net is a 3-bead basic net made with Matsuno 11/0’s.

One of the flowers is also a beaded creation, a bit tricky to find out how to make it so a tutorial will be posted later!

Lorelai:

Some beaded flowers here, too. The princess crown is from Panduro (sale buy) and painted with Ranger Crackle Paint. Love this…

Kelly:

More of those beaded flowers:

And a beaded fringe (part from one of my own necklace patterns):

No, I didn’t find any pictures of Jessica to use!

Papers are almost all S.E.I., flowers are Prima, mulberry roses and BossKut.

Here’s another of the projects I wanted to try after watching Tim Holtz’s second DVD. This technique uses tumbled glass, UTEE that’s coloured with alcohol inks (to get a translucent embossing powder), craft foil and the melting pot. Once you have the right type of glass it’s quite easy to do and lots of fun. My 3 year old Jamie even joined in – after my heart attack at having him near the hot melting pot, he insisted he’d be careful and so while sitting on a chair next to me he very carefully began adding the coloured EPs to the pot. As he said, it’s just like cooking He’s keeping his finished piece (top left) aside for Grandma, so Mum if you read this there’s a present here waiting for you.

So what can you do with the finished pieces? Well I’ve got some pinbacks that I’m going to attach so they can be worn as brooches. If you’d like one (I hope SOMEONE will!!), just leave a comment and I’ll pick a name next week and post you one. The other thing you can do is wrap them in wire for attaching as a pendant. I’m wire-challenged so these pieces are very roughly done, but hopefully you get the idea!

DW

I made this glass pendant for my dear friend Christa, who celebrated a birthday recently. The background on the glass was stamped using pigment ink, and on the front I added an ArtChix inchie image, melted UTEE on top to seal it, then encased it in a Ranger Memory Glass frame.  I used leather cord to string it, and added sterling silver beads and fresh water pearls for embellishment. The toughest part of whole necklace for me was adding the clasp and loop to the leather cord so it could be worn!! But I got there and hope Christa will enjoy wearing it as much as I enjoyed making it

If you’d like to learn more about UTEE and stamped jewellery, be sure to check out my upcoming Wearable Art class.

DW.

Some LO’s I’ve made during the past year – very mixed!

PP from Calambour and some cuts with the Gazelle.

What’s up and what’s down? The flower is from a Prima Mini-can and the leaf from an ordinary satin flower.

This PP is from Dovecraft, stickers from Bo Bunny, flowers from Prima. Hey, there’s a strange flower in there…

The yellow-tinted one is made by casting UTEE in a silicone mould.

The living room after our re-modeling just before Christmas. The key is a chippie from Maya Road, covered with UTEE in platinum.

The dining room was re-modeled at the same time. The candle decoration and photo mat is cut with the Gazelle, journaling made on handmade paper with grass inclusions from Svartvik Paper.

All paper embellishments are cut with the Gazelle.

I think this butterfly is just lovely!

Kevin, very determined that it will work… MME Trés Jolie papers, Prima flowers and AC Thickers.

My dragon rider! DCWV paper, all paper embellishments made with the Gazelle, and some jewelry components.

King and Prince of the Couch! WRMK paper, Bo Bunny stickers, Prima flowers and some metal embellishments (Alco-Inked) and vintage buttons.

Safe Haven.  I got use of some odd things I’ve found in my drawers.

All paper embellishments are cut with the Gazelle, the star is cut from birch bark.

The papers are all MME Trés Jolie, except for the vintage print which comes from a series of papers called Renaissance Papers. Flowers are all Prima,  the flourish is cut with the Gazelle and covered with UTEE in platinum. The brads are common office type, covered with UTEE.

White CS and K&Co Ancestry papers.  The white distressed paper behind the photo mat is handmade from Svartvik Paper and has a lovely grain structure. The flourish si cut with the Gazelle, and then stamped and inked with Distress Inks. The metal embellishments are all jewelry components.

I have started an album for Kevin’s teacher, which will leave the class after three years. This is one of the LO’s from a Star Night they had last year. The K&Co paper went so well with the colors in the photo. The daisies are a BossKut original cut with the Gazelle, and the strange trimming is made with seed beads using a necklace pattern!

I get all my seed beads from my favorite bead supplier, Zionesse. They have everything I need for bead weaving. I’ve made a whole bunch of decorations using the left-over beads. A fun way to jazz up the pages!

I am so in love with my Gazelle! It cuts just what I want and this time I wanted flowers.

I didn’t use the original flower centers for these, instead I put some vintage buttons in. Looks lovely! The photo mat is handmade paper with stone structure from Svartvik Paper, the fern leaf is also cut with the gazelle and covered with UTEE in gold.

For this I used BossKut’s Daisy, and by using the Gazelle I can cut it in any size I want without having to have several dies.

Here I used BossKut Wildflowers, also cut in different sizes. The bracket frames are of my own design, also cut on the Gazelle.

All paper embellishments, including the photo mat, are cut with the Gazelle.

Here, too! The tag is made using Alco Inks and UTEE in black.

The metal parts where all silver colored before I dressed them up using UTEE Britez!

Sometimes the whole world is in pink – like for Kelly! All paper embellishments are cut with the Gazelle, some BossKut “dies”, like the rose, daisies and wildflowers, but also some of my own designs. The photo mat is handmade paper from Svartvik Paper, and the lovely flower centers are bought at Tradera (JimbaGirl has a lot of blingy things!)

Tired of those plain paper or fabric flowers? Then alter them!

This will take you far:

Flowers, stamps, stamp pads and embossing powder.

Sometimes inking the edges is enough:

Or stamp on them, and why not emboss while you’re at it?

Cover them completely in embossing powder or UTEE is great!

Also the fabric flowers can be altered, I stamped a couple of Bazzill Wings with an embossing pad and Ranger Embossing Puffs (yep, it puffs!).

Have a go at altering your flowers!

The last two weekly challenges over at CropStop was #31 – In the Pink – and #32 – Take Your Time – and this is what I did with these:

There’s also a sketch challenge every month – for April I made this:

Need some music today? This is what I listen to right now

over at 365 Cards – todays challenge is to dress the chipboard. So I did! I dressed it in UTEE in gold.

is something I seem to do a lot – I like taking long walks, especially in the forest.

I shot this picture in November last year, while walking in the woods in the middle of nowhere – that’s where big brother has his cabin!

The round swirly thing is made using the Gazelle (thanks for the template, Lucille!), it has been stamped, inked and misted. The same goes for the tag, which also has a Cuttlebug image on it, made in doublesided tape and covered with Doodlebug Velvet. That speckled thing around the hole on the tag is acetate with Alco Inks.

The flower is cut with the Gazelle, stamped, inked and misted, I have also used several metalized plastic beads on this layout, the photo mat is a handmade paper from Svartvik Paper.

That handmade paper is a lovely surface for Distress Inks!

My SIL is set on loosing weight – and she’s taking it in small parts. I have promised her a gift everytime she reaches one of her goals, hopefully it will keep her going! This time she will get a birthday calendar.

This is what January looks like:

More walking? OK, here’s Lorelai out on a walk

The patterned paper is MME Trés Jolie, photo mat and envelope from Svartvik Paper (the photo mat has inclusions of grass while the envelope has inclusions of Spanish Moss), ticket and scalloped lace are both cut with the Gazelle and stamped and inked, flowers from Prima and as usual some jewelry parts, ribbons and other stuff from my deep, deep drawers…

The chipboard is painted with Ranger Crackle Paint, the lovely brown skeleton leaf is one of my Tradera-treasures.

A close-up on the envelope. Isn’t this one lovely?

The negative of the V on the LO above is used here:

I added some UTEE in gold on it, cut a large swirl with the Gazelle, played around with tags, ribbons, Distress Inks and stamps for a while, added some stickers and flowers and ended up with this.

is easy as 1-2-3! I’ve cut a flourish – which I have stamped, embossed, inked and was ready to use for another project when I accidently damaged it… So I used it as a mask instead!

Put a tacky-drying glue thinly on the back. I’ve used Kläber-fix but Wacky Tack, ZIG two-way or any other glue that dries tacky will do. If it dries too tacky, like Kläber-fix does, just dust it lightly with baby powder. Attach it to your LO or card and start using it as a mask, then take it off and store it on acetate until next time.

The flourish in the upper left corner has been covered with UTEE in black and gold:

The flourish in the upper right corner is in fact the mask… I managed to hide the damaged part under a flower.

Gloria at CropStop challenged us last week to make a Tim Holtz inspired tag, and here’s my take on it:

Alco Inks, UTEE, Distress Inks, a printed picture of a bag, Gazelle cut keysand some jewelry parts.

As I was about to make another project for CropStop on borders, I included the tag in this one:

BossKut border and Wildflowers and a key, all stamped and inked and a little UTEE on the key, Prima flowers and some AC Thickers alphas, some stuff from my stash. I like the BK stuff here, the border is great and the wildflowers are so easy to make in different ways!

Oh yes, I do use them although not so frequently nowadays! I promised you some LO’s using PP too, so here are a bunch of them.

DH and his brothers and cousins had a reunion during August last year, I got a lot of nice pictures.

I decided to keep this very clean and stick to red,white and black. The PP is MME, ribbon from L’il Davies and journaling box and flowers are MM. The very useful date stamp is from the Swedish company Inkido. The chipboard alphas are covered with UTEE in black.

PP and metal ribbon slider from Basic Grey, a manila tag with a Technique Tuesday stamp, flowers from Bazzill (Wings) and some stash stuff.

More Basic Grey PP, the same stamps as on the LO’s above, various flowers (I think Panduro and YouDo, buttons, ribbons and chinese coins from stash.

While on an outing with the National Guard, I got some nice pictures. They did a show on a fair-day held nearby and me and the kids got the opportunity to go with the fighting boat!

Karen Foster has some lovely neutral PP’s, which I have used here. The tag is K&Co and the date stamp from Inkido. Metal bar from AMM and some flowers and brads from my stash.

We spent some time ashore too, and here’s DH and Kevin sitting on the cliffs, enjoying the sunny day. The PP is from UK-based Dovecraft, flowers are Prima, a Bo Bunny sticker and a manila tag with a text stamp – I love that saying!

So, you see, I do use patterned papers too! I will show you more this coming week. Have a nice day and don’t forget to join us in the CropStop Blog Hop!

It’s Friday already – the week has passed quickly and today I’ll make a card for my SIL who celebrates her 40th birthday this weekend.

This weekend we’re blog hopping at CropStop! Read more here!

I promised you yesterday that I would give you something not so pink today… So I will!

Let’s start with something blue, very blue.

I made this LO for a challenge at CropStop a few weeks ago, using plain white cardstock which has been stamped and colored with Distress Inks, and the felt is actually a place mat for the table! The apricot colored flowers are Prima, from their Carribean Collection. Some jewelry parts in silver plated was to finish it off.

More blue, but a winter motif:

The word SNOW gets diverse reactions in our family. DH hates it, it has to be shoveled, while the kids love it, at least for a while. Up here in the north we do get a lot of snow, and it stays usually until mid April. It’s a long winter…

I’ve used Bazzill CS and plain white CS which I cut with the Gazelle to get the lovely edges. Tags, swirl and paper flowers are also Gazelle, the fabric flowers all comes from silk flower arrangements. I’ve used a lot of jewelry parts on this one, from the flower centers to the parade of ice bears! Oh, don’t forget the Distress Inks…

More blue…

Again plain white CS, Tim Holtz mask and Distress Inks, added some UTEE in platinum to the swirl, Crackle Paint on the chipboard alphas. The date tag is colored with Alco Inks. A 7Gypsies Inspection Tag, some Prima flowers and then bits and pieces from my stash. The paper flowers are Gazelle and inked.

Yep, the small pieces down in the right corner are mosaics.

My dining room floor was good enough to scrap!

Looks lovely, doesn’t it? Brown Bazzill CS, handmade paper from Svartvik, with inked edges, a swirl in gold from the Gazelle, some Prima flowers and a few jewelry parts.

Back to blue…

White CS, Tim Holtz masks, Distress Inks and some UTEE in platinum along with Heidi Swapp clock stamps gives the background. The silver colored stuff are all jewelry parts, the blue frame is clear acrylic colored with Alco Inks, the tag is made with the Gazelle and the flowers are Prima (Mini Can). The name tag is made in Faux Dichro technique.

The silver colored net is something I found in my fabric stash.

Yes, you’re absolutely right. No printed paper today, either! I will give you some of that next week…

I have uploaded my LO in their gallery, and it’s here, too. Go check CropStop out – some fun things are going on there!

I found a piece of Madison Avenue PP for this, some handmade paper from Svartvik Paper (this is so lovely to put Distress Inks on!), some lace and ribbon, a Gazelle-cut flourish and tags. And I realized that this was the first LO for weeks I’ve used PP on! Yay! Have a look at the others further down this page – no patterned paper…

I played around in purple… Lots of stuff cut with the Gazelle and I had just got my Dusty Concord Distress Ink. Shows, huh?

Back to pink! That’s Kelly’s color, all the way. Plain white CS, handmade paper, both colored with Distress Inks, the CS also stamped and masked with a Gazelle-cut. Laces, lots of jewelry parts, some UTEE and Prima flowers.

Crackle Paint on the chipboard and UTEE gold on the metal flowers.

Mmm… A walk in the forest in the fall… So nice!

Plain white cardstock with a Tim Holtz mask and Distress Inks, some gold cardstock under the handmade paper from Svartvik and some stamped Alvin flowers and some Gazelle-cuts. Hey, what’s that tucked in with the flowers?

Ooh! Faux Dichro! I will tell you more on this technique later on, I have to check out some other alternatives to do it first. Usually this is made by using dichroic glass and a fusing kiln, but mine isn’t wired, so I have to do it the “faux” way! The buttons I’ve used as flower centers are DressItUp, which I love. Comes in so many colors and shapes!

After a long walk in the forest, one surely is allowed to have cupcakes – especially when you still are outdoors and a bit cold… White CS again, the same Tim Holtz mask and even more Distress Inks… Some flowers of various origin, UTEE in bronze, and that lovely journaling stamp is from Stellas.

I’m very into copper at the moment, this is a jewelry part.

Luckily I’m surrounded by girls – because I love scrapping in pink! All shades. Pink! White CS with some Glimmer Mist (homemade variety!) on it, a round swirl lace – Gazelle-cut – stamped and inked, two overlays, one is stamped, the other colored with Alco Inks. Some flowers from Prima and Bazzill, and goldplated jewelry parts. And a strange flower…

The translucent flower is actually made of melted UTEE, poured into a silicone mould.

No, I’m not kidding. More pink! White CS, a swirly lace cut with the Gazelle and then inked and stamped, some lovely pink lace I found at Tradera, and all the other paper embellishments are cut with the Gazelle, too.  The overlay inside the ticket shape is stamped with Staz-On and colored with Alco Inks.  I added some gold plated jewelry parts for the bling…

No, no more pink today – I’m off to bed! I think tomorrow will be blue. Or brown. With some dashes of pink…

GRASONVILLE, MD – Tuesday night – Today I had loads of fun at Laugh & Craft at Wye River Designs Studio. Tiffany is getting ready to teach a class in UTEE and asked me to bring out the supplies for a refresher course.  It’s been awhile since I’ve used this product, but everyone had fun and learned lots of techniques including stamping, pouring, beadmaking, foiling and much more!

This week, I also finished up a few of the designs I was working on … a small mosaic heart plaque, that will actually be one of the  classes I will teach when I come back in June. I will also be teaching my plastic water bottle jewelry when I return so check out our 2nd Quarter class schedule when it is published over the next couple of weeks. If you’re on the west coast and are interested in visiting my design studio in Los Osos, I have some great west coast classes coming up over the next months too! (You can check out my class listing on-line at www.inspiredathome.com – then click on Creative Studio)  This week I have also completed some fairy wands and put the final touches on some fairy furniture for Candy’s new fairy display for Spring.

We have accomplished a lot these  past days…I’ve been in the snow, a little bit of rain and some toasty 50 degrees (while missing the 80 degrees and rain in California). I’ve had some wonderful meals. Lots of creative brainstorming  with Candy and Tiffany. Tiffany has put in many hours working on my new web site which is almost ready to launch.. yippee!

It’s been a busy 10 days visiting my sisters. I’ve left out a ton of things we did, but I just learned how to actually do the blog this evening… but I am leaving tomorrow. I have lots of notes and a lot  of homework when I get back to California.

Tiffany and Candy, I promise I will keep blogging even after I get back home!

Love to all,

Heidi

I haven’t used UTEE for quite a while. But that’s exactly what I like about the technique challenge at Saturday’s Workout – you come to think outside your box. For this card, I applied several layers of UTEE to a piece of cardstock, which I folded after the UTEE had dried. This made the cracks appear, which were coloured with a copper ink pad afterwards.

Mit UTEE habe ich schon eine ganze Weile nicht mehr gearbeitet. Aber das ist ja auch das Tolle an der Technik-Challenge bei Saturday’s Workout – man denkt mal quer und macht etwas, das man sonst vielleicht nicht machen würde. Für diese Karte habe ich mehrere Schichten UTEE auf ein Stück Cardstock aufgetragen und die Karte anschließend geknickt. Dadurch sind die Risse entstanden, die ich im Anschluss mit einem kupferfarbenen Stempelkissen eingefärbt habe.

OK, we got a lot of snow this winter!

The lovely snowflakes are Karen-Marie Klip, the journaling is made on handmade paper from Svartvik Paper. I find it most lovely to journal on, as it has lovely texture and the edges are so nice to chalk or ink!

The kids have great fun in the snow. The stamps on the photos and on the transparent tag are Technique Tuesday, the other tag is colored with Ranger Distress Inks.

For these both LO’s I’ve used paper from Robin’s Nest – I found the colors to be so lovely and the pattern is just great. Not to mention the glitter…

The date tag is a chipboard painted with Ranger Crackle Paint, the crackles are enhanced using Distress Inks in the same color, Weathered Wood.

More winter…

The patterned paper is from Panduro, the tag is cut with the Gazelle and inked with Ranger Distress Inks, stamped with Technique Tuesday clear stamps.

The large snowflake and the title is made with the Gazelle, so is the tag which I have used Ranger Alco Inks on, the one in the upper right corner is colored with Distress Inks.

For this LO, and the one above, I’ve used papers from Reminisce.  This tag is also cut with the Gazelle and colored with Distress Inks, and stamped.

Using Tim Holtz’ masks is great fun! This one together with Ranger Distress Inks, direct to paper. The title and the tags are all cut with the Gazelle, one is colored using Alco Inks and then stamped, the others are colored with Distress Inks.

Enough of cold weather… One indoor picture!

I found the colors of this patterned paper from K&Co lovely, they are so warm! Title and scrolls/flourishes are cut with the Gazelle, inked and stamped. The key is Maya Road, covered with UTEE in Bronze.

The irregular decoration to the right is made using Fimo-clay, which I have stamped and colored with Alco Inks:

The name is cut with the Gazelle, and then speckled with UTEE in Bronze.

Brr… It’s cold outside today, too… I think I’ll stay indoors scrapping!

My friend Hoppetossa challenged me to do something using chipboard alphas, a stamp and UTEE, and this is what I made:

Hoppetossa has a tutorial in her blog, I have followed it but did not use Perfect Pearls and Distress Inks as she did. I used Distress Inks on the tag, the gears and the swirl background instead, and Alco Inks on the journaling tag.

If you haven’t visited Hoppetossa, do so! She has some amazing stuff in the blog.