Month: July 2013

Stencil play…

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Can I share a secret? I’m working on a little class featuring stencils. I’m working on several instant-download classes in fact, so stay tuned!! But as I brainstorm, I was just playing around and made a tag to share here today on the blog. I was testing out various colors (pens, inks, paints…), trying out things I like and don’t like. I love scraps of paper or tags for creative experiments!

Speaking of experiments and techniques-  Claudine’s class has now begun!! If you want to sign up and join in the fun, you can get more info here. I’m really excited about this class (those are her stencils featured in the tag above!) and so excited to be a part of it.

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Simon Says: August kit blog hop!

 

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Summer is in full swing and we’re celebrating with a card kit blog hop featuring the August 2013 Simon Says Stamp card kit! With it’s bright colors and new exclusive Simon Says Stamp products, it’s sure to get you in the creative mood. I’m excited to be taking part in this hop – and I will be sharing with you two new cards and a scrapbook layout all made from this kit.

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What I am loving about this month’s stamp set is that it would be great on my scrapbook pages (you can see some stamps in action above!) as well as on cards and other projects.

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For the first card, I used the new exclusive stencil with salty ocean distress ink on a piece of cardstock before spritzing with water (that’s how I got the water spots) and layering on some hand-cut banners and a heart. My sentiment stamps are done with white embossing powder for extra pop.
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For my second card, I wanted to use that great stencil again. This time though, I used with white acrylic paint to create some texture and funky detail onto one of the patterned papers from the kit.

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This card was actually really quick and easy to make – the longest part was waiting on the paint to dry so I could add stitching, pink ink, and finish up the card!

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The stencil and little hello button are my favorite parts of this kit. Love them! Of course, I love a lot of the patterned papers too and wanted to use this kit for a scrapbook page before I quit my creative session for the day.

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I loved mixing mist splatter with stamping tiny hearts (from the kit) as well as the two (stitched and heart) border stamps that were in the kit. This page doesn’t have journaling – that is intentional! It is going to be the opening/title page in a “sisters” scrapbook album.

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Some of my layouts about my daughters and their relationship go into a sisters album (vs general family/by year album) and this will be just the page to kick off another album!

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Well now you’ve seen my projects – it’s almost time to hop on along to other stops on the hop!

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This is a great kit! The colors, stamps, and all the details really come together for amazing results and simple to make projects. If you are interested – I’d suggest heading over to order yours asap. I think this one is gonna sell out fast!

The incredible Kathy is the next stop on this blog hop – you can check out her blog here. She’s got FIVE cards to share!

Before you hop to the next blog – remember that Simon has prizes to share!! There is a prize being drawn at random on each stop of the hop, so for your chance to win leave a comment on each of the blog posts as you hop along to be entered in the random drawings. (if you’re reading this via email – hop onto the internet so you can comment)

The giveaways will stay open until Sunday July 21 at 6:00pm EST and the winners will be announced on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Monday July 22, 2013.

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Supplies Used:

If you encounter any broken links on the hop, you can head back the Simon Says Stamp blog for the  full list of participants as well.

Challenge: Green

This week the challenge is “green”. Now you could take that a lot of ways! Just use the color green, be inspired to recycle & reuse something, think of something leafy, with trees – however you interpret it and whatever you create we hope you’ll join the challenge. Be sure to visit the blog to see all of the other creations and to enter. This week’s prize (as always) is a $50 voucher to Simon Says Stamp! The winner is randomly drawn – you can enter by posting to your blog, flickr, or other site too. See the blog for entry details and rules as usual.

I decided to pull out some leafy stamps that I’ve not used in ages and just play!
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I love my Dylusions ink sprays in greens – especially using them in water brushes as I have here to color! Because they (and the distress ink used on the background) are reactive with water you can layer, blend and play as much as you like!

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Notes about this tag:

  1. I used a white pen to add accents to some leaves once done
  2. the stamped ruler on background was done with water. As in, I misted a stamp with water and stamped onto distress ink background
  3. white letters are embossed
  4. this was REALLY fun to make!

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Supplies used:

Five things this Friday.

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. 

I love Friday list posts. I think they’re fun! Today I’m going to share five seven (random) good things.

 

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1. Shoes, glorious shoes! I love that these look kinda like doily inspired flats.

2. Rhonna’s new iPhone app! Loving it so far – here is a video. I’m going to write up a review in a few weeks once I feel really comfortable with it and try printing pics with it too.

3. Melissa is at it again! I will be instagramming + blogging my adventures in Vegas (in about 10 days – eeek!) but right now Melissa Stinson has a ROCKIN, frequently updated CHA peeks page. Check that out here.

4. New Basic Grey is out, and – 2peas has discounted their WHOLE STORE 20% off through the 14th. Might wanna go make an order!!

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5. New Elle’s Studio kit! Ooh I’m liking the looks of this one.

6. DISTRESS MARKERS IN SEASONAL COLORS. Yeah, that one required all-caps. I can tell you, these are AMAZING and I’m so very happy to have them in my stash. The seasonal colors have become favorites of mine, and these are so amazing for detail stamping – well let’s just say I am in love.

That’s it for today! Next week I’ll have a kids list for you (fave books, movies, etc. of the moment). Have a great weekend.

Creative Play with Gelatos [and a card]

002 Today I wanted to share a card I made with Gelatos – the basic how-to is this:

1. apply to paper

2. add water with a brush to blend

Easy! I used an embossed image here, so the gelato color initially stuck to it (because its raised) but once I added water the color slid right off and onto the plain paper.
004 The thing about new or new-to-you products is that you need to just know the very basic of how it works to get started. I see a lot of people get hung up on “but this is something new…” well most things work similarly to other stuff on the market.

For example, gelatos are like watercolor but in a chapstick-like form. Some of the approaches I use when I want to blend distress products works for them as well, and knowing that they will be reactive with water is key too. Once I know the basics, and saw a video showing some how-to I realized it really is as simple as apply + add water and off I ran.
007 One fun thing to do with them is to rub onto a stamp, then spritz lightly with water and stamp, as I did here below.
012 I really enjoyed my quick little 15 minute session with my gelatos, and getting more comfortable with them too. I really want to pull them out more often, and I think no-pressure short creative play sessions are key to that.
031 Here’s the card I made with my butterfly experiment-
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supplies used:

note: the bottom row is not supplied used, so much as my favorite small/starter sets of gelatos! I got those first, learned them, and loved before diving into the BIG set that I used in the card above.