Try It On Tuesday - Animals (Wild or Pets)

Hello Everyone!

It's time for another fantastic challenge over at Try it on Tuesday. Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for the last challenge, there were so many fantastic entries, wow!

For today's challenge our theme is ANIMALS (WILD OR PETS). Easy right ladies! Here is my make.

The snowflakes and trees were cut out from Tim Holtz Snow Flurries and Tim Holtz Holiday Joy.

TOP TIP: To get that soft rustic 3d look try layering Ranger Embossing Puffs. I put 3 layers to give the trees a 3d look. Then I added a touch of Ranger Copper embossing powder and a touch of Frantage.

The background pattern was done with Crafter's Workshop Quatrefoil stencil and my home-made glitter paste. You can find the tutorial for that HERE. I sprinkled a little Frantage on to give it a more snowy feel.

TOP TIP: To create a matching snowflake, cut out a second snowflake border from the Tim Holtz Snowflake Flurries die then using some scissors, separate the large snowflake from the border. I rounded off the edges and tucked the bottom under the trees so you can't even tell it's not a full snowflake.

TOP TIP: When using Frantage, your best result is to heat from underneath. This works great for large panels but for smaller pieces it blows off. Try placing your fancy shapes (like my snowflake border) on a thin piece of copy paper before going at it with the heat gun...it won't blow away!!

The winter scene was built using a few different stamps from the Artistic Outpost Mid Winter stamp set. I used Archival ink Coffee and then coloured it in with a white Gelly Roll pen.

I put Stampendous White Frantage around the outside of the image to give it a snowy appearance.

I am entering my card into the following wonderful challenges:

- Sentimental Sundays - Challenge #226 - Use Kraft Cardstock

- Top Tip Tuesday - Non Traditional Christmas
- Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Challenge #30 - Non Traditional Colours

- Winter Wonderland - Layer It Up
- Completely Christmas - Challenge #31 - Anything Goes
- Christmas Card Challenges - #44 - Anything Goes

That's it for today. Thank you for stopping in and for all the amazing comments. I read and appreciate every single one! If you have any questions, please let me know.

Crafty Cardmakers - Triple B Challenge

Hello Everyone!

It's time for another challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers! Thank you to everyone who played with us last time, there were so many wonderful projects! What a feast for the eyes!

I am hosting my first ever challenge (how exciting!) and I have chosen Challenge #124 - The Triple 'B' Challenge for my first time as hostess. You need to use at least 3 of the 5 options below on your project. Not 3 of the same thing, but 3 different things. You can use all five if you want, but not less than 3.

BUTTERFLIES - BLUE - BIRTHDAY - BANNER - BUTTONS

For my card, I chose Butterflies, Birthday and Blue

The flowers are cut using Spellbinders Create-A-Carnation and coloured with Tim Holtz distress ink Dusty Concord and Hero Arts shadow ink Summer Sky. The purple was too dark for my taste so I made a wash with diluted DecoArt Titanium White paint and then coated all of the flowers to dull down the colour.

The white roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

The tag is cut from Tim Holtz Tiny Tabs and Tag. I used a crackle medium and grey and white paint to get the porcelain look on the background. The sentiment is from Heartfelt Creations All Seasons.

The background was stamped using Hero Arts shadow ink London Fog and Impression Obsession Woodgrain background stamp. The doily is cut from a Memory Box Whimsy Circle die.

The butterflies and corner embellishment are made from Martha Stewart molds and polymer clay. I took some Ranger White Opal Perfect Pearls, watered it down and painted it on the butterflies for some subtle glitter.

I am entering my card into the following wonderful challenges:

- That Craft Place Challenge Blog - Shabby Chic

- Simply Create Too - Challenge #71 - It's A Special Occasion

- Southern Girls - Girly/Shabby Chic Challenge
- A Creative Romance - In The Garden

- Crafty Catz - Birthday Celebration

(Happy 5th Birthday to Crafty Catz and the whole team!)

That's it for today. Thank you for stopping in and for all the amazing comments. I read and appreciate every single one! If you have any questions, please let me know.

Doily Flower Tutorial & A Beautiful Gift

Hello Everyone!

I had a couple inquiries about how I made the doily flowers that I showcased on my fluffy pink card. You can click on the image to take you to the full post, if you missed it. I put together a quick tutorial for them, you won't believe how easy they are.

Stay tuned after the tutorial because I have something really special I want to share with you today.

I just use paper doilies that I get from my local party supply store or dollar store. These are 5.5" around.

Take some scissors and cut into the doily and then cut out the center part. Working from one end just start scrunching the doily between your fingers, sort of like an accordion fold, only not as precise, you want it to be uneven and messy. Work all the way around until the entire doily is scrunched.

Here is what it looks like after the scrunching. Now you are going to use your thumb and finger to pinch the bottom and start rolling it up.

Keep rolling. I like to add a little glue every inch or so, just so it holds it form. Keep rolling, pinching and gluing. That's all there is to it!

Presto, magico, doily-flower-o!

Now I have something super special to share with you today! This little package came in the mail yesterday from a super talented and extremely special crafty friend, Maja! You all probably know her as Cebelica.

If you aren't familiar with Maja's work, I highly suggest you go over to her blog MY LITTLE WORLD and check out some of her amazing work! You will not be disappointed!

Maja makes the most gorgeous gift bags (and cards) that I have ever seen! Here work is so soft and elegant and her attention to detail is remarkable. Just have a look at this stunning bag she sent me!

The photographs I took do NOT do this fabulous bag justice! There are so many beautiful elements to see. The darling angel image has a touch of Frantage around the edges, giving it such an elegant holiday feel. The snowflakes are glowing with iridescent glitter. The frame is a soft goldish shimmery paper that I simply could not capture with my uncooperative camera!

There are several layers of delicate laces, and the pearls are all sitting on top of gold sequins (I know, genius right!)! The bow is a stunning shade of champagne satin and the image is framed with stringed pearls!

There is a beautiful doily die peeking out from behind all the luscious layers and a hint of cheesecloth for a little of the shabby that I love! Isn't is just stunning ladies!! Thank you so much Maja, I will treasure my gift bag forever!

If anyone wants to Pin one of these images, please be kind and change the url to go to Maja's website. Again, you can find her at MY LITTLE WORLD.

That's it for today. Thank you for stopping in and for all the amazing comments. I read and appreciate every single one! If you have any questions, please let me know.

Speed Craft Challenge #3 - Photo Inspiration

Hello Everyone!

It's time for Speed Craft Challenge #3 and there is a bit of super exciting news to go with the card this week. THE SPEED CRAFT CHALLENGE BLOG has officially been launched by Ingrid and Keren and I will be there every second Thursday as one of their Design Team members! I do hope you will check it out to see the gorgeous creations that my co-teamies have made, you won't be disappointed!

This time our challenge is being hosted by the very talented Keren and she has chosen an inspiration photo for us. I will give you all the challenge details in a bit, but first, here is my card.

Here is the inspiration photo that Keren gave us. I really liked the neutral tone with the pastels, so I drew from that. I also incorporated the diamond pattern and since I got a girly feel from the photo, I went frilly!!

For those just joining us, here is the idea of our Speed Challenge. You can get all of your products ready ahead of time, then you set a timer for 10 minutes, start the timer and then craft like your pants are on fire! When your 10 minutes are up, you have to stop and show us what you made. To be fair, not everyone will finish their card or project, and that's OK, just be sure to tell us how long it did take you to complete it.

The wonderful design team (Ingrid, Donna, Nikki, Keren and myself) will be choosing the top 3 as well as one lucky winner who will receive this fabulous Christmas Card Kit made by moi. I do hope you will go on over and enter in all the fun with us!

Ready, here we go: 10 MINUTES AND COUNTING!

tick tock, tick tock...and...STOP!

I thought I was being such a smarty pants this time around. I used Kraft paper instead of stamping and inking white paper. And I was on a roll, all I needed was a sentiment, right? Wrong! I decided I needed some pretty flowers and some leaves and some glitter and a birdhouse, and, and, and...BLAM!!  4 HOURS LATER!!

For the background I took DecoArt paints Cherry Blossom, Tropical Blue and Daffodil yellow and diluted them with water in squirt bottles

The birdhouse and bird are made from Martha Stewart polymer clay, painted with Ranger Picket Fence crackle paint, sprayed with brown diluted paint then highlighted with white paint. The wreath is from Poppystamps. I cut one green, one white and one kraft then attached them by winding twine around them.

The flowers are cut from Joy Crafts Flower 4 and coloured with Tim Holtz distress inks Spun Sugar and Squeezed Lemonade. The leaves are Spellbinders - Foliage, Cheery Lynn - Leaf Set, Marianne Designs - Garden Branch and Joy Crafts - Leafy Branch. All the flowers have been glittered up with Ranger Star Dust Stickles.

I would like to send out a special thank you out to two talented ladies REBECCA BRADSHAW and MAJA (Cebelica) for teaching me that glitter is not just for Christmas.

I used my Crafter's Workshop Harlequin stencil and my Home-made Glitter Paste (you can find the tutorial for that here) to add the pattern on the background. I added a layer of crinoline between the two back layers, just for a little shabby interest. SO SPARKLY!

The ribbon was coloured with Tim Holtz distress inks Spun Sugar and Squeezed Lemonade and Hero Arts Shadow ink Summer Sky. I also added a couple of twine bows to match the twine wrapped around the wreath.

I am entering my frilly pastel card into the following wonderful challenges!

- Creative Card Crew - Challenge #71 - Twine

- Deep Ocean Challenge Blog - #87 - At Least One Flower
- The Sisterhood of Crafters - Lots of Layers

- Scrapper's Delights Challenge Blog - #32 - Anything Goes or No Design Paper

(no design papers used - all my layers started as plain white or plain kraft paper)

- 613 Avenue Create - #90 Anything Goes w/option Create Your Own Challenge

( I chose Stickles - Die Cut - Stencil/Solid Paper - Flowers - Ribbon)

That's it for today. Thank you for stopping in and for all the amazing comments. I read and appreciate every single one! If you have any questions, please let me know.

Home-made Texture Paste & Glitter Paste Tutorial

Hello Everyone!

I have been getting a lot of questions regarding my home-made texture paste, so I thought it was about time I let you in on how I make it. By no means did I invent the concept, but I did spend a lot of time and products perfecting my ratio formula, so I feel that I can call this my own recipe. I have included 3 different versions today, all of which have great uses for different things and all of them are ratio recipes. The advantage of a ratio recipe is you can make as much or as little as you want, all you have to do is change the size of your portion container!!

OK, here we go...

RECIPE #1 - STICKY PASTE

INGREDIENTS:
- Baby powder or talc powder - white, non-scented is always good. The perfume magnifies under heat, so you be the judge of how much time you can spend breathing in those fumes.
- White Glue - cheap, dollar store glue actually works great. The only thing you don't want is glue that dries too fast or glue that is really shiny when it dries.
- Acrylic Paint - again, just some cheap, dollar store paint will do the trick! Nothing fancy required!
- Portion Cups - I use plastic ounce glasses from the party supply store which makes about 1/3 cup of paste
You will also need a container to mix in that can be sealed air tight and something to stir with.

RECIPE:
- 1 portion of paint, 1/2 portion of glue and 2 portions of powder

DIRECTIONS:
- put your wet ingredients in first (the glue and paint), then just like when your making tea biscuits or a pie crust...slowly add the baby powder, making sure to stir well. This will ensure that you get out all of the lumps making it nice and creamy and easier to spread...just like your pastry!!!

BEST USE FOR STICKY PASTE: This is the paste you want to use if you would like to sprinkle on a little glitter or embossing powder. It is also great if you want a smooth pattern with crisp edges.

PRO'S - It is really smooth, so it spreads easily. It is really wet, so the glitter and embossing powders stick to it really well. Because of the slower drying time, you have leeway for clean up and putting the cap back on. It makes a wonderful, clean, crisp pattern once it dries. Perfect for elegant or CAS style cards.

CON'S - It is really wet, so it takes a lot longer to dry and warps the paper more. You won't get a good texture with it because it isn't stiff enough to maintain peaks and grooves. You also cannot lay it on very thick or it just falls like a badly baked soufflé!

In this sample, I sprinkled on some gunmetal glitter.

In this sample, I sprinkled on black embossing powder. You can get two looks from this. If you leave it the way it is, it has a soft velvety appearance and feel to it. Or you can use your heat gun and melt it like you normally would for a shiny surface (that will also act as a resist to preserve the colour of your paste when you start inking).

If you decide to melt your embossing powder, be sure to wait until your paste is completely dry before taking the heat gun to it. If the paste is still wet, the powder will burn long before it melts. You can see below, half I left as it was and the other half I melted with the heat gun (too soon, I might add) lol.

RECIPE #2 - DRY PASTE

The only difference between the recipe for sticky paste and dry paste is that the dry paste has 1/2 portion extra of baby powder added to it (depending on the brands of paint and glue, you may have to add a bit more powder). Here is a shot so you can see the difference in shine and consistency.

BEST USE FOR DRY PASTE: This is the paste you want to use if you are going for texture. It's the base for my bark technique and it also makes great clouds, wood planks, ocean waves and all sorts of other textures.

PRO'S - It has less glue and paint, so the drying time is considerably less than the sticky paste and it also doesn't warp your paper too badly. It's, of course, fantastic for texture and depth because you can lay it on thick and mold it! It looks great on vintage or grungy projects.

CON'S - Don't leave the lid off because it will dry out crazy fast, right in your container! It can be a little harder to spread because it's so thick and pasty - and make sure you wash your stencil right away or it will crust right on.

Here is one done with Sticky Paste and one done with Dry Paste, so you can see the difference in the finished textures. I have spread some yellow and white paint on it to make it easier for you to see.

RECIPE #3 - GLITTER PASTE

INGREDIENTS:
- Baby powder or talc powder - same as before.
- White Glue - same as before.
- Metallic or Pearl Paint - again, just cheap acrylic paint is fine. If you don't have metallic, that's ok, it just adds a little extra shimmer is all.
- Fine Glitter - Any brand will do, although the boldest, brightest versions work the best. This is the glitter that will blend in with the paint to give it an overall shimmer.
- Coarse Glitter - The coarse glitter is what will grab the light and really make it sparkle.

For the coarse glitter, I recommend the flat octagon style of glitter. Most cheap glitters for kids crafts will be great for this. I know we all love our Frantage, but those chunks do not spread, they drag and leave gaps in the paste. Tim Holtz distress glitter, I'm sad to say, does not work either. It's not quite sparkly enough and gets coated with the paint, never to be seen again. Here are the glitters that I use...lots of shimmer to them.

RECIPE:
- 1 portion paint, 1/2 portion glue, 2 portions powder, 1/2 portion fine glitter and 1/2 portion coarse glitter

BEST USE FOR DRY PASTE: Christmas, of course, but pretty much any other project too!

PRO'S - You absolutely cannot get a beautiful shimmer and texture like this, simply by sprinkling glitter on top of a product! And as a bonus, it's so freaking cheap, you can make some in every colour!!

CON'S - You may never want to use plain texture paste again!!

In this sample I used pearl paint and iridescent glitters, you should really zoom in and check it out!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my really long winded tutorial! If anyone tries out my recipe and has some success, I would really love to see your projects!! Come on back and leave me a link, so I can swoon over your wonderful creations!

I will be leaving a permanent link on my Tutorials Page, in case you can't find this post.


That's it for today. Thank you for stopping in and for all the amazing comments. I read and appreciate every single one! If you have any questions, please let me know.

Card Mania GDT - Use a Doily

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to another fun challenge over at Card Mania Challenges! This time around it is CHALLENGE #56 - USE A DOILY and you should see the stunning creations my co-teamies came up with!

Here is my Pink Doily card...lots of pink, lots of doilies and lots of bling, just the way I like it!

This challenge is sponsored by A Day for Daisies. I sure hope you will pop on over and enter your doily cards, I would love to see what you come up with!!

The doily die is Cheery Lynn - French Pastry and the flowers are made out of paper doilies that I purchased at the dollar store. The foliage is Marianne Designs - Leafy Branch.

For the background, I ran a paper through the Cuttlebug using Spellbinders M-Bossabilities folder Butterflies. I used Ranger Liquid Pearls - Biscotti and traced the entire pattern to give it extra dimension and a bit of shimmer.

I painted it with DecoArt Acrylic Paints Cherry Blossom and Wild Rose pinks, then pooled some diluted Tim Holtz distress ink Worn Lipstick around some of the grooved areas. Then I took some DecoArt Titanium White and Spun Gold paints and dabbed here and there and then gave a couple of spritzes of Tattered Angels Gold Glimmer Mist for some extra sparkle.

My focal element is cut from the Spellbinders Damask Motifs die set. There are two layers of the large damask die and two layers of the small damask die embossed and glued together. I used the Ranger Liquid Pearls - Biscotti to draw on a design so there would be some interest on it. Same treatment as the background regarding paints and sprays.

Lots and lots of bling!!

I am entering my Pink Doily card into the following wonderful challenges:

- In The Pink - Challenge #53 - Sparkle & Bling

- Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog - #195 - Embossing Wet or Dry

- Hobbybook Designer Blog - Embossing Challenge (wet and/or dry)
- Glitter n Sparkle Challenge Blog - #103 - Must Use Pink

- Artistic Impressions Challenge Blog - #110 - Anything Goes or Pink for Breast Cancer
(Carmen will be taking part in the 'Run for the Cure'. I encourage everyone to enter their pink projects!)

- Just Us Girls - Color Week #259 

( I swear, there are 2 different pinks here, but the darker one kind of took over!)

That's it for today. Thank you for stopping in and for all the amazing comments. I read and appreciate every single one! If you have any questions, please let me know.