Shimmer Painting Tutorial

Get ready for a super fun tutorial today.  I am in love with this technique! 
We made the Calypso Coral version at my workshop last week.

I made 2 versions of each card --- horizontal and vertical.  

Aren't the flowers gorgeous? 

Here's how you do it:

• Stamp your flowers (Secret Garden stamp set) with VersaMark ink.
• Heat emboss with white embossing powder.
• Gather some old containers from brads, buttons or embossing powders.
• Mix reinker (in the color of your choice) with Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint (a few drops).
• Using an Aqua Painter,  stir it up and paint on the mixture of reinker/shimmer paint.  The embossing helps to keep the reinker inside the line, making it super easy to paint them.
• Let the ink/paint mixture dry.
• Cut out the flowers using our framelits, for a quick and easy way to have perfect cuts every time.
• Now create your card, using your beautiful flowers.

NOTE:
Be sure to really clean your Aqua Painter, to get out all the Shimmer Paint.

I used Wisteria Wonder on my first card --- reinker AND card stock.
I used Calypso Coral and Regal Rose reinkers on the coral cards, with Calypso Coral card stock.

I used Daffodil Delight reinker for all the flower centers.

I tried really hard to get a close-up of the flowers so you could see how much they actually shimmer.  In real life, they are gorgeous.

So, what do you think?  Can you think of any other stamped images that would look pretty using my Shimmer Painting technique?  Let me hear from you!  Now, go try this!!!  You'll love it.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Watercolor On Canvas Tutorial

When planning my last workshop, I decided to use a product that is not new but often gets neglected.  I paired it with a new product that has mostly been overlooked in our Spring Catalog.  What did I use?  I dusted off my Watercolor Wonder Crayons and paired them with our new canvas sheets.  I loved the results.  This project is easy and fun and makes you really feel your artistic energies coming into play.

I also decided to use a color combo that I hadn't used for a long, long time --- Wild Wasabi and Marina Mist.  I really like how it all turned out.

 

I cut the oval canvas before I started coloring.  You could do it after, just as well.  I colored with Marina Mist, then Baja Breeze, then Wild Wasabi Watercolor Wonder Crayons. 

Using an Aqua Painter, I added quite a bit of water onto the canvas --- just brushing it on as with any water coloring project.  This blends your colors for your background beautifully.

As you can see, the canvas will curl when it's wet.  Don't worry about it.  Set it aside to dry or, if you're in a hurry, you can heat set it.  As with all water coloring, it will dry lighter.  If it's really wet, you can blot a bit with a paper towel.  If you blot, just be aware that it will dry even lighter because you're blotting away some of the color. 

When the canvas is completely dry, stamp your image using StazOn Ink.  I think the project works best with more of an outline stamp.  You can try different images and see what you think.

Now, why haven't I used these fabulous crayons for so long?  I have no answer other than it must be because we have so many fabulous products that I forget to play with some of them.  Do you have a product that you haven't used for a while?  Get it out, dust it off, and get busy!

I have more tutorials coming up, so be sure to check back to see what else I'll have to share with you.   

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

MDS Journals

I love books and I love journals.  A new journal is an opportunity just waiting...
   waiting to be filled with thoughts, notes, sketches, ideas, plans, dreams, stories, poetry, doodling...

Today, I'm sharing some journals that I made using My Digital Studio.  They were fun and very easy to design.  Now, to get them ordered and start filling them with all kinds of important ideas.

So, what do you think?  What should I write in my journals?  Hmmmmmm...

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

New Projects for my Prairie Treasures Booth

Today, I thought you might like to see some of my new projects that I've made for my Prairie Treasures booth.  I've been busy!  I hope you'll see something that will inspire you to get creating some new projects of your own.

I took a little suitcase and decorated the inside of it with DSP.  Then I added fabric, some doilies and a banner.  The card banner is made with tags from our Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit.  The letters on the banner are made from our alphabet stamp set called Letter It.

I put the gift card holders made from the Boutique Boxes kit in an old milk carrier.  I have several of these carriers, along with my collection of wooden boxes.  I do seem to have a thing about them.

I made lots more cards, home decor items and a few more wine bottle gift bags.  I love to display things in old sewing machine drawers and wooden boxes.  I do this in my studio, too.

...and here's yet another banner, made with the Pop-Up Posies kit.  This wonderful box was a lucky find at a local antique store a long time ago.  It's great for displaying my gift card holders.

So, there's a peek at what I've been doing.  I really have been busy... well, except for a complete couch potato day yesterday.  I seem to have an allergy thing going on that just won't quit.  I see a change of meds in my future.

I had a wonderful time at my workshop Saturday afternoon.  It was so relaxing and we just had a great time creating.  I showed them 2 fun, new techniques which they put to use in their projects.  I'll be sharing what we made in one of my next posts, so be sure to come back soon to check it out.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Manly Gift Boxes

In my last post, I shared my fancy gift boxes with you.  Today, let's look at some manly gift boxers.  I used some of our smaller boxes that package our fabric pieces.

I thought the long, narrow shape of the box just naturally begged for a 'tie' on it.  I made little 2" square gift tags to coordinate with the design on the tie.

On all of my gift boxes, I've covered the fronts and backs with DSP.   All the boxes are almost entirely white, so they're quite easy to cover.

So what do you think?  Would a special guy like a special gift?

These boxes can be adapted to all sorts of themes.  I'll have some others to share with you soon.  I'm making some more fancy boxes and I'm making some that would be perfect for baby gifts.  Come back soon and check them out.

Fancy Gift Boxes

I took a good look at the boxes that packaged our Essentials Designer Fabrics and knew they were too nice to throw out into the recycle bin.  I came up with some fancy gift boxes.

Remember my large Filter Paper flowers?  I knew they'd look great on a fancy gift box!

I made coordinating gift cards for them, too, by adding coordinating DSP to the flap on the envelopes.

I even put matching tissue paper inside each box.  Now, we just need to add a nice gift and give it to someone very special.

Come back soon to see my manly gift boxes.  Have a great day and a great weekend.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

More Fun with Pop-Up Posies

In my last post, I shared some cards and tags I made with the Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit.  Today, I'd like to share what else I've made with the kit.

First up, I used the flowers to decorate a couple of small grapevine wreaths.  I love how they brighten them up --- like a breath of Spring!  I've wrapped the wreaths with some of our new Two-Tone Ribbon --- Basic Gray.

Remember, you can use the tags as actual tags...

... and you can use the tags on projects...

I LOVE using the Fancy Favor Box in my projects.  These tags look so cute on them.  You can fit all kinds of treats and/or small gifts into the boxes.  Who wouldn't want a gift like this?


... and, of course, you can make some more cards...

Instead of using the posies from the kit, I added some of the roses I'd dyed from a previous project.  To see how to dye the roses, click here.

Below, you can see a close-up of how I embossed the card with our new Borders Scoring Plate.  That's another way to add a super fun look to your projects.

So, now I challenge you...   What else can you come up with to make using this fun kit?  Come back and share your ideas.  I'd love to hear from you!

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Pop-Up Posies... Popping up Some Fun!

I love kits.  They satisfy your need to be creative, even when you're short on time... and they challenge your creativity to use them in unique ways.  

The Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit is just plain tons of fun.  Would you like to see what all I've made with it so far?  Here you go! 

The kit comes with 3 different kinds of precut flower pieces, embossed tags, Baker's Twine for the tags, fancy brads and even a stamp, so you can stamp on the tag.

I used a stamp from Tea Shoppe for the tag on the card above.  I've added a little heart clip to my card, too.  Don't you love the Tea for Two DSP?

You don't have to make cards, either.  They can be used for other projects as well.  You can use the flowers on the tags for a fabulous look to your gift packages.

Come back for my next post and see more projects using this fabulous kit. 

Chalkboard Frames

Today, I thought we'd take a break from collage frames and I'd let you check out some cute little chalkboard frames I've made.  Have you tried the chalkboard technique yet?  It's a lot of fun and so easy...  and there's no side effect of fingernails scratching on the board:) 

It's a little difficult to see the 'chalk smears' effect in the photo, but it's there:) 

 

Do you remember my cards I made with the Chalkboard Technique in this post 

     (... and Laura's card in this post) 

I used the same technique for these cute little frames.  I added a sprig of torn fabric as a ribbon and some left-over buttons.  I used Liquid Tombow Adhesive to attach the fabric and the buttons to the frame.

These would make a cute little gift for a special someone.  Have you tried a framed project yet?  If not, get going now and give it a try!