Category Archives: Techniques

Tuesday Techniques – Distress Painting & a Sneak Peek!

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

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I did it! I got a quick tutorial done!

This is a simple but pretty and effective one – and it can be used for boys, girls, whatever! Just change up the stamp and the Distress Ink colours and you’re good to go!

You will need:

Supplies

Distress Inks, Perfect Pearls Mist (or water), Watercolour paper, a stamp, VersaMark, white embossing powder, a heat tool, a nonstick Craft Sheet, and a paintbrush.

This looks really cool with an enclosed, yet open image, like a flower, but I wanted to do a background. I ended up doing a focal image as well, using black ink and clear embossing powder but that was an afterthought!

First, trace a tag onto watercolour paper and cut it out. I also used two small circle punches to cut the hole reinforcer but it’s not necessary – I’m just a tad bit anal retentive about certain things. 🙂

Heavy weight cardstock can substituted here but watercolour paper is the best surface to use since we will be putting a lot of water on it. Also, when it dries, it looks nicer with a great texture.

Stamp your image with VersaMark and heat emboss with white embossing powder.

Next, press each colour of Distress Ink onto your craft mat and spray each once with Perfect Pearls Mist or water. You need to use Distress Inks for this since they are reactive with water and don’t lose their colour or intensity when mixed with water. Also, mist your tag to make it damp and allow to colour to move more easily.

Next, use your paintbrush to pick up colour and paint your image. Don’t worry about blending – the Distress Inks and water take care of that all on their own while resisting the embossed areas! If you have stamped a closed in image, you’ll notice the colours pool inside the embossed areas and make good puddles.

Keep going until you’re happy with it then give it another good misting. Let it dry and you’re done!

Look at the shine the Perfect Pearls adds!

Now, just finish off your project or add your image to a card or layout. Easy, quick, and simple!

Ali Edwards Stamps are the best – just sayin’!

I’ve used this technique for little brown, blue and green monsters on a canvas in G’s room and they look awesome!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at the canvas for the class on Sunday – this technique was one that didn’t make it so I wanted to show it off today.

Here’s a peek of the Sunday project:

Sneak Peek!

Enjoy your day!

S.

Tuesday Techniques – Stitched Tags aka Great Minds Think Alike

28 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Techniques, Tuesday Techniques

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So…funny story.

I had this week’s technique done  and photographed and ready to blog when I happened to read Krista’s blog on Saturday. In it she promised a little tutorial on how to make a stitched “love” tag.

What?!?!? That’s what I already had done!

So I told her we needed to communicate more. And we laughed about it. And we (with Meghan’s help) came up with an awesome plan.

We decided to do our posts on the same day and link up to each other! That’s right, two for one, my friends – a “Love” tag and a “Laugh” tag! You are all so lucky today you should go buy lottery tickets or something!

Oh, and give a me share when you win, I did suggest you buy them, after all. 😉

These were inspired by Amy Tan who has an amazing clothing line that’s all hand stitched, and she also has stitched tags she sells. Krista and I thought we could make our own!

So, here’s my tag. When you’re done admiring :), go here and leave Krista some “love” (haha!).

Supplies

Pretty simple supplies for this one: a tag, a pencil (my fun old school ones!), a paper piercing tool or push pin, and a needle and thread. I think twine would be pretty cool – textural and rustic looking, and baker’s twine would give it a neat look as well. I used DMC embroidery floss since I used to do quite a bit of cross stitching and have a ton of colours!

I also used a Stampin’ Up! Mat Pack that allowed me to keep the lines of holes straight and evenly spaced. The Tim Holtz Design Ruler has the same thing built in, but neither are necessary – you could eyeball it easily.

First, draw your words with a pencil, or trace your shape. I punched a small heart from a sticky note, laid it on the tag, and traced around it to get my shape. Again, you could just eyeball it instead.

Next, punch your holes. Don’t put them too close together or you’ll tear the paper when you pull the floss through. That’s where the piercing template came in handy – holes that are evenly spaced but not too close together.

As you can see, I didn’t hit my pencil lines exactly, they were just a guide.

Once you have everything drawn out and the holes punched, erase your pencil lines – they don’t look so nice on your finished product!

I used two different types of stitches for this one – a backstitch and a satin stitch. For stitching words or outlines, a backstitch is the easiest and most common stitch. The satin stitch is for filling in open spaces, like the heart. Both are super simple to do, trust me!

Pick your thread, twine or floss and start stitching! For the backstitch, you sew backwards to the direction you’re sewing (click the link, it’s easier than it sounds!). Sew So, you go up one hole…

backstitch - step 1

…then back down the previous hole.

backstitch - step 2

With the satin stitch, you simply do one long stitch across your shape, then do another next to it until you fill in the space.

satin stitch

When you have all your stitching done, you should have a tag that looks like this:

This was the very first time I’ve ever attempted this, so you can see that it really is super easy.

Since I wanted mist on my tag I did that before I started stitching. I didn’t want to discolour on the light pink heart.

Now, just add the tag as is to a project, layout, or card, or embellish it further.

completed tag

The other thing I did with my tag was to draw a light pink line around the heart to better define the shape.

Go have fun and try this one out! And don’t forget to leave me a link if you do try it –  I’d love to see what you come up with!

But first, don’t forget to check out Krista’s tutorial for her “love” tag – it’s *lovely*!

Also, Happy Birthday to my friend Heidi – I hope this is the beginning of your best year ever! Love you!

S.

Tuesday Techniques – Cracked Glass

21 Tuesday Feb 2012

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Today’s technique is one I learned from Heather Nichols that she calls Cracked Glass.

Remember a couple of weeks ago during the Faux Metal technique I mentioned that sometimes you want the embossing powder to crack? Well, this is that time!

(Sidenote 1: Kristina Werner recommended trying white embossing powder for the faux metal technique to get the look of porcelain. It’s pretty cool!)

Faux Porcelain

Moving on….

Once again, you only need minimal supplies: VersaMark Ink, Clear Embossing Powder, a heat gun, and a stamp of choice.

supplies

(Sidenote 2: I keep all my embossing powder in lock and lock containers. They don’t open and make a mess, they’re big enough to hold a spoon so you can easily coat  a piece in powder, and you don’t have to try to get the powder back in that little bottle – you just do it all over the container.)

Now, I think this technique looks best with a flower, or something that would look good as vintage, but for fun, I chose an old October Afternoon favourite – the monsters from Night Light!

Seriously, could they be any cuter?

Anyway….

Stamp your image.

Stamped Image

As you can see, I just stamped him on some scrap paper, you only need a little space so no need to cut into a new sheet!

I stamped mine in Memento Tuxedo Black as I coloured the monster in with Copics. Please forgive the colouring – a Copics master, I am not, but I love how he turned out, with his teal spots and little dots all over him!

Coloured Image

I then masked the image and stamped a text background around him, but that isn’t necessary and, in this case, didn’t really show up in the final product anyway.

Punch or cut out your shape and we’re ready to go!

Ready for embossing!

Press VersaMark onto the image and clear heat emboss. I only had regular embossing powder, but UTEE would be best if you have it – less time and thicker coverage. I think I used 4-5 layers but UTEE would probably only need 2-3. Keep layering untill you get a thick, even, smooth coating.

Lots of embossed layers

If I was to do this again, I would leave the monster just as he is at this step. I liked him better uncracked – again, flowers and things that look more vintagey work best for this technique. I used Stampin’ Up! A Flower for All Seasons (retired) before and they turned out awesome!

Now let it cool. Technically, it cools in a few seconds but I find the crack happens best if you *really* let it cool down. Give it a half hour or more while you’re working on the rest of your project.

Now gently crack the embossing and rub a light brown ink, like Old Paper, into the cracks.

Cracked and Stained

You can see the wet ink below the embossed surface here – that will absorb into the paper in a minute so don’t worry about the splotchy puddles!

Now, you just have to add it to your project! I had a little lovefest with October Afternoon and used 3 different lines to complete my tag – Night Light, Rocket Age, and Sidewalks. The stick pins are from My Little Bit of Whimsy and the stencil from The Crafter’s Workshop – Herringbone.

Finished tag

Lots of dimensions with foam adhesive, the rubber charm, the stick pins, and the cracked glass piece.

Close up!

Try this out and let me know what you think! Can’t wait to see what you make with it – leave me a link in the comments!

S.

Tuesday Techniques (on Wednesday!) – Stained Crackle

15 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in ScrapBook, Techniques, Tuesday Techniques

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This may be a day late but I hope you’ll all forgive me for once!

For this technique, you do need a very specific product, Distress Crackle Paint in Clear Rock Candy. You’re also going to need a non-stick craft sheet (to contain the mess), Distress Stains, and Grungeboard or Grungepaper.

Supplies

First, you need to die cut a shape of your choice from the Grungeboard or Grungepaper. I chose the paper as the die I used was a very thin one and unable to cut through the heavier Grungeboard. Once you have your shape, give it a decent coat of the crackle paint; the thinner the coat of paint, the finer the crackles. If you want big cracks, do a thick coat but keep in mind it will take a looooonnnnggg time to dry (this technique is very hard on the impatient!)

Wet Paint

Technically, once the paint starts to cracks, you can speed up the process with your heat tool but I normally end up burning the paper so I just let it sit. From experience, I now do this step as the last thing before I go to bed for the night and then it’s ready in the morning – no patience needed!

Dry Crackle Paint

See the cracks? Very neat on it’s own but it will get even better soon!

Now, rub your Distress Stains over the crackled shape. Dry in between layers with your heat tool and keep going until you like the look. Keep in mind that the colours lighten as they dry and you can always add more, but not less!

Staining

When you’re happy with the colours, you’re done!

finished heart

Look at the texture the crackle brings – awesome!

Now, add your very cool and unique embellishment to your project and call it done!

Completed Tag

I used lots of dimension on this one…

Closeup!

As a side note, you do want to use a heavy duty surface for this. Grungeboard and Grungepaper are really durable and can take a beating which I why I use them for this technique. The Crackle Paint is wet and then you’re adding wet Distress Stain so I’m not sure if regular cardstock would hold up under all of that abuse!

Now, I know you might not all have Distress Crackle Paint in your supplies, but that’s ok – I know for a fact The Paperie has some on order! Go call them and reserve yours now, then you can go play too!

I have only ever done this with Clear Rock Candy so, just for you guys, I tried it with Picket Fence (white) so see how it would turn out.

Picket Fence Crackle Paint

I do find that the colours in the Crackle Paints dry faster than the Rock Candy. They’re also matte, whereas the Rock Candy is shiny, like Glossy Accents. And that reminds me, there is a Crackle Glossy Accents, which I’ve never used. That would definitely be worth a try, if you own it.

Stained Crackle - Picket Fence

This is kind of neat too, just a pastel, matte version. Personally, I like the shine and  texture of the Rock Candy, but this would be good for other uses. Be interesting to see some others colours of paint tried too (hint, hint!).

Once you’ve tried it, leave me a link to your project – I’d love to see what you do!

Sara

Card Day – A Step by Step Photo Show!

10 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in Classes, ScrapBook, Techniques

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I normally don’t consider myself a great cardmaker – I have trouble with the smaller canvas and working space, I guess – but it’s a great size for trying new things. And I like how this one turned out!

We have a birthday party tomorrow so a card was necessary. This morning, I bit the bullet and went for it, taking pics of the progress for you along the way. This is going to be really photo heavy, sorry!

Supplies

Used lots of stuff here – Papertrey Ink and Unity Stamps, Fiskars Stamp Press (go right now and buy one if you don’t have it!) and Cloud Punch, Hero Arts Long Notecards, My Minds Eye Twine, Papertrey Ink Button Twine, Ranger Archival Ink, Distress Stain, Paint Dabber, and Perfect Pearls Mist, and Clearsnap Smooch.

First, I rubbed my Distress Stains over my Non Stick Craft Sheet and sprayed lightly with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist.

Stain and Mist

Then I dragged a piece of ivory cardstock through the colour.

Swiped through the goodness!

Now I’ve done this before and always gotten a bit of shimmer with the mist, which is what I was going for this time. But I got this instead…

Loads of Heirloom Gold!

See all that gold? Awesome! I can only figure it was because I used Stain this time instead of Ink and the consistency was different. Whatever, it looks fab, if I do say so myself!

Anyway, moving along… 🙂

I cut the card stock down to size to fit the front of the notecard, then stamped some balloon strings…

Balloon Strings

…and a sentiment from Papertey Ink.

sentiment strip

I stamped that on a bit of leftover cardstock for some more interest – and it looks cool (pat on the back)!

I then punched a couple of small holes in the balloon strings so I could tie some twine around them.

Lime Twist bow

I threaded the buttons with Rustic Button Twine, then decided to stamp a “3” and use that as a balloon instead.

Smooched "3"

And while I had the Unity stamps and the smooch out, I did the inside of the card too!

inside...

Finally, I punched some clouds and dabbed them with Pearl Paint Dabber…

Pearl coated clouds

…and adhered everything to the card!

All done!

The best thing? I still have this left over to make another one!

extra stuff!

Are you all pictured out yet? 🙂

We have the birthday party this weekend, and a fun cupcake/Valentine making event at the Paperie, and I’m teaching the Groovy Glassine Class Sunday – we’re full (for the class and the weekend)! Hope you all have a great one!

S.

Things on Thursday

09 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in Classes, Family, ScrapBook, Techniques, Things on Thursday...

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1. Said good-bye to a friend yesterday. St. Thomas Church (it’s a big one) was standing room only. I think that says it all. You’re already missed, Dan.

2. So I pinned these the other day on Pinterest, wishing I could have them in my life again and, lo and behold, as I was at the dollar store the other night, guess what I found? Score! I them have in my hands again, though not the sparkly barreled ones I remember having as a kid. Oh well, I guess these will do! 🙂

80's Pencils

3. We have royalty in the house today!

Princess Rapunzel

P, M’s bestie, brought all her princess gear to share today. M insisted that red sparkly shoes were needed to complete the look (along with her PJ bottoms!) The patch, as you can see, is still on and (knock wood) going better than expected.

4. This cat is my favourite today…

my favourite - today, anyway!

The other one (who is not as innocent as she looks) has escaped into the snow 3 times and forced me to go get her, in the cold and the snow, 3 times. Not her biggest fan right now.

5. My baby, who is also not as innocent as he looks (even my dad said he was evil!), loves his cars right now. And not napping. Sigh.

G and the little cars

Look at the tongue poking out – love that! ❤

6. Going to the Paperie to kit up the Groovy Glassine class tonight. I think there might be a spot or two still available, if you’re interested. This class is jam packed with technique, focusing on Kraft Glassine but also using acetate, Sticky Back Canvas, Cork paper, dry embossing, Perfect Pearls, Distress Stains, alcohol inks, AccuCut Dies, and more! And at the end, you’ll have a seasonal mini album to fill. If you’re going to be around St. John’s, NL on February 12, it’s worth going to – I promise!

winter - Groovy Glassine Album

7. EDIT: One more thing – I finally redid the header; no more generic hallway thing!

Have a great afternoon!

S.

Tuesday Techniques – Faux Metal

07 Tuesday Feb 2012

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Super fun technique today – faux metal! All you need is silver (or gold) embossing powder, VersaMark, and a heat gun! It doesn’t get easier than this, people, and it’s cool – bonus! And I apologize for the pictures – I did this in the night time and the lighting in my kitchen is terrible for pictures!

The Supplies

Pretty simple – you need VersaMark (or some other sticky embossing ink), a Heat Tool, silver embossing powder, and stamps.

First, press VersaMark onto some cardstock, then cover with silver embossing powder.

Silver Embossing Powder

Next, heat it up! There are a couple of ways to do the next few steps, but this is my way. After the first layer, let the powder cool for a moment, ink the embossed surface with VersaMark again, add more powder, and heat. For the next layer, as soon as the powder melts and the surface is still hot, pour embossing powder over it and heat again. Follow this melt, sprinkle, emboss series until you have 4-5 layers of embossing powder. You will notice that the more layers you add, the faster it melts, and the smoother the surface becomes.

4 layers of embossing powder

For the final step, take a stamp and ink it up with VersaMark, then set it aside. Melt the final layer of powder and the immediately lay the stamp in the pool of silver. Let it sit for a moment until the powder cools, then lift it off. The VersaMark should allow it to release very easily.

If your image doesn’t stamp correctly, no worries! That’s why this is the easiest, most fool proof technique out there – simply reheat the powder, let it melt again, and re stamp. You can do that over and over and over and… You get the drift!

Heart Trio

Heart

Another thing you can do is to apply these same steps to heat embossing a chipboard letter. The difference is at the very end. After stamping a pattern on the letter, heat the powder again. The stamp design will disappear, but will leave behind a streaky, almost black residue. This will add to the faux metal look, especially on a letter or small, solid embellishment.

I punched and cut my shapes out, so you still get the pattern, but not the debossed look. If you cut out a square, or cut the shapes outside the stamp line, you’ll get more of a stamped metal look. That heart trio would look awesome cut into a rectangle and left as a simple embellishment on a card front!

Heart Trio Embellishment

See the flecks of black, how it looks like a more aged metal? That’s what you get when you re heat!

You do want to be careful when cutting as, once cooled, the layers of powder can be brittle, especially if you have lots of layers, and they can crack easily. This is a cool look, if that’s what you’re going for (maybe we’ll do that next week!), but if you want a smooth surface, take your time.

Once you’re happy, make your project!

Completed Tag with Faux Metals Embellishments

Closeup

Look at the texture! And a stamp did that! That’s what I call super cool!

Now, you know you’re just itching to try this out for yourself so go do it! What are you waiting for?

Oh, you’re waiting for this…

Scrap Space - during

OK, so maybe you don’t see a big change but let me tell you, since Friday, a lot (a *lot*) of work has been done in this space – you can actually see the floor now! Wish me luck on the rest of it!

And, as always, when you try this technique I’d love to see your results, so post a pic somewhere and leave a link in the comments!

S.

Tuesday Techniques – Trapped Embossed Resist

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

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One of the best, easiest, and most effective techniques I know is Trapped Embossed Resist. It takes a few steps, but it is easy, the results are always amazing, and it can be used for pretty much any project.

Supplies + Clear Embossing powder

You need a fairly small scale background stamp (I like text or script best for this but try what you have), a stamp with a good amount of both solid and open area, two colours of ink, VersaMark, and Clear Embossing Powder. Oh, and a heat tool, that helps with the embossing part!

First, use your lighter ink to stamp your background.

Stamped Tag

Next, ink up the other stamp with VersaMark and emboss with clear powder. Keep in mind that we are trapping the original design behind the second design, but still want to see part of it so VersaMark and clear embossing powder are a must, anything else will hide what we did first!

Clear Embossed Tag

It’s hard to see, but look at the shine! You’ll see the magic in just a minute….

Next, take your darker ink and rub the inkpad all over your surface. Really get it on there, you want to cover up any of the script that is not covered in embossing powder.

After that, I spray with a light mist of Perfect Pearls Mist. This is totally optional, I just like the shine, plus, I always use Distress Inks so I like how they blend when they come in contact with water. A side bonus is that it makes it easier to wipe the excess ink away!

Using a paper towel, wipe the ink off the embossed areas. You should have a beautiful, two-toned design to go play with and make into an embellishment, tag, card background, whatever your heart desires!

Completed Tag

See how the purple ink covers the pink so you don’t see any of the script, except where it’s trapped under the embossing? Awesome!

My favourite combos are Worn Lipstick and Dusty Concord, or Wild Honey and Barn Door Distress Inks. The fun is playing with different combos and stamps!

Now, go play and try this out, and please let me know if you try it – I’d love to see what you come up with!

Enjoy the storm, a snow day is a good day to hunker down and get inky!

S.

Tuesday Techniques – Glossy Accents

24 Tuesday Jan 2012

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First, let me say big Thank You to everyone for the great welcome! I felt pretty special! 🙂

I participated in an online crop this weekend and, in the process, rediscovered an old technique that I love. And so Tuesday Techniques was born! On most Tuesdays (you’ll notice I didn’t say all!) I’ll show you a technique that I love to do. It may be an oldie but goodie, or it may be new to me. Whichever, I hope it will inspire you to try it out, play, and have fun!

Today, we’re pulling out our Glossy Accents!

What??? You don’t have Glossy Accents??? Run, run I say, to the nearest Scrapbooking store and buy it up! And if you’re here in Newfoundland, head on over to The Paperie and support our local LSS! Go on, I’ll wait…

Have you got it now? Good! This will become one of your favourite liquid adhesives (I may or may not have glued together everything from chipboard to children’s toys to broken appliances with it…) and, my favourite part, it’s an amazing dimensional glaze. With Glossy Accents, just about anything can be made to look like an epoxy embellishment. The way I use it the most? Little letter stickers. They just pop right off the page when they’re raised and shiny.

Ok, here goes…

Get your supplies together. I like altering basic chipboard so I started with old Maya Road chipboard letters and some Studio Calico Mister Huey’s.

Supplies

Mist away, let the letters dry a but, then cover each one in Glossy Accents. Just squeeze a generous layer on there and smear around with the tip of the bottle. It stays where you put it so no worries about a big mess. Also, it will look cloudy but don’t worry about that either because it dries completely clear.

Covered in Glossy

Now go away. Leave your letters alone, don’t even think about touching them. Just be sure that little children and cats cannot get anywhere near them – I suggest the microwave. Really.

Come back again in a hour or so. My letters are pretty big, and I put a heavy layer on, so they did take quite some time to dry. Little letters or embellishments with a lighter layer will dry pretty quickly.

Finally, use your Glossy Accents to adhere them to whatever project you’re working on (great glue, remember) and you’re done!

Completed Tag

 

Look at that shine!

And you can add more layers, if you want the letters to be even more dimensional.

Easy, but what an effective step to add. Enjoy, and let me know if you try it. I’d love to see how you shine up your next project!