Tag Archives: Hero Arts

Tuesday Techniques – Distress Painting & a Sneak Peek!

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in ScrapBook, Techniques, Tuesday Techniques

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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.

Moxie Fab World: Home Sweet Home

27 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by in Cards, ScrapBook

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I was going to post about the first 2012 Yearlong Class we had yesterday (complete with two birthday cakes for me!), but when I saw the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World last night, I had to play along!

We’ll talk about the class on Wednesday.

I loved the red and blue polka dots, the little bird and the woodgrain door. This is what I came up with, while managing to keep all those elements.

Tuesday Trigger: Home Sweet Home card

The door opens…

… so you can see the sweet little bird inside!

I used an old Hero Arts stamp set (I cut the crown off the bird – yes, I cut up my stamps!), and a Papertrey Ink sentiment. Bazzill and Stampin’ Up! cardstock, with October Afternoon SprINKlers, Cavallini paper tape, Ranger Distress Inks, EK Success circle punch, Studio Calico/Hero Arts stamp set, and a large Fiskars cloud punch to finish it off.

Hope you enjoy it, head on over to Moxie Fab World and play along yourself!

S.

Things on Thursday

16 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in Cards, Family, ScrapBook, Things on Thursday..., Yearlong Album

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1. We have a bunch of tired kiddies here this morning. P & C, the two I take care of, are having a sleepover for “3 sleeps” while their parents are in New Brunswick house hunting. That boils down to mean M & G are losing their buddies mid-March – we’re sad. 😦 Last night was the first “sleep” night here and we’re all dragging a little today!

2. I’m looking forward to Crop Night at The Paperie tomorrow – it’s fun to be with friends and there’s always a midnight snack afterwards! Call and sign up by this afternoon if you want in on the fun too – come on, you know you want to! 🙂

3. I started on the March LO for the 2012 Yearlong Album last night using the amazing Year-o-graphy line…

March sneak peek

4. And that leads me into… I love having my Scrap Cave (which it will now be officially know as) almost cleaned and organized! I’m actually getting work done and not messing up the kitchen! And that means I don’t have to pack everything up and drag it back to the Cave all the time! Yay! When I get the bags of donations out of there and the final bits tidied away, I’ll post an updated picture. Oh, and it really is a cave as I share it with the storage room and the freezer, but it has a door. A real door! That keeps little children out! Can you tell how exciting that is to me?!?!

5. I made this quick card the other day – super simple but I love how it turned out. More clear embossed resist (told you it was a good and effective one!) but without the trapped stamping underneath. Of all the types of the cards there are, I really hate making sympathy ones at the time I need them. Those, I like to have a stockpile of and I’m all out. This one was a prototype that I liked so I think I’ll churn out a few this evening, or tomorrow at the crop night.

With Heartfelt Sympathy

Scor Bug Detail

I used Papertrey Ink stamps, Hero Arts embossing powder and heat gun, Ranger Distress Inks, and a Scor-Bug.

6. As I was typing this up just now, my computer rebooted for “necessary updates.” Really computer? In the middle of my blog post before I saved it? Hmmmm…

Hope you all have an interesting thing-filled day – tell me some of your good things!

S.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming…

14 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Baking, Family, ScrapBook

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…for Valentine’s Day!

I was going to do another technique today, but just couldn’t pass up the Valentine’s thing. If you’re craving technique, check my previous posts here, here, and here – that should keep you going until tomorrow! 🙂

So, I knew Valentine’s was coming. I bought little treats for the kiddies, poked them away….. and promptly forgot about the whole thing!

Don’t get me wrong, I like Valentine’s Day. I just don’t get all hyped up about it. The point is, late last night I was up making M and G’s Valentine’s. And D’s is the technique for this week!

Valentine's

Also, since I forgot all about today, I didn’t get my kiddies on the ball making Valentine’s for their little friends or make the cupcakes for the party we always have. That meant Valentine’s making instead of cereal for breakfast and cupcake making with a crew of  (not very helpful) helpers this morning!

Valentine Cupcakes

Long story short, we got it all done, including making these cards, ate copious amounts of sugar, and, due to changing the topic at the last minute, this post is very, very late – sorry!

Hope you all have a very Happy Valentine’s Day with whomever or whatever you love – friends, family, pets, books…

Sara

P.S. The Valentine’s were made with this Hero Arts Stamp, Basic Grey Sugar Rush papers, Stampin’ Up! gems, and Sakura Gelly Rollers (I use medium for colouring) and Stardust Pens.

The cupcakes are this recipe (but made with rice flour and xanthan gum) and the frosting is this recipe (again with the rice flour!). These really are the best – even gluten free – with wheat, they’re to die for!

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.

Some Basic Grey Love

08 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Family, ScrapBook

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One of my all time favourite Basic Grey collections is Lime Rickey – the colours, the stamps, the little birds – so much fun.

The Paperie asked me to do a LO for them when Lime Rickey was first released way back when and then, as I was into two page LO’s exclusively at that point, I did the second page for myself. Because both pages have been in different places, I’ve never posted them anywhere. But last week, Meghan gave me back the original page and finally, they are united!

So I thought I’d share them with the world…

aka

I still love this LO, maybe because of the paper, maybe because of the pictures. They were taken when M wasn’t yet 2 and G was only 2 weeks old – love them! Lots of fun products here too, the Basic Grey, of course, Bo Bunny Double Dot, Hero Arts felt buttons, and stamps, grungeboard, Bazzill Basics Edges, and old Kelly Panacci border stamps (which are so old that I can’t find them anywhere!).

Here’s another LO I did using Basic Grey, and my all time favourite collection, Basics. I also used Doodlebug Jack & Jill alphas in Swimming Pool (no one does alphas like Doodlebug!), October Afternoon Thrift Shop and Fly a Kite, a Martha Stewart Doily, and a bunch of border punches.

buddies - Vicki, Marg, and me!

This is one of my favourite LO’s – love the colours, love the pic. This was taken at my friend’s son’s wedding where D was the photographer. I think the three of us clean up pretty well! 😉

Hope this inspires some of you to get crafty today! I have some major cleaning to do first… 😦

Sara

Tuesday Techniques – Trapped Embossed Resist

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in ScrapBook, Techniques, Tuesday Techniques

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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.

The Trip of a Lifetime

27 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in Classes, ScrapBook

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This past October the owners of The Paperie offered me the trip and experience of a lifetime and sent me, along with one of the owners, Chris, to Houston for the Collins Group Rep Show. To say I was overwhelmed and way too excited the whole time would be an understatement! I took classes from Tim Holtz, Jennifer McGuire (who publicly announced her pregnancy today!), Shari Carroll, Candy Rosenberg, and Cheryl Mezzetti, to name a few. The techniques I learned, the people I met, and the fun I had were just over the top.

In return, I came home with a promise to teach classes based on what I had picked up. And I had more ideas than I knew what to do with! We started the series of Houston Classes a couple of weeks ago with a full weekend of workshops. I taught 3 classes on Saturday and a full day Tim Holtz Class on Sunday.

Saturday morning was Hero Arts – Stamp and Emboss where we made 3 cards – a faux watercolour, a faux letterpress, and a trapped embossed resist.

Trapped Embossed Resist

Next up was Impression Obsession – One, Two, Tree (my personal favourite) where we again made 3 cards – one with alcohol inks, one with acrylic paints, and one with Distress Stains.

Distress Stains and Sparkle Embossing Powder

Finally, I taught a tag workshop with The Crafter’s Workshop Stencils. We made 10 tags, full of different techniques and everyone went home with the recipes on the back and the two stencils so they could recreate the fun we had!

Balzer Designs Stencils by The Crafter's Workshop

The Tim class on Sunday was the Holiday Artful Journal, one of the exact classes Chris and I took while we were away. The big treat in this one was all the product everyone took home – stains, mists, paint, Glue n’ Seal, and a finished mini album!

Tim Holtz Holiday Artful Journal

There was lots of laughing, a bunch of giveaways, and some great projects made. I can’t wait to do the next class in the series – Kraft Glassine Mixed Media Mini Album. That’s coming February 12, 2012 at The Paperie – and here’s a peek!

Glassine Album Sneak Peek

We’ll be playing with Distress Stains, Alcohol Inks, Cork Paper, Sticky Back Canvas, and more!

Have a good one, everybody!

S.