Design Team Feature Thursday - Laura Fulcher!

Our Featured Design Team member today is... Laura Fulcher

To see Laura's full project click--> HERE

Here's a peek:

Have a great day!

Tuesday T&T New Tools and Stamps In Use

New Mini Mount

I have been really excited to show you some of the ideas I have for our new Mini Mount.  Check it out below and I will explain what you are seeing:

Mini Mount Examples:

The Mini Mount size is 4"X5".   These images were stamped by holding the mount handle facing North/South and rocking from South to North.  I was seated.  I rocked it forward and backward once or twice to see if it would blur.  It DID NOT.  :-)  This mount is lighter than the Mega Mount and the plastic is thinner but just as sturdy.  I used it 3 different ways.

1. The First One is lower bottom right-hand corner, red rubber cling Violets, stamped twice with Delicata Gold-Glitz.  I did it twice so I could, of course knowing me, layer some of the Violets.  I had the stamp aligned along the bottom.  It was so easy to stamp right above it.


2. Second I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black on the bottom to the left of the first to images.  I mounted the stamp in the center of the mount to see how it handled.  I have a ton of clear acrylic blocks for each stamp size.  I have found it can be awkward otherwise.  Not so here and I could also rock back and forth without blurring.


3. Third and really fun one for me.  I often have a lot of smaller stamps I could be stamping together when I layer, etc.  I used stamps from our new clear set, Hydrangea, which also comes in red rubber cling too.  The floral part is Memento Lulu  Lavender and the stem and leaves are New Sprout.  Notice I bent the stem....funnnnnnn!!  The reason they are so light is:  you can always make them darker if you like, but not lighter when using dye inks.  I am going to use watercolors over them and love how the veins in the leaves and stem will look.  If I knew the type of card I could have added the sentiment to the mount too.  My point is you can add many stamps and ink with different colors to meet your needs.  Stamp once and done with only one mount!!!  I might keep my tiny ones for smaller sentiments.  Not sure about that.  Will let you know.

One Of Our Newest Dies

Now for some more fun I had with one of our newest dies.  When I saw the Embossed Gift die I immediately saw "quilt".  What about you?  Here is how I used the die.

1. I embossed it twice on two pieces of white cardstock. 
2. I used a dauber (with the die in place over the embossed parts like a stencil) to apply the Memento Bamboo Green ink from the pad.
3. I used Lavender Chalk Dew Drop Pad for the flowers and the long stripes.  What big mistake.  Thought it would work like the dauber.  NOT!! I should have used the dauber on the ink pad (Dew Drop) too.  I cleaned this up a bit for you, (leaky) :-(. 
4. Next I ran the two embossed pieces through as dies and everything was separated.  As you can see I get a thin border as shown and all of the pieces.
5. If you overlap the ends where the stripes are you get a piece measuring 5.25" so I still have a quarter of an inch for an outside border.  The width is 3.25".  I think if I cut the two rectangle pieces in half and add to both sides it will work.

One more tip I have found to be very helpful for me when working with my daubers.  I found a dauber storage case.  It's clear top and bottom and has a place for each dauber.  I put it in and close the lid.  Then I write the ink color on the lid over it with a black sharpie.

If you want to see how these pieces for today turn into cards, come on back to find out in my later posts.  Thanks for stopping by to look and share.  Hope to see you back here on DT Thursday and our new challenge winner too!

 

 

 Shirley

 

Tuesday T&T Add A Border

You can have Holly as a red rubber stamp or as a clear stamp set.  I think she is adorable and this is what I did with her:

Holly:

1. Stamped Holly with Espresso Truffle and painted with Twinkling H2O's.
2. Arm and holly in her hair were stamped again, painted, and mounted.
3. Her wing, tiny dots on skirt, sleeve, and halo were highlighted with Halo glitter liner.
4. The 'holly' dots on her skirt were done with a Twig Wreath Die Set and accented with Ruby glitter liner.
5. The clouds are torn from leftover white cardstock.  Torn edges were highlighted with glue pen and glitter.

Sentiment:

1. The scalloped die from the Flags Die Set was cut from white card stock.
2. Merry Little Christmas was stamped with Espresso Truffles.
3. Holly berries and leaves from Twig Wreath Die Set were done with white cardstock and painted with twinks.  (Save cutout left by holly leaves for stencil on envelope shown below.)
4. The berries and accents on the tag tails were done with Ruby glitter liner.

Background:

1. CAC Nordic Christmas was stamped on white cardstock with Pistachio.
2. It was trimmed to 4.25"X4.25"
3. That was attached to a matching solid green piece of cardstock 4.5"X4.5".
4. May Arts ribbon was added to the center of the background.

Scalloped Edge:

1. 4 pieces of the shown die from of Border Duo 3 were done with white cardstock.
2. They were placed like you see them. 
3. The X area you see in each circle was cut out and the circle finished with Glossy Accents.  (Save the leftover 3 scallops from each piece for inside card frame shown below.)
   
4. Finished size is 5.25"X5.25"
5. The background was attached to that and a folded white piece of cardstock 4.5"X9.0" was attached to that.

Assembly:

1. Holly with clouds was mounted on the left with 3D pop-dots.
2. Bow was added to right side.
3. Sentiment was added to bow with gold cord, 3D pop-dot and glue dot.

Envelope and Top Inside of Card: 

1. Envy:  Stencil left from holly leaves was used in the lower left-hand corner of envy with a dauber and Pistachio ink.  The berries were done with Ruby glitter liner.
2. Top Inside Card:  (a)  A frame for the top inside of card was done using the 4 leftover pieces of border.  (b)  A 1.5" square was cut from leftover CAC Nordic Christmas background was placed on that.  (c)  Holly leaves from Twig Wreath were painted and attached with a glue dot.  Berries were added with Ruby glitter liner.

 Thanks for stopping by to look.  I'll see you back here on this Thursday for our "Nature Inspired Challenge".   For more details on how to join in the fun read "Our Next Challenge" HERE.

 

 Shirley

 

SUPPLIES:

Blog Hop with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer & the Crafter's Workshop

First, a little business...our Challenge Winner for our Under the Sea challenge is all the way from the Netherlands...Miranda from ‘Mir’acle Art Inspirations. Congrats Miranda!

And now for today's fun...in March we began manufacturing a line of stamps that coordinate with stencils from The Crafter's Workshop. Designed by the unbelievably creative Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, these six stamp sets are designed as such:

Each stamp set works independently.
Each stencil works independently.
Each stencil has a matching stamp set. Each stamp set a matching
stencil. And they work together.

This is way out of my comfort zone, but I thought I'd play along to challenge myself. Stencils obviously lend themselves to being used with paint, and when paint is involved anything goes. I played around sponging backgrounds with some pearlescent acrylic paint. I decided to really just play with them and see where it took me. Ultimately I sponged and layered a bunch of different designs on a big sheet of watercolor paper and then cropped out the bits that I liked. I kept my card designs simple to really feature the designs and did a little bit of a closeup that shows the pearlescence better.

Today the IO design team and Julie are doing a blog hop. Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is giving away an entire set of stencils and stamps to one lucky commenter!  So check out everyone's blog for more ideas using these fun new products:

 Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

Jeanne Streiff

Daniela Dobson

Laura Fulcher

Vicki Garrett

Jenny Gropp

Dina Kowal

Julie Koerber

The lovely and talented Jeanne Streiff created a little photo tutorial of the stenciling process and I will include it below as well.

The stamps and stencils are available at many of our retailers across the country and overseas.  We will also be releasing several new designs at the Craft & Hobby Association show in July.

 

Tuesday T&T Butterfly Treasure And More Fun This Thursday!

This is a really quick 4.25"X5.5" card.  The reason is because everything I needed was already done.  I had stamped the butterfly background eons ago and then set it aside.  Do you have set asides?  ;-)  Below is how I did it.

1.  The background was created using the Mega Mount^TM and Cover-A-Card^TM Doodle Flowers inked with Brilliance Galaxy Gold.  After stamping I heated it with a heat gun.  Heating it actually causes the Galaxy Gold to rise giving it a 'real' embossed look.  You can feel it with your fingers.  I painted the rest with Twinkling H2O's.  You can use dye ink pads, markers, etc.

*  I always replace the backing that came with the stamp after I clean it.  It preserves the cling effect on the backside.

2.  I ran one of my embossing folders through the Cuttlebug to use as a background. 

3.  The butterfly with both wings from the Butterflies Die set were put through the Cuttlebug twice with the Doodle Flowers background.

4.  I wanted a reversed one-winged butterfly so I turned the paper over and put it through by cutting from the back side.

5.  The embossed cardstock was mounted to the apricot colored background.  I used a dye marker to fill in around the embossed area to give it a tooled look.

6.  Next the dkdesigns sentiment, Precious Treasure, was stamped using StazOn Iris.  Stamping it first allowed me to see how much room it would take before placing the butterflies.

7.  The butterflies were place next.   Then a strip of ribbon, from Michaels $1 bin, was added across the middle, followed by a bow done with the Bow-Easy.

8.  I used glue dots to attach the centers and 3D pop-dots under the wings.  The pearls were placed next.  Viva Decor White pearls and Yellow Quartz glitter pen were used here and there.  Liquid Pearls and Stickles, etc. could also be used.

9.  When the glitter and pearls were dry, the cardfront was mounted to a 4.25"X11" folded piece of white cardstock.

And the card at the top is the result.  Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did making it!!  The supplies are below.  :-)  When you are done there, check out the news about Thursday's Blog Hop below that!

SUPPLIES:

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Design Team Blog Hop with Crafters Workshop

Thursday, June14

Check out the Hop this Thursday to see what both DT's are doing with the IO Balzer Design Stamps, and what fun they are when used with Crafters Workshop Stencils/Templates.   Go HERE to see a sneak peek of what IO DT member, Daniela Dobson used to create the beautiful card below.

Below are the stamps and also in the Online Store. 

Thanks for stopping by to look and share!  Mitra will be with you here on Thursday!!!

 

 Shirley

 

New Stamps that Coordinate with Stencils!

In March we began working with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and the Crafter's Workshop to produce stamp sets to coordinate with their line of stencils. We sold out of the first batch immediately and just recently got a larger order in. Check out Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Blog post where she shows all kinds of ideas for combining these two products.  Super cool!!!

There are 6 different stamps/stamp sets to choose from and she shows all of them used separately and together. Great inspiration for a neat new combination of products!

You can purchase the stamps at local stores and on our website and go to The Crafter's Workshop for the stencils.