March - Constant Campaign "Stampaganza 2016"

The wait is over! Who is ready for Stampaganza 2016? 

Buy any two My Acrylix stamp sets at full retail price and get the third stamp set of equal or lesser Value FREE! You can save up to $29.95! 

This offer is only available during March, so order as soon as possible. Check back on my website tomorrow to get this awesome 3=2 deal!

Make sure to check the Seasonal Expressions Book 1 since all stamp sets featured in this book will only be available until April 30th. All other stamps form the current Idea Book will be available until July 31st! So make sure to check your stamp wish list before they are gone for good. Happy shopping :-)

Splatter Spray Background Stencil

Last but not least, this was the last card made for this months blog hop. Does splattered dots were so much fun to make. I have a stencils called "Splattered Dots" that I used for the ink layering in this card.

Really simple, you take a piece of "Desert Sand" cardstock, place the stencil on top and secure both. I used a sponge dauber and white ink to place the first layer of ink down. The dauber is perfect for getting into the little dots of the stencil. Once the ink was dry I placed the stencil back and off set the design just a bit. Next I used Chocolate brown ink and repeated the procedure. Last I moved the stencil one more time by a little bit and added Cocoa brown ink (all Close to My Heart) to it.

For the card itself I used a cream colored card base and some cocoa cardstock, 1/4" smaller than the base. I cut my stenciled cardstock down and divided it into four strips. I placed the two outer ones right on the cardstock and raised the two middle ones with foam dots. A few paper flowers, a piece of brown glitter paper and a banner with my phrase adhered to the bottom of the card and this last example of this months "Ink Layering Technique" blog hop was done.

















If you like to know more about this technique or if you like to try out one of my classes, please feel free to contact me for more information. Leave a comment about the hop and the cards you have seen so far. I would love to hear from you.

Keep coming back for more inspiration and many more projects to come each week...

Masculine Birthday Card

Here is another version of a masculine card using some of the same elements I used in a card a few days ago except for a few little tweaks.

Let's see what is different? Naturally the background is different. Here I started with a piece of blue cardstock from Close to My Heart. I used two background stamps: one is striped and the other one has a chevron design. I alternated the stamps. 

The stripes were first stamped in white ink. I offset the stamp (this is great when your stamps are clear, so you can see through them while stamping) and stamped a second image in light blue next to the white.


I did the same with the chevron stamp using the matching ink color for the cardstock and a darker blue. Once everything was dry I used some of the word stamps that came with the old timer set and stamped them all over the background in a light grey color. This piece of background measured 3 3/4"x 5" and was adhered to a piece of 4"x 5 1/4" black cardstock. Center the combo on a 4 1/4"x 5 1/2" white card base and you are almost done.

I used the same black cardstock tag stamped with white ink, just this time I didn't cut out the inner portion of it. I also stamped both old timers again, one in blue and one in lagoon. I cut both cars out and adhered one flat to the card and the other one with foam dots. A few pearls, a piece of twine, some decoration on the inside of the card and the envelope and this card is done.

Two cards with the same colors, the same elements, but still different after all. Leave me a comment and let me know which one is your favorite and what you like best about them. Love to hear from you! 

If you are interested to learn new techniques contact me to see what classes are coming up. Come join us for some fun time...

Thank You Card - Faux Decoupage

Flowers are always a wonderful way to say "Thank You". This wonderful flower stamp set was the Close to My Heart "Stamp of the Month" set for January. I really love this set since it contains a big and a small flower, these cute branches and some sentiments. 

I started this card with a white card base, topped with a piece of Slate cardstock from Close to My Heart. The grey piece is cut at 4"x 5 1/4". 
Now to the stamping part. You need a piece of 3 3/4"x 5" white cardstock. 
I used a lighter grey ink called "Whisper" for the branches. The flowers were stamped in "Daisy White", "Pixie" and "Pomegranate" ink.

First I used the flower detail stamp and white ink to stamp the three flowers. After the ink dried over night I stamped the full flower image over the white detail in the "Pixie" ink. Next I used the detailed flower stamp and the darker ink "Pomegranate" and lined it up with the image. I stamped three extra flower outlines on a post-it note and cut the out. This is called a mask. You take the three cut outs and place them on the stamped flowers. 
Now you can use your branch image and fill in the bottom part of your image without stamping on your flowers. These are protected by the masks. Once you are satisfied with the background simply remove the masks and you created a pretty 3-D like image. 


I used black ink to stamp my "Thank You" and some clear embossing powder to make it look more finished.
Place a piece of ribbon around the stamped cardstock and glue it tied on the back. Now add some strong adhesive to the whole cardstock and adhere it to the grey portion. A little bow and a rhinestone will finish off this card.

Oh and don't forget to decorate the inside of your card and the envelope!

Like to learn how to make this and other cards seen here on the blog? 

Contact me for more information about classes and schedules. Come join me for some fun time....all supplies will be included in the class.

Stay tuned for more creations to come...

Old-timer Car with a Modern Twist

Why are masculine cards always so difficult to design you ask? Honestly? I don't know. 
Maybe it's because we can't use the usual bling embellishments or glitter. Flowers don't really work either...So what would work for a masculine card? I think color wise I would pick black, browns, greens, blues or reds. Graphic designs are great as design elements too. Cars, tools and sport items are perfect addition to those cards as well.


I love this old timer stamp I own. I make it more interesting I simply stamped it twice. One in a pacific blue and second in lagoon ink. I cut them out and used three parts of the lagoon image while I left the blue one intact. I added the parts with foam dots to the blue image.

The frame was stamped in white ink on black cardstock. The inside was cut with a craft knife and decorated with some rhinestones. 

The graphic background is a two step stencil technique. I placed my bubble stencil on a piece of Desert Sand Close to My Heart cardstock. Make sure to secure the paper and the stencil. I used a sponge dauber to apply the white ink on the stencil. Let it dry overnight! 
The next day I placed the stencil back on the white design and moved it over just a bit. Now secure the stencil again and apply a layer of blue ink on top of the white. Remove the stencil and you are left with a 3-D background. Since we moved the stencil just a bit of the original white image we created, you can see small white outlines along the blue. Make sure to always clean your stencil with warm water and a little bit of soap in between applications.

To finish the card, place you new created background on a piece of blue cardstock. Raise the frame and the car with foam dots of the background. Add a "Happy Birthday" sentiment and decorate the inside and the envelope and your card is done. Leave a comment and let me know what kind of masculine cards you create or what you think about this one.

Happy Birthday with cut Flowers

I hope you enjoyed our blog hop on Saturday. In case you missed it, check it out and leave a message for a chance to win a $25 dollar gift certificate. 

Well, here are a few more information about the cards that I made for this month's blog hop. Ink layering was the technique and even so it might sound complicated, it really isn't. Have you have a white ink pad sitting around in your craft room? Have you used it yet? No, really? Well then it is about time to get some use out of it.


For this project I used a piece of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of cardstock from Close to My Heart (the color is called Sunset). I also used a matching sunset ink pad, my daisy white ink pad and two shades of green ink (Fern and New England Ivy in this case). I also used a flower stamp set that had a two step system to it. One stamp is the background of the flower and leaf while the other one is the detailed to it.

First I stamped the outline (detail) of the flower in white onto my cardstock. I placed them around the bottom a few along the side running of. Since white ink takes a long time to dry I let the piece sit over night. The next day I stamped full background image in sunset ink right on top of the white outline. Make sure to line the images up. The leaves are stamped on white cardstock first with the lighter green and the full background stamp and second with the darker green and the detailed stamp. 

The sentiment was stamped on cream colored Colonial White cardstock in Chocolate brown ink and decorated with some swirls and dots. I cut the sentiment tag and the leaves out with scissors and put them aside.

To make the card more interesting cut around the bottom flowers with your crafting knife. Just so far that the sentiment tag can be tucked behind them. I arranged the leaves around them and placed the cardstock piece on a cardstock base. Embellish the card with a few rhinestones and a little ribbon bow and you are almost done ;-)

I always like to decorate the insides of my card as well as the envelope. So stamp a pretty sentiment on the inside of your card. I also used the smaller detailed flower stamp that came in the set and added one image to the inside and the front of the envelope.

Contact me if you are interested to join my card or page making classes or if you like to purchase any of the cards or items seen on my blog. Leave a comment what you like about this card and stay tuned for more to come... 

February - Constant Campaign "Share the Love"

This month Close to My Heart has a very special campaign going on. Share the love this February by purchasing the exclusive My Acrylix "Share the Love" D-size stamp set (CC1060). This set is filled with adorable icons and lovable sentiments. "Share the Love" will be a beautiful addition to your collection - but there is more to this stamp set than meets the eye! Not only will you be getting a high-quality, swoon-worthy stamp set by taking part in this promotion, but Close to My Heart will also donate $7 USD of the proceeds from this stamp set to Operation Smile. An amazing organization that provides surgeries to repair cleft lips and palates for children all over the world! Let's "Share the Love" this month and give the gift of a smile to children in need. Contact me if you have any questions or simply go to my website and order the set.

A Year of Card Techniques ~ February Blog Hop ~ Ink Layering

Welcome to 

It's month two of our year long adventure into different card-making techniques, folds and paper crafting products. Join us the second Saturday of each month in 2016 for a new hop filled with great cards.

This month we will be focusing on ink layering techniques and OMGosh have we got some cool cards for you. We really love feedback so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in today's hop.

Each comment on the 12 hops throughout the year will be entered into a prize drawing for a $25 Blitsy.com gift certificate at the end of the year.

Don't worry, if you missed January's hop, you can still hop and comment by starting HERE.

Now on with the projects.

"Ink Layering" is a fun technique and there are many different ways to archive it. See my blog post from Thursday (HERE) to get some more details on the techniques I used for the cards shown here. 

I have to admit, this is one of my favorite techniques that I used with this card. I stamped the outline of the flowers in our CTMH Colonial White ink (cream) and let them dry over night. I used the full flower background stamp from the same flower set and CTMH Pixie ink (pink) to stamp right on top of the white outline image. These stamps are super easy to line up since they are clear. The area where the cream hits the pink ink you can see a second shade of pink. Finally I stamped the outline again in CTMH Pomegranate ink (darker pink) just a little of from the original cream image. Amazing how these colors make the image pop. I will describe how I made the rest of the card in a post next week here on the blog.

My second example is done similar to the first, but instead of stamping on a white piece of cardstock I used CTMH's Sorbet cardstock and matching ink. Like in the previous card, I stamped the outline of this flower stamp in CTMH White Daisy ink and let it dry. This time I used only the full image flower stamp and CTMH Sorbet ink to stamp over the outline. Even so the ink matches the cardstock, it still will stand out just a bit darker. The white outline will turn into an off shade of the Sorbet ink. In the technique post on Thursday you can see how the card started.

This background was created with two stamp sets. I stamped the stripes first with White ink and off set with Crystal Blue ink, leaving a strip between each row. The chevron stamp was used with Glacier ink and Juniper ink all CTMH inks and different shades of blue. The base is a piece of Crystal Blue cardstock. After everything was dry I went back over it with a couple of smaller word-stamps which came in the car stamp set. I used a grey ink (Slate) and stamped the words randomly over the page.

Here is an example were I used a stencil to create the background. I placed the stencil over a piece of CTMH Desert Sand cardstock and secured it well on my craft mat. For the first layer I used plain White Daisy ink and a sponge dauber. The dauber gave me more control while sponging the ink over all the openings on the stencil. Once I was done I removed the stencil, cleaned it and let the piece dry. The next day I lined the stencil back up with the white part and move it just slightly to the right and up. Now I went over the stencil with some Peacock distress ink and the result is a wonderful bubbly background.                                                                                                                          

Last but not least another stencil with a few dots all over it. Again using the Desert Sand cardstock as my base I secured the template onto my cardstock. Make sure if you use a stencil that they can't move on you. My first ink was the CTMH Daisy White ink again. This stencil had some very small opening, so I had to use the daubers again otherwise I wouldn't have gotten any ink through the little openings. Once the white ink was dry (I usually let it sit over night) I placed the stencil back on and moved it slightly to the left. This time I took Chocolate ink and filled in the holes with a dauber. Since this ink is not a pigment ink, it dried really fast, so after a few minutes I could move the stencil on more time to the left (just slightly again) and sponged Cocoa ink over it. The result is a three tone splatter spray pattern. 

Remember to check back here during next week to see more details of these cards and how they were created.    

Well, these are only a few samples of a lot of different way to use ink layering technique. Don't forget to leave a comment beneath and hop over to Denise's blog.                            

Up next is the wonderful Denise with her blog "Craft Confectionery" 

Here's today's line-up in case you get lost along the way:

Theresa  

Kim 
Claudia...Your are here!
Denise 
Debbie
Sharon
Lisa

Ink Layering Technique

This is the second blog hop for 2016 and in case you missed our January debut, well click HERE to catch up with it. I decided to give you a little intro each month about the technique we will be using and a tiny little sneak peek of my projects. You will find these intro's Thursday's on my blog, just before we launch the new hop on the following Saturday....so let's get started:

This month we are working with a technique called "Ink Layering". Ink layering simply means to place one ink on top of another ink. Sounds easy, right? Well it is, if you remember a few basic color and ink rules.

There are many inks on the market and I am sure we all have different ones at home. If you like to learn more about the differences in ink product, check out my "Ink Tab" above.

The easiest way to archive a layering effect with your inks is to pick a lighter and a darker shade of one color. Stamp the lighter color first and add the darker color on top or slightly offset. This works great with background stamps or if you have a two/three step stamp. I used my Close to My Heart inks for this technique, which are water-based inks.

Using a white pigment ink (this is a really thick ink that takes a long time to dry) can give you an even more interesting result. Use a stamp or stencil and apply your white ink to your cardstock. Let it dry (best over night)! In case you used a stencil (like I did in the last picture with the circles and the speckled one on the left here), place your stencil back on the paper once the white ink is dry and slight it just a bit to the site and up or down. Fasten and start applying a new color to it. When you go over the white parts, be careful to daub it on then rub lightly. Great are also geometric stamps, e.g. striped stamp. You can create your own checkerboard or paid designs with them.

You can choose pretty much every color you like but the rule is, stamp the lighter color first then start building up the next hue. You can always darken your images, but you can't really lighten them back up again.
Also remember, when you stamp certain color combinations you might end up with a third color, e.g. yellow and blue will create a green image where they overlap; blue and red will give you a violet hue and white will usually turn you colors into a more pastel hue.

Sometimes it is the best to use a couple of scrap pieces and just practice. Use your stencils and stamps and have fun. I used all the sneak peek you see her and added more colors to them before I turned them into cards (see picture on the left). A few sampled did make it to the final since I was practicing and either the colors or the technique didn't turn out....nobody's perfect :-) 

Well, I hope I could explain this technique a little bit to you. Leave a comment beneath and let me know if this was helpful or if you have other question. Otherwise I hope you got inspired...get our inks out and have fun playing around with them! Sent me a picture of your creations....

Stay tuned for Saturday's "BlogHop" - Ink Layering Technique...

A Valentine's Heart

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and we had to make a card for our loved once.

This heart shaped card is a a cute little way to wish someone a Happy Valentines Day.

I used the Heart Shape Dies from Little B for this project. The size is about 4 1/2" x 4".

First I cute the heart twice, ones from Daisy White and ones from Ruby cardstock. I used the size smaller die for the Daisy White heart that went on top. 

Second I scored a line on the top part of the white heart, just above the part were the two half's meet in the middle. Now I stamped the sentiment in the middle in some Whisper grey ink from Close to My Heart. 

Fold the little scored area towards the sentiment, bend back and place adhesive on the side facing you. Place the red heart on top of the white one and press down. Both hearts should fit right on top of each other. Your card base is done!

Next I embossed the smaller white heart with a rose design. I stamped a few branches in Whisper grey ink on the bottom of this heart. The branches are from the January stamp of the month set. 

I used the silver Metallic Marker (Z1768) to trace around the heart before I adhered it with thin foam dots to the heart base. I punch the little hearts out of our awesome Close to my Heart glitter paper. 

I used Red Glitter Paper (Z3075) and the White Glitter Paper that comes with the Gold Glitter Paper Pack (Z3076).

The "Love Ya" phrase is cut out of black cardstock using a CAS-ual Fridays die.

Now that this card is done, we need a fitting envelope for it. I used some shimmer paper and an envelope punch board to create a matching envelope for this card.

So what do you think? Isn't this a perfect Valentine's card? Leave a comment or send me an email, I would love to hear from you. Come join one of my classes and see how much fun it is to create your own cards...Beginners or Pros...all are welcome! 

Castle Page Layout using a Template

I told you last Friday that these templates are awesome, so I had to give you one more sneak peek before I will post the finished layouts in the upcoming weeks.

Here are multiple shots of the Castle "Hohenschwangau". This Lea France template was actually the first one I saw when we had our monthly get together for making out page layouts. I saw this one and immediately thought of all these wonderful castles we had visited on our trip to Germany last year.

Even so this page is not finished yet, it still is an awesome layout don't you think? I am so loving this technique and really have to stop myself from creating all my pages this way ;-)

Well, I will for sure to all the castles in this style and you will be able to see them here in the weeks to come. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of these templates!

Stay tuned for more and contact me if you like to learn how to use these template, if you like to join our monthly get together's or with any other question you might have. I love to hear from you...

Scrapbook and Crafting Event

Are you looking of some creative time before the Superbowl madness begins? How about Friday and/or Saturday of this week? There are only a few tables left, so be quick. 

Here are the details:

Where?

Good Shepherd Lutheran School
1950 S. Baldwin Road
Lake Orion, MI 48360

When?

Friday, February 5th, 2016         from 6 PM to 12 Midnight
Saturday, February 6th, 2016     from 8 AM to 8 PM

What to expect?

One 8' crafting table for you, snacks and meals for the day(s), plus a chance to win prices!!!

Please contact:

Teresa DeSantis directly at (248) 394-0986 

This is a great chance to get some projects done. Come join us for some fun time and yes, I'll be there too ;-).

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday and Saturday :-)

  

Tissue Box to Get Well

It's cold and flue season and the weather doesn't really help to get over them easily, so what better gift to give than a little pick me upper?

Tissues do come in hand these days, so we made a little box in our January class which is the perfect fit for a pack of Kleenexes. 

The box is assembled from a strip of Daisy White cardstock by Close to My Heart size 11" x 4 1/4".

The strip is score in four places and folded on each score line.

The opening for the tissues can be cut with an oval punch (if you have one on hand) or you can use an oval die, which is what I had laying around. I use a size bigger die to create the ring around the opening. 
To make sure your design paper fits perfectly on the box and around the opening, adhere this one first to the box before you punch/ cut through both layers.

I used three pieces of design paper to cover and embellish the box.

The sentiment on the front is from the "Kiss It Better" (B1508) stamp set from Close to My Heart. You can find this cute stamp set in the current Seasonal Expressions Book 1.

The flower I used for embellishment is form the January stamp of the month set. I stamped the base in Glacier ink and used Peacock ink for the details stamp part. 

I did stamp the flower twice. I cut the first one our and only used part of the second stamped image to create a layered effect on the flower. Leafs are form the same set and also stamped and cut out. A few rhinestones and this wonderful little "Get Well" present is done.

Leave a comment or contact me, I would love to hear from you....