Polished to Perfection

JustRite Snowflake #3

This is the third snowflake for the class I taught in Houston.  For this snowflake I used a sage versamark pad and a red chalk pad to alter my 6" Darice glitter snowflake.  I die cut the copper foil paper using the Renaissance Heart pendant.  The Copper paper was very bright and shiny...to tone down the color I sprayed the diecut with Vellum Adhesive and applied crystal glitter rom the Art Institute.  The Sleigh image is one of the images from the Old Fashioned Christmas Stamps.  My entire Christmas Tree has handmade Christmas Ornaments on it -- I can't wait to add this to my collection.

 
Thanks for stopping by!!!

No Tricks Just Treats!! and More Blog Candy Alerts!!

In the midst of posting all my JustRite Christmas Projects, JustRite was having their Stampin' Champion Contest and the projects were amazing.  I particularly liked the great Halloween projects everyone was making.  Since our kids aren't home for that Holiday, I found that I really didn't own any Halloween stamps to speak of.  So when I was out shopping I found this great stamp and sentiment from Northwood RubberStamps - that I just couldn't resist.  Even my husband got a chuckle out of the sentiment. 

I found this great paper from Making Memories that was perfect for my project.  It has a fun stripe on one side and great spider web paper on the reverse side.  I am always partial to double sided paper. The bats are made using Martha Stewarts new bat punch.  I punched out 6 bats and adhered the bodies together in pairs of two.  Next I folded up the top pair of wings to make them as 3-D as possible.  To give them even more depth, I used a versamagic watermark pen to color the bodies and then I clear embossed them.

I have certainly missed over the past few months playing with my copic markers.  So it was great fun to sit down and color this image.   I started by stamping my image on white cardstock.  After coloring in my image I found the white background was just too white for me.  Using a foam make up applicator I smooched in yellow ink in the background then I added orange ink around the edges with the make up applicator.  This gave it a warm glow.

The spider paper only comes with one spider, but in my confetti collection I found these great spiders which I added everywhere.  Since my Halloween Collection of Stamps is almost non- existence, My new JustRtite Brayton Font and my Large Harmony Rectangular Stamper came in more than handy.  This is the 95 point size. (this size font comes with only one of each letter).  I have 3 sets of Brayton font.  To get this size image - I stamped the verse in two stages.  First The " Just Tricks"  then " Just Treats".  I added a hand drawn spider web to my green paper to pull the design together.  You will be amazed and how often you will reach for your JustRite Font once you start using it.  You have any word, phrase or saying at your finger tips.

Blog Candy Alert- Help Sharon Harnist - Paperfections celebrate hitting 500K!!

You could win a Harmony Rectangular Stamper and a set of Brayton Font.  Play by visting here - Her Blog Candy will be live Sept 17th at 12:01 pm.

Visit the JustRite Blog - where they are giving away a complete collection of Pre- Inked Letters play by clicking here

Now one of my favorite projects from the contest were the cute Test Tube Treat boxes that Lisa Somerville designed you can find her turorial here. You can find Lisa's template for this project here. Lisa Thanks for the inspiration and sharing your template.  These were so much fun to make and I decided to give mine a personal touch.  My oldest son Nick is scared of spiders.( Screaming like a girl scared).  Which seems so strange to me since I am the only girl in the house.  I am afraid of mice, bats, snakes and I am not overly fond of anything with wings flying over me or near me.  Which means the boys are always leaving plastic bugs everywhere in the hopes of scaring mom. (especially Jack).  So I thought I would design my project with Jack and Nick in mind. 

The Trick or Treat Ribbon and the Happy Halloween Ribbon are from Martha Stewart.  I just love how fab they have looked on all the projects.  I like the narrower size.  The Tag embellishment is also from here collection with a JustRite Twist.  I removed the 3-D pumpkin from its base and replaced it with a new white cardstock circle that I had stamped using my JustRite 1 5/8" wooden stamper with my small letter set.  Hint:  you will want to purchase more than one set of small letters and some additional blocks so that you can leave a few of your favorite sayings set up on your blocks.  How cool to be able to design your own stamp verbiage whenever you want!!

   

This is one of my kids favorite saying- so it seem more than fitting for their Halloween Treats.

TLC160 Happy Easter

Happy Easter!!!  This week I thought I would try the TLC160 Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers as part of my design element.  For complete instructions on how to create this great negative effect using your cuttlebug A2 embossing folder visit the Splitcoast forum here. I decided to play off the small white polka dots in the stripe of my Merry Merry Argyle from One Heart One Mind by using the TLC160 negative effect with my new Swiss Dot A2 Embossing Folder from Cuttlebug. I created this effect by inking a brayer with Versamagic Orchid and applying the ink to the negative side of my cuttlebug embossing folder. Then I placed a piece of white cardstock into the folder and dry embosssed it. Using this technique the embossed areas remain white and the the none embossed areas pick up your favorite color of ink. Here is a closeup of the card:

This Great Easter Egg Tree is from Serendipity Stamps.  I stamped my image with Adriondack Pitch Black and then I used the following Copic Color Combinations to color my design:

Yellows: YO2,Y15, Y38   Yellow Oranges:YR65  Red Violets: RV00, RV02, RV06, RV29, RV34 Greens: G17, G21,  Yellow Greens: YG03, YG45  Earthtones: E33, E97  Blue Violets BV00, BV01 Violet: V04, V09

Next I used my Spica Microglass flake pens to add a little bling to the eggs on my tree.  I used My Spellbinders Circle Nestabilies to diecut my design and a second dark pink cardstock mat which I placed as a mat for my design. I decide to shift the dark pink mat off center on my card to color balance the Cute - Easter Chick paper from Karen Foster Designs.  The floral ribbon is from American Crafts. To pull my design together I used small scraps of my striped paper to accent my swiss dot print.   I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!! Thanks for visiting!!

JustRite Monogram Stamper Easter Bouquet

In Maine, we are currently in the midst a winter which is breaking records for the most precipitation in a single winter-since they began recording precipitation in 1868. We have had it all ice, rain but- MOSTLY SNOW!!!  Enough snow that today friends from all over the country were emailing me that Maine's record winter was National News. This was amusing to my friends who reside in warmer climates, not so amusing to those of us who can't wait for it to be over. Several businesses this week have even had their roofs cave in.   So for all my readers out there near and far - here is a little gift of spring....I can't wait to see Tulips!! It might be May when they arrive...but I can't wait.

This project I designed as a gift for my Mom for Easter using the C-45 JustRite Monogram Stamper - my new favorite Toy!!  Anyone who reads my blog knows how much I love toys with versatility. I can't tell you how many times I have almost ordered this monogram stamper. So I was so excited when I actual got to see it first hand a CHA.  It truly is an incredible Tool/Toy!!  And you will need to add it to your must have list.

The C-45  JustRite Monogram Stamper is self-inking.  It comes with a reversible ink pad (one side is black and the other side is uninked and dry).  This will allow you to use your favorite dye based re inker to ink the dry pad. The kit includes 2 sizes of 2 interlocking and interchangeable letters and four border designs.  You can create a three-letter monogram with or without a border, a 3 letter word (like Mom) or a one-letter monogram.

Directions on how to use the Monogram Stamper:

• Remove the cover off by gently pulling the cover.  The stamp will pop into full position when you do this.
• Place the stamper upside down and place the top of the stamper flat on your work area and push the white rim of the stamper all the way down. Lock the stamp into position by pushing the red buttons on the sides.
• Once the stamp is locked into place you are ready to design your image. You will design your image on a grooved base which your letters will snap into.  How cool is that!!

• Start with your border first. If you are using the circular border from the kit, hold the border in place with one finger as the other finger pushes the border into the groove. After the border is snapped into place run your finger over the entire border to ensure that it is flat.
• For my design, I used the C-45 small letters which is sold as an add on to your monogram stamper, to design my outside border. This set comes with a set of tweezers which will help you insert the tiny letters into the border groove. After you have placed all your letters in place and decided that you like the spacing of your letters run your fingers over the letters to ensure that they are all correctly snapped in place and that your design is flat.  When designing your image remember that your image needs to be designed in reverse (counterclockwise).

Design tip:  Before you begin to design your image place the lettering on the barrel of the stamper facing toward you.  When you are ready to stamp the image place the words facing you and stamp.  This little tip will ensure that you don't stamp your image upside down on a project.

• Next place your letters in the interior of the design and snap them in place.  Once your design is finished unlock the stamp by pushing down on the white rim. This releases the lock and the stamp will pop into the original position.
• The stamp will ink itself by flipping upside down and kissing the inked pad. (SWEET!!)
• When you take your stamp out of the box for the first time the dry side of the pad will be facing up.  When you are ready to stamp your first image you will need to reverse the pad to the black inked side.  To do this place the flat top of the stamper on your work surface. Push the red buttons as you push down on the white rim.  The stamp will lock into the first position/notch. Tip:  If you do not push the red buttons and lock the stamp into place you may dislodge your tiny letters when trying to remove the pad.  By locking the stamp into place you allow the pad to be far enough away that the pad can be removed without touching your design.
• Now remove your the stamp pad by pulling on the black handle. Pull out the pad, flip it over and re-insert the pad into the stamp. Now push the white rim slightly to release the lock again and you are ready to stamp. Flip the monogram stamper over and turn the writing toward you, using the palm of your hand press down on the top of the stamper and stamp your image. I recommend testing your image on scrap paper to ensure that all of your image is fully inked.  If your image is not fully inked check to ensure that your design is locked into place and flat.

Additional tip: To avoid contaminating your dry pad, make sure that you clean your stamp before you reverse the ink pad to the other side.

• To clean your stamp press down on the white rim and lock the stamp into place. Use a cleaner with a spray top and spritz the top of your image and gently clean it by rubbing it across a scrub pad. Place the cover back on your monogram stamper.  Store the stamp with the image locked in position and not with stamp resting on the ink pad as over time this will indent your ink pad and shorten its life span.

Now back to the project- I purchased this tin of flowers at AC MOORE.  The tin pail was plain and screaming for a little embellishment.   For the middle of the pail, I used a wide sheer green ribbon with white polka dots from Creative Impressions and tied it around the pail.  I decided that it needed an additional piece of wide ribbon, but I didn't own an orange sheer polka dotted ribbon...but I did own a white sheer ribbon with polka dots. So using my Copic Sketch Marker YR68- I airbrushed my white ribbon and voila - it was orange!!   

Next I added a yellow and white polka dotted ribbon to the top of the tin pail and a green and white ribbon to the bottom of the pail.  Using my newly designed Easter Stamp from my JustRite Monogram Stamper, I stamped my image on What's New Club Paper from A2Z Essentials and I die cut the image with my Scalloped Circle Nestabilities from Spellbinders. Using the next die up in my scalloped nest I die cut a larger oval from Dulce - Antique Boutique also from A2Z Essentials.  To attach my tag to the floral arrangement I used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole in the tin pail and in my tag and tied it with an orange and white polka dotted ribbon.  Now I get to enjoy my  Mom's Tulips for another 17 Days.

Can you believe Easter is only 17 days away???  Doesn't it seem a little early??  That's right Easter is March 23rd and it is actually the earliest Easter that any of us will ever see for the rest of our lives and the earliest it has ever been in our lives - unless you are 95!!  The last time it was this early was in 1913 and the next time it will be on March 23rd is in the year 2228 (220 years from now).  In 1818, it was actually on March 22nd and will be on March 22nd again in the year 2285.  I have always wondered how they calculated when Easter is and the answer is that Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20th). The dating of Easter is based on the Hebrew Lunar Calendar used to identify passover, which is why it moves around on the Roman Calendar.  This little trivia lesson is courtesy of Jacqueline Wallmark.  And who knows maybe this little piece of Easter Trivia will help someone win a million dollars some day.  Thanks Mom for the trivia lesson!!

Wouldn't this arrangement be great as a Wedding Centerpiece- with thank you written in the center and the bride and groom's name and wedding date placed around the rim. Or for a birthday gift - with Happy Birthday around the rim and the the persons age in the center!!  Or perhaps A Mother's Day gift, A get well gift or a teacher's gift???  The possibilities are endless and the best part of all is that you could design all those projects with this JustRite Monogram Stamper and the C-45 Small Letter Set!!  Now am I right?? You need to have a JustRite Monogram Stamper too! I  just love being an enabler!!

To view all the other great products from JustRite visit their website or ask your local retailer for the Justrite Monogram Stamper.

Copic Sketch Marker tips and techniques straight from CHA

CHA was a blast!!  Unfortunately, I did not have access to a computer while I was away. So I have lots to catch you up on.  My apologies for not blogging this weekend, but I was desperately trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. I don't recommend flying home on the red eye!!!

Working at the Copic booth demonstrating with Debbie Olson, Trudee Sauer and Michelle White was amazing...all that coloring talent in 20 feet of space.  I personally enjoyed meeting everyone!!  Especially Marianne who is a coloring guru- her Manga Drawings are truly amazing.  I wish I had taken a few photos of her work to share with you.

But as you may have read in Debbie's blog...we did have a few small issues at the beginning of the show. The educational part of the trade show started on Saturday and the trade show itself started on Sunday, but our tradeshow booth and all our supplies didn't arrive until Monday. Luckily, I had carried my Copic Markers with me to the show (as I just couldn't leave home without with my favorite tools).  Luckily I wasn't the only person who felt compelled to travel with their copic markers- so after a few phone calls we were able to assemble a nice array of copic products to demonstrate with. 

I learned tons of coloring and shading tips from Marianne and I think you will instantly see the difference in my latest projects.  I can't wait to share her tips with you over the next few days!   Here is a close-up of the Northwood Rubberstamps Birdhouse Trio that I colored for my Phone Post-it Note Holder:

Tip 1: Coloring the basic image- color your image using a circular stroke. Turn over your paper and if the color has not bleed evenly through to the backside of the paper, then you have not applied enough color. Using this technique will eliminate any streaking within the image.

Tip 2: Shading -As you are collecting your Copic Sketch Markers you will find that until your collection is large enogh often your marker selection may contain colors that are more than 3 values apart.  To create a medium value place the darker marker in your secondary hand and place the lighter colored marker in your primary hand. Next stroke the side of the brush end of the lighter marker over the brush tip of your darker marker. This will load the darker marker onto your lighter colored marker and will create a medium tone.  Don't panic- adding color to your lighter colored marker will not ruin your marker.  Choose the area you wish to color and color the entire area with the lightest color. Next side,,, load your lightest color marker as instructed above and shade the image.  As the color works out of your marker it will return to its original color.  If you get a sharp edge of color, simply use the lighter colored marker and feather the sharp edge and it will lighten. Next add a tiny shaded line with the darker marker and use the lighter colored marker to feather the color into the medium value.

Tip 3: Lightening an area- If you color in an area and decide the color is too dark, use the colorless blender in a circular motion over the top of what you have colored and the colorless blender will remove some of the color and lighten the image.

Tip 4:  My favorite tip of all !! - Have you ever colored an image and accidently colored outside the stamped image just slightly !!  Well Marianne showed me the most amazing trick.  Simply take your colorless blender sketch tip and place it beyond the mistake and begin coloring toward the color which extends beyond the stamped image.  Color with the colorless blender right to the stamped line and the Copic color will recede back behind the stamped line.  Wish I had known that trick a couple of months ago, since I am almost ready for bifocal contacts and late at night the lines seem to move as I am coloring.  It literally works like an eraser.  Thanks Marianne!! That tip is worth its weight in gold!!  You can do this trick even weeks after you have colored an image...so I will be revisiting my rejected image stash for a little repair work!!

My earlier post with my black and white desk pad post it note holder was rather brief as I was literally packing my suitcase to leave for California and a couple of people asked me to post more detailed directions.  So here goes.

To create this phone post-it note stand purchase a 5 x 7 or 4 x 6 acrylic frame. ( I prefer the larger size).

Place the frame on its side, with the highest part of the slope at the back.  Next I stamped the Northwood Rubber Stamp Treehouse trio in Adriondack Pitch Black.  Here is a list of the colors of sketch markers I used to color in the image:

(I will be back tomorrow morning to list all the color combinations of Copic I used).  Note that I purposely colored darker centers for my tiny flowers in order to give them more depth in the design.

I then diecut the image with my largest scalloped rectangle nestability and I dry embossed the die by running it back through the wizard.  To balance the blue in the design I mated the image with a narrow blue mat.  Cut a 5 x 7 mat from the pink swirl paper , then adhere pink and white polka dot ribbon to the mat , adhere the stamped image to the pink paper.  Note that you will need to be careful how much layering you do on your design, as you will need to slip the design in between the 2 pieces of plexiglass.  On my first design (the black and White design) my ribbon was braided and had to be placed on top of the acrylic frame.  On this design I was able to place the ribbon on the paper and inside the frame.  Be careful as you insert the design into the frame, it is very easy to catch an edge and ruin your image.

Chill Out Paint Can - Version 2

During my paint can class today -Debbie and Fran picked out this fun snowflake paper from MOD- I thought you might like to see the same design used in an entirely different color scheme!! Isn't amazing how different the two color combinations look!! Thanks Debbie for letting me show off your paint can!!

Penguin and Snowflake Peppermint Patties

Here is the first item I decided to put in my Chill Out Paint Can.  I used my Spellbinders -Scalloped Circle Nestabilities to cut out 2 circles which would cover my peppermint patties. Then I placed each circle (both layers are embossed) inside my cuttlebug  A2 snowflake embossing folder to dry emboss them with these beautiful snowflakes.(You can fit several circles in the A2 folder at a time). Yes, it took a little while to die cut and emboss all these -- but definitely less time then making homemade chocolates.  And they were just so darned cute, that I couldn't stop making them. I made some red and white, some white and red and some black and white.  Then I stamped my penguin image from Serendipity Stamps 2 more times and using my Scalloped Circle Nestabilities I isolated each of the three penguins in my scalloped circle die and die cut them. Next I colored them with my Copic Markers.  I also dry embossed the circles which had the penguins on them and colored in the embossed edge with copic markers to add more depth to the peppermint penguins!!  Aren't they SWEET!!  As you may have guessed my CHILL OUT PAINT CAN would have lots of chocolate and definitely a Diet Coke to wash down the chocolate.

Directions for Chill Out Paint Can

I've had my design eyes on this great Peppermint Snowflake Paper from Francis Meyer for months, just trying to decide what I wanted to do with it.  And after I finished teaching my altered scenic paint can class I decided that this would be a fun print to play with. I wanted to create a winter paint can...and from there everything else just fell into place. After playing with my ribbon stash I decided on this white ribbon with black polka dots from Creative Expressions.  Next I added foam snowflake stickers from AcMoore, which gave my snowflake paper dimension.  These snowflakes had glitter, but not enough bling, so I added red rhinestones from Kaiser Crafts to each of the snowflakes.  I ran out of red rhinestones in the middle of my project so I gave my clear rhinestones a copic maker over, by just simply coloring them with my R29 marker over the top of the stones.  Here is a photo of the rhinstones so that you can see the original color and the beautiful new red rhinestones I created with my Copic Markers:

 

It was so simply to change the color of the stones by just coloring the stones right on their display package with my Copic Marker and since the markers are alcohol ink based the color is beautifully translucent.  I love these rhinestones because each package contains 3 sizes of stones and over 100 stones per package.

Next I decided to add Large Snowflake Brads to a few on the foam snowflakes.  I found these giant snowflake brads in the stationery department of Target.(maybe 2 years ago)  Once I added them to the snowflakes, I then also decided that they would be striking as ribbon charms. 

I added a countertop chip tag to my project.  On one side I used rich red embossing powder to alter my counter chip swatch and on the reverse side I altered the chip with Rudolph Paper from American Crafts. I stamped the verse on both sides of the tag- this verse is from the Penguin set from Serendipity Stamps.

This is the front side of my Chill Out Paint Can.  The adorable Penguin trio is from Serendipity Stamps. I used my Copic Markers to color in the penguins and then highlights the entire image with Spica Micro Glass Flake Pens.  I love using Deco Art Snow text writer to create 3-D snow on the iceberg.  I used Making Memories Shimmer Stickers to write Chill Out of my paint can.  Originally they were silver and just didn't pop off the can, so I used my Copic Markers to alter the stickers - which gave my stickers a very cool black ice feel.  Here is a close up of the stickers in both silver and black:

How cool is that !!! I loved how some of the silver glitter still showed through!!! Next I added snow text writer to each letter - to give it a true winter feel!!  (remember it is very cold here in Maine)) -BRR!!!

For the top of the paint can I used the same  penguins and just added a chill out stamp from MSE to the top of the image:

Here I added Hologram Peel off Stickers from Best Creations, since my snowflake brads wouldn't work here. I used my circle scalloped nestibilites to die cut my stamped image and to dry emboss the edge of the scalloped circle.

Last night I asked for suggestions for what to put in my Chill Out Paint Can and I loved all the responses. Thanks for all you replies - it nice to know that we all have crazy lives!! Stop by tomorrow to see the first items I made to go inside my paint can.

Serendipity Penguin Stamp - Chill Out Paint Can

Unlike many of you who might be fortunate enough to live in a warmer climate- I live in Maine, where we will probably have snow until mid April. And I love working on Spring and Summer projects, but the reality is there is still alot of winter left to go!!!  When I was teaching my paint can class last  Saturday, I began thinking about making a winter paint can which evolved into this Chill Out Paint Can. Which I thought would be a perfect gift for a sick friend or anyone who gets a case of the Winter Blues.

Today is an organizational day at our house, so I'll be back later tonight to write directions for this project and share more photos. I thought I would give you a quick sneak peek at today's project and get your feedback on suggestions of what I should fill my can with???  So today's question is  - What would you need to just take a break from Everyday life - so you could just CHILL OUT!!!???

Happy Valentine's Day - the Red & White Version

Here is one more design for this stamp in a more traditional Red, White and Black version. For this version I increased my card size from 5 1/2" square to a 6" square so that I could add one more layering of matting.  I thought it would be interesting for you to see the two versions of this card and how strikingly different the cards look from just making a few changes.  Here is a photo of both cards together:

For the red version I used my scalloped circle nestabilities to double cut my red mat.  To do this cut the largest circle and then place a smaller circle inside the original die cut ( you may use removeable tape to hold the die in place)  This creates a red scalloped circle frame which I placed over the large black scalloped circle. To simplify the card I colored the heart in this version with my R29 Copic Marker.

For the directions for the Black and White Card visit yesterday's post.  I can't decide which version I like best.  I would love to know which version you like better - just leave a comment on this post!!