Polished to Perfection

Introducing Christmas Trimmings

 Over at the JustRite Blog it is the first day of the JustRite CHA July Release sets!!   Today we are introducing our 4th Christmas Cling Set - Christmas Trimmings.   For my project I decided to try my first shaped card using Spellbinders Grand Labels Four Nestabilities  - and I must say I am in love with shaped cards now!! 

 
For this project I wanted to play off the design of my shaped card - so I used the poinsettia element to frame my sentiment while accenting the fun shape of my card.  I used a Memento Tuxedo Black Marker to  ink my poinsettia imag so that I could omit soke of the swirls in the design for the poinsettias that are in the One O'Clock and Five O'Clock postiions on my card. To create my trim - I wove a 1/8" red ribbon with gold trim through my piece of crocheted trim which gave it the perfect feel for my card.  Now here is a look at the entire set!! 

Project Recipe: 

JustRite Stamps: CL-02180 Christmas Trimmings,
Dies : Spellbinders Nestabilities Grande Labels Four Dies
Paper: The Girls Paperie - tinsel & twig,  Neenah Natural White, Blue Cardstock
Ink & Markers:  Memento  Tuxedo Black,  Desert Sand, Jumbo Dauber; Copic Markers R27, R29,R46,YR09,YG03, YG45, G24, YR23, 0

There are just so many possibilities with this set  - wait til you see what the other members of the design team created!!  These are now direct links to each designers post so that you can view them at your leisure.

JustRite Inspiration

Kellie Fortin -that's me!

Michele Kovack

Kathy Jones

Stephanie Kraft

Introducing Merry & Bright

Today over at the JustRite Blog I am introducing our 2nd Christmas Ornament set - Merry & Bright.  
 

 

 

 This set was designed to coordinate with Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornaments which you can pre-order on the JustRite website here.  The first shipment of both dies arrive June 22nd.

 

 

 Merry & Bright was also designed to be compatible with Spellbinders CHA Summer Release - 2011 Heirloom Ornaments.  JustRite has the die exclusively until the official release of this die at CHA.  We have a very small quantity -so if you have to have this set -order now.

 

 For my card today I used Ornaments from both of our June Cling Ornament Releases - Merry & Bright and Deck the Halls.  These Ornaments are so fun to color and loved creating ornament toppers for them with the Holly and Berry images.  The sentiment "Be Jolly this Year" is from our JustRite Original Christmas Mini Sentiments.

 
 You can see the layering of the toppers a little better in this photo.

 

JustRite Stamps: CL 02155 Merry & Bright, CL 02150  Deck the Halls, Christmas Mini Sentiments
Dies : Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom Ornament, 2010 Heirloom Ornament

Be sure to visit the other design team members to see their FAB projects with Merry & Bright.

JustRite Inspiration

Debbie Olson

Mona Pendleton

Kathy Jones

Michele Kovack

Stephanie Kraft

Kellie Fortin

Kazan Clark

Heidi Blankenship

Angela Barkhouse

Barb Schram

Sankari Wegman 

Introducing Peace on Earth

Welcome to Day One of the JustRite June Release!!  Today we are introducing the first set from our Christmas 2011 Collection - Peace on Earth. 

Peace on Earth will quickly become one of your favorite JustRite Christmas sets.  You will love the Shabby Chic feel of all the design elements and of course the design team samples will shoot this set to the top of your JustRite Wish list.

Peace on Earth was designed with a new JustRite twist -- the center images all have design elements that coordinate with Spellbinders Nestabilities but the elements are not ovals.  The center designs coordinate with Labels Six, Labels Ten, Labels Fourteen and Labels Eighteen.  This will allow your to create wonderful  three dimensional layers on your cards.  Use the dies to layer up or use them to create frames and windows for the sentiments.

 

 

JustRite Stamps: JB 09925 Peace on Earth, Oval Stamper
Dies :Spellbinders Shapeabilities S5-030 Fancy Tags Two,Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Ten
Paper: Bo Bunny 12" Noel Holly; Neenah Natural White, WorldWin Treasures Crimson Red Cardstock
Ink & Markers:  Memento  Tuxedo Black, Desert Sand, , Jumbo Dauber: Copic Markers
G99,0,R46,R22, E33
Accessories:  Websters Pages Sparklers.  Darice Snowflake, Ribbon, foam tape

 

Click through to see the gorgeous cards designed by some of the JustRite Design Team members. There projects are just stunning!!

JustRite Stampers Blog

Debbie Olson

Michele Kovack

Kellie Fortin

Kazan Clark

Angela Barkhouse

Stephanie Kraft

Mona Pendleton

Becca Feeken

Heidi Blankenship

 

 

 

 

12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hops - Week #8

 

Welcome to JustRite Stampers’ newest Wednesday feature, 12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hops 8! Every Wednesday up until Thanksgiving some of your favorite designers will be joining some of the JustRite design team for a series of Christmas blog hops, showcasing JustRite’s entire Christmas Collection of stamps!  And don’t forget that JustRite has some Christmas stamps in their newly released CLING line of stamp sets -- you can find them HERE.  This week, the designers joining the JustRite design team are the Flower Soft and The Shabby Tea Room challenge blog design teams!  So mark your calendars for Wednesdays at 9am Central for great Christmas gift, card & project ideas, starting at the JustRite Inspiration blog!

Today my card using images from our new Cling Stamp Set - Simple Blessings plus a die from our soon to be released Justrite Custom Die Program.

 

This is the same set I used for last week's Christmas Blog Hop -- you can scroll down to see last week's project if you missed it.

I loved working with this image today -- as it reminds me of how much I miss landscape painting and watching the sunset.  In our old house, we were able to enjoy sunsets from all the main rooms of the house. I always made a point when my children were young of making them watch a sunset long enough to see how dramatically it changes as the sunsets. To just stop and take ten minutes out of our day and watch how beuatiful a sunset really is.  Everytime I hear one of my boys say look at the beautiful sunset --it makes me all warm and fuzzy knowing that I have taught them to appreciate one of life's Simple Blessings - the Setting Sun. 

 

 In the winter the Sunset is dramatically a different color than in the summer.  It is beautiful shades of lavendar, gray and blue - and I tried to capture that here in my card. 

To create the sky -- I first colored the sky with B00, Then I started at the horizon line and added in BV000, and worked the two colors into the sky.  Then I layered a wash of C1 over the B00 to give it a slight gray wash. 

 

Here is a close up of one of our new double ended tear drop tags from our new Nested Sentiment Die Sets.
These tags come with a die that allows you to cut a mat layer for the double ended tear drop.

JustRite Stampers:  CL02030 Simple Blessings
Dies:JustRite Custom Dies JB 08955 Nested Sentiment Dies (die cut for sentiment); Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Pendant
Paper: Best Creations, World Win Pearlescents
Ink & Copic Markers: Tsukeniko Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Cottage Ivy, Lulu Lavendar (for distressing), Jumbo Dauber; Copic Markers -BOO, BVOOO, C1, 0 (sky);C1,C3,G17,YG17,YR24 (Church & Trees)
Accessories: Art Institiute Ultrafine Transparent Crystal Glitter, Glue Pen, Foam tape

We have a huge group of very talented designers joining us for today's hop. Please visit these designers’ blogs to see what fabulous JustRite Christmas inspiration they have for you on the hop today!

JustRite Design Team:
JustRite Inspiration Blog
Sharon Harnist 
Angela Barkhouse 
Sankari Wegman 
Stephanie Kraft 
Kazan Clark 
Michele Kovack 
Kellie Fortin 
Barb Schram
Debbie Olson 
Becca Feeken 
Heidi Blankenship

Flower Soft Design Team:
Jeanne Streiff
Debbie Seyer 
Gini Cagle
Linda Beeson
Deb Felts
Cibele Glazer
Vicki Garrett
Dina Kowal

The Shabby Tea Room Design Team:
Debbie Marcinkiewicz
Nicole Segnere
Clare Buswell
Pattie Goldman
Lisa Golzbein
Cathy Clark-Sanite 

 

12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hops - Week #6

 Welcome to JustRite Stampers’ newest Wednesday feature, 12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hops #6!   Every Wednesday up until Thanksgiving some of your favorite designers will be joining some of the JustRite design team for a series of Christmas blog hops, showcasing JustRite’s entire Christmas Collection of stamps! Including our newest release of JustRite Cling Stamps!! This week, it’s most of the Copic design team and Certification instructors!  So mark your calendars for Wednesdays at 9am Central for great Christmas gift, card & project ideas, starting at the JustRite Inspiration blog!

 

 

Today my image is from one of the two sets we are revealing on the JustRite Blog today.   Sparky the Snowman!!   You can see my first card from the set on the JustRite Blog. 

  
To recogonize this guy?  He made his debut earlier this year in our JustRite Original Vintage Christmas Set. Now that he is a member of the family we have named him "Sparky". Here is a look a the entire Sparky the Snowman Set.

 

 

I started my card base with the an embossing folder from the Cricuit Heritage Set of 4. I Colored my image using colors from the Light Blue Quad, Yellow Green Quad, Butternut Quad.  If you haven't downloaded The JustRite Copic Sketch Collection Coloring Reference Guide you can find it here -.  I keep the JustRite Copic Reference guide handy in my studio as a reference for which Copic Markers blend well together.  I die cut Sparky using Spellbinders Nestabilities Deckled Edge Classic Ovals Lg- Die #4. The double ended tear drop tag is a sneak peek at another one of the design elements in our JustRite Custom Die Program which will be here is 5 weeks.

 
One of the cool features in these new JustRite Die Sets is a design element which allows you to mat the tear drop ends with a colored layer so your tag will really pop!!

Enjoy the rest of the JustRite Christmas Blog Hop!! Please visit these designers’ blogs to see what fabulous Christmas projects they have for you on the hop today!

JustRite Inspiration Blog
Sharon Harnist
Debbie Olson
Kellie Fortin
Becca Feeken
Marianne Walker
Kathy Jones
Barb Schram
Lori Craig
Stephanie Kraft
Jenn Balcer
Angela Barkhouse
Sherrie Siemens
Sankari Wegman
Colleen Schaan
Regina Mangum
Jennie Black
Kazan Clark
Sally Lynn MacDonald
Michele Kovack

Project Recipe:
JustRite Cling Stamps: CL 02020 Sparky the Snowman
Dies:JustRite Custom Die- JB 08950 Nested Frame Dies, JB 08955 Nested Sentiment Dies; Spellbinders Nestabilities Deckled Edge Classic Ovals LG Die # 3, ProvoCraft Cricuit Heritage Embossing Folder
Papers: Neenah Classic Solar Crest Natural White, blue and red cardstock
Inks & Markers:Tsukeniko Memento Danube Blue, Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers-Light Blue Quad (B21, B23), Yellow Green Quad (YG13, YG17), Butternut Quad (YR21, YR24),T1,5,R08,R46, Y21- for cheeks
Accessories: Queen & Co. white pearls

JustRite 12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hops - Week 2

Welcome to JustRite Stampers’ newest Wednesday feature, 12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hops #2!  Every Wednesday up until Thanksgiving some of your favorite designers will be joining some of the JustRite design team for a series of Christmas blog hops, showcasing JustRite’s entire Christmas Collection of stamps!  This week, it’s the Stamper’s Dream design team!  So mark your calendars for Wednesdays at 9 am Central for great Christmas gift, card & project ideas, starting at the JustRite Inspiration blog

For my project today - I wanted to design a card with a shabby chic feel that would be fast and easy to replicate.  For my card base I used one of my new cuttlebug folders designed to coordinate with the Circuit Heritage Cartridge and embossed it on DCWV Robin #1 cardstock. Next I used an emory block and sanded the embossed area to give it a shabby chic feel.

Then I stamped the darling tiny snowflake from the Holiday Cheer set with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.  I punched the image and using the same sponge dauber from last weeks blog hop project I apply tumbled glass ink to the edges of my punched out image.  By applying a second color to my dauber my colors on the dauber mixed and gave me this subtle shabby chic look. 

If you follow my blog -you know I love snowflakes and glitter!!  And some of my favorite glittered snowflakes are from Darice.  For today's card I used  2 inch glittered snowflakes.  They come 12 in a pack for $1.99 and make great embellishments. Couldn't resist adding just a little more bling -so I added star shaped rhinestones.

They are 18 more great designers sharing projects today!! You will love them all!!   The links are now all direct links to each designers hop project--ENJOY!!

JustRite Inspiration Blog
Michelle Rodgers
Amy Sheffer
Heidi Blankenship
Christina Fischer
Kazan Clark
Tosha Leyendekker
Laurie Schmidlin
Sankari Wegman
Cindy Lawrence
Kellie Fortin
Denise Marzec
Stephanie Kraft
Karen Giron
Kathy Jones
Leslie Miller
Carolyn King
Angela Barkhouse
Michele Kovack

Have you started your Christmas Cards yet??

 

Decorate a CD Gift Box using Lockhart Snowmen

I absolutely adore these snowmen from the Lockhart Stamp Company...they are individual stamps ..so you can make your own family.  I also love their holly and bough border (9002 Holiday Ribbon from the Millinery Collection). Anyone who know me persoanlly knows I love snowman, they adorn all of my handpainted christmas ornaments and my snowman paper designs.  I absolutely love the possibilities these cute little snowman have.  I found these great CD Boxes at the Dollar Store - they come 3 in a packet with a variety of fun designs. I am always looking for great gift ideas and I thought these would be cute with a CD or even with a Gift Card inside the box.

So to start this project I cut a 4 1/2" x 4" piece of white cardstock, then I stamped the Holiday Ribbon border. The border was longer than my paper, so I used a mask on both sides of my paper so that I could make a square frame with the bough border.  Next I cut a Scalloped Oval using my Spellbinders Nestabilities I used Steel Blue Elan Metallics from World WIn and dry embossed it with my Snowflake A2 Embossing Folder. (choose the size oval that fits inside your bough frame).  To color the bough border I used YG67 Copic Markers to color the holly leaves and then I used Apple Green Prismacolr Pencil to color the boughs.  Then I highlighted the holy with my Olive Spica Micro Glass Flake Pens and the boughs with my Melon Spica.  I colored in the berries with my Red Spica.

Using Adriondack Pitch Black I stamped all four snowman and colored them with a combination of Copic markers and Spica Pens.  Then I cut each one of the snowmen our and placed 3 of them on my scalloped oval using foam squares.  I used 2 layers of foam squares to add the smallest Snowman to my family.  For the snow I used snowtext writer and Crystal Glitter from the Art Glitter Institute.  I used a pallete knife to put the snow in place, since my snowman were 3-D.  I placed the tallest snowman on the right hand corner.  To balance the red in my card I used American Crafts Rudolph paper to mat my image.

Know if you have been reading my blog - you know I always like to do one more step...so as I was writing this blog it occurred to me that the Tonic Snowflake Border Punch...Punches the cutest scrap baby snowflakes - so of course I retrieved the the snowflakes from the belly of my punch and they just happened to be this beautiful pale blue and a perfect size to add to my card.  So here is the upgraded design: 

Aren't the baby snowflakes cute??  In the larger version of this photo you can actually see the shine of the microglass flakes- I was so hopeful that you might be able to see them in this photo post...it really makes my cards just pop.

Make it 3-D - Poinsettia Christmas Card

Several of my students have been looking for a great Poinsettia stamp - I found this great stamp from Inkadinkadoo, and I can't wait to show you a couple of cards I made with this stamp and how dramatically different I could make the same image look.  This week I have been playing with some 3-D images from Ectasy for a later post..which inspired me to try and 3-D this image and I am so happy with the results.  In order to 3-D this card I stamped the image 4 times using Adriondack Pitch Black Ink. Using Copic Sketch markers - R29 and R59 I colored in the Poinsettia's petals on the first image, I used G07 for the grean leaves. This will be the base of the 3-D image. On the second image I colored most of the poinsettia with the exception of the petals and the leaves that were in the far background. Next I cut out these and using foam dots I placed them on the 1st image creating a second layer. On the third stamped image I colored the petals closest to the top of the flower and cut these out and popped them up as the third layer.  On the fourth stamped image I colored just the centers of the flower and popped them up as the fourth and final layer.  Using my Swirls A2 Folder I dry embossed my red cardstock mat using my Cuttlebug for a little more dimmension and texture. the next mat is this great Holly Paper from Magenta and the cardstock is Shamrock green from World win treasures collection  The embellishments are all buttons from Jesse James. 

For the second card I chose an entirely different technique to show you how different you can make an image look.  I stamped the image using Stazon Jet black on a laminating sheet and let it dry for a few minutes.  Then I removed the backing.  To make a mini shovel I cut a coffee stirrer at an angle and slowly began placing red micro beads on the image where the poinsettia petals were.  I placed green micro beads on the leafs.  Using the coffee stirrer I was able to scrap off any beads that inadvertently landed where I didn't want them.  When I was finished placing the microbeads I used a white glitter from the Art Glitter Institute to fill in the remaining exposed lamenating sheet. To highlight the beads and the glitteron the image I placed it on a piece of darkgreen cardstock and adhere it to the cardstock by adding small dabs of designer dries clear adhesive to the backside of the microbeads. I cut a mat from Worldwin Bronze Elan Metallics and punched the corners of the mat with my tonic corner punch.  The Rhinestones are self-adhesive and are from Kaisercrafts.  The Noel is from the same button assortment as the previous card, but I altered it and made it gold using my Gold Krylon Leafing pen.  The paper is St. Nick Vintage Snowflake from Making Memories.

Stained Glass Poinsettia Card using Copic Sketch and Airbrush System

Do you love the look of dry embossing, but never have the time to dry emboss?? Help is here!! You can now dry emboss you brass stencils by using a Wizard or a Cuttlebug. I found that I did get a deeper dry emboss from my Wizard, as it exerts 3000 lbs of pressure. This is the second card I taught at Silver Fox Stamps and More.  The stained glass Poinsettia Stamp is from Silver Fox also.  I love the stained glass effect you can get with Copic Sketch Markers.  After Coloring in the stamped image with the following Copic Colors : Y13,YR07,B28,G07,R29,R59. I used Y26 to color the bell. Next I cut the image out and inked the entire image with a Versamark Watermark pad and used clear embossing powder to heat emboss the entire image. This makes the Copic colors richer and deeper in coloring and gave me a beautiful stained glass effect.Next I cut a Black Kromekote mat for the stained glass image.

To create the background mat, I used a Dreamweaver stencil LJ882 Diamond Grid and dry embossed it in my Wizard. This technique is called faux tile.   Thanks Theresa for teaching me this great technique!! You will see more cards using this technique next week.

Here is the Wizard Sandwich Recipe for Dry Embossing a Stencil:

White cutting mat, stencil, paper, Polymer tan mat, 2 thin pieces of chipboard and  White Embossing mat. To get an even deeper dry emboss, spritz you paper with paper glide just before you run it through the Wizard.

Here is the Cuttlebug Sandwich Recipe for Dry Embossing a Stencil:

A plate, b Plate, stencil, paper, Polymer tan mat (from Spellbinders) 2 thin pieces of chipboard and your second B plate.  Note: the Polymer Tan Mat is what makes the image dry emboss. To get an even deeper dry emboss, spritz you paper with paper glide just before you run it through your Cuttlebug.

Next I airbrushed the stencil with Y13 and Shaded the outside edges by airbrushing with Y17.  Leave the stencil in place and ink with a Versamark Watermark pad.  Remove the stencil and apply clear embossing powder and heat emboss.  Next I used my Tonic Holly Corner Punch to Punch all four Corners of the mat and placed micro mini red brads in the holes made with the punch for berries.  I added two balck Kromekote mats as shown in the photo.  The ribbon from American Crafts was pure white and I airbrushed it with Y13 to tone down the ribbon so it wouldn't draw your eye to it first.  I added Kaiser Crafts Rhinestone stickers to the ribbon and place the image on Kellie Green polished Stone Paper from Murdock Country Creations.

Snowman Christmas Card using Spica Micro Glassflake Pens

Sorry for the lapse in my blog.  I have been busy teaching and designing new projects and enjoying the beauty of Autumn. This is a really fun Snowman Card to make.  The snowman stamp is Sam from Silver Fox Stamps and More, if you are not familiar with Sheila and John's line of stamps click through to their website to see their entire catalog.   I designed this for a class I taught at Silver Fox, on using Spica Micro Glassflake Pens and Spellbinder's Nestabilities. When I started creating this project I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with Sam, first I cut him out using a rectangular nestabilities die..but I didn't like the white background. so I decided to cut him entirely out leaving scalloped bottom that had been created by the die. Next I used Christmas Stripes from Pebble Inc and cut out a rectangle using my nestabilities die.  The Shamrock Green cardstock is from Worldwin's Treasures Collection, it's a great Christmas Green.  In the past I have used my spica pens for highlighting areas of an image but for this card I really wanted my snowman to shimmer and for my students to really get a feel for how beautiful the Spica pens are on an image. Spica Microglass flake pens are a waterbased pigment ink (not alcohol ink like Copics), which means if you color in one location too many times the Spica will eat the paper (when the water content becomes too high).  But the Spica's are Copic compatible which means for larger areas of coloring I color first with my Copic Sketch Marker and then I highlight the area with the Spica pens. What makes these pens better than a traditional glitter pen?  These pens will last twice as long as traditional glitter pens with over 350 yards of writing pigment and micro glass. They have been designed with a no clog tip and write with a very fine line. They add just a touch of shimmer to any project and dry instantly.  Currently Spica's are available in 13 colors and are now arriving at stores nationwide.  Here is your Checklist so that you can collect them all.

	Spica Micro Glass Flake Pens
	Collect all 13
Sku #	Color/Description	Have
01	Lavendar
02	Pink
03	Red ( Great Xmas Red)
04	Orange
05	Lemon
06	Melon  (Bright Green)
07	Olive (Great Xmas Dk Green)
08	Turquoise
09	Sky Blue (Blue)
10	Black
11	Gold
12	Silver
13	Clear
	Waterbased Pigment Ink
	Acid- Free, Non-Toxic, Archival
	350 Yards of Micro Glass Flakes
	Twice the writing length of other pens
	Dries instantly for maximum sparkle
	Copic compatible
	Transparent ink with lots of bling
	Perfect Stocking Stuffers
	Retail is $2.99 ea

My favorite color of Spica is clear, since I can use it over anyone of my 322 colors of Copic sketch Markers. Isn't that cool - one pen - 322 colors.

When I was coloring Sam's Hat, I added a red band using my Spica Microglass flake pen and colored in the rest of the hat with my Copic Sketch marker YG03.  I shaded the left hand side of the hat with  G... and then colored the entire hat area with the Melon Spica.  I colored his twig arms with E33, and then shaded with E08., then I used my clear Spica to highlight the arms, since Spica doesn't have a brown. For the scarf I used my Red & Melon Spica's to color direct on the stamped image as these areas were small.  I used my R29, and R59 to color in Sam's vest which I then highlighted with a red Spica.

I shaded the snowman and the scalloped edge with C1, and then added some clear spica to Sam to make him shimmer.  For the green mat I used a slightly larger Spellbinder Rectangle scalloped die and cut and embossed the image.  For a little more blink I added Rhinestone Stickers from Kaiser Crafts.   The card base is a white glitter card from Diecuts with a View, which I airbrushed with YG07. The snowflake ribbon is from American Crafts.

Here is a close -up of the Ivy Embellishment from Making Memories - the dark green lines are my Olive Spica Micro glass flake pen...Finally a photograpgh that shows the Spica sparkle!!!