21st Century Pillow Book

Hello! Today I am hopping along with Andy Skinner's amazing Design Team to share projects made with his insanely cool stamps. The latest release, found in the January Stampendous catalog, really inspired me. I especially love the Textures stamp set,which is the main set I used on my card below. I started out with the "Smoosh Technique" (yup, that's a technical term) to apply a few colors of Distress Oxide inks to my background paper. I used watercolor paper by Recollections. I applied Fossilized Amber, Wilted Violet, and Worn Lipstick to my craft mat. I sprayed the colors with water, and dipped my paper into it. Once I was satisfied with the results, I heat set the colors with my embossing gun. Then, I started to use the stamps from the Textures set by inking them with Wilted Violet, Peacock Feathers, and Frayed Burlap. I needed a focal point, so I added the "Have Faith" from Andy's Unexplained stamp set. I stamped it with VersaMark Ink (after ...

Hello! Today, I wanted to share the Valentine's Day cards that I made for my kids. Like many crafters, I've been playing with alcohol inks again lately, and I had a bunch of backgrounds that were ready to get used. I pulled one that had Cranberry, Eggplant, and Raisin and got to work. I used an older Sizzix Thinlits die of a heart, and cut out 8. I ran my paper through my Big Shot machine twice with each heart because I used photo paper to create my backgrounds and it doesn't always cut cleanly the first time. Then I used gold foil cardstock from Recollections and die cut 2 different arrows, also from Sizzix. I knew I wanted a sentiment strip across the middle of the card, so I pulled out the Hero Arts You Are Loved Messages . There are so many beautiful sentiments in that set. I stamped the You Are Loved with VersaMark and then embossed with Detail Gold Embossing Powder from Stampendous. My background needed a little more of something....so I went with an older And...

Greetings! This week, the Stampendous team is focusing on 2 things. Texture Cubes and Andy Skinner's newest stamp sets. I decided to share a plaque that I made with one of the new images from Andy's Fossils set. Below is the full tutorial. Supplies: Stampendous : ASCRS11: Fossils Rubber Stamp Set FREG044 : Seasonings Chunky Embossing Powder DWDCP : Copper Embossing Paste DWDPK : Palette Knife Other : Imagine: VersaMark Ink DecoArt Media: Burnt Umber and Payne's Grey Fluid Acrylic Wood Plaque (Mine is 4 1/2" x 3") Copper Wire Round Nose Pliers Heat tool Directions: 1. Paint the wood plaque with Burnt Umber Fluid Acrylic. Let Dry. 2. Apply VersaMark Ink to the center of the plaque, and sprinkle on a lot of Seasonings Embossing Powder. You'll want to play with the shape and quantity a bit, but I went for a roughly round pile of powder. 3. Heat the plaque from below. This may take a while, but you want to get some of the bottom layer m...

Hello! It's Day 20 of the 31 Days of Halloween. My card today was inspired by Jennifer McGuire. Do you watch her YouTube videos? She is just so clever and inspiring. So she posted a video the other day about using alcohol inks as backgrounds for cards. I've done this before, but not for some time so I was excited to do it again. I created this background on Glossy Photo Paper from Epson. I used alcohol inks from Ranger in the colors Black Soot, Eggplant, Cornflower and     . I dripped the colors on the paper and used Ranger's Blending Solution to move the color around. After that, I broke out a coffin from Bombshell Stamps and inked it up with VersaMark ink. I used Detail White Embossing Powder on the coffins. If you try this yourself, I highly recommend using small images that can melt quickly. You don't want to heat up those inks....they emit quite an odor that I am sure isn't very good to breathe in. I used one of Stampendous' new border dies on the...

Hello! It's Day 6 of the 31 Days of Halloween. Today, I've got a card featuring Dark Butterfly from GothArte Tenebris . Isn't it a fantastic image? I colored it on Canson Mixed Media Paper with Zig Clean Color Markers. I "aged" the paper a bit with Sahara Sand VersaMagic , and Toffee VersaFine ink from Imagine . I made my background with Andy Skinner's Peeled Paint stamp from the Industrial set by Stampendous . It was stamped several times using the same Toffee ink from the border. Then, to mimic the dripping blood in the image, I used my favorite irRESISTable from Imagine.... Love Letter. This stuff looks exactly like blood, and I am nuts about it. You guys should all try this stuff. You'll be hooked too! I added my image layer on to my Kraft cardstock base with foam squares by Scrapbook Adhesives. If you haven't already checked out GothArte Tenebris, please visit their FB page to see the amazing images they offer. I'll be sharing...

Hello! It is Day    of the 31 Days of Halloween, and today I have a tutorial that I created for Imagine . I really enjoy working with wood so I created a  raven plaque that can be hung on the wall or on a door. Keep in mind, that you can use any combination of images you'd like. If you're not a fan of crows, (gasp!) you can always use cats, flowers, stars, etc. I'm entering this plaque on the latest Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge : "A Walk on the Dark Side." I used a small unfinished wooden plaque for this project. You can get these at any craft and hobby store. Mine is about 3" x 4."  Using a 3/8" Stencil Brush, I applied the brown shade that is in the VersaCraft Velvet palette. VersaCraft ink is fantastic for using on things that go way beyond paper. It's great on fabric, for example.  After the brown ink dried, I swiped Real Black (in the same palette) on the wood, following the grain to bring out the texture. I focused a...

Hello! The Stampendous July Catalog has loads of new goodies for your holiday crafting. Tons of Halloween, Fall and Christmas images from all our licenses as well as our own Fran Seiford, plus lots of new surprises, will all go live for retail sale at http://www.stampendous.com on Friday, June 30th. This week our team is each sharing a favorite project created for this catalog to give you a little sneak peek of what's to come. Some of these great stamps may already be available in your local stamping or scrapbooking store! I love the new Andy Skinner set called Birds and Bones, so I knew I had to use it as my preview for all of you. It's of course great for Halloween, but I will be using it all year round. Remember that the Stampendous website at www.stampendous.com is offering Free Shipping through August with any order of $50 or more! Use Promo Code TEAM717 at checkout. Here's how I made this card. Supplies: Stampendous : ASCRS10: Birds And Bones St...

Welcome to the last day of the DecoArt ad Stampendous Blog Hop. I am really excited about my project for today. It's something I've wanted to try for a long time, but never did. And now, I absolutely know I will want to make more! To get all the details on the hop, including prize info, please head over to the Stampendous! Blog. Supplies: Stampendous : ASCRS06 : Andy Skinner Toxic Cling Set (Scratch stamp) DWLJ883 : Multiple Tile Grid Metal Stencil ASCRS04 : Andy Skinner Curiosity Stamp Set (Scroll stamps) STF082 : Onyx Black VersaFine Ink DecoArt : White Gesso Texture Sand Paste Texture Paste Tinting Base Media Fluid Acrylics in: Prussian Blue Hue, Quinacridone Magenta, Green Gold, Primary Yellow, Cobalt Turquoise Hue, Paynes Gray, Silver Metallic, Quinacridone Gold, Titanium White Antiquing Cream in English Red Oxide Mister in Black Others : Random found objects Beacon Adhesives : Quick Grip Contact Cement Artist's Loft: 8x10 Canvas Board ...

Hello and welcome to the first day of the DecoArt and Stampendous Blog Hop. This week, we will be featuring all sorts of mixed media goodness. Of course there are prizes to be won! Comment to win one of three HUGE prize packages that includes Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt Media™ Paint plus more!  US winners only, see Stampendous Official Contest Rules  here  for more details. Want to see all that’s in each prize package? Take a look below: Stampendous: ASCRS07 Cling Handle with Care ASCRS08 Cling Skuldoggery ASCRS09 Cling Unexplained DecoArt: Quinacridone Magenta Cobalt Turquoise Hue Cobalt Teal Hue Primary Magenta Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide Paynes Gray Carbon Black Titanium White Prussian Blue Hue Phthalo Blue Quinacridone Gold Diarylide Yellow Pyrrole Red Green Gold Primary Yellow Media Mister Titanium White Antiquing Cream Patina Antiquing Cream 8oz Bottle Lamp Black Americana Acrylic Paint Supplies: Stampendous : AS...

I, probably like you, have a lot of stamps. I need them when I have so many awesome inks and sprays from Imagine! I use a few different ways to organize them depending on the brand, size, and how often I need to access them. I need to get to my Stampendous Cling Stamps frequently, so I keep them near my desk in Stampendous' Stufftainers, and they then sit in a magazing holder. But, it's kind of tough to see which stamp is in which Stufftainer without pulling several out. So I decided to make tags to label them, and of course I used lots of wonderful Imagine products to make them.  Supplies : Imagine : Fireworks! Spray : Danube Blue, Desert Sand, New Sprout, Rose Bud, Bahama Blue Kaleidacolor : Calypso, Creole Spice VersaMagic : Pretty Petunia, Sahara Sand, Red Brick irRESISTables : Silver Pico Embellisher Memento Ink : Grape Jelly Embossing Powder : Black, White Other: Stampendous : Stufftainers, Assorted Stamps from Andy Skinner, Nathalie Kalback, Laurel Burch...

Hello! It's time for the finale of the DecoArt and Stampendous blog hop. Have you enjoyed yourself this week? I bet you've got some new techniques that you want to try. I know I do! I am super stoked about my project for today. And it solves a dilemma that we've had in my kids' room for a while. What you see above is 2 pieces of PVC. And some fab DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics ! So, what am I doing with PVC, you ask? Well, my mom bought my son a light saber(Darth Vader's) for Christmas, and he wanted to display it, but we weren't really sure where in his room, and how. I wanted something cooler than hooks, and we thought it would be neat to have the light saber vertical, instead of horizontal. Plus, there was a fab spot for it if it hung in that direction. So, my husband came up with the PVC pip idea, and I altered the pieces. The end cap holds the base, and the small piece of pipe holds up near the end. And the 2 pieces are spaced out enough so that...