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January 23, 2012

Dissecting Design Monday: painted circles


When I started my Sunshine Layout (using January’s Tea & Cupcakes kit) I really wanted to play with some paint and some tone and tone texture, it’s not my normal style but I was in the mood to play and I think it’s always important to try new things and learn about ourselves through creative play.

I started out by misting the white cardstock then painting over parts of it with some white acryclic paint. Then I layered on some white paint circles. I used the plastic ring from an empty tape dispenser dipped in white paint to create the double ring circles.

Once the circles are dry I layered on some hole reinforcers.

Another layer of white paint over top some of the reinforcers and paint circles and my base was done. From there I continued to layer on more painted circles – some in white some in orange, a bit of orange mist and a little bit of hand stitching. I also removed some of the reinforcers that I had painted over to show some of the paint dimension.

And the final result is a subtle tone on tone textured background with a few splashes of color.

Hope you all have a great week and remember to break out of your comfort zone once in awhile and do a little creative playing!

Christine

 






December 12, 2011

Old Book Christmas Tree.


Anyone who knows me knows I adore old book paper and when my Mom showed me the tree she had made from an old book I asked her if she would make one for me. She made me a nice full one from an old book and I decorated it with wooden snowflakes (from the December kit Amber Snowflake), red pearls from Kaiser Craft, burlap ribbon, punched snowflakes and some wooden buttons. It came together quickly and I love how rustic and soft it looks.

Isn’t it sweet!

I can see this as the base for a pretty little angel too! You can find instructions on how to create the tree here.

Have a wonderful week!

Christine

 






December 4, 2011

Doily Stamped Christmas Ornaments


Do you remember that beautiful doily stamp that was in November’s kit that Kim Watson designed? Well, I used it for creating some super simple and classy looking ornaments using polymer clay and some letter stamps. I LOVE how they turned out.

Supplies Needed:

polymer clay (I used and LOVE the Hearty brand because you do not need to bake it)
doily stamp (or other fave stamp)
letter stamps
straw
twine
a drinking glass (with the mouth sized to the size that you would like your ornament to end up)
smooth pencil

Directions:

Take a nice sized chunk of clay in your hands and form into a ball. Push down on the ball with the bottom of your glass and then using your smooth pencil, roll it like a rolling pin into a smooth circle. Flip your glass around and use it like a cookie cutter to cut out your circle. Make sure your circles aren’t too thin or too thick. You’ll figure out what thickness you are happy with and then try and shoot for that consistently from that point on-wards. Now take your stamp and lightly press it into the top of your clay circle leaving room for your letter stamps to be stamped. Now stamp in your letters. Finally, using your straw, punch a hole into the top of your ornament and let clay dry. Thread with your twine once you are done!






November 20, 2011

November Tales From The Bunker.


Can you believe we are almost done with November and looking at sneak peeks of December already! The months go by fast but this month seems to have really flown by. The highlight of this month was our fall crop, we all keep saying it was the best one yet and I really think it was. It was especially nice to see so many new faces. I was inspired by Sharmaine’s Jams and Jellies challenge so before I put away my November kit I created this layout:

I love how the broken up stamped wine label image fits the theme of the layout in a subtle way. The Crafter’s Workshop stencil that was in the November Kit is so versatile!

This was also our second month into our new Stamp Subscription. I received a good question from one our new stamp subscribers, Jennifer wondered if we would consider having an image of the stamp printed and included with the stamp. I told her that we do not so that we can keep costs down on our stamps, but I did promise her I would share what I do with my stamps. It is nice to have a stamped image on a transparency so that you can get an idea of how the image will look on your layout but a lot of times stamping on a regular transparency sheet doesn’t work well even with Staz On. So I use inkjet transparency sheets (normally used for overhead projectors). I like these because they have a rough side which helps the ink adhere and not smear:

I use Staz On ink and stamp the image on the rough side of the transparency:

Cut the images apart, punch a hole in the corner and keep them organized on a binder ring:

Thanks for your question Jennifer, I hope this helps!

By the way these transparencies work great for printing journaling too!


Merry & Bright Holiday kits have been mailed and tomorrow we will start to post lots of fun ideas and prompts to help you work on your kit so make sure to check back and see the cover designs that I have created using the kit. We still have a few Merry & Bright kits left!

Have a wonderful week and to those of you in the States HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Best wishes,
Christine






November 9, 2011

Gobble Gobble Card


The turkey has arrived just in time for Thanksgiving. I used Cocoa Daisy’s November kit to create this cute card. I used the Dresden stamp (found in the kit) to create his tail feathers along with the grid stamp to create the background.  You don’t have to purchase the kits to get the stamps.  You can purchase them individually or become a stamp subscriber and get three new stamps each month.   To show you how easy it is to create this card, i made a video.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial.  I would love to see your turkey creations!






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