12 Tags of 2016 - My Version

Hi there and welcome to the blog today and Happy Easter to everyone!!

I haven't had much time lately to do one of my favorite things and that is to follow along with Tim's 12 Tags and create my own. I used to take part in this tradition every year and with me working full time, I just haven't had a chance to do them this year. I have a few days off and so I decided to go for it and create my tag for March. 

I love that Tim is doing a "remix" this year and this months tag is so fun. I also got to use my Distress Crayons for the first time too. 

Tim's tag is HERE if you want to check it out

For my tag, I began exactly how Tim did but I used some movers and shaper dies for my cardboard portion

I then added a few different colors or Distress ink to the background and added some white acrylic paint

I the spritzed some of the Dylusions Mica sprays over the tag. I used Dylusions because they are bright colors and my background is going to be bright colors

The sprays give a beautiful shine

for my second background I created my tag just like Tim suggests, also prepping it with a thin layer of gesso

after that had dried, I colored portions of my tag with the distress crayons and began rubbing it in with my finger

I started at the top but as I moved towards the bottom I noticed it wasn't smoothing out like I had wanted so I bang applying more crayon as I went. I figured out that applying crayon and rubbing and repeating like that works best. So apply then rub, then apply more then rub... I applied crayon all over and then tried to rub which I shouldn't have done it that way

(this is the photo where the crayon wasn't smudging like I wanted)

I applied more crayon and rubbed and it worked like a charm, I just kept applying and rubbing until it was the colors I wanted

I used some wire connected to a fuse for my butterfly's antenna

I have to say I absolutely love how my tag came out and once you get the hang of the crayons they work really well

Happy Easter Everyone, may you have a blessed day

Altered Puzzle Week 5

Welcome back to the blog, it's Memorial Day today so Happy Memorial Day everyone!! 
We are onto week 5 of the Altered Puzzle Challenge and starting row #2 

Here are the links to the previous posts for this challenge

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Our Facebook group is here:

Facebook Group

This week we are starting on the second row to our puzzle, pieces 7 and 8.. I decided to go with something simple for these two pieces since it's a holiday week

starting with piece #7 I began by using Dylusions Sprays and 

a water spitzer, first spray the puzzle piece with water and then spritz with Dylusions, I just kind of let the colors run

Once everything is dry I used a piece of punchinella (you can also use any stencil) and my black Zig marker to create circles here and there

I then used my white gelli pen to doodle a bit

I used a piece of gelli print leftover paper to cut out some triangles for the edges 

I then used my Zig marker again to doodle

(if you haven't noticed I love to doodle) 

Lastly I printed out my sentiment, cut out, edged and glued

This is my final piece

For my next piece I began by using Archival Ink in a brown color and a stencil 

I also edged the puzzle piece with the same ink

I added some black wash tape here and there

I then used some of Tim Holtz Chitchat stickers for my sentiment

I also used Tim Holtz framework die to create the little chevron across the front

I used my white gel pen to outline my "ok" word which was created using black card stock and a Tim Holtz die

Here is my finished piece

Here are my two pieces together

These were fast and simple but the outcome is no less exciting. I hope you have fun creating your pieces for this week and enjoy your Memorial Day!! See you next week

CHEERS

Stampotique Challenge 188 - Favorite Background Technique

Good day everyone, thanks for coming by again.  Over at Stampotique's Designer Challenge Blog this week Nellie is our hostess and she has challenged us to use our "Favorite Background Technique"

Here is what Nellie says about this challenge:

"What's your favourite technique to make backgrounds? I love making backgrounds on a crafsheet. Quick and easy and yet a different result all the time."

One of my favorite techniques was introduced by Dyan Reaveley and it's called Ghosting. Using Dyan's sprays, I sprayed my page with several different colors. You then use a stencil and water to "lift" some of the color off the page and you get this "ghosting" in the background. It's really cool.

On this page I used Stampotique Stamps:

Dog Cube, Breakfast and Skiddy - By Daniel Torrente

Arch - By Arwen McCullen

Backgrounds are so fun to play with and create, there are so many things you can do with yours. Come by Designer's Challenge Blog and join us in this challenge.

Have a great week!!!

Cell Phone Case Tutorial

Hello all and thanks for stopping by the blog once again. Today will be my last post of the year over at The Stampotique Designers Blog and what a fun and fabulous year it has been. I have really enjoyed being on this design team and I look forward to another fabulous year with them.

Today is also the last of the "Anything Goes" challenge over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog so make sure to check that out as well.

For this week's post I wanted to do a tutorial for the cell phone case that I made last week. A lot of you have asked me how I did it and what I used. 

To start off I bought a rubber clear iPhone 6 case, You can find them on amazon for pretty cheap. If you have another phone besides iPhone I'm pretty sure the clear cases are available for any phone

You can use any clear case you want to, I prefer the rubber because I like to "grip" my case when I'm holding my phone.

Next I created my template. Simply lay your case over some white card stock and use a pencil to trace the outside edge

Make sure you trace the camera hole as well or any other holes you need

The simply cut out your template and use an xacto knife to cut your camera hole, I like to insert my template into the case and adjust as needed. In this case I needed to cut my camera hole a little larger

(note: I try and use thinner card stock for the background because some of the cases are so snug that you don't want something thicker, your case won't fit otherwise)

After I have my template the size and shape that I need for my case I simply decorate it.

I started with my background and used acrylic paint (last week I used Dylusions Sprays)

I continued to use paint to add other elements and create more to my background, if you don't want to create your own background you can use printed paper or even your gelli plate

I stamped my main image and embossed

Stampotique Stamp

Lovelyarethesound - By artist Daniel Torrente

(I cut the heart out of the images hand and added a hand drawn cup of coffee, this will bring my image and my sentiment together)

I always color my main images with copic markers, those are permanent and I don't want the color to run

I used washi tape to add the triangles on the side, I simply cut some of the black off the edges

I printed out my sentiment on my printer and cut that down to add to one side

I then insert my finished project into my case, I always use another sheet of thin paper in between the decorated paper and my cell phone. This will keep any paint/sprays/stains etc from coming in contact with the back of my phone.

Here is my finished case

These cases are so fun to make and you can change it anytime you want to and make your very own original case.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope that you have a wonderful 2015!!!

Altered Playing Card Challenge Week 15!!

Welcome back to the blog everyone and another week of the Altered Playing Card Challenge. This is week 15 of the challenge and I'm so enamored by what everyone is making and doing with these.

If you have missed any of the previous week's here are the links

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6 
Week 7
Week 8

Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14

and our Facebook page

Facebook Group

and the Pinterest Board link

Pinterest Board

For this week's challenge, I decided to use Embossing paste on both of my cards. 

I wanted to use both white and black embossing paste and I went with the Wendy Vecchi paste because it's what I have in both colors AND I love the texture and smoothness of her paste.  If you have other brands, go for it! Use them!

I picked a few stencils and used taped it in place over my altered playing card

(this is a Dylusions Stencil)

I did not want to use the entire stencil, just a portion. So I added a piece of scratch paper over some parts and also taped that into place.

I then used a knife and smoothed my embossing paste over the stencil. I always add mine on in the consistency of buttering bread. Not too much.

When your all finished just lift your stencil directly up and then set that aside to dry. (I had previously drawn some circles into my gesso too)

I repeated these steps with my second playing card as well. This time I used the white embossing paste and a different stencil

After both cards had dried really well, about an hour,  I sprayed both backgrounds

For the first card I used Adirondack Sprays and the second card I used Dylusions Sprays. It doesn't really matter what sprays your using I just wanted to use the different sprays in order to show you that they worked the same

I let those dry once again

Once they were completely dry, I started with the backgrounds.

On the first card (with the black embossing paste) I wanted to highlight those circles I had drawn in the gesso. I used a Dylusions stamp set

Using black ink, I inked up one circle at a time and (without a stamping block) I stamped one circle at a time directly onto each of the drawn circles in order to highlight them

I then took my white geli pen and drew over the black circles. Now, the neat thing about spraying ink over the gesso is that when you draw with a white geli pen onto the embossing paste, the white pen ink turns the color of the sprays over the black embossing paste. It's so cool

See how my white pen turned the colors of the spray? I love how at the top it turned the sort of burgundy color and as it goes to the bottom it turns to the green

I also used the white geli pen on the other altered playing card as well. For this one, the geli pen white ink turned to the blue background colors as well.

I wanted to add a touch of black to my background so I took a marker and I outlined some blocks with black too

I also went around my edges with black as well

Now since I used the white embossing paste on this card, the white took on the colors I sprayed onto the background BUT the blocks are raised so it really gives this cool effect to my background.

Once again I took my black marker and doodled a bit onto my background in the spaces where there wasn't much going on

I picked two Stampotique images, Carrot and Daniel's Tree Topper and stamped them onto separate white paper. I also clear embossed them so it would be easy to color them with copic markers. (when you emboss them, the black ink doesn't run when you start coloring them)

I cut them out and applied them to my background

I also added stamped sentiments as well

Here are my finished cards for this week

The embossing pastes really give the background a fun raised texture and I just love using it. I hope you enjoy this week's cards as much as I did.

Have a great week and Merry Christmas to you all!!!!