Grace

Good morning Junkies!  I've got a Fat Book Page today for your viewing pleasure.

The card was created using the Distressed Removal Technique from the Sensational Stencils CD.  I stamped Pretty in Flowers #SD258 onto a piece of paper, fussy cut her out, and then painted her with Art Anthology Sorbet in Red Velvet, Evergreen, Just Peachy, Sunshine, Buttercream, Tink, Baby Blue Eyes, and Kenyan Copper & Art Anthology Velvet in Desire and Portobello.  The stencil I used was Meridian.  I then used one of the Batik Elements (Set of 6), #SS032 and red ink to stamp the corners.

Don't forget, our monthly blog hop begins tomorrow!  We have a lot of new stamps you are going to love.

Until later..................

Marilyn

Winds of Change

I created this card using an older stamp that I love -- Same Question - SD561.  I omitted the side verse and used a June Release stamp instead -- it is called Winds of Change - SD621.

I created the background using Peerless Watercolors. http://techniquejunkies.com/peerless-watercolors/ They are SUCH FUN! I used a background paper that had a wide variety of colors and didn't really need  much in the way of modifications.  Isn't that nice!

Have a "loverly" inky day!

Friends & Wine.....Get better with Age

Good morning Junkies! I have been playing a ton in the studio with all my new TJ stamps that I picked up at the Springfield Heirloom show and have I got a treat for you today!  I just love the June release Wine with Friends- it's a huge set of 10 stamps with so many great sentiments and a fantastic background block.

I definitely got carried away creating with this set and I am sharing two different projects I created. 

The first features an alcohol ink background on glossy paper over which I repeated the background block to create a fantastic note card.  I made a bunch of these using different combos of colors of alcohol inks- here are two:

I love how the background looks like patterned paper!

For my second project with this set I created a watercolor (stencil mono print) background and featured the sentiment "Friends & Wine Get Better with Age."

I complimented the sentiment with the small wine glass from the set, stamped with Dusty Concord distress ink and covered with clear embossing powder.

This is my favorite set from the June release-check them all out here!

Thanks for stopping by this week and keep checking back for all the great inspiration from our talented TJ design team!

Cheers!

Pam

Stars and Stripes-An Americana Card using Star Stream

Happy Thursday Junkies!
Jerri here to share a patriotic card with you!  I really wanted to do something for the upcoming holiday so here it is.

I'll apologize right up front because I wanted to do a step-by-step tutorial on this but I've had a crazy week and I just couldn't get it pulled off in time.  So without pictures I"ll do my best to give you the step-by-step instructions.  It looks long but that is because I'm a little windy and not because the process is complicated ha ha. (no really I'm a talker hee hee).  This is a super easy card that can easily be modified to fit whatever supplies you have on hand.

1. Cut a piece of Kraft cardstock to the dimensions of your card. I cut a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock in half to make a card that has dimensions of 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 when folded.
2. I placed a star stencil by Heidi Swapp over the right edge of the card, then I sprayed over the stencil and card front using Glimmer Mist in the color Denim.  You could use any spray you have in red or blue, and you could use any stencil that would work with the theme.  There are several cool stencils available at the TJ Website.
3. I found this cute red, white and blue ribbon at Wal-Mart.  I really wanted to hang a charm from the ribbon but since resources are pretty slim in my neck of the woods, I was unable to find what I wanted.  I dug through my paper stash and found some patriotic paper. I cut out the USA and then I used my Martha Stewart Ribbon Threader Punch to punch two holes so I could thread the ribbon through. If you don't have a punch like this, you can cut slits with a craft knife where you want to thread the ribbon.  I've done that many times and it works really well.  
4. Once the ribbon was threaded through the tag, I wrapped it around my card.  The section where the ribbon comes together should meet in the front so it can be hidden by the flag. 
5. Cut a piece of white cardstock to the size you want your flag to be. This will be the base for your flag.
6. Tear a strip of blue cardstock in a length that will run along the left side of the flag.  Only tear one side of the blue paper. You will need a straight edge to run along the outside of your flag.  Also, make sure your strip is wide enough to accommodate the star stamp you are using.  \
7. Using a Technique Junkies stamp called Star Stream, I stamped along the blue strip with Versamark Ink and then heat embossed it using an off white embossing powder. I wanted the flag to have an Americana feel so I didn't want the starts to be stark white. (I used Seafoam White)
8. Tear strips of red and white paper to fit horizontally on the cardstock. Make sure the edges that will show along the top and right side of the flag are left with a straight edge..
9. Once all of the red and white cardstock pieces are torn to size, make sure they fit on the piece of cardstock that you cut in in step 4, as your flag base.
10. Glue your red and white stripes along the right edge of the flag base and layer them if desired.  I layered by starting at the bottom and working my way up the flag (like shingles).
11. I used some Tim Holtz ink in Tea Dye along the edges of the red and white strips to give it an aged or an Americana look.
12. Glue the blue paper with the stars along the left edge of the flag.  
13. Now that the flag is assembled, cut a foam sheet just smaller than the size of your flag and glue it to the flag base before adhering it to the card. This will raise the flag slightly above the card to give it dimension.  You could use pop dots here but I really like using the thin foam sheets for larger areas like this.   You can refer to a post on my blog on June 1st regarding these sheets and how I use them- Technique Junkies Blog Hop- Happy June. I learned about using the foam sheets from the talented Jennifer McGuire Blog.

I hope you enjoyed today's card post. If you have any questions or comments please let me know. I would love to hear from you.

Have an AMAZING day.

Jerri

Summer's Here!

Hey Junkies!  It's the Crafty Nurse back with a little inspiration post for you today featuring more of the June release stamps from Technique Junkies. 

Today I've got a great summer card for you using the Gel Medium Resist Technique found on the Sensational Stencil CD.

I began by watercoloring the "Seahorse" stamp using distress inks.  To create the background, I applied gel medium through my stencil and allowed to dry.  My color was added using Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays in gold, brown and blues.  The gel medium picks up some of the spray colors which I think looks great.  You'll find more details and other options in the Sensational Stencils CD for this technique.  The starfish is cut out from the "Tide Pool Starfish" stamp and the tag is an Avery Elle die.

Here's a close-up of the gel medium.

I hope you'll find some time this week to play with your Technique Junkie stamps.  Don't forget to stop by the TJ store and see all the fun new product Pat is carrying in addition to stamps.

See you again soon,
The Crafty Nurse

Serenity Prayer

Hello everyone.  Beth Norman here with a card that is one of my favourites.  My cousin liked it so much she ordered 16 of them, so you know what I'm busy doing this month. 

I love the Serenity Prayer and was thrilled to see that Pat had the verse inside a butterfly.  The stamp is SD100 Serenity Butterfly.  This stamp was paired with S627 Flourished Floral which is a very large stamp that filled my 4" x 5 1/4" cardstock.

I sponged ink onto regular white cardstock and stamped my butterfly over top and fussy cut it out.  My flowers were coloured with Copic markers.  Truly, the camera didn't capture the three different reds I used in my flower.  It's so much prettier in real life.  Next, I pop dotted the butterfly onto the flower and cut out Cuttlebug corner decorations.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and take a look.  Have a good week.

Poppy Power

 

Hi, it's Gini - I am really enjoying playing with watercolors and thought that the Large Poppies stamp would be fun to practice my techniques.  I used the Spectrum Aqua pens, but first heat embossed the image with black powder. This technique is quick and easy, perfect for summer days!

Here, Kitty, Kitty...

 

Hello Stampers!  Robin, here, to share this card I made for you, today!

 

I used this stamp for the June 2015 release, SD627 Friend Like You.

  

I stamped the image on some pretty patterned paper 

and wha-la, the kitties are colored in perfectly (and fun!).

This is a quick technique to use when you have big open spaces on a stamped image.

 

Another GREAT technique CD, Designer Paper Perfection.  

These CD's have SO many different techniques to try.  

By the time you get through them all, you'll have a very generous stack of cards completed.

And, you'll never be stumped on where to start when making a card.

 

I chose to use the "Squared Borders" technique.

The "Squared Borders" technique is a great way to use up those pretty paper scraps, for sure!

Until next time...

Art Journaling with Cottage Rose

I love to art journal. Sometimes I write a ton, and then gesso over it, feeling like I got something out of my system. Sometimes I like to make pretty backgrounds with favorite quotes and just consider the time well spent. I think the trend of adult coloring books is great - because it makes art accessible to everyone. But stamps do the same thing, and we've known this forever!

I started this week's page with inspiration from my own garden:

What could be prettier? I made an art journaling page, with a sketch from the photo above which I watercolored using Art Anthology Colorations as a basis for it. Then I thought... I want to make a companion page. So this time, I took step-by-step pictures to share with you!

My recent trend has been to begin with a blend of Art Anthology Colorations sprays all over my background, with a stencil, or not, and followed by using my Palettini P020 Wasted stamp with Gesso or white acrylic paint, randomly on the background. This particular sheet has some heat embossed designs on the corners as well to resist the sprayed color.

Next, I stamped P022 Cottage Rose in Stazon Jet Black onto the background, along the right hand side.

I designed this stamp so that it is relatively easy to create a continuous border with it, by flipping the stamp in the opposite direction. This way it doesn't look like the same image, repeated. In this picture you can see where the two images 'connect' although I'll be taking a journaling pen to the leaf to complete the cross-hatching between the two pieces. You don't have to line things up perfectly for them to work!

I painted Art Anthology Buttercream Sorbet onto the roses. Then I liberally applied Mi-Bella Sorbet paint (deep pink) in a circular motion and dabbing in places to align loosely with the petals of the roses.

I then painted the leaves using Art Anthology Velvet paint in Basil. This paint has a matte finish, versus the shine and shimmer of the Sorbet paint, so that the leaves will become more of a part of the background.

Now it's time to dirty up the background and bring in the elements that I used on the facing page. First I applied Ranger's Snowcap paint to the P020 Wasted stamp and randomly applied this over the flowers and leaves as desired.

Then I used P010 Travel Documents with Stazon Midi Cloudy Sky (gray) and stamped it randomly in the empty spaces. With this image you can clearly see how translucent the paint is; and how much depth you can create by layering all these elements.

As a final step to the background design, I stencilled Art Anthology Sorbet in Drab, along the left hand bottom corner through a honeycomb design. I added a bit of this in Buttercream as well along the right side to create a faux beeswax appearance.

I stamped the sentiment, PD010 Art Mistakes, in Stazon Jet Black to finish the page.

So now we have two facing pages for my art journal. Cohesive design makes it work together!

Sally Lynn MacDonald

www.SallyLynnMacDonald.com

Take a look at my Palettini Collection, designed exclusively for Technique Junkies

www.facebook.com/sallylynn.macdonald

Here Kitty

Good Tuesday morning Junkies!  I've got a couple of ATCs to share with you today, using some of my favorite Technique Junkies stamps.  Gotta love those kitty cats!

So Lucky was created using the Gel Medium Resist technique.  I used Art Anthology Colorations in Plush, Patience, and Juicy along with their Morse Code stencil.  I stamped one of the new June releases, Friend Like You, onto a piece of card, cut it out and separating the sentiment, and then colored it in with Art Anthology Tango and Kona Velvet.  I positioned the trimmed sentiment directly above the kitties.

Stare was created using the Colorful Resist technique.  I used Art Anthology Colorations in  Wild Orchid, Peacock Feathers, and Grass along with their Bubbles stencil and the Paid in Full & Plaster Swirls stamps .  I stamped Kitty Watching, cut him out, then colored his fur with Art Anthology Ash Velvet and his eyes with Limeade Velvet.  The sentiment People Will Stare (small) was stamped onto a piece of previously colored watercolor paper I had laying around.

These and other wonderful stamps are located on the Technique Junkies website.

Until later......................

Marilyn

Another June Release!

I always forward to new releases from lots of stamp companies -- but particularly from Technique Junkie Stamps! Pat Huntoon is really trying hard to broaden the breadth of variety of her stamps. She knows full well that not every stamper likes the same kind of themes for the stamps they buy and use. But the last few stamp releases have been wonderful!  Gorgeous stamps, and made of wonderful red rubber.  Have you looked at the new releases for June yet?  http://techniquejunkies.com/new-stamps/june2015-release/

These two cards are made with a new stamp for June called Sea Waves - S628, and a stamp from the May Release called Old Friends - S623. 

With this card I used a cloud stencil and a mask for the setting sun to create the sky and background.  I cut the waves from the stamped image to create a bit of fun!

The Sea Waves stamp fills in all of the background for this card.

I used Copic markers to color in the ladies and the boat for both cards.  The Sea Waves were stamped on card stock after I used the Antique Glimmers technique to create the colors in the waves. 

Have a wonderful day - and get inky!

Join me for a Cup of 'Joe

Happy Saturday Junkies! I can't think of a better way to start my Saturday or any day for that matter than with a nice cup of joe!  I am a coffee-aholic that is for sure, so of course when I saw the Coffee Beans Background stamp from TJ I just had to have it!

For this card I use the background stamp to alter the script patterned paper by stamping in Versamark Ink, embossing with clear embossing powder and inking over with Gathered Twigs distress ink. 

This is a perfect background to compliment the Tim Holtz Fresh Brewed die cut that I used for the focal point.

This past weekend I got to visit with Pat and Sally Lynn at the Heirloom Rubber stamps shows.  What an incredible display of stamps they had on hand and I was able to add to my collection of TJ goodies.  So of course this week I wanted to play with them all....here are a few bonus tags I made while playing and experimenting with my new stamps!

The stamps used above are Big Bee and Be Silly (right) Rain Dance (left).

 Thanks for joining me today and be sure to check out all these great stamps and soooo many more at the TJ store! 

Embrace Imperfection!

Pam

Technique Junkies-Seahorse Card using Texture Paste

Happy Thursday Junkies-
Jerri here with your Thursday inspiration!

Today I am sharing a card I made using the Seashorse stamp from Technique Junkies.

A while back, I purchased some of the Ranger texture paste and now I am in LOVE with the product.  It was fun, and so easy to work with.  It adds great dimension and texture to your project.  Here's how I made this card:

1. I put a stencil on top of a piece of water color paper.  Using a spatula, I spread a thin layer of texture paste on top.  Carefully remove the stencil.  Clean your spatula and stencil immediately. Allow the paste to dry on your card before moving on to the next step. For this card I cut out my own stencil using Life Is A Beach Cricut Cartridge.  If you would like to try using Texture Paste, check out the stencils for sale at Technique Junkies in the Products and Accessories section.
2. I stamped the Seahorse image using green distress ink and then embossed over the top with clear powder. Why did I do this?   I wasn't sure if I would be spraying the card with water later and therefore wanted to use a solvent ink but I only had Stazon in black.  I didn't want the seahorse to have a stark black line so I used the same green I would be rubbing on the card later and embossed it.
3. I colored in the seahorse image using a watercolor technique.  I used my paintbrush, my distress inks and some water to get this look.
4. I used green and blue distress inks and rubbed them on the card using a blending tool.  If you don't have a tool, you can use a sponge or Makeup wedge. 
5. I let water drip off of my fingers onto the page to create the "bubbles".  When doing this I tried to avoid the seaweed and the seahorse.
6. I used a Wink of Stella Pen to put sparkles on the seaweed and the seahorse. You can't see the sparkle in this picture but in person it adds just the right amount for some shimmer without being overdone.

Don't forget to check out the Technique Junkies Website to see all of the wonderful stamps and products available for your own inspiration and projects.  

Have an AMAZING day!!

Jerri

Hot Glue Stencils

Hey Junkies!  The Crafty Nurse here with some inky fun using stamps from the June Technique Junkies Release and a home made stencil.  Would you believe these "sketchy" flowers were made in less than 5 minutes using hot glue?  Yep, hot glue.   I've seen many stamps and dies in this shape and you can create these in no time at home. What's even better, the hot glue stencils pair perfectly with the techniques on the Sensational Stencils CD.

All you need is a non-stick surface and hot glue.  Simply start in the middle and create circular motions outward.  You DO want some of the lines to touch so the flower stays together.  It also looks more like pedals once the ink is applied if they are touching.  That's it.  While you have your glue gun out, you can make other types of pedal flowers, circles, geometric or organic designs.  How fun is that?

I sprayed several panels using Dylusions and Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays. 

My first card  uses Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays and the Technique Junkies June Release Sentiment, "Different Flowers."  I know my sister would love this card.  The Technique is called "Stencil Spray Fun and is found on the Sensational Stencils CD."

. 

My Second card also uses the "Stencil Fun Technique," but with Dylusions Ink.  If you look in the background I added another TJ Stamp called "Whimsical Garden" using Versamark ink.   The "Different Flowers" sentiment is stamped with Versafine Black Onyx ink and embossed with clear powder.

I hope you'll head on over to the Technique Junkies store and check out more of the new June Release stamps.  While your there, pick up the Sensational Stencils CD and make your own hot glue stencils!

Happy Inking

The Crafty Nurse

Art Squared

Hello, Beth Norman, here with a short tutorial for you that is simply called Art Squared.  This is a great card for many occassions by simply adding a sentiment in place of all the picture stamps.  I have scraps left over so I'll eventually post another card using this style.

Supplies:  Kaleidacolor ink pad (or a variety of ink pads), sponges, glossy cardstock, white cardstock (not shown), paper trimmer and StazOn

Using a regular piece of white paper, stamp out your plan.  This will allow you to make any adjustments as necessary.

Using your sponge, ink up glossy cardstock.

Using your choice of adhesive, glue down your image onto your cardstock in which you have laid out your design plan.  My choice of adhesive was the use of my ATG gun.  Continue adding your inked pieces until your design plan is fully covered.

STAMPS USED:

• Bold Daisy
• Whimsy Branch
• Butterfly 2
• Bee Quotes
• Lovers Silhouette

TIPS:

• Colour two identically sized (scraps will do too) pieces of glossy cardstock with ink.  This will allow for any mistakes.  For example, when I first stamped out my Bold Daisy, they were just blobs because I used a juicy pad.  On my second attempt, I did not re-ink and pressed out two flowers
• To keep an exact size of paper, place your blade at the bottom of the glossy paper and cut upwards.  Cutting downwards may make your glossy cardstock uneven, as I found out.
• Cut your design plan slightly smaller than finished size to avoid white edges to show.  
• Let your StazOn images to completely dry before adhering them to your cardstock.  It takes StazOn to dry a little slower compared to regular ink on regular cardstock