Monday, November 30, 2015

Are Rules Made To Be Broken?

Now we are almost into the month of December, My Christmas cards are mailed. The Christmas decorations are almost out. Presents are bought and wrapped (I hope - I am writing this post in early November), and I have moved on to other things than Christmas cards.

When I was at the York Heirloom show and shopped at Pat Huntoon's Technique Junkie booth I bought some new stamps.  I am only now getting to make cards with these. This is one of those new stamps I bought.

Then I must also confess - sometimes as stampers we just hit a dry spell, when we cannot think of a new card layout or a new placement of element on the front of the card.  There are some things you can do about this when it hits.  You can give up until inspiration hits you.  That is not a good option in my opinion although it has happened tome this way in the past when I have been ill for a while.

Or you can look for new card front layouts and new ways of presenting the focal image.  There are lots of places on the internet to do this.  I subscribe to  a lot of blogs for this purpose. I follow those blogs whose author pays attention to detail and the way they create fits my own creative thinking.  Sometimes they do not show cards with stamps I like (or own for that matter) but I will like the layout. I will save those images.

You can look on Splitcoast Stampers for cards made with a specific stamp set or with a particular theme or subject matter in their search box.  I have searched both ways.  And in the last few years you can look on interest.  I rarely just "go" to Pinterest but use the email they send me to find new things.   And that was how I found this layout.  I thought it was perfect for this stamp set from Technique Junkie Stamps!

The Technique Junkie focal image stamp set is The Rules -  http://techniquejunkies.com/the-rules/.  I also used the Vintage Dictionary stamp http://techniquejunkies.com/vintage-dictionary-page/  for punching out the small squares.  Then I stamped - Love My Shoes http://techniquejunkies.com/love-my-shoes/  .  I only colored in the flowers because most of the shoe image would be tossed away.  I used a small flower punch and ;punched out an area within the stamped flower image.

All stamped images were colored in with Copic Markers.  I used a border punch and 2 layering square punches.   I stamped the lady first, then placed the layered squares, and then stamped the  two sentiments.  I swiped my Winkastella pen the dress and the hat, and the decorative part on the shoes.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Christmas is coming...

Happy Saturday Junkies! Pam here today and I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their loved ones.  Have we all recovered from the turkey and stuffing overload?? I know I haven't yet!  And of course the days after Thanksgiving mark the start of the Christmas season.  I have a fun card project today featuring just that!



I created an artsy background using the Christmas Trees, Set of 6 stamp set, alternating stamping with Ranger Dye Inks Electric Lime and Green.


To add a bit of pizzaz I sprayed the entire panel with red, green and white ink sprays to give it an abstract artsy feel.


The sentiment is from the Simple Sentiments 1b which contains so many great sentiments for every occasion- a must have!!  I added some stars for a bit of dimension and interest to the trees.
A simple yet artsy Christmas card to send to friends and family!
Thanks for joining me today and remember only 27 more crafting days left till Christmas!!
Embrace imperfection!
Pam



Thursday, November 26, 2015

Let It Be

Happy Thanksgiving!  Jerri here from A Bushel And A Hug.  I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day. I will keep today's post short so you can get those turkeys in the oven!!

Today's card was made using the stamp set Bee Quotes.

To make this card I first ran a piece of white card stock through my Cuttle Bug with the embossing folder called Honeycomb.  Then I ran a dotted turquoise paper through the Cuttle Bug using the same embossing folder.  I used the outline on the patterned paper as a guide and cut out about nine of the honeycomb shapes.  I randomly placed those on my white paper and glued them down.  Next I used the bee from the stamp set and stamped it on a piece of vellum using Archival Ink. I fussy cut the bee out and then put it on the yellow patterned paper and pop dotted that piece onto the card front.  Using one of the many quotes from this stamp, I stamped Let It Be and cut it out with a label die and placed it on the card. I chose a dark Turquoise Blue card stock to matt the card.

Have a Wonderful Day with family and friends
Jerri

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Walk in The Park


Hello Junkies!  

The Crafty Nurse here with my last post for the month using the November release stamps.  My card features the "Brick Wall Background S646" and "Park Walk SD665."  I began by stamping the brick wall with Black Onyx Versafine Ink then heat embossed with clear powder.  I created the brick pattern using art anthology in Teracotta-Velvet, Pumpkin Spice-Sorbet, and Kenyan Copper-Sorbet. I then edged the entire stamp using  “Black Leather Jacket Sorbet," which created great texture.  For my focal point, I stamped "Park Walk SD665" which I sprayed with Art Anthology Colorations in Avocado and Timeless.


I hope everyone is enjoying some family time for the Thanksgiving Holiday this week and hope you'll find some time between eating and family to get inky.  

Gobble, Gobble!

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Flower Bouquet Tutorial

Good day fellow stampers and paper crafters.  Beth Norman here with a 30th birthday bouquet for my daughter.  If you look closely you will see a Serenity Butterfly amongst the flowers and Happy Birthday nestled in the front of the basket.  I thought you might like to see the process I went through so you can recreate a flower bouquet too.

Supplies:  Co-ordinations cardstock, regular cardstock, designer paper, paper flowers, basket, styrofoam to fit your basket, ribbon, liquid glue (I used Tombow), quick dry bondable glue (I used Speed-Sew), wooden stir sticks, green paint, paint brush, paper straw, flower dies, sanding block, embossing machine, embossing folders

Cut out your largest flowers using the Co-ordinations cardstock and designer paper.  Run your flowers through the embossing machine with the embossing folder then gently sand away the raised portion of the embossing to expose the lighter undercoat.
Cut the second layer with plain cardstock.  Make sure the pieces are smaller than the first layer.
Using a mixture of Co-ordinations and regular cardstock cute the smallest flowers. Run flowers through embossing machine.
Layer your flowers are desired.  In the center add store-bought little flowers, or buttons.
Paint stir sticks green for the stems.
Using good bondable glue to adhere your flowers to the stir sticks and Serenity Butterfly.
Glue styrofoam with good bondable glue.  Lay different products around the styrofoam to keep it in place while the styrofoam dries.
Add paper straw and ribbon and complete as desired.













Monday, November 23, 2015

Thank You Watercolor Card

This was a fun stamp to play around with my watercolors.  I inked the stamp with my Spectrum Aqua pens, and then stamped onto dampened watercolor paper.  I re-inked the stamp with Versamark and heat embossed with black powder.  I painted the background with Twinkling H2O's.

Stamps from Technique Junkies 

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Angel Choir

{jane bosi}  Happy Thursday, Junkies!!  With the holidays just about upon us, I'm starting to focus on Christmas cards.  While I like the traditional holy family images, it's always fun to step outside of the box with more non traditional images and colors.  It's a nice stretch of creativity!

Today, I have two cards to share that feature the beautiful Angel Choir image.  This is a great image to color!  Or, if you aren't feeling like a lot of coloring, spotlighting is a great technique that can highlight a few of the beautiful cherub like faces:
I also added the beautiful "Merry Christmas 2" sentiment--I just love the script of the font--so delicate!

That's all for me today.  Make your today awesome--Jane

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Life is a Song Journal Page

Good morning Junkies!  I've been working on journal pages lately and wanted to share this with you.  Since it's beginning to turn cooler where I live, I was in the Fall mood and decided to focus on that.


I started by filling in the background with a combination of Art Anthology Desire, Fiji, Tuxedo Velvet and Lemon Tart Velvet mixed with Splashed Sorbet, and using the Cracked and Dot Matrix stencils.  Everything is just randomly applied.  I then used the page to mop up some Wild Orchid and Juicy Colorations I had on my mat.  I then sprayed Rustic Colorations over the entire page and blotted.

I stamped Big Ornamental Leaf with Orange Blossom ink, cut out, and adhered to my page.  I then stamped Life is a Song in the same ink, cut it out, and adhered to my page.  It was still looking kind of bare so playing off the sentiment, I used by Brother Scan N Cut to cut out some birds and blossoms and added that to my page.

Here's to having a wonderful Fall!

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





Marilyn

Monday, November 16, 2015

Merry Christmas to You

Good day from Judy Jackson!

I ran an white card stock panel through an embossing folder.  I highlighted those embossed parts with a sponge.  I stamped the Technique Junkie Merry Christmas http://techniquejunkies.com/merry-christmas/ in the center of the embossing folder.  There was no embossed areas in the center.  I used the Technique Junkie stamp Wasted http://techniquejunkies.com/wasted/ to add some texture to the rest of the empty spots. I only inked the smaller dots on the stamps. I used markers to color in the M and the C in the greeting.    A few rhinestones add that bling we all seem to like on our Christmas cards. 


And this ends the Christmas cards I have created to this date as I am writing.  But who knows, I may  make some more!  Have a wonderfully inky day!

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Saturday Junkies, Pam here today!  First of all I want to thank everyone for joining us for the 30 days of Christmas!! Such wonderful projects and great inspiration from the talented design team.
To change it up a bit today I am featuring a fall/Thanksgiving card.


This is an absolutely gorgeous background stamp Oak Relief and just perfect for fall in New England!! I used Distress Ink to ink up the stamp and then spritzed it with a bit of water and stamped onto water color paper.  



Love the colors!! 
The Date-O-Matic stamp was added and voila- a Thanksgiving card.  This is a super versatile add on stamp for any holiday or birthday!


Just stamp a thankful sentiment inside and it's on it's way.
Thanks for joining me today! 
Embrace Imperfection!
Pam



Thursday, November 12, 2015

Technique Junkies 30 Days of Christmas- Day 29


Day 29 already!!  I can't believe how fast the 30 days has gone.

 I feel like I have to apologize for the photography on this.  It gets dark now so darn early.  It's dark when I leave and it's dark when I get home lol.  Hard for me to get a good picture without some natural lighting.
This card was made by first embossing the background with a cricut embossing folder.  Next I stamped one of the images from  Trees Set of 6.  I embossed it with silver embossing powder. I matted the stamped image with some silver card stock and then I attached it to some craft foam before attaching it to the card front.
For the sentiment I stamped Merry Christmas and cut out the sentiment in a tag shape using my scissors.

Thanks for checking out my card. I hope your day is amazing!!!

Jerri

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

30 Days of Christmas - Day 28

Hello Junkies!

The Crafty Nurse here celebrating Day 28 of the 30 Days Of Christmas here on the Design Team Blog.  I am casing Pat's card she posted in the TJ Inkspirations a few weeks ago where she heat embossed the "Winter Foliage" stamp on vellum, then colored with markers on the backside.

For my card, I embossed with Liquid Platinum powder by Ranger then colored with a combination of Copics and Faber Castell Pit Pens. My sentiment is die cut three times from Tim Holtz's "Holiday Words" thinlits.  To add shine, I applied Pico Embellisher Irresistible in Shimmer.


We would love for you to keep following the Design Team Blog for more Christmas ideas using the Technique Junkies stamps.  There are only a few days left so we hope you've enjoyed the cards and found inspiration for your holiday card making.

By for now,

The Crafty Nurse

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

30 Days of Christmas-Day 27






Hello fellow stampers and knitters.  Beth Norman here with a Christmas project to share with you.  Haven't you been inspired with all the goodness of the 30 Days of Christmas so far?  I hope I inspire you to create some much loved Christmas tags using #SD654 Merry Christmas.  I just love this image because it allows for colouring--something I love to do.

Throughout the year I knit large sized dishcloths and wrap them in ribbon individually, and in a group of four such as you see here.  Something I did a little different this year was to add bells to the ribbon which you can see on the close-up.  At last count I had 100 dishcloths made.  All 16 of my coworkers and boss receive one of these for Christmas.

I like to give my dishcloths to friends, pharmacist, dentist, doctor, etc., and what better way to present them than with ribbon and a handmade tag.




As you can see, I coloured the Merry Christmas in two tones with my Prismacolor pencil crayons and OMS.  You can even see the bell that I added.

I hope I inspired you.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Let It Snow


Hi, it's Gini and I'm back for another wintery card to celebrate the 30 Days of Christmas Cards!  This was a clean a simple card to make. I stamped the Winter Wonderland with the sky inked blue, and the trees inked green. I inked over the entire image with Versamark and heat embossed with a pearly powder.  I die cut the Let it Snow Sentiment and had a quick, but lovely card.

We have a few more days of Christmas Cards left, so keep with us for inspiration for your holiday cards. 

Sunday, November 8, 2015

30 Days of Christmas - Day 25

Welcome! Can you believe that it is Day 25 of the 30 Days of Christmas already? I hope you have taken the time this month to enjoy the holiday inspiration. Also, I hope you've had the opportunity to take advantage of the 20% discount on all Technique Junkies Christmas Stamps. All Christmas Stamps are 20% off until 11/13 by using the word Christmas as the coupon code at checkout.
This card -- it is so beautiful in person -- is one of the Christmas cards I will be sending this year (I get bored making more than 20 at a time,so I make several designs a year!). The shimmer on this is incredible.

To create my dove, I stamped the Christmas Dove stamp on plain white cardstock using StazOn. I painted the dove with Vegas Gold Sorbet Paint from Art Anthology, and dried it with a heat tool (it only took 30 seconds or so to dry -- it is a very fast drying paint!). Then I sprayed over the painted piece with Wild Orchid, Juicy, Ink Spot and Peacock Feathers Art Anthology Colorations - none of which are considered Christmas Colors, I simply used a paper towel to pat off the dove, then let it dry and layered it onto the other cardstock pieces.  This card took me less than 10 minutes to make!

What I love most about this is that so many of you have purchased the Vegas Gold paint and Colorations from our booth at trade shows this year. How much fun is it to have another way to use the paints?

I hope you are inspired by today's creations.  Go create something!



Saturday, November 7, 2015

30 Days of Christmas - Day 24

IMG_7393
Hello!  Robin Redd here with you today! 

This card shows how you can use a basic alphabet stamp set from Technique Junkies to make a Christmas card.  Pair up the alphabet stamps with holiday patterned paper or even just holiday colored cardstock and you've got a festive card!
IMG_7394

I used....
SA059__Grunge Uppercase

SS1a__Simple Sentiments 1A

SS01A Simple Sentiments

Show me a card that you made using non-holiday stamps.

Until next time...
Watermark Robin+Redd

Thursday, November 5, 2015

30 Days of Christmas Day 22

Hello Junkies Pam here today for Day 22 of the 30 days of Christmas! It seems very strange to be making Christmas projects, especially "chilly" ones like the canvas panel I made for Day 22 considering it has been in the 70s here in Massachusetts this week!  But I am definitely not complaining!

For today's project I decided to think outside the box and stretch my stamps a bit.  I made a wintry canvas panel using the background stamp Star Power


This stamp is so versatile for some amazing winter sky backgrounds.  It is used very subtly in this canvas panel but just really "pops".


After inking the canvas panel directly with Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink, Star Power was stamped in a repeating pattern onto the canvas with Hero Arts Unicorn White Ink.


Over the top of the entire panel- texture paste was applied using The Crafter's Workshop Large snowflakes stencil and then dusted with some Distress glitter before it dried.

I wanted to share something other than a card and show the versatility of the TJ stamps-using them here in a mixed media project!
Thanks for joining me today and stay warm : )!



Wednesday, November 4, 2015

30 Days of Christmas, Day 21

Hi! So glad you are here. Today we continue with Day 21 of the 30 Days of Christmas, and we are lucky today - there are 3 posts dedicated to our Christmas inspiration!  One is my post, here, and then two of the TJ designers, Kathy and Judy, both have dedicated Christmas Posts featuring Technique Junkies Christmas stamps. You can find them here:

Judy Jackson: http://judysstampart.blogspot.com/ and
Kathy Stacey: https://craftynurse4u.wordpress.com/

Today I am featuring the Folk Art stamp:
To create this card,I sprayed 2 plain white pieces of A2 cardstock with several colors of Art Anthology Coloration Sprays: Timeless, Valentine, and Grass. After the pieces dried, I stamped the Folk Art background over one, and cut it out an Ornament Die. The die was layered onto a red piece of cardstock, then black. That piece was layered over the second spraed cardstock piece before being adhered to the white card base.  Finally, I added the ribbon and used my stamp positioner to stamp the JOY stamp on the card.

I hope you have enjoyed our Christmas inspiration today! Remember, all Technique Junkies Christmas stamps are 20% off through November 13th by using the word Christmas as the coupon code at checkout.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

30 Days of Christmas - Day 20

Good morning everyone!  For Day 20 of the 30 Days of Christmas, I made a Christmas card.  Not my usual project, but I wanted to mix and match several of the stamps and decided this would be a great way to do it.


I stamped two of the Christmas trees from the Christmas Trees Set of 6 set using Dusty Lime and Snowy Evergreen ink, one underneath the other.  I then trimmed the panel and set it to the side.  Next I stamped "JOY" from the Christmas Words set with Tomato Sauce ink on another piece of mixed media paper and trimmed.  I glued them down to a sheet of Authentique Christmas scrapbook paper, trimmed, and then adhered to my cardstock.

We here at Technique Junkies hope you are enjoying our 30 Days of Christmas.  Stay tuned for more great projects!

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





Marilyn

Monday, November 2, 2015

30 Days of Christmas Day 19 - Technique Junkie Stamps!!!

I have yet another Christmas card for you today!  If you are like me, then you know it is good to make Christmas cards easy to  mass produce, and easy to mail without extra postage. 

This card fits this description.   I dry embossed a silver card stock panel, then I stamped the Technique Junkie Stamps  Ornament  stamp http://techniquejunkies.com/ornament-1/ in the middle of the frame..  It still didn't look finished so i used a deep purple Copic marker on only the embossed area.  However, I will confess that the marker slipped at times and got on the silver panel where I did not want it. So I used my Copic blender pen (or more accurately an alcohol remover pen).  to remove those few stray purple marks. 



 I chose the purple marker because I had a purple embossing powder for the ornament. So this card uses sort of non-traditional colors. 


I sure you are enjoying seeing al of these Christmas cards!  Have a wonderfully inky day!



Sunday, November 1, 2015

November Release Day - It's a Hop!

Welcome! Today is November 1st, and it is time for the final Technique Junkies new stamp release of 2015. To celebrate the 13 new stamps being released today, The TJ design team has a Blog Hop featuring the new stamps. All of the November released stamps are 15% off through November 8th, too! Your discount will be applied at checkout.

And don't fear, we haven't forgotten about the 30 Days of Christmas -- it is featured on my blog, using the new stamps with a tutorial, at the end of the hop.

The hop starts here -- and I have two cards for you featuring one of the new background stamps called The Bridge.  I prepared the stamp in two different ways -- the first using Copics to color:

For the sentiment, I used a stamp from the TJ line called The Open Road. I cut the first line of the stamp apart to get the words I wanted : )

For the second Bridge example, I used a combination of markers and Art Anthology paints and sprays to color the background. The sentiment is from the Einstein Quotes set:
I wanted a "twilight" look on the second -- I think I achieved it, don't you?

Okay, enough from me -- at least until the end of the hop! Here is the lineup:
Design Team Blog http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com (You are here)
Pam DeChellis http://journeyawakensthesoul.blogspot.com (GO HERE NEXT)
Gini Williams Cagle: http://ginicagle.blogspot.com

I hope you enjoy the hop!