New York, New York-Happy 4th!

Good morning Junkies, Pam here today! Happy Thursday to y'all. So happy to be back creating with the talented team at Technique Junkies.  In honor of the upcoming 4th of July holiday I decided to feature a fantastic background stamp New York Music with a patriotic flare.

I created a postcard" like card with a red,white and blue theme-funny we don't send postcards much anymore when we are traveling-now we have instagram and Facebook!

The background was created using a technique (my favorite) called stencil monoprint.  I used bits and pieces of a stars and stripes stencil to create the background of the postcard onto watercolor paper.  

The New York stamp was stamp in Archival black over top.  A bit of distress ink was applied to give the overall "distressed" feel.  A fun way to celebrate the fourth!

This stamp has such great detail of the skyline and super fun to use as a background.

I hope everyone has a Happy and safe July 4th! 

Embrace Imperfection,

 Pam

Behave Yourself!

This cheerful card is made with stamps from the May Stamp Release at Technique Junkies.

SD721 London ATC

SDX072 Behave Yourself

Until next time...

Every Day

Good morning Junkies!  Hope you day is marvelous.  To start you off on the right foot, I've got a bright and colorful tag to share with you.

Start off by stamping Bold Shells onto a piece of multimedia paper with black permanent ink.  Sprinkle on some pigment powder in orange, red, and purple and then mist with water.  Dry and then iron flat.  Glue the paper to your tag, trimming the excess and adding that to the bottom of the tag.  There will be a gap, so color a piece of paper with the same red pigment you used to color the background and trim to fit.

Staple three dried flower stalks to the left of the tag.  Next, using soft gloss gel, add Art Stones to the bottom and then some cobalt blue glass beads to the left side.  Heat emboss three sea-themed charms with LSG Hollyhock Scarlet Plum and add to the right of the flower stalk.  Stamp Beach Day onto a piece of paper and cut out.  Arrange the words then glue down.

Last but not least, stamp Beachin' It across the colored paper part of the tag.

Hope you enjoyed today's tag.  Until later...............

Marilyn

Keep Sailing Along

Hello Junkies!
Karen McAlpine with you today!   I am still very busy working on my landscaping project.  But, I just had to take some time out to work with another of the Technique Junkies June New Releases!  I made a nautical themed card in white and shades of blue.

Materials List:

Stamps: Keep Sailing from Technique Junkies

Ink: Night of Navy (Stampin Up)

CS: white, medium blue textured, navy blue

Ribbon

Make It: 

• Make a card base from medium blue texture CS
• Cut the white CS larger than the image and stamp Keep Sailing with navy ink
• Layer with navy CS and add to card base

• Wrap two blue ribbons around bottom of card

Super cute!!  I think this would be a sweet birthday or encouragement card.  And, what about a card for a baby boy??  Hmmm. I think so..... Darling!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you love the June new releases as much as I do!!  The collection is just gorgeous and the stamps are so easy to adapt to any type of project.   As you can see from the Design Team projects!  Well, I hope you are having a beachy keen day!! See you next time!

Karen  McAlpine

Dreaming and Creating

Beach Day Mermaid

Hey Junkies!

The Crafty Nurse back with some inky inspiration for this wonderful early summer day!  I hope you all get a chance to play a little in your craft room while you enjoy the gorgeous weather.

For my card today I used the new June release "By The Sea #SS060 Set of 6."  The technique today is from the Emboss or Die CD called, "Masked Spellbinders."   I also used July 2015 Palettini Collection "Shells #PS009" which really works well with this new collection. 

The sentiment is from "Beach Day #SDX071" simply stamped. After stamping the Mermaid, I colored her in with Art Anthology "Black Leather Jacket" for extra sparkle and shine.  I also added some free flow doodling around the edge of the masked area.

Thanks for stopping by the Technique Junkies Blog today and we all wish you lots of creative play today and always.

Bye, Bye for now!!

The Crafty Nurse

How to do the Bokeh Technique

Hello fellow stampers, it's Beth Norman here with the Bokeh technique.  It received a lot of attention, and questions, when I posted this card to my blog and TJ Yahoo group that I thought I'd share this technique with you today.

The stamp that I used is called Vintage Floral Collage.  Isn't it a pretty stamp?

This technique requires drying times.  Personally, I let mine air dry but you can use a heat gun to dry your layers.  Drying is important to prevent a big mess in your Craft White ink, and allows for a crisp black stamped image.  On that note, let's start, shall we...

Supplies:  Sticky notes, hole punches, White Craft ink pad, Distress inks (or any ink pads), black ink, sponges, (optional -- heat gun), white card stock plus a scrap piece of white card stock to use to punch your holes.

This is an optional step.  When I do the Bokeh technique, I like to have crisp white edges on my card.  To do this, place sticky notes around the edges of your cardstock, as seen in the photo.

Sponge ink onto your card stock.

Continue to sponge colour onto your card stock until it is completely covered.  Let dry naturally, or use a heat gun, to prevent your white Craft pad from becoming muddled with ink.

Punch two to three circles on your scrap card stock.

Lay your hole over your inked card stock and with a sponge, rub white Craft ink onto your card stock.

Continue adding white circles until you are satisfied.  Be sure to overhang some of your circles so that you are sponging on the sticky note, so they show a partial image once you take your sticky notes off.  You can see examples of this in the upper left corner, and if you look closely, you will see more of this done on my card stock.

Air dry or use a heat gun to set your Craft ink.

Once your background is dry, stamp out your image.

Take off the sticky notes to reveal nice white edging.  Now you can complete your card as desired, or just leave it as is.

I hope you will try this technique.  I'll be watching for it on our Yahoo group.  

Wishing every day was a beach day...

Hello Inky Friends!

Today's card is pretty quick and simple as I am working with limited access

to all my artsy supplies at the moment.  

I LOVE this stamp though and again, I think it lends itself very nicely to creating summer masculine cards ~ especially if you have a Birthday Greeting to add to it!

I used Sea Grass Lighthouse for the focal image cutting it out from the Journey Ovals die set.

I colored the image  lightly with colored pencils, added some Journey Twine behind it and

popped it off the card front. The image Beach Day was stamped along the bottom.

The cloud embossing folder is also offered from Fun Stampers Journey

and I inked up the raised side with white ink before running my blue paper through the machine!

We are just a couple short weeks to another NEW RELEASE Blog Hop and I've already seen a preview of some of the new stamps!! Mark your calendars for it now so you won't miss the hop and the sale! ;)

Until next time...

Happy Creating!

~Tonya -oxoxox-

Pebble Beach

I tried a different approach with this card using Technique Junkie Pebble Beach S699www.techniquejunkies.com/pebble-beach/.

The verse is Beach Day SDX071 - www.techniquejunkies.com/beach-day/.  

I stamped the image with Memento Flannel Gray ink on a light tan card stock. I colored the starfish and the shells with Copic markers.  I used a gold Wink of Stella pen to further highlight the Starfish and parts of the two larger shells. I layered it on gold metallic Star Dream text weight paper, and then on dark brown card stock. 

I stamped the verse with white pigment ink and heat embossed with white pigment embossing powder. The verse is stamped on the dark brown card stock and layered on gold Star D\ream tex weight paper and popped up with dimensionals.  Three areas of tiny shells are attached for texture and visual interest. 

You can look for a star fish at the beach -- and get inky when you come inside.  

Transparent Besties

This was a fun card to make.  I LOVE all my beached themed craft supplies so I save all the scraps from them.  I had this beach transparency and thought it was perfect for this sweet stamp.

SD671 Besties

I stamped the girls with black ink onto white cardstock, cut it out and adhered it to the transparency. Then, I inked up with words with black StazOn and stamped it directly onto the transparency.  I finished it off with a tiny starfish embellishment.

http://robinredd.typepad.com/reddrobinstudios/

You Are Beautiful

Good morning Junkies!  Today  I'd like to share a journal page I created using some of the newer Technique Junkies stamps.

I started out by spraying the background with Art Anthology Colorations in Salmon and Siesta Key.  Then using the Morse Code stencil, I used the Distressed Removal Technique from the Sensations Stencils CD.

Next, I stenciled Art Anthology Kona Velvet through one of the smaller strips on the Triangular stencil.  I added several random lines of this stenciling.  Next, I stamped Boom Boom Room randomly across the page.

I stamped two of the faces from the Beautiful Faces set onto a piece of cardstock and then colored them in.  I used Art Anthology Bronze Metal Effects on their face, Ferrari Sorbet on their lips, Shamrock Velvet on their irises, and Kenyan Copper Sorbet on their eyelids.  I then cut them out and glued them to my page.  Next I stamped the words "You are" and "Beautiful" onto a piece of cardstock and sprayed it with Warm Colorations.

I then took a couple of plastic circles in various sizes and colored with Cocoa and Merlot Colorbox Inks.  I glued these down with Glossy Accents so the glue lines wouldn't show through the plastic.

Finally, I outlined everything with a 6B graphite pencil then smudged it with a color shaper.

I hope you enjoyed today's page.  Until later........................

Marilyn

Dreamy Mermaid with Batik Shell Background

Hello Junkies!
Karen McAlpine with you today.  We are having lovely summer weather here in Michigan, USA.  Just the perfect weather for sending a beach/sea themed card to a special someone.  The Technique Junkies June Release  collection is full of  gorgeous beach themed stamps!! I used several of the new stamps and beachy colors to create my dreamy mermaid card.

Materials List:

Stamps: Batik Shell Swirls and By the Sea (Set of 6) from Technique Junkies

Ink: Cameo Coral (retired Stampin' Up); Brown; Tattered Rose Distress

CS: White Textured; Cameo Coral (Stampin' Up)

Make It:

• Make a card base from Cameo Coral CS
• On white textured CS, stamp the Batik Shell Swirls with Tattered Rose ink
• Stamp the Mermaid (from By the Sea Set) with Cameo Coral ink
• Stamp the sentiment (from By the Sea Set) with brown ink
• Add to the card base

Stamping the Batik Shell Swirls stamp on the textured CS makes such a soft and romantic background.  So lovely! The By the Sea Set also has several other beach/sea sentiments!  A great set for card makers.  I am always looking for sets with nice sentiments for my all occasion cards.  So, really enjoying this set!

Hope you have enjoyed this serene beach themed project.  All the new June Releases are all just so lovely!!  Thanks for visiting and see you next time.
Karen McAlpine
Dreaming and Creating

Cloudy By The Sea

Hello fellow Junkies!!

Today is the last day to stop by the Technique Junkies store to get the June Stamp release for 15% off, so don't forget to pop on by and get some of the great summer stamps.

Today, I'm bringing you some inspiration using the gorgeous background stamp called, "Bold Shells #S687".  For my background I created a watercolor background using an oldie but a goodie from the December 02'/January 03' TJ Newsletter called "Watercolor Background".  I then used the Misti, to stamp Versafine Black Onyx ink and because I used watercolor paper, the Misti allows me to stamp twice and get it perfectly lined up and with great vibrancy.  Did you know you can also get extra magnets and replacement grid papers for your Misti at the Technique Junkies Store?

My sentiment is from the "By The Sea #SS060" Set of Six.  This is a gorgeous script sentiment which I stamped over a My Favorite Things stitched cloud die and embossed with Versafine Black Onyx Ink.

Thanks for checking out the inspiration I've created for you today and I'll be back shortly with some more inky goodness from the June release.

Happy Stamping!!

The Crafty Nurse

Beachin' It

Hello folks!  Beth Norman here. Do you ever wonder what one stamp would look like using a variety of techniques?  Well, when I saw this image from the June release that happened to me.  I set out to make one card, but thought, "hmmm" when I came upon a couple of techniques I wanted to try.

My main image is called Beach Buds which I paired up with Beachin it sentiment (And oh boy do I love sitting in the sun on the beach, much to my mom's shigrin.  Yes, I'm a sun worshipper.   I spend many a day at the beach).

This first of three cards uses the Irresistable Rainbow Technique from the Bodacious Background Stamps CD

This CD offers many wonderful background techniques and you know Technique Junkies has many wonderful background stamps.

 From this same CD I used Brayered Resist technique which gives a ghost-like appearance so the sentiment is what really pops.  What a wonderful swirly stamp called Learn to Surf.

Using Beach Buds, once again, I paired it with the sentiment called Beach Day.  My image was stamped over top of Dylusions Shaving Cream technique which I developed and filmed.  You can see my tutorial here.

Well, I hope I inspired you to try making a couple of cards using one image.  Seeing the variety of results is satisfying.

Have a great week!

I'm a little Mermaid...

Greetings Inky Friends!!

This card I found a tutorial from the April/May 2013 Technique Junkies Newsletter called Watercolor Crayons Tutorial.  I began by coloring in blocks of color with watercolor crayons and then using an AquaBrush to blend each color.  I then dropped some water onto the piece and immediately blotted with a tissue picking back up some of the color creating additional texture - which of course the new Pebble Beach stamp covered up! LOL Oh well!

 

I stamped the background using Black archival ink and the mermaid

from By The Sea in blue. Trimmed her out and added a pearl in her shell

popping up both the mermaid and the banner sentiment with foam dots.

Don't forget! You only have until June 8th to SAVE 15% on
ALL the JUNE NEW RELEASES and there are
SO MANY wonderful beachy - summer images this month !!
Perfect for card making, journaling, scrapbooking,
home decor and so much more!!

Until next time...
Happy Creating!
xoxox ~ Tonya :)

Mermaid Tag

I enjoy making cards that will surprise the person who receives it.  This one has a  vellum pocket and a tag behind inside it.  I used several Technique Junkie stamps to create this card: By the Sea SS060 - www.techniquejunkies.com/by-the-sea-set-of-6/ , and Sea Waves S628 - http://techniquejunkies.com/sea-waves/. 

I tore thin strips of a pale blue vellum and adhered those strips on the backside of thin white vellum.  The narrow blue panels at the top and bottom of the card help to create the pocket for the tag to slip in and out of.  I stamped the words from the Near the Sea  from the set By the Sea repetitively on the front  of the vellum pocket.  The base card is stamped with Sea Waves.

The Tag is also stamped with Sea Waves and then the mermaid is stamped over the waves.  It was inked with black Versafine ink, covered with detail black embossing powder, and heat set. The focal verse is also from the stamp set By the Sea.  Ribbons were tied to the tag to pull the tag in and out.

Have a wonderful day -- may the beach be in your future this summer!  And get inky! 

June 2016 Release - Welcome to the hop!

Welcome! Today is June 1st, and Technique Junkies Stamps has 14 brand new stamps for you! This month we have a great beachy-seaside theme that I hope you will love as much as I do. To celebrate,the TJ design team has a blog hop for you to follow to introduce you the to new stamps, show you what we did with them, and to inspire you to create your own art.

PLUS -- all of the June Release Stamps are 15% off through June 8th. Just add them to your cart and the discount will be added automatically at checkout.

Before I take you to the sea, Here is the hop line-up - you can leave this window open and follow along as you go, if you would like:
Design Team Blog: http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com 
Lanette Erickson: http://stacksofscraps.blogspot.com
Karen McAlpine: www.dreamingncreating.blogspot.com
Kathy Stacy: https://craftynurse4u.wordpress.com
Jane Bosi: http://janembosi.blogspot.com
Beth Norman: http://www.sunflowers-dragonflies.ca
Pam DeChellis: http://journeyawakensthesoul.blogspot.com/
Judy Jackson: http://judysstampart.blogspot.com
Tonya Davidson: http://stampintonya.blogspot.com
Pat Huntoon: http://patstamps.blogspot.com
Robin Redd: http://robinredd.typepad.com/reddrobinstudios/
Marilyn Hughes: http://dollsetc.blogspot.com/

The art above uses the new Fishing Boat background stamp. I used brown ink to stamp the background, then colored the image with pastels. The sentiment is one from the By The Sea (set of 6).  I love this boat; it reminds me of summer vacations spent in Cape Cod (MA).

This second piece uses the Seagrass Lighthouse stamp paired with the By the Sea sentiment. Believe it or not, I made this stamp from a photo. I just loved the perspective, and thought it would make a great stamp (I think it did - what do you think?).

I hope you liked my artwork today -- and have fun at the hop. Onward to the fabulous blog of Lanette Erickson: http://stacksofscraps.blogspot.com for your next inspiration!

Enjoy, then get your 15% discount!

Pat Huntoon