With Heartfelt Sympathy

Hello TJ friends, this is Beth Norman with two fun techniques (sorry, I couldn't find the two techniques I used in the Newsletter).  I needed sympathy cards so I worked on three of them and am happy with how they turned out.

I used one of my ultimate favourite stamps called Flourished Floral and paired it with With Sympathy Set of 5.  How perfect for what I needed.

I heat embossed with white embossing powder and inked it up with Distress markers.  I rubbed the Distress markers onto an acrylic block and watercoloured using the Distress ink I scribbled onto the block.

Please don't forget there is a new release tomorrow and a hop to go along with that.  I look forward to seeing you come back for the reveal.

I hope I have inspired you to try these techniques.  Have a super day!

Sweet & Sparkly

Hello All! Lanette Here!

Today I wanted to share a quick card that I created for my daughter using our Unicorns are Sparkly Stamp (#SDX090). She just loves unicorns and all things sparkly so this stamp is perfect for her!

TJ Products Used:  Technique Junkies Unicorns are Sparkly Stamp, Art AnthologyCotton Velvet, Art Anthology Parrett & Tink Sorbet, Prima Pastels, Versa Fine Print Stamp, Misc. embossing powder & Glitter.

If you would like to see how I created this quick card you can watch my video here:

A few details just for fun..

Here is a better look at the stamp I used today...

Unicorns are Sparkly #SDX090

I just love this stamp its perfect for all the sparkly little ladies out there!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! 

I hope that I have inspired you in some way!

TJ Inkspirations - Tri-Panel Accordion

Today's tutorial is a blast from the past.  The original technique shown here was on the Designer Paper Perfection CD. I have a condensed version of the tutorial below, but if you have the CD, I suggest you look it up on the CD for more specific directions and additional artwork.

Start with a  5 1/2" x 12" piece of card stock. Score the paper at 4", 6 1/2", 9" and 10 1/2". With the 1 1/2" fold facing left, use a bone folder to score the folds as mountain, valley, mountain and valley.

Use the bone folder to flatten the folds.

Mat designer papers or stamped pages onto the first two accordion folds. The first panel of paper is 1 1/4" x 5 1/4" with a 1 3/8"x 5 3/8" mat. The second panel uses a 2 1/4" x 5 1/4" paper with a 2 3/8" x 5 3/8" mat.

Add a layer to the inside of the card with a 3 3/8" x 5 1/4" piece of paper. Stamp the layer, if desired.

Stamp, mat and color the focal image. Punch small holes on the left and right side of the image and thread a ribbon through the holes, with the ribbon running along the back of the image. Adhere the left side of the image to the top panel of the accordion.

Tie the ribbon to close the accordion card.

Here is another sample using the Left Unsupervised stamp as a focal image:

New Products!

I recently added some additional Nuvo products to the Technique Junkies Website. I've added additional Mousse colors, glitter drops and metallic flakes. I will be highlighting them in the coming weeks with techniques on the blog and in the weekly email. I hope you were inspired today! Pat Huntoon

Where I Need to Be...Inspirational Tag

Happy Thursday Junkies! Pam here today to share a quick inspirational tag project. Today's tag uses the stamps Rain Dance (definitely one of my favorites)  and Needed to Be. These two stamps pair so well together.

For the background I decided to play with my Tim Holtz Distress Crayons. Love how these blend so seamlessly.  Then overtop I used a stencil and a baby wipe to lift the crayon and get the "stars" to shine in the background. 

I used my MISTI stamping tool to ensure I got a good image stamping in Archival Black Soot atop the distress crayons. This tool is a must for silhouette stamps like this- a perfect image every time!

Thanks for joining me today and stay tuned here and to my blog for more inspirational tags using these fantastic stamps!

Embrace Imperfection

Pam

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY STAMPS???

Oh, you know, just some deconstruction by Ro! lol

***

Sometimes when I look at stamps, I see them not as they are, but as they could be. Case in point...For my February calendar page, I loved the giraffes, but the sentiment wasn't very Februaryish (that's a word, right?). So, I did a little surgery and cut the sentiment apart from the image...two stamps for the price of one! ;)  I then used the sentiment from Messy Love which fit perfectly with February.

Supplies used: Stand Tall (SD601), Messy Love (S744)

Pretty In Pink Ink (Stampin' Up!), Versamark, Black Embossing Powder, Stampin' Up! Rub-Ons, Washi Tape, computer-generated calendar

***

And that worked out so well, I decided to do it again with another set. I loved the umbrella couple from Survive Together, but I didn't want to use the sentiment. So I stamped it in black and colored in the words. And Partners In Crime is in three rows on one stamp. I wanted to do it in a banner, so snip-snip-snip. I used a different sentiment on the inside of each note card.

Supplies used: Survive Together (SD752), Partners In Crime (SS053)*
Patterned Cardstock from Pink Paislee and Craft Smith, Memento Ink

***

For my last project, I just wanted to have a sympathy card on hand. And these required no surgery! I stamped and embossed the background on some Kraft cardstock and added the sentiment (stamped on vellum) using a decorative clip. I added some score lines to finish off the card.

Supplies used:  Lotus (S242), With Sympathy (SS049)*

Versamark, Kraft Cardstock, Decorative Clip, Score Board, Embossing Powder, Vellum

* Partners in Crime and With Sympathy both include multiple sentiments in their sets. Well worth the purchase! 

***

That's my share for today! If you would like more information on how these cards went together, just leave me a note in the comments and I will happily respond!

Til next time,

Keepin' It Inky!

LIFE IS A SONG AND A RAINBOW

Hello my junkie friends!!! 

I was in Michael's Craft Store a few weeks ago and they had a big display in the papercraft area that stated "Rainbows and Unicorns are the Latest Fun Fab in Papercrafts".  From what I've seen online and in many markets, they might be on to something.  

In light of that statement and motivated by the word "fun", I have been looking at my stamps through rainbow colored glasses lately and what I might have stamped in black or darker ink awhile ago, I chose this silhouette #S613 "Birds on a Fence" to turn it into a rainbow image.  The sentiment is #DF647 "Life is a Song".  I thought the two worked well together, especially with this technique.  

The technique is one I saw the fabulous Kristina Werner do in a recent video.  It intrigued me...so here's my version.  I tried the technique her way and then I changed it in a small way, but it worked so much better for me.  

Instead of applying the inks with the ink pads direct to the stamp, I used my finger daubers, loaded it with the ink color then applied it to the stamp to the portion of the stamp where I wanted the color, then I stamped it.  Without cleaning the stamp, I applied my next color (with a different finger dauber dedicated to the particular color family I'm using), some of the color from the previous color incorporated itself and I got a lovely blend from them.  I did this with each color up the rainbow spectrum.  

I hope this makes sense.  It's really easy to do and it's such fun to watch the results take place.  

What I think is fantastic about this technique is it can be used with line stamps or solid ones.  So have some fun....let those rainbows flow and have some stamping fun.  

Cheers,

   
  

Winter Has a Beauty All It's Own

 Many of us complain about winter, and the ice, and the snow.  But it does indeed have a certain beauty that no other season has -- despite its drawbacks.  If I never had to go out in winter I would enjoy watching the snow and all -- if I could stay warm.  Thus, I go to Florida in January where I can be warm.  But I have a ton of family and friends who LOVE winter, love snow, love being out in the cold weather.

I tried to capture that winter beauty in my card.   I chose to use black card stock and detail silver embossing powder.  I used Technique Junkie Retro Sparkles - http://techniquejunkies.com/retro-sparkles/ and the new Technique Junkie January Release Beauty of Winter - http://techniquejunkies.com/beauty-of-winter/.  Both were stamped on black card stock and heat embossed with detail silver embossing powder.

I used Star Dream silver text weight paper for layering.  The sentiment in punch out, and the silver punched out twice to layer behind the black piece,  A silver ribbon and bow is added.

Have a great day no matter how cold or warm your winter is!  And get inky!

Judy Jackson

Love Knots with Shadows

Today's tutorial shows you how to create a shadow effect using a stamp positioner. I used my MISTI, but any stamp positioner will do! I've included some coloring tips, too, to help you heighten the shadow effect.

I was inspired to create this by the most fabulous shadowing post I have ever seen - from TJ Designer Cheri Weston.  Cheri shows how to create a triple shadow HERE - you would swear the golden image was raised if you didn't know her tricks! Her actual artwork is below (the gold and pink Love Overlay sample).

To start, stamp the Love Knots image on white (or neutral) card stock. I placed the paper squarely in the corner so that I could gauge where to move the paper for the shadow. I used blue VersaFine Ink. Note that I ended up stamping a few pieces of paper before I was satisfied with my shadow - I would suggest stamping a couple of pieces for practice.

Move the paper 1/16" to 1/8" up and to the left. Hold the paper down firmly with the magnets. 

Clean the blue off the stamp, and reink with grey (I used Memento Grey Flannel Ink). Stamp onto card stock.

 o highlight the knots and the shadows, I used Copic Markers to color the images. First I used a  medium blue to color the blue knots.

 I traced over the bottom of each blue rope with a darker blue ink, then used the original markers to blend. Note that I only traced the areas along the areas where the shadow appeared beneath it. Use the shadow as a guide for tracing.

 In case you missed it, this is the piece from Cheri. Isn't this an amazing piece of artwork? You can read about how Cheri did it HERE.

This week starts a month of intense travel. I am blessed to be able to go to CHA (now renamed "Creativation") this week. I come home for a day, then drive my booth from CT to TX for the Plano show (26 hours in the truck by myself - bring on those books on tape!). I have some exciting new products coming to the store in the next few weeks - watch for them here.  And then, I hope to bring you some things back from Creativation, too.  2017 is going to be a great year!

Bear with us!

The store is most definitely open while I am away. Nancy, Andre and I have been working on keeping a healthy stamp inventory - but there may be some instances where we run out of stock on a thing or two. We will mail as much of your order as possible immediately, but there may be a day or two (or three) of delay if we are out of stock on an item. It may not happen, but if it does, we beg your patience! I hope we inspired you today! Pat Huntoon

One Cat Short of CRAZY

Hey Junkies,

The Crafty Nurse here today with one cat crazy card!

I used the Misti stamping tool to create my card today.  The great thing about this tool is when you have a solid stamp, you can still get a really crisp image.  It also helps when you are doing more complex masking like I did here with the January release stamp "Cat Crazy SD701."

I started by stamping each of the "Crazy Cat's" onto my card front.  They were done in Archival Inks in Sepia, Black Soot, & Hickory Smoke.  I then masked all three of the cats and placed the Art Anthology Stencil called "Cracked" over top and stenciled in using Vintage Photo Distress Inks.  I stamped off 3 more of the black cats and then cut out the word "crazy" which I used as my sentiment.

To finish off I created a ground for my kitties to sit on with watercolored distress inks and finished off with more distressing on the edges.

For those crazy cat lovers and stampers alike, I hope you've found a little inspiration today and look forward to seeing what you do with your new Technique Junkies stamps.

Happy Inking,

The Crafty Nurse

How to Create Polished Stone Embossing

Hello folks.  Beth Norman here with a Polished Stone Embossing Technique.  I haven't seen it done before, but that's not saying it hasn't been done.  When I got my hands on Heart to Heart, and Like Stars, I knew I wanted to do something that gives a nice impact that says, "wow."  Why don't I used blending solution you may ask.  Simply put, I can't find it in my stamp studio.  You know how that goes--LOL.

When I tackled this technique I asked myself two questions:  1) Can Polished Stone be done without blenduing solution, 2) Will embossing powder stick to glossy cardstock.  In both instances the answer was clearly a "yes."

Supplies:  Alcohol Ink, felt and blending handle, glossy cardstock

Drip alcohol ink in a random pattern on your felt

Pounce color onto glossy cardstock, covering the entire surface

When you run out of ink, reapply

Two examples of Polished Stone

Supplies for embossing:  stamp, Polished Stone background, VersaMark, embossing powder, heat gun, embossing buddy

Stamp out VersaMark over your stamp and stamp onto your image.

Tip:  when using a large background stamp place your paper on top of your stamp as shown here.

Cover your image with embossing powder and shake off

Heat emboss embossing powder.  She the bits of purple coming through the open spaces?

Your piece is now ready to embellish as desired.  In real life the purple really shines through.

Be Mine times two...

Hello All Lanette Here!

I just wanted to share a couple quick cards that I made using one of my favorite stamps from this months new release. 

I just love these hearts! 

TJ Products Used:  Technique Junkies Love Overlay  , Spectrum Markers,Kaiserkraft bling, Ranger Archival Ink American Crafts cardstock & glitter tape

Here is a better look at the stamp I used today...

This really is a must have for anyone who will be making valentines this year!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! 

I hope that I have inspired you in some way!