Seeds of color...

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm excited to share a technique to color an image without picking up a pencil, crayon, brush, or the like. This technique requires some sticky tape (really sticky kind) and seed beads!

While organizing in my studio, I came across some beads that I forgot I owned. (if you're a recovering packrat- skip to the next paragraph! This does not promote a healthy purging habit) I knew we were focusing on color for the blog this month... So...the wheels started spinning! This card is the project that resulted.
These little beads are so inexpensive and add so much texture and color to anything they touch. The ideas are limitless for these lil' beauties! I do believe my love affair with them is reignited.
Here is where the heart started...it was simply a concentric heart from Everlasting Keepsakes. I painted it white, then added a little pink & red then touched it again with some white acrylic craft paint. (the inexpensive stuff). I then took a scrap piece of white cardstock and traced the heart. If you look closely in the lower left corner, you can see my pencil marks.
Anyway, I added two sided super sticky tape from Therm O Web to the traced heart. Make sure to cover all of the area leaving no gaps, otherwise the beads will not stick. Any clear adhesive will work for this-even the creamy kind of craft glue. Next, place the painted chipboard heart onto the sticky tape. Don't worry about the edges being ugly with tape...you trim that off with non-stick scissors.

To finish the heart, just add a mix of colored beads that match your paper and dump them into a container. Press the beads into the adhesive and remove from the container. To fill in any little gaps that were too small for beads, I added Suze Weinberg's Beadazzles "Jazz" which are the tiniest little gold microbeads. I also had some red microbeads that I mixed in as well. They filled in all those areas, wonderfully.

I also added more texture to the card by using two of my newest purchases....my Scor-Pal and Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder. I used the Scor-Pal to create the embossed lines above and below the "i love u" rub-on. I also used white ink to very lightly rub over the embossed areas.

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill; Paper: paper stack from Joann Fabrics stores; Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: Swiss Dots; Concentric Heart: Everlasting Keepsakes; Beadazzles by Suze Weinberg; Sticky tape & foam square: Therm O Web; Rubon: Ki Memories; Ink: VersaFine Cloud ink (white); Scor-Pal; Misc. Craft items: trim, acrylic craft paints, and beads

Here is just a quick and easy sample of the many ways you could add beads to your projects. I used my Sakura Quickie Glue pen to add a bit of glue and accent this stamped image.

Tree stamp:Hero Arts

Enjoy your weekend!
-Stacey

a little frosting...

Hi everyone! I have a quick, easy, and fun technique for you to try as we explore different types of ways to bring color into your projects. One of my most favorite products is glitter---as much as I love it, it does tend to find it's way throughout my house. Thankfully though I discovered Stickles glitter by Ranger Industries and it is perfect for covering small areas. There are so many colors available and I love the way they transform elements with their beautiful shimmer of color.

All I did for this card was to cover the felt accent in a coordinating color of Stickles glitter. After I had applied the glitter, I spread it around with my finger to coat the whole surface. It takes a while to dry, but I really love how it adds that little touch of shimmer and frosts any project just perfectly.

Supplies:

Ranger Stickles glitter and ink

Fancy Pants paper and felt accent

Basic Grey paper

American Crafts rubons

Making Memories alpha stickers

Heidi Grace ribbon

K&Co. fabric brad

EK Success corner rounder

Hope you'll give it a try.

Have a wonderful day!

Melissa

Celebration of Color: Stamping and Watercolor

When I heard we were having a "Celebration of Color" on the Pursuit of Craftyness blog for the month of May, I immediately knew I would be using watercolor. In my pre-scrapbooking/cardmaking days, I was a watercolorist. I just LOVE watercolor - the transclucency, the layering ability, and softness - I love it all. So I'm going to share a few of my watercolor and stamping techniques and I hope you try them when you are stamping.

In this tutorial, the watercolors I will be using are artist's quality watercolors - but only because that is what I have on hand. You can use any transclucent watercolor paints you have.

You will need:
- watercolor paper (140 lb.)
- watercolor paint
- watercolor paint brush
- stamp
- embossing ink and powder
- heat gun


For my first card, "Love Letter", I stamped my image with embossing ink onto watercolor paper, and heat embosssed with black embossing powder. Next, I washed over the image with various colors of watercolor paint. Note that you can put the colors next to each other without making the color muddy, but you have to leave the colors alone or they will turn dark if mixed on the paper. To speed up the drying process, I used my heat gun to dry the paper. After the paper was dry, I went back and added some more color in various places to make some of the objects "pop".

I trimmed my image, matted it and used on this card.


Supplies:
-Cardstock: Bazzill
-Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers
-Watercolor paint (Grumbacher)
-Watercolor paper (Canson 140 lb. cold pressed)
-Stamp: Hampton Art (Correspondence/Quill Collage & Love Struck)
-Ink: Ranger / Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Clear Embossing & Black Soot)
-Embossing Powder: Ranger (Black)
-Other: Jute

On my next card, I used the watercolors as you would colored pencils or markers - that is, adding color to specific places of the image and even outlining. On my "Forever & Always" card, I stamped the image with black pigment ink, then added paint to the background behind the doves. Again, I used the heat gun to dry the first wash of color. Next, I applied the same color but only closer to the birds, to darken the area closest to the birds.

Next, I used the fine tip of my watercolor brush and outlined the wings with blue, and outlined the banner with green. I added yellow to their beeks. For a bit of sparkle, I used white stickles on their wing caps and let dry. I trimmed the image and used on this card.


Supplies:
-Cardstock: Bazzill
-Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants, Dream Street Paper, Flair Designs
-Stamps: Hampton Art (Love Struck;Intention
-Watercolor Paint (Grumbacher)
-Watercolor Paper (Canson 140 cold pressed)
-Flowers, Felt and Button: American Crafts
-Ink: Brilliance Pigment Ink (Archival Black)
-Stickles: Ranger (Star Dust)
-Border Punch: Fiskars
-Other: Thread, Corner Rounder

I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the wonderful world of using watercolor paint and stamps together. I'd LOVE to see what you create, so please share. Have a wonderful day and check back in a few days for more colorful inspiration!

Alcohol Inks - Have You Tried them???

HI! I'm Linda Beeson (you might know me better as lbpost!) and I get to bring your some COLOR today!
There are so many mediums available to the crafter to "color in" an image but Alcohol Inks by Ranger provide a great set of products that allow you to create a wonderful, colorful piece of paper that can then become the foundation of a project. When you are done you now have a background for your work of art or you can use portions of what you have created, like punching out a circle, etc.

For this card, I stamped a vine background stamp by Cornish Heritage Farms on a piece of white, glossy paper. That was embossed with white embossing powder. My paper was now ready to start "creating" my background.
Let's get started!
First gather your supplies. The Aidorondack Alcohol Inks come in a variety of colors and you are going to want to work with at least three, plus one of the metallic inks. These inks will work alone, but the point of this process is to use the Alcohol Blender Solution with the inks. A coated paper or glossy paper is your best foundation but uncoated papers will also work. The inks won't "float" around as well on an uncoated paper so you won't get the same effect but you can still get some interesting backgrounds. The main process that you are going to work with is drops of the inks along with the blending solution on a glossy paper. If you are one who loves to play and loves unusual outcomes then you are going to have fun!

Take a piece of glossy paper. Starting out with one that is larger then what you are going to need for your intended project is good because you will have working room and you might have some great "leftovers". It works best to give the paper a thin coating of the Blending Solution. I like to drop a few drops around the paper and then use my finger to move that around to coat the paper. Now drop a couple drops of each color into the Blending Solution.

The photo is showing the paper coated with the Blending Solution and I have just dropped three colors onto this surface. You can see that the inks instantly start spreading. You can start with just one or two colors and then add as you go along. The inks come with a "dropper" top to them so you can gently get just one drop at a time. You really don't want to use much of any of the products because they are going to move and blend and cover your paper. The inks in themselves would dry very quickly but it is the Blending Solution allows you to play and to continue to blend. The inks can even dry and you can come back with more Blending Solution and change the look of your project. Now drop a few more drops of the Blending Solution over the colored drops. All of the colors will keep moving and "blending". Add in another color at this point or a couple drops of one of the Metallic colors. A splash of silver or gold ends up being stunning.

What is really fun about using these inks and the Blending Solution is you can just keep playing and blending or you can stop. If you stop and it is drying and your aren't happy, play again. Add a new color, add more Blending Solution. It just changes with everything you do and I haven't ever had a piece that is "ruined".

Here is the finished project using the colors that I have shown above.

This makes a wonderful surface to then add a stamped image too. For this card I also added a few rub-on words. I have used both Stazon ink and Versafine ink to do my stamping.

Thanks for visiting Pursuit of CraftYness blog today!
Linda

Materials:
Cardstock
Glossy cardstock
Fete Days/Calendar stamp – Art Declassified
Black stamp pad – Versafine/Tsukineko, Inc.
Adirondack Alcohol Inks – Ranger
Adirondack Alcohol Blending Solution - Ranger
Rub-on words – LUXE
Rhinestone swirls – Prima

Head over heels for Copics COLOR

Hi My name is Kelly...I have fallen head over heels for Copics markers I am always looking to play with them in new and interesting ways. This Tutorial I have done was to inspire you to play as well. If you do not have Copics do not fear... You can use your color pencils to a softer effect.
This little book started as an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of Shrinky Dink plastic and is now about 3 1/2 x 5.


I started with the supplies above... Shrinky Dink Plastic...Who does not LOVE this stuff.
Prima Paintables....GROWN UP COLORING PAPER!!! and Copic markers and Blender... I have a small collection. I try and add a few here and there as I go. Head over to Ellen Hutson's store she has them as and she is great with shipping. She has a tone of great supplies in her store... Including the airbrush system and supplies you can use with these markers... FUN STUFF!



So My idea was to create a small book cover...
I am not that talented to hand draw all the flowers to scale so I took advantage of the Pattern Prima Paper. I laid it out on my table and line up the Shrinky Dink plastic on the top rough side up. I took my softest shades of my colors I wanted and started to color within the imaginary lines that were coming from beneath. "TIP" a piece of tape to keep it from moving may help.
Once all the soft tones are used gather your more intense shades.




In the above pictures you can see I used the Copics to add emphasis to the edges and shadows and more detailed areas of the leaves and flowers and twigs and swirls.... Remember this is YOUR ART. Use the underlying paper as GUIDE. There is no mistakes!

Then I grabbed my COPIC multiliner... and drew. I drew all the little details and outlines. Taking the paper beneath as a cue and adding in any additional details as needed and making variations to work with my end result.

I now grab my all time favorite Copic item, MY COLORLESS BLENDER. Using your blender start to blend the intense color into the softer shades. The amount of blending you do is up to you. For me it depends on the types of project you are doing.

Using a hole punch, punch holes for your ribbon to bind the book. I used a 1" punch, a 7/8th would work and so would a 1 1/8 inch punch. REMEMBER the holes will shrink as well. A regular hole punch will be too small for ribbon and could possible close depending on the size.

Put in the oven and BAKE at 325 until it SHRINKS, and lays flat again.

Cut your pages as many as you need do the same as above for the back cover of the book. Tie with ribbon. A great unique one of a kind gift you can give to mom, your sister or friend. This could also be done by your kids, for a totally different feel and end result. Pull out your favorite coloring cooks and let them have fun. Add a magnet to the back and create fun fridge art... The Possibilities are ENDLESS!!! Explore them with all the color your heart desires!

I hope you enjoyed this little project... Plase come back and link me to a Shrinky dink color project you do.

Have a great weekend and a WONDERFUL Mothers Day this upcoming weekend.

A Colorful Mother's Day Gift

I decided for Mother's Day a great gift for my Mom would be a decorated box filled with all occasion cards. My Mom seems to have endless needs for cards to give to friends, co-workers and fellow members of a club she participates in. The box when empty can double then as a keepsake box for little mementos, jewelry or maybe I'll have to offer a card "refill" option!!

When gathering the supplies for this project I knew I wanted to work with a line that was generic enough to use for birthday's, anniversaries, get well etc. Here's a list of the supplies I chose:

Bo Bunny "Ella" Paper & Sticker Collection, Enchanted Rub ons, Flora Rub ons, Anna Sophia Rub ons, Thank You Rub ons, Which Way Chipboard, Melody Pink Alphabet, Heart Brad and Double Dot Ribbon
Paper Mache Box
American Craft mini polka dot ribbon and Precision Pen .03
Ranger Stickles: Lime Green, Yellow, Cotton Candy
Stampin Pastels
Bazzill Cardstock
Making Memories "Strawberries & Cream Paint", Small Tag & Wide Scallop Scissors
Paper Salon Mini Alphabet stamps
Colorbox Fluid Chalk Inks: Lime Pastel, Rose Pastel, Yellow Citrus, Rouge
Heidi Grace "Greetings" Clear Acrylic stamps
Cricut
Corner Rounder Punch
Marvy Mega Scallop Punch

I first gave the box a light coat of pink paint. This will help with any little gaps or spots to keep a consistent look. I then wrapped the box with the papers, traced along the top lid edge and cut out the paper to match. I then decorated the lid with chipboard embellishments for added dimension.



I created a gift card to go along with it. I used rubons on the circle then layered then onto the scalloped circle. I stamped the MOM onto a tiny Making Memories tag and added that to the circle with a brad. I adhered the circle with foam adhesive for a bit of dimension. I used another rubon that I tucked under the circle.

For each card I wanted to use my rubons..but I wanted to pull some additional color in given they are black. I also wanted to use come supplies that have been gathering a little dust...my chalks!

On the cards I applied the rubon. I then used a q-tip (my method of choice) and colored in the flowers and traced the leaves and stems. After I colored those in..I then went back over some of the flower centers and leaves with the Stickles glitter. This not only gave added dimension but beautiful sparkle. The rubons seem to come to life and become 2 dimensional with the added color.

After completing this project and seeing how the black rubons just pop with the added touch of color..I think I'll be doing this alot more!

To finish off in honor of Mom's day..I'd love to see what you can do with a touch of color and your rubons! If you'll post a link here on the blog to your project..I'll draw a name to receive a copy of the beautiful Heart & Home Magazine!

Thanks so much! And Happy Mother's Day..a few days early!!

Julia

Not a blogger

Hello, my name is Jessica, and I'm not a blogger. I am, however, a self-proclaimed crafter of the highest caliber.

I can stamp for days on end without sleep, requiring only 7 ounces of water to drink, a single snack size Twix bar, and 12 Fritos for sustanance. Carol Duval has me on speed dial and Martha insists on calling me her "BFF." My cards and paper craft projects can be seen in an exclusive stamper-only gallery at the The Louvre. I once saved a small developing people group in New Guinea from total destruction using only Mod Podge, one bamboo skewer, and a bottle of Fray Check. Yesterday morning I wallpapered my living room, dining room, and half bath with this Boxer Fedora patterned paper by Basic Grey and still had time to teach my 4 year old to knit. And yet, I have never blogged.

First, you should know these things:

1. My style is lazy clean and simple. Not to say that clean and simple is easy. It's just that 99% of the time, clean, simple, graphic, etc. is what happens when I sit down to make something. I so envy all of you who can add just the right embellishments and layers. Layers scare me. So do embellishments. Except ribbon. Ribbon loves me.


2. In my previous life (i.e. before 2 children) I was an editor of radio scripts for an internationally broadcast radio program. And you know what's great about editing/writing for radio? You write how people actually speak, which is not necessarily grammatically correct. So, I am embracing that ideal for blogging. I think it's brilliant because I love incomplete sentences. A lot. However, I cannot spell. At all. So, I use google as my own personal dictionary.


3. I am technically challenged. I do not own an ipod. I can call people on my phone and... yeah, that's about all I can do with it although I'm sure it has lots of other fancy functions. I can Tivo, but that's about the limit of my techy-ness. Chalk any blogging errors up to this fact.


4. Yes, I realize I am wordy. Verbose. Long-winded. All that. And I know some of you just want to get straight to the project pictures. So feel free to skip all the words. I won't be offended. I mean, I would be offended, but I'll never know, will I? It's a win-win situation.

And now for the said project and pictures. It's a detour (yes, I just googled "detour") from the paper crafted items that you might be expecting, but still utilizes some of my best friends... stamps. And one of my new best friends... sculpey clay.

Here's what you can love about sculpey:

1. It's cheap. Like 99¢ a block. Right up my alley.


2. It's easy. Especially since I've made all the mistakes for you and can definitely tell you what *not* to do.
3. It requires no fancy tools. (Did I mention I'm lazy?)
   
4. It is a very forgiving medium. If you mess up, just ball it up and start over. (This is a great relief to someone who has trouble actually making the first cut into that pretty patterned paper for fear that I'll end up making a mistake and wasting it. Anyone else feel my pain?)

The first project up is a nametag for my DS's backpack.

Here's what ya need:

• Sculpey (I used black)
• Pearl Ex Powder (I used True Blue)
• Sculpey Glaze (I used Gloss) or Future Floor Wax
• Stamps (I used Casual Chic Alpha by Paper Salon and a little stamp from the Polka Dots & Petals set by SU)
• Key ring

Tools:

• something to cut with - clay artists use a long razor blade tool... I used a 6 inch plastic ruler
• something to roll with - I actually purchased a small pasta maker from Joann's for this; there are super cheap rollers in the clay section of most craft stores if you prefer (but remember... me = lazy; I say go with the pasta maker)
• a non-stick sheet of some sort - I used non-stick foil; Ranger's craft sheet or a Silpat, etc. would work, too. (Con - the clay did stick stick to the foil. Pro - the foil did not leave any texture on the clay like some of my craft sheets did.)
• something to make holes with - I used my anywhere hole punches and a skewer
• brush for sealant

Directions:

1. Cut off a chunk of clay (1/4 of the block) and warm it by holding it in your hand. Knead it a bit and then condition it by rolling it through the pasta maker several times (my pasta maker was set on 8, which seems to be about a 1/4"). Try to get it to a somewhat rectangular shape.


2. Cut a long straight edge with the side of the ruler. Make another cut to create a 90° angle. This will give you a straight edge to use while placing your letter stamps.


3. Stamp the name and circle image into the clay. (My letter stamps are polymer stamps, the circle image is rubber. Both worked really well. The clear stamps were pretty awesome for placement's sake.)


4. Cut the other two sides of the rectangle. Make a hole through the circle image. *Gently* smooth the edges of the rectangle by running your finger over them.


5. Open the P.E. powder and tap some into the lid. Use your finger to pick up some powder. *Gently* rub the powder onto the image, trying to cover only the "mountain" parts of the image and trying not to hit any of the "valley" parts of the image. You can also use a brush for this, I just felt like I had better control with my finger.


6. Bake the piece at 275° for 15-20 minutes. I just left the image on the foil I was using and transferred the toil to a baking sheet. I did loosen the image from the foil first, though.


7. Let the piece cool. This happens pretty quickly.


8. Use a brush to apply the glaze. This is necessary to seal the Pearl Ex to the clay; otherwise it will wear off over time. I used Sculpey glaze on this particular project because it is thicker than the floor wax. This item will be handled a lot, so I wanted to protect it as much as possible.


9. Bake again for 10-15 minutes. Recoat and rebake if desired (I did). At this point, you could also add more info (full name, parent names, and phone number) to the back of the nametag if you'd like. You can either write it on with a sharpie (silver would show up against the black clay) or print it out with a labeler and stick it on. If you do sharpie, just let it dry, then seal the back and bake it again. (This will keep it from scratching off.)


10. Thread onto key ring.

The jewelry charms were made in the same basic manner. I used floor wax instead of glaze on some of them. If you look at the "original" charm, you can tell that it is not as glossy as the nametag. Future is great for a more satin finish; the Sculpey Glaze Glossy is just that... very glossy. If using Future, I would recommend doing at least 2 coats of it, baking in between each coat.

Random notes... do *not* use spray paint to paint naked Sculpey. I tried it and trust me, it does not work. It is actually very tricky because it appears to work, but because of the chemical interaction with the clay, it turns sticky a few days later. In my case, this would be just after you have given the lovely pieces of jewelry to your friend for her birthday. Not awesome. If you do want to use spray paint, you have to seal the item first, then spray paint it. (I haven't tried this, though.) Also, remember that this project is very forgiving. Perfection should not be the goal. I ended up with some of the PE in the valleys of the stamped images. I just tried to brush it out to even it a little and it turned out fine once the glaze was on.

For further info, here's a great site with easy to understand explanations of all things polymer clay: http://www.polymerclayweb.com/

Also, please note that the opening paragraph of this post was completely inspired by this satirical essay written by Hugh Gallagher. Go read it... it's hilarious!

Thanks for stickin' with me through this, the longest blog post ever.

Jessica