SC250 & then some: Let It Snow

i am covering quite a bit here – cookies, a project and a tutorial for the Cake in a Box i did…

it is getting quite chilly around here!  i LOVE IT!!  sorry no project post yesterday but Pezzy The Wonder Tot and i DID finally ice the halloween sugar cookies we made.  a number of people asked to see a pic once they were done so here are a few for ya:

can you guess which one was totally pezzy done…?

i will be giving a few of this set to our closest neighbors’ kids:

boy did she have fun!  She is QUITE pleased with herself!

she did actually help – i did the outlines on the cookies and once hardened she helped squeeze the icing and fill in the shapes.  took quite a bit of self control hee heee!  we got sprinkles ALL over the place so once we were done she was sure to scoop up as many as she could!

i DO have a project for PDD Friday though!

As i mentioned i LOVE the concept behind the Pile It On challenge blog and spent way too much time checking out all the links on their blog.  SO i started with the SCS sketch – which i loved!!!  i had SO many ideas for this and the gallery was outstanding for this one.

i coupled it with the challenge at the cuttlebug spot - monochromatic and the cute card challenge – use a charm (i am a little late for this one but oh well.)

i used an oldie but goodie for this one – alcohol ink on tin foil.  This is a super easy technique with alot of WOW factor!  I did a very detailed tutorial awhile back if you want to try it yourself!  the foil pieces were so dark i decided to mat them with pale blue cardstock and edged one piece with icicles using and MS edger punch and crystal stickles.  both large foil pieces have the snowflake embossing folder on them but then i realized the smaller squares fit some fancy squares so i used them too and i am really glad i did!  I usually go over the embossed portions with black staz on but in this case i chose white staz on and it really made the embossing pop!

 Rather than the usual stamping i decided to make a focal point using a sheer ribbon bow and some layered snowflake die cuts i did with my cricut.  i finished off the main piece with a cute lil’ snowflake skittle and added two more to each of the other squares.  The largest snowflake is cut from the same alcohol inked foil – works MARVELOUSLY in the cricut!!

i thought for sure i had a silver snowflake charm but didn’t.  however i did find this little *believe* charm.  i wanted it to dangle but it had a hole in each side so i dug around in my beading stash and made the little bead dangle hanging from the bottom.

Alcohol inks are an INCREDIBLY useful product to have around and nothing else can do their job.  They are formulated for slick surfaces – glass, metal, slick porcelain and can only be used on glossy cardstock.  ranger works the best.  I was a little intimadated by them at first but it turns out they are actually incredibly simple to use and very forgiving – the techniques are real free and loose which is nice.

 

 

want to check out more about alcohol inks?  take a look at some of my other tutorials:

Twist & dismount

Custom Background

Lightswitch Plate

Painting on a Transparency

 

I have received many questions about how i did the cake in the cake in a box project (which appeared in the cricut chirp too!!!).  i do not have a tutorial per se but i can tell you what i did.  using your cricut or nesties cut three consecutive circles 1/2″ different in size.  so if your smallest is 1″ in diameter next would be 1 1/2″ and the 2″.  for the bands i cut 1/2″ strips of paper and then estimated the length of each by wrapping it around the circle.  vary the width of your strip depending on how high your cake will be and whether or not you will punch the edge with an edger punch.  getting the layers to stick together was the trickiest part.  I made little thin strips of paper to use as tabs – 2 for the top layer and 4 for the other two layers.  i attached them to the insides of the layers extending below the bottom and then bent them bent them in flat with the bottom.  i attached this part to the layer beneath – make sense?  i recommend Scor-Tape for attaching everything as it is super super strong.  so i don’t know if that is helpful or not – i hope so!

have a GREAT day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paper: SU bashful blue; Ranger glossy white

Ink: Alcohol inks - stonewashed, cloudy blue, sailboat blue, denim; Staz on – white

Accessories: pezadoodle – skittles, cricut, MS icicle edge punch, stickles – crystal

SC234: cutie pie

SOOOOOO…….i am STILL recovering from all the shenanigans of a high school graduation/family in town.  my (ex) in-laws (i love them) left monday and took the 16 YO with them,  they sat on their plane on the runway for 4 1/2 hours!!!  then their flight was cancelled so they spent the night in a hotel and made it tosan diego yesterday.  i also dropped my mom off at the airport yesterday and then i will pick my brother up saturday afternoon for a BRIEF visit and then drop him BACK off at the airport sunday – YIKES!  he gets research funding from NIH and has to fly up here to present every few months so he always squeezes in a stop here afterward and then heads back home to birmingham.  unfortunately my *spare room* is in my craft room – it’s actually all in one big area in the basement BUT when i have folks here they are always sleeping when i would normally be crafting SO not much done lately and i am way behind with some deadlines.  ONE of which includes the not yet released SEI christmas lines – OH WOW!  they arrived yesterday and they are both OH SO YUMMY so you will want to watch out for those next month when CHA starts.

i DO have a little card for you today tho.  it is actually half my mom’s – she is an artist and does many of my stamp designs including all the nestie frames i have been using lately.  she had never used copics and never does any stamping though.  so she played with them a bit and here is one of her images.  i used an alcohol inked piece from my alcohol ink demo class and some nana’s kitchen paper:

SC234

 it was kind of funny (and kind of not) how we all struggle so much learning to use the copics and she just sat down and colored it right up with no effort. 

however she has such a long history in art in all manner of mediums and also teaches art classes soooo…….

see those cute little red skittles??  yep RED GLITTERED SKITTLES!  they arrived yesterday and ALL preorders have been sent out!!!!  more on that tomorrow so be sure you don’t miss it!

 

 

 

and no wi am off to the grocery store *sigh* i gotta tell ya i am exhausted!!!

Stamps: two scoops rice

Paper: DCWV – nana’s kitchen, SU, ranger gloss paperr

Ink: memento – black; copics; alcohol inks

Accessories: ribbon, glittered skittles

SC233: some watercoloring for PDD Friday

my card today is for the sketch challenge over on SCS this week:

SCS sketch challenge 233

i LOVE this stamp – one of the first my mom drew for me – and decided to emboss with gold and then paint it with twinkling H2Os.  i kept the rest of it pretty simple so the image would stand out.  the green and gold piece is done with alcohol inks.  i just LOVE the glittered skittles and added a few of those – a full range of colors is on the way and should be here by monday!  i can’t WAIT to see them!

video was yet another failtacular so maybe next week i will have it worked out!  my oldest is graduating tomorrow so i will be back to blogging on monday or tuesday!  have a GREAT weekend!

Stamps: pezadoodle – bees a-buzz

Paper: SU certainly celery, creamy caramel; ranger glossy white; pti stamper’s select white

Ink: versamark; alcohol inks - gold, clover, citrus, meadow; distress ink - vintage photo

Accessories: gold embossing powder, twinkling h2os – stargazer, kiwi, icicle, mocha rose, glittered skittles; ribbon scraps; blending solution

OCCC and SFYTT and still NO COLORING…

ok raise your hand if you are tired of seeing this flower stamp and purple and green *raises hand* – i was on a role this weekend and i love all the things i made but by the time i was through i was tired of seeing the same stamp and color combo (even tho it is my favorite color combo) BUT when your on a roll you go with it right? so here are my next two fun things~~

the challenge on Our Creative Corner was to use tags so both of these cards have grungeboard tags on them. Jen’s SFYTT is the second one…

This first one is actually tag 2 from tim holtz’s 12 tags of christmas 2008:

This card was quick and easy and uses a couple of the NEWEST colors in the alcohol ink line - purple twilight and cool peri – i cannot WAIT to get my hands on the rest of the colors – which should be here within the next week!! these open up SO many new possibilities and just in time for spring and summer (the original earthtone colors tend to make me think of fall and winter.) for the card above i used eggplant, purple twilight, cool peri and silver mixative on ranger’s glossy cardstock to make the background piece. next i stamped my image using versamark and then embossed with black embossing powder. next i stamped the swirly image using black archival ink (which is cool because it fades out a bit where it is over silver.) next i added a few swirley white basic grey rub ons and the silver bird charm (from my friend Susana’s Store). i inked the grungeboard tag with milled lavender, stamped my studio g image and used two glittery bead pops (thanks cat) as decorative pieces instead of brads. the black dots are just drops of espresso dimensional pearls (if you find you get *peeks* when using dimensional or liquid pearls just tap the underside gently a few times and they will disappear.)

i cannot stress enough how fabulous these tutorials of tim’s are. if you have ever wanted to learn how to use all the cool products Ranger Ink has to offer his tutorials will show you ALL you need to know and are so clear and easy to follow!!!

next up i have more tim stuff. for this one i used Jen’s Sketch For You To Try this week ->

and came up with this:
i stamped the image with versamark and then carefully sprinkled distress embossing powders on the different parts of the image to *color* it without coloring is that cheating??? for this one i used 5 embossing powders – mustard seed, milled lavender, dusty concord, shabby shutters and peeled paint. i just shake the jars well and take a little pinch at a time, hold it over the area i want colored and slowly move my thumb and finger just a tiny bit so i can control the powders. once they are all down i tap the underside a bit so the powders dance around and cover their areas well. dump off the excess and heat. these powders are different than your regular slick and glossy embossing powders. these have a flat sort of sandpaper distress look which is so cool. the edges are done with an ink blending foam tool and distress inks - first dusty concord and peeled paint and then barely edged with walnut stain. the grungeboard tag frame is painted with dusty concord crackle paint.

All of these items (including the new alcohol ink colors) are on sale right now but hurry! the sale will be ending very soon!!!!!! and then it is back to regular price.

i hope you are all having fun exploring some non-coloring options with me!

**TUTORIAL** playing with alcohol ink…

hi all!!

i have another cute little valentine’s card to share – i can’t for the life of me find where i got the sketch so forgive me – it is apparently not the most current one as i made the rounds of my fave sketch challenge blogs and didn’t see it……

today’s card uses valentine pezzy from Polkadot Pie, the sweetie pie pezzy’s picks kit and a really cool alcohol ink technique background piece i picked up from tim’s 12 tags of christmas (quick tutorial below):

The patterned & black papers and the three buttons are from the bo bunny sweetie pie mini kit i have in stock. the center piece is an alcohol ink background that i ran through my cuttlebug embossing folder. these backgrounds are quick and easy and really add a nice touch!

Here is a close up of the image – i colored her with copics and then accented her shoes and the hearts with my red glaze pen. the alcohol ink background has shades of reds with some copper shimmer running through it.

want to make your own quick background? in appreciation of the new alcohol ink colors coming out here is a simple tutorial for you:

Gather your supplies: 1 alcohol ink mixative, 2-3 coordinating alcohol ink colors, craft mat, glossy cardstock (cut down – smaller pieces are easier to work with), blending solution.

Step 1 -drip some drops of metallic mixative randomly on the craft sheet.

drip random drips of the colored alcohol inks among the mixative drips.

drip blending solution randomly over the alcohol ink – the more you use the lighter your colors will be.

Lay your glossy cardstock piece face down on the drips, move it around a bit to blend and cover – making it sort of pin gives a nice effect. Grab a side or corner and lift the cardstock up slowly. you can usually cover a couple pieces of cardstock with the puddle you make.

now how is that for quick and easy??? oh i cannot wait for the new colors! i hope we will not have to wait long!

In preparation for CHA i will be announcing the details of a BIG giveaway later this week so stay tuned!!!!!