Candy’s Supply Book

If you are anything like me, you have trouble remembering which colors of ink, paint and markers you have at home. When this affliction strikes, one of two things is bound to happen when you visit the store.

A. You think you have the product at home, but when you get home you discover you don’t and that you must return to the store to purchase it. Or B. You don’t think you have it home, so you buy it and then you have two! Both options are time and money wasters.

When I found myself buying duplicate Adirondack Paint Dabbers, I decided to take matters into my own hands and I created my very own supply book.

This 5×5 book is ring-binder bound and can easily fit in a purse or bag so you always have it when you need it and the pages can move around, be removed or added as necessary.

I’ve even included a hinge clip at the beginning so you can write down notes for yourself the next time you are in the store. The tabs can be modified to your taste to make it easy to find what you need.

I’ve created custom pages to record Distress Inks (including pads, markers, paints, Stickles, stains and more), Ranger Archival Ink, Memento Ink, Adirondack (including alcohol ink, paint, embossing powder, Color Washes and more), Claudine Hellmuth Studio products, Liquid Pearls, Dreamweaver pastes and F/X, Perfect Pearls, Flower Soft and Stickles. Additionally, five pages will hold color samples for all 358 colors of Copic Sketch markers — printed on X-Press It Blending Card so you know exactly what the colors will look like on your project. Also included are blank pages for recording additional ink pads, embossing powders, mists and sprays, glitter, flock and beads, and pens and markers.

The best part is I’m running this as a class, so you can make your very own supply book, at Capture A Memory in Flint Township. The class is set for Tuesday, April 24 from 5:30-7 p.m. Contact the store for details.

I also plan to make kits available for those who cannot attend the class. I’ll have those up in an Etsy shop shortly.

Glitter Lace Notebook

This glitter notebook is made from a mini composition pad of paper — the perfect size to keep in your purse so you always have paper on hand.

I created it using the lace technique created by Barbara Trombley, the owner of Art Glitter.

I love this technique because although it looks difficult, it is super easy! For a visual demonstration, click here …

First, adhere a piece of cardstock to cover the back cover of the book. I use a corner rounder to trim the right edge.

Now, to the fun part … Adhere a piece of Sticky Paper (with the protective cover to the sticky side up) to the front of the book and corner round the edges. Peel off the backing and position a piece of lace to the Sticky Paper. I used Lace Pattern 2.

Apply the background color (I used Crystal Ultrafine Transparent 85).

Carefully remove the lace and apply the second color (I used True Red Ultrafine Opaque 1)

Place a sheet of scrap paper over the top and gently run a brayer across the top to make sure the glitter is set well. Tap the book on a table to shake off the excess.

And now the finishing touches:

Cut the bookplate with a Tim Holtz Die out of cardstock and then painted it with Adirondack Dabber in Gold.

Stamp the quote (from Tim Holtz) in the center of the bookplate with Archival Black Ink and lightly color the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Adhere it with Designer Dries Clear Adhesive. Attach the bookplate with brads.

Using Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive and the Ultrafine Metal Tip, designate places for the beads (Pearlies Glass Beads 817) including a very thin ring around the inside of the bookplate. Add the beads and let sit for a few minutes. Then, very gently, push the beads into the glue and shake off the excess.

For a final step, fill the bookplate with a bit of Glossy Accents and let dry.

(I received Art Glitter products in exchange for this post).

Christmas Mini Album

I’m probably spoiling the surprise, but I am so in love with this project, I cannot wait to share it …

So, Stephanie, if you are reading, stop now and go to a new site …

My sister, has a new man in her life. He’s a great guy and they have a lot in common. They’ve been together for quite a while and things seem to be getting serious, so I decided to make them a mini album to document their first Christmas together.

I wanted something they could record their new traditions, their love and their time together during this most wonderful time of the year. So, using book covers from 7 Gypsies, I created this …

 

I wanted to give the look of Christmas Eve night, so I used a Tim Holtz mask and then covered the cover with Distress Ink in Faded Jeans and Black Soot. Once that was done, I sprayed it with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist.

For the title, I used one of Tim’s stickers and alphabet stamps from Close To My Heart (with Snow Cap ink from Ranger). The “1” is Grungeboard from Tim and the “st” are chipboard from Maya Road. I stamped both with a Studio 490 stamp from Wendy Vecchi in Archival Ink and then covered them in Distressed Ink and then a layer of Diamond Glaze.

The date is stamped and then covered in Glossy Accents. I added eyelets with the Crop-a-Dial from We R Memory Keepers and then attached some beads and chain. Finally, I added ribbon from Bo Bunny.

Inside, I cut pages to fit from Bo Bunny paper, added embellishments, cardstock, ribbon, etc. and then attached two pages back to back to make them thicker (and hide the backs of the brads, pins, staples, etc. Mini albums are a great place for those leftover embellishments …

Where I left space for photos, I didn’t attach the embellishments completely, so my sister can slip in her photos behind the film ribbon, in this case. It is only attached on the edges and the key is pinned to the ribbon itself.

Since my sister and her boyfriend are going Christmas shopping in NYC, I included pages for shopping, along with pages for holiday treats and family traditions.

I’m not showing you all of the pages because I want some of it to be a surprise, but I hope this gives you an idea of how easy it is to create a mini album of your own — for Christmas or for any special occasion.

My Fairy House

When I found this little wooden bird house at Joann’s for only $1, I knew it would make a cute little project. I had planned to decorate it with birds, but somewhere along the way it turned into a house for fairies.

After a light sanding, I sprayed the house with Adirondack Color Wash in Butterscotch. My plan was to fill in the parts of the house that I knew wouldn’t be covered with paper and didn’t feel like trying to get a paintbrush into. But, I loved the effect so much, I ended up leaving the entire front of the house uncovered.

Next, I dry brushed a bit of silver and gold paint (Ranger’s Paint Dabbers) onto the front.

Then, I cut paper to fit (Graphic 45’s Once Upon a Springtime collection) inked the edges with Distress Ink and adhered it with Craft Glue Dots®.

The ribbon was too white for this project, so I inked it with Distress Ink and then used Mini Glue Dots® to attach it to the house.

I used Grungepaper and a QuicKutz tree die to cut the tree, inked it with Distress Ink and then adhered it with Craft Glue Dots® to the back of the house. I added a few Prima flowers with Mini Glue Dots® and then attached Robin’s Nest Dew Drops and some buttons I had in my craft room with Micro Glue Dots® to both the tree and the front of the house.

The butterfly and fairy peeking into the house were both cut from the Graphic 45 paper. I attached the fairy with a Pop Up Glue Dot® to add a little more dimension.

On each side of the house, I made little windows using an idea I got from a friend. I’m not sure how she made hers, but I used a Creative Memories’ square punch to cut first the inner portion and then the outer portion out of real wood paper by Creative Imaginations. I then attached small prints of fairies cut from the same Graphic 45 paper.  I added Prima flowers and some leaves by Jolee’s that I have had forever to create the look of a flower garden on each side.

To give you a better idea of size, the house is only about 4″ tall — perfect for little fairies!

 

I wrote this post while serving on the Glue Dots® Design Team.

“Glass” ornaments technique

So, I may not be the first one to come up with this technique, but I really did come up with all on my own — as incredible as that sounds!

It started out innocently enough — I wanted to make a bookmark and wanted to play with my new Sizzix Textured Impressions embossing folders. Then, I added a little color and a little more color and thought, hey, I wonder what would happen if I added a bit of UTEE to the top?? Well, let’s just say I “impressed” myself!

Pretty amazing, huh!?

Here are the instructions:

Cut a piece of cardstock to the size of the bookmark you want. (I used white)

Place it in the Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folders (or one of the Tim Holtz folders would work, too) and emboss with the Big Shot or similar cutting tool. (This is the Christmas and Thin Ice set.)

Lightly apply Barn Door Distress Ink with an ink applicator. This will add color to the raised areas and a hint to the rest.

Then, to add a bit more dimension, go over it again, with an even lighter hand, with Fired Brick.

Here’s the cool part …
Turn the Distress Ink Embossing Pad over and lightly run it across the surface of the tag (or bookmark). Don’t worry about it being perfect.

Now, add UTEE and heat.

Then, add Ranger’s new Liquid Pearls to the dots on the ornaments for even more texture and dimension.

To the bottom, because I didn’t want to cover up too much, I added a sticker from the new Seasonal Salvage Stickers by Tim Holtz, a mini safety pin, a strip of ribbon (colored with Distress Ink), a scrap of ribbon and the mini brads by Tim Holtz.

To make the bookmark a little thicker, and to cover the back side, I attached another piece of white cardstock to the back, trimmed it to fit, and then went around the entire edge with Fired Brick Distress Ink.

The Crop-a-Dile easily punches a hole at the top for an eyelet. A few Baubles and a Swivel Clasp by Tim Holtz and a bit more ribbon to the top, and I called it done.

I absolutely love the result. I wish you could feel it through your computer screen, because it is really amazing! It could be a bookmark or a tag for a holiday gift, but it is pretty enough to hang on the tree. (click on the photos for a better look …)

Inspired by Tim Holtz

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Tim Holtz. I love the thought process that goes into making his products — and the ideas he shares to use them after we get them.

That said, you can understand how last week was one of my favorite weeks of the year. I loved the lessons and inspiration he put into his 12 Tags of Christmas.

Although I haven’t had time to try all of the techniques, yet, I did make a custom stamp pad with Distress Ink Re-inkers and Cut & Dry Felt. I even tried embossing after stamping with Distress Ink for a unique “looks wet” sort of look. Here’s the link to Tim’s instructions ...

And, here’s what I did …

Pretty cool, eh?! And, it came out perfect on the first attempt — which is even cooler.

Since rubber stamps are my latest favorite product, I am challenging myself to use them on scrapbook pages. It sounds simple, but it really is more difficult than one would think. So, this was my first attempt at incorporating stamps into scrapbook pages. The paper and ribbon are by Bo Bunny. The stamps are by Tim Holtz and JudiKins. The date is grungeboard letters by Tim Holtz, painted with a Ranger Paint Dabber. (Click on the images to make them larger).

If you notice the date, you will realize why I need to make myself incorporate my new love of stamping into my scrapbook pages!