Creative Challenge #2

Welcome back Everyone!  We want to announce our monthly challenge for April.  We are announcing it early so you have lots of time to design your project.  This month, we are providing you with a color pallet to use for your project.  We want you to use the following picture to create a scrapbook page, card, or project.  Remember to be creative and have lots of fun with it!  You have until April 19th to get your projects in.  You can enter by dropping your project off at the store, posting to our Facebook page, or leaving a link to your project in the comment section of this post.  We will announce the winner of the contest on Monday, April 22.  The winner will get fun prizes from Bo Bunny and Graphic 45.  Have fun and good luck!!

Show and Tell Time

 Good Morning all!  Today we want to share a bunch of new cards we created using lots of new stamps and dies that we have in the store.  These cards are featured in our first card class of the month.
First off, we have the card to the left which features two great new Easter stamps from Magnolia.  Magnolia stamps have lots of great detail.  Check out the Easter eggs!
We also used scallop circle dies and an ornate frame die from Sizzix.  The butterflies on the card were cut using a new Spellbinder die. 

 The second card features a new stamp set from Darcie's.  These stamp sets are clear mount and come in a set with lots of great images, which gives you a variety of stamps and endless card possibilities.  The tab on top of the tag that pulls out of the pocket is a new punch from We R Memory Keepers.  This punch punches tabs and comes with plastic holders for the tab if you want to use them on file folders.  It's definitely a handy punch to have!

 The next card features a cute stamp from Stampabilities.  This stamp is part of the House Mouse family of stamps.  We have this and lots of other great House Mouse stamps in store now. 
We also used the new chevron embossing folder from Sizzix to create the embossed pattern along the upper left of the card.  The embossed folder was also dyed orange using Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink to give the embossed image some flair.

 The fourth card features a stamp from a new company we have just taken on in stamps.  The gnome and saying on the card come from Woodware Stamps.  These stamps also come in clear mount sets that have various sayings and images. 
We also used a leaf punch from EK Success to make all of the silver fronds you see around the flowers on the card.

 Our next card features one of our favorite stamp companies, Stampavie.  These three chicks are a super cute stamp for Easter.  We also have other festive Easter stamps from Stampavie.  Stampavie stamps are all individual clear mount stamps.

Our last card features the new paper collection, French Country from Graphic 45.  We used lots of great paper layering to make this card.  We added dimension to the card by making pinwheels.  These pinwheels were made using a new punch from Fiskars that punches out the entire pinwheel.  All you have to do is fold the pinwheel spokes over to make the pinwheel.  It's super easy to use and makes pinwheels a snap to make.

We hope you enjoyed our product and card show and tell.  See you all soon!!

Fun Stamping Technique

Hello Everyone!  Welcome!  Today I want to talk to you about a fun technique that can help make your projects one of a kind and that is super easy to do.  We are going to learn how to use a basic stamp and archival ink to give a project dimension and texture.  I am going to walk you through this technique and tell you how I applied it to the frame above. 
First of all, you will notice the above frame looks like it has brown lacy demask print on it.  I actually created this lace effect using a damask stamp from My Mind's Eye and Coffee Archival Ink from Ranger. 
You will first of all need to get out your frame or project and paint it using acrylic paint of your choice.  I used Raspberry Adirondack Dabber Paint to paint my frame.  Allow the paint to dry completely before proceeding.  This should only take a few minutes.
Next, get out a stamp of your choice that you would like to use to give your frame a textured look of some sort.  You may use damask like I did or choose to use any other stamp (maybe flowers, dots, wood grain..any stamp you like).  You will also need the Archival Ink of your choice, just make sure your ink color is dark enough to be seen once you stamp it on the painted object.  Take your stamp and ink it up with your Archival Ink and stamp it directly onto your painted object.  You will do this multiple times so that your entire project is covered with stamped images.  Allow the ink to dry so that it doesn't smear. 
This technique will give your project the look of texture.  It's super easy and quick to do!  You can use this technique on anything you can stamp, it doesn't have to be a painted surface.  You can stamp all over a card to make a fun background, stamp around a piece of paper to make a border, absolutely anything....the sky's the limit!  Hope you had fun learning about this technique!

The Winner Is....

Good Morning all!!  Welcome back!  We are pleased to announce the winner of our first blog contest this morning.  Before we do though, we want to thank all of you who participated.  Our judges had a hard time deciding which of the projects was the winner, but after much discussion they chose the project that best represented the elements of the photo.  So to refresh everyone, this was the picture the projects were based off of:

The project could have one element or all of the elements in the photo.  The project could be a layout, card, or altered art project.  We are pleased to say we had all of these types of projects represented.  So, without further ado, here are pictures of our winner's project.  The judges felt this project best represented the picture.

This is our winning project which is a 12x12" page.  This page used all of the elements from the photo, plus incorporated added touches to make the project pop. 

Check out the layers of the flowers and the beautiful quilling.

Cute accent bugs added to make the project truly pop.

Layered chevron washi tape to give the background a nice touch.

The winner of this contest will receive a stack of paper from the C'est La Vie collection from Bo Bunny, plus fun embellishments from the collection as well.  If this is your project, please come by the store anytime this afternoon or this week to claim your prize.  Congrats to our winner!!!