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ALL NEW PAPER!!

1/29/2019

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We JUST unloaded a bunch of new paper!!

This grouping is all from BoBunny!!

This is the Bee-utiful You Collection... This color palette is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

DID YOU SEE THE BEES!!! AHHHHH!!!! We love them!!

And just look how bright and cheerful this one is!! This is the Sweet Clementine Collection <3

But what we are REALLY excited about is the ALL NEW LACE PAPER!!!!

The detail in these papers is just WONDERFUL and works great for making Wedding Invites!!

Even these bright tones are SO GORGEOUS!!

Stop by to pick out all your favorites!! We would LOVE to show you all the newest stuff!!

We can always ship items to you too... so if you see something on our blog you NEED to have, give us a call to have it mailed to you!!

360-647-9663

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Gel Plates and Nature Printing

1/25/2019

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Last week for Demo, Wendy was the demonstrator!! She showed her take on Gel Plates and Nature Printing!!

Just LOOK at how fantastic these designs are!!

Gel Plates:

What is a Gel Plate? Gel Plates are a soft bit of acrylic.. it is like a squishy, clear block... and it feels a bit like hard gelatin!

To use a Gel Plate:

Take some Acrylic Paint and squirt a *tiny bit* onto your Gel Plate. Use a Brayer to roll out a thin coat of paint across the Gel Plate. Use Stencils, textured ribbon, leaves, feathers, etc, to make impressions and designs into the Gel Plate! Then take a piece of card stock and press down onto the Gel Plate, use the Brayer on the backside of the card stock so the paper picks up the entire image. This process is called "Mono-printing" (roughly translated, it means a "single print")

Here, Wendy rolled on gold, purple, and copper Acrylic Paint and then laid down some dried foliage and finally rolled on some Black Acrylic Paint at the end. She removed the leaves and did a mono-print!

Wendy took the leaves from the above Gel Plate and placed them down and did another mono-print of just the leaves... I love how you can see how intricate the leaves are!!

It's fascinating how different the outline of the leaf looks vs. when a mono-print is done with the leaves included.. you get way more detail when you print the leaves after they have Acrylic Paint on them!

Ok, now for Nature Prints!!!

Wendy has explored the world of Nature Printing for awhile now... and you can too if you have a Home Die-cut Machine!!

Organize your Big Shot die-cut Machine with the following layers: Base Plate (with all the flaps folded back), a piece of scrap paper to catch ink, a CLEAN cutting plate (no cuts in it) with Versafine Clair inks pressed onto it, a few foliage pieces (or feathers, flowers, etc), a piece of white card stock to print on, another piece of scrap paper, and your final cutting plate.

When you roll the above layers through your die-cut machine, you can get some AMAZING PRINTS!!

Check these out.. Wendy did the same technique as above, though this time when she put Versafine Clair inks on the CLEAN cutting plate, she also used some stamps to make impressions in the ink (look for the swirl images below) and THEN she laid down feathers!!

LOOK HOW STUNNING THESE ARE!!!

The Nature Printing technique is SO MUCH FUN because not only do you get this impression of natural images, but you also get THE TEXTURE!! Literally, the paper is textured like the foliage or feather you chose.. you can even feel the veining on the card stock!!

There are SO MANY options for doing Nature Prints! What exciting combo can you come up with? Ferns and green inks? Maybe dried flower prints in pink and orange inks? THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!!

Stop by to see AND FEEL these samples.. you will want to explore this idea further.. Such amazing ideas, Wendy!!

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Tuesday with Wendy, Jan 22

1/25/2019

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This week for Wendy's card making class, Wendy was at it again designing cards you can use for Valentine's Day!!!

(And let's admit it... who doesn't love receiving a Valentine?!!?)

Check out how wonderful the cards are!!

The first card Wendy made was inspired from this set from Taylored Expressions, You Make My Heart Soar as well as 2 sets from Penny Black, Heart Balloons and Hearts Galore

To make the card:

Start with a pink piece of card stock as your card base
Take a piece of red card stock and a piece of Gold Stardream paper. Use your Home Die-cut Machine to cut out 2 sizes of the Heart Balloons at the same time.
ON THE INSIDE OF THE CARD, adhere the BACKGROUND of the the balloon cut-outs.. Take the Gold Stardream paper (with the Heart Balloon cut out of it) and adhere it with double-sided tape. THEN place the red card stock that is ALSO balloon shaped (with the little balloon shape cut-out of the middle) and adhere that in the middle of the balloon cut-out in the middle of the card. The red card stock Heart Balloon should fit PERFECTLY in the Gold Stardream cut-out Heart Balloon. You will have a piece of pink card stock peeking through that looks like a little pink heart balloon!
Stamp your sentiment, "Wishing you tons of love xoxo" in the middle of the pink heart balloon shape using Versafine Clair ink, Charming Pink and use Detail Gold Embossing Powder and heat-set it.

Next, ON THE FRONT OF THE CARD, lay down a piece of Lavendar Stardream paper and adhere it with double sided tape.
Now take a piece of Shizen Handmade Cotten Paper and cut out the die-cut, Hearts Galore (SAVE THE CUT-OUTS!! You can use those in a future card!). Now take the paper that has the little hearts cut out of it and adhere it onto the front of the card base, on top of the Lavendar Stardream paper
Take your 2 Heart Balloons and layer them on the front. Use the Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive to adhere the large Heart Balloon first. Then, use a pop-dot to pop-up the little Heart Balloon in the middle of the big Heart Balloon.
Tie a little bit of purple twine on the end of the little Heart Balloon and wrap the twine around the card and use a little bit of Deluxe Adhesive to hold the twine in place.
Next, stamp the Elephant image with Versafine Clair ink, Monarch. Fussy-cut the Elephant image and use a pop-dot to adhere him to the front of the card. Tie the other side of the twine around the trunk of the little elephant so it looks like the Heart Balloons are helping him soar!!

Isn't this such a sweet card?! I love how she used the Heart Balloons AND the reverse cut-outs to make this card fun on the inside and the outside!!

The next card that Wendy designed was made using the same 2 Penny Black die-cuts, Hearts Galore and Heart Balloons

To make the card:

Start with a piece of coral-colored card stock as your card base. Cut a piece of floral-themed paper and mount it onto the front of the card base using double-sided tape.
Use a piece of red card stock to cut out one of the Heart Balloons. Use the REVERSE heart-cut out piece and overlay a piece of Acetate on the back (so you have a heart window with Acetate covering it). Adhere the Acetate in place with double-sided tape.
Next, use Mounting Tape (on the Acetate side of the heart window) to wrap around the outside of the heart shape. Then tuck in the "confetti" heart cut-outs from the Hearts Galore die-cut, and adhere it to the front of the card base on top of the floral paper.
Take a small piece of Gold Stardream paper and cut out a smaller Heart Balloon and cut the "balloon tip" part of it so it looks like a normal heart. Use double-sided tape to adhere it in place.. Wendy was clever in designing this card.. she placed the gold heart so it COVERS the "balloon tip" of the heart window we created earlier
To finish off the card, Wendy used an *even smaller* piece of floral paper and cut a final small Heart Balloon and ALSO cut off the "balloon tip" part. She then mounted the heart onto the gold heart using a pop-dot.

I love how this card turned out!! This card is really fun as a Shaker Card.. but doesn't HAVE TO be one! The Acetate over the heart window is just so fun on it's own!!

The last card that Wendy designed was made using this STUNNING stamp set from Darkroom Door, Nature Walk, this die-cut from Paper Rose, Stitched Ovals as well as this sentiment stamp from Impression Obsession, One Person.

To make the card:

Wendy started out with an ivory-colored card stock and layered a piece of Gold-Leaf Stardream card stock onto the front of the card.
Then, Wendy used her Home Die-cut Machine to die-cut a Stitched Oval for the front of her card, she cut this out of the same ivory-colored card stock as her card base.
On the Stitched Oval, stamp the wildflower and sprigs from the Nature Walk stamp set. Wendy stamped with 2 colors of ink: Versafine, Smokey Grey AND Versafine Clair, Morning Mist. The 2 shades of grey look SO GOOD together!! Wendy stamped the images several times so you get the shadow effects from the "ghost" stamping
Then, Wendy stamped the sentiment on the same color of ivory card stock with the Versafine Smokey Grey ink. She tore the paper around the sentiment to give it a "distressed" look. Then she used the Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive to adhere the sentiment to a piece of dark brown card stock. She then tore around that card stock too so that she got a layered/shadow effect
Wendy mounted the sentiment to the front of the card by using a couple pop-dots

Isn't this just a GORGEOUS CARD? I love how simple and elegant it looks... fantastic design!!

Have you always wanted to take a card making class?? Give us a call to sign up for the next one!

Tuesday, February 5th
$10 class fee
*3 class times available*
PLEASE SIGN UP AHEAD OF TIME!!

360-647-9663

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Embossing Powders, New Ideas!!

1/18/2019

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This week for Demo, we played around with Embossing Powders!!

What is Embossing Powder?? It is a Powdered Resin that melts at 450 degrees. Embossing Powder will stick to wet ink, something sticky (such as double-sided tape), or even paint! You MUST use a heat gun to melt the ink to reach the desired 450 degrees to melt the powder.

...And before you even ask NO YOU CANNOT USE A HAIR DRYER!! (I tried! It broke my hair dryer!! Why won't this work?? Because a hair dryer will NEVER reach 450 degrees... it would melt your head!!)

Please use a heat gun, we sell them here at the store and they are a wonderful tool to have on hand :-)

Traditionally, to do Heat Embossing, you'll need:

A Heat Gun
Ink (Pigment Ink works best)
Embossing Powder
Stamp

First, stamp your image with Pigment Ink, sprinkle on Embossing Powder (cover the entire image and shake off the excess back into the bottle), and then use a Heat Gun to heat-set the image.

You can use:

Colored Pigment Ink with Clear Powder -- When you stamp an image with Colored Ink and Clear Embossing Powder, you get a raised image in the COLOR OF INK you chose

Clear ink with Colored Embossing Powder -- When you stamp and image with Clear ink and Colored Embossing Powder, you get a raised image in the COLOR OF POWDER you chose

Multi-colored Embossing can be REALLY fun!!

Stamp your image with Pigment Ink (such as Versamark or Versafine)
Sprinkle on one color of Embossing Powder and shake off the excess in ONE DIRECTION off the page so the powder doesn't cover the entire image. Put excess powder back in the bottle
Now sprinkle on a second color of Embossing Powder, this time covering the entire image. Shake off the excess and put it back in the bottle.
NOW heat-set the entire image and watch in awe as the powders melt together to create beautiful tones!!

Now that we've explained HOW heat-embossing works, we can show you NEW WAYS to use it!!

Did you know Embossing Powder sticks to Acrylic Paint?!!? That's right.. you can paint an image.. taking your time to add in details.. and THEN sprinkle on Embossing Powder. The powder will stick to the Acrylic Paint. When you heat-set the powder, the powder will melt in the areas where it stuck to the paint!!

Here, I used 3 colors of Embossing Powder to colorize the Octopus (Carnelian, Detail Gold, and Detail Black). After the Octopus was colored, I went back in with Acrylic Paint to create suction cups and used Detail Black Embossing Powder. I heat-set the image again, this time only the Detail Black Embossing Powder on the suction cups melted... the rest of the image retained it's detail

Did you know... Embossing Powder STICKS TO TAPE?!!?!?

Yes, it does!! You can take a strip of Double-Sided Tape and lay it on your paper... maybe create a grid or plaid.. and then apply your Embossing Powder (I buffed in the powder a little bit into the tape to make sure the powder stayed STUCK to the tape!!) Shake off the excess Embossing Powder into the bottle and heat-set the Embossing Powder that is stuck to the tape.

IT IS SO COOL!! I love how you can make a quick frame for your sentiment.. and the sentiment can be stamped and embossed in the SAME COLOR!!

Ok, Ok... now for the good stuff!!

YOU CAN EMBOSS ON ROCKS!!

Stamp an image with Versamark ink, apply Embossing Powder, and then Heat Emboss with your heat-gun! **THIS TAKES AWHILE** to heat because the rock has to heat up.

THE ROCK IS VERY HOT after you melt your Embossing Powder, so please be very careful. I recommend waiting for about 5 minutes before touching the rock so it has plenty of time to cool down.

You can also HEAT EMBOSS ON TILE!!!!!

Stamp your image with Pigment-Based ink and then emboss with Detail Clear Embossing Powder

**THIS TAKES AWHILE TO SET** because the tile needs to heat up. The tile will be VERY HOT for about 5 minutes. Be careful!! I usually wait for the tile to cool completely before I touch it.

The leaves will be raised up in the color of ink you chose.. the effect is WONDERFUL and hot glasses will be able to sit on it without harming the embossed image. HOW COOL IS THAT?!

With this next idea, you can use die-cut letters to cut out a word. Then, take the Super Soft Blending Brushes and brush Versamark, clear ink, over the words and sprinkle on Embossing Powder. The powder will stick to where you applied the ink! Heat-set the image to make the words pop on the paper!! Back your words with a bright-colored paper.

Do you have a large selection of Embossing Powders? Well, now is a great time to get them out and play!!

We are FULL of ideas and inspiration around here, so if you need any help, feel free to stop by!

360-647-9663

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Life Changing Blending Brushes

1/11/2019

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This week for Demo, we learned all about the AMAZING new Picket Fence Life Changing Blending Brushes!!

Picket Fence Blending Brushes are for blending your Dye-based or Pigment-based inks. The bristles are SUPER SOFT and are made from synthetic, plastic fibers. DO NOT GET THESE NEAR YOUR HEAT GUN!!! (otherwise those super soft bristles will melt!!)

There is SO MUCH you can do with these brushes!! There is a nice video up that really helps show how these brushes work.. and if you haven't played with the brushes yet, I highly recommend watching it!!

Now, at first glance the brushes look like foam... but they are actually brushes with SUPER DENSE bristles so you can really blend those colors together!!

Did I mention yet that these brushes are HEAVENLY SOFT?!!? Because they are. I mean it feels like FUR!!

Right off the bat, we talked about blending with Distress Inks. I LOVE Distress Inks because you get the BEAUTIFUL gradation of color!!

Here, we blended from Olive tones to Yellow tones using one of the brushes from the LARGE SET... just look how beautiful that blend is!!

Look how easy it is to cover a piece of paper!! Here we just used a few colors to show how a sunset background might be created...

Here is another fun way to use your brushes!

Just stamp an image with Versamark ink and heat emboss with detail white embossing powder.

Then brush your inks over the top to reveal the image you stamped!! In the sample below, see how we stamped and embossed the image "Yes, but no, but yes" from Impression Obsession. Then, we used 4 colors of Distress Inks to go over the image

In the Small Set, there are these skinny blending brushes... which I love to use for creating shadows!!

We used the Distress Ink, Weathered Wood as the background color and used the 2 sizes of skinny blending brushes to add in the Distress Inks Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire around the banner image below... just look how you can really get in the corners of the image!!

You can also blend with your pigment inks!! Here, I used the new Versafine Clair Inks to show how EASY it is to blend them together!!!

First, we stamped and embossed an image with detail black embossing powder.
Then, we brushed in some inks.. starting with the Versafine Clair Warm Breeze, then Twilight, and finally Nocturne at the top.
Next, we took a little bit of Brush Kleener on the end of a blending brush and buffed-out a Moon!!
We "flicked" a little bit of Brush Kleener across the image to look like a night sky.
Finally, we took the Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen and made the Moon look iridescent!!

Isn't this SO COOL?!?!

Now, traditionally, once the Versafine Clair inks are dry, they are waterproof. But one of our customers at Demo suggested using Stamp Cleaner (Brush Kleener) to remove some ink and IT WORKED!!!

I love the effect... Thanks for the idea Joanne!!

You can also use die-cuts as a mask for creating interesting scenes and backgrounds on a piece of card stock.. here we cut out the Fresh Pine Forest Landscape die-cut from Memory Box and used it as a mask. Then we used the Blending Brushes to apply inks over the top.

You can even use the reverse image as a mask!! Great for creating rows of trees!!

When using the Blending Brushes, I found using a paper that has a coating on it is the BEST because you have more work-time with the inks! Below, I used a Rainbow Ink Pad (Kaleidacolor ink pad) to blend inks across the surface. The inks blend and move BEAUTIFULLY on both Kromkote and Stardream papers

On the Kromokote paper, the inks float on the surface just long enough to blend the inks across the full sheet of paper... and then the inks dry immediately and remain just as vibrant as when you blended them!!

Here, we showed the EXACT same technique on Ice Gold Stardream paper.. and as you can see the colors are more pastel because the ink FALLS BELOW THE METALLIC FINISH of the paper. Because of this metallic coating, the inks stay wet long enough for you to blend them.. and the results are WONDERFUL

A SUPER FAST way to use your Blending Brushes is to apply Pearl-Ex Powders.

Start by first stamping an image with Versamark Ink (clear ink) and then use the Blending Brushes to brush on a SMALL amount of Pearl-Ex powders and become AMAZED as the stamped image appears before your eyes!!

There are SO MANY THINGS you can do with these Life Changing Blending Brushes...

The Blending Brushes come in 2 sets.. Large Set and the Small Set.

If you would like to order your very own set, give us a call today!!

360-647-9663

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New Year, NEW STUFF!!

1/5/2019

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I know many of you were *JUST HERE* for our wonderful New Year's Day sale!! Thank you everyone who attended!

Of course, as is tradition around here, we just got in MORE NEW STUFF!!!

Check out all the fun goodies on the counter just waiting for you!

There is SO MUCH to see!!!

The thing that caught my attention first was ALL THE BRAND NEW Poppy and Memory Box die-cuts!!!

Look how fun these new Valentine's Designs are!!

And, this is just sneak peak... there are BOXES of new dies to look through! The new Whittle Animals dies are SO CUTE I was definitely screaming!!

The next thing that caught my attention was all the BRAND NEW stamps and dies from Penny Black!!

OH MY GOSH THEY ARE SO GOOD!!

In my opinion, Penny Black makes the best sentiment stamps... just look how wonderful!!

You'll have to stop by the store to see everything in person.. all I can say is we LOVE it all..

AND, AND, AND if that wasn't enough, the ALL NEW Hero Arts Shop Box just got here too!!!

With GREAT new images and sentiments... we think you will love it too!!

Now, you KNOW I saved the BEST FOR LAST!!!

That's right... NEW PAPER!!!

WE LOVE ALL OF THESE NEW PAPERS!!!

There are some wonderful designs for winter and some fantastic florals that can be used year-around

AND THE BEST PART?!?!!?

ALL NEW Graphic 45!!!!!

YAY!!!!

Just look how wonderful and precious these papers are!! The Imagine Collection is so WONDERFUL with all the steampunk looks and the intricate designs that we have always loved about Graphic 45 papers!

The new Graphic 45 Princess Collection is MY NEW FAVORITE!!! I want to use this line all the time, I just LOVE IT!!

Stop by to see us 7 days a week to see just how wonderful it all is!!

Give us a call if you have any questions, we are always happy to help!
360-647-9663

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Calendar Paper and Ideas

1/5/2019

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Every year we bring in different Calendar Papers to inspire those who like to build their own calendars or desk calendars!!

Check out the newest calendar line from BoBunny, Banner Year

Each sheet of 12" x 12" paper contains a mini blank calendar as well as some fun areas to write and some cut-outs that pertain to the month

I thought it might be fun to create a Pocket Calendar that you can put in your purse!! It fits perfectly in this check book cover and can be changed out depending on the month

I folded a small piece of card stock and put photo corners on one side to hold the mini calendar in place. I only tucked it on the left side of my check book cover and when I fold it over there is a space at the back of the card stock to make a little pocket to hold a grocery list. The photo corners allow me to trade out the mini-calendar with a new month

The pocket on the right side of the check book cover is great to hold to-do lists, notes about upcoming birthdays or anniversaries, or to hold your check book!!

I placed a fun piece of decorative paper in the front and back of the check book cover to make my Pocket Calendar more fun!!

You can also make a fun Desk Calendar for your self using card stock, acetate, decorative papers, and double-sided tape

I made a quick tent-fold for the base and scored each side at 1/2" to fold under for the bottom. I taped a piece of Acetate at the bottom to keep the base from falling over. This is also where I place the upcoming months for when I am ready to switch it out!

I used 1" strips of decorative paper to make the pockets on either side of the tent fold and tucked in items like a mini-calendar and some fun cut-outs from the sheets of decorative paper to make it more *exciting*

On the other side of my tent-fold base, I put in little reminders about birthdays or bills that are due! Or, because I love it, little inspirational sentiments!!

I loved the idea of cutting out some of the little tags to make it more interactive and to more visually pleasing.. besides who doesn't love to be creative?!?