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Aqua Shimmer Pen, Painting Ideas

5/31/2019

What is the Aqua Shimmer Pen?!?

Aqua Shimmer Pens are made by Tonic/Nuvo. They are shimmery brush pens with a VERY FINE iridescent glitter that runs through it. The glitter is SO FINE in the pen it is hardly seen... but as you catch the light you can REALLY SEE the shimmer come to life!!!

We carry the Aqua Shimmer Pens in 2 colors... Glitter Gloss (which lands more "silver" in color) and Midas Touch (which has a more "gold" tint to it)

For Demo this week, we talked about painting with the Aqua Shimmer Pens!!

Check out these fun ideas!!!

One of the EASIEST ways to paint with the Aqua Shimmer Pen is to use Color Burst!!

In an empty watercolor palette, add in a few particles of Color Burst. I decided to use these warm tones for coloring my flowers!!

Because the Aqua Shimmer Pens are wet on the tip, you can easily pick up the Color Burst Powder and start watercoloring!!

When I watercolor with the Aqua Shimmer Pens, I always start where in the "shadow" might be... in the corners or edges of the flowers...

To do a color-wash, I squeeze out the shimmer from the pen into the palette so it thins the Color Burst. Then I take my Aqua Shimmer Pen and paint with the diluted color to fill in larger areas!

I LOVE this card!! This stamp set, Everlasting Happiness is from Altenew and the images are just STUNNING when watercolored with the vibrant Color Burst!!

I also LOVED the idea of watercoloring with the Distress Oxide Spray Inks!! To do this, just spritz some color into your blank watercolor palette.. Then use your Aqua Shimmer Pen to watercolor like usual!!

Just look how VIBRANT these colors are!!

I like to stamp and heat-emboss my images with the Ivory Embossing Powder from Stampendous.. When you watercolor over the white embossing the images COME TO LIFE!! When I was done watercoloring my image, I still had some ink on the tip of my brush and I flicked the brush over the paper and added a SHIMMERY SPLATTER across the entire page!!

I used an X-acto knife to cut out the middle of the card so I could add in my own sentiment!!

One of my favorite ways to watercolor with the Aqua Shimmer Pen is to color DIRECTLY from the watercolor palette.. HOWEVER if you do this keep in mind that your water colors will be SHIMMERY FOREVER!! (I have dedicated one of my watercolor palettes to be a "shimmery" one because I love this effect so much!)

I always pick up the color and then start with the underside of the image so the darkest colors are the shadowed areas!

When I was all done painting the strawberries I squeezed out some shimmer so I could do a color-wash on the background.

Just LOOK HOW SHIMMERY the paper is!!!

This Three Strawberry stamp from Impression Obsession is PERFECT for Summertime!!!

Did you know you can also watercolor with the Distress Oxide Inks?!?!

To do this, just smoosh the inks onto a piece of Acetate (or a craft mat) and then watercolor as usual!!

You can always squeeze out some of the shimmer to thin the inks to get dark and light tones

I love this Vulture stamp colored with Distress Oxide inks Wild Honey and Faded Jeans

I LOVE Distress Oxide Inks because they are SO VIBRANT on the white card stock!!

This swan stamp is such a beautiful image!!!

I like to do the mirror/reflection stamping technique for creating the 2 swans looking at each other... you can view that technique by viewing one of our past blogs!! https://www.stampadoodle.com/stampadoodle-blog/reflections

Now for using Distress Inks (yes, the standard ones!!)

Did you know that if you stamp with Distress Inks onto Kromekote Paper that the image becomes resistant to water?!?! The reason is because the surface is "permeable" meaning the image falls BELOW the glossy finish.

This is great because you can stamp an image.. LET IT DRY... then smoosh inks onto Acetate (or a craft mat) and watercolor the image you just stamped. What happens is the ink you stamped in IS PERMANENT and won't move!!

So you can stamp and watercolor with the SAME INK.

I also love watercoloring with Tombow Markers.... this is my personal favorite way for watercoloring!!!

Color onto a piece of Acetate (or a craft mat) and spritz a little bit of water. Then, watercolor like usual!!

I always start my watercolors where the shadows might be (for example, the underside of the swan) and that is where the ink will be darkest.

Once again, I did a color-wash here with the Tombow Markers and the Aqua Shimmer Pen and it is SO SHIMMERY!!!! I just love the effect!!

You can also PAINT ITEMS with Acrylic Paint!! I like to squeeze out a *tiny bit* of Acrylic Paint onto my craft mat and then paint with my Aqua Shimmer Pen.

Below, check out how I painted one of these Wood Veneer Flying Keys with a little bit of Black Acyrlic Paint and the Aqua Shimmer Pen... the Flying Key is now SO GLITTERY!!!

There are SO MANY IDEAS for painting with your Aqua Shimmer Pen!!!

Stop by to see us to get inspired!! We would LOVE to see you!!

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Nesting Die-Cuts, Beyond the Frame

5/24/2019

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For Demo last week, Bekah was the Demonstrator and she had some WONDERFUL ideas for using her Nesting die-cuts.

Just LOOK HOW STUNNING these cards are!!!

I love that she used these Nesting die-cuts in a NEW WAY!!!

Check out how she used the Nesting Diamonds from Tonic and these Nesting Hearts ... and the combination of the textured papers and colors makes for a GREAT CARD!!!!

Bekah used this Simple Strips Background stamp from Taylored Expressions and the matching banner die-cut....

Look how fun this is with the added *bling*!!!

Check out this next idea using the Stitched Star die-cuts from Memory Box!!

I love how Bekah used the banner die-cut from Taylored Expressions with DIFFERENT sentiments!! Her sayings go *PERFECTLY* with this card!!

Bekah also used this Wide Washi Tape from Altenew and I LOVE IT with the stars!!

This really is a WONDERFUL card... great for Birthdays or Graduation!!

I love this masculine card that she created using the Nesting Hexagons from Tonic and this Jalopy as the focal point .... There are SO MANY great ideas happening here!!

What I love the most about this card is all the fun TEXTURES of paper!!! And the added gears with the car makes for such a great card idea!!

Did you see here how she made the Jolopy SHINY?!?! She used PACKING TAPE on the car, THEN cut it out using her home die cut machine!! Such a clever idea for making a car looked glazed (with minimal effort!!)

Stop by the store to get inspired and to get NEW IDEAS on how to use some of your older die-cuts!!!

See you soon!!
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Tuesday with Wendy, May 21st

5/23/2019

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Check out the WONDERFUL cards that Wendy designed for card making class last week!!

I LOVE this grouping of cards!!! THEY ARE SO FUN!!

The first card that Wendy designed was inspired from this Pine Tree stamp from Stampscapes and this Cloud Stencil from Rosie's Roadshow. Wendy also used a number of Distress Inks for creating the sky and sun!

To make the card:

For this technique, you will need to use a piece of 110# solar white card stock. The heavier-weight card stock will have more body for doing the ink-layering and glazing.
Take a piece of copy paper and cut out a circle in the middle of the paper using the Hero Arts Nesting Circle dies. SAVE THE CIRCLE and use the piece of paper with a hole cut-out as a stencil.
Use the paper with a hole cut out and line it up on your paper where you want your sun to be. Use the Picket Fence Blending Brushes to create an orange sun... this is meant to replicate some of the smokey skies and cloudy sun we saw last summer. To do this, brush on a soft layer of Distress Ink, Spiced Marmalade. You can make your sun as light or as dark as you'd like depending on how much ink you brush on.
Next, remove the paper. THEN lay down the CIRCLE ON TOP of the orange sun you created (this will act as a mask). Then use the Picket Fence Blending Brushes and Distress Inks to apply a soft layer of ink across the whole page (make sure you hold your mask in place so it doesn't move!) Lay down the Cloud Stencil and apply ink (starting with light colors at the bottom and dark colors at the top) moving the cloud stencil from the bottom of the card up to the top, brushing on layers of ink as you go. When you are done, you can brush on a soft layer of other colors to create a "halo" around the sun. You can also add some black ink along the edges and the corners of the image to really add dimension!
Then stamp the Pine Tree stamp with Versafine Clair, Nocturne ink a few times along the bottom edge of the card
Once you have created your scene, take the Versamark Ink Pad (clear ink) and press the ink pad DIRECTLY onto the surface of the image. **This might make your ink pad dirty, so if you have an old Versamark Ink Pad, you may want to use that one!!**
Now apply a layer of Detail Clear Embossing Powder. It should coat the ENTIRE image. Use a heat-gun to heat-set this image and watch as your image becomes more vibrant and glazed!!
To finish the card, layer a piece of white and black card stock behind the image and mount it onto a dark brown card stock base.

I LOVE the look of this card!!! It looks like a smokey sky.. and it is just STUNNING!! I also love the texture the glaze creates

What I love MOST about this card is how EVERYONE's sky turned out different!! Check out some of these other cards that students made in class!!

The next card that Wendy designed was inspired from this paper pad from Craft Consortium, Tell the Bees as well as this stamp from Hero Arts, Friendly Bee

To make the card:

Start out with a ochre card base (or a very soft orange color)
In the Tell the Bees paper pad, there are SEVERAL bee-themed papers!! Cut out 3 different bee-themed papers to fit on the front of the card. Wendy chose this honeycomb paper with a metallic design on it for the left side of the front of the card. She layered it with a piece of dark brown card stock.
Next, Wendy added in a piece of paper with a few bees on it for the right side of the front of the card base and finished it off with a small piece of paper with bee-words written on it for the bottom right side of the front of the card.
Then, Wendy stamped the Friendly Bee image across the paper. She stamped the bee with Versafine Clair ink, Fallen Leaves and stamped bees across all 3 images so there would be a bunch of busy bees!!
To finish off the card, Wendy used her Black Glaze Pen to add a few dots behind each bee to add movement to the card!!

I love how sweet this card is!! It's so nice to get one of these pads of paper... because you KNOW the papers will all go well together!!!

The last card that Wendy created was inspired from this stamp set from Stamper's Anonymous, Media Marks 2 as well as.... PACKING TAPE!!!

To make the card:

Start out with a black card base. On the right side of the card, stamp one of the "scribbles" along the right side. Stamp with Versafine Black, Onyx and emboss with Detail Gold embossing powder
Next, on your Silicone Craft Mat, create your designs with Acrylic Paint! To do this: squirt out a thin layer of Acrylic Paint onto a paper towel (Wendy used black, purple, orange, green, and blue Pebeo Acrylic Paints) Then, attach your stamps to clear acrylic blocks and STAMP INTO THE PAINT and then onto the craft mat. As you do different images, WAIT FOR THE PAINT TO DRY before doing your next layers. Remember, the less paint you use, the faster the paint will dry!! You want your painted collage to DRY COMPLETELY.
After your paint-collage is DRY, take a piece of Packing Tape and place it ON TOP of the acrylic paint collage. Press it FIRMLY to the silicone mat/acrylic paint. Use a bone-folder if needed to really adhere the tape to the top of the silicone mat
Peel the tape away from the Silicone Mat and as you do so, the image will lift off with the tape!!
On the back of the tape, brush on a very soft layer of Pearl-ex powder. This will adhere to any place where the tape is still sticky
Lay the tape-design (sticky-side down) onto a piece of white card stock. And wrap it around the top and bottom of the paper. Use double-sided tape to adhere it to a piece of black card stock. Layer this with gold card stock and finally bright orange card stock. Mount the final piece onto the black card stock base making sure to put the design on the LEFT side of the front of the card so the gold design is on the right side of the acrylic paint collage

Look how fun this card is!!! I love the colors and the scribble-media look!!

Thank you to everyone who came to class today!

You can join us for the NEXT card making class on June 4th! Please call us to reserve your spot!!
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Ideas with Packing Tape

5/18/2019

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This week for Demo, we explored the wonderful world of PACKING TAPE and Gel Plates!!!

The Demonstrator this week was Diana Ramsey... and if you don't know her, I will tell you she LOVES to create and experiment with art supplies!!!

We saw what she had been creating with her Gelli Plates and decided that Demo would be a great way to demonstrate this idea!!

First, Diana started with a Gel Plate (or Gelli Plate): A Gel Plate feels a little bit like hardened-jello! It is soft enough to roll-out Acrylic Paint with a Brayer onto the surface. Traditionally, Gel Plates are used for Mono-printing (But you can be as creative as you'd like with this incredible tool!!)

Diana used Pebeo Acrylic Paints (which come in vibrant colors AND metallics)

To start, Diana placed some pieces and strips of Deli Paper onto her Gel Plate
Next, Diana rolled on a thin layer of Acrylic Paint using a Brayer
Then, Diana used a variety of different ideas for creating patterns in the paint... like straws to make small circles, pieces of mesh to create texture, acrylic paint pens, or just a paint brush to make markings.
THEN Diana removed the pieces of Deli Paper from the Gel Plate.

** LET DRY COMPLETELY **

Now the fun part... PACKING TAPE!!! (Yes, this stuff):

Diana laid down 3" wide (or 4" wide) strips of Packing Tape DIRECTLY ON THE SURFACE of the Gel plate, and pressed down thoroughly making sure the Packing Tape is FULLY BONDED to the top of the Gel Plate. You can use a Bone Folder to firmly press the packing tape to the surface of the Gel Plate
Pull the Packing Tape away from the Gel Plate. When you do this, the layer of paint will come with the tape.

What you are left with is AMAZING Bright, colorful strips with areas of translucency

What you end up with is this slick-looking strip on ONE SIDE and layers of decorative paint on the other side and the texture feels just WONDERFUL!!

I LOVE that there are areas of Translucency here!!

Look how cool these designs are!!! And doing your painting and designs on a Gel Plate makes it so much EASIER for creating a collage!!

Diana also brushed on Pearl-Ex powder the Acrylic Paint side of the tape and made it METALLIC!!!

Look at how vibrant one side is and more metallic on the other side.

I love the contrast of the black paint mixed in with the vibrant Acrylic Paints!!!

Once she created her collage pieces, she cut some of the sections up to make JEWELRY!!!!

She placed some of the pieces into resin and added in gems and star shaped glitter!!!

HOW FUN ARE THESE!!??

We LOVE to be creative around here... and we love thinking outside the box!!

If you would like to try this technique at home... check out this nice tutorial!!

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Woodgrain Ideas with Paper

5/10/2019

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For Demo this week we explored the wonderful world of using Woodgrain ideas in your paper crafting!!

Check out some of these fun ideas!!

First off, there are SO MANY OPTIONS for woodgrain papers here at the store!!

You can use papers that are already printed with a woodgrain appearance and these are the ones we currently have in stock!

These papers are EMBOSSED with a woodgrain texture on ONE SIDE:

When making cards, you can incorporate the Woodgrain texture in a variety of different ways!!

If you have a home die-cut machine, you can use this wonderful Woodgrain Embossing Folder from Taylored Expressions.

I liked the idea of just embossing a thin, plain paper bag.

Emboss a small, flat paper bag using the Woodgrain Embossing Folder, making sure that the ragged lip of the paper bag is also embossed. (So you can tuck a note into it!!)
Run a Distress Ink, Walnut Stain ink pad across the textured side of the paper bag and cut your paper bag so it is only one-layer thick.
Cut a piece of card stock to fit on the front of a card base. Wrap the embossed paper bag around the front of the piece of card stock and glue in place with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive. Mount this piece onto the front of your card base.

Stamp a sentiment onto a piece of brown card stock and tuck the little note into the lip of the paper bag!!
Use Distress Oxide ink pad, Worn Lipstick and a Waterbrush to watercolor the flowers. Finish off the card by adding a small ribbon along the bottom of the card

When it comes to the paper that is already EMBOSSED with woodgrain, you can colorize the woodgrain yourself using Distress Inks and the Nuvo Blending Sponges!

I LOVED this look of creating a little garden shed using the embossed woodgrain paper and little charms!!!

Honestly.. you can color your embossed woodgrain card stock ANY COLOR YOU WANT!!!! That way it is sure to match the project you are working on...

Check out this idea... if you are looking to make the "1970's wood plank" it is easy to do with Kraft Sticker Paper and a score board!!

Once you score your sticker paper, apply the paper to a piece of card stock, the "planks" will smash together. Then, when you run a Distress Ink pad, Walnut Stain, across the "planks" they give a Distressed-look as well as giving them more definition.

One of my FAVORITE ideas was SO EASY... just scrape 2 colors of ink pads across a piece of white cardstock, Then CUT IT INTO STRIPS and paste them back down with 1/8" between each "plank"

IT LOOKS LIKE AN OLD FENCE!!!!!

I LOVE THIS WOODGRAIN!!! I had a lot of fun with this idea... You can use the Faber Castell Small Brush Tip pen to create the thin lines AND the chunky lines!!

I used the Picket Fence Blending Brushes to apply a soft layer of ink to the page to add interest...

You can also use your Score Board to create Planks!!

Once you create your planks, you can ink the edges of each plank by rubbing the folds against a brown ink pad!! I added in the little "nails" by just using a fine-line black pen.

You can also create a fun Wood-Plank Fence!!!

When I do this, I cut my paper into strips, then I cut ONE strip with a point and used that as a template to cut my other wood planks.

I used the Faber Castell Fine-line black pen to add in the lines of woodgrain.

I used my Tim Holtz Blending Tool to "ink" the edges of my planks before I adhered them down.

I love this ivory woodgrain paper!! The lines on the paper make it really easy to cut out the planks and make a fun fence!!

I loved the idea of crows on a fence...

I stamped the Crow Trio stamp (from Impression Obsession) on the paper FIRST and then I lined up the planks to create a 3-Dimensional Fence

Check out this sweet idea making a flower box!!!

This woodgrain Flower Box stamp is from Impression Obsession. I stamped it with Versafine Clair ink, Nocturne

Then I tucked in all these fun flowers from this sweet Cottage Cutz Floral die-cut set and the botanicals from this Tim Holtz/Sizzix Greenery set

I LOVE this new Tree Ring Stencil from Altenew!!!

I decided to play with this idea.. I first used the Picket Fence Blending Brushes and brushed a light color of Distress Ink, Walnut Ink

THEN I went in with a few sizes of fine-line Faber Castell black pens to add in the "grain" and it is SO AMAZING!!!!

I LOVE THIS LOOK!!

The Blending Brushes are SO WONDERFUL for applying inks because the color blends out color until it disappears!

One of the EASIEST ideas for creating the woodgrain look is to use Tombow Brush Markers!

The brush markers are great because you can do fine-lines AND thick lines. I love having the tones of dark and light lines.

Once you have drawn your lines, you can make it less-intense by just spritzing on a light mist of water

Woodgrain texture is so much fun to play with!! You can make signs, you can cut it up to make "planks", you can do card making and SO MUCH MORE!!

Stop by the store to get inspired!!

See you soon!!

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Aqua Shimmer Pen, Painting Ideas

Nesting Die-Cuts, Beyond the Frame

Tuesday with Wendy, May 21st

Ideas with Packing Tape

Woodgrain Ideas with Paper

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