Category: Acrylic Paint

Fabric Fun!!

3/23/2019

We sell a variety of different products here that you can use on FABRIC!!!

Check out some of these ideas!!

I love this EASY idea for using your Velvet Papers!! Or Crushed Velvet (Rayon-style velvet) fabric you may have at home!

Take a Red Rubber Stamp and place it on your counter top with the rubber side facing up.
Spritz a little bit of water on the stamp
Lay down a piece of velvet paper or crush velvet fabric
Turn your Iron on to the "cotton" setting
Press your iron onto the back side of the velvet (that is still sitting on your rubber stamp!) and let sit for 10 seconds
Remove the velvet from your stamp and BE AMAZED at how beautiful the impression is!!!!

Check out this other idea... using the Dye-na-flow dye inks for dying your fabrics!!

You can take a paint brush and brush on some of the dye on a piece of fabric on canvas...

After Wendy colored the background of her canvas with Dye-na-flow inks, she went back in with 3 different techniques to create the black designs:

Wendy created her own ink pad using Neopaque Black Acrylic Paint (for fabric) and this Cut and Dry foam pad. Then she used here custom stamps (the mandala images and square images) to stamp onto the canvas. Because the Neopaque Black Acrylic Paint is safe for fabrics, she can stamp ANY image onto fabric with this ink pad she created!!

Wendy used the Neopaque Black Acrylic Paint (for fabric) and filled a Fine Line Applicator and then created the thicker swirl designs. When the paint is in the Fine Line Applicator it makes it so you have WAY better control on creating free-form designs

Finally, Wendy used the Black Glaze Pen to add in the fine-line swirls. Weirdly, this gel-like glaze pen dries on some fabrics and can withstand washing and drying... we have just recently played around with this concept but it's a pretty fun idea!! (especially for those of us that like to do detail work with pens!)

Another cool idea is that you can create your own ink pad (just like above with the Acrylic Paint) but with BLEACH! The best way to do this is by using Soft Scrub WITH BLEACH already added. Then, just like before, you cut a piece of the Cut-and-Dry foam and "fill" the pad with Soft Scrub with Bleach using a Stipple Brush.

When Wendy did this, she was able to STAMP on black canvas and the bleach removed some of the color!!

I love this effect!!

You can also use the Lumiere Paints to paint on clothing. The Lumiere Acrylic Paints and the Neopaque Acrylic Paints are SAFE FOR FABRIC so you can design something on an item of clothing and safely wash your shirts/pants/sweatshirts/blankets without the paint cracking or flaking off.

Lumiere Acrylic Paints are metallic....

Neopaque Acrylic Paints are Opaque (not transparent) and have no metallic in them.

Just look how fun and VIBRANT these Lumiere Acrylic paints are!!

The stamped images are from the ink pad Wendy made with Acrylic Paint from earlier...

I LOVE how this shirt turned out!! Fun, original designs just using stamps and fabric-safe Acrylic Paint

There are SO MANY things you can do with fabric when it comes to art!!

Need some inspiration?? We are happy to help, 7 days a week!!

See you soon!
360-647-9663

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Embossing Folders, New Ideas!!

2/4/2019

Embossing Folders are a folding piece of plastic that you slide paper in and run through your Home Die-cut Machine that create texture into your paper

This week for Demo, Bekah was the Demonstrator!! There are SO MANY THINGS you can do with your Embossing Folders!! Check out some of these ideas..

A quick way to use your Embossing Folder in a new way is to use a Sizzix Embossing Diffuser

An Embossing Diffuser is a piece of plastic you lay in WITH your Embossing Folder and paper to PARTIALLY EMBOSS on a piece of paper

We have carried 2 different Embossing Diffusers from Sizzix: the original Embossing Diffuser Set as well as the Heart Embossing Diffuser Set

The Embossing Diffuser Sets come with both the outside AND inside cut-out.. so you can emboss and leave areas NOT EMBOSSED so you have a nice place to stamp a sentiment, or a nice focal point for the front of your card.

Another fun idea for using your Embossing Folders is to rub Stamping Ink along the inside of the Embossing Folder.. When you run the Embossing Folder through the Home Die-Cut Machine, the ink transfers to the background of the paper and the TEXTURE REMAINS WHITE...

Bekah then showed the same technique using the Distress Oxide, Lucky Clover. I love how she used the Dot Embossing Folder and you can see how the green ink landed between the dots here! (Bekah finished off the card with dot patterned paper and a cute little ruffle to separate it... FUN IDEA!!

Check this out... Bekah showed us all how she used the Brick Embossing Folder from Taylored Expressions.. All she did was rub a Pigment-Based Ink pad on the inside of the Embossing Folder!! When she ran the Embossing Folder in her Home Die-cut machine, the ink landed BETWEEN THE BRICKS!!

Bekah used Versafine Clair, Nocturne ink for the Distressed look...

And she used the Hero Arts White Ink for the bright look!!

THIS CONCEPT IS GORGEOUS!!

Now check this out... you can use the same concept ... but with ACRYLIC PAINT!!!

Check out here what Bekah did... She painted blue and silver Acrylic Paint on the inside of her Embossing Folder and then put in 2 PIECES OF WHITE CARD STOCK and ran it through the Home Die-cut Machine.

The results are SO COOL!!

One of the images is EMBOSSED and the other image is DEBOSSED. Check out the differences ... remember this is the same Embossing Folder!

** IT IS SUPER IMPORTANT TO CLEAN YOUR EMBOSSING FOLDER WHEN YOU ARE DONE**

(otherwise the Acrylic Paint will dry and it will bond to the plastic, making it much harder to clean later!)

With Acrylic Paint... you can apply it to the Maid-O-Metal Decorator Foil!!

Here, Bekah use blue, red, and yellow Acrylic Paint and painted it onto the Rose Embossing Folder from Taylored Expressions. She then put a piece of the Copper Maid-O-Metal with a piece of white card stock and when she ran it through the Home Die-cut machine, she got the EMBOSSED and DEBOSSED images again...

JUST LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL!!

You can Emboss onto Suede Paper and it looks SO BEAUTIFUL and crisp!!

If you have some Embossing Folders laying around and you want some ideas on how to use them, stop by the store!!

We would love to inspire you!! See you soon :-)
360-647-9663

Gel Plates and Nature Printing

1/25/2019

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!!

Embossing Powders, New Ideas!!

1/18/2019

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!

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Alcohol Ink on Acrylic Paint

10/19/2018

This week for Demo, Denise demonstrated a new idea!

She took her Acyrlic Paints and applied Alcohol Ink to the wet paint.. the effect is pretty incredible!!

Denise started out with Lumiere Acrylic Paint.. She brushed it across a piece of YUPO and, while the paint was still wet, applied droplets of Alcohol Ink on the surface!

The ink spreads out, creating this halo effect that is just incredible!!

Look here how the Alcohol Ink spread out to create these interesting designs and textures!!

Then, Denise experimented with the technique on Dura-Lar Wet Media Film... I just LOVE how translucent it is!!!

Check out this next idea...

Denise started by using a piece of Dura-Lar Wet Media Film and brushing on some Lumiere Acrylic Paint
Then, she applied some vibrant colors of Alcohol Ink onto the surface of wet paint
Then, after the image is dry, she took the Black Glaze Pen and drew some designs.. creating some fun floral designs!!

Stop by to see us to get inspired!!

We would LOVE to show you all the newest stuff we've been getting in!

Stop by to see us 7 days a week!
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The Wonderful World of Stencils!

9/18/2018

Last week for Demo, Wendy was the demonstrator!!! She showed us some fun, NEW ways to use stencils!!!

Check out this idea.. Wendy used the new Sun Stencil from Carabelle Studio we got in recently, Acrylic Paint made for fabric (Jaquard Lumiere works well), and a black T-shirt to create this stunning design!!

The contrast between the metallic Acrylic Paints and the black T-shirt really makes for a STUNNING design!!!

With that same stencil on paper, Wendy used Watercolors to apply color.. look at the difference between using acrylic paints on fabric vs. the image on paper.. what cool ideas!!

Wendy also showed how you can take a ANY stencil and create a Circle Mask.. This makes it so any stencil can look like a round stencil (like the Sun Stencil above).. Wendy used The Crafter's Workshop 6x6 Stencil, Blooming Garden.

She used Distress Ink pads to apply the ink with Nuvo Blending Sponges. THEN Wendy went back in with the Black Glaze Pens and outlined some of the flowers... the effect is just SO BEAUTIFUL

Here, Wendy used the Nuvo Blending Sponges to apply inks over The Crafter's Workshop stencil, Poppy Field. THEN she went back over the wet ink with Detail Clear embossing powder and heat-set it.

If you want a HANDS-ON experience with Stencils and what you can do with them, we are offering a class on Saturday, September 29th!

Give us a call to sign up!
360-647-9663

Apoxie Clay

7/20/2018

This week at Demo, Elli was the demonstrator for one of our favorite new products, Apoxie Clay!

We learned all about this *fantastic* new product and saw how it can be used in a variety of ways!!

What is Apoxie Clay??

Apoxie Clay (or Apoxie Sculpt) is a 2 part clay. You take equal parts of PART A and PART B and knead them together (It is EXCEPTIONALLY IMPORTANT that you wear gloves during this part of the process!) for about 3 minutes. After the clay is mixed, remove your gloves and work with the clay like you normally would. You have 1-3 hours to work with the clay before it starts to harden. The clay dries to *HARD AS A ROCK* in just 24 hours and requires NO HEAT or baking to finalize the hardening.

That being said, check out all the fun things you can do with the clay!!

You can take any old box and add embellishments with the clay!! Use any Silicone Mold to shape the clay. The clay bonds *beautifully* to the surface of this box we made using Thin Chipboard. You can color the clay after it is dried with Acrylic Paints

You can even make jewelry with Apoxie Clay! This miraculous clay bonds to rocks, precious stones, metal, and MORE!! This necklace (shown below) was created using NO GLUE... The bond is incredible, durable, and long lasting!!!

You can also use Gold Leafing (aka Composition Metal) to add color to the Apoxie Clay...

Here we took an old pen and added the Apoxie Clay and then rolled it through Gold Leafing... WOW what an incredible effect!!!

You can also shape and sculpt miniature pieces of art!!!

We shaped the covers of this mini book and let it dry on a Silicone Craft Mat (Parchment Paper also works). *we made the holes for the book before the clay dried by using the tip of a small skewer*

You can add details into the book cover by using the tip of an X-acto Knife to create designs, or bits of lace or ribbon to add texture.

After the clay dried, we added paper to the inside and attached the book using 3 small rings we made using bits of wire.

The Ball Chain is from Tim Holtz

One of the coolest things to do with the Apoxie Clay is make leaf impressions.. you can use fresh leaves from your garden!!!

Just use an X-acto Knife to shape the piece of clay to be "leaf-shaped" and then lightly press the leaf down onto the clay.. VEIN SIDE DOWN. The veins of the leaf with give the best impression in the clay.

*Don't forget to create a hole if you are planning to make it a pendant*

After you make the leaf impression into the clay, you can colorize the image using Pearl-ex Powders.

*the Pearl-ex Powders will only stick to the clay when the clay is wet*

To apply Pearl-ex powders AFTER the clay has hardened, you will need Versamark ink and a Low Odor Spray Finish

We love playing around with all these new products we've been getting in... stop by to see us 7 days to see what's new!!

See you soon!!!

Amazing Gel Plates!!

7/14/2018

This week for Demo, Wendy played around with her Gel Plates!

In case you are unfamiliar with what a Gel Plate is, let me quickly tell you how it works!

A Gel Plate is a gelatin-like piece of acrylic. When you play with it, most people use Acrylic Paint and roll it on with a Brayer. *You only need a tiny amount of paint* because when you roll it out with the Brayer it will create a thin layer of paint across the surface. Then, you can use stencils and other texture tools to create designs on the Gel Plate. Once you are satisfied with the design, you can do a "mono-print" by pressing a piece of card stock onto the Gel Plate (and roll on the backside of the paper with the Brayer) to transfer the image onto paper!

With these tools you really can create STUNNING papers!!

Wendy loves to use Joggles Stencils when working with the Gel Plate.. and for good reason!! These images are stunning!

I love how Wendy uses these bright colors on the black card stock!!!

Check out this *brilliant* idea!!

Wendy created designs on her Gel Plate and let it dry
She laid down a few geometric shapes (to use as a "mask") and used Black Acrylic Paint to create designs with a stencil. She pulled away the geometric shapes and let the plate dry.
THEN she took a piece of Acetate and stuck a piece of Double-Tack to one side (Double-Tack is like a large sheet of double-sided tape)
Then she stuck the other side of the Double Tack ONTO THE GEL PLATE!
When she lifted the Acetate, the design lifted too!! ALL THE PAINT LIFTED OFF!!!
You can see below the AMAZING design she created on the Gel Plate and the glossy effect of the piece of Acetate on top.. WOW! What an incredible effect!

If you live in the Bellingham Area, I highly recommend stopping by to take a look at the samples in person... these photos just don't do it justice!!!

See you soon!