Category: Diy

Tuesday with Wendy, July 2nd

7/20/2019

The cards that Wendy created for her card making class were SO WONDERFUL!!!

Check out how fun these cards are!!

The first card that Wendy created was inspired from this beautiful background stamp from Taylored Expressions, Wildflower Background

To make the card:

Start by stamping out the Wildflower Background with Versafine Nocturne Ink and heat emboss it with Detail Clear embossing powder
To watercolor the flowers, start out by scribbling your Tombow Markers onto your silicone craft mat. Then use your Water Brushes to pick up color from the marker and watercolor your flowers.
Wrap a piece of polka-dot ribbon around the front of your card and use some double-sided tape to adhere it to the backside of the white card stock.
Mount the white card stock (with the floral image) onto a piece of black card stock using double-sided tape. Then mount that onto a bright yellow card base.

This card is SO WONDERFUL and bright!!

I love some of these other cards that students created... look how the water coloring is different on each card... how fun are these?

The next card that Wendy created was inspired from the Whittle Owls from Poppy and the Birch Tree Border die-cut from Taylored Expressions

To make the card:

Start out with a thick piece of beige card stock as your card base. Use one of your Large Picket Fence Blending Brushes to brush on 3 colors of Distress Ink: Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Festive Berries making sure to apply your inks to the middle of the card base where a "moon" might be.
Next, use your home die-cut machine to cut out a circle from your piece of patterned-burlap paper. Lay the piece of burlap-patterned paper onto the front of the card base and when you do so, the circle should be the color of the ink that you laid down earlier... this is the "Moon" in an orange color palette.
Next, use your home-die cut machine to cut out the Birch Tree out of a piece of off-white card stock. Adhere the Birch Tree to the front of the card base on the left side of the "moon" you just created. *When you adhere the Birch Tree, glue down the LEFT TRUNK completely flat and apply a few pop dots behind the RIGHT TRUNK.
Finish off the card by cutting out 2 Whittle Owls, one from Kraft card stock and one from Ivory card stock. The Whittle Owl die-cut is 2 pieces, and Wendy mixed and matched the Whittle Owl die-cuts so the colors correspond nicely. Adhere the Owls down by using a pop dots behind each owl.

I love how adorable this card is!!

The last card that Wendy created was inspired from the Whittle Wooden Ovals, Whittle Rabbit, Whittle Birds, and this stamp from Impression Obsession, Happy

To make the card:

Start out with a third-sheet of 12" x 12" card stock as your card base (so your card base measures 4" x 12"). Score your card stock at 2 1/4" and 4 3/4" so that when folded, it creates a tri-fold card
When your card is closed, on the LEFT PANEL use your Nesting Oval die-cuts and your home die-cut machine to cut out a small oval. On the RIGHT PANEL, use your Nesting Oval die-cuts to cut out a little larger oval.
Now cut out your Whittle Oval Wooden frames out of brown card stock. Use Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive to adhere the small wooden oval ON TOP of the small oval cut out and the large wooden oval ON TOP of the larger oval cut out. You will end up with the Whittle Wooden Ovals covering the oval cut-outs from earlier.
Using your home die-cut machine, cut out 2 Whittle Birds from light blue card stock and a Whittle Rabbit from white felt-weave card stock. Adhere one of the blue birds onto the small wooden oval and the other bird onto the larger wooden oval. When you close the card, you should be able to see through BOTH OVALS to the inside of the card. Adhere the Whittle Rabbit to the INSIDE of the card in the spot where the Ovals meet-up so when the tri-fold card is folded you can see the Whittle Rabbit peeking out from the inside of the card.
Finish off the card with a piece of brown polka-dot brown ribbon. The ribbon will wrap around the backside of the card to the front of the card. When the card is closed, adhere the ribbon to the LEFT PANEL and a little bit on the RIGHT PANEL so that when the card is closed you can tie it closed

I love how cute this card is!! The interactive element is so SWEET and fun!!!

Tuesday with Wendy, June 4th

6/7/2019

I love how fun the cards are from this last week of Tuesday with Wendy card making class!!!

This first card was inspired by the Nesting Circles and Nesting Rounded Rectangles die-cuts from Hero Arts!!

To make the card:

Start out with a piece of thick Vellum. WEAR GLOVES while you colorize your piece of Vellum with Alcohol inks. To do this, pick up a small piece of wool (for Alcohol Inks) and apply a little bit of Alcohol Blending Solution to the wool. THEN apply a couple drops of 2 colors of Alcohol Ink onto the wool (Wendy chose 2 colors from Ranger, Turquoise and Limeade). Smoosh the piece of wool onto the surface of the vellum until the vellum is covered in color!
Now use your home die-cut machine to cut a piece of black card stock with one of the larger Rounded Rectangle die cuts
Now, take the piece of black card stock that you just cut with the die-cut machine and cut out a series of circles. Wendy used the Nesting Circle Infinity Dies because you can get SO MANY SIZES of circles!! When you overlay the piece of card stock (that has the circles cut out of it) on top of the Alcohol Inked Vellum, you get the color peeking through.
On each of the circles, press them into on of 2 Distress Oxide ink pads (the Distress Oxide inks show up on black paper). Wendy chose the Distress Oxide ink colors Twisted Citrone and Peacock Feathers
Now, it's time to put the card together!! Start with a teal-colored card base. Next, adhere the BLACK CARD STOCK TO THE VELLUM (yes the piece of black card stock with the circles cut out of it). That way you can apply the adhesive onto the vellum in the areas that are covered up by the black card stock. Wendy used the Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive to adhere the Vellum to a piece of white card stock. Wendy used a pair of scissors to trim the piece of white card stock to be the same size as the vellum. Then Wendy used double-sided tape to adhere the layered pieces to the front of her card base.
Finally, layer the circles on the front of the card arranging them in a fun way! Wendy used pop dots for dimension and added in gems for an extra *bling* element!!

I love how fun and funky this card is!! Of course, the added Gems are always fun for adding focal points!

The next card that Wendy created was inspired from this *Wonderful* stamp set from Altenew, Everlasting Happiness

To make the card:

Start out with a piece of black card stock. Using your Tim Holtz stamp platform, stamp the largest floral circle onto the front of the card base using Versafine Clair, Nocturne
Then, use Prismacolor Pencils to color the florals, leaves and sprigs
Next, put your piece of black card stock back into the Tim Holtz stamp platform and stamp down the largest floral circle AGAIN and it should land in the same spot. Then use Detail Black embossing powder across the entire image. Heat set the image
Then, stamp the the sentiment, Celebrate Life, onto a strip of white card stock. Using a fine line black pen (such as a Le Pen) and a ruler, add a thin line above and below the sentiment to add a focal point.
Wrap the strip of white paper around the front of the black paper and use double-sided tape to adhere it to the back of the card stock. Mount this onto a piece of aqua-colored card stock and adhere it all to the front of a purple card stock base

Just LOOK HOW STUNNING this card is!!! I love the pop of color!!

The last card that Wendy created was ALSO inspired by the Altenew stamp set, Everlasting Happiness

To make the card:

Start out with a half-sheet of yellow card stock. Score the paper at 2 1/8" from the left AND 2 1/8" from the right to create a gate-fold card.
Use your home die-cut machine to cut out 2 ivory circle shapes. Also cut out a pink polka dot circle and a purple polka dot circle of the same size. Stamp the small floral circle onto each of the ivory card stock circles. Inside the circles, stamp a sentiment. Wendy stamped "Love Grows Here" and "Dream" inside each of the circles with the same color of stamp ink, Versafine Clair ink, Medieval Blue
On the LEFT gate fold, AT THE TOP, adhere the purple polka dot circle and one of the floral circles, making sure to make them off-set
On the RIGHT gate fold, AT THE BOTTOM, adhere the pink polka dot circle and the other floral circle, again making sure they are off-set.
On another piece of ivory card stock, stamp JUST THE FLOWERS part of one of the small floral circles. Wendy did this by using an acrylic block and lining up the flowers on the top, left, and right side. Then, Wendy pasted the card stock with the florals on the INSIDE of the gate fold.
To finish off the card, Wendy took a piece of decorative floral paper and scored it at the top so that it folds over the top to the back just slightly (about a 1/4" overlap). The piece will fold over the front.
The last thing she did was fold the card closed and made a 12" strip with yellow card stock, about an inch wide, and adhered it with double-sided tape. Wendy tied a sheer coral-colored ribbon around the yellow strip and tied a knot on the front.

I love how bright and summery this card is!!

I love how fun it is to interact with all the flaps and openings!

Join us for the NEXT Tuesday with Wendy card making class!! It will be offered on June 18th.

PLEASE CALL to sign up!! 360-647-9663

See you soon!!

I don't know about you guys, but I LOVE DOT GRID JOURNALS (or Bullet Journals as they are more-widely known)

Why do I love these journals so much? Because you can actually write in a STRAIGHT LINE. Or create a layout that has grids that are the SAME SIZE. Or for creating my planner. Or for doing lettering. Or for drawing things to scale. THEY ARE WONDERFUL

We offer SEVERAL different ones here at the store.. and they vary in size, paper thickness, and design

Check out the ones we currently have in stock!!

Because we have carried Dot-Grid journals for awhile now.. I can tell you they vary quite a bit.

I LOVE the Traveler Journals from Pentalic.

The cover is soft and flexible but is durable.
There is a book mark
Pocket at the back for storage of papers or flyers
AND you can even do watercolor on this paper!! I mean, I don't recommend saturating your paper in water, but if you use a Waterbrush you will have the perfect amount of liquid to do watercolor without warping the paper.

There are also these next Dot-Grid Journals that have the BEST DESIGNS on the front!!

Just look at the cactus one!!

Ring-bound journal great for laying flat do do layouts

I also LOVE the leaf design!!

Includes book mark
Bright-white paper with darker dots so they are easier to see for making layouts

Check out how FUN this gold one is!!!

Elastic Band for holding Journal closed

This soft-cover Dot-Grid is fun and spunky!!

Soft Cover great for quick sketches
Folds flat for drawing layouts

This hard cover Purple one is bright and funky!!

Includes bookmark
Folds flat for drawing layouts
Hardcover is more durable over time

There are also these handmade books from India!

3 sections in each book include graph paper, blank pages, AND dot-grids! Great for ALL SORTS of layouts!
Hardcover made with paper made from recycled cotton fibers
Elastic Band to hold the book closed
Pocket at the back to hold flyers or other paper findings

Now, there are SO MANY THINGS you can put in your dot-grid or bullet journal... and I have had a lot of fun coming up with ideas over the last couple years!!

I LOVE to have fun writing and doodling in my dot-grid journal... and the pens I use the most are the Slicci pens (for fine line work) and the Glaze Pens (for thicker lines)

Here are some of the things I put in my dot-grid journal...

You can doodle little frames and incorporate cute paper clips!!

I used the Slicci Pen to make tiny little numbers for my year-at-a-glance and used Washi Tape to make it more fun!!

I LOVE dot-grids SPECIFICALLY for my month-at-a-glance layouts because I wanted all the boxes to be the SAME SIZE!

I love to also include a mini-month at the bottom of my month-at-a-glance.. the Slicci Pen is GREAT for jotting down all the tiny little numbers in a small space

I also LOVE to use the Taylored Expressions Clearly Planned stamps in my dot-grid notebooks because they are SO FUN and their fonts are just wonderful

I also wanted to think about OTHER THINGS that I wanted to reference quickly... and I realized I actually had a LOT I wanted to keep track of!!

Such as, books I wanted to read:

Podcasts I wanted to listen to...

(I even incorporated scrapbook papers to make the sections MORE FUN!)

Movies I wanted to watch...

What to have for dinner....

Where to eat out for dinner...

Breakfast joints and coffee...

Traveling...

And of course Addresses and Birthdays...

I also LOVE to use Washi Tape!!

This is ADORABLE Mushroom Washi Tape is from Alexandra Renke designs and I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!

Now, I also started a SECOND dot-grid journal to track outfit ideas...

I don't know about all of YOU but sometimes I feel like I have "Nothing to Wear!" ... when in reality I have TONS of clothes.

So I started doodling and sketching my outfits in a dot-grid notebook... making it much easier to find a fun outfit to wear without getting stressed out...

I always LOVE looking through other people's journals and sketch books... and I always wanted to make one of my own!!

I found that I was more passionate, and less self-critical, when I was sketching something for MYSELF to use!!

And, it was fun to draw the outfits I LOVED the most!!

Dot-Grid Notebooks are SO MUCH FUN to have, collect, and fill with ideas...

Do you have a dot-grid/bullet journal you have filled with art/ideas or created your own graph or planner? WE WOULD LOVE TO SEE!!!

Stop by to see us 7 days a week to get inspired..

See you soon!!
360-647-9663

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

Handmade Papers Demo

3/15/2019

Last week for Demo, we learned about the world of Handmade Papers!!

There are SO MANY ideas for using your handmade papers... just check out what you can do!!

We carry SO MANY beautiful handmade papers!!!! They come from ALL OVER THE WORLD!!

Some of them are from Italy....

We carry others that are made from 100% Recycled Cotton Fibers from India...

We have a large selection of hand-silk-screened Chiyogami Papers from Japan.. these are some of our favorites because they are SO BEAUTIFUL!

We LOVE these printed ones from Nepal... these images are always popular around here!!

We also carry these fantastic papers made from the Mulberry Plant.. These papers are great for creating Privacy Windows at home because they are a little bit translucent

I love the idea of using some of these papers as overlays... Take these papers, for example, that look a little bit like lace. They are GREAT for laying on top of patterned papers to create a *totally different* effect!!

You can also use these textured papers to cut out die-cuts!!

These handmade ones that are slightly translucent are great for overlays because they pick up the color of paper behind it.. which works GREAT for layering!

You can take one of the patterned handmade papers and put a translucent piece of Mulberry paper on top to soften the pattern. THEN you can fussy-cut some of the images to lay on top of the overlay... this makes it so the focal point matches in color to the background.

You can also take a piece of handmade paper and cut out some of the images... like the marbled pattern in a paper... and you can use pop dots and mounting tape to add dimension

You can "enhance" the handmade papers by simply adding a little bit of shimmer... it is easy to do with the Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen!!

You can also make mottled-looking paper by using PVA to adhere pieces of wrinkled Tissue Paper onto a piece of card stock.

If you stamp an image with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink onto the tissue paper and THEN adhere it, your stamped image will be waterproof and won't move when you glue the tissue paper in place with the wet glue.

... when I made this card some of the tissue paper ripped... but I actually like the look!!!

You can also colorize tissue paper with Distress Inks and the Picket Fence Blending Brushes so you get this beautiful ombre effect...

I decided to use this die-cut from Impression Obsession (I trimmed off the doe and buck) to make a beautiful serene scene with just the tissue-paper overlay... what an easy and gorgeous effect!!

You can make your own decorative handmade papers with inclusions by using a piece of white card stock, some leaves or feathers, PVA, and a very sheer piece of the translucent Mulberry Paper

I love how we used fresh pieces of Pine and it smells SO GOOD even after being in the paper for a couple days.

Brush on a VERY thin coat of PVA onto a piece of card stock (a foam brush works great)
Next, lay down a feather, dried flower petals, or fresh pines onto the glue
Now, take a piece of VERY thin Mulberry Paper and lay it on top of the inclusions
Place a clean paper towel down on top of the Mulberry paper and press firmly making sure to fully press on the Mulberry paper so it adheres evenly.
Trim your paper down to size using a paper cutter and some scissors

You can take an image from one of the Italian papers and make little squares (folded in half) to add dimension to an image!!

Some of these papers are textured.. you can change the color by using your Versamark clear ink pad and embossing powder to make it look like dragon skin!!

And, the easiest way to use your translucent handmade papers is to make a sweet little lantern (like this one below using the new Hero Arts Fairy Window) and back the frames with your handmade paper!! It has a great appearance and looks beautiful even if there are no tea-lights on inside!