the CLASSroom

Misted Canvas Valise by Julia Stainton

There are just so many darling canvas bags, wallets and other goodies in the Ellen Hutson LLC shop that I just had to give one a creative whirl. Today's project uses the Maya Road Valise and it's a sweet little bag with a wrist strap that can carry a few essentials with you on the go.

I've used some mists, stamps and markers to alter it and make it my own. The canvas is the perfect...well...CANVAS for some creative experiments.

This is what I started with. OK. Well, above you'll find the newer version of what I used but it's basically the same project. I actually love the snapped flap on the newer version.

First step is to add some color and design to the canvas. I started off by using a dotted template that you can see below along with some Strawberry Shortcake Glimmer Mist.

You lay the template over the canvas and then mist. Repeat on the front side as well.  I love using pinks and oranges together to I then misted the entire canvas piece with some Tiger Lily Glimmer mist. Don't worry about perfection. It's supposed to look artsy.

You'll want to make sure that your canvas is really dry before moving onto the next step. You can use your heat gun a little if you like to hurry things along. To add stamping details to this valise, I've used the Maya Road Soar Butterflies stamp set and stamped it randomly in Jet Black Archival Ink. I know that I usually mention that this is the best ink for canvas and fabrics but it bears repeating in case a stamper is just joining us. Archival Inks work so well and definitely give the cleanest image without bleeding.

Once you've stamped the images where you want them, you can come in and add extra color to the line images. I've used the Faber-Castell Pitt Brush Markers to color in the butterflies. The ink in these markers is india ink and it is waterproof and works well on canvas.

To create the flower detail, I've cut out a blossom from the Milk Daisies Vintage Lace Trim and then trimmed out the inner circle of the lace so that it doesn't cover up the magnetic catch.

Finally, to finish it off, I've added color to the flower detail with the Faber-Castell Pitt Brush Markers again. You can even color in the thread on the button to coordinate the design.

 Thanks for stopping by the CLASSroom and have a fabulous weekend!

Supplies:  Canvas Valise by Maya Road, 6x6 Mini Swiss Dot Template by Crafter's Workshop, Tiger Lily Glimmer Mist, Strawberry Shortcake Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels, Soar Butterflies Stamp Set by Maya Road, Jet Black Archival Ink by Ranger, Milk Daisies Vintage Lace Trim by Maya Road, Faber-Castell Pitt Brush Markers

"Faux"berge Easter Eggs

Easter is right around the corner and I thought I would share an idea that has been brewing in my head for some time. I figured I'd best get busy and share it if anyone is to have time to play with it this Easter season.

It was as I thought about the many ways to use adhesives that these ideas popped into my head. I cannot lay claim to the clever title of these eggs. Julia E, here at work, is so very clever with words!!! After sharing my idea she just popped out the word "faux"berge and I started to laugh - it was perfect!

Glitter, foil, pearls, gemstones, Be Creative (Sookwang) tape, embossing powder, Distress Stain... the list of products in our studio that can be used to embellish an Easter egg is LONG. It is so fun to think of different ways to use these products!

I would like to recommend that you blow out the insides of your eggs before beginning, but due to limited time I just went for it being VERY careful not to drop it as I worked. Sadly these eggs would not smell very good if I were to actually put them out on display, so I keep peeking at them in the fridge from time to time - LOL! Next time I will definitely be blowing the insides out!

The first idea was to use the beautiful Design Adhesives we carry. The smaller designs are simpler to use because you do not need to worry about them overlapping themselves when you adhere it to the rounded surface. Cut out an individual shape and burnish on to the surface of your egg.

Gently peel back the protective coating.

Apply glitter and press glitter into adhesive with your fingertip.

Pour off the excess glitter and burnish the glitter into the adhesive, just as you would when doing the burnished velvet technique on paper.

Remove excess glitter with a soft brush.

These glittery eggs are absolutely spectacular! Use one color or many colors of glitter for a variety of looks.

The larger adhesive designs are a little more difficult to work with on the rounded surface. You will need to slightly overlap the design, but I found the look to be worth the extra effort.

Apply the Designer Foil to the sticky adhesive surface and gently rub the foil into place making certain all adhesive is covered with foil.

Peel it back and the foil remains attached to the adhesive.

If you have little gaps left exposing the adhesive simply apply a little Microfine glitter. You can use a coordinating color or contrasting - just think of all the options this leaves you!

Not only can you use Design Adhesive for this technique but you can create your own adhesive shapes using your dies and Be Creative (also known as Sookwang) tape! You must use the sheets which have the protective backing attached.

Select a design that would compliment the shape of an egg and cut it out. Dies that are extremely intricate will not work for this technique because the adhesive will stretch as you remove the backing and apply it to your egg. Select your dies with this in mind.

Begin to peel back the protective backing and attach this to your egg. Remove a small portion at a time and adhere to your egg surface.

Once you have it attached apply a light pressure over the entire design to make certain the adhesive is adhered to the egg.

Remove the backing and apply your glitter, burnishing it in to the adhesive.

Add additional embellishments to glam up your egg!

As with all things crafty one things leads to another --- what would Distress Stains do to an egg? I simply applied the stain to my egg and used a soft tissue to remove the excess.

Eggs are so very interesting - the striped appearance just happened naturally!

Using the dots from my previous experiment with diecutting Be Creative sheets I covered my egg. You could easily use Glue Dots if you were simply applying glitter or foil, but if heated Glue Dots will begin to bubble, whereas Sookwang tape can be used with heat.

Remove the backing and apply white embossing powder. Heat the embossing powder to melt.

You could create so many different patterns using tape - stripes, plaids, chevrons, mixed dots and stripes, more die cut shapes - my oh my the list is endless!

How cute is the polka dotty egg?!? These would make awesome little decorations on your Easter table!

I hope that you try making "Faux"berge eggs this year!!!

adhesive: Design Adhesives - Leaf Nouveau and French Swirl, Be Creative Tape Sheets

accessories: Grasshopper Microfine Glitter, Limeburst Designer Foil, 3" Nest, Circle Borders Lifestyle Crafts Die, Smooth Clear Round Gemstones, Opaque White Embossing Powder, Peeled Paint Distress Stain

VIDEO TUTORIAL: Adhesive For Delicate Die Cuts by Julie Ebersole

A Tri-fecta?! Well, kinda sorta! *sheepish grin* We often get asked how we like to glue down delicate die cuts, so we thought a video tutorial might be helpful!

Enjoy here or in high def on YouTube!

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SUPPLIES & MATERIALS:

Stamps: Hero Arts Clear Design Thank You for Being My Friend; Hero Arts Birthday Cling Set; Studio ae (Technique Tuesday) Beauty of Spring Clear Set

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black; Versamark; Distress Stain in Picket Fence & Peeled Paint

Paper: Cosmo Cricket 2WENTY THR3E 6x6; Basic Grey Konnichiwa 6x6; Studio Calico Take Note 6x6; Basic Grey Piccadilly 6x6; Memory Box Persimmon, Vanilla Bean, Blue Poppy, Dove Grey, Parsley; Neenah Natural White

Dies:  Memory Box/Poppy Stamps Chloe Stem, Crisp Bows, Twig & Berries, Classic Scallop

Tools: Big Shot Die Cutting Machine; Martha Stewart 3-in-1 Classic Butterfly Punch

Adhesives: Quickie Glue Pen (also Tombow Mono-Multi, Ranger Glossy Accents), Xyron "X", Be Creative (Sookwang) Tape, Micro Glue Dots (for paper flowers on spring card), 3D Dots (for anything popped up)

Embellishments: Paper Flowers (from my stash), Stickles Glitter Glue in Fruit Punch

Other:  EH Crystal Clear Plastic, Hero Arts Clear Crystals

 

Dog Day Thanks by Sharon Harnist

What better way to say thanks, happy birthday or just thinking of you than with a personalized greeting card.  Of course, it helps to have a wonderful personalized photo!

So on your next visit to a friend or relative's home, wedding, reunion, anniversary or birthday party, or special outing, be sure to take along your camera to capture just the right (or unexpected!) shot.  I'm sure glad I did, on a New Year's Eve out-of-town visit to a close family friend's house . . . their sweet dogs' faces were just about all this notecard needed! But please excuse the low-light fuzzy camera shake blurriness that occured on my photo (no, it's not your eyes!) -- I still couldn't resist using the photo of these sweet faces!

Then here's all you need to do:

1. Print photo 5" x 3.50" onto Natural Sticky-Back Canvas.
2. Trim with pinking shears.
3. Remove backing from canvas and stick to notecard. 
4. Stamp greeting with white chalk ink onto notecard. 
5. Send! 

I LOVE the texture of the natural colored sticky-backed canvas, it's such an unusual texture and so unexpected!  I hope you'll give these personalized notecards a try! ~ Sharon

Stamps: Hero Arts Poly Clear-Everyday Sayings; 
Paper: Ranger Claudine Hellmuth Natural Studio Sticky-Back Canvas; Memory Box Vanilla Bean Notecards & Envelopes; 
Ink: Hero Arts Hero Hues-Snow Chalk Ink; 
Other: Photo, printer, pinking shears

Song of Spring Card by Julia Stainton

Spring is right around the corner. Literally! Just a few more days until winter is officially over. I for one, am thrilled!

Today I have a spring-themed card to share with you and a fun and quick trick with patterned paper. Did you ever think to use patterned paper for your main image? With so many great papers out there incorporating beautiful vintage images, it's a great way to use them.

Today's project was inspired by this beautiful bird image. It's just a piece I cut out of a lovely piece of sheet music patterned paper from the Sidewalks line by October Afternoon. Instead of stamping an image, I'm going to use this piece for the main focal point of my design.

I wanted to add in a little color to the image so I've highlighted a few of the elements in some Faber-Castell pencils. I've actually used the Art-Grip Aquarelle Watercolor pencils and just quickly added some light color. These pencils can be used like watercolors when you add some water. I didn't add water in this instance but you can use them both ways.

After adhering all my layers together, I wanted to add an embellishment cluster. I've been really addicted to the Maya Road Tulle Pleat Ribbon Trim lately and it makes a beautiful base for embellishments. To adhere it,I placed a Gluber onto the card where I wanted my tulle. After removing the remaining backing, I adhered the tulle around the Gluber twice into a spiral shape and trimmed off the excess.

I could then adhere my flowers to the middle of the tulle for a lovely accent.

Thanks for stopping by the CLASSroom today and have a fabulous weekend!

Supplies: Sidewalks 8x8 Paper Pad by October Afternoon, Aquarelle Watercolor Pencils by Faber-Castell, Tiny Attacher by Advantus, Classic Cream Cardstock by Neenah,  1.5" Gluber by Cosmo Cricket, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink by Ranger, twine, Vintage Round Pearl Trinket Pins by Maya Road, Vintage Paper Posies by Maya Road, Ruffle Blossoms Yellow by Maya Road, Milk Tulle Pleat Trim Ribbon by Maya Road

Warm Wishes Window by Julie Ebersole

I'm ready for Spring, how 'bout you?

I had so much fun playing with the Memory Box Madison Small Window Die to make this warm happy scene!

To start, I die cut the window from Neenah Solar White card stock.

I decided I wanted to have the window peek-a-boo thru all the way to the inside of the card, so used a little washi tape to keep the die in place on my card front while I traced the opening lightly with a pencil.

This gave me a guide for trimming out the opening with a craft knife--love this ruler because I can see thru it and it has a metal edge! Very nice for keeping that craft knife blade from marring the ruler.

I actually lined the window with a piece of craft plastic and then added narrow strips of foam adhesive around the perimeter and then mounted that over the opening in the card--love the dimension this gave to the finish of the design!

Stamped a branch and some little tiny flowers in Spring-ish hues--there's a perfect little blossom in this Hello Luscious Frames set by Hero Arts so they'd peek out thru the window--I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to position the branch because I really wanted it to appear at a certain angle thru the window.  Finishing touch? Die cut some butterflies with the Butterfly Delights die- and glued them down-WOW! This is a great way to get a ton of eensy weensy little butterflies for a project--LOVE!

I wanted a sentiment on the front, but I knew it would have to be on the small side to keep the balance from getting out of whack, so I naturally turned to one of my favorites, All Occasion Messages, and found just the right one!

I just love this happy little scene! Thanks for poppin' in today, and I hope your week is off to a marvelous start!

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SUPPLIES:

Stamps: Vine Branch by Memory Box; ClearDesign: All Occasion Messages by Hero Arts; ClearDesign: Hello Luscious Frames by Hero Arts

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Rose bud (Dew Drop); Memento Markers in Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves, Rich Cocoa

Paper:  Squash and Lagoon Card Stocks by Memory Box, Neenah Solar White Card Stock

Tools: Fingertip Craft Knife; Tim Holtz Clear Ruler; Poppystamps Madison Window Die; Memory Box Butterfly Delights Die; Big Shot

Other: Crystal Clear Plastic; Foam Adhesive; Swimming Pool Doodle Twine

Dimensional Copic Rose by Sharon Harnist

Happy Wednesday and welcome to the CLASSroom today!  I have been playing around with Ellen's new Letterpress 110 lb White Cardstock some more and of course I had to try coloring with my beloved Copics on it!  

I stamped this beautiful LaBlanche Rose with Memento London Fog ink on the Letterpress cardstock.  Using a lighter ink color to stamp the image will give your final colored image more of a hand-drawn or hand-painted look! And Ellen's lovely, thick cotton letterpress cardstock makes the coloring take on a watercolored look, I think!

Above are the Copics I used to color the rose (sorry about the upside down one)!  The wonderful shading on this rose (put in by the illustrator) makes it quite easy to color!  For the cardfront, I used a Granny Smith Memory Box notecard, embosseed with Lifestyle Crafts Floral Embossing Folder. I topped that with the Currant Memory Box cardstock negative left over from THIS Memory Box Valentine/heart die cut card.  I gave it lots of dimension, by using Copic's new High-Tack Double-Sided Foam Tape -- I LOVE this tape!

I like that it comes on a large roll and you cut to length the amount you need.  The protective liner comes off very easily and the foam is nice and dense -- it seems to stand up better, without as much give as others I've used.  AND it sticks and holds VERY well!  The rose is also popped up on the foam tape, as is the sentiment:

The Hero Arts ClearDesign-Truly Appreciated sentiment was stamped with Memento's Rose Bud Dew Drop ink onto Neenah Solar White cardstock.  I'm so happy Ellen has started carrying the full line of Memento's dye ink colors -- All of Memento's inks are Copic compatible and I can't wait until the new 2012 colors hit the store!

~ Sharon

Stamps: LaBlanche Rose; Hero Arts ClearDesign-Truly Appreciated,
Paper: Essentials by Ellen Letterpress 110 lb White Cardstock (rose); Memory Box Currant & Granny Smith Notecards & Envelopes (or coordinating Memory Box Cardstock colors); Neenah Solar White cardstock (sentiment)
Ink: Memento London Fog & Rose Bud Dew Drop 
Copic Markers: R81, R83, R85, YG61, YG63
Memory Box Die: La Rue Heart
Accessories: Lifestyle Crafts Floral Embossing Folders; Copic High-Tack Double-Sided Foam Tape; 

Merci Card by Julia Stainton

I love things that color coordinate. It takes a lot of work out of things if you just know two things will work together. I also love dye-based markers as there are so many things you can do with them. This made the new Tim Holtz Distress Markers a must-have for me. They arrived in my mailbox yesterday and of course, I just had to create with them right away.

Making this card perfectly coordinated was easy even though I used ink, stains and markers because the colors transfer perfectly throughout the Tim Holtz Distress line. I've used the new Distress Markers, Distress Ink and Distress Stain but also in this line are the Distress Crackle Paints and the Distress Stickles.

One of my favorite things that I like to use markers for is adding color rubber stamps before stamping them. It's an easy way to highlight an image and make it more realistic. I was really excited with how well the Distress Markers worked on rubber with no beading of ink. To add the color, use the brush end of the marker.

After I added color throughout my image with different markers, I "huffed" (breathed) onto the rubber to remoisten the ink and then stamped.

Since I used Tumbled Glass Distress Marker on my main image and it's a color I paricularly love, I turned to the Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to quickly ink up my background stamp.

Distress Stains are a great way to add color to white paper flowers and so I used the Dried Marigold Distress Stain to perfectly color coordinate my embellishments.

Little paper curliques are a fun way to add a little more interest to a floral cluster. I didn't have any perfectly coordinating paper so I decided to alter what I had. I used a scrap of my white cardstock and dabbed it with Tumbled Glass Distress Stain and allowed it to dry. It's then easy to trim tiny slivers of cardstock to make the paper curls.

Each paper strip is wrapped around a long thin instrument. You can use a paper piercer or a small paintbrush but I like using a small tiny from the Basic Grey Precision File Set so that it doesn't slip. Wrap tightly, slide off and adhere to your project.

Thanks for joining me today in the CLASSroom! I hope you're inspired to get creative!

Supplies:

Solar White Cardstock by Neenah, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink by Ranger, Tim Holtz Distress Markers- Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Crushed Olive, Brushed Corduroy by Ranger, Tumbled Glass Distress Ink by Ranger, Tumbled Glass Distress Stain by Ranger, Dried Marigold Distress Stain by Ranger, twine, flower by Prima, Green Leaf Trinket Pins by Maya Road, Cling Dot Flower Pattern Stamp by Hero Arts, Cling Greetings Stamp set by Hero Arts, Vintage Sew-on Buttons Orange by Jenni Bowlin, Basic Grey Precision File Set