My First Give-Away! The Groove Tool used to alter playing cards.

You read it correctly, this will be my first give-away here on my blog.

From time to time different companies send me their products to try out.  If I think they are really good quality and something that I will truly use, I blog about it.   A few months back I was asked if I would like to try a new product called "The Groove" tool.  Of course I said yes.  During my move my new toy went with me but I didn't really have time to try it out.  The distributor emailed me last week to see what I thought of it......oops.  I pulled it out and gave it a whirl and what a delightful tool this is, can't wait to share it with you.

The Groove by Art-C is the first tool specifically designed for crafters to ink, sand, stencil and distress a wide variety of surfaces (wood, glass, cardstock, fabric, metal and more). It is portable, light-weight and cordless. Click here to watch The Groove tool.

Visit www.myartc.com/thegroove to learn more.
800-448-6656, info@momenta.com

Here is a sample of some playing cards that I altered using the Groove tool.  It sure made sanding and inking very simple.  I've included some directions if you're interested in altering some playing cards in the near future.

Directions:

Sand the surface of the playing card lightly leaving some of the original design on the card.  If you're using the Groove tool there are two different sanding tips and a low and high speed setting.  After sanding lightly tap off the dust.

Apply heavy gesso to the sanded portion of the card.  Allow to dry completely before proceeding.  You can use a heat gun but be careful not to cause the gesso to bubble unless, of course, you want that distressed look.

Stamp your chosen image on the gesso, sprinkle embossing powder on it and heat emboss the image.  Stamp a second image, cut it out, this will be used as a mask later.  BTW, this is one of Magda Polakow's new stamps manufactured by Stampotique.

Cover the image on the card with the mask to apply the background colors.  I used my new Brusho Crystal Colours for this project.  This was a combination of Prussian Blue and Light Brown.

Next I stamped on the card and added stenciling with some heavy gesso.  When this was all dry, I inked the edges of the card and allowed that to dry.

I liked this project so much I altered quite a few of the playing cards with different stamps, colors and phrases.  Here are a few of my favorites.

I am happy to announce that Momenta sent me a "Groove Tool" to offer as a give-away here on my blog.  If you are a follower of my blog and a resident of the USA just leave a comment here at the end of this LONG post.  I will give everyone until Thursday midnight, October 8th to leave a comment and then on Friday morning I will randomly pick a winner out of a hat.  I will include in the package some of my altered playing cards as inspiration just for fun.

I hope to see lots of comments and maybe some new followers, I love this tool and am anxious to share it with one of you!  I will announce the winner on Friday morning, October 9th.

Hugs ~ Renee

Stampotique Designers Challenge ~ Budget Stamping ::SDC 205

This is the fourth challenge for July on the Stampotique Designers Challenge and Arwen is our host.  Arwen wants us to: "Stamp a background with things from the budget.  For example, sponges, foil, cutlery or the like."  That should be simple enough, we all have things like that around the house.  

I used gesso on the watercolor paper, this was scraped on with an old credit card.  Next I sprayed Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Pewter through a stencil. 

 I started really bringing out the household items at this point; paper clips, some twine covered in black ink, bottle caps and lids from cans of hairspray, etc.  The lids and caps make great circles on the background.  All that needs to be done is to coat them carefully with some black ink or paint, lightly press or even twist the design onto the background.  Another phrase stencil was brought in and I sprayed Sheer Shimmer in Pewter on top of the other textures and dried it.  I added color with a small amount of StazOn Studio Glaze in Orange Zest pushed through a stencil.   Here is my finished background.

Now it is time to pick the design for the card.  There are lots of different types of textures at this time, rough, smooth, shimmery and flat.  I chose to put a little more pattern on a black 3" square by using a stencil and some Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Copper.  Just spray and allow to dry.  I have stamped a Kate Crane image onto a "Twinchie" piece of paper and colored it in with Memento markers.  The edges are also inked to create depth.  I glued these together, then adhered them to the center of the card.

The final step is to glue this panel to a kraft colored blank card.  

I added the phrase "sing me a song" to a small scrap of white paper and glued it above the upper center of the card.

I hope you'll take on this challenge and share your results with us on the Stampotique blog!  There is a chance for you to win a $30 gift certificate for Stampotique Stamps.  Have fun ~ hugs ~ Renee

Craft Stampers Challenge Continues::Stenciling!

This month the Take It Make It Challenge is a fun and easy one....just use stencils in your work along with some stamping.  I decided to do a tag that incorporates a stencil, gel medium and some heavy embossing powder.

I started by stamping one of Dyan Reaveley's "Strength" girls on a tag and a scrap piece of paper.  I trimmed out the image on the scrap paper to serve as a mask.

The mask will protect the stamped image as I only want to stencil around it as a background effect.

Next I place my Dreamweaver stencil over the tag and applied an ample amount of IMAGINE Crafts new Turquoise Iridescent Creative Medium paste through the stencil with a palette knife.  While the paste was still wet, I sprinkled Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel powder over the paste and melted it with my heat tool.  Now I have an iridescent dimensional effect on the tag.

I wanted to add background color to this so I colored some Gelatos on top of the stenciling and blended them with a baby wipe.

I colored in the image with Copic and Memento markers; then inked the edges with StazOn Gothic Purple ink.  I hit some of the high points of the stenciling with the ink pad to drag the purple color throughout the tag. I was in a Diva mood so I stamped the word, cut it out and inked the edges with the purple pad and glued it over her eyes.

To add a little bling I sprayed Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Gold and let it pool in the cracks of the stenciling.  The buttons were colored to match with StazOn Studio Glaze and more Gold Sheer Shimmer was sprayed on them.  When the buttons were dry they were glued on top of the pink ribbon tied to the top.

This is just another example of different ways to use a stencil.  Just be sure and wash your stencils immediately after using products like gesso and gel mediums otherwise the intricate designs could become blocked.  I hope you will join in the fun at the Craft Stampers Take It Make It Challenge this month, there are prizes to be won and a chance to be published in the CS magazine!

Take care ~ hugs, Renee xx

Craft Stamper Challenge Reminder::Embossed Resist

Ever since I started working with the embossed resist technique last week I haven't been able to stop making things!  I used this technique many years ago when I first started making cards but it has been one of those things that I set aside and neglected for a long time now.  Every once in a while when teaching someone who hasn't seen it before I remember what it felt like to see that embossing powder melt for the first time!  I see the look of wonder in their eyes and know that, like me, they're hooked forever.  So for today here is another book mark using the technique but  with a twist.  Read on for the short tutorial.

I wanted a strong surface to work on so I chose 140# water color paper.  I started with spraying the paper with three colors of Dylusions Spray inks.  I sprayed Bubblegum pink, Vibrant Turquoise and Fresh Lime.

The colors may seem a little bright but I will be toning them down later.  Next I used VersaMark embossing ink with an old brayer type stamp for my pattern.  After applying the design I sprinkled Clear Embossing Powder over it and then tapped off the excess.

Wow!  Cool pattern!!  Watch what happens when I heat it with the heat gun to melt the powder.

Gone.......but not for long.  Using Black Gelatos is like magic.  I applied just this much and it was way too much.  No problem, bring on the baby wipes and watch what happens.

Now we have our pattern back.  I felt it was still too dark for me so I continued to wipe it down with the baby wipes until it looked like this.

At this point I started cutting the book marks to measure 3" by 8".  You can pick and choose the color combos that you want on your project at this point.  After I had cut several of the markers I wanted to dress them up a little more, add more texture.  I used Dina Wakley's word stencil for this and some modeling paste, carefully applying the paste with a small paint brush.  If any of the words get smeared just wipe them off and come back later when it is dry and reapply the words as necessary.

Now mat the colorful panel onto a piece of black card stock that measures a quarter of an inch larger all the way around the tag.  It was still crying out for more decoration so I pulled some ribbon out of my stash and a K & Co button with a bird's nest on it to put at the top of the mark.   Just enough to make it look like a very special book mark!  Now to find a new book to read.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you'll try your hand at this technique and share your results with us at the Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge.  Talk to you soon ~ Renee  xxx

And the Faces continue

Still sticking with my commitment of doing a face a day.  I won't bore you with all of them but I liked the Zentangle hair on this one!

The background is done with a Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stencil and some Dylusions Turquoise spray ink.  The stamps are by StampCow and the Zentangle designs are done with a Micron pen.  Her face is colored with Pan Pastels and Gelatos.  I started just to do a Zentangle page while watching TV and ended up with a face!  Go figure.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I'm off to take a class at Ink About It this morning.  Looking forward to learning something new!  Have a great weekend, talk to you soon. ~ Renee

AIRs::Artist Challenge

Every month Imagine Crafts gives all of their AIRs (Artists in Residence) an opportunity to use each product that they have sent us, at least once, on the same project.  This challenge can be quite daunting since they are very generous with that monthly box of goodness that they ship us!  We are using the same products and theme that we used for April, which is "SPRING".  Personally I can't hear that word often enough after the rough winter we've been through here in the Northeast. 

For the challenge I decided to make a Masterboard because of its extreme versatility.  I started with a large piece of 140# Strathmore water color paper.  Since I have an assortment of gorgeous IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko VersaMagic Chalk Pigment Inks the colors of the Masterboard are very Spring-like.  If you know me at all you know  I don't really "do" pretty so I had to add a little bit of grunge to the project.  Here is the completed Masterboard.

I started off by working all of the IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko VersaMagic Chalk Pigment Inks in the dewdrop ink pads through different stencils.  I also used the IMAGINE Crafts Fireworks! Craft Sprays with the stencils.  If the colors were too intense I sprayed them with a little water and blotted it with a paper towel.  I used the IMAGINE Crafts Ink Blushers to apply the ink from the IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko Memento Dye full size ink pad in Morocco through a numbers stencil I purchased at the office supply store.  Additional texture was achieved using my all time favorite product....GESSO!

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer sells this fab stencil that has honey combs, stars and circles all on the same stencil!  Love it.  After applying the gesso make sure you wash the stencil off immediately.  I used a heat gun to dry the gesso.  Here's another product I can't live without....IMAGINE Crafts Creative Medium in Clear.  I used it here to apply a small amount of text from an old book onto the Masterboard.

I painted it on through the honeycomb stencil and then covered it in old book pages, waited about 15 seconds and lifted it up gently.

It leaves just a touch of print, which is the look I was going for.  If you want more print just paint on more of the Creative Medium to your surface before laying down the old book pages.  Here is the look I was wanted.  If I want more on the finished project I can always add it later.

Now that my Masterboard is finished I can use it to make other projects.  If you make a Masterboard you always have the option of making a photocopy on heavy card stock so you don't use your original, you can use the copies like a background paper.  Or if you're like me, just cut it up and use it, you can always make another one at a different time.  Sometimes I'll even make two at the same time, oddly enough they never turn out exactly the same.

I decided use this to make some cards Dina Wakley style, sticking with my grunge-style idea.  I used Dina's new stencils with IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko StazOn Solvent Ink full size ink pad in Jet Black to add the image, some tissue tape, sewed it in spots on my sewing machine to add interest, added ribbon and some rubber stamping.  The water color panels were then adhered to blank white cards that measure 5" by 7".  All of the cards were distressed around the edges with IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko Memento Dye Ink full-size ink pad in Espresso Truffle.   Now I have three wonderful "spring" cards for friends and family that are interesting but not too "cute".

Here is a list of the products and tools that I used to make this project:

Products

IMAGINE Crafts Creative Medium Clear

IMAGINE Crafts Fireworks! Craft Spray in Summer Sky, Angel Pink, Lulu Lavender, Dandelion

IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko Memento Dye Ink Espresso Truffle

IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko Memento Luxe Mixed Media Pigment Ink in Morocco, Sweet Plum and Pear Tart

IMAGINE Crafts/'Tsukineko StazOn Solvent Inks full size ink pad in Jet Black

IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko Takc 'N Peel Reusable Cling Sheet

IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko Versa Magic Chalk Pigment Ink Dew Drop ink pads in Pink Petunia, Mango Madness, Spring Pansy, Aloe Vera and Thatched Straw

IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko All-Purpose Stamp Cleaner

IMAGINE Crafts InkBlushers

Black Thread

Black Ribbon

gesso

Three 5" by 7" blank white cards

Tools

Water color paper

paint brush

credit card

old book pages

Miscellaneous stencils (I used Dina Wakleys, Julie Fei-Fan Balzers, office supply store stencils)

spray water bottle

sewing machine

Paper cutting tool

Stampotique Rubber Stamps

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it!  I hope you'll make your own Masterboards with these products or some that you have on hand.  After you make one you'll be hooked on them like I am.  Have a great weekend, I will talk to you soon.



Moustache Wall Hanging

I love the current crafting trend with all the moustaches, don't you?  They make me smile every time I see them.  I had some bits and pieces of things left over from other projects so I thought I'd combine them to make a cute wall hanging.

It starts out with my Mona Lisa stamp by Stampers Anonymous that I have had forever.  I stamped Mona on a piece of white scrap paper using StazOn Royal Purple ink, dipped her in embossing powder and melted the powder with my heat gun.

I applied some Tsukineko Kaleidacolor "Vineyard 025" ink on a brayer and rolled it across a scrap piece of watercolor paper.  I sprayed a little water on it to activate the inks and blended them together.  I dried the paper with my heat gun and then started stamping on it to prepare a background. 

The background includes some script stamping using the StazOn Royal Purple ink and a couple of smears of Golden brand Interference Gold.  I cut a piece of the watercolor paper that measured 6" by 5" for this project. You can use the Memento inks that match the Vineyard Kaleidacolor pad for the layers of stamping in the background.  I used Lulu Lavender, Sweet Plum, Gray Flannel, Rich Cocoa, and Bamboo Leaves inks.   I stamped a Dina Wakley heart on a separate piece of scrap paper using StazOn Royal Purple ink, trimmed it out and then glued it to the lower right corner with Matte Medium .    I trimmed out Mona and glued her to the upper left corner with some Matte Medium.

Then using Faber Castell black gelatos I outlined the heart and blended it with my finger.  I used a star stencil to apply gesso to the surface of the panel to give it more texture.  Now for the fun part!  I found these adorable tiny moustaches made by Soft Spoken and put a few on the piece.  In my stash there was a leftover piece of cork that I cut to 5" by 1 1/2" and distressed the edges with StazOn Royal Purple ink.  Then I applied some Faber Castell purple metallic gelatos on top of that with my fingers.  I punched holes on either side of cork and ran a piece of neutral colored ribbon through the holes and knotted both sides.  For the base of the project I used a scrap piece of black card stock that measured 5" by 8".  The bottom of the black card stock was punched with Martha Stewart's scalloped edge punch.  I glued the cork piece to the top of the black card stock panel and the watercolor panel beneath that.  Since Mona lives in Paris I thought it deserved a mention with my Stamp Camp "Paris" stamp.  I used the StazOn Royal Purple ink for that.  I applied a few black and white lines of acrylic paint to the panel with an old credit card for the finishing touches.

Materials

Tsukineko Kaleidacolor "Vineyard " five-color ink pad

StazOn Royal Purple ink pad

Memento inks:  Gray Flannel, LuluLavender, Sweet Plum, Rich Cocoa, Bamboo Leaves

Faber Castell Gelatos in black and purple metallic

Clear Embossing Powder

White and black acrylic paint

Golden brand Interference Gold

Watercolor paper

Black & White card stock

Cork

Ribbon

Gesso

One package of Soft Spoken Moustaches

Adhesive

Matte Medium

Tools

Old Credit Card or hotel room key

Stamps by Dina Wakley, Stampers Anonymous, Stampington Script and Stamp Camp

Star Stencil

Hole Punch

Xacto knife

Martha Stewart Scalloped edge punch

Heat gun

I want to thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.  If you have a few extra minutes to leave a comment I would love to hear from you.  See you next time, have a great day!