BLOG Candy ALERT!!

oh, my...there are so many generous ladies out there this month...The list of Blog Candy is a long one...so check them out...


1) Chelsea from Crafting Life's Pieces is giving an awesome kit with K&Co paper pads and Prima flowers... you can't miss it.

2) Debbie from Passion for Crafts is giving a mighty kit with Copic markers, Prima flowers, Nestabilities and more. Go check it out and take a peek at her amazing cards too!

3) Mary is giving away another great assortment.. check it out HERE.

4) If you like stamping, coloring with Copics and beautiful patterned paper you got to check Steph's gorgeous blog Much Ado about nothing. What a fun name!! Thanks, Steph.

5)One more awesome blog Candy at Bearly Mine Crafts...:)

6) Last Blog Candy of the night: Created by Gracie is giving some delicious candy!! go check her out and her pretty little girl!! :)

Enjoy and don't forget to stop by CreatingTreasures to see what I have been up to. :)

have a great night. :)

Tereza

How to add dimension to your scrapbook pages with Distressing techniques.

I just finished a custom order for a page layout I did last year. I have created this page 3 times... of course, not exactly the same. you will see here all the pages, in their order of creation. The last one is the one I just finished last night.







Were you able to pick up the subtle differences??

Well, I wanted to share with you how to add dimension to your pages. For this layout I used a textured cardstock base, then a patterned paper that shows behind the mats and lastly another patterned paper that goes on top. Can you see those 3 layers?

Next I tore the green patterned paper, wadded it into a ball so that it would crinkle. Do it gently so it won't tear on the inside, if the edges tear a bit, it's ok. then I smooth the paper out and glue the edges to the textured cardstock base.

After it's glued down, the center will be open so you can insert your mats or photos. I stitched all the edges, highlighted the darker leaves with a white gel pen, and added golden glitter to the orange parts of the paper. The edges of the paper was also distressed with the help of a pair of scissors. I also curled the inside of the paper.




Can you see all the dimension that that brought to the layout?

After that I worked on my chipboard flourishes. I painted them white and stamped them with distressed ink. I then layered my flowers: a mix of silk flowers and Prima flowers. I also printed out my title and poem. I added a black ribbon or lace to make the photos pop.

This is one of my favorite pages. I have kept the first one to myself and it has photos of my children gathering leaves in the front yard. The other pages went to two customers that requested them to be made again. :)

I am so glad I did. :)

I hope you enjoy the techniques and make sure you click on the pictures to see them enlarged.

Tereza

Stamping your Ribbons

I just returned from a week at the beach. While I am so grateful for the relaxing time, I am glad to be home. :)

I don't know if this is an old topic or technique for you, but before I left for the beach I created a card and stamped some images on the ribbon that I used on the card. Oh, I just loooooved the result.



I used StazOn Jet Black Ink and some bird stamps.

I will share the rest of the card later on this week as well as another stamping technique. What would you say if I told you, you could create NEW stamped images with your OLD stash??

So follow me or sign up to know when I post again.

Have a great week. :)

New Stamps using your Old Stamps

ok...I am hooked on stamps...I can spend hours looking at all the wonderful websites that have these gorgeous stamps. I am specially fond of the vintage, grunge, collage style ones. Love flourishes and the ephemera look.

But, unfortunately, it is just not practical to buy every one of them. I don't have the room and I don't have the money.

So there are many options to have new stamped images without having to clutter your craft room with new stamps. One that I really like is creating new images with your old ones.

I used these stamps.


and created these images..



Now for you to make these, you will need to create some masks. What is a mask? It's an image that you can use to protect a certain area from getting inked, or an image that you use to get a certain area inked. See Scrapperlicious for more on masks or Tim Holtz, for that matter. LOL

So just stamp the images you will use again...these were my masks. After I stamped them, I cut them out.


Here are the steps:

1) I stamped the flower with the Happy Spring text first.
2) Then I put the mask on top of it. Then I stamped the journaling circle on top of it, and added that mask on top of that.
3) Lastly, I stamped the flourishes. Depending on the look you are going for, you might want to lift the circle mask and stamp the flourishes on some of the edge of the circle.

Here is the result...


And here is the card I made using my NEW stamp...




As you see the sky is the limit... you can create many different images with the few stamps you might have at hand.

Next time you are bored with the stamps you have, try making new images with them. :) Enjoy!!!

Tereza

PS...if you would like to purchase this card, please click HERE.

Making your own Liquid Pearls

I have never had Liquid Pearls in my hands. But I have seen enough projects created with it to know that I want some. I have read some articles about how to use Puff paint or Fabric paint and how it has the same or similar effect as the Liquid Pearls made by Ranger. I don't know because I haven't used any of the products mentioned.

However I did buy a couple of months ago a bottle of Pearl Metallic White acrylic paint and Glossy Accents from Ranger. So after looking at many projects and what liquid pearls look like on them and reading the articles about the cheaper stuff, I thought I give it a try and make my own liquid pearls.

Now from what I concluded from the information I gathered Liquid pearls would be a paint that has shimmer and dimension and you end with a droplet of paint that resembles a real pearl. So I thought, "I use my Glossy Accents to create water droplets." Look at this photo. Be sure to click on the photos to enlarge them and see the details.



The water droplets here were created just by adding drops of Glossy Accents. When it dries it holds its shape and you have a water droplet. There are many different uses for Glossy Accents. You could have a whole afternoon of fun just with it. But I decided to go a little further. :)

Here is what I used.



So I mixed both together. I would suggest you start with very little. Get a paper plate and add a dab of acrylic paint and 2 dabs of Glossy accents. Stir until they are well mixed and use the tip of a paint brush's handle or a crochet needle to dab into the mix and start making little dots.

If you want round, plump, dimensional pearls be generous with the amount of goo you put on the end of your needle or brush. You can even go back and place more on the same place. Try one or two pearls and let them dry. As they dry you will see if they are holding their shape or not. If they start to go flat you will need to add more Glossy accents to your mix. It's trial and error job but after you get the hang of it, you will have your own recipe depending on the look you are going for. :)

I got this result with my experiments, and I was pretty happy with it since I wanted a subtle appearance.



I really liked the shimmery look and dimension without having to spend any extra money or waiting for my Liquid Pearls to arrive in the mail.

Now you try and have fun!! Let me know what kind of results you have. :)

Tereza

Digital and Hybrid Scrapbooking: is it worth the money?

A few months ago my husband made a huge investment (huge for me that don't like to spend more than $100 at a time on anything) and bought us an Adobe Suite. It has the famous Photoshop program as well as other programs for making illustration and other digital work. It is a fantastic software. Of course, as anything computer wise, you need to invest time on it, to learn how to use it. I have been slowly learning it and incorporating it into my card making, scrapbooking, altering art.

If you would like to see what I have been making please check out my other blog. Under the Digital ART label you will find the posts where I am showcasing my treasured creations.

Although your initial investment to go digital may be greater than with traditional scrapbooking, the good thing about it is that your resources never end. Let me explain. How many times have you bought a favorite paper collection and after using it on a couple of projects they were gone? You either went and bought more to use it again, or to hoard it so that you would always have it. :)

Well with digital, you have it forever (unless your hard drive crashes and you didn't back up the files. That's another story for another day!) anyway... as long as you have a printer so you can print your digital file or a screen where you can see it, you will have your digital papers, brushes, embellishments forever.

Now for a paper hoarder like me, that is HEAVEN!!! So I am definitely a Hybrid scrapbooker. Now, go take a look at some of the things I have already created and get inspired.

I will be sharing some of my knowledge as I discover more and more of the wonderful digital world!! So, have you dared into the digital world yet?

Would love to hear from you. :)

Tereza

Think long term instead of instant reward.

ok, so I am always trying to save a buck, right? Now, with so many tools, gadgets and the newest electronic devices that will cut, emboss and whatnot your papers, acrylics, chipboard and more, it is really hard not to fall prey of every trend that comes around.

If you got tons of money and storage space, then go ahead and indulge. But if you are like me, you don't have the extra money to spend on this hobby and your craft room is over flowing with stuff.

So, whenever I want to buy something new, I follow these steps:

1) It needs to be in my budget. I cannot go into debt because of it.
2) I research prices, specifications, reviews and whatnots about the product. I wait. I never buy something immediately. Usually it takes me months to make a big purchase. If I am convinced that I still want it, I go to step 3.
3) It needs to be something I will use again and again. I will not fall for an impulse purchase to buy a gadget that will sit and gather dust. So, if I have to, I will try to see it in action, ask people that have it what do they use it for, how often, what are the expenses with replacements etc etc.
4) So after all that, I can tell you that the most expensive thing I own that I use DAILY in my craft is my computer, my trimmer and my punches. LOL

How about you?? what is the most expensive gadget you got? and do you use it EVERY TIME you sit down to craft??

Love to hear your comments. :)

Tereza