Second Smack'n Acetate Class

We had our second Smack'n Acetate class today. As you can see everyone was hard at work putting together their cards. Lily and Elsa were in the kitchen, but that's ok, because they were getting pretty creative in there on their own! Great job you two! We had done another Halloween card and a fall card with the new technique. It is so easy, but gives you such a dramatic effect. I just love the look of it. Lily, I hope you can use what you learned today in your Scrap booking. I think it could make some really amazing pages for you. See you all at the next class! The directions for the technique are below in another post.

October ABC Class-Halloween Box And Candle

We made our boxes and candles today! I was so excited to teach the candle technique. It really is amazing. The results are beautiful! Everyone did a wonderful job! I just hope they will try to make some of those darling candles at home. You can do it! You proved it today. The directions to the 2,4,6,8 box and the candles are below.

2,4,6,8 Boxes


1. Cut a sheet of cardstock in half that is 8 1/2" X 11" inches. It will now measure 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" inches.

2. Stamp sheet as desired.

3. Score the paper at 2", 4", 6" and 8" along the 8 1/2" length side of cardstock piece. You will have a 1/2" section left over.

4. Turn cardstock piece 90 degrees, and score entire length of cardstock at the 2" mark. (Your scoring blade will travel 8-1/2" down. The 5 1/2" side of cardstock piece will be against the bottom lip of your paper cutter).

5. Look at your scored cardstock piece. Take scissors and trim off the 2" x 1/2" section (not the 3 1/2" x 1/2" section). *Note: The 3 1/2" x 2" sections are the box top and the 2" x 2" sections are the box bottom.

6. Cut each 2" score mark along the 8 1/2" side. (You will be making three straight cuts, each along the 2" score marks). Do not cut beyond the long score mark running the length of the 8 1/2" side.

7. Fold along all score marks.

8. Place a section of sticky strip tape along the 3 1/2" x 1/2" flap on the decorated/stamped side. Seal the top part of the box closed.

9. Fold up the four 2" x 2" pieces; this is the bottom of your box. Use a sticky strip on the last 2" x 2" piece to seal the bottom of the box. Now decorate and fill your box!

Stamped Candles

Supplies:

Candle - preferably white or cream
vellum paper
Stamps
Stazon Pad
reinkers
Aqua painter pen
Scissors
Wax Paper
Embossing Gun

Step 1. Stamp on vellum paper. Use images that can be colored-in, in the ink color of your choice.
Step 2. Color in stamped images using reinkers and Aqua painter pens. you will want to make sure your Aqua painter is not very wet but has a fair amount of reinker on it.

Step 3. Cut out your stamped images fairly close to the edges.

Step 4. Take a piece of wax paper and cut it so that it is not any taller than the candle being used and long enough so that it wraps completely around the candle and then some.

Step 5. Take your first stamped image and place it on the candle. Then place the wax paper on top and wrap the wax paper around the candle. Tape, making sure the wax paper is tight against the candle.

Step 6. Heat up your embossing gun for 30-40 seconds until it is nice and hot. Moving quickly, wave it over the area where the stamped image is; be sure to keep the wax paper nice and tight. Every candle will have a different wax melting point, but you should see a change begin to take place within a few seconds. As the candle heats up, the pressure from the wax paper should push the image into the melting wax of the candle, embedding the image and leaving your image intact.
Slowly peel the wax paper off the candle. Remember: every brand is different so if you are switching between brands you may need to adjust your heating times a bit.

Step 7. Finish your candle.
You can do numerous images on one candle; just place another image and move the wax paper. It is best to try and not use the same spot on the wax paper for each image, but you can use 1 piece of wax paper numerous times.

Your Turn!

Serene Sakura

I had a polished stone paper background I had made recently and noticed it matched the basic grey papers. They looked Asian to me so I pulled out my torii stamp I had made by Rubberstamps.net. You can upload a picture to their site and they can make a stamp from it. Amazing! I had a beautiful picture of a torii that I had taken while visiting Miyajima island here in Japan. My picture is above. I uploaded my picture to them, picked my size stamp I wanted and they made it for me! I wanted to use it and finally got the chance.

Baroque'N Tile Card

Just finished this card using the Smash'n Ink technique. It is like the Smack'n Acetate without the spray bottle. I just used my reinkers that matched my paper colors and sandwiched it between two sheets of glossy white paper. The effect is beautiful. I love my Baroque Motifs stamp set so much and I use it as often as I have the chance. It just worked real well with this card. I was at the Japanese "Home Depot" NAFCO in Iwakuni and saw these beautiful furniture tacks. They make great embellishments for cards. I just cut off the pointy end of the tack and pop-dot it on. I was getting anxious for fall and wanted to break out my leaf print and tree stamps. I miss them, they are my favorite style stamps. The colors I used for this card were Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Ruby Red and Basic Black.

September Card Class-Theme "Clear sheet embossing"

Today we had our class on clear sheet embossing. We made the two cards posted here. I had asked what the dragonfly symbolizes in Japan and Kayoko said that dragonflies are a symbol of happiness. :o) That's why I love them so much. I have information about embossing in general. Thought I would post it here. There is so much you can do with your embossing powders. For our cards I used a projector transparency that is heat resistant. One side is rough and the other is shiny. Stamp image on the rough side. Hold your heat gun farther away with this project as to not melt the sheet of plastic.

Choose a paper or craft object to Emboss. Don't limit yourself to just plain paper. Rubber stamping and embossing works well on fabric, glass, mirrors, tiles and terra cotta pots. Experiment with a variety of papers and transparencies, shrink plastic, laminated sheets, wood and metal. Ink and stamp your image on your paper or craft object using Versa mark or a slow drying Pigment Ink Pad. Tap your rubber stamp firmly several times on the Versa mark Pad or ink pad in order to completely ink the stamp. Make sure the rubber is completely covered with ink. Always stamp a new rubber stamp onto a piece of scrap paper for the first time to make sure all areas of the image are well inked. Place your rubber stamp firmly on the paper or transparency, being careful not to rock the stamp. Rocking will result in blurred lines. Large rubber stamps require more care in pressing down on all corners of the stamp. Each rubber stamp is different and you will learn how to best stamp each one. Some need more pressure in order to get the perfect image. The difference between pigmented inks and dye inks is evident in that the Pigment inks stay "wet" longer. Pigment inks do not work well on glossy card stock unless you are EMBOSSING the image. There are many choices of slow drying pigment inks with slight tints to dark shades or no color at all. After rubber stamping your image with pigment ink, sprinkle embossing powder over the image. Turn the artwork and gently tap off excess embossing powder. Use a dry paintbrush to remove any stray flecks from surrounding areas. Do this before you heat the image. If the powder is not sticking to the image in even heavy coats check to be sure you rubber stamp is well inked. Embossing powders also come in a wide variety of choices, from Ultra Fine to Tinsel. Both the pigment ink and embossing powder are available in many color choices as well as metallic, pearlescent and other unusual compositions. The final step is to direct hot air from your heat tool over the powder. This will melt the powder and create the Thermal embossed effect. EMBOSSING POWDER comes in many different compositions. Metallic Powders such as Gold, Silver, Bronze or Pewter can be used with the embossing inks, either tinted or clear. Using slightly tinted or clear ink with Metallic powders will produce a true metallic effect. Although the Metallic Powders can be used with colored inks to achieve truly remarkable effects such as tinted copper and aged pewter. Embossing powders comes in many Opaque colors as well as soft subtle Pearlized Powders and Clear and also Glitter Powders. You can experiment by mixing your colors and your effects. Pearlescence are soft and gentle colors that are excellent for pastel effects and baby or wedding themes. Clear Powder gives your image a raised glossy effect and looks stunning on dark papers and objects. Tinsels or Glitter Embossing Powders can be Clear or Opaque. Gold Embossing Powder with flecks of ultra fine gold glitter in it create a very beautiful and dramatic effect. Try mixing your powder colors and adding some glitter or confetti in moderation for your own unique recipes! A heat gun is the easiest method to melt your powders and create the even glossy embossed effect. But if you do not have one, alternative sources of heat can be utilized. Do not use a hair dryer, this does not get hot enough and will blow the powder off the card. You can try using your oven by placing the card face up on a baking sheet and putting it into a preheated 325 degree oven. Be careful you do not over heat or your card stock will be scorched.

September card class-Theme "Out of The Box"

We had our class on Wednesday the 19th. My class was on the "Out of the Box" technique. If you have not tried this, you need to! The result was just beautiful! My students were thrilled. There are different ways of doing this but I just like to use a pattern, it is just easier to me.
1. I stamped my image on a blank piece of scrap paper.
2. I Decided what part of the image I wanted hanging out.
3. I used a ruler and a pencil and Drew a box around all of the sides where I wanted my image to hang out.
4. Once I had my lines drawn, I measured my box on the scrap piece of paper. With your paper cutter and another piece of scrap paper cut out the measurement of this box. This will be your pattern. Stamp your image on card stock and use your pattern box to lay on top of stamped image. Adjust box on your image to where you want it and pencil around box. Cut along the lines and anything "outside of the box" you cut around and leave everything else inside. Erase any pencil lines and you are done.
I was inspired by an AWESOME card by Linda Bullard that is truly incredible!! I used a lemon stamp instead of her apple and changed my colors to use Groovy Guava card stock. I have had this stamp set forever and have never used it. It is one of my favorite cards.

"Scratch'N Sniff" Oranges

I loved a layout that DWQ had done that is called "fruity thanks" on SCS. I wanted to try out the scratch and sniff technique with this card. I used orange flavored Cool Aid mixed with clear embossing powder. When you take the card out of it's envelope you can really smell it, even more when you scratch it! Just don't try to do it on a humid day the powder was clumping together which made it hard to sprinkle on the heat and stick powder. The Instructions on how to make your own:

You ill need:

• A bold-style stamp set
• A VersaMark pad
• A Sugar-free drink mix
• Clear embossing powder
• A heat gun

Picking the scent, you need to select a sugar-free flavored creamer or drink mix. I used Cool Aid, you could use crystal lite, cocoa or others. If you happen to get a powder that is NOT sugar- free and use your heat gun, the sugar in the powder will bubble and burn. When you are picking a powder mix think about what color or flavor would work well with your stamps and paper you choose to use. Colored embossing powder will also work but may mix strangely with the color of the drink mix. hen using a cake stamp you could choose cocoa mix to make it a chocolate cake or strawberry mix to make it a strawberry cake. Fruit stamps are fun, you can alays find orange, lemon, lime, berry, pineapple, etc. drink mixes.

1. Mix 1 part sugar-free drink mix to 1-1/2 parts clear embossing powder. example= 1 teaspoon drink mix and 1-1/2 teaspoons clear embossing powder.
2. Stamp your bold image in VersaMark ink on your card stock.
3. Heat Emboss the image using the scented embossing powder.
4. Finish your project!

August Stamping Card Class- Theme Ice Cream!

August 17th, 2007

My class theme today was Ice cream! I showed my students how to use liquid applique on our cards and on the Ice cream box we made. Liquid applique will always have the "Wow" factor. They had never seen it before and were so Amazed! It makes great icing and snow.