Technique Spotlight: Cracked Glass

Hi everyone, I thought it was about time we had another Technique Spotlight post! I know I have a wide range of visitors, so this technique might be new to you, or it could be an old favourite, but hopefully it's inspiring either way!

Cracked Glass is a great way to use those embossing supplies that might not get as much use as they did when you first started stamping. I always say Versamark ink and clear embossing powder are must-have supplies, and this is another reason why!

The technique is simple. Stamp and colour your image. Ink the entire image with your Versamark pad, sprinkle over embossing powder and heat. Repeat 3 or 4 times - I like to repeat the layers of embossing until you see a lot of liquid movement when heating. Then pop the entire thing in the freezer for a minute, it will come out warped - and that's when it's time to get cracking! You can crack your image as much, or as little as you like.

You can, after cracking your image, buff over it with ink to make the cracks show more. I haven't on this card as I went with a lot of cracking, but on cards where I've had a more subtle effect, I have inked. There's a fantastic tutorial on Cracked Glass at SCS that shows the extra step.

Ok...so here's the finished product....
I always seem to go with floral images when I'm doing this technique, they just work so well. I have used a Kraft card base for the C4C31 challenge, and the sketch is from the awesome Karen Giron. The colour combo is Kraft, Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, Mellow Moss and Soft Sky. I have embossed over the sentiment layer to tie it into the cracked layer. I've used the Circle Scissor Plus to cut all the circles.

I wanted a simple, vintage feel, so kept the edges of my card free of sponging, and instead distressed a little. The inside images are stamped with Sahara Sand which I love using with Kraft.

I've added a new label to my posts - from now on, cards using 100% Stampin' Up! product (retired or current) will be labeled with "SUO" (Stampin' Up! Only) so you can find them easily.


Stamps: Soft Summer, Circle of Friendship, Sweet Little Sentiments
Paper & Card: Kraft, Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze card
Le Jardin Designer Paper
Ink: Soft Sky, Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand, Versamark
Other: Circle Scissor Plus, Heat Tool, Clear Embossing Powder, Cutter Kit, Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon, Piercing Tool, SAMJ
E-mail me to purchase.

Easter Basket Tutorial

Hi everyone! First off - Happy 26th Anniversary to my Mum and Dad!

This tutorial is a long time coming! Not that it took a long time to create - just an afternoon (three weeks ago!) You see, there was a....technical....problem. The light was awful for the finished object photos that night, and, well, Shanan and I may have eaten the props while we watched a DVD!

I created this basket specifically to hold Cadbury Creme Eggs. I've found Creme Eggs are a love/hate product - either you adore them, or think they're just awful! If you're in the awful camp, this basket will also hold any small chocolate eggs, painted eggs, or lots of other trinkets. At the end of the post I'll show you another version perfect for a small gift - think bath bombs, small lotion bottles - anything really!

Right, on we go!

To create the basket you'll need a 7 1/2" piece of cardstock. Score every side at 2".

Punch around all sides using the Eyelet Border Punch. TIP: Line your punch up with the middle segment - using the score lines as a guide, this way your corners will match up nicely later.

Cut between score lines as shown in the photo.

Trim 1/4" or so from the newly created "flaps" of your box. This prevents the punched edges overlapping and looking messy when the box is put together.

Using a strong adhesive like Tombow or Sticky Strip, adhere your flaps to the inside of your box.

Adhere strips of Designer Paper around the outside of your box. My strips were 1 3/4" wide. Don't worry, we'll cover that gap!

Adhere strips also 1 3/4" wide inside the box. Overlap these ones so there's no gap showing.

Cut a strip of cardstock 2" by 11". You can leave this plain, or scallop both edges and add a strip of paper as I did.

Adhere the handle to your basket, covering any joins in your paper. I used adhesive at the bottom of the handle, and a little near the top of the side of the basket to keep it steady.

Add a brad if you wish. The easiest way to do this is make a pencil mark, then pierce with a needle or piercing tool while your basket is sitting flat on the desk - this avoids transferring too much pressure and creasing the sides of your basket.

Now it's time to create the insert.

Cut a 5" square piece of cardstock and score each side at 3/4". Cut the corners off as shown.

Adhere a 3 1/4" square piece of paper to the insert.

Flip the insert over, and using a ruler and pencil, draw diaginal lines between the corners. Mark each line at 1 1/4" from the corner. Using a 1 3/8" Circle Punch, punch four circles, centering your pencil marks in the window of the punch. This gives us a nice even layout.

Your insert should look something like this. Score the sides and apply a little adhesive before putting the insert in your basket. You could make the sides of the insert longer so it stands inside the basket without needing adhesive - but I wanted to be able to see the paper inside the basket once the eggs are removed.

That's it! Your basket is finished and ready to be decorated as you wish.

I tied wide Vanilla Grosgrain around my basket and made a little tag using this cute image from Greetings Eight.

Don't have four creme eggs? (did your husband eat your props too?) How about a basket just for one...or for a fancy soap or bath bomb?

Here's a version you could use all through the year. The construction is exactly the same - just start with a 6 1/2" square base, score at 2". For the insert, use a 3" square piece of cardstock and score at 1/2".

Want that pretty border around the nesting space for your egg? Punch a 1 3/8" circle out of cardstock, then punch around the hole with the 1 3/4" punch. Instant frame!

I hope you'll make your own baskets - please leave me a comment if you enjoyed the tutorial and feel free to link your creations, I'd love to see them!


Stamps: Greetings Eight, Occasional Greetings
Punches: 1 3/8" Circle, 1 3/4" Circle, Butterfly, Small & Large Tag, Eyelet Border
Other: Clear Buttons, Watercolour Wonder Crayons, Eyelets, Linen Thread
E-mail me to purchase.

Technique Spotlight: Masking

I love masking. It's such a simple technique, it costs you nothing in extra supplies, and you get such cute results. Masking allows you to put an image in front of, or behind, another image. If masking is a new technique to you, read on to see just how easy it is!

First, stamp your image. This will be the image that appears to be in front of your second stamped element.

Before cleaning your stamp, stamp again onto a thin piece of scrap paper or a post-it-note. Make sure you're stamping over the sticky strip - this is helpful later. Cut out your image staying just INSIDE the lines of the image. This stops you getting a white border between your two elements.

Place your mask over your stamped image. If you stamped onto a post-it your mask will stay in place nicely, otherwise you may want to use a little bit of temporary adhesive to ensure your mask stays in place.

Stamp your second image, overlapping as much or as little of the mask as you wish.

Voila! It's a simple technique for sure, but just adds a little something extra to your stamping.

I especially like to layer my masked images for even more depth.

Stamp set: Good Neighbours (Free Sale-A-Bration set!)

See my finished card here!

Some supplies available from Stampin' Up! Email me for purchasing details.

It's time to Sale-A-Brate! Earn your free stamp set today!

Technique Spotlight: Glitter Glue Paints

Today I thought I'd do a technique that I find soooo useful for adding a little sparkle to your cards and other projects. We're going to be making our own glitter glue in custom Stampin' Up! colours. Glitter glues and paints are really popular for adding shimmer and shine to your papercrafts and I love being able to make any colour you want!

Now, I'm sure I'm not the first person to ever do this...but having never read a tutorial for it I have no idea if there's an official "recipe" out there - this is just my tried and tested way of making a glitter glue/shimmer paint!

To start, you'll need:

• Toothpicks
• Reinker in the colour of your choice (I'm using Soft Sky)
• Crystal Effects
• Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

That's it! Let's get started! First, spoon out a small amount of glitter onto the lid of a stamp case. Yup, no fancy mixing jars or even plastic plates here - I just use a stamp case because I always have one on my work surface! I just use the toothpick to spoon out a small amount of glitter. You only need as much as you can use in one sitting.

Add one or two drops of reinker on top of the glitter. It's best to start with one if you want a colour really close to the Stampin' Up! colour - I used two because I wanted a darker shade of Soft Sky.
Mix the reinker into the glitter using the toothpick. Mixing it this way first gives a really nice colour to the glitter.
Add three or four drops of Crystal Effects to the glitter. It's best to start with a small amount, you can always add more later to tone down the colour. Mix well with the toothpick.
That's it! All done! Your glitter glue/paint is ready to be used on your project. I like to use an old dried up blender pen to paint it on, a cotton bud or the toothpick will also work.

I pick up a small amount of the solution and paint or dab it on. Here I've used a dark solution of Soft Sky to shade the flowers. Once you're finished, be sure to use a tissue to wipe the remaining solution off your stamp case. I just scrub my dried out blender pen on scrap paper to remove any mixture.
The finished product! It dries in minutes, and not only do you get the sparkle from the glitter, I also find there's a subtle shine and sheen to the overall solution. A photo doesn't do it justice, I hope you'll try for yourself! If you'd prefer to just add sparkle, perhaps to a snowflake on a Christmas Card, just omit the reinker when you make up your mixture.

The best thing about this technique is the glitter will NEVER flake off your project. No more glitter on your hands.....face.....carpet....the cat....

See the finished card here: Bloomin' Thanks

Stampin Supplies:
Reinker in the colour of your choice
Crystal Effects
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

All supplies available from Stampin' Up!

Technique Spotlight: Dahlia Fold

With all the beautiful new Double Sided papers in our 2008-2009 Idea Book and Catalogue, now is the perfect time to try a tea bag folding technique...the Dahlia Fold. This makes a beautiful flower medallion. I've taken some photos to show how this is done, just click on them to make them larger. The paper used here is from the Le Jardin pack.

You'll need 8 circles to make the full Dahlia. I've used the 1 3/8" Circle Punch. Decide which side of your paper is to be the main pattern and keep this side at the back for the first three creases/folds.

Take your circle, and fold in half - but only crease the BOTTOM half of the circle, as shown by the dotted line.

Fold your circle in half again, creasing the full length of the second dotted line.

This part is a little tricky, but you'll soon get used to it. Make a fold from the two points where your creases meet the outer edge of the circle. The solid line on the left of the circle is where you should fold, the right side has been folded already.

Turn your circle over, and fold both sides towards the middle like you're making a paper dart. Repeat the above steps until you have 8 dart shaped pieces.

Cut a smaller circle, here I've used the 1" Punch, you could also use the 1 1/4" Punch. Fold in half, then in half again to make some guide lines.

Line the 8 pieces of your Dahlia on this circle, adhering with SNAIL or 2 Way Glue Pen.

To see a card featuring a finished Dahlia, please see this post: http://thinkingstamps.blogspot.com/2008/04/darling-dahlia.html

Product Spotlight: Heat & Stick Powder

Have you ever received a card that left more glitter on your hands that on the actual card? Luckily, Stampin' Up! have a few different ways to keep the glitter where you want it, and off the floor, cat, kids, desk etc! The 2 Way Glue Pen and Crystal Effects are great adhesives for glitter and work wonders at sticking it really well to your project, but the king of them all has to be Heat & Stick Powder.

I always use Heat & Stick Powder when I'm doing a lot of glittering on a card. It works in a similar way to regular embossing powder, here's a short guide to getting the best out of this product.

First, stamp your image. You'll need to use a pigment ink, Encore works great, or something like Versamark or an embossing pad. Here I wanted to use Pink Passion, so all I did was ink my stamp with Versamark first, then with Pink Passion. The Versamark won't hurt your classic ink pad, and this way you can emboss with any of our wonderful colours!

Next, cover your image with Heat & Stick powder. Tap off the excess using a Powder Pal or piece of paper to catch it. Funnel this back into your container for next time! Before you heat the image, get everything ready for the glitter step, you want to be ready to pour the glitter on as soon as you stop heating.

Gently heat the image with your heat gun - I find this takes less time than embossing powder does. As soon as you see the powder melt you're ready. Pour the glitter over your heated image (turn your heat gun off first if you don't want to look like a sparkly snowman!) and tap off the excess, returning this to the container.

Your image will look like this. All that remains is to gently heat the image once again, just to set the powder. Then I like to take a stiff bristled paintbrush, and brush quite vigorously over my image. This gets rid of any stray particles of glitter.

The finished card! I kept the base of this one a simple square of Whisper White with the sentiment stamped in Pink Passion. The flower provided all the "wow" factor this one needed! I stamped and glittered two flowers, and stamped and embossed another two before cutting out different layers of each. The layers were put together using Stampin' Dimensionals for height.

I hope this will inspire you to try Heat & Stick Powder, you'll love being able to glitter a bold, chunky image, or a delicate image with ease!

Stampin' Supplies:

Fabulous Flowers Stamp Set.
Whisper White card stock.
Pink Passion ink.
Heat & Stick Powder.
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.
Heat Tool.
Powder Pal.
Rhinestone Brad.
Stampin' Dimensionals.

All supplies available from Stampin' Up!

Watercolouring with SU! Inkpads

One of the things I like the most about Stampin' Up! are the inkpads. Not only do they come in the most beautiful colours, but the unique design allows for some really cool techniques.

Stampin' Up! inkpads are designed so they store your inkpad upside down, keeping the top nice and juicy and ready to stamp with. They also make a fantastic watercolour palette! Here's how.

First, stamp your image in Staz On ink. This ink is 100% waterproof, it will never smudge, and you can use it for so many things! More about the great qualities of this ink in posts to come! I've stamped an image from the Unfrogettable set in Staz On Black on Whisper White cardstock.

Next, while your ink pad is closed, gently squeeze the top and bottom of the pad together, to form a small pool of ink on the top of the pad.

Dip your aqua painter into the pool of ink, and colour in your image. It's that simple! To change colours, simply scribble on some scrap paper until your aqua painter runs clear again. You can layer colours until you are happy with the effect.

I hope you'll pull out your inkpads soon and give this super easy technique a try, you'll love the results!

Stampin' Supplies:

Unfrogettable Stamp Set

Black Staz On inkpad

Green Galore inkpad

Aqua Painter

Whisper White Cardstock

All supplies from Stampin' Up!