Employee Favorite Product of the Week

I am your artsy girl who loves to play with mixed media! I discovered mixed media several years ago when I met Donna Downey and it is now a staple in my studio. I am always looking for the newest products to play with. Last year I brought in Faber-Castell when Donna was here to teach. I have slowly been adding to our collection here at the store.

Here are just a few of the Faber-Castell products:

Gelatos - are creamy, smooth pigment sticks (think similar to a chapstick) that adds vibrant color to all your projects. They blend easily with your fingertips (and wash off easily) or you can dissolve them with a wet brush or mister. They are permanent, lightfast and waterproof when dry.

Gelatos colored directly onto canvas then misted and allowed to drip.

Stamper's Big Brush Pen - the high quality nib works like a paintbrush. You can create a thin or thick line depending on the pressure you use. You can use it over any surface including glitter :)  The India Ink is waterproof and it will not bleed through the paper like a marker. It is very juicy so you can rub your finger over it when first applied to move it around. They are also great for inking your stamps!

The Pitt Artist Big Brush Pen in gray traced around the inside of a stencil then blended with fintertip for a soft gray hexagon.

Pitt Pastel Pencils - unlike messy chalks, they give you the velvety chalk color without all the dust and mess. They sharpen easy to create strong vibrant lines. You can also soften the color with your fingertip or a blending stump.

Pitt Pastel Pencils colored onto manila tags with a stencil.

Each of these products are ligtfast and archival safe.

Please come by the store to see the canvas up close. We carry many more Faber-Castell products and use them frequently in my Art Journaling Technique class.

Happy scrapping!
Cheryl

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Bird Cage Wall Hanging

Hello everybody!  Pat here. And I have another class coming up on April 7.  In this class, we will do many "layers"....a stencil for misting; a stencil for embossing paste; stamping; sprays; glitter; stickles; and fibers....WOW!  Talk about "mixed media"...it's so much fun. And you will walk out with a pretty wall hanging.  Supplies needed for this class are as follows:

• Basic tool kit...
• double-sided scotch tape
• regular scotch tape
• spatula
• 1/8 in score tape (or similar)
• glue runner
• hole punch (if you have one)

Some of you bought the bird cage stencil and the Donna Downey hexagon stencil...bring them if you have them...Of course I'll have mine as well...teehee....

We will be using silver embossing paste; American Crafts aqua fine glitter and silver fine glitter;aqua stickles; Art Anthology Glorious spray; Dylusions turquoise spray; pink liquid pearls; small bird stamps, archival black ink, plus 2 stencils.

Check out the photograph below or stop by the store to take a closer look.

Sunday,
April 7, at 1:00pm.
Teacher Pat
Cost:  $15.00

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Design Team Wednesday: Sweet Layouts with Authentique

As soon as the Authentique "Grace" collection arrived in the mail, I could not wait to get started on my projects. The flower pattern immediately reminded me of this picture of me as a little girl, beaming with pride in my big girl bed! I added embellishment using lace tape, an envelope adorned with patterned paper, twine, crochet flowers, and buttons. The salmon and brown are Core Color cardstock found at Scrapdoodles. All remaining cardstock is Bazzill, also sold at the store.

 The envelope includes a journal block easily accessible via the button tab. I also added buttons to the center of each crochet flower using glue dots.

 For my second layout, I used the cardstock stickers from this collection to create various "titles" that allow your eye to travel around the page. I love these pictures of my little ones as babies. They just seemed perfect for the titles "mommy's girl and mommy's boy." I again used lace tape, buttons from my stash, and foam squares to raise various elements of the page.

 For this journal block, I covered the envelope Cheryl mailed my buttons and twine in and embellished with a cardstock sticker from the Grace collection. The envelope was a small mailing envelope, I believe in using all scraps and materials!

 My last project is a card I quickly created using a cardstock sticker, leftover twine, and buttons. I love the vintage feel this collection added to this card.

I hope these layouts provide you with some inspiration! Stop by the store to see these layouts in person, they will be arriving in the next few days!



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Clean & Simple Cards With Dawn

Spring is in the air (or at least that is what the weather man says, lol!) so it is time for some butterflies!  Anyone that know me, knows that I love butterflies!!  Anyway, my next card class samples are done and I am ready to show you how to get a little inky and use some fun new products (to me).  I have discovered that it is OK to get inky and still stay true to my clean and simple style.  Here are the cards that we will be making in class:

Remember, you can always change out the sentiments if what I have stamped doesn't work for you.

Call the store at  540 548 3788 to register or stop by in person!  I am offering this class on 2 seperate days, so pick the day that works best for you!

Clean & Simple Cards With Dawn
Saturday April 6th at 1pm
AND
Wednesday April 10th at 10:30 am
$15.00

Supplies needed:  basics kit, double sided tape, pop dots, ink blending tool, distress inks in these colors: peacock feathers, wild honey, vintage photo (or colors of your choice)
black ink, heat gun, craft mat, corner rounder, mini mister.

I look forward to seeing you!

Dawn

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We Love POW! Glitter Paper!

Hello!  I wanted to share with you a product that I truly can't get enough of!  POW Glitter Paper by American Crafts has revolutionized the use of glitter in our scrapbooking projects!  It has a smooth finish that sparkles like crazy and the best part is that the glitter doesn't flake off and get everywhere!  You can even run it through your die cutting machines with ease!  I've created the title and hearts above using my Cameo and see how nice they came out?

The silver is my favorite because it is so versatile!  You can even color it using Alcohol inks or Copic markers.  Can you imagine the possibilities?

If you want to add a little sparkle to your project without the mess of glitter, POW Glitter Paper is perfect!  Come down and check out our selection today!

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Canvas Class featuring Ranger and Tim Holtz Idea-ology!

By popular request the burlap project in the store using lots of Ranger and Tim Holtz goodness is on the calendar! We finally got our order Idea-ology and have been able to schedule this popular project! In this class you will get to play with the Ranger Distress Paints, Inks, watercolor pens and embossing paste to create two fun burlap wall plaques using lots of Tim Holtz creations!

Teacher: Cheryl
Date: Sat., April 27
Time: 10:30-12:30
Class Fee: $35

Please bring basic class kit, craft mat, heat gun, spray mister, glossy accents, foam dots, water paint brush, and any distress paints and pens that you have including embossing paste if you have it.  There will be paints, pens and paste to share.

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Design Team Wednesday - Spring Decor and Layouts

 Happy first day of Spring!  It's Karen with a few projects that just make me happy!  I'm loving these bright colors from My Mind's Eye.  This collection is called "My Girl" and it will make you smile.  It's a great collection for spring and summer and lots of girly pages.  Don't have a girl?  Never fear!  MME thought of you, too, when they released the companion line "Boy Crazy."  The colors are a little toned down, but still have great icons and patterns perfect for a variety of scrapbooking pages and projects.  Both of these collections are currently available at the store.  For my first project with this collection, I created a fun wall or door hanging.  I started with an old frame that I spray painted a bright aqua color (I used Rustoleum American Accents in Aqua).  Using just the papers in the "My Girl" collection and inspired by the fun vibe, I cut "hello" with my die cut machine and placed it in a thought bubble outlined in grey pen dots.  The scooter (adorable!) is one of the coordinating stickers, which I backed with cardstock and attached to the outside of the frame.  The "balloon-flower-bouquet" is also made with a combination of stickers, papers and buttons stuck to lightweight floral wire and tied with 3 colors of We R Memory Keepers twine.  The butterflies are cut from one of the papers and attached with glue dots.  I just love how it turned out and it makes me happy to see it hanging!

My next project is a quick layout.  I started with white cardstock and added a few bits of the patterned paper behind my photos and as a journaling spot.  The washi tape strips and large stickers are also part of the MME collection.  I added a few of the small stickers as well and cut out small bits from the patterned papers and added them to the page.  Some of these I topped with Diamond Glaze.  I also tried a new product - a Viva Decor Pearl Pen in red.  I LOVE this stuff!  It left a wonderfully round, dimensional red pearl on my page (much like the popular enamal dots).  I was very pleased and may have to add more colors to my collection soon.

Ahh!  It won't be hard to get in the spirit of the spring scrapping season with this collection from We R Memory Keepers.  Their collection "Simply Spring" boasts a sophisticated color combination of blues, yellows, greens, coral and grey.  

I chose this butterfly paper for the background of my layout.  I cut a few butterflies out and then added them back in for extra dimension and glossed them up a bit with Diamond Glaze.  I added a few strips of more coordinating papers in the collection to anchor the side and my little file folder which opens up to another photo and some hidden journaling (see the inside photo at left).  The front of the folder is wrapped in We R twine and decorated with a die cut shape from the collection and a couple of strips of washi tape.  I used a bit more washi inside on the journaling tag I made to write a sweet little note to our girl.

Inspired yet?  Go!  Take photos of adorable kiddos picking dandelions or daffodils, stop at Scrapdoodles on your way home for these or other sweet spring papers, and hurry home to scrap your spring moment!

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