Simon Says Stamp - Christmas Burlap Panel

Hello everyone!
What a great weekend at Paper Tales in San Diego! I love visiting and teaching at Paper Tales.  Huge thanks going out to Michelle for asking me and hosting the party...because it really is a big crafting party when I go.  So many lovely ladies traveled from long distances to take the Winter Wish class.  I appreciate that so much!  Something about making the snow for that project, makes that class extra special!  Anyway, I left San Diego wishing I could stay longer to enjoy the sunshine and beautiful weather but work calls me back to the Central Coast as I have one more store to teach at this year, Whim So Doodle in St Petersburg the first weekend of December.  I am teaching 4 classes including the Winter Wish class, so it will be no small feat getting everything prepped and ready to ship. 

Enough about my schedule...I am really here to let you know I have a tutorial over at Simon Says Stamp today.  Just click HERE and the link will take you right on over to see what I've cooked up for you! A little something for Christmas using the newly released colors of Distress Spray Stains!  I found that they work like a charm on the Burlap Panels...seriously, like magic!

Have a great day everyone!
now carry on,
paula

Tim Holtz Media Team: Modern Holiday

Hello everyone!
I have a fun project to share today for the Tim Holtz Media Team using Distress Stains.  I have to say, when the Distress Spray Stains were first released a few months ago I thought, why do I need spray stain when I have Distress Stain in a bottle?  Well, I have come to understand that each have their own purpose because of the way the bottle dispenses the liquid.  And YES, I do need both! Follow along and I will show you what I created.

I cut a couple sheets of Ranger Watercolor Cardstock about 3 /1/2 x 8 1/2".  You will get three strips per page.

Once you have your strips cut, gather a few more supplies.
1.  Distress Stain - any color (I'm going for a Christmas theme so I included Peeled Paint and Festive Berries.  I also included some colors that might not scream Christmas like, Salty Ocean, Pumice Stone and Iced Spruce.
2.  Distress Stain Spray - Brushed Pewter and Tarnished Brass
3.  Paint brushes in varying widths
4. Two craft sheets (optional)

It does not matter what color you use - just pick one!  I pounced out a good amount of stain into a small puddle onto my craft mat.  *Do not add water. 

 Using a paintbrush, drag the stain across the watercolor paper -

 Until you reach the bottom of the paper.  You can air dry or use a Heat It Tool.

Now lets change it up and use Distress Spray Stain to spritz over the surface.  Dry again.
Remember to shake before use - and clean the nozzle after use to prevent clogging.  No one likes clogging.
NOTE: This is where the second Craft Mat comes in handy.  I painted the stripes on one Craft Mat and sprayed on the other (because we all know, sprays go everywhere - even on your camera that you might be taking photos with, to document the process).

In the end, I tested all 6 colors I chose up front.  Some I sprayed with the metallic Distress Spray Stain and some I left with just the stripes. I love that each has a totally different feel.  Of course now you're wondering what the heck is she doing with a bunch of striped paper?

The answer is this...
I die cut the strips to create shapes for tags and cards.
I used Sized Ovals, Sized Circles, Stacked Stars, Ornamental, Mini Baroque and even Tarnished Trophies and the Festive Gent.  Really, any die is fair game.

 I inked all the edges with Frayed Burlap.

 Then stamped a Christmas sentiment.  Seriously, how good does that look? 

I used Handwritten Holidays 1and 2 for the stamping, with Archival ink in Jet Black and Vermillion.  I did use one small stamp from the new Mini Handwritten Holidays to stamp "Peace on Earth" onto the trophy cup.  You can see that the image is much smaller than the blue card right behind it.

 I made some of them into gift tags.  I think that trophy cup is super cute and that stamp fits perfectly!

I also made simple card using the large sized oval.  Perfect!
I added a Vial Label at the bottom.  The 25 comes from the Botanical Remnant Rubs.  If I was going to make these in bulk, I would replace the 25 with a small stamp. 
I also colored a mini Arrow with gold Alcohol Ink and added it to the card with Multi Medium.

Well I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial enough to try this simple technique at home.  These are easy enough for the whole family to get involved, from the painting to the die cutting (just watch the spraying part...that could go awry with small kids...okay some adults too.  Just saying...).

And if you hadn't heard, 24 new colors of Distress Spray Stain were just released by Ranger last week!  I'm gonna need a bigger Craft Mat.

now carry on,
paula

InLinkz.com

Mini Handwritten Holidays Winners

Thank you everyone for all the lovely comments
and 

 a HUGE 

"Thank You!" 

 to Tim and Stamper Anonymous for providing our prize!

Congratulations 

to the winners of the new Mini Handwritten Holidays stamps!

 and the winners are...

Peg
Oh, My! Those stamps are awesome! And, Paula, your tags so great....inspirational and fun! So, YES! I'd love to win a set of those stamps!!! Thank you for sharing your work!

Scrapthat
Oh what fun!! they really come even MORE to life when you add on the ribbons!
Your holiday posts are some of my all time favorites! Thanks so much for sharing! :D

Heidi Gauvin

Love the Tis the Season tag! It will go perfectly with the wrapping paper I bought yesterday. I loved to win a set. Thanks Paula for the great tag ideas!

If you did not win today, but still want the new Mini Handwritten Holidays stamp set - you can get it at Simon Says Stamp by clicking on the link below to reserve your set.  The stamp sets will begin shipping this week.
now carry on,
paula

InLinkz.com

Mini Handwritten Holidays

Hi everyone!
My week has been very busy with a lot of behind the scenes stuff...even good stuff can keep you running.  I am super excited to share the news that there is a new stamp set availble today from Tim and Stampers Anonymous.  Tim took the all the stamps from the Handwritten Holidays series and shrunk them down so they could be used on Gift Tags!!  I LOVE this idea, because if there is one thing I need every single Christmas it is a gift tag (or a 100).  I was lucky enough to get a set of the stamps to create a display board for the Rubber Stamp show at Carson this weekend so I thought I would share some of the tags I made using the new stamps.

I did use manila tags for some tags.  The stamps fit nicely on tags sizes #1 - 3 which are great for gift tags.

But then I decided to break out the Thinlits die - Labels.

For those of you who have never used a Thinlits die (and that was me about 6 months ago), it is super easy.  First, choose which shapes you want to cut.  I used the larger shapes that come in the pack since I was going to stamp on them.

You will need a magnetic platform to be able to run the Thinlits through the machine.  The "sandwich" from top to bottom is:

cutting pad 

Thinlit (with cut ridge face down)

cardstock

cutting pad

magnetic platform

Here I have the platform, clear cutting pad, carstock and dies lined up.

I placed it on the Vagabond machine and added the last cutting pad over the top.  Then just send it through.  It's that easy.

I used 7 colors of Archival ink for the tags - the 6 that you see here and black.

watering can, potting soil, sienna, olive, sap green, french ultramarine

 

 *I used Sienna Archival Ink, which is a rusty red color for my stamping.  Vermillion is a more traditional red color that could be substituted for the rusty red.

I also used three other stamp sets as backgrounds:

Styled Woodlands

  Christmas Nostalgia

Mini Blueprints 7

So lets get started!

Some are very small, like the postage stamp die - but that size was perfect for Noel.

Some tags I cut myself using the back of the red Kraft-core cardstock.  I like the idea that the tag is red on the other side.  I did use white super fine embossing powder to make the white sentiment pop.

This simple one is a favorite - just a repeated background stamp in Sap Green (definitely a go to color every Christmas).

 I think this stamp is my favorite of the entire set!

 All tags don't have to be red and green!  How about a blue starry sky?

The stamp with Santa in his sleigh is super long so I just used a bit of it.  I think that worked out pretty good.

Super fine white embossing powder works really well with the red Kraft-core cardstock.

If you have more time, this tag was super fun to make using Distress Markers and the Mini Blueprints 7 poinsettia.

Use Distress Markers to color directly on the small floral stamp.  Once done, mist stamp with water and stamp on cut shape to get a watercolor effect.

I really like how this one turned out - I think it would be a great tag for a guy.  I just repeated the stamp over the entire tag to create a pattern.  My Watering Can stamp pad is new so it is still very juicy.  I easily overcame this "problem" by stamping on a paper towel (twice), then stamping the tag to get the faded nostalgic look.

This time I used Embossing Powder in gold on the red Kraft-core.  Super rich looking!

Here is the finished board!

I embellished the tags with Countdown Coins, Mirrored Stars (colored with Alcohol Ink), Red and White Paper String, Red and Cream Trimmings, Gumdrops (center of the poinsettia), and Adornment - snowflakes.
The Crinkle Ribbon ink colors - Red ribbon created with Festive Berries and Barn Door and Green ribbon created with Forest Moss and Peeled Paint.

Win A Set!

Mr Holtz and Stamper Anonymous have given me three sets of the new stamps to give away.  If you would like to win a set, please leave a comment, then check back on Monday morning for the names of the winners!  

Seriously, who doesn't want to win one?

Have a great weekend everyone! I will be busy putting the final touches on my last few classes before the end of the year.  If you happen to be in the San Diego or St Petersburg, FL area, please stop by to say hello!

Paper Tales
Saturday, Nov 15th
San Diego, CA

(619) 222-2510

Whim So Doodle

Dec 5 and 6th
St. Petersburg, FL

(727) 827-4911

now carry on!

paula

InLinkz.com