Eskimo Kisses

Eskimo Kisses is one of the fun new rubber stamp sets revealed this month from Sparkle N Sprinkle.  After stamping the image onto white cardstock and coloring it with Copic markers, I die cut the rectangle using a Simon Says Stamp die (Stitched Rectangles).  The patterned cardstock mat behind the focal panel was die cut using a Sue Wilson Designs die (Noble Dies - Double Pierced Rectangles - Set B).

Dimensional Glue was added to her ear muffs, coat collar and sleeve, and to the top of her boots.  Dimensional glue was also added to the pom-pom on the snowman's hat.  Then Swan Song tinsel glitter was applied over the dimensional glue.  Once that was dry, I highlighted various areas of the snowman and the snow with a Sakura glue pen and covered the glue with Olaf White glitter.

Falling Snow was added to the snowy scene by using a stencil (Simon Says Stamp - Falling Snow) and Dreamweaver White Embossing Paste.  I layered the embossing paste on fairly thick, and after the stencil was removed, I covered the wet embossing paste with more Olaf White glitter.

For the matting, I added more snow by using a Memory Box stencil (Winter-Scattered Flakes), embossing paste, and Olaf White glitter.  You can really see the dimension of the falling snow as well as the tinsel glitter in the above photo.

A ribbon imprinted with snowy words is the finishing touch.

Thanks

Today's mixed media card features the new Sparkle N Sprinkle stamp set Donna's Stylin' Sayings.

To start off, I cut a piece of watercolor paper to the size I wanted and began playing with my Nuance pigment powders (Hot Pink, Red, Bright Yellow).  Once I was happy with that and it was dry, I added some Dreamweaver's white embossing paste that I had tinted pink using a bit more of the Red Nuance powder.  While the embossing paste was still wet, I sprinkled a little Lavender Iris glitter here and there.

The sentiment was stamped onto a piece of Embossable Clear Acetate and heat embossed using Buttercup Petal for the brush stroke and Outer Space for the word.  After adhering, I began to sprinkle on some of the chunky embossing powders (Super Thick Silver, Super Thick White, and Super Thick Gold) in various areas.

Next I added a piece of chipboard from Want 2 Scrap (dress form from the Printers Trey Embellishment set).  I used Super Thick Silver embossing powder to color the dress form base and Bronze Rose embossing powder for dress form.

I pulled out my Mon Ami Gabby pull ribbon thinking I would add a flower bow to the piece, but then I started playing around with it and thought it would make a cute skirt for the dress form.  Instead of pulling the ribbon string completely, I let it gather a little to create the look of a skirt and then I tied it around the waist.  To finish off the card, I distressed the edges with the edge of some scissors.

Southwestern Bear

Southwestern Bear is one of the new southwestern themed dies from Die-Versions.  I used traditional colors and design.  Luckily I had an old (and I mean at least 15 years old) stencil that had southwestern designs on it.  I gave one of the patterns a more modern twist by using embossing paste in the design.  While the embossing paste was still wet, I sprinkled Nuance dye based powders all over and then let it air dry.  Once it was dry, I spritzed the entire are with Dylusions Ink Spray (Pure Sunshine).  The great thing about embossing paste is that it acts as a resist, so the ink wiped off with no problem at all.

For the Bear, I also used Nuance powders, but on glossy paper.  I also added back in the negative pieces to the main die cut.  I used that same stencil to cut out patterns for the various layers.

Even though I created a card, I could see this as a wall hanging or create a series of these in various colors and framed individually and placed in a grouping.

Cherry Blossoms

 Welcome to Sparkle N Sprinkle's

 Dec 1 Blog Hop!

This month the Designers were given a Surprise Package full of products found at the SNS Shoppe and were asked to create projects with these products.  So sit back, enjoy the Hop and get ready to have those creative juices flowing!

On Dec 3rd, ONE GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be selected from the comments left on the Designers' blogs listed below. Please leave a comment with each Designer in order to be eligible for the Grand Prize.  You never know who the Mystery Designer will be that has the winning comment.

The Grand Prize Winner, which will be announced on the SNS Facebook page and on the SNS Blog, will receive a $20 gift certificate to go shopping at the SNS Shoppe.

The Blog Hop order this month is:

Anne (you are here)
Shona
Jess
Belinda
Marie
Eret
Irit

(*Tip: if you have difficulty with a particular link, try clicking on the Designer's blog title to send you to their Home page.)

We would also like to thank all the Guest Designers who joined us this year: Diane, Ashley, Ani, Chris, Irit, and Jess.  It was a pleasure having each of you on the team as Guest Designers!

We hope you enjoy the Surprise Blog Hop as much as we do.  Thanks for joining us and remember to comment on each of the Designers' blogs to be eligible for the Grand Prize.  

 Wonder who the Mystery Host will be this month????

The Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenge also begins today.  There are lots of prizes and recognition badges.  Come check out how you can become a SNS Featured Artist as well.  The theme is always Anything Goes using Loose Glitter, Embossing Powder, and/or Flock.


Have you checked out the SNS YouTube Channel featuring Demo Donna?  If not, then you are in for a real treat.  Subscribe today to get all the latest Demo Donna tips and techniques!



Now a little about my project.

Some of the items I received in my Surprise package were the Dreamweaver Cherry Blossom stencil, Clear Embossable Acetate, Mon Ami Gabby flat backed Pearl Mesh, Want 2 Scrap chipboard and self adhesive bling, plus a few other things as well.

I knew I wanted to incorporate acetate and the stencil, so I set out to experiment on a couple of things.  First off, the embossing paste I had was white and I wanted pink.  So I added a little Nuance powder (Scarlet and a small bit of Turquoise) to the white and mixed it together on my craft mat.  The Nuance colored the paste beautifully.  I also wasn't sure how the paste would look on the clear acetate since you can see both sides.  As you see in the photo below, it looks good.  The darker spots on the flowers are where the powders were still concentrated in certain areas.  If you don't like these concentrated areas, spend a little more time combining the Nuance powders into the embossing paste.  Once the embossing paste was dry, I added some Mon Ami Gabby flat backed pearls to the centers with a dab of Brushable glue.

inside

The acetate was framed using a Simon Says Stamp die (Stitched Rectangles) and then some Mon Ami Gabby pull ribbon was adhered along the edges.  I also added a thin line of glue around the frame's outside edge using a Sakura glue pen and covering it with Sparkling Snow glitter.  The sentiment is another die from Taylored Expressions that I die cut from fun foam and added more Sparkling Snow glitter to the letters.

The card base was created from watercolor paper so that I could watercolor the inside panel of the card.  I used Nuance powders (Turquoise) to create my sky background.  The birch trees are a die from Taylored Expressions and I highlighted certain areas of the trunks with a Sakura glue pen and Sparkling Snow glitter.

I'm first on the blog hop today, so your next stop is Shona.  Be sure to visit each of the Designers for your chance to win the $20 gift certificate to the SNS Shoppe.

Steampunk Hat

I have to admit, Steampunk is a bit out of my comfort zone, but when someone described it as Victorian meets Industrial, it made more sense to me :-).  So today, I'm using the new Steampunk Hat from Die-Versions as the focal point of my card.

After die cutting it out of watercolor paper, I used several Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to color the image and just a little bit of water.  To tone it down some, I added white Wink of Stella on top.  The gears on the hat were inked using a VersaMarker, covered with Silver Bells embossing powder from Sparkle N Sprinkle and heat set.  I also added a pearl string from Mon Ami Gabby.

The background was created using white cardstock and a Dreamweaver stencil (Gears) and embossing paste.  While the embossing paste was still wet, I sprinkled Blackened Bronze and Silver Detail embossing powders on it and then heat set it.  When you heat set embossing paste, it tends to make the paste bubble and that was exactly what I wanted.  It gave it a rough texture plus the Blackened Bronze gave it a rusted look to certain spots.  To add color to the white cardstock, several Distress Stains were applied.  I kept adding different colors until I was happy with the results.  And since most embossing pastes act as a resist, the Distress Stains didn't change the color of my gears.

Some floral paper, lace and a rosette (plus a couple more layers :-) ) add my finishing touches .

Beauty in Nature

All month long, the designers at Sparkle N Sprinkle have been working with Dreamweaver stencils and creating projects using various techniques.  For my card today, I used the Bare Trees Dreamweaver Stencil and Pearlescent Embossing Paste.

After following the normal steps of using embossing paste and a stencil, I let the design dry overnight.  As I've mentioned in other posts, most embossing pastes act as a resist, but Pearlescent embossing paste does not.  It takes on a soft hue of the color you applied to the entire design.  In this case, that was exactly what I was going for so I added Gathered Twig Distress Stain to the front, making sure to go over the tree trunks throughly.  After I was happy with the results, I did wipe off the excess ink from the embossing paste.  It left a soft pearlescent cream color for the backdrop to the trees.

The sentiment is part of the Nesting Birds stamp set and was stamped onto Velvet Sparkle embossing powder with Archival Ink (Coffee).  A Spellbinders tag (Labels Eight) was used to die cut the sentiment.  The Chevron strip behind the sentiment was die cut from Sticker Paper using a MFT die (Chevron stripe) and then covered with Bronze Splendor glitter.

The two panels behind the focal point were dry embossed using a Darice embossing folder (Fall Leaf) and Gathered Twigs Distress Ink was lightly dragged across the top of each using the direct to paper method.   A bit of jute adds the finishing touch.

Angel

During the month of May, the Designers at Sparkle N Sprinkle are sharing various techniques using Dreamweaver stencils.  Today, I want to share the Angel stencil and the technique I used was to dry emboss with it.  You could use a light box and trace around the stencil, but I used my die cutting machine.

Everyone's sandwich for dry embossing with a stencil will vary depending on the machine used.  I use a Grand Calibur and my sandwich for this technique is:

1. Base Plate A 
2. Stencil
3. Card stock
4. Silicone Mat
5. Fun Foam (cut to size of base plate)
6. Embossing Plate B (the pink one)

Once the image was dry embossed onto my cardstock, I treated it as if it were a stamped image and colored it with my Copic markers.  This gives you the same effect as no-lines stamping.

After the image was complete, I placed the stencil back on the image and I added a thin layer of white embossing paste to the angel's wings and to the dove.  Remove the stencil (drop in a bucket of sudsy water) and cover the wet embossing paste with  Sparkling Snow glitter.  Allow this to completely dry.  I also added some Golden Silver glitter to the halo (using a Sakura glue pen) and Goldenrod glitter to the star.  (Tip: you could have used SNS Dimensional glue and get the same results.  You have to be careful not to squeeze to hard in the narrow areas.)

My background is a piece of fabric that I adhered to cardstock.  I added some SNS Brushable glue to the edges, smeared it inward with my fingertip and then covered the glue with Cloud Nine velvet glitter for a sparkly edge.  I also added Cloud Nine to my die cut sentiment (from Die-Versions).

Red velvet ribbon and gold mirrored cardstock for the base finish the card of nicely.

Fill Life with Happiness {SNS May Reveal}

Welcome to Sparkle N Sprinkle's

 May 1 New Reveal Blog Hop!

This month we are doing something a little different.  Instead of releasing new stamp sets, all the Designers have been creating projects with Dreamweaver stencils, using various techniques and products.

Be sure to visit the SNS Blog all month long, as well as the Designers' blogs (you can click on the Designers' names to go directly to their blogs) to see different techniques used with the stencils.   Each Designer always posts 2 different projects to the SNS Blog and 4 different projects to their personal blogs each month.   

Some of the techniques you see throughout the month is dry embossing with your stencil; double glitter technique; combining embossing pastes with glitter, embossing powders, flock, and/or guilded flakes; using the embossing paste as a resist; double embossing paste technique and lots of other fun ideas.

 All Dreamweaver stencils, soap, and embossing pastes are 20% off until May 3.  So once you finish the blog hop, head on over to the store and start shopping.  

Large Feather is the stencil featured with this month's Technique Video Kit.

On May 3, one GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be selected from the comments left on the Designers' blogs.  Please leave a comment with each Designer in order to be eligible for the Grand Prize.  You never know who the Mystery Designer will be that has the winning comment.  

The winner will be able to choose $55 worth of any products listed under the Stencils and Templates category, plus mica powders (Pearl Ex) and of course, glitters, embossing powders, flock, and sticker paper or adhesive sheets.

The Grand Prize Winner will be announced on June 3 on the SNS Facebook page, the Designer's blogs, and here on the SNS Blog.  

We are pleased to have Diane and Ashley, two of our 2015 Guest Designers, joining us again this month. They will be our Guest Designers for the months of April, May, and June.

The Blog Hop order this month is:

Eret

Anne

Ashley

Marie

Belinda

Diane

Shona

(*Tip: if you have difficulty with a particular link, try clicking on the Designer's blog title to send you to their Home page.)

We love reading your comments and hope that we have inspired you as well.  If you can not leave a comment for some reason, please email icinganne@yahoo.com with your comment and the name of the blog or the Designer you are commenting about.

The Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenge also begins today.  There are lots of prizes and recognition badges.  Come check out how you can become a SNS Featured Artist as well.  The theme is always Anything Goes using Loose Glitter, Embossing Powder, and/or Flock.

We hope you enjoy the New Reveal Blog Hop as much as we do.  Thanks for joining us and remember to comment on each of the Designers' blogs to be eligible for the Grand Prize.  Last month Diane was the Mystery Designer with the winning comment.  Wonder who it will be this month??

Now here's a bit about how I created my project.  I'm using what I call the Double Embossing Paste technique.  I started off by laying down the Damask Dreamweaver stencil onto white cardstock and I applied Black Matte embossing paste over it.  (Be sure to clean your stencil and palette knife as soon as you are finished).  Once the black embossing paste was dry, I laid the stencil on top of the dry black embossing paste and then applied Crackle embossing paste over the top.  Let dry throughly.  The black embossing paste undercoat lets the cracks from the Crackle embossing powder be more pronounced.

Did you know that most embossing pastes act as a resist?  Well, they do.  With that in mind, I inked up my card base with Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry and Shabby Shutter).  I wiped off the excess ink from the embossing paste.  Once the color was added, you can see the cracks left from the crackle embossing paste even better.

The sentiment, from the Life Is Beautiful stamp set, was applied to vellum using the Glue-less Glitter technique.  This very easy way to apply glitter was done by stamping the sentiment with Versamark onto the vellum, covering it with Dogwood Rose glitter, and then heat setting it.  Once heat set, the glitter will not rub off.  You can watch the SNS You-Tube video here.  The small dragonfly, from the Buggy die set by Die-Versions, was heat embossed using Pebbled Copper embossing powder.  

The fabric flowers were layered and I added Bubble Gum glitter to one of the layers and Glossy Accents to a few of the petals to replicate dew drops.

To finish the card, I applied strips of 1/4" Tear-ific Tape around the edges of my card base and covered them with more Dogwood Rose glitter.


I hope you enjoyed the techniques I used today and will try them soon.  Now it's time to head on over to Ashley's blog to see what she's created using Dreamweaver stencils.  Don't forget to leave each of us a comment as we never know who the Mystery Designer is that will have the winning comment.

Pearls and Lace {Scrapy Land #16}

It's time for a new Scrapy Land Challenge.  The theme for this challenge is to use Pearls and/or Lace, plus use any brand of die that Scrapy Land sells on your project.

I thought this would be a perfect theme for a Mother's Day card.  I started out by creating a silhouette using a Dreamweaver's stencil (Cameo) and embossing paste.  While the embossing paste was still wet, I sprinkled Cloud Nine velvet glitter onto the silhouette itself (but not the frame around the silhouette) and then let it dry overnight.  Once the embossing paste was dry, I die cut the image using a Spellbinders die (Classic ovals) and then spritzed it with a shimmer mist I created using the Marion Smith Color Lab Paint kit. The dry embossing paste acts as a resist and the mist doesn't adhere.  As soon as I had spritzed the entire thing,  I used a paper towel to soak up the shimmer mist from the paste. Lace was then adhered to the back of my oval to create a frame.

Memory Box's Elliana background die was used as the backdrop for the framed silhouette.  After die cutting it out, I applied VersaMark to the entire area and then heat set it with Pink Delight embossing powder from Sparkle N Sprinkle.

I created my sentiment on the computer and printed it out onto vellum.  Clear embossing powder was then applied to the printer ink and heat set.

I also created a lace flower and added a length of pearl string form Mon Ami Gabby to the back of the flower.  The larger pearls on the string were colored a soft pink using a Copic marker.

Now it's your turn to create a project following this week's theme.  You'll have until April 26th to upload it to the Scrapy Land Challenge and the winner, who is chosen by the Designers, will receive a $15 gift certificate to go shopping at the Scrapy Land store.

Autumn Splendor

closed

open

Today, I have a Gate Fold card to share with you using the new Autumn Splendor (digi version) from Sparkle N Sprinkle.  This is a pretty large card, measuring 6"x6" when closed and 6"x12" when opened.

The front of the card was created by running patterned paper through the Spellbinders Dainty Dots embossing folder and cutting into panels.  1/4" and 1/8" Tear-ific tape was added to the edges of both panels.  Lavender Iris glitter was applied to the exposed adhesive of the 1/4" Tear-ific tape and Autumn Sparkle Sparkle N Soft flock covers the 1/8" Tear-ific tape.

The belly band also has 1/8" Tear-ific tape along the top and bottom edge and is covered with Autumn Sparkle Sparkle N Soft flock.  A single strip of orange Mon Ami Gabby Diamond Mesh-Brights is run along the center.  

The sentiment was stamped with VersaMark, heat embossed with Black Detail embossing powder and die cut using a Spellbinders die (Labels Four).  Dimensional Glue was added to the outside edge and covered with Autumn Sparkle Sparkle N Soft flock.

The top and bottom of the panels are embellished with Mon Ami Gabby Flower Diamond Mesh in silver.  The centers were created by applying a mound of Dimensional Glue and covering with Orange Surprise glitter.

The image was colored with Copic markers and the background was colored with chalks.  Daisy velvet glitter was added to each of the flower centers and Lavender Iris was added to her wings and the streaks in her hair.

To create the frame surrounding the image, I adhered a piece of Super Adhesive Sheet to a piece of cardstock and die cut it using the Sue Wilson Designs (Italian Collection-Umbria).  After removing the protective sheets, I covered the entire frame with Autumn Sparkle Sparkle N Soft flock.  

The side panels were created by applying translucent embossing paste to a MFT stencil (spring flowers) and sprinkling Lavender Iris over the wet embossing paste.  While the paste is wet, it's still an opaque white color, but when dry, it's translucent.

Now for a quick "the things that make us happy"....  Do you notice a resemblance to the packaging of the rubber stamp to my colored image?  I hope the answer is a YES because my colored image is the one used for the front of the laminated sheet that this set of cling stamps is sold on.  So a little bit of my artwork gets to go home with anyone who purchases this set.  Thanks for indulging me, but this definitely makes me smile :-)

Pops Rocks

Today is the start of a new challenge over at Pattie's Creations.  Create either a Father's Day themed project or a Wedding theme - your choice.  You can find images at Pattie's ETSY store for either choice.

As you can tell, I decided to make an easel card for Father's Day using Pattie's Cowboy Dreams image, which is colored with Copic markers.  The background started out as white cardstock that I added embossing paste to using the Crafters Workshop mini chicken wire stencil.  Once the paste was dry, I began adding (lots) of Distress Stains until I was happy with the color.  (It took a while.)

I also tried a very popular technique of sprinkling embossing powder onto cardstock and heat setting it (most people use Frantage powders.)  I didn't have any of those, but have lots of Sparkle N Sprinkle embossing powders, so that's what I used.  I sprinkled both their new (coming soon) Copper Flame mixed media embossing powder and Magic Speckle embossing powder onto the side of the cardstock and heat set it from underneath.

Both sentiments were die cut from Die-Versions fonts - the larger one on the front of the easel card is Saloon Door and the message revealed when the card is open is the Little Lizzie font.  The music notes are also from Die-Versions (Harmony Wee Petites).  The bow tie is a Memory Box die (Family Ties).

You have two weeks to upload your Fathers'Day or Wedding project to Pattie's Creations Design Challenge.  We look forward to seeing what you come up with.  Be sure to check out what the rest of the team has created as well.

Peacock canvas

Today's challenge from Pattie's Creations is "No, No, No - Anything BUT a Card".  Normally when this is the challenge, my usual go-to thing is to make a tag.  But I wanted to stretch my boundaries and go outside my comfort zone.

I began by printing and coloring Pattie's Peacock image with Copic markers and adding a touch of Rapture Blue glitter from Sparkle N Sprinkle to the centers of the feathers.  When I googled images of peacocks, I was amazed at the variations of colors they came in, including all white which was absolutely stunning.

Now to decide how to showcase this beautiful image.  I had this 8"x8" canvas laying around that I've had for a very long time (I even moved it with me) and I decided that now is the time to use it.  I started off by applying Pan Pastels to the white base and blending several colors together to achieve a background that coordinated with my colors.

I wanted something subtle in the background, so I dug out my translucent embossing paste and a MFT stencil (Spring Flowers).  The embossing paste goes on milky but dries clear.  While the paste was still wet, I covered all the flowers with Sparkle N Sprinkle's Cloud Nine velvet glitter to give them a frosted look.   I didn't add any other embellishments since I decided I wanted to hang this in my craft room and I'm more of a "less is better" type of crafter.

I have to say I was pretty pleased with the outcome.  I guess I should get out of my comfort zone more often.  You have two weeks to upload your creation and I can't wait to see what you come up with.  While you're visiting the PCDC Blog, be sure to check out what the rest of the team has created.