Check out the upcoming Stampers' Sampler!

WooHoo!!  I'm very excited to see some of my work featured in the upcoming Autumn 2013 issue of The Stampers' Sampler.  It will be available on October 1st, 2013.

I made some cute little tags with Dyan Reaveley's unique and eclectic style stamps appropriately named "Couture Collection".  They are just the right size for art journals, cards and tags.  

  I hope you'll take a look at this issue when it's released, I can't wait to see it!  I'm always grateful when they publish my work but I couldn't do it without all the GREAT stamps and products out there.  Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share things like this with you.  Have a great day ~ Renee

Authentique has Thrilling Paper!

I've been having a great time creating cards with Authentique's new paper collection called "Thrilling".  Here is another card I made with combining several of their papers.

This was made with "Mystic" paper as the background.  A little bit of "Superstition" paper with some Goosebumps applied on the tiny pumpkins for shimmer, and a sliver of "Moonlit" for the patterned piece.  The circle and phrase along with the words came from the sheet called "Thrilling" Elements.  I added a few pearls to the half circle design, alternating the colors.  The little girl with the spider is a stamp made by Stampotique.  I stamped her dress twice with StazOn ink in Jet Black and mounted the second one on glue dots to pop it up a bit.  The entire panel is matted on a Kraft colored blank card.

I hope you'll check out this versatile, colorful collection of paper.  The quality of the paper is wonderful, just as you would expect from Authentique.  Thanks for stopping by, I truly appreciate your visit.  Have a great day!  ~ Renee

Authentique’s new paper collection::Thrilling!

Authentique just released a gorgeous, richly colored new collection of papers called “Thrilling”.  There are so many ways these papers could be used but I chose to make a few cards, one of which I would like to share today.

I love Edgar Allen Poe so I decided that the first card would his.  I cut the papers to fit a 4 ½” by 6 ½” blank card.  I used “Moonlit” and “Superstition”; love those skulls, for the background papers on the front panel.  The raven sitting on a mirror panel is cut from “Forewarn”.  The frame around Edgar’s image is an oval cut from the paper called “Frenzy”.  Edgar’s image is a digital download from www.Alphastamps.com cut into an oval shape.  His signature came from there, too.   After everything was attached I decided to use a self adhesive banner from the same collection, this sheet is called “Thrilling Details” and matches all the other papers perfectly, and I placed his signature on this banner with some pop dots.   IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® memento Luxe™Mixed Media Pigment Ink in Elderberry is the perfect color to distress the edges of the card with. A few word stamps echoing Edgar’s reoccurring sentiments of dreaming of forever love…….and the card is done.  But wait, how about a touch of sparkle with a few of Queen & Co.’s self adhesive rhinestones.  Now we’re done.

Products used:

Authentique Paper Collection::Thrilling

Digital images from Alpha Stamps

IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Memento Luxe™Mixed Media Pigment Ink in Elderberry

Adhesive

Queen & Co. Orange Rhinestones

I hope you like this.  I will be making a couple more cards from this paper to share with you during the next few days.  Have a great week end!  Talk to you soon~ Renee

Steampunk Shoe Card Class

Saturday I had a chance to teach a card making class at Ink About It in Westford, MA.  Here is a photo of the three cards that I taught.

It took us around three hours but there was a lot of detail work to be done.  Lots of trimming, coloring, gluing....you know the drill, but in the end everyone seemed very pleased with their creations.

We all had fun, I always enjoy teaching card making.  Everyone walked away with 3 completed cards.  Most importantly they have the ability to make more cards just like these.  Hope you all had a fun weekend!  Take care~ Renee

Vertigo Film makes beautiful accents!

I love the new product Vertigo Film made by IMAGINE C              rafts®/Tsukineko® so much that I decided to use it as my third project for my AIRs submission.  This time I stamped the sheet of Vertigo Film with a butterfly image using IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®StazOn™Solvent Ink full sized ink pad in Jet Black.  After my butterfly outline was dry I colored it with IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Memento Luxe™Mixed Media Pigment Ink using a few IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®Fantastix™Multi-Purpose Applicators, one for each separate color.  I enhanced some of the colors with my Memento Dual Markers since they match the ink pads perfectly.  I cut out the butterfly and set it aside.

Using a blank card I stamped words from Anna Griffin’s stamp collection that I’ve had for years.  I used IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Memento Luxe™Mixed Media Pigment Ink in Northern Pine.  I also stamped some random simple butterflies by Stamp Cow.  I stamped the word “Extraordinary” where I wanted to position my special butterfly.  This word serves as the butterfly body.  I edged the card with the same ink.  Now I glued the two wings on either side of the word and the card is finished.

The results are pretty amazing.

I hope you get a chance to try this product soon.  In the meantime, have a great day!  ~  Renee

Two days with Wendy Vecchi!

Well, last weekend I had the opportunity to take classes with Wendy Vecchi locally at Ink About It.  What an intense and fast moving two days those were!  I wanted to share some of the photos with you and say that if you ever get a chance to take classes with her you should do so.  She really packed a lot into two days.  Here are some of the highlights.  (All the samples shown were made by Wendy).

Great classes with some great people!  It was fun and informative.  It took me all week to recover from having too much fun, if that is possible.  Have a great week, talk to you soon. ~ Renee

Vertigo Film::A new product released at CHA Las Vegas!

My project today is using a new product called IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko®Vertigo Film™.  This product was recently introduced at CHA in Las Vegas.   If you hold this up to the light and twist and turn it you can appreciate how cool it is.   A Vertigo Film sheet is like plastic, it can be embossed with embossing folders and you can stamp it, color it with ink or paint.   It can be cut with scissors but do take care if you try to heat set it, it will melt if you use too high of a heat.  This new product comes in 6 different patterns and will be available in packs of four 6”x6” sheets of the same pattern and individual 12”x12” sheets.

I started this challenge by cutting my piece to 4” by 6” and painting the back of it using Imagine Crafts®/Tsukineko® Memento Luxe™Mixed Media Pigment Ink full size inkpad in Teal Zeal.  After coating the backside of the Vertigo Film with the Teal color I sprayed it with IMAGINE Crafts® Sheer Shimmer  Spritz™ Craft Spray in Gold.  I allowed the colors to run together and set it aside to dry.  When the Vertigo Film sheet was dry I ran it through my machine in an embossing folder by Cuttlebug.   Now I have color and texture.

With the color on the backside and the raised embossing on the front I rubbed several colors of Faber Castell Gelatos over the raised numbers.  I softened the gelato colors by rubbing them with a paper towel.  At this point I placed a honey comb stencil onto the front of the panel and applied some gesso right down the middle of the panel.  While this was drying I stamped three bee images by Stampotique on a piece of scrap paper with IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Memento Luxe™Mixed Media Pigment Ink full size inkpad in Elderberry.  The images were colored in using an IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Memento Dual Marker in Dandelion yellow.  A quick spritz of IMAGINE Crafts® Sheer Shimmer Spritz™Craft Spray in Silver gave the wings an ethereal look.  I cut out the bees and set them aside.  Using IMAGINE Crafts®Creative Medium Clear  I attached a piece of floral ribbon from my stash.  I sprayed some additional Sheer Shimmer Spritz Craft Spray in silver on my mat and turned the floral ribbon upside down into the Shimmer Spritz and allowed it to just color the edges of the flowers lightly.  When this was dry I attached it across the middle of the panel with IMAGINE Crafts®Creative Medium™Clear.  Now I could attach the bees with the same Creative Medium.  I folded a piece of white cardstock in half to make a card that measures 5” by 7” and distressed the edges with the Memento Luxe ink in Elderberry.  To affix the Vertigo Film panel I used a strong adhesive and now I have a unique all occasions card with an incredible amount of texture.

I hope you will try this new product, it is so much fun to play with.  I'll be sharing other projects I've made with it later this month!



CHA Las Vegas Photos

One last group of photos from Vegas!  Graphic 45 had an awesome booth, as usual.  Here are some close ups of Humptey Dumptey.

Then we walked around a corner and look who was here!  Anna Dabrowska aka  "Finnabair" was doing demos.  Her work is even more amazing IRL.  She was very sweet and we watched as she completed this entire page.

We had a great trip and saw all kinds of new techniques.  We were able to visit with so many great artists and watch them up close and personal as they worked their special magic.  Be on the look out for all kinds of new products.  In the meantime, thanks for stopping by.  Talk to you soon.  ~  Renee