Catnaps Can Be a Hobby!

I really had to put my "thinking cap" on for the Hobby challenge this week on the Woodware Witterings Blog. When you are fortunate enough to "work" with your hobby as I do, then it's a tough decision. I have other "hobbies", certainly. I love to bake. I love to birdwatch. I love to walk and hike with our 4 1/2 month-old puppy. I like to shop (a lot). But really, to be perfectly honest, if I'm not working/crafting or being the amazing domestic engineer that I am (cough cough), I love a good catnap. Usually with one of my cats.

Hence my choice of stamp image for this post...Francoise Read's design for Woodware, "Your New Home". Yes, this image is great for a house-warming card, but I just love the coziness of this room. Especially once I paper-pieced all of the elements using the Forever In Time "Elderberry Perfect Prints Stack Pad". So much fun to decorate this room with these yummy papers! Some parts have been popped up with double-sided mounting squares. I've added a bit of shading with Tombow Dual Brush pens, and the cardstock for the focal image was die cut using the new Stampendous Fitted Frames.

Leaving a Deep Impression with the New Book from Stampendous!

All this week the Stampendous team are featuring techniques from the Embossing Powder Techniques from A to Z by Fran Seiford.

My project today was partially completed for our hop with Tombow over the weekend, so you can check out that post HERE for a reminder of the process. Basically, it is very similar to the Deep Impressions technique as shown in the "Y" section of the book shown above, on pages 78-79. but with a different "base". 

Notice the bottom medallion that I created. Here's where I went with it...

Using a small 4 inch square canvas, covered in black Memento, and heat dried, I stamped the Cling Time for Love in black pigment ink, and embossed with Aged Silver Embossing Enamel. More ink was smeared around the edges, with more EE, and some Frantagé Silver Chunky Glass Glitter. Here's where I used the Encrusted Jewel Technique from the book, which you can find in section "S" on pages 42-45.

See where my medallion ended up? It was Deep Impressed from the Time for Love image, and placed perfectly in its space on my canvas. The fact that it is putty makes it easy to stick on or take off and use for something else...

Like my pendant from Sunday's post!

Of course, I had to add a few extra doodads and a chain to hang my tiny creation!

Check out the team's posts as they share these awesome techniques!

Stampendous Blog

Jamie Martin

Wendy Price

Kristine Reynolds

Jamie Martin

To Stick or Not to Stick...That is the Question!

The Stampendous team received some unique products for our hop this week with Tombow USA. Nothing overtly cute and crafty and pretty, but all necessary items to make YOUR creations come to life! We received some awesome little Fastener Tabs...think thin hook and loop, for sticking and removing with no added bulk. We received a cool glue pen for adding hints of glitter to your projects. And we received XTreme Putty...a moldable, pliable, tacky product for sticking something on to a wall or other surface, but can easily be removed and reused again. This is the product that I'm featuring for today's post.

By now you know that I'm not the person who's only going to use a product as intended. I have to experiment with what else I could do with it. So...I think. And think. And think some more, until I have that "what-if" moment. You know what I'm referring to. Here's what I came up with...

I made these medallions. Gorgeous on the top. Still tacky underneath. They can be used over and over for whatever you want. For instance, I had a rather blah pendant. Now I have a pendant with medallions that I can change the look every time I wear it, and they don't come off unless you want them to! Here's how I did it...

Here's how the Xtreme Putty comes packaged, in little connecting squares to use as much or as little as you need.

I tore off about 4-5 little squares, and began warming it in my hands, and rolling into a ball.

I used an acrylic block to flatten it into my medallion shape on my non-stick craft mat.

I sprinkled the top with Frantagé Aged Embossing Enamels (Aged Copper in photo)...

And applied a heat tool over the surface to melt, adding more sprinkles over the top to build up a couple of layers...

I Inked my cling rubber stamp with pigment ink, and pressed it into the molten surface, leaving it in place until cool.

Here are a few that I did using various parts of the Cling Stamps (Time for Love...I used the zipper portion for one, and the heart from the key for another), and the lovely swirl shown before from the Cling Elegant Scroll.

Here's a close-up of all the detail and shine!

Now I have to say, that what I've posted today, is only part of something more involved that I'll be posting later this coming week as we feature our brand new Embossing Powder Techniques from A-Z book by Fran Seiford. We'll be showing these techniques all week, so check out the Stampendous blog for links!

As this week has been our Tombow hop, and there are awesome prizes as shown in the banner below, be sure to leave comments for each post from the teams from Thursday, February 4 through Sunday, February 7th (today!) for a chance to win. Rules and stipulations can be found on the Stampendous Blog. Good luck!

Head on over to the players for today...

Stampendous Blog

Janelle Stollfus

Cynthia Banessa

Jamie Martin

Lauren Fitzmaurice

Lea Fritts

Pam Hornschu (you're here)

Tombow USA Blog

Dreamweaver Thursday: If You Can Haunt It...Flaunt It!

One of my favorite things to do is to create a mood in my designwork. I was going for "Dead men tell no tales" with this card. Everything is edgy and distressed, with a stormy feel to it, and this is how it was done...

The base of the card is Core'dinations black with a gray core, which has been run through my Big Shot machine with the Dreamweaver I Beams stencil. Using the Core'dinations sanding block, I went over the embossed areas to reveal the design, and sanded more areas and around the edges as well...particularly where I wanted to stamp the sentiment from the Perfectly Clear Tricky Words set.

I stamped the Cling Raven Skull image with Versamark ink on the card base, and embossed it with Aged Black Embossing Enamel. I used a white paint marker to color in the skull, and then went to work on the focal panel.

I used the Tombow Zero Drawing technique and Mono products to cover a panel of Canson textured paper with graphite. I placed the Dreamweaver Clipper Ship over the surface, and erased the areas within the design. I also erased areas around the scalloped edge of the Picasso tool to create my cloudy sky. After this, I replaced the stencil, and using the Tombow Recycled Colored Pencils, I added color to the frigate, the waves, and a bit the guiding light of the moon through the clouds. I daubed Tuxedo Black Memento ink around the edges, and tore two sides. Once again, I stamped the Raven Skull off the edge of the focal panel, and embossed with Aged Black, and colored the skull cap white, so that the parts would match up.

Using Translucent Embossing Paste, I paste-embossed the DW Rain stencil across the panel, and set it aside to dry. Once dry, more Aged Black was sprinkled and heated from underneath to add texture. The panel was then adhered to an ink-distressed and torn yellow panel, and then to the card base. Beacon Adhesives Tacky Glue was applied to add sprinkles of Marine Blue and Trick or Treat Color Fragments to bring the whole design together.

For more "happy hauntings", visit my teammates here:

Stampendous Blog

Lyn Bernatovich

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Fritts

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy

Pam Hornschu (you're here)

Alison Heikkila

Tombow Hop Days Finale

We've been having a fun blog hop mixing Stampendous, Dreamweaver, and one of our favorite craft partners, Tombow, for the last few days. Today's the finale, but I have a distinct feeling that you'll be seeing more of Tombow's wonderful art products in the months to come from our team.

You know there will be prizes for this hop, so leave your kind comments as you go. Be sure to check previous days that you may have missed. All the rules and prizes, etc. will be found on the Stampendous Blog!

Tombow was generous (as usual) with each of us, and my new toys came in the form of their Recycled Colored Pencils. I was really surprised with these. I expected...ho hum...another set of pencils with so much wax in them that you can't get a good vibrant color, and can't layer color, and blend nicely. I was SOOOO wrong! Here's my project:

Check out the beautiful color on this darling House Mouse Carrying Mints image from Stampendous! You really feel like you can steal one of his mints from the pile! I added just a hint of Micro Crystal Glitter to them, but they were yummy all on their own.

The card base was created from a panel of Bazzill Dotted Swiss in white, to which I swiped some Tsukineko® Aegean Sea VersaMagic ink over the surface and around the edges.

I used the Dreamweaver Nested Frames Dies to cut the mat panels for the focal image, and ran them, as well as two more panels of red and green cardstock, through my Big Shot Pro with the Dreamweaver Christmas Borders Embossing Folder. These were all layered, and flipped to be opposite of the other. I swiped some VersaMagic Cloud White ink over the raised designs to highlight them.

Because the House Mouse Designs® image was too large for the die, I ended up with an extra mint, which I turned into a decorative button, and tied with twine over loops of May Art's Chevron Ribbon.

Don't forget to check out the other players links listed here, and in case there have been changes, double-check them on the Stampendous Blog as well! I hope you win, 'cuz you'll love playing with this great mix of Stampendous and Tombow product!

Stampendous Blog

Louise Healy

Latrice Murphy

Pam Hornschu

Lea Fritts

Tombow Blog

Stampendous, Dreamweaver, and Tombow Go Shabby and Chic!

The Stampendous team are hopping with Tombow all this weekend, playing with all of the fun goodies that Tombow has so generously sent to us, and mixing them up with our Stampendous and Dreamweaver products...and boy, has it been fun! Remember to leave comments along the way to be entered into a chance to win one of the prizes. You can find all the rules and details on the Stampendous Blog! Meanwhile, here's some shabby fun with the Zero Drawing technique...

For this card, I started with a panel of Bazzill Dotted Swiss white cardstock for fun texture. I daubed graphite dust over the paper before placing the Dreamweaver Mittens stencil on top. This was taped with removable tape, and then the magic happens! Using one of the Tombow Mono Erasers (I have the Non PVC eraser as well as the Zero Mono with it's small, pen-like tip), I erased the graphite from the stencil design. I also used the Dreamweaver Snowflakes background to erase and add those designs in the graphite as well. This same stencil was used to create the background of the pink card base by inking the design with Versamark ink, and embossing it with Stampendous Shabby Pink Embossing Enamel .

Using the Dreamweaver Southwest Snowflake, I used the Tombow Recycled Colored Pencils to color pink flakes on the mittens. These, as well as another flake, were paste-embossed in Translucent Paste over the top, and one of them was also sprinkled with Crystal Micro Glitter while wet.

The cuffs of the mittens were daubed with Regular Embossing Paste, and sprinkled with the Shabby Pink enamel, and heated until puffy and shiny.
I also covered a decorative pearl corsage pin with Versamark ink and coated it in the Shabby Pink as well, before melting it, and inserting it through a looped and crinkled pink organza bow.

All edges were inked and distressed, and a perfect sentiment from the Perfectly Clear Holiday Expressions was stamped and matted on pink ovals to finish this card.

Now, here's the list of today's team players...

Stampendous Blog

Pam Bray

Lyn Bernatovich

Jennifer Priest

Janelle Stollfus

Pam Hornschu (you're here)

Daniella Hayes

Alison Heikkila

Wendy Price

Tombow Blog

Cool Products, Cool Techniques, More Fun with Tombow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb01fGtd0FE

As we approach our exciting hops days with Tombow, we're hoping to get YOU as excited as we are! So we're sharing a very interesting and cool technique that artist Marie Browning has been teaching with Tombow products for a few years now...called, "Zero Drawing". I've shared Fran Seiford's tutorial above on her mix of Dreamweaver stencils with this technique. This is something Marie has done for several years as she and Dreamweaver's original owner, Lynell Harlow are friends, and had collaborated on this before. 

My version of this technique features the Dreamweaver Corner Flowers stencil. As shown in the video, I've sanded my Tombow Graphite Pencil a bit to create some "dust", and pounced this over my chosen paper (Canson textured). Placing the stencil on top, and taping it down with removable tape, I began to "Zero out", or erase the areas of the design using Tombow's Mono Zero and Non PVC Mono eraser. You can also use a kneadable eraser, as Fran demonstrates in the video, however I couldn't find mine, so I went with what Tombow so kindly provided for us.

Once I had erased the design areas, I stamped the Cling Dance in the Rain image in black ink on the panel. I loved the look of the pattern on her dress, so I only erased the pattern from her back and arms. Thinking that this very "grayscale" look need a pop, I used my Tombow Recycled Color Pencils to color the flower and her shoes in red, and added a bit of outlining with the black pencil.

For the card base, I used a panel of Core'dinations cardstock which I machine-embossed with the Corner Flowers stencil, and sanded to reveal the design. Once again, I added the pop of red to a flower, and outlined it as well. The focal panel was matted in red, and a black and white chevron ribbon from May Arts was the finishing touch.

I can hardly wait to see how my team members have been playing with these products. Let's go see...

Stampendous Blog

Laura Drahozal

Lyn Bernatovich

Jamie Martin

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Bray

Pam Hornschu