i’d like to introduce you to “so smitten“, the next book in my series of altered books, this one celebrating all things love {click on photos to enlarge}…
the book features papers and embellishments from Authentique’s Smitten line, inks and more from Clearsnap and of course, trinkets and treasures from my vintage {and new} stash! lots of loVelYtouches: charms, lace, ribbons, bows, vintage bits and MORE!
this book was SO much fun to put together and i had SO many ideas that i couldn’t even use them all! you will find new techniques if you have taken any of my altered book classes before. and if you haven’t ever taken one, this is a great one to start with! lots of little details that make it fun and unique, but not overly complicated.
this valentine’s themed book is great as a gift for someone special or to keep yourself. friends, family, weddings, romances; adaptable to many different “types” of love.
here are the details:
what: “so smitten” valentine altered book class
where: stamp antonio
when:sunday, january 19
time: 12:00 to 5:00
cost: $65
i am finishing up the directions, and then i’ll be dropping the sample book off at stamp antonio {hopefully by the weekend}.
please call stamp antonio at 210-764-7900 for more information or to sign up.
a BIG thank you to all of you who took either of my two classes this month!
the “Christmas Spirit” altered book class went SMOOTH as silk! i think it was the best of my altered book series thus far! everyone really showed their Christmas mojo in keeping up with the pace of the class! i hope everyone enjoyed the class {and snacks}; i look forward to seeing some of you this wednesday in the “completor” class, where you’ll have a chance to get the book all finished.
the “Altered ATC Christmas Tray” class went well also; everyone seemed very excited and ready to proudly display their finished projects.
i spent a LOT of time prepping and planning both these classes, so i breathed a HUGE SIGH of relief once they were DONE!
i appreciate all of you who come and take my classes and support me with your generous words of encouragement.
i’m done for the year {well, after wednesday} and am looking ahead to the new year. i probably won’t be posting too much here until january, so please check out the CLEARSNAP BLOG for projects from me, jean – the other blog hostess, and the rest of the design team members. we’ve got some fabulous holiday and new year’s projects coming up, so tune in to be INSPIRED!
here’s a peek at my blog post for today on the Clearsnap Blog – please visit the blog for all the details and directions…
well, really i was walking down the aisle of my local mike’s when i found a little wood snowflake set that i thought would be PERFECT for me to alter!
i decided to try my Smooch Spritzes out on them and was VERY happy with the result! the spritzes covered the wood very well and the colors were SO vivid and SO shimmery! and not that the snowflakes really needed any more “bling”, but it IS the season to “bling-it-up”, so i reached for some glitter.
i took photos while i worked on the project, so you can see some step-by-steps in the slideshow below. as a “bonus”, since we are ALL busy and multi-tasking is essential… if you lay you snowflakes on a piece of white cardtsock while you spray them, you’ll be left with a BEAUTIFUL negative of them to use for a card or to decorate a gift bag!
here is a photo of the finished project and a list of the supplies used:
Supplies: Michael’s: wood snowflake set, CLEARSNAP: Smooch Spritz: Frosted Grape, Silver Foil and Electric Blue and Winter Frost: Glitter, Deco Art: Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze {formarly made by Krylon}, Creative Impressions: Bead Chain and foam brushes.
if you have created something special for the holidays please send a pic of it to me; i’d love to see it!
those of you who know me, know that i have 2 boys, and DON’T get to “do pink” very often! LOL!
BUT — a friend of mine, charlotte, has a daughter – LuLu, that turned 16 recently. SO — i got to make some FUN, FRILLY, beribboned, bedecked and bedazzled projects! lime green, pink, flowers, rhinestones, ribbons, fru-fru, beads, charms… you name it and i tried to FIND a way to include it!
for the first project, i started with a metal word that charlotte had found at a yard sale. she thought it would be fun for me to alter it for lulu’s b-day. i didn’t think to take a before pic – but it started out sorta a matte verdigris color. i pulled out my FAVE lumiere paint – citrine, and gave it a coat or two. then i added black sparkle stickle dots around all the letters. hot pink velvet scalloped ribbon, black pom trim and a row of cute tiny rhinestones dressed up the bottom. then i added a scattering of paper flowers with rhinestone centers. a few small rhinestone flowers were all that was needed to finish it off.
here’s how it turned out…
charlotte plans to hang it or place it on a shelf on lulu’s wall, then put framed photos of her friends under it!
NEXT – was the REALLY fun to do project! i wanted to make a mini album for lulu so that she would have a place to put special photos from her 16th year. {i HAVEN’T given this to her yet – so those of you who know lulu – please keep it hush hush till saturday!} i went through my stash and pulled out EVERYTHING i had that was blingy, or in the colors i wanted to use: pink, aqua, orange, lime green, black and white. i have to say, i had more that i thought, BUT – i just HAD to shop for a few more things. i don’t often get to shop for anything GIRL-EE! i accumulated quite a stack, and that made it easier to create the album. just seeing all those papers and embellies in coodinating colors got me excited about putting them to good use. i used a 8 X 8 chipboard album from maya road as a base; it came with 8 pages, so counting them front and back – that gave me SIXTEEN pages – PERFECT!
here’s how it turned out!
i hope she’ll like it and i hope YOU enjoyed seeing something PINK on my blog! it’s a nice change from all the BOY colors usually up around here! LOL!
among CLEARSNAP’s new releases at cha were DESIGN ADHESIVES, GLITTER and some new EMBOSSING POWDER colors… they aren’t in stores yet, but they will be soon!
DESIGN ADHESIVES are a little like rub ons, you place them where you want them and rub them on, but what you get when you peel away the backing, is a design in adhesive. it’s sticky so you can add glitter, embossing powder, pearl-ex, flocking, microbeads, etc. the new GLITTERS work wonderfully with the design adhesives! they are super fine and have a brilliant shine! you can also cut the design adhesives apart and place the pieces where you want them, or put one element down at a time to easily layer on colors.
i’ve made 2 wedding cards using the new products. i used a fancy scroll pattern with metallic papers and glitters on one, and the other card is more casual with hearts and pink and blue papers and embossing powders. the directions and supplies for both cards are given. (and yes, i KNOW that number 8 in the directions for the mr & mrs card is showing up as a smiley face! i have NO idea why though! LOL!)
“best wishes” card
supplies:
Clearsnap: Design Adhesives – ornate border, Glitter – fool’s gold, silver lining and winter frost and Top Boss – white embossing powder
Prism: metallic cardstock – bronze and gold leaf and prismatics – suede brown
1) cut a 7″ X 7 1/2″ piece of bronze cardstock and fold in half lengthwise to make card.
2) cut a 3 3/8″ X 7 3/8″ piece of brown cardstock and adhere to center front of card.
3) cut a 2″ X 7″ piece of gold cardstock and adhere DESIGN ADHESIVES to it.
4) working carefully, apply WHITE FROST GLITTER to the heart designs in the border, only use a small amount of glitter, and press lightly. flip quickly upside down and tap off excess glitter.
5) apply FOOL’S GOLD glitter to the thicker part of the scroll pattern.
add gold glitter
flip over quickly and tap to remove excess glitter
gold glitter applied
6) apply SILVER LINING glitter to the rest of the design; flip and tap to remove excess glitter.
finished embellishment
7) adhere glittered piece to a 2 1/4″ X 7 1/4″ piece of bronze cardstock and adhere to card.
8) use quickie glue pen to write “best wishes” above the border. apply white embossing powder, remove excess and then heat set with heat gun.
“mr & mrs” card
supplies:
Clearsnap: Design Adhesives – dancing hearts, Embossing Powder – sterling silver, ballet pink and lullaby blue and Top Boss – embossing stamp pad
Prism: Prismatics black, white, pink and blue cardstocks
1) cut a 5″ X 10″ piece of black cardstock and fold in half to make card.
2) cut a 4 1/4″ square of blue cardstock and adhere to front of card.
3) cut a 4″ square of pink cardstock and adhere to front of card.
4) cut a 3 3/4″ square of printed paper and adhere to front of card.
5) cut a 1″ X 5″ strip of white cardstock, run EMBOSSING PAD around edges of strip. apply STERLING SILVER embossing powder, remove excess and heat using a heat gun.
tinted embossing pad makes it easy to see where you are applying it
6) stamp “mr” using PERKY stamps on strip, emboss with LULLABY BLUE embossing powder. then stamp “&”, and emboss with STERLING SILVER embossing powder. and finally stamp “mrs” and emboss with BALLET PINK embossing powder.
stamped strip & my sentiments exactly stamps
7) cut 2 hearts from dancing hearts DESIGN ADHESIVE strip. cut centers patterns from hearts.
center designs removed
8) apply heart designs to scrap piece of white cardstock, apply SILVER LINING embossing powder, remove excess and heat set using a heat gun.
embossed hearts
9) apply designs to center of hearts.
center designs applied
10) emboss one heart center using BALLET PINK embossing powder and use LULLABY BLUE for the other.
center designs embossed
11) adhere stamped strip to card, then adhere pink heart, use a 3D dot to adhere blue heart.
psst… wanna see the new lines by reminisce? THEN HEAD ON OVER TO THEIR BLOG!!!
in addition to posting projects using the new lines each day this week, you can take also take a look at all the new lines now AND you can enter for a chance to win prize packs of the new lines too! WOW!
the new lines are FANTABULOUS! i love them all!
first up is a school line that everyone with school age kids or pics of school age kiddos should love – it’s called making the grade. there is a double sided paper for each grade, a sticker sheet for each grade AND a 3D embellie for each and every grade! and if that weren’t enough, there are also some additional 12 X 12 sticker sheets with great designs! their are journaling blocks that look like note paper, a sheet with pencils, crayons and more, a sheet for older kiddos with a cell phone, locker, etc, a sheet for preschool with watercolors and paint “splats” and a great note paper style alphabet. there are also some rub ons that coordinate. i REALLY like that they did the high school grades in black, white and grays, that way you can add the school color in cardstock! the line is called MAKING THE GRADE.
next up is a spooky line called SCARE TACTICS! bet you can’t guess what holiday it is for! LOL! it is a great “distressed” halloween line. the colors are classic halloween, orange, yellow, black and red, and the themes are classics too, bats, spiders, witches hats, pumpkins and scary trees, but the designs are anything BUT classic! each paper has a design on the front, then the same color “distressed” solid on the back. great line to mix and match! there are also some great embellies like spiders, bats, haunted houses, pumpkins and more as well as coordinating sticker quote sheets and rub ons.
next up is another halloween line, although not as spooky – it’s more KOOKY! LOL! it features the cutest little owls (yes the 70’s are back, but a bit better than before!) they are cute and blocky! the BEST part about this line though is the PAPER – it’s holographic! you HAVE to see it! i haven’t seen anything like it before! the line is called ENCHANTED AUTUMN, and yes, there are some pretty fall papers too, it isn’t strictly a halloween line! and yes, there are all kinds of cute stickers and rub ons too!
last, but certainly not least, is another one i really like – a close second to enchanted autumn, it’s called FROSTED, and as you may guess, it is a winter themed line. cute little penquins and cuddly polar bears, and TONS of glitter FROST the papers! pretty blues and icy whites dominate, but a little soft lime green and sage sneak in here and there to add some contrast. and of course, lots of coordinating embellies!
i can’t show you my projects until i get back from CHA, reminisce wants to do the unveiling first! but i CAN tell you that i REALLY enjoyed working with these new lines. there is so much to choose from in each line, that coordinating is a breeze!
so be sure to check out the new lines AND remember to enter to win the giveaways!
