StarLitStudio

inchie paper gift wallet

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!   I am roasting a 20 pound turkey today, making lots of homemade goodies and actually posted this Wednesdsay night - happy Inchie Thursday!

For today's post I am getting a jump start on holiday gifts.  This wallet pattern is from Lauren Meader and her template is available in this post here. 

Using white cardstock and Palette pad in Noir, Itty Bitty Ornaments was stamped and colored with Copic markers.  Punched out with a 1" square punch and adhered each to a black Inchie Square.  The Inchie Square gives support to the colored square and adds 'heft' to the gift in the form of a decorative, quality embellishment to the wallet.

Lauren's template begins with 6" square pieces of cardstock, so I used Memory Box Homespun 6" double sided cardstock pads to save time.  These wallets will hold cash gifts for my cousins this coming Christmas.  **edited to add:  use this style wallet for cash gifts only.  Do not use for gift cards with a magnetic strip.  The magnets used with this style closure may erase the data contained in the gift card magnetic strip. - thanks to Cindy Lietz for this helpful tidibt.**

Here is my tip on how to conceal the 'mystery magnet'.  You don't see the magnet unless you hunt for it!

Adhere one Basic Grey magnet snap (small style) to the top of the flap closure.  I used a Glue Dot - you can get sloppy with the glue (as seen here!) because you'll be covering this magnet with the Inchie Square.

Adhere the other magnet to the inside of the pocket that houses the cash or gift card (I used a mini Glue Dot for adhesive).  Cover with a 1/2" circle punch of matching cardstock (the key points to the covered magnet!).  Let the magnets meet naturally - allow the natural pull of the magnets to determine the placement of this second magnet, then cover with the 1/2" cardstock circle.

This is what the recipient will see when they open the magnetized flap - nothing!  They'll be wondering how the heck it stays closed.... this may keep small children or those who imbibed too much eggnog occupied for a while.

The ho ho ho sentiment is from Lockhart Stamp Company.    Hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

   

supplies:  Vendors for Inchie Arts products can be viewed here; Lockhart Stamp Company - their entire line including fabulous winter images!, Memory Box decorative papers, Copic Markers and all related accessories, Basic Grey snaps (large & small), Palette ink pads, 1" square punch - Ellen Hutson; Basic Grey magnetic snaps (small)- StarLitStudio

ellen hutson 2nd anniversary sale!

Ellen Hutson, LLC is celebrating their second anniversary with 15% off your entire purchase! 

To celebrate their second year in business, Ellen Hutson LLC is offering 15% off anything in stock through next Friday, November 28th:  designer sets of Copic markers, Spellbinders dies, Lockhart Stamp Company, Cornish Heritage Farms stamps, Memory Box papers, even soldering kits, just to name a few!

This sale is for in-stock merchandise only, so be sure to shop early!

Ellen Hutson, LLC is celebrating their second anniversary with 15% off your entire purchase! 

To celebrate their second year in business, Ellen Hutson LLC is offering 15% off anything in stock through next Friday, November 28th:  designer sets of Copic markers, Spellbinders dies, Lockhart Stamp Company, Cornish Heritage Farms stamps, Memory Box papers, even soldering kits, just to name a few!

This sale is for in-stock merchandise only, so be sure to shop early!

masked bouquet card

Today I'd like to share with you how I masked the background of this card.  I used the Copic airbrush system from Ellen's store, but you can also use a sponge and ink.

I began by quickly aging a piece of white cardstock by using Distress Antique Linen and Vintage Photo pads using the DTP technique.  DTP stands for Direct To Paper:  hold the opened ink pad in your hand and swipe the cardstock directly with the pad.  Smear the ink and generally swipe and ink up the surface of the cardstock - go heavier in some places and lighter in others.  Blend with a sponge if needed.

Next, I placed a few Heidi Swapp leaf masks over a section of the distressed cardstock (the leaf masks used are all available in one package) and began airbrushing with Copic E57.

Then airbrushed with Copic E79.  I used two browns to get some depth with the color.  If sponging, use a lighter color then a bit of a darker color.

Wipe mask clean with a soft cloth and remove.  This is the cardstock after removing the masks!

Next, I stamped Lockhart's Bouquet and sentiment (A Muse) using Black Soot Distress onto white cardstock, and gently airbrushed the flowers with Copic Y000 so I'd have some color between the blossoms.   Distress inks do not react with Copic markers.  My dear friend HB (Carol) told me this!

Then colored in the blossoms. 

I omitted coloring the cone holder - instead opting to stamp it on a piece of Basic Grey Urban Prairie scrap, cutting it out then adhering it in place.  Colored the lace over the cone using B00 and C1 and blended. Added a snippet of silk ribbon (YLI) formed into a bow.

To add some dazzle, I highlighted around the blossoms near the top of the bouquet with a VersaMark pen...

...then using a dry brush I gently brushed the Versamark pen trail with gold Perfect Pearls.  This technique simulates sunlight!  Perfect Pearls products contain a binder so it is not necessary to apply a fixative. Please use caution to avoid this product from becoming airborne.

Liquid Pearls were applied to the ball-style blossoms in the bouquet image and allowed to dry.  Layered onto leftover piece of distressed cardstock, then Licorice, then Currant.  Card base is Dill (all colored cardstock from Memory Box).

supplies:  Lockhart Stamp Company - their complete line, plus Copic markers, the Copic ABS airbrush system, Liquid Pearls, Perfect Pearls, Basic Grey 6x6 paper pads, Memory Box cardstocks, Heidi Swapp masks - Ellen Hutson

binding rings info

Happy Sunday everyone - today's post is informational.

We received a question from Lyn, and wanted to post the answer here in the hopes it helps you too.

Binding rings:  These are metal rings from 7gypsies that we carry in the store, available in a variety of colors and sizes.  Lyn wanted to know how many pages would fit in each size binding ring. 

To answer Lyn's question we created three mini-albums to see how many pages each size binding ring would hold, to show you their capacity.

The books we constructed consist of two heavyweight rectangle coasters for the outer covers and Papertrey Ink cardstock for the interior pages.  Papertrey cardstock is pretty thick, so if using another cardstock brand that is not as thick you might be able to get a few more interior pages with each size.

7g small binding rings (1-inch diameter - black ones used here) - approx. 25 pages

7g medium binding rings (1-1/2" diameter - red ones used here) - approx. 50 pages

7g large binding rings (1-3/4" diameter - cream ones used here) - approx. 70 pages

Mini albums like these would make great dream journals, and great gifts as journals for several folks on your list.  Use for card and paper crafting ideas, sketch pads, or just to keep in the car with a crayon or two for wee ones' during trips.  Simply cover the front and back with decorative paper and embellish as desired. 

If you feel the binding rings need dressing up, you can add ribbon, or string a few charms - even tie buttons to them!  The only limit is your available time. Best wishes for a great week!

inchie candle

Today is Inchie Thursday, and being that it is bitter can cold here in New Jersey I'd thought I'd work on some upcoming holiday gifts.  Nothing like cold weather to bring on the holiday spirit... and the blankets, and the polar fleece, and the sweaters...

First, stamp Lockhart IB Snow Buddy on a White Inchie Square with Palette Noir ink, and color with Copic markers.  You could also use Prismacolor pencils, or any other marker with just waterproof black ink.

Prepare candle by wrapping with a strip of decorative paper or other paper, such as this found corrugated cardboard.  Every once in a while I get boxes that peel apart easily, giving this great textured paper.  Randomly push various silver brads and felt snowflakes with gemstone brads (Making Memories) into the candle.

Remove split ring jump rings from the 1" square Memory Frame.  Make a sandwich of 1" square glass, then colored Inchie Square. 

Carefully open Memory Frame and insert sandwich and close frame.  If you find the sandwich is too loose within the frame insert a piece of 1" square cardstock behind your artwork if needed.

Thread length of red 1/2" silk ribbon through holes, wrapping around prepared candle and tie in a knot or bow at the back.  Center Memory Frame on the patterned paper (or corrugated cardboard here), and mat Frame with a larger black cardstock square to set it off (licorice Memory Box used here).  I used Glue Dots to make applying the adhesive fuss-free.

This candle gift can be adjusted for other gift-giving seasons - just change out the Itty Bitty stamp to suit the occasion.

Vendors for Inchie Arts products can be viewed here; Lockhart Stamp Company, featuring Itty Bitty stamps perfectly suited for this scale project, Copic markers, Memory Box Frames, Memory Glass, felt snowflakes, Memory Box cardstock - Ellen Hutson; brads, felt snowflakes, silk ribbon, Memory Box frames with glass - StarLitStudio

stocking tag card

This was a backwards card...  I did the card interior first!  Ha!!  The circle sentiment is from Hero Arts, stamped on Russian Sage (Memory Box) punched out using a 2" circle punch.  Tree was hand cut then I used the leftover piece for the card front.

The purtty dotted scallop edge punch is from Martha Stewart.  Thank you Michaels Craft store for having those 40% off coupons - some of you know *exactly* what I mean:  they get us in the store and it's like giving Popeye spinach - I can do anything!  I can learn to knit!  Oh let's make a new wreath for the front door!  Are those new wood boxes?  I can cover those!!  OMW get me outta here cuz I can spend too much $$!!!!

Too many ideas, not enough time.

I did pick up a tube of white Puffy Paint along with Martha's punch, and used both on today's project. 

Lockhart's Candle Stocking begs for Puffy Paint!  Fuzzy wuzzy marabou!!  I colored in the Lockhart stocking with markers first, then filled in the top with puffy paint and heat set using my embossing gun. 

Because I am placing the stocking on a white tag I needed some contrast, so I inked the edges lightly with Distress Antique Linen.  The 'opening' of the stocking did not look 'right', so I filled it in with more puffy paint & heat set.

I used Martha's punch on the side of the green dotted cardstock (Memory Box Elegant Holiday Collection) and on the white tag.  The green paper brings out the minimal amount of green color in the stocking, and on top of it the dots resemble snow. 

This is a Russian Sage (Memory Box) card base.  Using a light blue Copic marker I airbrushed the white tag - slightly.  You could also sponge this with light blue ink - it's just to give some color to offset the white of the stocking background.  Mounted the stocking with pop up Glue Dots. 

The lovely peace, love and joy sentiment is from Memory Box.

sources: Lockhart Stamp Company line, Copic markers, felt snowflakes, Memory Box cardstock and patterned papers - Ellen Hutson

Memory Box & Hero Arts stamps - Stampin' Treasures

brads, felt snowflakes, 3/8" Strano CeCe ribbon, white tags - StarLitStudio

2008 Holiday ATC

My friend Stevie hosted a holiday ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap, and I created mine using one of Tim Holtz's techniques.  These were created assembly-line style, meaning I did all the steps at once for all 16 ATC's.  Here's the directions! 

Step one:  On a 1/2" strip of white cardstock stamp A Muse sentiment with Archival Jet Black ink (Ranger) , use Tim's Paper Distress Tool then ink distressed edges using a blending tool and Distress Vintage Photo and Antique Linen.

Step two:  background.  Using three Distress hues smear them onto a non-stick craft sheet,  spritz with water using a Mini Mister, then drop each white cardstock ATC into the wet colors, spinning it around.  Heat set and repeat spinning & drying until look is achieved.

Step three:  Mist each ATC with a mini mister of water and about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of Perfect Pearls Perfect Sparkle  This will make the inked cardstock sparkle like glistening snow! See how to do this on Tim's blog here.  Iron flat with a craft iron.

Step four: Stamp Memory Box Bare Tree (#E1125) three times without reinking using Espresso ink, and bird (Of a Feather clear set) using Cranberry ink.

Step five:  Adhere torn cranberry mulberry paper, a strip of 7gypsies paper with inked edges, and the verse strip from step one.  As a fininshing touch, thread a mini-bell (Michaels) onto a 7gypsies mini paper clip and slip into place.  Adhere another piece of cardstock to the back, sign, date & number.

Before I go here's another swap I did for Gloria at the All Things Tim Yahoo group, using a simplified tag from an earlier creation: 

This uses Tim's Philosophy Tags and Hitch Fasteners, and a die-cut Cuttlebug butterfly using Swirl Grungeboard.  Cuttlebug dies cut grungeboard easily.

Best wishes for a great weekend!!

sources:  Memory Box stamps:  Stampin' Treasures

pieced snowman ornament

For holiday gifts I need them to be speedy, but still look fantastic.  To speed this process up, I decided to paper piece stamped images this year versus spending time coloring and blending.  I'm faster with scissors than coloring and blending, so this works!

 

The Lockhart Snowman was pieced with Basic Grey's Sugared 6x6 papers, instead of coloring.  I used markers and spent time on the background.  I used a black Glaze pen for his eyes and mouth, to add gloss.

You'll notice the birdie in his hat from the stamped image is missing - well, to save time when cutting the hat out I covered up with bird with a punched glittered snowflake.  We're talkin' speed here. You could use a flower punch, or even a small circle punch with two pen dots to mimic a button.

To assemble the ornament, cut another piece of 2" square patterned paper for the back and sign & date.  Then simply sandwich art between two panes of glass and insert in the 2x2 Ranger Memory Frame.  Close frame and add ribbon, and if desired, a felt snowflake & brad.

These would make great additions to the outside of a wrapped gift to make it super-special, or a fantastic gift on its own with a clever tag.

The holidays are upon us! 

supplies:  Lockhart Stamp Company quality rubber stamped images (Snowman with Bird used), plus Copic Markers, Basic Grey's Sugared patterned cardstock 6x6 packs (and all other BG 6x6 papers too), Ranger white gel pen, glue pens, Glittah!, Memory Frames and glass, and felt snowflakes - Ellen Hutson

Felt snowflakes, May Arts, Memory Frames & Glass, ribbon, brads, Glue pens, Ranger white gel pen, black Glaze pens - StarLitStudio

inchie thursday-acorns

Only a few leaves remain on trees here in NJ ... outside it looks like "Mother Nature sneezed" according to my six-year-old. 

During autumn, our family has a tradition of visiting an amazing local corn maze before Halloween.  The link shows an aerial view of the actual maze - it's four miles total located on ten acres - shaped like a locomotive with conductor!  I created this 4x6 mini page from that day for today's class....

...I am taking Ali Edward's online class this afternoon.  I've never done anything like it so I'm super excited...I love to learn something new!  I made this 4x6 minipage to fit in the 7gypsies Photo Carousel for the class.  I really like this 4x6 size - quick and fun.  I see two page spreads - one side journaling and the pic on the other, all spinning around in this neat carousel.

Using Lockhart's Itty Bitty Acorn image and Inchie Arts Black Inchie Squares I created a few quick embellishments, suitable for scrapbook pages or cards.  I'm sharing both here today - the cards use Inchie Arts yellow/green Inchie Notes - perfect for quick cards.

I stamped Lockhart Stamp Company's IB Acorns onto white cardstock, then punched out each with a 3/4" square punch.  Adhered each onto a Black Inchie Square for dimension and height - makes a wonderful embellishment for your projects this way.  Colored in the acorn quickly using markers. 

For the card bases, I cut 3/8" wide strips of dictonary paper and adhered between two score lines.  I learned this trick from Ellen Hutson a while back. 

The minipage features May Arts new faux suede leaves and another acorn Inchie Square.  I sponged the Inchie with a dab of Distress Antique Linen to soften it a bit.  Also, that's Distress crackle paint (Antique Linen) in the upper corner over Memory Box Parsley cardstock. 

It's gonna be winter here in a blink...

Vendors for Inchie Arts products can be viewed here; Lockhart Stamp Company images, including images specifically designed for Inchies!, Copic markers, Memory Box papers, other Inchie goodies, Scor-it - Ellen Hutson; Distress crackle paint, May Arts leaf ribbon - StarLitStudio; dictionary definition paper - retired 7gypsies LeMonde Creme (plus all the goodies for Ali's class too).

amazing week

It was an amazing week - I wish to thank everyone for their wonderful comments on the 'tim tag'!  I've been busy these past few days and have so wanted to play with his masks some more!

I'd like to answer a great question from Joy about Copic markers:

"I see that you used Copic Markers. Can you tell me what you think of these and the different applications you would use them for? I keep hearing about them, I just haven't used them. Thanks!"

I first read about Copic markers on Linda's blog about two or three years ago.  Linda is the owner of A Muse Artstamps.  I purchased the eight Copic markers that they sold at the time, and LOVED them - easy to use, but I wanted to LEARN more about them too.  And I needed a few more colors than the eight I had.

The cost of these markers is cause for pause.  It was a serious investment for me.

Copic markers are alcohol based - a little different than the Stampin' Up's dye based markers I had been using for years...and replacing yearly... and, certain heavy-use markers, up to three times a year, due to fraying nibs.  I'm not rough, I just used them...a lot.

So I considered what I had spent on dye based markers (and replacements) over the past three to four years.  It was MORE than the Copic whole schebang set at Ellen's store.  Love how we can reason these major purchases into an obvious scenario to our favor...

I bought the whole schebang set from Ellen about two years ago, reasoning I would never, ever have to purchase another marker system.  Copic markers have refills - like a stamp pad has reinkers.  You invest in the marker, then purchase reinkers when needed.  And, if I mess up a nib, just pull out the nib and insert a new one. (I've yet to need to replace one - and I use them even more than my SU markers). 

I have no need for any other color outside of the 'gotta have it all' set.  The palette is complete, so I won't need to spend $$ for 'new colors' later on. 

Then there's the whole airbrush system which I purchased about 6 months ago...which to me, was like learning to stamp years ago, then learning to heat emboss...doors (and creative brain cells) opened for me!

There is a learning curve to these markers.  Daily I read Mishie's blog and Sharon's blog and Debbie's blog and Trudee's blog, because I learn something every time they post - and they are wizards with Copics (and many other things too!). 

If you are looking to use markers directly on stamps, this is not a good marker system for that.  I still have a SU dye-based marker set for that technique.

For a ton of info and help using Copic markers, I want to also steer you toward Marianne's blog - I met her at CHA this past summer while she was working at Copic's booth.  She is an absolute brain with Copics - and dang that girl can draw!

For today's post, it's a clean Valerie Stangle layout using Webster's Pages trim and paper (Raspberry Truffle collection).  This is a great layout for using up those ribbon snippets laying around that you can't bear to throw out.  Stampendous image, A Muse sentiment.  Colored quickly with Copic markers - no blending here.

Friday's post will feature a versatile holiday gift idea using speed techniques. Tomorrow is Inchie Thursday...I'm off to play with Tim's masks!  Hope to see you then & thanks again!