Category Archives: Helen Gullett

How to Make Hand-Painted Christmas Wood Slice Ornaments

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By Helen Gullett

Hello crafty friends… Can you believe it? The holiday season is here!!! Making Christmas ornaments is one of my favorite things to do. Today let’s make some handmade ornaments together. These ornaments can be additions to your own Christmas tree or you can give them to your families and friends.

Skill: Easy
Time: 15-30 minutes

Ornament #1 – Holiday Evergreen Wood Slice Ornament

Directions:

Step 1
First, make sure your wood slice surface is smooth and clean. There are pre-sanded wood slices available online, too. If your wood slices were not sanded yet, you can sand it with sanding paper. Use a dry paper towel to clean the surface well.

Draw a circle and branches with the Rich Cocoa Memento Marker brush tip. You also can use a circle template to draw the circle.

Step 2
Use the brush tip of the Pear Tart Memento Marker to draw the layer of pine needle leaves with outward flicking motion on each branch.

Step 3
Draw the second layer of the pine needle leaves on each branch using the fine tip of Cottage Ivy Memento Marker.

Step 4
Draw the berries on the wreath using the fine tip of the Lady Bug Memento Marker. Simple doodle 3 little circles.

Step 5
Write lightly the word “Noel” (or any word you want on your ornament) with pencil and then trace it with the Tuxedo Black Memento Marker brush tip. You can skip the pencil if you can do handlettering directly with the marker.

These Memento Markers dry quickly and the ink won’t smudge on the wood surface. Add a piece of burlap twine to the ornament and tie it up as the hanger.

Ornament #2 – Faux Chalkboard Wood Slice Ornament

Directions:
For the second ornament we are going to make today is a faux chalkboard wood slice ornament. There are a couple ways to do a faux chalkboard look on a wood slice, today we are going to do simply just painting and stamping.

Step 1
Paint the wood with chalkboard paint or multi-surface black acrylic paint. Usually one layer of paint will be enough. Make sure the paint dries well before you do the stamping.

On the wood on a stamping tool and use the magnets to keep it in place or you can use tape on the back of the wood slice and place it on the stamping tool.

On the dried painted surface, stamp the sentiment using StazON Opaque – Cotton White ink.

Step 2
Stamp the holly leaves and berries using StazOn Opaque – Cotton White on the ornament around the sentiment using the stamping tool or small stamping blocks.

When the ink dried well, add a piece of baker twine to the ornament as the hanger.

I hope you like these ornament ideas and you will find it easy to make your own ornaments. Also, making ornaments can be a fun Christmas craft party idea. I love both style ornaments, which one do you like?

Thank you for stopping by our blog today. Have a wonderful day!

Craft Supplies

Imagine Crafts:

Others:

  • Thoughtful Wreath Stamp Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Wood Slices (3-4 inch)
  • Burlap twine (usually it is included if you buy wood slice kit)
  • Black Paint (chalk or multi surface acrylic paint)
  • Small flat paint brush
  • Sanding paper
  • Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Blocks

Let’s Make a Christmas Wreath Card

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By Helen Gullett

Hello crafty friends! If you ask me if we could start making Christmas projects in July, I would say the sooner the better. One of the ways to share the joy of the Holiday is by sending handmade Christmas cards. Today, I have this no-stamping Christmas card idea to share with you all. Yes… it is a no-stamping card, all die cuts. To add extra shimmer to the die cuts, I use Brilliance Dew Drop inks today. So, let’s turn on the Christmas music and get crafting!

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 20-30 minutes

Direction:

Step 1
Cut a heavyweight white cardstock (110 lb) to make the A2 card base in 4.25 inch x 5.5 inch dimension. Set a side.

Cut out a piece of white cardstock with the Arched Window die with the die cutting machine.

Randomly dab some of the Cosmic Cooper Brilliance ink and Galaxy Gold ink on the window to cover it. Then set it aside to dry or you can use a craft heat gun to speed up the drying time.

Step 2
Cut out 2 or 3 shades of green cardstocks with the wreath die with the die cutting machine.

Randomly dab some of the Moonlight White Brilliance ink on each of the wreaths to give them a snowy effect. Then set them aside to dry or you can use a craft heat gun to speed up the drying time.

Step 3
Cut out another white cardstock with the Joy word die using the die cutting machine twice. You can cut out 3-4 times to create a thicker word chipboard.

Cover the word diecuts with some of the Galaxy Gold ink to give them gold color. Then set them aside to dry or you can use a craft heat gun to speed up the drying time.

Step 4
Put together the wreath diecuts with some of the On Point Glue to become a one thicker wreath. Put a heavy object (I used a large acrylic stamping block) on them until the glue dries permanently in a couple minutes.

Do the same way with the Joy word diecuts to create the word chipboard.

Step 5
I embossed a piece of 4.25 inch x 5.5 inch white cardstock using the Brick Wall stencil. If you have a similar background embossing folder, you can use it, too.

Add the embossed background panel to the card base with some of the Tear It! Tape.

Step 6
Add the arched window to the card with On Point Glue, add a heavy object on it (or a large acrylic stamping block) until the glue dries permanently.

Add the word chipboard to the wreath with some baker’s twine to make it look like hanging down in the middle of the wreath. Tie up the twine into a bow and secure it with a dab of On Point Glue. Put a heavy object (or a larger acrylic stamping block) on it so the twine stays in place until the glue dries permanently.

Step 7
Cut a couple thin strips out of the thin white fun foam (about ¼ inch wide) and add some of the Tear It! Tape to them to create the foam tape.

Cut the foam tape into small pieces and add them at the back of the wreath. Remove the backing of the foam tapes and add the wreath to the card.

Step 8
Decorate the wreath with some of the Peppermint clay embellishments by adding them to the wreath with some of the On Point Glue.

Step 9
On the craft mat, mix a small amount of white acrylic paint with some water.

Add some of white paint splatters to the card using brush for more texture and snowy look.

Dry the whole card with a craft heat gun.

I love how this no-stamping Christmas card turned out and I hope you do, too. I plan to make more of this card to send them out to families and friends later.

Thank you so much for stopping by our blog today. Have a wonderful day!

Craft Supplies

Imagine Crafts:

Others:

  • Lovely Wreaths Die Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Arched Window Die Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Peace & Joy Word Die Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Brick Wall Stencil (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Peppermint clay Embellishments (Twiddler’s Nook)
  • Thin fun foam
  • Bakers Twine (Christmas colors)
  • White Cardstock
  • Green Cardstock (optional: 2 colors)
  • White acrylic paint
  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Twizzers
  • Non-stick scissors
  • Craft heat gun
  • Paper Towel / baby wipes

Summer Butterfly Postage Card

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By Helen Gullett

Hello crafty friends! I was inspired by some Summer butterflies I saw in our backyard, I made this Summer butterfly postage card. For today’s project, we will do some watercoloring with Memento inks and stamping with VersaColor ink pad and VersaFine ink pad. It is a fun technique to stretch the use of the ink pads.

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 15-20 minutes

Directions:

Step 1
Cut out a piece of 140 lb watercolor paper into 5 inch x 7 inch and place it in the stamping tool.
Stamp the butterfly image on the watercolor paper with VersaFine Onyx Black ink pad.

Step 2
Dab some of the Memento inks on the craft mat and pick the color up with the water brush and start painting the butterflies and background. I used wet on wet watercoloring technique on this project.

Paint the butterfly with the Memento Tangelo ink and Cantaloupe ink. Dry the watercolor paint with a craft heat gun.

Paint the background around the butterflies with the Memento Summer Sky ink and Teal Zeal ink. Dry the whole panel with a craft heat gun.

Step 3
When the whole panel dried well, cut it with the Postage Stamp cover plate die.

Stamp some texture image from the Going Postal stamp set randomly on the background panel using VersaFine Onyx Black.

Step 4
On a piece of white cardstock, stamp the sentiment words using the VersaColor Turquoise ink pad.

Dry the ink with a craft heat gun and fussy cut it into word strips with scissors or paper trimmer.

Use a fineliner archival ink pen, draw the outline around the word strips.

Step 5
Use the On Point Glue to add the background panel to the card base. And then, add the words on the card.

It’s done.

This Summer butterfly postage card is flat enough and fits inside a regular envelope. I hope this project gives you inspiration today on how to use your ink pads not only for stamping but also for watercoloring as well.

Thank you for stopping by our blog today. Have a wonderful day!

Craft Supplies

Imagine Crafts:

Others:

Make a Personalized Wood Phone Stand

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By Helen Gullett

Hello crafty friends! Today, I want to share this personalized wood phone stand project. I
got this wood phone stand in my stash for a while and waited to be decorated. This fun
DIY idea to personalize home decor you can do using stamps and ink pads only. So…
Let’s get some stamping on wood done!

Skill: Beginner
Time: 15-20 minutes

Step 1
Put the large piece of the wood phone stand on the stamping tool and secure it with the
corner magnet (or couple magnets) around it so it won’t move when stamping on it. This
piece of wood has a smooth surface that is ready to be stamped. If your wood is not
smooth enough, make sure to prep your wood surface with sandpaper and wipe it clean
with a paper towel or wipes.
Stamp the leaf branch image on the wood with the StazOn Timber Brown ink pad on
one of the corners, and then turn the wood piece around to stamp the other corner.
Stamp the phrases on the wood with the StazOn Timber Brown ink pad.

Step 2
Repeat step 1 to stamp on the smaller part of the wood phone stand. I used the smaller
branch leaf image for this one and used the same StazOn Timber Brown ink pad.

Step 3
After stamping all the wood pieces with the leaf branches, the next step is adding more
textures on the background.
Use the scribble image and vintage music sheet image to stamp on the wood phone
stand piece randomly with the StazOn Timber Brown ink pad.
And then, using a sponge dauber and the StazOn Timber Brown ink pad to add more
shadow around the edges.

Step 4
Use the big oval blending brush and the Memento Luxe Rich Cocoa ink to some vintage
color to the wood phone stand pieces.
If it is too much ink, use baby wipes or a damped paper towel to remove some of the
ink.

Step 5
Add some shadow to the word phrases by stamping them a little bit overlapping with the
Memento Luxe Wedding Dress.
Then, randomly stamp the dots image on the large wood phone stand piece with the
Memento Luxe Wedding Dress for extra texture on the background.

Step 6
Repeat step 5 for the smaller wood phone stand piece to match with the large wood
phone stand piece.
Slide in the small wood phone stand piece through the slot to put them together. Simple
as that.
This is how the wood phone stand looks when it is done. The StazOn ink pads are
perfect for stamping on wood and it dries fast, too. They are great for DIY projects.


Craft Supplies
Imagine Crafts:
● StazOn (Timber Brown)
● Memento Luxe (Rich Cocoa, Wedding Dress)
● Sponge Dauber
● Imagine Craft Mat
● Staz-On All Purpose Stamp Cleaner

Others:
● Peaceful Botanical Stamp Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
● Vintage Sheet Music Tile Stamp Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
● Texture Tiles 12 Stamp Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
● Scallop Wood Phone Stand (Clear Scraps)
● Stamping tool (corner magnets, extra magnets)
● Oval Blending Brush
● Paper Towel / baby wipes

Watercolor Card for Mom Using VersaColor

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By Helen Gullett

Hello crafty friends! Today, I wanna share with you a fun technique to make a card for a mom. We are going to do some watercoloring with VersaColor ink pads and also heat-embossing technique. So… Let’s get some ink pads and watercoloring together!

Skill: Beginner
Time: 15-20 minutes

Direction:

Step 1
Cut out a piece of watercolor cardstock (or mixed media paper would work, too) into a 4.25 inch x 5.5 inch card panel. Prep the background watercolor cardstock panel with some anti-static embossing powder. Then, stamp the music sheet background stamp with VersaMark ink pad randomly on it, and add some of the white opaque embossing powder. Heat the embossing powder with a craft heat gun.

Step 2
Dab some inks of the VersaColor Turquoise ink pad on the craft mat and then spray with some water. Smoosh the watercolor panel into the ink on the craft mat, dry the ink, and repeat the smooshing and drying the ink as needed.

Step 3
Add some ink splatter on the background panel with a fan paint brush, and dry it with a craft heat gun.

Step 4
Distress the edges of the background panel with a distress tool or you can use scissors for this distress technique.

Add the background panel to the card base with On Point Glue.

Step 5
Stamp the magnolia and leaf  images on another piece of watercolor cardstock with the VersaFine Clair Nocturne using the stamping tool. Repeat the stamping if needed.

Add some of the clear embossing powder on the stamped images while the ink is still wet and then heat it with a craft heat gun.

Step 6
On the craft mat, dab some inks of the VersaColor Canary ink pad and VersaColor Turquoise ink pad, and then spray them with some water. And then, color the leaves and branches with the watercolor inks. Set aside to dry or dry it with a craft heat gun.

Step 7
Dab some of the ink of the VersaColor Pink ink pad on the craft mat and spray it with some water. Then, color the magnolia flowers and set aside to dry or dry it with a craft heat gun.

Step 8
When all the watercolor images dried well, fussy cut them with micro-tip scissors. Add them to the card with On Point Glue.

Step 9
Stamp the letters m-o-m on a piece of white cardstock with VersaFine Clair Nocturne. Dry the stamped word MOM with a craft heat gun and then fussy cut it with micro-tip scissors.

Step 10
On the white cardstock, stamp also the second sentiment with VersaFine Clair Nocturne, dry the ink with a craft heat gun, and then trim it into a sentiment label.

Step 11
Add the word MOM on the card with On Point Glue.

Cut out 3-4 strips of white cardstock smaller than the second sentiment label, add them on the back of the sentiment label with On Point Glue, this will add an extra dimension to the sentiment that is not as thick as foam tape. Add the sentiment to the card with On Point Glue.

Step 12
Final step, to add extra texture to the background by adding some white paint splatters. Mix a little bit of white acrylic paint with water on the craft mat, pick it up with a fan paint brush, and then splat some of the paint to the card.

Dry the splatter paint with a craft heat gun.

This simple mixed media card is done. I love how it turns out and hopefully you do, too. I like how VersaColor ink pads are not just for stamping but also work as a watercoloring medium.

Craft Supplies

Imagine Crafts:

Others:

  • Mindful Magnolias Clear Stamp Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Dearest Friend Clear Stamp Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Vintage Sheet Music Tile Clear Stamp Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Chunky Lowercase Alpha Clear Stamp Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • White Opaque Embossing Powder
  • Clear Embossing Powder
  • Neenah Solar White Cardstock 80 lb
  • Fan paint brush
  • Stamping tool
  • Micro-tip scissors
  • Paper trimmer
  • Distresser Tool
  • Bone Folder
  • Bottle Sprayer / Mister Bottle
  • Paper Towel

Let’s Make a Bokeh Birthday Card

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By Helen Gullett

Hello crafty friends! Creating backgrounds is always fun, especially when you like something different for your cards. One of my favorite backgrounds is bokeh. There are a couple ways to create bokeh backgrounds but today we are going to do some stamping with any sizes of circle stamps you have in stash.

Let’s get crafting!

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 15-20 minutes

Direction:

Step 1
Cut out a piece of 8.5 inch x 11 inch white cardstock into 4 panels of 4.25 inch x 5.5 inch.

Add each color of VersaColor inks (Cardinal and Canary) to the cardstock with sponge daubers.

Blend in the colors as you add it to the cardstock to create the third shade.

Dry the inks with a craft heat gun.

Step 2
Stamp the circles starting with the largest size and then smaller size with a Memento Luxe Wedding Dress ink pad. Repeat the stamping until you like the look of your bokeh background. Make sure some circles overlap each other to create the shadow effect.

When stamping, you might notice the lines on the edges of circles, use a small blending brush or sponge dauber to blend in the white ink around to smoothen the lines.

Dry again the whole background panel with a craft heat gun.

Step 3
Cut the background panel with one of the rectangle dies.

Add the background panel to the card base (A2 size card) with On Point Glue. Add a couple of acrylic blocks on top of it to hold it down while the glue is drying.

Step 4
Cut out 2-3 white cardstocks with the sentiment panel.

Stack the cutouts together with On Point Glue to create a chipboard sentiment panel (thicker die cut).

Step 5
Dab the VersaMark ink all over the sentiment panel, make sure it covers the whole panel.

Add some of the MBoss Sparkle embossing powder (retired) on it and heat it up with a craft heat gun. You will have a sparkly sentiment chipboard!

Add the sentiment on the card with the On Point Glue. Add some acrylic blocks (or anything heavy) on the sentiment to hold it down while the glue is drying.

Isn’t it a fun card making technique to do? You can create with any color inks, or you can even do colorful bokeh and not only white. Give it a try and have fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by our blog today.

Craft Supplies

Imagine:

Others:

  • Rectangle Framelits Die (Dare 2B Artzy)
  • Slim Mini Birthday Die (Dare 2B Artzy)
  • Neenah Solar White Cardstock 80 lb
  • Mini blending brush
  • Acrylic stamping blocks
  • Paper trimmer
  • Bone Folder
  • Die Cutting Machine