Category Archives: PROJECTS

Super Cute and Easy Birthday Cards

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by Elina Stromberg

For this card making project you don’t need any special supplies nor very much time. Just take out a blank card base, your favorite VersaFine Clair inks, and one or two small stamps with different designs. In less than 30 minutes you’ll have a clean and simple colorful card that is perfect for any occasion!

Skill: Beginner
Time: 30 minutes

Directions

Step 1

Fold the blank card base in half. Mask the areas you wish to leave blank i.e. cover both long sides with a post-it note or a piece of paper, revealing only a narrow rectangle panel area of the card base.

Step 2

Stamp random patterns using two or three VersaFine Clair inks of your preferred color scheme. Remove masking papers.

Step 3

Stamp sentiment text on a piece of white paper. Mat on a piece of colored cardstock matching to the chosen ink colors. Attach to card front and trim the excess. Done!

So many combinations to create!

Supplies

Imagine
Other
  • Card base – white
  • Cardstock – coordinating solid colors
  • Masking paper – Post-it notes, pieces of scrap paper etc.
  • Small stamps of various designs (we love Pegstamps by Rubber Stamp Tapestry!)

Create a Vibrant Night Sky for Halloween Card

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by Melissa Andrew

Create a Vibrant Night Sky for Halloween Card

Blended faded backgrounds on cards are beautiful and in this video, I show you how I create a night sky using a stencil and VersaFine Clair inks. These inks are blendable and have such bright vibrant colors and are perfect for making your night sky pop!

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 30 minutes

Directions

 

Supplies

Imagine
Other
  • Clarity Stencil – Birch Tree
  • Suzy Stamps – Bats Flying By, Bats in Belfry, Ghost Vamp, Pumpkin Smiling
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Heat Tool
  • White Card – Bristol Smooth
  • Black Card
  • Vellum

Use Natural Elements to Color a Greeting Card

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by Iris Rodriguez

Use Natural Elements to Color a Greeting Card

Got tea? I do and I like to make art with the left-over tea bag paper. After the tea bags dry, you can take out the dried leaves you are left with an awesome substrate. Tea bags are versatile, translucent, luminous, and have an awesome vintage look and feel. I made a card using tea bags and Walnut Inks Cornflower and Willow; both awesome inks look great on tea bags. Not only are you making cool cards, but you are upcycling your tea bags.

Skill: Beginner
Time: 1 day for drying tea bags, 30 mins for the card, 5 mins to take apart and clean one tea bag

Directions


Step 1

Begin by allowing your tea bags to dry. I place my tea bags on a ceramic plate with a paper towel and allowed them to dry for several days. The color of your tea bag will be determined by the type of tea use. On this project, I started with a light color tea bag because it is Ginger tea.


Step 2

The tea bags are very delicate so a soft touch will be required to take them apart. Remove the tag by pulling it off. Remove the tiny staple with your nails. Rip open the seams. Take out the dried leaves by sloughing it off. Tear off the seams, otherwise, you’ll see it in your art. Do so, by tearing off the edges on the long side of the rectangle.


Step 3

Lay the tea bag on a nonstick surface; such an as craft mat, or wax paper. Spray a small amount of the Cornflower Walnut Ink on your craft mat and mix with water. Brush on the ink. Allow the bag to dry or use a heat tool.


Step 4

Repeat the same process in step 3, using the Willow Walnut Ink.


Step 5

Stamp or stencil images over a piece of scrap paper. The ink will go through the tea bag and stain your paper; it’s best not to stamp on your main card. The Willow Walnut inked tea bag was used to layer an image over the main substrate tea bag. Heat set.


Step 6

To adhere the stamped tea bag to the watercolor paper or main card, brush on a very thin layer of GlazOn Clear Layer Protectant to the back of the stamped tea bag. Finish the card by adhering it to the main card. I hope you enjoyed this project and will give it a try.

Supplies

Imagine
Other
  • Used tea bags
  • Watercolor paper – 140 lbs
  • Joy Clair – Butterfly Kisses stamp set
  • Key Stamp
  • Crafter’s Workshop – Bird On Branches, Moving Vines – (6 x 6 inches)
  • Hero Arts Stamp – Old French Writing

Mythbusting – StazOn Ink & StazOn Cleaner with Clear Stamps

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by Nadine Carlier

StazOn ink is a solvent ink that can be used on plastic, glass, metal, paper, and a host of mixed media surfaces and ephemera. So it is natural to assume that it might damage your stamps. We asked Nadine to talk a little bit about why StazOn is totally safe to use with any stamp set!

Supplies

Other

Prepare for Thanksgiving with a Cardmaking Tutorial

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by Steph Ackerman

Prepare for Thanksgiving with a Cardmaking Tutorial

It’s October but before you know it you will be packing away the costumes and preparing for Thanksgiving. Why not be ready by delving into the colors, signs, and beauty of the season. Selecting 4 – 5 colors of Fireworks Shimmery Craft Sprays you can easily achieve amazing color combinations that set the stage for your projects. See how quickly and easily these Fall cards go together using backgrounds created with Fireworks Sprays.

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 1 hour

Directions


Step 1

Spritz assorted colors of Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray on the craft mat. Be sure not to mix the colors – spritz them about the mat.


Step 2

Drag white cardstock across the craft mat. Spritz additional Fireworks on craft mat if necessary until the cardstock is covered.


Step 3

Allow the cardstock to dry, then spritz with Dandelion Fireworks adding color to the white spaces.


Step 4

Cut cardstock into 2 panels, each 4″ x 5″. Stamp leaf flourishes on both panels with VersaFine Clair in Pinecone. Add clear embossing powder and heat set.


Step 5

Ink the edges of the panels with Brilliance Pearl Beige Ink, then mat with brown cardstock. Add the panels to the cards. Add color to some of the leaves using Memento Markers.


Step 6

Stamp Happy Thanksgiving on leftover strips of the cardstock with VersaFine Pinecone Ink. Add Clear Embossing Powder and heat set. Mat with cardstock.


Step 7

Adhere Happy Thanksgiving to the vertical card with foam adhesives. Cut apart Happy Thanksgiving for the horizontal card and adhere with foam adhesives.

 

Supplies

Imagine
Other
  • Stamps – So Suzy/Crackerbox Stamps
  • Cardstock – brown, white
  • Foam adhesives

October Color of the Month is Pebble Grey

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The Color of the Month is Pebble Grey. We choose this color of cool grey to express the moody change of the warm Summer colors to the cool Autumn breeze. Some of the ink colors from the Tsukineko brand that perfectly express this cool grey is Memento in London Fog, VersaFine Clair in Morning Mist and StazOn Midi in Cloudy Sky.

Another fabulous art event for October is Inktober! This is an illustration and ink based challenge started by Jake Parker. Each day in October has a word that illustrators and artist respond to with a drawing! We are excited to have some of our own artists participate!

To start us out Roni Johnson has #poisonous posted today!

And as usual, we will have some great card making and crafting inspiration! Here is a sneak peak of what is coming for the month of October.

Martha Lucia Gomez creates a beautiful “Believe” card.