PaperFections

TE Center of Attention Product Spotlight - Stencils & Maya Mist

This month, some of the Taylored Expressions Baker's Dozen designers are spotlighting The Crafter's Workshop Stencils and Maya Mist. 

 
Here's a card I made with both of these products:

 
For the background of my card, I sprayed Cream Metallic Maya Mist onto TE Choice Buttercream cardstock, using the Cosmic Swirl Crafter's Workshop template as a stencil.  After stamping the Wise Men with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Choice Buttercream cardstock, I sprayed the cardstock with the cream metallic mist. 

 
The mist instantly turns your cardstock into a beautiful shimmery metallic, just perfect for holiday cards!  Although I do think this "cream" color is a little more light gold than cream -- still a beautiful color.

CRAFTER'S WORKSHOP STENCILS:
I also tried the stencil on some other colors of cardstock:

 
In the photo above, I used the Cosmic Swirl stencil and sprayed Cream Metallic Maya Mist on the Prism Blush Red Dark cardstock on the left.  On the right, I used Versamark Dazzle ink (Champagne) on the stencil like a letterpress and ran it through my die cutting machine with Spellbinders Tan Embossing Mat -- this process transfered the ink from the stencil onto the Prism Suede Brown Medium cardstock, just like Spellbinders' Impressabilities work.  But unlike the Impressabilities, the Crafter's Workshop Stencils DID NOT emboss the Prism cardstock like I'd hoped it would.

What I liked best about the stencil is its 6-inch square size -- large enough to cover any card size and works well with several different sizes of scrapbook pages, with a variety of patterns available.  For my card, I trimmed down my stenciled and sprayed piece of cardstock to a little less than 5.50" square and then trimmed along the lower edge of the swirl design.  So the stencils also work well to make different decorative edges, too!  The stencils are very easy to clean up -- just mild soap and water (or I used baby wipes).

MAYA MIST:
Most of the Maya Mist sprays usually work very well on chipboard, giving a nice opaque finish to the chipboard in just one application.  But I found that this lighter cream color really didn't do much to change the color of the chipboard, except to make it more kraft colored and give it sparkle (which is still very nice!):

In the photo above, just the cream-misted snowflake is on the left.  I covered the snowflake on the right with cream pigment ink first, allowed it to dry, and then misted it with the cream metallic mist and this worked much better for a cream colored snowflake (this is the snowflake I used on my card).

 
In the photo above, the snowflake on the left is covered with Brown non-metallic Maya Mist and the right snowflake was sprayed with Silver Metallic Maya Mist -- these darker colors work much better at covering the chipboard.

What I liked best about the Maya Mist is it's ease of use and good coverage.  Just watch out for overspray -- I found placing my project inside an old box worked well at containing the spray:

 
I've heard that some other color mists can be gloppy and leave large spots of color on your project, but I did NOT experience this with the Maya Mist.  Just remember to spray in a sweeping motion, lightly and from a good distance (about 10+ inches) -- this will ensure an even coverage with no spotty blotches or clumps of color.  I also tried the mist on vellum cardstock -- this also turned out beautiful but needed a little bit longer to dry on the slicker surface.

Each of the Center of Attention products will be on sale for a limited time following our product spotlight (October 16-17). So watch for those savings in the store (15% discount!) on The Crafter's Workshop Stencils and Maya Mist.

These members of the Baker's Dozen also have projects to share with you today, using these products:  Taylor VanBruggen, Laura Fredrickson, Charmaine Ikach, Karen Giron, Jodi Collins, and Donna Baker.

Supplies --
Stamps: Taylored Expressions Christmas Blessings
Paper: Prism Suede Brown Dark, TE Choice Buttercream, vellum cardstock
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa & Desert Sand, Versamark Dazzle-Champagne
Accessories: Crafter's Workshop Stencil-Cosmic Swirl, Maya Mist-Cream Metallic, Spellbinders Snowflake Frame & Double Ended Tags, Zva Clear Crystals, chipboard snowflakes

Best Inks To Use With Copic Markers

In Ellen Hutson's InTouch Newsletter today (email distributed on the 15th of each month), we're getting inky!  You'll find some very informative and in-depth ink comparisons. 

My topic is The Best Inks To Use With Copic Markers ... I hope you'll find it informative and discover a few alternatives. Ellen gives a wonderful comparison of all the inks she carries in the store and why.  Debbie shares great tips for watercoloring with ink and Cindy covers the properties of Ranger's Distress and Archival inks, with some wonderful tutorials.

We hope you'll visit and see what we've prepared for you.  If you are not receiving Ellen's InTouch Newsletter each month, you can sign up here to be on the email list (scroll down to the bottom of the page).  You don't want to miss it -- there's usually a discount coupon code for the store included, too!

Copic Atyou Spica Glitter Pen Review

Ahhhh, glitter . . . Don’t we all love the sparkly look it gives?  I know I do and I was amazed the first time I used it in combination with my rubber stamping – I think it lends a professional finish to just about anything.

Glitter in pen form is the least messy way to add sparkle to any papercrafting project.  I debated for some time about purchasing these new glitter pens by Copic, especially since I already had another manufacturer’s glitter pens.  But since I have a weakness for glitter, I decided to try out the Clear Spica pen first.  I heard it was totally clear, leaving only a lovely sparkle behind, unlike Sakura’s Clear Stardust Gelly Roll pen which has a silvery base.  Here’s a comparison for you:

Needless to say, I was hooked and purchased the other 12 colors, too!  The big difference in the Spica glitter pen is that the sparkle is actually made up of micro bits of glass. Here’s a closer look at the individual colors:

Some additional information about these pens:

• water based pigment ink
• acid free
• non-toxic
• archival
• micro glass flakes for maximum sparkle!
• twice the writing length of other pens -- 360 yds.

• perfect for card making, scrapbooks and doodling
• transparent ink - great for color and bling overlays
• 1 clear pen & 12 bold colors: Black, Clear, Silver, Gold, Lemon, Orange, Pink, Red, Lavender, Sky Blue, Turquoise, Olive, Melon

Besides the clear pen actually being clear, another one of my favorite things about these pens is that they dry very quickly.  Here’s a comparison for you:

Immediately after writing with a Stardust Gelly Roll pen, I rubbed my finger across it and the top line is the result – the ink smeared everywhere.  The bottom line is the Atyou Spica Glitter pen – just a small amount of smearing at the very end, the last color layed down.

.

 

Since they are acid-free and archival, these pens are fabulous for your scrapbooking, writing inside your greeting cards or to add a wonderful accent to any of your papercrafting.  Here, I’ve used them to accent a rubber stamped image that was colored with Copic markers.  I used some corresponding colors of the Atyou glitter pens over the marker colors (lemon fruit, orange fruit and bow) and then used just the glitter pens to color in the purple and red fruits:

I was very pleased with my purchase and I know you will be, too!  Available from Ellen Hutson.

Free Stamps!

I bet that caught your attention!  If you'd like the chance to win some free stamps from a NEW stamp company called Kitchen Sink, head on over to Craft Critique and read the linked article (above) to find out how you can enter the drawing!