PaperFections

Top 5 Gifts for Crafters

Hello, friends -- Today I have a card to share that uses one of my favorite techniques, alcohol ink blending, to create a fabulously glitzy background for the holidays! My alcohol ink of choice is Copic Various Ink Refills, since I already have them on hand to refill my Copic markers. They are also my #1 pick for one of the Top 5 Gifts for Crafters this holiday season! There are a few different ways to work with alcohol ink. My first go-to method is to place drops of the alcohol ink onto a felt ink blending pad (I used YG03 & G46), attached to an alcohol ink applicator tool or ink blending tool. I also added in some drops of festive gold metallic mixative. You can also add a few drops of 0-Colorless Blender, to help keep the felt pad moist. Then just pounce the ink blending tool all over a piece of Yupo paper: The Yupo paper is coated, which allows the alcohol ink to move around on the surface of the paper, creating wonderful shade variations! You can keep working the ink until you achieve your desired effect. Another way to use the alcohol ink is to:... Read more →

2017 Cyber Monday Specials!

CRAFTY CYBER MONDAY DEALS! Specials Continue Through Cyber Monday! Stamp-N-Storage's holiday specials continue with 15% OFF your entire order* plus FREE SHIPPING! To make it even more exciting, spend $90 or more and receive a FREE PACK of 5x7 MAGNET CARDS! Just add the pack of Magnet Cards to your shopping cart and they'll be marked FREE during the checkout process. *Sale excludes already marked down Starter Kits & Holiday Bundles. GET YOUR 5X7 MAGNET CARDS Read more →

2017 Small Business Saturday Specials!

I think you all know how much I adore my Marker Nook from Stamp-N-Storage, right? (Unit on the left below): Well, hold onto your seats again . . . Shop Small Business Saturday Stamp-n-Storage is proud to be a small business with all their products made here in the USA! They are celebrating today by offering a FREE Pop-Up Waste Basket with any order over $50! PLUS, use coupon code MARKERS5 for an ADDITIONAL $5 OFF Marker Holders! This special even includes the latest Marker Holder for Stampin' BlendsTM. FREE WITH ANY $50 ORDER Add a Pop-Up Waste Basket to your shopping cart and you'll receive it FREE with any orders over $50! No coupon code needed. Offer available November 25-26, 2017. Get Your Pop-Up Waste Basket >> SAVE AN ADDITIONAL $5 OFF WITH COUPON CODE MARKERS5 Just add a Marker Holder to your shopping cart and the coupon code MARKERS5 during the checkout process for this special savings. That's on top of the 15% OFF discount! Offer available November 25-26, 2017. Shop Marker Holders >> 15% OFF PLUS FREE SHIPPING Shop Stamp-n-Storage products through Monday, November 27, and receive 15% OFF your entire order. Sale excludes Starter Kits and... Read more →

Ellen Hutson 11th Anniversary Inspiration Hop

I can't believe my dear friend Ellen Hutson has had her wonderful online papercrafting store open for 11 years! I'm so honored and proud to say that I've been designing for her for 10 of those years, this month! Today's project features just a few of my favorite essential papercrafting items you'll find in Ellen's shop, including her fabulous line of Essentials by Ellen stamps and dies, by various designers. One of my favorite lines is Julie Ebersole's Mondo Flower series, which I'm using today! Ooh-la-la, meet Mondo Peony, one of my favorite Essentials by Ellen sets! This is the largest in this 4-bloom set. I allowed it to take center stage, by stamping it in Memento's waterproof Rose Bud and Peanut Brittle inks onto watercolor paper and watercoloring it with Kuretake's Gansai Tambi 36-color set. The colors I used, #34 Dark Pink, #36 Wine Red, and #42 Bright Yellow (for the peony), and #53 Mid Green for the leaves, are all also available individually. After die cutting the peony and leaves with their coordinating Mondo Peony dies, I popped them up over a watercolor cardstock base on which I painted stripes with #90 Gold. To finish the card, I... Read more →

Ellen Hutson 11th Anniversary Sale!

Happy Black Friday, Crafty Friends! I wanted to let you know about the fabulous 11th Anniversary sale going on at EllenHutson.com starting today! Just click <-- that link or the banner above to start shopping! More details: -Sale is Friday 11/24 until Sunday 11/27 11:59pm PST -20% off everything but new Mama Elephant (anything released in the last 90 days) and the BCRF fundraiser set -Must use the code celebration17 to receive discount -Anniversary sale code cannot be combined with any other codes and is not valid on previous purchases Happy holidays and happy shopping! Read more →

Holiday Gift Guide & Specials For Crafters!

Hello, Crafters! If you've been around my blog for a while, you probably already know how much I love my craft room storage units from Stamp-N-Storage! So I wanted to give you a heads-up about some holiday specials they have for you! Find a perfect gift for the papercrafter in your life (or yourself)! Browse through Stamp-N-Storage's Holiday Gift Guide storage solutions that will help your special someone organize their craft and unleash their creativity. You'll find gifts in all price ranges and for every papercrafter enthusiast, available now through December 30, 2017: The Ultimate Gift Bundle Gift bundles offer a savings of over 25% OFF and they are sure to make any papercrafter's day! Gift Certificates A Stamp-n-Storage Gift Certificate is great for any occasion and can be delivered within minutes! Looking to save it for another day? Just email the certificate to your inbox and print for your special someone. Purchase a Gift Certificate Gifts under $25 Magnet Cards Accessory Trays Pop-Up Sizes: 5x7 / 6x7 for Drawer Cabinet Waste Basket Gifts under $50 Standard Ink Pad Holder Marker Nook Stamp Case Shelf Sizes: 30 or 24 Gifts under $100 Lock-Down Punch Holder 12x12 Paper Holder Washi Tape... Read more →

Hand Lettering Techniques & Applications

Hand lettering is all the rage right now, and I'm on a mission to practice and get better at it! So I put together this list of helpful tutorials: Check out this fabulous Hand Lettering with Copic tutorial over on the Imagination International Inc. blog. David Sorrell walks you through everything from beginning to end -- choosing your word or phrase, spacing, balance, details, ink, etc. He used Copic Multiliners SP (0.2, 0.5, 0.7) and Copic Classic Marker to create this wonderful hand lettered Courageous sign! This tutorial by Lisa Funk and Addi Robison walks you through and easy process on how to create a faux calligraphy Thank You note. They used the Copic Multiliner Brush Medium Pen, the Copic Multiliner 0.8 Pen and the Copic Multiliner 0.5 Pen. This Mother's Day card tutorial by Melody Howe gives you a free downloadable template you can customize, along with a free downloadable alphabet which you can trace. To make this an easy process, use X-Press It Graphite Transfer Paper. Customize it and make it into a faux hand lettered card or sign for any occasion! In this Father's Day Mug Card tutorial, Melody Howe gives you another free downloadable coffee mug... Read more →

Essentials by Ellen November 2017 Release Hop

I hope you are ready for a week filled with amazing inspiration using the latest release from the Essentials by Ellen line of stamps and dies from Ellen Hutson LLC! Today I'm using the newest adorable Leading Lady by Brandi Kincaid, Photo Lady! I stamped the Photo Lady with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto a Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White panel and colored her with these Copic Markers: (Skin: E00, E11, E21. Hair: YR21, YR24, E23, E25. Rainbow shirt: R24, YR15, Y18, YG25, B23, V06, RV55, C1. Jeans: B32, B34. Shoes: N5, N6.) Then I decided to play off her rainbow shirt and continue with the bold and bright by putting the Photo Lady in a garden filled with colorful flowers, created with Julie's Rustic Botanicals stamp set and Distress Oxide Inks! After masking off the Photo Lady, I used Picked Raspberry, Twisted Citron, Lucky Clover, Spiced Marmalade, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Seedless Preserves, Wild Honey, and Peeled Paint to stamp the flowers: To finish the card, I used Essentials by Ellen Stitching Lines dies to create a stitched border along the top edge and top third of the sides. Then I die cut a photo frame and stamped it... Read more →

Figurine Refinishing

Hello Crafters! Today I'm sharing a sweet figurine I've had for many years. It was originally painted bronze and gold and looked fantastic in our old house, but since moving into our new house last year, it just didn't fit in with our new gray and silver scheme. So I turned to my Tommy Arts Paint to save the day (and the figurine)! Before, with the plaster figurine painted all the same color, none of the details really stood out. I love all the depth and details you can see after she was repainted! To start the process, I painted the plaster figurine with a base coat of Tommy Art's Rock Gray chalk based mineral paint: Tommy Art chalk colors are high-quality, rapid-dry, chalk-based mineral paints. Each chalk color offers superb coverage, opacity, porosity, and lightfastness. Tommy Art chalk colors adhere to most surfaces without preparation and are available in more than 35 colors. Next, I painted the girl's hair, the bird, and the base of the figurine with Tommy Art Brown Black chalk paint: The two different colors really helped bring out the details! Next, I painted Tommy Art's White Coating over the Brown Black chalk paint, focusing on... Read more →

Essentials by Ellen November Release

There's a new Essentials by Ellen release available NOW!! Check out the latest gorgeous designs from Julie Ebersole & Brandi Kincaid, available exclusively at Ellen Hutson LLC: Totally Random Sayings Vol. 1 by Julie Ebersole: Abstract Paint Strokes by Julie Ebersole: Leading Ladies, Photo Lady Stamps & Dies (available separately) by Brandi Kincaid: We are going to kick off the celebration with an inspiration hop this Sunday, November 5th so make sure you stop back by! Here's a little sneak peek of what I colored up for the hop: Have you had your eye on the fabulous Leading Ladies stamps and dies? Now's your chance to get all five (including this latest Photo Lady!) at a savings! I just discovered this stamp bundle and this die bundle in the store: Wouldn't they make a great stocking stuffer or gift for any crafty person you know (even yourself)?!! Thanks so much for visiting today ... I hope you'll be back on Sunday to see all the details I'll have of this project for you! Read more →