Sketch-y Friday

Hello and Happy Friday!

Here is your sketch to play with for this week!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Laura
xoxo

Inspiration on Thursday

Hello everyone!

I guess you all are too busy to send me any "inspiration" layouts this week, so i am going to post one of mine that hasn't been shown o this blog before.  I created this layout at our Scrappink crop.

If you have a layout or card that you would like to see posted here to inspire others, email your creations to me here.  The only stipulation is it must be created with at least 75% of product we offer in our store.

Thanks for popping in!
Laura
xoxo

Tips and Techniques Wednesday

Hello blog friends!

We had a great time being the on-site store at the Encore Dance Studio crop last Saturday!  It was super thrilling for me to hear how many of those ladies popped by this blog to see what we are creating!  Thank you for that, it means the world to me!

While at the crop we even had time to make a few creations of our own!  Thanks to Ann and Christa for having us!

For today's tutorial, I am going to start a series of how-to's about make small gift items that would be perfect for hostess gifts or teachers gits, etc.  since we are approaching Thanksgiving and other big entertaining holidays.

Today I will show you an embellished candle that I created, along with a coordinating gift card.

First off, choose the product you would like to work with.  I have a selection of papers from MME's 'Mischievous" line and some American Crafts embellishments from the 'Night Fall' line.  Both of these collections are currently available in our store.

 Then I choose a punch and a leaf die to use, this is one of my favourite punches and I knew I wanted to add leaves to go with my fall theme.  You can cut leaves with punches, a die cutting machine like the Cricut or by hand, as well.

 And here is a look at the main pieces for my embellished candle.

 Next, I ran the leaves through my sewing machine to add some texture and mock veining right down the centre.  I snipped off the extra thread, but I did leave some short tails as I liked the distressed, not quite perfect look it gave as well as a bit of texture.

 And then I inked all of the piece with a Tim  Holtz's Distress Ink, I also added a bit of charcoal chalk ink along the very edges of my pieces to give them a little more definition.  This is a good tip, if you are using papers together that do not have a lot of contrast to each other.

 Now when I attached the collar to the candle I knew I wanted it to be really secure to last throughout the holiday season, so I chose to adhere the papers together with Glassy Accents.

Then I used Terrifically Tacky Tape to adhere  one end of the collar to the other end (you could also use Score Tape of any other really strong adhesive). 

Do not adhere anything directly to the candle if you or your recipient plan to use the candle at any time.  You want to be able to slide the collar off for safety purposes, before lighting the candle.

 Next, I layered the leaves in a pleasing manner and stapled them together.  This is a quick way to make sure your layers stay how you intended, don't worry we will hide the staple!  Some strategic bending and crumpling of the leaves, gives them some texture.  Adhere these to your collar with Glossy Accents.

 A little piece of twill, stapled to keep it folded and glued on top of the leaves.

 Next I added one of the little fan-fold flowers.  And even though these have a pop dot already on the back of them I always add a little Glossy Accents to them if I am creating something for display purposes that could get handled.  We want our beautiful creations to last, right?

 Here is a look at my completed embellished candle.  Perfect as is for a Halloween or fall decor element or gift.

 However, I decided mine would more likely be a Thanksgiving decor element, so I covered up the little 'Halloween" sentiment wit a button.

 A couple of close - ups for you.

 And now on to the little gift card, I used all of the same basic elements to create this little  3"x3" card.

Thank you for stopping by today to see what we are up to!
Laura
xoxo

New in Store!

ello Scrappers!

We have a fun new tool in store for you from Epiphany Crafts!  This tool allows you to make custom buttons and epoxy embellishments for your projects and guess what?  Jewellery too!

Here is a peek at the items we are currently carrying.....

round epoxy embellishment tool

custom button tool

clear buttons

clear epoxies

rings

button casings, can also be used on rings

charms for your projects or jewellery

You can see how to use these tools in this Youtube video......

Or simply read the instructions here.

You'll notice each tool creates a unique shaped embellishment.  They are easy to use and reasonably priced.  And there are a few more tools as well.  If you are interested in one of these tools you can email us here for more information on ordering.  If you are interested in an alternate shaped tool, email us for more information on a pre-order.

I picked up one last weekend at the Scrappink crop and cannot wait to play with it!

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you have a scrappy day!
Laura
xoxo

Sketch-y Friday

Hi blog friends!

Another quick week!  As we are all settling into our back to school routines, time seems to fly by, Thanksgiving will be upon us before we know it!

Here is today's sketch!

I created a double page layout this week as I heard that that is what you are looking for.   And don't forget if you need further inspiration, have a look at the slide show below or check back each Thursday when we post some beautiful creations made by us, our croppers and you!  If you want your project featured on our Thursday inspiration post, email it to me here

Thank you for stopping by today and have a great weekend!

Laura
xoxo.