To The Moon & Back With A Distress Oxide Lift

Lisa here!  I'm sharing another cloudy background I created using some distress oxides and the Bubble Box die cut that I used on my card from my last post which you can see here if you'd like!  I'm using the adorable Somebunny stamp set again and this is the night time version....

I used some blues and purple distress oxides this time for my night time sky.  I realized after I finished my background that I forgot to leave some space for my moon glow so I decided to try the oxide lift technique.

I figured out about where my moon would be and used a paintbrush to apply water where I wanted to add a yellow glow and then "lifted" color off of the paper using a paper towel.  I repeated this process a couple times and then dried the area with a heat gun.  Then I added in some yellow.

I also added some tiny gold "stars" using a Uniball Gold Gel Pen.  I used the Stars Fri-Dies (still attached to each other) to create these glitter paper star frames.  I'm thinking I may not cut them apart because I love these frames!  I popped them up onto my background and then popped the rabbit hanging from the moon with a slightly thicker foam tape.

And finally a couple of the adorable sentiments from the Somebunny stamp set and a few sequins!

So there we are!  I can't tell you enough how I love these bunnies!

Did you know there is a special Valentines Special going on right now??  There are 7 sets in the shop marked $3 or less!  You can check those out right here!  Prices are good While Supplies Last until February 14th!

Thanks so much for stopping and I hope you enjoyed your visit!  If you have seen something that you must have from the shop I have this for you:

Come again soon for more CAS-ual Fridays inspiration!  Or why not get it in your inbox!  Sign up in the sidebar to the right so you never miss a post and be sure to sign up for the Newsletter so you get all of the latest information about sales and new products!

Its the most Wonderful time of the Year!!!

Hi there everyone and thanks so much for stopping by. I know this time of year is pretty hectic (starting to feel like I'm physically not going to last till Christmas Day.....) but its exciting at the same time. Hopefully your more organised than I am at present and got all your Christmas cards posted. Just incase you haven't (like me) I wanted to share a quick and elegant card design with you:

I absolutely love white-on-white for Christmas cards and adding a little glittery blue is even better. I used Snowing Sayings, Funky Flake Fri-Dies and Stars Fri-Dies and for all the details on how I put this together, pop over to my blog.

I hope this gives you a few ideas on how to mix your dies for future cards and I'll see you back here later this month with some new card designs.

Take care

Shona

 

Wishing you a Magical Birthday!!

Hi everyone! Hopefully you've all started your weekend, the weather is fabulous and you've got lots of fun things planned, including a bit of crafting. I've got a card to share with you today where I used a 'new to me but known to everyone else in the world for years' product and now wish I had used it sooner!!

Texture paste has been around for a very long time but I've always been a little scared of using it, especially as I don't have much experience with stencils. But now I've got a whole folder full of amazing stencil patterns, I felt it was time to suck it up and give it a go!

 

I started off by putting the Curtis Stencil over the card front with washi tape. I gathered a rainbow of Distress Inks and pressed them all in different spots on my Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat and then added blobs of Ranger Texture Paste to each colour. It mixed with the ink so easily and the colour was so vibrant. I then spread it over the stencil, doing patches of colour and blending where they met. I removed the stencil straight away and cleaned with water, and dried the paste with my heat gun.

I decided I needed some colour behind the coloured panel, so cut the front of the card off, trimmed it down with my Tonic trimmer and popped on a piece of white foam. I added a panel of dark grey card stock to a new card base and adhered the rainbow panel on top.

Using the largest star from the Star Fri-dies I die-cut some white card stock. I then heat embossed the sentiment from the Be A Unicorn stamp set in gold across the star.

To finish off I popped the star up on foam tape and glued on some Neat and Tangled sequins with Gina K Connect Glue.

 I hope this has given you some ideas on different colours for your texture paste and if your thinking of doing any shopping for these CFS products, don't forget to use my special code to save yourself 15% on your purchase!!

I also wanted to let you know that the Retirement products are now 35% off and if you use my code as well, that's a 50% saving!!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you back here next month, probably with Christmas cards as I need to make more very soon!!

Take care
Shona

 
 

Get Your Twinkle On

Happy Wednesday!

Have you heard that we're retiring 29 sets! 29!! 

Lisa is here today using one of the sets that is on the retirement list.

Here's how she did it:

I have used the Star Dies and the Twinkle Set that is retiring. I wanted to go totally glam like the sentiment from the set implies so I used a mix of glittered papers. To keep the card interesting I used a "faux inlaid die cutting" technique. To get the look of overlapping cuts I first die cut the stars in silver, making sure the different sized stars overlapped at some point on the one before it. I then made sure to keep the small silver pieces that needed to go in between the cuts off to the side. Next I went ahead and cut the stars out of the red, white and blue glitter cardstocks, and layered them into the silver. Finally I added the small silver pieces back in and viola! It looks like I've created one flat surface without all of the work! I then stamped my sentiment in the upper right corner with Staz On Ink. The final touch to my card was going over the edges with my distress tool. Since I had cut everything out of glitter cardstock, I didn't feel the need to add any other embellishments. I hope to see you try this "faux inlaid die cutting technique" and make sure you tag us when you share it! 

Look at all that delicious sparkle! I love how this looks and that retiring sentiment is super awesome on this card! Be sure to grab Twinkle and any of its retiring friends while they are still available.

They are priced to go and some of the sets are already sold out. 

Click here to check out our retiring collection

I hope you find some time to get your ink on today :)

July 3

Happy Sunday!

I've got a super duper uper important and exciting announcement!

Make sure you read all the way to the end :)

But first...

Oh boy oh boy!

I can't wait to show you what Girl Friday Diane

has for your oohing and aahing delight today!

Think Stars Fri-Dies

Think Smiling Fri-Dies

Think Thanks stamp set

Put em all together and this is what could happen...

I know!!!  It's freaking amazing!!!!!

********BIG Announcement********

I have been burning the midnight oil in a serious way for many, many, many days

and I'm just about done...

with our BRAND NEW WEBSITE!!!!!

I'm putting the finishing touches on it and I'm thinking I'll be doing the big switch any day not.

It's beautiful! And I can't wait for you to see it :)

It's very likely that the site will be down for a good 24 hours

once we go live as everything gets moved,

so please be patient and don't get worried if you can't get into the store.

I'll keep you all updated on the progress on facebook :)

Have a wonderful July 4th weekend!!

December 21

Happy Monday!

Can you believe we are in the final few days before Christmas?

Are you ready?

Are you still making last minute projects?

Or are you ahead of the game and starting your project folder for next year?

Girl Friday Kelly has a project that is sure to inspire you 

and it's perfect for little gifts for neighbors, teachers, mailmen, the UPS guy, your co-workers, etc!

She used Scallop Tag Fri-Dies, Star Fri-Dies, Bell Tags Fri-Dies and Sleigh Bells stamps 

and they all happen to be on sale right now while supplies last!

 

Here's a sure-fire way to achieve a luxurious look for any gift tags you need to make this season. The secret? Layer 'em up! Just grab any small/medium/large die to make your own custom combination. Or make sure to pick dies that show through to the next layer.

   

 

Here, I've chosen the Bell Tag Fri-Die for the base, then the Stars Fri-Die, and finally the Scallop Tag Fri-Die. Even though the star die is not officially a tag, you'd never know the difference when they are all layered and tied up with ribbon. So simple!  

I embossed the bell in white with the Sleigh Bells stamp and ran some watercolor over it.

  

The space across the middle of the bell is a perfect place to write out the "to" information. I wrote the "from" information on a different layer (the star die) just to give the presentation a little more depth. You can't see here, but on the darker green tag in the back I wrote a quick note to the recipient.

 

  

  

These layered tags really help make the simple wrapped pretzel rod a little more special! Remember, you can do this with any set of small/medium/large shapes, for any occasion. I just heard back from my son's teacher who said the tags reminded her of little charms. Love that!

Positively delicious!!

Be sure to visit Kelly's blog and leave her some love, 

and she's spreading a little extra holiday cheer that you won't want to miss :)

October 28

Happy Wednesday!

Wow, oh Wow!

Girl Friday Julia will knock your socks off with today's creation. 

I warned ya, so don't complain when your socks suddenly fly through the air!!

She created this spectacular wreath using our Stars and Casual Trees Fri-Dies 

to frame the sentiment from Twinkle.

(you have naked toes right now don't you?!)

I could just look at this all day!

She created a video to show you how she did this so you'll be able to do this too.

All the sets she used are available in the store.

Here is a close up 

Today is the day. 

I check in at the hospital at 11 for my 2:30 lumpectomy surgery. 

I'm so ready to do this!

If you are wondering what the heck I'm talking about, 

please visit the Calling All Sistahs tab at the top of the page to get caught up :)

I appreciate all your good thoughts, well wishes and prayers. 

It means so much to me to have you all in my corner :)

Our blog is all set with lots of inspiration for the next several days, 

and as I'm feeling up to it, I'll pop in to give you updates so you'll know how I'm doing. 

My 2 awesome boys are taking over the shipping duties for a bit 

so your orders will still ship out in a timely manner :)

I'll be back as soon as I can!

xoxo

July 24

Happy Friday!

Today Girl Friday Marcie 

has a great card 

and a fun tutorial to go with it.

I think the big glittery star and embossed sentiment from our Twinkle set

look fabulous against her hand inked background. 

She used a really fun and easy technique for her stars 

by creating her own stencil.

Here's how she did it:

Easy peasy!

Have fun playing with this technique. 

Just think of all the fun backgrounds you can create.

June 18

Happy Thursday!

Angie has created a fabulous tutorial for you today! 

I'm really excited about it, because it's a technique I totally want to learn how to do.

Check it out!

Here is a quick tutorial to explain how I achieved the “messy embossing aka happy accident” technique on my card from May 30:

Gather your materials, including some embossing powder and ink (I used Champagne Mist All Purpose Ink by Tsukineko). FYI, some of my pictures show gray cardstock and some show khaki cardstock, so you’re not losing your mind, it was me.

I painted the ink onto my cardstock base, starting in the middle and moving the brush outward, to give the feel of rays shooting outward from the star. (That sounds corny!)  

Next, I heated it with an embossing gun, originally because I was too impatient to wait for it to dry. That’s where the “happy accident” comes in. I didn’t heat it long enough (impatient, remember?), so the embossing powder stuck to it in some places, creating the “messy embossing” look. So, remember, don’t overheat! J

Next, the embossing, yay! After I die cut the Stars Fri-Dies piece out of my top layer, I laid it over the painted cardstock and stamped the star in the opening. Love how the stamps and dies work together so perfectly! I shook on the embossing powder, then used a dry paint brush to kind of feather it out and remove some to get the look I wanted. Now you’re ready to emboss it with the heat gun.

I did the same process with the smaller star in the center of the card as well as the

“banner streak”” on the front of the card.

Again, I used a dry paint brush to remove some of the embossing powder and create some streaks before I used the heat gun on it.

And that’s “messy embossing”…or maybe you can think of a better name for it! I hope you try it and link up here so I can check out your creations! J

I'm thinking this is pretty super cool!

I'm loving Angie's messy embossing technique 

and I don't know about you, but I'm running to my studio now to try this out! 

Let's leave Angie some love for this!