More New Craft Stuff!!

What, you thought I could stop at just five nifty craft items? Hah!

Here are some others in no particular order:

Love me some glitter paste! Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Kiss from Ecstasy Crafts has an applicator right in the lid!

Glitter goes on easily with Ecstasy Craft’s Glitter Kiss, which comes with its own applicator.

I can’t wait to try these new Translucent Gelatos® from Faber-Castell:

Translucent Gelatos give a watercolor look

The BowVy (a Creativation Innovations winner) from Little Pink Ladybug uses a hot filament to slice and seal polyester ribbon.

In action:

And a new online company, Love + Lemon, lets you pick from a plethora of craft supplies to suit every need:

Check out the sparkles:

Can’t you just imagine a box of these dazzlers showing up on your doorstep?

That’s it from the show for a while. It’s February and I have Valentines to post! So stay tuned … and thanks for stopping by.

Quick Creativation Recap

Hey … what happened to January? Can’t believe we are in February already!

I have some Valentines ready to go, but first I need to do a quick report on what was new, fun, and fabulous at Creativation, the big trade show for the craft and hobby industry (a recent report puts crafts and hobbys as a $36 billion-plus industry!)

So here are some quick shots:

More Distress Oxides? Yes, please, may I have another??? From Ranger.

Whaaaa? Macrame is back? Yes, but hipper and cuter. These are kits from Plaid. There was a lotta knottin’ going on….

Plaid also has a nifty acrylic marbling ink, just dribble from a jar. This opens up such possibilities! Check out this one:

Cool, eh?

Check out Tim Holtz in the cool shades, ready to show off his new 3D embossing folders for Sizzix:

(No, it’s not your eyes … you need the glasses to make sense of the sign!)

 

Here’s a folder:

There’s more to come!

Check out my Instagram account @RobertaWax.

Fabulous Finds Friday with Faber-Castell

I love making backgrounds so I’m thrilled with any new colorants, techniques, etc.

Check out this new, fun and easy Tea Stain Dye from Faber-Castell® — it’s as easy as making a cup of tea!

I love this sample, seen at the big craft show in January:

My first experiments were not at all as pretty as the ones above! I basically made background paper (which I have not photographed yet; I’m not that happy with it but let’s see what happens when I play!) But I do love how easy it is to use this dye. So there will be more to come!

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

Fabulous Finds Friday — Pop Ups & Laurel Burch

It’s Friday … and I have a few Fabulous Finds to share.

First, check out these fabulous pop-ups from Stampendous! And don’t even get me started on the Laurel Burch designs! Oh, those cats! I’ve always loved her colorful images and have some of her old, old stamps. So imagine my glee at discovering that Stampendous! is now carrying her brand. Check out the fab collection of designs here.

And speaking of pop-ups, Fran Seiford at Stampendous! has made pop ups easy by creating a full set of pop up dies.  Check them out here. I haven’t done a lot of pop-ups, but these dies make it so easy I’m going to make some this weekend.

Oooh la la! Gotta love the artsy stamps from Carabelle, a French company that is working its way into U.S. distribution:

Aren’t those designs gorgeous?

I also love the variety in their line. Here are a few more:

Find out more here. To find out where they are sold, Google Carabelle Stamps.

Have a great weekend!

Fabulous Finds Friday: Spellbinders Magic

I am always amazed and awed at the variety of styles Spellbinders presents each year. Here are a few catches from the latest release.

Love the soft watercolor look of these stamps …

… and the tiny details on stamps such as this one below:

… not to mention this pretty watercolor look:

And for something different, the mixed media stylings of the delightful Seth Apter:

Stay tuned for an upcoming project using THIS new Spellbinders stamp/die set! Have a great weekend.

Fabulous Finds Friday — Concord & 9th

One of the pleasures of attending an industry craft show is seeing new products and meeting new people. One of my favorite finds this time has been the stamp company Concord & 9th, which is less than two years old.

I am inspired by the company’s unique and innovative dies. I’ll try to explain two of them — the Happy Card Frame Die and the Love Notes Envelope die.

The Happy Card Frame die, with its interchangeable components, offers so many creative possibilities.  The smaller die frame has a gap in it where there is no cutting blade.  After you cut out the frame, the card portion is still attached. Then you add an insert die in that gap (in the above card the insert is the “happy.” There is also a pretty flower, which you’ll see in a minute). You line up the sides of the insert with the gap in the frame. When you run the die through again, with that extra piece in place, you cut out the sentiment and it is attached to the frame. Cool, huh?

But don’t listen to me … check out the excellent video  here!

(Again, check out the video.)

Both cards also use the coordinating Happy Words stamp set.

Here’s the die set using the flower insert  (flip the die around so the connection is now at the top of the card instead of the bottom):

There are so many other ways to mix and match the components (see the video!) For instance, you can also cut out that portion of the die and use it separately:

Pretty sweet, eh?

Stay tuned for a sample of the Love Notes Envelope Die — it’s a good one!

Thanks for checking in.

 

Fabulous Find — Lawn Fawn

I’ve always been a fan of Lawn Fawn stamps and dies, but the latest entries are sending me over the moon!

I love this pop-up box die:

The box folds flat to fit into an A2 envelope. Genius!

Here are some other fun finds from Lawn Fawn:

Clever dies to create boxes and stitching guides….

… and just overall cuteness…

Thanks for checking in!

 

 

More Fabulous Finds from Creativation

Here’s another look at some of the Fabulous Finds found at the Creativation craft and hobby show in Phoenix last month:

 

(Layering stamps clockwise from top: large roses, Hampton Art; koi and rooster, Hero Arts; small vintage roses, Altenew)

Stamp layering (images you layer to create depths of color and design) is so pretty … and still oh-so popular, with more and more companies producing layering images. And ditto for stamps with coordinating dies. I became a huge fan of Altenew stamps, a company that elevated the stamp layering technique, when I first saw the company a few shows ago. They really ignited a trend.

Also fun, Hero Arts (love the koi and rooster and … a croissant? Whaaaat? So yummy); Waffle Flower  (marble, cross stitched cacti and roses, and more); Hampton Art, and more.

Here’s a cute layered/stitched cactus from Waffle Flower:

… and a nifty marbling stamp, also from Waffle Flower.

I also love the flower border stamps!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Finds Friday: New at Ranger

Today I have a packed Fabulous Finds Friday with some new items from Ranger that will make summer a little brighter.

Let’s start with Enamel Accents, an opaque, dimensional medium that dries to a glossy finish. I love making my own domed dots with the black enamel, so I think the new colors will be a must-have in my embellishment arsenal.

Besides Black Tie and Glacier White, Enamel Accents now come in Pink Gumball, Classic Cherry, Cheese Puff, Lemon Twist, Electric Lime, Lily Pad, Carribean Coast, Blue Ribbon, Wild Orchid and Grape Soda.

I’m a big fan of Ranger’s Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks — I especially love to use them when I’m watercoloring. They stamp so crisp and bright and can also be used with markers, acrylic paint and even Alcohol Ink. New colors are Vibrant Fucshia, Bright Tangelo, Vivid Chartreuse, Paradise Teal, Majestic Violet and Shadow Grey (which I think will be my favorite grey.)

Alcohol Inks, those fast-drying, fade-resistant dye inks specially formulated for non-porous surfaces such as glass, acrylic, tile, etc., are ready for summer, too, available in three-piece sets or individually. Summer sets include Spring Break (Valencia, Limeade, Turquoise), Beach Deco (Flamingo, Patina, Amethyst) and Retro Café (Pink Sherbert, Pool, Espresso).

New flip tops are a nice addition to Tim Holtz® Distress Paints, which is a great segue to Tim’s newest medium, Grit-Paste. As the name says, it has a gritty texture, holds its body, and dries to a textured, matte finish. You can use it with stencils and color it using the usual suspects: Distress inks, sprays, paint, crayons, etc. They all have different saturation levels on the paste, so just play!

Dina Wakley and Dyan Reaveley both have some cool new stamp designs. Dina has new borders, scribbled text elements and faces and wings, while Dyan added more of her fun and funky designs. Dyan also has new colors in her Dylusions paints: Funky Fuchsia, Pure Sunshine, Chopped Pesto, Polished Jade, Ground Coffee and Slate Grey.

Head over to the website and check out the fun new items!

Experiments in Gel Printing

At the Craft & Hobby Association’s Mega Craft Show this year, I met Laurie Karian, who has her own line of gel printing plates at www.gelpress.com.

I’m a relatively new convert to the joys of gel printing but now that I’ve gotten started, I can’t stop!

I was lucky enough to get a 3×5 inch gel plate to play with, and I went a little crazy:

Look at all pretty pieces! (Did I mention how addictive this is?)

I played around with a variety of acrylic paints, including Americana® multi-surface Satin™ by DecoArt® and Dina Wakely heavy body acrylic paint from Ranger. To create the patterns, I also used a variety of objects, including stamps, bubble wrap and corrugated cardboard.

I really loved using Plaid’s Fabric Creations™ block printing stamps, which look like old-school wooden block print stamps from India, as well as some foam stamps from Art Foamies (which worked really well with the paints).

The small plate was perfect for creating smaller 4-bar cards, which measure about 3 1/2 x 4 7/8 inches when folded). Some I kept clean and simple, some I indulged with stamps, etc. Here is a sampling:

The bird and birdcage are from a Prickley Pear stamp/die set. The birdcage was die cut twice, then stacked and gold embossed. The bird has a coat of clear Wink of Stella. The sentiment, black embossed on vellum, is from Hero Arts’ Everyday Sentiments CL497 and attached with a Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.

For this piece, the foam stamp was stamped into the wet paint, removing some of the paint; the green leaves were stamped after the print dried, using StazOn ink. The Dew Drops are from Robin’s Nest and were attached using Ranger’s Glossy Accents.

Here I cut poppies and a sentiment (both from Elizabeth Craft Designs) and added some Ranger Glossy Accents dots. So easy! (The pattern was made using good ol’ bubble wrap.)

One note I have neglected to mention for a while … I have been using ScraPerfect’s Best Glue Ever for a lot of my gluing, especially of tiny pieces. I’m loving this adhesive!

Stay tuned for more of my gel addiction!