October 30, 2012

A Haunting We Will Go....

We have a little treat for you - an awesome tutorial from our head witch, Michelle!  This Halloween tag is the perfect way to get in the mood for tomorrow night's little visitors:



To recreate this Halloween Masterpiece, you will need:

Shipping tag
Paint daubers: Black and white
Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Gathered Twigs, Old Paper, Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo
Ink blending tool
Copic Marker: YR15
Tim Holtz stamp set: CMS093 Mini Halloween
Die Cut: Candlelight Fright
Chipboard
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder in Black Soot
Glossy Accents
Tim Holtz Distress Reinkers: Aged Mahogany, Fired Brick
Pipettes
Gray fibers
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
Black archival Ink
Beeswax (melted in a melting pot) and a throw away brush
Plastic spider
Elements "Good Earth" by Art Glitter Institute
Craft sheet
All purpose adhesive and pop dots
Spray bottle with water
Heat gun

1. To begin, rub the Gathered Twigs, Old Paper, and Spiced Marmalade ink pads on your craft sheet.  Spritz them with water - you should see the colors begin to bead on the craft sheet.  Drag the tag through the colors and dry it.  Repeat the process until you are happy with the results.  It is important to dry the tag between each swipe, otherwise the colors will all turn to mud.  When complete, use an ink blending tool with Vintage Photo ink and distress the tag edges.  It should look something like this:


2.  Stamp spider webs on the tag.



3.  Die cut the candle holder from chipboard.  Paint the base of the candle holder with the black paint dauber and the actual candles with the white paint dauber.  
Press the base of the candle holder into the Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink and sprinkle with Tim Holtz Black Soot Distress Powder.  Heat emboss. Let the distress powder cool and then rub the embossed areas to release the distress crystals.  Color the candle flames with the YR15 copic marker. 


Coat the candles flames with glossy accents and allow to dry completely. 

4. After the candle flames have dried, brush the white candles with melted beeswax and allow the beeswax to drip down the candles to your liking:





5. Ink a piece of scrap paper with Old Paper ink using the ink blending tool.  Stamp a spider web and the Halloween sentiment on scrap paper using black archival ink.  Tear around all edges.  Then ink edges of torn paper with Vintage photo.  

6. To make the spider, coat the plastic spider with glossy accents.  Sprinkle with the Good Earth Elements.  Allow to dry.  He should look completely creepy and disgusting, like this:


Sorry I can't be more enthusiastic about him - a bad experience with a wolf spider has left me scarred for life!  (Hint - NEVER step on wolf spiders - they carry their babies on their backs!  It is NOT pretty....)

7.  In a small bowl, mix some glossy accents with one drop of Fired Brick reinker and one drop of Aged Mahogany reinker.  Pick up some of the mixture in a pipette and dribble it down from the top of the tag. Allow to dry.

8.  Attach the gray fibers to the tag using the Tiny Attacher.  Adhere the sentiment over the gray fibers.  Adhere the spider to the top of the tag.  Use pop dots to adhere the candle holder to the tag.  You are done!  Here's another look:





October 29, 2012

KaiserCraft-a-Palooza!

Well, folks, sometimes we get product in and then other times we get PRODUCT in!  Who doesn't love KaiserCraft, that Australian based company that manages to come out with outstanding product collections again and again and again! 

First of all, if you missed it the first time the Advent calendar is back in stock by popular request:


Oh, and look... here it is all done up in the Turtle Dove collection:


The Just Believe Collection:


And the Mint Twist Collection:




All of which we just happen to have in stock, naturally....


KaiserCraft is well known for their wood products, so we got in some others as well - these would be GREAT holiday gifts:
















I love the samples from the KaiserCraft design team - don't you feel inspired???

OK, now you have to hold on to your seats a bit.... you're going to LOVE the new stamps from KaiserCraft!!  Perfect for cards and perfect for backgrounds... perfect for scrapbook pages, perfect for art journaling and canvas art - yikes!  These might just be the perfect stamps!











For our scrapbookers we also got in some cute new albums that match popular collections:




See what I mean?  There's just SO much new stuff, it's like Christmas came a little early for us!  Nothing like opening boxes and boxes of new product and digging through everything, seeing it for the first time - sigh....  Get yourself in here and share the joy!

October 26, 2012

City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks...

Dressed in Holiday style!  In the air there's a feeeeeeling of Christmas...

Well, actually, in the air there's a feeling of wind and rain and hurricanes, but who's counting?  This sweet new collection from Pink Paislee is sure to chase away your stormy blues and put you in the holiday mood! 

City Sidewalk






This is such a beautiful collection - I love the vintage images paired with classic patterns and beautiful florals... just my style!!   Don't forget - Christmas is really just a handful of weeks away!  Come in and get yours while you still have time....

October 25, 2012

TIMMMMMMBER!!!! The Trees are Here!!!

I can't believe it - we just posted an article on a bunch of great new stuff from Tim Holtz, and now I'm writing about: a bunch of great new stuff from Tim Holtz!!!  YOWZA!  I can't believe how much new stuff we have from Tim!

First and foremost, TIMBER!  These new dyable trees and wreaths are GORGEOUS!


Look how fabulous they look in the different distress colors - I want to buy a bunch just so I can make this display!!  That allows for SO much variety - they don't have to be just for Christmas!  How about a Valentine's tree, or a display of fall trees?  SO many possibilities!!



Of course, you can't have trees without tinsel!  Check out the fun colors:






Get your grunge on with some of these Idea-ology embellishments:





And lots of new papers and alterable mediums:






Last, but certainly not least, this lantern actually lights up!  I've already got 1,001 uses for this, so you better come get yours before I buy them all up!!