For the Guys Class

Today's project is from the "For the Guys" class taught by Jennifer Rzasa. I loved how she showed different ways to think out of the box to create masculine cards.

 I am the only female in our house and I work in a male-dominated industry, so I happen to have lots of masculine crafty items. However, I do not have a lot items from Altenew that would work for a masculine card. The majority of my Altenew crafty stash is floral and quite feminine.

After digging through my stash, I was able to find Altenew's Feeling Dotty stencil and knew this would work for a masculine card.

KimG/For the Guys

I decided to use foil for this card to give it a little pizazz. I used Deco Foil Transfer Gel on the stencil, then once it was dry I used Deco Foil Amber Watercolor foil. This foil has silver, gold and some copper colors in a water-color pattern. It makes a great masculine card.

KimG/For the Guys

I used the Alenew Mega Greetings "Hello" die as my focal point.

I went with a cream colored background as the white was just to stark with the brown. This is a very clean and simple card, yet looks quite masculine. My 15-year old son actually said he would like a card like that, so that is pretty high praise in my humble opinion.

Supplies Used:

Deco Foil Transfer Gel and Amber Watercolor foil

SU' Espresso and Very Vanilla cardstock

Altenew Feeling Dotty Stencil

Altenew Mega Greetings Hello

Easy Ink Blending Techniques

I love the look of ink blending, so this class did not disappoint! Amy does a beautiful job of ink blending and I found a few techniques in her class to help me make my ink blending look smoother and cleaner.

KimG/Easy Ink Blending Techniques

For my card I decided on a monochromatic look with an accent of Black embossing powder. I started my ink blending with the Ranger blending sponges, then switched to my Clarity Stamp Blending Brushes to smooth out the colors.

KimG/Easy Ink Blending Techniques

Pink and Black is one of my favorite color combos and I am really pleased with how this card turned out. Very clean and simple.

I used Altenew Baby Pink in for my card base and for the card top I used Altenew Magenta, Fuchsia, and Baby Pink for a dark to light fade. For my sentiment, I used Fuchsia so my sentiment strip would pop out.

KimG/Easy Ink Blending Techniques

Supplies Used:
Ink: VersaMark Ink, Altenew inks in Baby Pink, Fuchsia, and Magenta
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White
Stamps: Altenew Henna Elements
Embossing Powder: Nuvo Jet Black
Tools: Ranger Ink Blending Sponges, Clarity Stamp Ink Blending Brushes, Scallop punch from my stash.

Clean and Simple Boutique Cards - Round 2

KimG/Clean and Simple Boutique Cards

After last week's set of failures (in my opinion). I decided to give this class another go and only create one project and concentrate on how to make it better.

I continued using Altenew's Beautiful Day stamp set with the outline stamp and the 3rd stamp from the flower. I feel my stamping came out much clearer and even better aligned. I used Alenew's Persian Blue and Sapphire inks.

KimG/Clean and Simple Boutique Cards

I opted to use specialty paper this time around and grabbed my favorite silver mirror cardstock. I used Altenew's Creative Edges: Lace Die on the silver to give the card some interest and texture.

KimG/Clean and Simple Boutique Cards

I added a touch of Persian Blue splatters and used a sentiment from the Beautiful Day set. I backed my sentiment with just a hint of mirrored silver cardstock, then popped it up with foam tape. I am much happier with the results of this project (round 2) than what I submitted the first time.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Blue cardstock from my stash, Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock, Mirrored Silver cardstock
Ink: Altenew Persian Blue and Sapphire
Stamps: Altenew Beautiful Day
Dies: Altenew Creative Edges: Lace Die

Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

Today I have 3 cards to share for the Clean & Simple Boutique Cards class. While I am not happy with the results of my final projects, I am posting them to show the work I have completed. 

I absolutely loved the class and worked on each mini class within the class. It always makes it easier when you have the same supplies being used in the class. I then changed my projects up, just a bit.

For my first card, I used the foiling technique. I have been foiling for quite a while, but use a different method. For this project, I used WOW Bonding Powder and WOW Fab Foil (which I have never used before) and was not pleased with the results. I had great ink coverage with my VersaMark ink, sprinkled the bonding powder on my image and the powder did not adhere to the ink which then caused my foil to not melt onto the card.

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

While my card didn't turn out all that bad, it was not the results I was wanting and multiple attempts gave the same results. The card kind of has an artistic impression to it.

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White, Old Stampin' Up cardstock from my stash

Ink: Altenew Persian Blue Ink, Altenew Jet Black Ink, VersaMark Ink

Other: WOW Bonding Powder and WOW Fab Foil in Dark Blue

Card 2 - Faux Letterpress/Embossing

My second card was another project that I struggled with. I had issues coming up with the "perfect" sandwich for my die cut machine. I either had too much pressure or not enough and finally picked the best card out of all of the many I made.

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

I enjoyed working on this card and I still like how it turned out. I think my favorite part is the paint splatters!

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 80lb., Black cardstock from my stash, Vellum

Ink: Altenew Hydrangea, Altenew Aqualicious, Altenew Pinkalicious, VersaMark

Other: Hero Arts White Embossing Powder

Card 3 - Luxury Papers

While I didn't use luxury papers for this card, I did use a cover die to add a background for interest.

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

I used Altenew's Gradient Stripes Cover Die in a Bazzill cardstock. The cardstock has some texture to it which adds some additional interest to the card. I stamped my flowers with Altenew's Build-A-Flower - Sakura stamp and die set.

KimG/Clean & Simple Boutique Cards

I hope you like my projects. This is one class that I will review repeatedly as I really liked the projects shown throughout the course.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White, Bazzill Yellow cardstock from my stash

Ink: Altenew Iceberg, Eastern Sky, Ultramarine, Firefly, Grass Field, Fresh Lemon, Maple Yellow, Honey Drizzle and Jet Black

Stamps: Altenew Build-A-Flower - Sakura stamp and die, Altenew Sentiment Strips

All About Layering Class 2

I finally found some time to work on my second class in the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) "All About Layering 2" taught by Nicole. Nicole is a great instructor and shows you some of the best ways to line up your stamps for perfect layering (of course for me, it took some practise!). Thankfully, I already owned many of the stamps sets discussed in this class. I was really torn on which set to use for my project and decided to use my "go-to" set Peony Bouquet stamp and die set. I seem to reach for this set repeatedly!

KimG/All About Layering 2

For my project, I made an A2 top folding card using Neenah Solar White for the card base and the top layer of the card. I did a light ink blending of Spun Sugar Distress Oxide ink leaving some white space in the center. I then took a small mister bottle and gave it a couple of spritzes of water.

I stamped the outline of the peony flower and leaves in VersaMark ink then heat embossed it with WOW Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Glitter (I love this stuff!). At the bottom of the card I added an additional peony using Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart and Cosmic Berry inks using the matching die to cut it out.

I pulled the sentiment from Altenew's Persian Motifs and heat embossed it with the Gold Embossing Glitter.

KimG/All About Layering 2

Lastly, I used gold mirror board to give my card a little more shine. I love pink and gold together.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White, Mirror Gold Cardstock

Altenew inks: Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart, Cosmic Berry

Other inks: Spun Sugar Distress Oxide ink, VersaMark ink

Embossing Powder: WOW Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Glitter

Altenew Stamps & Dies: Peony Bouquet, Persian Motifs

Altenew Academy

After a very long hiatus on this tiny blog of mine, I am back! I was recently asked to participate in the Altenew Educator Certification Program. This came as a very nice surprise for me as I had forgotten that I had applied quite some time ago. I am a huge Altenew fan and have quite a collection of Altenew products!

The first class is All About Layering 1. Altenew's layering stamps are hands-down my favorite stamps. Vintage Roses was the first stamp set I purchased from Altenew. This class was awesome. I learned new tips and tricks for layering my stamps. I still struggle with the Vintage Roses set and when I put some of the techniques taught in this class, it made the layering much easier. I need to really sit down and practice some more with this set, but I had fun making my card.

I made an A2 card using Vintage Roses and Painted Butterflies. The sentiment is from the Painted Butterflies set. For the roses, I started stamping with the darkest color first and worked my way to the lightest. I got much better results this way. I popped the butterflies and the sentiment up with some foam tape, then added some sequins for some sparkle.

KimG/All About Layering 1

I hope you enjoy my first project.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight
Altenew Inks: Buttercream, Fresh Lemon, Snapdragon, Firebrick, Jet Black, Eastern Sky, Ultramarine, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen
Altenew Stamps & Dies: Painted Butterflies, Vintage Roses
Sequins from my stash

Craftaholics Anonymous Handmade Gift Exchange

Once again I participated in Craftaholics Anonymous Gift Exchange.  This is my 2nd one I have done.  It is so much fun.  My giftee saw some of the coasters I made on my li'l ole blog and said she really liked them, so I knew what I was going to make for her.

Christmas Coasters for my giftee

I also sent her one of my redneck wine glasses that I make for my friends.

Turquoise Redneck Wine Glass

I had so much fun putting everything together.  I hope my giftee enjoys them as much as I did making them.

Until next time!

Spray Painting Upholstery

In my last post I mentioned I had 4 upholstered chairs that needed some updating.  I have finally been able to work on those chairs.  I think these chairs were the easiest to do, it was fun and I love the end result.

As I have said before, I read and subscribe to tons of blogs.  One of my favorites is Hyphen Interiors.  Kristy is an amazing decorator and has a heart of gold.  She has helped me in several areas and is just the sweetest person there is.  We both live in the Austin area, but on total opposite ends, so meeting up is challenging!

Kristy did a series on Simply Spray Upholstery spray paint, check it out here  and after reading her series I knew exactly what I wanted to use this paint on.  I was given 4 upholstered chairs that we use at our dining room table.  These chairs are over 17 years old.  They are in fabulous condition, but the fabric has seen better days.

The wood on the arms have been scuffed and the fabric had a lot of wear and some stains.  After doing all of my homework and reading several other reviews about the paint, I decided to take the plunge to paint my chairs.  But what color should I choose?  Simply Spray has some colors that I love.  I knew I would need to use a darker paint to help mask the stains.  Because my dining room table is a gray/blue and white, I decided to use Navy as my paint color.  I loved the Periwinkle, but was afraid it would clash with my table.

My next decision was to figure out how many cans to purchase.  I knew one can would not be enough and I was a little skeptical about 2 cans since there is quite a bit of fabric, so I played it safe and ordered 12 cans of paint, that way I would have 3 cans per chair.  I am so glad I did.  To get really good coverage, I used all 3 cans.  I masked off the handles with painters tape, hauled the chairs to my driveway and started painting.

Here are some tips if you decide to try this:

• Put some type of cloth or sheet (I bought big sheets at Goodwill for $3) underneath the item you are painting.
• Wear gloves - I didn't wear any the first time I painted and had blue fingers.  Check the wind factor.  If it is windy, its probably not a good idea to paint!  I ended up looking like a smurf where the wind blew the paint on my skin.  I used baby wipes to "de-smurf" myself!
• It says to hold the can 6-9 inches away from the object.  I actually held my can closer and was able to get a better coat of paint.  I did the painting "no-no" by holding the spray nozzle continuously while spraying.  I had better control and fewer drips.
• Start spraying off the object and then move to the object to help with paint drips.
• Let the paint dry before spraying the next coat.  I didn't want to saturate my fabric, so I let the chairs dry for a couple of hours then went back out and used another can.
• I let the chairs cure for a couple of days before we started using them again.  That way I knew they were good and dry.
• The fabric is a little stiff, but it is softening very nicely as we use them.
• I do worry just a little bit about things getting spilled on them.  I have heard that some of the paint may come up when trying to clean up a spill.

All in all, I am really pleased with my sturdy little chairs.  I spent about $122 for 4 chairs.  I couldn't re-upholster one chair for that amount.  I painted the wood arms, base and legs with the Old White Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I actually think the spray paint enhanced the design in the fabric.  I'm hooked on this paint and want to do more, but sadly don't have any other furniture that has fabric on it.

My next project is a biggie... I am going to re-paint a 7-piece bedroom suite with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  This project will take me a while since we are now in the Holiday season as well as end of year stuff for work.

Until next time!

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

I read many, many blogs to get ideas for various things as well as to learn about new techniques, etc.  Several bloggers have written about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) and how awesome it is when wanting to re-paint furniture.

We are getting ready to add on a room to the back of our house as well as put in hard wood floors throughout the first floor.  So in preparation for this new addition, I decided my dining room table and 2 chairs needed a face lift.  They are quite old, but in really good condition and I couldn't see getting rid of them when they are still useful.  So.... I decided to try out the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I purchased Old Violet (which is a blue/gray) and Old White.  I failed to get a picture of our table before I painted it, but I did get a picture of one of the chairs.

The table matched the chairs with a wood grain table top and Hunter Green painted base and legs.  With ASCP, you do not need to remove the stain and paint or sand the piece (unless it is in need of smoothing out).  I started on one of my chairs first, then moved on to the table.  I LOVE this paint!  It is so easy to use and it dries very fast (in about 25 minutes).  I painted the seat of the chair, then moved to paint the table top. I used 2 coats of the Old Violet on all 3 pieces and used 3 coats of the Old White.  The green kept peeking through the white, but 3 coats took care of it and I still have a lot of paint let for paint the legs of 4 other chairs that will be at this table (this will be a later post).

Finally after the paint dried, I used the clear Annie Sloan wax on all 3 pieces to help put a finish on them.  This was probably the easiest large project I have ever done and am planning on doing some more furniture with the ASCP.

Here is my finished table and chair.

I love how clean the chair looks

This room is kind of dark, so its hard to get a good picture.

Please excuse the piles of stuff behind the table.  Eventually this will all be organized into the new addition.  I have 4 more chairs that have upholstery on them and I am working on updating those chairs as well.  While the paint is a little pricey for a quart, a little goes a long way and I can probably do 2 (or more) projects with the paint I have left over.   Until next time!

P.S. I'm linking to Funky Junk Interiors Link Party

  

WOW, I can't believe how fast the days go by.  I have been crafting almost every night after work since I had my surgery.  So... are you ready for a super long post?  Here we go....

I am so blessed to get to go to a scrapbook retreat about every 4 months.  The group that I go with are some of the most amazing women I have met.  They are kind, generous and an absolute hoot to be around.  Each retreat has a theme and we make small gifts to give to each other.  Our last retreat was in July and our theme was "Christmas in July".  I wasn't able to get one of my items completed, so I finished them for the October retreat.  I made some Christmas coasters.  I apologize for the pictures, I finally had to settle on these pictures after taking picture after picture.

I found the idea on Pinterest and then accidentally deleted the pin.  I used 4" bathroom tiles that I got at Home Depot for 16 cents a tile.  Then I modge podged some Christmas Scrapbook paper on the tile.  Once everything was dry, I put some poly-urethane sealer on top and cut some felt for the bottom of the coaster.

So, again keeping up with my scrapbook retreats... we always do a Halloween retreat.  I have been busy getting things ready for this retreat.  I made some "Treat" bags to put all of my goodies in.

There are 10 of us who go on these retreats, so I made 5 different boots.  The boots and the sentiment are from Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge and the paper was a Halloween pad I found at Michaels for $2.  It has some awesome papers!  I am working on one more little project to put in the bag.

Finally (are you bored yet?) I have been decorating our office for Halloween.  I have found so many ideas on Pinterest and various blogs.  Halloween has never really excited me before, but after cruising around the internet and Pinterest, I actually found a ton of stuff that looked fun.  Now that I work for a really small office, I can decorate and give goodies to my co-workers and enjoy the holiday.

I have been having fun with all the little pumpkins that are out in the stores.  This year our pumpkin crop is amazing.  The past few years, the pumpkins have been a little scrawny, but this year it looks like the pumpkin patches were doused with Miracle Grow.  They are HUGE!!!  I am actually thinking about picking up a couple for carving, but want to wait until it gets a little closer to Halloween.  In the meantime, I've been satisfying my craving for pumpkins by decorating the little ones.

I used my Silhouette to cut out a rhinestone flourish stencil on some heavy cardstock, then took the stencil and drew the flourishes onto the pumpkins.  I took a Pearl Pen and Stickles and filled in where I drew.  The other pumpkins were covered in modge podge, then covered in Martha Stewart glitter.  MS glitter is some of the best glitter I have ever used.  It is so fine and has so much shimmer.  Once they were dry, I sprayed them with a polyurethane to keep the glitter from shedding.  The picture I found on Craftaholics Anonymous.  She provided a link to a free fall printable.  I just loved the colors and felt this would work for Halloween and fall.  So I am going to keep this up until we decorate the lobby for Christmas.

My last project is probably my favorite.  I got the idea from Jen who blogs at Craft O Maniac.  She is really talented and such a nice person.

I loved her idea so much that I had to re-create it.  I found my plate at the DollarTree.  I used the Home Decor Cartridge, Lyrical Letters cartridge and Sentimentals cartridge.  I played in CCR for sizing, then took some scrapbook paper that I use for test cuts and played with sizes.  Once I figured out the sizes the would work on my plate, I cut them all out in black and orange vinyl.  This plate is going to go to the office as well and I am going to group them with the 3 pumpkins in our lobby.

I am working on quite a few other projects and have several birthday cards I need to make for all of the October birthdays.  Thanks for staying with me and my extra long post.