WEBSITE MIGRATION

Once again I want to remind you that we will be migrating our website with our goal to have the new website go live the last week in September. We will be certain to do our best to keep you fully informed when that time comes! 

WISH LIST FEATURE

 We want to take this opportunity to once again request your assistance as we make this transition - migrating your current Wish Lists has proved to be a task we are not able to accomplish. If you have created a Wish List at our store we would like to ask that you make a copy of this wish list for your records. 

The easiest method of doing so is to sign in to your account. In the top right corner select "My Wish List." 

If your computer is connected to a printer type "Ctrl+P" and print the pages associated with your Wish List.

Each month the new category in our store is changed. Just prior to sending the newsletter we "analyze" what has been up in the "new section" from the last newsletter and remove items from this special category if they were there during the previous newsletter. Sometimes we miss a few items, but we really do try to keep this area fresh with items that have been received since the previous newsletter.

You will find exciting new products and collections in the **New** Category. You will find that we have quite a number of "Coming Soon!" items - these are new releases from Summer CHA that we are still waiting for and hope will arrive soon. Be certain to click on the "Tell me when it is back in stock" and add your email address if you would like to be notified when these items arrive. We will highlight a few of the items below that have arrived, but be certain to check out the entire new listing if you have the time. 

Taylored Expressions latest release had an entirely new mix of fun items - embossing folders, dies,stamps, paper packs, and coordinating sequins!

There have been so many fantastic releases! Avery Elle has released eight new ink pads, another paper pad along with coordinating stamps and dies.

Lawn Fawn has once again hit it out of the park with the cuteness factor on their latest release of stamps and dies. They also have fun little 4-Bar Notecards in a woodgrain pattern!

In our tools section you will find over a 100 new stencil/mask designs!

Be certain to check out the new stamps category - there are over 200 new designs to select from! Our new dies are closing in on 250 new designs from many of your favorite companies including Impression Obsession, Hero Arts, Penny Black, Mama Elephant, Paper Smooches, WPlus9, Clearly Besotted and more!

Smokey "Faux" Watercolored Backgrounds by Julie Ebersole

(click on the pics to enbiggan)

My comfort zone tends to be water-based mediums, but when I saw what Wendy Vecchi does with her Archival Inks (set 2 here) I was totally fascinated--the end result was a "smoky" watercolored effect that just looked so stunning, I had to try it myself! Even though I knew my fingers would get "inky"... *gasp*

Actually, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be as far as the finger-staining went. ;)

I started with 3 colors of Archival Reinkers that I knew would work well for creating some fairly neutral backdrops I could get a lot of mileage out of:

• Archival Saffron
• Archival Aquamarine
• Archival Olive

Other helpful tools & supplies I had handy:

• Rubbing Alcohol
• Ranger Stamping Specialty Paper (cut down)
• Studio Calico Droppers
• Embossing Gun/Heat Tool
• Non-Stick Craft Sheet
• Palette Knife (for mixing colors)

I also had a shoebox lid lined with aluminum foil (this was so I could heat my little pieces and tilt the paper without burning my fingers, and the foil would prevent ink from getting all over inside the shoebox, which I also frequently use for heat-embossing).

The process (I have a video of the process towards the bottom of this post):

1. Apply a drop or two of Archival reinker to the non-stick craft sheet
2. Add droplets of rubbing alcohol with the dropper tool
3. Swirl the color around just a little with a palette knife (do not over mix to avoid muddying)
4. Place or swipe the stamping specialy paper into the mixture and lift out
5. Tilt and heat with embossing gun to push/move and swirl color across the surface
6. Add more droplets of rubbing alcohol to the paper surface to reactivate the ink to create more interesting patterns; continue to tilt and heat as desired

I was extremely pleased with the end results, and wishing I had MORE colors of the Archival reinkers! Out of curiosity, I grabbed some Copic reinkers and played around with combining those to the Archival colors, to see what would happen... WOW! It worked!!! Here are the end results:

Top row: All Archival
Bottom row: Archival + Copic

Left: Copic + Archival, Right: Archival only

One thing I did note, which was difficult to capture on film, is that the Archival reinkers would smooth out, resulting in a completely smooth paper surface, whereas the Copic reinkers would pool and build up in some areas, resulting in a very shiny and raised/textural finish. The results with the Copics were also not quite as "smoky" looking.

Initially I didn't want to do anything with these beautiful pieces--in fact, now that I know what I'm doing and how easy it is, I'd like to do a whole series of these and just frame them for art on the wall!!!

But, I also thought they'd make stunning backgrounds for cards:

Simply cut apart... So hard to cover up any of that gorgeous-ness!

Stamped over the top with a gorgeous Hero Arts Painted Maple leaf using a Glue Pad and then applying Gilding Flakes--ULTRA-SOPHISTICATED EFFECT!!!

Hero Arts Holly Jolly; Gold Foil Paper; Hero Arts Gold Shimmer Spray

Stamped over top with Archival Black Ink.  

NOTE: The surface is actually slick when finished so the inked stamp can really slide around on you! Take care to stamp straight down, then lift the stamp straight up.

The process is every bit as easy as I described, but for those of you that appreciate a visual, I have done a video. Thanks for watching and please give it a thumbs up on YouTube! :)

YouTube Link: Smokey "Faux" Watercolored Backgrounds 

Stamps
Hero Arts Hello Sunshine Daisies	Hero Arts Painted Maple Leaf	Hero Arts  Holly Jolly
Dies
Savvy Garden Flower
Ink
Essential Glue Pad	Versamark	Hero Arts Spray, Gold Shimmer
Archival Ink Reinker, Saffron	Archival Ink Reinker, Aquamarine	Archival Ink Reinker, Olive
Paper
Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper	Bazzil Taffy, 25 pk	Bazzil Taffy, 10 pk	Pebbles Gold Foil
Bazzil Gold Coins, 10 pk	Woodgrain Embossed Card Stock
Accessories
Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Flakes, Summer Meadow	Studio Calico Mister Huey Droppers	Hero Arts Embossing Gun	Non-Stick Craft Sheet
Dina Wakely Media Palette Knife	Gold Embossing Powder	Sizzix Big Shot Machine