Perfect Pearls

Ok, so now I have another new addiction - Perfect Pearls... as well as distress ink, but I didn't use that this time. So what are Perfect Pearls? They are a pigment powder that is made up of mica - you know, the stuff that is in the metallic paints on cars that they charge you extra to have. It also has a resin in it, so when it is wet it becomes set or fixed. They remind me of little pots of eyeshadows and they are so shimmery it's just gorgeous! They can be used wet or dry with a whole heap of mediums.

For more info about Perfect Pearls and how you can use them see my website Product Showcase or just YouTube 'Perfect Pearls' to see videos of Tim Holtz and the Ranger crew using these.

The card I made used a total of 7 materials/tools. Rubber stamps (sentiment and Cherry Blossom), Perfect Medium, pearl embossing powder, heat gun, Perfect Pearls, water and a paint brush.

First I loaded the flower stamp with Perfect Medium and stamped the 2 images - one to the right and one to the left. I coated it generously in pearl embossing powder and heat set it. I then mixed up 3 spritzes of water from a MiniMister (but you could just use a teaspoon) with a 'scoop' of Perfect Pearls - red. By 'scoop' I mean the amount that will fit on the wrong end of the paint brush (that comes with the 4 pack of Perfect Pearls). I then used this to paint in my flowers. I repeated this with the green Perfect Pearls except I used a bit less water and less of the powder. Once it was painted I dried it off with the heat tool (only cos I'm impatient), stamped the sentiment with Perfect Medium and dusted over dry green Perfect Pearls which stuck to the Perfect Medium.

I did use my iron with a piece of copy paper over the card to try and iron out the curl that happens when you wet card, but because of the embossing powder, it stuck to the copy paper a bit and pulled off some of the embossing. I'll know not to do this again next time!

Lots to share

With some of the offcuts from putting my workshop displays together I came up with a Wedding Card using the Ebony and Ivory papers and stamp set with the Fancy Flourish. It was quite simple to make and I think it's quite effective.

I also tried some black embossing for the next wedding card, but I'm not sure that I like it. It uses the Fancy Flourish (in the new release catalogue) and the heart is from the Stampin' Up.

Then, I spent today in the most awesome craft room (so jealous) creating a demo page using my newest favourite product - distress inks. I guess I can thank Kym for me now purchasing 5 more distress inks, and Perfect Pearls, and MiniMisters, and the ink blending tool... but they are sooo cool!

Check out the effect page Kym came up with and kindly shared with us. My page isn't yet finished but these effects are too amazing not to share now.

I can't wait for my order to arrive so I can play around with these colours again!

We have lift-off!

Saturday was my launch for Kaszazz. I was quite nervous, but come 2pm I was more excited than nervous. I was so happy to show everyone the awesome stuff!
I ended up with 8 people that attended, so a nice number really. I think the hardest part will be getting out into the community because quite a few of my friends and I have friends in common too - so I need to broaden out.
I will hopefully be attending a Fundraiser in Werribee where I will have a stall so I'm hoping that will help with more contacts, and I'm going to look at getting a stall at the local market.
I hope everyone had a great day - I certainly did!
Now I'm off to put in my order and buy some more yummy stuff!

Distressed to Impress!

Ok, I'm so loving this card I whipped up yesterday afternoon (while I should have been preparing dinner - lol). I was inspired by the Cherry Blossom distress card on page 99 of the Kaszazz catalogue, and I was dying to try out the Cherry Blossom stamps and Tim Holtz distress ink.

For more info about Tim Holtz distress ink, see the Product Showcase on my website (click here).

This card was so easy to make - a little time consuming, but very easy. I used the distress ink to stamp the images of the cherry blossoms onto the card, then used the ink with a stylus and foam oval tip to distress the edges. I used the chalk set to colour the centre of the flowers with pink, and the stems in green and brown. I added some Ice Stickles to the middles for the anther of the flowers, and stamped a sentiment - and tada!

This card is headed for a couple who are going oversees for a while (to Japan - hence the cherry blossom), to wish them safe and happy travels.

Now I know why!

RUBBER STAMP WARNING!!!

A recent study indicated that rubber stamps and embossing powders give off certain pheromones that actually hypnotize women and cause them to purchase unreasonable amounts.
When stored in large quantities in enclosed spaces, the pheromones (from rubber) cause memory loss and induce the nesting syndrome (similar to the one squirrels have before the onset of winter i.e. storing food), therefore perpetuating their species.
Sound tests have also revealed that the rubber emits a very high pitched sound, heard only by a select few. A breed of women known as "Rubber Stampers". When played backwards on an LP, the sounds are heard as chants,"buy me, stamp me, emboss me."
Studies have also indicated that aliens have inhabited the earth, helping to spread the effects that these stamps have on the human population. It's also been experienced that these same pheromones cause a pathological need to hide these stamp purchases when taken home (or at least blend them into the existing stash), and when asked by a significant other if the stamp is new, the reply is: "I've had it for a while."

Many thanks to Catherine of www.cathcreates.com.au for a laugh.

2009 Workshop/Crop Schedule

As you can see I have the dates (with one to be confirmed) for the Workshops or Open Craft Crops that will be held at my house.

So, what are they?

The first will be the Recipe Box Gift Set on 12th September.

This Workshop will produce a papercraft recipe box with recipe cards and jar labels. Suitable for beginners.

The Workshop to be held on the 24th September is a Rollagraph note set cards.

This Workshop will produce a set of 5 cards with matching envelopes in a box. This workshop uses heat embossing techniques. Suitable for beginners.

The Workshop on 2nd October is for an Ebony and Ivory Adore Frame.

This Workshop produces a frame suitable for a special occasion photo such as a wedding, family portrait, etc. Suitable for beginners.

The Workshop to be held on 17th October is for a Bella Pocketbook and Cards.

This Workshop teaches 3 cards with matching envelopes, with a pocket holder for the cards and envelopes. Suitable for beginners.

The Workshop on 7th November is for an Ooh La La Daisy Journal.

This Workshop produces a hard cover journal/autograph book. Suitable for beginners/beyond beginners.

Open Craft Crops will involve bringing along your papercraft projects and using my tools. I will not supply materials, but I may have some available to purchase on the day, or you can let me know when you book so I can order them in time for you.

See the Schedule for times and prices.

Book in now to avoid disappointment!

Mojo Monday 98 Sketch

What better way to try out my new stuff than to do a sketch?

I started with a white card, which I chalked with both brown tones - lightest first then darker around the edges. I then stamped 2 outlines from the 2 step butterflies in the lightest blue fluid chalk ink. I stuck on a Bella jounalling block, topped with the cutout of the 2 step butterfly done with the 2 darker shades of fluid chalk ink, and a scallop circle which I chalked the edges with brown and tried to chalk the sentiment with perfect medium (same as versamark). It wasn't dark enough for my liking so I stamped over it in the darkest pink fluid chalk ink (now it looks like a shadow). The scallop circle and the butterfly are raised with foam. Lastly, a strip of velvet ribbon running down the side to finish it.

My package arrived!

How good is it when you get mail... or better - a package. Not the bills, or the junk mail but stuff that actually has handwriting on it. So you can imagine my disappointment when I got home Friday and saw that someone had tried to deliver a package. Time - 5pm. Post office closes - 5pm. No! I had to wait all weekend because the office they took the package to doesn't open weekends, so I had to get there at 9am this morning to get my parcel. And then what else can you do but open it up straight away and check out the contents :)






So, here's the contents.






Lots of nice stuff to start playing with, although my personal wishlist of products is growing by the day... I wonder if you can just buy the whole catalogue? No, not the catalogue - the whole contents of the catalogue.


Anyway, when I got a few moments this afternoon I opened some of the packaging and started using some stuff. I kid you not, I was like a child in a lolly shop. So, here are my first creations:











The first was using the Jumbo Rollagraph. The wheel is called 'four flowers' and the Ancient Page ink 'coal black'. I rolled it over the tag, then using my chalks, I coloured the image. It was quite strange really because the chalks look so much like eyeshadows, but they go on the page so nicely. The pom poms are just too cute and surprisingly easy to use.

The second was using the 2 step stamp of the butterfly, the mini messages stamps and the liquid chalks. These liquid chalks are SO good!! They are the consisency of pigment inks, but they dry quite quickly to the matt finish of chalks. This also means that they don't appear to bleed much - which can be a problem for some inks and papers, so the images stay crisp. Each of the colours unclips and you can use it like a mini stamp pad, or you can leave them in the case... you can even swap around the colours to get a rainbow effect on your stamps. Anyway, enough of my rambling. I'm going to play around with these in the next few days and see what interesting designs I can come up with.