Tag: Techniques

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My Acrylix Stamps: Just the Facts!

Since the June special allows you to buy two stamp sets and get one free, I thought this would be a great time for a refresher on some facts about Close To My Heart’s My Acrylix stamps. I believe they are “clearly” the best!

7 Facts that set My Acrylix Stamps apart:

  1. My Acrylix stamps are ready to use right out of the package—no cutting out, mounting, or applying stickers required. Just place the stamp on your block, apply ink, and you’re set!
  2. My Acrylix stamps are stored separately from the blocks making them very easy to transport.
  3. My Acrylix stamps and blocks are clear, making it easy to stamp in exactly the right spot.
  4. Multiple stamps can be places on the same block allowing you to stamp complete words or combinations of shapes in one stamping.
  5. My Acrylix stamps are flexible so you can make straight lines curvy or shift the shape of your stamps to make unique stamped images.
  6. My Acrylix stamps are super easy to maintain and will last for years!
  7. Many My Acrylix stamps coordinate with Cricut® Art Philosophy cartridge shapes, giving you lots of creative possibilities. Cut the shape on your Cricut® machine, stamp the image on the shape, and attach to your project! In the Idea Book, the images outlined in red coordinate with Cricut® shapes.
Both layers of flower were cut on the Cricut

before stamping with coordinating image

 My Acrylix stamps can be used to create a variety of popular looks, including:

  • base and shade stamping

Stamp image using a lighter color or second generation
Stamp outline in darker color or first generation
  • creating your own patterned paper

  • sponging on multiple inks for single-impression, multi-color images

Just a reminder, you can buy stamps from the current Idea Book (Spring/Summer 2012) and the one preceding (Fall/Winter 2011), giving you even more selection to choose from!

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Studio J Experience

I’m thrilled that Close To My Heart included 5 free Studio J layouts with my convention registration. I love this company! I also received instructions for five beautiful layouts teaching new techniques. I just finished my layouts this morning and can’t wait to show them to you.

Layout #1

Kit: Lucy; Pattern Stars Above

My favorite technique from this layout is cropping My Stickease borders to make ribbon streamers. The pink lace across the top and on the large photo on the left uses this technique. The short lace pieces hanging down from the buttons is also cropped pieces of border. Pretty nifty!

Layout #2

Kit: Michief; Pattern: Dynamic Duo

Yes, you read that right. The kit for this is Mischief. If you are familiar with that paper you will recall that the primary colors are black and orange with a Halloween theme. The great thing about Studio J is that if you like the patterns but need different colors you can easily change them. I updated the fancy B&T pattern to Lagoon and the grid B&T to Sunset to coordinate with the colors in the pictures.

Layout #3

Kit: Lucky, Pattern: Portrait Collection

For this layout, I changed a text box to a photo box on the left page. Then added a bamboo text box to create a wide border to unify the pictures.

Layout #4

Kit: Magic Moments; Pattern: Powerful Trio

This is another example of changing the colors on the B&T to create a color combo that works for the pictures. On the right page, I layered text boxes and stickease to create the labels for the pictures.

Layout #5

Kit: Crusin’; Pattern: Conclusion Combo

This final layout is of my own design. I have been anxious to use the Crusin paper to scrap my Father-in-laws 50’s theme birthday party. So, I created this fun layout instead of the one in the instructions. The layout in the instructions included a really cool technique to make pleated ribbon using ribbon tab that I’ll definitely be using on a future layout.

Are you ready to try Studio J? Follow this linkto set up your free account and start creating beautiful online layouts. Want to learn more? See my Online Scrapbooking page or email me to schedule a FREE Studio J workshop for yourself and up to 4 friends.

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Putting the Pieces Together

Creating dimensional artwork is a piece of cake

This article is from my June Close To My Heart newsletter. Please let me know if you would like to be added to my mailing list.

Add dimension and heighten the visual interest of your stamping through paper piecing. This technique lets you use a single stamp to create multi-color, multi-dimensional artwork that is sure to impress. Read on to discover how simple it is!

“Life Is Tweet” Card

You may have spotted this technique in the artwork for the June Stamp of the Month; paper piecing was used to create almost all of them! Let’s focus on the Life Is Tweet card to get an idea of how the technique comes together. In creating this card,

  1. first, the Life Is Tweet image was stamped in Cocoa ink directly on the corresponding flower shape, which you may have noticed was cut from kraft cardstock using the Cricut® Art philosophy cartridge;
  2. next, the same image was stamped in Tulip ink on a piece of Colonial White cardstock;
  3. after trimming out the circle center of the Tulip stamped image, it was attached to the Cocoa stamped image using 3-D foam tape; since both parts are from the same single stamp image, everything lines up perfectly!

“Fluttering By…” Card

The “fluttering by” card pictured above is another great example, right out of the Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book. For this card,

  1. the tree image from the My Acrylix® A Tree (A1124) set was stamped on Colonial White cardstock twice: once in Desert Sand ink and once in Sweet Leaf ink;
  2. the leafy tree-top was then trimmed out of the Sweet Leaf image and attached over the Desert Sand image using 3-D foam tape;
  3. the Desert Sand image below gives the leaves an automatic shadow, lending depth to the card and tying the layers together

This fun, eye-popping technique is sure to open up new doors for you in your crafting. Just grab some micro-tip scissors, a roll of foam tape, some favorite stamps, and give it a try!