Glitter and Glimmer

If you have known me for a long time, you know that I am not much of a glitter and glimmer gal.  I like earth tones and texture.  Well, I decided to get out of my comfort zone and use some of the many glittery and glimmery products that the Heh House carries.  Thus, the birth of my May Fast and Fun Technique class...Glitter and Glimmer!

For my first glitter and glimmer technique, I played with Perfect Pearls misters.  I learned in the online Tim Holtz class that these mists work best on dark paper.  I wanted to see how they worked on pattern paper.  I experimented with colors and application methods and found that making puddles on the craft mat gave me more control of the color.

Here is a close up of  the card I designed.  Notice that the three squares have the same patterned paper.  One is covered in a golden mist, one in a blue mist and one plain (no mist).  It's hard to tell from the photo but the misted ones have a nice shimmer to them. 

Sandy the Design Chick

My long-time friend and partner in crafting, Sandy, is going to be teaching classes at the Hen House!  We co-taught my Fast-n-Fun techniques class last month and she caught the bug.  Look at two of the cards from her first class! I am going to be the first person to sign up!

I just love her color combos and how she makes the Paper Smooches images come to life!

New stamping friends

One of the best things about teaching card classes is all the fun people that you meet.  Last week, I was invited to participate in a shoe box swap.  These wonderfuly talented ladies have been getting together every Wednesday for a long time.  I am so lucky that they included me.  Thanks to Heather, Debbie, Renee, Maria, Denita and Marti for sharing their talent and friendship with me.  Marti was our gracious host so I am featuring her fabulous card and envelope.  Check out Denita's blog to see all the other cards we made.

I can't wait to craft with these ladies again!

Hen House March SWAP club

We had another wonderful swap club in March.  I have been super busy so I will just post the photos and let them speak for themselves....

Cupcake Hero

I just love text in my images and Hero Arts makes a lot of images with text.  I played with Prismacolor and gamsol and made this card with one of their clear stamped images..

I pulled out some colored Crystal Lacquer to make the heart shine.  I think it turned out just yummy.

White stamped background

I have searched for a good white ink for a long time. If it has been on the market I have probably tried it.  Recently, I purchased the Hero Arts white ink.  My hopes were not high since I have been so disappointed with other white inks.  Much to my delight, this ink stamps beautifully on dark paper!  Very clean and crisp!  Yippee!

So, of course, I had to figure how to incorporate my new discovery into my April background class.  Easy!  Stamping a background on black using coordinating images from an Artistic Outpost stamp set.

Here's a close up of the background. I also used some inks and pencils to add color on the fish.  Which inks and pencils work best on dark paper?  Can you guess?

Here's a photo of the whole card.  I thought it would be a good father's day card or anniversary card for a great husband.

Fun with Scraps....

I have seen tons of cards on Pinterest that use scraps in clever ways.   Here are a few...

I was motivated to us some of my scraps too... Here is my scrap happy card...

  I think I went a little overboard on the free hand drawing around the scraps. What do you think?