Monthly Archives: April 2012

Playing with chalk

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I’ve seen “chalk” inks in stores before, but passed them up because I thought they would be messy. I thought they would smear, like real chalk does. When I saw Color Box’s Cat’s Eye Queue fluid chalk inks on sale at Meijer, I decided to try them out. I already own a set of Cat’s Eye classic pigment inks, and I love the quality. They’re also compact, which is great because I don’t have a lot of storage space.

On paper, the Color Box chalk inks have a soft appearance and dry quickly. For the card below, I used three from the Rose Petals collection (seen above at left): rose coral, rouge and maroon. (The set on the right is called Sand Dunes.) I’m getting a head start on Mother’s Day this year, and I wanted to make a simple card with a few layers.

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Springtime in Paris

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Ah, the allure of Paris. The crafting world has a French vibe now, seen in stamp sets, embellishments and more.

I have an Eiffel Tower shape on my Slice “Je t’Adore” design card, and I thought of springtime in Paris. I’ve never been, but I’ve heard that it’s nice!

This card is quick, simple and features Flower Soft, a fun product that adds dimension.

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Color of the year?

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I love teal. If you glance at my previous posts, you’ll see that I’ve been using a lot of the color. This card is no exception.

For this card, I used different shades of teal, from light to dark. I could have done this with just about any color because I have a lot of cardstock!

I used my trusty Slice Elite to cut out the same shape multiple times, smaller and smaller. Then, I stacked the negatives of the cutouts, which means I didn’t use the shapes but used what was left behind. Well, just look at the photo below to see what I mean. The tutorial tells you how to do this, step by step.

I love the look, and now that I’ve figured out the process, I’m sure I’ll turn to it again.

Tie a ribbon around my umbrella

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April showers bring pretty cards … at least that’s how the phrase goes to me.

A rainy day inspired me to make this card and to show how to stamp on a transparency. As I mentioned last week, the key ingredient is StazOn ink. This ink is permanent and usable on many surfaces, such as metal and glass. It can be found in most craft stores. If you use StazOn, purchase the StazOn stamp-cleaning fluid. Otherwise, the ink will not come off your stamps.

To stamp on a transparency, ink your stamp with StazOn. If the transparency is for ink-jet printing, the transparency will have a gritty coating on one side. Stamp your image on that side. After stamping, let it dry.

To attach the transparency to cardstock, I recommend using a glue that dries clear, such as Aleene’s Jewel-It. Apply small dots of glue to the transparency’s corners.

I also used a ribbon punch on this card, which is a must for any paper crafter. It has its limitations in terms of how far it can reach, but it makes threading ribbons a piece of cake (mmmm … cake).