Welcome Guest Designer...Denise Hahn

We are very excited to welcome Denise Hahn of In My Blue Room as one of TWO guest designers for April 2012! Denise is an amazing jewelry and mixed media artist who is also a fabulous instructor. We're so excited to have her here to share some of her fun and inspiring techniques:

Hi everyone Denise Hahn here from In My Blue Room, I am so excited to be a guest Designer for Clearsnap for the month of April.

I am a crafter, designer and instructor. I am truly a Jill of all Trades, working in everything from paper crafting to mixed media to jewelry design. I love how all of these areas can compliment and enrich each other. One of the best things art has brought me though is an amazing circle of loving supportive and talented friends. So I hope to find a bunch of new talented friends here on the Clearsnap blog. I work a very stressful retail management job and keep busy with my dog and hubby when I am not creating. 

Today I am sharing a fun 5x5 Mixed Media Canvas using almost exclusively Clearsnap products!  Here is the Picture but I also made a little video slideshow of how I made it.

Supplies:

• Clearsnap Glitter
• Smooch Spritz in Splash
• Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink
• Clearsnap Design Adhesive
• Clearsnap Top Boss Embossing Powder 
• Smootch Glitz in Starlight
• 5x5 Canvas
• Decoupage Medium
• Pattern Tissue
• White Acrylic Paint
• Graphite Pencil
• Found Embellishments, 20 gauge wire, carpet tacks, ribbon
• Tacky Glue
• Optional: Beeswax
• tools: heat gun, scissors, cloth towel, hammer

If you are in the Los Angeles area I will be teaching a Jewelry Class at French General https://www.frenchgeneral.com/workshops/april2012.php. If you have not been to French General it is the boutique of the amazing artist Kaari Meng. It is filled with buttons, beads, vintage paper ephemera, vintage fabric and trims. It also has Kaari"s design line of fabrics, French General by Moda. So if you want to meet me and Kaari and learn some jewelry techniques and  last but not least...shop at French General sign up today. Class size is very small for one on one attention.

Posted by Denise Hahn, Guest Designer for April 2012

http://www.inmyblueroom.blogspot.com/

Spring Flower Placecard with Carla Schauer

We're so honored to have welcomed Carla Schauer to design with us this month. We hope you have enjoyed her projects! Here's one last super cute project she's sharing to get you ready for your upcoming Easter or spring party:

Spring Flower Placecard Designed by Carla Schauer

Whether a holiday dinner, a birthday party, or a spring get-together, these sweet flower placecards are a festive way to add some sparkle to the table. 

Clearsnap Products Used:

• Design Adhesives (Feels like Fall, Tag It, and Daisy Daze)
• Cat’s Eye Pigment Ink (Citrine and Orchid)
• Glitter (Sparkling Amethyst and Peridot)

Other products:

• Lollipop stick
• cardstock (white, yellow, pink)
• small white metal bucket
• ribbon
• jump ring
• 2” scalloped circle punch
• wood grain and letter stamps
• liquid glue

I applied the flower design adhesive to the yellow cardstock, covered it with Sparkling Amethyst glitter, and cut around the design.  After directly inking the lollipop stick using the Citrine inkpad, I glued the stick to the back of the cut out flower.  To create the back circle, I punched a 2” scalloped circle from pink cardstock and directly inked the edges using the Orchid inkpad, then glued it to the back of the stick. 

Since the Leaf Design Adhesive shape is open in the middle, I wanted more pattern in the center rather than solid cardstock.   I used a wood grain stamp and Citrine ink on white cardstock, then added the leaf Design Adhesive and Peridot glitter.  After cutting around the shape, I wrapped and glued the leaf stem around the lollipop stick to finish the flower stem.

For the bucket and monogram tag, I tied the ribbon around the top of the bucket, holding it in place with glue.  I used the round tag shape from the “Tag It” Design Adhesives on pink cardstock with Sparkling Amethyst glitter, cutting around the shape and making a small hole in the hanging space. The monogram was stamped in Orchid ink, and the tag hung on the ribbon using the jump ring.  I held the flower stem in place using candy-coated chocolates in spring colors.

Colors of a Spring Bouquet

Hi! Tami here today with a vintage-look card inspired by a spring bouquet of yellow and red parrot tulips, mauve roses and purple irises all arranged in a black vase with brown accents. I thought the mix of colors of the flowers against the dark black and brown vase was very striking, so I pulled all those colors together to create this card...

The background for the card is a diecut from Sizzix which has been stamped with a flourish design from Hampton Art using Chocolate Ink from the Stephanie Barnard ColorBox Premium Dye Ink line. The dotted border around the diecut was done with a fine black pen...

The pretty lady is also from Hampton Art; she was stamped in Licorice Dye Ink and "watercolored" using Strawberry, Bubblegum, Banana, Blueberry and Sky Dye Inks. A bit of feather and a vintage pearl button embellish her hat...

 

The paper roses started out white, but were also given a color wash using Banana Ink with touches of Strawberry at the tips of the petals. Pieces of trim and some twine finish off the card...

 

SUPPLIES:

Clearsnap Products:

• Stephanie Barnard: ColorBox Premium Dye Inks: Banana, Strawberry, Sky, Bubblegum, Blueberry, Licorice and Chocolate

Other Products:

• Sizzix: Frame Back Ornate #3
• Hampton Art: Communique, Flourish Background and Happy Birthday
  
• The Twinery: Lemon Drop Baker's Twine
• Bazzill Basics: Tan and Red Cardstocks
• Memory Box: Pearl and Rhinestone Trim
• Beacon Adhesives: Zip Dry
• Hydrangea Hippo: Black Lace Trim, Pink Elastic Trim and Paper Roses
• Fine Tipped Black Pen

Tools:

• Trimmer, Scissors and Beauty Swabs

Thanks for stopping by! Please come back and visit us tomorrow and see what's NEW!

www.tamisanders.com

CPS Sponsorship 2

Good morning Steph here with a card based on a past Card Positioning Systems Sketch:

Clearsnap Supplies:

• Ink: Stephanie Barnard Tangerine Ink
• Rollagraph: Butterfly Garden
• Embossing Powder: Clear Embossing Powder

Other Supplies:

• Cardstock: Papertemptress
• Twine: The Twinery

Directions:

1. Using the Butterfly Garden Rollograph and Stephanie Barnard's Tangerine Ink, I inked across a sheet of Kraft cardstock.
2. I then embossed the image with Clear Embossing Powder.
3. Next, I cut apart the images and matted each piece I wanted on cardstock.
4. Assembling my card, I added a strip of brown cardstock to the card and tied some Twine across it.

Enjoy!

Steph Ackerman
www.stephaniescraps.blogspot.com

"Painting" with Glitter

Hello - Jean Okimoto here, with another birthday card idea.  I couldn't stay away from my favorite purples and greens for too long - so let's get started!  Stamps, cardstock and dies from Memory Box team up with the great inks and glitters from Clearsnap here.

Stamp Vintage Dreams and Distressed Garden Record on Lavender Cardstock with  Olive Pastel.  Trim it and ink the edges using the Stylus, Tip and Olive Pastel.

Reverse dies like Wild Blooms from Memory Box are perfect for this quick, easy glitter technique.  Just back the diecut design with a piece of laminate - and use a soft paintbrush to brush Grape Fizz and Peridot Glitter onto the adhesive appearing through the cutout.  Tap off the excess glitter - and your flowers are in bloom!

Stamp Something Special Combo (it's not used here, but there's a teeny cupcake attached to the side of the stamp) on Key Lime Cardstock with Grape Slushy.  Trim it and edge it with Olive Pastel

Mat it with Wisteria Cardstock and attach a tiny bow of 1/4" olive satin ribbon.  Attach three 1/8" foam dots and press Grape Fizz Glitter onto the adhesive.  Attach everything to a Violet Notecard, using foam dots for the greeting.

Clearsnap Products Featured (View the 2012 Catalog* here)
Olive Pastel ColorBox Chalk Inkpad  (*Page 7)
Grape Slushy ColorBox Archival Dye Inkpad (*Page 31)
Grape Fizz and Peridot Glitter (*Page 55)
ColorBox Stylus and White Blending Tip (*Page 81)

Hope you like it...I'll do a summer version of it in a few months.  Thanks for stopping by!

http://davebrethauer.typepad.com/inkollage/

Altered Birdhouse

Hi ya, hostess Tami here today with a project guaranteed 

to get your fingers inky! 

I bLiNgeD-uP a plain wood birdhouse using  

Mix'd Media Inx, Smooch Spritz and Fairy Dust Glitter...

Mix'd Media Inx and Smooch Spritz are perfect for your wood and other multi-media projects; both cover well and are easy to apply.

Here is a short video that walks you through the steps needed
to create this project...

Once everything was in place and dry, I gave the project a final light coat of 

Decoupage Gloss Sealer to protect it. 

Beacon's Decoupage Gloss Sealer 

dries quickly and crystal clear with no stickiness.

SUPPLIES:

Clearsnap Products:

• Mix'd Media Inx: Truffle, Peaches, Chiffon, Wisteria, Schoolhouse, Mossy and Vintage
• Smooch Spritz: Spun Sugar, Log Cabin and Sea Kiss
• Fairy Dust Glitter: Sugar Shimmer 
• ColorBox Stylus & Tips
• Color Catcher

Other Products:

• My Sentiments Exactly: Multi Collage Aphas
  
• Beacon Adhesives: 3-in-1 Glue and Decoupage Gloss Sealer
• Wood Bird House
• White and Faded Denim Fabric
• Vintage White Seam Binding
• Hydrangea Hippo: White Trim
• Cardstock Scrap
• Tiny Nails

Tools:

•  Scissors, Paper Towels, Masking Tape, Beauty Swabs and Hammer

Hints: 

• Use masking tape to mask off areas that you don't want spritzed or inked with the color you are working with.
• When applying the ink with the Stylus & Tip, be sure to work with the grain and don't pull to hard or you will damage the tip. Also make sure you have enough ink on the applicator to glide across the wood. 
• Mix'd Media Inx have a long dry time so they are very workable. You will be able to work in other colors of ink to add depth to the project as well as to distress it.
• If you apply too much ink, use a clean Tip or paper towel to blend it in.
• I pressed slowly on the spray top of the Log Cabin Smooch Spritz in order to get it to spit out small droplets to help create a weathered look.
• the Oval Stylus & Tips do a great job of running along the edges of the pieces of the birdhouse and the Leaf Shapes get into most of the corners. If you have tiny spaces you can't reach use beauty swabs.
• Use 3-in-1 glue to secure flowers and to adhere them to the birdhouse; it is a quick tack glue that grabs and holds while it dries.
• Line your Color Catcher with paper towels and place your birdhouse in it when spraying with Decoupage Gloss Sealer.

I hope this project will inspire you to get inky!

Bright Birthday Wishes

Hi - Jean Okimoto here - and it's time to chase the winter grays away with a bright birthday card.  Here's a quick and easy one for you!

Use a soft rubber brayer to ink a rectangle of watercolor paper with the Tropical Multi-Colored ColorBox Pigment Inkpad.  Spritz it with a fine mist of water and allow the inks to blend a bit.  Dry the inks, then stamp Hampton Art's Double Vision with Violet and emboss it with detail clear powder.

Smooch shimmery highlights onto the petals with several applications of Pink Fizz Smooch Glitz.  Trim the cardstock and ink the edges using a Stylus, Tip and Boysenberry.  Dip the edges into a shallow container of detail clear powder and emboss it.  Stamp the greeting, from Hampton's Cling Happy Birthday {to you} set, on Bazzill Basics Desert Sun Cardstock with Boysenberry and emboss it with detail clear powder too.  Edge it with Boysenberry.

Mat the left and top edges of the watercolor paper with Desert Sun.  Attach the pieces to a 4.25x5.5" Bazzill Basics Apricot card, using foam dots for the greeting.  Attach two foam dots and press Plum Crazy Designer Foils (purple-side-up!) onto the adhesive.

Clearsnap Products Featured  (*View the 2012 catalog here)
ColorBox Tropical Pigment Inkpad  (*Page 16)
ColorBox Violet Pigment Inkpad (*Page 14)
ColorBox Boysenberry Limited Edition Pigment Inkpad (*Page14)
Plum Crazy Designer Foils (*Page 65)
Pink Fizz Smooch Glitz (*Page 45)
ColorBox Stylus and White Blending Tip (*Page 81)

Thanks for stopping by - join us again tomorrow for another project!

http://davebrethauer.typepad.com/inkollage/

Make Your Own Washi Tape

Hello, hostess Tami here today!

Have you heard of Washi Tape? It's the "newest" craze and it can add a lot of style to your altered projects, cards or scrapbook pages. Washi Tape is pretty much just embellished masking tape; you can find it in dozens of colors and thousands of designs.

It can be a little pricey though, especially if you want to use multiple designs or colors for a project. So I'm going to show you how you can make your own Washi Tape.

All you need is a few basic supplies that you probably already have on hand: masking tape, waxed or parchment paper, stamps and ColorBox Archival Dye Inks.

I used the tapes I made to jazz up a plain spiral journal...

You might want to decide on a theme - either color-wise and or design-wise for your project. But one of the things I like most about Washi Tape is the HUGE assortment of colors and designs they come in and I wanted my finished project to reflect that. So I just pulled random stamps and used whatever colors I wanted to, in order to give my project an eclectic look.

Here's a step by step tutorial that will have you whipping up your own tapes in just minutes!

And here are a few hints to help make designing and creating your own tapes easier:

• Masking tapes vary, so be sure to test before you start. The tape I used came from the dollar store.
• Use clean, white paper to "mask" off the tapes you want to work on. This will keep the other tapes covered so you don't accidentally stamp on them. 
• Use more clean, white paper to gently dab off excess ink from tapes as well as ink that will pool on waxed or parchment paper. To do so, just lay sheet over stamped design and gently press; being careful not to move paper. Do this between each set of tapes you stamp to avoid getting ink where you don't want it.
• Let tapes sit about 10-15 minutes to dry completely before handling to avoid smudging and smearing.
• Tapes can be as fancy or as plain as you like. Try stamping different designs on plain masking tape using Wicked Black Dye Ink for a graphic look.
• For a vintage-inspired design, try using combinations of brown and black inks for background colors and stamped images.
• Use the Stylus & Tips when you want to create multi-color bacgrounds or stamped images. When using two or more colors to ink the background, use a different tip for each color and apply one color at a time along the tape, then use the lightest color tip to blend edges together. For stamped images in one or more color, use Stylus & Tips to apply one color to stamp in different areas, then use a new tip to apply each additional color, then again use lightest color tip to blend. Remember that you'll have to clean stamp between images to avoid contaminating your colors.
• Store your creations flat in a plastic scrapbook envelope or box. Or trim to fit and slide into page protectors.
• Have fun and experiment!

SUPPLIES:

Clearsnap Products:

• ColorBox Archival Dye Ink
• ColorBox Stylus & Tips

Other Products:

Stamps by: Memory Box, Hampton Art, Hero Arts, The {Stamps} of Life and My Sentiments Exactly

Tools:

• Masking Tape, Waxed or Parchment Paper, Scissors and White Copy Paper

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! We have NEW! projects for you EVERY day, so please come back and visit tomorrow.

Spring Garden Mini Album

Hi, Daniela Dobson here with a video on how I created this mini album using Clearsnap ink and Sizzix dies. I love creating mini albums, especially if I want to record a special occasion that has several photos. This mini is a record of my son planting our Spring garden.

This video tutorial walks you through all the steps to create the mini album.

Here is a closer look.

Here are all the pages with journaling added. 

Thank you for stopping by today.

Daniela Dobson

http://danieladobson.blogspot.com/

Supplies:

Clearsnap ColorBox Limited Edition Fluid Chalk Ink: Sea Crystal	Clearsnap ColorBox Archival Dye Ink: Grasshopper	Clearsnap ColorBox Premium Dye Ink: Banana	Clearsnap ColorBox Archival Dye Ink: Mermaid	Clearsnap ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink: Toffee
Stylus Handles 3-Pack	Stylus Tips 3-Pack Oval	Clearsnap Jumbo Rollagraph Self-Inking Handle	Clearsnap Rollagraph Stamp Wheel: Paint Splatter 2	Sizzix Framelits Die Set 5-piece - Fancy Label
Sizzix Framelits Die Set 5-piece - Banners/Pennant Plain	Banners4All The Stamps of Life	funky4BigABC The Stamps of Life	Sticky Strip Runner by Therm O Web	Zots Adhesive Dots by Therm O Web
Zots Adhesive Dots by Therm O Web	Sticky Dot Runner by Therm O Web

InLinkz.com

Other supplies:
Hampton Art alphabet stamps
Hero Arts stamps
Cardstock
Echo Park patterned paper
The Twinery twine
Ribbon
Flower
Buttons
Jewels

Spring Friend's Card

Hello, hostess Tami here with spring-y card to to share;  one you can send to a friend to say hello and let them know you are thinking of them...

The designs were stamped using Mix'd Media Inx and Embossing Powder in Black and Sizzix/Hero Arts Stamp & Die Cut sets. After the designs were stamped, embossed and diecut, they were spritzed using Spun Sugar Smooch Spritz to add a touch of "vintage"...

 
After that, the flowers, butterfly and sentiment were tinted using Smooch Accent Inks...

 Even the twine bow got a slight spritz to "get the white out"...

SUPPLIES:

Clearsnap Products:

• Mix'd Media Inx: Black
• Mix'd Media Inx Embossing Powder: Black
• Smooch Spritz: Spun Sugar
• Smooch Accent Ink: Frosted Aqua, Kiwi, Sundance, Luscious Lime, Pumpkin and Pool
• Color Catcher

Other Products:

• Sizzix/Hero Arts: Stamp & Diecut Set: Message Frames and Butterflies
• Hero Arts: Stripe Background
  
• The Twinery: Caribbean Baker's Twine
• Bazzill Basics: White and Yellow Cardstocks
• Beacon Adhesives: Zip Dry
• 3L: Scrapbook Adhesives: 3D Foam Squares
• Fine Tipped Black Pen
• Tiny Safety Pin

Tools:

• Trimmer, Scissors, Paper Towels, Beauty Swabs and Heat Gun

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut a 8 X 6 piece of yellow cardstock and fold in half to make card.
2. Cut a 4 X 6 piece of white cardstock and stamp and emboss striped background using Mix'd Media Inx Black Ink and Embossing Powder.
3. Stamp and emboss flowers, small butterfly and sentiment on white cardstock; then diecut pieces using matching dies.
4. Tie a small bow on safety pin using twine.
5. Place all stamped pieces and bow in Color Catcher and spritz using Spun Sugar. Dab off excess spritz from embossed areas using clean paper towel, the let pieces dry.
6. Use Smooch Accent Inks to fill in designs on flowers {Pool, Frosted Aqua and Sundance for flowers and Luscious Lime for leaves} and butterfly {Sundance, Pumpkin and Kiwi}, using beauty swabs to blend colors where they meet.
7. Draw a narrow border using Kiwi around inside edge of sentiment, then add a row of dots using black pen.
8. To assemble, cut a 3/4 X 4 piece and a 2 3/4 X 4 piece of striped background. adhere 3/4 strip about 1/2 from bottom of card and 2 3/4 piece about 1/8 above the first strip.
9. Adhere safety pin through left side of sentiment and use 3D foam squares to adhere at upper right of card front.
10. Adhere flowers towards left center of card, and after bending up wings, adhere butterfly at upper right of flowers.

Design Team Member Daniela Dobson will be here tomorrow, so please stop by to see what terrific project she has to show you!

A Shiny Happy Birthday!

Good morning, Steph here with a fun birthday card using an assortment of Clearsnap products. This is a fun way to use Design Adhesives with Designer Foils and Embossing Powders in a not so traditional way.


Clearsnap Supplies:

• Design Adhesives - Let's Party
• Designer Foils - Cherry Pie, Irish Eyes, Lime, Lucky Penny, Plum Crazy
• Top Boss Clear Embossing Powder
• Colorbox Donna Salazar Honey and Leather Inx
• Colorbox Donna Salazar Honey and Leather Embossing Powder
• Colorbox Donna Salazar Jasmine Inx

Other Supplies:

• Stamps: MySentiments Exactly

1. I chose to work with a Kraft card base for a change.
2. Using the larger Design Adhesives from the "Let's Party" set, I cut out the center of each and placed them in no particular order on the card. I then rubbed Lucky Penny Designer Foils on each.



3. Next, I used the centers of those pieces and placed them in no particular order on the card. I then rubbed assorted colors of Designer Foils on each.
4. Using Honey Inx, I stamped a curved sentiment around the larger foiled pieces, then embossed with Honey Embossing Powder.
5. Using Leather Inx, I stamped a small sentiment in the centers of the larger foiled pieces, then embossed with Leather Embossing Powder.

6. I then poured clear embossing powder over the entire card. I wanted to be certain that those foiled spots I may have missed were now embossed before moving to the next step.
7. Using Jasmine Inx and a styllus, I lightly inked the entire card, then wiped off the Inx from the foiled and embossed portions leaving a shadowy image of white behind. Then I spritzed with Vanilla Shimmer.


8. I stamped my larger sentiment on white cardstock with Leather Inx and then embossed with Leather Embossing Powder.
9. I matted it with red and placed it across the center of the card.
10. I used a large party hat with Lucky Penny and Cherry Pie Foils, then die cut and used this the focal image.

Thanks for stopping by!

Steph
www.stephaniescraps.blogspot.com