Technique Tuesday {04.26.11}

This week's Technique Tuesday features a super cool new product by Bazzill Basics called: Perfectly Pleated

These are adorable 12 inch strips that are pleated and stitched. The colors we offer in the store are: red, pink, brown, black, white & green. They come in packages of 4 for $4.50

These little strips can add so much fun to your pages, cards & projects!

In the page below, I simply adhered my Perfectly Pleated strip at an angle across my page. I choose to cover up the stitching with yellow ric-rac, but they look really nice with the stitching showing, as well.

The Perfectly Pleated strips can be inked, painted, misted or stamped! Can't find the exact color you need? Buy white and make them the color you need! The possibilities are endless!

Stop by the store this week and pick up a pack of PERFECTLY PLEATED for 20% off!

Technique Tuesday {04.19.11}

For today's TECHNIQUE TUESDAY, we are going to play with METAL! In the store, we carry TEN SECONDS STUDIO products. From metal sheets and tools to embossing molds of all sizes- we have everything you need to create amazing projects and pages with Metal!

There are soooo many cool things you can do with METAL to enhance your paper crafting projects. For a TON of tutorial videos, check out the video page on the TEN SECONDS site HERE
I wanted to share a really quick tutorial to give you an idea of how you can use metal on your pages or cards.

To create a pretty square that makes a fun embellishment, I took a square mold and a sheet of metal. Using a TSS paper stump, I simply embossed the pattern by hand.

Once my design was embossed, I used a TSS Burnishing Block to sand the metal so the design would come through.

This is what my square looks like once it's cut out and ready to be used:

On this page below, I used a border mold to create a strip to use down the side using the same techniques as above.

Here's a close up:
It's an easy and fun way to add a cool touch to your projects!

So stop by the store this week and take advantage of 45% off all Ten Seconds Studio products.

Technique Tuesday {04.12.11}

This week's "Technique Tuesday" spotlights one of the fun new collections from BoBunny:Don't let the "Double Dot" name fool you- there are so much more than DOTS to this collection!!

What I love so much about this line is the versatility! We offer 18 colors of each design in the store. Plenty of choices to match the colors you are using in your projects! The possibilities are endless with this collection!

The technique I want to show you this week using the Double Dot is:

Adding Texture To Your Backgrounds

You can see in this simple layout below, that there are circles "popping" off of my page! It's not "dramatic" texture, but adds a simple flair to the overall look of the page.

To create this look, I simply took 2 of the sheet I chose for my background and punched circles from one of them. I adhered the circles randomly on my page with foam squares so they would "pop", then built my page around them!

This is such an easy technique that is perfect with the Double Dot Designs collection. Why use a solid piece of cardstock for your background when you can amp up your pages with these cool designs! Stop by the store this week and take 25% off all 4 Designs of Double Dot for our Technique Tuesday Sale!! Over 50 colors & designs to choose from!!

Technique Tuesday {04.05.11}

For today's Technique Tuesday Tutorial, we're going to make flowers out of dryer sheets! Yep- you read that right-

Dryer Sheets!

These can be made from new or used sheets, so if you don't want to waste one- then grab it right out of your dryer and it'll work just fine!

I've been seeing lots of tutorials on making these and decided I wanted to try for myself with supplies we have right here in the store! They are so easy and turned out so pretty! And you can tint them whatever colors will work best for the papers you want to use! Here are the supplies you'll need:

- Dryer Sheets {new or used}

- Glimmer Mist OR Alcohol Ink

- Stickles OR Glimmer Glam

- Scissors

- Glue Dots OR Hot Glue

- Brads, Stones, Buttons, Etc {for your centers}

Let's get started!! - Layer your dryer sheets and cut out circles in varying sizes from large to small. I made 5 circles, each just a little smaller than the other. You don't have to be very exact with cutting your circles, just take a pair of scissors and cut. The circles do not have to be perfect, in fact I like them better with a "random" look!

Now for the fun part!! Spritz your circles with some Glimmer Mist- We sell Tattered Angels here in the store OR make your own using one of our many colors of Adirondack Alcohol Inks! Simply fill your Mini Mister with water, a few drops of alcohol ink and if you want some glitz- a pinch of Perfect Pearls (or mica powder). Allow them to dry.

Once the sheets have dried completely, it's time to add some glitz & glam! For the lighter circles, where I used the Alcohol Ink, I painted on Glimmer Glam "Tinsel Town" for a splash of bling! On the darker circles, where I used the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, I chose to give them some sparkle by adding Diamond Stickles around the edges.

Let your bling dry completely, and then you can build your flowers! Using Glue Dots or Hot Glue, stack the circles to make lollipop flowers. Add centers and there you have it! Dryer Sheet Flowers! Here's a close-up of my final result:

I placed my flowers on a page using the gorgeous "Spring Market" line by Webster's Pages that we have in the store!

So stop by the store this week and take advantage of our Technique Tuesday Sale! Receive 25 % off all Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Glimmer Glam, Adirondack Alcohol Ink & Stickles!