The Art of Scrapbooking™ by Melissa Samuels

Tutorial Thursday: Creating Burnt Canvas Edges using Stains, Inks, and Mists

Hey Guys!  I'm so excited that it's almost October, which means Halloween is just around the corner!  For those of you who have been following the blog for a long time know that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  I just love all the spookiness that is Halloween.  The ghosts and goblins, and colors that represent the holiday.  It's creepily fun!

Today, I'm going to show you how to get that wonderful burnt look on the edge of canvas (without having to set it afire!) that's perfect for Halloween projects. 

It's 3 easy steps:

Step #1:  Start with a Maya Road Canvas ATC Coaster Album set.  Use Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Stain to completely cover the ATC.  Apply 2 coats, and dry.

Step #2:  Rub Black Soot Distress Ink around the edges of the tag just like you would around paper.  Be generous in applying.

Step #3:  Spray the edges of the tag where the distress ink is with Perfect Pearls Mists (my new favorite thing!!).  The water in the mist kind of "activates" the ink so it appears darker and smudged, which gives a very nice effect.  FYI,  Perfect Pearls Mists don't add color only glimmer.

Here I used (from left to right) Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord, and Shabby Shutters Distress Stains.

Decorating them is like eating candy.  You just want one right after another.  They're so easy, and fun.  I hope you enjoy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have some store news for those of you interested.  The Ranger Tim Holtz Seasonal Distress Ink Set FALL 2011 is sold out.  Thank you all so much for the unbelievable response! 

Here's the great news, we are now taking pre-orders for the WINTER 2011 Distress Ink Set.  That's right!  We snagged the Winter Sets!!  They are expected to ship sometime in the beginning of November.  You can PRE-ORDER yours now by clicking here.  It's the same deal as the Fall set, very limited quanities and first come, first serve.

 

Also, we are having a SALE on KaiserCraft, including the new Bonjour collection (now shipping!!).  Everything KaiserCraft is 10% off!!  Sale price reflected at checkout (no coupon required).

Thank you so much to everyone who supports our small business.  Our continued success is all thanks to YOU.  We appreciate your business!

Tutorial Thursday: Distress Ink Tag

Hey guys! You've probably heard about the mass hysteria surrounding the new Ranger Tim Holtz Seasonal Series Fall 2011 Distress Ink Set.  If you haven't Tim Holtz announced last week that he had come up with a new limited edition seasonal set of 3 distress inks.  Not expecting the overwhelming demand, Ranger was sold out of ink sets in only 6 hours!!  Retailers were extremely limited to how many they could purchase.  My store sold all of ours on pre-order in 1 day.  Ranger, being such an awesome company, announced this week that they would be producing another limited batch in an effort to help meet demand.  I immediately placed another order for my store.  The second set of ink sets are in production, so there isn't an exact ship date yet, however we are expecting them around the beginning to mid October.  We are, again, taking pre-orders for anyone interested in purchasing a set from the second batch (CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER).

I didn't snag a set of inks for myself from the first batch (that shipped on Tuesday from my store, btw), but I had a very good friend order a set and let me play around with it.  Now, that's a good friend!!   The colors are so rich and vibrant...yummy!!  The three new limited edition colors are:  Seedless Preserves, Gathered Twigs, and Ripe Persimmon.

To create my tag I pressed each distress ink pad directly onto my non-stick mat.  I spritzed it was a little water, and placed my tag face-side down into the inks.  I dried the tag with my Heat It Craft Tool (heat gun), and repeated the process until I had a look I liked.  So easy!

I stamped them with Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz "Good Thoughts" stamps and decorated.  I hope you enjoy!

Tutorial Thursday: Mini Paper Rosettes

It's tutorial time!!  Today we're making super simple paper rosette embellishments.  I've made these lots by eyeballing them, but now Sizzix has a Sizzlits Decorative Strip die (657177) by Tim Holtz just for making these little guys. I'll give you the step by step, and show you a card I made using them.

I'm starting with the Sizzix Mini Paper Rosettes die that cuts 2 sizes of rosettes, a 12x12 sheet of paper from the MME Stella Rose Hazel pack (for cutting the rosettes), and a pad of KaiserCraft 6 1/2" Vintage Timeless (for making a card with the rosettes).

Cut the die.

Accordion fold the paper along the perforations. 

Apply Scor-tape (1/8") to one end of the paper, fold around in a circle, and tape the two ends together.

Once it's taped, it will look like this.

Squish down the center by pushing the top edge of the paper to the center.  Tape the little circle diecut that was cut from the die in the center.

To help hold it all together, I apply more Scor-tape  to the back.  If you want to jazz it up do that before removing the tape backing.

Just to make it super awesome, roll the edge in acrylic paint.  If you don't mind getting messy, dab with your finger.

Apply some Distress Stain Picket Fence to the the creases to really make it look shabby.  Done!

I placed the bigger rosette in the center of a doily, and cut the smaller ones in half for my card.

The butterfly is cut from the KaiserCraft paper pad Vintage Timeless, and the chipboard alphas are from BoBunny Et Cetera smudged with a little acrylic paint.

I hope you enjoyed, any you take time for yourself today to create!

Blog Giveaway Winner, and new kit!

Hey guys!  Sorry I'm so late posting the winner to my blog giveaway with Denise from http://birdnutsmixedmedia.blogspot.com/.   Last week we were recovering from Irene, and this week my little Maddie started kindergarten.  It's been a whirlwind here. 

First, I'd like to thank everyone who entered!  You all are the greatest!  I always hate picking just one, but it has to be done.  And...the winner is...

"I follow and i'm watching your U streams since you started. Awesome..i learned a lot and Denise is one of my favorite artist since i started blogging. So..two of my favorites came together. Isn't that great? Greets (:o9 Elly"

Posted by: Elly | Friday, August 19, 2011 at 05:03 PM

Congratulations to Elly!!  Please email your shipping info to [email protected] and I'll get that stamp right out to you.  Don't forget to check out Denise's blog  over at http://birdnutsmixedmedia.blogspot.com/ to see who the winner is on her blog.

I  wanted to let you know that I designed a new kit that's available in the store now.  It's called "Little Moments Big Memories."  You can click here to take a look, or pre-order yours today.  They are loaded full of goodies!  This is a limited edition kit, so don't miss out.  We expect to start shipping around September 19th.  We still have $5 flat rate shipping, so take advantage of that when you order your kit.  (see the store homepage for details)

I hope you enjoy!