Thursday, June 27, 2013

Elizabeth Craft Designs: Part Two

Hello paper crafters! Yesterday Nicole shared a great tutorial on using glitter and peel-off stickers from Elizabeth Craft Designs. You can see the post here. We wanted to share a few more ideas with you today!



For the card above, Nicole used Copic markers to blend over the glitter -- Blending on the glitter was super easy! For the card below, she used flat coloring (using only one marker per color). Two completely different looks using the same materials. Do you have a favorite?



Thanks for checking out today's projects. Stop into Creations Galore soon to see the fun items Elizabeth Craft Designs has to offer.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Peel Off Stickers, Glitter, & Copics - Elizabeth Craft Designs Tutorial

Good morning paper crafters! Nicole here today with a fun picture tutorial just for you! 

Glittered Cupcake Tutorial - Elizabeth Craft Designs
Creations Galore recently received a shipment of goodies by Elizabeth Craft Designs. I was told you could color over their glitter with Copic markers for a beautiful final result. From the photo above, you can easily see that they were correct. However, I didn't have a sample and was terrified to begin this process! I tested all of the products Creations Galore ordered, made some beautiful pieces of art, and came out with some tips and tricks that will help you create your own masterpieces! 

Glittered Cupcake Tutorial - Elizabeth Craft Designs
First, you're going to need to gather some supplies. Here's what I started with...
  • Silk Microfine Glitter (Available in Cool Diamond or Warm Diamond)
  • Peel-off Stickers 
  • Transparent Double Sided Adhesive 
  • Cardstock
  • Scissors
  • Adhesive
  • Coffee Filter & Spoon (For use with glitter, but we'll get to that)
  • Copic Markers (or other alcohol based marker) 

Glittered Cupcake Tutorial - Elizabeth Craft Designs
The peel-off stickers can be from any brand, but Elizabeth Craft Designs is our favorite. In this tutorial we'll be using Black Cupcake Outline Stickers. Maybe you have some stickers already in your stash that are an outline of an image. They would be wonderful for this tutorial!

I also want to make note of the fact that this type of sticker can be used in a variety of ways - no glitter needed - and I'll be showing you those ideas in the coming weeks. Visit the blog often for more inspiration or sign up to receive them by email (just add your address to the box on the top left side of the blog)! Now, let's get to this tutorial!

Glittered Cupcake Tutorial - Elizabeth Craft Designs
Your first step is to cut a piece of double sided adhesive a little larger than the sticker you've chosen. Working with a small piece is much easier than using the entire sheet. Remove one side of the paper backing. In the above picture, the sticky surface is on the left and the non-sticky backing is on the right

Peel off the outline sticker and place it sticky side up onto the non-sticky backing as shown in the picture. Replace the sticky surface (left side) to the backing. 

Glittered Cupcake Tutorial - Elizabeth Craft Designs
Once you've replaced the two backings together, press down to make sure the outline sticker has fully adhered to your double sided adhesive. Remove the backing you have yet to remove from your double sided adhesive - this will be the back side of your sticker - and place the full sheet onto cardstock. It should look like the picture below. 

Glittered Cupcake Tutorial - Elizabeth Craft Designs
Tip One: The first time I experimented with the double sided adhesive, I laid the adhesive directly onto the cardstock and then placed the sticker on next. I would advise against this. It was hard to lay the sticker on flat, and once it touched the adhesive, it was hard to remove it. The result was an uneven, messed up image. That's not to say you don't have more patience and grace than I, but it ended up being far easier and faster to complete the process with the pictured steps above.

Fine Glitter Elizabeth Craft Designs
Here's where the coffee filter and spoon come into play. Coffee filters have a bowl-like shape that can nicely store excess glitter before easily molding into a funnel to return the glitter to its jar. I've found that they seem to have a little less static than a scrap piece of paper as well... But maybe I'm crazy! If you complete this next step correctly, you won't even need the filter!

Place your sticker in the coffee filter or hold it over the top. Use a spoon or other small scoop to add the world's smallest amount of glitter to your design. Tip Two: The first time I added glitter, I dumped half of the container of glitter over the entire image like it was embossing powder. Ladies! It's microfine glitter! What was I thinking?! Don't do it! They should replace the word microfine with static cling! Even the picture above (my third attempt) turned out to be too much glitter for the image. Isn't that crazy?! Less really is more in this case.

Glittered Cupcake Tutorial - Elizabeth Craft Designs
Once you have added a small amount of glitter to the design, use your finger to spread the glitter around and rub it into the adhesive sheet. I like to spread the glitter out to the surrounding areas of the adhesive sheet. Tip Three: If you add glitter outside the image, your scissors will not stick to the sheet when cutting!

Color Glitter with Copics Elizabeth Craft Designs
The look of the glitter is breathtaking. Go ahead and just take a few minutes to look at it. If you're like me, you love anything shiny! Use it as is or add some color.

Decide on a color scheme and get to work! You can color directly onto the glitter using your marker nib. And it won't ruin it! Tip Four: Every once in a while, a spec of glitter did end up on my marker nib. I used my finger or a scratch piece of paper to remove the glitter and kept working! Try adding flat color - only one marker per color - or blending - using two to three markers to achieve a dimensional looking object. I found blending on the glitter was extremely easy - Almost easier than blending on cardstock alone! Tip Five: Tap the tip of your marker once onto the glitter to see how much it bleeds to the surrounding areas. I found it easy to over-saturate the paper. The last thing you want is color bleeding outside the lines and ruining your gorgeous, glitter-filled creation!

Don't have alcohol based markers? I highly recommend investing in a few. Besides the gorgeous results of blending, you can dye metal, glass, acrylic, and GLITTER with them! I did try a water based marker over the glitter, and it worked. However, it also wiped off. You could spray the colored image with a fixative to keep it from smearing, but Copic markers are my first recommendation.

Color Glitter with Copics - Elizabeth Craft Designs
Next, cut out your design. You could cut out the full rectangle, cut around the sticker, or cut close to the black outline. The option you choose will depend on your final project. 

Copic Markers and Glitter - Elizabeth Craft Designs
You're almost done! Gather together paper, stamps, and embellishments to create something beautiful and unique using your new technique! 

Creations Galore carries these fun Library Pockets that are the perfect size for gift cards. I included a die cut tag for a written sentiment and slipped it inside. 

Library Pockets - Copics and Glitter
Peel Off Stickers - Elizabeth Craft Designs
Because the backside of your image is cardstock, you will have no trouble adhering it to any project! Thanks for stopping by to check out today's tutorial. Stop into Creations Galore soon to see additional samples and products.

Cupcake Glitter Tutorial - Peel Off Stickers

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Layout Tuesday: Storytime


Good morning beautiful paper crafters! We have some gorgeous projects to share with you today using We R Memory Keepers' newest collection, Storytime. The collection's beautiful illustrations will help you capture the childlike innocence and fantasy of bedtime stories.

The idea behind Storytime came during a nightly ritual of reading bedtime stories. "While reading about princesses and 'happily ever after,' to my daughter Gretel, the vision of Storytime came into view", says Product Development Director Tavnir Carey. He continues, "It was then that I realized the need of having a collection to help capture the magic of those favorite fairytale stories we all knew as kids." This collection will take you back to your own childhood as you rummaged through the bookcase to find your favorite fairytale stories such as, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, Pinocchio, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and more. The classic color pallet of sky blue, burnt orange, charcoal grey, and vine green will evoke the nostalgia that reminded you of holding a classic fairytale in your own hands.


The layout above captures the thoughts and goals of Carey stated above. We love the circle elements that form an embellishment triangle on the page. The journaling die cuts and cardstock stickers make embellishing the page easy and fast. 

Let's take a look at several other projects from WRMK's Design Team using the Storytime Collection:






Stop into Creations Galore at 3164 Coronet Way in Green Bay, Wisconsin soon to see the full collection and get your hands on the supplies to start documenting your own fairytale.

Monday, June 24, 2013

This Week's Make N Takes


Happy Monday, Paper Crafters! It's a new week, and we're offering three new, gorgeous cards for you to create. Each card is only $2 and includes all the tools and materials needed to create it. Just bring along your own adhesive. This is perfect for beginner to advanced card makers. It's self paced with step-by-step instructions, someone is on hand to demonstrate if needed, and it always includes new products and techniques for everyone to try!

Stop into Creations Galore any time during store hours--The Make N Take station is always open! We just ask for you to come in at least an hour before close. For more information, feel free to give us a call at (920) 983-0033 or visit us here.

This week's cards will be available Monday, June 24th through Saturday, June 29th.

Card One: Hello



SUPPLIES Cardstock: Paper Cut. Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers. Stamps: Hot Off The Press. Ink: StazOn (Jet Black). 


 Card Two: No One Like You


SUPPLIES Cardstock: American Crafts, Paper Cut. Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers. Stamps: KaiserCraft. Ink: Memento (Rich Cocoa). Ribbon: Creative Imaginations.

Card Three: Love


SUPPLIES Cardstock: Paper Cut. Inks: Marvy. Embossing Folder: Lifestyle Crafts. Floss: Bazzill. Embroidery Stencil (Amy Tangerine Capture Kit).

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Trendy: Wood Veneers

Hello paper crafters! Wood Veneers have been all the rage lately, and we don't see the trend stopping any time soon. But that's OK with us. We're crazy about them. Our creative genius, Nicole, recently made up a few cards using the wood veneers as a simple accent. You can see those here and here. But how about a few more ideas?


We love this use of wood veneers as a mask. Here, they sprayed mist over the wood veneers to create a background paper for their card. See more of the tutorial here.


And how amazing is this layout?! We love the various wood veneers scattered on this background page to truly create something unique. You can see more details of the page, along with several other wood veneer themed projects here.

At Creations Galore, we're constantly selling out of these packages... They're the hottest item. But don't worry, we're also constantly on the hunt for new styles! Here's a look at the current packs of wood veneers we have in the store. Stop in soon at 3164 Coronet Way in Green Bay, Wisconsin or click the link above each picture to purchase them in our online store. Get 'em fast!


















Thanks for checking out our newest product, wood veneers. We hope you're inspired to add a new embellishment to your stash!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Layout Tuesday: Track Star

Hello paper crafters! We're here today with a fun new layout for you this Tuesday. The new Real Sport Collection 2013 from Designs by Reminisce just arrived to Creations Galore. The collection includes stickers, dimensional embellishments, die cuts, and papers geared toward a variety of sports, such as volleyball, lacrosse, and wrestling. With so many marathons and other races taking place, we wanted to showcase the track items with this page:


How adorable is that little track star?! It's easy to embellish a layout using their sticker sheets. No need for alpha stickers or an electronic cutter - The 'track star' title was included in the collection. 


Stop into Creations Galore soon to see the full collections of Real Sports 2013 by Reminisce.  

Monday, June 17, 2013

This Week's Make N Takes


Happy Monday, Paper Crafters! It's a new week, and we're offering three new, gorgeous cards for you to create. Each card is only $2 and includes all the tools and materials needed to create it. Just bring along your own adhesive. This is perfect for beginner to advanced card makers. It's self paced with step-by-step instructions, someone is on hand to demonstrate if needed, and it always includes new products and techniques for everyone to try!

Stop into Creations Galore any time during store hours--The Make N Take station is always open! We just ask for you to come in at least an hour before close. For more information, feel free to give us a call at (920) 983-0033 or visit us here.

This week's cards will be available Monday, June 17th through Saturday, June 22nd.

Card One: Happy Birthday 


SUPPLIES Cardstock: Paper Cut. Patterned Paper: BoBunny. Stamps: Vintage A Muse, My Favorite Things. Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black), Copic Marker (C-1), Tombow Marker. 


Card Two: Happy 4th


 SUPPLIES Cardstock: Paper Cut. Patterned Paper, Embellishments: We R Memory Keepers. Stamps: Northwoods. Inks: StazOn (Jet Black). Additional: Glossy Accents.


 Card Three: Embossed Butterfly


 SUPPLIES Cardstock: Paper Cut, American Crafts. Patterned Paper: BasicGrey (Humbug). Stamps: All Night Media. Stickers: Stampendous (International Thanks Black). Inks: VersaMark Watermark, JudiKins Mica Gloss (Teal). Embossing Powder: Ranger (Black). Tools: Tim Holtz (Distressing Tool), Waterbrush, Marvy (Circle Punch).

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

It's Not Too Late...

Did you see yesterday's blog post featuring a masculine layout by our very own Nicole? Today, we're sharing a card Nicole created just in time for Father's Day using scraps from that layout. Let's take a look:


All of the papers and embellishments are from BoBunny's Trail Mix Collection. The dimensional bear and tag are actually one sticker, making it extremely easy to throw together. Nicole added some black floss to the tag and alpha stickers to spice it up! All papers were distressed with the Tim Holtz Paper Distressing Tool - We love the rustic, masculine look it achieves. Spray inks are all the rage currently. Therefore, Nicole added a few specks of brown Studio Calico mist to the background paper before adhering it to the card. 


It's not too late for you to whip up a Father's Day card for that special someone in your life! Head into Creations Galore and let us help you plan something extraordinary!