Balmy Breeze Travel Journal

Today is the big day! We are leaving on our long journey to Hawaii! I am not crazy about the idea of such a LONG flight, but I am sure it will be worth it! I made this little journal so I could keep track of where we go and things we do while we are on vacation.

I started with a little notebook I bought at Target a while back. (not sure if they still have these?) I used one of my favorite old retired sets, Balmy Breezes. I stamped the palm tree image using Basic Brown ink and watercolored it. Then I added a few more images, also stamped in Basic Brown, for a collage type feel. I inked the edges and then inked the whole thing in VersaMark. I embossed it with Glassy Glaze, and repeated this two more times to do the cracked glass technique. Once it has been embossed with the Glassy Glaze, stick it in the freezer for about 5-10 min. After your image has been chilled, remove from freezer and quickly bend your image until it cracks the glaze. You may need to chill and repeat to get the desired effect.

I like using this technique on 3D items that I know will be handled quite a bit because it protects the image and it looks really cool besides. Inside the Antique Brass Hodge Podge Hardware label (retired), I used the "journey" stamp from the Define Your Life set. I used a couple coats of Glassy Glaze over this as well, but did not crack this piece. On the background of my book I used French Script and more images from Balmy Breezes, and then inked the edges of my book for an aged look. I attached my finished pieces with Sticky Strip so they will hold well.

Aloha!

Cracked Glass Floral Sympathy

Here's a sympathy card I made last week for some dear friends. I used the cracked glass technique for the image. After cracking, I sponged on some reinker to the edges. The ink highlights the cracks and makes it look more antiqued. Using Crystal Effects, I glued on some small seed beads to the center of each of the flowers to add more dimension. Here's a close up look:
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: VersaMark, Always Artichoke, Rich Razzleberry & Soft Suede
Card stock: Always Artichoke, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede & Thoroughly Modern DP
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border Punch (SAB), Glassy Glaze EP, Artichoke grosgrain, Word Window, Ticket Corner, Scalloped Oval, Small & Large Oval Punches, Mat Pack & Paper Piercer

Yesterday a big box of SU! goodies came for me, so today I plan to forget about everything until dinner time and do nothing but stamp! Hopefully I'll have some fun new creations to share with you tomorrow. Enjoy your day!

Lovely Tree Thanksgiving

I created this card a while ago when a new customer said she would love to learn the cracked glass technique. I remembered that I hadn't shared it here as I was getting it ready to mail off to my Dad. This card also works for this weeks challenge at Stamp Something.

The oak leaf image comes from one of my all time favorite stamp sets - Lovely As A Tree. I watercolored the image and then used Glassy Glaze embossing powder over the top to create the cracked glass technique. I describe how to do this fun technique in another post found here. After I cracked the image I also sponged on some Creamy Caramel ink using re-inker and a stampin' sponge so that it would really highlight the cracks. After I got the look I desired, I wiped the image with a paper towel to remove the extra ink.
Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Sanded background, Holidays & Wishes
Card stock: Haiku DP, Creamy Caramel, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive & Very Vanilla
Ink:Black Stazon, VersaMark, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip & various to watercolor
Accessories: Glassy Glaze EP, Heat Tool, Vintage brads, Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, mat pack, Ticket Corner punch
If you're in the mood to shop...don't forget that Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Extravaganza Sale starts today! There are some awesome discounted bundles offered in this sale! Hop on over to my demo website to start your shopping now.
I probably won't be back to post tomorrow... so I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! I hope you get to spend it with those you love most.

Cracked Harvest Home

Last night my Hostess Club met for the month of November. Everyone had fun working on Fall themed projects. Our hostess Cheri brought some delicious food and was most generous in loaning me her Harvest Home set to design the club projects. Thanks Cheri! This is such a beautiful set...so much fun to watercolor, I'm going to have to add this one to my collection.
We used the cracked glass technique on this card. If you haven't tried it before, you should give it a try...it's a really fun technique. First, you'll want to color your image. This one was stamped with Black Stazon and colored using re-inkers and the aquapainter. After it is dry, cover the whole image in Versamark, then emboss with Glassy Glaze EP. Apply 2-3 layers of the Glassy Glaze by repeating the last 2 steps. Next, stick the embossed image in the freezer for approx 5 minutes. Then, take it out and quickly crack the glaze by gently bending the image. Once the heat from your hands warms the piece, it will be difficult to crack, so simply throw it back in the freezer and rework it after it gets cold. To emphasize the crackled effect even more, you can sponge on some ink to settle into the cracks. (I didn't do that on this particular piece)Here's a closer look:

The Really Rust background was done using the Fall Harvest wheel inked in Close To Cocoa. The little leaves were from the ivy image included in the Harvest Home set. They were water colored, cut out and then glassy glaze was applied to them just like we did for the cracked glass, only we just used one coat and didn't crack them. This gives them a hardened epoxy-like look.

Other supplies used on this card: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip & Very Vanilla card stock, Creamy Caramel & Chocolate Chip ink, Vintage brads and Taupe grosgrain ribbon (retired)

The group also had their choice of two different Fall themed scrapbook pages. One used the Harvest Home set and the other used Season of Friendship. Check back tomorrow to see the pages we did.

Have a great weekend!

Morning Glory Notebook

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! We had a really nice day even though it looked more like Christmas outdoors than it did the start of spring. Funny...we didn't have a "White Christmas" this past year but we had a white Easter! Oh well...I'm sure everything will be turning green and flowers will be popping up before we know it. Until then I'll have to be happy looking at stamped flowers!


I finally got around to altering a notebook for myself, and since I am thinking spring, this detailed, realistic image from the Morning Soft set was what I grabbed. Being that this image was going on the cover of a notebook which would get handled a lot, I wanted something that would provide a little protection to my finished work. I figured doing the cracked glass technique would be just the ticket. If you've never tried this technique you should give it a try...it's fun and the result is pretty cool. Here's how to do it:

1. Water colored your image
2. Cover it with ink applied directly to the paper from the Versa Mark pad.
3. Cover with Glassy Glaze embossing powder
4. Emboss using your heat tool - this provides an extra thick, clear coat.
5. Place the embossed image in the freezer for a minute or two
6. Here's the fun part: take it out and carefully bend and twist the embossed card stock...it will crack as you bend it creating a crackled look. Keep going until you get it cracked into a pleasing pattern. You may have to return the piece to the freezer again to stiffen up.
7. If you want to highlight the cracks even more, you can sponge on some ink which will settle in the cracks. I did this on mine using So Saffron reinker.

Here's another photo showing a close up view of the cracked glass.

The background paper is from the Porcelain Prints collection of double-sided designer papers. I applied it using Royal Decoupage medium. I knew I wanted to use this notebook to keep track of my stamping stuff so I added some card stock category dividers using the Spiral punch and some tabs to the side with the Round Tab punch.

The notebook was purchased at Target. If you want to see what it looked like before I started click here. Now I can use this notebook to keep my business papers more organized. (no more post-its all over!)

Well, gotta run...I'm in the process of creating a project that I'm really excited about. Hopefully I'll have it ready to share later this week. Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!