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Wow, I can't believe it is almost Christmas! Only a month away- I don't know where the time goes. Christmas is my favorite time of year, and I'm the person who is the first on the block to have the Christmas tree up, wreaths on the doors, and Christmas carols playing....Not this year, My goodness, I drove down the street the other day, and someone beat me, they've got their house decorated beautifully....and I hadn't even put out my wreath! I'm slipping! That night I came home and started digging out some of the decorations. Still haven't got the tree up, but, hopefully tomorrow...while the Grey Cup game is on! We'll be watching it, but, being a woman, I can multi-task....
I have had a chance to play with Tim Holtz dies and embossing folders, getting some of my Christmas cards done. I just LOVE the 'BIGZ Reindeer Flight' dies. That's one of my favorites for this year....(I love them all...Tim Holtz, Spellbinders, Craft Too, Cuttlebug....)
I used my favorite Ranger Antiquities Frosted Crystal embossing powder to emboss snowflakes from Innovative Stamp Creations on a Round or Oval die cut (Glossy cardstock). I love the texture and sparkle in this powder, and love using it at Christmas to give some texture to Snowflakes. After heating the embossing powder, I used the Ranger Blending tool, with Tim Holtz Distress inks (Faded Jeans, Broken China) to create a 'sky' effect, then highlighted with Direct to Paper technique, using Tsukineko's Opalite 'Golden Mist' ink. This gives a soft golden shimmer to the background piece. After cutting the die, I used Tsukineko's Opalite 'Glacier Blue' to add some blue shimmer highlights to the navy deer. I layered them on dry embossed backgrounds, using either Tim Holtz Damask / Flourishes embossing folder, or ProvoCraft Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder.
For the deer's 'collar', I used Borderline tape from Stix 2 / Kooltak. This is one of my favorite quick embellishments. It is available in silver and gold (bright and matte) and comes as a roll of various widths of metallic tape mounted on release paper. There are three widths of metallic border on each roll. Many times I'd like to add a couple of lines of different widths of metallic 'border', this product is perfect for that....I cut a piece off the roll the length of my card, then just peel off whatever widths I want, mixing and matching widths. The widths on the roll go perfect together. ...and I don't have to cut them narrower myself... In my Gallery (online catalog) you can find many cards that have been embellished with these borders.
Of course, what Christmas card is done without using Ranger's Stickles Glitter glue. Gold Stickles has been added to the collar of the deer, and the edges of the ribbon.
I save all my bits and pieces of scraps, and last year, when I cut the Cuttlebug Ornament die from metallic cardstock, I saved the negative image...just in case I could find something to do with them. Then, I received a Christmas card from a stamping friend, who had used the negative part of the snowflake die, with lovely sparkly wide ribbon beneath it....Gorgeous!...She had embossed the cardstock with the Cuttlebug Snowflake, then cut the snowflake die out of the center. (Wendy's card can be found in my Gallery at my online Catalog)
That gave me some ideas of what I could do with my scraps. I didn't have any ribbon wide enough, but, I layered it over embossed cardstock that had been sprayed with Tattered Angels Irridescent Gold Glimmer mist, and it turned out quite pretty. Of course, pictures never show the glimmer and sheen that we can see in real life, but, the pictures should give you an idea.
I'm excited to say that the Streuter GlueFOILS are now in stock! I've been interested in them since their introduction at CHA this past summer. I've been 'watching' the internet, reading designers blogs and articles about projects using them, to see what the general consensus was...'Good or Bad'... All the feedback about the Streuter GlueFOIL has been very positive. Many designers have been raving about it, and how easy it is to add this heat activated 'metals' (for lack of a better word) to their projects. GlueFOIL can be applied with a regular household iron, craft iron, heat gun and/or embossing gun to fabric, plastic, glass, metal and paper. It can be used with the Cuttlebug, Big Shot or other personal die cutting machines as well as with the Cricut! The manufacturer's website has many project instructions, and tips for using the GlueFoil. It can be colored with Sakura's Glaze Pens, or Souffle pens and can be used with ProvoCraft's Emboss Plus embossing dies. GlueFOIL is available in packs of 4 x 4" sheets (5 per pack) of single metallic colors, and Variety packs (three each of 3 colors). Copper and Aluminum are also available in large, 8.5 x 11" sheets (two per pack), for larger products.
As you can see by the display picture, there are many colors available in the 4 x 4" packages, and they are all in stock! The Variety Packs are handy for those of us who can't make up our minds on which colors to get...(I belong in that category). There are variety packs containing Red, Green and Blue metallic, Stainless, Copper and Aluminum, and my personal favorite Variety pack, Pink, Gold and Black....I can't wait to try those in my Big Shot!
Online Catalog News:
I've been using a Photobucket site to hold my online catalog, and there have been many changes lately. PhotoBucket has made some changes to their formatting. I had a huge surprise when I went online to add the Streuter GlueFOILS to my online catalog. At first glance, I hated the changes, and was upset....I fussed and fumed for the rest of the evening (poor Gord,he had to listen to it, hehehe)... The next day, I calmed down, and took another, longer look at the site...It's not as bad as I first thought. There are changes, but, some of the changes are good.
When you visit my online catalog, the list of categories is no longer at the left hand side of the screen. It is now at the bottom right. But, the list of Categories, was very long, and they've now put a navigational scroll bar to the right of the 'Categories'. When you search for a category, just use the arrow beside the category list to scroll down the list. Click on the category you want to visit. When you visit the various categories, always check the bottom right hand corner, where, if there are more 'sub-categories', you will find them listed there. For Example...Click on INKS. the page that comes up is blank...BUT, when you look in the lower right corner of your screen, you will see sub-categories...Dye inks, pigment inks, permanent inks, etc.
One change that is definitely for the better, is, when you look at a page of pictures, place your cursor on a picture, and the title, as well as pricing information should come up. To see product descriptions, sizes, etc, just double click on the picture. That will bring up another window, showing a larger picture and detailed information.- Just click your browser 'back' button to return to the category you were visiting. I hope the changes don't cause problems. If you find you can't find what you are looking for, please feel free to email me.
There have been more cards added to my online 'Gallery'. I hope you have time to visit.
Thanks for visiting, I hope you have a wonderful pre-Christmas season! Don't forget, Tim Holtz's Twelve Tags of Christmas is starting, check out his blog!
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