Monday, January 10, 2011

Lots of cool links this week: Freebies, CHA, and more!

Good morning to everyone, it is cold here (for us anyway), 30 degrees this morning (which is not something we see regularly).  Hope you had a great first week of the year, we have not finished doing all of the Christmas clean up, but will this week (funny how the clean up always takes longer then the set up).

Please stop by and like the "AfterHoursStamper" page on Facebook.  I am posting there almost every day, usually a link to a cool blog you might like, but also links to things that are time sensitive, like sales and other things.  There are so many great links out there, and I just can't list them all here on the blog, so the Facebook page is a way for me to post things on a daily basis.

I have been working on some cards, here are three that I did this last week:

From 2011-01-04

The card above actually has a "boo-boo" in it, on the background, but I think that it ended up looking pretty good!  When I was stamping with my background stamp from Impression Obsession I moved the stamp and got a double image, however I just kept going and think that it still looks ok.  In other words, even if you mess up try to work with what you have left, you might be surprised : )

I cut out the note shapes with my Slice, then used my cuttle bug to emboss the red and the black, the color on the edge of the "thank you" was done with chalk (actually am trying to use all my supplies this year.)

From 2011-01-04

I did finally try the "medallion" technique that I posted a few weeks ago, and yes, it does work, you just have to play around with the size of your circle.  The card above had a five inch circle and then a three and a half inch circle.  If you can't completely "finish" the circle try putting a button, flower, bow or some other embellishment in the area that doesn't quite line up, like I did with my bow.

The background paper was made with yet another background stamp from Impression Obsession, I stamped in embossing ink, embossed with clear powder (to keep the white), and then colored the paper with a "stain" (which comes in a dauber bottle) from Lindys Stamp Gang (I love their products, if you haven't tried them before, check out these "try me kits," a great value and a nice way to get a chance to use their products).  I also added some of the Viva Decor Pearl pen to the card (the Pearl Pens are another product that you really need to try if you haven't yet, once you try them you will be hooked!).

From 2011-01-04

The card above uses a Hero Arts stamp, I inked up the stamp with distress ink and then sprayed the stamp with glimmer mist (the pearl which is the one I use almost all the time and now need a refill of).  The shape at the bottom was cut out using my Slice (the original one as the Elite was sent back.)

Now onto our links for this week.  Again, no theme just a collection of things I thought you might like.

2011 Winter CHA:  Lots and lots of buzz about what is coming up in a few weeks, so far there have been a ton of new papers, I am looking forward to seeing some of the new tools and other goodies.

The Hybrid Chick:  Tons of stuff here, tips, freebies, techniques, great projects, just a wealth of fantastic paper crafting goodness!

Craft Crave:  The link goes to their freebies page (they have a search that pulls up freebies that are online), but make sure to check out their "printable" page as well.

Recipe Card Maker:  LOVED this link, you can make your own recipe cards, and then you can decorate them up with stamping and what not.  And make sure you check out the rest of this blog, I can't wait to try to make this and these.

DecoArt Glamour Dust Paint:  If you love the Glamour Dust Glitter (which is great), then you are sure to love this new paint.  I am going to try some of this, the set of 12 is a good price, am thinking of ordering these to play with.

Ranger Ink Blog:  I had no idea that this blog existed, fantastic information, tips, techniques and projects here, as well as updates on new products.

Tombow USA Blog:  Another good blog from a manufacturer, make sure to check out all the links to the right under "categories," which include a whole lot of free downloads!

Fantastic New 6x6 Paper Pads:  Wow, you are going to LOVE these, run, don't walk, to Susana's Custom Art and Card Design to grab hold of some of these papers (I need to order some when I get paid later this week.) Really loved the "Let's Party" paper, as well as all the other ones : )

Paper in the Works:  You will need to spend some time on this blog as the work here is simply amazing, and it is done mostly using Tombow markers!  Just a real treat and filled with all sorts of inspiration.

Ok, that is it for today, please remember to stop by and "like" the AfterHoursStamper page on Facebook, I have a new link up for today, and will be posting a new link everyday : )

Have a fantastic week, stay warm and see you soon.  Thanks so much for visiting the blog and sharing your love of paper crafting : )


1 comment:

Nicki said...

Another great batch of links Jacquie, thank you. I'm not on Facebook but I pop in to visit your blog often - well, I say I pop in, I can actually lose an hour following all your fab links!!

Nicki, xx

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