Fabulous Find: Wendy Vecchi Crackle Paste

One of my new favorite products is Wendy Vecchi's Crackle Paste. The paste is magic to apply, absolute magic. All you need is a stencil, a palette knife and crackle paste.

Below is a card I made to showcase this beautiful crackle look.

Supplies:  Bazzill (cardstock); Wendy Vecchi Crackle Paste; Teresa Collins (damask stencil); Prima (flowers); Tim Holtz (distress inks); May Arts (glitter ribbon); Close to my Heart (organza ribbon); 

A close-up shots of the crackle. The pattern is stunning and can be easily accentuated with the distress inks. It can be as subtle or overt as you like. You can use the crackle pattern in a variety of other stencil such as a brick wall, autumn falling leaves, tree trunk, wood grain...I think I'm in love with crackle!

I'd love to hear how you use crackle paste!

Welcome to 2015!!! Fabulous Find: Viva Ferro Paste

From Scrap Shotz, we would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope 2015 is filled with much joy...and lots of opportunities to capture your exceptional memories!

So let's start the new year with a "happy" post...

I'd like to share 2 cards which highlight the luscious vibrant and unique look of the Viva Ferro Paste. The background of both cards were created by applying Viva Ferro Paste with a palette knife through a stencil.  Let dry. You can speed up the drying process with a heat gun but take note the paste can bubble if it is too warm. That bubbling is a unique look and one that is a must try!

Supplies:  Bazzill (cardstock); Viva Ferro Paste; Studio Calico (mistable stars); Ranger (glossy accents); Tattered Angels (glimmer mist); W9Plus (Happy die)

Supplies: Bazzill (cardstock); Viva Ferro Paste; Tim Holtz Layered Butterfly die; Ranger Foil Tape Sheets; Studio Calico (mistables); Tattered Angels (glimmer mist); W9Plus (Happy die); Prima Art Ingredients (beads)

What do you think of the Viva Ferro Paste? I'd love to hear from you!

Merry Christmas!

From all of us at Scrap Shotz,we wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Here is an easy Christmas tag for a hostess gift!

To make the tag, cut 4 window die cuts with the Taylored Expressions window die. This tag can be made with any window die and there is a fine selection in the store.  Adhere the window die cuts to one another to strength the cardstock but also to add depth to the window.

At this point, I applied Tim Holtz distress inks and a quick spray of Tsukineko irRESISTible spray to the window die cut but if you are in a hurry, you can bypass this step. Then back the window with a piece of pattern paper; add a ribbon and accent accordingly.

What is fantastic about this tag is that it can easily be adapted to any occasion by changing the pattern paper beneath the window. For a birthday, add a fun sweet print.

The sentiment is handwritten with the Tsukineko Pico Embellisher.

The sentiment on this tag is written with the Tsukineko Pico Embellisher through the Tim Holtz Layering Stencil of phrases.

Merry Christmas!

Fabulous Find: Tim Holtz Layering Stencil Festive and Wendy Vecchi Crackle Paste

Want to create a beautiful and unique card to adorn your Christmas present? Consider the card below.

For the background, I used the Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Festive along with the Wendy Vecchi crackle paste. Apply the crackle paste through the stencil - allow to dry thoroughly. Yes, you can speed up the drying process with your heat gun! As the paste begins to dry, you will see the gorgeous cracks form.

Once the paste is dry, you can apply Tim Holtz distress inks with an applicator directly onto the crackle paste or you can reposition the stencil and apply the distress inks through the stencil. I like both looks. For those tighter, smaller areas, apply the distress inks using the Tsukineko Fantastix colouring tool.

I found with a heavier application of ink, the crackles became more pronounced. Personally I find the crackle look gorgeous and unique. Once I was happy colouring the paste, I added colour to the edges of the stencilled card front.

For the sentiment, I used the Tim Holtz Shadow Press embossing folders. After I embossed the paper, I applied various distress inks to the front and around the embossing. Then I adhered it to the card front.

To create a colour coordinated ribbon, stamp the colours of the distress inks you used. Spray with Rangers Perfect Pearls onto the distress inks. Dip your ribbon into the pearlized ink water and let the ribbon absorb the colours. Let ribbon dry and tie onto the card.

Hope to see your cards too!

Fabulous Find: Taylored Expressions Jingle all the Way

Taylored Expressions makes beautiful dies. With each release, I am amazed at their continued creativity and of course their great quality.

The Jingle all the Way cutting plate is smaller than their other cutting plates. The die cut image is beautifully bordered by the card base. Additionally the elegance of the script made me initially worried about how easy it would be to cut from paper, stiffened fabric or light foil. Let me share that I was pleasantly surprised as the image was easily cut from a variety of materials.

This card background was created with Tim Holtz Distress Inks. Once the inks dried, I sprayed some Tsukineko irRESISTIBLE spray on the background. The heat gun helped speed up the drying process. Then I added more distress inks to the background. As you can see, the irRESISTIBLE spray easily resisted the additional distress inks. Once the background was dried I adhered the Jingle all the Way die cut. This was a fast and easy card to create - plus its unique and gorgeous too!

Supplies:  Bazzill (cardstock); Taylored Expressions (Jingle all the Way cutting plate); Tim Holtz distress inks, Tsukineko irRESISTIBLE spray

A close up of the irRESISTIBLE spray ...

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the die and spray!

Fabulous Find: Sizzix Tim Holtz Layered Butterfly

Scrap Shotz has had a very busy fall with the Scrapbook Carnival at Spruce Meadows and the fall Scrap Shotz crop. The best news is that I will be back posting regularly on the blog - thank you for being a loyal reader.

Over the next few posts, I would like to share some projects created for the Carnival and the crop using many of the wonderful mixed media products on the market. The card below showcases the very versatile and beautiful Sizzix Tim Holtz Layered Butterfly Die and Embossing Folder. From experience, I can tell you that the Sizzix die and embossing folder work like a dream. It easily cuts cardstock, chipboard and even starched fabric. Each of the die cut butterflies, were embossed without difficulty and with defined definition. The starched fabric required a few extra passes on my Big Shot but it still looked beautiful.

This card was heavily inspired by the uber creative scrapper, Tammy Tutterow. From reading her blog and stalking her pinterest boards, I have learned so much about the various mixed media products and how to effectively use the diverse Tim Holtz products. I will be honest with you and tell that up until the beginning of October, I owned maybe 3 Tim Holtz products and had convinced myself I was unable to create these mixed media projects. Well, today I own almost every set of distress inks, lots of paints, a gaggle of stamps and several dies!

Now a bit about this card...the background was created using distress inks through the layered honeycomb stencil.  Then I applied another layer of distress inks through a stencil I made using the Taylored Expressions Ray of Sunshine cutting plate. Using the Joggles Shooting Stars stencil (it is sold out in the store), I added a contrasting layer of distress inks.

Supplies: Bazzill (cardstock); Tim Holtz (Layered honeycomb stencil, Layered Christmas words stencil, distress inks, Sizzix Layered Butterfly die); Dina Wakely (gel medium, gold embossing paste); Prima Art Ingredients (glass beads, glass glitter); Close to my Heart (organza ribbon)

For the butterfly,  I sponged distress inks to the raised embossed areas and then heat set clear embossing powder to make the butterfly shine. The clear embossing powder really showcased the distress inks on the butterfly. Using a sturdy medium bristle paint brush, I applied gel medium around the outer edges of the butterfly. The glass beads were applied first. Then gel medium was applied just inside the beads so that the glass glitter could be adhered. A close-up of the butterfly wings can be seen below in the close-up photo.

The die cut butterfly was adhered to the card front with pop dots under the wings so the wings appeared to be "fluttering". Lastly, I applied gold embossing paste through the Tim Holtz Christmas words stencil to make the card sentiment.

I hope I have inspired you to try the various mixed media products available in the store. If you have any questions, please let me know. I will try to answer them the best I can - I have spent many hours educating myself on the various products as well as experimenting with them...and I love them all!!!

Fabulous Find: Teresa Collins Moulding Paste

In continuation of my sharing post on the Faber-Castell Mixed Media Mini Journal, I wanted to pause and share my love of Teresa Collins Moulding Paste. I just love love love this product. Firstly, its smooth texture and consistency makes its application easy peasy...especially with a palette knife. (Contact Sandy for one wonderful palette knife - it makes using gelatos and moulding paste wonderfully easy!)

Secondly, I love that the moulding paste yields slightly different results if you allow it to air dry or if you dry it using your heat gun. (Now you may already know this but I was rather thrilled with my ingenuity drying the moulding paste with my heat gun!!!) When I let the moulding paste air dry, it had a texture similar to clothes drying on a clothes line - a bit stiff. When I dried the moulding paste with my heat gun, the moulding paste puffed up a bit and then flattened when cooled; the cooled moulding paste had a slightly smoother texture. You might inquire why I would mention this?? Well, both textures are fabulous but alter my application of an after product like Art Anthology glazes or   more gelatos or Viva Decor Ferror Metal Textures.

For this card, I smooshed on some gelatos and smudged it with my fingers to create the background. With an older stencil from The Crafters Workshop, I applied the Teresa Collins moulding paste and let it air dry.

Supplies:  Bazzill (cardstock); October Afternoon (pattern paper); Hemptique (hemp twine); Maya Road (chipboard heart); Elizabeth Craft (sentiment sticker); Faber-Castell (gelatos); Teresa Collins (moulding paste); The Crafters Workshop (stencil)

For this card, I was dried the moulding paste with my heat gun. Not sure if you can see the surface of the moulding paste but it dried slightly smoother than the air dried version.

Supplies:  Bazzill (cardstock); Dina Wakely (white gesso); Tim Holtz Layering Stencil Latticework; Faber-Castell (gelatos); Elizabeth Craft (butterfly die and overlay)

For this page in my mini journal, I used the Studio Calico chevron stencil with Teresa Collins' moulding paste. After letting it airdry, I "water coloured" a gelato and water mixture onto the moulding paste. The moulding paste absorbed the gelato and water mixture beautifully. 

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Supplies:  Faber-Castell (mixed media mini journal, gelatos); Dina Wakely (white gesso); Studio Calico (chevron stencil, Mr. Huey); Making Memories (mini alphas); Tim Holtz Ideology stickers; Glitz Design (mini alphas); Elizabeth Craft (butterfly and overlay dies); Prima (gems)

I hope I have inspired you to try gelatos with moulding paste! Let me know your thoughts!