Shabby Pumpkins

Sorry folks.. forgot to take a photo, but I'll link up the tutorial I found on making the shabby pumpkins we made today at the make 'n take.  Check out the tutorial here... by MsLiberty25.

Here's the basic instructions:
1.  Cut 12x12 cardstock in half so you have 2 6"x 12" pieces.  You can make 2 pumpkins with one sheet.  You can also adjust the size of your pumpkin by cutting it to desired length.

2.  Then cut the sheet into 5/8" strips.  You should get about 19 strips.

3.  Punch holes on each end of the strips.

3.  Using long brads, stick all strips through the brad and secure by opening up the feet.

4.  Fan out strips and select strip closest to the brad head.  Starting with that strip, stick the other end of the strip through another brad.  Select a strip on the opposite end.  Then repeat, selecting strips on opposite ends.

5. Close up brad and decorate!

You can see pumpkin samples at the shop!  Great for housing goodies like Halloween candy and other small gifts!

Large Stamp Tutorial

Hi Everyone!

Did you have a Happy Mother's Day? Hope you had a great weekend and are ready for the week ahead.

Have you had trouble getting good images from large stamps? I must confess that I do, which is why I don't buy them. But during one of our Craft Nights, Debi did an impromtu demo for everyone to show them how she gets good images from her large stamps. She doesn't even put them on an acrylic block!

First, you ink up your stamp...




Here's what your stamp will look like when its inked up.



Now here's the trick... instead of putting the stamp on the paper, Debi puts the paper on the stamp!





Now rub, rub, rub! Make sure to hold the paper down so it doesn't move around...




Voila! Now all you have to do is trim the image down to the size you want.

Doesn't Debi make things look so easy? Maybe now I'll buy some of those large clings I've been eyeing! Thanks Debi!!

Just a reminder that all Hero Arts stamps are on coupon this week for 25% off for members. Limit two per coupon/person. Now that you know how to get good impressions from these large cling stamps- why not take advantage of the coupon too??

Spellbinder Embossing Mat Tutorial

Have you ever noticed that after you cut with your Spellbinders dies, there is a faint embossing on your image? Can't figure out why the embossing is not as defined as in the samples? Here's the secret... you need the Spellbinder embossing mats to help you!

We've been getting so many requests on how to use the new Spellbinders embossing mats recently, that we decided it was time to do a tutorial on how to use this product. Get out your Big Shots, multi-purpose platforms, cutting plates, spellbinder die (made for embossing), embossing mat, and cardstock and let's get to it!

Step 1: Cut out your image using your big shot/multi-purpose platform with side that cuts the image facing up and with cardstock right side down. Your image will be in the die after you cut it. Keep it there for the next step.

See- cutting side up?

This is what it will look like after you cut the cardstock.

Here's what your image will look like if you flip it over.

Step 2: Now change to tab #1 on your multi-purpose platform. Keeping your cardstock still inside the die, place die with cutting side up again onto cutting plate and lay Spellbinder embossing mats (there are 2) over the die. Put on top cutting plate and run through Big Shot again.

See the difference? The flower on the left was just cut using the die but we did not run it through again with the embossing mat. The flower on the right shows the image that was cut from the same paper, but this time run through again with the embossing mat. The embossing is much more pronounced in the image on the right. Believe me, you'll love the results!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial... If you'd like to learn more about how to use another product, post a comment here with the product name and what you want to know. We are happy to help if we can!

Re-coloring Tutorial

Have you ever wanted to change the color of something so that it matched your project better? Here's a technique that Tracy came up with that is very useful in these situations.

Supplies used:

Versacolor white ink

Ohana sentiment- Laser cut from Island Scrapbooking

Studio Basics duo sided eye applicators

Decorating Chalks

Here's what we started with... The Ohana sentiment was cut out of black paper. We wanted the title to be green.

The first step was to ink the Ohana with white ink.

After applying the ink, Michele used the applicators to apply the different colored chalks. At first we wanted to make it green, but then realized we could make it look like a rainbow!

Just a tip- if you need to apply more ink (so that the chalk sticks to it), use another applicator to apply the ink... you don't want to apply the stamp pad directly to the image if it already has chalk on it. If you do, your white ink pad won't be white anymore.