Hello all and welcome back! I had a few requests after my first Craft Room Tour video to show more detail. Please check out my YouTube video below for an indepth look into some of the drawers and organization in my craft room!
If you haven’t seen my original Craft Room Tour, you can check that out here, it has a view of the entire room and all my cabinets, shelves and drawers!
Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day! ❤
And a Sympathy Card. ❤
Hello and welcome back! Today I’m sharing a quick card and video using some ink blending to create a focal point. This techinque can be used to make a really beautiful one-layer card (although I did pop this panel up on foam tape, it could have just been made using the card base). I used both regular Distress Ink and Distress Oxide Ink to make this background – I used Distress Ink in Antique Linen to blend over the whole background panel using the Taylored Expressions Blending Brushes, then cut out a mask/stencil with an oval die and used the Distress Oxide Ink in Faded Denim – concentrating the darkest color around the edges and letting it get lighter towards the center.
Please check out my video below for more details!
Hello! Thank you for coming back to my blog – how cute are these fish?! This is the Hero Arts Color Layering Goldfish stamp set. On this card, I did some ink blending, some embellishing of a laminating sheet (inspired by Jennifer McGuire!) and some die cutting! I had so much fun with this card – it was for my dad’s birthday.
I tried out the technique that Jennifer McGuire used in one of her recent videos with embellishing laminating sheets to make pretty, decorated windows. I added some ink to the inside of the laminating sheets prior to sprinkling embossing powder and I love the look it gave! The ink kind of bunched up in certain areas and made it look more like bubble and waves.
I used the Taylored Expressions Blending Brushes to ink blend distress oxides onto the frame panel and also around the edges of the card base. I didn’t have heavyweight cardstock in the color that I wanted, so I blended some ink onto the white card base to match. The brushes make ink blending a breeze! They really help get a soft, blended look without harsh lines. And look how cute they are! They look great sitting on my craft desk. 🙂
Please check out my YouTube video for more information! If you enjoy the video, please give a thumbs up and subscribe!
Thanks for stopping by!
Welcome back! Thanks for joining me again – how awesome is this stamp?! I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to watercolor it. And using the Brutus Monroe Aqua Pigments are so much fun! Especially since there was a limited edition set for Halloween that came in little skull jars – so freakin’ cute!
I also used the Brutus Monroe Squeaky Clean Dispenser, but not for stamp cleaner as it is intended, but with plain water in it to help clean my brush in between colors. Thanks Kara for that tip! It is so nice, you can pump a little water up in to the top reservoir and use until dirty and then just sop it up with a towel. A couple pumps of the dispenser and your reservoir has clean water in it again!
Please check out my YouTube video below for more details!
Thank you for checking out my page and be sure to check out my Instagram as well for more cards and projects! (….and puppies and kittens 🙂 )
Hey everyone! I was so excited when my Trick or Treat Card Kit from Brutus Monroe came in the mail a couple days ago! Now, this is sold out (sorry!), but a lot of the pieces from the kit are still available for sale individually.
Check out those shimmery bats! Wondering how that happened with a stencil?! Well…the answer is with Chroma Glaze and Opal DecoFoil! Check out the video for more info:
If you interested in any of these products, check out the Brutus Monroe site!
Check out my Instagram page for more cards and projects!
Thank you for stopping by today!
Hello!! Thank you so much for joining me again! Today, I wanted to share my craft room with you! I have linked the YouTube video tour down below, but please check out the rest of this post for some more details!
Here is the video if you’d like to head over to YouTube to check it out:
I have posted some pics below detailing some of my organization :
When I first started organizing my embellishments in here, I thought ice cube trays would be a great way to separate/organize the little pieces. When the idea hit me, I needed to get it done right away! The store in my town did not have white ice cube trays, I could only find these blue ones. So, I just spray painted them white to help the colors of the embellishments stand out. I could have probably waited and bought white ones, and it would have looked better, but oh well. It works!
I had to throw this pic in here because Ralphie is just exhausted and can’t handle it anymore – he is just too much sometimes, the drama!
This section of drawers is just to the left of my work desk, so I have some things here that I use frequently, such as glitter, Zig Clean Color and Arteza Markers, Rhinestones/Pearls.
A lot of these white drawers are still empty! How exciting is that?! Room to fill with fun, new crafty stuff! This drawer is full of rhinestones and pearls in a plastic insert to help separate and organize.
The clear plastic organizers were from Pat Catans and I love them for my glitter. They have lids that screw on and I like having them in little containers that make it easier to sprinkle onto my projects. I also LOOOVVVEEE just looking at glitter 🙂 So I can pull out a container and just stare at the sparkle.
Thank you for joining me today! I will leave you with a couple pictures of my crafting companions…
Thanks for joining me again on my blog! Today, I am so excited because I have put up my first YouTube video! I have had this Brutus Monroe Succulent Border stamp in my collection for a few weeks and knew that I wanted to make a coordinating cut file. I used my Brother Scan and Cut to create a file that will cut out a perfectly shaped and sized piece of paper for this image, including cutting out the center part!
This may look messy and probably seems like a lot of work, but once you do the process, you can save the file and never have to do it again for this stamp! This technique also works for other types of stamps too – basically, any stamp that when you turn it over outlines the part of the stamp that creates the image will work.
You will need to put the stamp, wrong side down, onto your paper and ink it up really well with black ink. Make sure you get all the edges of the lines you want to cut. After you stamp it, you can take a black marker and connect some of the lines where it didn’t completely stamp. You need to make sure that the edges around where you want to cut are completely solid. I also found out that to get the best scan and cut lines, you need to fill in all the white areas with black marker.
Check out my video below to see what I did on the Scan and Cut to finish creating this file:
There were some bumps along the way (thanks for hanging in there for my first video! I’m hoping to get better as I keep practicing!), but I loved the finished product and can’t wait to color this image! I plan on using the Brutus Monroe Aqua Pigments, and will post that when finished!
I have included cut files over on the YouTube video description for the Brother Scan and Cut as well as the Silhouette Cameo for this Succulent Border stamp – please enjoy! I haven’t yet figured out how to format to cut on other cutting machines.
If you enjoyed my video, please be sure to head over to YouTube and “Like” and Subscribe! Thank you!
Remember, if you haven’t signed up for the Brutus Monroe Rewards Program, head here to sign up and check out their awesome products!
Thank you and see you again soon!
Hey! Thanks for coming back to my blog! I wanted to add a few more comments about the Brutus Monroe Create Your Own Ending Event – I was so long winded on my first post that I didn’t even make it to talking about the last day of the event!
Our last day of the event, we received a bottle of the new Squeaky Clean stamp cleaner in the limited edition, Sweet Pumpkin Spice scent – O. M. G. is this scent amazing – why not have a great stamp cleaner that fills your craft room with the sweet spicy goodness of fall?!! The supplies are limited, so if you want to grab yourself a bottle (or four), head over to the Brutus Monroe site now – once it is gone it’s gone! If you aren’t a member of their rewards program, check that out here, and sign up – you can get $10 off your first order, and points rack up quickly!
One of my favorite things we played with on our last day of the event were the Color Burst Watercolor Powders. So much fun! We each received two bottles of these in our Class box for the day – I originally had the Merlot and Solar Flare – but a sweet, sweet friend that I met at the event traded me for the Merlot so I ended up with a purple! Thanks DiDi! (have I mentioned how everyone at this event was so sweet and kind and a pleasure to meet and hang out with?!). I have had some color burst powders in my collection for a while now, and will admit that I hardly used them because I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with them. But I learned some techniques that I definitely will be continuing to practice here in the near future. I LOVED these tags that we made – what we did was sprinkle some color burst powder onto a dry tag, near the top. Then spray the pigments with water, lift up and let it drip down! Not only did it make beautiful drips down the page, but it also made some little speckles and splatters of color all over the background. LOVE.
Another technique we practiced with the Color Burst powders, was using it through a stencil. I absolutely loved the effects. You’ll need some cardstock, a stencil, some color burst powders and a spray bottle for this technique. First, you will lay your stencil down onto your paper (and it will work better if you spray your stencil with the ThermoWeb Pixie Spray first) and then drop some Color Burst powders onto your paper/stencil – do not squeeze the bottle! All you need is to gently shake or tap the bottom, if you squeeze, you will get way more powder than you bargained for! After you feel like you have enough powder on there, start spritzing! You will want to have another sheet of cardstock ready, because when you left up your stencil, you can then place it wet side down onto a new sheet of cardstock. I found it helpful to then get a paper towel and put over the stencil and blot up excess liquid while it is still on your cardstock. I think the effect from the second print was my favorite.
The print on the left is what I got from placing the stencil down on paper, putting some Color Burst powder on and spritzing it. The one on the right, is the print I got after pulling up the stencil from the first one and laying it wet side down on another sheet of cardstock and then blotting with a paper towel (while stencil is still in place). (I just realized that these two prints in the above picture are actually from two separate sessions, different colors!)
You can find all the products for these techniques (as well as the Sweet Pumpkin Spice Squeaky Clean!) over at the Brutus Monroe website, be sure to sign up for their rewards program if you haven’t yet! If you haven’t signed up yet, you can get $10 off a $50 purchase by using this link and signing up!
Thanks for coming to hang out with me again! I think I am planning on a craft room tour coming up!
Oh my goodness everyone – what a weekend! This past weekend, my Aunt Linda and I (who have been Papercrafting buddies for over 20 years!) went to the Brutus Monroe ‘Create Your Own Ending Event’ in Pittsburgh, PA. What an awesome time!
The event started Friday night and lasted through the day on Sunday. Upon arrival to our hotel room on Friday, we had this door hanger welcoming us to the event!
The event kicked off on Friday evening with a pizza party and then a class where we created a spooky Halloween decoration. This class, taught by Michael, was so much fun! We jumped right into the action, using paints and embossing powder, and even though we were all given the same materials, everyone’s looked different! The creativity in that room was astounding!
OK, so then onto the first full day – Saturday. When we arrived in the classroom Saturday morning, there were surprises waiting at our tables! The goodie bag was chock-full of crafty goodness…. check it out!
Each day, we also received a box that contained all the products we would need to learn that day’s techniques. We were definitely spoiled during this event!
I learned some great new techniques this past weekend and I can’t wait to keep playing around with the products and making finished projects from some of the pieces I made at the event.
One of the products we received in our Day 1 Class box was a set of travel Brutus Monroe Aqua Pigments – let me tell you, these are the cutest little bottles ever! You can see them in that picture above, near the top left in the white box. One of my favorite pieces I made during the event was a preprinted floral watercolor panel – we had 10 of them in our box and picked out two to color that day. You might notice that, whenever possible, I mixed colors to make my palette consist mostly of PURPLE! My favorite color combination is purple and teal – so I try to use those colors whenever possible.
We did some foiling on Saturday as well…if you have never foiled anything, you need to get on this bandwagon. It is amazing, and one of those techniques where you will oooooh and aaaaaaaah because its so pretty! But I was introduced to a certain foil at this even that BLEW MY MIND. …if you don’t have any DecoFoil in the color Opal, you need to get some now. And you should probably buy a couple, or a few…or as many as you can find. Most foils have a silver backer on them that helps reflect the color and make it pop, but Opal does not have a silver backer on the sheet – it is translucent…so whatever you foil over, the color will show through. Maybe that doesn’t sound like a game changer, but I promise you, it is. We used some Brutus Monroe Chroma Glaze (which I had never used prior to this event…..but quickly went and bought almost all the colors), and then used the Opal Foil over top of it. I had a hard time getting a great image of how amazing this looks, so you might have to take my word for it and go try it on your own, but I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the result. What you do with this technique is use the Chroma Glaze and smooth that onto your paper over a stencil, just like you would any texture paste through a stencil – when the Chroma Glaze dries, it has a shiny, somewhat translucent color to it, very beautiful on its own! After you let it dry, you can put the Opal foil over top and run it through your Minc machine or laminator and that opal adds a layer of iridescent beautiful shimmer!
This will not be the last you see of the Chroma Glazes and Opal foil. After class on Saturday evening, my aunt and I went shopping at the Brutus Monroe store – and I stocked up on Chroma Glazes! I have so many ideas running through my head for this technique and I can’t wait to share with you! Here is a look at my haul from the Brutus Monroe store – and if you aren’t familiar with Brutus Monroe – if you subscribe to any of their monthly subscriptions (which I do!), you get 15% off your purchases online and in store – can’t beat that!
Although I could go on and on (even more!) about the great time I had at this event, I think I need to wrap this post up. One of the best things about the weekend was all the sweet, creative and awesome people I had the pleasure of meeting! The entire Brutus Monroe staff is amazing and took great care of us over the weekend! This was the first Create Your Own Ending Event, but there will be more to come! Next year’s event is already being planned so be sure to keep your eyes open for details about next year’s event, I promise you won’t want to miss it!
You can find all the products for these techniques over at the Brutus Monroe website, be sure to sign up for their rewards program if you haven’t yet! If you haven’t signed up yet, you can get $10 off a $50 purchase by using this link and signing up!
Thanks for sticking with me and reading this super long post!
purplepuppypapercrafting.com 