The Great Halloween Giveaway!

Hi Everyone!

Thank you, Thank you to all who took the time to make a comment on my blog!  I so appreciate it!.  I loved reading through all the memories of favorite costumes and I hope you did too! Loved Brenda dressing up like an old lady at work, Bobbi as a table (now that's creative), and Denise with the "real cowgirl" costume!  Again, thank you for taking the time to post a memory!

We have a winner in The Great Halloween Giveaway!!

MEGAN HEBEL

Megan, please email at paula@oneluckyday.net to claim your prize!

I promised I would share my favorite costume.  My mom normally made my costumes but one year she actually bought one.  I believe I was about 6 yrs old that year.  

Now you might think this was taken on Halloween but you would be wrong.  My parents anniversary is Oct 18th and this particular year they had a party.  I was in my bedroom (where I was supposed to be during the party) but then the party was wrapping up and I decided at some point to put my costume on and wonder out to the living room.  I was sure nobody would even notice me...

I told this silly story to Tim last year and shared the actual picture with him we met up for a production meeting.  A few weeks later, this came in the mail.  Such a fun memory of parents who have passed on and party I wasn't supposed to be at.  All brought to mind by a found photo and a good friend (and a great boss).

now carry on,

paula

Fall Pumpkins

Hi friends!

I have an easy tutorial for you today all about pumpkins!  I got a couple packages so I could experiment with color, because pumpkins don't always have to be orange!  There are nine pumpkins in a package with three different sizes. They come in a great color of orange which I love but I thought I could change these up a bit!  Follow along and I'll show you what I did.

I was totally inspired by pumpkins that I saw recently at a local antique fair.  Scanning my choices for Distress Paint colors to use, I gravitated towards Hickory Smoke, Evergreen Bough, Iced Spruce, and Picket Fence.  I used a small paint brush and added two coats letting them dry in-between.

I found that if I rub a thin layer of Collage Medium over each pumpkin that the paint stays nicer in the next step since it has been sealed.  Totally worth the 3 or 4 minutes it took to do it.

I used a combination of techniques to get the pumpkins to look the way I wanted.  First I scribbled Walnut Stain Distress Crayon on my Tonic non-stick mat.  I also spritzed some water on the mat to wet my paint brush.  You are really looking to make more of a paste rather than brown water so the less water the better.
Using the brush, you are able to paint right down the cracks in each pumpkin.  I like this method but it was not grungy enough for me so I scribbled directly onto the pumpkins and then rubbed it in with damp fingers.  You can see the result in the next photo.

Now thats enough grunge to make them look vintage!  I still used the damp paint brush to break up any larger pieces of crayon that were left after rubbing it in.
I cut up small *twigs with my Tonic scissors then used Collage Medium to glue them to each pumpkin.
*my husband picked these up for me at the golf course - plenty of twigs there!

I added a small amount of moss to some of the pumpkins and then just waited for the Collage Medium to dry.

I just love how they came out!  So fun and just the right colors for me.

Here you can see how I used white pumpkins in my Found Objects Halloween kit.  

Now if you're not into painted pumpkins, maybe you'll like some with funny faces!  The faces are from the Halloween Remnant Rubs.  I thought maybe they would be hard to put on but nope, they rubbed on very easily (I hardly had to use the Remnant Rub Tool).  I did go over the face with Collage Medium - it gets rid on the slight halo around the rubs and it secures any edges to the surface.  An easy fix.

There are even faces on the sheet for the smaller pumpkins!
You can see I used the same Distress Crayon technique (shown previously) to add crayon over the pumpkin so it fits in with the group.

 I decided to stack them up using dollop of Collage Medium in-between.  It might seem like its not going to keep them together but just leave it alone to do it's magic and they will be glued together for life!

 They fit right in with the group!

I hope I have temped to you to experiment with pumpkins!  I didn't even show black painted pumpkins and I know that would be a great addition to any Halloween Project!

Just for fun I am having "The Great Halloween Giveaway" to celebrate the fall season!  To enter the giveaway, leave a comment here on the blog - 

I want to know what was your favorite Halloween Costume?  

I know what mine was!  

I will post the winner on Thursday evening so be watching to see if it's you!!

now carry on,

paula

Found Objects kit

Hi friends,

I am kicking off my seasonal projects with a kit for Halloween called Found Objects.  I am teaching this class just once on Oct 19th at The Crafty Scrapper along with two Christmas classes.  You can call the store directly for information about all three classes.

The Crafty Scrapper

Waxahachie, TX

#972-923-3151

The Found Objects project is an 8” round with a raised pedestal base.  The kit has everything you need to complete the project including a package of Halloween Paper Dolls and 12 different Worn Wallpapers for backgrounds.  Skulls, bones and pumpkins can be found in the graveyard along with a creepy tombstone and a red-bellied spider.  Complete instructions have four color pages of step-out photos + written instructions.  A few basic Ranger supplies are needed (that list is included in the kit box).  Kit comes delightfully packaged.  

The Found Objects kit is $89 + 10.95 shipping.

If you are interested in purchasing a kit or being on a kit mailing list, please email me at paula@oneluckyday.net

now carry on,

paula

Tim Holtz Stamptember

Hi all and welcome to STAMPtember!
I created two cards for Simon Says Stamptember using the new Tim Holtz set!  This set was designed exclusively for Simon and it has the absolute perfect images for Christmas cards.  The stamp set also comes with four Shifter Stencils.  Follow along and I'll show you what I made.

CARD 1

I created this simple layered card that used just two of the stamps layered on top of each other.  This is the perfect kind of card for someone wanting to make multiples to send out at Christmas!  I used Ranger Sap Green Archival for the background and Vermillion for the sentiment.
NOTE: Sap Green Archival is a favorite for Christmas but it is unfortunately discontinued.  There are however a few retailers that still have it in stock.

Red and white string was added to hold a Christmas Story Stick charm.  I rubbed Mowed Lawn Distress Crayon into the recessed word Joyful.

CARD 2

The second card takes the stamp set to another level by using one image over and over to create the background.  I colored the image of the pine and pinecones with Distress Markers in Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint, Forrest Moss and Evergreen Bough.  Spritzed it with a mist of water and stamped.  Once dry, the bits of red were added using a Detail Waterbrush and Candied Apple Distress ink.

I stamped the bird with Bundled Sage Oxide and the sentiment with Ground Express Oxide onto Distress Watercolor cardstock.  I cut the shape using the Stitched Oval Thinlit.

I mounted the watercolor card front onto gold metallic and red cardstock then added just a bit of craft string from Eclectic Elements.

  

Thanks Heidi and Simon Says Stamp for always making Stamptember such a fun month for stampers!

now carry on,

paula

Simon Says Stamp - Be Brave

Hi all,

I have a new project tutorial over on the Simon Says Stamp blog today!  I hope you'll pop over to see how I created this Etcetera Tag with new Alcohol Lift-Ink.  

I love the way the tag turned out using such rich colors of Alcohol Ink and the Glorious Bouquet stamp from Stampers Anonymous.  Don't you?

To see the tutorial click HERE.

now carry on,

paula

Alcohol Ink Storage Tin

Hi all,

I am so happy I took the time to fix a problem (of my own making btw).  I previously printed out the Alcohol Ink color chart from the Ranger website and placed it in a page protector for a reference when I use my Alcohol Inks.  However, when I was working on a project, I would take out a bunch of colors from multiple tins (you need three to fit all the colors in) and then I couldn't figure out where to put them back.   So last night I decided to take the time to color code the bottom of each slot so I would know where in the heck each color goes.  Problem solved.  Thank you Ranger.
Seriously, why in the heck did I not do this right from the beginning?

Alcohol Ink color chart 

All other color charts

now carry on,

paula

Alcohol Lift-Ink

Hi Everyone!
I spent some time this week experimenting with the new Alcohol Lift-Ink that was just released from Tim Holtz/Ranger.  What an awesome new product!  It takes a few tries to get the steps down, but that is a typical learning curve on a new product.  Also released were larger sheets of white Yupo and new heavystock Yupo.

For the record, Ranger now has 4 Yupo products:
5 x 7" transparent (thinest and somewhat see through)
5 x 7" white cardstock (heavier than transparent - you cannot see through it)
5 x 7" white heavystock (even heavier - blue label)
8 x 10" white cardstock (new larger size)

Tim also has a post he created after the Facebook Live on Wednesday.  The Facebook Live video + information/samples are on his blog.  You can find it HERE.

Now sit down in a comfortable chair, pour yourself a Diet Coke or a cup of tea...this is a long one because once I got started, I couldn't stop!

Alcohol Lift-Ink Pad

I used Yupo white cardstock (my normal go-to weight of Yupo) for all of the Alcohol Ink surfaces in this post.  If you haven't used Yupo before, all you need to know is that Yupo is a NON-POROUS SURFACE...which is perfect for Alcohol Ink.  It is pricey so I usually cut each sheet in half to 3 1/2 x 5", which is what I have done for each of the cards I created.

I dripped a few colors of Alcohol Ink over the surface, then used a Blending Tool with FELT to pounce over the surface and blend the colors a bit.  Love the combination on Patina, Flamingo, Dandelion and Citrus.

Once you have your surface ready, you can use the Lift-Ink on a CLEAN stamp (like the flower below) and stamp directly over the Alcohol Ink.  The ink will "lift" the Alcohol Ink off the surface which can then be transferred to another surface if you wish.  The second surface MUST BE A POROUS SURFACE like watercolor paper, specialty stamping paper or Heavystock paper.

NOTE: I'm going to be honest, I found that I needed to have my second surface ready to stamp on right after I lifted the ink, not because I couldn't let it sit, but because I would forget and wipe the stamp off just out of habit.  That is me and maybe you would be smart enough to remember to stamp it later and not wipe it off like me.  Just a friendly warning.

So here is the freshly stamped Yupo surface.  The first thing you need to do is grab a clean paper towel and dab, dab, dab, (do not rub) turning the paper towel to a clean spot each time.  You will see the image start to appear as the residual Lift-Ink is dabbed away.   Once you are seeing the paper towel coming clean, you can move to the next step.
What happens if you skip this step?  When you buff the surface in the next step you will move the residual ink to other areas and your image could come out blurry.  That is not what you want so remember, dabbing is important!

Next, rub over the image with a soft cotton towel.  Now I'm sure you could you use another clean paper towel for this step, but I like the soft towel for the finish.  The light buffing will fully reveal the ghost image.

Adding another layer of stamping is easy.  This time I used the fabulous script stamp from the Entomology set.
Again, follow the steps:
1. Ink CLEAN stamp with Alcohol Lift-Ink (a dirty stamp will contaminate your stamp pad).
2. Stamp over a NON-POROUS Alcohol Ink Surface.
3. Dab, dab, dab with paper towel (DO NOT RUB...only dab)
4. Buff with a soft cloth.
5. If you wish, stamp a secondary surface before cleaning the stamp with Archival Ink Cleaner and water.  (This is the part where Paula cleans her text stamp before stamping the image on the secondary surface - insert crying emoji).

 I used the Stamp Platform to add an sentiment to the front (from Glorious Bouquet set)

To create the easy card, I used foam squares to mount the Yupo card onto Distress Watercolor cardstock and then added it to the card backing.  I used Tim Holtz Craft Thread to wrap around the side three times and tie a tiny metal heart into the bow.

So, remember I created this piece using Specialty Stamping paper and the stamped images from the last card (sans the Etomology script that never made it to the card front - uggg)

 I used the Stacked Deckle and some metallic cardstock to make a frame for the flower images.

I saw Audrey Pettit scuff metallic cardstock in a diagonal direction and then repeat it going the opposite way so it creates a kind of crosshatch effect.  I loved it then and I'm still using that technique today.

As you can see, I used a stencil, Blending Brush and Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to add a background around the flowers.
The sentiment stamp is from the Stampers Anonymous "Pennants" stamp set.
An easy card created from the "lifted" Alcohol Ink...that's what I call a great "twofer".

 The hanging heart is from the Adornments Milagros set.

The next Yupo surface was created using some darker colors of Alcohol Ink: Willow, Patina, Stream and Wild Plum.  So fun to experiment with the colors!

Here we go with the same process.
1. Ink CLEAN stamp with Alcohol Lift-Ink.

2. Stamp over a NON-POROUS Alcohol Inked Surface.   This is what it looked like just after stamping...just a slight image.

3. Dab, dab, dab with paper towel removing the residual ink.

4. Buff with a soft cloth.

And the finish result using the Flourish stamp.

5. If you wish, stamp a secondary surface before cleaning the stamp.

Can you get a second impression?  Yes you can, it is just very subtle over Heavystock tags.  If I had stamped on Specialty Stamping paper it would have been brighter (see With All My Heart card up above...you can see the secondary stamps mixed with the original stamped images).

To create another easy card, I die cut the Yupo sheet with the Mixed Media Thinlit to get the harlequin pattern.  I added foam squares under the Yupo and mounted it on black cardstock.  The metal prize ribbon which I thought was appropriate for the card is from the Adornments Ribbons and Bows pack.  I used Rose Gold and Mushroom Alcohol Ink to color the silver metal.

The word Thanks is from Shadow Script 2 set.  Black cardstock for the shadow and watercolor paper for the word.  I used a Waterbrush and Distress Ink to color it.  From the Heart is from the Clippings stickers (BEST sticker pack in the world - I can ALWAYS find the right saying on one of the four sheets).

 

 

 Now remember this?

 

I put that piece to good use, using the Stacked Archway Thinlit dies to cut the stamped tag as well as metallic cardstock.  I inked edges then rubbed Collage Medium over the stamped surface and sprayed Antique Linen Distress Stain Spray right into the glue, then dried it with a Heat Tool.

The flowers were created using Watercolor cardstock and the Funky Florals 2 Thinlit set.
To color the flowers, I used a Waterbrush a Distress Ink in Victorian Velvet, Faded Jeans and Scattered Straw.  All the green is Peeled Paint (the best green ever).
Collage Medium and Clear Rock Candy were added for a sparkly look.
The metal 4 leaf clover is from the Adornments Treasures...same pack as the small heart found on the earlier card.

Butterfly - Layers Botanical
Lucky - Quote Chips
My grateful heart - Clippings stickers

 So that is four cards using Alcohol Lift-Ink in the pad form...but there is also liquid Lift-Ink!

Liquid Alcohol Lift-Ink

Start with an Alcohol Ink Non-porours surface just like last time.  The colors here are Citrus, Patina, and Coral.

Using a Blending Tool with a FOAM pad, add a SMALL amount of the Alcohol Lift-Ink.  I took a picture just to show you how little you need to add to the foam.  A little goes a long way! 

Pounce the foam on your surface a few times to distribute the ink into the foam pad.

Lay your stencil over the Yupo and pounce the Blending Tool over the stencil.  Again, it does not take much pouncing to product a light ghost image (remember this is only the first step).  Just a note, if you had added an excess of the Lift-Ink to the Blending Foam, the ink could seep under the stencil and blur the edges.  So beware...you don't need much to get a clear crisp image.

Now you are ready for Step 3...dab, dab, dab.

and step 4, rub with a soft cloth.  The ghost effect is awesome and so easy to create.

I added the text exactly the same way as I did before.  

Super Easy to create this little piece using the Yupo background and a Baseboard Frame.  All the other idea-ology products can be found below.

Well, I hope you took something from this post that will help you once you get the Lift-Ink.  I am quite sure I have only scratched the surface of this fascinating new product but I'll leave it at that for today.  

now carry on,

paula

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