Back to School Teachers Gift- easy and fun PLUS Bo Bunny Giveaway

 I have a report up on The Scrap Review today! I was fortunate enough to be able to review BoBunny's new Detour Collection.

Now technically, I am a scrapbooker... but my inky painty side always kicks in, so here are a few peeks of some of my projects from my review. To see the rest of the projects, my full review AND a GREAT GIVEAWAY... make sure to check it out here on The Scrap Review blog.

 

I had some product left over so after I finished my projects for the review... I made these little cuties for the kids to give to their teachers yesterday since it was their first day of school. I had to work quick, but I think these came out pretty cute considering the time I had left before picking the kids up from school. (On a side note... making sure that your cookies have time to cool after baking is highly suggested, I learned the hard way)

If you are looking for a fun idea for a back to school teachers gift... this is a fairly easy one and was a huge hit!. Even the kids loved it.

Instructions:

• Make yummy cookies :)
• take a regular size sandwich bag
• Use a 6x6 piece of patterned paper... I used the Bo Bunny Collection for this one, fold in half
• Seal sandwich bag and place the folded crease on top overlapping the bag
• Next staple starting with one side, folding in excess bag as needed, staple other side to completely seal
• Decorate your topper as desired!

This is a really easy homemade teachers gift yet fun too! The teachers LOVED them and the kids thought it was funny that the teachers would have an emergency that required cookies!

Everyday Creative- Custom Resin Gems and casting

This week on Everyday Creative we take Ice Resin a step further and create custom gems for crafting. These beautiful gems can be used in any type of crafting from paper crafting (card making, scrapbooking, altered arts) to home decor, fashion to mixed media art. These beauties can be used for ANYTHING!

Make sure to check out this weeks video HERE... Custom gems and molds... this is a whole lot of fun!

Here are a few projects that I share on the show as well as some close up shots of products in use.

Us 12x12 transparency Layout

 

Here is a beautiful close up of the gem that centers this organza flower... it is awesome to customize your gems any color you desire!

  

Dupioni  Silk Accessories

In this project, the resin gem sits comfortably in a beautiful flower as its center. This hair piece can easily be used as a broach or even as a scarf or purse accent.

And of course in order to customize your Ice Resin... you need some pretty cool products to do so. To color your resin, you will want items that have a similar base to Ice Resin. Since Ice Resin is an oil base, a natural mixer would be oil paint to colorize your resin. You don't always have to use like bases, but it does help to make it easier for the products to mix (something I learned from my friend Jen Cushman).

If you really want to get creative... here are a few of MY favorites to colorize and customize Ice Resin.


Clearsnap makes an AMAZING selection of products that you may not even have thought of to colorize your resin or art materials. One of my favorite techniques is to use their re-inkers to create varying effects. They also make an amazing arrangements of glitters and accent pigments that are a ton of fun as well.

First up is the Clearsnap Archival Dye Ink Refill. This product is used traditionally to re-ink your ink pads... but it is good for so many other uses. When mixed with Resin, it offers a beautiful transparent effect that you can see through. This gives the effect of a semi-precious stone or jewel.

For this Onyx looking gem, I used the Clearsnap Black Pigment Ink Refill. When mixed well, it gives the effect of an opaque onyx gem. Really beautiful.

For some fun, I added Clearsnap Glitter to the resin gem below... Here I used a lot of glitter to give the gem an extra beautiful sparkle.

And here I used the same Clearsnap Glitter to give the gem a lighter sparkle that you can still see through.

 For this gem I used an economy oil paint that I purchased in a set at my local craft store. I wanted to make sure that this gem was next to the next gem so that you could see the difference. In this gem you can see a mild mottling of the color.

 

 Where as with this gem, I used the Clearsnap Pigment Ink Refill in a similar blue color and mixed it half the time than I mixed the black onyx gem. This offered the custom gem to have more of a mottled organic look similar to turquoise or agate.

And with this pink beauty... I used Clearsnap Smooch Pearlized Accent  Ink to colorize it. I used a pink which offered a gorgeous color and yet an even more gorgeous lustre of pearl due to the products highly metallic features.

With this gem below, I decided to have fun and just through some stuff in it :) This is just a reminder of how much fun Ice Resin is and how you can literally throw just about anything in it... This is a product to be experimented with and have fun!

 So I hope this all makes sense to you... This is a fun fun way to explore and experiment with your favorite Ice Resin and Clearsnap products. And of course to pass the fun and inspiration on to you all we are having another giveaway but before we announce that...lets announce our winner from last weeks giveaway!

Our winner for last weeks Ice Resin Giveaway is:

danaAugust 16, 2012 8:37 AM

I have seen this product where i work and am excited to try my hand at it! you can make such beautiful things! just adore the bracelet and the sparkle!so many ideas!

Dana, please email me at primadonnaliz@yahoo(dot)com and I will forward your info onto our friends over at Ice Resin.

For this weeks giveaway... we are going to be having some fun on Twitter! Make sure to use the widget below for your entry!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you again!  If you have any questions... feel free to email me :)

~Liz Hicks ♥

PAJWLH- Super fun technique using stuff you already have

So this week, I wanted to share a fun technique with you to create this fun textured bloom. Looking at this you might think that it is acrylic paint or tar medium, but this is actually just regular old crayons with a hot glue gun. I had this epiphany one day when I saw all of the fun stuff you could do with crayons and thought, well why not take it a step further?

So here is a video that I made to share with you how I got this effect as well as some trouble shooting tips on how to approach this. (MAKE SURE TO TURN MY BLOG MUSIC OFF BEFORE YOU LINK THROUGH)



For this weeks prompt, we are going to use this technique, or you can just use crayons and create your cover. Now your cover should reflect who you are... My cover here is from a class that I taught at Seaside Soire (please check this out, you will love what Charity Wings has in store for this next year!!!). During the class I shared a little bit about myself and my creative journey. My creative journey has not always been a pretty one, I have had a lot of ups and downs working in the craft industry, as shocking as it may seek, not every day starts with glitter and ends with sequin :) But through the ups and downs I have learned to rely on what matters most to me and that is who I think I am and who God thinks I am. So this journal became an anthem to the positive things that happened to me, that in which I could be reminded of the blessings even in the storms. Kinda the theme we have been running on, right?

Now I don't talk much about what has happened to me with my experiences because I do believe those to be private and in no way wish to bring harm anyone, that is the beautiful think about forgiveness... eventually it frees you to live the abundant life you were meant to be. But hurt can torture, tear at you especially when it has been at the hand of someone you hold dear.

What I can say about my journey is that it is a little different than that of my friends as my whole family has been involved, my husband has worked in this industry for the last 3 years as well. So this makes our journey a family one, which also brings pains and trials on us all. The reason why I mention this is that through the ups and the downs in life, we have a choice to decide who it is that we rely on for our words of encouragement, as well as the words that label us. I will say it again (because I can not stress just how amazing Brave Girls Camp is!!!) but one of the lessons that I learned at Brave Girls Camp was to find my source of truth, and maintain it at all cost. My source of truth is God because God's opinion of me will never change, through my ups and downs God is the one constant in my life, cheering me on towards my purpose in life.. it is so easy for us to give up on our selves when we think we are the only ones involved. So besides recommending attending brave girl camp or signing up for soul restoration (the online version) what I can offer to you is to trust who your truth teller is, know that no matter what the truth that they share will never EVER change of you, no matter what. I highly recommend someone who is not a constant in your life as man will always change and not always in a good way... that's what we do we are human.

Through my journey in finding my way back to who I was and realizing who I  wasn't... my soul filled with music (that is usually what moves me) and I would hear the same songs over and over again. This is one song that reminded me that no matter what anyone else had to say about me, that I was still me... deep down inside, I was still the original girl God had planned all those years ago. As well it helped me to realized just how many masks, walls, shields I had put up because of the words that others had said about me and that I had let penetrate my heart.

So here is the song, if you have a chance... I highly recommend listening to it, I am sure we all can relate to it even just a little.




This week will be a series of prompts, choose which ones work for you, but I think they will all work well together, and have some fun techniques too :)

Prompt:

• Use the technique video to inspire you to create the cover of your art journal
• Find your inspiration to create your title for your journal, a title that reflects who you are, and what you have to offer this world :)
• Use last weeks prompt to take the words you wrote down and decide who really knows you and what you feel your purpose is. 

I hope that this prompt makes sense, I know that this has been a fun one for me, as well as a good one for me to really think about. Let me know what you think, also let me know what you think of the video, I tried a new upload technique that took a while, but I think the quality came out fairly nice.

Thanks for joining me today!

~Liz ♥

How could I pick just one?

I couldn't help it, went ahead and posted both videos... I know I said I would only do one, but seriously how long has it been since I did something crafty up on this blog? And I am a sucker for a good old fashion tutorial, so here they are!

I couldn't think of a better time to show how grateful I am for the friends that I have acculimated with my little blog, so here are the two videos I promised (honestly it was a split between what you guys wanted to see) I hope you find them helpful and that they spark your creativity! I also added the Glimmer Mist basics that I did last May for Bad Girls NSD. For those of you who are just now joining my little blog, this was a Glimmer Mist 101 basics tutorial that I did to help share some tips and techniques with using Glimmer Mist (it is a great little tutorial especially if you want an even coating of Glimmer Mist or if you want to know how to prevent clogging your spray).


Crepe Paper Ruffle and Flower Using Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist



Faux Coppering Technique Using Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Tattered Angels Chip Tiles



Glimmer Mist 101 basics to using Glimmer Mist and how to prevent clogging your sprayer



And of course it wouldn't be a very thankful blog post if I didn't do a GIVEAWAY!

Leave a comment on this thread and I will randomly pick a winner on Monday, November 30th 2009. The winner will recieve a Faux Coppering pack which includes 1 package of Travel Chip Tiles, and one bottle each of Patina, Turquoise Blue, Coffee Shop and Copper Glimmer Mist.

Here are the other ladies in the blog hop, they have been doing a ton of fun stuff, so be sure to check them out!

Allison Kreft Abad http://hamblyscreenprints.typepad.com/
Elizabeth Kartchner http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/
Debbie Hodge http://www.debbiehodge.typepad.com
Kelly Purkey http://kellypurkey.typepad.com
Lisa Dickinson http://lisadickinson.typepad.com
May Flaum http://mayflaum.wordpress.com
Patti Milazzo http://pattimilazzo.blogspot.com/
Stacey Kingman http://staceykingman.blogspot.com/
Stephenie Hamen http://cropgirl.wordpress.com
Margot Potter http://margotpottertheimpatientcrafter.blogspot.com/
Lain Ehmann http://knitandpurlgrrl.blogs.com/five_things/
Margie Romney-Aslett http://www.margieromney-aslett.typepad.com/
Rhonna Farrer http://rhonnadesigns.blogspot.com/
Wendy Smedley http://wendysmedley.typepad.com/
Jodie McNally http://jodiemcnally.com/
Becky Novacek http://www.beckynovacekphotography.com/
Jennifer McGuire http://jennifermcguireink.typepad.com/

I hope you have a very blessed Thanksgiving this year. For us this is our first Thanksgiving in Colorado, which is making us all so much more grateful for our family.

Give your loved ones a hug, they deserve it and so do you!

Many thanks to you all!

Love,

Liz

Now that's cool...

A few months ago I was asked By SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L (tm) to come up with some projects for them. I absolutely was thrill (jumping up and down, side to side with a little dance) to have fun with their product. Today, I recieved an email From Kerri, with some super cool news. As if designing for them wasn't enough, she wrote up an article using my samples, now that's cool! Here is the article and some of the projects that I created with their Adhesive sheets, Mounting Squares and Craft and Photo Tape, which are my go to items right now (although their new repositional E-Z dots may be joining the group!). If you have tried thier Craft and Photo Tape than you know it is the best in the industry, sticking EVERYTHING to your project. A nice tip is to use the Craft and Photo tape to adhere your loose crystals. What I did was layed out the Craft and Photo Tape and lined my crystals across the tape facing up. I do this when I get my crystals and create a long strip of crystals. I then cut the crystals off as I need them. You can create cute photo corners with these as pictured on the "ME" layout.

On the "WE" mini album, I used by BFF cardboard and Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L (tm), Adhesive Sheets. These pretty little things are amazing! For this project I used the adhesive sheet as an art medium to adhere glitter, flock and gold leafing to cardboard adding to my girly grunge craze. I first tore the right hand corners off of the cardboard. I then took the adhesive sheets and applied them with a "loose application" randomly applying the adhesive to the cardboard. After the adhesive is applied, I then added my flock, glitter or leafing to cover the adhesive. The adhesive is so strong that it holds the product to the page with ease. I completed each page with a little stamping, a nice rub from my ink pad giving my project the true grunge effect that I so love.

This is also a new favorite for me with working with acrylic. Adhesive sheets offer a seamless look to attach paper to your acrylic. Just cut the adhesive sheet down to your project size (make sure to keep a peel tab) and peel the protective covering off and adhere it to your paper then peel the second protective sheet off and adhere it to your acrylic. Seriously these rock!

Thanks for sharing in this super cool moment with me, I hope you have enjoyed my little tidbits and techniques. I really hope to be able to do this more this year, Now that I found my video camera (it was missing up until last week) I hope to do more tutorials. Hopefully I can give you visualites a video of what I have done here.

Thanks!

~liz

What a Weekend!!!

I just want to thank all of the fun people I met this weekend at the Urban-Anthology Cyber Crop for the Cure. We completed a great LO and had fun with tons of product and techniques. If you have a chance, check it out on their site, the tutorials I did are still up and can be found here:

Post 1: Photo editing, creating a warm autumn glow and leveling out your pictures
Post 2: Prima Hybrid, introducing the easiest form of hybrid (that I have seen) that will give your pages an added depth and pizzaz.
Post 3: Creating a custom background page using plain carstock, glimmer mist, acrylic paints, distress ink pads and stickles.
Post 4: Hand made Embellies: video 1-creating a harlequin pattern out of cardboard and Prima Paintables. video 2-Altering your cardboard to give it a "Girly Grunge" look.
Post 5: finalizing the layout and glimmer misting flowers the Final project is shown as well as explained.

So in total there are 6 tutorial videos one in each post with the exception of post 4 that has two.

Let me know what you think, I had tons of fun and again a big THANK YOU to the peeps over at Urban Anthology, Kari, Ching and the gang.... I had a blast!