One Word One Technique #12

Firstly, Happy  Mothers Day to all those mothers out there! We hope you have a lovely day and maybe get some crafting time in. Welcome to week 12 of One Work, One Technique.

For a reminder of how 'One Word, One Technique' works, click here  for Maxine's introduction.

The prompt for week 12 is:

March Technique - Embossing

This Week's Word - Joy

This week I wanted to share with you a tip I use for making the most of my stash: using embossing powders to change the colours of my alphabets. This technique can also used on embellishments like chipboard. This trick is ideal for those times when you have a font you want to use but the alphabet isn't in a colour that will work for your project. 

First you'll need to ink your letters, it's worth doing these just a couple at a time so that the ink doesn't dry too quickly before you get to using your embossing powder. When embossing I always use the Versamark ink pad as I find this is the best for this technique.  I simply press the letter upside down a few times on the ink pad to get even coverage. Be prepared to get sticky fingers!

When embossing I always work on a scrap piece of paper which I've folded in half. Having the crease in the paper means it's easier to put any excess embossing powder back in the pot. When the letters are inked you can shake over the embossing powder. 

Once all the letters are covered, I always give the paper a few taps or flicks to remove any excess embossing powder, before putting back in the pot. I then use my heat gun to set the powder.

You'll be able to tell that it's setting because the powder looks like it's 'melting'.

Here's my finished page:

And a close up of the embossed letters:

I hope this has inspired to look at your embossing powders in a new way. As always, please leave a link in the comments if you join in with this month's prompts.

Alexa

One Word One Technique #11

Welcome to the third month of 'One Word, One Technique' :

For a reminder of how 'One Word, One Technique' works, click here for Maxine's introduction.

We're now on to week 11, and the word is: Surprise

and a reminder that this months technique is: Embossing

Sorry I am a little late today, but life as usual gets in the way, but here I am at last!

I have to admit to cheating a little with this one. I have a confession, I have never done heat embossing EVER! and rarely have I done blind embossing, so I took a slightly easy route and used some embossed paper. But please feel free to emboss whichever way you'd like.

I've gone for something in between a scrapbook page and an art journal page this time, just to keep things fresh! I chose a quote that I liked with the word surprise in it and used this to build my page around. The quote goes like this: Life is a celebration of awakenings, of new beginnings, and wonderful surprises that enlighten the soul. – Cielo



I started off with a piece of cardstock and layered some old sassafrass paper with an old Love, elsie embossed white paper with speech bubbles on which I love. Around the edge I used some neocolor watercolour pencils to add a colourful background and used maya mist over the top whilst still wet. I added some ink to the embossed paper so the details show up a little more. I used a few old stickers, some handmade paper, some inking, a crocheted heart and a bit of Dear Lizzy Neopolitan paper too. For the quote I used alpabet stickers for the words 'life' and 'surprise' and stamped the word 'soul', the rest is handwritten.

Here's a close up:


So, a bit different for me, but I had fun playing with it and adding little bits until I was finished. I hope you'll join in and please link us up with your page, project or whatever else you come up with!

Annie x

One Word One Technique #10

Welcome to the third month of 'One Word, One Technique' :D

For a reminder of how 'One Word, One Technique' works, click here for Maxine's introduction.

A new month means a new technique! The prompt for week 10 is:

March Technique - Embossing

This Week's Word - Play

So far so good with my journal pages! For this month's I decided to do some heat embossing to create a resist pattern on my page. I stamped a butterfly stamp several times on a journal page using versamark ink, and heat embossed the images using clear embossing powder. As I layered up the different colours on my page (using distress stains, ink sprays and acrylic paint) I made sure to gently wipe the embossed images with a baby wipe, to keep them nice and white. 

Once I'd got enough colour on there, I added some stamping with black archival ink, and some doodling with a black journaling pen. I've tried to find quotes each month to fit in with the prompt word, but I struggled a bit this week - the ones that I found all seemed really long. So I turned to song lyrics instead, and chose a line from one of my favourite songs from The Offspring.

The page still felt a bit bare at this point, so I went back over it with a star stamp from My Minds Eye. I didn't put the clear acrylic stamp on a block, but used it as it is so I could roll it over the page to give a more distressed look, rather than a clearly stamped image. 

I hope you like my example this week - as always, if you join in with the prompts make sure to link us up in the comments below so we can come and have a look :D

Jules xx

New March Kits

I can't believe we are in March already! I hate February being a short month it always throws me.

Anyway our new March kit is now on sale and this month we have 2 options for you! Both are based on the My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday collection, one used Happy Days and the other Everyday Fun.


You can find both of the kits on the website here.

Annie got to play with the Happy Days kit and has created some beautiful projects. In addition to the kit she also used a sheet of 12x12 paper, an ink pad and white card.

I love how Annie has teamed the kraft with this bright polka dot red to create this fab 12x12 layout, showing that this kit isn't just for smaller projects!


These papers make great notelets and even birthday cards when teamed with the bright buttons and bakers twine.

This tag is just so cute! I love how effective the kraft tag loks cut in half!


I hope that these projects have inspired you and if you buy a kit and create some projects we would love for you to share with us!

Happy Crafting,
Maxine & Annie

One Word,One Technique # 9

Hello and welcome to week 9 of One Word,One Technique!

For a reminder of how 'One Word, One Technique' works, click here for Maxine's introduction.

The prompt for week 9 -
February Technique - Stamping
Word Prompt  - Together
 
 Lately i have been using a lot of Simple Stories papers and one quote on the paper has stuck in my mind
"We may not have it all Together,but Together we have it all."
It pretty much sums up my marriage to Alex and we have been together for 25yrs.

It was time to take a deep breath and crack open my journal for a new technique and time to get messy,lol!
I gathered together my American craft alphabet stamps and my most treasured stamp in my collection,i love it and it comes from Crafty Individuals,every time i see it i think about being on my bike alongside Alex!

 But before i could get stamping i had to do my background,cut to size Simple Stories Green/Notebook patterned paper to fit the pages and torn pieces of old book pages,adhere them to the journal.Then it was time to get messy with a mixture of distress ink pads(Walnut,Fired Brick,Brown Corduroy)re-inker and white acrylic paint until you get the look your happy with...guess you can tell i love the shabby distress look,if you could only see the state on my inky hands!
Using the alphabet stamps i stamped the quote straight onto my journal,but i really wanted the word prompt to pop out from the rest,so i took a scrap of the background paper and stamped the word again.
Cut into 2 ,then inked up using the blending tool and fired brick distress pad.
Glued into place with silicone glue to get the height i wanted.

I then took a journal strip from Simple Stories strip element paper,cut into 4 and inked and then stapled in place either side at the top of my pages.
Taking the Crafty Individual stamp,i stamped it first on the left journal page and then used smooches to give a little colour.
Taking another scrap of background paper i stamped the image again and coloured with smooches.
I then took a piece of Memory glass and popped some Sepia Glossy Accents onto it and placed it over the image,pressing it down hard until it smoothes out the glossy accents,once dry i placed it in a Memory Frame and adhered it with glossy accents to the bottom right to finish my journal pages.


Hopefully although i am a complete newbie at journalling you have enjoyed looking at my journal pages and been inspired to get messy,so go on crack open those ink pads and stamps and have a go!

If you do create a project we would love you to come back over and leave a comment so that we can come along and visit and leave some love.


Till next time
Hugs
Tracy oxoxox

One Word One Technique #8

Welcome to week 8 of One Work, One Technique!

For a reminder of how 'One Word, One Technique' works, click here  for Maxine's introduction.

The prompt for week 8 is:

February Technique - Stamping

This Week's Word - Special

It's a personal goal of mine to include more stamping in my scrapbook pages this year, so I was excited about this month's technique. 

The word 'Special' instantly made me think of my mum because she is one of the most amazing people I know, so I decided to make a layout about her. 

For my page I created the background paper using a 6x4 newsprint stamp. I took a piece of 8 1/2" x 11" white cardstock and repeatedly stamped the design to create the look of patterned paper. This is a great way to get more mileage out of your stamps! And the great thing about stamps is you can pick whatever colour ink you want to use with them meaning you can customise them to match whichever project you are working on. 

To ink my stamp I placed it on a flat surface with the design facing up, and tapped ink over the stamp. Applying the ink this way means you can make sure the stamp has complete coverage . If you're using a larger stamp like I did, when you're stamping onto the paper, you'll need to apply more pressure to the stamp to ensure the ink transfers to the paper evenly. Of course, you don't need to use a background stamp for this technique, you can use a single stamp too to create the same effect. I would recommend starting in the middle and working your way out so your pattern doesn't end up crooked. 

To create the layout I used some of my own stash but also lot's of left over bits from February's Kit 'Love Me', which is still available to buy here. 

If you play along with the prompts be sure to link us up in the comments below so we can come and have a look!

Alexa

OWOT week 7!

One Word, One Technique #7

Welcome to the second month of 'One Word, One Technique' :D

For a reminder of how 'One Word, One Technique' works, click here for Maxine's introduction.

We are now on week 7 and this information for this week is:

February Technique - Stamping

This Week's Word - Love

I don't do a lot of stamping, although I do own quite a few stamps as I do love them! But I wouldn't normally stamp on a layout, so I thought I would take this approach for this weeks prompt. I decided to take a slightly different path for the 'love ' prompt and rather than a page about the people I love I decided to do one on my love of ITALY!!

Here's a photo taken as I was putting the page together. I used a heart stamp to create a background on the blue card stock, a small alphabet stamp set to create the title, a foam heart stamp to make the smaller hearts.


I used an Amy Tangerine paper for the background, some bakers twine from My Minds Eye, Crate Paper Farmhouse paper, a very old Imaginisce paper and some pink and brown ink and an Elles Studio date tag! I added the word happiness stamped with brown ink using an old Heidi Swapp library stamp around the journalling.


Here's a close up of the stamping.


So, hope you join us in using your stamps this week and if you make something lovely, please link us up!

Happy creating!

Annie x