Buying your first Distress inks!

These tutorials are a product of extensive reading, researching and lots of time spent on making them. Please do not copy, or share on your page (for promoting your items in your shop) unless I give you permission to do so. Please ask nicely....I won't say no...but you need to ask.... You can link it on your blogs if you have used these tutorials...please share the link with me when you do use these tutorials...I would love to stop by and see what you have done! 

Planning to buy your first distress inks? Confused as to what colors to buy? Don’t know where to start?

Do I sound like one of those telebrand ads? I think I do!!

 It is confusing if you have a limited budget and over 36 colors to buy..  I had this post long time in the making! I had a lot of people come and ask me how to buy or how to choose the distress inks!

So I’ll just break it down for you, as to how I brought them. 

Whenever buying inks or paints that have too many shades of colors…pick the basic ones first..then buy one color lighter and one color darker than the one you have…In distressing, it gives you a perfect blend…and in coloring it gives you fabulous shading! 

So having said that…what will be your basics first 5 colors?…

Distressing isn’t complete without Vintage Photo..so that’s your first

 

Then pick one blue, green, pink and yellow. 

So your first ever colors could be (This is how I bought my colors, you may choose to differ…this is just a guide..not a rule)

Vintage Photo

Shabby Shutters (Green)

Broken China (Blue)

Worn Lipstick (Pink)

Wild honey (Yellow orange) 

Then you can pick your next set…adding one shade darker and one shade lighter to each of the above…

Antique linen (Lighter than Vintage Photo) & Walnut stain (Darker – I don’t own nor need this color since I prefer fresher colors..but you can if you are going for dark vintagey projects)

Green family- Peeled Paint (darker than Shabby shutters)  & Bundled Sage/crushed Olive (lighter)..

For Blues family – Tumbled glass (Lighter) and faded Jeans (darker blue)/also Chipped Sapphire

For pink family – Spun sugar (very light pink) and  Barn door (darker- it is  more of red) /victorian velvet (muted pink). 

Yellows -  Mustard seed (pure yellow) and rusty hinge (darker shade of orange)

That brings you to around 15 inks! 

Then you fill in the missing gaps…like purple – Milled lavender and Dusty concord

Reds – Fired brick and Aged Mahogany (Dark reddish brown)

Ranger has new bright colors too now...and I love them. My favorites are Salty ocean (blue),
picked Raspberry (pink)
 mowed Lawn (green)
squeezed lemonade (yellow)
Ripe persimmon (orange)
Festive berries (red)

I seem to think these are enough to start with…I have bought more colors, but haven’t touched them…coz they’re the extras…purples and lightest pinks etc..which aren’t that much used…What I use most are my top 15 colors!!

Always keep a color chart for your reference…You can download and print it off the ranger website…and keep adding the colors you get…

And another tip…store your inkpads upside down..they’ll always be juicy when you get down to using it…Since I store my inkpads sideways..I make sure I keep rotating them..else they would dry out in the 44C heat ! 

As always feel free to ask questions....your questions help me learn more and maybe help others who have the same doubts! 

Hugs! Tee (my new name....psst Khush I love it...and my husband has forgotten my original name ..he calls me Tee now!!)

On a Break

Hey all...I'm sure you've noticed my absence on my blog...

I'm on an official break from crafting..or rather crafting on the floor...my back pain had gotten worse over the months...finally trips to the doc and x-rays and blood reports (with fainting spells... I can't see my own blood..I did anatomy in med school....dissected frogs and rats..and yet when I see my blood, I faint!! ) ...

I'm not to craft on the floor..official orders (how I sit quietly...I don't know)..Hubby is quite happy not to get me a working table so that I take rest!! (which I can't)
So I sneak in some crafting time of whatever tools he's not hidden from me! Which is almost nothing..just PP, CS, and my scissors and trimmers....
So you won't see any post from me here....for a while to come...but I will keep posting some stuff..so that you don't forget me....and Blog Candy is being set up..with Stamps and Inks..so watch out!

So off to enable you a bit....Did you check out Pie lane's newest Challenge on using Stencils? and did you catch up on using glitters and stencils?

And if you did, do link me up if you try this out...would love to see what you come up with!

Also Deepthi at My Arts has very kindly featured me as her artist this week...Do drop by to read my ramblings from the heart...

Till then...see you soon!!

Stencils and Glitter

These tutorials are a product of extensive reading, researching and lots of time spent on making them. Please do not copy, or share on your page (for promoting your items in your shop) unless I give you permission to do so. Please ask nicely....I won't say no...but you need to ask.... You can link it on your blogs if you have used these tutorials...please share the link with me when you do use these tutorials...I would love to stop by and see what you have done! 

Here's the part two of the tutorial...I  thought I'd show some glittery stuff to those who love playing with it....In this summer, its impossible to use glitter....can't sit without a fan for even half hour!!

To Start with, I am using 2 inch roll of double sided tape, CS cut to 2 x 4 (depending on the length of your stencil) , paint brush, scrap paper, and glitter!

 

Here I am sticking my CS to the sticky side of the double sided tape... and set that aside for a while.

 Take your Stencil and turn it to its shiny side....and this next step is the most important one...it will save your stencil from being permanently stuck to your tape! :) 

I ruined one stencil this way!! So don't tell me I didn't warn you...

Now find a tiny piece of dry soap. YES, SOAP...and rub it all over the shiny part of your stencil..cover every inch of the stencil. 

 

 

Never mind how disgusting your stencil looks, it will be re-usable. I promise you! 

Just remember to poke out the bits and pieces of soap lodged in the stencil openings...the one near the leaf and the flower...poke it all out....(Who said pretty things in life come easy?) 

 Peel off your double sided tape and stick the soapy side of the stencil down . Try not to touch the sticky side too much..

  

Since I wanted to color the flowers separately, I took some magic scotch tape, and covered the flower part of the stencil... (Same thing what Priyadarshini has done on her stencil card..)

  

Then pour green glitter all over the other areas, burnish (rub the glitter in)  with your finger (yes its mess!) and tap off the excess glitter. 

 

And now you can remove the tape from one flower at a time, and add that particular shade of color. 

Those are my glitters added, burnished and excess tapped off...and because the stencil has been soaped up, it will easy to peel off the stencil from the tape...,   (Clean your scrap paper first before your expose the sticky tape to the extra glitter mess)

 Since my work surface wasn't clean, I got in quite a few flecks of extra color where I wanted only clear glitter (open the pic in a new window to see) Now just pour your clear glitter and go crazy rubbing it in.

 Tap off the excess, brush away the extra specs! And tada! You have one beautiful panel ready to use on a card, album...or just frame it up!!! 

Just one crazy shot of bling!! You know I can't resist that!! 

So hope you had fun blinging up with me....if you need any help, feel free to post your questions! 

Paper Pretty Studio Blog Hop

Hello Peeps,

I have been honored to be a part of a blog hop to welcome a brand new kit club called Pretty Paper Studio which was launched yesterday.

Pretty Paper Studio (PPS) is a monthly scrapbooking + cardmaking kit club based in UAE but they  also stock  all the basic paper craft supplies at affordable prices. The store is live...just drop by and you will drool....if that wasn't enough, have you seen their card kits and scrapbooking kits?  And wait till you see the contents of their very first kits....I am almost ready to break my piggy bank!! :D

Ready for a little peak at their kits for this month




If that is not sheer heaven, what is?

You can purchase their kits at subscriber prices (AED 205) until April 15^th.

To celebrate the Store launch, we are having a blog hop with chances to win some amazing prizes!  Leave a comment here and other blogs on the hop to win Pretty Paper Studio’s Project Kit called ‘Spring Break’. 

Two Lucky winners will be selected from all the comments received to win the kit. More comments you leave will give you more chances to win. Winners of Blog Hop will be announced on April 18, 2012

You should have arrived here from the very talented Shasha's Blog, if not you might want to start from Donna's blog.  And you can always go to the PPS blog, if you get lost on the way :)

When I think of the word Pretty, its always rainbows and butterflies for me...and thus to welcome you all to this blog hop and to welcome the start of a new venture....I have made an complete hero arts ensemble for you!! :) Wishing Paper Pretty Studio the best of very best!! :)

I will be posting details of this card on another post....  Till then make sure you drop by the store and
the Paper Pretty Blog for some AMAZING inspiration!!!

Now off you go to Ujjwal's blog for some more fabulous inspiration and don't forget to keep commenting on each post...you have a chance to win the Project Kit called Spring Break!!

Thank you the PPS team for letting me be a part of this fabulous event!!!

Till then!!
p.s. This is my  300th POST!! keep your eyes out for a give-away coming soon!!! :)

Liebster Blog Award

Recently Gayatri passed this award to me..and I am beyond honored girl...You are such an inspiration to me...I doubt there is anyone who visits your blog and doesn't linger for hours! ....I usually end up browsing all her past posts when I get the time!!

 

The idea of the Liebster Blog Award is to spread the love from one small blog (under 200 followers) to other small blogs. This helps to spread knowledge and readership.

To accept the award, you must:
1) Link back to the person who gave it and thank them for thinking of you.
2) Post the award to your blog.
3) Give the award to 5 bloggers (with less than 200 followers) that you appreciate and value.
4) Leave a comment on the blogs of the five people you have chosen to let them know. 

It is very very hard to narrow down on just 5 blogs... 

Khushboo ( I know you already have it. but I have to give it to you)

Mona 

Divya

Jovita

Saumya ( another crazy chick I love to hang out with on my BBM..you didn't know..BBM is the latest cafe, where I can hang out with my crazy buds!!) 

So thanks you all for inspiring me in your little ways and thank you again Gayatri for leaving love for me!!

Cuttlebug and Stencil Tutorial

These tutorials are a product of extensive reading, researching and lots of time spent on making them. Please do not copy, or share on your page (for promoting your items in your shop) unless I give you permission to do so. Please ask nicely....I won't say no...but you need to ask.... You can link it on your blogs if you have used these tutorials...please share the link with me when you do use these tutorials...I would love to stop by and see what you have done!

I already have this post up at Pie Lane blog....but just posting it here for those who drop in here...Do drop in at the Pie Lane blog for some more inspiration!!

ETA- 

For Big shot users - the stack would be follows (This is only my research, someone will have to do it and tell me how well it works)
From bottom up
Tab 1 of the multipurpose platform
 Cutting Pad
 Metal Stencil
CS
Tan embossing mat/Silicone sheet
Impressions Pad ( link here)

Picture Heavy Post!! 

I have been struggling with  how to use the stencils...I didn't get a proper embossing for a long time...I could use it with with mists, I could get it to work with inks but the traditional embossing...zilch!!! So while stumbling around I finally found how I could use it..but before I tell you that...for those who want to try traditional method of embossing, here is a great tutorial on how to use your stencils with a light box (or use a glass table and put a lamp underneath your table)

Here's Sri showing you how to use a glass table and a lamp under it to use your stencils..(zoom in and you can see some new stencils!!)

But what I did was for gadget freaks like me!!! I used my Cuttlebug!! YES!! The cuttlebug works great with your Pie lane stencils!!

I will show you the cuttlebug stack later on, but first this is how the embossing looks!! That left me speechless!!!!

What can you do once you emboss it?  Place the stencil back on the embossed side...tape it down...and use a sponge and your inks to sponge it over....

The embossed part fits right in the grooves and takes inks very well....

That is Broken China distress ink....is that fabulous or what!!
You can also just rub a small ink pad right over the embossed area without the stencils.. This was with Fabriano Brustro CS...

I also tried with a bit of scrap of pattern paper!!

The paper is on the stencil...instead of removing the paper from the stencil, I just turned it over and inked it up!!

You can use either side for your projects!
I also tried with a scrap  piece of parchment paper (I'm still researching on parchment vs vellum)

So now you've seen what you can do with your Pie lane stencils...and the cuttlebug!!! Here is how to do it!

From the bottom, you use your
A plate
B plate
Stencil
paper (same size as the stencil - try not to use bigger)
Tan embossing mat (this is the secret to that fabulous embossing...you can use a rubber mat not a mouse pad , silicone baking  mat but the thickness has to be around 1.25-1.5mm)
B plate
and CS shims (very necessary)

The shims and the tan embossing mat (from Spellbinders.com) are the most important part of the embossing stack. You can vary the CS shims depending on your CS...for Fabriano I needed 3...but when I used the same 3 shims for the Pattern paper and parchment, the embossing tore the papers. Its a bit of trial and error on your part, but once you get hang of it....the whole world is open for you!! try whatever you can!! and Share with us!

When I used 3 shims, it  tore the paper, 2 would have been sufficient for thinner papers. I use the backing of the cuttlebug dies as shims...you can use thick chart paper, cereal box sheets, etc...one word of warning..if it feels tight when rolling throught the cuttlebug...it is tight...reduce the shim and try again. This is what I've discovered...if you find something new...do share in!

So hope I've inspired you to look at your stencils in a new way today....Do post any questions you have and I will post the answers here itself...so everyone can benefit.....

And coming soon...ways to use glitter with your stencil..

Yes!! I love glitter!!
Happy Crafting!!

Fascinating Friday and an enabler alert!

A week ago Noor from Paperie Designs invited me to be a Featured artist on her blog and I was more than delighted to accept it. Thank you once again Noor for this fabulous opportunity...

 

You can drop by her blog, Paperie Desgins Studio and read the interview here and Don't forget to drop in every Friday to comment on her blog..You have a chance of winning a 50$ gift voucher from Two Peas in a Bucket..Isn't that fabulous? I can already make a long list of what I would buy!!

On another note, how was Holi for everyone? I'm a scared rabbit who hides in her hole when holi comes calling...I hate the colors and for good reason...I spent my day hiding in my house..Thank God hubby doesn't force me to go play!
But it did give me a chance to play with the holi stamps from Varna's stamps...and are they fabulous or what!!

I loved the stamps so much that I wanted to play only using the stamps..no other element to it..and It is fabulous..I just loved using the inks and going crazy with it! All memento inks.

Lemme show you another one...

Sorry, this is a cellphone pic...but you can see..all you need is colors!!! All inks are memento inks.
Sending both these cards to Crafty JC's Challenge - Many Colors Holi

On another note, I'm glad all of you are loving my watermarks...I went a step ahead and got them done into rubberstamp so I could stamp the back of my cards...and who better to ask than Varshitha!!

And let me tell you, its so good, its crazy! don't believe me? here's the proof!

This is how I got my stamp!! And Its so fabulous!! The one in blue is my digital watermark and the one in black is the clear stamp!!
And when I stamped it...each and every detail is visible...the stamp is around 2"x 1.5" approx.

This is the stamped version. Its a sad cellphone pic..but couldn't get my camera to charge up soon enough to take pics and upload. Totally love it!! :)

So if you don't want a watermark, but just want a rubber stamp, I can help you design it and have Varshitha make it into a rubber stamp for you!! Possibilities are endless...

If I don't answer your emails this weekend or the next, don't worry, I'm just a little crazy with visiting family and meeting my bestie after 6 yrs and will be off to an adoption agency to find a baby girl for my bestie!! (Cross your fingers for her)

Wedding Inspiration!

Hey there...did you guys check out the Scrappy Swap at Saumya's blog? I'm surely in...someone's trash is surely my treasure!! :)
Maybe we shall have a challenge post the swap...more when we reach that point!!

For now, I've got a fabulous card for you up on Pie Lane ... and small tip to using your products better!!

Hop on over to the Pie Lane blog, be inspired and come back with your own challenge cards..we love seeing your creativity out there!!

See you over at the Pie Lane blog!

Scrappy Swap....

Thank you all for a wonderful response to the Lulupu team. Hoping to show you more tutorials in the future...if you have anything special you want me to share do leave it in the comments and will try to come up with it...just don't ask me to talk on the video...not yet...saving money to buy a flip cam!

Just here to share news of  tiny swap that I, Saumya and Khushboo came up with while bugging each other on BBM...for those who don't know...its a blackberry messenger...we chat all day..bug each other all night, and its fun...who says you make friends only in person...we have school friends, college friends, facebook friends, if you're in mumbai, you have train friends (whom you meet everyday on your regular route to work on trains) and now we have BBM friends.

(pic courtesy )- This is a random search from google..not my own pic.

Both of us, me and Saumya are paper hoarders..me more than her...we hoard our scraps too...and suddenly we said how about you send me your scraps and I'll send you mine!! And thus the idea was born....we decided to invite anyone who was interested in sending across their scraps to us and take some from us!! :)

For the full list of rules and requirements, hop over to Saumya's blog..

Hello and Welcome!!

It is my privilege and honor to introduce to you a fabulous online store...Lulupu.com.

This is just a fabulous version of the store you already knew as Crafting Queen store. Yup, you guessed it right, it has been thought of and brought to life by Karuna. She has already been helping you get all the crafty things you heart desires via Crafting Queen, and this is just a easier version of your shopping experience.


And I am honored to be part of this store's Creative Team. And as a part of the Team's mission, which is to teach as well as promote this hobby, I have a surprise in store for you over at the Lulupu Blog. Stop by and check out what is that surprise.

Yup there are butterflies involved!! They have to be! :)


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