From Coast to Coast Creations

• If you want your glaze or glue to look imperfect or distressed, wait until it is half set, then bend your item out of shape to create cracks, or use metal to make imprints before leaving to dry completely.
• When you use your paper punches, do not discard the aperture that is left.  Keep them to use as stencils.  Simply stipple colour through the aperture with your inkpads using a sponge or stipple brush.  Your aperture can be used over and over again as a stencil.
• Be sure to use a permanent black inkpad for an image that is to be watercoloured.  A non-permanent inkpad will run when wet.
• Use tiny jam pots for storage (or baby food jars). You can see easily into them without opening.
• A great way to use left over letters from sticker sheets is to use letters from serveral sheets to spell out words.  It gives a slightly eccentric look to your pages!
• Don't throw away your tomato puree tubes.  Cut off the top and botttom with your kitchen scissors, vut along the side, open out flat and wash.  Put on the worktop and rub along the patterned side with the back of a spoon to flatten.  You are left with a lovely piece of metal to emboss.
• PVA glue thickens in hot weather, so add a few drops of water and stir well to thin out.
• Keep micro beads or accent beads to adorn your cards in bags with a grip seal.  When you want to add them to your work, put your project into the bag and shake to apply the beads inside it.  No mess, no waste and all can be stored away until the next time.
• Use a cooled wet teabag dabbed onto the card to create a distressed look if you don't have a brown inkpad.
• Print a contemporary photo in black and white and tint portions of it with photo pens to match your patterned papers and to create a vintage look.
• Save and wash disposable foil pie dishes then die-cut metal tags, bookplates, letters and shapes.
• To make your own customised coloured glue, add a drop of re-inker fluid to your ordinary wet, clear drying adhesive.  You could also add Powder Pearls to add sparkle and shine to your glues.
• Look in the cosmetic section of pound shops or chemists. Anything made of talc and mica with a shimmer can be used just like Powdered Pearls.  Cheap multipack make-up brushes are a great way to apply them.  Pressed powders can be re-powdered by scraping them with a toothpick into a small container.
• For an easy mask, add tape to the area on your stamp you want to mask before stamping.
• Left over silicone (the type that is used for fitting windows or sealing bath and showers) can be used as dimensional adhesive and to adhere bulky items.
• To punch mulberry paper, layer between 2 sheets of copier paper to make it firmer and to ensure clean cuts.
• For a perfect fold without a bone folder, use a blunt butter knofe or a pair of blunt scissors.

• To make more space with the storage of your rubber stamps, remove the rubber from the back of the wooden backs by Simply placing your stamp in the microwave for a few seconds and the heat will warm the adhesive, making it possible for you to separate the stamp from the mount.

• Further to the previous suggestion.   You can leave the sponge on, it helps get a clearer image when you stamp.

• Also when you use your unmounted stamps put some sort of pad underneath.  A magazine will do, this supplies enough 'give' to get a good image or those sheets of craft foam work great as padding under a stamp.

• Store your unmounted rubber stamps in cd cases/

• How to stick your unmounted stamps to the acrylic blocks – use either Eezy mount (available from many craft stores) or you can use a glue stick on the back of the rubber stamp to stick it to the acrylic block, washing both the stamp and block off afterwards with warm soapy water.
• Using a very heavy watercolour paper, precut into ATC’s size ad put each blank into a sleeve to protect from getting dirty prior to use.  Ideal for using for your watercolour ATC’s especially as it never curls.
• Illustration board is excellent for using for your hand-drawn ATC’s as well as using for Chunky Books.  Due to the thickness of it you don’t need to glue layers together as you do with lighter weight papers and cards.
• As Illustration board is too thick to cut with a little Fiscar sliding paper cutter use a rotary cutter, ruler and mat (quilting supplies).
• To remove a stamp from the envelope - If you put postage stamps in a bowl of water and soak it a long time, the time varies and I have not looked to see what is the normal but it could even be a couple hours sometimes. It will release from the glue and envelope leaving a nice clean stamp. It almost always works. I think on an occasion someone may have glued a stamp with a different glue.  Works quicker if you use hot water!
  *most stamps release pretty fast, others take awhile
  *never try pealing it away the paper of the stamp it's fragile and I've torn stamps and or rubbed the ink off damaging the stamp when I was rushed
  * If the stamp is on a coloured envelope, especially red it bleeds like doing laundry! put it in a bowl by itself, otherwise you can put 10 or so in bowl to soak at once

• use a paper cutter and sometimes a right angle ruler (they look like an "L")
• A mini trimmer can come in useful you can find them in the scrapbooking  department of your craft store.
• Some people get the card stock cut to size at their local copier store.
• Use playing cards and gesso them prior to using, however check that the cards are the correct size first as not all cards are.
• A lot of craft shops are now selling ready cut card bases, however this isn’t always the cheapest option.
• Apparently the Coluzzle Rectangle is the perfect size!
• The ATC Wizard tool is a nifty little gadget.
• There are all sorts of printable ATC templates on the web for example this one or even this template that shows how to cut ten cards out of a 8 x 11 sheet of card. 

Lay the bottle cap top side down, then place a SOUP spoon on it and tap at the edges, the edges will flare out allowing you to turn the bottle cap right side up and FLATTEN it "properly". They aren't quite as nice and neat as the unused bottle cap.

or

You can also flatten the bottle caps into button-type embellishments by using needle nose pliers to turn the edges under, then use a mallet to flatten, first on the crimped side, then on the flat side.

A hole can be punched in the flattened cap to create a charm!

or

Using the Spellbinders wizard you make a "sandwich" as follows;

 get out your Wizard and the following: 1 white master mat, the blue master mat, the tan embossing mat, a piece of scratch paper and a few bottle caps (you can purchase unused bottle caps at many web stores selling brewing supplies). Layer the elements as follows:

White Master Mat
Piece of scratch paper
Bottle cap with flat side resting on the scratch paper (If you put the flat side up, when you run the sandwich through the machine, you will embed the bottle cap into the mat…very challenging to remove!)
Tan embossing mat
Blue

Use the normal cranking motion to get the sandwich through. It won’t feel like anything is happening and you may need to push/pull the sandwich through with both hands…but open it up and Voila! A perfectly flattened, perfectly round, no pounding bottle cap!

or

Get yourself a tortilla press!! place the bottle cap down nto the press and close press.  You will hear a "crack" as you close the press but it does work!!  Go to this link to see the press in action. tortilla press used for flattening bottle tops.

or

Place the cap top-side-up on a hard surface, pound it with even pressure a couple times with a rubber mallet. Flip the cap and give it one more pound with harder pressure.

Stamp an image with StazOn in onto a clear cold laminate sheet.  Next remove the paper backing and lay the stamped image onto your work surface sticky side up.  Trima piece of printed background paper to be transferred just larger than your stamped image.  Place the paper inked side down onto the sticky piece.  Rub with your fingers to release any air bubbles.  Flip the piece over and burnish it with a spoon.  Now trim closely around your image.  Place the stamped piece into a container with enough water to completely cover.  Allow it to sit for just a few minutes in order to soften the paper.  Under running water start rubbing the back of the piece.  You will see that only the ink colour remains because it is stuck to the adhesive of the laminate.  Be careful not to run too hard otherwise you will remove al of the colour. 

Next gently wipe the excess water from the trasfer and then allow to completely dry before using it on your project.

1. Place one sheet of A4 acetate into your work surface.  In the centre of the acetate, place a pool of Glossy Accents, aproximately the size of a 2 pence piece.
2. Take two or three different colours of inks and drop them randomly across the centre of the acetate, near the pool of Glossy Accents.  Try to create small gaps between the different colours so that they don't blend together.....yet!
3. Place the second piece of acetate on to of the one with the inks and press them both together.
4. Use a rubber brayer to spread the inks and Glossy Accents across the surface of the acetate.
5. Remove the top piece of acetate from the bottom and set aside for a second, whilst you work with the bottom piece of acetate.
6. Take two sheets of glossy cardstock and place them back to back so that the glossy sides face outwards.
7. Place these two cards onto the inky acetate then place the other acetate sheet over the top to make a "sandwich".
8. Run the brayer across the acetate, moving in various directions.  Go over the whole surface to achieve a good even coverage.
9. Remove the top sheet of acetate and then separate all the cards and acetate from one another. You will now have two sheets of glossy card with a smooshed background and two sheets of smooshed acetate too!
10. Set all the pieces to one side to air dry naturally.  Once they have dried you will notice that the Glossy Accents have dried into a raised dimensional finish, giving a textural smooshed inked background effect.

Technique steps:

1. Prepare your piece to be embossed. The base cardstock needs to be very thick - mat board or similar, due to the fact that thin card will just buckle and curl.
2. Make sure that the ink on your design is totally dry, then cover the piece with clear embossing ink.  This will give your piece the wetness for the UTEE to stick.
3. Cover the wet piece with UTEE.
4. Heat the powder to melt it using a heat gun.  SLOWLY move the heatgun over the page as the UTEE starts to melt.  If you wave it around madly the poder will be blown everywhere!!
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 a total of three times to give the finished effect.  If you are quick you will be able to put the fresh UTEE onto the image and it will stick to the still hot surface.  If this is not the case re-ink with the clear embossing ink. 

SHOPPING LIST

Glossy card (high gloss)

Water based dye inks - the ones you see here have been made with Adirondack inks

Versamark inkpad

Stazon Jet Black inkpad - optional

Heat tool

Sponges

Stamps ☺

INSTRUCTIONS

Ink up your chosen stamp with Versamark ink and stamp (carefully, as it's easy to slip on glossy cardstock!) on the glossy card.  Stamp one single image OR stamp randomly with the same stamp or several stamps - the  more you play, the more ideas you'll come up with.  You can  wait for it to dry naturally, but if you're impatient as I am, you'll need to zap the stamped image with your heat tool.  You can tell when it's ready, as the image becomes a little more opaque.

Take your sponge and ink it up with the water based dye ink - one colour only - then add to the card in a circular motion, until it looks good.  Don't add it all over - be selective.  You can always go back and add more colour later.  Choose another toning or contrasting colour and add more ink - if needed, choose another colour - if not, stay with the two colours only.  Go back in with more colour if you think you need more depth - the more you add, the more the Versamark stamped image will POP through the ink. 

Wipe off any excess ink with a piece of kitchen towel - the resist image will really POP at this stage.

Now take your main focus image and stamp over the background you've created with that - using the same colours you sponged with.  You can overstamp in the Stazon Jet Black - OR you can simply stamp with that and omit the overstamping in the original colours you used - there are many ways of doing this.  The effect is wonderful - all the colours tone and blend, creating a beautiful card front.  All you have to do now is to layer it onto another card or another layer and you have a very quick, very effective card.

WAX RESIST

To get a wax resist effect, you simply need to use a white wax crayon - or a candle sharpened like a pencil!

Supplies

As above, with the addition of a white crayon or a sharpened candle. 

But you DO need the Stazon Jet black ink!

Instructions

Stamp your main image with Stazon Jet Black ink.

Look at the image carefully and choose areas you'd like to highlight - ie, which would look good if there was no colour on them.  Colour these carefully with the wax crayon or candle - making sure the areas are solidly covered.

Add ink as before - you can stipple if you prefer - be careful not to rub the wax off when adding the ink.

When finished adding colour, buff off the wax with a piece of kitchen towel.  Voilà - a perfect wax resist image.  If it isn't perfect, don't give up - practise a little more and you'll get there!!  This is a great and easy technique

Use a CHEAP dictionary or book - buy one from THE WORKS or some other similar place - and tear out the pages.  Cut your card to size (ATC size always must be 3.5" x 2.5") and then glue a page of the small dictionary to it, using TOMBOW adhesive or GOLDEN GEL.  Trim the edges to fit the ATC.  You can just adhere the page to half or a third of the ATC if you don't want to do the whole lot.

Take strips of MASKING TAPE and adhere randomly to the paper you've just glued.  Leave for a while, for the adhesive to get a 'grip', then peel off.  The tape will pull off a layer or two of the dictionary page paper, leaving behind a light covering.

Now add inks - sponge, stipple or just add directly from the inkpad - smoosh the inkpad across the page, gently - more pressure where you want more colour.    You'll notice that the paper takes the ink differently where it's been torn, giving texture and shades of colour.  Heat set - or leave to dry  - then apply more masking tape - leave a while (it doesn't stick well if the paper is still wet from the ink!) and peel back.  Add more ink if required.  If you want a  REALLY distressed look (or Shabby Chic) then sand a little, with fine grade sandpaper.

Stamp your main image using a strong ink - I use Versafine Onyx Black, then add embellishments.  

Materials: 
1. Watercolor paper (nothing fancy )
2. Watercolor paints or pencils 
3. Paint brushes (fat ones work the best for keeping the paper wet)
4. Salt (I experimented with coarse sea salt, table salt and Epsom salts)
5. A general table knife or/and a dry cellulose sponge.

The first step is to protect what ever surface you are working on. I have no studio area and so I tend to work hunched over my living room coffee table. Your work surface will get wet and covered with salt. I suggest that you have lots of rags and paper towels handy.

Take out a piece of watercolor paper and using a wide brush wet the entire paper liberally and allow it to soak in a little. 


After this mix quite a bit of water into your paint colors and start to put them onto your wet surface. You will find that they spread out and blend into one another fairly rapid. I like to move them around and drip into one another causing a nice sort of tie die effect. 


If an unpainted area becomes to dry simply re-wet it with plain water and continue painting. It is best to work fairly fast to avoid this. I put down light colors first and let the dark colors gently blend into them but really there is no right or wrong way to so it so just experiment.


Keep it damp! This is when you add your salt over the entire top. The more salt that you use the more effect you will make. I don’t care for the table salt; the Epsom salts and the sea salt have much more dramatic results. 


The salt will draw up some of the paint and cause texture in the piece.


Allow it to dry but don’t forget about it too long. I found that it is much easier to scrap the salt off if it is not ‘baked’ on or left on too long. On the other hand if it is still too damp in some spots you will scrap off some of the wet paint with the salt.

At this point you’re ready to remove the salt, shake off the excess (outside) as much as possible. Use the general table knife and/or dry cellulose sponge to scrape off the salt. Remove as much as you desire to achieve the effect you want. 

You can save the colored salt and reuse it on a wet sheet of (watercolor) paper to add spotty watercolor. The salt will release the color onto the wet paper creating another interesting background effect. 


FINISHED!
Now just cut the paper to ATC size and let your imagination run. They make a good base for JAM’s, drawings, painting, printing, stamping, collage, altered art and a million other things I haven’t even thought of yet.

It is really easy to do and can give some wonderful results.
All you need is an old foil container some old nail polish and water.

Simply half fill the foil container with cold water.
Drop in some nail polish a drop at a time you can do this with different colours.
Some of the nail polish will sink and some will float. Please do not use anything you want to keep as it will be ruined thats why you need an old foil container.
Allow it to spread over the water
Now drop in your card or paper.
If using card allow it to soak a while paper takes less time.
Take it out and see the results.If you find some of the nail polish is too thick in one area simply spread it out with your fingers it gives some texture when you do this. You will need some nail polish remover to get it off your fingers afterwards.
Allow it to dry completely and you will have a background that is really different. Card takes a while to dry out but it is worth the wait, paper tends to curl but it can be straightened when glued to some card stock, thicker paper is better than thin for this .

Use acrylic paint that is watered down and  a sponge to add extra colour to any areas that have not taken as well as you would have liked when the card is completely dry. This makes the card interesting and you can add another colour to the card if you like as well.

Glitter nail polish works as well and gives a sparkle to your card. Old nail polish sinks more and  cheap nail polish works well, you can get some cheap nail polish from market stalls or reduced in shops and stores. They often reduce nail polish that is not selling well and you get some great colours that way.

Supplies you will need: 
1. Drawing medium such as a pen or pencil. I start with soft pencil then go over my designs with sharpie permanent pen. Ball point pens smear too much so they are not recommended.

2. Paper medium. Commercial weight or heavier paper is preferable. I use file card stock, construction paper, and general copy stock for most of my work, but I have also used tissue paper and newsprint with a few extra precautions. 
3. A Coloring Medium. Mine is a huge tub of Crayola Crayons. Crayola's colors are richer and brighter than any other oil based crayon on the mass consumer market. Many children’s' crayons are wax based and leave too many flakes or too pale a color to be used here. Prisma colors, pastels, oil chalks, and rich colored pencils also work. 

4. A pencil brush can be used before dying.

5. Dying medium. Depending on the amount of time you want to put into the design you can use anything from paints to markers. My preferences are Prang water colors (absolutely the best mass consumer water colors in my opinion), and Crayola Washable Markers. Paints take longer to dry but create a richer effect. 
6. Cotton Puffs. for polishing the finished work. 

Some optional supplies include: a drying lamp, wax paper, warmer plate, steam bath.

The Process

1. Draw your design. Any style design will do. Just keep in mind what coloring medium you are working with. If you use crayons it will be harder to fill in the smaller details. Colored pencils are great for small details but tend to streak or show a grain if used in a larger area.

2. Color your design. Use varying amounts of pressure for different effects. The colors you use will be your resist. I have done many things. Pressing hard creates a greater resist for the dye. While barely applying color may create a misty effect. Experiment to get what you like. I have even seen people apply a different design over the drawn design to get a ghost image. 

Optional Step: Crinkle the image. This gives the final product a cracked or stressed look that is simply beautiful. You can also scratch texture into your design with a coin or etching tools. Just don't remove all the color from your design or there will be nothing left to create a resist in the staining process.

3. Brush away any unwanted flakes, residue or dirt. These things will stop up washable markers and may leave undesirable resists on your finished design. I just use a cotton puff very gently. (Barely any pressure)

Optional Steps. 
Put your image in a steamer container and reapply color for a blotchy and thicker effect. 
Use a warmer plate to melt the colors into the paper. This creates an impervious stain that may or may not resist different dyes. I don't do this step.

4. Apply the dye. The thicker your dye the longer it takes to dry. You can mix dye colors and strokes for different effects here. I tend to go haphazardly at it because I like that spontaneity and freedom. 

OPTIONAL STEP: Apply the dye with a cotton puff, wax paper, tissue paper or different kids of brushes for different effects.
5. Dry. Allow an image to dry thoroughly. I use Crayola washable markers when I want a faster finish because it only takes a minute or two to dye the image. You can go on if the product isn't dry, but it will change the results. Once again try different things here. 

6. Polishing is removing the dye. Using a cotton puff, wipe away the excess dye. The more pressure you apply during this process, the more you remove. I vary pressure for the colors I've used and the effect I want. Again...try different things. 

7. You may repeat steps 1-6 several times depending on your paper base, dying medium, and coloring medium. In textiles the process is usually repeated. I rarely do this process more than once on paper because I like things finished fast, instead of large time consuming projects. 

Once you are satisfied with your design, mount it and share. Before putting it in the scanner I strongly suggest you seal it though! Crayon tends to stick to glass and scanners can get warm. If your crayon sticks to the glass it will come off, but be careful. First sealing your image helps. Various seals I’ve used include Trading Card Sleeves, Overhead transparency film, sheet protectors, and storage/packaging tape (transparent of course!). Whatever you do be proud of your product. It is sure to be beautiful!

Packing Tape Transfers: This technique will allow you to make transfers or transparencies from any image that's on paper, from magazines to newspapers to pages from a laser printer or copier. Inkjet printers don't work, but photo-copies of things printed from an inkjet printer will.

PLEASE NOTE that if the image has any white areas on it, then the white will not transfer UNLESS the image used white ink (which is rare). Usually the white is the paper (example, the paper you printed on), so wherever there's white, your image will now be see-thru.

Packing tape transfers are very simple to do. You'll need:
~ An image you want to transfer (realize that it should only be as wide as your tape, or you won't get the whole picture)
~ Scissors
~ Packing tape (the clear, wide kind that comes on a roll, used for taping packages)

First, cut out the image. Then cover it completely with a piece of packing tape ~ press down well and rub the tape to make sure that it adheres to the image entirely and there are no air bubbles. Trim the tape to the size of the image.

Stick the taped image into a cup of water for about 10 minutes. The longer you wait, the easier it'll be to get the paper off the back. When time's up, take the taped image out of the water and lay it taped-side down on a firm surface. Rub the back of the image gently (using your finger, a coin, or a clean eraser) to rub the paper off of the tape.

Violà! As the paper comes away, you'll see the image from it has transfered to the tape. Sometimes it's not a very sharp image, which makes this good for a vintage or "weathered" look. Make sure you get all the paper off, and dry the tape. It may be sticky on the side with the image ~ in this case you can adhere it to your ATC, or you can use a glue stick to make sure it stays in place.

This is very easy to make, cheap and really does work.

You need:
Printed backing papers from your printer (I used standard 80gm paper) see links below
Baby oil
Kitchen roll (the stuff you use to mop up spills)
Iron

Lay your printed paper on two sheets of kitchen roll (any side up). Scrunch up a piece of kitchen roll and pour on a little baby oil. Rub the baby oil onto your printed sheet in a circular motion going over the whole page. You will start to see it turn translucent. Turn the sheet over and repeat on the other side using a little less oil. Now cover with another 2 sheets of kitchen roll, so that it absorbs any excess oil. Put a weight on top and leave for at least 24hrs. Lastly iron between the sheets of kitchen roll. 

This works best with lighter backing papers.

Cut a piece of cardstock approx 1 cm wide, and thread this strip of paper through the tape hole in the back of your Dymo machine.  You will not be able to close the plastic cover when using your own card in your label maker

Punch your title or greetings as you would when using the standard tape.  Punch the letters slowly and firmly to make sure that you create a good, strong impression.

Once you have created your title you can either ink over the impression using a piece of foan etc, or if you have used cardstock with a white core, you can gently sand over the letters to reveal the white.