May
16

I love going to gift shops and markets to find unique treasures. I see fabulous wonderful items and I often think, “I can make that!”. Browsing Pinterest creates the same reaction–how many projects have you thought you would/could/should make from Pinterest?

This altered star is a mish mash of ideas I have seen all over crossed with an affinity I have for stars. I have several large metal stars around my house and when I saw the “Star, 5 Point 3-D” Sizzix die I had to have it!!

I created the base from chipboard using the die and Tombow Mono Adhesive Power Bond.  This strong adhesive is perfect for chipboard and will hold up against gravity in the years to come.  A little paint, a few elements from Canvas Corp’s kraft patterned paper, and some bits and pieces all came together to make a shabby piece, perfect for decorating my mantle.  The trick to decorating a piece like this is using an adhesive that will resist gravity for years to come.

Since this piece was going to be hanging somewhere that people could examine it up close, it was imperative that the adhesive be virtually invisible. I used Tombow Power Tabs to adhere most of the elements to the star — not only do the Power Adhesive Tabs give the embellishments dimension, they are crystal clear. For added dimension, fold a Power Tab in half onto itself for a double thick 3D effect.


Finally, I attached chandelier crystal to the bottom of the star for a blingy, sun catcher. I set the ribbon the star hung from on a candle stick and set a 3″ wide candle on top to hold it in place. The crystals catch the light from the burning candle and set the walls aglow!

Supplies:


May
15

With graduation fast approaching (it was May 12 for us and most schools around us), I was needing some girly gifts. I decided to make some address books for the recipients to keep track of their friends and family. I realize that nowadays we have internet, but I’m sure they will have thank you’s to write, birthday cards to send, etc.

A local store had these small notebooks. The covers are soft, but I knew I wanted to alter them. Tombow’s Glue Stick is perfect for adhering the patterned paper to the notepads. You want to get a VERY good coverage, so that in humid weather (such as we have) the paper doesn’t pop up where there is no adhesive. So go ahead and cover the WHOLE piece with the glue stick. 

To adhere those skinny letters, Mono Adhesive Dots is the perfect adhesive to use! You just add the adhesive to the back, adhere to the front of your project and then rub away any excess adhesive. I love using this adhesive for small pieces like this!

I used Mono Adhesive Permanent for the ribbon and tabs and Mono Multi Liquid Glue for the ric rac. All Inky Antic images are colored with Irojiten Pencils and blended with Gamsol.

 Here is one I did in blues. 

and last but not least, here is one in pink

I hope this gave you some ideas for graduation gifts.

 

Thank you for stopping by,

 

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May
14

Here’s a step-by-step blending and layering with Tombow’s new Irojiten Colored Pencils. These high quality colored pencils are beautiful to use and the colors are really yummy! I colored the stamped image with the Deep Tone I colors from the Irojiten Rainforest Edition.

For the wings I used the green/blue hues: D-5 olive yellow, D-7 forest green, D-6 elm green and D-8 Midnight Blue

Start with a light touch and your lightest color. Blend following the contours of the image. It’s important to blend softly at first, then intensify the color with additional layers and harder pressure.

Here the additional colors have been added, still using a light touch and softly blending one color into the next.

Layer and blend with a harder pressure on the wings until you get the color intensity and blending you want. For the dragonflies body I used D-2 Chestnut Brown. The color is again added softly, and then layered until it’s darker at the top and shaded lighter towards the bottom. The strong point strength and precise engineering of Irojiten Colored Pencils means you can press rather hard with the pencils to get that deep color at the completion of the blending. This also means no more annoying breaking of the lead, even when sharpening in an electric sharpener!

A great tip for blending the color and removing any strokes is to use the colorless Dual Brush Blender Pen. It works nicely to blend and brighten the Irojiten colors.

Here is the finished colored image – beautifully blended and color layered with Irojiten Colored Pencils.

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May
13

To all the wonderful women that are a constant source of

unconditional love!  

We want to honor all those special women who do so much for so many.

You are a blessing!

May
11
Hello, I think things are finally slowing down a bit and I had a chance to get in the studio and get inky.   Today I am sharing a fun little Tea Bag Book that I made.
Isn’t it adorable?  I was lucky enough to recently win a fab supply of goodies from My Mind’s Eye’s new Indie Chic Saffron line.  I love, love the colors in this line.  At first, I wondered if the colors would be a bit to fallish, but nope, they are perfect for right now.
I started with a piece of brown cardstock that measures 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ and scored it at 4″ and 4 1/2″ to create the little book.  Next, I stamped this sweeeeeet teapot from the Our Craft Lounge Tea Time set in brown ink onto a print piece of the MME/Saffron paper and colored it in with my Tombow Dual Brush pens and blended out the color a bit with the Tombow Dual Brush Blender pen.  Trimmed it out and popped it up with some Foam Tabs onto the front of the book that had been layered with some of the Saffron prints and some pink cardstock from American Crafts. The pink crochet trim is also from the Saffron collection.
For the inside of the book, I stamped a sentiment from the OCL Tea Time set and layered it to more of the Saffron and solid carstocks.  For the little tea bag pocket, I cut a piece of cardstock 2″ x 3 1/2″ and scored it at 1/4″  and 1/2″ and then removed the corner pieces (cutting on the score lines) and folding on the score lines to create the pocket.  I added some Tombow Mono Multi to the back of the pocket to hold it nice and snug to the right side of the book.  I stamped the tea cup and decorated the same as the teapot.
 For all of my flat layers, I used Tombow Mono Dots Roller to hold everything together perfectly.

I had crinkled up the doily so it would sit real flat onto the right side, so I added some Tombow Mono Multi as I knew that it would hold the doily in place without a problem.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and take time to share a cup of tea with a friend.
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May
10

I wanted to do a post about my car since everyone hates the color and they are always giving him names. For the title I used a Jefferson Airplane song because I was really stumped on the title.

For my title I used two pages of a Smash Pad. I love washi tape but honestly, I don’t fully trust it so I always use my Stamp Runner Dot Adhesive. I also use my Stamp Runner Dot Adhesive for photos and papers and ALL the matting I do. Whenever I used Epiphany Crafts tools I always use the Mono Multi Liquid Glue but, this time I wanted to give it a pop so I used the Tombow Foam Tabs.  I love using paper clips but sometimes they lift the paper, which bothers me a bit. For that I use the Mono Multi Liquid Glue or the Tombow Power Tabs.

All the papers are from My Mind’s Eye, On The Bright Side Collection.

For the nicknames list I used another Smash Pad Page and a Label Maker.  To make the cars pop and to give it a 3D I used a technique that I learned from Marie and you can see it HERE. I just used a base photo an using another copy I embossed it following Marie’s directions. I used those popsicle sticks that come with rub ons.  When you are done it should be a little rounded. Also on the corners of the photos I used Correction Tape and on the inside lines I gave it a distressed look by scrapping the lines with my nails.

In addition to the embossing I used Tombow Foam Tabs.

This technique is way easier than it looks, I hope you give it a try!!

I hope you liked this layout along with this awesome 3D photo idea!!

Take Care!!

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May
09

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo - COVER

This summer my daughter is planning a series of adventures with family, friends, and Girl Scouts so I thought it would be great to make her a journal to keep a record of her adventures in! This album needed to be trendy and fun to fit her personality and not embarrass her (let’s face it, she’s a teen!!) and also be functional and hold up to plane, car, and foot travel. Yes, she will be hiking and zip-lining through the mountains and I want to see journaling from that! LOL

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo - detail 3

To create a festive look, I made “flowers” from twine and card stock circles. I also added a transparency die cut of a typewriter for a bit of a “trendy” touch.  Here’s how:

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo - Supplies

Punch one circle per flower. Apply Tombow’s Mono Power Bond Adhesive Runner to cover each of the paper circles.

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo - Adhesive Runner

Add a button or round embellishment to the center of each flower. I used the Epiphany Crafts Round 14 Shape Studio to create custom round epoxy style embellishments.

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo - Circles

Next, wind colored twine around the embellishment and continue winding until the twine coil covers the paper circle. Adhere the end of the twine to the back of the circle and add to the book cover.

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo - Wrapping 1

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo - Wrapping 3

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo - detail 1

To adhere the transparency die cut, I applied two Tombow Power Adhesive Tabs to the back. The clear tabs won’t be visible once the typewriter die cut is in place and they will surely hold up to all of the handling this journal will receive in the coming months.

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo -  Tabs on tarsns back

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo - Tabs on Transparency

Summer Journal by Jennifer Priest for Tombow and Epiphany Crafts Lily Bee Hydrangea Hippo - detail 2

Now, to get my daughter to actually write in the journal over the summer is whole other story!

 Supplies:

  • Tombow Mono Power Bond Adhesive Runner
  • Tombow Power Adhesive Tabs
  • Paper, Sticker by Lily Bee
  • Chipboard Stickers by American Crafts
  • Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Round 14 & Bubble Caps
  • ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink
  • Zutter Bind-It-All Machine and O-Wires
  • Ribbon, Chipboard, Trim by hydrangeahippo.etsy.com
  • Transparency by Hambly
  • Diecut by Sizzix
  • Punches by Marvy Uchida, EK Success
  • Doily by Martha Stewart
  • Twine by The Twinery

Happy Memory-Making :)

Posted by Jennifer Priest of  hydrangeahippo.com

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May
08

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, with today being Teacher Appreciation Day. I am sharing a card with you today that I created for CHA in Jan. I have made extra and will be giving this to the teachers whose rooms I work in. I am a 9-12 grade para and work in all math classes and one reading class this semester so have enjoyed the number break in my day a bit. 

I stamped the image with permanent black ink onto watercolor paper and then colored her with Dual Brush Pens.  The sentiment is also stamped and then underlined with a black Dual Brush Pen and colored along the edge with a soft brown. Mono Adhesive Permanent was used to adhere the panel pieces together. To make the image pop a bit, I used Foam Tabs to raise it.

I plan to give a card thanking the teachers for all their hard work and a homemade caramel apple. What are you doing for Teacher Appreciation Day/Week? I would love to hear from you as I’m always looking for new ideas.

Thank you for stopping by,

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May
07

Here’s another DoodleDab made with Tombow Dual Brush Pens! This super easy DoodleDab is a wonderful accent for your lettering, to decorate an envelope or to doodle onto a card. Sunny and bright, they can embellish all your spring paper crafts!

Here’s a reminder of the steps for making a DoodleDab. To make the teardrop stroke, simply press the brush tip to the paper. You can push hard to make a good size stroke, the flexible tip is strong and will hold up stroke after stroke.

To make a two-toned stroke, place the darker color onto a plastic palette. Pick up with a lighter color. Now when you make the teardrop stroke you will magically have a perfectly blended two-toned stoke!

For the Daisy DoodleDab I am using the following Dual Brush Pens: 925, 555, 685 and 195. Start by making small ovals with the fine tip of the orange marker. Make two-toned strokes using the dark blue and purple markers. Start in the middle of the flower center and add the petals, making them smaller as you move out to the sides. With the fine tip of the green marker, add the flower stems. Make two-toned leaves using the dark blue and green markers. I also added a few falling petals and curly dots as accents.

Here’s a sample of the daisy DoodleDabs accenting some lettering.

Have fun DoodleDabbing!

Next week, blending with Irojiten Colored Pencils!

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May
05

National Scrapbooking Day was started by the well-known album company, Creative Memories and is celebrated on the first Saturday in May. Since 1994 scrap bookers all over the country celebrate their passion for Scrap-booking on this day! Here are a couple of links to publications and companies that are helping celebrate National Scrap-booking Day…http://scrapbooking.com/ &  http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/ be sure to visit and see all the fun they are bringing you!

Tombow’s Design Team is getting the action too, you can see how much fun they’re having…have a great day and

happy scrapbooking everyone!

Debbie Fisher,  is showing us one of the pages from a Scrapbook she is doing about her oldest son Benjamin. They all seem to grow up so quickly don’t they? Scrap-booking is a wonderful way to keep those memories alive and well long after that special moment or event passes.  I have Scrap books all over my house about my family, I pick them up from time to time and just leaf thru and take a shot trip back down memory lane…you can too!

Did you know that according to CHA research most people craft for one or a combination of these key benefits?

    • Sense of accomplishment

    • Relaxation

    • Memory keeping

    • Health

    • Economy/Value

    • Recommended by friends or family

    • Enables spending time with others

    • Interaction with children

Speaking of children, look what wonderful pages Jennie Garcia,  did with her daughter Ithamar in mind!

These are so cute; children make wonderful subjects for scrapbooking.

        

Scrap-booking is a great way to chronicle the growth of your family. Children change so quickly and Scrap-booking is a great way to capture all those special moments you want to remember.

 

Marie has such a wonderful family and you can see how she has created a few scrap-booking pages using a different look for each occassion.

 I just giggle when I see the little ones face holding that bug…

              

All of these pages are so special, each one hold so may memories, I hope you have tried scrap-booking, if not use so of these examples to get started, you know you have lots of memories you want to share and keep forever. I hope you have a wonderful day scrapbooking, come back to see us soon…..

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