I have been having a blast with some of the new products from Tattered Angels.  For today’s project, I used a Deep Cradle Claybord (Amspersand) as the base.

The finished piece is approx. 6″ x 6″.

I stamped the large heart and wings from the Timeless Romance stamp set in a Stazon ink onto the claybord.  I then painted in the image with Cowboy Glimmer Glaze.  It has a wonderful translucency that allows you to see the detail of the stamping, while adding  gorgeous, quick-drying sheen to the project.  I painted select detail areas, such as the center heart of the stamped image with Luscious Lavender and Tidepool Glimmer Glam.

Once that was dry  I sprayed several colors of Glimmer Mist over the top, allowing them to blend together in the middle.  The painted areas resist the Glimmer Mist, allowing their original colors to stay true.

I used Cowboy and Emerald Cove Glimmer Glaze to color the key element as well.  From silver to this aged patina look:

I also used some Glimmer Glam on this project.  I coated the Glimmer Glass flourish as well as the keyhole on the back side with Luscious Lavender Glimmer Glam.  Look how they sparkle!

And for a final bit of glamour, I painted Luscious Lavender and Tidepool Glimmer Glam onto the white lace ribbon.

I titled the piece using Webster’s Pages for the sentiment, “la Vie est Belle” (life is beautiful).

All of these product together, create a wonderful, textural piece.  Once completely dry, you can add more texture by scratching into the surface of the Claybord to expose the original white surface underneath.

Have fun and keep experimenting with all of the wonderful mixed media products now available to you from Tattered Angels!

And make sure to check out the Tattered Angels Educator blog.  Today I’m posting a great organizational tool.

Sally Lynn MacDonald
Tattered Angels Golden Embassador
http://inkyheart.typepad.com

For one of my samples for the CHA show next week in Orlando I made a small banner using three Nature Chip Tiles.

Banner using Nature Tiles and Framed Fonts

The Nature Chip Tiles come in a set of six, each 4″ x 7″ white chipboard with lovely embossed designs.

Set of 6 embossed white chipboard tiles, 4" x 7" each

Typically embossed designs such as these are embellished with ink to give them contrast compared to the application of Glimmer Mist.  But this time, I decided to try something different and make the designs somewhat ’resist’ the application of Glimmer Mist and retain their original color.  

The typical way to accomplish this would be to apply embossing ink and clear powder — but getting the ink to hit ONLY the raised areas on such an intricate design takes a lot of work PLUS I didn’t want the resisted area to have a shiny appearance.  I could have possibly sanded off the embossing when I was all done, or attempted some type of absorbtive batik — but what a lot of steps to achieve the look!!  So I went to the old crayon box and grabbed a white crayon to achieve the result I am looking for.

Taking the flat end of the crayon, I applied the white wax to the embossed designs by dragging the flat surface in small circles over the designs.  This application is not perfect, but it achieves the desired effect quickly and inexpensively.

Once the Glimmer Mist is applied to the framed font piece, you can see the resist in progress.

Resist in action

See how wonderful that is?  Easy, and shows off the intricate designs in a different light.   Look at the delicate beadwork around the edge and the small delicate dragonfly that has resisted the ink based on the crayon application.

Now you can create contrast using stamps, such as this gorgeous *new* large dragonfly, applied with a plum chalk ink.  I also applied the plum chalk ink over the top of the Framed Font that was first sprayed with Glimmer Mist and dried.

Resist alongside Stamped Image

Look at this great *new* stamp set!  It coordinates with the Dragonfly Glimmer Screen too.

Large Dragonfly Clear Stamp Set, 6" x 10" packaged

Supplies used:

• Glimmer Mist in Pashmina (purple), Frozen Lake (blue) and Candlelight (yellow) 
• Nature Chip Tiles
• Framed Fonts, Regal
• Framed Fonts, Nature
• White trim
• Misting Mat

Another idea is to stamp your image and create subtle highlights using the white crayon (pointy end this time!) before you apply the Glimmer Mist to your project.

I hope you give these techniques a try.  And make sure to look on the main website for the new product catalog.  I’ve got to get back to finishing samples before I get on that plane….  LOL!

Sally Lynn MacDonald
www.inkyheart.typepad.com

Did you ever get excited about office supplies as a child?  I remember a couple of weekends where my Dad had to work at the office and I went along with him.  Oh, the joys of the typewriter!

I see that same sparkle of excitement from my young children when my husband comes home from a business trip with a notebook or journal in hand from his business meetings.  The pages where notes were taken were carefully removed beforehand – and placed into their hands a blank canvas for ideas to be written down.

Truth be told, I get just as excited about those blank canvases.  And on a recent trip he came home armed with one for me as well.  LOL!  Ahhhh, white chipboard covers and lined notebook pages.  What could be better.  I’m easilly pleased, I guess!

So I set about to decorate this journal with all these thoughts running through my head.

Overview

The quotation seemed apropos, “the world is a wonderful place when you’re young.‘ – e.b. white

First, I selected the colors I wanted to work with.  I’m a big fan of pink, personally.  Brown goes nicely with that of course.  And perhaps some blue and green.  So I chose:

• Sweet Pea
• Frost
• Olive Vine

And I always work with some metallics, to upgrade the look of the elements I’m working with.  I chose:

• Dew Drop
• Graphite

I printed out my sentiment on vellum paper using a laser printer.  Then I sprayed Dew Drop lightly over the top – voila!  I had shimmering, pearlized vellum!

a very vellum improvement

Next, I worked on my title letters.  I chose the Regal Alphabet Framed Fonts.  These are initially a light cream color.  I pressed them onto the misting mat, lightly sprayed with Sweet Pea Glimmer Mist.  This placed the color on the raised, embossed areas of the letters.  I also dipped a makeup wedge into the leftover mist and colored the edges of the letters.  Once this was dry, I sprayed them with several light coats of Graphite Glimmer Mist.  I love the end result.  They look like tooled metal letters – and it took no time at all to achieve this look!

faux tooled metal

Now with all that gorgeous Graphite laying around on the misting mat, I decided to dip the edges of my book, and decorative papers in – for an added richness to these elements as well.

Graphite Edging on corners

 And at the same time, after I stamped and heat embossed an image in brown embossing powder I took a waterbrush and painted inside the image with my Glimmer Mist colors.  I edged it in Graphite and once dry, sprayed over the entire piece with Dew Drop.

Graphite edges and painting of stamped image

 I sprayed a couple of white Festive Flowers from Prima with my Glimmer Mist colors and embellished the center with a Glimmer Chip fleur de lis in Regal, Creme de Rouge.  I also placed a photo corner from this set at the top right.

And finally, a few birds from the Glimmer Glass, Nature – Cocoa set came to nest on the cover as well as felt and satin ribbon, a few punched leaves, which were highlighted with their coordinating Glimmer Mist for ‘veins’ and a twig from outside my front door.

Glimmer Glass bird

So now that my journal is done, I intend to take it on the road with me – to jot down little glimmering ideas and see what they turn into.  I hope you’ll join me in making a project that will help rekindle the simple joys that we so often forget  while we go about our everyday lives.   Thank you for reading.

Sally Lynn MacDonald
www.inkyheart.typepad.com
Tattered Angels Educator and Design Team Member

I have three small children who are fascinated with pictures and stories from when I was their age.  Yes, I know this will be short-lived!  But for now, I am the all-knowing, wise Momma – so let’s just go with it.  LOL!  My husband dug up a picture of the two of us from about 20 years ago and I realized how few pictures we have like that. I didn’t keep up with photographs like I do now.  So I decided to make up a book, with journaling prompts, that I could fill up with photos and stores for my kids to read.  For a laugh, I’m calling it ‘In the Old Days’.

Regal Book - In The Old Days...

I started with a Regal Glimmer Glass Window Album.  For the cover, I took a ‘bit too bright’ patterned paper and made it into a lovely texture by toning the color down with Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist and a bit of Pink Bubblegum thrown in too for fun.  While the paper was wet from the Glimmer Mist, I crumpled it up good and flattened it out to let it dry.

Crumpled and Glimmer Misted

Once this paper was dry, I placed it underneath the cover page of the album.  I used a dark pen to trace the fleur de lis pattern from the cover onto the patterned paper.  I used an exacto knife to cut out the shape.  Your paper has to be dry for this step, or it will tear easily.

I gently removed the coil binding from the album and adhered my patterned paper over the top.  Holding the cover piece over a light box, or even against a glass window, I used my exacto knife to make an ‘x’ in each binding hole.  Gently place the cover page back into the binding.

I stamped my sentiment onto white cardstock and then dipped the edges into the leftover Glimmer Mist on my craft sheet.  I then gave it a quick overall spritz of Gingerbread Glimmer Mist as well to make it off-white.

Stamped and Glimmer Misted Title

I sprayed two Creme de Rouge -Regal Glimmer Chips, a key and keyhole with the Coffee Shop Glimmer mist.  Because I wanted a heavier application, I then placed these face down on the craft sheet to get a puddled amount on the key.  I sponged the Glimmer Mist heavilly on the keyhole as well.  I wanted to give them a slightly rusted look.

'Rusty' key hanging from Ribbon

 I adhered the Fleur de Lis Glimmer Window piece to the back of the cover page.  To make it more prominent in the design, I sponged Coffee Shop Glimmer mist along the edges and finished it off by tracing the image with Distress Stickles in Vintage Photo.

Glimmered and Distress Stickles

And so now I am working on filling up the inner pages.  As I find pictures, for example:

• of the pets I had as a child
• our house after a tornado
• from the senior prom (egads)
• and so forth

along with a list of favorites, wishes, accomplishments, things that I want to do…

This book will be a sum of me – but very simple to fill and something that I would recreate for my Mom, my Mother-in-law, any significant adult in their lives to fill out as well.  Watch out, pretty soon every family member will have one.

I’ll keep you posted with pages and prompts.  Thanks for reading.

Sally Lynn MacDonald
www.inkyheart.typepad.com
Connecticut, USA

Here in Connecticut, we’ve gotten 9 inches of snow today.  Mother Nature decided to do it big for the first real snowstorm of the season!  No little dusting would do.  The trees are full.  The puppy’s fur is full of little balls of snow as we sit by the fire ‘melting’ together.  But my driveway is, thankfully, plowed.  However I have no intention of going out tonight.  So let’s play with some FROST colored Glimmer Mist instead!

To recreate a bit of the winter wonderland on this greeting card, I decided to mix it up with the surfaces a bit.  I want the shine and sparkle of ice and snow to be incorporated into its design.  So I started with a patterned cardstock, with a subtle monochromatic print as the card base.  To this I added a printed transparency with numbers printed all over it.  To me, this was reminiscent of how much snow is falling outside.  I love it when they say, ‘6 to 10 inches’.  Such a big range.  It really does seem like they are guessing.  LOL.  So lots of numbers in a subtle print.  Then I used a pretty crystal swirl, to be like the wind whipping around my scene.  And then I placed my chipboard letters and Glimmer Glass snowflakes in place. 

Now it’s time to bring everybody together.  I sprayed this entire design liberally with Glimmer Mist in Frost.  I love how Glimmer Mist has such different effects on the many surfaces.  When you apply it to a glossy surface, such as a transparency, or Glimmer Glass – you get this more ‘chunky’, watercolor effect.  It dries quickly enough though. 

Glimmer Mist deposited on multiple surface types

And for the chipboard letters, I dabbed it on a little more heavilly with a makeup wedge, so it would deposit around the edges nicely.

Chipboard letter with Frost Glimmer Mist

And now onto that snowman.  He’s pretty special.  I started with the printed Frosty Memories snowman, the smaller one in the set.  I thought it would be fun to color in his carrot nose, so I brought out my Copic Markers.  But I couldn’t stop there.  

Copic Coloring and Frost Glimmer Mist

I shaded around the edges of the image with BG000 and B00, pulling these together with the Colorless Blender to make them fade nicely.  Then I used B91, B93 and B99 on the scarf, to make it match my other card elements.  I used the cool gray, C0 on shadowed areas, such as near the buttons, under the scarf and under his top hat.  I knew that these markers could handle an application of Glimmer Mist, since the markers are alcohol based — so I put a light dusting of Frost onto the snowman as well.

So like snow and ice, the play of surfaces is very different when you apply Glimmer Mist to them.  There are so many lovely visual effects.  And like icicles, the transparent nature of the Glimmer Mist doesn’t eliminate the background colors – it amplifies and adds to them.  I love how just one color can help unite several pieces of your project together.

Stay warm.  But get your hands on some FROST.