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Alison's Collage

Supplies

• It’s Always Springtime (2x2 acrylic handle)
• Script Background (4x4 acrylic handle)
• White Glossy Cardstock (you must use glossy cardstock for the full effect)
• Green Cardstock
• Earthtone Brilliance Dew Drop Set
• VersaMagic Four Corners Dew Drop Set
• Willoughby Ribbon
• Antique Spiral Clips
• Adhesive and tape
• Paper trimmer
• Scratch pad

Instructions

1. Begin with the lightest shade of ink from the VersaMagic set, Wheat. Ink up one of the square stamps from the It’s Always Springtime stamp set, and stamp a checkerboard pattern on a white 4”x5.25” glossy panel. Be careful to not to rock the stamp, and be extra careful to use an up and down motion when using glossy paper, since it smears easily. (This project works best on glossy paper, since the chalk ink dries to a nice, matte finish.) Start with a single stamp on the cardstock, and then attach iterations, re-inking each time you stamp the image. Be sure you stamp off the edge of the card as shown in my example.
2. Next, change to another block, and use the next darker color, Niagara Mist. Start in another place and do another checkboard pattern, ignoring the first pattern. You will overlap the first pattern some, but do not cover all your white space.
3. Ink up a final square with Sage ink, and make another checkerboard pattern, beginning in another spot on your card. Your card should be getting fairly densely covered at this point, but you should still have some white showing.
4. Now, switch to Brilliance ink in Pearlescent Olive and the Script Background stamp. Ink up the stamp well, and start stamping in the upper left corner on about a 45 degree angle, as I show in the picture.
5. Continue covering the entire card with the script stamp in columns, re-inking each time. When you finish the first column, you’ll want to continue on to the side columns as well, until the entire card is covered with the script, as shown.
6. Next, ink the outer edges of the card using Coffee Bean Brilliance ink. You can either lightly drag the edges of the card across the ink pad’s surface, or brush the ink lightly across the edge of the card.
7. Set the glossy panel aside to dry.
8. Meanwhile, stamp the sentiment (“Brighter Place” fits nicely) on the small strip (0.5" x 4") of glossy white paper in Sahara Sand ink. It should line up perfectly.
9. Ink the edges of this strip with Coffee Bean ink and let dry.
10. Line up your ribbon about 1/3 of the way across the front of your stamped white card front, or as desired.
11. Turn the card over to the back, holding the ribbon ends. Using tape, tape the ends of the ribbon to the back of the card.
12. Apply adhesive to the back of stamped glossy panel, and attach it to the folded green card base (cut to 8.5" x 5.5"). It is cut slightly smaller than the card base, so it should leave a perfect narrow border.
13. Next, attach the sentiment as desired--I put mine towards the bottom right of the card with the sheer ribbon slightly overlapping the sentiment.
14. Finally, attach a spiral clip as desired for the final touch.

Paper Piecing #2

Supplies

• The Arts rubber stamp set(1x1, 2x4 acrylic handles)
• Catelyn Fly With It™ cardstock kit
• Wine cardstock
• White cardstock
• Brown ink
• Black ink
• Mini File Tab punch
• Black marker
• Gray marker
• Scissors
• Dry adhesive
  
• Paper trimmer
• Scratch pad

Instructions

1. Ink the edges of the 5.25" x 4" large floral print panel with brown ink and let dry.
2. Ink the edges of the 1" x 5.5" striped strip of cardstock and let dry.
3. Stamp the geisha image several times in black ink: first on a 1.75" x 3.25" white cardstock panel, then several partial scraps (she doesn’t need to fit on all the scraps, since you’ll be cutting out pieces of her outfit in a moment). Let these pieces dry.
4. Adhere the large floral print background to the wine card base (8.5" x 5.5").
5. Adhere the striped strip to the floral print base as shown.
6. Begin cutting out pieces of the geisha’s kimono, cutting on the stamped line. Don’t worry about getting it exact--the pieces will fit together perfectly if you cut on that line.
7. Adhere each piece to the white stamped image, being careful to line up the images as you go.
8. Keep cutting out pieces and adding them in layers to the white stamped image as shown. I left the geisha’s hands bare.
9. If you have white edges showing through from scissor cuts, fill them in with black marker. I also colored the geisha’s hair in with black marker.
10. Next, using the broad, brush side of the gray marker, go around the entire image. This gives the image a softer look, and blends the pieces together.
11. Ink the edges of this panel in brown ink, and adhere it to main card as shown.
12. Stamp the “beauty” sentiment in black to the punched tab, ink the edges in brown, and adhere to the card as shown.

Paper Piecing Tutorial

Supplies

• Kallioppe (2x2, 2x4 acrylic handles)
• Uptown Girl Wing It™ Kit
• White cardstock
  
• Black ink
  
• Mega rectangle punch (or you can trim pieces to 1-1/8” x 2-1/4”)
• Silver leafing pen
• Silver Stickles
• Black marker
• Gray marker
• Scissors
• Dry adhesive
• Pop dots
• Paper trimmer
• Scratch pad

Instructions

1. Shake the leafing pen well with the cap on. Remove cap, and press the marker tip up and down several times on scratch paper to start the paint flowing.
2. Place a 4” x 5.25” panel from the Uptown Girl paper on the scratchpad. Line up the flat side of the leafing pen with about half the marker tip on the edge of panel and half on the scratch paper. Draw a straight line along the edge of the panel. You should have an even silver border. Pick up the panel and turn it to do the next side, till all four sides are complete. Let dry.
3. Ink the lady holding the purse from the Kallioppe stamp set with black ink and stamp her once on a 2” x 3” white rectangle, and once on the dot/stripe print from Uptown Girl. Let dry.
4. Stamp the shoe greeting on a rectangle punched from Uptown Girl. Let dry.
5. Being careful to cut directly on the black stamped line, cut out just the dress from the dot/stripe stamped image. Don’t worry about the curls on the design. You’ll want just the dress as shown. For best results, turn the paper and keep the scissors straight as you cut.
6. Apply a bit of adhesive to the printed dress and adhere it to the stamped image on the white cardstock. It should line up perfectly. If you have any scissor marks showing, fill them in with black marker.
7. Outline the entire image with the brush side of the gray marker.
8. As in step 2, use the silver leafing pen to outline the white stamped image and the greeting. Let dry.
9. Adhere the 4” x 5.25” to the white card base, leaving an even border around all sides.
10. Adhere the white image to the card as shown.
11. Use pop dots to adhere the greeting as shown.
12. Add silver Stickles glitter glue (up and down motion makes dots, or smear slightly for more coverage) to accent your card. I added glitter to the woman’s flowers, shoes, nails and purse, the letters on the words “shoes” and “skinny,” and finally the horizontal line that goes across the card on the printed panel. Be sure to let the Stickles dry completely.
    

Savvy Projects blog

Be sure to check out the newest TAC™ company blog, Savvy Projects. Learn how to assemble our matchbook kits and get step-by-step instructions on other great projects you can make today. This blog features lots of photos--great for those of us (including me) who are directionally challenged!

New contest winners

Be sure to visit our Creative Corner where our monthly contest winners' work is posted. It's new for this month.
Did you know: TAC™ demonstrators may participate in monthly contests for publication in our catalog, on our website, and best of all, $75 in free stamps from TAC™? It's another great perk of being an Angel!

Winchester Soar with It™

Using only a few products, I finally am getting back into card-making. If you like the colors you see here, check out more ideas on my Winchester page. I adore the simple chalk finish of VersaMagic, and I love how it shows up so gently on colored cardstock.

Supplies:

• Winchester SWIC™
• Winchester cardstock
• Ivory Ultrasmooth cardstock
• Simply Divine stamp set
• Keep Smilin' stamp set
• Crystal Stickles glitter glue
• Cognac Palette Hybrid ink
• Eggplant VersaMagic ink
• Aspen Mist VersaMagic ink
• Super Jumbo 2" Circle punch
• Mega 2.5" Scalloped Circle punch
• Pop dots adhesive

Inspiring Ideas on TAC™ home age!

I was browsing The Angel Company™ online, and I discovered that Inspiring Ideas is available with three new project ideas.  The image I've attached here uses our new Juliette paper line, a candy tin, the Curls & Swirls and Life Thoughts stamp sets, and other coordinating accessories.  You can see the complete list here.

All the tags are die cut and included with the paper pack.  You could use any of our paper packs to make similar kits.  Make a set for Mother's Day gifts or even Valentine's Day for your significant other.  Use the reverse side of the tag for personalizing the gift and adding hand-written notes.

A tin like this would be a great gift for a teacher, parent or grandparent, or child.  Leave it on the door handle for a thoughtful gift for a special someone.

New projects on TAC™ home page

Be sure to check out The Angel Company™'s home page to view our monthly contest winners and runners up.  As a TAC™ demonstrator, we can submit our art for monthly contests.  The winner of each contest wins $75 in TAC™ stamps of our choice!  It's another great reason to work with TAC™.

New winners have been posted on the Contest Winners page.  Click on the smaller images to see the entire piece.  While you're visiting, be sure to also check out the Featured Artwork page, also submitted by TAC™ demonstrators.

Enjoy--and live inspired!

Quilted cards

The first project of my blog combines quilting with rubber stamped cards.  I'm using the new Miss Moxie Soar With It™ cardstock set by The Angel Company™, Chicken Scratch stamp set, Green 3 cardstock by Die Cuts with a View, Blue Violets Monochromatic cardstock by Bazzill Basics, copper eyelets, green grosgrain ribbon, thread and a sewing machine.

To mimic a quilt, you'll want to combine dark, medium and light shades of cardstock with large, small and medium scale designs. Most of TAC™ cardstock kits include all the shades and sizes of these motives, so you don't have to do much thinking or planning.  If you find your design doesn't seem to work, try replacing one of the larger scale designs with solid textured cardstock.

A couple of important things to note when using your sewing machine with paper:  

1. Change your stitch length to a longer length than you would use on fabric.  You don't want to put too many holes in the cardstock.
2. I recommend a straight or zigzag stitch when sewing on paper.  You can use any fancy stitch, of course, but the ones that have the fewest reverse movements usually work best.
3. Loosen your tension slightly so the bobbin thread doesn't show through on the top of your project.
4. Be sure to change your needle when you're done sewing on paper.  If you're only sewing a few items, dedicate that needle to paper.  (It dulls the blade more quickly than fabric.)
5. I use an edge stitch foot for my work when I want precise lines.  You can line it up next to your paper and it will sew an even line for you.

I love using my sewing machine for paper crafts.  If you can't leave your machine set up, start a paper craft file for projects that require sewing.  Once you have time, you can do all your sewing at once (like I save up ironing!).  But I bet that once you try this technique, you'll love it and will want to make space for your machine, too.  Or maybe you need to buy a special half-size machine, just for your paper crafting!  Who am I to judge?  (I bought my kids a cheap-o machine so they would stay away from mine!)
Enjoy, and let me know if you try this technique, and whether you found my advice helpful.  I'd love to hear from you.