The Next Chapter...This is really becoming quite the treatise!

Hello, Everyone! Here's the scoop. As you know, it's been quite the summer. Many changes, new adventures. I've been so thrilled this spring and summer to have been given the opportunity to work with companies such as Clearsnap, Amate Studios, Hampton Art, Teresa Collins Designs as well as Streuter. It was fun to teach and demo CHA Summer in July. Next chapter...

I've been offered a wonderful position with A.C. Moore as their new Director of Education. Day One is now under my belt with Day Two starting with my new schedule of waking up at 6:00 a.m., driving 1-1/2 hours to Berlin, NJ with the reverse trip at the end of the day. This'll be going on until I get my house emptied out and sold. If anyone wants to check out my stamp stash, let me know. I've already shared it with the local stamp club and I'd be willing to offer up my garage for picking at reasonable prices again!

You have to realize that this was my grandparents' house; they purchased and moved into this house in or around 1951, so, in addition to all of my "stuff", there's 50+ years of more "stuff" still in this house...yikes!

Next chapter...this blog will be evolving as my life is...I will be making this more "A.C. Moore-centric" as that's what my focus is going to be. I will not be teaching anymore---too much to do (!!!) but will be looking for teachers in all areas of crafts to consider teaching at one of the 130+ stores up and down the Eastern Seaboard. I truly believe that if new crafters are invited to try out new crafts with a good curriculum and great teachers, they will want to learn more, which will also lead them to the independents. Each will help support the other, all keeping us busy!

I can't thank everyone that has been by my side through the last few months. You know who you are and where you stand in my book! Big Hugs to you!

I welcome you to follow me on the next leg of my excursion!

Inky Hugs,

Robin

CHA Technique Sneak Peek!

Happy 4th of July weekend, everyone! I know, I've really really bad with my bloggin' habits. I've actually been busy! No excuse, though. I've got a bunch of things that I'm going to be posting soon. I want to thank everyone again for the wonderfully upbeat and supportive emails. I know that something's out there...!

I'm getting ready with samples for CHA. In addition to demonstrating for Streuter, I'm also scheduled to do some demos at Amate Studios with their pendants that I love soooo much! I've also been playing with DIY Bangles and making up some great looks using the Streuter Glue Foil and Glue Film. What's Glue Foil? Well, as Streuter describes, it's a "Glue Film Laminated Metal Foil"...what I think it is...COOL! Using dies, Grungeboard(tm), the Cuttlebug(tm) and Embossing Folders and Dies and the Glue Foil, I'm doing my take on Tim's Brayered Embossing and then some with the use of the Clover Craft Iron. Glue Film is just that, a sheet of glue that is malleable and easy to work with; you can glue an entire piece of paper down onto chipboard or another surface and not worry about corners peeling up, etc. I'm really having fun with this product.

I'm going to share a few tidbits of some of the pendants I'm working on. My goal is to do a small video or step by step down the line so you can make these awesome (at least I think so) jewelry, as well as other projects, such as custom journal or notebook covers with the Bind-it-all(tm), which is my other new, favorite toy! The first sample is in an Amate Pendant. The silver Glue Foil was heated to attach to the Grungeboard, which is a great thickness for the pendants; sometimes I use a second layer to make it flush with the pendant. I then ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Stylized Flowers folder, followed by painting it in with a Waterbrush and Tim's Adirondack(r) Alcohol Inks. Heat the pendant with a Heat Tool and place a piece of Glue Film into it; it will immediately liquefy, ready for the finished design to be glued in...and it's not going to come out!

This next sample is Rebecca's favorite, so I made this pendant for her (as an aside, Congrats to Inky for being one of the new lead Fiskateers...check it out!). So, I heated some silver Glue Foil onto Grungeboard and ran it through the Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug Embossing Folder. I colored it with the Alcohol Inks, but then it was calling out to be made more "bubbly", so I added random dots of Glossy Accents(tm) to the embossed bubbles...one thing I found is not to add the Glossy Accents too close to one another...they seem to want to run to each other! You can't really tell until I show you a different view...like this one!

I then finished all of these pieces off with something new that I've not tried before...Liquitex High Gloss Varnish. I'm not sure how or why it works, all I know is that it has not taken any of the alcohol inks or paints off of any of the pieces I've made and it just gives it a "high end" look when done.

Here's one last sneak peek...how lucky was I that the large flower center of the Build-a-Flower Combo Die/Embossing set would fit perfectly in the circle pendant from Amate? Talk about karma! You can tell I added my own little lines and dots to the image to give it a little more depth.

Well, off to finish up some more pieces. I'm also finishing up my last few samples for the class I'm also teaching at CHA...see, I'm staying out of trouble! Clearsnap asked me to design and teach their class and I've been having fun doing that!

I hope everyone has an enjoyable rest of the weekend. In less than 2 weeks I hope to see many of you in Chi-town!

Embossed and Inky Hugs, Robin