TOTW #4: A little Dab'll do ya!

Okay, so now I'm doing acronyms...going to hell in a handbasket...TOTW= Technique of the Week!

As you can tell, there's a lot of animal themes in my work at times...when you don't have kids, this is the closest thing, I guess. I'm going to do a few posts on Ranger's Adirondack(r) Acrylic Paint Dabbers. They are truly the bomb. I've never really been a great painter with the bottles, brushes, the dreaded water jar of brushes, etc., so this is a dream for me.

The paint is similar, but not the same as other Acrylic Paints...there's something special with the formulation that allows it to go through the dabber. Now...what's a dabber? If you push down on a new dabber, you'll feel there's a button thingie...this is the valve that, when depressed, allows the paint to flow, but when not depressed, stops the paint from dripping out all over the place. Coooool, huh!? When using them for the first time, prime the dabbers (a.k.a. get the paint going). Don't hammer....no hammers allowed! When you turn the bottle over, give it a little squeeze and PRESS down...no hammering...think about it-when "hammering" away, all you're doing is making it "open/close/open/close/open/close"...if the dabber had a voice it would be saying, "Make up your mind!?!?!? Do you want the paint to come out or not!?" Since we want the paint to come out, a constant press...and voila!-it'll be on the Craft Sheet in no time and you'll be good to go.

Now, if you've not used the dabbers in a while, do not despair. Sometimes people think they are "dry", but they're not...the paint on the dabber just has to "rewet" again so the foamwill let more paint from the bottle to come through. There are a few ways to do this: keep the dabbers stored upside down, or spritz some water on the Craft Sheet and rub the dabber across the water. As the paint "rejuvenates", when the valve is depressed it will again allow for paint to flow! Be patient, it works! Well, enough of that...check out Ranger's website for more info...there's lotsa good stuff on it!

As for my "Meowy" book, I made this at a Simply Cropping weekend in Absecon last year with Jen Starr and her friends. I had never been to one and she talked me into it. I was at a bit of a loss as to what to bring, so I decided to JUST concentrate on the book and to learn what to do with the dabbers. The chipboard book is from an awesome company, Maya Road. Because I had so much lumpy stuff on each page, I cut off the binding and punched holes into it and used binder rings to keep it together. I made the cover to look like my cat Minnie, my "Holstein" cat. I first dabbed the whole thing with Snow Cap White, then used a paint brush and painted the detail with Pitch Black. The chipboard letters are also from Maya Road. I dabbed them with Brights Raspberry, Sunshine Yellow, Pool and Sunset Orange (for those that don't know the Coordinating Colors, click here!) The diamond pattern is one of Teresa Collins' Foam Stamps she did with Junkitz, but any stamp will work. I stamped in the corresponding Lights colors (Pink Sherbet, Lemonade, Aqua and Peach Bellini). I love the look of this, simple but effective. The color does the talkin'!

The first page of the book was of my Pearly girl. I used Lettuce for the background then did a dry swipe with the coordinating colors (Willow and Citrus), creating a sanded or worn effect.

The dotted circle stamps are from Art Gone Wild and the alphabet from Club Scrap. These are rubber stamps, but look how great they stamped!!! I dab first, then just lightly "swipe" across the stamp to evenly distribute the paint. I don't want to much or it will "mush" the detail of the stamp image.

The nested flowers are again from Maya Road and were painted with various colors of the dabbers (for the teeny weeny flower centers, I held the chipboard with tweezers). When dry, I nested the pieces together and used Glossy Accents as an adhesive...it's the BEST! My trick: use your finger to evenly place a light coat on the back, so when you place it down, it won't squish out from underneath...I guarantee you'll be happy with the results!

I know I'm giving lots of info, but I always think knowledge is power. I want everyone to have a great result with these paints, as I do every time. I love this book and everyone enjoys looking at it (or at least that's what they tell me!). I'll post some more pages tomorrow with additional tips and techniques.

Enjoy the Day...Paint Away!

R.

Foofy Toes...are you smiling yet?

Isn't this just the funniest and cutest picture? This is the pawsitude of Miss Moxie...well, really, Moxie, the puppy upper of my friend Nadine. I finally got to meet Moxie yesterday. We had a play date! Nadine wanted to learn soldering and I had to make some new frames for gifts , so she drove the 1-1/2 hours down from NY to NJ with her furry friend. I went to Petsmart ahead of time to get toys (hey, I know how to be a suck up with kids and animals).

She was the happiest and smiliest of Golden Retrievers (or any other dog). I think she actually has dimples! She loved all the new toys, but the cats' as well...go figure. When Moxie first came bounding in, Minnie was under the end table and froze, making me think of Jurassic Park (if you don't move the T-Rex won't see you!) Who knows where Oliver went, but Moxie kept sniffing under my couch, knowing there was something there. Needless to say, between the fun of teaching on Saturday and the Creative Fun on Sunday, I'm a happy girl today. How can you not be every time you see those foofy toes???? It looks like Nadine foiled and highlighted the "tween" toe fur. (okay, Nadine...what IS the deal with that?) Brian got a chance to also meet Moxie and Nadine in the fur and flesh and of course we went to All Seasons and had a nice dinner. As we got home, Nadine could see through the front bay window that Moxie was on the couch, probably with the cats underneath whispering, "when is this big furry thing going to leave??" (no fear, they're fine!).

Brian teases me about my constant reference to Cuteoverload and little does he know, I also now check out "I can has Cheezburger?" (please, it's supposed to be grammatically horrendous, but it's worth the pictures!). But it has become such solace for me...whenever I'm having a crazy day, I go to those sites and just feel better....they say there's therapy with animals? I truly believe it...Enjoy...oh, by the way, here's Miss Moxie:My plan for the next few days is to post some painterly techniques, Kitty style!

Foofy Hugs, Robin

Yeah, Yeah, I know...a "few' stamps...still!

What a day yesterday! 7:00 a.m. drive to Staten Island; meet a ScraPink crop to welcome everyone, offer a grand prize of a full set of Tim Holtz(tm) Distress Crackle Paint(tm) by Ranger Industries and do a meet and greet. 8:45 a.m. drive back to N.J. to meet MOCHA-the Monmouth/Ocean County, NJ Stamp Club, where I taught a Crackle Paint Bandanna Frame Class. It was a great day; organized and fun-I saw women that I've not seen or stamped with in years! Thanks, ladies!

When I was asked to teach, they were meeting not far from my house, so I offered that the members could invade my stamp stash.

You have to realize I've been stamping for over 14 years, and about 12 of that has been teaching and submitting projects and BUYING stamps! Since I've been with Ranger, to make samples, teach classes, etc. I have to be current. I can't teach or create samples with outdated stamps or from companies that are not around anymore. So...I need to part with them. It's a difficult thing, as I've got attachments to many of these little wooden and rubber gems! Believe it or not, I remember where I'd purchased them, the companies they're from, when I've used them....they're a part of me...but now it's time to share them with others that have the time to play with them!

I had about 20 women attack my garage with a vengeance, and did they have fun rooting through my old papers and stamps. In the end, another dent was made in my "rubbah", and the ladies were AWESOME because they neatened the stamps back up again and placed them back and my garage. So here's what I still have....mind you, if I had my way, I'd wouldn't give away any of them, but I'm trying to be realistic and lighten my load so I can concentrate on moving forward!

It's such a great day today, windows open, nosy Oliver sitting in the window and it's going to be an artful day of fun and friends. I hope you all have the same!

By the way, anyone want to buy some lovingly used stamps? ;-)

Stampingly yours,
Robin

When the Going Gets Tough...Turn the "Otter" Cheek?!

It's been a yucky, sucky, icky, crappy week. Last week with my being sick (sans my poor loss of Pearl) was better than the week I've been having. I'm trying to stand back and not let myself get overemotional about what to do, what to do, what to do. I'm going to just mull and stir it around for a while, but I'm definitely in a much better place at this very moment. Sometimes you just have to tell yourself that it will all work out, take a chill pill.

I was going through my pics, and this one I took of an otter at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (one of my all time favorite places) just makes me smile and sit back and contemplate the good things...my friends, my family (Yay, my niece Alex...first two Field Hockey Games of the year and she's already scored 4 goals!), a roof over my head, lots of artsy things to do.

In the meantime, I'm going to be teaching on Saturday, and I think I'll go and finish up the sample. Simple is what I'm going for, but effective. Show some fun ways to work with the new Tim Holtz(tm) Distress Crackle Paint(tm) by Ranger. When I get it finished I'll post it.

Finally, my pal Miss Margot was talking about stats...she's got me going on them, and I was so thrilled to see I got a bunch of hits today...when I checked, lo and behold, it was from my buddy Donna Downey...it turns out that she's from my neck of the woods, so we're both "Jersey Shore Babes". I made for her a special soldered sign with her name and "moniker" Inspired...she loved it and I was so happy that it got to her unbroken!

It's almost Friday, my friends, enjoy! I've got something fun planned for next week on this bloggie thing...all technique all the time!

Have an Otterly Great Rest of the Week, Robin

Rocking Chairs and Life...Go Figure

I'm on the internet a lot for work...really! I'm always checking sites out, sourcing companies and being the more or less "official" instruction checker outer of the office, I am always trying to be as specific as can be in citing sources. I'm quite the stickler on that, as the Design Team we had this year at Ranger can attest. For anyone out there that thinks it doesn't really matter...it does! Just imagine...whether sending in a project for an article, submission for a book, website or class. People want EXACTLY what you are showing...no close calls, thank you! It's worth it to do the search and get the item number. How happy would a store owner or manufacturer be (especially with stamps) when a consumer has the item number...instead of...."well, it's a flower...maybe it's a tulip, but may not be, and it may be by this company or...". You get the picture. For those not familiar in the rubber stamp realm, to say you want a, for example, Hero Arts http://heroarts.com flower image...well, go onto their site or just google "Hero Arts Flower Stamp"...I dare you! You'll see!

Well, as usual, I digress...in my sourcing I came across a company that I used to buy (and still have) tons of their stamps when they did wholesale to stamp stores-Viva Las Vegastamps! http://stampo.com. Some crazy images, some awesome people images, but the best sayings...snarky as all hell-I was checking out directions yesterday and saw their site and was happy to see that Stampo's still around...so I grazed a bit through his catalog (note that if you had it mailed to you, it's over 10 lbs or something insane like that!), and found the following saying, which just struck me as soooo funny and so true. It didn't have an author, which is another persnickety thing...going back to the give credit where credit is due!, and I again googled and found the author is Stephen Wright...it's no surprise why it was so profoundly droll and funny. I just wanted to share it with you! Happy Tuesday, R.

Ode to Burt & Carolyn-47 years strong!

I hope everyone's been having a good weekend. I actually got some things done and am still working on getting back to better health. Fun, fun, fun laundry and all that other mindbending stuff. I'm teaching the local stamp club at their stampathon this weekend and have to get my act together, but hey!-I've still got 5 days (but I'll probably get it together tomorrow night).

Tomorrow is my Mom and Dad's 47th Wedding Anniversary. I just think that is so awesome. They are one another's best friends. They bicker, tease and work together as a team. We've all had our ups and downs on things, but that's what life is all about. In the end, I just love them as all get out and think they did a pretty damn good job with us (I'm the oldest of 3 sisters). It's hard to get anything for them, so that's when spending the afternoon putting a fun and different card together is so worth it. I thought I'd share it with you!

As I have indicated previously, I've got a bag 'o Bandanna Technique and Wrinkle Free Distress Technique watercolor paper. Luckily I had some blank ones and in digging in this bag of tricks it hit me what to do. I've got a bunch of the word stamps from Magnetic Poetry http://wordsandcrafts.com/. They are so much fun and look great when stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink over Tim Holtz' Wrinkle Free Distress Backgrounds. So stamp, stamp, stamp, cut, cut, cut. Now, glue time!

My glue of choice is Pioneer Photo Album's Glue Stick; all I can say is that-IT WORKS! My other favorite, favorite, favorite tool is QuicKutz' QuickStik(tm) http://quickutz.com/. I think I've used this thing for everything BUT what they sell it for-it's great to pick up pieces of paper and to run then across the glue stick, which is what I show in the following picture. It is the BOMB for picking up flat back Swarovski(r) Crystals http://swarovski.com/. The trick is that on the opposite side of where the "sticky" stuff is that there is a plastic wedge type end and a "pokey-outey" end that you use instead of your fingers to push what you picked up down. When I was at Bead & Button this year I went on and on about it to the beaders and bead stores. (I absolutely love figuring out things from one "part" of the industry to use for another!)

So I had a lot of fun putting the words down; some with specific meaning, such as their wedding date, family total (3 daughters, 2 granddaughters, 1 grandson) and just other cool words that are (or sometimes aren't) fitting.

I glued all of these down on folded Black Linen Cardstock, justified right. To the left I placed a piece of watercolor paper that I had created previously using Mini Misters(tm) filled with water, Perfect Pearls(tm) and Distress Ink(tm) reinkers and sprayed over Heidi Swapp's Mini Heart Masks http://heidiswapp.com. As always, the inky stuff is all Ranger http://rangerink.com! It creates a subtle, but sparkly effect.

My parent's picture had been previously scanned and I sized and printed it out on my Epson printer, cut out and added the extra "47 Great Years", but outlined these words with a white, opaque pen so it would pop. Needless to say, when Brian and I dropped by with the card and their "gift" certificates for Vesuvios (best pizza EVER!), they loved it and Mom is going to bring it to the beach to show their "wedding" days. Here's the finished product. Simple, whimsical, but most importantly, meaningful. That's what counts! Love you, Mom & Dad!

Technique of the Week #3

Well, I'm pretty much back on track and want to get some more techniques out there. These are some of my most favorite that I love to use in a lot of my work. Enjoy and try 'em!

Distress Bandanna Technique: I absolutely, absolutely love this technique. What I love about this is that this started with Tim Holtz'(tm) http://timholtz.com Wrinkle Free Distress Technique. This is what my take on it is. My rule is, and I stress this when I teach, is to give credit where credit is due. If you take it from there, give yourself credit piggybacked onto what someone else came up with. Thus, here it is. I like to use watercolor paper; refer to my Technique of the Week (TOTW #2) for the paper I love! On the Non-Stick Craft Sheet (Ranger of course http://rangerink.com), "smoosh" various colors of Distress Ink(tm) Dye Stamp Pads next to, but not on top of one another. I most likely used the following colors in this sample: Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, Broken China, Shabby Shutters and Worn Lipstick. Generously spritz with water...I cannot stress this enough-if you don't use enough water, you'll just create blocks-not so hot! Press the paper down and "squeegee" your hand across the paper-don't move the paper, otherwise you will just muddy it up! Turn over and immediately dry with Heatit(tm) Craft Tool. You want to "freeze" the colors in place. When dry, start "hitting" or "tapping" the paper on the remaining ink and dry again. See the cool splotches of color? When you get the to the desired look, STOP! Ink image with Pitch Black Adirondack(r) Acrylic Paint Dabber stamp and speed drying with the Craft Tool. Option: make a paint of Perfect Pearls(tm) Perfect Pearl color and splatter pearly highlights on the paper...it really pops!

Now the fun part....get a nice, white, opaque pen and have fun doodling! Add dots, fill in areas, jot lines, highlights...have fun. I have a whole zippered bag of papers I've made, stamped and doodled that I then use for my jewelry or other projects...it's fun to have a bunch made up and just doodle when traveling. Can you tell I absolutely LOVE this technique!?!?


Painted Perfect Pearls(tm): Another of my favorites. It's sooooo simple and so elegant! This also works with any type of image-surprise yourself. Simply emboss the image with Clear Perfect Medium(tm) Stamp Pad and Clear Embossing Powder and the Craft Tool. Okay...here's my most favorite non-Ranger product...Yasutomo's Niji Waterbrush http://yasutomo.com. It is the best by far! You have such control using it-I use either the small or medium nib. Just fill it with water and make sure the nib is damp. Just dip the nib into the chosen color of Perfect Pearls and mix onto the Non-Stick Craft Sheet. You now have paint-because of the binders mixed into the Perfect Pearls, when it's dry, it is still set. You can create wonderful shades of color by mixing it with like colors (Forever Red-Blush-Interference Red) and to lighten up any color, mix with Perfect Pearl. Have fun painting! I like to emboss a bunch of images and just paint. When you need to use something for a card or other project, you've already spend the time painting, so now you are ready to go! To "fill" in the blank area, splatter with a paint of Perfect Pearl or other chosen color. I ideally like to use Black Linen cardstock-it is great for painting or dusting with Perfect Pearls!

Watercolor with Adirondack(r) Dye Stamp Pads: This is a fun contrast of using the same type of techniques as noted above with Perfect Pearls, but with dye ink! Stamp and emboss the image with Clear Perfect Medium and Clear Embossing Ink or stamp with Jet Black Archival(tm) Stamp Pad. To create your paint palette, there's two different options. You can either push the top of the closed stamp pad lid into the ink pad. when you lift it off, there is ink there-just dip the Waterbrush in and paint! Or, just hit a corner of the ink pad onto the Non-Stick Craft Sheet. Whatever works for you! I ideally like to use the Brights and Earthtones for painting, but with certain images, I use Lights-especially for skin tone-I will use a combo of Shell Pink and Sandal...but that's for another day! Again, I finish up with the splotching, using the colors used when painting the image.

This is the simplest of images, but is so wonderfully versatile with the many different ways that a stamp can be used. Don't limit yourself. Try something you wouldn't "think" would work-you may surprise yourself.

For those that have been sticking to my blog-thanks. I'm learning a lot-have had some wonderful help from my friend Margot Potter (Thanks Miss Margot!) and have been enjoying the fun of sharing!

Have a great weekend!

Robin