cupcakes, bling and a good idea....(SFYTT & OCCC)

hi all!!! todays card combines two challenges - SFYTT -->
and OCCC - use some bling. my friend Suzanne *waving* was s o sweet to give me some images to color so today i have a tilda holding a little cupcake:

I think she turned out cutie patootie! i tried some experiments with shimmering mists over the weekends (will be reporting back on others as they are used) but on this particular one i made shimmery mist simply using brilliance pearlescent orchid reinker and encore metallic teal reinker and water in a mini mister. the colors are very good and the shimmer is wonderful! tilda is colored with copics. i added frosted lace stickles to the patterned paper as well as painting some pearl perfect pearls on in spots with an aquapainter - also did this for her wings. finished off with some liquid pearls dotted around the edges. LOVE LOVE those liquid pearls!!

one last tip for you from my experiments - dimensional pearls and water DOES NOT work for making shimmering mist!!!

be sure and check in tomorrow for an exciting announcement (it's from studio G.....) and don't forget i have big & juicy rainbow ink pads on sale!!!

stickles vs. stickles vs. stickles........

yep two posts in one day - i think this is a first! but i get SO many questions about the different kinds of stickles i thought it might be helpful to do a little guide for everyone *waving to Tara*.

stickles are a hot topic with the new Designer Stickles coming out plus the holidays - i mean halloween and christmas just SCREAM for over the top glitter - of course i glitter all year long buuuuttt......

We'll start with Glitz stickles. These are not actually a new product, Ranger just re-branded them into the stickles family to increase their visibility and boy did it work!! so we have 6 colors in this set - below are examples photographed as best i could:

and now a detailed explanation of each color:

• Champagne - gold glitter with a little bit of iridescent glitter mixed in
• Ruby Slippers - mostly red glitter with pink mixed in
• Sequins - appears mostly magents with gold, blue, red & aqua mixed in
• Mermaid - aqua glitter with a little green & magenta mixed in
• Grape - purple glitter with blue & copper mixed in
• Tiara - mostly silver with a good bit of copper mixed in
  

Now i guess it is debateable as to whether they have MORE sparkle than the regular stickles - i think at times it looks like they might - but i CAN say the colors are unique - not like any of the other stickles colors.

Another question i get is the differenc ebetween regular stickles and Ice stickles - HUGE difference! below i have two sample boards comparing the three kinds in a few similar colors to help illustrate:

the Ice are definitely more bling bling than the regular but also a different make-up. the colors have itty bitty glitters in whatever the color name is and then larger rianbow-like holographic glitter. so the "feel" of them is lighter - color and weight - than the weightier heavyily glittered look of stickles. Ice stickles also come in a bigger bottle with a larger tip. this means you will not get as fine a line with these but they are fabulous for large spaces and still make great dotted borders.

what will the distress stickles look like??? not sure yet but here is how T!m described them:

but these aren't your ordinary stickles (of course), this formulation combines a pearlized glitter instead of metallic glitter and composed of various particle sizes. pair that with the popular color palette of distress and you have a very vintage (almost mica looking) distress glitter glue. the texture is amazing, the colors are amazing and the results...still pure distress.

i'll admit i can't even picture what he is talking about but the instant they hit my doorstep i will set up a sample board for everyone!!

Finally liquid pearls always gets thrown in which is not stickles but is close to the same thig. this is a pearlized paint and very thick and dimensional. it can be used out of the bottle just like stickles or painted on thinly for a pearlized look. and along these lines a WAY TOO underloved product - dimensional pearls is also a fabulous addition in really wonderful colors. again a pearlized paint in a squeeze tip bottle in 12 of ranger's earthtone colors - you really need to check them out!! i have tutorials using them here on my blog.

i hope that helps a little! let me know what you think and if you have any more questions ask away!!!

Distress stickles are still a few weeks away *cries*

WOJ challenge #2 - Gift Set

i think this is one of my most fave projects i have ever done! i did it for the second challenge over at the Whiff of Joy challenge blog - if you still have not checked out Whiff of Joy i urge you to take a peek! so the challenge was to have stitching on your card or whatever you make. it can be any kind of stitching - machine, hand, faux or stamped. i did stamped with a great little set from technique tuesday - second stamp i ever purchased....and of course use a WOJ stamp!

i made this gift set for christmas:

YEP! that is a starbucks frappacino 4 pack all done up for the holidays! i will be fillling the bottles with russian tea mix, mint hot cocoa mix, mocha hot cocoa mix and marshmallows! i covered the cardboard holder with solid paper and then strips of patterned paper from my DCWV glitter christmas stack - love love love it!!

Here is the box without the bottles:

AND a close up up WOJ's Willow with Hot Chocolate. I colored her with Copics and stamped my stitching around her in brilliance pearlescent crimson. i added some glitter primas and prima leaves with bella dots in the centers. the handle portion is stamped with a studio G stamp that i colored in with stickles and another stitching stamp. i attached all the papers with mod podge - thinner layer than i normally use with wood.

more primas and leaves on one side:

Mixing directions and more stamped stitching:

And the bottles - more strips of paper adhered with mod podge. tags are cut on the cricut - george cart. names of the mixes are printed on my computer and a coffee cup from MFT.

Lids have a circle of paper with stickles around the edge and studio G stamps - coffee cups and "warm wishes" - this was just TOO fun. i will be doing several more!

what do y'all think???? good gift????

TECC36 AND bellaholics challenge all in one!

FINALLY got some extended play time in this weekend. Hubby did a fanFREAKINGtastic job taking the baby of my hands ALOT this weekend - LOVE him! alas he is out of town for the week so i will be on my own *hair stands on end* - so i have a double duty challenge card today. i used this -->-->
sketch from Taylor's cupcake challenge.



and here is my card:

FINALLY inked up one of my new chichiboullies from stamping bella - this is patricia cupcake - isn't she ADORABLE?? the embossing is rubbed lightly with a brilliance pearlescent thyme dew drop - i find the dew drops are easier to do this with - not as much gets on the unembossed parts. the patterned paper is from the new DCWV sweet stack - oh wow is it YUMMY!! the buttons are from SEI - oh how i love SEI - and that is where the bellaholics challenge comes in - we had to use 5 buttons.

i colored the image with copics and then used spica glitter pens for her cake - it's not a cupcake but it's close right? also rubbed the embossing from the nestie with the same thyme ink. her wings are painted with perfect pearl perfect pearls powder and an aquapainter.

In case you missed it yesterday i am having a sale on big & juicy Rainbow ink pads - $8 instead of $12!! and free shipping still in effect!

i have a very exciting project for you tomorrow so be sure to come check it out!!!

It's a first! sale at Pez-A-Doodles!!

Have youbeen wanting one of those super cool rainbow pads but haven't wanted to shell out the money??? now is your chance!! i have the Ranger ink Big & Juicy rainbow pads marked down to $8.00 (normally $12.00)!

The sale is limited to stock on hand - still free shipping - that will likely continue to the end of the year!! i have the following colors in stock now:

Happy Birthday

Hydrangea

Mountain Meadow

Soothing Sunset

Waterfall

These pads are AWESOME! Huge size and gorgeous, vibrant colors. use them to brayer on a quick gorgeous background (use versamark for a resist effect), brayer them onto your cuttelbug embossing folder for "smooshed cuttlebug," Ink a stamp with them and stamp a colorful image easily.

i finally spent some time in the craft room and have some cute new things to show you so stay tuned this week!

hugs!

HAVE YOU HEARD?????? WOJ....

there's some new goodies being released today over at Whiff of Joy!! i only recently discovered them myself and have been avidly watching all the sneak peeks on the design team's blogs. I am thinking several will be finding their way to my home.......someone recently asked me about boy images - there are some in this new release so HURRY ON OVER!!

these WOJ images come as unmounted rubber so i thought i would dedicate today's post to my newest "product I adore" - Tack N Peel!!
most stamps seem to come unmounted these days - i usually mount mine on ez mount. tried covering the back with aleen's tack it over and over but i was tacking things to the stamp that just did NOT go there and getitng the stamp stuck on things - i am obviously to messy for that route!

however i HATE the sticky time consuming mess that is ez mount. and i am ashamed to show you this but i have had THIS ->
pile of brand new rubbah (god i hope hubby isn't looking...) sitting on my table for weeks and so I pull out some Tack N Peel i ordered from Tsukineko back when i first started carrying their products. WELL this stuff is FABulous! can you imagine how long it would take to ez mount all THAT RUBBAH!!!!!




Instead here is what I have now - the yellow rectangle on the right shows what the tack n peel looks like out of the package (but bigger - it is 4" x 7"). i simply laid my acrylic block on top, drew a line to cut it to size, cut it and peeled off the yellow paper. this reveals a sticky side and i laid that down on my block - lemme tell ya - this stuff sticks! what i have now (you can see in this pic) is my block, tack n peel and a protective clear sheet.





when i want to use an acrylic stamp i simply stick it onto the protective clear sheet just like the plain block - works just the same. BUUUUUT




















when i want to use some good ole rubbah i just peel the protective sheet off and stick the stamp right on. stamp and remove. Replace protective cover. so now i only have ONE sticky surface to worry about AND i can use my stamps as soon as i get them. i LOVE it!!!!! if the TnP starts to lose it's stickiness just wash it off and let it air dry!! now i ask you does it get any better!! i am ALL ABOUT instant gratification! i am stocking this on the website so if you need some for all those faboo WOJ stamps you get run over and plop some in your cart!!

happy shopping!

SFYTT - but bags - studio G blitz!!

in honor of all of the stdio G goodies i FINALLY finished shipping out (with the exception of a few) i decided to do a Studio G project using Jen's SFYTT (before the new one hits tomorrow - sheesh i feel like i have been under a rock). So instead of a card i used the sketch to make two gift bags for our neighborhood "BOO" games. each year our neighborhood does a little game where you get a surprise goody bag on your dorrstep and you have to make two goody bags and secretly pass them on to two other neighbors without getting caught. once you have been boo-ed you hang a sign in your window so you don't get boo-ed twice. and so here are my two bags:

This one has a piece of paper from the DCWV halloween glitter stack. the black piece is stamped with a spider from Inkadinkado All Hallow's Eve set using winter rust and golden mist opalite ink - i wish i could have gotten a better pic of the shimmer......the three squares are stamped using studio G stamps from various series and they are stamped using the studio G inks which work wonderfully! i edged each square with orange ink using a foam blender. the pumpkin cut out is done with cricut paper dolls cartridge and then covered in studio G halloween glitter - i did the black and green details first, let dry and then filled in with the orange.

next up - background is also from the DCWV stack. the next layer was done by little miss pezzy herself - yep that's right - not even two yet and already crafting (OK with a BIT of help from mom....see below). Again the stamps are various Studio G stamped using studio G inks. I highlighted a bit on the hat and the "poof" with my spics pens. potion jar is cut from the cricut paper dolls cartridge and covered in studio G halloween glitter glue.

for the background i took a piece of black cardstock and cut it in half. i helped Pezzy squeeze winter rust, emerald and orchid opalite reinker randomly around one side. layed the other side on top and then let her smoosh it with her hands and roll it with my brayer. then pulled them apart. the shimmer is much better in person.

Pezzy made quite a few backgrounds recently so they will be showing up here and there :)

Now that the market has been flooded with studio G stamps i have seen a lot of posts about being unable to get a clear image with these. yes they are only a buck but i have ALWAYS gotten crisp clear images by using the following tips:

1. sand your stamp LIGHTLY with fine sandpaper before initial use (some people use emery boards, others use erasers but that has not worked for me consistently.
2. USE PIGMENT inks - the best i have found are versamagic, brilliance and versafine as well as the studio G inks. DYE inks do not work as well on alot of acrylics and i have noticed SU inks are especially bad with studio Gs.
3. Place a piece of foam/cusion under your paper - i use the piece that comes in the CTMH sets.
4. PRESS LIGHTLY - these stamps are soft - acrylics generally need a lighter touch than traditional red or gray rubber.

i hope you all are having fun with your studio Gs as well - and for those who have not received theirs yet i hope they arrive SOON!!!!

stay tuned - you'll want to see my post tomorow!!!