LMac's Catered Crops

Please Stand By

Remember when your television only had a few channels and didn't broadcast 24 hours a day? For those of you too young to remember when we only had the major networks and got all our news from Walter Cronkite, after midnight or so most of the channels would put on this test pattern.

I'm frantically getting ready to go out of town, finish a big case at work, and put together some projects to showcase the new Stampin' Up! catalog. Oh, and I will have some great things to show you soon, I just don't know when I'll be able to with everything going on.

You all have been so wonderful to check in on me and leave such sweet notes. Thanks to you my little ramblings have had almost 15,000 hits since I started it last February. So . . . hang with me and please stand by, I'll be back to blog some fun things as soon as I can.

Don't Look Ethel

Hello everybody, this is your action news reporter
With all the news that is news across the nation
On the scene at the super market
There seems to have been some disturbance here
Pardon me sir, did you see what happened?

Yeh, I did...I was standing over there by the tomatoes
And here he come
Running through the pole beans, through the fruits and vegetables
Naked as a jay-bird
And I hollered over at Ethel...I said don't look Ethel
It was too late, she'd already been incensed...

Oh yes, they call him the streak
He likes to turn the other cheek
He's always making the news
Wearin' just his tennis shoes
Guess you could call him unique...

For those of you old enough to remember, that's Ray Steven's, The Streak. If you're in my hostess club or Lonestar swap, you may want to shield your eyes. You'll be getting this card later. Don't peak! For everyone else, I caution you . . . this card uses a stamp set that you can't buy until July 1 if you're not a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. This may be more of a tease than that streaker!

This is my last Silver Anniversary mushy tribute to my incredible miracle man, Tom. He asked me if he gets to keep the card and I said, well, yeah, after I'm finished demonstrating it. Guess I'm not all that romantic after all.

Ooo, and I used the new in-color inks and paper. That's River Rock paper and ink along with Groovy Guava ink and paper on White Shimmery paper, accented with some Blush Blossom. I heat embossed the flower images using white embossing powder on blush and guava paper. To add the bling factor I added tiny sequins to the flower centers. They're not Stampin' Up! sequins but I just learned that Stampin' Up!'s July catalog will have some pretties like this for us to play with. Woo Hoo.

 

Yep, The Streak was a big hit back in the 80's when I married my man. For giggles and grins, here it is again for all you Ethel would be's like me.

Like a Skunk Goes with Stank

Me 'n' you's like a Moon Pie with a RC cold drank. We go together like a skunk goes with stank.

Twenty five years ago on this very day we were just two young people facing a new life together. We were full of wishes for the future and blessed with parents to guide us and be our safety net. Today our hair is more gray than my Dad's in this picture, and now we are each other's safety net. So we'll just embrace the next 25 years holding closer to each other than ever.

The man who married us preached that we were witnessing a miracle. He said somehow God had ordained long before we were born that we would be together in a holy marriage, and June 12, 1982, was our miracle. I am truly honored that Tom chose me to be his bride and continues to chose me to be his companion. Thank you Tom . . . for being my miracle!  Happy Silver Anniversary. Love, Linny

Tipsy Tuesday - Crystal Clear

One of my favorite people asked me about how to use Crystal Effects. While I like the stuff so much I always keep a backup bottle, I still went to the experts. Here's some tips by Colleen Kidder.

Crystal Effects is also known as 3-D Crystal Lacquer. It is a water based lacquer that adds depth and texture to your hand stamped projects. Crystal Effects will appear "cloudy" as it is applied but it will dry to a crystal clear sheen. The favorite way stampers like to use this product is to apply it to areas where they would like a 3-D look or "raised effect" . . . whatever you apply it to will seem to  j-u-m-p  right off the paper. However, there  are other fun and fabulous ways to use Crystal Effects and I've listed a few below but first let's get the basics down.

Tips for using Crystal Effects:

• Use and store Crystal  Effects at room temperature.
• Allow Crystal Effects to dry completely before handling. Thin coats will take only a few minutes but thicker coats may take a half hour or longer to dry completely. If you handle before it is dry you risk adding your fingerprint to  your art work.
• To prevent bubbles, Crystal Effects should not be shaken.
• Prior to use, place the bottle upside down in a coffee cup, letting any air bubbles that might be in the bottle to raise to the top. This will keep bubbles from appearing in your finished project.
• Once Colleen starts slowly applying the Crystal Effects, she tries to NOT pick the tip up off of her  project until it is completely covered. Viola . . . no air bubbles. For her, the key is to move slowly and do not lift tip from surface during application until you are finished. This way there are no air bubble being "blown in" to your work. It may take you a little longer to get all of you work covered, but the outcome, is well worth it!
• The tip of the bottle may become clogged. To prevent this from happening place the bottle upright on table and allow the Crystal Effects to drain back down into the bottle. If the tip does become clogged, before Colleen begins her project, she uses the a paper clip or needle to open a pathway for the Crystal Effects to flow smoothly.  Keep the paper clip attached to the bottle by wrapping a rubber band around the  bottle and sticking the paper clip in it. If you find your tip really clogged just  unscrew the cap and rinse with warm water. Then dry and replace cap. Do not store the Crystal Effects with the pin or paper clip in it, it will rust and ruin your bottle.
• To achieve a thicker coating of Crystal Effects it is better to apply several thin coats. If you try to apply it all at once you may cause the dye ink underneath to blur or "feather." Also, Crystal Effects is water based, so if too much is applied at once the paper may buckle.
• Do not use heat gun to speed dry time. It becomes extremely  bubbly and unattractive.

I would only add that you should let your Crystal Effect image dry flat - it will run.

Here's some examples of my projects with Crystal Effects. Of course, there's Rosie's card from yesterday.

I used Crystal Effects to adhere the pearl and microbeads to the center of this blue rose cake box.

And, here's another cake box using Crystal Effects to keep the beads in the center of the flower.

Here's some other suggestions from Colleen.

#1. Layer it on your projects to give a smooth glass-like finish.

#2. Use the applicator tip to apply a thicker layer of Crystal Effects to "select elements" of your design to add emphasis. Apply a second or third coat if your first layer was not standing up off your paper enough to please you. Some ideas are to apply it to leaves, flower petals, insects, teacup, umbrella, window, eyeglasses, Christmas ornaments.

#3: Simulate dew on a petal by adding little droplets to flowers.

#4: Use Crystal Effects to outline your image. This provides the look of embossing without needing the heat gun. This looks especially inviting when used as "frosting" of a cake.

#5: It truly gives the look of glass and as such looks wonderful when used on glass items such as the light bulb in the Little Inspirations set or the Christmas lights in the Border Builders set . . . Makes the lights shine. Use Crystal Effects on a fish bowl or use it to create a  faux glass "Bug Jar" and use one of the bug sets to stamp some bugs to go in the  jar. Use it to highlight the glass globe of a Snow Globe. Apply some Dazzling Diamonds glitter to create the look of snow.

#6:  Create a dimensional paint. Add Crystal Effects to small containers and then add a drop or two of Stampin' Up! Classic re-inker and stir using a toothpick. Then apply color as desired to your stamped image allowing a few minutes drying time between colors so they won't blend.

#7: Crystal Effects makes the perfect glue for any project!! Use it to attach your poly shrink plastic embellishments, beads, feathers, and bows. It is very strong, great for adding hard to hold magnets, pin backs, and wire to your stamped projects. Be sure to let it dry completely before handling.

#8: Use it to make flat marble magnets or bulletin board tacks. Purchase the glass marbles/pebbles that have a flat side to them in the floral section of craft stores. Then use the circle punch to create the perfect shape to place behind these see-through marbles. Stamp desired image on the card stock circle and color it in using markers. Use Krylon Matte Acrylic or use the Krylon  workable Fixative to seal markers. Next, apply Crystal Effects to the flat marble and not to the stamped image. Then press the marble onto the stamped circle. If you don't have the Krylon to seal the markers, applying the Crystal Effects in this manner (to the marble instead of the stamped image) will keep the image colors from smearing. Apply a bit more Crystal Effects and then attach a magnet or push pin to it.

#9: Use it for "fray check" on the ends of your ribbon after you have cut them to the desired length.

#10: Create "Shimmering Pearls" by adding a small amount of Pearl Ex powder to some Crystal Effects. Then apply over your stamp art with a brush.

#11: Use it to re-glue any stamps that have either come unmounted from the foam or that you took off the wood block because you wanted to trim and re-mount.

One last suggestion of my own . . . you can use just a tiny dab of Crystal Effects on top of a bow or knot to keep it from coming undone.

I hope this helps and that it's Crystal Clear (sorry, couldn't resist).

Lin

Rosie's Tickled Pink

Meet Rosie. When I was growing up she sat on my Mom and Dad's bedroom dresser. Early in their married life they established a rule that they would empty their pockets and coin purses of change every night and "feed Rosie." Though my Dad was frugal in other ways, he let us use Rosie's treasures for our many adventures.

You can barely see it from the picture but there's a chip near the coin slot. The only way to get the coins out of Rosie is to use a butter knife and wedge the coins out of the slot. She's over fifty years old, so a lot of coins have been wedged out of her. I stoled a few pennies from her to make our card project - a bit of a tribute to Rosie.

This card uses pennies to make the little pig spin around and across the card, called a spinner card. Splitcoast stampers has a tutorial: here, and Rosie's card is just a simpler version.

First, I just used the Word Window punch to make the track and stamped the words "tickled pink" under the window it created.

I stamped and colored two pigs from the Very Punny Sell-a-Bration stamp set. I love the gentle coloring and shading you can get with the watercolor crayons and aqua pens. And, for the first time, I used watercolor paper; it makes the details just really pop out. After I punched the two pig images out with 1-1/4" circle punch, I used Poppin' Dimensionals to attach Rosie's pennies to the back of the circles.

 

Then, I placed a Poppin' Dimensional on one coin and placed that coin/circle under the track.

I attached the top pig image/coin to the bottom pig/coin combo. So I have a sandwich of

• circle/pig
• Poppin' Dimensional
• penny
• Poppin' Dimensional
• card base/window track
• penny
• Poppin' Dimensional
• circle/pig.

It kind of looks like this.

And, because this is hard-working Rosie, I figured she deserved some glam - and I painted her with some Crystal Effects and sprinkled some glitter into the Crystal Effects while it was still wet.

Here she is again in all her splendor, dancing merrily across the card. I'd dance too if I were her, because Rosie absolutely is never put on a diet - we feed her anything she wants.

Hey Pam

Pam Downs is my guest artist with this incredible card. I wish you could see this card in person because she did such amazing things with it. This picture makes it look like the bottom half of the card base is just some fun pattern paper, but actually, Pam did some incredibly innovative things. She first stamped the Polka Dots and Petals images on Brocade Blue using the same ink color to get that gentle tone on tone look. Then she used a variety of circle punches to cut out pattern paper and glued them to the blue paper. She used the Polka Dots and Petals images again with black ink to stamp onto acetate paper (a.k.a. window sheets or transparency paper). Check out the flower images on the Pumpkin Pie orange top of the card - she colored in the flower centers with the white gel pen.

Stampin' Up! has announced they won't carry the window sheets due to problems with their supplier. But, you can get the same affect from the transparency papers office supply stores carry. Here's the card again in the sunlight so you can see how fun the window sheet works with it.

Pam made this card for us to help showcase the soon-to-be-discontinued Polka Dots and Petals ensemble in the Spring Mini catalog. I hear rumors that sometimes Stampin' Up! will continue items from the mini catalogs into the big Idea Book and Catalog . . . I sure hope the Polka Dot series makes it because it's been so much fun to play with.

News Bulletin

Hey all . . . just a very quick note. Craft Critique is doing a very timely series on, guess what? Organization. Do you think they're reading Peter's book? Michelle Laycock is famous among stampers for many things including being the first stamper to start a blog and creating a community of bloggers, Splitcoast Bloggers. She's sharing her knowledge of organization from a librarian's perspective in an article about organizing scrapbooking paper, including how to be disciplined in managing your stock. Anyway, I thought it was so timely that I just had to pass along that little tidbit of news.

Okay, I've reconciled that once I read my Creating Keepsakes magazines cover to cover I usually don't pick them back up again. So, I've finally concluded that saving issues for months/years for possible inspiration just isn't as smart as making more room for the books I really do look at, like my favorite, 40 Techniques for Making Cards, autographed by Stacy Croninger her own self. The magazines are on their way to some folks I know who want to get into scrapbooking but don't know where to start. I feel so much better knowing they'll be put to use for something other than catching dust.

Sorry so quick - off to bed so I can be fresh to teach at the Community Center tomorrow. Happy Thursday - Friday's just around the corner.

Lin

Tipsy Tuesday Peter Pearls

Good Tipsy Tuesday Morning! I thought I'd share with you a couple of my favorite web sites as our primary tip and then head on over to Peter's for Peter Pearls.

I have an embarrassingly large number of blogs I tune into, but also a few favorite web sites for inspiration and help.

Splitcoast Stampers is, beyond a doubt, the best resource. It's just a gathering place where stampers can meet and talk, share their stamping creations, catch up on the latest trends, tips & techniques. There are amazing artists there making it the number one go-to sight. If you go, be sure to visit my humble art gallery, here.

In no particular order, here are a few of my other haunts:

• Stampin' Up! Color Combos helps you coordinate your colors so your hues don't clash with your tones.
• The Stamper's Mall has fun templates, folds and shapes.
• Rubber Stamping Techniques has about every technique you can dream of. Ever stamped with shaving cream?
• Stampin' When I Can is Allison's blog where she keeps you informed of the latest tutorials, give-a-ways, challenges, sketches and cyber gossip. If you want to keep you finger on the pulse, you want to hang with Allison.
• Craft Critique is a collective of experienced crafters (some professional, most not) who share their opinions on the craft supplies you want to learn more about. If you're wondering what die cut system to purchase, they've probably reviewed them all.

So . . . on to the ongoing saga of Clutter Control, following Peter Walsh's book, It's All Too Much. Somebody let me know if you're getting tired of this topic.

When you just don't know where to start Peter offers  "The Trash Bag Tango." For this little pearl of wisdom he says to grab two trash bags. Every day for a week take ten minutes to go around your home and fill one bag with trash (old papers, torn and unusable clothing, out-of-date magazines, anything at all you'd classify as garbage). Fill the other with items you want out of your house. Those are the "Out the Door" items

"Out the Door" items are things you want to sell (yard sale, on consignment, or on-line), donate to a charitable organization, give back to their rightful owners or give to someone else who has a use for them. Peter says if you commit to the Trash Bag Tango ten minutes a day for a week, you'll notice a huge difference. If you do it every day for a month, everyone else will notice a huge difference. If you do it every day for three months, you'll conquer clutter in your home.

Do I hear a little Tango music?

Cyndee's At It Again

One of my little tips about taking pictures of your cards, or just about anything for that matter, is to take lots of pictures. I usually take as many as six pictures of a card before I get the image I like. Thank goodness for digital or I'd be broke from film and processing.

Anyway . . . I like this card that my guest artist, Cyndee Rust made so much, I'm going to show you two pictures of it. You can see what a really great job she did of fraying the edges of her paper to get that great texture. To me it almost gives this card the look of a much used comfortable quilt.

Cyndee used the Notations designer paper and Sahara Sand for her card base. I really started playing with the Notations paper last night (project pix on their way soon), and the colors in it are so incredibly versatile. You can mix So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal, Cool Caribbean, and, of course, Sahara Sand with it. The flowers coordinate with our flower punch, and many of the images go beautifully with the Office Accoutrement set, which, again, you'll see later this week (tease).

If you'd like to see more of Cyndee's art, you can visit her web site art gallery, here. As I mentioned before, she's an incredible artist - one of those crafters who just leaks artistic ability, so much so that I feel more creative just in her presence.

The card sentiment says: Friend. A True Friend is someone who says nice things behind your back.

Thanks for sharing with us, Cyndee.

Tagged - Oh My

Like my new caricature? Well, the only thing really accurate about that is I like to hang out in comfortable clothes. The figure is, well, nostalgic.

I was tagged by this incredible artist, Shannon. It's such an honored to be tagged by her - I enjoy her blog and art so much. So . . . guess I gotta' deliver. ("Tagging" is just when someone taps you with a question or a task and you have to pass it on.) According to this tag's rule, I have to answer these questions in just one word. Oh my.

Yourself: Eccentric
Your Partner: Supercalifragilistic!
Your Hair: Streaked
Your Mother: Missed
Your Father: Wise
Your Favorite Item: Ink
Your Dream Last Night: Mom
Your Favorite Drink: Diet
Your Dream Car: DeLorean
Dream Home: FallingWater
The Room You Are In: Den
Your Fear: Boredom
Where You Want to be in Ten Years: Grandma
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: MaileyDog
You’re Not: Twiggy
One of Your Wish List Items: Stamps!
The Last Thing You Did: Blogged
You Are Wearing: Grubbies
Your Favorite Weather: Fall
Your Favorite Book: Mockingbird
Last Thing You Ate: Whitcastle
Your Life: Jubilee
Your Mood: Playful
Your Best Friend: Tommy
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: Creating
Your Car: Soccermom
What Are You Doing At The Moment: Duh!
Relationship Status: Smitten
What Is On Your TV: Nothing
What Is The Weather Like: Breezy

Okay, now I get to tag some folks: Vera, Daniela, Alli, Colleen, and Louise. I found these ladies in a Splitcoast Stamper's post about, well, tagging. I hope you'll visit their blogs, they are all very talented.

As a postscript . . . my monthly newsletter it set to hit the news stands tomorrow (well, okay, not news stands, just e-mail). If you don't get it and would like to, just enter you e-mail at the left were it says: "Get LMac's Monthly Ink-spirations." There are a couple of project ideas and updates on my upcoming calendar. I don't want you to miss out, and I don't want to miss a chance to craft with you.