image by Splitcoast and Flower Soft

Splitcoast Stampers has a wonderful product review and project video featuring Display Globes by Flower Soft. I love this card, what an adorable idea!

-Heather

image by Impress

If you’re looking for a woodsy rustic look for your wrapping ideas this year how about stamping on wooden tags? These lovely maple wood tags are available from Impress and would also make great ornaments or book marks too!

-Heather

image by Judikins

One of my favorite all tme products is Diamond Glaze, it’s a clear dimensional adhesive made by Judikins. There are lots of really cool techniques you can do with Diamond Glaze and in this great classic video Judi from Judikins shares her three favorite ones, perfect for adding some glitz and glamour to those upcoming holiday cards!

-Heather

image by Heather Holbrook

 I recently got the coolest little envelope. It’s from DinoTalk, and it’s a gift card sized plain white envelope, from their Naked Collection, and you can record your own 10 second message inside, how totally cool is that?! They carry envelopes that are already decorated but of course as a stamper I want a plain one to decorate myself. I used Close To My Heart paper, ribbon and stamps to make a birthday themed envelope and recorded myself saying “Happy Birthday”, see my decorated envelope below. It was really easy to record the message, you open the flap, push the red button, record your message and when you’re happy with it pull the tab, put your gift card inside and close the flap. Now it’s ready to give to someone special, when they open the flap they’ll hear your record message. This is such a great idea, perfect for birthdays, weddings, baby gifts, etc. You could also put one inside of a scrapbook, great for baby’s first words or family Christmas carols, the ideas are endless.

Dinotalk Naked Collection also includes recordable ornaments (I LOVE this idea), a picture frame, paper and a larger envelope too.

image by Heather Holbrook

image by Creatopia and Splitcoast Stampers

Are you looking for a great all in one paper crafting machine? One that dry embosses, die cuts, laminates and adds adhesive?? Then the Creatopia is for you, it does all those things in one machine! Check out this detailed comprehensive product review, along with several videos, to see what you can do with this great new innovative machine.

-Heather

image by The Dancing Pear

Take  a look at this amazing project on the Dancing Pear blog, she used Lazertran to stamp on mugs, how cool is that?!

-Heather

image by My Cute Stamps

A really fun trend I’ve seen popping up in stamping and paper crafting is the Circus. Use bright primary colors for fun cards and layouts, they are perfect for children’s birthday party invites or for a card for anyone who is young at heart. Here are some fun stamping products I’ve found with a circus theme.

My Cute stamps has an adorable clear circus set:

image by My Cute Stamps

Basic Grey also has a wonderful clear stamp set called Build a Clown:

image by Basic Grey

Tim Holtz has a very fun ATC (artist trading card) sized stamp called Circus Freak:

image by Simon Says and Stampers Anonymous

image by Alphastamps and Tim Holtz

here’s a wonderful fun book by Lisa Kettel called Altered Art Circus:

image by Amazon and Lisa Kettel

image by Laura Jacobs and Circustamps

 

and lastly here’s a cute card I made using Close To My Hearts Life’s a Jungle set:

image by Heather Holbrook

-Heather

image by Impress

I think this has got to be a must have tool for every crafter, it’s called the Quick Stick, it’s sticky on one end and pointy on the other, perfect for picking up tiny items like punch outs, beads, sequins, etc. It’s available here from Impress rubber stamps.

-Heather

image by My Time To Stamp

Here’s a really terrific video tutorial by My Time To Stamp on how to make your own custom stamped brads using the cool I Top Tool.

-Heather

image by Flower Soft and Jennifer Buck

Flower Soft is a very cool and unique product, it’s an acid free pot full of multi colored sprinkles that are perfect for mini floral designs. Fluff your Flower Soft, apply a little glue to your project , sprinkle on the flower soft, pour the excess back into the jar and then let the glue dry, easy and very fun! They even make rubber stamps made specifically to work with the Flower Soft product. Find it at Impress. And visit the Fower Soft blog for lots more projects.

-Heather

image by Flower Soft and Impress

image by Heather Holbrook

image by Heather Holbrook

I recently took part in a contest put on by Klutz publications for their new book Paper Fashions Fantasy. First let me say I LOVE this book! It’s something I would have picked up and bought for myself. I love making art paper dolls and I also like using templates to add wings, hats, etc to collage and stamped art pieces so this book was right up my alley. It has plastic templates you trace and cut out to make clothing for fairies, princesses, witches, etc, lots of different dresses, shoes, hats, wings, anything you can think of. Plus it comes with a bunch of great papers, ribbons, beads, sequins, tiny hangers and glitter glue. There are also lots of wonderful ideas to copy or to get you going on your own ideas. It’s a wonderful book for kids but also for us adults who love to play with paper too

For my projects I was inspired by my favorite princess, Snow White. It’s the first movie I remember seeing in the movie theater when I was really little. So I wanted to recreate Snow’s outfit as well as the Evil Queen, she’s one of the best dressed Disney villains (next too Cruella Deville ) and I was so happy to find I was easily able to use the templates, papers and embellishments in this book to make my versions of those iconic outfits, I think they turned out so cute and they were so much fun to make. I’ll definitely be using this book for more creations in the future!

Visit  the Klutz website for more info on this fun book and many others.

-Heather

image by Klutz

image by stamp, stamp, stamp

If you are like me you’ve probably got piles of beautiful handmade cards send to you from friends or maybe you’ve acquired them from swaps and also like me maybe you have them tossed in drawers or in shoe boxes because they are to pretty and meaningful to throw away, well there is now a terrific solution to that problem. It’s called The Card Album and it holds 24 cards that can easily be slid in and out for easy storage and viewing. It’s also a great way to store and orginize cards you’ve made but haven’t sent out yet. The Card Album is available at the stamp,stamp, stamp website.

-Heather

image by Wendy Vecchi

Wendy Vecchi has a great new video showing a cool background technique using Ranger’s Adirondack pigment inks and perfect pearls, try it out and add a nice shimmer to your next project!

-Heather

image by Tim Holtz

It’s no secret that I LOVE Tim Holtz, his products are always wonderful and I’m so excited when he comes out with something new. One of my favorite products from him  is his crackle paint, it’s so easy to use and now he’s come out with a new *clear* crackle paint, how cool is that?? He also has a new clear distress stickles too, these new clear “colors” are called Rock Candy and boy do they ever rock!! I can’t wait to get my hands on these:) Here’s Tim’s latest video on how to use these cool new products.

Rock On!!

-Heather

image by Close To My Heart

Close to My Heart has a new episode of Art and Soul out, this video focuses on versatility with segments on masculine cards , a step by step card tutorial, cards made with stickers and how to use the new Wishes book that is filled with lots of card sketches and instructions. Go here to find a CTMH consultant near you.

-Heather