Coming to a city near you!!

Just a quick announcement -- I finally finished and published the Technique Junkies trade show schedule for 2016! Go take a look HERE.

This is one of the classes I am teaching this year. Aren't these cards cute? 8 cards, with envelopes, in a decorative acetate box.  If I am coming to your city and you would like me to teach this class in YOUR town, email me!

I hope you are close enough to one of our venues to come by and say hi!  See you in 2016...

Blog Hop and Day 18 of the 30 Days of Christmas!

Today we are celebrating two-fold! It is November 1st, and we are celebrating the final release of the year for Technique Junkies stamps with a blog hop. In addition, it is Day 18 of the 30 Days of Christmas -- and I am using some of the new releases to celebrate!

If you arrived here from Kathy Stacey's blog, you are in the right place! If not, I encourage you to start at the beginning of the hop. Here is the entire lineup:

Design Team Blog http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com

Pam DeChellis http://journeyawakensthesoul.blogspot.com

Gini Williams Cagle: http://ginicagle.blogspot.com

Beth Norman http://sunflowers-dragonflies.ca/blog

Jane Bosi http://janembosi.blogspot.com

Jerri Jones http://www.abushelandahug.blogspot.com

Judy Jackson  http://judysstampart.blogspot.com

Marilyn Hughes http://DollsEtc.blogspot.com

Robin Redd  http://robinredd.typepad.com/reddrobinstudios/

Kathy Stacy http://craftynurse4u.wordpress.com

Pat Huntoon http://patstamps.blogspot.com

The card above uses the Fresh Chevron background. I created an Ombre' effect by applying three colors of stains directly to the stamp:

The first color was applied to the top 1/3 of the stamp, directly to the rubber.

The next color was applied to the center portion, direct to stamp.

The final color was added to the bottom 1/3 of the stamp.

Spray the stamp lightly with water and stamp onto watercolor paper. Use a heat tool to dry piece fully.

The focal point of the stamp is a new November stamp called Doxie's Guilt Trip.  I just think it is the cutest stamp! I added a ribbon around Doxie's neck and added the Merry Christmas 2 stamp so the Doxie can help us celebrate the season!

Don't forget that the Christmas sale has been extended to November 12th -- 20% off all Christmas stamps! Use the word Christmas at checkout for your discount.

I hope you have enjoyed the hop today. Don't forget to go to the Technique Junkies website to get your 15% off of the November stamps!

October Release Blog Hop -- Final Stop!

Welcome! Today is Release Day at Technique Junkies, and the Design Team and I are celebrating with a Blog Hop. Hopefully, you arrived here from Kathy's Blog, and enjoyed her beautiful work. If not, please start back at the beginning of the hop, at the Design Team Blog. The artwork is worth every click!

Even though I posted a few things for you on the Design Team Blog, I have a few more pieces to show you before you can go shop (the October 2015 New Release Stamps are 15% off through October 9th). First we'll start with this:

This card was made using the Afternoon Tea Stamp along with the Where There's Tea Sentiment. I used Peerless Watercolors to give a subtle hint of color. If you started at the Design Team Blog, you know that I showed stamps there that were on the masculine side -- this one is decidedly feminine! 

One more for today, using the new Pom Pom Swag Background, with the Live in the Present Stamp used as a focal point.  To achieve the color gradation, I simply swiped the background direct to stamp, using 4 colors of  Distress Inks.

I hope you enjoyed our hop today. Remember to go to the techniquejunkies.com website for the 15% discount!

September Blog Hop! Final Stop...

Hi Stampers! Today is September 1st -- Release Day on www.techniquejunkies.com -- which means it is also HOP day.  Today the entire Technique Junkies Design Team has put together a wonderful Holiday Hop to showcase the 15 new September stamps.  I hope you have had a chance to go through the hop. If you arrived here from Kathy Stacy's Blog, you are in the right place. If THIS is your first stop, take a moment to go back to the beginning - you will NOT want to miss this artwork!!

After the hop, make sure to go shop -- all 15 of the Sepember release stamps are 15% off until September 8th!

Here is the full hop list!

Design Team Blog http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com <---start here!

Pam DeChellis http://journeyawakensthesoul.blogspot.com

Sally Lynn MacDonald  http://www.sallylynnmacdonald.com

Beth Norman http://sunflowers-dragonflies.ca/blog

Jane Bosi http://janembosi.blogspot.com

Jerri Jones http://www.abushelandahug.blogspot.com

Judy Jackson http://judysstampart.blogspot.com/

Gini Cagle http://ginicagle.blogspot.com

Marilyn Hughes http://DollsEtc.blogspot.com

Robin Redd  http://robinredd.typepad.com/reddrobinstudios/

Kathy Stacy http://craftynurse4u.wordpress.com

Pat Huntoon http://patstamps.blogspot.com

Now for the final piece in the hop:

For my piece, I used the Draped Christmas background stamp.  In order to get the multiple layers of draping, I simply stamped the stamp in VersaMark, then embossed it,  then moved the stamp over slightly and stamped/embossed again in another color.  I love how it turned out!  The Happy New Year stamp is also new -- a great way to ring in the new year. (Seems like a way off in 90degree weather -- but it will be here before you know it!)

I hope you were inspired by the hop. Remember that the 15 newly released stamps are all 15% off until September 8th.  Thanks for visiting with us today!

August Release Blog Hop

Welcome! Today is August 1st, and here at Technique Junkies Stamps, we have a baker's dozen of new stamps ready for you! To celebrate, we are hosting a blog hop so that you can see some of the great new stamps in action. After the hop, go shop -- all AUGUST release stamps are 15% off! You can find them HERE.

If you arrived here from Kathy Stacy's blog ( http://craftynurse4u.wordpress.com), congratulations, you have seen all of the blogs - I hope you are feeling inspired! If  THIS is your first stop, then I urge you  to head over to the Design Team blog at techniquejunkies.blogspot.com to start from the beginning.

Here are my offerings for today:

 This piece uses the new Lanterns and the Always Hope stamps as the main stamps. For the background, I used the Marble Paper stamp to add more color.

The second card uses the Paw Prints stamp over a Herringbone background (Designer Paper Perfection CD). I love how the multicolored background sets off the simple stamp so well!

I hope that you have been inspired by the hop today. I love our new stamps, and I hope you do too!

July Release Blog Hop

Welcome! Today is release day for Technique Junkies, and we are celebrating with a blog hop.  If you came here from Kathy Stacy's blog, you are in the right place. If not, start the hop on the Design Team blog so that you don't miss a thing: http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com .

On the Design Team blog, I posted one card using the Stargazer background. I love that background,and I think it makes pretty great Day Lilies, too!  To make this card, I stamped the Stargazers, then sprayed the background with Timeless, Grass, and Sandcastle Art Anthology Colorations. After that was dried, I used Distress Markers to add highlights and lowlights to the flowers.

The Sentiment is from the Word Set (released in June). I find myself saying this all the time...I couldn't help myself, I had to make it into a stamp!

I hope you enjoyed the hop today -- remember to use the 15% discount before July 8th.
And enjoy the long weekend, too!

June Release Blog Hop!

Its release day at Technique Junkies -- and that means that its time to hop! My blog is actually the LAST stop on the hop, so if it's your first, simply go back to the Design Team blog to start from the beginning.  If you you came here from Kathy's Blog, you are in the right place!

Today we celebrate new stamps...and if you have been following the hop, you know that they are fun!
All of the June stamps are 15% off this week, too -- simply put any of the June releases into your shopping cart, and the 15% discount will be applied at checkout.

For my project, I decided to use two of the new stamps, the new set of 4 called WORD, and THE RULES. The background of my project uses the Eyelet Lace background stamp. I colored the Girl with Distress Markers. The background was stamped with purple ink, then over sprayed with Grape Soda Colorations Spray.

I hope you were inspired by today's offerings - thanks for coming by!

Celebrating spring in flowers...

Hopefully you arrived here after viewing the weekly TJ Inkspirations that mentioned the tutorial in this post.  If not, you should subscribe! simply email me at phuntoon@optonline.net to get on the list.

All Technique Junkies Flowers stamps are on sale this week. Use the coupon code flowers15 at checkout to get your discount!
 
The Cottage Rose stamp above was one of the examples in the email.  Here how I made it:




1.  Select a few colors to use on the stamp, I am using StazOn here, simply because I love the colors of the MIDI pads, and they fit nicely in my hands.  You can use whatever ink pad you choose.

2. Apply color directly to the stamp by rubbing the ink pad directly on the rubber. Repeat with all stamps.







3. Stamp the image on cardstock.

4. Stamp the image again onto a Post It note, then cut the Post It image out to create a mask. NOTE: When cutting masks, it is always better to make them too small rather than too large. When they are cut too large, blank space may show when the image is overstamped.

5. Cover the image with the Post It Note. Ink the Vintage Music Collage with Grey ink and stamp over the  Post It Note and cardstock.









6. Remove the mask and finish as desired.

Fishing Guy

I made this with the first Palettini Stamp that came off the press back in September last year to see how the Wasted Stamp looked -- and I promptly forgot about this card! I am happy to share it with you today, since we are getting closer to Father's Day.

This card uses the Fishing Guy stamp, colored with Pastel Pencils, layered over Wasted (Palettini). On the bottom, I stamped "Go Fish" with the Small Realistic Letter Tiles, Upper Case. I love these little tiles - so useful for creating my own phrases!

All stamps are Technique Junkies Stamps, of course.

Have a great day today!

Beautiful and Brilliant Peacock

If you receive my weekly email, you know that the last one explored different ways to use the same stamp. Of course, there is only so much room in that email...so I have some extras to share with you!

Today I am sharing one that uses the Gelatos Smoosh technique from the Bodacious Backgrounds CD. It is such an easy technique, and you can get such pretty colors from it.  If you have the CD, take a look! If not, the CD is only $9.95, and all CDs are 20% off this week, too! Click here to see all the CDs.

The stamps used are Peacock Feathers and Beautiful and Brilliant (both from Technique Junkies, of course!).
Have a great day!

May Release Blog Hop

Welcome to the hop! If you have come from Jeri's blog, you are in the right place.  I hope you have enjoyed all of the gorgeous artwork!  If this is your first stop, I urge you to start at the beginning on the Design Team Blog (http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com). The designers have outdone themselves.

Today we are celebrating the May Stamp releases on www.techniquejunkies.com!  We have 35 new stamps, including 11 new stamps from the Palettini line. We are so excited about these new stamps, and we want to share the excitement with a GREAT discount. From now through next Friday, take 15% off all May Release stamps! To find them, click on New Stamps, then May Releases on the sidebar. I hope you love them as much as I do!

The card above uses the Rose Urn (P028) Stamp from the Palettini Line. I colored it with pastel pencils, and added a little shading with distress inks to age the piece a bit. I toyed with adding a sentiment, then decided that this makes a great note card for almost any occasion,

The second card here, which was featured in the TJ Inspirations email (if you are not receiving the email, contact me on phuntoon@optonline.net and I will add you). I used the new Winning Hand Stamp from the Palettini line, along with the Old Card Players stamp (SDX060). The Wasted Background (P020) seemed perfect for this card, along with the Diamonds (S278) cards as an accent.

I hope you have enjoyed the hop -- and I hope you love the new stamps as much as I do!!
  Go save 15% on the new stamps!

I so rarely have time to create these days, so when I do, I kind of go hog-wild.  While preparing for my weekly email (TJ Inkspirations, email me at phuntoon@optonline.net if you are not receiving it), I played around quite a bit to make some new things and explore the Art Anthology line of paints, stencils and sprays even more. All of these can be found on the Technique Junkies website, here: http://techniquejunkies.com/products-and-accessories/

I posted two quick tutorials on the Design Team blog Friday, and one yesterday, so it is time that I post here with more ideas!
Today I am painting the AA Velvets directly onto my stamp, then using a painted stencil for the background.

 If you try this, I STRONGLY suggest that you have water and cleaning tools right next to your elbow. These paints dry fast. It is an advantage of the paint, of course, but you also want to protect your other supplies.  I washed my stamp, stencil and paintbrush immediately with no ill effects to any of them.

First, I painted the flower portion of the  Whimsical Garden stamp with Desire Velvet Dimensional Medium. I painted the stems with Limeaid Velvet.  I immediately stamped them on paper. I wanted to see if I could get two printings of them -- and the second turned out pretty well - a little lighter, of course, but still usable.

Here Kitty, Kitty...15% is disappearing at midnight Wednesday!

If you get my Friday email, chances are you have seen these cards - in a small format. I am posting them again so that you can see detail, and to remind you that all of the stamps on the newly designed Technique Junkies website are on sale for 15% off, only through Midnight tonight!!  Hurry and place your order -- we can all use an extra little bit off, right?

The card above uses two of the most-ordered stamps this week: Whatcha Doin'? (SDX052) and Kitty Watching (SD635). In addition to those two brand new stamps, I also used a couple of classics -- Gingham (S416) on the bottom, and Veined Marble(S201) on the top.  I love having a plethora of texture stamps -- who needs designer paper when you can create your own?

I posted the other two cards to the Design Team blog for today, too -- go take a look!
Make sure

Hop and Shop!

Today is the kick-off blog hop for the new Design Team, New Website, and New Stamps!

If you arrived here from Sally Lynn MacDonald's blog, you are in the right place. If you started here, I urge you to start at the beginning (the Design Team Blog, HERE) so you can follow along. With so many new designers, the Hop is one of the best we have ever done!

We have dozens of new stamps for you to see on the BRAND NEW Technique Junkies site. The site is better organized, easier to navigate, and contains tons of inspiration! The design team has given you a taste of what you will see - now go look at the rest.

ALL STAMPS  ARE 15% OFF FOR THE NEXT WEEK.

The focal point stamp I used above is brand new - called: The Right Shoes. You can find it HERE.

Thank you for coming today -- I hope you enjoyed the hop and I hope you will love the new site!

Come see us in Allentown!

We will be at the Heirloom Stamp and Paper Arts Show in Allentown PA this weekend, and we want you to come play with us! Use the coupon below for your choice of one free stamp with purchase over $35.00! 

We will be Demonstrating Peerless Watercolors, and we have a great Make and Take using Art Anthology products and Technique Junkies Stamps!  Come play with us!

 

 

Another Vintage Balloon Collage Stamp...

Today's card uses the Palettini Vintage Balloon Collage stamp from Technique Junkies with the Frosted Dylusions Technique. The full Frosted Dylusions Tutorial in on the Shimmer, Glimmer, Sparkle and Shine CD ($14.95, Technique Junkies).

Love how this turned out!