Easy Canvas Prints

Hello out there in blog land!  How is everyone on this crisp, October day?  Doing well, I hope!  I have a special blog post today to share an amazing company and product with you!  I know I always love hearing about new goodness in our crafty/scrappy industry.


Last month I was contacted by EasyCanvasPrints.com and offered a free canvas in exchange for a product review here on my blog.  I went to their website and surfed around a little to get more info.  The more I saw, the more intrigued I was so of course I said "SURE" and "yayyyyy thanks" to the awesome website and marketing people.  The next (and more difficult question) out there was...what photo should I use??  Wow.  Talk about a tough choice...


In the end I got a gorgeous, high-quality 8x10 canvas featuring this wonderful photo of my boys, taken when DS#2 came home from the hospital.  (I know the picture of the picture is not the best quality.  I think there's something wrong with my camera, the bottom of the photos has been coming out blurry lately).

I really can't say enough how impressed I was with everything about EasyCanvasPrints.  (And you KNOW I'm not that easily impressed!).  This canvas is thick and heavy, with a beautiful finish and texture that shows it off as something unique, but doesn't lose anything from the photo (not even tiny baby features!).  I had the "standard wrap", which means it's 3/4" thick.  Since the sides of the canvas are exposed without a frame, I got the mirror image option, which means they're not plain, they're printed with a mirror image of the photo! Love it!  The entire frame underneath is solid and it came wrapped so carefully to ensure there was no damage during transit.


Here's the part of the ordering process that I really liked.  When you are ready to order your canvas, you go to their website, choose the canvas size you're after, and upload your picture.  You can upload from your hard drive or even from Facebook!  The website has an excellent photo editor built right into it, so you don't have to try to tweak your photo before you upload, it will show you the sizing area based on the canvas size you chose, and will let you "zoom" in the image, move it around on the print area, crop, and all kinds of things.  When you are done it will show you PERFECTLY just how your canvas will look.  This was especially important for me, the photo I chose had a kiddo's coat thrown off onto the floor right above the boys' heads.  Using the system on their website, I was able to move and zoom and push the coat out of the picture, while still seeing how it would look on the finished product (helpful because when I tried to crop it out in PSE it didn't work as well without having that sizing palette set for me.


So, yes, I am EXTREMELY pleased with this gorgeous canvas, and I can't wait to show it off!  Oh, the other thing - the printing and shipping was unbelievably fast, even with the standard shipping option I had this beauty in my hands in less than a week after ordering - coming from Texas up to Wisconsin!  I rate their quality, shipping, ease of website use and professional communication 10s across the board!  I can't wait to get another; I'm thinking wall collage...


Thank you again to Brendan for contacting me and for the workers for creating such a beautiful canvas.  I have put a permanent link to the EasyCanvasPrints website up on my right side bar, if you'd like to check it out.  You can also like them on Facebook!

Death Swatch by Laura Childs - Review and GIVEAWAY

**This post will remain at the top until after the blog candy drawing. Please scroll down for new posts (I will have a new post every day this week so they are there!**

Hello and Happy Sunday to you! As promised, I am back today with my book review -- oh, and blog candy too! The review is of Death Swatch by Laura Childs. {I loved it, BTW. But read on for more!}. Ms. Childs contacted me after the holidays to ask if I would be interested in reviewing her latest book here on my blog. I had actually read books one through three when they were first out, so I was thrilled to reconnect with this series and catch up with Carmella, Ava, and the rest of the gang!

Death Swatch is the sixth installment of Childs' popular Scrapbooking Mystery series featuring heroine Carmella Bertrand, proprietor of the Memory Mine scrapbook shop in the French Quarter of New Orleans. While the characters are extremely well-developed over the course of the series, this is certainly a stand-alone story, and reading the first five books is not a prerequisite {although I believe you'll be hooked, so then you'll definitely want to go back and catch up on any you missed!}

Carmella, independent and nearly divorced from her charming but no-good husband, is a genius with all things papercrafting. The fabulous French Quarter, in fact all of New Orleans is rebounding from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, including Memory Mine and Carmella's best friend Ava's Juju Voodoo Shop. The girls are enjoying a typical gala in the apartment of good friend and float-designer Jekyl Hardy as The Big Easy gears up for Mardi Gras. Sipping on Purple Haze, the latest cocktail creation, and mingling with an amazing cast of characters, the bash comes to a screeching halt when Carmella and Ava discover Jekyl's neighbor and fellow designer near-death. No natural causes here, Archie has a barbed-wire garrote around his neck, and dies before the paramedics arrive at the scene. Jekyl is beside himself, and begs Carmella to help him piece together what happened on that balcony. Beautiful and intelligent, this won't be the first time she and Ava have provided...shall we say "assistance" to the New Orleans Police Department.

Clues abound, and in the course of their unofficial investigation, Carmella and Ava become involved with historical trivia, illegal absinthe, Russian mobsters, a 150-year old pirate treasure hunt, and one handsome police lieutenant {to name a few!}. And the whole adventure comes to a head smack in the middle of the biggest Mardi Gras parade of the year! Ms. Childs does a fantastic job introducing the diverse and colorful characters into the storyline, as well as incorporating insightful scrapbooking and papercrafting tips and delicious New Orleans recipes into the story {recipes and tips are included in full at the back of the book!}. I don't think there is a city anywhere that is better suited for a murder mystery, and Carmella simply belongs in the French Quarter. The overall effect of this story, with its attention to historical detail and legends, continuous literary tour of the Quarter {and one trip into the bayou!}, and the slow building of character development make this book an excellent read. I think it is my favorite of the series to date {and I have now read them all, I had to go fill in books four and five after I finished this one!}. I definitely recommend it to any one who likes a good book, doubly if you are a crafter! Carmella has some pretty amazing ideas in that department. I'm pretty sure she gets them to take shape much more quickly than I do too! ;-)

So there is my review! I hope you found it helpful. The book can be purchased from Amazon, and I'm sure just about anywhere you go to buy books. Laura Childs also has a website you can check out for more info on her books {the next one is coming out this fall!!}. On top of my copy, she sent me an additional THREE signed copies of this book {in hardcover!} to share with my blog readers. Read...SIGNED, HARDCOVER. Yum! I am a total book snob, I admit it. As I said yesterday in my teaser post, I like to read almost as much as I like to stamp -- and that's a LOT!! And yes, I am *late* getting this review and blog candy posted; my sincere apologizes to Ms. Childs for the delay! I read the book right away, but didn't get all my thoughts typed up until now. What else is new?

So -- would you like to have a copy of Death Swatch of your very own? I bet you would! Leave a comment on this post to be entered! It is not a requirement, but since I am such a book lover, if you'd like to share your favorite book or favorite author I'd love to hear it! I will close this giveaway on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 11:59 PM Central Time. Winners will be announced Sunday morning, so check back to see if you are headed to New Orleans {figuratively speaking}!

**This post will remain at the top until after the blog candy drawing. Please scroll down for new posts (I will have a new post every day this week so they are there!**

Radient Rain, Anyone?

Remember the weekend before last when I posted about how I was going to be demo'ing the use of the Radient Rain products in the Prickley Pear booth at a stamp convention here in town? Well, here is one of the samples I made for the booth! Sorry for the lack of photo perfection, we had a cloudy day when I took these, and I left all my samples with Nicole for future use so I can't retake unless I recreate!

I think it turned out neat! I was pretty relieved too because I had NEVER used this product before, and a couple of days before the show I sat down in my {brand new! pictures coming soon!} stamping area and played around with them. This product comes in either a spray format or a dauber, it is a colored liquid along with matching colored mica that you shake up and then use to spray {or dauber}. I am the first to admit I was a little leery but it's COOL. It's EASY and FAST, dries pretty quickly too and there's a lot you can do with them! I'm also convinced those bottles are a lifetime supply, heehee.

Anyway, for this card, the top layer is the piece I did the Radient Rain work on. I took a large silk flower, layed it down over the top of some plain white cardstock and started spraying! I used Jaspere Red with Gold for this one. You can let your colors dry in between, or not. It depends on what kind of look you're going for. Here, I didn't. Also, you can see how it's the negative of the flower image that is left on the paper after I pulled it off - except in the middle? I got the middle extra, extra wet {by accident} when I was playing, and the liquid wicked out toward the petals a little since the flower was fabric. Then when I pulled it off, this is what was left. I liked it a lot so I made it the focus of the card.

The sentiment is stamped on vellum and added to a stamped frame I cut out and added on. I also stamped on some Brushed Gold cardstock for the bottom layer. All stamps from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you all have a wonderful evening!

LOOKIT!

You 'member the gorgemous and beautiful white and ivory buckets-o-flowers from the Michael's bridal section we talked about way back in March {or something}?

LOOKIT what I found when I went there on Friday. PINK!! Aaaaahhhhhh!!! And they are shimmery and shiny and embossed just like the others - oh yes. You can clicky on the pic to see it supersized.

Oh how I love them. I sorta wonder if they maybe had blue too {the display had lots of the same stuff in pink...and blue - but only pink flower pails}. So I'll have to check back sometime and see if any others magically appeared. BUT for now, this is a *find*, if I do say so myself!

ETA: They cost $3.99 I believe, and Jennifer Love posted that her Michael's *does* have blue, although it may not be a very desirable blue color {I wondered that too, based on the color of the other stuff - good to know!}.

Cuttlebug Enablement - New Seasonal Collection!

Ok ladies, I got this tip from the TJ Yahoo Group {thanks to pdunbar!}. Yes, it's true, Provocraft is coming out with more new Cuttlebug stuff in June. I know many people who are STILL waiting for goodies from this last release {example - I only JUST got the Swiss Dots folder two weeks ago as I was not fast enough when they first arrived}. Many still don't have one. Anywhoo...wouldn't you like to skip that whole problematic process? Go preorder!

Oh My Crafts is taking preorders on the new Seasonal Collection. I have not ordered from them before but I have read good things from various online sources {and I already have my preorder in!!}. Just thought I'd pass that little gem along.

ETA: For you Deb, LOL! I got 5 of the A2 embossing folders. I thought that was a good start. I like a lot of them but I'm not sure how I would use the ones that are *designs* rather than just background noise, YKWIM? I'm sure I'll see lots of cool stuff and need them as well but for now I ordered the Pumkin Harvest, Christmas Ornaments, Dots & Snowflakes, Skeleton Scroll, and Spiderweb {oh yeah!}.

Do It Yourself Felt Embellishments!

So, I was talking to my bestest friend Heather this morning and somehow we got around to discussing Prima flowers and the new share that Jody is running right now.

Well I, of course, already have a lifetime supply of Prima flowers for myself and my next three generations of stampers, so as much as I want those Fancies, there's just no way. Since we have seen from Lauren how to make the glittery ones yourself out of those you already have - don't really need those now, right? And that last set of fancies sort looked felt-ish to me, and I know felt accents are suddenly all the rage in Papercraftworld. We decided that there absolutely must be a way to cut felt with the Cuttlebug - hello, you can cut CHIPBOARD so felt should be a snap!

Luckily (ha ha ha ha ha) I just happened to have a few pieces of felt lying around to try this with - what are the odds?!?! LOOK what happened when I put it all together - woohoo! No more pricey felt embellishments for me. You can buy the stuff at Hobby Lobby by the 8.5" x 11" sheet and it's practically free! I just grabbed a few flower-ish dies, but you could do this with any of them.

I'm just about dying of excitement here {in case you couldn't tell}. Perhaps someone already figured this out long ago and shared it with the world, but as I haven't seen it, this is new & way cool to me!

Here's how I layerred it (bottoms up):

Plate A
Plate B
Die (cutting side up)
Felt
Plate B

It worked perfectly, you should see the edges on these babies, the cut is so crisp. I'm going to HL later to stock up on felt. So if you live around here and you get there first....save some for me! *wink*

I'm trying it with other fabric next. I'll let you know the results!

The felt looks a little weird in the pic because it has glitter on it (me, glitter? no!) and for some reason it gave a fuzzy kinda look to the pic.

Oh The Beautiful Glitter...

O....M....G.

You have to see this tutorial by the fabulously talented Lauren Meader (mytime)!! This is by far the coolest thing I've seen in a long time for gettin' your bling on and jazzing things up a bit. How's THAT for a teaser, I know you're all getting carpal tunnel trying to click the link as fast as you can! ;-) Thanks to Lauren for sharing this awesome idea with all of us mere mortals, LOL!

Click here for the glitter.

Who Doesn't LOVE Stickles?!

Just popping in quick before I take DS #1 to pre-school. I have some projects to post too but I have to take the pics first (story of my life!). I've had a few questions about Stickles lately, since they are popping up on every one of my "complete supply lists" for projects these days. I am sooo addicted to Stickles! So anyway, in order to not reinvent the wheel, I wanted to share a link to a FABULOUS blog that I read every day - Follow Your Bliss by Trudee Sauer.

More specifically, a link to a particular post where Trudee has a photo of almost all the different colors of Stickles and a description of each one. I have found this enormously helpful, especially with the clear colors that just have various types of glitter in them. Now I actually know what I'm buying and can choose the best Stickles for the job, LOL.

Here is the article.

I buy my Stickles from Scrapbook Pal, where they are only $1.75 w/ free shipping over $25. I LOVE Scrapbook Pal, I buy all my adhesive, Sakura Glaze Pens, Cutterpede stuff and Stickles from them. And they ship FAST (so don't order on Thursday - it'll come on Saturday and your DH will see the box, heeeeeheeheehehe).

Hope this helps someone!

The New Cuttlebug STUFF

I got an e-mail today from Happy Scrappin Scrapbooking. They are expecting the new Cuttlebug stuff in on February 7 - woo hoo!! It's about time stores started getting these things, I think it was back in like SEPTEMBER that we heard about them and started seeing pics of what they would look like. HSS has some of the Disney dies in stock and the rest is coming soon. You can pre-order now on their website for a pretty fair price. They also have a coupon code to save 5% - it is "janWKsave5" and it's good until January 28th at midnight MST. I can't remember if I've ordered from them in the past or not.

I know that Christine at All That Scraps is doing a preorder too, but it was through her wholesale site, not the regular ATS website. I can't for the life of me find that e-mail though. Christine has pretty fast shipping, I have ordered from her before and been very pleased. You could probably e-mail her if you want the info on how to preorder.

I am not affiliated with either of these companies, or with ProvoCraft. But I had to pass along this info because the new folders are the CUTEST! I can't wait to get my hands on them. I probably better get myself in gear too and get my preorder in SOMEWHERE so I will have these goodies as soon as I can get them!

EZ Mount & Super Sale!

This is a SERIOUS sale you guys. Sunday International has slashed prices on EZ Mount. It's practically FREE! Click -->> HERE <<--- to go right to the sale page.

Have I mentioned before how much I love the EZ Mount/Vinyl Cling system? Well, I do. Love, love it, really -- here's why. I have a lot of stamps. I know I do. I don't need my DH *telling* me how many I have or *asking* me if I really need more. I am also a serious hoarder of other papercrafting-related products: paper, embellishments, paper, ribbon, paper -- you get the idea. I think you can see where I'm going with this...

I have a storage space PROBLEM in my stamp room. In that I don't have enough space to put everything, no matter what I do. The solution for the stamp part of it is EZ Mount (or a reduction in inventory, which as we all know is not an acceptable solution). With EZ Mount you can get an entire plastic stamp case of wood mounted stamps (i.e. SU) down into one CD case. SWOON!

What is EZ Mount? It's a static cling mounting cushion and comes in two sizes. The 1/8" thickness is the same as what most wood-mounted stamps come with, except instead of sticky stuff to get attached to the wood block, it has a cling side that sticks to acrylic blocks. The 1/16" thickness is good for small stamps, or I have heard some people use it with their Stampin' Up! stamps as is. They peel the paper from the SU stamps and stick it to the sticky side of the thin foam so they don't have to remove the rubber from the foam and remount. I personally haven't tried this, I just pull the rubber from the foam and remount. I'll do a tutorial on using the Heat Knife to do this with sets you have that were already mounted to wood, it is amazing! EZ mount never wears out, it sticks over and over to acrylic blocks and other smooth surfaces. Sets can be stored in CD cases or in 3-ring binders, just peel the stamp and stick it where you want it to go. To use the stamps, I have a whole set of acrylic blocks that I bought on eBay awhile back in a whole range of sizes, although you can buy them just about anywhere.

Another reason to have EZ Mount is all the great new stamp manufacturers that are popping up online. Many of them sell just rubber, no wood or cushion of any kids. So to use the stamps you need to either buy wood and mount them that way, use the EZ Mount system, or some people use double-sided tape or Aleene's Tack it Over and Over to adhere to the acrylic blocks. Personally, I like the cushion.

Ok, I'm off, I have two new cards to photograph and share with you, I never got a chance to take the pics yesterday so today will be a multiple-post day - yahoo!

Which is the Very Best Black Ink Pad?

This is a question that comes up a *LOT* in the stamping world, and a discussion/debate that I have had with many of my stampin’ friends. Because, let’s be honest, the black ink pad is pretty much the backbone of paper crafting; and even the most talented stamper can’t produce quality work with inferior tools.

Now let me put a disclaimer here before I continue. I love, love Stampin’ Up!’s classic and craft ink, cardstock, and markers. The colors are rich and beautiful and cover quite a spectrum, the cardstock is nice and heavy, and everything coordinates, which is a huge deal for me. I will *always* use SU colored cardstock and inks for my projects.

But let’s be honest -- the black ink pad is not cutting it. Not even close. It’s not even BLACK for crying out loud. And it’s not fully waterproof. And it always, always stains my stamps (not that I care so much about that, as long as they stamp a nice, clean image, they can live with me, LOL!). Do you know what’s interesting about these statements? I never really knew it how bad it was until recently! I knew that was never completely happy with the results when I used the pad, but what could I do? I didn’t know enough about any other choices to start throwing money at the problem just to test out other options that may not have been any better.

There ARE options out there though! Good ones! I have tried all the ones I am going to give the gold star discussion to (below) except the India Ink, but I only own two of the four. So some of the info here has been provided by friends during the above-mentioned discussions. ;-) They all have slightly different attributes, so you will have to choose the one (or ones) that work best with your particular style or application.

In no particular order, the best black ink pads on today’s market (IMHO of course, and that of my BFFs) are Palette Hybrid Noir by Stewart Superior, Versafine Black Onyx by Tsukineko, India Ink Black by Stewart Superior and StazOn Jet Black by Tsukineko.

Palette Hybrid Noir - This one is my personal favorite for best all-around black ink pad, and the one I always reach for. It is a non-solvent ink (i.e. not StazOn -- no stink and doesn’t dry out right away) and works on every surface. It’ll dry fast on porous surfaces (wood, paper, chipboard), but if you use it on fabrics or non-porous surfaces you will need to heat set it. It *is* waterproof and works great for water coloring and it doesn’t bleed.

Versafine Black Onyx - This is an instant dry pigment ink, so it is *very* juicy, use a very light touch or you‘ll have a big mess on your hands (literally!). It is only good on matte-finish papers (not glossy), although I have heard that you definitely need to heat set it on SU‘s Whisper White or Very Vanilla, which I know I don‘t have the patience for. But for that potential drawback, it is said to give the most rich, detailed black impression. It is also waterproof and works well for water coloring.

India Ink Black - This is supposed to be the fastest drying black ink on the market. It is a permanent ink that can be used on all surfaces and will not bleed or feather. Recommended for water coloring. [This is the one I have not tried myself, although I am including it in the list and passing along the info as it seems to come well recommended].

StazOn Jet Black - Another stamp room staple as far as I am concerned. You can stamp on ANYTHING using StazOn and it…well…staz on. I mainly use it for stamping on non-porous surfaces -- dominos, plastic, window sheets, shrink plastic, metal, glass, coated paper, etc. It can also be used on paper with good, crisp results, I just don’t use it as much for that because it’s harder to clean off the rubbah and requires an extra step (again, because it staz on…LOL -- invest in StazOn Cleaner, you'll be much happier). It is a solvent ink though (strong smell and your pad will dry out faster than water-based inks), and some people find that a drawback. It’s very fast drying and also good for *water coloring*. I have noticed that wet work like colored pencils/gamsol or alcohol markers will cause the ink to run.

My Messy, Messy Desk!

Oh, I am such a messy stamper! I have to drag out so many things every time I make a project. So I thought I would take a quick photo to share with you so you can all see for yourselves! What do you think? *wink*

All About The Essential Glue Pad

I have had several people ask me about The Essential Glue Pad by Tsukineko, which I have mentioned in previous posts when talking about card recipes. I will start by saying this is a FABULOUS product and everyone needs one. LOL. Here's why...

The Essential Glue Pad is basically glue in an ink pad. So you can now apply glitter and other products in the exact image of your stamps, instead of stamping with ink and then trying to add glitter with 2-way glue. Now, I am aware that you can get the same results by using Heat and Stick powder, however, with the glue pad you don't need 2 steps, AND best of all, you don't have to heat to activate or to set the adhesive after you apply your product!! It doesn't get any better than that.

You can use the glue pad to apply glitter (ultrafine has best results), pigment powders (i.e. Pearl Ex and similar), chalks, and I have heard, metallic foil flecks, but I have not personally tried that. It works like this:

1. The pad comes uninked (unglued! but I will use the term "inked" b/c it makes for an easier read) with a reinker, just like StazOn Opaque pads. To use, apply glue over the pad. You can ink up as much or as little of the pad as you want at a time. I usually do about half the pad. It will start to dry out between uses so you will need to reapply if it starts to get dry. That's ok, the reinkers for the pad are cheap and well worth it. Plus, it doesn't take much to ink it up anyway.

2. Once it's inked up and ready, just take your stamp and tap it on the pad surface just like an ink pad. When you have full and even coverage, stamp onto your paper. TIP: Like craft ink, the glue is a bit on the gooey side, especially if you were liberal when inking up the pad. Be careful not to overink, especially for fine line/detail stamps, or it will look fat and smudgy after you apply your medium to the paper.

3. Apply glitter, Pearl Ex or whatever you'd like over the image. No need to heat set - once it's dry you're ready to go!

4. Clean your stamp like normal.

A note about using the glue with other products - this is NOT sticky strip/tacky tape! I tried it with microbeads but when the glue dried the beads would come right off if you touch it. So stick to fine glitters and powders and you'll have very happy results.

Here are a couple of cards that I've made that utilize the glue pad. Season's Greetings #6, Season's Greetings #1.

Hope this helps!!

NEW CUTTLEBUG FOLDERS!!

Oh my gosh! *swoon* ProvoCraft is coming out with some new Cuttlebug A2 embossing folders FINALLY! Check them out at AllThatScraps - Christine has a waiting list going and free shipping over $10. Very nice site to order from. Here's a direct link to the newest folders.

If you don't have a Cuttlebug, you need one. Seriously. If I get a little more time later I'll edit this post to provide some basic CB info for those who haven't seen the joy. I got mine last year for Christmas from my Darling Husband (DH), so sweet. I told him all about it when I got home from Michael's with it *grin*.