"Stickle" Your Fancy

Greetings! 

There are several ways to add bling, pizzazz and va-va voom to your creations.  One of those ways (and my favorite way) is to use Stickles.  What are Stickles?  Well, they are glue and glitter in one and you know with that combo you can’t go wrong.   

Sttickles is produced by the Ranger Ink company and they come in almost 50 different colors from Cotton Candy to Icicles.  They also offer designer colors including designs by Tim Holtz. 

Stickles add a bling or pop to your project and a little goes a long way, trust me.  Like anything, too much Stickles can be a bad thing, because it can ruin your project and will take forever to dry.  Remember, Stickles is glue as well as glitter so you want to use it sparingly.  They come with an applicator which helps you control the amount of product coming out.  However, I’ve found that it is good to practice squeezing the bottle so that you can get a feel for how much pressure is appropriate for the results you want to achieve. 

You can purchase Stickles at pretty much any craft store and the prices usually range from $2 - $3. Here’s a snapshot of the different colors offered in both the basic and designer line.  Also, if you follow this link you can get a color swatch to begin your collection of Stickles.  I see some colors I don’t have...I feel a shopping spree coming on. lol

Hey, before you run out and purchase your Stickles you may want to also invest in storage for them.  I picked up this handy dandy carrier at my LSS (look this up on the Library Language page). 

Here’s a creation I made using Stickles.  I hope it inspires you to try them out, because it is an inexpensive way to add bling to your project. J  Check back here next week to see how the DTs use Stickles in their projects.

This Holly image comes from Meljen's Digital store and I used Stickles to make the little stars and dots in the background pop and on the holly berries.  I didn't use a lot because there wasn't a need for it (in my opinion) and remember Stickles will take a long time to dry if you use a lot.  Practice makes perfect...soooooo practice getting a feel for squeezing the bottle and you will be a Stickle Junkie like me in no time!

Now get to creating...

Candy
a.k.a Purple Card Lady
a.k.a. Stickles Junkie
http://www.purplecardlady.blogspot.com/

Remember:  There are no mistakes in card making, only opportunities for creativity!



Digi Stamp Week!

 Hello readers!  Welcome to A Crafting Start's very first Design Team Post!  This week our DT's theme was to work with a FREEBIE Digi Stamp!  The featured DT Member of the Week this week is Tameko!  She kicks things of with the team projects this week!  So, again...Above is Tameko's Project for this week!

 Here is Tammylee's cute Baby Card!

 And this colorful card was created by Candy!

 Here's Charlie's nifty Card!

 Dyane went with pretty this week!  LOVE it!

 Fab was FABulous with some Halloween and feathers!

 Gaby did this great card!

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Jamie got her BLING on this week!

 Carla-Rae went festive!

 Opal's is purely HUGGABLE

 Sherri went a little vintage a little steampunk!

 And our OTHER Sherry (B) has 3 projects for this week...

 Here's another for Sherry B

 Jennifer created her own colorful background and went with a Silhouette Digi

 Karen was CUTE and Festive

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Laura W was creative with different shades and a sentiment digi stamp

 Lisa went with Thanksgiving, too!  'Tis the Season, eh?

 Liz was wise creating something with an owl!

 And Lynn has two great cards this week!

We would LOVE to see what YOU Create using a Freebie Digi Stamp!  For all participants creating a project with digi stamp, linking to us, and posting their direct link in comments will receive A CRAFTING START Participant Graphic to showcase how ever they wish!  

Visit our Design Team Tab for our DT Links and visit their blogs for more great project ideas!

Remember to add your direct URL in comments!  Thanks for visiting!

Love CardMaking with Digi Stamps

First and foremost, I am very happy to be part of the DT and was so eager to get started I cooked up this little number below tonight!!! I just happen to love digi stamps, they create such a fun, lovely feel to cards that I think everyone enjoys receiving a card with a digi stamp on it. Not only do they look cute but they are fun to color. Now I know everyone loves the copics, however, I am a fashion designer and I learned with prismacolors and I must admit I stick with what I love and I love my prismas. I do have the BIC Markers and I do not find they blend as easily, however they are good to use on areas where you dont have so much blending to do.

Anywho, lets not prolong this any longer, I know you are all dying to see what I created with a Freebie image I got from freedigitalstamps.blogspot.com. Check them out they are amazing and are always giving you the cutest freebie digi stamps out there!!!

Here is my project:

Recipe:

White Cardstock A2

Paper DCWV Whimsy

Owl Digi Image from freedigitalstamps

Sentiment stamp from Inkadinkadoo

Bird on Branch Stamp from Studio G

Rossette Trim from MB's Treasurista 

Hope you enjoy!!!

Happy Craftin!

XoXo, 

Liz

Coloring Digi Stamps

Hey guys! My name is Fabiola from Mrs.Sassy Crafter  and I am so thrilled to be a part of the DT. Today I just wanted to share with you a quick video in how to color digi stamps with something else than Copic markers or promarkers. I know we are living in a time where the economy is not as good, and many crafters can't afford expensive markers like Copics or Promarkers. A good alternative to these markers are Bic Mark It markers, they are within a budget (only 19.99 for 36 markers), they work great, and they blend pretty well too, not as good as copics, but hey they do work!

Without further ado there is the video....enjoy!!!!



Digi Stamp Fun!

Good afternoon!

Since it's my first post as part of the design team, I thought that I would go gangbusters with Jennifer's last post about digi (digital) stamps!

LOVE.THEM.

Can't get enough of them,,,,love to use them on my cards especially,,,,,and in addition to all the very good reasons Jennifer listed for choosing digi stamps, they are also able to be resized, making the perfect size stamp for whatever your needs are. You can't do that with a rubber stamp! they are also CHEAP. There are many freebies out there as well, but if you decide to buy some, you can get gorgeous stamps for roughly 2-3.00 USD. You can get roughly FIVE digi stamps for the price of one decent sized rubber stamp! Now that's good news for a beginner!

One of my favorite artists for digi stamps is Mo Manning. She sells at Mo's Digital Pencil for extremely competitive rates!

So today, I'll show you a very simple card made ADORABLE by a digital stamp by Mo Manning.

I've used her "Kai in the snow" stamp (even more versatile because only your coloring decides if the baby is a boy or a girl!),,,,,,,,and how I love this precious peanut!

I've colored her with copics and cut her out with Nestabilities Labels 3 (but you could simply cut her out using anything you want) and pop dotted her up on some old DCWV scraps. The snowflakes are sizzix cut, and I've layered and popped them up as well,,,,,,a few sticky pearls and this baby is ready to send!

Hope you enjoyed! And get to using those great digi stamps out there!

For more info on this and other cards, feel free to stop by my blog!

Here is a video that will take you step by step on how to make this double page layout. You get to watch the process and make a layout along with me....

Digital Stamps - Love at First Sight

Digi Stamps AKA Digital Stamps were LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT for me!  My first real encounter with them was over at MyGrafico.  They had so many to choose from!  I HAD to learn more!  And today I am going to share the BASIC Basics of what I learned with you!  Nothing fantasy to start off we will have more in-depth tutorials about Digi Stamps and how different programs will work with them down the road.  This is the plain and simple stuff here, folks!  Things to get you going today!

First...there are several places to obtain freebie digi stamps which is a great way to start.  But PLEASE give create where credit is due!  If you can link or at least mention where you got the digi stamp from on your blogs!  If you are unsure maybe someone out there will know!  I have been know on occasion to post a little HELP note...you can always edit later with the updated info :)

Like I said...VERY basic Digi Stamp Talk today!

The quickest and easiest way for me (and there are many ways so don't feel like you MUST do it this way - basically ANYTHING GOES with Digi Stamps!) is to print a digital stamp from Picasa or a like-free program!  You can resize it with ease and print! 

After printing I usually use Prismacolor Colored Pencils or Watercolored Pencils or Reeves Water Color Pencils.  I have been known to also use Prismacolor Craft Markers and Martha Stewart Craft Markers as well.  I know LOTS of people who use Copics, too!  We hope to have a Copic and Digi Stamp Tutorial down the road!

I usually work with jpg or gif digital stamps but there are other file extensions they come in too such as PNGs.  All are fine to work with - I think it's just a preference thing, really.

You can use a Digi Stamp the same way you would use a Rubber/Foam/Acrylic Stamp or you can use it digitally.  I like digi stamps because they are handy, eco-friendly, easy to use, versatile, and more!

There's a great article HERE if you want to take a look - it talks more about the VERY BASICS of Digital Stamps.  Our DT will be working with Digi Stamps for our very first project posting and Challenge on November 1st!  So stay tuned!