Jeni Bowlin Stamps, Paint and Ink - A Match Made in Heaven - And A Free Stamp Offer

OK - so I have been scrapbooking for a while now and, as with most things in life, trends arrive and disappear, and sometimes they come back.

I am thrilled to see the return of foam stamps.  Jenni Bowlin has three different sets of foam stamps - three in each set and they are fabulous.  Some are backgrounds, some are shadow stamps for Jenni's acrylic stamps - but all of them are fabulous. 

I put together a little technique video for how to work with these stamps along with the paint daubers, acrylic stamps and Jenni's ink.  Just a short little bit of youtube that you might be interested in.  You can see it at:  http://www.youtube.com/user/itsalwaysfabulous?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/M_KQw318Tzo

While I can't give away the new Jenni stamps, I can give away some fabulous foam alphabet stamps.  From now until September 5th, place any order at itsalwaysfabulous.etsy.com and put the phrase I LOVE FOAM STAMPS in the comment section of your order and I will send you a free set of foam alphabet stamps - can't beat this......

Fabulous Friday with Kate - All About Cards

Welcome to another Fabulous Friday with Kate!!! !

I have been a card maker for a very long time.  I got my first stamp and ink pad in the second grade so I thought we would make this week all about cards - some basic supply thoughts and a few techniques. 

• 6x6 paper pads are great for card making. You don’t waste paper and it is a great way to see the papers before purchasing a 12x12.

• For me, background stamps are a must in my card making.  I am partial to Impression Obsession & Hero Arts. Sentiment & Image stamps are great also. I tend to go with image stamps that are open to allow for coloring & paper piecing.  Solid images will show off colored ink & are great stamped in the Jenni Bowlin colors. 

• Ribbon is an awesome embellishment for any card as well as brads, flowers, & chipboard.  Using those last few embellishments from your other projects is a great way to embellish your cards and use up your stash.

My favorite and essiential techniques and tricks:

1. create a card front to work on – i cut my card front paper (which can even be computer or inexpensive white cardstock) to 3.75”x5.25” for a kraft 4”x5.5” card.   You can do this with any size card, by making your card front .25 to .5 inches smaller overall than the card you will be mounting to.  That gives you a nice border for your card and will  give you something to work on without worrying about messing up your base card.
2. pop it up – when attaching my card front to card base i like to use pop dots.  Remember, never throw away the sheet of pop dots even if you have used them all.   I save the holey sheet and use that to pop large surfaces.
3. ribbon – when tying a bow around a card, i cut two strips of ribbon and secure them to the card front with staples, this saves some ribbon and grounds the ribbon nicely to help you tie it.   When you staple the ribbon to the back of the card front and then bring the ribbon around the front to tie it, you cover the staples.

Here are some examples of cards and the supplies used to make them!

All three cards use the same background stamp, but just by changing the ribbon, position and color, I have created three unique cards.

 Impression Obsession: woodgrain stamp
Jenni Bowlin: fountain pen and chicken feed ink pads
May Arts: striped twill ribbon in black and mesh ribbon in orange in black
Hero Arts: Happy Halloween
Jillibean Soup: 12x12 stirred elements
Recollections: black flower
Paper Studio: Halloween brads

I put together a little video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmD4wuyxH1o

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Fabulous Fridays with Kate and I hope to see you back here next week.

Sunday Promotion - Blog Followers Only

Good Morning All -

I am so excited about the new Graphic 45 school and Christmas lines that I will be doing a gift with purchase all week this week. 

Purchase any paper pack - 12x12 or 8x8 from either line today through August 28 and I will include a set of paper from the following lines (your choice)  Fashionista, Translantique, or Domestic Goddess.  How fun is that.  You will receive 12 sheets - including either a punch out tag or alpha sheet - all for free when you purchase something you are dying to buy anyway.  Please BLOG FOLLOWER and your choice of free paper in the comments on your order.

If you are interested in the Fashionista, Transatlantique or Domestic Goddess papers without the purchase of the new,  let me know and I can put something together for you.

Thanks so much for reading along today.  Have a great finish to the weekend.

New ABC Primer Paper

New Christmas Emporium

Fashionista

Domestic Goddess

Transatlantique

Fabulous Friday With Kate

hey there, and welcome to the first in the fabulous fridays with kate series! this video
features one of my favorite techniques and tips. in july i had the pleasure of going to cha
with sue, i was able to meet jenni bowlin and have a little chat with her. we discussed her
new ink colors (weather vane, speckled egg, & lavender sachet) and she shared a really
fabulous tip with me. one question i always had was why she didn’t make color mists to
accompany her ink pads, reinkers, and paint dabbers? her response, i will never make that
product because i because i just make my own sprays with the reinkers! what? what a
fabulous idea!!! here is how you do it:

supplies – empty mister, water, reinker

step 1: fill the mister halfway with water

step 2: add 10-12 drops of reinker

step 3: shake mister to combine color

step 4: spray away

how easy is that? now you can create custom mists to match all your favorite jenni bowlin
inks.

here is a little technique i like to use with any spray/mist. instead of spraying the
traditional way, i like to remove the sprayer, place it over my paper/product and tap the
lit to create a droplet effect rather than a spray. you can also just let the ink drip off the
end to create larger drops.

i hope you enjoyed this tip and technique! check out www.itsalwaysfabulous.etsy.com for
jenni bowlin products and have a fabulous Friday!!!

thanks for watching ~ kate

see the technique on video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfjQwI2FsMU&feature=email

Technical Trouble - Please Enjoy The Music While Our Technicians Work to Correct the Problem

I know it's Saturday - really I do.

I know that you were all expecting Fabulous Friday with Kate yesterday.  We all were......

I am having difficulty receiving the content.......hopefully, we will get this worked out today.

Thanks for your patience.

In the mean time, I leave you with a couple of quick photos of a layout I made last night with the Amy Tangerine stuff - the birds in the sky are brackets from the alpha set.  How fun is that.

FABULOUS HAPPENINGS HERE AT THE BLOG

I so do hope that you are all having fun as summer makes way for the fabulous fall routines.  Kids back to school (and not a moment too soon), cooler weather (seriously, i'm ready) and changes all around.

Here at itsalwaysfabulous, we have some really exciting things going on also.  In addition to lots of product arrivals from CHA summer, I am pleased to announce that itsalwaysfabulous has a new Resident Designer.

Many of you are already familiar with kraftinkate on youtube.  If you are not, here's what Kate has to say about herself:

Hey, I’m Kate and I have been stamping & card making since I
was about 7 yrs old. I have always loved ink, stamps, and
photographs so when I began scrapbooking about 8 months
ago it was the perfect marriage. I took a long hiatus from
crafting during college and law school, but once I became
settled on the Gulf Coast, I found the urge to create again. I
find inspiration in travel, local art, amazing food, and most of
all from living in such a beautiful place on the Gulf of Mexico.
A day is not complete unless I have created something, whether
it is a card, a layout, a new recipe, or a just a mess! I still use
the same heat gun I had when I was 7, I definitely don’t get
enough sleep, and I can’t imagine an undocumented life!

Kate does the most fabulous videos....showing product and projects, she has a lot of followers and a lot of love for the hobby.  I am so pleased that she and I will be working together to bring our followers the best product and the best commentary, samples and demos.

Starting this week, you will want to mark your calendars for every Friday when Kate will bring you Fabulous Fridays with Kate ----- could be technique, could be video......you never know what it will be.....you only know that whatever it is, it will be fabulous.  I hope that you will join us here on the blog for lots of fun every Friday with Kate.

Kate has a button on the side of the page so that you can find her quickly on her blog and another on her youtube.

Welcome Kate!  Leave a comment welcoming Kate between now and the end of the month, and be registered to win a $25 gift certificate to itsalwaysfabulous.etsy.com

Last Day to Hop and Some Treasury Goodness

Last day to make like a bunny and hop.  Many of us are drawing our winners tomorrow (Sunday).  Have you left all your comments?

It's been a good week here.  Lots of new subscribers (welcome all) and lots of new treasury lists on Etsy featuring stuff from itsalwaysfabulous.etsy.com

The first treasury features items in shades of heliotrope and they are fabulous.  You can see the treasury at:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/OTA2NDMzOHw1NjYzMDc3NjQ/here-is-heliotrope?index=2

it features fabulous Stickles in a Thistle color

The next treasury features State Fair things.  You really have to look at this one because there are so many fabulous things in it.  It features the fabulous blue ribbon embellishments from Jenni Bowlin.  You can see the treasury here:



http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTIyMzI1NDd8NTY4MDIzMTY3/see-you-at-the-fair?index=1

The final treasury contains many fabulous grey and purple things, including the Cover A Card stamp with a music theme.  You can see the absolutely excellent treasury here:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTMwNDM0NzR8NTczMDEyMTQ2/purple-and-grey?index=0

All in all a great week for treasuries.  Take a few minutes and stop by to see them.  You wont' be disappointed.....

Blog Hop Still Moving - Still Chance to Leave a Comment and Be Entered to Win

Hello Blogosphere -

This blog hop is fabulous.  So many of my old friends stopping by to say hello and so many new friends checking in for the first time.

The new stuff keeps pouring in the door at www.itsalwaysfabulous.etsy.com  Today we'll talk about ribbon and Melissa Frances products. 

The box from May Arts arrived and it has some fabulous satin cut out ribbon. If you have not seen the satin cut-out it is truly a fun addition to your projects.  You can use it as ribbon and keep the little things connected, or cut them apart.....imagine the 'sky' of your halloween projects filled with black satin witches and bats...how fun.

Also from may arts are some fabulous striped twill ribbons.  Get out your favorite Stazon ink and stamp on these beauties or use them as they are.  Either way, the dimension your project gets from these guys will be amazing.  Lots of colors to choose from.

The box from Melissa Frances contained some old friends that have been relisted - my favorite is the Kitchy Kitchen Retro Recipe album kit.  So much fun and such a great price.  New from Melissa are some great pastelly shabby chic colored pom trims and some fabulous floral stems.  Listings being done for the later stuff as we speak.

Have fun on the hop.  Make sure you have all your comments in before drawing deadlines.

Blog Hope Day Three and New Stamps

Welcome to Day Three of this very fine Blog Hop.

Still lots of chances to comment and win prizes on most of the blogs.  In addition most are offering a coupon for their etsy shop.  What a great opportunity to get some early early holiday shopping started.

I received new stamps today and listed them right up.  They are from a fine company called Impression Obsession and they are, of course, fabulous.  All of them are 5.75 x 5.75 inches and truly amazing.  about 17 different varieties listed but I am just showing a few of them here.  Stop by and see all of them at www.itsalwaysfabulous.etsy.com

Blog Hop Day Two and More New Stuff

Hi All -

See the post below for a coupon code and details about the giveaway here.  

Welcome Fran to the Blog Hop.  She is giving away a fabulous vinyl welcome sign - suitable for your front door, entryway or anywhere you want your guests to feel welcome.  What a fabulous addition to your holiday decorating.  You can find her blog at http://thetwintornadosmommy.blogspot.com/

Ruby Rock-It paper is now in the house.  From Australia, this paper doll line is a great addition to your stash of girly, shabby chic, vintagey stuff.  There is paper, border sticker sets, packages of die cut flowers, and a sheet of matching word stickers.  Pics are shown below.   Take a peek at the site at www.itsalwaysfabulous.etsy.com

Hope you are all enjoying the blog hop.  Come back tomorrow for more new product announcements.

Blog Hop and Coupon

Good Morning -

Today is the start of a great blog hop.....I'm sure that you are going to have fun and find many amazing Etsy sellers.  There are lots of prizes along the way so be sure to visit everyone on the hop.  The link for the next blog is available at the bottom of this post.

The temptation here is new products that have arrived and a coupon code for special savings on my site at www.itsalwaysfabulous.etsy.com.

New products are:

Off the Wall Paper by 7gypsies - Available in 12x12, 8x8, or 6x6 sets.

Three new colors of Jenni Bowlin inks, reinkers, and paint daubers.

 Halloween Lasercuts in four styles (two not shown here):

How fun is all that?

To see details on the items, visit the shop at www.itsalwaysfabulous.etsy.com to find these great items and over 900 more - all at discounts of at least 20% off retail.  Use coupon code BLOGHOP at checkout to receive an additional 10% off your order.

Leave a comment here about your favorite product on the site not mentioned in this post and be entered into a drawing for a prize package of one sheet of each of the new Boarding Pass papers by October Afternoon shipped straight to your door.  Drawing to be held next Sunday, August 14th.

So enough about me.......the address for your next hop on the blog is

www.sheilaoxley.blogspot.com

Sheila has some great stamps that you are going to love.

Thanks for stopping by.....