It's the Little Things Envelope Mini Album with Pics

Hey Scrap Fans! As promised, here is the video of my completed mini album using It's the Little Things paper line by Fancy Pants. Some of you were asking what these albums look like when they actually have photos in them, so here it is! There is also a second album I made using Tim Holtz Lost and Found Paper Stash. Hope you enjoy and Happy Scrappin!!

Summer Fun Mini Chipboard Album

I finally finished my take on our summer mini album. Hope you enjoy . Happy Scrappin!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

~Patrice

Anniversary Canvas Card

Happy Wednesday, Scrap Fans! Today I'd like to share a "canvas card" I made for my parents 38th Wedding Anniversary. Since my mom always saves the cards I make her, I decided to make this one on a 5x7 canvas, to make it easier for her to display. I put a pocket on the back to hold the gift certificate.

I prepped the canvas with Vintage Photo Distress Crackle paint and then touched up the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I then stamped the "together" definition from the Stampin' Up! "Define Your Life' stamp set in black Archival Ink.

I matted the photo (a pic of my parents walking down the aisle following their ceremony) and adhered it to a photo mat made from a torn pieces of Coredinations card stock in Vintage Photo Distress by Ranger and Tim Holtz. I embossed the card stock with an Alterations Embossing Folder.

The tag was a #8 Manila tag sprayed with Tattered Leather Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. I distressed the edges with the Distressing Tool from Tonic and Tim Holtz and then inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I then sprayed some seam binding tape with Glimmer Mist to match the tag and added a piece of brown tulle. I adhered various pieces of ephemera including an Adage Ticket from Tim Holtz and some charms and found items.

I hope you enjoyed this project. Leave a comment to let me know what you would like to see in the future. Until then, Happy Scrapping!

~Patrice

Where Did The Time Go???

Ok, Seriously, I haven't posted since Halloween? Really? I had planned on taking some time off over the holidays, as my family has a business that is very seasonal and keeps me busy in November and December but what the heck happened to January?

I haven't been totally slacking. I did do a couple of make and take classes and I've been working to update my computer system for the upcoming crops as well as drooling over all the new CHA offerings and trying to decide what to add to our product line. So there has been some work getting done, just not the kind that makes for interesting blog posts.

I did, however, attend a one day crop at the Ogle Township building a few weeks ago where I had the chance to work on something just for fun. I went into it not really knowing what I was working on, other than I brought all of my Tim Holtz products and just wanted to experiment a little. The result was this layout, which I titled "time flies" to celebrate my tenth anniversary. I made the tag first, then decided it belonged on a page, so i kept going. I wanted to play with my new Crafter's Workshop templates and Glimmer Mists and the clock theme evolved. I was digging through my stash and came across the grungeboard wings, which brought to mind the old cliche "time flies" reminding me of a conversation my husband and I just had about our upcoming anniversary. Suddenly it was the perfect canvas to honor our ten years together and this page was born.

Hope you enjoyed the page and please stay tuned for more to come. Until then, Happy Scrapping!

~Patrice

I don’t have an ‘INKling’ how to use these!

Ever find yourself standing in front of an ink pad display wondering why there are so many inks to choose from? What’s the difference between pigment and dye? Do I need different types of ink, or will one good one do the job? Can I heat emboss with any type of ink?

We’re here to answer all your ink questions.

Chalk Inks

Chalk inks are long lasting and fade resistant inks. They blend well and provide more of a matte finish. They dry rather quickly and are made permanent by heat setting. Clearsnap® makes a chalk ink in their ColorBox® line.

Dye Inks

Typical dye inks are waterproof, acid free and transparent. They dry very quickly and blend and dissolve well. Dye inks work well for general stamping and can be used on glossy or matte papers.

Cropsy Turvy carries several unique dye inks:

Tim Holtz® Distress Inks are a collection of 36 acid-free, non-toxic, fade resistant, water-based dye inks. They’re perfect for achieving vintage, stained, aged effects. Tim selected the colors and helped develop these inks to produce a realistic, weathered look on paper, photos and decorative fibers. Re-inkers are available in .5 oz. bottles with eye drop applicators. Distress inks are different from other dye inks in that they are water reactive and can be used to heat emboss, as they stay wet longer than typical dye inks.

Tim Holtz® Adirondack® Alcohol Inks are acid-free, fast drying transparent dye inks specially formulated to create a colorful, polished stone effect. Use on glossy paper, dominoes, metal, shrink plastic, glass, and other slick, non-porous surfaces. They are available in sixteen exciting 3-color palettes or 48 individual bottles and can be applied with an ink applicator, a fillable pen, or straight from the bottle. Alcohol Blending Solution is available for lightening colors and cleaning inks from non-porous surfaces.

Adirondack® Dye Ink Pads are rich, realistic earth tones, pastel lights and vibrant brights that coordination with the Adirondack product line. These inks are acid free and fade resistant, great for stamping and come in a 1 oz. reinker.

Pigment Inks

Pigment inks are thick, opaque and slow drying. They are acid free and more vivid than dye inks. They are also easier to clean. Pigment inks are fade-resistant and are great for heat embossing and air-dry on matte papers. Cropsy Turvy carries Adirondack ® Pigment Inks by Ranger Industries. They are available in 24 colors which consist of 6 brights, 6 lights, 12 earth tones and Pitch Black and Snow Cap. They coordinate with the entire Adirondack® product line and have half ounce reinkers.

Solvent Inks

Solvent Inks are fast drying and work well with nonporous or semiporus materials such as acrylic, metal glass and more. Cropsy Turvy carries Archival Inks™ which provide lasting stamping results that are permanent on many surfaces. These are perfect for achieving a crisp image that doesn't bleed over water-based inks and markers, acrylic paint, water colors, Adirondack® Alcohol Ink or Perfect Pearls™ pigment powders. They are available in 24 vibrant shades in a standard size stamp pad. These inks work very well when you are coloring in a stamped image with markers, paints or watercolors and come in .5 oz reinkers.

Watermark

Watermark inks are acid-free, slow-drying, slightly tacky, colorless inks that are perfect for heat-embossing. They can be used alone for a watermark tone-on-tone look or with tinted embossing powder. You can heat set them to speed up drying time. Cropsy Turvy carries Inkssentials™ Watermark Resist Ink in a versatile multi-purpose stamp pad, which can be used to create the look of a watermark on colored papers and as a crisp, bright resist for water-based dye inks on glossy papers. It contains an all-natural resin, pure and unbleached with a slight tint, which will not affect your artwork.

I hope this has cleared up some of the confusion the vast array of inking products may have caused you. If you would like to play with any of these products and experience their unique properties first hand, contact Cropsy Turvy at info@cropsyturvy.com to schedule a workshop.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping! ~Patrice

New Tim Holtz Distress Ink Colors

Oh swoon!  My favorite artistic genius,Tim Holtz, has just released the news that three new colors will be available for a limited time only:  Seedless Preserves, Gathered Twigs, and Ripe Persimmon.

They will be very limited, each store is permitted to order only 12 sets of the colors.  The colors are packaged together with a manufacturer's suggested retail of $17.99.  Each distress pad will include a QR code for smart phone users that will link to a video of our hero, Tim, personally showcasing and demonstrating the new harvest hues. (Is it pathetic that I would buy the inks just for the videos?)

So, if you are interested in seeing a demo of these inks used in person, or would like more information about these great new hues, please email us at info@cropsyturvy.com.

For those local to the Johnstown, PA area, we will be at St. Andrews Weekend Crop Event on the 23rd and 24th of September, so stop by and see the inks in action!

We've been super busy getting together great products and kits to sell at the crop, as well as some awesome Make n Takes that we hope you'll love as much as we do!  Once things have settled down a bit, we'll have some more great videos of projects to post on the blog, so please keep checking back!

Thanks everybody!