Paint It! papers by Creative Imaginations (at Posh today)

Michele, the owner of Posh Scraps in Palm Harbor Fl. gave me some of the PAINT IT! papers by Creative Imaginations to play with today. Samples, layouts and demos sell product and this one practically sells itself. While it is designed to be used with Luminarte paints, I tried out a few other colorings with mixed results. Here are my efforts and my ratings.
While I adore TH's Stains, this is not a good match. The keys do not show and the residue of the stains flaked off in sections. I'll keep using my Stains but not on this paper.

My next coloring agent were the Pearlscent Watercolor paints by Yasutomo. I love the look of them everywhere and they even turned out pretty on the paper but failed to pick up the 'hidden' keys in the design which is the purpose of this paper.
The paper product states "Paint It! with Luminarte so, of course, this is the premiere product to use. I have been a huge fan of these paints going way back and the metallic is so pretty...and VOILA! there are the keys.
I used a Tombow Dual Brush on the one above and LOVED it. I had tons of control and could go back over and over to darken if I wished. This is a winner too! I am sure other brush markers would work well also. I know Prang makes some metallic ones that are beautiful.
I learned about Lyra Aquacolor crayons from Regina at Owl and the Pussycat Stamp Art Store in Ft. Myers, Fl when we first moved there in 2001. I still have my original 12 and they look almost as good at the day I got them. On the Paint It! paper, they appear subtle and the color can be made darker or lighter depending on the amount of water one uses to apply them. I would use these on the paper as I like the soft look.
Chalk Inks worked amazingly on the Paint It! paper. I heat set the ink and the paper stood up well under heat from the gun.
I painted on the Glimmer Mist rather than spritzed it. I feel I have more control over the glimmer this way. I love the sparkle it gave the paper and the degrees of color coverage on the keys.
This metallic ink by Tsukinneko was also a winner and heat setting it just brings out more of the glam.
And my final winner is T. H's Distress Inks. They give a soft matte finish to the paper and yet the keys show beautifully.

I would love to see what color products you use on this paper that has so many uses. My sampler will be up at Posh Scraps and Michele got in a wide variety of the papers...this is just one of the beautiful patterns. And Michele has a surprise coming in May so save May 16th.

Printing on Canvas

Some photos just call for canvas as opposed to glossy or matte photo paper. The photo below is the original taken by Adrianna Davies who owns Angel Lights Photography here in the Tampa, Fl. area. She did a wonderful job doing a photo shoot with my grand daughter, Leighton Kay and me.
I bought these papers today at Posh Scraps and my fingers were itching to match the photos to the papers. These are from Prima's Nature's Garden Collection by Jodie Lee.

The first thing I did was to download the photos into Picasa on my laptop. When I realized the photo colors would not work with the papers (yes! I often scrap in reverse!), I first changed the photo to sepia and then sharpened it and finally hit the "warmify" button to give it more of a soft vintagy color.
I use Canva-Paper which can be purchased at most art and hobby stores. It is thick and carries ink well. I sharpen the photo because the canvas paper tends to absorb ink. I allow the photo to sit for about an hour as the ink is so wet on the paper until that time that it easily smears.

I do not change the settings on my photo printer. Once I print the photo onto the canvas paper and allow the ink to set up, I use soft tipped artists' pencils to enhance the areas of the photo I wish to emphasize. In this photo, I used blue to add that back to Leighton's eyes and a pink to detail the dress and pull out the petals in the flower on her headband.



I know these steps can be done in photo shop but I prefer the good ol' fashioned hands on.

Kindred Spirits Post Card Exchange:March

I have been forgetting to post my post cards, probably because I procrastinate til the last minute before I begin them and then find myself racing the clock to get one done all pretty and in the mail.

This month's recipient of the Kindred Spirits Post Card Exchange was Patricia Johnson and she requested the theme of coffee or tea. And what did I find at a local craft store? This darling tin coffee cup. That became my center piece and the rest of the post card fell right into place. hope you like it Patricia! It is winging its way to you today.

Sat. the 7th of April I am teaching one of my all time favorite classes at Posh Scraps, "To Dye For". If you scroll down past my misplaced blog entry, the sample tags should be viewable. I plan on using some of these techniques on the April Post Card exchange and, with any luck, I will be early instead of late. Fine example I set as the Post Mistress...

And this is the problem having two blogs

I posted our lovely day in St. Armands Circle on this blog instead of my social and scrapbook blog, Posting from Paradise and I am just too tired tonight to redo it. So here it shall stay! lol

All hail the Columbia

restaurant that is. Janet M drove from Anna Maria Island, Lynda Kay from Connie Mack Island and me from Tarpon Springs to meet on St. Armand's Circle in Sarasota for lunch at the Columbia, girl talk and some shopping, of course.

We adored Lynda Kay, whom we met through the A Cherry on Top message board a while back. She is funny and kind and has a lovely heart. We inducted her into the Mad Hatters Society as you can see.
This is our darling little waitress at the Columbia mixing up our 1905 Salads. She also makes a mean sangria as well.
And here we are posing with our favorite sea horse just as our afternoon was drawing to a close.

At Artisans (941-388-0082) I found a perfect verdigris dragon fly necklace to match the bracelet and earrings E bought me in Winter Park. Will post a pic soon.

Off to crop at Posh tomorrow with the Wed. girls. Will probably skip the zoo on Thurs if the kids even go. Now poor Chris has the flu now. We're hoping the kids don't get it again as they are the little culprits who gave it to first Mama and now their Daddy. And we're really hoping that little Leighton is spared as well. Crossing our fingers...good thoughts please.

Vintage Easter Post Cards...help yourself

These Easter post cards are dated from the 40s, 50s and early 60s. The top 3 are embossed and so lovely. Please feel free to use these images anyway you please. I'd love to see what you do with any that you use.

What a find...

I am working on an altered project I am teaching at a scrapbook retreat next June and, while I was not successful in locating the fabric I need for that, I did come across a real bargain. I love to share so here is where I got these fabric pieces for $2.00 each...JoAnne's. These are discontinued samples for ordering draperies and upholstering and most measure about 13x13. I am off to play with these and will post my progress in something I want to try. And with fabric, my number one Stiffening and Draping Liquid is by Helmar. The stuff is amazing.
So, watch this spot!