Black Magic Technique

Several months ago I was asked by Beate Johns over on Splitcoaststampers if I would be willing to do a tutorial for the Resources forum on this technique. No problemo ...

So here we are, several months later, and this is the card I created for the tutorial. You can see the step-by-step photos and instructions here:

Black Magic Step-by-Step Instructions on SCS

And here (again!) is the video tutorial I posted on youtube waayyy back in the day when I first started playing with this technique (thanks to my genius-friend, Karen Barber!):



Stamps: Style Beautiful, Friends Never Fade
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Whisper White, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border Punch, Framed Tulips Textured Impressions Folder, Mini Clip from Mini Clips Assortment, Wide Oval Punch, Dimensionals

Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Freak Bag ...

... and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE!! Welcome to the next stop on the Control Freaks Blog Tour. (You should have just come from the SPECTACULAR blog of my Fellow Freak, Patty Bennett.) This month we are featuring COOL THINGS from the Stampin' Up Summer Mini Catty.


I can't tell you what a crazy whirlwind project this turned out to be!!! I saw one of these ADORABLE scallop square die rag quilt bags as I was surfing around the 'net the other night (Insomniac Moment!). Which, of course, led me from one blog to another ... one youtube link to another ... here is a link to the tutorial I used:

Rag Quilt Purse

Isn't is just CAAAA-YOOOOT???? I can hardly stand myself!! Here is where the saga begins, however ... I spent the better part of the day on Tuesday working on this splendiforous bag ... I was SOOO pleased with myself and with how it came out. Then reality hit me .... AAAAAACK!!! I realized I hadn't used a SINGLE SOLITARY item from the SU Summer Mini, which, of course, is what we Freaks wanted to feature for ya this time around!! PANICPANICPANIC!!

After much contemplation, soul searching and trying to tap my Inner Genius I finally found a way to incorporate the ADORABLY DARLING Bitty Buttons and their coordinating punches onto my little butterflies on the bag ... SEE???!!!?? Stinkin' CAAA-YOOOT!! (And you can ALWAYS put your Summer Mini Catty IN this bag, right???)

Materials Used: Bigz Scallop Square, Beautiful Butterflies, Baskets and Blooms, and Two Tags Dies, Bitty Buttons, Bitty Shapes Punches, Pretties Kit (pearl)

AND, some of my fellow Freaks thought it would be fun if I made a matching gift card for this (like, am I supposed to give this AWAY??? I think NOT!!!) Sooooo here it is!!! I ripped off a little strip of the leftover fabric to tie the little bow around this ... Stinkin' CAAAA_YOOOOT!!! I have to say that I {{{heart}}} all of the lovely floral stamp sets in this mini (I have used Elements of Style and one of the sentiments from Watercolor Trio). Not to mention that this also gave me yet ANOTHER chance to show you some Black Magic.

Stamps: Elements of Style, Watercolor Trio (sentiment)
Paper: So Saffron, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Whisper White, Basic Black
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folder, Watercolor Pencils, White Gel Pen, Large Oval Punch, Bigz Scallop Square Die, Pretties Pearl

AAAANNNDD, what would one of my Freaky posts be without a little MDS inspiration, eh??? (I guess I don't ALWAYS do it, but I do it more often than not!) Since SU keeps making more and more downloads available for us to use, I keep acting like the sheep that I am and BUYING THEM UP ... SIGHT UNSEEN!! I am LOVING the Vintage Overlays especially right now ... simply GAWJUS!!! And I am feeling oh-so-artsy with this picture-in-picture style of scrapbooking ... something I would NEVER have attempted doing a conventional scrapbook page. Too-too FUN!!

Next stop?? The FANTABULOUS home of Gretchen Barron. Go check her out!! She ROCKS!!! (I know I say that about my Freaky friends all the time, but it is TRUE!!)

Beautiful Black Magic Technique

Hello, my friends and a very Happy Mother's Day to all!!

As a "gift" to all the moms out there (and perhaps to a few of the dads, daughters, aunts and friends!), I am posting a tutorial on the MUI-FANTASTICA black magic technique. The only WARNING I can give y'all about this is that it is ADDICTIVE!!



I also need to apologize for the "earthquake shake" from time to time in this tutorial. I had filmed it once, and upon review discovered that I had an AWESOME 7 1/2 minute video of the crown of my head (it was a good thing that I had taken a shower and my hair was clean and my part was straight). The camera was on a chair up and behind me ... sigh ...

SO, in all my BRILLIANCE I decided to put the tripod on top of the table and film straight down onto my workspace (it WAS filming what I was doing upsidedown, but I knew I could edit it and flip it around!). It was great until I realized when I watched it that every single time I stamped or colored with ferocity my table was doin' the shimmy and shake!! Ahhhh, the Learning Curve!! The next one with be even much mo' bettah!!

AND, you will also wanna visit the blog of my OTHER BFF, the incomparable JanTink!! She decided to play along with me on this one and made a SUPERFAB example of how cool this technique REALLY is!!

I need to give a some credit for the inspiration for this tutorial to my good friend, Karen Barber. She has been creating some WONDERFUL things with this technique lately. Go take a peek on her blog and see what I mean ...

Stamps: Kind and Caring Thoughts, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Pacific Point (welcome back!), Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Whisper White, Pacific Point
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Large and Small Oval Punches, White Gel Pen, Whisper White Satin/Organza Ribbon, Watercolor Pencils

Now, go and enjoy the rest of your day ... may it be filled with chocolate, stampin' supplies and NO dishes!!

That Ol' BROWN Magic??

I have been watching Karen Barber post some of the most SCRUMPTIOUS cards lately using this what-seemed-to-be-impossible technique (dubbed "black magic" 'cause it is traditionally done on black cardsock - but any dark color works pretty darn well!). I finally p/m'd her the other day to ask her if I could use SU's watercolor pencils to do it instead of the pigment pencils I had read as a suggestion on her blog. She let me know that she had recently tried the watercolor pencils and actually liked them BETTER, so I was tickled to try this technique (finally!)!

It was also surprisingly EASIER than I thought it was going to be! Basically, stamp a solid-type image in Whisper White craft ink (or any white pigment ink will do!). If you are impatient (like ME!) and don't wanna wait for it to "air dry" ... speed up the process by zapping the image with your heat embossing tool. Once it is dry, feel free to color it to your heart's desire .... that's pretty much IT!! Don't be afraid to press down hard and really color that baby!! Shade, color, and shade some more! As this is my very first attempt, it is NOT quite as luscious as I had hoped for, as my learning curve taught me a thing or two! However, it is good to note that accenting the whole image with some strategically placed white-gel-pen highlights really adds to the overall effect. I hadn't looked back at any of Karen's samples before doing this and I got a bit carried away, but I still like the finished product, and I {{{heart}}} this technique!! Definitely gonna try it again ... I think I feel a video tutorial comin' on (since I FINALLY found the new video camera I bought for Christmas that seemed to "disappear" .... HOORAY!). Lovely, eh? (I should also mention that I initially created this for the Free for All challenge over on SCS last Friday - which was to create a "May Day" flower-themed card).

Have a lovely Tuesday!!

Stamps: Watercolor Trio
Ink: Soft Suede, Whisper White, white gel pen
Paper: Tangerine Tango (hooray for its upcoming return!), Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Whisper White
Accessories: Watercolor pencils, Square Lattice Textured Impressions embossing folder, large oval punch, Whisper White taffeta ribbon