In Bloom Crystal Lacquer Pendant



Crystal Lacquer is an amazing product - it's only limited to your imagination! For this project, I used

• 3D Crystal Lacquer
• Rectangular Glass Tile from Sakura Hobby Craft
• Fine Clear Glitter
• Silver Adhesive Backed Metal Tape
• Rhinestone Tape
• Scraps of scrapbooking paper

I began by placing my glass tile on different pieces of scrapbooking paper, trying to find an interesting image for the pendant.  I liked the way the word 'bloom' looked traveling up the side of the tile, so I put several dots of Crystal Lacquer on the tile and "smooshed" it onto the paper.  You want to make sure to use enough Crystal Lacquer so that it forms a nice smooth layer that covers the entire image and just starts to squish out.  I let this dry overnight and cut around the tile right up to the edge - giving it a nice clean look.

I wrapped silver metal tape around the tile to give a chunkier look and it also looks as if it has a soldered frame around it.  Then I used a tiny bead of Crystal Lacquer to adhere a strip of rhinestones around the entire tile.  I actually cut up a rhinestone bling frame that I had to get the strip of rhinestones.  I let this dry for several hours before continuing on.

 



Hint:  There is a right and wrong side to the tiles.  There is a slight texture to the back side -

the side that you are going to adhere an image for it to show through to the front.

I wanted to add a floral accent to the front of the pendant and choose a small violet flower from my stash.  I gave it a coat of Crystal Lacquer and sprinkled it with fine glitter while it was still wet and set it aside to dry.  I also added a little floral accent to the back of the pendant - just for fun:)  It was also given a coat of Crystal Lacquer and glitterd and set aside to dry. 

 Note: I had put a thin layer of Crystal Lacquer on the entire back before adding the floral accent.

To complete my project - the violet was adhered to the front of the glass tile and I added a silver bail to the back.  It was very fun to create and I hope you enjoyed this project!

Till next time - stay creative!

For more information about Crystal Lacquer products, please visit www.sakuracraft.com

and for creative inspiration, check out their blog - www.crystallacquer.blogspot.com.

Let the Sun(Flower) Shine

I have to say that I love this card! Spring here on the mountain has been a little like winter - with cloudy windy weather and even a few snow flurry this week! Crazy! This card represents spring and the flora and fauna that comes with it including big, giant yellow sunflowers!

The sunflower and bee were enhanced with 3D Crystal Lacquer and Crystal Color Lacquer by Sakura Craft. I used the Crystal Color Lacquer (in green and yellow) to fill in the petals and outline some of the leaf veins on a sunflower diecut (from my stash by K & Co.). It added a shimmery and bright accent that really makes it pop. You can see the glitter from the diecut shine through the crystal lacquer.

I used the fine applicator tip (this handy little tool is a must!) on my bottle of 3D Crystal Lacquer to cover the body of the bee diecut (also from K & Co.). The applicator tip makes it a snap to fill in tiny areas.

Both diecuts were dried overnight after the application of the crystal lacquer before I assembled the card. I used bazzill cardstock for the base of the card and a scrap from my stash(a Donna Salazar paper), which was distressed using my Tim Holtz paper distressing tool and Vintage Photo distress ink.

Sakura Craft has these awesome Glass Tiles that are SO versatile!

I glued one of the small rectangular glass tiles on the front of my card over the word "dream" that I had written, using crystal lacquer and glued the little bee on top of the tile. The sunflower was attached to the card with pop-dots to give it a little dimension.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour - Thanks for checking out my project!

Karen

You can find more info about these amazing products at www.sakuracraft.com

and check out Sakura's blog at www.crystallacquer.blogspot.com!

Crystal Lacquer makes me Happy Happy!

Crystal Lacquer has certainly sparked my creativity.  I've been experimenting and trying all sorts of techniques using this versatile product. 

 One of the fun techniques that I tried was pouring the Crystal Color Lacquer out onto my craft mat (you might remember seeing the little dots of color from my Easter Egg post a few weeks ago).  I decided to try a shape using this stuff and came up with a flower shape that you can see in the photo below.

This first photo shows how the Crystal Color Lacquer looks wet (I used Red) - and then the next day after it's dried, peeled off the mat, with an antique button poked through the center. The color dried more of a bright pink color.  This is where the idea of my card started.  I'm a flower-nut, so I just kept adding layers of scalloped circles (I used my AccuCut machine and a 4"scallop circle die) cut from an old recycled book, and old sheet of music and some paper towels I had saved from my egg-dying adventure.

 After crinkling the layers and spritzing with a little Glimmer Mist, I was satisfied with the flower and moved on to the card layout.  I used a bazzill cardstock for the card itself and a torn piece of old sheet music for the background.  I adhered the flower and added the scrap piece of "happy HAPPY" ribbon I had in my stash.  I printed the words for the sentiment flag using "my underwood" font, cut it out and distressed it a bit with Vintage Photo Distress Ink (as I did on the flower also, along with Spun Sugar Distress Ink).  I cut out the flag shape from a plain old paper bag and used Crystal Lacquer to adhere the words onto it.  Crystal Lacquer is a great adhesive and I used it to glue on all the elements onto the card.

Close up of the flower.

 

Finished card.

Thanks for checking out my project for this week.

Karen

for more info on projects, check out the Crystal Lacquer blog at www.crystallacquer.blogspot.com

and for ordering products, check out www.sakuracraft.com. 

They have great tutorials and ideas as well!

Creative Souls Scrapbooking Retreat Announcement!

Creative Souls Retreat

~feed your creative soul~

I have some exciting news to share!

KatScrap Studio (myself) and Creative Souls (Heather Morrow) have joined together to organize a CREATIVE SOUL RETREAT - especially for you. We are in the beginning stages of developing a great creative summer camp experience for all scrappers, cardmakers, stampers and anyone who loves to be with those that are creative and want to spend some fun time together.

We need your help! First, we need to know how many of you would be interested in participating! We have a very short survey that we would love to have you complete. The survey is anonymous, and there is no obligation to sign up -

we are just trying to get an idea of interested people!

Please click on the link below to participate.*

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JPYFKVL

Also, please pass this newsletter on to any friends of family that might also want to take part. We will have more exciting news to share with you about the Creative Soul Retreat as soon as we can!

Thanks,

Karen

*We are still in the planning phases - if you have an idea or class you would like to suggest,

you can always e-mail me at  katscrapfever@sbcglobal.net

We are looking for instructors also!

Hippity Hoppity - Easter's On it's Way!

It's been a few weeks since my last Sakura Design Team post, so I've been experimenting quite a bit with my Crystal Lacquer products. My studio work table has been in complete creative chaos and I love it!

I chose an Easter themed project this week, with the holiday fast approaching.

I've loved coloring eggs since I was a kid, so it only seemed natural to try incorporating the Crystal Lacquer products with coloring eggs - and I must say, they turned out better than I had expected!

I had never blown out eggs before, so I thought I'd give it a try - it was simple and easy to do . I colored the eggs first (raw), using the old fashioned food coloring way. I prefer using this to the tablet type coloring because the colors come out brighter and more vibrant. After they dried, I poked a hole in each end of the raw egg with my paper piercer and blew the yolk and whites into a bowl. - easy peasy.

I used the NEON set of food coloring for vibrant colors.



My first attempt at blowing an egg out was a success!

Colored eggs ready for Crystal Lacquer.

After my eggs were colored, dried and blown out, I slid them onto a bamboo skewer, so I could coat them with Crystal Lacquer and sprinkle with fine glitter. The skewer also came in handy as I could just stick the end into a piece of foam so the egg could dry. I just used a very thin layer of Crystal Lacquer, as I didn't want any puddling on the bottom of the egg as it dried.

For this polka-dotted egg, I used little circles of dried Crystal Color Lacquer. I had squeezed out a bunch of tiny circles of Crystal Color Lacquer on my mat a few days earlier and wanted to do something with them.....so I placed them on a plain white egg. The dried Crystal Color Lacquer stuck on the egg without any adhesive. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Here are the dots of Crystal Color Lacquer (some I mixed with the clear Crystal Lacquer) ready to dry overnight.

*The egg in the center is actually just a shell of a cracked egg that I dropped dots of the Crystal Color Lacquer, then covered the Crystal Lacquer while still wet. It came out awesome with muted colors and shine. I put the shell on the end of a pencil and stuck it in foam to let it dry.

Ta-Da! Another view of my Crystal Lacquer Egg creations. These eggs are very elegant and since they are blown out, I'll be able to wrap them up carefully and have them for decorating for years to come!

Crystal Lacquer is SO versatile. I've had a great time experimenting and playing with this great line of product. I can't wait to show you more of the things I have created.

Until next time - Happy Creating!

Karen

check out more ideas and products at

http://www.sakuracraft.com/

and

http://www.crystallacquer.blogspot.com/ for more fun!



Vintage Charms - Crystal Lacquer Style

I love all things vintage - so when I was sent charm blanks from Sakura Craft Hobby for this months Design Team projects , I knew the end result would be something 'vintag-ie'. I had SO much fun making my own charms - that well, I'm still making more designs ,and I can't seem to stop!

In the photo below, you can see the items that I used to complete this weeks design: 3D Crystal Lacquer, Crystal Colored Lacquer and silver charm blanks by Sakura Hobby Craft, Tim Holtz's Tissue Tape and Vintage Photo Distress Ink, fine glitter, a few itsy-bitsy flowers, a vintage pic and a few words printed on white cardstock.

For my "Be Kind" charm, I tore off a piece of the tissue tape and stuck it to the bottom of the blank charm - it's nice and tacky on the back, so it laid down nicely inside the charm. I just trimmed off any excess that hung over the edge. I cut out the words Be Kind from the cardstock, inked their edges with Vintage Photo distress ink and used the Crystal Lacquer to adhere them to the charm. Next, I took the dark blue tiny flower and used Crystal Lacquer to adhere it inside the charm. I kind of flattened it down with my fingers so it would lay flat, then grabbed my 3D Crystal Lacquer and filled in the whole charm.

 Then the hard part - waiting! I let it sit overnight - and in the morning is was clear, shiny and beautiful!

For a little added interest, I covered a second tiny flower with Crystal Colored Lacquer in blue - sprinkled a little fine clear glitter on it and set it aside to dry. I added a small clear rhinestone in the center and attached the dried flower to the top of the charm with Crystal Lacquer - ta da!

For the old-fashion floral charm, I simply printed out a an image on white cardstock, trimmed it to fit the charm, distressed the edges and inked them with Vintage Photo distress ink.  I used the Crystal Color Lacquer in ivory, red and purple to cover 3 of the flowers and sprinkled them with fine glitter and set aside to dry - then filled the charm with 3D Crystal Lacquer . It's such a quick and easy process - but the result is just beautiful!  Just be patient and let the Crystal Lacquer dry!  I let this one set for several days to be sure it was completely dry.

 

 I just love the vintage feel of these charms.  I think they make a perfect addition to my charm necklace that I made at the Idea-ology Booth at CHA in January.

Karen

For more information about Crystal Lacquer products,

 check out   www.sakurahobbycraft.com , and

 visit their blog www.crystallacquer.blogspot.com for more creative inspiration!

Charming St. Patty's Day Card

This is my first project as a Sakura Design Team member and I'm very excited to be sharing it with you!

Supplies Used: Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer, Crystal Colored Lacquer, Sakura blank rectangular charm, white cardstock, Cosmo Cricket scrapbook paper, Calendar from Tim Holtz's Lost & Found paperstack, green bazzill cardstock, brown twine, green ribbon, Hero Arts prisma glitter, green stickles, Distress Inks in Tea Dye, Bundled Sage Crushed Olive and Vintage Photo and the font My Underwood.

I started off this project making the charm - and then had the brilliant:) idea to make a greeting card with the charm attached.  I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

For the charm - I downloaded a vintage image using Google search, printed it on cardstock, distressed the edges with a distressing tool and inked it using Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I used the Crystal Lacquer to adhere it into the charm.  I outlined the clover using green Stickles and set it aside to dry.  I used the Crystal Colored Lacquer in Jade Green to add a little accent at the bottom edges, filling in just a little bit over the picture and let it dry.  Once dry, I sprinkled a little prisma glitter onto the picture and then filled in the entire charm with the clear 3D Crystal Lacquer.  It dried overnight and you can see the results - amazing!

I love how the charm took on a vintage feel.  I added a jump ring at the top so it would attach easily and lay flat on the card.

 To make the card, I simply cut a piece of white cardstock in half (A2 size - 5.50" x 8.50"), folded in half and inked the edges using Crushed Olive & Bundled Sage Distress Inks.  I personally use the Inkssentials Inking Tool (I have about a dozen of them!) that makes it easy-peasy to ink the edges and blend the colors.  I also inked the entire piece of scrapbook paper from Cosmo Cricket just to give it an old look.  I attached the March calendar and wrapped the brown twine around the two pieces before I adhered it to the cardstock.  The greeting was printed on white cardstock using 'My Underwood' font that I've totally fallen in love with.  I printed it in a green color and then adhered it to the bazzill cardstock.  I used pop-dots to attach it to the card.

To finish off the card, I used Crystal Colored Lacquer in Jade Green to fill in the little circles on the scrapbook paper, and sprinkled them with prisma glitter.  I tied on the charm, glued on a little green bow and ta-da - one "Charming" St. Patty's Day card!

All the edges on the card were distressed and inked using Vintage Photo or Tea Dye Distress Inks.  ALSO - I used the Crystal Lacquer as my adhesive and it worked great!

Hope you enjoyed this project.  You can get more info about Sakura's products at

www.sakuracraft.com and see all of the design team projects on their blog,

www.crystallacquer.blogspot.com.

Karen