Distressed Loomi Light

Hi Crafters!  Today over at Craft Test Dummies I did a full review of the Loomi Light!  Please head over there to see my first loomi creation and a full run down on the product!

Well, I just couldn't help not making a second loomi right away!  It was so hard for me to choose just one design, that I had to try a second one immediately.  (And a third one will be coming soon, too. I might have a loomi addiction.)  With the first one I made at Craft Test Dummies, I used Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks on transparency to create a stained glass effect.  For this one, I wanted to play with the light effect more while sticking with my beloved Tim products.  For starters, I decided on five shades of distress ink:

And then my favoritist (because that's a word around here) stamp ever made, Tim's Fabulous Flourish. I mean, I use this stamp for everything.  EVERYTHING. I just randomly stamped some on the INSIDE of the piece.

For the OUTSIDE of the pieces, I just inked around all of the edges.

Once all of these were done, (it takes 30 total pieces to assemble the spherical loomi,) I was ready to put it together.  On the CTD website I mention it is critical for you to keep the instructions up all the time on your computer and rely on them.  If it feels like the paper is ripping, you're doing something wrong.  Also, sometimes you have to slide your pieces into place. I have to admit, making the second one was so much
easier than the first one, but still just as exciting as you put each layer and row together.

I love the swirls as the pieces hook together:

SO!  Here's what, "lights on," loomi looks like!  Kinda beach-y!

And now for the WOW.  This is, "lights off loomi."

You can see that by putting the flourish stamp on the inside, when the light's on inside the loomi the image comes through, while it's like a pretty little secret when the light is off and all you can see is the inked edges.  It's hard to believe these photos came straight from my camera. No photoshop at all. And I shot them in auto-no flash mode. I didn't even have to mess with the exposure. Simply stunning!

So what do you think, crafters? Maybe even some non-crafters? Would you make a loomi?  What comes to mind when you look at it? What would you do?

Screen Printed iPad Cover using Silhouette Fabric inks

Hello crafters and Happy National Craft month! Let's get right into today's post!

I LOVE my iPad. I'm fully addicted to it... almost to the point that my husband wants to break it. My current obsession is called, "Order Up," which is a monotonous little cooking game that I can't manage to tear myself away from. "But honey," I'll say at midnight when he wants to go to sleep, "I just unlocked a new recipe and I want to try it out!!!" At any rate, I had an extra plain old grey iPad cover and decided to spruce it up a bit.

I've had the Silhouette fabric inks for quite some time with really good intentions (and ideas) for using them. Alas, they have not been pulled out of the box until a couple of days ago.



I found an adorable print and cut design in the Silhouette store that I purchased and just did the "cut" portion which is the nerdy glasses. I LOVE the Silhouette software. It is so easy to use and break apart images! I also added and cut out the phrase "Nerd Love" in a pixelated font called, "Skinny," found for free at DaFont.


I cut out the included stencil vinyl included in the kit. I really like this because it's clear and this was a great benefit since I would be adding multiple layers to my image. I used the magical hook tool that was also included in my kit to get all of the inners and outers away from my stencil then used the (also) clear transfer tape to get my images perfectly transferred to my iPad cover.


Since the iPad cover has grooves, I used my Basic Grey rub-on tool to get the stencil vinyl down and stuck well in between the grooves. I used my inks in order of lightest to darkest and set it with an iron in between each layer after the paint had properly dried. Here is the final nerdy awesomeness:


I think I might have to screen print my green iPad cover now, too!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy National Craft Month! What are you creating?

A mini-book & big news

Hello friends! I know it's been a while and I've been busy over at Craft Test Dummies doing some super-fun reviews of some AMAZING products! One of those products was the MyStik glue runner; I reviewed the permanent and vellum runners. It's a pretty handy little tool, especially since it's an adjustable handle, making it perfect for long projects or maybe a more elderly crafter.

Here's a little minibook I made using the Mystik glue runner. It truly is invisible behind the vellum names that I printed out!

The patterned paper and chipboard embellishments are from the Ambrosia line by Basic Grey. An oldie, but goodie.

Now for the BIG news...

I'm going to CHA!!! For those of you that don't know, CHA is a semi-annual trade show with the largest names in the crafting business showcasing their new products for the next season. I will be going as a reporter with Craft Test Dummies so be sure to check their website January 29th through February 2nd for updates from my the whole team of gals at Craft Test Dummies! I'm going to put their blogs over to the right, too, so you'll have easy access to all of us!

This is a dream come true for me, so a BIG shout-out to Jenny who's "Mama" Craft Test Dummy, who has given me this opportunity and been patient with showing me the ropes!!!

Talk to you soon, my crafty friends!