Vintage Tag and My first Stick Pin....on Steroids?!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a great summer. I had such a blast enjoying the outdoors and visiting with long time friends and of course the huge amount of weddings we attended.

I'm back to blogging and creating after such a loooong creative drought so here is my latest! It's a vintage tag with my first ever stick pin. You can watch the video to the left to see closely what techniques and products were used.

The next photo is a close up shot of a bird image with Inkadinkado Clear Stamps, Birds Galore and flourishes by Inkadinkado Clear Stamps, Floral Flourishes. The background music sheet stamp is my fave from Cornish Heritage Farms and it is stamped with Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, Walnut Stain. And of course, I needed to put a Tim Holtz adage tickets.

In this photo I attempted a Tim Holtz rosette flower sans the die! I just used my Scor-Pal Board- and border punch to get a different edge on the flower - I love how it turned out. I learned how to make this flower from Sherri on YouTube - you can get her user name in my video. Instead of bling centres, I used the Martha Stewart Craft Punch, 3-In-1 Classic Butterfly punch to switch it up a bit - I think they're cute with the little pearl bodies! Then I topped it off with pheasant feather.

This is my most exciting picture.......MY FIRST STICK PIN on steroids!!! Why? because it's the biggest stickpin I've ever made and the beads wouldn't stop sliding onto the pin LOL! I watched a lot of tutorials on YouTube and created this version...these are so addictive to make so I hope to join some future swaps. I love how it looks really regal with the filagree bead - it reminds me of a scepter - perfect for a Queen Bee (*hint, hint*). Give these pins a try - they're super fun to make!

After joining the Paris Tag Swap, I met some super talented ladies out there. I'm now doing some individual swaps with them such as mini albums and tags so when I complete these projects I'll be sure to put up a new post and video. Thanks for stopping by :)

My Tag for Arlene's June Tag Swap 2010

HERE IT IS!!! My tag for Arlene's June Tag Swap. The theme was "Postcards from Paris" and "Vintage Collage". This was my very first swap and I had sooo much fun doing it. I made 9 tags in an assembly line and I was pumping embellies out like a factory LOL!
Here's a close up of the mini postcards - you can even see the mini stamps in the corners. I used crackle accents on the images and I really like how they turned out. I also used Marcasite Embossing Powder for the Eiffel Tower image in the Visual Artistry Collection Stampers Anonymous Clear Stamps - French Market set to mimic the tower lights at night - sooo pretty. You can see it twinkle on the you tube video to the left.

Here's a close up of the flower where I used glitter gold 3D paint (I love this stuff) to add shimmer and stiffness to the flower. I used gold perfect pearls powder mixed with water to glimmer the background and leaves.

Thanks so much, Arlene, for hosting and to the ladies in my group - I can't wait to receive your tags and showcase them here.

I'm truly addicted to swaps and I'll be joining more so stay tuned. Thanks for stopping by!

Another Wedding Card

Wedding season is here and my friend asked me to make a card for her. This was really fun because the colors of the wedding motif were bright yellows and oranges - very different from what I'm usally used to so it was a good challenge for me.


I did lots of the resist emboss technique - which I love, right now. I used yellow and orange ink in random spots. Then wet embossed with a clear embossing powder and a Hero Arts leaf background stamp. I used a script background stamp and edged the sides with brown ink. Then I matted the whole background with canary cardstock and wrapped with an orange ribbon.  The heart on the cake was outlined with Diamond Dust - I love this stuff!

I decided to decorate the envelope in the front and back for the added touch. It's the same design as on the cake to tie it all together. I love how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Birthday Cards from My Pals

Check out some of the hand made cards I received! They all have different flavours and are sooo beautiful. This one is from Gabie...I love the layered flower she created with her scallop punch and the distress embossed butterfly. Check out the cute vase with raffia! So pretty!
Here is a card made by Shannon. I love how she used the 3D paint to create a shimmer background - it looks like a million bucks! It totally matches the shimmer of the chipboard flower! So cool!

The next card is made by Clare. She added the bling and Koi fish and painted the fins with 3D paint. This hybrid card really looks like the fish are supposed to be there. So funky and modern!

Thanks so much for the birthday wishes! I seriously need to break out and make some cards. Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Goodies - Vintage Ephemera

I got some awesome birthday goodies from my dear friend Clare. She's a wonderful artist who I'll showcase at a later date. She's got a great eye and almost super human intuition when it comes to finding hard to find emphemera....look at what she suprised me with...


Vintage music paper - imagine cutting flowers or tags out of this paper! It even smells old - I love it!

Check out the vintage stamps - they are wearing traditional Greek costumes.

These are vintage stamps of old buildings and castles - soo cool! Thanks, Clare, can't wait to use them :)

Arlene's June Tag Swap 2010 Teaser!

Hey Guys! I'm done - WOOOOOO HOOOOO! Ok, so I finished my first tag swap and boy am I tired! What a labour of love-but it was sooo much fun to do. The theme was "postcards from Paris" and "vintage collage". Hope you can get an idea of what I was trying to do from this cryptic picture. I'll reveal more once I get this shipped across the border. Thanks for stopping by :)

***BLOG CANDY ALERT***

Hope everyone is having a super awesome day! I just wanted to pass on the awesome Graphic 45 Blog Candy that Marie over at www.theprettypaperboutique.blogpost.com is having. Check out her blog to enter - it's sooo easy! Good luck to you all! Thanks for stopping by :)

I'm In and I'm sooooooo Excited!!!

Yipee YAY Yahoooo!!!

Just letting you know that I got in on Arlene's June Tag Swap (butterflykisseswithlove). I'm sooo excited of the Paris theme and I can't wait to get started. I'll be showing some "test" pieces just to show you the progress of this project and maybe some video updates. There are still 12 spots left so sign up at bfkwithlove@gmail.com. It will be such a great time and I can't wait to get other people's works of art!!! Have a great day! :)

Vintage Tag: Soar & Take Flight

This is my first vintage tag I created and I'm really happy out it turned out. I have lots of techniques happening here so let me walk you through them.

Pictured Above: I painted my tag with white acrylic paint and let it dry; then I applied crackle medium and let it dry; and then applied the rose garden paint on top.

Here's a close up of the crackle finish. I love how the white peaks through the rose to give it that weathered wood look. Imagine all the color combinations that are possible....soooo exciting!!!

Since I was on a role with the paint, I painted the butterfly chip board in white and then had an "a ha" moment. Let's wet emboss with black embossing powder!! I love how the lacquered look of the embossing against the matted white background look - I'm going to have to do that again! I also used a product called Diamond Dust which is vintage glitter glass shreds all around the tag - it looks like rock sugar. I love Tim Holtz and used one of his adage tickets which I distressed with his edger and brown ink. I framed the side with vintage lace trim and tide some pink fibers with twine.

Last but not least, I had to put my dimensional flowers on there. I love how they pop and shimmer. To frame the flower, I used floral leaves from the wedding section at Michael's which I inked the edges in brown and misted with gold Perfect Pearls. Give these techniques a try on your next project - they're super fun! Thanks for stopping by :)

Dimensional Paper Flowers with 3D paint

These paper flowers are soo fun to make with 3D paint. So if you have some lying around, break them out and try this technique. I have a video on my channel to explain how to make these flowers. http://www.youtube.com/user/jpodinc

You can apply the 3D paint after you crumple your flower as you see on the first flower. Or you can apply the 3D paint after you shape your flower as you see on the second flower. You distinctly get different looks. The paint doesn't harden your flowers like mod podge but just strengthens them and makes it more flexible to manipulate - like a coated fabric. These flowers are great to decorate your art journals, minis, layouts and cards - they also hold up really well. It's a cost effective way to make your own customized embellies!!






In the next picture: the top row is the before shot of the unfinished flowers. The second row is achieved by crumpling the paper flowers and then applying the "Glittering Crystals" 3D paint after to get enhance the creases. I love the sheen it gives. It's similar to Stickles but gives your flowers more movement which I like.



Below is the one of the 3D paints that I use and it gives a really nice pearl finish. My favorite is 'Glittering Crystals' because it's transparent with a smaller translucent glitter. I used it to demo the flowers above. The paint comes in lots of colors and glitters so try them to see what works best for you. Really, at $1.79 a bottle, you can't NOT try it! Have fun with it and thanks for stopping by :)

Video Name Plate

I was trying to think of something to have in the background of my videos instead of having a blank table so I came up with this name plate. I love the distress letters that I wet embossed and the distress "spots" stamps I wet embossed with carnelian embossing power (really like the color of that powder - almost an orange red or persimmon). I also used the French Script background stamp in sepia ink. If you're wondering how I came up with my user name "jpod", a friend of mine uses it as a nickname for me...AND, it's the acroynym for "Jo's Paperie On Demand"!

Posted my FIRST You Tube Video

Hi Everyone!!!I'm so excited because I posted my first video...but I didn't have a project to show so I just made a quick tag. It feels soo official now and I can't wait to do more. Check it out at on my you tube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/jpodinc

Happy Birthday, Louise

Happy Birthday, Louise! Here's a card I made for Louise. My theme was Paris since she was there recently for a vacation. I used a toile background stamp using the resist emboss technique...Again!! I also used a Stampin' Up French Script stamp and the Stampin' Up Bird Punch - love it!


Here's a gift tag I made for Louise. I used a Tim Holtz Eiffel Tower Stamp and the Stampin' Up French Script stamp. Part of my gift to is to help her take her photos and emphemera from her trip and make a wall hanging for her office. I'll be sure to post pictures of that when it's complete. Ever notice that using rafia on anything makes it sooo much more appealing!?!?

Happy Birthday, Aida

Here's a card I made for Aida's birthday. I used the resist emboss technique that I'm totally lovin' at the moment. I also used the aged music sheet background stamp which I've been using lots lately. Who needs to buy paper when you can create your own - LOVE it!!

Here's a close up: You can see the resist emoboss of the smaller butterflies in the corners.