Design Team, Author at Ann Butler Designs

July 8, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Easy Jewel Tone Painted Pots

Hi all! It’s Carmen today and it’s my turn to share with you a fun project made using Ann Butler Designs products. I think that little flower pots are so cute so I always have a stack in the house ready for crafting. This project uses minimal materials and tools so you can whip up a bunch of these quickly for unexpected gifts. I used the luscious Ann Butlers’ Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes which come in lovely jewel tones that take pots from plain to elegant.

Here’s how:

Materials:

Ann Butler Designs Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes – Berry, Lilac, Lagoon, Sheer Bronze, Copper Powder

Plain terra-cotta flower pots

Tools:

Paint brushes, Color Box Art Daubers

Instructions:

1. Paint each pot with a base coat in your choice of Earth Safe Finishes. Apply 4-5 coats letting the paint dry between layers.

2. Mix a big spoonful of the Copper Powder it the Sheer Bronze paint. This will brighten up the paint. Stir well with a brush.

3. Use a small brush to paint stripes on the pots using the Sheer Bronze paint. Add dots by using the Color Box Daubers dipped in the Sheer Bronze paint. Let dry thoroughly.

That’s it! This is a fun way to coordinate pots and containers. Add a few tiny gifts and you’ve got a quick and easy last minute gift for unexpected celebrations. Enjoy!

July 6, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Faux Quilted Baby Card

Hey, crafty friends, Einat Kessler here with a new project! I’ve been wanting to do a Faux Quilted Baby Card for a long time!

So I started with creating a pattern with an assortment of 1″ Faux Quilting stamps. I used Colorbox Crafter’s ®Ink in Aquamarine which is a perfect light blue color. I stamped a white paper and created a 4″ x 5″ square.

Design Star Einat shows you how to make a beautiful baby card using Faux quilting stamps #annbutlerdesigns, #babycards #fauxquiltingstamps

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I cut it out and added faux black stitches with a black pen to create a blanket look and make it softer and more compatible with the baby theme.

I added a fee buttons in coordinating colors and the word Baby with chipboard letters.

You can easily create the same card for a girl by using Ann Butler Designs Colorbox Crafter’s Ink® in Berry.
Of course, you can be totally untraditional and use other colors too 🙂

Thanks for stopping by and have fun creating!

Einat

June 26, 2015 By Design Team Leave a Comment

Blend Iridescents and Inks to Create Unique Background

Hi, everyone! Today, I’m showing you how to blend Iridescents and Inks to create unique backgrounds.

Blend Iridescents and Inks to Create Unique Background with Design Star Paula #DIY, #mixedmediacard, #AnnButlerDesigns

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To do this particular one, I used the following:
Earth Safe Finishes Iridescents by Ann Butler in Tangelo
Colorbox Crafter’s Inks by Ann Butler in Sunshine and Berry
Other items needed for this card: Cardstock, embossing folder, stamp of choice, sentiment stamp, ribbon

To start the background, I mixed a bit of the Tangelo Iridescent with water. Brush this across your entire base of the cardstock. I love the Iridescent for this because you will see that slight shimmer at different angles. After this dried, I took a cotton ball, dipped in water and slightly brushed across the card.
I then added drops of reinkers in Berry and Sunshine randomly across the cardstock. Again, I used a cotton ball dipped in water to blend the colors. Let it dry. That’s it. That easy! and creates a different look each time.

After this dries, I continue assembling my card. Using an embossing folder, I added Colorbox Ink by Ann Butler in Berry to the entire inside of folder. Place your cardstock inside the folder, then run it through the embossing machine. Only a part of the embossed image was used as a mat. I stamped a floral image in lighter ink on the background image, then added ribbon and a sentiment.

That’s it! Have a great day!

Paula

June 24, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Up-Cycled Stamped Can

Hello, everyone! Kristi here today and I wanted a fun pencil holder with style so I repurposed a noodle can for the perfect addition to my table! So I’m doing step by step on this one! I start with my container and remove the label!

The label is my “pattern” so I cut my ivory paper to size and now the fun begins! I used stamps from Ann’s Line from Clearsnap and the wonderful Colorbox Crafter’s Ink® in Blueberry!

I stamp the primary design then come in with the secondary design and layer the designs and the ink color. Sunshine is the second color added. I did heat emboss the entire image.

I hope you can see the shine from the sparkle embossing powder I used on the entire project! And yes, I have to add the bling.

Next I attached the paper to the can and added my bling. I then used Makin’s Clay to make some heart embellishments. I did dry them on the can so they would have the slight curve.

I painted all of my heart pieces with Earthsafe Finishes™ in Ann’s Colors! The hearts were then attached with Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive.

Now I have a really fun and functional pencil/pen holder and upcycled my noodle can! It also has bling appeal.

What can you repurpose/upcycle??

Kristi

June 22, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Art Journal page with ColorBox Crafter’s ® ink

Hello, Crafters, Zoey here today to show you a quick art journal page with Colorbox Crafter’s ink that I made.

Lately I am working more and more on my old book art journal, basically what I did was buying a very old book from the thrift store and started decorating the pages to give the book a new life.
I know that there are a lot of people that do not like when others “mess up” with old books, but I think it as giving it a new purpose because otherwise, they were just going to be trash material!

Design Star Zoey creates an Art Journal for Ann Butler Designs #annbutlerdesigns, #colorboxink, #colorboxartscreens, #clearsnapinc. @mixedmedia

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To create this Art Journal Page I used:

ColorBox Crafter’s® by Ann Butler ( Acquamarine, Blueberry, Ocean Breeze, Lilac, Sunshine )
ColorBox® Art Screens – By Ann Butler ( Stars )
ColorBox® Background Basics by Ann Butler ( Basket 1 )
Earth Safe Finishes™ Iridescents by Ann Butler Designs

I started my background by adding Earth Safe Finishes™ Iridescents by Ann Butler Designs with a flat brush. I let it completely dry and added few other strokes with ColorBox Crafter’s® by Ann Butler Blueberry.

When I have to stamp backgrounds and the stamp I am using is thick and not easily foldable , like my favorite ColorBox® Background Basics by Ann Butler Basket 1 , my trick is to cover the entire stamp with ColorBox Crafter’s® by Ann Butler Acquamarine and then with a baby wipes I remove here and there the ink. Then I gently stamp, this will make the stamped image “not fully” stamped.

With a finger dauber I added some more ColorBox Crafter’s® by Ann Butler Acquamarine through ColorBox® Art Screens – By Ann Butler Stars and then slighlty moving off set the stencil I added some modeling paste to add some texture. I let it dry.

I absolute love the fact that I can turn ColorBox Crafter’s® by Ann Butler into watercolors, here in the picture I am adding Blueberry to the background and making some drips.

I usually use the ink pad as my palette, I smudge a bit of color on the plastic cover, add some water and use it as my palette (this because my room is so messy that I usually never find a clear acrylic block…lol!)

I wrote the “message” with an old calligraphy pen and india ink. I added a chipboard I had on my stash and then with the same calligraphy pen I added a border around the page to frame my art journal.

As you can see in the photo, I also added some ColorBox Crafter’s® by Ann Butler sunshine to the street lamp chipboard and here and there in the background.

I love how the Earth Safe Finishes™ Iridescents by Ann Butler Designs still are able to shine through all the other colors I added above!

This is my personal vision of Art Journaling. For each of us it has its own meaning, some makes them beautifully colored, other they make them black and white… I just sketch my random thoughts. Simple as it is. I love the fact that I can use ColorBox Crafter’s ® ink in my Art Journal pages!

I hope you had fun reading this post and I hope to see you next time!
Stay Happy Stay Creative!

Ciao, Zoey

June 19, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Flower Canvas using Reinkers and Alcohol

Hi everyone,

I will preface this post by saying that I am ‘not’ a painter. However, I love to play around with techniques. Today, I created a canvas using Colorbox Crafter’s by Ann Butler inkpads and reinkers, and isopropyl alcohol.

Materials:

8×10 Canvas
Colorbox Crafter’s Ink ® reinkers by Ann Butler Designs
Earth Safe Finishes™ Iridescents by Ann Butler Designs
Isopropyl Alcohol -rubbing alcohol- and make sure it is the 90%
Water
Cotton balls and toothpicks

As you see, I used no stamps, no paint brushes – only basics: ink pads, reinkers, cotton balls, water, and alcohol.

I started by putting a little Iridescents in Tangelo in a small cup and adding some water, mixed well. I used a cotton ball to brush it on one corner of the canvas. Note: I only used the Iridescents to see what type of affect the alcohol drops would have. I didn’t use more than this little bit mentioned as I liked just the reinker drops, water, and alcohol look better. Including it as a step because you see it on the canvas.

I next placed drops of reinker colors (sunshine, berry, tangelo, aquamarine, limelight, lilac) randomly on the canvas. I dip the cotton ball in water and blend the colors.

Now, it’s the fun part. I just keep adding layers. To create the flowers, add a drop of reinker, then add a drop of water on top of that, then a drop of alcohol. I love watching the effect when you drop the alcohol. Please note that the reaction differs with the amount of water you use. If you drop it directly on the reinker, nothing will happen – you must have it mixed with water. As mentioned, I keep adding layers until I get the desired look. To add to flowers, I would add another reinker drop in the center, then either use a cotton ball to blend or a toothpick to expand the color. See the quick video clip:

Alcohol Ink clip

You can probably tell this took a bit of time, but I loved the fact that you can keep adding until you like the look. If you don’t like a specific area, you can always add more ink over it. There’s no such thing as a mistake!

After I finished all the flowers, I dipped by cotton ball onto an ink, in Deep Woods and blended color across the bottom. I used a toothpick to simulate stems for some flowers, as well as accent the edge of some flowers. I did dip the toothpick in some white acrylic paint to add to a couple flowers for dimension.

I think that’s it. Hope you enjoy. Would love to see what you can create with some ink pads and reinkers!
Have a great day.

Paula

June 8, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Stamped Monogram Favor Boxes

Hi everyone! It’s Carmen and today I’m going to share with you how to make these little stamped boxes which would make fun favors for weddings, birthdays and all sorts of special occasions. I had some plain slide top metal tins which needed a little perking up so I glued on a thin cork sheet and decorated them with a variety of Ann Butler stamps and inks. I love how the bright Ann Butler inks look against the matte textured cork. Now I have a stack of personalized gift tins ready to fill with gift cards, candies or other small presents!

Here’s how:

Materials:

Tools:

Acrylic stamping blocks, Westcott brand kraft knife, Westcott Brand Non-Stick Scissors, AdTech Glue Runner Crafter’s Tape

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of cork just a little bit larger than the box lid. Apply glue to the lid and press the cork piece onto the top. Smooth down. Use the kraft knife to trim the excess cork from around the edges of the lid.

2. Stamp the cork with the large Basketweave stamp and the Ocean Breeze ink. Repeat for all the box lids.

3. Stamp each lid with the Diamonds stamp and Evergreen ink. Personalize each lid with a letter stamp and Deep Woods ink.

That’s it! Easy, huh? And so pretty! Make a whole bunch of these to have on hand for quick gifts and surprise guests. See you next time!

May 29, 2015 By Design Team Leave a Comment

Add texture with Art Screens

Hello Crafters!

Zoey’s here again for another quick and easy project made with Ann Butler’s products on how to add texture with art screens.
Every month I try to create as many ATCs as I can and I keep all my ATCs in a small box that I make myself out of cardboard. To keep them organized, I usually create a “cover ATC” with the number of the month.

Products I used:

– ColorBox Crafter’s Ink ® by Ann Butler ( Lime green )

– Colorbox ® Art Screens by Ann Butler Designs (Lattice)

– Ann Butler’s Faux Quilting Stamp 1” Diamonds & Plaid

I added some water to a piece of cardstock cut to an ATC size and I squeezed the wet paper in my hands, I heat set it and then I opened the paper and added ink over the crease. I kept adding color with a brush mixed with water.

I cut the piece of white cardstock in two little pieces and I adhered the piece to a cardboard base. After I added some ink throught the Art Screen, I stamped with black ink in the middle. I love adding texture with Art Screen especially by rubbing over some ink. This way you will add texture without adding too much bulk.
All I wanted was to add a bit of black here and there, and I found that stamp perfect!

Another way to add texture with Art screen, is of course by using modeling paste, so I added some modeling paste through the Art Screen stencil and I let it air dry.

While the paste was drying, I made another flower using the same technique I explained in my last post that you can read here. I love making these flowers because they are easy and quick to make…!

I glued to the background pieces of paper or scraps that were lying on my desk, I glued down the flower, a small tag a chipboard and the number six of course for JUNE.

And here’s the final project… I will adhere this “ATC” on my box that will contain all the ATCs made in June. Are you interested in taking a look to the one I did so far?
Let me know and I will post picture in my next blog post!

I hope you had fun and got inspired! Stay happy, stay creative…till next time!
Ciao, Zoey

May 25, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Layered Faux Quilted Thinking of You Card

Hi everyone! Hope you’re doing well and that you have beautiful weather wherever you may be!! Paula here today with a Layered Faux Quilted Thinking of You Card. This card may look as if there is ‘tons’ going on, but really it’s quite simple.

Let’s get started.
Supplies:
-Ann Butler Faux Quilting Stamps 2″ Stripes. Dots. Hearts.
-Ann Butler Faux Quilting Stamps 2″ Doily Picnic
–Colorbox Crafter’s Ink ® by Ann Butler in Canyon and Desert Sand
–Colorbox Embossing Powder ® in Clear
-Cardstock, fabric lace, paper lace doily, pearl embellishments, embossing folder

One of my favorite things to do and add a little dimension to a card is to use ink in an embossing folder. All you need to do is take your ink pad and just cover the inside of the folder itself. I just rub it all over. I used the Ann Butler’s Colorbox Crafter’s Ink ® in Canyon for this step. You will want to ensure you have enough coverage depending on the detail within the embossing folder. Then you place your cardstock inside the folder and run through your die cut/embossing machine. I inked the edges of my piece afterwards.

Layered Faux Quilted Thinking of you Card #annbutlerdesigns, #handmadecard #fauxquilting #stamping

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Next step is using the Faux Quilting Stamps. Have I said how much I love these and how versatile they are? Today, I used a couple different sets and just placed them randomly on my block. Again, I used Ann Butler’s Colorbox Crafter’s Ink ® in Canyon. After stamping the image, I used Clearsnap Clear Embossing Powder to give just a bit more dimension.

Next step is to ink up the paper lace doily and fabric lace pieces to be used on my card. For this, I used Ann Butler’s Colorbox Crafter’s Ink ® in Desert Sand. Both of these pieces will just be used as embellishments on various places on the card.

Now, it’s time for assembly. What I love about doing pieces like this is that once I stamp the images, I end up cutting them in various shapes and sizes to layer upon one another. After cutting these, I do ink the edges to stay consistent with other pieces. As you can see below, with the one stamped image I created above, I was able to create two separate cards –very similar but just a little different. The sentiment I used on these were thinking of you, but I ended up writing in ‘on Mother’s Day’ because I wanted to send to my Mom and Mother-in-Law.

I hope you enjoyed today’s card! Let’s see what you can create with Ann Butler’s Faux Quilting Stamps!!
Have a great day!

Paula

May 22, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Add clay to your projects

Hello Crafters! Zoey’s here today to show you how easily you can add clay to your projects!

Products I used are :

– ColorBox Crafter’s Ink ® by Ann Butler ( Deep Woods, Evergreen, Berry, Sunshine )

– ColorBox ® Background Basics by Ann Butler ( Basket 1 )

– Makin’s Clay

With the square shape cutter I cut out few pieces of white clay. I never worked with clay and I was amazed by how easily is to work with that product!

After I cut out the square I pressed it over the ColorBox ® Background Basics by Ann Butler Basket 1.

After doing the first square, I actually realized that it was going to be faster if I rolled down the clay and then stamp over it before cutting all the square.

how easy it is to add clay to your projects #makinclay #annbutlerdesigns #mixed media

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I let the clay dry and meanwhile I added old paper to my tag background and started coloring it with ColorBox Crafter’s by Ann Butler in the green shades. I smudged the ink pads over my craft sheet, spritzed water over them and then used a brush to color the background.
I also stamped with the same stamp I used for adding texture to the tiles. After making sure the clay was well dry, I glued the pieces over the background and colored the tiles as well.

I let it air dry because I wasn’t sure the reaction with heat gun, so while I was waiting I grabbed other book pages and colored them using the same technique I did for the background, this time using Berry and Sunshine. I randomly cut circles out of the colored book page and stacked the circles to make two flowers.

To make the flower blend better with the background, I added some strips of paper that were left over and let some Berry ink drip down the background. I also added some other details, like black floss, a small tag, two buttons and the sentiment.

I darkened the edge of the tag and added a piece of twine around the tag hole.

And here’s the finished project! What to you think about it? I hope you will like it and that you also will try to add clay to your projects! It is really easy !

Thank you for reading this post, stay happy stay creative….till next time!

Ciao Zoey

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