Design Team, Author at Ann Butler Designs

November 17, 2014 By Design Team 1 Comment

Upcycled Cardboard Mini Canvas

Hello and welcome to the blog . This is Roberta and I hope you like my project for today.

Upcycling is always a fun challenge for me. Today I have created an adorable mini canvas from discarded cardboard packaging. This little square wedge is really a diamond in the rough.

I forget where it came from, but my first instinct was ‘Gee, that would make the most awesome stamp!’. And it did. I inked one of the sides a delicious blue and it created a stunning image.

Here is what I did:

Apply DecoArt gesso to prime and seal the canvas.
once dry, stamp background using Ann Butler Designs EZ-Des faux-quilting stamps. I used Clearsnap Colorbox stamping ink in Night (black) because it is amazing on almost every surface. I think these stamps in black, against the white background really anchor the canvas and make everything else pop!
create more texture with a stencil and DecoArt texture paste. Let it dry.
Color the dried medium by painting or rubbing, and embellish as desired. I used Stickles and DecoArt acrylic paints.

: thick and dense cardboard 4×4

: Priming with gesso

: gesso top and 2 ‘uglier’ sides, paint pattern sides

: stamp with faux-quilting stamps onto gessoed surface. The surface is a little irregular so stamping will not be even.

: place and secure stencil

: using DecoArt texture medium to create a raised feature

Added Bonus! Once I removed the stencil there was enough residual medium to get a second impression so I grabbed some patterned paper and got another raised floral feature.

Thank you for visiting the blog today!

November 12, 2014 By Design Team Leave a Comment

Iridescents Stamped Bracelet

I love using Ann Butler’s Iridescents paints from Earth Safe on Makin’s Clay! When I saw the wood bangle I was so excited to combine some fun elements to make a bracelet you could LOVE!

I rolled out the clay and stamped into it with my Ann Butler Faux Quilting Stamps. I then used the heart cutter from Makin’s Clay. I actually put the on the panted bangle before it was dry so it would have a nice curve. To my happy surprise, it STUCK! No clue required! I then painted and over painted and painted some more to get the fun shades of all the colors! Of course, I had to add some Connie Crystal BLING!

Here are some photos of the finished product up close and full shot!

I could have added another coat of paint to the bangle but love the look of the sheer coat!

Hope you like the sparkle and shine! Find me on Facebook and check out my blog!

November 10, 2014 By Design Team Leave a Comment

Stamped Spring Floral Bracelet

Hello my dear crafty friends!
Irit is here and this is my post made for Ann Butler’s blog for November.
Wee all know that in our hemisphere it’s fall going to winter. But as my favorite season is Spring, I decided to make a project in lovely spring colors and just to pretend it’s a Spring time here.
So here is my small tutorial- easy to make bracelet made over DIYBANGLERS Ready to decorate wooden flat small size wooden bracelet.

1. Flatten Makin’s white clay to fit your bracelet size . Use Makin’s tools for the better result. Stamp over the flat clay strip, roll the stamped clay around the wooden bracelet and trim the edges.I used a strip from Ann Butler’s EZ-De’s 1” Rail Fence Set. Let the clay dry.

2. Flatten another piece of clay; stamp with another stamp (I loved diamonds from 2” Diamonds and Plaids Ann Butler’s Faux Quilting set from Unity. Then cut all sizes of flowers with Makin’s Flower cutters. I made one big, 2 medium and a lot of small flowers. Let them dry.

3. Ink the dry bracelet with Ann Butler’s Aquamarine Clearsnap Crafter’s ink.
You can use Clearsnap Color Blender tool or just to roll the bracelet over the ink as I did after all.
Dont’ let it dry as we are going to heat emboss the inked pieces.

4. Ink your dry clay flowers with the same Ann Butler’s Aquamarine ink and with Ann Butler’s Berry and Limelight inks from Clearsnap.

5. Heat emboss the bracelet and all the flowers with Clear embossing Clearsnap powder and your heat gun. It make the color pops and now all clay pieces are bright and shiny and durable too.

6. Adhere your flowers over the bracelet with Beacon Zip Dry glue. This is a perfect glue for this craft project: you can arrange the flowers as the dry time is not too short and you can’t see the clear leftovers if you have them.

And the 3d view of this finished craft project. I decided not to ink the inside wooden bracelet as I like the natural color, but you can paint the inside too if you wish to do so.

Thanks for reading this tutorial and hope you will do some similar projects with Ann Butler’s delicious products.

October 31, 2014 By Design Team 2 Comments

Mixed Media Iridescent Wood Bracelet

Hi crafty friends! Einat Kessler here with my first post for Ann Butler Designs. I’m so excited to be here and share some creativity with you. When I got the box of goodies Ann sent me my eye immediately caught a DIY wood bracelet by DIY Bangles. I love altering stuff and this was just perfect!

I started with coloring the bracelet with the amazing Ann Butler ‘s Iridescent orange color by Earth Safe Finishes.

After it was dry I smudged the Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Ink by Clearsnap in the bark color on my craft sheet and diluted it with water. I loaded a brush with the diluted ink and applied it on the bracelet letting it drip all over. I dried it and got beautiful pale brown drippings. I also inked the edges with the same ink.

I added more patterns to the bracelet with Ann Butler Faux Quilting Stamps , I used the 1″ Strips.Dots.Hearts and Leaves all Over. When I stamped the surface of the bracelet I only pressed gently on the stamp so only part of the pattern will be stamped and not all of it.

Then I cut butterflies and music notes from tissue paper and added it to the bracelet with gel medium.

Finally, I added a metal wire around the bracelet and some beads. I also added two charms and the word LOVE handwritten on a few spots.

I hope you were inspired to create a mixed media bracelet of your own.

Have fun creating!

Einat

October 29, 2014 By Design Team 1 Comment

Mixed Media Friend Card

Hello everyone!

Zoey’s here — this will be my first post as Ann Butler’s design team member and I think that to say that I am excited it is not even close to how I really feel!!

Here’s what I used to make this card :

To start with, I cut a piece of white cardstock and I used the Ann Butler’s Iridescents to add some color, then I smudged the Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Inky by Clearsnap in the aquamarine color on my kraft sheet and with a watercolor brush I added it to the background. I did this because I wanted to tone a bit down the amazing Iridescents color in some part of the background. I also added few splashes of color here and there to make the background interesting.

I grabbed some other Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Inks in the color of Berry and Black and randomly stamped over the background with my favorite stamp set by Ann Butler Faux Quilting Stamps , I used the 1” Leaves all Over.

To color my roses I used again the Ann Butler’s Iridiscents color. I love how bright the color is!

All was left to do was to glue everything together, to do this I used Adhesive Technologies, and there you have it! A simple and cute card for a friend!

What do you think about it?

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

Ciao, Zoey

October 27, 2014 By Design Team 13 Comments

Crafted Fall Florals on a Faux Quilted Card

Hello. It’s Graciellie posting today. Welcome to my very first post for Ann Butler Designs! I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to create projects as part of Ann’s team, and of course I’m excited about her product lines which are so innovative and versatile!

Today I’ll show you how I made a card for Fall with a subtle faux quilted background and some handmade flowers, colored with Ann’s Crafter’s ink.

Main Supplies
Ann Butler Designs 1″ Faux Quilting Stamps by Unity Stamp Company
Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Inks by Clearsnap
Ann Butler’s Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes
ColorBox® Art Daubers
Crafters Tape Runner
Zip Dry Paper Glue

TUTORIAL
I have a brief step by step photo tutorial for you. To make my card:

1. I mixed a lot of Ann Butler Designs / Unity 1″ faux quilting stamps, placed them on an acrylic block and stamped twice with Snow Crafter’s Ink on beige cardstock. I heat embossed the images in Clear.

2. I die cut a frame from the faux quilt stamped background and add it to a white card base.

3. I made some flowers from white cardstock and inked them directly with the Crafter’s Ink pads in 3 colors. Next I mixed a bit of Ann Butler’s Iridiscent paint with water & colored the flowers with it.

4. To give the flowers a vintage look a sponged their edges with a bit of Crafter’s Ink in Bark.

5. I stamped a sentiment on a white cardstock label with Crafter’s Ink in Bark and heat embossed it in Clear. Then I aged the label sponging it with a tiny bit of Crafter’s Ink in Sunshine and Bark.

6. Finally I put all the elements together. I arranged the flowers like a bouquet, framing the corner of the card added some die cut leaves, pearls, crystals, ribbon and the stamped label.

I have to tell you, Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Inks are by far the best pigment inks I’ve tried for my handmade flowers, and what I love the most is that I can control the color intensity, and mix it with other supplies to give the flowers a faux organic look.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my project and tutorial. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment here or at my blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

October 24, 2014 By Design Team 1 Comment

EZ De’s Graphic Flower Card

Hi everyone. It’s Dana here. I’m super excited to bring to you my very first post as a designing star. I decided to make a clean and simple card using some of my favorite supplies from Ann Butler Designs. So let’s get started. Here are the supplies that I used to start working on my project. I had taken the time to zentangle a flower to add to my project. I love how relaxing it is to doodle.

Next I stamped a horizontal line across the middle of my cardstock using black ink. I love this stamp as it looks like a bar code to me. Scan me for happiness. LOL

I needed to add some vertical lines to add a bit of interest so I reached for the square box background stamp. This was a perfect stamp to line up on my card. Love that these stamps are clear so it’s easy to match up your lines.

So here is what my card looks like. Pretty cool right? I love the strong graphic edge this card has.

To break up the look just a bit I added in a stripe of white with some ribbon.

To finish my card off I added a Zentangle flower I made. This floral design works perfectly with this stamp set.

Thanks for hanging out with me today. Have a fabulous weekend.

EZ-De’s 1″ Rail Fence Set A

Crafters Ink – Night

Crafter’s Tape Runner

Clearsnap Crafter’s Ink Ann Butler – Tangelo

InLinkz.com

October 3, 2014 By Design Team Leave a Comment

Wearble art with Faux Quilting Stamps

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to my monthly Ann Butler’s products blog post!

A few weeks ago I made a small pink and black jewelry piece with Tando jewelry elements and Ann Butler’s stamps. I loved it so much that I decided to make three more wearable pieces with the same technique and in different colors.

So welcome my new wearable papercrafts.

The first one is this purple and black piece made with Ann Butler’s faux quilting Unity stamps. I stamped over the white cardstock and hear embossed the pieces with clear embossing powder, Then I inked the stamped cardstock with Lilac Crafters ink from Clearsnap (Ann Butler’s product again). The chipboard frame was covered with a think payer of Ann Butler’s Earth Safe Finishes Lilac paint and the thick layer gave it a good non even texture. I added some pearls inside the piece and used the same dotted ribbon for the bow.

The second piece is this orange and black one.

Same stamping technique, but this time the frame was made with Ann Butler’s Tangelo ink and clear embossing powder only.

The last piece was made in blues, with Ann Butler’s Aquamarine ink and clear embossing powder over the frame.This time I added some pre made flowers in the same color as the ink to make it a bit different.

And here are all my beauties together.

Product list:

Ann Butler’s Faux Quilting stamps

1” Leaves all over

1” Doily picnic

Crafter’s inks Clearsnap

Aquamarine

Tangelo

Lilac

Earth Safe Finishes Ann Butler- Lilac

Hope you like my small and wearble art and see you again in a month!

October 1, 2014 By Design Team Leave a Comment

Stamped Comic Book Bangle Bracelet

Hi everyone! This is Carmen and today I wanted to share with you a colorful way to show the world that you have action super powers – with a comic book inspired bracelet. I had such fun making this bracelet! The Ann Butler Iridescent paints go on like sparkly butter while the Faux Quilting Dots stamp adds that iconic comic book halftone effect. I am just crazy about that dot stamp! This project will also show you how to use clear adhesive shelf vinyl as a mask so that you can control exactly where the stamping goes. It’s a great technique that you’ll be able to use in other projects.

Here’s how:

Materials:

Ann Butler’s Faux Quilting Stamps – 2″ Stripes / Dots / Hearts

Ann Butler Crafter’s Ink by Clearsnap: Sunshine, Tangelo

Unfinished Wood Bracelet by DiyBangles.com

Ann Butler’s Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes – Yellow, Orange

Black permanent marker

White paint pen

Clear acrylic sealer – gloss

Clear adhesive shelf vinyl

Tools:

Acrylic block, paintbrush, plastic plate, Sizzix Bigkick die cut machine, Sizzix “Build A Flower #3” die

Instructions:

1. Brush the wood bracelet all over with the yellow Iridescent paint. Add two more coats of paint to build up the color, letting the paint dry in between coats. Brush the inside and edges of the bracelet with several coats of orange Iridescent paint.

2. Die cut four flower shapes from the clear adhesive shelf vinyl.

3. Peel the paper backing from the die cut flower shapes and apply the adhesive flowers to the bracelet. Smooth down. Trace along the outer edge of each flower with the black permanent marker.

4. Use the 2″ dots stamp to stamp Crafter’s Ink Tangelo all over the bracelet including the edges. Let dry 20 minutes.

5. Peel off the clear vinyl flowers from the bracelet. Write an action word in each blank flower area with the black permanent marker. Add highlights with white paint pen. Finish with a coat of clear acrylic sealer.

That’s it! Now you can wear your action bracelet and feel like a comic book hero! Enjoy!

September 23, 2014 By Design Team 1 Comment

Flower Pot with Ann Butler Faux Quilting Stamps

Hi everyone. Living in the midwest, it’s very hard to say good-bye to summer (especially when we see so little of it). Today’s project is a Flower Pot. I used Ann Butler’s Iridescents and Faux Quilting stamps to spruce up a plain old flower pot.

Supplies:
2″ Stripes Hearts Dots Faux Quilting stamp set by Ann Butler
Ann Butler Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes in Aquamarine
Flower Pot
Staz-On ink in black, ribbon and glue to adhere ribbon
Oh and a cute flower!

Steps:
-I painted the first layer of Aquamarine Iridescents using a foam brush.
-You’ll see from the next couple photos that what I originally intended to do and what I did, resulted in something completely different. That tends to happen quite often for me.
I wanted to paint an overlay color, in this case a mixture of grey and a metallic finish grey. I lightly applied this layer. The initial thought was that I would be able to scratch away /or distress much of it so the Aquamarine would really came through. Well, the greys were a bit thicker than expected, even with the light brushing. So, I moved to plan B.

-After realizing that I wasn’t going to get the results I originally thought, I decided to use this Scratch Art tool that I’ve had for years. I made random scratch marks and lines all over the greys. Some were very deep scratches while others were not. I only did this on the bottom of the pot.

Apologies, but the photos for the last few steps are unavailable. I’m not sure what happened to them, but they did not download. Steps are pretty straightforward though.
-Next, I painted another layer of the Aquamarine Iridescents.
-Stamp the 2″ Dots around the top ledge of the pot with Staz-On ink in black. I then stamped the same 2″ Dots around the bottom of the pot. To ensure this was a straight line, I just took a piece of cardstock and masked around to leave a 1/2″ or so area to stamp.
-Using some scrap pieces of ribbon I had, I adhered this around the edges of stamped images, just to add a little something and to showcase the Dots border.
-Final step is to add some dirt and a cute flower. I had a tiny sunflower that came up in my back yard, so I used it in the pot. I thought this would make a fun addition to my office!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!
Paula