Blog - Ann Butler Designs

March 30, 2015 By Vishu Reberholt Leave a Comment

Up-Cycled Wood Bangle with Iridescents

A warm hello from Buffalo, Vishu here today, I am stopping by with a quick Up-Cycled Wood Bangle post. Love the way this bangle turned out and it was quick. This is great to give as a gift or if you want to increase your own jewelry collection.

Products Used:

Unfinished Wood Bracelet by DiyBangles.com

Ann Butler’s Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes – Berry

Ann Butler’s Color Box Art Screen Stencils by Clear Snap – Waves

Crafter’s Ink by Clearsnap: Black

Color Box Art Daubers

Rhinestone sheets.

First I colored the wood bangle with 3 coats of Ann Butler’s Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes – Berry, then using the Ann Butler’s Color Box Art Screen – Waves

colorbox daubers and black ink dabbed the waves design on the bangle. Lastly for a finishing touch cut a strip of rhinestone and stuck it to the outer edges of the bangle and voila!.

I absolutely love the iridescents as this give such a smooth shiny finish to any surface and the art screen gives that pop of design.

Hope you enjoyed this project and thanks for stopping by………

March 27, 2015 By Larissa Pittman Leave a Comment

Simple Stenciled Watercolor Card

Good morning friends, Larissa here today with a Simple Stenciled Watercolor Card.

As I said in my Wednesday post I am obsessed with water coloring. I think it is because it is not only easy but I love the way the colors kind of just fall into place. You can paint in lines and have a beautiful creation but I am talking about adding water to your brush picking up some ink and swiping it on the paper.
Today again I did just that. I grabbed my re-inkers in Aquamarine, Limelight and Sunshine. I added a drop to my glass working space and then picked it up with a wet brush. This time I used a larger brush and just swiped it across the paper.

I did add a little more ink here and there using less water just to brighten things up. After the ink dried completely I grabbed my modeling paste and the Lattice Art Screen by Ann Butler Designs and ColorBox. I smoothed the paste over the top of the screen in a couple of places. I let it dry while I rinsed off my art screen. (It did take a little longer.)
Once it was dry I stamped a HELLO sentiment on a piece of white cardstock with ColorBox Black ink. I popped it up on the card using a piece of foam tape.

Again I encourage you to get out your ink pads or re-inkers, a brush and a cup of water. You will not be sorry.
Thank you for popping in today and have a wonderful weekend, friends.

ColorBox Crafter’sÂ® by Ann Butler Aquamarine

Colorbox Crafters by Ann Butler Limelight

ColorBox Crafter’sÂ® by Ann Butler Sunshine

ColorBoxÂ® Art Screens – By Ann Butler Lattice

InLinkz.com

March 23, 2015 By Design Team 8 Comments

Watercolor Easter Bunny Card

Gracie here today, sharing a Watercolor Easter Bunny Card project using Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Inks by Clearsnap. Since the last set of cards I shared on the blog (here) I’ve been experimenting different watercolor techniques using these awesome inks, and today I’m sharing a card and a little treat bag both embellished with watercolored bunny die cuts (very fitting for Easter). Here are the simple steps I followed to create this easter set.

1. Use a sponge dauber to apply different colors of Crafter’s Inks to a piece of white cardstock.

2. Spritz a little water to the cardstock immediately after applying the colors, to allow the colors to blend with a watercolor effect.

3. Die cut any desired shape various times from the watercolored cardstock.

4. Adhere die cuts to a white card mat and adhere the white mat on a card base.

I saved one of the watercolored bunnies to add it to a treat bag with some gold cording. I finished the card with a sentiment heat embossed on vellum and some black pearls. I think this is a fun and easy idea for Easter, and I invite you to try it out… I know you’ll love it! Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Inks are perfect for this technique and you can see how the different colors blended and created other different hues when they combined.

If you’d like to check out the inks I used for this technique, I added a list below. Thanks so much for visiting today! See you next time.

Aquamarine Crafter’s Ink by AB	Lilac Crafter’s Ink by AB	Berry Crafter’s Ink by AB	Tangelo Crafter’s Ink
Limelight Crafter’s Ink by AB	Sunshine Crafter’s Ink by AB

InLinkz.com

March 20, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Stamped and Stenciled Watercolor Card

Hey, crafty friends! Einat Kessler here with an easy, fast and fun idea for a Stamped and Stenciled Watercolor Card.

I needed to make about 20 cards and needed them fast. So I came up with a really fast idea with a colorful fun effect.

I started with putting some of Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Inks on my craft sheet and sprayed it with water. This created a kind of a watercolor consistency to the ink and was perfect for the next step.

I took a card and pressed it against that colorful watery surface. The card was covered with a colorful background that looks exactly like a really pretty water coloring. Then a repeated the process with a white piece of cardstock.

After everything was thoroughly dried I cut five different size hearts from the white cardstock. The beautiful thing about these hearts is that they all got the same colors but they all different because they were cut from different parts of the paper.

I stamped them randomly with Ann Butler’s 1″ Stripes.Dots.Hearts stamp set and the Berry ink. I also stenciled the hearts with the Ann Butler’s Wave Art Screen and black ink. Then I attached the hearts to the card and added Love You on the bottom.

You can personalize the card by cutting a different shape like circles, stars or even letters and add a different sentiment.

Have Fun Creating!

Einat

March 19, 2015 By Ann Butler 7 Comments

Up-cycle Plates from Drab to WOW!

Today I am showing you how to Up-cycle Plates from Drab to WOW! I decided to take some old plates that I picked up at a thrift store and use my Iridescent’s on them.

Making up-cycled plates are oh so easy to do. First, I used a foam brush and just dabbed on Lagoon Iridescents and waited for it to dry.

Then I used Earth Safe Finishes Gel Medium to apply a decorative piece of tissue paper and let that dry.

I applied a layer of Earth Safe Finishes Eco Epoxy following the manufacturer’s instructions and let that dry.

You can see on the picture above (if you look closely) the Eco Epoxy is not quite dry.

Although this picture does not do it justice, just look at that brilliant shine…..what will you update?

Now to enjoy some more quick and easy recycled craft projects check out:

March 18, 2015 By Design Team 2 Comments

Create Faux Quilting on Canvas

Kristi, here and today I am sharing how easy it is to Create Faux Quilting on Canvas. I wanted to make a “quilt” that was not a quilt.

So I stamped a combination of Unity Stamps by Ann Butler and the larger Ann Butler Stamps by Clearsnap on paper. All images were stamped using Ann Bulter Crafters Ink! I wanted uniform squares so I used a punch to make the squares! This is what I created.

I could not use needle and thread to do the seams so I used Connie Crystal Sheets to do my “quilting”. I added some buttons for fun and used ETI Lite to cover the buttons. I MAY end up covering the entire project with ETI but have not decided if I want the piece to be that heavy. The finished piece is 16 X 20. Here are some closer looks!

This has a wider piece of crystal to make it a bit more interesting.

I love the wonderful colors of ink offered by Clearsnap in the Ann Butler Line!

I also love the different patterns in the stamps. The possibilities are endless!

Again, here is the finished piece!

Happy Creating!

March 16, 2015 By Beth Watson 1 Comment

Monogram Faux Quilted Note Cards

My sister in law is the queen of the Thank You card, so I have created some bright and cheery monogrammed and faux quilted note cards that she can personalized for any occasion.

Materials:

Ann Butler’s ColorBox® Background Basics Stamps by Clearsnap – 3″ Picnic, Checks, Diamonds and Basket

Ann Butler Crafter’s® Ink by Clearsnap – Ocean Breeze, Limelight, Aquamarine and Lilac
EZ-De’s Flourish 2″ABC’s
Cardstock – natural, black, lilac, lime, aqua and blue, Westcott paper trimmer and scorer, Scissors, acrylic stamp block, baby wipes and off-white colored pencil.

Instructions:
1) Stamp each of the four Background Basics stamps in each of the Crafters Ink colors on natural cardstock, let dry.

2) Place 2″ Flourish monogram on acrylic stamp block, ink with crafters ink in night and stamp in the center of each faux quilted color block, let dry.

3) Trim each of your sixteen color blocks to 3″ square. Measure and cut four 3 1/2″ squares from each of the four colors of card stock. Mount stamped color blocks on contrasting colored cardstock with adhesive runner.
4) Measure and cut sixteen black cardstock rectangles to 4 1/4″ by 5 1/2″. Then score at the 4 1/4″ mark and fold in half.
5) Mount the framed stamped color blocks on to the card blanks with adhesive runner. Write caption under color block with off white colored pencil.
6) Stack cards together and tie with a ribbon. Give as a gift with the off white colored pencil for thank you note writing!

Thanks for stopping by! -Beth

March 11, 2015 By Design Team 3 Comments

How to Create a Cork Canvas with Colorbox Crafter’s Ink

Welcome to Ann Butler Designs! Today I am going to share with you a mixed media canvas I created using cork, Ann Butler Crafter’s Ink, and Earth Safe Finishes Ann Butler Iridescent Powders.

First of all, I am thrilled to see how painting on the cork closely mimics the look of stone! All the crags and crevices in the cork really work with the paint to give a dimensional effect.

Materials:

Round cork trivet, 8″ diameter
Image printed on paper from laser printer
Earth Safe Finishes Ann Butler Iridescents: Sunshine, Leaf, Sky
ColorBox Crafter’s® ink: Blueberry, Limelight, Aquamarine, Ocean Breeze, Bark
Americana® DECOR™ Light Satin Varnish
DecoArt® Elegant Finish™ Metallic Paint, silver sage
DecoArt® MagiKote
Powertex Powerprint (image transfer medium)
ZipDry™
Water
Sentiment
Button

Tools: brushes

Directions:

Apply 2 coats of MagiKote as per manufacturer’s instructions, to surface of cork. I know this is made for sealing Styrofoam™ but I figured cork had to be similar, so what the heck! I mean, it can’t hurt, right?
To create the colorful background you will swipe the blueberry, aquamarine, ocean breeze, and limelight ink pads across the canvas, and allow it to dry. You may use a hair blower to quicken the drying process.
Apply the image transfer medium to the canvas and place your image, face down, into the wet medium. You may use a brayer to help smooth the paper and burnish it to the surface. Allow 12 hours for this to dry completely.
To reveal your transferred image: wet the surface of the paper with a sponge, let it sit for 20 seconds, and then gently rub off all the excess paper. For further information regarding image transfers you can check Google.
Meanwhile, brush your paper flowers with a wash of water and (separately) the sunshine, leaf and sky powders, and let it dry.
With the bark ink, dip a brush into the ink pad and add shading and definition to the flowers, and let dry.
On dry petals, add highlights with sunshine powder by dipping the tips of the bristles of a slightly wet brush directly into the pot of powder, and brushing it where you like. You may then glue on the buttons.
Adhere your sentiment.
Add three layers of varnish to the canvas to seal your surface. You could stop at this point and have a lovely, decorated, and protected trivet.
Glue on your flower.

I LOVE how the ink colors just burst right through the transferred image. They are gorgeous!

I hope you enjoyed my project today.

March 9, 2015 By Larissa Pittman Leave a Comment

Water Coloring with Ann Butler Designs Inks

Good afternoon friends. Larissa here with a card I made by Water Coloring with Ann Butler Designs Inks from Clearsnap.

By mixing a couple of drops of ink refill and a few drops of water you can turn any of Ann Butler Designs Colorbox inks into beautiful water colors.

I first stamped an image in Colorbox ink and embossed it in Colorbox Clear powder.
I heated it with my heat gun to dry.
I then used Ann Butler Designs Colorbox Inks in Berry, Tangelo, and Sunshine and mixed it with water. I painted it on the flowers. I used Evergreen for the stems.

I took the Ann Butler Designs Colorbox Ink in Blueberry and used it for the background of the entire card.

I really love this technique of using the inks as watercolors. You have complete control over how much color you want to use.
I also love using the clear embossing powder when I watercolor.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post. And I hope I inspired you to try water coloring with ink.

Have a wonderful week, friends.

March 7, 2015 By Larissa Pittman 1 Comment

14 Cards to Inspire You

Good morning friends. Larissa here with a round-up of 12 Cards to Inspire You to create with Ann Butler’s products.

I asked each of our Design Stars out of all the cards they have made which is their favorite. For some of them, this was easy. For a few, it was hard to pick just one.

I have included links to each of their favorite cards. While you are on their blogs be sure to look for the different ways to Follow them so you will continue to be inspired by each them.
There is not only their Blogs but Instagram, Facebook, Twitter to name a few.

Our wonderful Ann Butler said this was her favorite card she had made: