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 )

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

Click To Tweet

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

April 25, 2015 By Design Team Leave a Comment

Fabric TAG

Hello, Crafters. Zoey, here today with a fun Fabric TAG!

Products I used are:

– ColorBox Crafter’s by Ann Butler ( Canyon, Ocean Breeze, Aquamarine, Tangelo )

– ColorBox Art Screens by Ann Butler ( Waves )

– ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler ( Diamonds 2 )
I started with coloring a piece of white linen with a mix of Ocean Breeze and Aquamarine. To do so, I added the inks from the ink pad directly over my kraft sheet and I added a bit of water. I made a “puddle” and then I let the color soak into the piece of fabric!
I cut the fabric into pieces to create a sort of rose…

I used a mixture of Tangelo and Canyon to color another piece of fabric. I wasn’t paying attention to where the color was going to soak in since I wanted a very well mixed effect.
To help the rose blend into the background, I also added a bit of Ocean Breeze ink here and there…

With the help of the ColorBox Art Screens by Ann Butler Waves and a brush, I used the Canyon ColorBox Crafter’s by Ann Butler to add color through the stencil.

With ColorBox Crafter’s by Ann Butler Ocean Breeze I stamped here and there ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler Diamonds 2.

I sewed the fabric and I put inside a tag cut out from the cardboard to make the tag stand still.

I glued the rose over a piece of small paper I colored with the same colors of the background and I added a piece of cheesecloth.

I also added a bit of black ink here and there….

I used stickers as the sentiment of the TAG…and then added two small roses under neat the big one…

And here’s the final project….! I loved using Ann Butler’s products on fabric, they work so perfectly!

I hope you had fun and got inspired as always for any question or suggestion leave a comment!
Stay happy, stay creative…till next time!
Ciao, Zoey

April 20, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Shabby Chic Mixed Media Card

Hello, it’s Gracie and today I’m sharing a Shabby Chic Mixed Media Card using Ann Butler’s Aquamarine Crafter’s Ink and Lattice Art Screen.

To make this card I followed the next simple steps:
1. I roughly inked a piece of 2.5″ lace with ink. I sprayed it with water to make the ink blend nicely.

2. I created a little dress gathering the lace on the center and attached it to a die cut dress form.

3. I used the stencil to add a lattice pattern to the focal filigree label.

4. I altered the stenciled die cut cutting it’s sides and added ribbon to the center.

5. I inked an embossing folder to roughly faux letterpress a piece of white cardstock, which I also decorated with patterned paper and thread.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my card and tutorial. If you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment here or at my blog. Thanks so much for stopping by!

April 6, 2015 By Vishu Reberholt Leave a Comment

Mixed Media Journal Cover

Hello, dear crafty friends! Vishu here today popping in to share a Mixed Media Journal Cover I up-cycled with Ann Butler products. We have a theme this month and its Fabric……….love it.

This was a fun project and I really enjoyed it. I made this for my daughter as she always keeps drawing/ coloring on papers and then leaves them everywhere 🙂 so I decided to give her this journal so all her artwork can stay in one place, had to decorate and personalize it so she actually uses it 🙂

Products Used:

Ann Butler Designs 1″ Diamonds & Plaid by Unity Stamp

Colorbox Crafter’s Ink by Ann Butler Berry, Limelight, Black

~~Ann Butler Designs Iridescent – Pink~~

Ann Butler’s Flourishes 2″ ABC stamp set

Canvas Penants by Canvas Corp, white acylic paint, rhinestone, lace and paper flowers

I had this burlap covered journal in my stash, so first I stamped the diamond design stamp using black ink at the edge, added some rhinestone and lace. Then using acrylic paint I just randomly painted. I also cut flower shapes with the canvas penants and colored them using colorbox crafter’s ink in berry and green. First I just dipped the canvas in the inkpad, then sprayed some water and rubbed the color with my hands.

The rest of the cover came together pretty quickly, first I colored with the iridescent ink in pink over the white, while it was drying i assembled my flower together. I glued all my flowers and then stamped the name using Ann Butler’s 2″ flourishes stamp set. here is a closer look.

Thanks for stopping by……………..

March 2, 2015 By Design Team Leave a Comment

Mixed Media Stenciled Stars

Hello, my dear crafty friends and welcome to my Mixed Media Stenciled Stars post.

This is a Mixed Media project I made. I hand cut a big star and filled it with Mixed Media and Ann Butler’s Designs products. It can be a wall ornament, a Christmas ornament or
maybe just a tag to add to a big present or just a small ” Wish you ” kind of a card.

First I covered the hand cut star with a mix of Ann Butler’s inks:

Ocean Breeze, Blueberry and Aquamarine and mixed them with a bit of water spray.

When it was dry I added texture paste stars using new Stars art screen and let it dry.

In the meantime I die cut this fancy star from a regular cardstock using Die Versions die, covered it with Ocean Breeze ink and then heat embossed with Clearsnap clear embossing powder.

Then I added a bit of Sunshine ink over the stars and sprinkled them with Clearsnap clear glitter. Then I added a couple of Ann’s new Earth Safe Finishes pigments over the whole piece.

The chipboard stars were heat embossed with Gold embossing powder and all stars were glued over the piece. I made the sentiment with old tiny letter stickers and added a few big rhinestone over my shiny star.

Enjoy your inky journey !

February 25, 2015 By Design Team Leave a Comment

Mixed Media Star ATC

Hello Crafters!

Zoey’s here today! Who said that to create some nice artwork you need tons and tons of supplies?
Well, definitely not me! LOL!
I love working with few products and using them in different ways to achieve something “big”!

For today’s project, we will be creating together an ATC based on a song I listened to this morning “Counting Stars” by One Republic. I almost always find inspiration for my projects by songs I have listened on the radio on the way to go to work…

Products I used are:

– ColorBox Crafter’s by Ann Butler ( Blueberry, Evergreen )

– ColorBox Art Screens by Ann Butler ( Stars )

– ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler ( Basket 2 )

I cut my white card stock into an ATC size card. To create the background I simply smudged the first ink pad ColorBox Crafter’s by Ann Butler Blueberry over the acrylic block. I added few sprays of water and let it sit for a couple of seconds — then I put my ATC size card over the small puddle and I moved it around making sure the whole surface was covered with color and I heat set it.
Since there were few drops of color still, I decided to keep adding texture by lightly punching the background to the acrylic block.
I repeated the same process for the other ink pad , ColorBox Crafter’s by Ann Butler Evergreen but this time I used less color since I wanted to cover a small amount of the background. Again I heat set it.

When the background was completely dry, I added the stamping part. Using the same ColorBox Crafter’s by Ann Butler Blueberry ink pad and ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler Basket 2 stamp I stamped the image on the top corner of the ATC card.
As you might notice, my stamped image does not have crisp borders, this was achieved by removing a bit of ink colors with a piece of clothing before stamping. I love the irregular stamp on my backgrounds!

Next I added more texture by adding modeling paste through ColorBox Art Screens by Ann Butler Stars.
I heat set the modeling paste trying to achieve a “puffy” effect by leaving the heat tool over the modeling paste for few seconds. This will make the stars pop up even more!

After that all was left to do was adding more shapes and texture. I added few strips of old book page i had laying around my desk, a die cut and few strings of cotton thread.
From another piece of old book page I cut out a star shape and I used the ColorBox Crafter’s by Ann Butler Blueberry ink pad to add some color to it. (I used the ink pad as watercolor)
Since the star was “blending” too much into my background I decided to also add few scribble around the sides of the star, I did the same thing by framing my whole background.

And the ATC is done! Here’s few photo of the completed project!

As you can see, you don’t often need tons of products….just the simple basic ones by Ann Butler.

I hope you had fun and got inspired , as always for any question or suggestion leave a comment!
Stay happy, stay creative…till next time!
Ciao, Zoey

February 12, 2015 By Ann Butler 52 Comments

Ann Butler Designs is Blog Hopping with Clearsnap

Welcome to the Ann Butler Designs/Clearsnap Blog Hop featuring my new products…which include:

Background Basics
Stencils
6 New Colors of Crafter’s Ink

While there are so many options of things to do with these products, the focus of this blog hop is Valentine’s Day since it is just around the corner.

I created this “I Love You” Mixed Media Canvas…here’s how:

Supplies:

Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Ink: Deep Woods, Desert Sand, Berry
Ann Butler’s Background Basics, Basket and Basket 2
Ann Butler’s ART Screens, Lattice
Ann Butler’s 2″ Flourish Alphabet
Ann Butler’s Iridescents, Berry and Limelight
Earth Safe Finishes Gesso, White
Canvas Corp Canvas, 6″ x 6″
Makin’s Clay®, White
Makin’s Clay®, roller
Makin’s Clay®, heart cutter
Beaded Trim, Green and Pink, 6″
Matboard Tag, 1″ x 1 1/2″
Beacon Adhesives 527 Multi-use Glue
Colorbox Art Dauber
Paintbrush
Plastic wrap
VELCRO® Brand Picture Hanging Hooks

Paint the canvas with gesso. Let dry.
Stamp with Basket 2 in two opposite corners with Deep Woods. Heat Set.
Stamp with Basket around the edges of the canvas with Deep Woods. Heat set.
Place the Art screen in one corner, scrap Limelight Iridescents across and pull off quickly, repeat in the other corner. Let dry.

Roll clay out to 1/4″.

Stamp into clay with Berry ink.
Place plastic wrap over clay, use heart cutter. By using plastic wrap you have a nice rounded edge to the clay, giving it a nice finished edge.
Ink up the edges of the heart with Berry.
Glue heart to center of the canvas.
Stamp “I” and “U” on either side of the heart as shown in photo with Deep woods. Heat set.

Use the dauber with Desert Sand to stencil randomly onto the canvas. Heat set.

Apply Deep Woods to tag, front and back. Heat set.
Lightly apply some Limelight Iridescents to the front of the tag with your finger. Let dry.
Glue the tag to the back of the center top edge of the canvas, leaving 3/4″ extending.
Glue the beaded trim onto the bottom edge.
Hang wherever you desire with VELCRO® Brand Picture Hanging Hooks!

Enjoy!

Be sure to leave a comment to enter to win a prize package of Ann Butler Products from Clearsnap!

Now off to the rest of the hop:

Steph Ackerman
Zoey E.Scarpelli
tami sanders
Roberta Birnbaum
Larissa Pittman
Irit Shalom
Vishu Reberholt
Jennifer Priest
Gracie Chávez
Vivian Keh
Kristi Parker
Clearsnap Blog
Ann Butler Designs Blog you are here!
Sabrina Alery
Suzanne Austin

Click here for the Rafflecopter giveaway!

January 26, 2015 By Design Team 1 Comment

Sewn Mixed Media Art Journal Canvas Page

Hello Crafters and happy monday!

Zoey’s here today with a quick and easy art journal canvas page! As you might have noticed my approach to mixed media is really easy peasy. I love to make my own background , add some texture here and there with stamping and modeling paste and add words on it…everyone can do it and I hope you will give it a try too!

Crafter’s Ink Art Journal Canvas Page

To create this Art Journal Canvas Page I used:

ColorBox Crafter’s® by Ann Butler ( Berry , Tangelo , Sunshine )
ColorBox® Art Screens – By Ann Butler ( Lattice )
ColorBox® Background Basics by Ann Butler ( Checks 1 )

Additional items :

White Canvas Paper
Small Brayer
Modeling paste
Alpha stickers
Sewing Machine
Black watercolor pencil

I started by adding color to my background, to do this, I used a brayer. I rolled it over the ink pads and then I rolled over the white canvas paper. I used ColorBox Crafter’s® by Ann Butler to do this and of course I had to use my favorite color combo… Berry, Tangelo and Sunshine!

Crafter’s Ink Art Journal Canvas Page

I helped the ink dry with my heat tool. I love how juicy these ink pads are, rolling the brayer was so easy!
When the ink was dry enough, I added some stamps. To do this I used the brand new ColorBox® Background Basics by Ann Butler that I love! I used the one called Checks 1 , it is big, sturdy and have a really nice texture. Of course I used it without the acrylic block.
As you can see in the image, my stamp is not really clear. To achieve this result (I didn’t want a bold stamp, just a hint of it) I swiped the ink pad over the stamp without too much pressure.

Crafter’s Ink Art Journal Canvas Page

Once again, I used the heat tool to make sure the ink was dry and then I applied a bit of modeling paste through the ColorBox® Art Screens – By Ann Butler – Lattice. I rotated the stencil because I wanted the straight squares so it was matching with the stamp I used previously. I let the paste dry with the heat tool.

Crafter’s Ink Art Journal Canvas Page

And then I just stitched the heart to the background and I sewed around the border to give a bit of movement and to add some interest to the whole page.

Crafter’s Ink Art Journal Canvas Page

The quote is from Cindarella quote, of course! hehe

Crafter’s Ink Art Journal Canvas Page

And that is all for today! I hope you had fun and got inspired…stay happy stay creative, till next time!

Ciao, Zoey

January 5, 2015 By Steph Ackerman Leave a Comment

Fabulous Mixed Media Stenciled Canvas

Hi everyone, Steph Ackerman here today using Ann Butler’s new inks and stencils to create a canvas.

Using Ann Butler’s hexagon stamps, I stamped a canvas panel, but I really didn’t like what I created. Because the inks stays moist for an extended period, I used a baby wipe to mix the colors and designs on the canvas.

Then I used the new Lattice Art Screen with Evergreen Crafter’s Ink to add a design on the bottom of the canvas.

Next, I covered the panel with tissue paper, creating dimension. Once the glue dried, I put several drops of Crafter’s Ink Reinkers into mini misters and spritzed about the canvas. I used Limelight, Berry and Tangelo Reinkers. Once dry, I inked the tissue with Sunshine Crafters Ink.

The flowers were stamped with Unity’s 2″ Stripes, Dots, Hearts stamps and Berry Ink. The chipboard dress form was also inked with Berry Ink and the flowers were used to dress the dress form with brads. The oval beneath the dress form was stamped with Unity’s 2″ Leaves All Over stamps and Sunshine Ink. This was then mounted on a scalloped oval that was also inked with Berry Ink.

Fabulous was die cut from beige and white cardstock. The white layer was stamped with 1″ Leaves All Over with Sunshine Ink.

Thanks for stopping by today.

December 26, 2014 By Design Team 1 Comment

Mixed Media Stitched Layered Heart ATC

Hello Crafters!

We hope you all had an amazing Holiday time with your family and loved ones!

Zoey’s here today to show you a quick and easy way to add texture to your project without adding too much bulk or too much dimension! The post will be slightly long, so please grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!!

ATC made with Unity Stamp – Faux Quilted Stamp by Ann Butler

To create this ATC here’s what I used :

Ann Butler’s Crafter’s Inks by Clearsnap
Ann Butler Designs Faux Quilting Stamps
Ann Butler’s Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes
Beacon’s Premium Tacky Glue

So let’s see how I created it…
Remember, in this post where I told you I never used Ann Butler’s crafter’s Inks by Clearsnap as watercolor? well… I loved the result so much that I used again on this project!

I added some gesso over an ATC size cardstock and let it air dry.
Meanwhile, I smudged some Crafter’s Ink in the color Tangelo and Sunshine over my acrylic block and I added some water and let it sit for a couple of seconds. Then I grabbed another piece of white cardstock (non gessoed) and I put it over my two colors pressing it with my fingers to make sure the ink soaked into the paper.

ATC made with Unity Stamp -Faux Quilted stamp by Ann Butler (step1)

I lifted the paper and heat set it quickly with my heat gun. I wanted to add a bit of texture to my background, so I grabbed one of 1″ Doily Picnic Faux Quilting stamps by Ann Butler and inked it well using again Ann Butler’s crafter’s Inks. Since I didn’t want to have square stamped image, I also took a piece of cloth and cleaned carefully the edge of the stamp.

ATC made with Unity Stamp -Faux Quilted stamp by Ann Butler (step2)

I repeated the same process using the Tangelo color aswell. And here’s the result :

ATC made with Unity Stamp -Faux Quilted stamp by Ann Butler (step3)

From this background I created I cut off two heart shape. Then I decided to add more texture by adding some more color on the edge of the hearts. I smudged some ink over my Kraft Sheet added a bit of water and just let the shape “slide” into the colors.

ATC made with Unity Stamp -Faux Quilted stamp by Ann Butler (step4)

I let the heart shape air dry and while waiting I grabbed the ATC cardstock that I gessoed at the beginning and again, I smudged some color on the Kraft sheet, added water and with a brush I started coloring my background. I used again Tangelo and Sunshine.

ATC made with Unity Stamp -Faux Quilted stamp by Ann Butler (step5)

Then the background was way too similar to my heart shaped piece of cardstock, so I grabbed another Ann Butler’s crafter’s Inks in Bark color and added some brown to the background. I heat set the color then I grabbed a baby wipe and I removed some color from the Gesso. As you can see in the next image, the Gesso acted as resist for my color showing up a really cool (and textured!) background.

ATC made with Unity Stamp -Faux Quilted stamp by Ann Butler (step6)

With the same Bark Ann Butler’s crafter’s Inks and the same 1 ″ Doily Picnic Faux Quilting stamps that I used on the heart shape. I added some stamping to the background. Please note that I inked the stamp then stamped it two times on a scrap paper — so the stamp you see in the image is actually a 3rd generation stamp. I repeated the process for a couple of times using also the Tangelo and Sunshine ink pads.

ATC made with Unity Stamp -Faux Quilted stamp by Ann Butler (step7)

I didn’t take photo of me decorating the whole ATC , but what I did next was sewing the hearts to the background and add some staples and the ATC sentiment. Then I thought my ATC was done, when accidentally I saw peeking from the garbage (LOL) a piece of an old cardboard box. Well…I had to take it and I glued it to the ATC!
I used Beacon’s Premium Tacky Glue to make sure the two pieces were going to be glued very well! Then I let it sit for a couple of minutes and…

ATC made with Unity Stamp -Faux Quilted stamp by Ann Butler (step8)

…tada! The ATC is ready! Just a touch of Ann Butler’s Iridescents by Earth Safe Finishes for some shine! Here’s a couple of details…

ATC made with Unity Stamp -Faux Quilted stamp by Ann Butler (details)

The sentiment “Christmas Heart” is my wish for you all…that you keep your Christmas Heart all year around!
And that is all for today! I hope you had fun and got inspired…stay happy stay creative, till next time!

Ciao, Zoey

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

Hello, dear crafty friends! Vishu here today popping in to share a Mixed Media Journal Cover I up-cycled with Ann Butler products. We have a theme this month and its Fabric……….love it.

Hello, my dear crafty friends and welcome to my Mixed Media Stenciled Stars post.

Welcome to the Ann Butler Designs/Clearsnap Blog Hop featuring my new products…which include:

Background Basics

Stencils

6 New Colors of Crafter’s Ink

While there are so many options of things to do with these products, the focus of this blog hop is Valentine’s Day since it is just around the corner.