December 21, 2015 By Larissa Pittman Leave a Comment

Ann Butler Designs Iridescents

Hello friends. Have you seen Ann Butler Designs Iridescents? They come in 21 gorgeous shades.

You can use them for just about anything.

Stenciling
Decoupage
Fabric
Altered Art
Mixed Media
Stamping
Paper Arts
Scrapbooking
Furniture

Iridescents are:

Water based and Non toxic, contains no VOC’s
Cleans up with soap and water
No odor
Conforms to ASTM D6886
Made in the USA

There is also a powder kit. This kit comes with 7 colors.

Pearl
Onyx
Bronze
Leaf
Rose
Sky
Sunshine

The powders add sparkle and shine to all your projects. This all in one powder is perfect for water coloring, mixed media and more.
They are also Safe and Easy to use. NoVOC, No heavy metals and are Non Toxic. They also clean up nicely with soap and water.

I can tell you how fabulous each of these colors are but instead I will show you. I have some projects below that some amazing designers have created. To find out more about each picture you can click on the link to the left of each.

Ann Butler Christmas JOY Decor

Irit Shalom Paint your Dreams: Tin Box Tutorial

Steph Ackerman Santa’s Sleigh

Jeanne Streiff DIY Shimmery Snowflake Christmas Ornament

Martha Lucia Thanks for Fall

I just love these products. To see more projects make sure to not only visit Ann Butler Designs but also check out Earth Safe Finishes Blog. To purchase any of these products visit the Earth Safe Finishes Store. You can also find us on Facebook AnnButlerDesigns .

Hope you enjoyed my post today. Have a wonderful week friends.

Larissa

December 1, 2015 By Ann Butler 1 Comment

Inking up with the Groove Tool

I received The Groove Tool by ART-C to try out in my studio so, I decided to try Inking up with the Groove Tool and my Inks. I must say I was pleased with the results. I gathered some of my ART Screens and Crafter’s Inks from Clearsnap…

Then I got 2 AA batteries to put into the groove tool. The tool is extremely lightweight and comes with 4 attachments: ink tip, brush tip, course sanding tip and a fine sanding tip.

I placed my Stars Art Screen onto a piece of white card stock then, I attached the ink tip (the tips just pop on and off) to the Groove Tool, dabbed it onto my Blueberry ink pad and turned on the tool. It is very quiet and easy to work with…I started at one corner of my ART Screen and moved in a circular motion downward.

I was able to ink up the entire area in one inking. I love how the ink shaded from dark to light, if you do not like this look you could simply go over the areas again, depending upon how much ink you put on the first time there may still be plenty of ink left to touch it up.

I can see lots of uses for this tool for blending inks also.

Since I work with resin quite a bit and had just finished a piece that needed a bit of sanding I thought I would try the groove tool on it.

The edges were a bit thin and needed sanding so I attached the course sanding tip and went around the edges of this Christmas ornament. I did have to hold the ornament in my hand to sand it, although for the photo I am just showing the edge I was going to sand.

I then attached the fine sander and lightly went around the edge again to finish it off.

This was easy to do and only took a couple minutes.

I think this little tool is a good addition to my studio and will be using it often.

July 13, 2015 By Larissa Pittman Leave a Comment

Ann Butler Designs Products

Hello, friends. Larissa back with you today sharing some information and Ann Butler Designs Products from Clearsnap™.

Did you know that Ann Butler Designs has 12 fabulous ink colors?

ColorBox Crafter’s Ink® comes in 12 awesome shades.

You have Tangelo, Sunshine, Aquamarine, Limelight, Lilac and Berry. Perfect Spring and Summer Shades. Which by the way are my all time favorite shades.

Then you have your awesome Fall and Winter shades:

Desert Sand, Evergreen, Blueberry, Deep Woods, Canyon, and Ocean Breeze.

There are also currently 3 ColorBox®Art Screens.

Stars, Waves, and Lattice.
I love using these screens as a background for my cards. I take an ink pad and press it on my craft mat and then mix in a little embossing paste. I smooth it over the screen. Once I lift the screen the texture is awesome. You can see it in the picture below where I used the Waves Screen.

Next we move on to the Faux Quilting Stamps. There are 8 ColorBox® Background Basic stamps. Each stamp is 4.25 x 4.25. They stamp clean and crisp. The best part is you can stamp them on Fabric using Ann Butler Designs Colorbox Crafter’s Ink®.

Basket 1 and Basket 2

Diamond 1 and Diamond 2

Picnic 1 and Picnic 2

Checks 1 and Checks 2

All of the above products can be found on Amazon. I have included the links below for you.
If you use Ann Butler Designs products or run out and buy them let me see what you do. You can tag us on Facebook or Instagram, or if you would like you can email me direct Larissa@AnnButlerDesigns.com. You could be features on our monthly Fan Spotlight post.

Have a wonderful day friends.

September 20, 2010 By Ann Butler 1 Comment

Girlfriends, Creativity and Inspiration…

Girlfriends, Creativity and Inspiration…Make for a Great Weekend!

“The Creative Connection Event” this weekend was filled with GIRLFRIENDS:

Linda Peterson, Julianna Hudgins, Ann Butler (Me) and Tiffany Windsor

Linda Peterson, Ann Butler (Me) and Julianna Hudgins

CREATIVITY:

At the Cool2Craft PJ Party Everyone had a GREAT time…the above picture is of Friendly Plastic table that Linda Peterson hosted

Girlfriends, Creativity and Inspiration... 4

I hosted the Plaid Simply Stencil table where they created cool Tee Shirts pictured above.

at the Blumenthal Lansing table they created these beautiful necklaces pictured above…there were 10 tables filled with 100 women creating at the Cool2Craft PJ Party you can watch the party at Cool2Craft

INSPIRATION:

Look at this fabulous PAPER SCULPTURE that was at the doorway entrance Saturday morning for breakfast…there were special decorations at each meal and below is a picture of the wonderful breakfast we had Saturday

Girlfriends, Creativity and Inspiration... 7

The Creative Connection Event was fabulous and will be held again next year so watch for details and if you are able, plan to go; you will leave inspired and connected!

February 4, 2010 By Ann Butler Leave a Comment

Star Stuck with Aleene Jackson of Aleene’s Tacky Glue

Inspired at Home held a LIVE PJ Party Event at the CHA Super Show last week and all I can say is it was a great show…

I was fortunate enough to be able to help out at the event. Manufacturers were so generous with their products and gave away wonderful prizes to the attendees, it was a fun time for everyone!

The highlight of my night came when I got to meet Aleene Jackson the first lady of CRAFTS and creator of Aleene’s Tacky Glue in the Gold Bottle! My dear friend Lisa Rojas had her camera and took this picture. For once I don’t even think I took that bad of a picture….

February 3, 2010 By Ann Butler Leave a Comment

Star Struck with Carol Duvall

Between teaching workshops at the CHA Super Show I was able to chat with Carol Duvall and get this picture of the two of us, thanks to my dear friend designer Denise Clason who had her camera with her!

November 12, 2008 By Ann Butler 1 Comment

EMOTIONS run wild at John’s USAF Graduation from Boot Camp

I have been gone for the past week and just returned from San Antonio, TX, where my son John graduated from the US Air Force Basic Training. My husband, Mark, and I went along with our youngest daughter Callie, to see John’s USAF graduation ceremony I have never been around the military, my husband was in the Air Force for 4 years but that was before we met, I had never been on a base and really did not know what to expect.

It was amazing, wonderful and emotional, my only regret is that our three oldest children were not able to come with us, had we known how special this was, we would have tried to make the arrangements for them to be there also, but we took lots of pictures and brought the video camera too.

The above picture is the first time I was able to see John, all of the graduates did their 2 mile run for us, there were about 600 graduates, they were divided into their squadrons and we were told the order they were coming in so we could watch for John.

This is a close up of John running, when I saw him with his squadron emotions came over me, I started crying, knowing this is what he has wanted to do since he was little, and being so proud of him. I could tell that he had gained some muscle, had confidence and looked good. They ran by us twice then went to change and get ready for the Airman’s Coin Ceremony.

All of the squadrons were lined up behind the bleachers and I was able to spot John (third one from the flag) and snap a few pictures. They all marched in for the Airman’s Coin Ceremony. When the ceremony was over, they were able to meet with their families. We went down to the field and I was able to hug John and shed some more tears……..

Here is a picture of John with Callie!

Base liberty followed until 7:30 that evening. On Friday they would graduate and the ceremony was wonderful………to see all of these men and women standing up and dedicating the next 4 or more years to the service of their country, wow…..it was an honor to be there.

The entire weekend was filled with congratulations from everyone the graduates saw, whether they were Officers, Airmen, Sargents……

Friday after the graduation and all day Saturday was off base liberty for the graduates……after being in basic for 6 1/2 weeks, I was warned that John would want to eat everything in site and that was correct……wow…..I had forgotten how much he could eat, and being without any kind of junk food for that long, well, I think he made up for lost time……

I was doing good, we got lots of talking, laughing and hugs in, my emotions were in check………….then came Sunday, John had mentioned that the graduates were able to have their families come to church with them and he really enjoyed the church, so that was our plan………..we met John in the morning and went to the church, where there were lines and lines of new recruits waiting, but John said not to worry the graduates and their families always got to sit, there must have been about 1,000 people at the first service………….it was the one place where the recruits could go without their flight instructors, so that was kind of a freedom for them. The opening song was Letters from War I had never heard it before, but the tears started running quietly and I could not stop them, it must happen alot, because John handed me a box of kleenex that was under the pew. Then the second song was I Can Only Imagine a song I have heard but had never felt so deeply as I did that morning, they had a slide show of military pictures to go along with the song, again the tears were running……….the service was very good…..

We said goodbye to John Sunday afternoon, it was easier this time, knowing he is done with basic, how good he is doing, he is where he wants to be and that we can now have some contact with him. We were able to bring his cell phone and he would have use of it starting Monday evening. He is staying in San Antonio, TX for his Tech School, but will be home for 2 weeks at Christmas…..so life is good!

September 23, 2008 By Ann Butler 3 Comments

Mixed Emotions

It was about 4 years ago when we were doing some remodeling to our 1905 home that I gave up my approximately 18′ x 12′ studio/family room so that the kids could have bigger bedrooms. While the 2 older kids were already out of the house and would have loved to have had bigger rooms growing up, it did not work out that way. Bruce our oldest had been out of the house for a while and Michelle had just gone away to college so David who was going into 11th grade got the large room to call his own, thus giving John and Callie larger rooms, I moved my studio into the small 11′ x 7′ room upstairs and the family room went into the remodeled basement.

When David went away to college 2 years ago John moved into that large room and we painted his old room for Callie to move into. Her old room became sort of a guest bedroom although my studio spilled into that room also, along with filling the storage rooms in the basement……..

John left home yesterday for the US Air Force (the picture above is of him & me taken this past weekend), while I had known for the past year and a half that he was leaving, since he signed up on delayed enlistment when he was a junior in High School, it is still hard looking at the big empty room he left behind. John spent his last week washing every stitch of clothing he owned, sorting, throwing things and packing up his room. So now the room would be available for Callie to move into but she had told me over a year ago that she did not want to move into that big room, as she loved the room she had.

So it is with Mixed Emotions that I get my large studio back…….knowing that John has signed up with the US Air Force for the next 6 years and he will not be returning home. I will be taking pictures over the next few weeks and months of the studio spaces I have now and the one I will be moving into.

September 8, 2008 By Ann Butler 3 Comments

Where has the ART gone?

This past weekend I went to the largest Craft Fair in Midwestern MN, The Little Falls Art & Craft Festival. This is a show where tour buses of people from all around come to see what is new and exciting.

A friend & I used to sell our handcrafted items at this show. We stopped doing this show about 7 or 8 years ago, I think the last show we did there were close to 1,000 vendors for the two day show. It was a great show with tons of people coming with the sole purpose to spend all of the cash they had and sometimes more on the unique items that were handcrafted.

This year there were about 700 vendors, a lot of them were the same people that have been there for 30 years. Then there were the ones who were selling purchased items….now Where is the ART in that?

When we did the show I noticed a few vendors selling things that were not handmade, after all, it says in the rules:

Handcrafted items only:
Art, craft, and hobby work items of original design and handcrafted by the vendor is the only merchandise allowed to be sold. Do not bring merchandise made by others, from catalogs, gift shows, etc.

So you would think people would listen to those rules…..

This year of the 700 booths I would say 1/3 – 1/2 of them had items that were not handcrafted……many of the booths had the same merchandise, now I ask you “Where is the ART in That?” There was booth after booth with things I have seen for sale at Trade Shows for stores……it was really to sad. It took us about three hours to cover all of the booths because there was nothing new or interesting, a lot of the same old same old…..so sad!

The rules for the Art & Crafts Festival also states:

Upon discovery of non-qualifying merchandise, Little Falls Arts & Crafts Fair officials will require the vendor to remove from the booth all such items. The decision of the Little Falls Arts & Crafts Fair officials will be final.It seems there must not have been any officials checking anything since there were many many booths with purchases items, not hand crafted.

So I ask “Where has the ART gone?”

If a show states the items be handcrafted, then that is what they should be. Some people attending the shows do not know the difference between handcrafted and mass-produced, and some just do not care. How is a crafter/artist able to compete fairly with those in the same show who have just purchased items and selling as their own? It seems so unfair that a show who says they do not allow anything but handcrafted merchandise, have all of those booths filled with purchased merchandise.

At the mall where I work, I put on three craft shows a year, they are very small shows but still I require the items for sale to be hand crafted….granted sometimes they buy things and assemble them, like floral arrangements, but still they have put their own flair on it. I do not allow them to have items they purchased and have just taken out of a box.

I have an older lady at my craft shows that crochets the most beautiful doilies I have ever seen…..now how fair would it be to her if I allowed a person who buys doilies set up a booth in that same show? While the older lady who puts countless hours into her large doilies, never really gets paid for her time, but loves to keep busy and sells them at a fair price to her, the person who would buy doilies to sell could sell them for 1/2 of price of the older lady and still make a profit, because they have no time involved in the making of the doilies and buy them in bulk at a cheap price……Where is the ART in that.

I do have shows at the mall where I allow vendors who have purchased items sell them, they are separate shows, apart from craft shows where things should be hand crafted……the ART is in hand crafting items and should be brought back to the shows that advertise hand crafted only.

Let me know what yo think……if someone buys products to sell, is that ART? Even if it is, is it their ART……Where has the ART gone?

ColorBox Crafter’s Ink by Ann Butler, Canyon	ColorBox Crafter’s Ink by Ann Butler, Ocean Breeze	ColorBox Crafter’s Ink by Ann Butler, Evergreen	ColorBox Crafter’s Ink by Ann Butler, Desert Sand
ColorBox Crafter’s Ink by Ann Butler, Blueberry	ColorBox Crafter’s Ink by Ann Butler, Deep Woods	ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler, Basket 2	ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler, Diamonds 2
ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler, Checks 2	ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler, Picnic 2	ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler, Basket 1	ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler, Checks 1
ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler, Picnic 1	ColorBox Background Basics by Ann Butler, Diamonds 1