INSPIRED BY LOVE...

Hi Everyone, this is Chris here. I live in Wisconsin and we are expecting a BIG snow storm this week, so as I look at this album cover, I will be thinking of those of you who are in a warmer climate! lol

I also used Creative Inspiration Paints Aquamarine and Light Purple. This paint adds just the right amount of accent and shimmer! 

I am creating this album for my mother-in-law's birthday! I have several pages created on my blog. This cover fits perfectly into our LOVE challenge! We hop you will join us!

Thank you for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!

CI Paints Inspired By: Love

Wow...we had some wonderful projects submitted last week, thanks!! It's the last Sunday of the month, so that means we'll be drawing a random name next week from all of this month's entries to win 5 jars of this lovely shimmery paint for someone to try out!

We also are going to start using random.org each week to pick 3 randomly submitted projects to be featured here and to also receive and extra entry in our monthly drawing.  So make sure to check back to grab the logo for your blog!

-----------------------------------

Each week you will be given a challenge to find inspiration in/from what ever the challenge theme is... you can be as literal or abstract in your inspiration as you want... Just make sure you can tie it back to the theme! Challenge closes at 4:00pm Eastern on Saturday.

You will always be able to jump back to the current challenge by clicking the "Current Challenge" link in our sidebar. The rules can always be found by clicking the tab "Challenge Rules" at the top of the page.

You do not need to use the Creative Inspirations Paints in your project, however, if you do, tell us which colors you used, and your name will go in the drawing twice! Each month, one person will win 5 jars of paint in the colors of their choice. The winner will be randomly drawn from all the people who have played that month, so make sure to join in on our challenges each week!

-----------------------------------

This week's challenge is:

Inspired By: LOVE

This should be an easy challenge us most people are probably making Valentine's Day cards for their loved ones!! 

Here is a project for some inspiration:

Now lets see your cards inspired by LOVE!

Have a wonderful day!

Kendra

-------------------------------------------



faux silk...

Happy Saturday!

I'm glad you stopped by for a little inspiration!

Lately, things have been a little crazy around my house... Well, ok, REALLY crazy!  We decided that we should sell the house we have lived in for the the past 24 years, leave the STATE I've lived in my whole life, and buy a house on several acres of land (and a ton more rain than I'm used to!) on the western side of Washington state... Are we crazy? Probably! LOL!

Anyway, we have been going through things for a while now to get rid of the things we don't need anymore. In doing so, I have come across a ton of white tissue paper... You know, the thin paper you stuff in gift bags. The stuff you get tons of because "it is always good to have around".  =)

Well, I started playing with it in my craft room, and I must say... it has become one of my favorite papers to work with! You can do SO many things with it!

Here is one use... it is called
 Faux Silk (the CI way)

You will need:
Tissue paper
Creative Inspirations Paint
Stamps (optional)
Ink (optional)
Dry adhesive (like double sided tape or glue stick)
A Base (I usually just use cheap cardstock)

*disclaimer... I know the colors I used for the tutorial aren't the best. LOL! But hey, I have those days when the projects I'm working on don't come out how I envision them... I just don't normally let people see that part of the creative process. HEHEHE*

Step 1: Paint your tissue paper with your chosen CI paint. I like to have my tissue paper be a little bit bigger than I want need the end size to be so I have some "wiggle room".  Here I'm using Mint.

Step 2: You can either let it dry naturally (which really doesn't take very long). Or, you can be impatient like me, and use a heat gun to zap it dry.

Step 3: If you want any stamped images on it, now is the time to do it... You don't have to stamp anything if you don't want to though.

 Step 4: Crumple your tissue paper into a little ball. You can do this as many times as you like... You are TRYING to make wrinkles. =)

Yours may look something like this. I love how shimmery the paints make the tissue paper!
  (see what I mean about not looking so great? LOL! I was going for a watermelon look. um....yeah..)

Step 5: Cover you base with dry adhesive. I like to use my ATG gun, but glue sticks, or double sided tape would work. You don't have to get perfect coverage, but you want most of it covered in adhesive. Make sure to get the edges really well.

Step 6: Place your tissue paper on top of you base and press. You don't have to get out all the wrinkles.. they create the texture for the faux silk.

Step 7: Either fold over the excess and glue it down on the back of your base, or just trim it off.

That's all there is to it!

Tip: You don't have to stick with squares or rectangles... this would be a fun way to add texture to any die cut!

Here is my sample project.. since I really didn't like how my green one turned out, I did a different one using Amethyst CI paint.

If anyone is wanting to wrap a gift in my house, you might want to check my studio first... LOL!

You still have time to enter to win some fabulous blog truffle here, so don't forget!
~Kassi

Icing on the Cake!

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! Samantha here to share a card with you that I created using: tutu pink, sea foam and buttercup!

First I wrapped my acrylic block in saran wrap, and put on some sea foam with a paintbrush. I then spritzed it with some shimmery paint.

I stamped it onto a piece of cardstock that was similar but lighter in color, for a tone on tone effect. I cut out the cake and embellished!

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a great weekend!

CI Paints + Texture Builder!

Helllllooo, Dani here! If it seems like I'm in a chipper mood, I am! Any day that I get to play with paint and any other kind of medium is a good day for me! Today, I am sharing a layout that I made for a family friend featuring her niece and nephew having their first lollipop!

First off, I used CI sky blue to "wash" the background. (Is 'wash' a good word for it? I'm not really sure what else I'd say.. haha!) Doesn't it go GREAT with this line of Sassafras?

Secondly, I used texture builder (I actually used the kind for acrylic paint. Not sure if you are 'supposed' to, but it worked.. haha) on the dragonfly. I mixed one part CI sunshine with, I'd say, 3 parts texture builder. Once mixed, I applied it to the chipboard with a circle foam brush. To get the 'peaks' in the paint, dab the foam brush loaded with paint/texture builder mixture straight down and pull it up kind of fast, twisting as you come up. For those of you not familiar with texture builder, you can find it in the acrylic paint section of the craft store.

Hope you all have a fantastic Thursday! :)

wanna win?

Well, it's me again. I wish I had some fantastically exciting news for you all, but since I'm still not allowed to tell any secrets, I guess I'll have to do something else...

Hmmm... what could I do?

Any one here like TRUFFLES?

How about we have a little give-away? Here at Creative Inspirations Paint, we call these Blog Truffles cuz they are even better than candy!

What could you win?  

How about 5 jars of the fabulously shimmery Creative Inspirations Paint! (winner chooses the colors)

So, how do you win? I like to keep things simple, so here is what you do:

1- Become a follower of this blog. (if you already follow, Great! You already have this step done!)

2-Leave a comment on this post answering at least 1 of these questions: (a) what you would like to see / see more of on this blog, (b) name one (or more) other product(s) you would like to see Creative Inspirations carry, or (c) if you could add any color to our line up, what would it be?

*In case you missed the running theme of #2, here at CI, we want to know what you, our customers and friends, would like,  and how we can better reach your needs. So let us know!*

You have until the end of Feb. 7 to enter. At that time, I will pick a random winner.  The winner will be announced on Feb. 9th, so make sure you check back to see if you won!

Good Luck!

Send in the Clowns

Tell me to use polka dots and I think clowns. That's how this card came to be. I had borrowed this clown collage stamp from my sister and decided that it was the perfect image for my card. Not to be outdone by the glittery polka dots, my image needed some pizzazz. What better medium to use for color and pizzazz (or shimmer) than my Creative Inspirations paints. For my clown I wanted deep, bright colors. My CI paints were perfect for the job.

Dreaming of Flowers...

Good afternoon!  I hope you had a great weekend! Sorry for the delay in my post, I had all my pictures taken to finish my post last night, but forgot me camera by my parents!  So I was unable to finish it until now.

Although I love this time of year in Wisconsin, as I have time off with the kids, there comes a point where being in the house every day because it is too cold to take them outside begins to get a little old.  As of late, I have been starting to dream of warmer weather and being able to work in my flower beds and client flower beds.

So this card was inspired by flowers!  I had so much fun making these flowers from scratch!  Although it takes a little bit to make, I think they turned out so nice and look like I bought them! For more info on how I made the flowers, you can check my blog.

"Chocolate" and "Turquoise" were used to add shimmer to the flowers!

I also was inspired by Kassi's tutorial on Saturday! (Thanks!)  I had gotten the Dabbing Brush from Inkadinkado last month and played with it and the paints a little bit, but then kind of forgot about it! I love how it easily added paint to my embossed paper.

I used "Ivory" to add some yummy shimmer to the swirls!

Hope you have a wonderful week!!

Kendra

CI Paints Inspired By: Shades of your Favorite Color

Once again, THANKS to everyone who joined in last week with our "Bling" challenge!  We all just love bling, especially the added bling & shimmer the wonderful CI Paints give to projects!!

---------------------------------------

Each week you will be given a challenge to find inspiration in/from what ever the challenge theme is... you can be as literal or abstract in your inspiration as you want... Just make sure you can tie it back to the theme!

You will always be able to jump back to the current challenge by clicking the "Current Challenge" link in our sidebar. The rules can always be found by clicking the tab "Challenge Rules" at the top of the page. The challenge closes at 4:00pm Eastern on Saturday.

You do not need to use the Creative Inspirations Paints in your project, however, if you do, tell us which colors you used, and your name will go in the drawing twice! Each month, one person will win 5 jars of paint in the colors of their choice. The winner will be randomly drawn from all the people who have played that month, so make sure to join in on our challenges each week!

---------------------------------------

This week's challenge is:

Inspired By: Shades of your Favorite Color

There's so many colors a person could use....

Pinks...

"Tutu Pink" was used on the heart of her outfit and bow in her hair.


Purples...

"Coal" was used to cover the black cardstock on the zebra and "Amethyst" on the flowers.

Blues....

Teal, Purple and Lime Greens....
or do you have a few favorite colors and just can't make up your mind on which ones to use..

"Plum" used to paint the dark purple cardstock and "Fairy Dust" on the balloons & party horn.

What's your favorite color??

We can't wait to see what you create!

---------------------------------------

getting highlights...

Hello everyone, and happy Saturday! 

Today, I'd like to share a tool that I recently bought, and love! I'm not claiming to be an expert on it, but I have enjoyed playing with it. =)

It is called a Dabbing Brush by Inkadinkado. 

 It comes with the brush, and three different shaped foam tips.  The brush is nothing to write home about, but the foam tips are great!  They are a foam applicator that is very similar to the popular kid product "Fun Foam" with a sturdy plastic base. This is different from the ink applicators that I have seen that use a softer foam. (Don't get  me wrong, those are fabulous too, and I use them a ton!) The best way I can describe it is the difference between using sand paper, and a sanding block... Both are good, but they both achieve different things. 

 The foam tips snap easily into the end other end of the paint brush. They can be left loose to move easily  in the ball and socket joint---

Or, by pushing them in farther, it locks them in a perpendicular position. (This is what how we will want it for todays technique)

And, guess what? The circle tip fits PERFECTLY inside the lid of your Creative Inspirations Paint jars! This makes getting a nice thin layer SUPER easy!

Ok, so what do you do with this nifty little tool? Well, you can use it in a lot of ways to apply ink and paint to your projects... My current favorite way to use it is to quickly, easily, and beautifully apply CI paint to the high points of embossed paper. 

Step 1: Using your favorite way to dry emboss, emboss your paper. I used Provo Craft "Floral Screen" embossing folder for mine.

Step 2: Shake your jar of Creative Inspirations Paint. You should always do this before using to ensure everything is well mixed, but the goal of this shake is to get some paint on the inside of the lid, so don't be afraid to really shake! I'm using the vibrant "Aqua Marine".

Step 3: Load your circle foam tip with paint by lightly dabbing it into the lid. You should end up with a nice thin layer. 

Step 4: gently brush it over your embossed paper. Because of the stiffness of both the base AND the foam, it quickly covers only the highest portions of your paper. Soft foams can sometimes squish down into the debossed areas if you aren't careful. This is why I'm LOVING this tool for this technique.

And that's it! Easy, huh! And it goes really fast too!  The end result is beautiful bright and shimmery highlights!

Clean up is super simple too... CI paints will wash right off this applicator with a little water and a rag. You are then good to go for your next shimmery project! 

*Disclaimer: I do not work for Inkadinkado, and I'm not getting paid to sell you this tool. This is just a  another quick tip/technique from me to you. =)*

For this card, I took the highlighted piece I did above, cut it into squares and put together a quick mosaic.  A little stitching on the sides for accents, add a sentiment, and you are done. Great for those "I-need-a-card-quick!" moments. =)

Enjoy!

~Kassi

Hello Friday...So happy to see you!

Gosh for it being a holiday week...I sure am glad it is Friday already.  My little one is sick and I am sure all you moms know how exhausting it is when your kids are not feeling well.  

So today I have a card I created with some Creative Inspirations paints in Rose Quartz and Turquoise.

Look at this lovely cow shimmer!  It was so cute and funny.  When my son saw this card he said "that cow must make strawberry milk"  LOL!  Love it!

I used the Rose Quartz Creative Inspirations paint on the cows spots.  Just a dab of Turquoise on the little flower. The stamp is from MFT.  I have had it a while and I still really Love it!  Papers are Basic Grey.

I hope you have enjoyed my card.  There is still time if you would like to participate in this weeks Inspired by challenge.  The theme is bling.  You can see all the details HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

JennK

Butterfly Moments

Howdy again! It's Holly here, and I've got a shimmery blue butterfly card for you today.

You're probably wondering where the paint is. Hang on to your hats, folks. I used Royal Blue Creative Inspirations Paint everywhere you see blue. The butterflies, the scallop circle, the ribbon, the rhinestones, and even the blue mat in the background are all painted with Royal Blue paint. Here's a close-up so you can see the shimmer:

Isn't that gorgeous? I love the shimmer! By using the same paint on everything, I didn't have to worry about finding cardstock or embellishments to match. Yes, you can use these paints on cardstock, ribbon, and rhinestones! How great is that?

Did you happen to notice what this week's CI Paint challenge is? We're challenging you to use bling on your cards and projects. You don't have to use CI Paints on your entries, but if you have some, we'd love to see you use them! If you don't have any bling that matches your creation, just pull out some CI Paint and paint some regular clear rhinestones or some white pearls and you'll have the perfect accent.



Stamps: Everyday Miracles (digi image from Sweet N Sassy Stamps)
CS: white
Creative Inspirations Paint: Royal Blue
Other: rhinestones (Kaiser), Martha Stewart butterfly punches, circle dies, white ribbon (Offray)
Technique: Faux Embossing Folder (Technique Junkies)

automnal card - Kianel

Hello,
Kianel here with you live from France and in desperate need of heat and sun so i decided to make a card with warm colors. I used the Creative Inspirations paints called "autumn wheat" and "raw sienna" to colour the butterfly stamp from Katzekraft.fr , the leaves dies from Cheery Lynn Designs and the flowers. All the backgrounds are handmade with distress inks.


Have a wonderful day and don't forget to come and play at our weekly challenge each sunday!
Love from France, Kianel.

Brightening things up a bit..

I love the look of black and white photos. When photo editing I always find myself "test driving" each one in b&w, and many of them stay that way for printing! Large b&w prints, like 8x10, really benefit from a punch of color when scrapped. Take this fabulous photo of my daughter, I thought it needed a pop:




I used Canary, Turquoise, Fresh Green, and Mint paints on the chipboard dresses. The dresses are covered with canvas, which takes the paint very well!

Hello Everyone! This is Chris Dickinson here sharing a project with you today.  I have so MUCH fun painting images and other items with these paints. In fact, I must look like I am having fun because my girls keep asking me to be able to paint with them too! :)

On todays project, I used the  Tutu Pink, Fuschia, Blush, Antique Silver, Silver paints. 

 I painted the chipboard and the little grandma on this project!! To create more of a shading effect, I will add a bit more water to the same color...

If you want even more details - you can see them HERE.

Here are some more details:
Stamps: Grandma, the flower is from Hugs from I Brake For Stamps
Cardstock: Pink, White, DCWV Kids Collection Designer Paper
Accessories: Creative Inspirations Paint, Aquapainters, White Staz On, Paper Snips, Gem Brads, Dimensionals, Creative Cuts and More Star Die Cut

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look! Have a wonderful week!

Chrissy D

CI Paints Inspired By: Bling

Again, we had some great entries last week, thanks!!  We really enjoy seeing what you create!

We have a change to our challenges:
1) Challenges will now be open until 4:00pm Eastern on Saturdays.

-----------------------------------------------

Each week you will be given a challenge to find inspiration in/from what ever the challenge theme is... you can be as literal or abstract in your inspiration as you want... Just make sure you can tie it back to the theme!

You will always be able to jump back to the current challenge by clicking the "Current Challenge" link in our sidebar. The rules can always be found by clicking the tab "Challenge Rules" at the top of the page.  The challenge will be open until 4:00pm Eastern time on Saturdays.

You do not need to use the Creative Inspirations Paints in your project, however, if you do, tell us which colors you used, and your name will go in the drawing twice! Each month, one person will win 5 jars of paint in the colors of their choice. The winner will be randomly drawn from all the people who have played that month, so make sure to join in on our challenges each week!

*Make sure to check back at the end of the month to see if you've won!!*

 -----------------------------------------------

This week's challenge is:

Inspired By: Bling

I don't know about you, but I love bling! and shimmer!

Inspiration for you:

I used CI Paint "Fairy Dust" to color in her dress!  Just look at the shimmer!  I also used "Coal", "Garnet" and "Silver Frost" on this card.

Can't wait to see what you create!

Kendra

-----------------------------------------------

texture anyone?

Hello everyone! 

Since this past week's challenge has been all about texture, I thought I would jump in and get my hands messy!  This technique is such a fun way to add texture because you control how thick it is, and how much texture you end up with. 

What you need:

Modeling Paste

Palette knife

Creative Inspirations Paint

Ink (optional)

Stamp (optional)

Your project

 *Modeling paste can be found in craft stores near the fine art paints.

 Step 1: Using a palette knife (or popsicle stick) spread some modeling paste over what ever areas of your project you want to add some extra texture to. (it feels very much like you are icing a cake...)

 There is no right or wrong way to do this... just play! You can make it thick or thin, smooth  or bumpy...  What ever makes your heart sing!

 Step 3: This step is optional!  If you want an impressed image, you can stamp your paste.  Simply press your stamp into the paste and carefully peel away. If you mess up, just smooth over it with your palette knife and try again.

 Stamping works best if you have a THIN layer of paste. It also helps to let it dry slightly before stamping. Also, this technique will not render you a crisp image. It has more of an impressionistic feel. Bold stamps work best.

Step 4: Let AIR dry. Unfortunately, the slow way is the best way. I tried to speed it up once using a heat gun.. Let's just say it stinks, and does funny things to the paste...

Drying time will vary depending on a lot of things like how thick you put it on. Just to be safe, I often let mine dry overnight.

 Step 5: Paint with chosen CI paint(s). Here I am using Sky Blue. 

The paint looks different on the different surfaces. On the plain cardstock, the paint has knockout shine... on the paste, although it does shimmer, it is more subtle, and the color looks more intense. 

 Step 6: this step is also optional! If you want added pop and dimension, try rubbing on some ink over the paste with ink blending foam. Here I am using Walnut Stain Distress ink.

It really makes the texture pop! And, as long as you use dye inks, the shimmer will still show through. Fun, huh!

*Make sure you wash your stamps really well after doing this.  Using a toothbrush helps get the paste out of little crannies. Don't let the paste dry on your stamps!

Here is a card I did using this same technique...

I used Citrus CI paint for the back, then I when over the paste with Atlantic Blue Archival from Colorbox.  I also wanted to make the design pop more, so once everything was dry, I inked my stamp, and carefully lined it up and pressed.. this inked the already stamped texture perfectly. (I love clear stamps when I'm doing things like this!)

Enjoy!

~Kassi