I’m into color right now. Not sure why. Maybe it is the snow that fell on us in Denver last week and imagining a long winter ahead of us. Earlier this week I checked out our Design Team projects to see what colors of flakes they are, I mean what color flakes they created…Julie Overby made this beautiful Merriest Wishes card with turquoise, white and silver…yummy!

Jennifer Davis‘ layout, I Heart Snow, is outstanding in the color realm. It perfectly matches her daughter’s winter jacket.

I find that once I break out of a mold, it’s easy to keep doing it. Today, I’m sharing a journal with some really hot colors and snowflakes. To begin, I had hot pink printer paper that I printed journal lines on, but I had no idea how I would match colors to it. The Color Wheel is a great place to start and I just happen to have a Color Companion which is really helpful. In this photo you can see the journal pages in the back and the cover just to the left. The other colors are those I used to cut the snowflakes.

I used the S4-222 Create A Flake One to cut/emboss snowflakes from purple, red and pink. I inked them with silver metallic ink and then layered them using Glue Dots by Glue Dots International and 3D Foam Squares, SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES by 3L. Here is a close up of one of them.

I adhered them to the journal cover and then felt like a border would bring the whole thing together. I chose the S4-218 Lattice Borderabilities® to coordinate. Since this Borderability® is Petite, I cut it twice from one long strip of paper. After cutting the first side, I carefully lined up the second side and ran it though the Wizard™.

In the same way, I embossed one end and then the other. The place where the two border cuts came together can be left alone as a design element

or covered with a little embellishment like I did.

To finish up the journal, I bound it, added a few more flakes and ribbons.

Ingredients: Wizard, S4-218 Lattice Borderabilities, S4-222 Create A Flake One; Core’dinations Color Core Cardstocks; SCRAPBOOK AHESIVE by 3L, Black 3D adhesive squares; Copic Sketch V09 Violet, Air Brush System; Glue Dots International Scrapbook Glue Dots; Ribbons; Silver ink; Binding System; Purple patterned paper
Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you’ve gained some confidence to use color in a new way. Eli

With all this talk about Pendants and using them with their coordinating Borderabilities®, I figured today I would pair up two different Pendant pieces to make one project.

Since I have the S4-209 Tulips Pendant and the S4-204 Fleur de Lis Pendant, I used a combination of the Tulips Pendant and the Fleur de Lis Center pieces. With these components along with the Cosmo Cricket Early Bird Collection, I did an altered home decor for a friend’s retro themed kitchen - a perfect combination!

The base is a 4″x 8″ canvas panel that I purchased from an art supply store. I inked the edges with red acrylic paint on both the canvas and the background paper which was cut to cover the canvas. Then set aside to dry.

I cut and embossed my S4-209 Tulip Pendant (with its center in place). After embossing, I took out the center piece (for another use) and left my cut piece in the template. With Clearsnap Queue, I inked to contrast the cream cardstock. I also cut and embossed with Core’dinations red cardstock another Tulip Pendant piece. The red Tulip Pendant will be saved for another project but I wanted the tulips to fill in the gaps in the cream Tulip Pendant by popping them up with Scrapbook Adhesives’ foam tape.

Then I cut and embossed the S4-204 Fleur de Lis Pendant center piece which I lightly sanded to show the embossing. After gathering various embellishments to fit the theme, I adhered the pieces to the background paper and then on to the canvas to complete the altered home decor for my friend.

There you have it…two Pendants in one project! Does that give you more ideas for your Pendant Project Contest entries (hint! hint!!)?! Remember the deadline (Monday, August 10th) is around the corner but you still have time! There will be five (5) winners. Curious about the entries? Take a look HERE! There are a lot of talented people but you don’t know unless you enter so GOOD LUCK!

For the past month, Spellbindersâ„¢ has been hosting a creative party for a bunch of very enthusiastic crafters at Splitcoaststampers.com. Designers were asked to use Spellbindersâ„¢ die templates and submit projects in three categories: cards, layouts and altered items.

What a fabulous response we had. All toll, over 170 projects were submitted. Today we are here to announce the winning entries (via random.org) from each category. Designers were added to the list, one time for each category they entered.

So, without further ado:

Card Category Winner is Pammyjo who submitted this card.

Layout Category Winner is buzsy who submitted this layout

Altered Item Category Winner is vdutchr who submitted this altered item

Each of the above crafters will receive $50 in Spellbindersâ„¢ die templates. If you are Pammyjo, Buzsy or Vdutchr, please send an e-mail to spellbinderseditor@yahoo.com.

Thanks to all who participated and filled the Splitcoaststampers gallery with some amazing projects featuring Spellbinders’ projects.

Until next time, Ciao! Eli

Hey everyone. The party we’re throwing in our gallery at Splitcoaststampers.com is filling it with a ton of amazing art featuring Spellbinders’ die templates. It is fun to skip over there and see the new stuff. We are so excited. Everyone still has a few more days to upload one card, one layout and/or one altered project. If you do upload a project, you’ll need to use the following key words to make sure each project is included in the random drawing for the winner in each of the following categories:

Spellbinders_card

Spellbinders_layout

Spellbinders_altered

{Click on the above links to see what has already been uploaded. If you plan to upload in the categories above, use the underscore or it won’t find its way to our list.}

Please note: We would really appreciate it if everyone would upload projects to those specific “keywords” with only one per category. To be fair, we will count the first item per designer for each category.

Of course you may upload as many items as you’d like to the Splitcoast Stampers’ Spellbinders gallery (feel free to keyword it as Spellbinders) as you’d like but for this contest, just one per category…

If you have any questions, just comment here and we’ll do what we can to help us.

Thanks, Eli

Spellbindersâ„¢ loves a party. This time we’re throwing it over at Splitcoaststampers.com. We want you to show us your best Spellbinders projects to add them our gallery at Splitcoaststampers. We want everyone who visits Splitcoast to see how versatile and detailed our die templates are, and we know SCS is the place to do just that–with an amazing group of talented, versatile and stylish paper crafters!!

So, beginning today, we invite anyone who is a member at SCS to create items in three categories: Cards, Layouts and Altered Projects, using our die templates: Shapeabilities®, Nestabilities®, Borderabilities®, Frameabilities®, or any die template category.

So here is what you need to do:

1. To be eligible to win, you must be a registered member at www.Splitcoaststampers.com

2. You may not have any current affiliation with SpellbindersPaperArts.com (such as you are on our Design Team or Blog Team).

3. Create a card, a layout and/or an altered item using Spellbindersâ„¢ die templates.

4. You may enter one category, two categories or all three categories, but only one item per category allowed.

5. Upload your project(s) into their Upload Page. (Make sure you log-in before clicking this link.) If you would like any info on the upload process, check out this link: Sharing your artwork on Splitcoaststampers. When uploading be sure to include the appropriate Keywords (a box for the keywords appears on the second page in the uploading process:

• Spellbinders_card
• Spellbinders_layout
• Spellbinders_altered

The underscores are imperative. Only projects utilizing correct keywords will be considered for the contest. Please only use the keywords for new projects that you upload for this contest and not for art previously created.

We would also appreciate your including the product names or numbers in the description or accessories section.

6. Complete the upload by 11:59 pm CST on Sunday, March 8th.

Winners will be chosen by random integer program on On March 9th at Random.org (through our entering the number of qualified entries in each category).

Winners will be announced on Spellbindersâ„¢ Blog and over at SCS on March 10th.

OH, What do you win???

One winner in each category will win $50 retail value in die templates at SpellbindersPaperArts.com. Sooooo, show off a few die templates you have from Spellbindersâ„¢ and you might just get shipped a few more. Ooooh! La! La!

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me, Eli, at spellbinderseditor@yahoo.com.

Today’s Designer Spotlight is on Sharon Harnist, a member of the 2008 Spellbinder’s Design Team. Welcome Sharon and thanks for sharing your work and thoughts with us!

Tell us how you got started crafting.
I’ve been crafting since I was a little girl, mostly by doing it with my Mom, latchhook rugs, cross-stitch, embroidery, sewing clothes, ceramics, you name it!  I discovered scrapbooking shortly after I married 14 years ago and the whole new world of paper crafting opened up to me!

Do you have an art or design background?
No, but I loved the art classes I took all through school.

What is your favorite die? Favorite technique? Favorite Preferred Product?
My favorite dies are the Nestabilities, they fit in so well with all the other paper crafting I do.
My current favorite technique is using the dies to stencil with the Copic Airbrush System.  The airbrushing gives such a soft, pretty color (or more vibrant, if you choose) and covers a large area very quickly.  I really like the contrast of the uncolored areas of paper to the airbrushed colored embossing.
My favorite Preferred Product is Lockhart Stamp Company’s stamp images, they are sweetly whimsical while still being elegant and there’s a wide variety for every occasion.

Do you prefer to make cards or scrapbooks or altered items?
Really, everything!  Cards are easier and quicker for me to design.  I love scrapbooking my daughters but pages usually take me a very long time to complete, I guess because I think too much about the longevity of the project!  I’m growing to love altered art a lot more and love to make things for my children.

How many hours a week do you craft?
Too many, according to my husband!  Probably 20-24 hours a week.

What time of day do you usually craft?
During the day, when my children are in school, and late at night.

Do you craft by yourself or in a group?
I work better alone.

Paper, Hybrid or Digital?
I love paper and all the tactiles that go along with it, but am gradually venturing into the digital world.

Do you shop locally or online?
Mostly online. Believe it or not, even living in a large metropolitan area, I don’t have that many local craft stores.

Describe your style?
Eclectic, maybe? I vary between clean and simple to shabby/chic/distressed.

Where do you find inspiration for something new?

I usually start by browsing through patterned paper - that’s usually my jumping off point on any project.

What do you find most pleasing about crafting?
Taking a pile of paper, ribbon, stamps, dies, scissors and glue and turning it into a card to cheer someone’s day, a keepsake for our home, or an altered project that my girls can either play with or keep to treasure for years to come.

What kind of craft studio do you have?
Since we just moved last year, I’m lucky to have a whole room to myself. I think my husband just wanted to be able to close the door to my messy studio!

What are some tools that you could not live without (aside from Spellbinder’s products)?
1. Copic markers are my go-to coloring medium. They can be used to color rubber stamped images, ribbon, metal, wood - you name it!

2. Paper trimmer - I couldn’t cut a straight line, to save my life!

Share with us some of your favorite art!

I loved this patterned floral paper and how the color really draws attention on my daughter’s eyes. This scrapbook page was created pretty quickly, just by cutting around the pattern in the paper and letting the beautiful paper speak for itself.

I love the new Nested Bird die and how the Pierceabilities framed the roof line.

These are some of my favorite colors, rich and deep, and I liked the softness of the dimensional vellum butterfly.

Thank you, Sharon!

To learn more about Sharon Harnist, check out her bio and her personal blog, PaperFections.