Saturday, August 30, 2008

Link & Win!

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough." ~Rabindranath Tagore


Speaking of time, we're running low on time for this month's drawing! If you'd like to win free Shimmerz on Monday, CLICK HERE to find out how to get entered. It's very easy.

And while you're preparing your entries, please enjoy this tiny bit of shimmering eye candy. I do mean tiny. This is a close-up of a butterfly that's just barely over 1" across at the widest point near the top of the wings. It was tricky to cut out! But what wasn't tricky was adding Angel Wings Shimmerz to the dark and light pink areas of the butterfly's wings. The shimmer packs quite a punch for this tiny butterfly, which might almost get lost on this card without its glitz!

Have a Shimmery day!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Shimmerz Highlights!

When I color any kind of image, I usually look for a light and dark compliment to color different parts of my image. With Shimmerz though, you can layer on lighter colors to add highlights and darker colors to add subtle shading. When you color your image with a base color and then add a darker or lighter color when the paint is still wet, it naturally blends together to perfection - no lines! Want to see what I mean? Here's a mini tutorial!

When I saw the fabulous new colors of Shimmerz for fall I knew I had the perfect stamp just waiting for the shimmzperation to use it! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!) I've had this berry stamp for a while now from Impression Obsession and it never saw an ounce of ink!
I started by inking up the stamp with Versafine Black Onyx ink and then heat setting it. I then outlined the entire left side of my image with a soft tan marker (Tombow) and painted the berries with Rustic Red Shimmerz.
Here's where you kind of have to act fast. Because Shimmerz dries somewhat quickly, I added a dot of the Beeswax to the areas that I wanted to highlight. Remember-- just a dot is all you need! I colored the leaves by coloring the body of the leaf with Sagebrush and then, before it was dry, I added just shadows of Evergreen to give the leaf some dimension.
You can see what I mean in the finished piece!

Want another fun tip? You know those Colorbox applicators that are used for applying ink to our paper? Well, dip these applicators in your Shimmerz and edge your paper to give it a little extra sparkle!
Here's what the finished product looks like!
After I finished my Shimmerzed elements, I matted my berries onto some green cardstock, did some paper piercing, edged pieces of my paper with some Distress Ink (Antique Linen), added a background stamp to my main card mat, added a sentiment, a little hardware and ribbon and done!

Here's a close up of the berries and leaves dressed in Shimmerz! Gotta love that sparkle!
I love the depth of color of these paints. They are so versatile. Paint then on a piece you already colored for a little sparkly pop, paint them on the stamps themselves, or, in this case, use the paint to bring out the best in your stamped creations!

New Colors & Winners

It's time to show off our three fabulous new LIMITED EDITION colors, available only for a limited time. Without further ado, please meet Sagebrush, Beeswax, and Rustic Red! Aren't they gorgeous? You'll definitely want to catch the coming posts to see the amazing projects that feature them.


On our last post, we announced that we'd have one randomly selected winner. Congratulations to:
Blogger Gracie and Fred's Grandma said...

Those flowers look terrific! I can just imagine how great fall colors would look. My parents had a cabin on medium sized lake and I loved to photograph the fall colors with the reflections on the water. I used those pictures on note cards.

Because of the great positive response to our contest, Stacey decided to go ahead and select another winner. Congratulations to:
Blogger rickydog1 said...

This product is fabulous! Love all the colors. Speaking of colors, growing up in the Northeast my favorite time of the year is the fall. I love driving around & seeing the trees in all thier color splendor! Plus I love sweaters in those gorgeous fall colors!

Trees and sweaters are Stacey's favorite things about fall, too. She loves to go for a drive in the mountains to see all the colors of the changing leaves. And she seriously loves breaking out all her favorite sweaters.

So, Gracie and Fred's Grandma and rickydog1, please e-mail us at shimmerzblog@cableone.net to claim your prize. You've each won the three wonderful new colors released today!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Fall Feathered Friends

To add to today's fall fun, I've got two different projects featuring birds. Let's start with the eagle, who is about to make himself useful as a thank-you card. His feathers were already paper-pieced in a gorgeous golden color thanks to patterned paper from Scenic Route (and I gave him a bit of a Toucan-Sam beak... I couldn't help it!)


The new limited edition Beeswax Shimmerz gave him a glorious sparkle befitting our nation's bird.



All three of our new limited colors (Beeswax, Sagebrush, and Rustic Red) were used on this birthday card. No markers needed, just wonderful rich Shimmerz colors.



Stay tuned right here for more projects with these luscious new colors in the coming days. We can't wait to show off our other projects. Order yours before they're gone forever and play along with us!

Shimmer on!

Lila's Colorwashed Bird

I had the privilege of attending a Dave Brethauer class with Lila, and it was a wonderful experience. We both learned a lot! Here's a fabulous take on his technique from Lila in her own words:

"I wanted to try a colorwash similar to the one taught by Dave Brethauer. I think it turned out SUPER!!! I'm really loving the effects of the Shimmerz product with this technique. I first took my solid color cardstock and gave a couple of quick vertical swishes with Sagebrush Shimmerz keeping a little space or area between each swipe. Then I took Aqua Marine Shimmerz and gave some quick vertical swishes in between the Sagebrush. After just a couple of minutes, they were dry. "
"I then stamped my bird image (Memory Box) using Coffee Bean ink (Brilliance)."


"I put together the remainder of the card with the base being Natural White cardstock (Neenah), a layer of solid color and pattern Bonjour Tres Jolie (My Mind's Eye), wrapped with ribbon (Prima), and stamped sentiment (Inkadinkado) with Coffee Bean (Brilliance) at the bottom. Stamped with branch (Memory Box) with Coffee Bean (Brilliance) on the focal image, closely trimmed bird and adhered onto branch. A few K & Co half-pearl in the top corner and along the bottom finish the project."


Stunning card, Lila! I know Dave would be proud. :)

Mixin' It Up with Lindsey

All of the wonderful rustic details on Lindsey's card make me want to jump onto the back of an old truck and have a hayride over to the pumpkin patch!

She colored the pumpkin first with the Beeswax, then mixed Beeswax and Rustic Red to add a little more to the pumpkin. She only colored with the Shimmerz... no other markers or paints were used. She stamped and cut out the foliage and colored them with the Sagebrush Shimmerz. There is also Beeswax painted onto the pumpkin-embossed background!

Great card, Lindsey! Love the idea of mixing Shimmerz colors together to get exactly the color you want. She's been up late tonight! I see she's got a few more details about this card on her blog.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Fall & Holiday Projects from Lori

Lori Renn created several projects for our big Limited Edition colors launch today! She brought these colors from Fall all the way to a holiday card. (Don't wait, though, to purchase these. They won't be available at Christmastime! They're be retired by then.)

First, she created for us a special "Grateful" layout using all three of our great new colors: Beeswax, Sagebrush, and Rustic Red.


Her next fun project is a shimmery owl card. Look at the glitz she was able to capture on camera!


And, as promised, a gorgeous holiday card entitled "Joy". She painted Shimmerz onto the patterned paper.

Wonderful work, as always, Lori! Stay tuned for even more goodness!

Special Guest Designer

We are so excited to announce that we've invited a special guest to show off a Shimmzpirational project as we celebrate the launch of our new limited edition colors: Kisa Peters! She's been Shimmering our socks off lately, and we asked her to create something special for our big day. Boy, did she deliver:

She stamped the three-step squirrel stamps onto white cardstock. Then she painted the whole piece with the Beeswax Shimmerz, which gave it the warm golden color. Then, she painted the clear baubles with Rustic Red Shimmerz. They matched the Cranberry Crisp cardstock well and made great corner embellishments.


The close-up picture really shows just how shimmery these paints are!

We can't wait to see what other spectacular creations Kisa creates for us. She's been so enthusiastic and an absolute joy to work with. Congratulations, Kisa, and thank you!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Expanding Our Lexicons & Blog Candy

It's time to coin a new term.
Shimmzpiration

Pronunciation: \shim-spə-ˈrā-shən\
Function: noun
Date: August 2008
Definition: the quality or state of being inspired by the ingenious and/or incredibly creative use of Shimmerz paints.
Other usage: Shimmzpirational (adverb) Shimmzpired (adjective)
That's right... Niki Estes' absolutely inspired use of Shimmerz to paint Prima flowers is ingenious and therefore Shimmzpired! You need to take a look at this awesome card. That flower's glitz takes that card to a whole new place, doesn't it?

I decided to see what would happen with printed Primas. Would the printed paper flowers be colorfast? I tried several and had beautiful results. The flower on the left was painted with Angel Wings Shimmerz and using a regular paintbrush.


In addition to the gorgeous look, the flower stayed pliable and kept its paper qualities. It wasn't any thicker or stiffer. It just looked like it had been dusted with the finest little bits of diamonds. I really liked how the Angel Wings was nice and sheer, allowing for the detail of the flower's pattern to shine through. This example is of cream flowers with chocolate brown patterns.


Hope this Shimmzpires you to paint many more fun things!!

And now for the blog candy! We're getting ready to launch three new LIMITED EDITION COLORS for the fall. They'll debut on Friday morning with some amazing projects from our designers as well as a special guest designer that'll be joining us. To celebrate, we want to give away a set of our new colors to a lucky commenter on today's post via a random drawing. We want to hear about your favorite memories or thoughts of fall colors. (Mine is of the amazing translucent gold color of Aspen leaves. So beautiful!) One comment per person accepted through 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time on August 14th. Then check back on Friday morning to see the amazing new colors and see if you won!

Shimmzpiration to all!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Shimmerz The Holidaz



One of my favorite things about paper crafting is giving your gifts or cards that have a extra little SHAZAM factor. Yah, I know, shazam factor... that's what I call it. It's my favorite finishing touch. Now, you don't want to over do it so that the shazam factor knocks over your recipient. You want just enough to dazzle them. This is indeed the part I love about Shimmerz paint. On this card, I had a lot of shazam already going on with the cool stickers down the side.... I don't know how they make them, but the shine is amazing. Reminds me of tinsel. So, even though I had some shazam going on, I didn't want to draw from the main image. I also didn't want to add another color of shine/shimmer...... Didn't want too much shazam. *wink*

I know it's hard to see in the photo, but this time I only added the Shimmerz paint to the muffin sprinkles, and around the edges of the muffins, and a tiny bit on the rims of their knit caps. It's just enough shazam to bring the attention to the main image, and draw it all together nicely. I colored the image with Copic markers, did all my shading, then added Celery and Royal Red Shimmerz paint over the top with my aquapainter. I just squeezed the water out of the tip, then dipped it into the lid of my paint. Man, I love this stuff!

Here are the card details:

Stamps: Merry Muffins
Paper: Wasabi Textured, Heidi Grace Desinger Paper, Neenah White, Real Red.
Ink: Ranger Distress Soot Black, Copic Markers
Other: Stampendous Dot Line Stickers, Nesties, Cuttlebug, Dimensionals, Vintage Brads, Crafter's Tool Kit, 1 3/8 inch Circle Punch, Round Scallop Punch, Shimmerz Celery and Royal Red Paint, Sakura Glaze Pens.

I'm so looking forward to making special cards and gifts for the holidays. I can't wait to shazam my friends and family!

Have a great day everyone!
~Cambria

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Congratulationz to Our Winnerz

We love that you've all been so busy creating! Through our Shimmerz Linkz program, not only do we get to give away free Shimmerz but we also get to peek at the delightful projects that you've all been making! Terrific work, everyone!

We've used random.org to select our two winners for the month of July. Kisa Peters won five jars of Shimmerz with this lovely submission using Coffee and Olive Shimmerz. She sent in several submissions and they were all stunning! Jenni Mouer won three jars of Shimmerz with her adorable whimsical fishbowl card where the water was all very glitterly thanks to the Shimmerz she used. CONGRATULATIONS! As you know, that means it's time to start submitting your posts and gallery submissions for the August drawing. You CAN win more than once, so we still want to see your great stuff, too, Kisa and Jenni! :)

Shimmer on!