So Honored to Make This Announcement!

I am absolutely honored
and for my UK friends, so chuffed, 

as I have been asked by  

Susan Rothamel, 

the owner of US ArtQuest,

to be her Senior Design Team Coordinator.

 Sue and I go waaaay back to the days

when I had my store.  They have of course,

developed many products since then and

I am excited about assembling a design team

who will be able to share these products with you

in a very, practical way.

If you've seen or better yet, used the product above,

then you ARE familiar with USAQ.

Perfect Paper Adhesive is a flagship product

and the finest, all-purpose adhesive on the market.

I know my altered artist followers out there have used

Mica Tiles in their mixed media art.

Yep...USAQ!

USAQ is also one of the biggest distributors in

the country for the Pearl Ex brand.

There are wonderful video tutorials over at

the USAQ website...and they are FREE!

I share all that to share this....

It is my goal once again, to be able to share

practical and even the odd wild and crazy projects

(because after all, we are all artists  : )

via some of the most experienced and

talented designers in the world.

Yes....in the world...stay tuned!

So here is what I want to know:

Have you ever used 

a USAQ product?

Or is it NEW to you?

Please leave a comment and share....

And please stay tuned...I am super excited 

and I am hoping you will be, too!

More to come....

Floating Garden with Pearl-Ex Tutorial

I haven't had much of an opportunity to be creative this week 

in my art room.  I have been 'creatively' working on the

computer over at The Play Date Cafe because we have

a fabulous line-up of guests and sponsors that need

my attention over there.

So I thought I would share a tutorial with you that I

originally shared back in June of last year.

I hope you find it helpful.

WISHING YOU A BLESSED GOOD FRIDAY

FLOATING GARDEN with PEARL EX

This is a quick and easy technique for those of you who may not know exactly what to do with your Pearl Ex. It's one that we taught in my store and I know you are going to love the results!

The image used here is from Magenta, but you can use any big, bold image you have.

Here's what else you need to get started:

Embossing Ink in Black
Embossing Powder in Clear
Matte Cardstock in Black
Pearl Ex in your choice of colors
Dove Blender / Blender Refill Fluid
Squeeze & Flo Bottle w/Dove Blender Fluid in bottle
(these last two supplies are optional dependent on what you have)

Stamp and emboss your image on black cardstock. This effect will work on other dark cardstocks, but you will have to experiment on your scraps to
see what works.

This technique was done with a Squeeze & Flo bottle/paintbrush.
If you have a Dove Blender pen, you can do the same technique, and in fact,
you can squeeze into smaller 'nooks n crannies' with it.
Place 2 or 3 colors of PearlEx onto a small disposable plate and dip either the
tip of your Dove Blender Pen or the edge of the Squeeze & Flo brush into the
first color and begin to 'paint' or 'float the color' inside the lines of your image.
 
OPTIONAL METHOD:  Make a 'paint' out of Pearl-Ex and Dove Blender fluid
and use a paint brush to color in the lines.

It's as easy as that! It may take a bit of practice with the Squeeze & Flo
technique as you may find at first you have little pools inside your image.
Make sure you allow it a few minutes to dry and if you want to seal it, just
use a matte fixative or a shot of cheap hairspray. The expensive ones will
work too, but who can afford it?!

Hope you will try this technique.....

If you have, or a variation of it, please leave

a comment and let me know.  

It really can create beautiful results.

OH...if you are new to my blog,
I would love to know you stopped by.
Please leave a note or better yet,
follow along.  I'll come to see you, too!

Floating Garden Tutorial

This is a quick and easy technique for those of you who may not know exactly what to do with your Pearl Ex. It's one that we taught in my store and I know you are going to love the results!

The image used here is from Magenta, but you can use any big, bold image you have.

Here's what else you need to get started:

Embossing Ink in Black
Embossing Powder in Clear
Matte Cardstock in Black
Pearl Ex in your choice of colors
Dove Blender / Blender Refill Fluid
Squeeze & Flo Bottle w/Dove Blender Fluid in bottle
(these last two supplies are optional dependent on what you have)

Stamp and emboss your image on black cardstock. This effect will work on other dark cardstocks, but you will have to experiment on your scraps to
see what works.

This technique was done with a Squeeze & Flo bottle/paintbrush.
If you have a Dove Blender pen, you can do the same technique, and in fact,
you can squeeze into smaller 'nooks n crannies' with it.
Place 2 or 3 colors of PearlEx onto a small disposable plate and dip either the
tip of your Dove Blender Pen or the edge of the Squeeze & Flo brush into the
first color and begin to 'paint' or 'float the color' inside the lines of your image.

It's as easy as that! It may take a bit of practice with the Squeeze & Flo
technique as you may find at first you have little pools inside your image.
Make sure you allow it a few minutes to dry and if you want to seal it, just
use a matte fixative or a shot of cheap hairspray. The expensive ones will
work too, but who can afford it?!

Hope you will try this technique.....let me know what you think!