Inchie Arts Review
By Susan Chalifoux
Inchie Arts is a new company to The Crop Shop. Their main focus is ‘inchie’ squares. They make the ‘inchies’ out of museum quality preservation matboard. This is perfect when using markers, colored pencils, paint etc… to change the color of the ‘inchie’ to suit the crafter’s taste or project. They are sturdy and easy to handle when making intricate pieces of art like ‘inchies.’ They come in a variety of colors (white, black and neutral tones) and sizes (inchie, inchie + and twinchie). They also have a wide range of ‘inchie’ related items too. The binder can be altered to the individual desire, plus page protectors to store the ‘inchies’ that one swaps or collects. Inchies can be made into magnets by adding a piece of magnetic strip to the back and can be displayed on the cute magnetic display board they offer. These are just a few of the ‘inchie’ products that this company provides for the ‘inchie’ enthusiast. Drop by the store, check out these products and explore the world of ‘inchies.’
New Classes Section at store!
Have you seen the new Classes section at the store? We are putting all of our current class samples up for you to look at! Be sure to stop by and look next time you are in!
Come see our current class samples!
“Score Like Never Before”
Scor-Pal
Is it a hassle when you try to create a fold or score line at exactly the right spot?
Well, it doesn’t have to be if you own a Scor-Pal!
The Scor-Pal creates accurate and precise scores, giving you professional looking folds. You don’t have to worry any longer about a crooked-folded card. Multiple scores are done in seconds without moving the paper. The Scor-Pal is the perfect tool to help create beautiful and accurate accordion folds, boxes, fancy fold cards, grids, gate fold cards, origami, and other projects.
As with any new tool, practice makes perfect. Here are a few tips to get you started in creating professional paper projects.
The Scor-Pal should be placed on a flat surface with the ruler at the top. Cardstock or paper is then placed on the scoring surface. The sides and top of the Scor-Pal act as fences to properly align your paper for accurate scoring.
There are notches at the beginning of each score line to show you where the groove begins. With one hand holding the paper or cardstock, hold the scoring tool as you would a pen or pencil (45 degree angle). Lower this angle to 30 degrees when working with double-sided paper that has a white core or lighter weight paper. This will prevent piercing through the core or ripping the lighter paper. Carefully draw the scoring tool down the paper, using even pressure. Be sure to practice on scrap paper first to get a feel for the pressure that should be used.
When possible, score with the grain of the paper. On a piece of 8 1/2” by 11” paper, the grain is usually down the 11” length. By folding with the grain of the paper, cracks are avoided and the crease is neater.
There are additional markings on the Scor-Pal to make other projects easier. For example, the inverted triangle indicates where folds would be made to create a trifold brochure. The small dots indicate where folds would be made for a gate fold card.
Diagonal scoring is also possible using your Scor-Pal. By placing the opposite corners of the paper in the same groove, diagonal scores can be made with precision.
As you can see, the Scor-Pal is truly a versatile tool which can make easy work of precise scoring and folding. Be sure to pick yours up at the Crop Shop today!
Smooch!
Smooch
Are you sick of the snow? Do you need something hot? Come into the Crop Shop, pick up a few bottles of Smooch and play with this pearlized accent ink. This product is easy to use and adds a little bit of glitz and glamour to everything it touches, your projects are going to look absolutely gorgeous.
Smooch is a relatively new product and comes in adorable little bottles with a built-in brush. To be honest it looks like a metallic nail polish. The ink glides off the brush and onto your paper and gives it a beautiful shimmer. To use just unscrew the top, pull out the brush and apply it to your paper. I used it by gliding the Smooch onto the silk flower leaves and the center of the flower.
If you want to play with a new product that you’re just going to love stop by the Crop Shop and pick up a few bottles of Smooch and enjoy creating!
Karen Lewis
Darcie’s Inkjet Printable Shrink Plastic Project CD
Now, I will say I’ve tried a lot of shrink plastic on the market. Some by Lucky Squirrel, Graphix and Shrinky Dinks, yes those little pieces of plastic you used to bake in the oven when you were a kid. Also, there are many kinds of shrink plastic – clear, white, black, brown, rough and inkjet.
This kit by Darcie’s includes the inkjet shrink plastic. Also, included in this kit are instructions, clip art cd, completed project sheets and four sheets of inkjet printable shrink plastic. On the cd you will find individual clip art, .pdf pages for each project and preview pages. I suggest you print out the preview pages, there’s only three, and on these pages are small images of all 18 projects sheets. This way you can save paper and it will be easy select the name of the sheet you want to print out. Read over the instructions and test print you project page on regular paper so you can see what the results will look like and adjust your printer accordingly. Next, print out your project on the shrink plastic. Now remember the project sheet prints out on 8.5 x 11 pages but once they shrink they will be approximately 40-50% smaller. Don’t forget the colors will be lighter than normal. It’s okay. Once you cut the images out, heat them with heat gun and you will notice the colors will darken at the pieces shrink. Once all the pieces are shrunk; use ‘The Ultimate Glue’ to assemble your piece.
What is great about this cd is that you get 150 clip art images that you can mix and match to make up your own individual pieces of art. Plus, you can resize each and every single image to suit your purpose. The larger the image you print out the higher the chances of warping, mainly because shrink plastic doesn’t always shrink uniformly. I will say the inkjet printable sheets that come with this kit are wonderful. I compared them to others and this one wins hands down. Unlike other brands that have a rougher feel once they shrink this one is pretty smooth. Also, when this one is shrinking and it starts to fold and crinkle is doesn’t stick to itself. I love all the projects you can make with this kit they are beautiful once they are assembled. You can punch holes in them to make wall hangings or ornaments. I think the finished pieces would be great to embellish a scrapbook page or even use on a card.
The Embossing Blade for the Cricut
Did you know you can emboss metal with your Cricut? Did you know you can use any of your cartridges to make any shape, word or figure? Did you know not every store has thier brand new blades. Did you know you can also use gel pens in your cricut to write words and outline shapes?
Well now you can do it all. I love my new cricut embossing blade, pen holder and gel pens, by Amy Chomas. They fit perfectly into your Cricut blade holder. You can use the embossing blade to make Christmas cards, decorate altered items and use the metal on your scrapbook pages. The gel pen holder is a new and innovative way to journal on cards, pages or just about anything. We have a selection of blades and pen holders in the store. Stop in and try it. Once you do, you will have to have one for your very own.
Zutter
The Zutter Bind-it-All is coming to The Crop Shop, and I couldn’t be more excited about it!!
The Bind it All machine is your go-to machine for creating beautiful handmade books and other projects. The BIA is small, so it can sit out on your workspace, but there’s also an available travel bag for storage or for cropping on the go. There’s a few Bind it all projects in the store now to see, and more will be in the store very soon!
Check out the following websites to see more information about the Bind it All: The Zutter homepage has lots of videos for how to use them machine in different situations!
Zutter Blog: http://binditall.blogspot.com/
Zutter Zisters (Design Team) Blog: http://www.zutterzisters.com/
Ning Community: http://zutterzisters.ning.com
Zutter Homepage: http://www.binditall.com/
DIY @ The Crop Shop
We all know that there is an amazing assortment of great things to BUY at The Crop Shop! But did you know that you can also MAKE some great crafting supplies for yourself in the classroom?
The store has a large assortment of die-cutting systems that you can use when you are at the store for a crop or an event. Accu-cut, Sizzix, Cricut, Cuddle-bug, and more. So many cool ways to make great accents for your albums – or albums themselves! – with paper that you pick out yourself. This way you can make great, customized die-cuts and other items for your projects. You can cut letters for titles that pe
rfectly match the rest of your project. There are dozens and dozens of great die-cuts for you to use, in all sizes and shapes, so you can make wonderful custom embellishments.
One of my favorite recent discoveries is the series of Accu-cut dies that make a great album. You can pick out your favorite papers in the store, add in a few sheets of the heavy-weight acrylic from ClearScraps (in 12″ x 12″ size) and make your self a whole album. You can even pick up the book rings you’ll need to hold it together at the store. There are various shaped pages that you can cut, which makes for a really unique and creative album.
I made one recently using the new My Minds Eye paper line in shades of blues and creams. I used photos of a recent family trip to the beach, and added in a number of matching embellishments from MME. I am very happy with how it came out, and it’s pretty cool to be able to say that even the album itself is home-made.
Next time you’re at the store, check out all of the tools in the classroom, and I bet you’ll decide to book yourself a space at one of the next crops so you can play with all of them!
Happy crafting!Ann
Design Team Member and Teacher
Using Chalks
Stamped Image colored with chalks
Have you checked out the new pastel chalks at the Crop Shop!!!!!!
These have become one of my favorite techniques for coloring stamped images.
First stamp your image on card stock, then using a sponge-tip applicator, cotton swab (I use the make-up ones that have small tip), sponge dauber or stiff paint brush. Color in your image with the chalk. It is so easy to shade or highlight with the chalk. You can even go over it with a blending pen for a watercolor affect.
Another technique is to stamp your image using a VersaMark pad. Then use a stamp dauber to apply chalk directly to ink & watch your image appear. It is so cool.
Tip: to avoids smearing, dab rather than rub.
Have fun! Nancy H.
Twinkling H2O’s
What can you do with a few paper scraps and some leftover stickers? You could pick up a few pots of twinkling H2O’s and make yourself a pretty card with homemade accents.
My new favorite product is twinkling H2O’s shimmering watercolor paints by Creative Imaginations. They are very easy to use, they come in little pots of beautiful shimmering metallic colors and one of my favorite aspects are that they are small in size yet add such great impact to your cards and layouts. To use just unscrew the top, place a few drops of water in the pot and swish it around with a paint brush. I used a foam brush instead to get big wide streaks of color but you could use Q-tips to apply dots or a small sponge to dab just a little bit of color. When you apply the twinkling H2O’s they glide off your brush and you can control the depth of the color. If you want a very faint color just swipe it once and if you want deeper colors then you can paint several layers of the same or different colors. I used Teal Zircon first and then Olive Vine on top along with SRM Stickers Live Life, Water Fun and Pebbles Rub Ons, Thanks.
If you want to play with a new product that you’re just going to love stop by the Crop Shop and pick up a few pots of twinkling H2O’s. Enjoy creating!
Karen Lewis