Bella Carta at Art 'n Soul

Today is Play Day at Art 'n Soul . . . all day long from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We're gonna play with Distress Inks and Stains. Marj will be at the store with tips and techniques between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. . . . and word has it she'll be wearing some earrings she made using a watercolor technique! Sue and Mike will also be 'playing' along with you. Bring your Distress inks and stains, paper, distress tool and blending pads, ink daubers, sponges. If you have ideas to share, they will be very welcome! And if you're not into Distress Inks, please feel free to bring your own project to work on.

On the Hero Arts blog, they're showcasing embossing on vellum. Here's a beautiful example . . .

by Jayne (paper picnic) for Hero Arts

Here's the link to the Hero Arts' blog so you may see other sample cards: http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/2014/05/15/social-club-loves-embossing-on-vellum/

From the Memory Box blog, a way to deboss/letterpress using one of their new stencils.

by Marnie Bushmole for Memory Box

Here's the link to Marnie's directions: http://davebrethauer.typepad.com/outsidethebox/2014/05/star-flash-stencil-debossletterpress-tutorial.html

By the way, Memory Box has another new release of dies coming up at the end of this month. We'll get a peek into the new designs on May 20 . . . we can hardly wait! That means I'm going to have to save a little $ for my upcoming splurge!

Over at the Impression Obsession blog, they're having a card design challenge based on a song. Kittie Caracciolo, a member of the IO Design Team, has made a very nice card based on this song . . .

Wake up, wake up, you sleepy head,
Get up, get up, get out of bed,
Cheer up, cheer up the sun is red,
Live, love, laugh and be happy.
What if I've been blue,
Now I'm walking through fields of flowers,
Rain may glisten, but still I listen for hours and hours.
I'm just a kid again, doing what I did again, singing a song,
When the red, red robin comes bob, bob bobbin' along.

Words & Music: Harry M. Woods (1926).

by Kittie Caracciolo for Impression Obsession

Here's the link: http://www.kittiekraft.com/2014/05/impression-obsession-inspired-by-a-song-challenge.html

Look at this lamp revamped using papers from Authentique. John Petersen has been up to his big bag of tricks and came up with a spectacular home decor piece for his newly decorated living room.