Q & A day...

 I wanted to answer a few questions today...

#1...where can we find your stamps and stencils in the UK? I have the powders, but the stamps & stencils are elusive. 

there's no way for us to know which stores worldwide have our products in stock & when they sell out.

my advice is to contact a LSS store in the UK & ask them to order what you are looking for. I'm sure they'd be happy to help. 

 I have sent people to

Ben at Art from the Heart, in the UK. 

he orders frequently from both Ranger & Stampers Anonymous, so he can certainly get whatever you need,

be it products from the past or

 those that are newly released...

shipping should be reasonable, 

since he's shipping to you from the UK...

hope that helps...

#2...do you have any tips for

 using the distress crayons?

the one thing that REALLY makes a big difference is to use them OVER a dry layer of collage medium...

any of the 3 will work well...

matte

crazing or

vintage...

the advantage is that you have a much longer open time for blending them with your fingers...

you can also easily remove the colors ( thru a stencil with water/wet wipe) when they're added over the collage medium...

that's how I like them best...

I love the collage brushes because they add subtle texture to the surface...

psst..I've been using them with the archival sprays...

more about that coming soon...

the crayons are also cool for adding shadows...

and 

I like to paint with them, by touching the wet detailer water brush right to the tip of the crayon...

that works really well over archival inks...

search the net for tim's videos & you'll see lots more about how he uses them...

#3...I like the idea of using reinkers to make archival sprays. I have some color washes. how would these compare to the color washes? same? different?

the color washes are a permanent fabric dye. they have very intense color & are greatly intensified by adding water... 

one tiny drop goes a L O N G way...

the archival sprays are a dye ink.  they are permanent, even after being mixed with rubbing alcohol, to create the solution... 

they work on fabric & paper surfaces...

they are 2 really different products...

#4...have you used inks to stencil over felt/fabric?

I haven't used the archival over felt, 

but it should work just fine...

here's a CHA sample that uses 

the new repeating quilt stencil...

I added tim's new textile surfaces to a piece of my magic mat board, then cut the heart, using an old Sizzix heart die...

you can see that inks are awesome on fabric...

the textile surfaces are self adhesive, so no problems with adhesive seeping thru!

here's a closer look...

the main colors are the new gorgeous

garden patina & leaf green...

it's really a nice surface for stenciling...

love the mini plaid!

#5...I've shared your simple stencil cleaning technique that you showed us at CHA. wow.

so.much.better.

ok...I had NO clue that this was such a big deal. what I do when cleaning archival ink from my stencil is this...

place the stencil on a paper towel 

(kitchen roll for my UK friends),

then mist the stencil with rubbing alcohol, fold the paper towel over & dry both sides at once...

I have the alcohol in a distress sprayer...

if you just mist the stencil right on the craft sheet, you keep laying the stencil in wetness & it takes longer to clean...

it's not a big deal if you used a small portion of a stencil, but for background stencils, it does work much faster...

#6...will you be in Rockford this weekend?

well...that was this past weekend & I wasn't...

you can always see my teaching/demo schedule 

on the right sidebar...

I do my best to keep it up to date & I still have a few more "things" to add...

#7...I was disappointed that you didn't get us potting soil embossing powder...

please say it's coming.

my fingers are crossed here...

 sometimes you have to wait for good things...

notice that I said nothing about patience...

I have none...

#8...I enjoy your art journaling pages, but haven't seen any in awhile...

here's one I did this past weekend...

it's a page from my mat mini "fat little book"...

this uses the distress crayons and the spray archival inks...

the "never enough hearts" stencil & a REALLY old pointing finger stamp...

the sentiment is brand new...

it's completely flat...

but with lots of layers, I like it...

I'll be doing more posts about this soon-ish...

ok that's it for today...

I'll try to get another post in this week before I head out...

I'll be at the Carson convention this coming weekend...
I haven't been there for a few years, so I'm excited to visit & demo there again...
come see us!

we'll have everything you need to...

make art!
wendy
ps..
for those coming to the Carson show...
tell me you're a blog friend &
 I'll have a little gift for you!