More Gorgeous Projects

Sherri has done it again with some FANTASTIC art samples! For the above darling creations, Sherri used the Hello Dollie Halloween Collage Sheet, Paper Roses, and an adorable assortment of our new Coffee Break Design Cut-Outs Accessory Line! Shabby Halloween, I love it!

And check out this beauty using the Coffee Break Design Small Cigar Box Kit! In addition to the Cigar Box Kit, Sherri used Paper Roses, Bottles and Philosophy Tags by Tim Holtz, and a gorgeous Masonite Key. Thanks so much for sharing Sherri! You rock! xo

Faux Washi Tape

Check it out, Bianca shows us how to make Faux Washi Tape using Coffee Break Design Stencils. See the full tutorial HERE!

Circle Shrine Kit New Sizes!

Wohoo, the awesome Circle Shrine Kit now comes in Large and Mega!

(also available in Charm and Trinket). 4 sizes to choose from!

Art Sample by Bianca Mandity using the Large Circle Shrine Kit.

The NEW Unique Collage Cut-Outs Accessory Line by Coffee Break Design!

I’m very excited to announce a unique new line of Coffee Break Design Cut-Outs designed by moi of course! A fantastic Collage Cut-Outs Accessory Line! Ever since I designed the Hello Dollie Collage Sheets I have longed for some accessories. So here they are! Although they were designed with the dollies in mind, the accessories come in many different shapes and sizes, perfect for any collage guy or gal!

With the Accessories, I’m very excited to announce a brand new Coffee Break Design material. It’s basically a type of premium quality black mat board that is so perfect for the Accessories. I have not seen this material used anywhere else, so I’m very excited about it! At 1/16” it’s very sturdy and the perfect depth for the Accessories. The Cut-Outs in this brand new material look great as is, but of course you can still paint, ink, collage, etc. with them. While I adore all of the new Accessories, the black moustaches are my absolute favorite. They are so tiny and cute (note the above mustache on my pinky) and something I have not seen before! And of course the glasses too. Both are so perfect for adding a little touch of whimsy to any collage image and they are ready to go! Again, they come in several sizes, and are also available in some of our other materials. And here are all of the Accessories, with amazing detail, from head to toe! (Can you tell I’m excited about these and the new material?). Hats Glasses and Monocles Mustaches (or Moustaches, the British way)Purses/Suitcases/Bag Shoes Some of them are so small with fantastic detail! Household Items

Gotta love the scissors! I'm also a big fan of the hangers and coffee cups. (click photos to enlarge)

I had so much fun playing with the accessories last night that I really didn't want to stop! Some of them I simply painted with acrylic craft paint (the cheap stuff) while others I covered with paper or fabric. I covered the purse at the bottom with paper and the paisley purse and hat with fabric. It was super easy using Incredi-sheets. I peeled off one side of the incredi-sheet and stuck my fabric on it. This worked great to prevent any frays. Then on the opposite side of the incredi-sheet that was not peeled yet, I traced my purse. Finally I cut out my tracing (again, works great with the fabric because it adds a bit of stiffness) and then peeled off the second label and stuck it right on my piece! Same deal for paper, so easy! On a few of them I added Paper Roses and bits of bling. I was happy to see that on the chef hat the engraved detail showed up nicely after painting. As I said, the Accessory Line works great with the Hello Dollie Bodies Collage Sheet! These are the dolls I came up with. The doll on the lower right is going to a Steampunk Convention :). I must say I was proud of Christopher last night. I was showing him the dolls and asked him which one was his favorite. Expecting an eye roll I was pleasantly surprised when he said "The Crafter" (top right). The fact that he even used the term "crafter" shows that he is learning. ha! The Collage Cut-Outs Accessory Line can be used for so many other things too. Here I added them to the new "Turner Family" Digital Image. I like to call this one "Witness Protection Program". For the below piece I used the Glasses and Hats on one of the images from the Family Tree Collage Sheet. The nose is actually one of the inner pieces from the round glasses colored red.
"Class Clown"Also from the Family Tree Collage Sheet is "Rockin' Grandma" wearing her heart glasses. I have more plans for these Accessorized Cabinet Card photos so stay tuned! Perhaps some ATC Frames are in their future? Finally, some of you asked for some Butterfly Cut-Outs so here the are! They are not a part of the Accessory Line, but they are still pretty sweet.

I hope you love the new unique Collage Cut-Out Accessory Line as much as I do! The next contest after the ATC Contest will be using any of the Accessories in your work. ATC, Inchie, Twinchie, jewelry, collage, journal etc. Pretty much any piece of art/craft. I'll be making the official announcement mid June. Any of the Hats, Glasses and Monocles, Mustaches, Purses and Suitcases, Shoes, or Household Items will qualify. I think we should include the Crowns too. Once again I will be giving away $150 in Retro Cafe Art Gallery Gift Certificates! Speaking of Gift Certificates, did you know you can purchase them on the site now? The perfect gift for any crafty loved one. xo

100,000 Page Views Blog Giveaway!

As promised, here is the 100,000 page views blog giveaway. I had the pleasure of watching the counter roll over yesterday. Much more exciting then watching a car odometer roll over to 100,000!

I'll be giving away 5 Retro Cafe Art Gallery Digital Collage Sheets to 3 lucky winners for a total of 15 sheets! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this blog post. That's it! Be sure I have a way to get a hold of you if you win. Winners get to select their own sheets.

As an added bonus, if you are a winner and a fan of our Facebook page I will send you an extra surprise! Please note if you like us on Facebook in your comment.

I will use a random number generator to select the 3 winners on Sunday, June 12th. Thank you so much for your continued support! xo

There are also new contest/giveaway links on the right side bar so you (and I) can keep up with the current giveaways and contests!

Inspiration

Today I popped over to see Sherri, a Retro Cafe Art Gallery customer only to find a most flattering post all about Retro Cafe Art Gallery! Her photos are so STUNNING that I had to share them with you here (with permission of course). Really, my products never looked so good!

Sherri really captured the beauty in the Masonite ATC Frames and Paper Roses.

In case I have not said it lately, I love my job. Sending out tiny packages of "inspiration" to creative souls all around the world, and then having the pleasure of sharing in the creations from time to time. Yep, that is what I get to do! xoxo

Bianca's Markers and Masonite Tutorial

Another awesome tutorial? Why yes! Bianca shows you how to go from the above, using a Masonite Cut-Out (which is actually just the "extra" piece you get from the Starburst ATC Frame. bonus!) to the awesome piece below. See the full TUTORIAL HERE. By the way, I'm archiving all of the tutorials HERE on the website. You can also click the Product Tutorial link on the sidebar of this blog for an up to date list!

Giveaway Sponsor!

We are sponsoring a giveaway on Just Jingle! Check out Jennifer's post to find out how to win this set of 8 Window ATC Frames!

Oh, and P.S. I just might be having a 100,000 blog hit giveaway. Should be soon now so be sure to check back...

Bianca's Wing Tutorial

I just love the new Coffee Break Design Wings. While I love all of the available materials, I have a project to share with you using the Stencil Board version. Stencil Board, while great for Stencils, is also great for the Cut-Outs. It's a thin, yet very durable material that has a lovely smooth surface perfect for blending. Check out the fabulous journal page Bianca Mandity created using the Stencil Board Large Bat Wings! (she also used a Masonite Crown with UTEE. See that tutorial here.)

You might also notice the Large Psychedelic Circle Stencil and the Half Two Stencil. Beautiful!

Close-up!

Now, if you would like to know how Bianca achieved this look for her amazing Bat Wings and fantastic Angel Wings below, check out the full Wing Tutorial on her blog!

I hope you like what you see with the PanPastels. We will be carrying them soon! Hooray!

ATC Frame Photos!

I just added several new ATC Frame Samples to the Facebook Album for the ATC Frame Contest. Check em' all out HERE!

Acrylic Tag Tutorial

For this project, we will be working with the Coffee Break Design Acrylic Tags! They are available in 16 different styles.

.................................................................................................... First, peel off the protective paper from your tag.

.................................................................................................... Because they are clear, you can pick exactly were you want them on your image! Take a fine sharpie marker, and mark your hole.

.................................................................................................... Punch your hole with a 1/16" hole punch. If you don't have one, you can also poke your hole through with a pin, exacto knife, or awl later after attaching your image.

.................................................................................................... While you can attach your charm to your paper using Diamond Glaze or a similar product, our Incredi-sheets or our 2 inch Incredi-tape roll is my product of choice for attaching the charms and is what I used in this tutorial. The tape is permanent, heat resistant, SUPER strong, and clear, so you can see your image through the tape! And MUCH less messy!

.................................................................................................... Cut a piece of Incredi-sheet slightly larger than your charm/image. Peel off one side of the paper from the tape and stick to your image (at this point I punched a hole in the tape over the hole in my image). Then peel off the second piece of paper and stick your acrylic tag directly on the tape

.................................................................................................... Now you can cut around your tag with scissors.

.................................................................................................... File the paper/back of your tag for a nice clean edge using sandpaper or a nail file. I used a nail file.

................................................................................................ To ensure that the tape is nice and smooth on your tag, burnish the back with a bone folder or the end of the nail file.

.................................................................................................... And here is the finished charm!

.................................................................................................... I decided to paint the backs of my charms with acrylic paint.

.................................................................................................... And then sealed them with an acrylic spray to make them weather proof. The last two steps are optional of course.

.................................................................................................... All finished! When using the Incredi-sheets it doesn't take long to make a ton of charms since there is no dry time! As for the images, I used some ephemera and Digital Collage Sheets from Retro Cafe Art Gallery. The Bottle Cap Fairies worked especially well for this project!

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OPTIONAL: Adding Eyelets Another great feature of the Acrylic Tags is that they are sized correctly for our E-Z Set Eyelets! Most of the tags will take the 1/16" short eyelets. We also sell a 1/16" Eyelet Setter and I'm told many of the commercial eyelet setters do not set eyelets this small. A few of the tags take the 1/8" eyelets. If you are setting one layer of acrylic with your image a SHORT eyelet will work great. You can also "sandwich" your images between two tags and set with one of our LONG eyelets!

....................................................................................................

(Click to ENLARGE photos if needed) For these charms, I used the 1/16" short silver eyelets and the setter.

Simply place the eyelets through the front of your charm. This is how they will look UNSET. As you can see they just barely stick out the back. This is what you want.

.................................................................................................... It's very important that you set your eyelets on a HARD surface. This goes for any eyelet setting project. I use a metal block. Insert your setter into the back of the eyelet and tap lightly a few times with a hammer. Check your eyelet. If needed you can reinsert your setter and tap more. Again, be very gentle so that you don't crack your acrylic. It will only need to flare out a tiny bit to hold it in place.

.................................................................................................... Here you can see an unset and set eyelet. It only needs to flare out a tiny bit and it's set in place.

.................................................................................................... Two set eyelets.

.................................................................................................... For this tag I did not pre-punch a hole before attaching my tag like I did earlier. I used an exacto knife in the back to make the hole. I just stuck the tip in and turned it like I was taking the core out of an apple.

.................................................................................................... The Dog Tags and Tags take a 1/8" eyelet. SHORT for one layer or make a "sandwich" with a LONG eyelet. The first two pieces show how the back will look and the third, the front.

.................................................................................................... And here they all are with eyelets.

....................................................................................................I decided to make a charm bracelet with a length of chain and regular 6mm jump rings. Most jump rings will fit easily through the tiny 1/16" eyelets.

.................................................................................................... Finished! You could also turn this into a fun necklace!

.................................................................................................... The charms are very light-weight and comfortable to wear.

....................................................................................................For this charm, I attached the acrylic tag with Diamond Glaze. They also come out very nice, just a bit more messy than the Incredi-sheets.

.................................................................................................... For these tags I simply colored them with alcohol inks, except for the woman in the center which was colored with Copic Markers.
For the Dog Tag, I colored the tag with alcohol inks first and then attached the vintage book page with Incredi-sheet and added an eyelet as done above.

So are you ready to play with some Acrylic Tags yet?