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Joe Rotella

Absolut-ly Fabulous Card – Shaped Like A Bottle of Absolut!

by Joe Rotella on February 20, 2012

From the first time I saw the TV show Absolutely Fabulous, I fell in love with it! If you aren’t familiar with it, Absolutely Fabulous, also known as Ab Fab, is a British sitcom created by Jennifer Saunders, based on an original idea by her and Dawn French, and written by Saunders, who plays the leading character. According to Wikipedia, the series [...]

Lifelong Friends Assemblage

by Joe Rotella February 9, 2012

About a month ago, I used a photo stamp for the first time – Senior Ladies 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″ (#8671) from Viva Las Vegastamps! – and created a card. Every time I looked at the stamp I imagined more and more about the two ladies it shows, sitting outside, side-by-side…. …They’ve known each other [...]

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Life’s A Beach Card with Sand from Cancun!

by Joe Rotella February 6, 2012

Last June, I was in Mexico for business and had just a few minutes to run to the beach and feel the water before heading back to the airport for the trip home to Ohio. In those short minutes, I couldn’t resist filling an empty water bottle with sand, knowing it might come in handy [...]

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Shimmering Koi Kimono With Mica and Gold Metallic Leaf

by Joe Rotella January 26, 2012

Sometimes I feel more like a collector than a crafter. I see things, new and old, and say to myself, “Ooo! That’s so nice! I know I can make something with that!” I buy it and then it sits—sometimes for weeks, months or even years. That was this case with the Kimono stamp #2545 I [...]

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Senior Ladies, Best Friends – A Card For Your BFF

by Joe Rotella January 16, 2012

Until this project, I don’t think I’ve ever used a “photo stamp.” You know the kind – stamps made from photographs rather than drawings. I’ve seen many that have interested me, but just didn’t know what to do with them or how to use them. That brings me to the pound of rubber I received [...]

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Paper Napkin Collage Frame and Perfect Paper Adhesive (PPA) from USArtQuest

by Joe Rotella January 12, 2012

I’m so excited to be sharing my first project as a member of the USArtQuest Design Team (DT)!  I first met Susan Pickering Rothamel at a scrapbook convention in 2009. She was demonstrating technique after technique all while answering questions from the crowd. I watched in awe. She made everything look so easy, I was [...]

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Blog Hop Winners!!

by Joe Rotella January 3, 2012

Congratulations to “Lee in Texas” and “Yvonne” for winning prizes in the Viva Las Vegastamps! Blog Hop this past weekend!! Lee and Yvonne each won a $15 gift certificate from Viva Las Vegastamps!  Check your email for details on how to claim your prize.  Congrats again and Happy Crafting!        

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Split Personalities, Psycho Spiral, Viva Las Vegas Blog Hop – Happy New Year!

by Joe Rotella January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!! To kick off the year with a bang, Viva Las Vegastamps! is hosting a blog hop! If you’ve come here from DeeDee Catron’s blog, Um Wow Studio, then you’re in the right place. To start the hop from the beginning, please go to the Viva Las Vegastamps! blog. If you like blog [...]

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USArtQuest Design Team Announced

by Joe Rotella December 20, 2011

I first met Susan Pickering Rothamel at a paper crafting convention about two years ago. I watched her create amazing piece after piece with the greatest of ease, all while talking to people visiting her booth. Since then, I’ve read her books, watched her DVDs and continued to visit with her at shows. She’s delightful, [...]

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Circus Themed Card using Viva Las Vegastamps! and Creative Paperclay

by Joe Rotella December 19, 2011

A couple years back, I took a pottery class through the Lifelong Learning program offered by my city’s Parks and Recreation department. We learned to throw pots, work with clay slabs and even did some molding. Back then I used some small face molds to make embellishments for a clay bowl. When it came time [...]

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Creating A Collaged Frame With 3D Embellishments

by Joe Rotella December 15, 2011

I met Susan Pickering Rothamel a couple of years ago at a convention. I watched how easily she created beautiful projects with USArtQuest products and purchased a “starter kit.”  I bought her book, The Art of Paper Collage, and was so excited to start exploring the world of mixed media. I stared at the supplies [...]

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Season’s Greetings Side Step Card

by Joe Rotella December 5, 2011

I participate in a card swap at Red Letter Journals. On the first Sunday of every month, about two dozen card makers get together to learn a new technique and trade cards using the technique they learned the previous month. It’s a great way to learn new things, have fun and get some great cards! [...]

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Bowling Ball Spinner Card – Fiesta Lanes (Includes Pattern to Download)

by Joe Rotella November 21, 2011

Sometimes when I browse a collection of stamps, I look for stamps that will work well together to create a scene. When I found these three bowling stamps at Viva Las Vegastamps! I knew there had to be a fun way to combine them. It wasn’t too long before I realized a spinner card might [...]

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Shell Shaped Card Featuring a Glitter on Acetate Mermaid!

by Joe Rotella November 7, 2011

Glitter!  Most every crafter I know likes to add a little bling to their projects once in a while, and glitter is an easy way to do it. This little fact may surprise you; glitter was invented by an American cattle farmer named Ruschman during the 1930s! Although some sources say he invented the product [...]

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Halloween Treat Boxes and Tag – With A Free Pattern!

by Joe Rotella October 17, 2011

I’m not a big fan of horror stories, scary films, haunted houses and the like. They make my heart pound and I scare pretty easily. Maybe that’s why I prefer the spooky but fun approach to Halloween. When I saw the Eyes Inside Pumpkin stamp from Viva Las Vegastamps! it made me chuckle. The design [...]

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Halloween Lantern with Viva Las Vegastamps!

by Joe Rotella October 3, 2011

I’m so excited to be sharing my first project with you, as a new member of the Viva Las Vegastamps! Design Team (DT)! It was so hard to pick just one Halloween image from the huge variety of stamps Viva Las Vegastamps! has in their 15,000+ collection that I needed to come up with some [...]

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Pixie In A Bottle – The Upcycle Blog Hop and a Your Story Prize Giveaway!

by Joe Rotella September 17, 2011

Welcome to the Upcycle Blog Hop hosted by Tanya, the Scrappy Scavenger. If you’re doing the hop and are here from Dawn’s blog, Strawberry Delights, then you are in the right spot. If you just arrived here and would like to start from the beginning of the hop, please go to Tanya’s blog, the Scrappy Scavenger. [...]

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Swapper’s Day Finds!

by Joe Rotella September 15, 2011

Over the last few months, I’ve seen my crafting shift from card making to more 3D projects. I’ve also started using a variety of materials in combination with paper. I guess I’ve moved in to the mixed media space. I’ve always liked lumpy bumpy artwork. I’ve always been more attracted to sculpture, pottery, carvings, art [...]

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M-113 Steampunk Clock

by Joe Rotella September 1, 2011

Over the past 6 months, we’ve been going to thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales looking for things we could incorporate in to our craft projects. I’ve been especially interested in wooden pieces that I could upscale using paper collage and stamping. One of our finds was a small battery operated clock in a [...]

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Creating a Letterblock Tray

by Joe Rotella August 16, 2011

It’s Margie’s fault. Maybe Joe Morgan’s too. I’ll tell you about Margie in a minute. As for JoeM… a while ago, he picked up a 7Gypsies Letterblock Tray at Archiver’s. It has sat, among all the other supplies we’ve collected for our crafting dreams and fantasies, waiting for the right moment to turn in to [...]

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Once Upon A Time…Illuminated Letters

by Joe Rotella May 27, 2011

Fate has a way of making things happen that are supposed to happen. Earlier this week I had to spend a day in Chicago and caught a flight back home to Columbus at the end of the day. When I got in line at position A1 (shoutout to Southwest!), I was surprised to see a [...]

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Riley the Moose Comes to Ohio

by Joe Rotella February 27, 2011

    For the first time ever, and for a very limited time, Riley is available in central Ohio! Riley is the adorable little moose recently featured in a two page article in Scrap & Stamp Arts magazine (March 2011) and soon to be featured in another two page article in the April 2011 issue! [...]

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Meeting Kari McKnight-Holbrook

by Joe Rotella February 18, 2011

Handmade books and journals fascinate me. I love the different materials people can incorporate in a book, from the pages to the covers to the bindings to the embellishments. They are works of art that unfold before you as you turn the pages. I like how can see and feel the different textures of the [...]

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Tim Holtz Inspired Challenge

by Joe Rotella February 17, 2011

K. Andrew over at Getting Cricky posted a challenge on her blog to create something in the altered style of Tim Holtz.  With only 1 night to work on our projects, Joe M., Betty and I sat down to crank out something completely free flowing. No planning. No fretting. Just  heart-to-hands creating. Here’s what we [...]

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Congratulations Karel – You Won!

by Joe Rotella February 14, 2011

Congratulations to Karel Jennings of Hilton, NY! She’s the winner of our Your Story Package for participating the Getting Cricky Across the 50 blog hop hosted by Kristal Andrew. We selected our winner using Random.org and 60 was the lucky comment number. Karel’s hobbies are reading, paper crafting, needle crafting and sewing. She blogs at [...]

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Your Story Package Giveaway! Cricky Across the 50! Blog Hop

by Joe Rotella February 11, 2011

A Big Cricut Hello & Chirp to each of you! Welcome to the Cricky Across the 50 Blog Hop hosted by K Andrew of Getting Cricky! If you are here from Patricia Logan of MDN Creates then you are in the right spot. If you just arrived here and would like to start from the [...]

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We’re Back From CHA Winter 2011

by Joe Rotella February 2, 2011

After a week in Los Angeles, CA for the The Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) Winter Tradeshow, the Create & Craft team is back at home in Columbus, OH. And what a week it’s been! Folks took some great classes, learned some new techniques, connected with familiar friends, met great folks, did some shopping, and [...]

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Barbara Trombley: The Original Glitter Queen!

by Joe Rotella January 30, 2011

Today at the CHA 2011 Winter tradeshow, I had the pleasure to meet Barbara Trombley, the original glitter Queen! Barbara was standing in front of a glittered butterfly, about 4 foot square, that had the most amazing shading I’ve ever seen! And there were rows and rows of glitter in all 100′s of colors and [...]

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Our Trip to Stampaway 2010

by Joe Rotella August 14, 2010

Our trip to Stampaway in Cincinnati allowed us to meet some fantastic designers (Amy Flowers, Joni Russell, Magdalena Muldoon), gave us the chance to learn some new techniques (mixed media collage, metal engraving) and inspired us to start hunting for some really cool ephemera.

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Font Swatch Book Made With SCAL

by Joe Rotella April 15, 2010

Join our SCAL Club, in person in Columbus, Ohio or remote, and create a swatch book of your favorite SCAL fonts! Trade swatches with other SCAL users to discover fonts you can use to take your designs to the next level.

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Cupcake Card

by Joe Rotella January 3, 2010

Nearly everyone loves cupcakes, those pint sized servings of delicious cake covered in swirls of icing. We create this card, with “swirls” of embossed icing, to help celebrate Valentine’s Day.

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Hoo Hoo Hoo Who Loves You

by Joe Rotella January 3, 2010

A Valentine’s Day Card using a chocolate brown and pink palette with an owl as the focal point, asking “Hoo Hoo Hoo who loves you?”

Stamps are from Hampton Art and Inkadinkadoo.

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Iris Folding Versus Tea Bag Folding

by Joe Rotella December 30, 2009

Iris folding and tea bag folding are similar, but different While both are believed to have originated in Holland, they each have their own unique characteristic.

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Struggling To Create Tags Using Cricut® DesignStudio

by Joe Rotella December 30, 2009

A contest was recently posted where the basic requirement sounded simple:
Create a tag using Cricut® DesignStudio (DS) and the Cricut® Plantin SchoolBook font cartridge.

The end result? The limited functionality of DS combined with the limited shapes available on the Cricut® Plantin SchoolBook font cartridge made this tedious and time consuming. Worst of all, I had to change my design concept to fit the limitations of the software and cartridge.

When the possibilities are endless with Sure Cuts A Lot™, why would anyone use DS?

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Sure Cuts A Lot™ V2 for Macintosh Released

by Joe Rotella December 2, 2009

About 4 months after the launch of the eagerly anticipated Version 2 of Sure Cuts a Lot™ for Windows, Craft Edge (the publishers of SCAL) have released the Macintosh version.

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