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Glazed Surfaces Catch My Eye – Happy Birthday Columbus!

by Joe Rotella on March 22, 2012

click to enlarge photo Glazed surfaces always catch my eye. Seeing a photo, stamp or drawing under a translucent layer of color adds a rich, dimensional aspect to any project. If things are whitewashed or have a sepia glaze they look more “vintage.” That’s why I was compelled to pick up the Tin Bucket Perfect [...]

“The Game Is Afoot” – Sherlock Holmes Inspired Steampunk Related Card

by Joe Rotella March 19, 2012

Are you familiar with steampunk? It’s a style that involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or “Wild West”-era United States—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them. Gaslight romance or gaslamp fantasy [...]

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Dancing in the Moonlight

by Joe Morgan March 12, 2012

For this weeks post, I wanted to use this stamp of four Victorian looking cats dancing in a circle. As soon as I saw it in the Viva Las Vegastamps! online store, I thought of this idea right away. The stamp is called Cat Dance and can be found by clicking here. For the moon, [...]

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Napkin Collage Cards Using Perfect Paper Adhesive (PPA)

by Joe Rotella March 8, 2012

About two weeks ago, the Create & Craft team and I taught a collage frame class at Red Letter Journals in Grove City, Ohio. The class was inspired by the Botanical Paper Napkin Collage Frame I posted by in January. While the class was well attended, some of my “regular” students didn’t sign up. Turns [...]

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Red-eyed Tree Frog Box With Mica D’Lights and Cut • Bond • Create

by Joe Rotella February 23, 2012

Sometimes ideas for a project float around in my head for weeks or months. Concepts float to the top, sink to the bottom, fade in or fade out. That was certainly the case for this project. Here are some of the random thoughts that came together to create this little box. My favorite electronic cutting [...]

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You’re no longer the man I met on the internet!

by Joe Morgan February 13, 2012

  Hello again! Since Valentine’s Day is almost here, I thought I would make a fun card for all the people who are not looking forward to it.  I am sure that most people can relate or know someone in the situation where their dream date turned out to be a dud in person, or [...]

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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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Pug Birthday Card

by Joe Morgan January 23, 2012

One of my best friends loves Pugs. She has two of them and their names are Frankie & Piglet. She had a birthday recently, so I wanted to use this cute Pug In Party Hat stamp from Viva Las Vegastamps! to make her birthday card. To start off, I stamped the image on white cardstock [...]

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What Was I Thinking?

by Joe Morgan January 9, 2012

Valentine’s Day is coming soon! I am sure that most of us, at least one time in our lives, could relate to this card. Some people will go buy a nice mushy card, but in the back of their mind they’ll be thinking “I need that card that Joe Morgan made!” Anyway, it’s just for [...]

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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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It’s Fruitcake Time!

by Joe Morgan December 26, 2011

I hope everyone had  a Merry Christmas! For my last post of 2011, I wanted to make a card that I have had planned out in my head for quite a while. I know it’s the day after Christmas, but it’s funny, so here it is.  I am sure everyone will get a late card [...]

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I Like Cats Too!

by Joe Morgan November 28, 2011

  First of all, I have to say that no cats were harmed in the making of this card! Secondly, I love cats and would never eat them!  I was looking through all the stamps that I got in my pound of rubber from Viva Las Vegastamps! and spotted this sentiment about exchanging cat recipes. [...]

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Merry Christmoose

by Joe Morgan November 14, 2011

For this week’s project, I wanted to make something with Sakura Crystal Lacquer. One of the things I really like about Crytstal Lacquer is that when it dries, it’s not just clear and glossy, it’s also flexible. So, unlike similar products, it won’t crack or break off of something if you bend it. I recently spent [...]

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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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Beware the Pumpkin Eater!

by Joe Morgan October 23, 2011

  Halloween, my favorite holiday, is almost here! For this weeks post, I made a cute card using three different pumpkin stamps. To start out, I stamped the three stamps on white cardstock, and colored them with Copic markers. I cut out all three of them. One of them includes a graveyard scene in the [...]

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Backgrounds with Crystal Lacquer

by Carole Lassak August 10, 2011

I am participating in a card swap next month at Red Letter Journals, one of our local scrapbooking shops. The challenge theme is backgrounds. So, here’s what I came up with. I started with a piece of acetate slightly smaller that my card. I stamped my image—Dragonfly from Earth Art International—on the acetate using black [...]

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