Opals Embossing Enamels - certification class - FREE!!!

OK, I love the word FREE!!! So, here's the deal. If you live in Colorado (ok, Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming) and can drive to Denver, you can get certified in how to use and teach Opals Embossing Enamels for FREE this coming Monday!!!

I'll be there!!!

You must agree to teach classes - at an LSS, in your home, in your friends home - Hey Susan, can I come teach in your home??? You will be able to purchase the opals at wholesale - but you have to sell so much each year to keep up your wholesale account.

I swear....best deal in Denver this year!!!

Now, if you haven't used these, just come to the show this weekend and stop by the After Midnight Stamps booth! I'll be there demoing the UCC and Spellbinders new pendant dies. But Linda will be demoing Opals.

Opals embossing enamels are just like embossing powders except when heated, they have the most wonderful glossy pearlized look to them and they come in the best selection of colors ever!!!

Here are some of my past blogs where I used opals to make fun things!

And oh my gosh....if nothing else, come see the wonderful selection of Krafty Lady molds which are beyond perfect for metal clay!!! Not to mention the hundreds of rubber stamps that will be in the booth!

If you are interested in attending this FREE certification class, just email me back and I'll hook you up with all the inside scoop. It will be in the Brighton area on the far NE side of Denver. Monday, August 17.

And if you come visit me at the show and mention this blog....I'll give you a password to download both of my Lucy McGoo manual for free!! Oh! There's that "free" word again!!!

See you Saturday morning bright and early!!! Bring a friend and we'll just play all day!!!

Opals on copper and transparencies

I'm starting to think you can just put opals on everything!!! First up - on transparency. Laserjet or inkjet, doesn't matter. Just lay it flat, rub a versamark pad over it, sprinkle on the opals, heat it with your heat tool. Them immediately, while still warm, run it thru your cuttlebug with an embossing folder. I put some fantasy film behind these just for fun - but excellent backgrounds!!!



That one was green and blue opals. The next one is blue and pearl (new) - love this combination!



Next experiment was copper. We ran a piece of copper thru a cuttlebug folder. Then ran the versamark over it and dusted on a pale mint green shade of opals. When you heat set that, it looks like an instant patina! Next, we ran a green stazon pad over it and heat set that, then fingerpainted stickles on top of all that. Pretty fun!



Do you have the latest cuttlebug embossing strips? For borders and envelopes, but we put one on copper, used green opals over it and then patina stickles - just too cool!!!



And for the last background, copper, red inks with black stazon on top of that and a mixture of stickles on top of that.



What amazing backgrounds we created with just opals, stickles, copper and/or transparencies. Are you starting to see how my brain operates? I just start with one product and then add another on top of that, add a 3rd or 4th product...just keep experimenting. The results last weekend were just incredible!

And check back as there's more to come!!!

Opal swirls on seaglass

OK, I LOVE opals!!! What fun to just experiment and play with them. Here are just a few of the pendants we made over the weekend. Want some jewelry?

For this one, we melted leftover opals, stickles glitter and pieces of fantasy film in the melting pot. poured it onto seaglass and drizzled stickles on the edges.  Pretty cool!

The stickles will boil up and create dimension in the opals.  We added swarovsky crystals to this.  The "red" spot on the upper right is some fantasy film that bubbled to the top.

For this one, we spooned 3 colors of Opals on top of seaglass, then used a skewer to make the designs

Just 2 shades of Opals, skewer design, swarovsky crystal.  I do really like this one!

This is the same technique, except we went back over the top and just sprinkled opals of a different color over the base color:

Then we decided to just play in the melting pot.  Threw in "stuff" and then scooped it out on top of sea glass.  Sort of fun to see what you can do with what you have!

This was leftover opals - just a lot of colors blended togther.

Orange, purple and blue.  NOT colors that I would pick, but I do like how they turned out.

If you work quickly with the skewer, you can actually plan out the design you want to make like above.  This is one of those things where you get addicted in about 2 seconds and can make piece after piece.....all day long.  

How many pendants can you make in a day?  I need to find some smaller pieces of sea glass and make some earrings to go with a necklace!!!

Oh!  It's fun to play!!!

Opals in ornaments

What a fantastic day today was! More playing with products from After Midnight stamps and Linda!!!

We played with so many things, but tonight, I'm going to share ornaments. What fun! This is a 3 part process. For the first part, spoon opals inside the ornament. Then add some Diamond Dust. Swirl it around. Then apply heat with a heat tool from the outside as you move the ornament around. It will adhere to the glass as the glass starts to heat up. (OK, some of these ornaments are heavy duty plastic and that works fine, too.)



Swipe some versamark on the outside and apply opals to that. Embed swarovsky crystals. You can see the depth and dimension in this shot:



For this next one, I wanted the look of melting ice on the top. I think I got it! I did the colors inside and then mixed Franklin opals with Diamond dust and carefully heated it as I move the ornament around on the top. It really is gorgeous as it totally glitters from the Diamond Dust.



Got a great shot here. When I dumped out the excess, it looks just like "rock candy" that we bought as kids.



And here's the back - just as great!



My brain is on complete overload tonight from all the different things we did today. We have laughed and played and experimented until I think my brain might explode! It has been so much fun! Linda flies home tomorrow and I will truly be sad to see her go, but check back - I've got several more things to share in the next few days.

These ornaments came from our local Hobby Lobby store - I'm sure you can find them at any craft store.

And you can purchase the Opals direct from After Midnight Stamps - but you can email me and buy them thru me as well. No minimum order - just go to their website, pick out what you want and let me know! They are beyond fun to work with! You won't be disappointed!